The putrid smell of ash and the musk scent as putrid as rotten meat and aged feces invaded my nostrils as I waited for the others to arrive. It has been 3 hours since we arrived at Shayltol and we were greeted by scorched earth, rubble, and sights of war.

 

The sight is one of horror, one could only imagine that demons are responsible for such horrific acts, and yet, it was done by humans.

 

Houses are burnt with the charred bodies of families inside, huddling each other. Impaled bodies are planted near the gates of the ruined town, some of them have multiple bodies of children as young as 3, skewered like meat on a stick. Near the palisade walls lay bodies of dozens that are shot by a mixture of several arrows and bolts. Scattered bodies of butchered young men and women are what the eyes can see the moment you enter the town.

 

Throughout the ruins, there is no spot that has no body in sight, nor does the smell ever go away.

 

“Damned bastards” I muttered as I waited near the stables, guarding our horses.

 

Then, as I spit on the ground, by the corner of my eye I spotted one of my companions.

 

“Casuro!” I yelled.

 

Casuro is a young boy no older than 14 winters, and yet his body is built like steel and taller than any other boy his age. He looks more like an adult than a child, most likely was born favoring his father as they looked quite similar. There's a reason why a boy as young as he was picked to come, not only is he a hunter, but his physique would help greatly in this expedition. He's also a smart one too, according to the chief he was taught by the priest when Casuro was as young as 5, well 4 technically. So with both his intelligence, knowledge, and strength he's the only one that seemed to be the most reliable.

 

Once he got closer, bow in hand, he spoke.

 

“Nothing. I couldn’t find anyone”

 

Despite his age, Casuro has a deep voice. Other than his father, I have not found another man with a voice like his. Perhaps it's due to his hunter training, or the physical labor he has done throughout the years.

 

“Not even in the cellars?”

 

He shook his head as he shoulders his hunting bow.

 

“No. My sight sees everything within 150 meters. I wouldn’t miss a soul if there was one to find”

 

Damn… even his magic didn’t find anyone. Were the survivors taken as slaves? Perhaps some lived and escaped through the forest… no… that’s an even worse fate.

 

Seeing my expression, Casuro sighed before he spoke.

 

“Were you really expecting survivors?”

 

Hearing him say that hurts my heart.

 

How could he say something so heartless!?

 

I looked at him with anger in my eyes, “Casuro… I understand that you don’t know any of these people, but could you at least have some sympathy? Maybe some hope!”

 

He chuckled.

 

“Hope? Have you heard what they did at Etalto? Or to the prisoners at Fir? These… invaders, have no civility. It’s only logical that this would happen”

 

“Logical?!”

 

“Yes. Logical. Don’t cling to hope that has no grounds, you will only ruin yourself in the end”

 

Damn this guy! I know that this war has taken its toll, and massacres were committed! But can he at least believe that we can at least save one. ONE soul?

 

“I know that face. You want to save people. Fine. But why are we doing the saving? Why should we do this alone? Even if we found someone, or dozens, could we even help? We don’t even have enough herbs to save more than ourselves. Nor do we have a cart or enough horses to bring even 3 wounded back home, and how do we manage to feed them as we travel? Could they even eat at their state? Could they even last 7 days back home?”

 

He walks to me, then he holds my left shoulder and looks at me with his fierce blue eyes.

 

“Why. Are. We. Alone? Tell me. Can we really save them? Can we really help?”

 

I couldn’t answer as I looked back at him, my lips quivering from my emotions.

 

“I… I…”

 

“You what?

 

My brows deepen as my emotions gain control.

 

“... No… we couldn’t”

 

“And why is that?”

 

Anger boils my blood as that memory comes to light.

 

“Because the count didn’t give us aid”

 

He releases his grip on my shoulder, still numbing from his grip.

 

“Exactly. We’re helpless” he heaves out a deep sigh, “Now let’s wait for the others. Maybe some of them found someone that I couldn’t”

 

“But if your magic didn’t find anyone, then could they even have a chance?”

 

He wryly smiles at me, “I only searched the eastern section. Have some hope”

 

I dryly chuckled from the irony, “Now you're talking about hope? No wonder Alina couldn’t understand you”

 

“Hey, what can I say, I heard girls love mysterious guys”

 

“From who?”

