Chapter 13: Conflict

IT WAS AFTERNOON; the sun was still at the horizon. Three figures wandered at a moderate pace within the deep wilderness. Two of them in the front, one female and one male, and behind them was another male.

"Is it Tetil?" Wrik asked the girl with the initial 'T', but she clicked her tongue in response. It's not the first time he was trying this. He had excessively exhausted her with his guessing for hours. "Then, Tatar?"

"Not even close," she said with annoyance. "What's it even mean?"

Wrik just beat his lips against each other. How would he know what it means? He was just making things up to piss her off so that she would give her name. And it looked like—it was working.

Davin was quiet the whole time, didn't interfere in most of their conversation, though he looked rather uncomfortable a few times. He was unusual at times; nonetheless, he was a responsible guy.

They had been wandering in the wilderness for hours. The sun was already at the horizon, an hour or two away from setting. It's still quite hot, especially in what they were wearing. Some cool breeze now and then was the only comfort they got in the wilderness. But the most uneasy thing was, they didn't come across anything worthwhile. Merely a few goblins and wild animals, but they did collect a few edible wild berries and fruits. For anything better, his inspection ability was able to tell if the berries were edible or not. But there was no sign of water though.

"How about Tasla?"

"If you're trying to piss me off with these names, be my guest."

"So, it's not Tasla, then." Wrik continued without minding her warning. "Talla? Tamaa? Taila. . ."

Suddenly he stopped guessing as he sensed some disturbance in the front. Wrik was not the only one to notice the disturbance. He exchanged glances with Miss, and she nodded. He gestured towards Davin to be prepared.

Wrik unsheathed the sword quietly, and Davin did the same, while the emerald-eyed girl plucked her short staff from her waist. This was the first time, Wrik saw her equipping that staff. She could use Mana-mana skilfully, even without it, so she didn't use it much. They moved in caution to the source of their discomfort. As they approached, they could hear the disturbance as well.

After covering a few tens of metres, they came across a few corpses of goblins around, and blood of grey and yellow, all over the ground. A few silhouettes were similarly present there — six, to be exact. They seemed to be catching their breaths after the assault. Three of them picked up their weapons seeing their appearances. Most of them were middle-aged, with burly to stocky figures. The one in the front seemed to be the leader of the thugs, was well equipped with stuff from swords to a breastplate.

Wrik found that calling them thugs was not appropriate. They should be some experienced mercenary or in similar kinds of business.

"Isn't it the girl who refused my proposal the other day?" Said the leader of the group, a tall man with grey hair. He laughed out with all the whites in his mouth. "Don't tell me, you regret your decision from before and came here to beg me?"

The emerald-eyed girl gave a disdainful stare. Her eyes turned cold. She gripped the staff tighter as the surrounding temperature started to cool down. A bit of panic appeared in the body language of the minions behind the nasty tongued boss.

Wrik was wrong. They were nothing but thugs, hoodlums—he had taken care of before with Anton and Lucas in Elania.

"Well, I'm only joking, don't mind me," the boss tried to settle the scene with his nasty laughter. "It would be quite bad for both sides to engage in a fight, especially in this area."

Wrik looked at the slender figure in front, gripping the hilt tighter. But the figure in front wavered, she shook her head, saying: "Let's go,"

Her tone was icy cold and still, void of any emotion but coldness. And the staff was still in that tight grip. Wrik and Davin followed her—no question asked.

"By the way, the offer is still on." The nasty boss echoed out from behind them. Even the minions joined in the laughing.

Wrik felt something flared up inside him. He didn't know what those hoodlums were laughing about, or why the emerald-eyed girl turned colder, but he guessed a few things from the exchange. Suddenly Wrik had the impulse to smash their heads up. He finally realised that he unconsciously triggered the [Eye of Insights].

Wrik calmed his mind a bit and whispered to Davin. "What was that about?"

Davin looked at the slender figure in the front and sighed. "Well, they were the ones that came to rob our emergency kit yesterday."

"I can guess that," he mumbled back.

"Haste your pace, will you two? It'll be dark soon." A familiar female voice disturbed their conversation. Davin moved faster, and he followed.

They didn't find water on that day, but they now had a somewhat clear awareness about the region. The only thing that was a threat to them were goblins, the wild animals were nearly not much in comparison. But the other humans were.

.. .

In one of the darkest regions of the wilderness, a silhouette could be seen, pursuing a pack of goblins. He was as quiet as the autumn breeze. It was apparent that he was skilled at trailing. He moved as if he's the very shadow of the goblins.

Anton was following the pack from quite a distance for about an hour. His game was to infiltrate their dwellings and complete the crazy quest he got yesterday. It looked like his hard work didn't go to waste, as he looked at the entrance of substratum dwellings in the front.

'Now, the game begins. . .'

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Guess what's the name of the emerald-eyed girl... I think you would be better at that than Wrik.

Comment about your liking and disliking about the story to make it better. I'll appreciate it very much.

–Stay safe.