“What are you reading, Adal?”

The boy hugged the book close to his chest as if to hide it. Hasil already knew the book he was reading, it was hard for him to not know the cover of one of the books in the village. He was thinner than most of the kids, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t capable. The boy was smart and perceptive and his shoddy frame was a lot stronger than it looked.

After the boy peeled the book away from his chest, he slowly turned the book to show its cover. It was an old emblem, important to the village and the clan of people that were their ancestors. Back when he was in the military, he used to try and find the meaning of this symbol but failed. As much as he wished for this symbol to have a great or important meaning, he felt that it wasn’t important enough to be remembered. After all, the village forgot it.

This book was a collection of information on creatures and monsters. Many of them lived far into the ancient forest, in places that they only dared to venture when together with friends and family. The village had spent generations learning about these creatures, and the biggest lesson they learned was to avoid the areas as much as possible.

That didn’t stop these monsters from sometimes venturing away from the heart of these forests and to the village. In many ways, these dangers were a blessing. These monsters always had value, whether luxurious furrs or magic bones used as ingredients. Now, who knows anymore if these monsters were a malicious blessing or the cursed servant of that cave.

“Find anything interesting?” Hasil asked.

Adal shook his head. He was clearly lying, but Adal was easy to read once you understood him. He was simply agitated that he had interrupted his reading time. He had chosen places like this to read to avoid being interrupted by other people, especially his mother. The ability to read and write was prestigious, and jealousy can turn into hatred by people who crave the glory of being able to write.

“Adal, I don’t want to irritate you or pull you away from your reading, but I need your help.”

“...Elder Hasil, do you want me to find the caches of food?” There was slight confusion and disbelief in the boy’s tone, as well as self-mockery. Much like how many in the village were envious of him, Adal was envious of his older brothers. He didn’t understand the usefulness of his intelligence, but he knew how useful strength and athletics were.

“I need to speak to you in private.” He rarely used those words. Adal managed to grasp the importance of the conversation and got up. Together, they retreated to Hasil’s private quarters, the home of the village's only library. After the two of them were behind closed doors, Hasil still waited to speak and gave Adal a look.

Adal closed his eyes and stretched his ears, before replying, “No one is listening in on us.”

Hasil was envious of youth, his ears were not like they used to be. Though even at his age, his ears weren’t nearly that good.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

“You know what is going on?” Hasil asked.

“A group is going to the river port city, ahhh, the name is Millpond, right? And the other group is getting the aged meat buried during fall hunts.”

“That is right. The people going to Millpond are going to contact the governor or nobles there. The cave might be a dungeon, something that nobles strongly value.”

“Okay…”

“However, I don’t trust them. Nobles aren’t what people consider honorable folks, and many of them aren’t bright either. Back when I was in the army, there were a number of times when nobles made stupid decisions, decisions that got themselves executed.”

“What does that have to do with us? I won’t shed any tears if a noble loses their head.”

“And they won’t shed any tears if we lose our heads. Especially if they try to take advantage of a recently discovered dungeon to try and move up the ranks. The world of a noble isn’t just idle time with expensive food and several mistresses. There is real danger. There was a saying while I was a soldier, ‘Nobody will try to kill you if they don’t know you exist.’ If something goes wrong, nothing can save a low rank noble.”

“So why does this matter?”

“If we work with a renegade noble, we would lose our heads with them. I doubt an honorable noble or servant can live in a backwater city like Millpond. There will always be ambition and there will always be a need for more power, for both greed and survival. In other words, getting the help we need from Millpond might become a noose around our necks.”

Adal pondered for a moment, his face becoming more sullen as he put the pieces together.

“So, what do you want me to do?” Adal asked.

“Remember the saying I just said? While I don’t trust any help from Millpond or any noble, the best path forward is to get the main noble family with claim over this area involved. That means heading to the capital city of this part of the kingdom, Three Rivers. I did the whole farce to distract and cover up you sending word.”

“...Why me?”

“My boy, who else! There aren’t many people in this village that can read and write, even less that are as smart as you. I don’t have any connection to the royal family, at least none that I can use. But, I do have a friend in the city. He will have connections. I need you to inform him and get on his good side.”

“So, what’s going to happen?”

“Soon, you will disappear. I will say that you got a head start on finding the caches. Since everyone knows how much I favor you, they will think it's unfair. This will spur them on and help us get the food we need faster. This will also cover up why no one has seen you.

“I am going to write a letter to my friend. I should warn you, he is a feisty bastard. He had the nickname ‘Tyrant’ back in the day. He and I were good friends, or at least allies. He has kept in contact with me and is one of our village’s biggest clients. You will need to impress him, or at least put up the abuse. If I had the youth and strength to go, I wouldn't put such a burden on your shoulders.

“Will you go?”

Adal was silent for a long time, but after a while he nodded.

----------------------------------------

The ancient forest spirit tried to get up, but the eons of sleep had worn it down. That cave, that infection; it screamed into the night. These forests were ancient and this old magic breed many strange and powerful creatures. It used its power to call to them.

That dungeon was devouring the magic of these forests, like a bottomless hole devouring a lake. None of the animals wanted to go near it, nor did the strange monsters. He used its power to force the monsters to start attacking.

The parasite needed to be culled.