One of the burly men looked up at the sky, then spoke softly to the girl before him.
"Pillar, let's keep going a little farther. Father's condition isn't good right now. According to the records, there should be herbs ahead that can treat Father's injuries and illness."
The girl pleaded bitterly with the burly man named Pillar behind her.
"Th-this... all right."
Pillar looked at the deep emotion in the girl's pleading eyes and ultimately sighed before agreeing.
What the girl did not know was that, deep within Pillar's gaze, there was a tenderness not easily noticed.
After all, the girl before him was his little sister. His little sister—he would spoil her even through tears.
And so, the three of them continued forward together, stopping and starting along the way.
"Pillar, what is that up ahead?"
Suddenly, the girl stopped. Her eyes fixed on a corpse in the distance, its surface already covered in blood.
Hearing this, Pillar's expression turned grave. His entire body went on alert as he signaled to his companion beside him, then slowly walked forward step by step.
When he reached the corpse, Pillar slowly crouched down and reached out to shake it. Only then did he lower his guard.
In this incomparably dangerous forest, one had to remain vigilant at every moment. Otherwise, one would not even know how one had died.
"Miss, it's a dead person."
"A dead person?"
Hearing that, the girl stepped forward, crouched before the corpse, and held her hand beneath its nose to check. Then she frowned. There was no breath.
Moreover, it was obvious at a glance that the wounds on this corpse had not been inflicted by a Demon Beast. After all, when Demon Beasts killed people, they would not even leave a corpse behind.
Though the