It didn't take long for Siv to finish with her people and for all of us to set off.
The surroundings underwent a rapid shift once we entered the Sea of Trees, the eponymous trees and the path disappearing into thick white mist.
I wasn't sure about the beastmen, but Yue and I could only see somewhat clearly in a radius of about 2 meters.
Everything vanished into a wall of white fog beyond that.
This didn't seem to hinder Siv nor her people in the slightest though, the tiger beastman leading the way with a march that was confident and certain.
Yue and I stayed side by side and followed her with the remaining beastmen right behind us.
The tigress currently nursing a crush had originally wanted to stay in the back while we led her people.
Apparently any beastman could navigate the fog freely so the matter of finding their way back to their homes and Verbegen wasn't an issue.
It was the large amount of monsters running around in the fog that needed her attention as they could attack at any time.
While I didn't have any sensory abilities of my own, Yue possessed multiple, most of them able to pick up any ambushes before they were sprung. Thus, I left the matter of protection to her and she was more than happy to oblige.
Explaining to Siv afterwards the urgency of us reaching Verbegen as quickly as possible, she reluctantly accepted her role as leader and continued her march.
When Yue fended off attack after attack with nary a scratch on her or any of the people, I saw the tension in her shoulders seep away and her gait grow more assured.
We walked for an hour before my boredom grew enough that I caved and asked how long the journey would take. Apparently it would take HOURS, considering the slavers had brought them all the way out of the forest.
Being that far out of their safe haven meant the beastmen were far from the Great Tree, or to be more precise, the forest's center, near which the city and the surrounding settlements were sparsely located.
Even though there was a good amount of distance between every one of these settlements, most of the beastmen never left the rough, combined radius of their homes.
It was simply too risky with the monsters and slavers running around. Though in the latter case, I was left marveling at the insane determination or more accurately, greed of the empire soldiers.
If Siv was to be believed, they had taken a lot of time to travel deep into the forest and had probably attacked more than one village, two most likely, judging from the prevalence of fox and dogmen in the rescued people.
Slavery had to be crazy lucrative for them to go to such lengths for… product. An empire's worth of people who accepted and encouraged such a barbaric practice was definitely due a proper visit.
Whether that was before we killed Ehit remained to be seen.
The seconds ticked on, piling up into minutes, and then another hour, the speed at which the journey and time itself progressed too taxing on my brain.
A couple of jumps would've spared me of all this but then I imagined the people returning without us.
Siv wouldn't have been able to protect them at all in her injured state, and even if she had been in top shape, keeping over a hundred people intact by her lonesome would have been an impossible task.
There'd have definitely been more than a few casualties and even more injuries, and they would've all been my fault.
Sighing, I shifted the gaze I'd been holding straight this whole time a bit to the right, finding the wide hips and shapely rump of my latest and only admirer.
Both assets swayed with her rapid stride, the long tail hanging from just above both drawing my gaze even lower. I stared at the white tip and orange and black stripes along its length for a good while and shook my head, looking over my shoulder at an amused Yue.
Unwilling to even acknowledge the minx and give her more ammunition, I hastened and strode forward, both hands still in my pockets. Someone was going to help relieve my boredom, and it wasn't going to be Yue.
We could communicate silently, sure, but she was just as clueless as me on the topics I wanted answers on, so talking to Siv would have to do, even though I wanted her affection for me to die as quickly as it had formed.
"Siv…"
"Yes Lo- ...Rick."
Maintaining my straight gaze, I ignored the intense look burning into my side profile and said, "Eyes on the road."
"R-right."
"I just wanted to ask… what happened? You were hurt much worse than the others."
"...Ahh, that," she paused, hesitating a bit, "...I was on patrol with a pack of cubs, teaching them the ropes when we found wheel tracks. They were boys, too young and inexperienced. So I sent them to get help while I investigated.
Some monsters ruined the plan and attacked them while they were leaving, and the commotion drew the attention of the slavers. I managed to save the boys, but the soldiers had us surrounded by then.
My plan was to hold them off long enough for the boys to get away. Humans can't navigate the fog like we can so I was confident in escaping right after the boys had gotten far enough, …but the soldiers… they were too strong…" she paused, and I looked over in concern.
