Glancing over his stats as he walked toward the gate, Lanek decided to throw his nine free points from his recent level up into his lowest stat, strength. He nodded in satisfaction at the rush that went through his body when his strength jumped from 20 to 29. He could have put more into dexterity or propped up his perception, but he felt that he would need the strength when he tried building up his camp and carrying his packs back home.
On the way, he kept an eye on the surrounding buildings, hoping to spot another storefront that hadn’t been wiped out in the evacuation. Lanek felt far more comfortable focusing on potential loot spots now that he had both Kazuma and Sanguineus watching his back. As a result, he took a few different turns on the way back to the gate to cover new ground.
His plan paid off when he spotted a building with the first glass storefront he had seen since coming to this city. Granted, the glass was shattered, but it was still obvious that it had been a large display window. Nothing remained but shards of glass in the area, but Lanek didn’t let that demoralize him. The general store he found had a storeroom with all of the goodies after all, there was no reason this place couldn’t be the same.
Upon entering, his eyes found multiple shelves lining the walls. To his surprise, many of the shelves were still covered in merchandise, clothing to be specific. He was a little dismayed to see that the clothing was more in line with fancy clothing than gear, but he shouldn’t have been surprised that any place that had once had a glass storefront most likely catered to a wealthier clientele.
Lanek worked his way upstairs to the living quarters above the shop, finding very little damage. Why was this place not ransacked? It made sense that the monsters wouldn’t care about the clothing and the window could have been shattered by a number of things over the years, but what about the refugees? For that matter, why hadn’t the owner attempted to escape with his wares?
He found his answer as he entered the main living area. Mounted upon the wall in an obvious place of honor above the hearth was a weapon rack, now bare. Just below the rack was a plaque that read “For meritorious service and bravery in defense of the people, the Adventurer’s Guild and city of Caelis are proud to promote Kena to Gold rank and award her with this property.”
Ah, Kena most likely rushed to help with the dungeon outbreak and died there.
When Lanek entered the bedroom, he found several trunks of clothing in multiple sizes. Kena had obviously shared her home with someone. Digging through the trunks, he found a belt, several trousers, and a few shirts that would all fit him decently. They clearly didn’t fit perfectly, but they would do. Especially when you considered just how much of his hoodie and joggers had been damaged in the recent fights.
Digging into the nearby wardrobe, he found another cloak to add to his pack and a pair of boots that did fit almost perfectly. While none of this clothing was as fine as the clothing downstairs, it was still obviously made with skill and with durability in mind. Kena must have made the clothing for her and her spouse herself.
Not seeing anything else that he needed at the moment and considering the long trek back to camp with several packs, he made his way to the gate without incident. The next two hours were an exercise in frustration from having to maneuver through the brush with three full packs. What had been a leisurely walk before turned into a grueling hike.
Arriving back at camp, Lanek dumped all three packs in the cave and flopped onto his bedroll. His companions watched him with amusement before Sanguineus took off to sniff the trees all around the camp. Kazuma looked from Lanek to Sanguineus for a moment before bounding to the edge of camp and gazing into the forest.
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
“Guys, I’m going to be busy around camp for the rest of the day, you guys can go explore, hunt, or do whatever you want. I’ll be fine, just please don’t lead anything back here, okay?”
The cat and wolf exchanged a quick glance before tearing off into the forest together. Lanek chuckled at the sight. At least he wouldn’t have to worry about them being safe if they stuck together.
The first thing Lanek did was to reorganize his packs and inventory his loot. He filled one pack with the materials he had recovered from the general store, all of the nails, twine, and rope stored in one place. He set the hammer and mattock next to that same pack. The bowl and mug he had found were set aside as well.
Emptying the next pack resulted in him having a nice addition to his bedroll, a second blanket that was far thicker and warmer than the one he had found in the guild leader’s pack. Granted, this new blanket likely wouldn’t survive grueling conditions as well as the travel blanket. He set this pack aside with the intent to leave it empty for his trips into the city or out foraging.
The final pack he left alone for the most part, simply removing the new boots, belt, and kanabo. It didn’t really make any sense to remove the clothing from the pack, it may as well serve as his makeshift wardrobe for now.
After using [Identify] on all of his loot, he found nothing enchanted or surprising. They were all mundane tools and pieces of clothing. To his immense delight, he found that the belt had a pair of loops hanging off of the belt, one on each side. He immediately belted it on and found that both the axe he had taken from the goblin and the kanabo fit in the loops snugly.
As he rose to head out to the fire, he heard jingling in his pocket. Right, coins and the core. Don’t need to keep those on me. He thought as he emptied the items into the clothing pack. Can’t use the coins right now and I have no clue how to use a core, but maybe they’ll be useful later.
Lanek emerged from the cave and into the evening light. Better start that fire.
With the fire crackling merrily away in front of him, Lanek turned his thoughts to the camp. He would definitely need to build a fire pit to both concentrate the fire’s heat and keep the fire better contained. Additionally, he really would like to cover the cave’s entrance to have some semblance of security while he slept.
No, it really wouldn’t deter a predator or monster, but it would do wonders for his mood. That was also something that had been drilled into his skull thanks to his grandfather and survival techniques he had studied, keeping your mood and morale up was pivotal to surviving in the wilderness.
Maybe I could build a small shelter that extends out from the cave? Hmm, I like that idea.
While he awaited the return of his friends, Lanek pulled his axe out and set to work on the saplings he had collected. He used the axe to remove branches from each sapling while also trying to make them more uniform in length. In most cases, he only had to remove a small amount of the wood as the saplings were pretty close in size already.
Swearing at his stupidity, Lanek grabbed a sapling and dragged it over to the mouth of the cave before sighing in relief. The trimmed sapling was still tall enough to reach from the ground to the top of the cave entrance. I must be tired, I shouldn’t have made such a dumb mistake.
A sound from the forest heralded the return of Sanguineus and Kazuma. The wolf appeared positively ecstatic from his adventures, bouncing all over the place. Kazuma once more provided Lanek with some much needed food, dropping a large rabbit before him.
“Thanks, buddy. You guys want any?” he asked. Kazuma shook his head before lying next to the fire. Lanek could see Sanguineus consider it before shaking his head and snuggling up next to Kazuma. It took all of his willpower not to join in on the pile of fur and cuteness, but he had to admit that he was starving.
While the rabbit cooked, he started wandering the camp looking for suitable stones for his fire pit. He found a few, but not nearly enough for his needs and he didn’t dare leave the fire unattended long enough to wander into the forest.
“There’s so much to do and not a lot of time before winter if the leaves are anything to go off of.” After finishing his rabbit, he put out the fire and went to bed. As he burrowed into his extremely warm bedroll and newly acquired blanket, a very urgent thought made itself known as he drifted off to sleep. Good lord, I need a bath.