Chapter 66 - A Good Samaritan

Very calmly, Drake tied up the two surviving criminals, who were still unconscious, and threw them aside nonchalantly. The father of the family had gestured to the saddle of one Yscalent when he asked for rope, and, lo and behold, he found it there.

Now that he was sure the outlaws wouldn't be able to escape, Drake went into the forest to pick up his rifle and bring back his own mount. After calming down, the family understood he was on their side, so they didn't make much of a fuss. Having dragged the three bodies to where the civilians couldn't see them, Drake sat next to the fire, and gestured for them to do the same.

"Sorry you had to see all that, but I didn't have much time to think of a cleaner way to do it. Hesitating could have ended badly."

"N-No! I-I mean, don't apologize! We understand, and we are very grateful! You saved our lives!"

The one who answered was the mother. Even though she said that, she still pushed her daughter behind her, as far away from Drake as she possibly could without him noticing. He didn't blame her, not after what had happened, and what was going to happen. A little fear from strangers would do them good in the future.

"I'm Drake. If you don't mind, could you let me have a look at your arm, mister..."

"Forlei. Paul Forlei. And yes, of course! Thank you!"

The man, Paul, took off his shirt, and Drake saw that his wound was barely more than a scratch. Although there was a lot of blood, it wasn't as bad as it looked. Taking out a needle and a roll of surgical thread, Drake silently thanked his grandfather for forcing him to learn how to stitch wounds. Caleb had been adamant that he had to learn that and other skills before adventuring.

"May I?"

After receiving permission, he quickly closed the injury, and cleaned around it. Then, he put a bandage on top, and analyzed his work. It wasn't the prettiest, but it would do until the family got to a city and found a life-type Ifere.

Dismissing their new round of thanks, Drake took out a portion of the dry food Frost Grass City's medic had given him - the Mystic Iferes bless his thoughtfulness - and started munching on it. He had a feeling that if he tried to leave now, the family wouldn't let him, out of fear, so he might as well sleep here.

"Why are you traveling on your own, anyway? I don't wanna offend anyone, but if you can't protect yourselves, you would better stay at an outpost during the night."

The twelve kingdoms had many differences, but they also had some similarities. One of them was that every roughly fifty to sixty kilometers, there was bound to be an outpost. It was a fair distance, but as long as one had an Yscalent, they could make it in a day.

Hearing his question, the couple couldn't help but share an embarrassed look. Obviously, Drake was right, and, after tonight's events, they dare not say they could take care of themselves.

"It's our fault... We passed the last outpost just a little after midday, so we thought we could make it to the next today. But..."

"Hum..."

Drake nodded, acknowledging their motive. They were clearly city folk, so they could never imagine how dangerous the wilderness could be. Hell, he would have thought the same as them if it wasn't for his encounter with the Moontrit. Remembering how close to death he had come still sent shivers down his spine.

"Well, the important thing is that you survived, and now know to never make that mistake again. Especially now the war is at full throttle. Gangs of scum like them are a lot more common, eyeing easy prey like you."

"We understand."

"Uhum. Where are you coming from? You don't seem like refugees."

"We aren't. My cousin lives in Frost Grass City, and we were visiting her when his goddamn war broke out. Curse Menoraz and their greed!"

Paul would have gone on a long bout of swearing if his wife didn't pinch him, and made him look at Drake. Their savior's expression had the same seriousness from before, but seemed a little colder now.

"Lapidum Kingdom were the ones who started this war, not Menoraz. Not that it matters..."

Sighing, Drake got up to check the Yscalents. The Iferes were unaffected by the whole battle that happened, and were happily grazing the brown grass at their feet. He didn't need to actually do anything, he only wanted an excuse to get away from the conversation. It was taking a turn he would rather not discuss.

"Are you... A soldier?"

The one who spoke was the young girl, finally stepping away from her mother's protective hug to get closer to the fire. She looked to be about fifteen or sixteen, barely more than a kid. However, her eyes were surprisingly clear. Drake shrugged.

"No. But I know soldiers from both Lapidum and Menoraz, and I would rather not see them killing themselves."

"Ugh..."

A quiet groan interrupted them, and Drake turned to the two surviving criminals, a smile forming on his face. Walking towards the waking hooligan, he pulled him up. It was the one whose bottle Drake had shot, and there were several cuts on his face.

"Wakey, wakey, a*shole."

"You! You are the person... You killed my friends!"

The outlaw looked like he would take a swing at Drake if his hands weren't tied. The adventurer couldn't care less. If it wasn't because he needed the man to do something, he would use him as a punching bag again.

"Wake your buddy over there. I got a job for you."

"I ain't doing sh*t... Uff!"

Following Higler's philosophy that one punch never hurt nobody, Drake quickly persuaded the man to do as he was told. Once both criminals were awake, he untied them - but always under the threat of being shot if they tried anything - and pointed to the bodies of their three companions.

"Dig a grave. Even scum deserves a final resting place. And then a separate one for the Lisio. It's worth more than all of you put together."

Who would dare to complain when there was a gun aimed at their faces? For the next hour and a half, the soft soil of the forest was overturned, and then the corpses were lowered in. Only after they were done did Drake tie them up again.

"Whatchu gonna do with us now?"

"Uhum... I should deliver you to the first black-coat I find, but that is more trouble than you are worth having. Behave tonight, and I just might let you go in the morning."

