Frost cracked underfoot as Lucen, Sir Thalos, Harlik, and Sarah made their way through the winding forest path. Their breaths ghosted white in the cold night, the only sound aside from the quiet groan of shifting trees in the wind.
It didn't take too long for them to arrive at the location where Daniel and the unconscious recruits were.
Daniel stirred as their footsteps crunched over the frost-hardened soil. One eyelid dragged itself open with the reluctant weight of a man woken in the middle of a particularly satisfying nap.
When he finally registered Lucen and the others standing there, he barely got himself to stand. He then proceeded to give a half-hearted knight's salute from where he sat, hands flicking in a motion.
"Good evening, everyone. Sorry to disturb you at this time." Daniel spoke while half-yawning.
Lucen signalled Sir Thalos and Harlik to check the unconscious bodies. As they were doing that, Lucen approached Daniel and spoke to him.
"So what happened here?"
Daniel tilted his head a little and looked at Lucen, genuinely confused.
"Don't you already know?"
Hearing Daniel's question, Lucen immediately understood that Daniel truly knew he was spying on them with the Scrying spell.
"Well, for some reason, the spell was not working properly in this area. So, can you tell me what happened?" Lucen once again asked.
"Is that so..." Daniel sighed as if answering was such a chore. "These guys wanted me dead," Daniel said flatly, like he was commenting on the weather, "and I didn't want to be dead, so I beat them up."
His tone carried no pride, no anger, just a tired practicality, as if avoiding being murdered had been a mild inconvenience in an otherwise boring afternoon.
"What he's saying is true. All of them are still alive. He avoided hitting any vital areas. This kid is talented."
Sir Thalos spoke with a smile on his face as he looked at Daniel, who suddenly trembled as if he were prey being stared at by a predator. This was the first time Daniel had ever felt such a thing; it was usually him who was the predator, not the prey.
'As expected, the world is truly a big and tiring place.' Daniel thought to himself.
"Is there anything else? Do you know why they attacked you?" Lucen continued questioning.
"They did say that they needed to join Thornefang no matter what."
"So they were planning to eliminate the competition..." Lucen mumbled to himself.
"Well, I guess that is a pretty standard strategy. You didn't specify they could not force the others to quit, or just simply kill them."
When Lucen heard Harlik's comment, he sighed in his mind as he was once again reminded that his morals were different from the people of this world.
"Yeah, I guess you're right. That was my mistake. First, let's bring these guys back to Ironhold. We need to get more information out of them."
"How are we going to bring these people back to Ironhold? We came here on foot." Sarah asked. Google seaʀᴄh NoveI(F)ire.net
"How else? Of course, we carry them," Lucen answered, brows knitting at the question, as if the solution were obvious. He bent, hooked an arm under a man twice his size, and lifted him like a sack of flour, barely breaking stride.
Sir Thalos carried four men on his shoulders without a problem. Harlik sighed as he carried two of them, while Sarah carried none, since, unlike the other three, she was a pure mage and was the weakest physically.
Sarah frowned at the sight of her companions hauling grown men like sacks of grain. "Don't even look at me. I can't lift one of them without breaking something important, probably me."
"What are you saying? There's no one else to carry." Harlik commented. Sarah looked around and saw that there really was no one else who needed to be carried.
"Well, I was just saying that I don't think I can carry grown men like you guys. I don't use aura, and I'm a lady, you know."
Harlik raised a brow. "When did you get so soft, Sarah? I've known you for years and never once heard you call yourself a lady."
"Maybe I'm finally embracing my feminine side," she shot back.
Sir Thalos chuckled. "Lady or not, I know you can carry one. If you can't, then my training clearly failed you, and we'll have to fix that."
Sarah froze for a heartbeat, then quickly snatched one of the men from Harlik, hoisting him up with a forced grin. "Kidding. See? This much weight is nothing, thanks to Sir Thalos's brilliant training."
