Briley and Garin walk out of the River Inn, having just been able to secure a room for the girls in exchange for their labor. As they negotiated with the inn owner Greta, Briley explained how the girls seemed unfamiliar with the area and how he was worried they would run into something dangerous traveling at night. Greta being old and stubborn, said that she wasn't willing to give up anything for free, unless she was able to get two laborers and give herself a short vacation. Briley didn't intend to offer anything and was fully expecting Garin to be the one sacrificing his time, it was his fondness for a certain eye patched girl that made him think of the idea after all. Still, Briley was okay if it meant that their guests had a place to sleep for the night, even if he had to overwork himself this week.
The sun had disappeared, and moonlight covered the village, contrasting with the warm orange lights that emitted from inside the homes of the residents and the bar. At this point, Briley was exhausted and simply wanted to go home and pass out on his bed, he began to say goodbye.
"Alright, we got them their room. I think it's time for me to go home and play dead for a while." He said jokingly, finally able to unwind a bit after leaving the presence of the three attractive friends.
"Hold on Briley. I thought we could hang out for a little while, you know…talk about your trip." Garin quickly responded.
Briley raised a brow at this and then realized that Garin just wanted to know more about the girls, or maybe just about Shizu. "I don't know Garin, I'm pretty tired. I had to go on that supply run and then had to show the girls around the village. All that and now I have to help the inn and the shop, so I got a lot of work ahead of me."
Garin winced at the last part, having accidently dragged his friend into the work he had intended to do himself. "I know, sorry. But I just want to catch up a little bit, please?"
Briley sighed knowing he was already inching towards going with his friend, he had always been a people pleaser, almost to a fault. "Yeah, ok fine. We'll get something to eat and talk but only for a little bit." Briley muttered.
Garin smiled at this, then the pair proceeded to head over to the bar, which sat very close to the River Inn. The bar or as it was locally known, Ellyn's, was spacious and looked to be well kept. This was because Ellyn's was practically the only place that people from the village came to converse and enjoy themselves, such a spot would naturally be looked after by everyone. Briley and Garin sat themselves at the end of the bar counter and ordered their food, the place was surprisingly empty even for its local popularity.
"So…how did you end up meeting those three?" Garin started, not taking much interest in his food.
"I was coming back from my run and just heard them through the woods. We walked the rest of the way together, although Lupus was the only one who seemed to want to talk. She spoke to you, so you know what I mean."
Garin's face constricted thinking back to that embarrassing moment, "Yeah she did. I wasn't ready for that to be honest, I just wanted to meet her…err…I mean them, you know?"
Briley smirked at his friend's stutter, "If you wanted to meet Entoma that badly, the least you could've done was construct a decent sentence." He said sarcastically.
Garin shot a frown at his friend's direction and continued, "Come on Briley. You know who I mean, it's not like I had a master poker face."
"Yeah, I could tell, but at least you came in to save the day by getting her and her friends that room." Briley said, trying to shift the glory over to his friend in order to cheer him up.
"Yeah I guess, but you helped too, and she didn't even say anything about it." Garin replied rather gravely.
Briley breathed in and out before trying to talk again, "Look, from what I've seen, Shizu isn't one to do a lot of talking. I'm sure she was grateful, just let her shyness get the best of her."
"Sounds like that could be it. Still, you think there's a chance she is…you know…looking for someone?" Garin asked cautiously.
Briley's face fell a little as he prepared to give his honest answer, "It didn't seem like it but then again, I've only known them a short time." He decided to continue with a theory he had thought of in order to change the subject from his friend's crush. "Also, from their taste in things and looks, I think there's a good chance those three come from a rich part of the country."
"Really? I guess that could make sense, they definitely feel out of place all the way out here. You think they're really just traveling or trying to do something else, looking for something maybe?"
"I have no clue." Briley responded, scratching his head. "If I had to guess even further, they might be trying to get away from something, considering they're traveling alone."
Garin's face saddened at his friend's speculation. "Well if that's the case, I hope they end up okay. I would hate for someone hurt them or anything."
