The knight approached Avy a bit more, with her backing up as much as she could, before stopping. Exhaustion hit her hard, as she collapsed to her knees. The Knight looked down at her. “Don’t be afraid of me, I won’t hurt you.” He stated, before kneeling in front of her and gently placing his right hand onto her chin, lifting her head up a bit, to get a better look at her face.

  “Hmm… Unscratched. Good, then the Owl Empress won’t be hanging my skin onto her wall.” He let go of her and stood back up. I picked up the gorgan child with a few shadow appendages from my back, before moving quickly over to the two, getting in between the knight and Avy. “I ask that you back up.” I stood firm.

  Despite the internal fear I felt, I still managed to stare the knight in the eyes – or at least, at his helmet. Somehow, there was pitch black darkness inside his helmet, with nothing of his face visible.

  The Knight looked a bit surprised, crossing his arms.

  I shed a cold sweat — if he decides to use force, I’ll be screwed.

  However, then the Knight actually backed up a few steps, before looking back at me. “Is this distance more comfortable?”

  “...Sure..” I responded, slightly bemused.

  I then threw my gaze over at Avy. “You okay? You looked like you were struggling to hold your ground towards the end there.”

  “I’m fine…. Just a bit exhausted.” Avy responded, standing back up and looking at the Knight again. I also turned my gaze back to him. He was a rather unique looking individual – pure white armour, with gold accents and a thick fuzzy cape that drooped from his shoulder pads. The appearance definitely was fitting to his immense aura, which surrounded his entire body – almost overwhelming me from just being near him.

  “I suppose we should thank you for helping us.”

  After a moment of awkward silence, I spoke up. The Knight simply uncrossed his arms and then bowed towards us. “It was no trouble. It is the duty of the Holy Night order to protect the world from individuals like that man.”

  ‘Holy Night order’... I had heard of it before in Ordial, when we all witnessed this Knight arrive at Ordial on that massive strange flying beast. He said it's their mission to protect the world from individuals like Erwin, so I suppose I could deduce what role this entire organisation played in the world. I shook my head lightly then, raising an eyebrow towards the Knight.

  “How did you find this place? It is so far away from Ordial and in the middle of such a thick forest…”

  “I was tracking the Owl Empress's daughter, the individual behind you, and managed to track her magical energy here.”

  So in short, us trying to hide was a meaningless effort…

  This guy was able to track Avy regardless. “At first, I had thought about entering quietly, to not disturb or scare anyone, however, upon feeling a sudden spike in powerful magical energy, I deduced that there must be some sort of conflict happening inside here.”

  I shed a sweat, laughing lightly, before looking at the huge hole in the ceiling that he had caused. “So you blasted through the ground and ceiling…?”

  “It was the fastest way to get in here. Had I traversed slowly and quietly, the Owl Empress’s daughter wouldn’t be alive right now, would she?”

  He’s….

  Not entirely wrong I suppose. Though it seemed like a message rang out in my mind, asking me if I wanted to use that skill that I had acquired at some point after falling unconscious during the fight against the Southern Beast, I doubt it would have activated in time or even been enough to take down Erwin.

  I rubbed the back of my neck before exhaling.

  “Why… Why are you searching for Avy?”

  The Knight looked at me confused. “Avy…? I see.. A fake name…” He then laughed lightly, causing me and Avy to exchange confused gazes. Then, the Knight brushed off his armour a bit. “Pardon for my amusement. I hadn’t expected her to go as far as to use a fake name to hide.”

  “You… What—?...” I shook my head.

  “I’m confused…”

  “Apologies. Allow me to first of all introduce myself, since you seem unfamiliar with me.” Then the Knight moved closer towards me, before extending his right arm towards me for a handshake. “My name is Harcone. I am a knight of the Holy Night order, an organisation that devotes itself to protecting the world.” I looked at his hand for a moment, then back at him and then gently shook his hand.

  “I’m Riyo. An adventurer…”

  Suddenly a pair of pupils appeared in the Knights helmet, as he stared deep into my eyes – almost like he was staring into my very soul. After a moment of silence, he let go of my hand and the pupils inside his helmet vanished. “Apologies for zoning out there for a moment. Pleasure to meet you Riyo.”

  “Pleasure to meet you as well, Ha… Sir Harcone.”