Her expression was locked in a struggle, a telltale sign she was definitely reliving her abduction.
"...they overpowered me and more of them arrived. After that…"
She didn't continue, but her silence completed the story.
"I'm sorry you went through that."
"Thank you," she whispered, giving me a weak nod while she blinked and swallowed up the tear at the edge of her eye.
I let a bit of time pass, allowing her emotions to settle before launching my next question. "So you're a captain or leader of some sort? Patrol or guard captain or both."
Her chest, as if it wasn't generous enough already, puffed up as she turned to see my reaction. "I'm a squad captain. The youngest to ever be appointed."
I smiled and gestured to the road, causing her to blush and focus. "Hmm… youngest ever? You must be that good if you were assigned to teach others."
She bobbed her head down excitedly and stood even straighter, her puffed up chest gaining even more bounce to it. Her ears were twitching animatedly and the swish of her tail from side to side had grown audible.
Resisting the urge to roll my eyes and shake my head, I ignored the cheeky stare I could feel boring into me and the amusement coming over from the invisible connection with Yue.
"But even if you're a prodigy, experience still counts. I find it hard to believe a bunch of old people handed over responsibility of others to someone who hasn't been doing your job for a while. At least, not without some outside pressure or oversight."
The wild nodding slowed to a stop and ended with a single, agreeing one, the rollercoaster of a boob show thankfully ending as well.
"...That's true, but I've been patrolling the fog for 14 years. I started when I was 16.'
My eyebrows didn't shoot up, nor did my eyes pop out. Even my face remained impassive when I whipped my head toward the proud tiger-woman.
Though if there were mental equivalents of the parts I just listed, you best believe they were in a state of shock right now.
"...You're thirty?" The 'how?!' went unsaid.
"Ahh… is that… is that too old?" the blushing tigress asked while peeking from the corner of her vision, her hand having found its way to her midnight black hair, the anxious digits looping a couple of strands in endless curls.
"You're fine. Rick likes older women."
Having sensed Yue's intent beforehand, my eyes naturally widened as I tried to stop her.
Seeing my visceral reaction to that, Siv panicked and turned to face me fully, the hope I could see leaving her eyes returning in full force once my mischievous girlfriend's words landed.
"...Yue," the chastising shout I'd prepared died in my throat. I stared at her cheeky and victorious expression and wondered exactly what made her happy about this?
She definitely hadn't told me, and our minds were connected.
It meant she was actively holding it back. I briefly considered going rougher in our next session, but quickly shut it down. She'd only enjoy that.
Closing my eyes and releasing a long huff, I gave the amused minx and the beastmen behind her a passing glance and faced the music. Reluctantly.
Red all the way to her neck, Siv could not meet my eyes for more than a second, looking at me then away like some shy maiden.
No, you submissive musclebrain. That is not a yes to your advances.
A quick finger jab in the direction she was moving in before she stopped snapped her out of fantasy land. Though I noticed the forceful gesture made the red in her skin deepen and her ears and tail more active.
The answer to what her deal was became clearer, the guesses becoming more accurate. She was definitely some kind of sub. Repressed or open or whatever category she fell under. I didn't know.
BDSM is one topic I hadn't delved into and explored much, though I was currently wishing I had. It would make navigating interactions with her easier. Plus, I didn't like not knowing stuff.
"Anyway," I said with slightly higher bass, "we were talking about your job. What exactly do they teach you? Weapons, close combat and tracking are definitely a must. Physical conditioning maybe?" I ended while looking at her toned abs.
Those things spoke of dedication.
"They teach us all of that… except for maybe, the last one. We beastmen don't focus that much on physical training since we're naturally strong. I'm a tigerkin so I'm even stronger and faster than most of my brethren. I still trained my body anyway. Goddess knows we could use more strength."
That explains it.
"You didn't tell me what else they teach."
"Ahh… yes. We also learn stea—"
"Stop right there!" """Captain!""" "Are those… humans?"
"Kol," Siv called out, her shoulders relaxing as a totally different demeanor overcame her. "Boys. You're safe." she added, her gaze shifting to the younger beastboys.
