Of course Pamin couldn't wrap his head around it.
In Thane's mind, anyone who could survive on their own outside the town was definitely no ordinary person—probably a skilled hunter like Ryan.
Thane had already figured out what he'd say to get them to join Fontdmer Town, what he'd offer them.
But now they'd been torn apart by a black bear!
All his plans were shot to hell!
This feeling of everything spinning out of control drove Thane absolutely nuts, but there wasn't a damn thing he could do about it.
Taking a step back, even if they were just regular folks, Thane never wanted to witness something like this.
Even if this person didn't live in Fontdmer Town, even if living here was against the law, they were still Thane's people!
It wasn't some black bear's job to make them lunch!
"Get over here quick, my lord!"
Ryan's shout from the doorway of the wooden house finally snapped Thane out of his rage.
He spit at the bear's head, wiped the blood off his sword, pulled himself together, and walked into the house.
It was your typical Northern Borderlands cabin style, with several animal hides and deer heads hanging on the walls for decoration. Nothing else really stood out.
Ryan stood in the corner next to some lifted wooden planks, with the entrance to a cellar below.
"Check this out."
At Ryan's urging, Thane walked over and looked down.
A girl around ten years old was holding her younger brother and sister, all three kids huddled together scared out of their minds.
The older girl looked about the same age as Sandy, the fourteen-year-old maid, while the other two boys were under ten.
Thane took a deep breath, softened his expression, and said gently,
"I'm Thane Ividaya, lord of Shadowpine Ridge. The black bear's dead. You're safe now. Come on out."
After speaking, Thane reached his hand down to the girl.
The girl looked at Thane's handsome, kind face, hesitated for a second, then stood up and handed him the youngest brother.
"Easy does it."
Thane took the little boy and set him aside, then lifted out the sister before reaching his hand down to the last girl.
But the girl didn't reach up, standing there and saying quietly, "I can't carry her."
"Her?"
Thane paused, shifting his position to look deeper into the cellar where the girl was pointing. There was another short-haired girl lying against the wall with her eyes closed, totally out cold.
"You come up first. I'll take care of her."
The little girl nodded and grabbed Thane's hand to climb up.
Thane then jumped down into the cellar and walked over to the girl, his brow furrowing slightly.
The girl in front of him was covered in dirt, but you could still see her delicate, gorgeous features. Her jawline was elegant and smooth, and her fair, glowing skin revealed a beauty that seemed way out of place in the Northern Borderlands.
Thane wasn't blown away by the girl's looks—he was more worried about who she was.
She didn't belong in this wooden shack. She was nobility.
The cellar wasn't the place to figure this out. Thane stepped forward, scooped up the girl, brought her out of the cellar, and laid her on the bed.
Thane wanted to ask the little girl about this mystery girl's background, but hearing crying sounds from outside, he had to put it on the back burner.
"Aleya."
Thane called out softly. Aleya handed the children over to two guards to calm them down and quickly came into the house.
"Check how she's doing."
"Yes, my lord."
Aleya nodded and stepped forward to examine the girl's body.
Although Aleya wasn't a healer, she'd picked up quite a bit from her mother and could handle basic cuts and scrapes.
"She's got multiple scrapes on her body, but nothing too serious. Her calf got bitten, but someone already patched it up with herbs."
Aleya examined her carefully, leaning down to take a whiff. "Marigold and dandelion—used the right way."
Then Aleya felt the girl's forehead and finally reported to Thane with confidence, "She's fine. Should be coming around soon."
Thane nodded and said, "Search her for anything special—hopefully something that could tell us who she is."
"Got it."
Aleya bent down to search and soon found a brooch in the girl's clothes, which she handed to Thane.
Looking at the design on the brooch, Thane turned and walked outside, handing it to Pamin.
"Take a look at this. Things just got a whole lot more interesting."
Pamin took the brooch looking puzzled and couldn't help but suck in a breath.
Eliric nearby stretched his neck to look, asking curiously, "Is that... an eagle on there?"
"It's a griffin," Pamin corrected him.
Thane nodded. "She's from the Redgriffin Family."
"What?"
Eliric looked totally shocked.
Thane didn't want Eliric to stay just a muscle-headed soldier—he wanted to train him up and expand his knowledge, so he'd been sharing intel about the surrounding forces and information that Pamin had brought back.
Eliric had some clue about what was going on around them.
"So who is she in the Redgriffin Family? How'd she end up here?"
Thane didn't answer right away, studying the girl's face again.
After thinking it over for a moment, Thane finally spoke, "This is the closest spot to Razor Plains.
My guess is she's the lord from Razor Plains who was supposedly ripped to shreds."
Pamin nodded in agreement.
With no servants, showing up alone in this place, and looking like royalty, it was hard not to connect the dots.
Of course, there were still tons of questions.
Most importantly, how did she get away, and why were the rumors saying she was already dead?
These questions could only be answered when the girl came to.
Aleya was put in charge of watching over the girl, while Thane led the others to dig a hole in the yard and bury the dead couple's bodies to keep wild animals from digging them up.
Without a doubt, these three kids wouldn't last five minutes in the wilderness. Thane was definitely taking them back to Fontdmer Town, and this abandoned yard would serve as the couple's final resting place.
"What a damn shame."
Ryan looked at the grave and sighed, "He must've been wiped out by that wolf pack, then got jumped by this black bear, causing this whole mess."
Ryan had found the bodies of two prairie wolves in the yard, their fur covered with grass and dirt—clearly they'd been dragged back.
If he'd had any choice, a hunter wouldn't treat his kill so poorly.
This showed that the hunter had come back completely beat and had no choice but to drag the prey.
While people usually think of black bears as wild and vicious, they don't realize black bears are also sneaky as hell.
Unless they're starving, they'll also lie in wait and stalk their prey, looking for the perfect moment to strike with one killing blow.
"This is what happens when you go it alone."
Thane's face was stone cold. "Especially in a place like the Northern Borderlands, you never know if tomorrow's gonna come or if disaster will hit first.
Only when everyone sticks together and works as a team can we have safe, stable lives."
Ryan and the others nodded, totally agreeing with what Thane was saying.
"I wonder how many scattered families like this are still out there in Shadowpine Ridge."
Thane sighed and ordered, "Pamin, when we get back, pump the townspeople for information about any stray households wandering around in the wild. For every confirmed case, give them sixty-six pounds of rye as a reward."
"Yes, Baron," Pamin immediately nodded.
"Alright, Ryan, clean all this game and get a fire going for cooking."
Thane gave these orders and was about to head inside to chill when Aleya came running out.
"She's awake!"