  I would imagine it is better to show your respect to a Knight like this in this world, so maybe just calling him ‘Harcone’ isn’t a good idea. Better keep it in mind.

  “Now, as for why I was looking for the Owl Empress’s daughter — the Holy King of the Holy Night order had picked up on the beast guarding her seal being slain from an insight he had gained from a certain underground crime organisation,”

  “So someone had seen my fight against the Beast… But literally how? I wasn’t able to pick up on anyone around… Unless..” My train of thought was interrupted by Harcone continuing.

  “I was dispatched here to investigate and find out whether the Beast truly was slain and to find and confirm the whereabouts of the Owl Empress’s daughter, as if something had happened with her, it could have caused a bit of an unpleasant situation with the Owl Empress.”

  “My stupid mother…” Avy muttered under her breath.

  “Unpleasant situation? What sort of ‘unpleasant situation’?” I asked.

  “I’d rather not try and guess what she would try doing.” Then, his gaze fell onto Avy. “Now then, Miss…. Avy, I will require you to accompany me to Tvarta.”

  Avy shook gently, stepping back a bit. I looked at her and then stepped forward a bit, covering her a bit with my body. “For what purpose? I thought you just needed to confirm her whereabouts?”

  “That’s part of it. I was also to bring her back to Tvarta. Surely you can imagine the reason as to why.”

  Avy had stated that her mother is a highly powerful and influential figure, plus from what Harcone has stated so far, Avy’s mother wasn’t someone to test the patience of or even tick off in any way. One could piece together that the reason to bring her back to ‘Tvarta’ – which I assume is where the Holy Night order originates from – is so that she could be either taken care of by this order or even sent back to her mother, now that she was free from her seal.

  However…

  Looking back at Avy and how she reacted to the idea of going with the Knight, I think it was clear she didn’t want to go. She didn’t want to return to her mother. Which was understandable, considering that her mother was the one to place her in that seal in the first place and then even create a hideous monster to guard said seal.

  I looked back at Harcone before shaking my head.

  “Apologies, but I don’t think you’ll be bringing her back. She…” I looked at Avy again, over my shoulder. Avy looked at me with a surprised expression. I gave her a small smile, before looking back at Harcone with a more serious expression. “She doesn’t want to return to her mothers side.”

  Harcone remained silent.

  Then, he looked at Avy behind me, who simply looked away — semi-confirming what I was saying. Then, the Knight turned around, thinking for a moment. His orders were to bring her back, however, without the use of force… If she refused to go with him, there was nothing he could do about it, since apprehending her wasn’t an option. After a long moment of silence, Harcone exhaled heavily.

  “Are you certain? Your mother will most likely not be pleased about this.” He looked at Avy. Avy stepped forward, moving past me and standing in front of the Knight. “..I am certain. I wish…”

  She looked at me, before smiling lightly.

  “I wish to accompany the one who was destined for me. Besides…” She looked at Harcone. “My mothers own words dictated that the one to free me from the seal shall be worthy of taking my hand. Doesn’t that mean I’m free to choose to stay with him? There isn’t a reason for her to be upset.”

  Harcone looked a bit impressed. “Using your own mothers words as a ‘shield’ against her…. Not bad Miss Avy.” Then, the Knight rested his arms onto his hips. “Very well. I won’t force you to come with me. At least I can pass onto the Holy King that the daughter of the Owl Empress is safe and sound.”

  Avy exhaled in relief, before turning around and rejoining my side.

  “Is that all?” I asked, looking at the Knight.

  He crossed his arms. “Somewhat… I am still curious about you, Mister Riyo.”

  I felt a slight shiver run down my spine.

  “Whatever do you mean..?” I asked, laughing lightly. “I’m just an ordinary adventurer…”

  “An ‘ordinary’ adventurer would not be able to take down the Southern Beast.” I froze, shedding a cold sweat. Did he…? No, no way he did. Even if someone saw me defeat the Southern Beast or whatever, there’s no way he’d be able to know that I was the one who did it… Right?

  I mean, the most recognizable part of this human form of mine, the markings, had changed after my evolution to a Shadow Snake, so no way right… Unless, when he had ‘zoned’ out earlier while shaking my hand, he was actually looking at my soul or something.

  “Taking down the Southern Beast? What makes you think I was capable of doing something like that?” I tried to play it off. Maybe if I push hard enough, he will believe me…?

