Chapter 4: Four

"Are you sure it's this way?" Doubted Huddinli.

"I got it." Mumbled Pendi, crouching and looking at the ground ahead.

"But are you completely sure?" Asked Brunai, already almost two hours later.

"I got it." Repeated Pendi while searching for something between the bushes.

"I don't think we are even close." Concluded Huddinli, hours since they left the town and when the sun was soon to set.

"I said, I got it!" Snapped the foxgirl, raising her muddy hands after digging into the earth.

"Please!" interrupted Maesron. "Pendi, you are doing great, keep it up!"

"What is she even doing?" Asked Brunai, sending a concerned glare at how the scout seemed to play around in the mud.

"In my years of adventuring, I learned that you never question an expert!" Claimed Maesron in a proud voice.

"I'm not questioning her talent, just her sanity." Replied Brunai when Pendi started kicking the ground with unexplained fury.

Janilari witnessed the spectacle with a sigh. It had stopped being fun exactly two hours ago. If this is how their quests usually went, this party of adventurers had even worse chances than she thought.

It didn't help that Rida hadn't said a word to her, or at all, since their conversation about magic. The sorcerer just rode in silence, barely looking at anyone and merely glaring at the demon whenever she sent her one of her signature smiles.

Janilari liked to think she understood humans better than most demons. She was conscious that mortals had a fundamentally different way of thinking. The pending loom of death did all kinds of things to the minds of those poor creatures. But still, she felt like she needed a book or two to comprehend how Rida's brain worked, being so different from her previous summoners.

But despite how difficult the sorcerer could be, Janilari was already concocting a plan.

"Can't you do something about this?" Said Brunai. Being so lost in her thoughts, it took a few seconds for Janilari to realize she was being addressed.

"Sorry, what?"

"You have magic or something, don't you?" Asked the tall, muscular woman. "Finding a couple of crashed wagons shouldn't be too hard."

"Oh, that's a great idea!" Jumped Maesron.

"... You can just point in a direction." Added Huddinli, tiredly.

Janilari pretended to consider it, putting a finger on her chin.

"I don't know..." She hesitated. "Are you sure that you want the help of a... Demon?"

Her theatrical delivery didn't have much of an effect on her audience, but she still enjoyed their frustration.

"Is that necessary?"

"You know you are wasting your time just like us, right?"

Janilari crossed her arms. "I'll have you know, I literally have all the time in the world."

"Rida, can you order your demon to help?" Remarked Brunai.

Rida didn't seem like she was paying attention, but she immediately tensed at the request. She barely opened her mouth, hesitating for a couple of awkward seconds.

"Oh, you want to ruin the process?" Said Janilari, again to the rescue! "Do you prefer a little helping hand now, or a permanent improvement for the long term? Ugh, so impatient."

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm saying that you don't need help finding a stupid cart! You should let me observe how you normally work, to better help you later!"

"Actually, a caravan is more of a group of carts, rather than only one." Pointed Maesron. "I made sure to get that right. Either way, I agree! Pendi got this!"

"Is not your choice, is it?" Asked Huddinli, glancing between Janilari and Rida. "If Rida thinks differently, you have to obey her."

With that, the mage sighed in resignation, as if the demoness wouldn't cover for her lie.

"Pst. You think I don't know that?" Asked Janilari, crossing her arms. "But Rida is smart, and she knows I'm right." And with a proud look, she glanced at the sorcerer, who stared at her directly.

"... Yeah." Rida hesitated, in a confused, but relieved tone. "Its... Better if Janilari gets an idea... Of how useless we are."

"That's right!" The demon clapped cheerfully. The other adventurers looked at Rida in betrayal. "Besides, as Pendi said, she's got this!"

The demoness gestured at the foxgirl ahead, and everyone turned to see her. While they were talking, the scout had unearthed something: a wooden wheel, which she now was struggling to lift from the ground.

As both Maesron and Brunai dismounted to help her, and Huddinli approached still in his horse, Janilari and Rida exchanged a look. The mage was looking at her with mistrust and apprehension, but also confusion. The demon just smiled, hoping it would put the mage at ease, but Rida just seemed more confused.

Maesron and Brunai took the wheel from a Pendi who was covered head to toe in dirt. The foxgirl then laid herself on the ground, breathing heavily.

"There's-" The scout said between breaths. "There's more... Still buried. The caravan."

Maesron looked at the wheel, then at the foxgirl. "Amazing! I knew you could do it, Pendi!"

"Never doubted you for a second." Deadpanned Huddinli. Pendi, still from the ground, looked for something with her sight until she found Rida.

"Not so... Useless now, huh?" She exhaled with a satisfied look on her face.

The mage looked at the wheel and sighed. "Good job, Pendi."

The scout just smiled and closed her eyes, exhausted. Janilari observed how Rida shook her head with the tiniest sign of a smile humanly possible.

"None of this is damaged." They all turned to Brunai, who was retrieving more pieces from the buried carts. "They were disarmed."