Briley's eyes closed as he took a deep breath, "Yeah, Me too…Anyway, I think I'm going to call it here man, I feel like sleeping forever."
"huh? Oh yeah, sure. Thanks for our little talk, I'll see you tomorrow."
Briley sluggishly got up and left the bar, leaving his friend thinking to himself.
Back with the Pleiades...
Entoma had informed her sisters that she would roughly be following the river, she thought perhaps there would be some animals taking a late night drink. Lupus had left almost as soon as announcing her plans and was possibly too excited for her own good. CZ saw her sisters off and sat down in her room's desk, preparing to write the daily report for Lord Ainz, she was secretly thrilled to be writing something that would be read by him. CZ figured that she could hand deliver it, hopefully to Lord Ainz himself, then acquire some of the currency for this world. As she was only beginning to record their journey a knock came from the door. CZ got up, at the same time taking a grip on one of her pistols from inside her coat. As CZ opened the door, she loosened her grip, quickly assessing that the person in front of her was a non-threat.
"Uh, hey Shizu." Garin said.
Shizu blankly stared at him, before deciding to respond, "Hi." Although she wasn't well experienced in interacting with humans, she thought it was strange to have anyone from the village visiting at this time.
"I just wanted to know if you needed anything else, or maybe your friends?" Garin began to feel himself getting tense as he saw that her demeaner was stone-like.
"No. Is that all?" Shizu just wanted to return to her work.
Garin flinched slightly at her directness but was still entranced by the softness of her voice. He had not thought of a good reason to disturb the girls, he just wanted to speak to Shizu again, just in case they left early in the morning.
"Well if you need anything it's a small village, you can find me around. You guys leaving early or…" Garin trailed off trying to sound casual and not creepy, unknowing that Shizu would not care.
"We have not discussed it and they are currently sleeping. Is that all?" Shizu had added a cover for her sisters and tried to stay vague regarding their departure, even the slightest information could transfer into something important.
"Um alright, well if you have time tomorrow, I thought I could show you some cool spots outside the village." Garin had managed to ask this despite knowing it was unlikely she would say yes, he was still a stranger after all.
"It's unlikely there will be time for such activities." At this moment Shizu was slowly closing the door, deciding that this conversation was going to have little to no payoff.
Garin noticed the door closing and stumbled to get out his last word, "I uh, well ok but I'm just saying if you have time we could-" The door steadily shut. Garin's head dropped as he mentally slapped himself for seeming so obsessive. He sighed and headed off to his house, planning to wake up early in order to at least say goodbye.
CZ thought little of the interaction and went back to writing her report.
Meanwhile on Entoma's excursion…
Entoma walked several feet from the river's edge, having her senses on alert for any animal that could've made for a decent snack. While she wanted to have a sample of one or two of the villagers, she was not so defiant as to do it at her own accord. Lord Ainz had ordered them to only "defend" themselves against hostile humans and CZ was constantly reminding them of it. Entoma of course loved her little sister but felt that she was constantly worrying. Lupus had been relaxed since the trip started, so obviously she was confident with the steps they had taken so far. At this moment, Entoma felt a presence several yards in front of her. She swiftly raised her sleeved "arm" and shot out an insect that had the form of a large dart. After hearing a short yelp, Entoma began to walk towards her downed target and started to salivate underneath her mask at the thought of fresh meat. She stood over what looked to be a wolf, the insect had pierced its side killing it instantly. The dart like insect independently dug itself out and crawled back inside Entoma's robe.
"Hmm, you don't look very tasty, but I suppose your legs should have a lot of decent muscle." Entoma softly spoke to herself.
She approached the animal and used a short blade to cut off one of its legs, bringing the severed limb up underneath her chin. She slightly adjusted her cloth face cover and took a sample of the wolf's leg.
A bit of tearing and chewing could be heard before she started to speak to herself again, "The fur on you is very dirty, I guess that was to be expected. Still, the meat is ok." She Continued eating. Entoma was so engrossed with her feeding that she failed to notice the two men approach her. It wasn't until one of them said something that Entoma finally noticed.