  “You have walking proof of you being the one behind its death beside you.”

  ….Riiight.. The ‘prophecy’ made by Avy's mother…

  I’m a fool.

  “Guess that’s my disguise gone…”

  “Don’t be afraid Mister Riyo, I do not intend to tell anyone about you or what you are. I simply wish to confirm whether you’re a potential threat or not. After all, someone capable of slaying the Owl Empress’ beast is not to be overlooked.”

  So he’s simply concerned with the safety of the world…

  But do I reveal that I am a snake monster? Not even Avy knows that yet. She simply thinks I’m a strong adventurer…

  I thought about it for a bit.

  It was a risky endeavour. How could I tell that this Knight wasn’t lying? Would he really keep silent about me and who I truly am? There was no telling. I exhaled after a bit. “Do you swear to ensure that no one else learns of this?”

  “A knight's promise is absolute, Sir Riyo. The only one I shall mention anything about you is the Holy King, who will not leak any information.” Harcone responded swiftly.

  That eased my nerves… by a little bit.

  I was still skeptical, however, seeing as he was definitely not going to drop this…

  I was left with no choice.

  “Avy, hold onto the child.” I lowered the gorgan child into her arms. Avy gently took hold of the child, who was still breathing heavily. Then, I took in a deep breath before transforming back into my true appearance. My long snake body replaced the previously human body that stood, curling up into a coil almost instantly. My snake form is bigger now. The scales of my body have turned a darker grey colour from its previous colour, with gentle, light purple gradients on each scale. The markings that covered my body were of course also still present and two front fangs of mine felt longer as well.

  Avy’s eyes widened, while Harcone was a bit taken back.

  “...You’re a monster?” Avy asked. I laughed, before projecting my voice out – since in this form I was incapable of using normal speech like them both. “Surprise…?”

  “I see… Now it makes sense.”

  Harcone knelt before me, before gently touching my serpentine head, examining it. “A shadow snake… Rarity to see nowadays. But it also explains everything.” I raised an eyebrow.

  “It… does?”

  “Indeed,” Harcone stood back up. “Shadow Snakes are strong, intelligent monsters which used to reside in the Afterlife, however, after the Great Devourer disappeared, they were all kicked out and spread across the world. Nowadays, most shadow snakes are long lost to time, so seeing one in front of me is a surprise.”

  Didn’t know my evolution to this form was such a big deal…

  Then, does that mean I’m actually really strong? But… That isn’t possible. The way Harcone speaks, it’s like the ‘Shadow Snakes’ he speaks of were far more powerful than me.

  “Though, you are weaker than they were.”

  Ah… confirmed immediately.

  “I’m weaker?”

  “Indeed. Shadow Snakes were one of most powerful soldiers for the Great Devourer to use, each one capable of causing immense destruction.”

  Yeah… I am definitely not like that at all.

  I barely managed to take down the Southern Beast and against Erwin, I was useless.

  I gently laughed, before suddenly Avy patted my head.

  An awkward silence took place.

  “...Uh Avy? What are you doing?”

  “A-Ah— sorry, it’s just this form of yours… It’s rather adorable.”

  Harcone laughed. “That’s the first time I’ve heard a Shadow Snake be called ‘adorable’ instead of an abomination or monstrous creature.” I exhaled, before activating ‘Mimic’ once more, transforming back to my human appearance, before brushing off my clothing.

  “I hope you will keep this a secret.”

  “My lips are shut, Sir Riyo. You are far more docile than I had expected and your power is not nearly enough to be a cause for worry, at least not for now, so I have nothing to stress about.”

  Thank god.

  That means I won’t have any trouble on my ass.

  Then, the gorgan child coughed, her breathing slowing. “I think she’s dying.” Avy panicked a bit, trying to wake the child. Then, she looked at me. “We have to get her medical help.”

  “Right, I will—”

  “It’ll take too long.” Harcone stated, before kneeling over the gorgan child and extending his arms above her. “Here, I’ll aid.”

  “She was most likely—”

  “I know. The Hand Sons of Tritery are rather cruel when it comes to their methods of kidnapping.” Harcone cut her off, before his hands shone a gently white light. The white light encased the gorgan child. After a few moments, the child's heavy breathing returned to a normal pace.