"Do we know it's the one we are looking for?" Inquired Huddinli.

"Matches the description!" Confirmed Maesron, still examining the wheel.

"What did they say they were moving again?"

"Local transport of food. Wheat, seeds, all that stuff."

"No trail of any of that here." Added Brunai.

"So they took the food, buried the evidence." Sighed Rida. "We still need to find where they went, and where they took the animals and the drivers."

"Well..." Maesron hesitated. "The mission didn't specify that..."

"We are NOT getting paid just for this, Maesron." The mage impatiently gestured at the disarmed wheel. "If we want the actual reward we need to find whoever did this."

"I know, I know. But then what?" The armored adventurer replied. "We should report this back! We can't face bandits or... Worse!"

"Yes, we can." Rida almost growled, taking Maesron aback. But the knight just sighed.

"Well, we shouldn't. Violence is not our way."

Janilari couldn't suppress a snicker, earning herself a death glare from Rida.

"Isn't the whole point of this company to help people?" She refuted. "Or do we just want to avoid any confrontation?"

"You know what the company values are, Rida!"

"Really?" The mage deadpanned, glaring at Maesron. "Right now, I just think you might be a coward."

"Oh, come on, Rida." Protested Brunai.

"... What? Am I wrong for not wanting us to be a joke anymore?"

"What's gotten into you?" Remarked Huddinli, slowly. "A year ago you wouldn't have said any of this."

A tense silence followed, with Maesron, Pendi, and Brunai exchanging concerned glances, and Rida glaring at Huddinli.

"Fine! If you want to go back with only a fucking wheel to show for your work, go ahead! Pendi, point me where the bandits went, and ill do the rest myself!"

"Are you crazy or something!?"

"I'd rather be crazy than a coward!"

"Rida... You can't... Is dangerous..."

"Well, I have a DEMON!" Shouted Rida, gesturing wildly at Janilari. The demoness blinked and waved awkwardly at the adventurers. "I AM danger!"

The rest of the company reacted with stunned silence. "And what is your demon going to do, exactly?" Pointed Huddinli. Rida hesitated for just a second.

"She specializes in non-lethal combat."

"Non-lethal!?" Exclaimed Janilari. Another oxymoron! The point of combat was killing!

"YES!" Shouted Rida, turning to her and glaring, and oh, how her eyes looked when filled with murderous rage...!

"Uh... Yes, huh... Non-lethal... Sure, is my thing, yeah." She stammered, without breaking eye contact with the mage.

With that, the sorcerer turned to the adventurers.

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"You can do whatever you want, but you can't stop me from doing this. Pendi, where?"

The foxgirl, looking almost scared of getting yelled at too, raised a shaky arm and pointed in a direction. "... I think they went that way."

Rida stared at the horizon in that direction, sighed, and guided her horse that way. Janilari followed immediately.

"I must say, that was awesome!" The demon gushed, not caring if the rest overheard. "But we should talk about what you said..."

"Non-lethal. It's not negotiable." Rida grunted, sending her a side look.

"Oh, not that. When you said something like, 'I am danger', that was hilarious!"

Janilari smiled when she saw a weak shade of pink cross the mage's face.

"I... Did say that." Cringed the sorcerer.

"Yeah, but don't worry. It all worked out." The demon said, looking back and seeing the four adventurers trailing behind. "They are following."

Rida did not look back, but Janilari saw her visibly relax.

"Good." Said the mage with a sigh.

*

Eventually, Pendi was once again in front of the party, guiding them through the hills and forests, while Rida and Janilari ended up again at the back. There was still some distance between the two and the rest of the group, but it wasn't long before the four ahead returned to normal and Maesron started retelling another story.

This left Rida and Janilari alone, and the demon with ample opportunity to talk with her summoner.

"So... what is your favorite color?"

"None."

"What do you do to have fun?"

"Nothing."

"Do you prefer night or day?"

"Neither."

... It wasn't going well.

Luckily Janilari didn't have much time to dwell on her botched conversations before Pendi announced, excitedly, that they were getting close. Rida rushed her horse to catch up with the rest of the group, and Janilari followed with her arms crossed in frustration.

"There's a trail over here!" Claimed Pendi, pointing at a small path between the foliage. "It was used today, look at the treads on the ground!"

Maesron inspected the place and clapped. "Excellent, Pendi!"

The foxgirl winced at the sound of his gauntlets but smiled widely nonetheless.

"The horses won't fit there." Pointed Rida. "Leave them here."

Almost half an hour later they were still going down the path, struggling with the plants that encumbered the trail. Even Pendi had some difficulty finding the correct way, and Maesron was almost forced to crawl as his armor limited his mobility. Janilari followed them on the ground despite having much better options, but she didn't want to feel left out! Ahead of her, Brunai struggled to move, hindered by her larger frame, and the weight of her battleaxe that left a track on the ground as it was dragged along.

