The strange liquid that covered the arrow was poison that could kill anything living or undead... But since the intention of the archers seemed to be to capture Hajime rather than to end him. They used a weak version of the poison that was enough to end him if it got to his heart.
"That was easier than I thought."
A moment later, after the poison had completely settled into Hajime, the two archers appeared.
Their faces were unclear, and one of them wore armor that possessed chainmail underneath.
The armor was colored silver and looked quite similar to the Knights in Dol, the only difference being that this one appeared to be focused on sword fighting rather than handling power arms.
"It's just a kid." One of them said as they approached Hajime's conscious body.
"Yeah... But it's better than capturing nothing." The other replied as he wrapped his hand around the arrow in Hajime's back and pulled it.
"I guess... But we can't just leave him here and look for some more... I mean, look at him. Will he even sell at a decent amount of veyr? And I highly doubt that we can find anything else here." The first one said, his gaze darting to his sides.
The other turned as he removed Hajime from the ground while holding the arrow he pulled out of him.
"...No, no, and you're right. You know why?"
He started to move away from where his friend was standing, carrying Hajime on his shoulder.
"I don't have a decent amount of equipment on me because of our last fight with those Avalon knights. So, imagine for once, if we go where this kid came from, we will surely be cooked, because the knights we faced last time came from the same direction," He posed.
"If I'm guessing right here, I think those Avalon knights were coming from Melcelut, which means something is up." Looking at some moonlight bugs on a fallen tree.
"Yeah, something's definitely up, but you worry too much... Remember, I could have taken down those Melcelut knights if I just tried."
"I know that you can try to take them on yourself. But think of this... Lately, Melcelut has been holding these secret gathering with other kingdoms, and no one knows the specifics of the meetings, since they're a secret and all
Now, if you could imagine how many knights from Melcelut and other kingdoms are in the location the kid coming from... They could be running some sort of test in that small, meaning if we go in head first, we'll surely be captured and imprisoned there."
The other archer stayed silence for a moment, wondering about what his friend had explained and weeing chances of survival. Still he couldn't understand what exactly his friend stated.
"What's that supposed to mean... You know I can do more than fight." He became slight furious.
His friend didn't reply but just ignored him by looking the other way as he muttered "I knew you were dumb. But I figured you'd be a little more smarter than this." with a soft sigh.
"Are you ignoring me?"
"Yes."
Suddenly, a gust of mana that blew them like the wind.
"D,did you feel that?"
The armored archer asked, his hand suddenly stiffened as his legs subtly started shaking like he had seen death standing before them.
The crossbow he was carrying slipped from his fingers and fell on some bushes with a faint switch.
"something's wrong?" The archer with Hajime uttered.
Silence suddenly fell between them.
His armored friend didn't utter immediately. He appeared to be frozen from the immersive Mana.
"...Let's get out of here..."
"What? Did you come back to your senses?" His friend asked, with an almost teasing smile, as he turned, picking up his crossbow, and started approaching him.
"No... But it's a bad idea for us to stay here any longer. C'mon"
He passed him without looking at him neither the direction the mana had come from.
His friend didn't notice that the other archer was shaking in his boots. He just started following him as they both kept their mouths shut.
***
A few minutes later.
The two archers came across a dusty road which was separating the left woods from the right. And from a short distance on this road, there was a wagon tied to a single sitting on the side of it.
"I'm sure the fletchers are gonna be pissed if they hear that we covered the arrows in poison." The archer carrying Hajime said.
They approached the wagon without hesitation, and weren't even phased by it.
The archer with the armor took the lead as his friend followed.
After reaching the wagon, the archer with Hajime placed Hajime inside it, and proceeded to sit in front of the wagon and the drive. The armored archer was inside with their captive.
"Where should we go first?! The border or home?!" The archer in front asked.
"I was thinking the border to drop him first!" He added as he turned looking behind him.
"...Great idea. But We should go to the nearest river first, to clean the smell of blood from the wagon—it reeks." The armored archer replied inside the carriage.
"You're right! We should head to the nearest river first, and when morning comes, we'll proceed to the border!" He stopped for a moment, turning and facing the horse.
Then he continued, "Hold on tight!" As he smacked the horse to start moving.
With that, they were on their way.
***
Back in Dol.
On the training ground. Reiko's barrier was still up, and she and the others were still waiting for Xuo to return together with Hajime.
Reiko appeared to be anxious, as Rica looked worried, while Zuo was sitting on a tree lying on the ground with its roots out. He was hitting his right foot down in anticipation of Xuo's safe retreat.
He had been holding onto a black crystal on a necklace, as a small amount of sweat streamed across his face.
He was worried for Xuo, since Xuo was his older brother and he had never been late to anything if he said he could do the thing. But with him gone for so long, he couldn't help but worry.
"Come on, where are you?" He muttered softly.
Suddenly, as he was about to look at the crystal, giving himself force hope that his brother was going to retain, the crystal cracked open, and in the blink of an eye, it turned white before it turned into a normal rock.
"...What...?" He uttered, staring at the rock on the necklace.
"...This can't..." He continued with a murmur.
Reiko and Rica turned their attention to him, wondering what was up. But the moment Reiko had swiveled, her eyes wandered straight to the necklace.
The moment she had made contact with it, she knew that...
Xuo was not coming back anytime soon.
She raised her thumb close to her mouth and, with a grave look in her eyes, bit it before looking away from him, facing the village, as Rica looked at her with a confused but worried expression on her face.
Rica had understood most of what was going on, yet she couldn't help it but feel sorry herself.
"...X, Xuo's dead..." Zuo continued, tears streaming down from his eyes.
The necklace snapped, and before long, turned into dust that was blown away by the passing wind.