As we continue our walk down the road between the fields, I see more and more plants. Plants of all kinds litter the fields, but each field only has one kind of plant. I see plants that look like pears, one kind is an apple but it’s blue, another looks like orange grapes. For a society that seems barely into feudal governance they have a huge variety of crops. That gets me thinking, I can probably set my pod up just inside the edge of the forest. I doubt anyone ever goes in using any way other than the road so it should be fairly safe. Anyone who stumbles upon it will probably think it’s just a huge flower and ignore it, hopefully. A half mile into the forest should be good enough.

As I finish thinking on where I will want to place my pod, I notice that we are finally closing the distance on the wall, maybe a quarter mile to go. The wall itself is an amalgamation of huge black and grey boulders of varying heights, ranging from fifteen to twenty-five feet in height. The giant rocks are bonded together with a mix of what looks like primitive plaster, clay, small rocks, and half rotten lumber used to seal the gaps. While the construction of the wall is primitive at best the size of the town is nothing to scoff at. Judging from the curve of the wall, assuming it’s semi uniform all the way around, I would say it’s about a mile across.

That’s a big ass town, I don’t know how many gates there are but there is one in front of us. The gate appears to be just a giant wooden door, about fifteen feet tall. As we approach the gate I see two guards, one on each side of the gate, wearing basic leather similar to Alex’s and wielding spears. They seem less than perceptive, not even bothering to stop their conversation or even noticing us as we walk up.

Bane (Human, Level 41 Guard)

Frank (Human, Level 39 Warrior)

“So anyway, I told the dumbass that if he wanted some to go see a whore and stop buggering my sister.” Bane says.

“No shit, I would have just socked the bastard. Whether she wanted it or not he needs to know where to keep his hands. WHOA! Where did you two come from?” Frank says and jumps as he notices us.

“We've only been walking down the road since getting out of the forest. Go get the guard captain and the hunt master, we got trouble in the forest!” Alex almost shouts at them

“Oh yea, what kind of trouble would that be hunter boy?” Bane guard asks.

“The kind that involves a cataclysm class monster, you lazy wanks.”

The two guards expressions instantly change from a lazy smirk to displeased. Please don’t piss them off Alex, I don’t need to be getting arrested or whatever on my first trip into town.

“What do you mean cataclysm class, there ain’t nothin like that out here.” Frank guard says.

“Well, there is now and it almost killed me. So unless you want to be explaining to your boss why it wasn’t reported sooner, I suggest you go get him.”

Both guards give each other a look, then look to me

“He talkin shit or what cutie?” Frank asks.

Cutie, what the hell makes them think they can call me cutie? Whatever, I’ll just have to ignore the assholery. I need to not confirm Alex’s story while not outright denying it either. If I say he’s full of shit he won’t take it well, but if I confirm his story no one will think he is a loony cunt.

“I don’t know what he got jumped by, I only found him after. But I found him tied up and just laying there, judging from the tracks it’s a very smart monster that was using him as bait or bandits that left him for dead.” I reply.

“The hell you mean tracks? Explain.” Bane says.

“When I found him there was crushed grass, dead wolves, and footprints all around. It was foot prints not shoe prints, but all the wolves were killed by stabbing or crushed skulls. And there were a lot of them, maybe close to twenty corpses scattered about.” I reply.

“Shit this ain’t my level of problem, Frank watch em. I’m going to get the captain.” Bane says.

Bane then turns and jogs away, quite casually for something of this urgency. I can’t imagine bandits running around about twenty minutes outside of town or a dryad being that close to town to be a casual affair. But god knows what kind of stuff goes on in this world that could desensitize them enough to not care. Unfortunately this Frank fellow seems so uninterested in our current situation that he finds me more interesting. Come on man I know I’m not wearing much but staring is rude.

If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

“So cutie, when did ya get into town? Haven’t see you round before.” Frank asks

Frank shoots me a crooked toothed yellow smile that almost makes me lose my lunch. Apparently, he took watching us very literally as he is just standing there, leaning against his spear, and leering at me. His gaze is sending shiver up my spine, it’s pretty clear what this ugly goblin of a human is thinking while he looks at me. Now I regret not listening to my sister Mary bitching about how ugly dudes were accosting her and her gloating on how she got rid of them. Because I could use some ‘getting rid of’ tactics right now.

I feign disinterest in his gaze by looking down at Alex’s busted up leg. I know better than to completely ignore him, so I give a generic response.

