"...And that's all."
Eline had given Alwyn her two artifacts and three more items.
The first was a small-sized metal shield, to protect himself with as a last resort, in case things went awry and the two were separated. He wore it on his left forearm.
For the same reason, she had also given him a spear. It was his best option against creatures that were not affected by their injuries, as it allowed him to keep a relatively long distance from the enemy.
The third item was a handy medical kit he could use to quickly close his wounds after utilizing the Bloody Bond of Concealment. It contained bandages, gauzes, a handful of painkiller pills, and a herb-based glue that immediately solidified when it came into contact with fresh blood.
He could easily fasten that small bag on the inside of the mantle, not the ragged artifact, but the elegant piece of cloth that was part of the Reaper's uniform.
Alwyn and Eline were currently wearing the same attire, but he obviously didn't put the anonymous mask on. It would only get in his way.
'How can she fight while wearing that thing?'
Another difference between the two was that he was wearing the Bloody Bond of Concealment over the mantle of the tidy uniform, creating a noticeable contrast.
Finally ready for the journey, Alwyn and Eline got off the carriage and proceeded to feed the two lizards, which had recently unburrowed to catch the feeble rays of the sun that managed to pierce through the dense foliage.
The landscape of the Whispering Woods, although the day had just begun, was extremely murky, as if the night had never actually ended. The combination of that and the thin veil of morning mist that was covering the ground, made the environment dreamlike, while also giving off an eerie vibe.
Luckily for them, there were many tiny sources of light that faintly illuminated their surroundings, such as lonely green fireflies and bushes of fluorescent berries. To those who wandered inside the woods, they gave the illusion that they could actually see something.
It was a strange feeling, but human eyes eventually adjusted to the darkness, even if just barely enough to make out shapes.
"So… where do we go?"
Eline walked to the back of the carriage and pointed downward.
"We follow this."
A straight trail had been carved into the cold, hardened dirt, as if someone had dragged a heavy and cumbersome object on the ground. It went on for three or four meters, before disappearing into the opaque mist.
As the wind inside the forest was not that strong at night, and during the day the rays of light could not melt the ice present inside the soil, the track had not been eroded or covered by flying debris. It had actually managed to harden, engraving on the ground the clue they needed to follow.
"I guess that's the cargo that you are looking for."
The girl quietly nodded.
Alwyn took the compass out of his pocket and checked in which direction the puppet of the siren had gone.
"To the south, huh? Right at the center of this damn forest… Are we really doing this?"
"If we return empty handed, we might even get executed. We have to retrieve the cargo at all costs."
"Are you fucking kidding me?! And you are only telling me now?"
The girl remained silent.
"Can't we just hide for a couple months in a small village at the border of the Empire?"
"That would still be a death sentence. One day the Church will eventually come knocking at our doors. That's how important this mission is."
"This mission… What does it consist of exactly?"
"I'm not supposed to tell you this information."
"Dont you think you can tell me at this point? If it's a success, I'm gonna slaughter your comrades and get killed by you. If it fails, which is highly probable, I'm dead anyway."
The girl pondered for a while what to respond.
"...We were not supposed to reach the elven kingdom."
"That much I was already sure of."
"But the cargo was actually what the elves had requested."
"So your task was to fake an attack to the caravan and return the cargo to the Church? And you decided that the best way to do so was to kill the porters? Accomplishing the mission while obtaining free souls and money... That's very smart of you Reapers!"
"...No. The task… was actually to kill you all."
"...What?!"
"What you said is true, the officials wanted to fake an incident, but the actual task that they had given us was to eliminate the porters and leave them in the middle of the plain, then camp there for a couple of days and return to Westguard."
"That… doesn't make any sense. Why would they ask you to do that?"
"I don't know, and I don't need to know. You can't question the Church's orders, they are absolute. And now that the mission has already failed, the best I can do is to return with the cargo. Its value is far too high to be lost inside this forest. It's probably the most valuable object inside of the whole Empire."
"...And what is that supposed to be?"
"I prefer not to tell you… at the moment. If we manage to retrieve it, you'll see for yourself."
Alwyn shrugged in sign of defeat.
"Fair enough."
As the conversation came to an abrupt end, Eline raised her hood and gestured him to climb onto her back.
Alwyn put both the spear and her scythe on his shoulders, fastened them so that they did not fall, and then complied with her command. His body was pressed against hers, he could faintly sense her heart beating under the thick layers of the uniform.
As the girl started running, following the trail on the ground, the heartbeat accelerated. To remain stable, he positioned his hands on her shoulders.
"Yesterday you said that if a Revenant got too close to the carriage you would have noticed… Since I was too exhausted to argue, I didn't doubt your abilities. I simply thought She must have her ways and carefreely went to sleep. But now that we are partners, I think we need to be honest with each other and disclose every one of our assets."
"...I guess you are right... Remember when I said that you were the person with the most artifacts? With that, I didn't mean that I only had my scythe…"