Tus was on this thinking streak even after they left the hotel. Eventually, he came to the conclusion, ‘You know what? I won’t judge people by rumors or how they appear on the outside. Just take a look at stone face.’ Tus continued his inner monologue staring at Gargoyle, ‘Sure he is ugly and says he wants to eat me to free his soul, but really he is…’ Before he continued, Gargoyles’ face showed from beneath the hood, smiling with his monstrously large, sharp, and shiny teeth.

Tus felt chills go through his body and hastily to turn around to find a different target to assure himself. He locked on to Ruia, ‘…This green girl might have green hair, sharp ears, and short stature, but she is actually respectful and caring…’ Then he remembered when he first woke up and she ‘invaded’ his personal space on multiple accounts. He sternly dismissed anymore thoughts vouching for her. He turned towards the rest of the group. Worill and Yarla were hard to classify. Arl was the only one who seemed normal in the group to Tus, but he also didn’t have a negative points to show, so that didn’t help Tus’s case in finding a good example. Finally, Tus sullenly looked to the ground, ‘I’ll be a good person and see how this lord is… I’m sure that he will be an excellent individual. Above society’s ruffians and schemers. Although, then again, that isn’t a grand hope.’

“Rolon, we’ll begin more training when we make camp.” Yarla stated.

Last night, Worill told Yarla about Tus’s test and his show of insight. She then promptly apologized to him as such an example of manipulation that she showed could’ve easily tore the arrangement they had if she didn’t explain it herself. However, Tus didn’t perform any kind of complaint. He even said, ‘Thank you for the intervention.’

Tus turned his head up as he agreed. “It is good as long as there isn’t an excuse like last time for towns just to meet people.”

Yarla nodded.

Ruia, oblivious to the inference indignantly stated, “I would like to be in towns as long as possible. There’s plumbing, warm water, food that isn’t rations. Why would you not want to be in any towns?”

Tus was confused, “Don’t you like the forest?”

“Of course.” She answered. “If I had to choose, I would choose the forest, but a lot of towns have access to forest. There isn’t a problem as long as the option is there.”

“This Rolon respects your opinion.” Tus said politely.

“Rolon, can you discontinue saying it like that.” Worill continued his conquest to change Tus’s speech.

It came to no avail and even became worse…

………….

When the midday sun was overhead and they traveled for seven hours, they came to a stop, and camp was set up with five tents set up in a circle. The setup was slightly protested by Tus, because since monsters did not need to eat or sleep, he knew that Gargoyle was going to stand by his head again while he was sleeping under the pretense of protection.

That protest didn’t really work. The reason was due to his use of “This Rolon” becoming ever more prominent, and aggravated the groups’ ire. Tus could only drop the subject.

Tus stated a curiosity directed at Yarla, “This Rolon really wants to know why this Rolon’s group stopped at this part of this Rolon’s property at this Rolon’s time period.”

Yarla was usually a person who kept all of her emotions under a zero fly through zone restriction. However, for the past six hours, Tus continued this form of torture, and she could only restrain around a third of anger from flooding into her words. “You… will gain the half hyperstassis and go through the first part of the trial here.”

Tus didn’t notice the glare as he said, “This Rolon understand this Rolon’s teammates’ arrangement.”

‘Right, my second reconstruction will come in two days. I don’t know what it entails or what would be the end result as Stone Face won’t tell me.’ Tus contemplated for a while before he reaffirmed something with Worill.

“This Rolons’ teammate still has that soul core right?”

“Yes… it is right here.” Worill who was sitting nearby said that after he sighed and patted an unseen pocket.

Gargoyle also sighed as he watched the nearby grass twist in the wind.

Three hours later evening was approaching with the sun dyeing the sky an orange hue when the sound of horse hooves clopping against the ground reached their ears. A squeaky noise of something nearly falling apart accompanied the sound. Even though whatever it was couldn’t be seen from the road, the approaching atmosphere was already depressing before it grew stronger.

As it came closer, the sound of hooves became more numerous with more than one source of noises that made people imagine an empty city full of gloomy desolation.

Eventually, whatever must pass must pass.

It was a caravan that was in tatters. Seven wagons that had evidence of holding lots of valuables, including food, were gone. Although most of the people, which included men, women, and children, appeared uninjured, all of them had faces that showed fury that they couldn’t let out. The others who were injured had their entire bodies beaten. They had bruises with some with their arms and legs occupied by makeshift splints.

Some of the wagons had coverings were full of holes, with others only having the frame that used to hold up the sheet. Some of them were missing horses and the ones that remained resembled the living persons who directed them.

Tus saw this scene and his face twisted. He tried to stand up, but Worill somehow knew that he would do so, and moved to his side. He pushed Tus back into a sitting position.

“What is going on?” Tus looked at Worill with a question-filled gaze.

When he saw those people, he quickly realized that they weren’t a merchant caravan, but a migration caravan.

Migration caravans were nomadic tribes that lived anywhere they could settle for a time before moving again. This was either a means of tradition or a strategy for survival that appeared in a lot of societies on the land.