Shion and Eren stood in silence, watching the remaining bandits. It was clear to everyone that any authority the two mercenaries had left rested entirely on the weapons in their hands, but after the violence of the afternoon, no one seemed to have the stomach to test it.
"Put your hands behind your backs" Shion said.
The woman was the first to comply, slowly placing her hands behind her back. The rest followed her lead one by one. The terror they had felt toward their leader hadn't left them; it had just given way to a deep, heavy exhaustion. The fight was finished, and they all knew it.
While Eren kept her eyes on the prisoners, Shion went to search the ruined farm for rope. She tied their wrists securely—tight enough to keep them from trying anything foolish, but with enough slack that their hands wouldn't go numb. They already had enough trouble on their hands without adding more injuries to the tally for the journey back.
Once the prisoners were secured, Shion walked around to the back of the house where the horses had been left. It was only a short distance, maybe twenty paces from the wreckage, but the walk felt far longer than it should have. With every step she took, the cuts across her chest and arms flared with pain. The adrenaline that had kept her moving during the fight was finally draining away, leaving behind the cold reality of her wounds. She had lost enough blood that her limbs felt heavy and sluggish, and she had to lean against the last horse for a moment just to catch her breath before untying it.
When she finally returned leading the three horses, Eren took one look at her and noticed the change right away.
"You're slowing down"
Shion passed her the reins of one of the horses.
"You're limping"
Eren looked like she wanted to argue out of sheer stubbornness, but she simply didn't have the breath to keep up appearances.
By now, the axe-wielder had passed out completely. The cloth wrapped around his forearm was soaked a dark crimson, though the worst of the bleeding had stopped. The woman bandit looked down at her former leader for a long moment before Shion hoist him onto the saddle. There wasn't any kindness in the gesture, just the grim necessity of the situation.
They sorted out the horses quickly. Eren mounted up with one of the captured bandits, while Shion took another, even though her body protested the movement every time she shifted in the stirrups. The woman rode with their unconscious leader, her horse's reins tied securely to Shion's mount to make sure she wouldn't try to bolt during the ride.
Before they finally set off, Shion reached beneath her armor and pulled out the silver mercenary token hanging around her neck, keeping it firmly gripped in her hand where it could be seen. After the chaos in Reka over the last few days, she wanted to make sure no one mistook them for a threat when they reached the town gates.
The journey back was a slow, grueling crawl. By the time the stone walls of Reka appeared through the treeline, the sun was already low in the sky, and the commotion at the entrance was obvious. The guards were holding up everyone trying to enter, questioning merchants, travelers, and local farmers returning from their fields.
As their group drew near, the guard at the front stepped forward.
"Halt. State your—"
His words died in his throat.
He looked them over, taking in the blood soaking Shion and Eren's clothes, the wounded captives, and the heavy ropes binding four of the riders. Finally, his eyes lingered on Shion. Her orc heritage was plain to see in the sharp lines of her face, and for a tense second, the guard hesitated, his hand drifting toward the hilt of his sword.
It was a bad situation to misinterpret. A blood-drenched orc riding into town with a string of prisoners could easily look like the raid itself, rather than the ones who had put an end to it.
But then the guard's eyes fell on the silver token in her hand. It was the mark of a silver-ranked mercenary—someone who had proven themselves reliable enough to handle dangerous contracts for the Association and live to tell the tale.
"Open the gate"
The suspicion left his face immediately.
The other guards exchanged uneasy looks, but they didn't question him. They stepped aside without demanding an inspection, watching in silence as the strange, battered procession rode through the gates of Reka and made a straight line for the Mercenaries Association.
The moment they pulled up outside the building, Eren dismounted, though her bad leg nearly buckled the moment her foot hit the ground. She leaned heavily against the horse's flank for a second, took a deep breath to steady herself, and forced her legs to move forward.
Behind the counter, the clerk looked up, expecting to greet an ordinary customer, but he froze at the sight of the blood, the prisoners, and the unconscious man missing a hand. Seeing the two mercenaries barely able to stand, his professional demeanor vanished.
Eren leaned against the desk, her voice worn thin with exhaustion but steady.
"The contract is fulfilled"
Before the clerk could even respond, she added:
"We need a healer immediately. For my partner and for the prisoners"
For a second, the clerk could only stare at them in shock before the urgency finally reached him, and he hurried into the back to call for help.