1698 Just a Guess
After going through all of the sick men, Ning began checking the lightly wounded people. Some scrapes, some cuts. He made sure not to miss anything.
Once he was done with it all, he sat back to watch them all.
“What are you guys eating?” he asked.
“Some fowl, some rabbits. Some fruits and berries,” the leader said.
“Are you making sure the berries aren’t poisonous?” he asked. “That short man over there comes from a family of fruit sellers. He knows enough about berries for us to only pick the ones that won’t poison us. Anything we don’t recognize, we throw away.”
“That’s good,” Ning said. “And do you just roast the dead animals over the fire?”
“When we have fire, yes,” the man said.
“And when you don’t have fire?” Ning asked.
“We either search for something else to eat or we go to sleep hungry,” the man said. “We have no other choice here.”
Ning looked around. These men were wounded sure, but they weren’t scrawny. At least, not to a level he would expect from people who barely got anything to eat.
They had to be eating well, alright.
“And you won’t go to the city for food, right?” Ning asked. “Why is that?”
The man didn’t answer immediately, choosing to keep quiet. “I can’t help you if you won’t say anything, you know,” Ning said.
The man turned to look at Ning. “Help us?” he asked. “You’re just a kid.”
“A kid who can help you,” Ning said, turning to look at the men. “I’ve seen enough here to make some guesses as to who you guys are.”
The man flinched a little. “You do?” he asked.
“First of all, you are all men. Not a single woman among you. That means you are not someone that just happened to be together. You are together on purpose.”
“The discipline you guys show and the way they respect your authority, tells me that you guys are not some simple group of people either but most likely someone who is in the military.”
“Seeing the marks around your ankles and wrists, I initially guessed you were perhaps slaves, but no one has slaves here. It is much more likely that you guys were prisoners who managed to escape.”
“And prisoners who were initially part of the army led me to believe that you were either someone who deserted their station and were caught, or that you are prisoners of war. If I had to guess, I would say the latter.”
Ning turned to look at the man. “How close am I to the truth?” The man was stunned for a long time. He wasn’t the only one stunned. The others were in a similar state of speechlessness as well.
“You got all that by yourself?” the man asked.
“I know a thing or two about many things. Guessing this was quite easy,” Ning said. “So, how close am I?”
“Close enough that logic states I should kill you right here, right now,” the man said. Ning smiled. “But you won’t, because your honor won’t let you. Is that it?” he asked.
“Killing someone who helped us would be a rather dishonorable thing to do,” the man said.
“I like you guys,” Ning said, standing up. “Let me help you.”
“Help us?” the man asked. “Why would you help us?”
Ning smiled. “I’m sort of against the Empire myself,” he said.
The man immediately frowned. “What do you mean?” he asked.
“What I said exactly. If I get to see the downfall of the empire, I am happy for it,” he said. “I’m about to do a bit more guesswork here, so stop me if I go horribly wrong somewhere, but… you are against the empire too, right?” n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om
The man said nothing, waiting for Ning to continue.
“If you are hiding in the mountain of Lenes, it means you are hiding from the people of Lenes, and since Lenes is allied with the Empire, you are hiding from the Empire as well.”
“I do not know how true this piece of information is, but I have heard something about the Kingdom of Marsh and the Kingdom of Olvia still refuse to accept the Emperor of Golhlog as their true Emperor. So you were caught from one of those kingdoms and brought over to Lenes.”
“If not that, then you are from the Golden Republic, in which case you are automatically against the Golhlog Empire. Either way, as long as you hide from the Empire and their allies, you are against the Empire, and I would like to say that I too am against the Empire.”
The man remained silent for a long time before asking, “Why are you against the Empire?”
“They’re trying to kill a young girl for no reason other than existing,” Ning said, his voice cold with anger. “If helping you causes them trouble, I’m all up for it.”
The man stared at Ning for a long while and then smiled. “Alright, then. I’ll take you up on your offer.”
“Then you’ll tell me who you guys are?” Ning asked.
“Let us see how trustworthy you are for now,” the man said. “The rest will come later.”
“Very well,” Ning said and got back up. “Tomorrow morning, before the dawn breaks, come by the camp again. I will have a few things ready for you to take back.”
“Really?” the man asked.
Ning nodded. “It won’t be a lot, but it will be a whole lot better than nothing,” he said. “And we’ll have to plan a little on how to help you guys afterward. We will do it before we leave tomorrow.”
The leader thought for a bit and nodded. “Very well. I will be ready for that,” the man said. Ning got up. “Then, I’ll see you tomorrow. Rest well.”
“Let us send someone with you,” the leader said but Ning simply waved him away.
He took a single firewood and made his way back to the camp.