"What the…hell?"
Entoma shifted her head to the right, where the pair of men stood and tilted her head curiously after visually inspecting them.
Just moments before…
Razor and Brigham were currently walking through the woods, scouting ahead of their group to make sure that their path would be empty. They were part of the Oxmen and they were damn excited to be the ones kicking off what would be something huge.
Razor, a tall, skinny and bald man couldn't stop talking about their current assignment, "Yeah, yeah. I know we're the newest members and all, but I still think they could've sent a veteran out with us. It's not like it would've taken a lot. They're just sitting back in the cave with Ox, having a grand old time."
Brigham, a scruffy looking woodsman type, stood at the same level as his partner. He sighed before replying, "Man, do you know how to shut your trap? They sent us to do the scouting precisely because we're the newbies. If we can't even do this, they got no use for us."
"Anybody could make sure a path was clear, especially at night. I'm just saying a veteran could've at least made for some interesting conversation, we could've asked him more about the group." Razor replied trying to clarify his point.
"What? You want to be entertained? Then go tell one of the veterans to do a dance for you, I'm sure he wouldn't mind." Brigham joked.
"Pfft, yeah right, and get my eyes gouged out? I'd rather spend the night with someone as boring as you!"
Brigham smirked, "Screw you. They probably sent me with you to make sure that the mosquitos don't take you out."
Razor hated skinny jokes. "You got jokes huh? Well at least I didn't-" Just as Razor was about to bring up the time Brigham got conned by a child, something caught his attention. The sound of a dog yelping could be heard and immediately stopped the two's bickering. They looked at each other and turned their head in the direction of the noise, laying their hands on the handles of their weapons.
Razor looked at his partner, "From that way, right?"
Brigham nodded and the two began making their way towards the sound. They walked slowly, making sure that their feet avoided any branches or leaves. It was dark, but the moonlight was decent tonight and up to the point that they heard the sound, it was nearly dead quiet. After getting closer to the source the two could hear what sounded like crunching, as if walnuts were being crushed. In both their heads, the worst case scenario was probably just a big animal or a villager hunting. They finally got so close that they could make out a hooded figure, they immediately thought hunter, but were surprised by his short stature. As Razor was getting ready to call out the hunter, he noticed that the figure was holding something. It was the leg of the animal it had killed, but the person was holding it up to his face and by the sounds of it, was eating it raw. At this sight, Razor couldn't help but let a phrase slip out of his mouth.
"What the…hell?"
The figure looked in their direction and pulled up their cloth mask to cover the lower half of their face. The figure then proceeded to toss the animal limb aside and turn their whole body towards them. As they got a better look, they could make out the feminine features. This would explain the shortness of the figure, but still left other questions to be answered. Since Razor was still shocked by the sight of a person eating a raw animal leg, Brigham decided to speak up at the sight of a non-threatening girl.
"Hey, who the hell are you?" At this point he had completely unsheathed his short sword.
"My name is Entoma. I was just out getting a late night snack, I'd like it if you and your friend just pretended like you didn't see me." Entoma said, daintily bringing her arms in together.
Brigham thought it was strange she referred to the limb as a "snack" but chose to get straight to the point, "Heh, sorry but we can't do that, if you're with that village down the ways, we got to make sure you don't blow our cover."
"I'm not with the village, I'm just traveling."
Brigham took a step closer and continued, "Really now? Sounds like something someone who was trying to save their own hide would say, right Razor?" He referenced his friend in order to bring him back to reality.
"Uh? Oh yeah. Listen here, Entoma was it? You sound pretty young and sure as hell seem weird, but we can't just let you go on your way. If you want, we'll make it quick in exchange for a favor or two." Razor said the last part with a salacious smile, he had also brought out his axe and held it beside him. Brigham simply smirked at his partner's suggestion.
Entoma let her arms drop and leaned her head slightly foreword, presenting a menacing look. "Are the two of you planning on attacking me?"
