SCARLET QUARTET

After the group moved camp and ate their dirt-filled rabbit, they decided to go to sleep with one of them staying up as the lookout. Obviously, Sage, being a frightened girl in their eyes, was exempted from the task. To avoid suspicion she had to pretend to be asleep.

It was excruciatingly hard to put on a sleeping act.

It actually started off quite easy. Anyone could put on a sleeping act, it was the easiest thing in the world. However, as time went on it became harder. After a couple hours of lying still Sage could not take it anymore. So she pretended to be having a nightmare. The act involved tossing and turning on the ground while constantly chanting, "No" with an agonised face. After minutes of doing that she pretended to wake up from her supposed nightmare by uttering a shrill scream.

Suffice to say, the four bought the act, after which she had to pretend to cry while being consoled by Arletta. When she had finally 'calmed' down and 'gone back to sleep' she had done so in Arletta's arms.

The feeling was pleasant in a way, but in all honesty Sage would have preferred to go to sleep in Kaylee's arms instead. The mage girl might be prettier but the half-elf had the perfect body to cuddle into. Unfortunately Sage was playing the role of a beggar and beggars could not be choosers.

Still she enjoyed being wrapped in the arms of a woman, even if it was one who was almost as flat as a board.

When morning came she was reluctant to leave the comfort of those arms. This she made sure to act out, to portray the image of a clingy escaped victim. It caused the mage girl to look at her with a kind smile and assure her that she would not be going anywhere. Then the party packed up and started walking towards their destination.

The four of them did not seem to suspect her. Sage accredited it to her superb acting.

Acting was a necessary part in the business of conning people. Those who could not do it properly should consider a career somewhere else because if fifty percent of a con job was gathering information, then the other fifty percent was putting on an act that specifically targeted their marks' weakness or sympathetic sides. Sage obviously had not gathered enough information on them, but she had taken a gamble based on the fact that everyone was usually moved by a tragic tale.

She must admit, she pulled it off quite well. The only part where her act had almost been exposed was when that Zachary guy tried to heal her. In her opinion she had been a little too quick in her rejection. Fortunately, the four adventurers seemed to accept her bullshit reason for not wanting to get healed.

"Did you sleep well?" Arletta's voice brought her out of her thoughts.

She turned to the mage girl and nodded vigorously, making sure to put on a shy expression in the process.

The girl ate it up. She wrapped one of her little arms around Sage and rubbed her back gently in an effort to comfort her.

"We have to start moving now before the sun gets too high and affects our progress," the mage said. "Will you be okay?"

Sage nodded, but then she looked up. "Wh… where are y… are you going?" She deliberately stuttered.

It was Kaylee who responded. "To kill some bandits. Those bastards had the gall to attack a village, slaughter the men and kidnap the women. We are going to make them pay."

Her expression conveyed more anger and hatred than when she had listened to Sage's sob story. Sage watched the half-elf as she gripped her knife tightly, her eyes were crying murder as she looked in a far distance. The only response she could give Kaylee was to a shy nod before looking at her feet in continuation of her meek act.

The mercenary band packed up and soon they were on their way.

At some point they stopped at the river for a drink and to refill their water skins. Here Sage had to pretend to be grateful as she accepted a pouch from Marcus to quench her supposed thirst. Now that she was an undead water tasted horrible for some reason. It took all her might not to let her expression falter because of the taste.

As the journey went on the four companions began to talk and she learned a few things about them.

The first and most obvious one was that they were a mercenary group; that she had been certain of before she interacted with them. What she did not know until now was that their group was called the Scarlet Quartet. The fact that none of them had any red on them was enough to tell her the level of their naming sense.

"It's because we always return from our jobs covered in the blood of our foes," Marcus explained.

She nodded as if to say she understood. However, this time her act was not convincing enough.

"See, she hates it," Kaylee pointed out with a scowl. "I've told you guys many times that it's a dumb name."

"People seem to like it in Tiih," Zachary replied nonchalantly, causing the half-elf to glare at him.

"You can only spend so much time around shit before the smell stops bothering you," she said to him. "Either way shit is still shit and it still stinks. Those who encounter the smell for the first time won't be able to resist covering their noses. Kind of like how Sage reacted to our name, because it's shit!"

"It's… not that bad," Sage managed to get out.

However, Kaylee was not convinced. She went on to complain about how her suggested name (Silver Squad) had been a better name and that they should have adopted it instead. That led to the other three admonishing her for her terrible naming sense which they clearly did not think they had. All in all, the whole ordeal turned into a light-hearted argument between friends. While observing the group, Sage managed to learn a few things as a result.

Starting with Marcus, he was the oldest of the bunch, around his mid-thirties. He was also the strongest and most experienced, therefore he was the leader of their mercenary band. He was the big brother type who always stepped in to prevent fights, particularly between Kaylee and Arletta.

Arletta was a talented mage who graduated from the Tiih Magic Academy at the top of her class. At only twenty-one years old, she was considered a genius for having reached the 4th Order at such a young age.

"Unfortunately with my aptitude I will never be able to go higher than 6th Order," she lamented.

Kaylee was a spectacular archer, something she displayed by shooting a rabbit between the eyes from over three hundred metres away. She did not talk about her past, most likely because there was something painful in it.

As for Zachary, he was a priest of Shea, the Goddess of Life. As a 5th Order priest at the age of thirty his future was considered quite promising, or at least it would have been if not for the fact that because of his aptitude he could no longer advance. The reason he decided to be a mercenary was because he wanted to help out people in his travels.

"Not all countries have a church dedicated to the Goddess," he said. "By travelling around I am able to bring the light of the Lady of Life to the people."

"He's serious," Kaylee whispered to her. "When we first met he tried to convert me to his faith." Here she gave a snort. "As if. I might not be religious but my belief in the Beast God is unshakable."

Sage did not know how to respond to that. Her thoughts on religion were not the best. To her, who made a living of cheating people, she could only look at churches with envy and hatred. If there were any who could be considered worthy of being called legends in the con game it was the religious institutions. The way they convinced people to give them money in the name salvation was on a level that she could never match up to. The fact that they could make people happily donate to non-existent gods always made her blood boil.

In this world however, gods existed. She had read a little about them in Bori's books. They were the likes of the Beast God Rakka, whose name was similar to Rekke because the continent was named after him; the Life Goddess Shea, patron deity of the Shean Holy Imperium; the Fire God Vestrava, who ruled over all dragons; and the Magic God Argun whose sphere was self-explanatory. There were other gods but these four were the most widely worshipped among the creatures of Rekke.

The party's journey continued into the midday, where the height of the sun slowed them down to the point where they had no choice but to stop and hide in the shade. There they cooked and ate the rabbit Kaylee shot and lay down until they felt well rested enough to continue their march.

As time went on their journey progressed until, just as the sun was about to sink below the mountains, they caught sight of their destination. The bandit hideout was a medium sized cave carved into the mountains of the Trenton Highlands. There were two people guarding its entrance.

To avoid being spotted, the party quickly dove into the trees.

"Let's backtrack half a kilometre," Marcus whispered to his companions. "We'll rest up for a while and attack when night falls."

They all agreed and fell back to have one last meal, which consisted of the rabbit from earlier. As they had already anticipated that they would reach their destination that day they had saved some of it so they did not have to start an unnecessary fire and give themselves away.

The mercenary band waited until the sun set and dusk completely fell. Then the members of the Scarlet Quartet gripped their weapons tightly, their expressions serious.

"Time to go," Marcus said, his voice as hard as his face. To Sage he said, "Stay here and guard our stuff. We'll be back soon."

She could only nod as she watched them go.