"Blessings of the Main God! So you come from Three Islands and the tribal Alliance, the large tribal alliance closest to this peninsula!... Then who sent you? The great leader of the tribal Alliance, the Great Chief? Or the great chief of some state? Or perhaps the chief of some tribe?..."
"Oh! You are two groups of people! One group comes from a tribal chief in the far north, and one group comes from the Royal Capital's... Temple-Shrine? What is a Temple-Shrine?... Ah?! So it's a temple in the Royal Capital! You're actually a priest of the Royal Capital's Priesthood? A heathen priest?!..."
"Hmm? You don't have a Royal Capital Priesthood, only independent temples that believe in different gods?... What? You believe in the same group of gods, but have different factions? You don't fight each other? How strange!... You're not a priest either, but what... born as a Temple Guard of the Thousand-Hand Temple?... Talk! Who is the priest leading your group, and where is he hiding?! Hmm? No priest is leading you? Only you, a single Temple Guard? The temple sent you here, and it has nothing to do with the gods of your faith either?..."
Night fell, and the weather grew colder and colder. Campfires were lit in the camp, and the prisoners' hand-ropes were loosened as well, letting them gather around the fires to warm themselves and cook. Since the "Deer Barbarians" did not seem prepared to kill their captives, the prisoners gave up any thought of fleeing for their lives. After all, in such a season of ice and snow, without food or fuel, escaping empty-handed into the endless snowfields meant they would not survive two days at all!
Exploration Captain Zuwaro sat beside the innermost campfire, still carrying on a written conversation with the