Razor took a few steps forward, sensing that she was about to make a run for it. "Well, we sure don't plan on letting you go on your merry way little girl."
"That's too bad. I do have permission to defend myself you know." Entoma stated, standing her ground.
"Doesn't everybody…" Razor finally closed the gap between Entoma and himself standing only a few feet from her. Brigham began to circle the two in order to get behind Entoma and make sure she didn't get away. The sound of the nearby river could be heard as the situation was building tenser.
"Since you're being such a cocky brat, I'm going to make sure you feel this!" Razor took a final step forward and swung his axe towards Entoma's Side.
He had expected to hear her scream next, but instead was surprised with the sound of metal hitting metal. His eyes went wide for a second as he examined what he had just hit, it was an oval shield with a strange design and small spikes sticking out of it. His arm painfully vibrated in return and he took a step back.
"What! You little…" Razor had not even spotted the shield previously, he had no clue how it appeared from nowhere. "Brigham!" He yelled over to his friend and signaled for the two to attack at the same time.
Brigham nodded and the two positioned themselves parallel with each other, with Entoma in the center. They shot each other a look of confirmation and lunged. Brigham saw that Entoma was keeping her shield towards Razor's attack and recoiled his short sword even further. Brigham came down with all his force but was stopped by another weapon, Entoma's own sword that was attached to her in a strange fashion. He looked over at Razor and saw that his attack was stopped again by Entoma's shield. They kept their weapons on Entoma, mounting as much pressure at they could. Entoma unnaturally turned her head side to side to get a look at both the men.
"Hmm you two are weak, and only one of you look like you'd make a good meal. Although, I do have to kill both of you considering you attacked me." Entoma added more force to her sword that was keeping Brigham busy, pushing him back.
"What…is…thi-" Brigham was clenching his teeth trying to resist Entoma's force.
Entoma eventually added one final push sending Brigham falling backwards, she then turned her attention to Razor. She still had her shield clashing with his axe, she quickly brought her sword around and swung down on her enemy.
Razor panicked, and he quickly disengaged with Entoma, dropping his axe and falling backwards. Entoma's sword just managed to clip his shoulder leaving a nasty slice and blood running down his body. Razor let out a painful scream as he clutched his shoulder and attempted to use his legs to get away from Entoma. Brigham recovered from his fall and decided to charge with all his might while Entoma was seemingly distracted. He let out a fierce war cry as he once again cocked his arm back. Entoma simply turned around and used her sword to parry Brigham's attack and swiftly follow up with a bash from her shield. This sent Brigham flying back and only stopping when his back came in contact with a tree. He spit out blood and landed on his stomach, the pain intensifying because of the spikes on Entoma's shield that had pierced his belly.
"This is sort of fun I guess, you two are no better than the wolf I killed, but at least you started it." Entoma said scratching her head with her shield arm.
Entoma turned her attention back to Razor who was still crawling away and started to walk towards him. Razor in turn saw no other option, but to beg for his life, Entoma didn't even seem to be interested in fighting before.
"Wa…Wait! I'm sorry! This was all a big misunderstanding! We thought you were someone else!"
Entoma now stood over Razor and slightly angled her head in thought. "Hmm? Who did you think I was?"
Razor didn't know what to expect from this girl and all he could do was try and stall. "I um, we just thought you were with the village! But now we know we were wrong! Please! We were just out completing an assignment! We didn't mean to anger you!"
"Humans really make a lot of mistakes. Still, I don't want to let you go, I'm on an assignment too. It would look bad if I let two humans go after seeing my weapons, you would surely report it to someone right?" Entoma's posture was straight and unmoving as she said all this.
"No! I swear we got nobody to tell! You'll never hear from us again!" Razor was nearly crying at this point and could only hope for mercy.
Entoma thought for a second, "Hmm…I think I'll kill you, it would be a lot of trouble to make sure you don't talk and that would also make it easier for Lord Ainz…I think."