The one referred to as Kol, I surmised from his hardened jaw and the weapon he still held towards us, or me to be precise, seemed to have a problem. "...Siv. What is the meaning of this? Why did you bring humans here? Do you mean to betray us?"
"...Idiot."
Now it was my turn to look surprised. The Siv pining after me like a lovesick puppy had disappeared all of a sudden.
"You see a human walking side by side with me and another protecting our people and the best explanation you can come up with is… betrayal?" she scoffed.
"That doesn't answer my question! Wha—"
"They saved us from slavers. Killed every single one of the bastards. Healed us, and protected us on our way here. Do you think I could've done all that by myself?" she turned and gestured behind her with an arm, Kol's eyes shifting briefly in response, though the constipated look on the beastman didn't recede.
"Still, they're hu—"
"It changes nothing. I invited them to see the elders. They're coming, and that's final."
"You…!"
"You nothing. Unless you want to fight me for it. We both know how that went the last time…" Siv said, her deep, cold voice somehow conveying mirth.
Speechless, Kol watched us follow Siv as she regrouped with her young charges and looked them over for signs of damage. There were some scruffs and scrapes on their clothing, but otherwise they were all uninjured.
Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw a struggling Kol resolve himself after a short introspection and dart toward me, his sword aiming for my vitals. The members of his squad behind him saw this, and so did Yue and a few of the beastmen.
What I doubted they saw though, was me reaching over and delivering a sharp slap that bounced the beastman off the ground and landed him in an unconscious heap.
Silence followed the attack and the noisy thump of his fall, followed by a snort from Siv. Her amused eyes turned timid and looked away like a child caught doing something bad when I fixed her a humorless stare.
"Pick him up and let's go. And no one try anything funny. Hurry up," she barked, and Kol's squad gathered the man and his weapon and followed after us.
With more combat capable beastmen in our midst, Yue and I were free to hang by each other, my girlfriend relieved of her guard duty.
We both stared straight ahead at Siv, who'd fully entered her soldier and leader mode around her boys and Kol's squad, thoughts of different calibers running through our minds.
'Why did you say that?'
'...I like her,' was all Yue sent back after taking her sweet time, the meat of her reasoning hidden from me.
'I know that. What I'm asking is why.'
'…She knows who's in charge. She'll behave.'
Still not getting it, I pressed. 'And why is that a good thing?'
'Because she'll accept that I am the only one special to you. She won't try to take my place. Not that she can huhu…'
'....'
'You… you're crazy.'
'I know, yet you love me anyway.'
I stared at my girlfriend's calm, unbothered smile and looked away just as fast, holding the bridge of my nose.
'Lord give me strength…'
.
.
.
.
"Once again, on behalf of my fellow elders, you have our sincere and heartfelt gratitude, for not just freeing our people, but returning them to us uninjured."
Ulfric Heipyst, an elf and the chief ruling elder of Verbegen, reiterated the gratitude he met us with at his nation's gates as his fellow rule makers and enforcers arrived and sat down.
They were a short and stout dwarf beastmen covered in red hair, a harpy beastwoman who looked too young to be an elder, a tiger beastman with a tan and too angry an expression, a fox beastman with long ears and white hair like mine and finally a bear beastmen, his build thick and tall like a tree.
Apart from the fox beastman whose eyes were shut for some reason, they each stared at me with no amount of wariness and even hostility, the tiger and bear beastmen being the culprits for most of it.
"You're welcome," I nodded, "I just saw something wrong and decided to fix it. That's all."
"Tch…heh…"
Without moving my head, I glanced over at the bear beastman and focused back on the aged elf.
"Your squad captain said something about a reward. As I stated earlier, I helped because slavery is wrong. Plain and simple. I don't want your money or whatever reward you plan to give me."
That at least got a reaction out of them. A human saying slavery is wrong. It would've been a good laugh if they hadn't seen the works supporting my words.
"Then… if we may ask, what do you want in our forest?"
I didn't answer immediately, debating on how much to tell them if to tell them anything at all.
"I'm looking… for a tribe. A rabbitman tribe."
BAM!
"I knew it! You humans are all the same. You want to capture and sell our people!" The bear tribe leader damn near shouted.
