Viktor and Seraphina glanced at each other before following the four who were leaving in a hurry.
All of them finally reached a different region of the forest which was not as foggy and dark as to how it was near the Lulling River.
Brono finally stopped playing the flute and took huffed in exhaustion, his back bent and his hands resting on his knees.
"Haa...finally. Fuck…I can barely move my mouth…" Brono said as he took a deep breath and flexed his facial muscles.
The two sirens in the water tank stopped shaking and trembling as they stopped feeling distressed the moment Brono stopped playing the flute.
Instead, their big and pretty dark yellow eyes were glaring at Brono and the others while scratching the glasses with their nails.
They were kicking and scratching at the glass to try and break it, but all their efforts were in vain since even if the glass looked thin, it was quite strong enough to not break even under the feet of a dragon.
"Finally! Having these annoying things in my ears was making them feel so sore," Verona grumbled as she took out two silver-colored softballs from her ears.
"Phew! I feel like I lost some sense of hearing. These damn little things. I should throw them away," Pohi grumbled as he scratched his scrawny cheek while looking at the two buds.
"You idiots, keep them very safe right now. They are valuable things given to us by our esteemed patron. You lose them, you will be answerable for it," Brono warned in a serious voice, making the twins gulp as they pocketed the buds as safe as they could.
They looked like ordinary earbuds, but Viktor felt that they were more than just ordinary earbuds.
He now realized why Brono and his group were able to suddenly react the moment the sirens attacked them. They indeed were pretending from the start.
"What are you guys planning to do with these creatures?" Viktor casually asked as if he was really curious.
The two Sirens looked at this tall rabbitman with narrowed eyes before taking a glance at the rabbitwoman.
Brono lit a fire torch as he said with a laugh, "Haha, don't feel bad for these vicious, bloodthirsty creatures. Even if they look beautiful like fairies, you don't want to end up anywhere near them unless they are restrained like in these water tanks. They can reduce our flesh to bones, especially when a group of them attack you after luring you with their charming voice. No wonder we found those bones of the poor adventurers back there, god rest their souls. Now, all we can do is bring them back and let the authorities interrogate them and get justice for the fallen."
The Sirens were still hissing and glaring mainly at Brono.
Seraphina subtly looked at the two Sirens in the water tanks and, for some reason, felt bad for them.
Brono inwardly wanted to enjoy himself with enchanting beauties like the two sirens in the water tanks. But he was not dumb and loved his life more than following his lustful thoughts. He knew he would get ripped to shreds the moment these Sirens found a small window of opportunity.
Viktor looked at these two beautiful creatures in the tanks, finding it hard to imagine a scenario of creatures like them reducing people to bones within seconds.
Still, since he had witnessed their ferocity, he didn't feel it was impossible. But what he couldn't understand was why the Sirens would simply kill the adventurers despite knowing that they might get captured like this.
But most importantly, no one really ventured anywhere near the Lulling River until some adventurers started to frequent that place despite being aware of the dangers. This was what truly puzzled Viktor and also the fact that these 'higher-ups' were suddenly taking the initiative to capture these Sirens when they didn't do so before.
They also didn't seem to want to defeat the Sirens as a whole if they really wanted to get rid of the threat.
Things just didn't seem to add up.
"Now, let's all stop talking about serious stuff and relax our weary bones. Our journey to this place was indeed rough dealing with those goblins and, even more dangerous, these Sirens. It is better if we rest till dawn and leave for the town as soon as the sun is up. It can be really dangerous to travel during the night. Lots of nasty monsters are active during this time," Brono said like a concerned fellow traveler as he set up multiple fire torches on the ground, forming a large circle, and then looked at Verona," Verona, set up the Odic circle. We don't want any creatures disturbing our rest time."
Verona was already drawing up a strange circle that started to form mysterious glowing runes in the form of a circle while the twins were busy setting up small camps to sleep and a bonfire in the middle.
Brono opened his luggage as he took out some bread and sweets, followed by a large bottle of rum, "Now we can't call it a night without having a taste of this fine drink. You two should also have some. Here let me pour you two a cup," Brono keenly said with a smile as he took out some cups as well.
He placed two cups on top of his bag and subtly took out two vials of liquid, dripping one drop from each vial into separate cups.
All this he was doing with his back turned and swiftly enough, blocking Azu's vision, though not the Sirens who were closely observing him.
Brono then turned around with a friendly smile and handed over the two cups to Azu and Sera, respectively, "You two poor things must be tired after going through all that. Here, drink this to celebrate our mission completion, and I can also guarantee you two will feel as vigorous as a bull."