"Ha-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a..." Rurik sighed, releasing all the tension in his body, slouching against the trunk of the tree opposite of the one Luka had pointed to. "...I already forgot how nerve-wrecking headhunting is, goddamn." He rubbed his head and shut his eyes; opening his right and leaning forward, propping his arms into his lap. "That idiot didn't have to use the javelin so suddenly, she scared me shitless, I won't lie." Neoklipt glanced at the young man, "I think so, too. She could've ended it quickly without going for such an overkill." Meanwhile, Bard sat with his blood-covered face pointed down, eyes still closed and tied hands in front. 

Rurik moved his attention from his compatriot and spoke to the bearded man. "Bard, was it?" The man nodded, "We won't be questioning you, yet. When Luka comes back I'll go with you and let you clean yourself up, capisce?" — "Yeah..."

After a short while, Luka crashed by the tree, her hair were soaked, the vest had been taken off and hung over the right shoulder by her belt, the pants over the other shoulder, exchanged for braies that reached to her knees, the sheathed and obviously cleaned sword was held in her left hand. "It was nice~ who's next?" She said, throwing the clothes onto a bedsheet of sorts, or at least a big sheet of cloth that she had snatched from the camp. "I'll go watch the guy." Her brother replied, lifting the man to his feet by the elbow. "Neoklipt, can you get me my wax?"

Rurik undid Bard's rope. "No funny business, big man." He remarked before slapping the man's shoulder and taking a few steps back, "I'll watch you so go and get that filth off yourself." And so, Bard was quite eager to practically rip off his tunic and a bit rugged pants, plunging into the water. The young man observed with a straight face as Bard started to rub his face with water like a madman. It wasn't a lengthy ordeal, as the bearded man was quite keen to get out of the water as much as he was keen to jump in it; his shaking hands calmed and the eyes were open. "Alright... Let's go back." — "Yeah." Even his replies got less tense.

All of them sat down by an improvised fire that Luka and Neoklipt had set up in the meantime and decided to boil some tea. Their supplies were far less in amount compared to yesterday, as they gave some to Sarbat and ate the rest on the way to the forest, leaving just tea and a couple rations to spare. "Are we going to talk business now?" Luka chimed, stuffing her mouth full of cheese. "That's the next obvious course of action." Her brother let the man sit down by himself, his hands still untied. "Give the guy something to bite." Neoklipt bent down to sift through the remnants of their food in the bag — which has shrunk significantly compared to previous days — a previously seen kind of a wrapped brick was handed to Bard. "Thanks." He replied, surprisingly, not taking his sweet time to ravage the thing open. "So, are you gonna answer our questions?" Bard nodded, tasting the croutons, "If I know the answer."

"Seeing how you're being witty, I suppose you finally calmed down." Rurik got his share of food.

"Were there only nine of you?"

"Yes, since the start."

"Did you escape from the dungeon by Gastat?"

"We did."

"What were you put there for?"

"I, Hunnes, Kitte, Gastanne, Kuie, Pasfes, Gottue and Lensi were all tried for war crimes and murder, we were mercenaries for the Gerad Confederation, where we are originally from. The guy you sent flying across the camp was Nomel, he was charged for multiple armed robberies. We all had to serve life but Nomel only had twenty years." Luka shook her head. "Now it makes sense why you people were pretty good at fighting." Bard glanced at her, before shifting his eyes back to the young man.

“Wonder why they weren't executed.”

She thought, but really didn't care for the answer that much.

"No need to get into details, I asked just to know how to present you to the mayor or lord of Gastat, whoever there is. If you lied it'll come up anyway. You've got a brand so it's a given." Rurik said, pointing to Bard's neck. "I don't see why'd I need to do that, but well, You are right, I guess." The man finished the modest ration pretty quickly and threw the box aside, so did the others. 

"Can I ask a question?" Bard spoke out. "I don't see why you can't." Luka said and stood up to stretch, then went to retrieve her pants that were hanging from a nearby branch. "Are you not from Rannette?" She stopped and looked back, "Is it the name of the country we're in?" and went back to taking the pants down from the branch. He quite literally didn't know what to think... Who in the world goes to kill some people because of some rumour, without even knowing the name of the damn country they are in? "Thanks for answering."