 

“Your mother”

 

“Haha, very funny”

 

He coughs as he scratches the back of his head, “N-No, seriously. I was at the market where I talked to your mother, and she told me that”

 

I couldn’t help but laugh, “Did she really?” I ask, catching my breath.

 

He answered with a chuckle as we waited for the rest to return.

 

Minutes passed and my nose still itches from the smell, and the sight of the horrors does not help.

 

“By the way, are you used to this?” I asked.

 

He stopped drinking from his leather flask and looked at me with a puzzled look, “Hm? From what?”

 

I waved my hand to the sight in front of me.

 

“Are we really seeing the same thing? Like, all of this. The smell, the stench, everything”

 

“Ahh… I guess I’m just used to it”

 

Used to it? Isn’t this his first war?

 

“Used to it? I haven’t heard you being conscripted, otherwise you would have been a citizen by now”

 

He didn’t talk for a while, gazing at the environment as if he was in a trance.

 

“Hmm…” he hummed.

 

“I don’t know… I’m a hunter by profession, so the smell and bodies doesn’t bother me that much”

 

I frowned at him, “So you see the bodies are no different from a butchered beast?”

 

“You could say that… When you have killed enough… seen enough… smelled the stench enough… you just get used to it eventually”

 

Despite my clear disdain for his remark, I didn’t want to argue with him. Not because I’m afraid, I’m as tall as he is and I’m also older by 4 winters too. I just respected his opinion.

 

The pros of being a hunter I guess… but still… you can’t compare a human to a beast, that’s just inhumane.

 

“I’m going to walk out. Call me back if they arrived” I say as I stand up.

 

“Okay. Enjoy”

 

I didn’t reply as I walked past him and headed for the gate.

 

---

 

It seemed that a couple hours passed until the rest finally arrived back at the stables. They returned with no one else, but it seems that they’ve managed to find a chest filled with pouches of silvers, ornaments, and parchment of documents.

 

“Where did you guys find this?” I asked, examining the papers.

 

Foryl smirked as he recalled his finding, “One of the houses had a hidden stash in the cellar. Found a body facing towards an odd position. So I figured he was trying to recover his stash, or maybe try to hide it better. Honestly, the scum who killed him were imbeciles for not finding this”

 

“By the way, where did Arte go?” says Kylisor.

 

“He walked out, couldn’t handle the stench most likely” I say as I continued to read the documents.

 

It seems that these are all just loans and accounting documents. Nothing really useful… wait a minute… he sold weapons? It seems he doesn’t have a permit as well…

 

“Where’s his body?”

 

“Huh?” Foryl says with a puzzled look.

 

“His body. Did you move it?”

 

“Um, no, but why do you need it?”

 

“He sold weapons illegally. Even though he’s dead, we could give his head and the documents to the guards for the bounty” I say as I close the chest.

 

Hearing the prospect of money, Foryl smiled, “How much are we talking?”

“50 silvers”

 

Foryl looks at me with shock, “50?! Alright! I’m going to chop off that guy’s head real quick, be right back” he says with joy and runs to the direction of the body.

 

Suddenly I’ve been grabbed by the shoulders, “Hey! That’s disrespectful! What if we get tainted by Daro?! I don’t want to go to hell if I can” says Usylle with worry as he shakes me violently.

 

“You big troll! Stop shaking me, I’ll die at this rate!”

 

“Then die! I don’t want to go to hell because of you!”

 

“You know if you kill me you will still go to hell right!”

 

He stopped shaking me, pondering for a moment as if a switch turned his brain on.

 

As I released my shoulders from his grip, he suddenly yelled, “AHHH! You’re right! Oh no! No matter what, I'm never going to heaven!” he then began to cry.

 

For the love of Tila, can this oaf stop being a headache.

 

Sighing, I patted his back, “It’s fine Usylle, I heard hell has no winters”

 

Suddenly, he stops crying and looks up to me, “Really!?” he asks with enthusiasm.

 

I smiled at him, “Yep, so it’s not that bad of a place”

 

Besides… hell or heaven doesn’t even exist, just darkness… and that’s worse than hell. The worst thing is, it most likely happens to everyone, no matter how good or evil they are.

 

He gets up from his sulking and wipes his eyes as he sniffles, “Okay! Then I don’t mind then”

 

As he said that, Arte came back from his walk.

 

“Yo, Arte. How’d your walk go?” I say as I turn to greet him.