Razor was hit with dread and as a last ditch effort, got on his stomach, then his knees and was planning on running for his life. As he got on his feet, he felt something pierce his back then travel through his body and out his stomach, he looked down to see a huge insect leg. He tried to scream but couldn't. His last bit of energy was used as he looked back at Entoma, seeing that her weapons were gone and that the insect leg was coming from under her robe.
"I…didn't…I…" Razor was still trying to save himself through words as his eyes rolled back and his body fell, lifeless.
Entoma brought back her seemingly out of nowhere limb and let the body fall to the ground. "You weren't that strong. I wonder why you chose to fight me?" Entoma turned around to face her last opponent.
"Hmm?" Entoma let out a surprising hum as she saw that the other human was gone. "He was the one that looked like a good meal. I suppose it's only natural that I would have to put in a little more effort into killing him." She looked down too see a trail of blood. "He couldn't have gotten too far…"
Brigham's stomach burned as he crossed the river, it had occurred to him that he was leaving a trail of blood and decided to cover his tracks by crossing the river. The water came up to his chest and was thankfully calm tonight. The river was also wide, but he had already reached the other side. He looked back, clutching his stomach, and feeling somewhat bad about leaving Razor alone.
"Sorry Razor…I'll make sure we kill this thing. I just have to get back to the others." As he started making his way forward, he heard splashing and looked back again. His heart dropped.
Entoma was being suspended by four massive insect legs and she quickly spotted him. Brigham's hands started to shake as he was trying to make sense of what he was seeing, then he ran. Entoma kept her eyes locked on him and crossed the same river with ease, using her tall legs to take a few big steps. Brigham's peripheral vision witnessed Entoma accomplish this and he cursed trying to think of something. This was when he spotted a thick tree line and figured this was his best shot at escaping, her massive legs wouldn't be able to squeeze through, he thought. As he was nearing the tree line, his legs suddenly came to a stop, slinging his body forward to the ground. He groaned in pain and spit out dirt that had been forced in his mouth. He turned his body around and saw a thick, sticky and white substance that had taped his legs to the ground. After realizing that he was stuck, he looked up to see Entoma closing in on his position. The only thing he could do was to claw at the substance and try to rip it off. As his head was looking down and he was focused on trying to release himself, he suddenly felt a presence and knew exactly who it was.
"You're not strong enough to rip my web off." Entoma menacingly stated.
Brigham stopped and suddenly felt his legs go cold, but only because he was starting to feel the horror of the situation. "Listen! I…didn't want to do this! We were just-"
Brigham's voice was cut off as one of Entoma's leg's stabbed straight through his chest, ending him instantly.
"By the sounds of it, you were just going to say the same thing as the other human, thanks for the hunt, but I should start wrapping this up."
Entoma leaned down to start feeding on her catch and managed to finish him rather quickly, she had not had any meat since the start of the mission after all. After completing her dinner, Entoma made her way back to the other human that she had killed. She inspected his body by tearing it apart and came to the conclusion that he was too skinny to have any good meat on him. She retracted her four insect limbs and once again stood on her two legs. She began to talk to herself again.
"That was pretty fun I suppose. I should head back and tell Shizu all about it, hearing such a story from her big sister should ease her stress. Lupus would find the story interesting too, if she has returned." Entoma began her walk back to the village, satisfied with the nights hunt.
Farther up the river path…
Six men wait for any word from the scouts they had sent. They had sent two men to make sure that the path nearly following the river was clear, a task that should've been easy for two guys. The six men were getting impatient and were on the verge of just going forward with the main mission. The group leader spoke.
"Those damn idiots are taking too long, let's just start heading to the village. If we meet anyone on the way we kill them, including those two idiots, got it?" He shot a stare at the rest of his group, phrasing a question but really giving a command.
The group looked to the leader and nodded in agreement.
"Good, Let's go."
A/N: We're starting to reach the interesting parts. Thanks to FijiTION for the review (I think). Thanks to the people who are leaving more than one review too. Thanks for the bookmarks and favorites.