Hours later, Clad wakes up to a lot a noises of laughing and cheering. He looks around, and it seems like he's been taken in by a group of people who were nearby. A woman and a man walk up to him, asking if he's alright. They both look in their late 20s, wearing leather clothing and with a bit of silver armor on top of it, as it seems.
"I'm fine," Clad tells them, with a soulless look across his face.
"We found you by yourself, covered in dirt and blood in the forest. We thought at first that you were dead, but our group's healer helped you out." The woman says, as she points out to a lady talking to a group of people, blonde-haired with red eyes and pointy ears, wearing black religious clothing with a silver cross necklace.
"Her name is Veressa. She's a kind girl, but due to her appearance as an elf, she was never accepted as one of them. Red-eyed elves are considered a curse among their people. And because of that, we took her in about a year ago."
Clad took a glance at her, which she noticed, and waved at him with a kind smile.
Well, anyhow, my name is Deica. If you need anything, just ask me or my boyfriend Cody," She says as she taps his shoulder.
"Here, you need to eat, you look like a dying child," Cody says as he gives him soup.
Clad looks into the bowl only to see what seems to be monster meat, and gives Cody a look of discomfort before eating the food, almost puking in the process.
"I know it tastes like shit, but you have to eat it man."
The boy understands and eats the entire meal without complaining about the taste once.
"Alright, you are free to do whatever, you can leave if you want," Cody says nonchalantly.
"Cody!" Daica calls out to Cody as she kicks his leg, making him crouch in pain.
"If you don't have a place to stay, you could stay with us if you want, okay, sweetie?" She adds, with a kind smile on her face while patting his head.
Clad nods and walks around their camp and accidentally bumps into a menacing-looking fat guy with a beard and a scar on his cheek, but unlike his appearance, he was pretty calm.
"Are you alright, kiddo?" The menacing-looking guy said.
"Y-y-yes," The young boy replied in fear.
"Alright then, you will need to go to sleep since we will depart early tomorrow."
The night goes on, and the group goes all to sleep.