The captain's unexpected declaration left not only Mae and Drack in stunned silence, but the surrounding soldiers as well. Only the spearman remained quiet, already aware of his commander's sudden scheme.
Mae narrowed her eyes, studying the bruised and exhausted captain. "Why would you do that?" she asked, her voice laced with heavy suspicion. "And why should we take him?"
The captain clasped his hands behind his back and began a slow, measured pace across the dirt road. "For some reason, when that horde of demons saw you, they ran away in sheer terror. That is highly unusual. Add to that the fact that you two came all the way to Aeruna just to search for one specific person who also came from outside the country... it makes this entire situation even more suspicious."
He stopped pacing and turned to face them fully. "I am assigning Li Han to guide you, yes. But I am also sending him to keep a close eye on you. I want to know who you are, why you are here, and exactly what you intend to do in our lands."
Mae shifted her gaze to the spearman, Li Han, evaluating him for a few silent seconds before looking back down at the captain. "And what if we don't want to take him with us?" she challenged softly. "Then what happens?"
The captain looked her dead in the eyes without a trace of hesitation. "Then we arrest you. Or, we try to, anyway." He let out a harsh, self-deprecating breath. "You made an entire horde of demons flee, so I highly doubt my men could actually defeat the two of you. But we will still try. And when we do, you will officially be branded as criminals in this country, which will severely hamper whatever it is you are trying to accomplish."
Behind him, the battered soldiers tensed, gripping their weapons tighter. They were exhausted and terrified, but clearly ready to fight and die on his order.
Drack leaned closer to Mae, his deep voice dropping into a quiet whisper. "We should take him, Miss Mae. He would speed our search up immensely, and the locals are far more likely to talk to him than us." He cast a subtle glance at the tense soldiers. "Besides, he makes a good point. Being wanted criminals in a closed-off country like Aeruna would make it impossible for us to find him."
Mae let out a slow, dramatic sigh. Slowly, a smirk crept across her face—a sharp, unsettling expression that made the captain's skin crawl.
"It's rare," she remarked, her eyes glinting with dark amusement, "but it is nice to see a human actually have some teeth and steel to them."
She turned her gaze back to Li Han, her smirk fading into strict authority.
"You. Get on the horse behind Drack. Guide us to this City of Rivers, and on the way, you are going to tell me everything you know about the blue-haired, blue-eyed girl that passed through here."
Li Han took a deep, steadying breath before giving a slow nod of resignation. He turned back to his fellow soldiers and the captain, snapping a crisp, formal salute before walking over to the massive half-orc's mount. Before the spearman could even figure out how to climb up, Drack simply reached down and hoisted him up with terrifying ease, planting Li Han securely on the saddle behind him.
"Alright, we should be moving out now, Miss Mae," Drack announced, completely ignoring how the spearman was trembling slightly from the sheer, casual display of monstrous strength.
"Yes, we should," Mae agreed. She gave the battered captain one final, piercing look before snapping her reins.
With Li Han in tow, the two riders turned their horses and set off down the dusty road.
The captain stood perfectly still, watching them go. He didn't move a single muscle until the horses completely disappeared from view. But the absolute second they were gone, his commanding facade shattered. He doubled over, resting his armored hands heavily on his knees as he began panting for air. Cold sweat poured down his face, betraying the sheer, suffocating terror he had been masking while speaking so defiantly to the terrifying elf.
"Captain, are you okay?" one of the surviving soldiers asked, stepping forward with clear worry in her voice.
The captain raised a trembling hand to wave off the concern. "I'm fine... just exhausted, both physically and mentally," he gasped out.
He forced himself to stand up as straight as his aching body would allow. Staring quietly down the long, empty road where the riders had vanished, he slowly closed his eyes.
"Li Han, you're braver than me," the captain whispered to the wind. "I just hope nothing happens to you traveling with those two."