With all that had happened, Seth figured leaving without telling Irene was the best solution.
With how chaotic their relationship had been the past days, acting like friends or lovers one second and staring at each other like total strangers the next, Seth didn't have faith in Irene maintaining her calm were she to know he planned to depart for whatever reason.
As for the matter of them taking the soul fruits and running off, Seth had ensured that didn't happen by including the clause in his contract with Aimy.
The signing of the death contract had been a new and weird feeling for Seth.
It felt like he had opened up a portion of himself and then let it be infested by some foreign power, and until the contents of the contract were fulfilled, he would live with this infestation for eternity.
This feeling had brought a frown to Seth's face, and when he inquired from Aimy about her feelings on signing a contract, the woman had explained her lack of reaction.
To her other than the feeling of a foreign power passing through her, she felt nothing else.
So with Aimy bound to their Contract, Seth comfortably left the pair of sisters without worry about them running off with the goods.
…..
At the moment, Seth was casually strolling down a cleared path, his left hand in his pocket and his right hand holding onto some kind of long food.
Seth wasn't sure about the food, but Irene had said they were called "wunwi" a snack native to this world and one which was given to him by Tomar.
It was a shame the road leading to Tomar's destination deviated from theirs, and they had to begin marching underneath the cruel sun to reach their destination.
A bit of rustle reached Seth's ears and had him glance to his left, his eyes catching a shadow quickly moving by.
"Are they testing me" Seth wondered as he continued his walk, not slowing down or speeding up.
With Aimy having pointed put to him Zuroc's location, all it had taken was Seth moving at a relatively moderate speed in an almost straight line for him to come upon the man's encampment.
It was impossible to be stealthy while moving around with an army, so all Seth had need was to see several smoke lines moving into the air and he headed for that position.
The path Seth was currently on was one which had just been created by Zuroc's marching army, and with him casually treading on it, his presence was bound to quickly attract attention.
Seth could already feel himself surrounded from both sides of the path, but seeing as they didn't attack him, Seth saw no reason to attack, as it was, his plan was going perfectly well.
As he drew closer, Seth could hear the various faint sounds from the camp, up ahead, probably from the soldiers engaging in fights or telling jokes.
Having never been in an encampment, Seth was looking forward to seeing one, but before his dreams could be easily achieved, a man walked up to him.
Wearing the signature black and green uniform, but this time donning no mask and revealing his bald head and well-shaved face.
The man walked with a sort of discipline that actually had Seth ruminating on it before quickly taking his mind back to the man who Seth was sure was heading towards him.
"It would seem my uninterrupted walk has come to an end" Seth muttered," or maybe not."
Seth had expected the man to walk up to him, yet when the man was about 10 steps away from him, he came to a stop, his gaze fixated on Seth to the point that Seth suspected it was a kind of attack.
With the man standing in his way, Seth did what any man would do in his position.
When they were just about two steps apart, Seth nodded at the man with a smile and moved left, calmly walking past him and continuing on his merry way.
Like he had done nothing, Seth continued his calm confident pace, but just as he bit the last of his wunwi, a fierce voice sounded out.
"STOP."
The voice resounded all through the forest, containing a power within it that forced all beings to listen to his command, but Seth easily brushed it off and at this point decided to stop and entertain the grouchy man.
"Did you mean me?" Seth asked turning around and facing the bald man, who was marching towards him, his steps still maintain their discipline but this time he moved a little bit faster.
The man walked up till he was a few centimeters from Seth, standing just a little below Seth, his eyes narrowing as he asked, "Who are you".
A few seconds passed with no one answering before the ma decided to ask again,
"Who are you?"
"You still haven't answered my question" Seth pointed out.
Seth's words startled the man, but this only showed in his eyes, as he stood before Seth like an impenetrable wall that was just about to fall on him.
The both of them silently began staring at each other till the ma seemingly had enough and began releasing his aura.
Strong winds blew around them, the leaves on the trees on the werge of being blown off while the weaker trees tilted a little and the grass beneath their feet was shaved off, yet despite all these changes Seth only continued to calmly stare at him.
Feeling infuriated the bald man upped his game and released his qi, this time shattering the ground beneath their feet and creating a wind that pulled off the leaves from some of the trees surrounding them and this time shaved the ground around the bare.
Watching the level 8 mortal before him trying to threaten him with his qi, Seth began feeling bored, internally sighing that he couldn't kill the man and be on his merry way.
Seth was still lamenting what to do to the man when the bald man's eyes widened as he looked over Seth's shoulder.