“They want the girl?” Looking at Ation, Al couldn’t hold his confusion back. Even though communication between his group and those two people claiming to come from the future was based mostly on gestures rather than words, he could still see that the two of them were together. ‘Are they into threesomes or what?’ Even though his head was filled with doubts, this kind of outcome, as surprising as it was, allowed him to save himself from the burden of yet another young soul.

“It seems to be the case. For some strange reason, they are really interested in celestials, as if they no longer consider them enemies to humanity…” Shaking his head, Ation took a moment to figure out the exact way of putting it. “It’s like… They no longer care about spirits.”

While the conversation between the two burly men continued along the same tones, Markus approached the whimpering girl before kneeling in front of her on one knee again. Even though his treatment of this poor little one was heavens apart when compared to how Al and company acted towards her, the eyes of this young girl were still filled with terror.

“Markus.” Patting himself on the chest, Markus said while making sure the girl was following his movement with her teary eyes. “Yelna.” His hand pointed at the silent wife of his, keeping her distance from the commotion. ‘To think that she would still be wary of everyone… Or maybe I’m the one being stupid for acting so relaxed?’ Pondering over this topic in his thoughts, Markus shook his head before pointing his hand at the girl.

“…” Clearly, getting that unfortunate child to speak wasn’t going to be easy. As if speaking up would be akin to acknowledging the dreadful reality that surrounded her, the girl simply refused to open her mouth.

“This is gonna be hard. I only know a few words in ancient, only what Layn taught me back when we were bored at camp, so if she won’t communicate herself, I don’t think she will be of any use to us.” Markus wasn’t merciful towards the girl for no reason. Even though they entered the situation right before the girl was about to be executed, it was pretty easy to guess what was the reason for her sentence. Yet, even though it would mean possibly antagonizing their ancestors a bit, Markus just couldn’t give up on this chance to learn more.

“It will be hard.” Nodding her head to the words of her husband, Yelna looked at the rest of their now expanded group. “We need to go.”

Just like the former hero said, it was the nigh time to depart from their place of momentary rest. With Ation already done talking with the man he called Al, it was only a matter of seconds before he would finish his greetings with two of the companions of his leaders.

And just like that, the group moved out. Even though the girl refused to talk, everyone also refused to just let her stay back in fear of the girl alerting the local authorities of the suspicious group. Yet, rather than moving further in the direction Al was originally intended to scout, the entire group turned around and moved their steps back to the Gener’s clan temporary camp. After all, a scouting mission only had some sense if it was done with a  limited number of people. With Ation luckily happening upon his leader before actually reaching the source of the call, their group of few was now reinforced by all the men that the officer of the clan’s army brought with him.

“Did they give up on that girl after all?” A few moments after their departure, Al finally couldn’t hold his curiosity back and asked.

“Doesn’t seem like it. Did you saw that girl’s speed?” Even though he was usually silent, Lessen had no qualms against joining the conversation if it was about anything that caught his interest. “It’s not the level one can reach just by training. At least for the girl…” taking a moment to figure out the right words to explain his thoughts, Lessen shook his head, “she spilled a lot of blood in her life. I don’t think she would have any qualms about cutting that celestial if necessary, or even if she grew tired of keeping up with her pace.”

‘Huh?’ As rare as it was for Lessen to speak openly about something, to hear him praise someone else was even harder to come by. ‘If she’s really that strong, does that mean that man is also quite powerful?’ Taking his turn to shake his head to clear it from all the doubts and questions that suddenly appeared in his mind, Al refocused on the topic. ‘Wait, that’s a wrong question. If she is so strong, why did she follow Ation in the first place?’

Turning his head around, Al sent a glance towards the strange duo… Only to see their eyes be fully clouded as if they managed to somehow fall asleep while walking. Yet, whenever a bush or leaves on a tree would rustle, their pupils would instantly rush in that direction, proving that while they looked to be relaxed, they kept their vigilance at a maximum.

Soon, the entire group managed to cover the entire distance that took nearly a day for Al to traverse with just the two friends of his. Even though a bigger group meant it was way harder to remain undetected by potential stragglers and passersby, it also allowed Al to set some people as guards and individual scouts.

Once at the camp, a sobering report was brought to the commander.

“Sir, during the return, we encountered seven groups with twenty-three people in total. While two of them escaped, we managed to inflict heavy injuries on them so it’s likely they won’t get out of the forest.” Lowering his head in shame for the failure of his mission, the commander of the scouts clearly expected a reprimand. Yet, rather than that, Al placed his hand on his shoulder before patting it gently.

“It’s okay. Even if they escape, it doesn’t change a thing.” Casting a quick look to the tail end of his group where the two of his alleged descendants continued to pester the unfortunate girl. “With the various forces of ours responding to the call to arms, it was only a matter of time before this world would learn about us.”

Ignoring the debate between Ation’s commander and one of Ation’s underlings, Markus shook his shoulders before releasing a deep sigh. 

“I just can’t. Why can’t she as much as to give us her fucking name?!” At first, the saint gave the girl some space given the circumstances she suddenly found herself in. Yet, as his continuous attempts to make her speak up continued to result in nothing but failure, even his holy patience continued to run dry.

“Let me.” Taking a step forward, Yelna finally took the situation into her own hands. Slapping her moderate bust with her hand, she uttered slowly while looking the girl in the eyes. “Yelna.” Then, her hand moved towards the girl’s chest, slapping her in the exact same way as she did slap herself.

Maybe it was due to Yelna being female, or maybe the girl finally managed to come to her senses and realize that just ignoring the reality around her was the shortest way to forfeit her life. Encouraged by the expressionless face of the female in front of her, she finally opened up her mouth before uttering.

“Valk.”