Sunlight spilled down over Kit as he headed over to his restaurant. He decided to make the cider outside, the day was too beautiful to waste inside. He gabbed all the ingredients he needed then sat down on the wooded barrel outside he now used as a chair. He soon became immersed in making the Lucky sticky apple cider.

Kit was starting to feel himself sweat, he stopped to see how many barrels he had already made. 35 barrels sat in his pouch, he thought that would be more than enough to cover all the participants of the monster run.

He wiped his brow then frowned, Twix had still not turned up to collect him. Kit opened his menu to look at the time. It was midway through the morning. With Pint’s speed he had plenty of time before they would have to leave.

Even though there was still plenty of time, Kit felt Twix should have turned up by now. Kit stood to stretch. He glanced around the empty street surrounding his restaurant with his arms stretched out above his head. It gave him a weird feeling to not hear the hustle and bustle he was used to since his grand opening.

It had been a while since the village had been so deserted. Kit decided not to go and find Twix, even though the village was empty he had a feeling it would still be hard to find him. He didn’t want to waste time when he could be making more preparations for the monster run.

Kit decided to go inside and make some Lucky sticky apple pies and Spiritual moon juice magic. Hopefully Twix would turn up soon.

Twix walked into the kitchen as Kit was pulling a pie from the fire pit. “Kit are you nearly ready to go? We have to leave soon if we want to catch up to the others.”

Kit jumped in fright and almost dropped the pie. Even though he had been expecting Twix he was still surprised at his arrival.

“Yes, just let me take this pie out of the clay pot then I’ll be ready to go.” Kit still wanted to make some more pies, he decided he could make them at the camping site. It would be better to go now, even though Pint was fast, he had no idea how far they had to travel.

He placed the pie and ingredients he would need into his pouch.

Staring at his pouch that held so many slots Kit once again felt that he was lucky that he had found Snowball. Thinking of Snowball, he realised he hadn’t told him they would be leaving today. He had been in such a hurry to come to his restaurant to prepare, that he left Snowball at the boarding house without saying a word.

“Twix have you seen Snowball today?” He felt it was unlikely that Snowball would still be in the village. With the little dog’s tendency to hunt treasure each day he was sure that he would have left for his own adventure already.

“Yes, Snowball is outside with Pint and the Midnight guardians.” Kit was surprised to hear Snowball was waiting outside for him. He quickly locked his restaurant and walked outside. Snowball ran over to him as soon as he turned from locking the door.

“Snowball, my smart little friend. I’m so glad you didn’t go anywhere today.”

A snarky reply resounded to Kit’s words. “Friend Kit is really stupid. As if the hoarder of precious things would miss going somewhere that was going to drop high level items.”

Furious yaps were spat back at Bai Yue from Snowball. “Fine I will tell him. Snowball said he would not leave you to go into danger without him.”

A warm feeling spread in his chest. “You want to protect me, Snowball?” Snowball softly nudged Kit’s leg. Kit couldn’t help but to pick him up and give him cuddles. “I’m glad you want to protect me, but your safety comes first. If you are coming, then you will have to stay by the midnight guardians side, ok.”

Chatter came from all five midnight guardians. “See Snowball even they agree with me.” Kit turned his eyes back to Bai Yue. “It’s good to see you again. Are you coming with us as well?”

“No friend Kit, I will stay in Spartan Fire while you are gone. I will make sure your properties are safe while you are gone. Snowball made me promise to keep them safe.”

Kit squeezed Snowball. He himself hadn’t even thought about protecting the town while they were away. “Thank you Bai yue. I will give you some Spiritual moon juice magic as a thank you.” A purr erupted from the white cat at his words.

Kit had a feeling this was the real reason the cat agreed to watch over his properties. “Twix speaking of the village, is there anyone staying to look after Spartan Fire. What happens is thieves come while there is no one in the village.”

“My dad and Curt are staying behind as well as some of the others that don’t have a high level of fighting capacity.”

Kit was surprised to hear the name Curt. Was it Curt from Flower fields town or another Curt. He hadn’t seen the guard since Iris had left so he assumed that he had gone back to his town. He didn’t want the curiosity to eat at him, so he asked Twix.

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“No, it’s your friend Curt, he moved to Spartan Fire. Grandpa is very happy with you over getting someone like him to move here. Did you not know he was now a resident?”

Shock spread over Kit. He hadn’t expected Curt to move here. “That’s fantastic!” Kit thought back to the letter from Iris. His friendship level with Curt was quite high. He wondered if he would get a friendship quest from Curt if he reach 100 reputation points with him. “Why is Grandpa excited about it though?”

“Curt agreed to a transfer, so he will be in charge of recruitment of the guards once Spartan Fire is promoted to a village from a small village. Having someone of his standing will increase the odds of people applying for the positions.”

A frown appeared on Kit’s face. Was Curt a high level soldier? He hadn’t thought he would be, Curt was from a small town. He thought all the high ranking soldiers would be in a city. Kit made a mental note to discuss military ranks with Curt. As a founding member he thought he should at least know a little bit about these matters.

