Only after the bandits’ footsteps had faded completely into the far side of the forest
did the air within the campsite begin to settle little by little.
Miryeong glared toward the dark forest for a while, then let out a short breath.
“Don’t chase them. Clean up first.”
At that single command, the scattered movements began to fall back into order.
The guards checked the baggage and wagons where arrows had lodged,
and the gendarmes lowered their shields before helping those who could still move back to their feet.
Wollyeon kept her heavy crossbow raised, aiming at the edge of the forest until the very end,
while Jincheong examined the earth outside the campsite once more, making sure there were no lingering signs.
Bido caught his breath as he looked down at the two bandits collapsed at his feet.
Neither of them was dead yet.
One was clenching his teeth with a hand pressed to his side,
and the other still wore the dazed face of someone who had not fully recovered from the blow beneath his jaw.
Ed came over and twisted their wrists behind their backs, tying them up.
“Move, and it’ll hurt more.”
One of the bandits tried to spit out a curse,
but when Ed pulled the rope once more, he shut his mouth.
Just then, Raymond came down from the first wagon.
His outer garment was still not properly fastened,
but the drowsiness had already vanished from his face, leaving only a gaze intent on grasping the situation.
The scribe followed close behind him.
“Casualties?”
Miryeong answered Raymond’s question first.
“No dead. One guard got grazed on the arm,”
“The blue ox was startled too, but it isn’t badly hurt.”
The medic immediately added,
“It’s only an arrow graze. Treatment won’t take long.”
Raymond gave a brief nod.
Then his gaze turned to the two bandits bound on the ground.
“You took them alive?”
Ed answered.
“Bido laid those two out.”
Raymond’s eyes went to Bido for a moment, then returned.
Ayla leisurely descended from the second wagon.
Though she had been curled up inside the wagon until just moments ago,
her expression alone made it seem as if the situation was nothing at all.
She looked at the two bound bandits and twisted up one corner of her mouth.
“Why not just kill them?”
When no one answered right away,
Ayla shrugged.
“They came to slit throats in the middle of the night. On the road, that’s the cleanest way.”
Raymond cut her off coldly.
“We are an envoy party, not executioners.”
Ayla snorted.
“That’s why the road is so tiring.”
Raymond did not respond further.
Instead, he stepped closer to the bound bandits.
“Who are you?”
The bandit wounded in the side could not open his mouth right away.
He only rolled his eyes while clenching his teeth,
and when Ed tugged once more on the end of the rope, his face twisted.
“Ghk… fuck…”
The other one hurriedly spoke first.
“W-we thought you were just a merchant caravan…!”
Miryeong furrowed her brow.
“A merchant caravan?”
The man hastily continued.
“There were two wagons and baggage… We thought you just had some guards with you.”
“Even if there were people using Arkin, we thought it’d work once night fell.”
Raymond asked,
“How many of you were there?”
“A-around twenty…”
“Are there more left?”
“They ran away. Everyone pulled out…!”
This one’s voice was frightened,
while the man beside him kept his teeth clenched to the end, glaring only at the ground.
Raymond lowered his gaze for a moment as if thinking, then raised it again.
“You’re not connected to the Empire, are you?”
This time, the answer burst out immediately.
“No! Really, no! We just saw you on the road and went for it!”
The man beside him spat a low curse, but he did not deny it.
A brief silence passed.
Raymond looked around once.
The injuries were minor, the wagons were safe,
and though the campsite had become disorderly, it had not collapsed.
The question now was what to do with these two.
Ayla tossed out another remark.
“I’m telling you, just kill them.”
This time, Miryeong spoke as if scoffing.
“Are you the one who decides the rules of the road?”
Instead of answering, Ayla merely narrowed her eyes.
Ignoring those words, Raymond said,
“We don’t have the means to take them with us.”
The scribe drew in a small breath.
Raymond continued,
“But there is no reason to cut them down here either.”
He gestured toward the guards.
“Confiscate all their weapons and equipment, then bind their hands and feet so they can’t move until dawn.”
One of the bound bandits lifted his head.
“U-until dawn?”
Raymond did not waver in the slightest.
“Once we leave, this place is your problem.”
“Whether you survive or your comrades come to untie you is your affair.”
Ayla clicked her tongue softly.
“How very kind of you.”
Raymond let the remark pass.
“Don’t gag them. I don’t intend to leave them to die.”
Ed and two gendarmes moved, stripping the bandits of their swords and bows,
as well as the short iron blades hidden at their waists.
Jincheong chose a place to bind them, pointing to a large tree set a little away from the edge of the forest,
and the guards dragged the two over there.
One of the bound men twisted as if struggling.
“Fuck… If you leave us like this—”
Miryeong cut him off coldly.
“Then you shouldn’t have come.”
At that single sentence, the man could say nothing more.
Raymond looked toward the forest one last time and asked,
“Do you think they’ll come back?”
Jincheong answered with eyes that had been studying the darkness.
“It’ll be difficult right away.”
Miryeong added briefly as well.
“Still, no one’s sleeping deeply tonight.”
Raymond nodded.
