032. Crucible - 9

032. Crucible - 9

Jertann was the first to speak as I walked away. "Where are you going?" he stammered as he followed me, easily catching up to me with his large steps even with his initial freeze, shocked not by my combat proficiency, but by my choice.

"Wrong question," I said with a chuckle, not stopping even for a moment.

"What do you mean, wrong question?" he stammered, even skipping a step when he followed me. Behind him, Silas was following silently, but only because Karak gestured for her to stay silent.

"You need to ask, where are we going? And the answer is, we're going back to the camp to rest."

"But we need to stay here and kill the beasts," he explained. "That's our mission."

"That was until we had suffered a dangerous situation without support, leaving us dangerously weak against what was going on," I explained to him, but he seemed not to catch what I emphasized. "Do you trust me?" I asked directly.

"Well yes," he answered, too honest to react to a question like that any other way. It was a dangerous habit that left him open to further manipulation, as it was hard to deny someone after declaring trust.

"Good, then when they catch up," I started, pointing at the Reds, including the troublemaker that caused the situation, "you're going to tell them after the fight with the Blacks, we are too exhausted, and need to take a rest or a day off."

"But Only you fought, and that battle barely lasted a second," he said, then his smile brightened. "It was amazing, by the way. Was that a skill?"

"No, and if you play along, I'll teach you how to do it as well," I promised, hoping that the promise of a shiny new toy would be enough to convince him to play along.

"Really?" he gasped. "I just need to tell them we're tired. But what's the point? They were just there."

"Just trust me," I repeated instead of explaining to him the difference between overt and covert threats, and how leaving things concealed helped to control things even if everyone knew about the truth of the situation.

"I alright," he nodded, which made Karak wear a shocked expression. Clearly, he wasn't used to Jertann listening to reason. I suspected the only reason he did was the awe he had toward my class and the promise of teaching.

I would take it.

We walked barely a few more yards before the others managed to catch up. "Wait, where are you going?" the one that was leading said. "You have to stay here until midday before the switch!"

Jertann looked at me, and I nodded. "After the fight with the Blacks we are too exhausted and need to take a rest or a day off," he said, with all the grace and smoothness of a primary school child giving his first presentation.

I rubbed my head even as our opponent answered. "What are you talking about, you oaf," he growled while I blamed myself. Jertann was not one of my well-trained men who could follow my clues perfectly.

I took a step forward. "Why don't we talk, my little friend," I said, my smile not having even the slightest warmth. He might have reacted aggressively as I took a step forward toward him, but after my earlier, very painful display where I broke the arm of my enemy which left an impression, especially since they were still trying to set the bones to the correct place before triggering healing he took a hesitant step back.

"What are you doing?" he gasped, raising his weapon threateningly.

"I'm coming close to explaining to you why I need rest, young man," I said with a chuckle. "As an old man, I'm having trouble hearing, so I need to stand close to you as we discuss Very close"

"And what did you do there?"

"That's a bit trickier," I explained. "Now, you realized that when we prepared to fight, the nearest group pulled back," she nodded. "And did you realize there were some who wanted to support, but were pulled by the others?" I asked.

This time, she didn't nod but looked at Karak for confirmation. Only after he nodded, she turned back to me. "Okay, what does that mean?"

"You're aware that the further we're getting away from the forest, the stronger the beasts are going to get, especially without fortified settlements to cull them," I reminded her. Technically, no one had told me that detail, but it was an obvious conclusion.

"Yes, so what?" she asked as she shuffled, and finally let Jertann go free, who let out a sigh, but didn't say anything, listening. "What does that have to do with us suddenly stopping to support the rest? Only Gert and a few of his idiots are trying to fight against us, and going back won't do anything to them."

I smirked. "Who said anything about that idiot? This message is for the others."

Silence ruled a few moments before Karak decided to grace us with a few words. "We're telling them they can't just stay passively and hope everything will go without a problem," he said.

"We can't say that," Jertann said. "The whole reason for joining this group is to protect the people from danger. I don't care what others do. We need to fight," he declared bravely, yet stupidly.

I didn't have any problem with his objective, as while most people jumped to a life of crime for a quick benefit, the true roots of organized crime always started from trying to defend the citizens against worse dangers before going corrupt, usually in one generation and in my own organization, I tried to embrace that as much as possible as well.

The idiotic aspect was his method.

"Do you think you can protect thousands of people by just a handful of people," I said.

"Every little bit " he started, but I cut him off.

"No, it doesn't," I said, cutting him off, feeling frustrated at the familiar topic. "That's what people say to convince themselves they did all they could while doing nothing."

"Sorry," he said, looking down, and only then I realized I was angry. Not at him, but the general attitude of the people.

And the ridiculous chain of events that led me here.

We covered the rest of the distance towards the caravans silently, my attention on the rough, grassy ground, letting myself enjoy the softness for a moment without thinking how the world was constantly spitting out monsters as if it was rejecting our presence, glad that Vitality toughened me enough that my naked feet didn't turn a battered mess.

Soon, we met with the moving carts, and the chaos of the moving groups.

"I'm going to have a walk around the camp, to calm down. Why don't you go and find your brother in the camp, and I'll join you soon," I said and walked away.

I needed a small break. Clearly, I wasn't as calm as I wanted to be.

Maybe I could find a game or two to distract myself