 

“You know… I did tell you to call me, felt a bit hurt you know?”

 

I chuckled, “My bad, I was caught with something bothersome”

 

“Bothersome?” he then looks at Usylle, “Ah… right. Anyways, where did Foryl go?”

 

“He’s not far, he should be in sight… now” I look at the direction of his aura, following it as it runs around a corner. 

 

Looking at the direction I am staring, Arte squints his eyes, “Is that… a head?”

 

“Yep”

 

“Why… does he have a head?”

 

“For a bounty”

 

Arte sighs, “Of course… a bounty. You know Casuro, I thought you had honor”

 

Honor huh… that died a long time ago buddy.

 

“I did… but you know the old saying, shit happens”

 

As Arte chuckled dryly, Foryl returned with the head gripped in his hand.

 

“Yo! I’m back”

 

“Yeah, do you have a bag for that?”

 

“Oh yeah! Wouldn’t want this to get spoiled with maggots” he rushes towards his horse and drops the head beside him as he searches for a knapsack in his bags.

 

“Still… it’s so disgusting” says Kylisor as he looks at the head.

 

I crouched down, reopening the chest to remove the contents inside, “It is, but we gotta make do with what we have. Now, let’s get ready to leave. I wouldn’t want to stay here for the night, who knows what beast may lurk inside to feast”

 

“Right, we wouldn’t want to face a demon now do we. I’ll help with that” says Arte as he crouches down and grabs a couple pouches of silver.

 

“Aha! Found it!” celebrates Foryl with a knapsack in his hand, “Now time to put you right inside you beauty” he says playfully as he stuffs the head in the sack.

 

It didn’t take long to distribute the loot amongst us, and as soon as we finished, we rode out of the ruins and headed back to our home, Fyritol.

 

As the day ended, we made camp near a small pond. There, I washed my hands and face from the dirt of the day, so did Arte and Kylisor as Foryl and Usylle fixed the tents and campfire.

 

While the rest stayed in camp, I made sure to secure the perimeter as the darkness consumed the land. Laying down traps and tying alarms to the trees, I was entrusted with the security. Occasionally, I would find a stray rabbit nearby, even if they were 80 meters away I couldn’t risk having them close, so I took care of them with a quick pull of my bow and an arrow through their throat. Besides, their meat will help us preserve our provisions, and the pelts would sell at quite a price to the peddlers.

 

“Found anything odd, Casuro?” asks Arte as I sat down near the fire, putting my bow down near me.

 

“Nothing out of the ordinary. Just hunted down some beasts nearby, couldn’t risk having them close”

 

“I see... here” Kylisor handed me a bowl of rabbit stew.

 

“Thanks. Where’s Foryl?”

 

“He's looking after the horses” Arte then takes a spoonful of rabbit into his mouth.

 

“And I assume Usylle is asleep?”

 

Kylisor chuckles then takes a spoonful from his portion, “Wat elsh do you think he dosh” 

 

I sigh, “Care to remind me why he’s here? He’s an idiot for one, an emotional idiot for two, and he doesn’t do much”

 

Arte laughs, “Don’t be too harsh on him. We might need his strength”

 

“Maybe…” then as I take a bite of rabbit, I sense several presence closeby.

 

Seeing my body language, Arte asks, “Someone close?”

 

I swallowed the meat and nodded, “Six. I can deal with them myself, but… they don’t seem to be serf bandits”

 

Hearing this, Arte’s face turned serious, “Deserters?”

 

“Maybe, they could be scouts too. If it’s the latter, then we might have to report on this”

 

“Right… could you take one of them alive?”

 

“I could, though I’ll need help”

 

Arte nodded and looked at Kylisor, “Wake the troll up, tell him to guard the camp with Foryl. Then, I want you to come with me and Casuro”

 

Kylisor audibly gulped, either from nervousness or he swallowed his meal, “Alright. I’ll get my spear”

 

Arte nodded, “You know what to do Casuro”

 

It wasn’t a question, but a statement of trust.

 

“I know, I’ll be waiting over there. Be careful of my traps too, I wouldn’t want to alarm them” I say as I pointed in the direction of where the men are.

 

He nodded in response and got up from his seating, then rushed to the horses where he left his spear.