"Jin! What is the meaning of this?!" Ulfric said, looking toward his fellow elder getting onto his feet.
The bear, Jin, gave the elf a glance and looked back at me, and I cut him off before he could speak.
"Dumbass. As hard as you're trying, you're not that stupid… even if you look like it. Say what you really want to say."
"The old elf has suddenly gone senile enough to actually invite our enemies here, straight into our home. Not only that, he had the nerve to tell us not to attack you, especially after what you did."
I glanced at the tigerman who growled at the 'what you did' and focused back on Jin. "You still haven't said what you want. You're wasting my time."
"You! I want you to die!" he screamed and threw his chair against the wall, reducing it to splinters.
"Okay? So should I walk up to you so that you'll kill me?" I held back from laughing and continued, "Tell you what, I'll attack you from here. If you survive I'll let you kill me. Ready?"
Without waiting for anyone or Jin's approval, I leveled my finger gun at him and let off a few shots.
Deep, visible craters embedded themselves into his wall-like stature with audible cracks, his entire form staggering with each invisible strike.
I gave him four of such shots and leveled the last at his head, the explosive force throwing it back and dropping him with a tremble that shook the room and the table.
Bringing my attention back to the audience to find a stunned group of people (except for Yue of course), I shrugged and said, "He's not dead, just quiet. Can we continue?"
Ulfric, being the oldest, recovered his wits much more quickly than the others. "Cough… yes. Please continue. You were talking about a rabbitman tribe."
"Yes. I need them for… a secret project. Think of it as a test case for something that can change the lives of all beastmen when it succeeds. I won't tell you what it is, but I can give you assurance that it won't harm you or your people in any way."
"...Can you truly not tell us what this… project is?"
"No. It must remain secret. For now. Though like I said, I can give you an ironclad guarantee of my intentions," I said, panning my gaze across the frowning faces of the elders.
Whether they accepted things or not, I would find the Haulia Tribe. They could not stop me.
"Can you at least tell us…which tribe you're looking for specifically?"
"That's no problem. I'm looking for the Haulia Tribe."
That drew even worse reactions from them than what I did to Jin. Even Ulfric, whose face conveyed little of his emotions, looked a little unwell.
"That… can we know why it has to be them?"
'Because they're the ones I know? Geez. You guys ask a lot of questions.'
"Personal reasons. But I can say this; I feel they'll be more agreeable to my plans. Is that all, cause I won't answer any more questions. Do you want the guarantee or not?"
The group of elders converged on each other and conversed in hush tones. Expecting it to take a while, I shut my eyes and lowered my head, only to reverse course a few moments later.
"We'll accept your conditions… only if you show us this guarantee first."
"That's great… and thank you for understanding. I know what I'm asking of you isn't easy," I said, making sure to meet all of their eyes.
"I can make something called a Binding Vow. It's basically an agreement between me and another party where either of us suffers consequences for breaking the deal."
They looked skeptical, but that was okay. Misbelief tended to vanish when the truth slapped you in the face, or in this case, wrapped around your soul.
"During my stay in the Sea of Trees and even after it I will not bring harm to its inhabitants unless they will it. In exchange, you will not stop or hinder my movements within it in any way. If any of us goes against what is stated here, the person will die. Do you accept?"
"Not yet. We needs ta make some changes…" the red bearded dwarf said.
They made me adjust the "hinder movements" part so they could refuse and even fight back if I tried to enter any restricted places. Good on them for catching that one, even though it wouldn't have changed anything.
What I wanted from the beastmen wasn't their wealth or treasures, but they themselves. It was too early to tell them that though.
With the terms of the deal settled, we both agreed and the chains of the vow took hold, the eyebrows of the elders rising with the sensation no doubt.
"That's… I can feel it clearly. That neither of us can go back on our word no matter what."
"Aye. The consequences be dire if we do…"
"I'm glad that's settled. This has taken enough time as it is so I'll be off now."
Without giving them a chance to add something or even get a farewell in, I strode out of the room with Yue in tow and descended the stairs to the ground floor, catching sight of a waiting Siv.