“Good. Double the watch. We move as soon as the sun rises.”
At those words, the people in the campsite scattered back to their positions.
The fire was lowered even further, and the watch was doubled.
No one fell deeply asleep.
The night passed short and rough.
Around daybreak,
the campsite woke again into quiet bustle.
After sleep that had been cut short and ragged,
people rose one by one and set their hands to work again.
The fire had nearly gone out,
and only damp ash remained, cooling in the wind with a faint trace of heat.
Bido tightened the cord of his scabbard again.
His body felt heavy, but his hands moved better than he had expected.
Ed, passing beside him, spoke briefly.
“Sleepy?”
Bido hesitated for a moment before answering quietly.
“A little.”
Ed chuckled.
“Everyone is. From today on, you’ll have to get more used to it.”
Not far away, Miryeong was already setting people back into motion.
Beneath the large tree at the edge of the forest, the two bandits who had been tied up all night remained where they were.
Their weapons and equipment had all been confiscated,
and with their hands and feet bound, both their faces looked haggard from enduring the chill of dawn.
When one guard checked the state of the ropes one last time, Raymond said briefly,
“We depart.”
There were no further words.
The envoy party could not take them along,
nor was there any reason to look back at them again.
Bido glanced behind him once, then soon withdrew his gaze.
Before long, the signal was given.
The blue ox leaned its body forward,
and the wagon wheels slowly pushed through the earth pressed down overnight, beginning to roll once more.
Thus the short, rough first night was left behind,
and the envoy party took to the road again.
—
At the same time, deeper within the forest.
By the time the envoy party began moving along the road again,
Maho and Raen were already staying far beyond them.
Maho had hardly rested.
To begin with, sleep was not something essential to him.
There were few moments when he even stopped,
and even as the night deepened, his vigilance did not slacken in the slightest.
Instead, the one who needed to rest was Raen.
Spending a night in the forest itself was something Raen was used to as well.
Even so, she could never quite grow accustomed to the chill of night and dawn.
For the Dullam tribe, born and raised in hot regions,
the damp, cold dawn of this land was always the sort of cold that seeped deep into the body.
And so whenever Raen fell asleep, Maho always remained beside her.
Maho sat silently near Raen,
spreading his warmth with the utmost care.
It did not show itself like a blazing fire, but if one was beside him, it was a warmth that could certainly be felt.
Raen would receive that heat and fall asleep curled up.
The previous night had been no different.
After briefly closing her eyes, Raen turned over several times in her sleep.
And between shallow stretches of sleep, she recalled the nights she had slept beside Bido.
The times they had lain close together, tugging the same blanket between them.
The night they had talked about useless things until Miryeong scolded them to be quiet.
Such small memories rose more clearly in the cold air.
Before Raen had fully awakened, she drew herself in slightly.
She was a little cold,
and a little empty.
A night without Bido was quieter than she had expected.
Maho looked down at her in silence, then lowered his hand a little closer toward Raen.
The warmth deepened ever so faintly.
Without ever opening her eyes,
Raen leaned a little further toward that warmth.
And only after a long while did she fall into deep sleep again.
And now, it was time to move once more.
“That’s enough sleep, Raen. We need to move.”
At Maho’s low voice, Raen slowly opened her eyes.
“Mm… okay.”
Her voice, freshly awakened, still lacked strength.
Her tail drooped limply as well.
Raen sat up and gave a small shiver.
She had slept through the night, but the cold dawn air was still unfamiliar.
Without a word, Maho held out several fruits he had picked in advance before Raen.
“Eat.”
Raen accepted them with both hands.
They were small red fruits.
When she bit into one, a sour-sweet taste spread through her mouth,
and her slightly heavy head seemed to clear, if only a little.
Raen slowly chewed the fruit, closed her eyes, then opened them again.
“I still can’t sense Roan.”
Maho gave a short nod.
“Right. If you sense him at any time, tell me immediately.”
“Okay.”
Raen put another fruit into her mouth.
Then, as if hesitating for a moment, her hand stopped.
“What about Bido?”
At that question, Maho’s movement stopped for the briefest instant.
It was truly only a moment.
A pause so short Raen did not notice it.
Maho soon turned his gaze away as if nothing had happened and said,
“There’s nothing to worry about on that side yet.”
Raen looked up at Maho.
She had heard his answer, but her face somehow did not look entirely reassured.
Maho did not bother meeting that gaze.
Instead, he jerked his chin toward the fruit remaining in Raen’s hand.
“Eat slowly. We have no reason to hurry.”
Raen quietly nodded.
“…Okay.”
She put the fruit into her mouth again, but this time she chewed it a little longer.
Even as the sweet and tart flavor lingered at the tip of her tongue, it could not dispel the emptiness in one corner of her heart.
The road after parting from Bido was quieter than she had expected,
and that quiet kept feeling like the place someone should have been.
Maho looked down at Raen once.
Then, without another word, he turned and stepped toward the forest ahead.
Raen, still holding the remaining fruit, rose and followed behind him.
They were still far away.
Roan, and the envoy party alike.
But the fact that everyone was moving in the same direction was certain.