 

As he did that, I stood up and rushed towards the direction where the men were. Even though the forest was dark, my eyes are good enough to see, I just hope their eyes aren’t as good as mine.

 

Approaching in stealth, I eventually got close enough to hear them.

 

One of the men wearing a nasal helmet and holding a spear and round shield asks, “Are you sure they were here?”

 

“They were. I saw them leave the settlement on horses. This is the only spot to camp where they’re headed to” replied an older sounding man with a similar helmet but with a red cloth wrapped on it.

 

Must be someone important. I’ll kill him first. But before that, I need more information.

 

“I see. Still, do we really need to chase them this far? We’re quite a day away from the army” says a short man wearing a gambeson cap and holding a hatchet and shield.

 

“It’s worth it. I saw them with heavy looking bags strapped to their saddles. Must be filled with silver based on how they looked”

 

He can see that far with that much detail? He must be similar to Arte then. Hopefully he’s not a relative. And the shorty says the army is a day away, so they’re still close by…

 

Then a realization hit me.

 

Wait… if they’re this close then where would they go? The only settlement left to raid is… oh no.

 

I tugged an arrow to my bow, and as I drew it and aimed at the older man, Arte and Kylisor were approaching quickly. Knowing this, I weakened my pull and stealthily approached them.

 

Hopefully Arte can recognize me in this darkness.

 

Coming out of the bushes, I appeared in front of them.

 

“Oh, Casu-” before Arte could whisper my name, Kylisor thrusted his spear at me. Fortunately I anticipated this and managed to dodge the thrust and grabbed the shaft.

 

“You fool. It’s me” I whisper to Kylisor in a calm manner.

 

“Ah! I’m s-sorry… I… I thought-” before Kylisor could finish, I interrupted him.

 

“Save your apology later. For now, use your spear at them. Follow me” I whispered.

 

Both of them nodded and we stealthily approached the scouts.

 

I stopped 25 metres away from them. With my bow in hand, I tugged an arrow and aimed.

 

“I’ll take down two. Arte, go to their left and flank them. Kylisor, go to their right and do the same. Once I take down two, I’m going to rush at them with my axe. Once I’ve begun to fight, charge right in and kill them from behind” I whispered my plan to them.

 

I looked at them to see their confirmation. Arte nodded at me, gripped his spear, and began to move into position. Kylisor however looks at me with both worry and nervousness.

 

“Don’t worry. I won’t die that easily, and if you can’t kill them, that’s fine. Just aim at the legs and that will be enough. Besides, we need captives. Can you do that for me, Kylisor?”

 

He took a deep breath, and nodded at me then rushed to his position.

 

I waited for several minutes, then as I confirmed they were in place, I took a calm breath then loosed my arrow.

 

Swoosh. 

 

With a painful grunt and gasp of air, one of them kneeled to the ground holding their throat, blood gushed out from his wound creating a small puddle beneath him. As they turned around to see what happened to their companion, another arrow found its mark and pierced through the neck of another. The arrow tore his Tero’s apple out and he gargles from his own blood, as he drops to his knees choking, they realized what is going on.

 

“Ambush! Raise shields!” yelled one man as he hurriedly raised his shield up to his head, but by that point I was already rushing at them with my axe in hand.

 

Still paralyzed from the attack and trying to gather information, I managed to get close enough and swung my axe to the back of the neck of one. The force and momentum of my swing easily chopped through his neck, but it didn’t decapitate him fully, instead the head fell limp and swung in front of him as a strip of flesh held onto it. Blood splattered across my face, the warm touch of blood lightened a small tingle in me.

 

“Enemy!” a man yelled as he looked at me in shock. He faced his spear at me and thrust, but I was nimble enough to dodge the thrust and picked up a shield on the ground.

 

Three down. three more to go.

 

I had the shield in front of me and anticipated them to charge.

 

Two spears, one axe.

 

I took my stance and waited for their move. Seeing this, they faced me with shield in front, spears faced, and axe ready. They slowly try to circle me, trying to get an angle, but every time they try I would always take a step back, keeping them in front of me.

 

“You bastard! Once we kill you, we’ll chop your body and feed them to the hounds!”

 

I chuckled, “Then what about my friends?”

 

He laughed, “Once we’re done with you, your friends will-”

 

Before he could finish, he let out a pained yell. As he turns, another thrust hits him through his side. Simultaneously, the man to my right fell to his knee as a thrust pierced through the back of his knee, popping his knee open.