Her swishing tail picked up speed when she saw me, but I pretended not to see it and her eager "praise me, I'm a good girl" smile and went straight ahead to the point, "The blacksmith?"
"Yes! It was hard, but I found a few that said they'll hear you out."
"Lead the way then."
"Yes si–Rick," she caught herself in time and looked away, staying still. This was the point where she started moving to what we talked about. What—
"C-can I come with you?" she asked all of a sudden, making me frown. "I mean… on your journeys. You guys are strong… and I want to be strong too…"
I shook my head. "That is not why you want to come with us. At least not entirely. Let me save you the trouble—"
"Rick. Let her join us." I whipped my head toward Yue and she sent a message through our connection.
'Trust me. I'll explain later,' she said.
I looked at Yue and back at Siv, who looked like she was on the verge of tears. Fine then. It's not like anyone could force me to do something I didn't want to do.
"Fine," I sighed, much to the joy of the tigress. "You can come with us. But you'll do whatever I say, we say. No questions asked."
"Yes si–Rick," she hurriedly caught herself.
"Move it."
She scampered away like I'd thrown a stick into the distance. I fixed Yue with a glare that only served to arouse the woman. "Don't encourage her."
"…Yes sir"
That was my cue to start moving.
.
.
.
.
The first blacksmith we met, to no one's surprise, turned out to be a dwarf.
He was on the young side—Siv having taken my specifications seriously—and currently in a spat with his older, more experienced and according to his words, slag for brains father.
Brim currently sat behind a bar top in a loud and boisterous pub, said echoes of joy and drunkenness disappearing with our entry.
Two humans, along with a tiger beastman. A beastman who happened to part of the patrols that kept them safe. Most got the hint and focused back on their drinks and conversations.
Brim though, kept staring at me and Yue while sparing Siv the occasional glance.
"This is the one I spoke about," she said and gestured to me and then him. "Rick, meet Brim. Brim, Rick."
The dwarf had long slid his mug away and was in the process of dabbing his bushy moustache and even bushier beard with a cloth.
"Pleased to meet yer," he jumped down his tall bar stool and held out a hand. "Sivie said great things about ye—stuff I woulder called her crazy fer if word hadn't got 'round. Yer really human?"
"Last I checked."
"Fine. Let's hear this deal that's got this loveless hardass all worked up."
Siv bristled a bit at those two pointed words but said nothing. Taking note of both the words and her reaction, I gestured to the door we came in through. "Let's walk."
"After yer…"
We went back the same way we came and broke into a slow stride, Brim quiet and listening as I laid it on…well not thick. This was more an opportunity for him and not me, and he needed to know that.
"I have plans to market some products that no one has ever seen before. Unfortunately, I can't make them myself, but synergists can. However I find it too risky to go that route.
The church is everywhere except for here, and most human synergists work for their nations or large workshops. Trying to poach one of them would be a hassle. So I came here, to the one place with capable blacksmiths that are no lovers of the church, and also more likely to agree to my deal."
His short arms placed squarely on his waist, Brim gave me a long hard stare and broke away after a while. "...If I didn't know what ye've already done I'd ah called ye a bumbling git. But it seems ye ain't finished yet—so go on then…"
"The deal is this: I can give you everything you need to become a great craftsman. The greatest ever. In exchange, I want your loyalty and your silence. You'll also be working for me personally so you'll have to leave your home for the foreseeable future."
Arms now crossed before his chest, Brim asked, "...For how long?"
"Huh?" Now I was confused. "Of all the things I said, that's what you want to know?"
The dwarf seemed smug for some reason.
"Look at ye actin' so surprised. From what I heard ye saved our people and got them back in one piece. Ye intentions are clear as day," he shrugged, "...if ye really wanted slaves, this'd be an awfully roundabout way to get a lousy one. 'Cause we both know I'd make a busted slave. Can't cook or clean for shit… and I don't got any o' them things that make humans hard down south."
"Ahh… I see. Thanks… for your vote of confidence. I promise you won't regret it."
"Yeah yeah…" he waved his short arm in dismissal, "don't ye go soft on me now. I heard ye killed a bunch o' slavers like nothing. Don't pussyfoot. Tell me what to do. What's the next step boss?"