“Some time around noon yesterday.” I say.

He doesn’t take the hint and keeps pressing his luck. Great, I need to put up with him for as long as it takes his friend to show back up with their boss. Which is probably going to be a while.

“Say, I got tomorrow off. I know all the best spots to hang at, how about I show you round town?” Frank asks.

“I already got plans tomorrow.” I tersely reply.

“Aw come on cutie don’t be like that, I know all the good spots round town.”

Is this what my sister had to deal with when it came to guys? Bloody hell this is bad, something tells me this dude is not going to take no for an answer. Thankfully Alex cuts in and gets his attention.

“Yea, probably know all the good spots around town to end up getting stabbed.”

“The hell ya mean boy, I was talkin to the lady. Now butt out if ya know what’s good for ya.” Frank says.

“You’re really trying your luck with a paladin; you have to be stupid or blind friend.”

“Paladin? Oh shit, I … I didn’t mean anything by it. I was just jokin ma’am.”

Frank has gone from all puffed up to a whimpering child in the span of the full second it took him to check my name and class. All I can do is roll my eyes. As much as I hate to admit it that was a good deflection by Alex. Apparently, anything that might even be remotely related to the church is scary, something to remember. That will have its uses but I also need to be careful not to draw any heat to myself.

After what felt like ten minutes of standing around, Alex leaning against me trying not to fall and Frank shrunk back into his spot at the gate, we finally hear some urgent footsteps. Looking past the gate and up the main road, all one can see is the hustle and bustle of the town. But one figure in particular sticks out, mainly because of his choice of armor. While most people can be seen with standard clothing or some degree of thick leather torso padding, this man is strutting down main street in a hurry wearing full shiny metal plate armor. He is moving in a straight line towards the gate, the crowd naturally parting out of his way as he moves. If this guy doesn’t scream ‘I’m important’ I don’t know what does. As he approaches the gate, I notice a fancy emblem tied onto the left shoulder pauldron. It looks like a Pegasus crossed with a unicorn, a horse with wings and a horn on its head.

The man, who I am assuming is the guard captain or someone of similar status walks up to me and Alex, while trying his best to seem imposing as he sizes us up. The shiny armor is all he has going for him in that department, he’s barely taller than me height wise.

Gult (Human, Level 62 Captain)

“So, what’s this about a dangerous monster and bandits in the forest?” Gult asks.

Before I can speak up to tell him it’s either one or the other Alex explodes into a fury of anxious words.

“There’s a dryad in the forest, you know that monster that got re-categorized recently.” Alex says

“You’re sure it’s a dryad boy? Not some regular old plant monster?” Gult asks.

“Green woman with control over plants, lives in a flower, and likes to keep men tied up for later use. Yea I am one hundred percent sure it was a dryad.”

“You’re absolutely sure? That’s a mighty big claim you made.”

Gult then turns and looks at me, raising his eyebrows for a moment before then directly addressing me.

“You, missy, he all crazy talk or do we have a problem on our hands?” Gult asks me.

“I don’t know, I found him this morning while I was lost in the woods. I found him tied up with vines in a glade. Close to twenty dead wolves scattered about the place, I can’t tell what killed them. No signs indicating this dryad monster in particular. The only noteworthy things were that the grass was all trampled like people had been moving through, and the wolves were killed by a combination of stabbing and crushed skulls.” I say.

“That’s …… interesting. That sounds like bandits but this lad is insisting it’s a dryad. You said there was nothing else there when you found him?” Gult asks.

I need to keep this on a thin line. Alex needs to seem crazy so they think it's actually bandits.

“No, it was just him tied up in the glade. I didn’t see anything other than him and the wolf corpses.”

“Then it can’t be a dryad, they don’t move. But it don't sound like bandits, they would have killed him for sport or to keep low.” Gult says.

“I’m telling you it was a dryad, I don’t know where it went but the damn thing kept me captive for two days. It even tried to heal me so it could keep me around longer to play with.” Alex says.

Thinking to himself for a moment the captain furrows his brow and mumbles something unintelligible, then speaks aloud.

“It sounds like bandits, but we haven’t seen anything even resembling bandit activity in the last three months. They could have just moved in, but no, some of the hunters would have picked up on them and we would know. Damn it, this is going to be a pain in the ass. You two with me, we are going to the hunting branch and talking with the master to sort this out.” Gult says.

He motions for us to follow and we start moving through town, leaving the gate behind and moving up the main street.