At the last village, Mark enjoyed himself very much since the surroundings were one of the best sceneries he had seen. It was located near a spring and the forest beside it was especially beautiful. It was teeming with wildlife busy hoarding food for the winter. The bird’s plumage was pretty, the squirrels and other small animals were fat, and their coats were luxurious. The butterflies were like floating jewels. The foliage was plentiful, and their colors consisted of all the colors you could find on a rainbow.
The people from the last village were also especially accommodating since they knew that the circus troupe would be their last entertainment before winter settled.
Mark's performance with the acrobats was exquisite since he had been practicing with the brothers for quite some time. He was also surprised that a few village girls confessed their interest in him and mentioned that they were willing to travel with him. Mark was really tempted by one of the village girls. She was petite with gorgeous golden locks, but he held himself off. He didn’t want to become one of those who love them and leave them guys and with a girl like that, it would be very pitiful for her if he played with her and then left her.
Mark thought that he could invite the girl to come with him, but he was not ready to have a relationship. He planned to relieve his sexual tension by hiring a professional but not one of Madam Luzviminda’s girls. It felt like they were family and he felt disgusted just thinking about it. He would prefer to date someone from the city instead of hiring a professional, but he would make sure that the girl would understand that he was not ready to settle down. He would make sure that the girl knew that he planned to travel the world.
Mark went out with that girl from the village, but he made sure that there were chaperones to avoid misunderstanding so after his performance, he roamed the circus with her and a group of her girlfriends. Before leaving, he gave boxes of chocolates to the girl’s friends, and he gave an especially pretty piece of jewelry to the girl. While the caravan was departing, the blonde girl, and even her friends cried while looking at him leaving.
Hamil and the others found it funny, but Mark just shrugged. It was his first date since coming to this world.
Snow started falling while they were traveling to the city of Argent where they would stay for the winter. The air was especially nippy, and Mark wore a stylish jacket which prompted a compliment from Nedertu. He was so glad of his inventory and the ability to replicate and destroy items which dispensed with the need to wash his clothes.
Mark got a bit worried about the snow, so he went to Hamil’s caravan to talk to him. Hamil mentioned that the snow would be light for several more days and that they would arrive in the city before the heavy snowfall.
Hamil mentioned to Mark that he felt bitter about the console game since he hardly ever played it. His wife and children kept taking the game from him. Mark laughed and promptly offered him three more brick game consoles with an admonition that he was only lending them to him. He was not worried about anyone finding out about the game since it was just a simple console that was cheap, and it really didn’t matter to Mark if those devices got stolen or destroyed. He mentioned to Hamil that, now, he could have a high-score competition with his wife and children.
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During one of the nights, while they were traveling, Mark was woken up by an alarm. He went outside and saw that everybody was running. He went directly to Hamil’s caravan and when the caravan leader saw him, he told Mark that one of the caravan scouts saw a trap that was set up by bandits, so they were preparing for battle.
Mark told Hamil that he knew some offensive spell, so the caravan leader allowed him to follow. He saw that a lot of men joined Hamil. The actors, the acrobat brothers, the zoo gamekeepers, the halflings, the dwarves, and even the male prostitutes joined the meeting before the battle. Hamil assigned everyone their roles and Mark saw that some would stay to guard the caravan.
Hamil didn’t assign any roles to him, so he just followed the caravan leader. Mark saw the elven sisters on one side carrying staves and bows. Lorendo the magician was carrying a staff as well. The others were equipped with swords, shields, spears, and bows.
The caravan people waited for quite some time before the bandits realized that the ambush failed so the bandits just rushed toward the caravan people. Mark saw that the bandit group was wearing a ragtag assortment of armor and weapons, but they were not particularly hungry-looking. In fact, most of them looked robust. Considering the wealth of the forest in terms of food during this time of the year, Mark wasn’t surprised.
Before the bandits got to melee point, he saw Lorendo the magician cast a fireball spell. That confirmed the fact that the magician really knew how to cast spells and wasn’t really a charlatan. The elven sisters also started casting magic missiles and wind blades and Monterra used her bow with expertise.
After Mark saw that the long-range fighters were fully engaged, he joined the fight by casting the Void Bolt spell one after another. When some of the bandits got to melee range, the spell casting stopped to avoid hitting comrades, so Mark decided to summon the Tree Golems. The elven sisters were surprised when they saw Mark summon the forest guardians.
Mark then cast Bark Skin and Space Shield for protection, and he kept casting Void Bolt. The bolt was particularly deadly since it would stagger a bandit and kill them on the second shot. He positioned himself in front of the elven sisters so he could protect them. If any bandits got near, he cast Void Push to push them away.
Mark avoided casting his area of effect spells and some of his potent spells to avoid scaring the caravan people. The tree golems already shocked most of them. The golems were particularly valiant and deadly. They were able to protect people and kill bandits with ease. They were hardy so Hamil and the other warriors used them as distraction.
After about thirty minutes, the fight stopped with the caravan people vanquishing the bandits. Mark saw that most of the bandits perished, and the others were severely wounded. Norunta the witch and her apprentice Sunetta started circulating, healing the wounded. They had several women assistants with them from the caravan. Sadly, four people died but considering the number of the bandits, the damage to the caravan was light.