When they heard about the treasure, everyone came to the river.
They looked toward the spot the Old Witch had pointed to and down into the riverbed. There, in the middle of the river, they saw a square shadow with unmistakable signs of human handiwork.
It was far too perfectly square.
The current could never have carved it that way.
Black Wolf grew excited. "Ogres have a habit of hoarding treasure. Earlier, when I saw nothing at all in the cave, I thought it was because they'd only just moved in."
"So they hid their treasure beneath the Dark River."
Then he realized how difficult it would be to retrieve anything from the rushing river.
Besides, there were so many of them now. How would they divide the treasure?
Yveta noticed that everyone had suddenly fallen silent.
He hadn't figured out what was going on yet. He'd only thought that he was about to make a fortune and would have enough money to recruit soldiers. But when he noticed the strange silence, he understood at once.
This was a test.
What made a team a team wasn't how much force it could muster, but whether its members could share their wealth and shoulder responsibility together.
Now, with the ogres' treasure before them, it was time to test the little band Yveta had brought together.
Learning how to divide the spoils was one of the first things every lord had to master.
If the spoils were divided unfairly, even those who said nothing at the time would surely harbor resentment.
And given enough time, that resentment would lead to trouble.
Seeing that everyone was waiting for him to speak, Yveta said, "Everyone who's here gets a share. We're all on the same team."
"We'll divide the treasure among us."
Branton walked over, looking embarrassed. "Your Highness, I'm sorry. I was no help at all in this fight."
"So I won't take any of your share of the treasure."
"And I'm already grateful that you're helping me."
"Right now, all I want is to find my sister."
With that, he crouched down to search through the bones on the ground.
Black Wolf had said earlier that most of the bones belonged to livestock, while a few belonged to adults. But they hadn't examined them closely.
Branton was afraid he might find his sister's remains. But he was even more afraid that she really had been reduced to a pile of bones and he'd overlook them, leaving her behind instead of bringing her home.
Leili also spoke up. "Master, I don't need you to give me any of the treasure."
"Because I belong to you, body and soul."
Leili was quick to bow out. He had barely contributed to the battle.
That left only the Old Witch and Black Wolf.
Black Wolf said to Yveta, "Your Highness, I only want a tenth of the treasure."
That was fair.
As a mercenary, he had the right to a share of the spoils after fighting hard for them.
Yveta understood that in warfare during this era, a lord was responsible for distributing the spoils among his vassals.
The Old Witch opened her mouth. By instinct, she wanted to demand eighty percent, as she always had.
Then she immediately remembered that Yveta was her Demon God.
Next, she glanced at Black Wolf and had no choice but to suppress her greed. "Your Grace, I only want a tenth of the treasure too."
Yveta nodded.
That was fair as well.
The Old Witch wasn't his vassal or his mercenary, and he... wasn't sure what she counted as.
She was just following him around.
She'd also contributed a great deal, so he had to give her something.
The Old Witch said, "Black Wolf, go cut off the fingers of those ogre priests."
"The fingers of the ogres' victims' warriors are haunted by the souls of those they killed. With a little simple treatment, they can be used as tools to summon a one-time undead."
"Those of exceptional quality might even be suitable for studying Spirit Mirror Divination."
Yveta immediately remembered that Spirit Mirror Divination required exceptional vengeful spirits.
And now they had just the materials they needed.
The Old Witch announced, "I'll bring the treasure up from the riverbed."
Black Wolf gave her a puzzled look.
"Don't look at me like that," the Old Witch said angrily. "Do you think I'm trying to keep some of it for myself? No. I'm the only one here who can breathe underwater at will. I could stay under for an entire day without dying."
Black Wolf shrugged.
Once they had divided up the tasks, the Old Witch began hauling the ogres' treasure out of the water.
Yveta, meanwhile, did what he could to help Branton search the bones buried in the earth.
As time passed, Branton grew more and more agitated. "Nothing."
"There's nothing here."
"There aren't any bones from a little girl here. Could my sister really not be here? How could that be?"
"Where did my sister go?"
Black Wolf put five ogre fingers inhabited by vengeful spirits into a pouch. "The people who fed the ogres deliberately picked refugees to feed them."
"So there definitely wouldn't be any bones from a little girl."
"Refugees will do anything. They wouldn't drag a little girl around with them. They would've sold her on the road, or... eaten..."
Yveta warned Black Wolf with a look, stopping him from going on and upsetting Branton.
Branton shook his head and said gratefully to Yveta, "Thank you, Your Highness."
"But you don't need to worry about my feelings. My sister must still be alive. If she isn't here, she has to be somewhere else."
Just then, the Old Witch climbed out of the Dark River and tossed three rusty iron chests onto the ground.
The contents of the three chests spilled out.
The first chest held some unfamiliar currency, but Yveta recognized the silver and gold coins. They didn't seem to be shillings or pounds, though.
Yveta needed a great deal of money to study magic, so this pile of cash had come at just the right time.
The second chest spilled out a pile of swords. Most were covered in rust, but a few lay among the corroded blades, faintly glowing.
The third chest contained a thick book.
Its cover was covered with lines resembling pictures. They all joined together, but he couldn't tell what they meant.
The Old Witch ignored the gold and weapons and picked up the book, looking rather surprised. "This is... an ancient text written in the language of Epirus. Magic is protecting it, too. Such ancient magic. I can't even tell which era or school it belongs to."
The Old Witch said, "Your Grace, this book is all I want."
Yveta asked curiously, "Can you read the writing?"
The Old Witch nodded and opened the book. "Yes. The first page says: 'So that our descendants may be victorious forever, I have recorded in this book how we defeated the ogres and the Children of the Forest here. Within it is knowledge that will ensure humanity's eternal victory. I hope that future generations will read it.'"
The Old Witch looked up and suddenly stared at the space behind Yveta, her face turning grave.
At some point, a woman had appeared behind Yveta, crouching on the ground. With her head lowered, she stared at the stone wall. Her disheveled hair gave her a terrifying air.
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