The group of survivors stood together beneath the blood-red sky, exhaustion weighing on their expressions as they all watched Damien arrive.
Their clothes were torn and dirty, their eyes filled with uncertainty despite being free. They were awaiting a word. Any word.
They simply wanted Damien to speak.
Damien remained mounted on Fenrir, his silver-haired silhouette standing out against the darkened forest. His gaze swept across the crowd, his mind working through the next steps.
They had escaped.
They had survived.
But now—they needed a place to go.
He turned to Lizella, his voice calm but firm. “Where are you all from?”
There was a brief silence before the first person spoke. “Far towards the east of the continent.”
Then another. “The southern kingdom of Edorg.”
“Raegon, a town close to Edorg.” A third person added.
One by one, they gave different answers—naming distant towns, remote villages, and far-off kingdoms.
Some had been traders traveling across regions before they were captured. Others had been taken from their homes in the dead of night.
A few had even been taken from battlefields, prisoners of war who had been sold as merchandise to the highest bidder.
Damien listened carefully, his expression unreadable.
By the time everyone had spoken, one thing was clear—
None of these people were from the same place.
They had been gathered from all over the continent.
Lizella, who had been listening alongside Damien, furrowed her brow.
“That complicates things,” she muttered.
Damien nodded. “Scattering them back to their homes individually would take weeks—maybe months.”
“And that’s assuming they even have homes left to return to,” Lizella added grimly.
Many of these people had been gone for too long.
If their homes had been destroyed—if their families had moved on, or worse, been wiped out—where would they go?
A heavy silence settled over the group.
Lizella finally exhaled and said, “They can come with me.”
Damien’s blue eyes flickered toward her. “Where?”
“My home,” she clarified. “It’s a decent-sized town. Not huge, but stable and safe. They’ll be tended to until they recover. Once they’re strong enough, we can help them find their way back.”
A few of the captives exchanged uncertain glances.
It was a generous offer—but many of them had never heard of Lizella’s town before. She didn’t even specify as she spoke about it.
Some still struggled to trust anyone.
Damien, however, didn’t respond immediately. Instead, he studied Lizella carefully.
“Can your town handle this many people?” he asked. “Not just the ones here—but the others I have stored away?”
Lizella blinked.
“The others?”
Damien’s lips curled slightly. “Did you think I only saved this group?”
Realization dawned on her face. “You… stored them?”
He nodded. “In Luton.”
She turned toward the Stellar Slime, which sat contentedly on Damien’s head, jiggling slightly.
Lizella’s mouth opened, then closed. That explained why Luton had suddenly vanished earlier.
She looked at the survivors around her. There were already over five dozen people standing here—and now Damien was telling her there were more.
Much more.
Could her town handle that?
She wasn’t sure.
Lizella’s hometown wasn’t large, but it wasn’t weak either. They had the resources, the infrastructure, and the organization to temporarily house a large number of people—under certain conditions.
She just had to play her cards right.
After a moment, she let out a slow breath. “I’ll make it work.”
Damien nodded once. “Good.”
He wasn’t worried. If the town refused them—he had other plans.
For now, Lizella’s offer was the best option.
With their destination set, the group began moving south through the forest.
Damien stayed toward the front, keeping a steady pace on Fenrir, while Lizella walked beside the group, occasionally checking on those who were injured or weak.
The former captives remained mostly silent, their energy drained after days of suffering.
Damien’s gaze flicked toward the map in his hands.
Something was… off.
The southern region of the forest had no markings on his map.
No villages. No trade routes. No known settlements.
It was supposed to be empty.
Yet Lizella claimed there was a town there.
Damien didn’t question it out loud.
Not yet.
Instead, he folded the map, deciding to follow her lead.
If anything felt wrong, he could always leave.
As they walked, Damien listened to the sounds of the forest—the rustling of trees, the distant calls of nocturnal beasts, the soft crunch of footsteps.
He heard murmurs from the survivors.
Some whispered about their uncertain futures.
Others about the war approaching.
A few had begun to discuss Damien himself.
He caught bits and pieces of their hushed conversations.
“Who is he?”
“He fights like a monster…”
“That wolf—what even is that thing?”
“That girl, Lizella—who is she to him?”
“Are we really safe with them?”
Damien ignored them.
He wasn’t here to comfort them.
He wasn’t here to earn their trust.
He had simply done what needed to be done.
Still—
He couldn’t shake the feeling that this wouldnt end yet.
The Stray Hounds were only one piece of a much larger web of corruption.
He had destroyed one of their bases.
But there were more.
And now that he had their map—he knew exactly where to find them.
One by one, they would fall.
Lizella walked a few paces behind Damien, her arms crossed as she glanced up at him every so often.
She had noticed his silence.
Not just now—but ever since they left.
He was thinking about something.
After a moment, she finally spoke. “You don’t trust me.”
Damien didn’t turn. “I don’t trust anyone.”
Lizella let out a small chuckle. “Fair enough.”
Then, after a pause—
“Will you stay?”
Damien finally looked down at her. “At your town?”
She nodded.
He thought for a moment before responding.
“I’ll stay long enough to make sure the survivors are all settled.” His gaze darkened slightly. “Then, I’ll move on.”
Lizella wasn’t surprised.
She had known from the moment she met him that Damien wasn’t the type to stay in one place.
Still, she smiled slightly.
“That’s enough.”
No more words were exchanged.
The group continued moving south—toward an unmarked town in an unmarked region.
Damien remained quiet but watchful.
Lizella remained calm but calculating. “Till they settle, huh?”