The group of mostly children moved for roughly two hours through the forest before coming into a rather large clearing where an even larger group of people were sitting around three large carriages.
Upon coming into view, a man close to an all-black carriage with silver decoration knocked on its door and seemed to have spoken to someone inside. A moment later, a burly man with black hair came out of the carriage, followed by two women who seemed to be attempting to quickly dress themselves as they stepped into an open environment.
The moment the robust man saw the black-haired man, he quickly spoke a word of warning, "All of you keep your mouths shut and stay back." Leaving them behind, he moved towards the black-haired man.
Walking closer to each other, the two men eventually stopped roughly six or so feet apart.
Neither of them spoke for quite some time before the black-haired man spoke, his voice sounding like gravel.
"Cesar, I didn't come out here to have a staring contest..."
The robust man, Cesar, swallowed some extra saliva before responding with a slight bow, "My apologies, Sir Drate."
Ignoring Cesar's apology, the man eyed the black net slung over Cesar's shoulder.
"Show me," he said as he gestured with his chin.
Following his demand, Cesar set the net down in front of himself.
Everyone paused at the sight of what was inside the net, some showing surprise, others envy, and others showing clear signs of greed.
Drate was one of the ones to show both surprise and greed. "HaHaHa! Well done, well done! To think you caught not one but TWO Gnomes!"
"We're about to get a fortune with these boys!"
As the members of the mercenary band jeered, Cesar looked at them with slight tension. The reason is due to the consequences of having exposed such a grand catch.
He took note of all the faces the members made when he set the net down and marked the ones who looked suspicious in his head for ones to look out for. The problem with getting good catches like these gnomes was that the other members would always attempt to rob the others of their loot and hand it in themselves.
Even if Cesar showed these gnomes to Drate, the leader of this mercenary band, he still couldn't claim them as his "catch". Before turning anything in as a person's catch, the members had to wait exactly one week.
Why wait one week, you might ask? Well, that is due to the personality of the leader. He favors those he's close to and tests those that he thinks aren't worth anything. If the members can prove that they're capable, then they can climb higher on the leaders favorablity list. If you aren't on the list, then getting bullied around by the other members is essentially a guarantee.
The main problem for Cesar, however, is that he has children under his wing. Among mercenaries, it's common to leave children behind because they are too weak to travel long distances for extended periods of time. If children show some sort of talent, then perhaps the mercenary band might take care of them, but even then, the treatment is only slightly better... If anyone attempts to care for these 'worthless' children, then they too will be labeled useless, or they will be forced to pay double what they would normally pay for being in the band.
Naturally, as the kids are under his care, he needs to pay for them too, which also unfortunately makes him a suitable target. Having too many kids to watch will only bring trouble, yet despite knowing that, Cesar continues to care for them...
...As Drate inspected the 'catch', his right-hand man, the same one who signaled him that Cesar had returned, came to Cesar's side.
Wrapping an arm around Cesar's shoulder, he gave a big golden smile.
"Nice job, Ceaz. We were starting to get worried after you went past the scheduled time, but..." The man glanced at the gnomes, and his smile filled with golden teeth grew slightly as he said, "... clearly we had nothing to worry about! HaHa!"
Cesar scrunched his nose at the scent of the man's breath and, with a strong shrug, took the man's arm off of himself. The man, despite catching the disgusted face Cesar made, didn't let his smile fade; in fact, it grew as he burst into louder laughter.
"BAHAHAHA! OH C'MON CEAZ SURELY YOU CAN HANDLE THIS MUCH?" he said as he let out an especially pungent breath out of his mouth and right into Cesar's face.
Cesar ignored the man's annoying laughter and potent breath, trying his best to hold back the fist he made at his side as he attempted to catch his leader's attention.
He spoke firmly, adding in a respectful tone, "Sir, may I take my leave?"
Drate had long since stopped inspecting the gnomes, having gotten caught in one of his subordinates' conversations not too far from them.
Drate paused his conversation and turned to face Cesar with the gnomes still in his hands. He gave Cesar a surprisingly decent white smile as he tossed the gnomes back into Cesar's arms, "Go ahead."
No one stopped Cesar as he signaled to the children, who were waiting a good distance behind him, to follow, and no one stopped him as he moved out of the clearing and ten or so minutes into the forest. But despite this, he could clearly feel the hungry gazes on his back, which only faded once the trees blocked their view.
But before he fully got out of their sight, though, he glanced back at the other members and locked onto the curved eyes of Drate's right-hand man, his face smeared with a wide golden grin...
.....
After the group walked further into the forest, they soon spotted two large tents placed near a small running stream.
Near the stream, they spotted a young lady no older than nineteen washing a good variety of vegetables, stemming from carrots, potatoes, onions, and a couple of other common greens like cabbage, kale, and turnips.
Upon spotting the girl, the children's eyes lit up, "Arty, we're back!" they yelled in unison, scaring some of the smaller animals nearby.
The girl jumped at the sudden call of her name before quickly whipping her head around, her shoulder-length light brown hair jumping from the quick movement.
As her gaze quickly swept the direction from which the call came, she spotted four children charging her and a man with short green hair moving behind them at a steady pace. A big and pretty smile appeared on her face as she was bombarded by hugs from the younger kids before her.
Patting the head of one of the younger boys, she said, "Alright, alright, that's enough, everyone, I'm choking over here."
As the kids begrudginly stepped back, she asked them to help wash the remaining vegetables before turning back to face the man in front of her.
Cesar, returning her smile with one of his own, said, "Sorry for taking so long, Arthur. How's it been? Has anyone come to bother us?"
She shook her head, "No one came around here, thankfully."
Cesar nodded, letting out a silent sigh of relief.
"That's good, let me know if--" cutting him off was the sudden, excited yell of one of the children.
"Look, look! This potato has a butt!"
Shaking his head at the sight, Cesar continued, "Let me know if someone does come, alright?"
"Of course..." she said, letting the words drift as she spotted the net slung over his shoulder. "What did you catch?"
At her question, Cesar smiled from ear to ear. Moving the net in front of him, he showed her two unconscious gnomes, one of them wearing all green, and the other wearing all blue.
At the sight of being shown not one but two rare creatures, her lavender colored eyes naturally grew wide in surprise.
"How in the he--"
"No swearing, remember?" he said as he placed a finger over her mouth, cutting her off.
She glanced back at the kids who were now playing in the small stream before focusing back on Cesar and the gnomes.
"How in the hell did you catch these two?" she said in a difficult-to-hear whisper.
He let out a chuckle at her quiet cursing. "We got lucky," he whispered back.
"Lucky?" she questioned, "Lucky my beautifully plump ass! How the hell do you get this lucky twice!?"
"Cough!" choking a little at her sudden 'self-compliment,' he said," I stumbled upon them and got lucky with the type of net we had, which made it easy..." he then paused for a moment, seeing her suspicious gaze, and added, "If you don't believe me, feel free to ask those four." He said, pointing at the kids behind her with his chin.
Arthur didn't bother looking behind her; instead, she chose to have a quick staring contest, a contest that she soon lost as Cesar easily kept his calm smile.
"Sigh.. whatever, come help me prepare dinner..." she said, turning on her heels and moving towards the vegetables she had left behind earlier.
As she walked away, Cesar 'unintentionally' glanced at her behind and the only thought that came to him at the moment was, 'Plump indeed...'
Unfortunately, by the time he looked back up, Arthur had already been staring at him with dead eyes...
His eyes quickly flicked away and, with a cough, said, "Right behind you..." As he quickly caught up to her, he could feel his ears burning. It did not help that she continued to keep an eye on him for the rest of the day...