Chapter 75: Evidence

Forest Unknown

Roka

I have the unconscious impostor put in the same spot he sat before in front of the black spot.

The bears finish setting up our and their own tents.

They bring over firewood and start a fire with practiced ease.

David brings the butchered meat over and puts it on the table.

He then gets the foldable metal rack from the wagon and sets it up over the fire.

He then brings over and starts cooking the meat.

The smell fills the air.

The Imposter wakes up.

He quickly realizes his predicament.

He was probably planning to run at some point, but when he saw David's speed he probably lost all hope.

"Are you hungry?"

Milly asks.

He looks at her then David.

"Who are you people?"

David coldly glances at him sending a visible shiver down his spine.

Felmina looks right at him.

"We are the real demon general's wives. And they."

She points to David and the others.

"Are from his personal unit. The kaijuu tardigrade bears."

He goes a bit pale.

"So... the demon general is actually real?"

I slam my hand on the table I'm sitting at, making him jump.

"What do you mean real? Weren't you impersonating him."

Seething anger is lacing my voice.

Milly comes over and puts her hand on my back.

"Calm down,Roka."

I calm down a bit.

Milly continues as she looks at him.

"Go on."

He takes a beat carefully choosing his words as to not offend us.

"I heard about the demon general, but I never imagined anyone like that could actually exist... that is before today."

He looks up at David with fear and a hint of awe and admiration.

"You killed those wolves so quickly... those are Direwolves. It would take a party of at least 20 experienced adventurers to ---"

I interrupt him.

" You're getting off topic"

He lowers his head.

"Yes, when I found the armor, I started wearing it. The demon patterns on it reminded me of the stories I heard. I never imagined that it could actually belong to the real thing."

"Food's ready."

I glare at David.

"Shut up David, he was just getting to the good part. Ah that reminds me."

I pull my picture of Ryu from the bag on the table, and take it over to him.

"Have you ever seen this man before?"

He looks at the picture turning it so the fire illuminates it in it's orange glow.

He looks up at me.

"Is this him?"

I nod.

He looks at it carefully again.

"I'm sorry to say but... I've never seen this man before in my life."

My head droops. I snatch back the picture and take a seat again.

"Let's eat."

We eat.

We sleep.

...

...

I wake up.

The sun barely started rising.

I'm getting impatient.

I put my 2 fingers in my mouth.

*whistle

After a few moments I hear stirring. Then 1 by 1 they start emerging. Finally David comes out carrying the impostor over his shoulder.

He looks at me like he's begging for mercy.

"You'll let me go after I help you, won't you?"

I nod.

Relief fills his face.

David drops him to the ground.

He gets up.

"Now show us exactly where you found it."

My voice is laced with impatience.

He quickly takes a seat at the tree like before, closing his eyes, searching his memories. I see his eyes dart around under his eyelids.

He opens them, then gets up walking in the same direction as before.

Two of the bears are escorting him this time.

We go deeper. We get to a kind of clearing.

When we reach the other side.

"This is it, I'm sure of it."

He points down.

I raise my eyebrow

"How long ago did you find it here?"

He taps his lips with his finger. He's looking up thinking.

"Maybe about a year and a half ago."

When he looks at my clearly displeased face he jumps.

"How can you be sure?"

He flinches, but then points to my left.

"That rock, I remember it."

I look over. The rock is kind of oddly shaped.

It's just a rock.

I sigh

"Spread out! Look for clues. "

""""""Yes, sir""""""

They all start combing the surroundings.

I turn and face him again.

"Where did you find the sword?"

He starts sweating bullets.

I look at him suspiciously

He waves his hands in front of his body.

"It's not what you think, it's just...."

"Just what?"

"... Dangerous"

"Lead the way"

Felmina pipes up.

His eyes dart back and forth.

"Shouldn't we wait for those guys to come back?"

Felmina puts her hand on her bicep as she's showing it off with a flex.

"You know, I'm almost as strong as David."

I see a quick flash of doubt in his eyes before he looks down.

Felmina saw it too. She marches over to him then picks him up as if he's made of paper.

As she's shaking him from side to side.

"Fine! Fine! Just please, put me down. Don't kill me, please!"

*thud

He lands on his ass.

He gets up and starts walking.

...

We get to the side of a cliff.

He points to a rock.

"It was lying next to that rock."

His eyes dart from side to side nervously and he looks at every little sound from the forest.

I walk up to him and put my hand on his shoulder.

He jumps.

He looks back at me with fear in his eyes.

"What's got you so worked up?"

"You don't know!?"

"Know what?"

He looks at a rustling in the bushes.

"This is a drake breeding ground."

I sigh. Putting my hand over my face.

Felmina bursts out laughing rolling on the floor.

When she finally composes herself, she's wiping tears from her eyes as she says to him mockingly.

"I thought for a moment you where going to say dragon... Hahahahhahaha!"

Milly chuckles.

I start ignoring them both as I start examining the spot he pointed out.

I notice a deep gash where the sword must have been stuck. The thickness matches.

Something must have knocked it loose.

Was Ryu using it and it got stuck.

I contemplate, but Felmina's ceaseless laughing is interrupting my thought process again.

"Shut up will you!"

Felmina's laughter trails off as she composes herself.

I notice on the ground, some deep scars like drag marks, that have long since been overgrown with foliage.

I begin to follow it and realize they start splitting an getting fainter.

I'm going the wrong way. I turn around and head the other way.

...

It leads us to a natural cave with a long since rotted away makeshift barrier.

Is this where Ryu stayed?

We enter the cave. We take out our magic torches.

We get to a space in the cave with some evidence of the previous occupant. I look around a bit. Milly and Felmina start wandering off, looking around.

I see some stacked slabs making a seat at a stone 'table'. It's just a kind of flat rock.

I examine the slabs.

"Roka, come take a look at this."

It's Milly.

I enter the 'room' she's in. She hands me some dirty cloth.

The makeshift 'bed' is littered with these torn cloths.

"Here hold this."

I hand Milly my torch.

I rinse the dirty cloth revealing that it was once black. I look at the faded pattern on it.

I recognize it.

This is...

"Hey guys, you better come take a look at this."

Felmina's voice reverberates through the cave.

I put the cloth in my pocket and start walking over toward Felmina's voice. I duck to enter and say.

"You'll never guess what we found, this was Ryu's ---"

I'm stunned silent by the scene unfolding in front of me.

Natural light is seeping in from above. Felmina also threw a few flares out brightly illuminating the huge 'room'.

Endless huge skeletons stretch out as far as the light reaches. There must be hundreds.

We can freely walk into some of these.

These creatures must have been huge.

What the hell is this?