Karmine was still in a state of shock after Van just revealed that he somehow set a magical tracker on himself.

“Sorry,” Van said. “This was still during the time when we were trying to figure out any method possible to escape. But at least we can explain that you work for me now and are no danger any longer. Right?”

Karmine had to take a moment to process that. “Maybe if it was anyone else! But we killed several rangers! Knight rangers specifically are allowed judicial powers to hunt and kill any criminal that tries to hide in the wilderness. They are a powerful organization, if we could have made it safely to Bright city and the halls of blood and justice, then maybe we could have gotten away with it. But now… now they may be out for blood… contract or no…”

Van also realized that he technically contracted the group of bandits that killed Yesi’s comrades… he was now very worried about what she may think of this situation… and by the look on Luna’s face, she was largely thinking the same thing…

“Let's clean up…” Van said, “they haven’t attacked us yet, so that may be a good sign that they are looking to talk… right?” looking towards Karmine.

She thought about it before nodding her head. “It could be that they are willing to negotiate in exchange for our hostages… which technically means you two… otherwise they wouldn’t have shown themselves… but three Knight rangers… damn…”

“Are they that powerful? Van asked, surprised to see how worried Karmine was about this.

Karmine snorted. “Each Knight ranger has at least a century of training and experience under their belts and has been through the most grueling trials that the guild can throw at them. Handling one would be doable. Two and it would be a little difficult. Three and it’s about fifty-fifty, favoring them… and that’s with the lowest of Knight ranger ranks…” her eyes narrowed. “If things go south… it won’t be pretty…”

“Umm… sorry?” Van said, wondering if he should apologize or not.

Karmine sighed, then looked at him, a strange wry smile on her face. “Nothing to apologize for… if anything, I'm even more impressed by you than before… You have backbone, you can fight, and you're willing to go to the mat and throw down and do anything you can think of to survive. I respect that…” she said with a nod, then looked down at herself and sighed at her appearance.

“Oh, let me fix that.” Van then snapped his fingers and activated a cleaning cantrip that bathed everyone in soothing energy and saw them all spotless.

“Oh?” Karmine said, marveling at her now sparkling clean self. “Oh my, this is useful!”

Van nodded, and the group agreed to quickly change and get outside before one of the rangers decided to scratch their itchy finger and loosed an arrow.

Walking outside, they saw most of the bandits were out and in a circle formation around the entrance of the cabin. Half of them had their bows in their hands, but not at the ready, instead waiting for orders from their boss.

The rangers were on their wolf mounts and surrounded the bandits. Three in particular in black and red form-fitting leather armor rode slightly larger, deadlier looking wolves and had wicked bows on their backs that looked like they could be broken down into two swords. They carried themselves in relaxed confidence, not truly seeing the bandits in front of them as a threat, but perking up when Karmine walked out followed by Van and Luna.

Off to the side of the Knight rangers, Van noticed Yesi and Yassan riding the shadow wolves that he gave them. No doubt they were integral to finding them so quickly, the two perked up upon seeing Van and Luna, looking relieved but tense, as if still worried that they could be harmed by Karmine.

“Well, well, well… to what do I owe the pleasure? What are Knight rangers doing around here?” Karmine asked, portraying confidence, looking relaxed and like she wasn’t surrounded by rangers. More acting like a gregarious host with some unexpected guests than anything else, with an easy smile on her face.

The Knight rangers looked at each other for a moment, then the lead ranger in front spoke up. “Knight rangers go where we need to go. And it so happened that we were in the area on a patrol when we heard a caravan was attacked and a few of our rangers killed… you wouldn’t happen to know anything about that… would you?” the lead ranger asked, but looked like she already knew the answer.

Karmine’s smile turned thin, and the gears in her head began to spin at breakneck speeds. “Perhaps we can talk about this inside? There is something I want to… discuss with you about such… atrocious things happening in our beautiful forest… perhaps this will help make things a little clearer?” she then whipped out the papers of the contract that Van and she just signed, and almost just as quickly a dozen arrows trained on her.

