Once the Lamia and her escort left, Ophelia turned to Karl to give him the updates on their situation.
“The Knights aren’t worried about bandits on this trip, they are on their way to a wedding announcement and can’t be late. They did leave us with a whole bag full of coins for your trouble, so we’re good on spending money while we’re here.
But how are we on time? Will we still make our meeting?”
Karl nodded. “We will have to move the stop in the city to after we deliver the fish, but that’s not a big deal. We can resupply there, then we will make our way to the next stop.”
The children from the bandit group were listening intently to their conversation, and Karl didn’t want to give anything away. Nobody in this region seemed to mind the bandits all that much, so it was only the outsiders that would run into trouble with them.
The kids would likely tell whoever came to pick them up what Karl and his team were planning, even if it wasn’t to set up another bandit attack.
Letting the city know that they were meeting a nomadic tribe might lead to questions later, but they didn’t have anything to hide other than their identities, and having everyone looking for illicit goods took the attention off the actual group.
The children didn’t seem to relax at all, and they were still huddled on the silk sheet when three wagons arrived to pick them up.
“You’re the one that the Knightly Orders sent us to assist, I take it? We will take in the survivors of the bandit camp. But can we know what led to them being completely wiped out?”
The kids looked up in unison and pointed at Karl.
“The Knightly order made me a friendly wager about how long it would take to remove the bandit threat along the road. So, I went and eliminated it.” Karl shrugged.
“You?” The green skinned demon man with a single forehead horn asked.
“Me. It wasn’t all that hard. I had a significant power advantage.”
The wagon driver just shrugged. “It’s fine. We don’t need the details, as long as there weren’t any escaped bandits who will be looking for their kids.”
Karl shook his head. “None that were around the camp. Hopefully, the little ones will be given a proper chance to live a decent life. I think that today might have scared them off the path of a bandit.”
The kids all nodded in agreement. No way were they going to let that madman and his monsters believe that they would ever consider going back to banditry.
“I trust you don’t mind sharing a camp? The bandits might be gone, but with the nomads, it’s never truly safe out here.” The leader of the recovery team asked.
“Make yourself comfortable. We will have a nice fire to keep the kids warm, and we can split watches.” Karl agreed.
Ophelia changed back into Dire Bear form with a longing glance at Karl’s hammock, while the other ladies rearranged the cargo so they could hang theirs in the wagon.
They hadn’t thought of the method yesterday, but running lines between the metal hoops that held the tarp would support their weight, and they could have a better bed than a blanket on the wooden wagon floor.
“I will take first watch, who wants second?” Karl asked.
The leader of the caravan gave an annoyed grunt. “I will. I suspect that the little ones are just waiting for a chance to run off again and look for a hiding spot. We can’t have that when the Knightly Order only pays on completion of an assignment.”
The made Karl chuckle. Of all the ways to keep a contractor motivated, guaranteed pay but only on completion seemed like one of the most reliable.
The night was quiet, and the children were all passed out from exhaustion as Karl took the first watch.
After yesterday’s incident, there shouldn’t be more trouble. The Pirate Captains wouldn’t bother him now that he had their token, and the next city along the way was where the retrieval team came from.
So, Karl actually managed to relax during his shift with Rae watching from her space, and then woke the team leader for his turn.
A few hours of meditation would get Karl through the night, but they were only doing two watches, splitting the evening, so he had nearly five hours before he had to be awake again.
He didn’t fall into a deep sleep, even with the beasts watching for him. Cara had escaped her space again to curl up with Ophelia, and she didn’t seem to require sleep at all. She just enjoyed doing nothing. That would be a good enough bodyguard.
Nothing on this continent short of a dragon was likely to win a fist fight with a Void Badger.
Just before the sun came up, the clerics started to make breakfast, much to the relief of the retrieval team and the children.
“Dragon Clerics? What brings you all the way out here?” The team leader asked when he saw the breakfast meal.
“The Gods willed it.” Tessa replied with a shrug.
That was a good enough answer for most. Clerics could end up anywhere, following the whims of the Gods, and only the Giants and a few isolationist nations would stop them.
Not that the feral monsters wouldn’t kill and eat them, but the civilized ones would let them be.
The kids were beginning to relax as the retrieval team explained how the orphanage worked, how it sorted them into school years, and helped them find real work.
It was when Karl got up that they began to huddle together again.
“He won’t hurt you. I know what happened with your parents, but he won’t hurt you now.” The group leader explained softly.
“You don’t understand. That thing isn’t human. It looks like a human, but it’s not. It’s really not.” One of the demon children explained.
The team leader looked to Karl for an answer, and he just shrugged.
“I don’t eat children if that helps? Besides, I already put this nice man in charge of bringing you back, and I wouldn’t want to make his job harder.”
Lotus poked Karl in the side and smiled at the kids. “He’s only scary in combat. Now, let me fill everyone’s water skins so you’re good for the trip to your new home.”
