Hike (4).

The longer they observed Kopi, the more they realized he was low-level. They already smelled easy money and praised fate for such a gift.

"We'll attack him today. Just make sure his face isn't damaged. Is that clear to everyone?"

"Yes, Father," they all exclaimed in unison.

After hearing his sons' response, a predatory smile appeared on Larsen's face. He knew this would be fun.

"Look, Father, he went to the cliff. He's looking for a way down. Maybe we should attack now?"

"Yes, Elric, you're right. It's better to attack now. We've already wasted a lot of time. Is everyone ready?" Larsen glanced at his sons.

"Yes," said Thorvin and Elric. Garvin remained silent. Larsen looked at his middle son with a questioning look.

"Did I say everyone understood?" he said, approaching his son. "Or didn't you hear me, Garvin? Are you going to start that conversation again?"

"Yes, Father, I wanted to talk about it again. He's kind of strange, why don't you want to understand me?" But before he could finish, his father slapped him.

"I'm already tired. What are you so afraid of, Garvin? I'm tired of hearing this. You've disappointed me greatly. Even Thorvin has calmed down."

"Father, you just don't understand. When he was killing the birds, he…"

"Yes, I know, you say that every day. When you were silent today, I thought you had calmed down."

"He…" But his father interrupted him again.

"Are you going to say again why he always ran away when he encountered monsters? It's because he's a pathetic coward, that's all."

"But Father!" Garvin exclaimed.

"Shut up. I don't want to hear it anymore. I didn't expect this from you. You've disappointed me too much on this hunt." Clenching his fists, Garvin couldn't say anything more.

"Okay, Father, I won't anymore." Lowering his gaze, Garvin said, continuing to clench his fists. He felt the gazes of his brothers and father on him, full of disappointment. He had performed very poorly on this hunt. But Garvin didn't care. He had seen it when he was killing the birds—his face changed for a moment, and then quickly returned, and it happened constantly when he killed. At first, Garvin thought it was a coincidence, but the more he watched him, the more it scared him.

He didn't know what it was or how it happened. He was frightened by the unknown, he couldn't explain it. He was just very strange, and the way he ran away from monsters—it wasn't out of fear, but because of something else. He was definitely hiding something. But no matter how hard Garvin tried to explain, no one believed him, not even Thorvin, who had been against it from the start, agreed with his arguments.

"All right, let's move out. The faster we finish, the faster we'll return. We'll get enough money for half a year for him. Most importantly, make sure his face isn't damaged. Everyone understood?"

"Yes."

"Are you sure everyone does?" Larsen looked at Garvin.

"Yes, Father."

But Garvin had other plans. He wanted to avoid their meeting, so he came up with another plan. He began to draw his arrow, aiming at Kopi's head, but suddenly Thorvin pushed him. As a result, he missed, hitting his palm.

"What are you doing?!" Thorvin exclaimed, trying to take the bow away from him.

"Get off me! I'm doing this for our safety!" Garvin pushed Thorvin away and took his bow again, drawing it and aiming at Kopi's head. But he was interrupted again, and as a result, he missed, hitting his leg. He saw him fall off the cliff. But before Garvin could rejoice, he was punched by his father.

"What are you doing? Have you gone completely insane?" Larsen continued to hit his son. "You've completely disappointed me." Grabbing his son by the scruff of his neck, he continued: "Don't you understand how profitably he can be sold? If he's dead, I don't know what I'll do to you. Pray that he survives." Larsen threw him to the ground. But Garvin didn't want to leave it at that.

"You don't understand, Father. He's not right. He's very strange, he's definitely hiding something. Do you think he ran away from the kobolds because he was scared? No, Father, you're wrong. He's definitely hiding something. So I decided to act to ensure everyone's safety," But before he could finish, a fist flew into his face.

"Shut up! I don't want to hear anything. Have you forgotten why we're doing this?" Punch. "If we weren't doing this, do you think your sister would be alive now?" Punch. "Why are you silent? Do you think we would have been able to pay for the medicine? I don't care what he's hiding. It's just your paranoia and nothing more." Punch.

Suddenly, his hand was grabbed, and he looked up. Elric.

"Father, enough. If you continue, he won't be able to bring any benefit." After the words of his eldest son, Larsen looked at the bloody face of his middle son.

"Father, he's possibly still alive. Let's go down to him. There's a lake down there, so he's definitely alive. Let's not waste time."

Larsen looked at Thorvin and sighed heavily:

"Yes, you're right, Thorvin, Elric. We need to calm down. Get up, Garvin, you've disappointed me. You have a chance to fix it. But if he's already dead, then it's not your destiny. When we get back, I'll punish you. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Father," he said, slowly getting up and following his father, wiping the blood off with his sleeve.

Everyone approached the cliff and, looking down, began to prepare for the descent.

"Father, do you think we'll be able to catch him, if he survived, of course? The descent will take time, which will give him time to escape."

Larsen looked at his youngest son, pondered his question, but after a moment replied:

"He survived, but he won't go far. Garvin hit him in the hand and leg, it will definitely slow him down. He won't be able to leave. Garvin, you didn't shoot ordinary arrows, did you?"

Garvin looked at his father, but after a while looked away and spoke:

"Yes, Father. I used poison. Or rather, a drug. But you know its properties yourself, Father."

"I see. But even if he comes to his senses, due to the effect of the drug, we will be able to find him by the blood trail. He is destined today to either die or be caught by us. That's enough wasting time on talk. Let's start the descent."

The descent turned out to be difficult. The steep cliffs and loose soil underfoot complicated the task. Larsen was the first to reach the bottom, followed by his sons. Thorvin and Elric, despite their anxiety, remained composed, while Garvin seemed to be lost in his thoughts, moving mechanically.

"There's the lake he fell into. Does anyone see any traces?"

"No, Father. Maybe he couldn't swim out and drowned."

"No, I think he survived after all. Take a closer look, Thorvin. You're still too inexperienced. So don't jump to conclusions." Thorvin nodded, accepting his father's instruction.

"Oh, look, Father, there are traces of blood and steps. We are lucky that he is alive. We need to find him faster!"

"Good, Thorvin."

After looking around, Larsen ordered to disperse. The blood trails, though sparse, led deeper into the forest. Larsen, using his intuition, began to track down the victim, Elric carefully examined the surroundings, and Garvin, albeit reluctantly, followed his father. The silence of the forest was broken only by their footsteps and heavy breathing.

Garvin was terrified. He told the truth to his father, but kept silent about the fact that the dose of the drug exceeded the norm. "How the hell can he still move?" thought Garvin, becoming more and more afraid of Kopi. After such drugs, he should be so weakened that he just couldn't move. Ideally, he should have just drowned. But no, he managed to swim out and leave, as if the drug was completely useless.

"How? How can this be?" thought Garvin. He decided to act. Running ahead, he stood in front of his father.

"Father! Stop! We need to leave right now, as soon as possible! I didn't tell you everything… I used a dose that exceeds the norm, but shouldn't have killed him. However, from such a dose, he shouldn't even be able to move. But look, Father, he was even able to swim out of the lake and leave. We are definitely underestimating him!" Garvin shouted, looking at his father with hope.

Larsen was silent. He didn't like that his son had concealed information about the dose. But no matter how angry he was, he was not a stupid man and knew perfectly well what this drug was capable of.