Way to the village

Around eight children who were an elf, appeared out of nowhere behind Mia. They had a ring in their hand which they had just removed from their finger after Mia told them to; that ring was probably the item that made them invisible until now.

"These are the children these bastards kidnapped to sell in the slave market," said Mia.

I started at Scar as if asking 'Is that true?' to which he nodded in response. Though he was hesitant to accept it, he couldn't try to start an argument here with us knowing that we can kill him whenever we want.

"You said you know where their main base is located, yes?" I asked Mia, just to be certain of what I heard.

"Yes, I do know that," she replied. She is accepting the fact that she knows where their main base is but she didn't tell me where it is.

Should I assume that she's trying to hide info by this?

"Would you mind telling me please?" I asked again.

"Why should I?" she said, ah I always get at a disadvantage in situations like this due to my below-average communication skills.

"If I assume that you're also going there to get back on them then I could provide you aid since my goal is also the same," I said.

She didn't respond immediately, after thinking for a while she said breaking the silence, "Well, I'm willing to cooperate with you but I do have a condition."

"If it's something within my power," though mostly everything is within my power but, bragging 'bout it won't be a good idea I guess.

"First I want to send these children back to their village and I want you to accompany me in that," said Mia.

So this is how it is huh. Judging from her moves alone she can handle all the bandits who can attack her during her journey but that's only when she's only. If that was not the case then she wouldn't have used an item like that to make those children invisible. And that ring must have some kind of time limit, otherwise, she won't have asked for my help.

"You said village, did you mean an elf village," I asked Mia and she nodded in response.

"I've never heard about one before; you sure know where it is?"

"Don't come if you have doubts," Mia replied.

Elf village huh… I kind of want to visit there since it's a thing straight out of fantasy and all but the main reason my mind is screaming and telling me to go is right now I have nowhere else to go.

And an elven village won't be much of a bad choice, and we are going there to return the children who were kidnapped so who knows maybe I get a bonus. Plus I'll get to take care of the remaining bandits. Actually, bandits aren't the thing that is attracting me right now, it's their leader.

If what Zen said was true then a person who can kill 500 royal soldiers alone can't just be a normal human. And I have decided to check on everything which can possibly be a threat to me sent by the gods.

"Okay, I'll come," I replied, and with that, it was decided.

I still didn't have a clue about who Mia is and her reason for helping the elves and killing these but I decided to not push to that matter any further, for now at least.

As I and Mia with those children began to leave, Scar said from behind, "Umm, what should I do now?"

Well, I truly forgot about him. I stopped midway, turned around, and said, "You can you whatever you want from here on, but remember don't get involved with bandits or any other illegal stuff, or... you-know-what-I-mean."

Yes, that was clearly a threat from me. Though I can't do anything once he's out of my range but even the slightest possibility was enough to keep him scared.

I then turned back and left with Mia.

***

"Are you just going to keep them walking like this?" I asked Mia as we were walking in the forest.

"What else can I do? I don't have a carriage or anything like that," she replied.

Right now we were going through a forest that divides the south-western borders of the Ronze kingdom with the Einzbern Kingdom. According to her, the elf village was in the middle of this forest.

But the reason I was a little concerned about was the behavior of the elven children. Since when I met them, they were all quiet. I don't think they have said something even once. It's not good to say this but they were kind of like walking corpses.

Even though they were children, they were walking along with us from the start without showing any sign of exhaustion or tiredness. If something the bandits did has caused this…I can't even imagine what might have happened.

But I can't just watch like this! I mean, they are somewhat ten years old! This is the time to play and enjoy your youth, well I know I'm not the one to say this but still. I decided to ask Mia about this.

I slowly closed up my distance with her, once I was walking beside her at the same pace I asked, "Are they going through some kind of PTSD?"

"What's that?"

Ah shit, I did that again. It's obvious she won't know what PTSD is!

"I mean, they're not even the slightest acting like normal kids. Did something happen which caused this?" I asked.

She didn't respond, but after a momentary pause, she said, "It's not like they are not acting like kids. They are just scared of you."

"But how does that explain the reason they are walking since then with getting tired," I objected.

"Maybe you don't know but they are elves, their physical strength is slightly above humans," she replied.