While the group was talking, Daniel was trying his best to sleep. When he was wondering whether Lucen's group would finally leave, Lucen spoke to him.
"... I think with your skill, you can pass these trials. So this is my question in advance, I want you to answer truthfully."
"Alright," Daniel muttered, scratching the back of his neck.
"Why do you want to join Thornefang?"
Daniel's half-lidded eyes looked at Lucen for a few seconds before answering. "The truth, huh?..."
Daniel glanced at the makeshift camp, then at Lucen and the others, before continuing.
"Truth is," Daniel began, scratching lazily at the side of his jaw, "I don't care about banners, or ideals, or any of that grand-sounding garbage. Honor, dignity, they're stories rich men tell themselves to sleep better at night. They're words for people who've never had to chew leather because it was the only thing left to eat. For people who've never known what it feels like to sleep with no roof in the pouring rain, or water that wasn't already turning sour in the bucket."
Daniel's half-lidded eyes were now fully open.
"I have seen people, even family members, sell their kids because they had none of those." Daniel clenched his fist ever so slightly.
"I just need food, a bed, and people who won't stab me in my sleep. I heard that Thornefang might be slightly different, and might actually have a future... Since I think I'm quite competent in fighting, I thought that I could join the group that I think will allow me to reach my goals."
Lucen held back a smile. The way Daniel answered was making his otaku self become a little bit more excited. Isn't this hinting at a darker backstory?
"What are those goals of yours?"
"I don't have any grand goals. I just want to create an environment where I can sleep for as long as I want. To get the most with the least amount of work needed."
Lucen blinked. "Is that it?" he asked, expecting more.
"Indeed," Daniel replied with a lazy shrug. "Those are the only goals I have."
Lucen stared at Daniel for a few seconds. He did not believe a character such as Daniel did not have something deeper hidden.
'It should be true that those are his main goals, but characters like this usually have a deeper, darker past. A reason why he seems like he wants to sleep all the time. A reason why he doesn't want to put too much effort into anything.' Lucen then started imagining various backstories about Daniel.
'Now I kind of want to write a fanfic about this guy... I wonder why he was not part of the main storyline in the game. He either died before that time, or he did not act because of his laziness.'
"Hmph, at least you're honest, young one. You also have quite the talent. If you're able to join Thornefang, I will train you properly."
The moment Daniel heard what Sir Thalos said, he started to waver a little when the word train was mentioned. Daniel groaned, "That sounds like a lot of effort."
"Well, you do need to at least put some effort into not dying in this line of work," Lucen spoke with a little smirk.
"... Yeah, but on the other hand, if I'm dead, I don't have to work either."
"I thought you didn't want to die?" Harlik chimed in.
"Yeah, but I don't want to put in that much effort either," Daniel responded.
"So do you want to quit now?" Lucen asked.
"... No... This is still my best bet for achieving my goals." Daniel sighed.
Sir Thalos let out a hearty laugh. "Lazy or not, boy, I like your honesty. You'll curse me later, but you'll thank me someday."
Daniel sat up just enough to look at the knight, his brow furrowing. "Thank you? For making me sweat and miss more sleep time? Doubtful."
"Well, you're not part of Thornefang yet. So... I was going to say do your best, but since I know you won't do that, I guess I'll say put in a bit more effort to pass." Lucen said.
"…I guess I can try," Daniel said, then paused, reconsidered, and added with a sigh, "to try harder." The admission sounded like someone being sentenced to physical labor rather than being offered a place in a rising faction.
"Very well, that's all I wanted to hear. We're going to leave now. Have a good rest, Daniel."
"I intend to," Daniel gave a knight's salute and went straight back to napping. It was like he had no care in the world, even in a forest full of monsters.
Harlik wanted to say something to the lazy ass, but Lucen stopped him. Lucen looked at the sleeping Daniel for a second with a smile on his face.
'This guy really is interesting.'
Lucen then took the lead and started running with the unconscious recruit on his shoulders back to Ironhold.