  “There. I stabilised her condition. I suggest bringing her to the gorgan clan she belongs to for proper care — the gorgans aren’t exactly the most trusting.” Harcone stated, before standing up and backing up. I looked at the child and then at the knight.

  “Was that some sort of…?”

  “Light healing spell… In a way. I don’t possess healing magic, so I used a special technique of mine to simply stabilise her condition. That’s why I’m suggesting to get her back to her clan for proper care.”

  This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

  “And where are we supposed to find this clan…?”

  “Should be somewhere in the Abyssal woods. They’ll probably have gorgans looking for her, so you shouldn’t have trouble getting her back.” Harcone replied, before stretching out and walking past me, Avy and the child. “Right, with all that, I will take my leave. I have other things to attend to.”

  Then, he stopped right below where he had blasted through, looking at Avy over his shoulder. “One note… If you wish to stay hidden, maybe consider changing your appearance as well. You’re easy to recognize for anyone who's not an idiot.”

  Avy froze and then let out a nervous laugh.

  I sighed and looked at Harcone one last time. “Thanks again..”

  “No worries Sir Riyo. Perhaps we’ll meet sometime again.” Then, the knight leapt up, with one leap disappearing through the hole in the ceiling. It was… a fascinating sight, that was for sure.

  “That was.. Unique. At least I guess that means we both have nothing to worry about.” I looked at Avy, who stood up, carrying the gorgan child in her arms, before turning to face me. “Shall we go and get this little one home?”

  “I guess. Sir Harcone did advise us to get her to proper care.”

  Then, I looked around. But… How were we supposed to leave this place? Erwin destroyed the entrance and the hole Harcone created wasn’t exactly a practical way to leave….

  Unless…

  “Alright, come on Avy let’s get out of here.”

  “Right.”

  We both moved under the giant hole that Harcone had made, before I threw a gaze up at it. It was still night time outside. Then, I took a deep breath. “Arvalor, can you come out?”

  For a bit, it was silent.

  Then, the chimera leapt out of my shadow, however visibly weaker than usual. Guess he wasn’t finished regenerating his magical energy. I gently patted the shadow beast. “Think you can get us up through there?” I asked, pointing up to the hole. Arvalor looked up, examining it for a moment, before letting out a gentle purr.

  Guess that was a yes.

  “Alright, thanks buddy.” I hopped onto Arvalor, before inviting Avy to also get on. She looked at me with a rather weirded out expression, before also climbing on, tightly holding the gorgan child in her arms. Just to make sure she didn’t fall off as we travelled out, I used the shadows on the back of my clothes to wrap around Avy and hold her tightly. “Ready?”

  “Mhm.. Let’s go.”

  I nodded, before patting Arvalor.

  The shadow beast let out a loud roar, before leaping onto the wall and then easily scaling it, before leaping into the hole and scaling with ease. It was difficult to hold on, however the intensity of Arvalor's movements, the wind that coursed against us and the gentle night sky that shone down at us in the hole…

  It made the moment rather fun.

  Me and Avy simply laughed together as Arvalor scaled up the hole and then leapt out of it, landing down onto the forest grass. I hopped off of Arvalor first, unwrapping the shadows from Avy and then helping her get off. “Thanks, you can go back and rest now.” I gently patted Arvalor, who purred before returning to my shadow.

  “That was rather fun.” Avy stated.

  “Yeah, I suppose I should try using him for travel a bit more often huh?” I laughed lightly, before gesturing to Avy to follow. “Come on, let’s try finding where the child calls home. It’s better if we get her to her respective clan as fast as possible.”

  “Right.” Avy nodded and followed after me.

  As we wandered back into the thick forest, Avy lightly nudged me.

  “By the way… When we get back to Ordial, you should let me cuddle your snake form.”

  I laughed and shook my head.

  “No chance. It’s not a good idea to switch forms while in the city.”

  “Aww, come on!”

  “Not a chance.”

  Our gentle conversation continued, as the moon shone down onto the forest, our laughs gently echoing in the forest.

  Later…

  Me and Avy had been wandering around for a while now. I kept my ‘Overworld Detection’ on maximum output, to see whether I could maybe detect some sort of spot with a lot of gorgans or something, however, so far, we were unsuccessful in finding anything. At least the child's condition wasn’t getting worse thanks to Harcone, so technically, we had a lot of time.

