Richard

They really didn't know much, not even the bandit chief's name. Everyone just called him the boss and described him as "an ogre of a man who could snap me between two fingers". It wouldn't be much of an accomplishment given my body was still stick thin, but I got the gist. He was a tyrant that ruled through strength and fear, enslaving beastfolk for labor and entertainment.

To that end, the bandit camp was divided into two distinct camps. The chief's inner circle, composed exclusively of humans, and the beastfolk rabble who did all the manual labor and were the first line of defense for the camp. If they were anything like the ambushers, I wasn't worried, though their numbers were troubling. Despite being in the middle of nowhere in a boreal forest full of monsters, the camp numbered in the hundreds. How they sustained the numbers was unfathomable to me, though I supposed the gaunt cheeks of the ambushers was evidence enough of the harsh conditions.

"I just don't understand how Stonewood survives with so many bandits," I said, scratching a mark on a tree with my Seele knife so I didn't get lost. "Bixey said it was a friendly village tucked away in the mountains, yet there's a pack of murderers spitting distance away! How are they not being raided every other day?"

"protector?"

"Maybe. I wouldn't have put it past her to have flambéed some bandits as a deterrent and at a certain point the bandits would cut their losses and steer clear. Or maybe not. Bandits aren't the smartest."

It also means there's nothing in Stonewood worth risking their lives over. How do they even survive? The ground is too frozen to grow anything and there's only a few hours of sunlight.

There were too many unknowns. Part of me wanted to investigate the bandit camp for myself, maybe even play the hero and destroy it. That's what people did in games, right? Plus it would win me points with the residents of Stonewood.

"What do you think? Should we kill some bandits?"

Yahime's eyes dulled. She'd been moping since we left the injured bandits behind, almost like she was concerned.

"You're not still worried about those assholes, are you? I healed them the best I could. We even gave them the Frosthounds we killed. If they can't survive with all that…"

Even I could tell how callous I was being. Had I always been this way?

"I guess I'll just take your hesitation as a no."

"don't… want… kill…"

"Then we'll just go straight to Stonewood," I sighed. "I'm not going to force you to do something you're not comfortable with. Especially when I can't even kill someone myself."

"scared?"

"A little. In my world, killing was considered wrong no matter what the reason. Here though… I worry that we'll be making our lives more difficult in the long run."

She didn't answer and I didn't blame her. It had been easier when she'd been a murder machine. I didn't hate the change, though. If she hadn't gained a sense of morality, how long would it have been before I was casually killing people, too?

***

"There it is!"

I'd never been so excited in my life to see such a shabby village. It was small, maybe half the size of Edgeton with even fewer homes. There were maybe a dozen in total, all packed into a tightly knit area slightly away from the base of the mountains and canned in with a semi-circle wooden wall that faced the forest. From where I was, I could only see one entrance, an old wooden gate made of logs.

Revitalized by the sight of our destination, I urged Yahime onward and we practically sprinted into the small valley. In hindsight it would have been quicker to just have Yahime carry me.

"Wait."

As the gate of Stonewood came into sight I could see a pair of long black ears barely showing above the top of the five meter wall.

"Rabbit?"

I squinted in the evening light and could barely make out the black furred face of an aged rabbit sticking out. They were yelling at two people in front of the gate.

"This is your last warning, demon!"

The voice of the man yelling up at the rabbit was chillingly familiar, though I didn't know why and even with the torch illuminating his face it was too difficult for me to make out any details. I did recognize the creature beside him.

The bandit chief. A hulking mass of muscle with a sword as long as the man standing beside him at his waist. His face was obscured in shadow which only fed his monstrous aura and for the first time since waking up in Royal Hearts, I genuinely wondered if Yahime would be enough. Murus had been able to hold his own against her for a short time and he'd been a portly old man.

"Take your threats and shove it up your rear!"

The retort was strained and raspy, followed with several sickly sounding coughs that undercut the rebelliousness of their words.

"Want me to round up the boys? It might be fun watchin the beasts kill one another."

Torchlight glared off of glass lenses when the smaller man shook his head. Glasses? My heart sank to my stomach. Between the memories of Aurelie's life I'd been catching glimpses of in my dreams and my countless hours playing Royal Hearts, I could already guess who the mysterious man was.

"We don't need to go that far yet. I don't want my gift to her to be bought with blood if I don't have to."

"Ha! You wheat rats of the empire sure have it good if you can worry about shit like that. But we'll do it your way, long as you keep paying and feedin."

"You'll get your gold, Ajax," the man snapped at the monster beside him. "Now shut your mouth before you agitate the situation."

"That's right, ogre! Listen to your master!"

I slapped my forehead. Why would they taunt the people debating whether or not to kill them?! Or maybe I was the naive one. Even if they conceded, after the smaller man stopped paying the bandits, wouldn't they just raid the defenseless town? The mere lack of retaliation was enough to discredit the notion the village had a guardian protecting it.

"We need to get closer," I whispered to Yahime. "Pick me up."

Aside from getting a better view of the situation, another perk of Yahime travel was her silent movement. It wasn't an official skill, but I'd noticed that I never heard her moving, even when we walked through thick brush or noisy gravel. She moved like solid shadow, stepping on yet never really touching her surroundings. I'd made her carry me a few times to cross over areas that would have been impossible for me otherwise and even a few times when I wanted to keep going but it was too dark to walk. Never because I was feeling lazy. Never.

"Just make sure no one sees us. The villagers are probably on edge as it is and if they spot you they might panic. The last thing we need is to exacerbate the situation."

Not that anyone would be able to see Yahime in the dark. Not a human at least. A beastfolk of the right species would be a different story. Bixey and Shiro hadn't had any issues.

"Right here is good," I said once we were pressed tight against the wall just out of the radius of the human's torch light.

I strained to see him better, to confirm my suspicions. He was still arguing with Ajax about not killing the villagers and the temperature of the altercation was rising.

"I didn't hire you to butcher innocent people!"

"Aye. But you did hire me and my boys to help you get them silly stones of yours and we're startin to get restless. I bet they got some good tail in them walls to warm my bed, too."

"Disgusting," the bespectacled man said, spitting on the ground. "You lot really are less than human if you're willing to lay with demons."

"We ain't all got rich daddies," Ajax spat back. "Some of us gotta work for our pleasures."

"Just do as you're told. What you do with these creatures once I'm gone is none of my business."

"Fine. As long as you Gredig pigs keep the gold comin, we'll stay on our best behavior."