"You're awfully polite." Rurik said, standing up as well. The pot that was over the fire, full of tea at first, was almost empty by this point, "You can drink the rest, by the way." He continued, yawning. Bard, on the other hand, hunched. "I got captured by some freaky powerful who-knows-who, I guess it plays on the character quite a bit..." 

“You also came out of fucking nowhere. Who knows what you might do next. Better be safe.”

That made the siblings chuckle, Luka hastening her belt, "Freaky? You could've used a different word for that, damn geezer." Unbothered by the naming, Bard decided to ask another question as Neoklipt gestured him to get up as well. "So are you some kind of headhunters?" — "Adventurers."

The man raised an eyebrow. "Didn't know they made this kind of Adventurers nowadays." Already packed and cruising back to the camp, Bard's hands tied again, Rurik spoke. "We're from Ranesairan, though I doubt you know anything about the place." The man took his time to think, and when he looked around again, they already stood in the middle of the camp again. "Never heard of it." Rurik and Luka went to check inside the tents, "Figures." The sister said, "That's besides the point, let's take what's valuable and get out of this shithole, honestly."

It wasn't a long time that they took to loot the place, they only had to take Bard's greatsword and the armour of the guys, some valuables that they had and a scarce amount of food. The repeat look at the gruesome scenery didn't shock Bard the second time, his face was quite stoic. "No words?" Neoklipt asked him, speaking after a while, his small slits looking right into Bard's eyes. But the man remained unphased, allowing himself a more concise reply, "Am I supposed to be saying something? They were mercs for the same employer as I, our connection doesn't go much further than accomplices." He took another look at the shield guy, whose name was Gottue, and said: "I was scared shitless because you lot came from literally nowhere and completely unannounced.” Bard looked at Luka and Rurik in the back, “All of you are absurd, too, I just didn't know what to expect of you, I've always been weak to these kinds of “surprises,” to be crystal clear." 

Rurik went where Neoklipt had killed Kiue and Pasfes, and his eyes stuck to the pot.

"What's this?" He asked the arriving group, who carried a whole lot of stuff on their shoulders already. "No clue." Neoklipt said, also staring at the pot, while the young man squatted by it, the fire beneath the pot long extinguished. "I think it's supposed to be..." Bard tried to explain, but Rurik already stuck his finger into the foul mass within the pot and put it in his mouth. Luka was flabbergasted, Neoklipt did not react, and Bard only squinted his eyes and winced at the sight. "The taste is funky, it's very bitter." An analytical response only worsened the expressions of the bunch. "...It's supposed to be insect repellant." —  "RURIK! YOU IDIOT!" Luka screamed at the top of her lungs, dropping the loot and slapping her brother square across the back of his head, "The hell you putting everything in your mouth for?! And you call me an idiot?!" Her brother dropped to the side, his head almost landing on the deceased Pasfes, the blood from his neck had stopped flowing a while ago, too. 

"Well excuse me! This is the fastest way to understand what the concoction is composed of!" Luka pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed, "That's the fastest way to poison yourself and fucking die, too!" Bard looked at the initiating conflict with a mild mix of confusion and bewilderment. As the duo began to shout louder and louder at one another, Neoklipt pulled him aside and away from the scene.

"You'll feel better if you don't listen." Emitted from the mask, and so they stood beside the tree about five paces away from the path leading to the dispute. Perhaps he should've remained terrified till now and from now on, "Does that happen often?" — "Once every other day." Bard clicked his tongue and sucked some air, "Sounds awful." Neoklipt slowly turned to face him. "I don't care." The dismissive tone was enough to shut Bard up.

"God, what kind of people did you allow to find me? I'd rather get captured by the lord's men than those..."

Thinking about the appropriate words, Bard looked at the picture of murder in the center of the camp, briefly at Neoklipt, and then at the siblings that came from the path, both covered in scratch marks, slowly emerging bruises and blank expressions.

"...Odd horrors."

Luka dragged the loot she had dropped previously across the forest floor, staring off to the side. "We are done, let's cut the damn brands off their necks and go." Neoklipt left Bard in the care of the two infuriated siblings and promptly walked away. "I'll take care of it." Leaving all the tension for Bard to savour, the detour hence has come to an end at last.