  Eventually, the two of them decided to take a break, setting up a quick camp. The night was slowly coming to an end, with the stars and the moon slowly disappearing from the sky. “It’s going to be morning soon. Maybe we should think of a different way to look for the clan she comes from? At this pace, we’ll find it maybe in a few years.” I looked at Avy, who shrugged, looking down at the sleeping child that was resting in her lap.

  “Not sure…. The gorgans are known to be rather elusive and hidden. They don’t like their settlements being discoverable, so usually hide it somewhere where there is next to zero chance of anyone finding it. Unless we burn the whole forest down, there won’t be any sort of strategy we can come up with to make the search easier or faster.”

  That was… fair.

  But we couldn’t just keep wandering either.

  I wasn’t exactly willing to give up an insane amount of time to search for what equates to a needle in a giant, thick hay stack. Harcone said that the clan the child comes from would most likely have some members looking for her, so maybe we could try running into them?

  …But then, literally how do we do that?

  I thought about what we could do for a bit, my eyes falling onto the resting child in Avy's lap. Brainstorming, I stared at her for a bit, before a bit of a ‘eureka’ moment came to me, which also made me feel like a right idiot for not thinking of it sooner. “Maybe we can wait for her to wake up and just ask her whether she knows how to make it back? Harcone said to ‘bring her back’, and technically us accompanying her would count no?”

  Avy thought about it.

  “Not a bad idea inherently… but that’s banking on two things – that she wakes up in the first place and that she will somehow know how to get back.” Avy commented. I laughed lightly. Right… We were sort of in the middle of nowhere and Harcone said he simply stabilised her condition.

  It is unknown whether she will even wake up before we get her back to the camp.

  Though… Back in that… whatever facility it was, she did wake up for a moment, grabbing hold of my clothing. So, maybe?

  “Well, a little gambling in life isn’t inherently bad… right?”

  I laughed lightly. Avy shook her head gently, exhaling. “We better just keep moving ourselves. If she wakes up, we can always stop.” I sighed.

  “Right. Sorry, my mind is still in slight shock from what happened in that strange place.”

  Avy’s expression changed for a moment.

  She turned her head away – and after a moment of silence, she spoke up. “You know, I really thought I was going to die there…”

  I froze, silent. Avy laughed.

  “Okay, maybe ‘die’ is a strong word… But even with my mothers blood coursing through me, I doubt I was going to walk away from that attack unscathed.”

  “...Sorry that I wasn’t strong enough to fight him.”

  Avy looked at me, while I fiddled a bit with my fingers. “Maybe if I was as strong as ‘shadow snakes’ once were, we would have made it out of there without any issues.” Avy smiled.

  “Hey, you’re strong. Not just anyone can take down my mothers beast. Besides, that man… He was using a forbidden form of magic. Even if you were a fully fledged, unnerfed shadow snake, I doubt it would have made a difference.” She looked at the sky that peaked through the tree lines. “Blood magic is a terrifying craft. Those that are capable of using it have sold their souls to the spirits of the underworld for that power or even worse… sacrificed someone for it.”

  I sighed.

  I suppose Avy was trying to ‘comfort’ me right now. Though, even if her words were kind and nice to hear, they didn’t exactly make me feel much better. However, not wanting to ruin the mood, I shook my head and stood up. “Well, enough of that. How about we keep moving?”

  Avy nodded, lifting the child back into her arms and standing up as well.

  “Let’s go.”

  And right as we turned to continue our move, something pinged behind me. Quickly, I flipped around and created a longsword with venom, blocking and incoming strike from a hooded figure. The figure grit its teeth, before pulling out a second dagger and going in towards my head. I quickly used my right leg to knock the figure off balance, before making the longsword disappear and grabbing the leg of the figure, throwing them away.

  The individual landed gracefully and easily, slowing themselves down.

  This gave me an opportunity to examine them better. A hood over their head, with a slight cloak that went down to their waist. Pair of fingerless gloves, grey shorts, thigh high boots and a slightly visible, exposed stomach.

  Strands of red hair fell out of the hood.

  The individual was about to launch at me and Avy again, before a second one leapt out and stopped them. “Woah now sister, chill out for a moment.” Stated the second figure. This one was dressed similarly to the other one, however, they were clearly taller and their gloves covered their entire hands. Plus, I could spot green hair under their hood.

  “But sister! They are the ones who took the Chief's daughter!”