The Lead ranger held up her hand to stop them, looking at Karmine suspiciously, she then ordered one of the subordinates to retrieve the papers, wondering what kind of game the bandit was playing.

After accepting the papers she began to read it, slowly at first, but with quickening speed as her eyes widened and she flipped through the pages. After she was done her mouth was in a thin line and she looked greatly displeased. She gave a hard glare towards Karmine, which then trailed off towards Van and Luna as well.

“It… does seem that we have things… to discuss… give us a moment…” She then shared the papers with the other two Knight rangers with her. All three of them read and whispered to each other about their findings.

Now many of the other rangers and bandits were looking very much confused about what in the world could be going on…

After a few more minutes of whispering and arguing with each other, the Knight rangers came to an agreement. “We would love to… discuss matters pertaining to the forest and the deaths of our ranger comrades with you…” though her tone said anything but. “But perhaps we should be holding such a conversation somewhere… else… say the halls of blood and justice in Bright city?” her glare returning.

The bandits both paled and looked like they were ready to fight, some already drawing out their swords. But with a swift hand movement from Karmine, she stopped them and ordered them to stand down. Her smile returned on her face as she looked at the Knight ranger leader.

“I don’t see why not? I was planning to go there myself!” She said knowingly.

“No doubt you were…” The Knight ranger muttered between gritted teeth. “Tell your women to stand down and drop their weapons… they don’t need them now that they are… under our protection…” She said sarcastically, though also sounding annoyed for some reason.

Karmine nodded. “You heard her girls! Drop your shit and pick up your supplies! We have a long march ahead of us!”

The bandits turned to her in complete shock, some with looks of complete betrayal on their faces.

“But big sis!” some complained and whined.

“Stow it!” Karmine growled. Then gave them a confident look. “Trust me... I’ll put my life on the line to see you all out of this predicament safely. Just do what the nice ranger lady says, alright?” Sounding rather motherly all of a sudden.

The bandits didn’t seem to like it, but they dropped all their weapons and picked up their gear. Already looking like a defeated army…

The Knight ranger leader scowled. She didn’t allow them to pick up their stuff, but she couldn’t say that now… nor did she want to deal with feeding them, so she simply let it slide… but there was one thing she couldn’t let go…

“We’ll also be taking your… contractors with us… I hope for your understanding…” Though it sounded like she couldn’t give a rat's ass if Karmine did or not.

Karmine nodded and agreed, not fighting the Knight ranger in this regard.

Van and Luna were then escorted to the ranger’s side under heavy guard, and in a few minutes, the forced march of the bandits began…

---

“Van! Luna! Are you two okay?” Yassan was the first to ask, riding up next to the both of them, closely followed by Yesi, though her expression was a little more reserved.

Van had conjured up his own wolf and had joined the rangers.

Yesi followed it up by asking her own question. “And what is this about being contractors…?” looking a little suspiciously at the both of them.

Van hesitated but explained everything that happened since they parted. Omitting only a few things here and there.

Yesi and Yassan listened intently, riding on his every word…

“And… that’s what happened…” Van finished, looking a little worried about what they might think of this and nervous inside.

“...wow… I don’t think I could do what you did…” Yassan said, shaking his head in disbelief.

Yesi frowned. “I can’t believe you actually had sex with that bitch…” she growled, though it seemed more pointed towards Karmine, some of it was definitely towards him, and he couldn’t blame her for it. With a huff, Yesi took some distance from the group to be alone with her own thoughts.

“Give her some time… I’m sure she will forgive you… not like I don’t get why she might be a little mad right now though…” Yassan said, looking worriedly over at his sister.

Van sighed, fully understanding himself why she might be a little… peeved…

Luna also feeling like this might be slightly her fault.

After that awkwardness, Van, and Yassan tried to talk about other things to lighten up the mood and pass the time. Yassan talking about how lucky they were that there was a nearby Knight ranger squad and how they used the shadow wolves to help lead them right to Van and Luna.

