Chapter 706: In Kind

The fire was about to die by the time they returned to camp. A few embers glowed beneath the ash, their faint warmth doing little to chase away the cold descending into the hollow.

Mayumi sat beside Eva with a blanket draped around the little girl’s shoulders. She looked up as they approached, her gaze wandering curiously to Elion before moving to the others filing down the slope behind him.

Isolde quickly caught up to Elion, slipping her hand into his and linking their fingers together. He raised a brow at the proactiveness.

He didn’t quite know how she wanted to proceed with him from here, but he had already made up his mind.

All that was left was to make things official, and that meant taking her virginity as soon as he got the chance.

For now, however, he assumed she wanted to speak to him about something.

He guided her toward an unoccupied patch of ground beside the fire, but when he began pulling his hand away, she clung to it.

"Stay," she said quietly, nothing more.

He didn’t know if she really wanted to speak or if she simply wanted to stay with him, but he didn’t dwell on it.

He hadn’t wanted them to see what he was going to do to William, but since they had, regardless, there wasn’t much he could do about it anymore.

If they thought differently about him after this, then so be it. This was who he was, and he wasn’t going to hide aspects of himself just so people would assume he was some sort of saint.

For as long as someone came at him with malice, he would treat them in kind, without mercy. He had been a bit too relaxed as of late; his life was going well, after all. But he hadn’t suddenly forgotten how cruel the world could be.

So while pondering Isolde’s wishes, he sat himself down beside her, and she drew closer until their shoulders touched.

Mira gave the pair a knowing look and crouched beside the fire, shifting a few pieces of wood onto the embers. Elion flicked a finger, sending a small flame beneath them, and soon the dry branches began to crackle.

Rina was standing close by, a distant look on her face. Elion noticed that she was struggling.

She seemed to be nursing a couple of injuries, even keeping one hand at her side, which was probably suffering the most.

"You’re injured?"

Rine looked at him blankly.

"Yeah." The answer was curt, though he couldn’t particularly blame her.

"Nora," he said, turning toward the utility mage. "Could you take a look at her?"

Nora nodded and approached, stopping a short distance from Rina.

"May I?"

For a moment, Rina seemed uncertain what to do with the sudden offer, but another painful breath made the decision for her, and she nodded before lowering herself carefully onto the ground.

Nora knelt beside her. A gentle glow gathered around her palms, illuminating the strained lines of Rina’s face.

"You have a healer?" Makho asked.

"We do," Maya replied.

Makho glanced toward Tessa, then down at the bandage wrapped around his own forearm. Elion noticed; they all seemed to be treating their injuries the mundane way, meaning they didn’t have a healer in their team.

Not just that, he noticed scuffed armor, fraying bandages, dried blood along a sleeve. Even that Tessa favored one side when she sat down.

’They’ve really had a rough time out here.’

He couldn’t imagine having to let his injuries heal naturally, and of course, they had to be thinking that he was a madman for wasting three potent healing potions on William, only to end up killing him.

They didn’t have the courage to ask if he had any spares either, and the manner in which William’s death was completely disregarded made it obvious none of them wanted to get on his bad side either.

"How long have you all been walking around like this?" he asked.

Tessa shrugged. "Quite a while; not all of us are blessed by lady luck, some of us don’t have everything conveniently handed to us by some invisible hand." She snorted.

"And you didn’t think to mention it?" Frowning, Elion ignored the jab and focused on the most important part.

"You’ve been rather occupied since you arrived," she replied.

Elion opened his mouth, then closed it again.

Fair enough.

He was about to take out another healing potion, but Nora chimed in before he could.

"I can help the others after this," She offered, keeping her focus on Rina. "Though I’ll need to check how serious their injuries are first."

"Don’t exhaust yourself," Maya said. "Anything that can wait until morning should wait."

If she was too exhausted afterward, he would just spend a couple thousand points on potion, though he would have liked to now waste any more on needless potions.

The exchange gave everyone something to focus on. Makho began unwrapping his bandage, while Cole passed a waterskin around the fire. Gradually, the camp filled with small sounds again, though conversation remained scarce.

Rina let out a careful breath as Nora withdrew her hands.

"Better?"

"Much." She looked down at her side, then bowed her head slightly. "Thank you."

"You should still rest." Rina nodded, but her gaze drifted toward the broken spear lying beside her knee.

"There’s another camp near here; did you guys see it perhaps?" She said after a moment.

Elion looked up.

"No? What about it?" He had made a beeline for the location trackers linked to the harem system, and ended up running into Isolde and Rina instead, so he had seen nothing of the sort.

"There were four women with those two men." Her fingers tightened around the edge of the robe. "I did say that something seemed wrong with them."

In everything that had happened afterward, they had almost forgotten. Rina stared toward the dark rim of the hollow.

"They barely spoke while we were there. Every time one of those men looked at them, they seemed to shrink into themselves." She swallowed.

"After what happened tonight, I don’t think they were simply traveling together, at least, maybe not by choice. I’d like to let them know that they are free to do as they please from now on."

Elion turned toward Cole.

"Can you find their camp?"

Rina began to rise. "I know where—"

"You’re staying here," Maya interrupted. "Give us the direction."

Rina hesitated before slowly sitting back down.

Elion glanced toward the sky above the hollow, then at Isolde beside him. Her fingers still hadn’t loosened around his own.

"Cole and Mayumi can check," Maya said, noticing the exchange. "Kali can go with them."

Kali looked up with an expression of displeasure.

"You think you have the right to order me around, child?" Maya gulped; she had almost forgotten that she was speaking to a saint, but Kali’s nonchalance over the past few weeks had caused her to let her guard down.

Elion gave Kali a look.

"Could you please accompany them, Kali?" He asked.

"Why me?" She pouted.

"Because if there’s anything else out there," Elion replied, meeting her gaze, "I’d rather it found you."

"Well," she said, rising lazily to her feet, "that would be unfortunate for it. I hope it tastes good, though; if not, you are going to have to give me something to clean my palate." She looked him up and down with a hungry look.

Elion shuddered, but he still nodded.

Rina gave them directions as best she could, occasionally pausing to think back to the route they had taken before settling in the hollow. Cole listened closely.

"It shouldn’t be too far," he said. "If we keep to the direction you mentioned, we should find it."

"Four women," Rina reminded him. "They might be startled when you approach, so please be careful."

Mayumi nodded before turning toward Eva, who had been quietly following the conversation from beneath her blanket. "Stay here with Nora until I get back, alright?"

The little girl nodded, drawing the blanket closer around herself. This whole time, she seemed to be only half awake; she had to be tired after the long day of traveling.

Kali had already started walking up the slope, having decided that the sooner they left, the sooner she could return. Cole and Mayumi hurried after her, and before long, their figures disappeared beyond the edge of the hollow.

Elion watched them go before looking back toward the fire. With Kali accompanying them, there was little reason to worry about their safety.

Isolde moved closer to the warmth, her fingers still resting between his. He looked down at their joined hands, then at her pale face.

"Are you cold?"

"A little," she admitted.