 

Seeing this unfold, the man in the center turned to see what is going on. That gave me the opening I needed and I charged him with the shield in front of me. I tackled the man with my shield and, as he fell to his side, I could hear a crunch from him. It seems that he broke his arm as he screamed painfully, and as he tried to get up, I pinned him down with my shield and swung the blade of my axe down to his face. 

 

The first hit didn’t go in deep enough as it got caught by his helmet which caused him to scream again. The second strike chopped through the metal of his helmet and I can hear the crunch of his skull. The third strike chopped through his face and he took his last breath.

 

I took a breath and got up from the man. I wiped the blood from my face and turned to see the man that Kylisor managed to incapacitate.  

 

“Good job, Kylisor. I’m proud of you”

 

His spear was still deep into the man’s knee, and as the man groaned in pain, Kylisor smiled at me.

 

“Thank you!”

 

“Hey, hey, how about me?” says Arte cheekily.

 

I turned to face him with a smirk, “You too Arte, thanks for helping”

 

Arte grinned, showing his teeth, “Well, that was fun. Now then, let’s see what our friend can say to us” he then went to pick up an axe then walked towards the man.

 

“Hello there! Do you mind if you can answer some of our questions?” asks Arte with a joyful smile.

 

“F-Fuck you!” the man cried out. Hearing this, Kylisor twisted his spear, causing the man to yell.

 

“Well, well, well, it seems we have ourselves a bad mouther. Say, Casuro, what do we do with bad mouthers?” He looks at me with a predatory grin.

 

“Hmmm” I let out a playful thinking hum, “I don’t know, Arte. How about you show our friend here what we do with bad mouthers”

 

Showing his teeth, he grinned wide, “With pleasure” as he says that, he chopped at the man’s hand.

 

He let out a painful scream as the axe wasn’t able to fully chop all the way through as the bone caught it.

 

“I-I’ll speak! I’ll speak!” he cried out, tears visibly dropping down his face.

 

Seeing this, Arte patted the man’s back as he cried, “There, there. Now, do you happen to know where the army is heading?”

 

The man took several deep breaths before talking, “I-I heard they were going north” he spoke as if the cold took him.

 

“North? Where exactly?” Arte looks at him with both seriousness and a sliver of nerve.

 

The man gulped, “I-I heard there was a-another settlement. A-A big one! W-We need the provisions, s-so there were t-talks to raid it”

 

I knew it… damn it.

 

I gritted my teeth hearing the confirmation of my fear.

 

Arte too, looked unnerved by it as well. He looks at me, as if trying to find an answer before looking back at the man.

 

“I see… how many days will they march?” Arte spoke in an icy tone.

 

The man looked at Arte with fear, his mouth quivering, “T-Three days from now…” the man spoke, hesitating with his words.

 

Arte looked down, sighed, then looked back at the man.

 

“I see… thank you for speaking” he stood up from his knees.

 

“P-Please! I-I have a family! Three kids! P-Please!” the man cried out, speaking from the heart.

 

Arte looked at him with cold eyes, “I know, but so do we” he then raised his axe.

 

“No!” the man yelled, but he couldn’t defend himself as Arte swung the axe to the man’s neck.

 

The axe made contact, but there wasn’t enough force to chop all the way through. The man gurgled in blood and choked as blood gushed out. Arte tried to pull the axe out, but he seemed to be struggling, which caused the axe to saw the man’s neck.

 

Arte sighed and looked at me, “Mind doing this?”

 

I chuckled, “Sure, let go of it”

 

Arte let go of the axe and began to walk away.

 

“I’ll head back, I need to rest” he says, waving goodbye as picked up his spear and walks.

 

I sighed and looked at Kylisor, “You too. I’ll deal with this”

 

“Oh! O-Okay” he says as he pulls his spear out of the man’s leg and begins to walk away from the battle.

 

Looking at the man, I sighed, “How are you still alive? Man, I commend your tenacity, but-” before I finished the sentence I held onto his head and popped the axe out of his neck, “It’s time for you to go” as I say that, I raised the axe and swung down on his neck. 

 

The axe cleaved through, decapitating the man.

 

“Well, time for me to go” I mumble to myself. After gathering the weapons, helmets, and other valuables I could find, I began to walk back to camp to end my night.