Oh so we're diving straight into it?
"Go and get your stuff," I said, turning to Siv as well, "...you too. We'll be waiting at the gates."
It'd have been easy guess, but of the two of them, Siv returned first, the tiger woman's excitement bleeding through her every step and movement.
Her behaviour attracted a fair bit of eyes, not just to her but to me and Yue as well, when people were left wondering who or what had reduced this hardass of a soldier to such an unbecoming state.
Since she was going to be joining us and I had no interest in reciprocating her affections, it was going to be ignore mode with her for as long as humanly possible.
Even now, when she slowed into a brisk walk to join me and Yue, I paid her no mind, not even sparing her a glance. The less I encouraged her, the better things would be in the long run.
We stood there a few more minutes before the tiny stature of Brim peeked over the horizon. The young dwarf carried a backpack larger than himself and even Siv's on his back, though if it weighed him down much, he didn't show it.
The black haired beastmen stopped right in front of us with a huff and shook his head a few times, his expression looking dour compared to before.
"Shouting contest with the old man?" Siv asked amusedly.
"...blasted git. Said I was a moron for trusting a human…" he said and stopped, suggesting more unpleasant words were said and probably exchanged. "...told'im his wits were duller than the edge of a training sword. That got him to shut his yammering trap."
"Hahahaha…"
Withholding my laughter unlike a Siv, I gestured at the two new additions to our party. "Lower your bags."
Siv dropped hers without a second thought, earning a confused stare from Brim, who dropped his clinking bag with a series of metal clangs. "Siv… ye coming with?"
I ignored their interaction and clenched my fist, summoning two green portals below their dropped bags and swallowing them. "Alright. We're done here. Let's go."
Astonished eyes bored into me from all directions, but there was only one I was interested in. The person said eyes belonged to rushed on his tiny legs to match my pace and looked up at me, asking, "...the hell was that?"
"It's called a Treasure Trove, and it lets me travel light."
"It better be one o' the things ye want me to make…" the dwarf said in a tone that brokered no argument.
"Trust me, I have a mountain of work for you."
The dwarf grunted in a way I could only describe as "we'll see."
The wooden gates of Verbegen closed shut behind us as our group set off. I turned my hand over to summon the magic compass when I remembered there was no need.
"Siv."
"Yes?"
"Take us to the Haulia Tribe."
"Ahh… them? But why?"
"Is that a no?"
"A-ah… n-no. This way, si–Rick."
The excited tigress moved further ahead of us and changed directions, gesturing for us to follow her.
Meanwhile, Brim didn't know whether to talk about the sudden reveal of his friend's repressed tendencies or the fact that we were going to see the pariahs of their race.
"What d'ye want with them folk? I heard them is cursed."
"You'll see."
Another grunt.
We walked again, for a FEW MORE HOURS—the first thing Brim and I were going to work on was transportation. Probably a bike for me. A flying bike. All this walking made me sick.
"We're here," Siv said once we reached the base of a tree so huge it made me think about the possible dimensions of the even larger one in the forest's center.
It had to be more than 20 meters wide.
Putting my curiosity aside, I gazed at the roots of the tree, the parts of them above ground at least.
Numerous tendrils of them ringed the tree in a rough circle, the giant trunk anchors rising and flattening into vertical, wall-like sections that curved and joined together to form a 3D image of blood vessels or in this case, the veiny patterns on a leaf with the tops sliced off.
Multiple pairs of rabbit heads peeked over these walls and the heads they were attached to with them, the eyes fearful and anxious all around. Well, except for one.
A single pair of these ears jumped past one of the walls and started a mad dash for us and the other rabbits reacted, appropriately if I might add, since the one without enough sense seemed to be on the young side.
"Shea! No!"
"Dad! You guys! It's okay! These are people I spoke about. They're finally here. They're really here."
An emotion other than fear rippled through the rabbits, and it was visible enough that my new partners picked up on it. Yue shared their curiosity, but she was less intense about it.
I spared a short glance the blue haired rabbitgirl jumping up and down and waving at me in excitement and held the bridge of my nose, ignoring the burning stares of Brim and Siv.