After the ambush had been fully settled, and both Beasts and Bandits were dead, Belladonna’s mood became strangely foul. At least it was strange in Midas’ opinions.

She had seemed to happy, in a creepy murderous kind of way, when she had disappeared. But now she was stomping around, grumbling to herself the ravings of a madwoman when she came to collect a sack from him, before trudging back into the treeline. It was precisely what she was saying that made Midas the most confused.

Grumbling and muttering that ’Stupid bakers can’t count’ and that they ’ruined my fun’. How bakers even got involved, he had no idea. Surely he had to be mishearing her, right?

Regardless of why she was in such a mood, it did seem to help her reputation. There was just something about coming out of the woods, covered head to toe in blood and dragging a sack behind her that was bulging with the belongings of over a dozen, a regular dozen and a stupid bakers dozen, men that she had personally, and single handedly slaughtered.

It just made people have a little more respect for you, for some reason. The giant purple orc that Belladonna was still calling Barney, because he had never bothered to introduce himself despite making some very rude, sexual gestures towards her, was especially intimidated and fearful of the blood soaked Baroness.

Not just for her appearance after the slaughter, but what happened before it. He could still feel the slight stinging in his cheek from where her dagger had sliced him. He had no idea how someone could throw a dagger so fast, that one would only hear it after it had passed you by.

Had she been aiming for his head instead of the boar, there was no doubt that he would be dead.

"What’s that doing here?" Belladonna asked, gesturing to the dead boar that was sitting next to Midas’ cart.

"The big purple one left it here. Said something about the right of blood, and that it belonged to you. He seemed a little taken by you, might I say. Although maybe it was just pants wetting fear. Whose to say really." He said with a laugh and a shrug, before leaning towards Belladonna and putting on his professional salesman voice.

"Say... You wouldn’t happen to be selling it, would you? Or any of the lovely delights you have in that sack of yours. Well, actually it was my sack that I so generously lent to you, so you should keep that generosity in mind before you answer."

Midas’ usual sleazy, greedy business man smile spread across his lips as he eyed up Belladonna’s goods. Not her body, god no. He was not interested in such things. He was only interested in the almighty dollar.

The one true religion of the world.

Belladonna couldn’t help but laugh at the unrestrained greed of her merchant friend. Her bad mood and newfound hatred of bakers leaving her mind as she heaved the sack onto the cart followed by the hippo sized boar. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

Their rickety cart creaked and groaned with each new addition, as the already small cart became incredibly crowded. It was a miracle that it hadn’t collapsed already.

"You can have whatever I don’t use at camp tonight, but I want it at a good price." Belladonna replied as she climbed onto the cart, straining its mismatched wheels even more.

"Of course, Of course. Anything for my most valuable investor. Honestly, compared to the delights you give me, my other customers have been so disappointing. It got to the point that I started to miss you when you weren’t around.

It just makes me so glad we can have this lovely adventure together." Midas said with a sad smile as he wiped a single tear from the corner of his eye. A truly award winning performance.

Belladonna punched him in the arm as his award for that performance. It was only a light punch, by her standards, but it was enough to push the scrawny merchant right over and nearly send him flying out of the cart.

"Oops, Sorry. Sometimes I forget that not everyone is as robust as my usual punching bag, I usually do that with a friend of mine whenever he makes dumb jokes." Belladonna laughed nervously as Midas straightened up, rubbing his stick thin arm that was already starting to bruise, as he winched slightly.

"It’s fine. I’m sure he is a very lucky guy..." He said with another wince, just imagining what it would feel like in real life to get punched by this gorilla all of the time. That friend was probably a miserable pile of bruises.

"Yeah... He is. A lucky, and really amazing guy." Belladonna replied with a wistful smile, gazing off into the distance as the convoy started to move once again.

"Now can you please clean yourself up? You really stink of blood." Midas said, dragging Belladonna out of her fantasies before she could get too lost in them, as he gave the reigns a whip and started to move their cart forwards.

"Oops, Sorry about that." Belladonna laughed, activating the miniature blood well glyph on her hand and dragging all the blood off of her body, before tossing the ball of blood to the side and relaxing in her seat completely blood free.

***

Back in the city of Gracia, a singular cart trundled through the gates. It was part of no convoy, and the cart itself looked worn and ancient. These two factors alone drew enough attention, but it was the heavy trio of crates that sat on the cart bed that drew the majority of the guards attention.

The driver, a man dressed in fine clothes and a long cloak with a hood that shielded his face from the afternoon light, was forced to bring the cart to a halt as one of the city guards clambered into the back.

Yet the moment he set foot onto the cart bed, the trio of metallic crates started to violently shake, as something within them let out feral growls and slammed against the confines of their metal prison.

The guard recoiled slightly, before curiosity toke reign over his fear, and soon he found himself drawn to the small air holes that had been drilled into the metal. The insides of the crate were pitch black, but perhaps if he just got closer, he would be able to see inside and-

"I wouldn’t if I was you." The driver muttered monotonously, snapping the guard out of his hypnotic state. "Not if you want to keep your eye, that is."

"What? Are you threatening a servant of the crown?" The guard spat in offence, hopping off of the cart and storming around it, until he was in front of the driver, trying to peer under his hood at the mans face.

"Quite the opposite actually. I was trying to help you, so now why don’t you do yourself a favour," The driver muttered with a knowing smirk, turning his head and peering out from underneath his hood. Enough so that the guard could see his eyes as they glowed bright red.

"Let me pass, and tell the others everything is fine."

The guard stared into the man’s eyes, slack-jawed and enraptured by that piercing gaze, until it was broken by the man turning away. The guard blinked softly, shaking his head as if he was clearing away the fog of his mind, before ushering the driver through.

"Well? What are you waiting for? Everything is fine, move on through already."

"Much obliged." The driver muttered with a smirk, as he happily obeyed and moved into the city with his feral cargo in tow.