As Spartan Fire grew, a military presence would become important in protecting the residents from threats. He was certain with Spartan Fire growth not all residents would have a high fighting ability like most did now.

“Then at least that is one less thing to worry about in the future. Well, are we ready then?” Kit eyed Pint with some trepidation. He wasn’t looking forwards to this ride.

Kit glanced at Twix to see him nervously staring at Pint large size.

“Pint will be ok with me riding him, right?” Twix blew out a shaky breath.

Kit gave Pint some alcohol before he even attempted to mount the large horse. “Yes, now he has a belly full of alcohol he will be fine.”

Kit climbed up onto the horse’s back with some help from Twix. Mars was not here to swing him up with ease. Twix passed Snowball up to Kit once he was settled on the horses back, then he climbed up behind Kit.

“Ok Pint, let’s go.” Kit hugged Snowball with one hand and gripped Pint’s mane with the other. Pint took off with a lurch. Kit felt his stomach roll, this was not going to be a pleasant journey.

Tears leaked from Kit’s eyes for most of the gallop. Last time he had been on Pint he was sitting behind Mars, he hadn’t realised how much of the wind had been blocked by him. Kit turned his head to see if the midnight guardians were able to keep up with the large horse.

Black blobs could be seen through the tears leaking from Kit’s eyes from the wind whipping his face. He felt relived at the sight of the midnight guardians keeping pace with Pint.

When they finally reached the others, Kit felt like his eyes were swollen. He could barley open his eyes, he tried to blink the moisture gathered in his eyes with little success. His sight remained narrowed to a slit.

They arrived in a clearing surrounded by tall trees, behind them was the enormous mountain range. The sight was familiar to Kit. This was what he stared at every day on his way to the restaurant. Kit had asked Twix once how far the mountain range spread.

Apparently, it ran across the entire border of the forsaken state. There were only certain places one could pass safely through into the forsaken state from the other side. This was one of the reasons that the state was so underdeveloped compared to the rest of the Fornax continent.

Kit had to bend his neck backwards to see the peaks. He could only see through a slit in his eyes due to the swelling. He swung his head around to get a clear picture of the area through his restricted sight. Tents were already starting to pop up in the field, Kit could smell cooking coming from campfires. Groups of people were sitting around talking or busy setting up their camps.

There were more people here than Kit had expected. By the large number of people he could tell that most of the village was in attendance. Kit slid down from Pint and felt his legs buckle like last time he rode the large horse, he crumpled to the ground with a thud.

He managed to keep Snowball safe in his decent. Snowball jumped off his chest and started to look around the area they had came to. Kit noticed the midnight guardians were not here yet. “Don’t worry Snowball I’m sure they’re not far behind us.”

“Kit are you ok?” Twix hurried of Pint’s back and ended up on the ground next to him. Kit couldn’t contain his laughter. Twix eyes were just as swollen as his, it looked like Twix had cried up a storm.

“Looks like we are both going to need a moment before we go and find the others.” Kit rubbed his aching legs, when he felt the strength return, he stood up. It was a pity he had no ice to relive his swollen eyes.

As he glanced around, he saw the midnight guardians race towards Snowball. Kit was happy at their arrival it was one less thing to worry about. Kit turned to face the camp site hoping to get a clue what direction he should be heading in to find Mars or his employees.

To his surprise he spotted a familiar face not far from where he was standing. Bundt was talking to an older man, his hands were gesturing wildly as he spoke. “Quick Twix get up I found Bundt, let’s go before I lose sight of him.” Kit helped Twix to stand, then the pair made there way over to Bundt on trembling legs.

“Bundt I’m so glad to see you I was wondering how I would find everyone.” Bundt froze when he stared at Kit and Twix. Kit watched as his face turned from shock to amusement.

“Kit what happened to your faces, it looks terrible.” Laughter spilled from Bundt’s mouth as he spoke.

“…” Kit did not feel Bundt question needed a reply.

Bundt soon got his laughter under control, but the big grin didn’t leave his face.

“Ah sorry Kit, I could not control myself. You really do look quite a sight. Anyway, I’ve been waiting for you, I just thought you needed a moment after getting off the horse.” Bundt held laughter in his eyes as he spoke once again. Kit could tell he was holding himself back from breaking out in laughter, he sighed. He couldn’t blame Bundt, if it was him, he would probably be doing the same thing.

At the mention of Pint, he realised he had just left Pint and Snowball behind without a word. He turned to go and get the horse and his companion. He stopped his movements when he realised Pint and Snowball had followed them along with the midnight guardians.

“Sorry Pint, Snowball I was distracted for a moment. I’ll give you a treat once we find Mars.” Kit patted the large horse’s nose as an apology and gave Snowball a hug.

“Did you get done what you needed to do before you left Kit?” Bundt enquired.

“Almost I just need to make a few more pies. I brought my camping oven so I can finish it off tonight.” Bundt nodded in understanding.

“Then let’s get to our camp site. Follow me.” Bundt started to make his way through the camp heading towards a group of tents at the edge of the camp site.