Drake wasn't being honest. If he arrived with two tied-up criminals in an outpost, questions would be asked, and there was the risk of his identity being found. Sure, it was a very small risk, but he was still too close to Frost Grass City to be comfortable interacting with the Lapidum Army.

"How do we know you are going to keep your promise?!"

"You don't, but the other option is joining your three friends under the ground. Would you prefer that? Thought so. Then shut the f*ck up!"

Pushing the two men aside, Drake returned to the campfire, where Paul and his family looked at him, their eyes glinting with what could be fear or worship, he wasn't sure.

"Are you really going to let them go?! They almost... Almost..."

"I know, Miss Forlei. Unfortunately, the kingdom is in the middle of a war now, and the military doesn't have enough personnel to deal with lowlifes like them. Even if I turned them in, they would either be released the next day, or, more probably, executed. Although they might be scum, they don't have any killing intent, so I think they deserve another shot at life. And, if they don't keep in line, they are going to meet a premature end very soon."

"Killing... Intent?"

"Don't think too much of it. You wouldn't understand, and I pray you never have to."

Drake himself was just starting to understand what killing intent implied. It was a concept Higler had mentioned more than once. Before, he thought it was related to how many people someone had killed. Now, after his encounter with the Cleaners, he wasn't so sure anymore. Whatever it was, the two hooligans had none of it, which was why Drake was fine with letting them go.

"If I may ask, Mister Drake, to where are you going? We might be able to do part of the journey together. It... It would put me and my family more at ease."

"Haha... I'm not going anywhere in particular. I'm just wandering around, trying to find and stop criminal scumbag from committing their wrongdoings, just like I did today."

"That... That's impressive! You sound like one of those... What are they called? Uhmm... Rangers! That's it!"

Chuckling, Drake said nothing. Paul's wife was very close to the truth. They talked for a while more, and the two criminals stood silent after Drake threatened to knock them unconscious again. After a few minutes, the couple fell asleep, sitting as they were. Only Drake - who was planning on staying up the entire night, to keep watch - and the teenager, whom he had learned was called Ava, were still awake.

"You should catch some rest too, you know? Been through a lot tonight."

"How... How old are you?"

The question was quite sudden and unexpected. The young girl looked at him with bright eyes, full of admiration and curiosity.

"Twenty-three, almost twenty-four. Why?"

"You ki... Uff... K-Killed them so easily."

To that, there was nothing Drake could say. The three outlaws were easy to deal with, to say the least. But he knew that wasn't what Ava was referring to. She was talking about the mental fortitude necessary to take another human's life. The truth was, however, that Drake didn't feel much when killing them. He didn't enjoy it - in fact, he felt sad for the unnecessary loss of life - but he didn't dwell on it for too long. Between the lives of the family of three, or the bandits, it was clear who he cared more for.

Not in the mood to talk, Drake stared at the sky, his mind eventually wandering to Frainer and Kniivar. Their connection was strong. Even though there was a big distance between them, he knew his companions were okay.

"What are you thinking about? A-Are you thinking of someone?"

Drake stared at the young girl, and lifted an eyebrow. She blushed and looked away, embarrassed, and didn't catch his grin. He would have to be blind not to notice how Ava looked at him, but she was away too young. He was sure it was just a momentary crush, caused by the life-and-death situation from earlier.

"I got two companions, who are far away at the moment. I know they are safe, but I can't help but feel worried about them."

"Oh! I'm sure they are all right!"

"They are, I can feel them. You don't have a contract, do you?"

Ava shook her head. It was understandable. Before he went out into the wilderness, Drake had always seen Spirit Contracts as a one in a million kinda thing. After he started adventuring, he noticed that it was still very rare to find someone with a contract, be it to an Ifere or another person. Even if it wasn't a one in a million occasion, it was still a one in a hundred thousand.

Signing a Spirit Contract required both parties to have absolute trust in one another. Even the slightest hesitation would cause it to fail. And experiencing the world, walking in a knife's edge, with your life on the line, had a way of building said trust that those who lived in cities would never know.

There were ways of forcing a Spirit Contract, though. One was to sign it with a newborn Ifere or a very young human child. At that age, they had no idea of the meaning behind the contract. It didn't always work, however, especially on Iferes. Individuals of most species, even when extremely young, already feared humans, and for good reasons. As a biologist, Drake was more than aware that the number of Ifere species driven to extinction by humans was in the thousands.

There were also rumors about some not so noble ways of forcing a Spirit Contract. There were drugs that could be used to confuse Iferes and humans alike, to the point when they couldn't muster any thought. Certain skills would also do the trick. However, those were, at least in Drake's opinion, baseless rumors. He had never seen or heard of any actual case of it happening, nor found any proof of it.

"If one day you come to have a contract, be it with a human or an Ifere, you will understand. If they were in any danger, I would feel it. Still, if someone very dear to you is far away, especially in the wilderness, you too would feel worried, no?"

"Y-Yes! I would!"

"Haha... Catch some shuteye, Ava. Tomorrow's gonna be a long day."

Albeit unwillingly, the girl followed his advice, and laid on her mother's lap to sleep. From time to time she would open one eye, and sneak a glance at Drake, only to find that he was still awake, staring at the stars. Eventually, however, stress and exhaustion took the best of her.

"Frainer... Kniivar... Be safe."