When the path started to open ahead, it was already dark. They came out into a clear of the forest, surrounded by steep hills beyond the foliage. In the middle of the clearing, there was a dried, dead giant tree with light seeping out between its exposed roots.

And as they approached they heard the sounds of a celebration: shouts, music, singing, some screams, and weird, barked laughs. Pendi covered her nose as the smell from underground reached them.

"... That doesn't smell human." Mumbled the foxgirl in a low voice. The adventurers looked at each other and carefully stepped forward to peek between the roots.

They found a large, underground chamber dug around the roots of the tree, lighted with small candles of smokeless fire, and filled with small, skinny creatures that Janilari did not recognize. They had a vaguely human shape, but no one would mistake them for one. They looked like a failed copy of a human child, with their long, thin limbs disproportionate to their small bodies.

And they were all moving around to the rhythm of a strange song, the music coming from odd instruments along the walls and reverberating through the chamber. Their dancing was quite unique, their limbs flexing in different directions than humans' could. Most of the inhuman creatures laughed at their own activities, and their voices somehow were the most glaring difference between them and the humans.

All in all, they seemed like they were having lots of fun! Janilari laughed herself, infected by their celebratory cheer, and earned a glare from the entire adventuring company.

"What?" She asked in a innocent tone.

"Can you keep quiet?" Harsh-whispered Rida, though the creatures didn't seem to hear them beyond their racket.

"What?" repeated the demon, whispering back.

"Goblins." Affirmed Huddinli, holding a book and having his bag at his side. Janilari attempted to lean over to see what else was inside. "I didn't knew there were some in this region."

"... Fuck." Replied Brunai, in a fatalist tone. "There goes our chance for diplomacy."

"... Why?" Said Janilari, crossing her arms. "I'm sure they are very reasonable little guys!"

"They are not." Remarked Huddinli, still reading his book. "They hate humans."

"The feeling is mutual." Added Brunai.

Pendi pointed at something beneath. "There! The animals."

The adventurers followed her hand and saw three mules, still with their leather straps, panicked as they were surrounded by goblins. Pendi took a sniff.

"Smells like meat. They already killed one."

Just in cue, a group of goblins wrestled one of the mules down, struggling and slowly moving it to a concrete point of the wall that exhibited a fiery hole... Some kind of furnace.

"This is awful!" Exclaimed Maesron, scandalized.

"... You eat meat too, Maesron."

The knight hesitated, then his eyes widened. "I do!" He concluded, even more horrified.

"And there's the wheat." Rida nodded to a corner of the underground cave, where the grain was piled and used by goblin youths to play around. "We found it."

They all nodded, and slowly looked at Rida. "Now what?"

"Now we do our jobs." Grunted the sorcerer.

"The town hall pays three coins per goblin. Is that what you are suggesting, Rida?" Asked Huddinli in a sardonic tone.

"Three coins each one!?" Exclaimed Janilari. "That's like nine hundred coins in there! It would cover what you owe to the bald guy!"

Maesron gasped. "Rida! You owe Galdio money!?"

"Everyone, shut up!" Snapped the mage. "Stop wasting time and let's retrieve the food before they eat more of it!"

"... But should we?" Asked Huddinli. At the questioning glances of the rest, he nodded at the goblins beneath. "Look at them. They were starving. Do we want to take their chance at survival?"

"They stole that food!"

"Stealing doesn't hurt anyone!" Protested Janilari way too suspiciously, remembering the bread she gave Rida. The sorcerer facepalmed.

"They stole it, it's only fair we take it back."

"I'm not sure, Rida..." Hesitated Maesron. "Do we really want to make this kind of decision?"

Rida seethed for a second, glared at the goblins, and took a deep breath. Janilari was surprised at seeing her expression soften.

"Probably not." She grumbled almost to herself. It was clear she was unhappy with the situation.

Janilari tilted her head, finding that she had a pretty good idea of where to take her plan to help the summoner, even if it had to wait for later.

"What about the farmers?" Asked Pendi.

"I'm sure they can survive without four donkeys and some lost wheat." Replied Huddinli.

"No." The foxgirl pointed at the other side of the chamber. "The farmers."

And there they were. Someone had to be guiding the carts, after all. Six humans tied to each other with some green rope, pushed into a corner of the room and harrassed by the goblins surrounding them.

"Shit." Cursed Brunai. "Why are they keeping them?"

"Maybe they'll ask for rescue?"

"Goblins don't know the concept of negotiation." Replied Huddinli, but he also sounded unsure about the presence of the drivers.

Janilari looked around, finding everyone similarly confused, and couldn't suppress a light-hearted laugh. At the looks of confusion she promptly received, she just shrugged and said:

"Isn't it obvious?" She pointed at the furnace in the wall, that the mule was trying to flee as it was still pushed by the goblins. "They are also meat."

The adventurers gave looks of horror, but Rida's soon morphed into a cold stare. The demoness laughed.

Now this would be fun. 

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