Ten minutes had passed. It was time to get going, so Baoba wrapped up his search and entered the hallway of the second floor. He immediately saw Pando getting out of the room she was searching at the same time.
The two looked at each other for a moment and went down the stairs without a word.
'Did she really finish at the exact same time I did ? Is it a coincidence, or was she monitoring me ?'
After all, none of his movements could remain hidden from the absolute gaze of her Blessing. If she was communicating with some unknown entity, hidden in her room, he could not possibly catch her in the act. There was no way to be certain that the path she always chose unilaterally was actually the best one, either...
None of them spoke as they descended.
Now on the first floor, he saw Urtica glaring at the emblem. He was absentmindedly tinkering with his metal trinket again.
'He said he would catch Capcsium up with the new intel, but their conversation seemed awfully short from up there... Can I be sure he did relay the correct information ? He seems very interested in this engraving, and he's constantly playing with this unknown object..'
Who knew what it was, or what was its purpose ?
Seeing the two come down from the upper floor, Urtica broke out of his reverie and tacitly understood that it was time to go. He quickly put away his metallic object and turned to the front door, near which Capcsium was staring at a single flame she was generating from her index.
Her face presented a disturbing smile, and the shadows dancing around her scars were so mesmerizing they almost made you forget the unnatural nature of her scarlet hair.
'She actually chose to isolate herself when we went upstairs... Plus she's always endangering us with this obsession for fire. A single day in, and I already had to stop one. Maybe she actually does know what she's doing...'
"Time to go." Unlike the first two, the pyromaniac was not attentive enough to read the room. Baoba's voice was so sudden and imposing she actually jumped a little.
"Uuuh, yeah ! Sure." Letting the flame in her hand vanish, she scrambled to get her backpack on and hurriedly left.
Following slowly, the captain brought his right hand to his face and slowly rubbed his eyes.
'I need to chill. It's way more likely that whoever is watching just has a magic way of perceiving us, or even just a mole in Medio, not necessarily this very team. Doubting my own men will lead to more trouble than it saves.'
Crossing the devastated doorframe, he squinted a bit to accommodate to the bright sky, and discovered that the number of tree stumps around the house had increased.
"Timber !" The shout was followed by a cacophony of cracking sounds, followed by a resounding thud.
After turning in the direction of these sounds, he noticed Venus, slightly out of breath, in front of the tree that just fell. She was holding an iron axe, and it was evident, looking around, that she had put it to good use.
Turning to meet their gaze, she smiled brightly and raised her weapon high in the air.
"Look ! I found their axe !"
Doing a quick count, Baoba learned she had cut down four trees, plus this one. They were imposing oaks, that one could barely fit their arms around, so that was very impressive.
But was it impressive enough ? She could probably cut these in five minutes, if she put her mind to it. That would leave her with plenty of time to accomplish some secret task...
'Stop.' Baoba shook his head. He had only just decided to stop being paranoid.
Raising his voice, he called out to her : "That's great, but I can make you one whenever. Leave it and let's go."
She turned to another, still standing tree. Grasping her axe with two hands, she started emitting that lime green mist again, coiled her whole body backwards, then dealt a great vertical blow to the tree. The axe didn't go through all the way, but the whole blade was entirely inside the log, stuck.
Venus let go of the handle and just left it there. Lightly jogging to the rest of the group, she responded : "Alright !"
'Good luck to anyone that will try to get that out.'
The direction was still north, the center of this forest. Beyond that point was the human Kingdom, and somewhere between the two, their rivals were probably advancing in this very moment.
There wasn't much time to lose.
Turning their backs to the ultimate bad omen, the hunter team departed once again.
***
A few hours later.
"Rook to E1, checkmate."
They had started their games once again. Baoba didn't purposely hold back, so none of them, not even all of them together, had a shred of a chance of winning.
In the first hour, Baoba expected it to get old very fast. Surprisingly, though, it didn't.
"Ah, I didn't see that !" Even Capcsium was getting into it. They were currently three against their captain, because Pando had to be focused in front, and was above their level anyway. But despite the number advantage, and the fact that Baoba had not once looked at the board, the games were far from close.
He responded : "Yeah, it's a wonder you didn't. If my memory is correct, and it is, this marks the fourth time you lost this way."
While setting the pieces back, Urtica noted : "Even if we somehow stopped that, your pawn was about to promote anyway. We had lost a long time ago."
"You can't let me have the center for free in the beginning. It gives me a lot more options to kick your collective ass. I'll teach you about openings if you want."
Venus was the one holding the board. That term, though, was getting more and more misleading. In reality, it was a thin piece of hide, and every move damaged it a little more. By now, it seemed one more game might really destroy it.
She wore a complex expression. "That sounds great and all... But I think we should stop here for today."
Baoba looked back. Despite not being that social, he thought he was pretty good at reading emotions. That's why he was sure that everyone was having a pretty good time. And although he wouldn't admit it if asked, the fact that they actually liked his favourite hobby made him pretty happy.
So, he was curious. "Why ?"
She tilted her head a little. "Well, I know you gave it to us so we would use it, but breaking it in a single day seems a bit.. like a waste, I guess ?"
Looking down with a faint smile, she added : "I want this to last longer."
A quick silence passed over them. Indeed, it'd be nice if it were to last..
Baoba quickly interrupted it.
"You know I can make a new one."
"Yeah, but.. it took you a while before, and I don't want to bother you with that every time.."
"No, I mean, I can just make a new one."
He raised his right hand, and within a light blue light, a rolled up hide appeared in it. It was the exact same board, with all the squares in the exact same state as when he had just made it.
Her expression froze. She didn't talk for a while.
Were they hallucinating, or did her face turn a little red ?
Finally, she coughed. "That's great. Yeah. It's good. It's a, good thing. Anyway, how about those openings ?" She carefully took the pieces out, folded her board, and it put away in her pocket.
"Actually, " Pando interrupted. "It might be a good idea to stop for today. It's getting dark."
'Right. Shelter.' They had been lucky the first time, but usually, this part was supposed to suck.
The reason they could stay in one place at night was because of a strange rule of this place. After a certain time of the day, the beasts, and only the cursed ones, would stop moving, only attacking if approached. This did mean they could rest, but since they still needed to be wary of the normal predators, an actual shelter was needed. And those were usually already occupied.
So, more often than not, a fight was required.
On top of that, the forest's bedtime was not consistent. And, until it came, they couldn't stay at the first shelter they found.
Therefore, approaching night, the team would be forced to always tread near potential shelters, snaking from one to the next, until night truly arrived. Then, they had to avoid every creature going to the closest one, and fight its occupants.
This weird path left less room for arrangements than 'just go north', too, so the frequency of encounetrs just before would also increase.
'Something tells me I would've gave up already if it weren't for Pando's help.'
Speaking, or rather, thinking of her, she had already stopped and kneeled, pressing her hand against the grass after recieving a nod from him.
Everyone was silent as her delicate shilouette looked incredibly focused. The wind was shaking the top branches, and her smooth hair floated with it.
Did it always used to take this long ?
'...Is she perhaps doing something else ?'
Before Baoba got a chance to finish that thought, Pando stood up and slowly opened her eyes.
"Night has not arrived yet. I noticed a few potential shelters, and have determined routes." She glanced at him, as if she absolutely needed the captain's approval before taking any decision.
Recieving another nod, she started leading them through said routes.
Not even ten minutes later, they had to fight.