  “And how do you know that? Just because they have her, doesn’t mean they kidnapped her.” She knocked the other hooded individual in the back of her head, before sighing. “Take a good look, do either of those two look anything like those cloaked men?”

  The other hooded figure looked at us both.

  I braced for a potential attack. However, she simply exhaled. “You’re right… they’re not the same at all.”

  “There we go.”

  Then, she sighed, before pulling off her hood, revealing her head. Short dark green hair, emerald eyes which were similar to mine, aka a snake, and a plaster across her nose. Then, she moved towards us, lifting her arms up. “I apologise for my sister's sudden attack… Hopefully she didn’t hurt you two.”

  “Uh…” I exchanged gazes with Avy before easing a bit.

  “No, no she didn’t.”

  She exhaled in relief. “Thank the Dragons.” Then, she cleared her throat. “Now, allow me to introduce us both – my name is Deina and the one over there is my twin sister Lina.” The other hooded woman took off her hood, revealing long, red hair that was caught into an upper ponytail, as well as a pair of amber eyes — which again, were the same as mine.

  Were these two snake monsters like me?

  Or rather… Were they some sort of type of gorgan?

  “Are you two…?”

  “Hm? Oh right. We’re from the same clan as that child you have with you. In fact, we’re the ones who were dispatched to find her and bring her back.”

  ….Ain’t that rather convenient.

  Literally how did we even— You know what, I am not complaining. Running into them is actually really good. “And how can you prove that?” Avy asked, her skepticism very clearly outlined in her voice. I threw a gaze at her, to which she shrugged.

  “Can’t be too cautious.”

  Deina sighed. “I hate to usually do this but…” Then, after a snap, her legs changed, encasing in a dark mist before morphing into a deep green snake body. Patches of snake scales appeared around her body and on her face as she looked at us both.

  “Well, she’s a gorgan alright…”

  “But how did you find us? The forest is so thick and large.” Avy asked.

  “We’ve been tracking those cloaked men that kidnapped the child for a while now. In fact, we just came from their stronghold, however, it appeared to already have had some visitors.” Lina commented, stepping next to her sister, crossing her arms.

  “Yeah… that was us.”

  I laughed gently.

  “Thank the Dragons she is unscathed. We were worried that we might be too late to arrive and she would already have been harmed.” Deina stated, before moving towards Avy, examining the child a bit more closely.

  “We helped her however we could, however…”

  “I know. We’ll make sure she gets proper care.” She stated, before morphing back to her more human look and then gently taking the child out of Avy’s arms and into hers. “Alright, now that we have the child back, we’re going. Bye.” Lina stated, moving away.

  “Hold on, we should have these two come along.”

  “Have you lost your mind?! No one can learn where the clan settlement is!” Lina flipped around. Deina rolled her eyes. “They’re the ones who rescued the Chief's daughter, not us. I’m sure he’ll want to thank them.”

  “But—!”

  “What do you two say? Do you want to come with us?” Deina ignored her sister, looking at us both. Me and Avy exchanged gazes, unsure about it for a moment. Then, I shrugged and exhaled. “We’ll pass—”

  “We’d love to.” Avy cut me off, jumping in front of me.

  I was about to say something, however she simply winked at me, gesturing to me to shut up. “Great! Then come along. The clan settlement is rather far away, so the faster we get to it, the better.”

  Lina let out an annoyed sigh, before flipping around and stomping away, while Deina followed after her. I quickly caught up to Avy.

  “Avy, what are you thinking? We don’t—”

  “This is an opportunity. We saved a chief’s daughter. If luck is on our side, they may reward us.” Avy once again, cut me off. She wasn’t wrong exactly, but it still felt a bit odd to be going to this clan settlement. Who knows what may happen there…

  However, Avy didn’t seem all that concerned.

  She happily moved after Deina and Lina, forcing me to simply sigh and accept it.

  While I could have probably left her to go alone…. It wasn’t the best idea at this point. Especially after what happened with Erwin. I doubt anyone in that clan could fight Avy on equal grounds — but hey, can’t be too cautious… or something.

  “Don’t fall behind now!” Deina called out to us.

  The two of us quickly caught up to the two sisters, following them through the forest.

  Part of me felt uneasy, while another part of me felt like I was being nervous for nothing. Either way, we were going to see whether this gorgan clan was a trap or if we’ll actually be rewarded or not.