1698 Just a Guess
After going through all of the sick n, Ning began checking the lightly wounded people. So scrapes, so 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.
"So fowl, so rabbits. So fruits and berries," the leader said.
"Are you making sure the berries aren't poisonous?" he asked. "That short man over there cos 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 sothing else to eat or we go to sleep hungry," the man said. "We have no other choice here."
Ning looked around. These n 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 imdiately, 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 n. "I've seen enough here to make so guesses as to who you guys are."
The man flinched a little. "You do?" he asked.
"First of all, you are all n. Not a single woman among you. That ans you are not soone that just happened to be together. You are together on purpose."
"The discipline you guys show and the way they respect your authority, tells that you guys are not so simple group of people either but most likely soone 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 to believe that you were either soone 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 ti. 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 soone who helped us would be a rather dishonorable thing to do," the man said.
"I like you guys," Ning said, standing up. "Let 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 imdiately frowned. "What do you an?" 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 if I go horribly wrong sowhere, but… you are against the empire too, right?"
The man said nothing, waiting for Ning to continue.
"If you are hiding in the mountain of Lenes, it ans 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 sothing 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 ti 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 who you guys are?" Ning asked.
"Let us see how trustworthy you are for now," the man said. "The rest will co later."
"Very well," Ning said and got back up. "Tomorrow morning, before the dawn breaks, co 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 soone with you," the leader said but Ning simply waved him away.
He took a single firewood and made his way back to the camp.
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