Aaron gasped and wheezed as soon as he opened his eyes. Weird, the double-deck was supposed to be the first one he spotted. Not standing; his were eyes tired and his arms in a defensive stance. Everyone was the same. Each his teammates, emotionless, their eyes dyed silver.

In his sight were three men in leather armor, backing down like they just saw something they shouldn’t have. Aaron heard a groan. He looked back and forth to wherever it might be, then he saw a guy on the ground hanging to his crotch, half naked. There was also a sword next to him – sharp and nice.

Aaron stepped over the man swiftly and seized the sword. His mind was storming with questions, but he also felt a tinge of numbness when he read the situation. Everyone in the room was stuck to the ground, unmoving. It was only then when the team woke up, standing in a weird, defensive pose. Definitely not a good way to wake up.

“Morning,” said Aaron as he kicked the man’s crotch again. And again. And again. No rules here, so look away if you want. He looked at Lina then Lisa. “Someone wanted to rape you two. I guess the defensive countermeasures worked, huh?”

Eric took a step forward. “What’s the situation?”

The three men, unarmed, had their widened expressions calmed down. Then it turned to a smirk. “We were surprised. We’re just gonna have a little bit of fun with your cute friends when that,” he looked at his companion. His smile was gone. “Happened.”

Aaron stood still for a second. “How about we do this? Drop your weapons and kick them to us. You leave. We stay. No one says a thing.”

The man snorted.

“If you want the other way around that’s fine. We’ll tell bad words to your mama, and what I mean by bad words are… bad. Words? Probably enough to get you kicked out of this place.”

“And what would that be?”

The man didn’t back down. Damn, if only he can bluff more. Out of cards, game over. Next thing was to jump over the window or dash past them. Fighting a bunch of Witch Hunters weren’t in his favor. But the hero came in. And it was Eric. As always.

“Miss Venna won’t take things too lightly when she hears her gold clacking away from her hands. The masked man – or woman, won’t take it kindly either. I’ll see your heads in a spike soon enough to tell the others what they should and shouldn’t do.”

The men faltered back. Or at least, that's what Aaron thought he saw. The man who was kicked in the crotch slowly got up without looking back at the team. "Fuck it," he said. "Fucking whores, I'll make sure to rape you women and have my horse take my place."

Lina and Lisa stepped back with a glare. The men, on the other hand, kicked the swords away. Enough for the girls to hold it firmly in their hands, swords raised.

No one had gotten a good night’s sleep. Well, if you ignored Eric’s snoring then you’ll get a deep, anxious silence. Aaron didn’t know what he could do, but he tried to help anyways. “How about this? We stay a couple of weeks, learn the basics and leave. On our own.”

“You seriously think we can?” Lina clicked her tongue.

“If you want to go get raped, you can stay here. We’ve no choice but to face these kinds of threats in the future regardless of where we are. Better be prepared than run with your tails between your legs.”

“Hmm,” that reply irked something inside Lina. It was more like a sarcasm than a thought. “You sound different before playing the game.”

Aaron didn’t even have to think to come up with an answer. “That’s because our lives are on the line. And without all of you, I’ll have less chance of survival. Same goes for the rest of us.”

“True,” Laurence joined in. “I’ll speak with Venna tomorrow. Maybe she could help us how to survive.”

A quarter of a day had gone by with everyone sleeping. Well, not everyone. Laurence suggested they switch posts until daylight. Thankfully, nothing happened and they strolled up to the keep or castle or whatever it was fine and dandy. Just ignore a few stares and glares and you’re all good.

"Have a seat," said Venna with a smile. Everyone nodded. They had a few bits of chatter Aaron chose to listen, and when the topic about attempted rape came out, her jaw loosed. At first, it was just a surprise, but then she dropped the wooden spoon to the ground and stomped outside. "Come with me."

Of course, everyone followed, clueless. Aaron walked with the group, saw Venna climbed the stone stairs with a few guards whispering in her ear and stopped atop the middle of the gate. With a flick of her finger, two guards dashed away and from what it looked like, they stared down. Hard, pale, weak. With a few shouts of ‘get out’ and ‘slow fucktards’ every man was dragged outside. Naked or not, there were no excuses.

Everyone was gathered outside. And by everyone, even the bards and merchants, probably a few outsiders looking at the red-dressed woman atop the wall. “I won’t go into these bloody introductions and get on with it,” she looked like a ticking time bomb. “Who were the scums who snuck into my guests last night?”

Aaron chuckled silently. Visitors were meant inside the keep with good sleep required – technically. They stayed in a tower connected to the keep, but the place could hardly be called a room at all.

The crowd turned to each other with a few chatters here and there. One of the armed men stood out from the rest.

"It was Robero, my lady!" He kicked the guy backwards it made him drop to his face.

“You bastard,” The man tried to get up, but no one tried to help. “My lady,” his voice wheezed and plead, arms clasped. “I wasn’t the only one, we was five!” (note: dialect. Intentional.)

There were a few who stepped back, but it didn't pass a minute for five of them to be surrounded by guards less-equipped, but more weapons on hand. Crossbows, matching swords, light armor but mostly leather and chainmail. Black shade and silver chainmail. They all looked veterans. It would be better to call them real Witch Hunters than the rest of the crowd.

“Are they the one?”

The team nodded. Five of them were being pushed towards Venna. The men were teary-eyed, teeth gritted and widened eyes locked on Aaron. No, it was Eric, behind him.

“You little fucker! We made a deal!”

He didn’t answer. None of us did. The man made an even more ruse – It was the one who attempted to rape Lina or Lisa and the one who got his crotch bullied. There was a few suspicion too, plus a quiet whisper even Aaron can hear. Congratulations, that was how you make a star for yourself. It all turned quiet when Venna mentioned something about breaking the code and attacking another mate’s contract though, which made a few snorts and rocks thrown at the men.

“You bastards lot!”

“And you call yourself Witch Hunters?!”

As if you look like one, Aaron snickered.

The thing was, the men were being tied to a rope already. They were forced to step at the iron railings, too. Aaron took a step back. And by back, he meant at the far corner. Lina followed beside him.

“Are they going to hang him?” She said, her eyes had a glint of pity.

“Do you know what would happen if they live? We’d have swords pointed at us every day with or without them. Eric made the right choice, and so did we.” They were NPCs. Add history and memory. Add sugar spice and everything nice; they were still – in the end – human experiments.

Men hanged with no last words – squirmed about. Roars cheered. Lisa threw up at a corner and Laurence ran for water. Eric, on the other hand, stayed at the front. Now if this didn’t get them diplomatic protection, then Aaron thought nothing would. Except swords, weapons, or probably Venna herself.

And then something caught Aaron’s eyes, in which he squinted. His eyes weren’t telling him lies. Not now, at least. A chill ran down his spine. Eric was grinning. And it wasn’t very pleasant to look at.