After that, they discussed other things and Van explained how to better control the shadow wolf that Yassan was riding. Helping him get a better understanding of its capabilities and more.

They passed the time like this until they reached the first outpost, much later that day. At first, there was some bit of confusion on what to do with all the bandits, where to put them, and such.

But what seemed to be the most pressing concern of the Knight rangers… was the contract that Van and Luna signed with Karmine. After they reached the outpost, they were pulled aside and grilled for information, as well as an explanation of what exactly happened.

Vans effectively just told the same thing that he told Yesi and Yassan. That he and Luna just tried everything that he could to escape and threw whatever they had on hand. Even planning far in advance the shadow wolves' ability to track them.

The Knight rangers listened in with some interest. But in the end, they had to agree they share some measure of responsibility for allowing this to happen. Already talking about how Yesi and Yassan would no doubt be demoted for this.

“You can’t do that!?” Luna said aghast. “They literally did everything they could to protect us, even going so far as to risk their lives for us and make great sacrifices! I won’t hear of it, you can’t punish them for doing their jobs!” slamming her hand down on the table.

Van couldn’t agree more and would have said something similar if he weren’t beaten to the punch by Luna.

The lead ranger gave a light scowl towards Luna. “Be that as it may. The mere fact that this happened and you were forced into this position proves that they clearly were not ready for the responsibility. This also brings a black stain on the ranger guild's reputation, for we effectively failed to save two of our charges and they were forced to bargain with bandits and criminals for their release. No matter what, someone has to pay for this, it just so happened that it's those two…”

Her expression hardened. “And while it is our duty to protect you and guide you safely to Bright city… that does that mean how… best watch your tone of voice, otherwise you will find yourself locked within a nice plush carriage until we reach the city. I know how to deal with obstinate nobles such as yourself… so do not test me…”

Luna looked like she really wanted to test her. But Van gently pulled her down, his own face a hard mask and scowling a little about the unfairness of it all. But he couldn’t entirely blame them for it either. The rangers guild was a guild with a sterling reputation, so when something or someone fucks up big, they had to give an appropriate response.

And if they were to go light on one ranger or another for whatever reason, that could set a bad precedent. And the rangers guild was known to punish severely any ranger of any rank no matter who they were and what claims to power or influence within the guild they may have. It was for this very reason the rangers guild was so trusted by so many people in the first place, and so they have worked tirelessly to make sure they kept that faith the people had in them, through any means necessary… Even Knight rangers were not exempt from being severely punished for failure… which promoted a culture of people who worked very hard to prove themselves at all things possible and rise through the ranks. Leading to the cultivation of very well-trained and expert rangers.

These and a few more things he learned from Yassan and Yesi during their time together, so he knew that arguing with them would be pointless… but…

Van narrowed his eyes. “I would just like to point out… Yesi and Yassan will be getting a stellar review from me once we reach Bright city… but your review… and the ranger’s guilds review as a whole… and well… I might be making that review at a later date…”

The Knight ranger glowered at Van. Normally, when a ranger did a big mission like this, their charge would write a review that indicated whether or not they did a good job. And when the ranger fucked up, as in fucked up big time, not didn’t wipe some noble’s ass or anything like that well enough. The review would mirror that…

But if Van gave a great review while waiting for what kind of punishment the guild would put on Yesi and Yassan and gave the guild a bad review on them… the disparity would call in some questioning on whether or not the guild actually gave a fair punishment or was maybe was too harsh… it shouldn't work that way… and it didn’t… but it still wasn’t nice to deal with…

But instead of saying anything on the matter. The Knight ranger simply dismissed them, having finished her interrogation. Keeping her thoughts to her own.

Van and Luna left and went to the cabin reserved for them. The both of them worried for what the future might hold. After all, so much has changed, and everything had become perhaps a bit too complicated…

Hopefully, everything will work out in the end… and hey… just a few more days to Bright city! And the halls of blood and justice…

Van sighed as he tried to go to sleep. It was going to be a busy future ahead of him…