“Let’s see…”
Ewald was reading a piece of a paper which listed necessary equipment for an outdoor adventure. From his past memories as a local village hunter, he never ventured too far away from his village. The furthest he had ever gone was a few hours away at the most. The rule was to return before sunset. Should one fail to do so, he’d have to do what they called stealth camping, which was basically hide oneself in a large bush and stay as silent as possible during night. Therefore, the list of equipment on the paper was new to him.
It listed the following items. This was meant for a group of four.
1. Large backpacks (4) / Large backpacks (3) & a small backpack for the main fighter.
2. One large waterskin per person / Three small waterskins per person.
3. Lanterns (4).
4. A set of flint and tinder (Even if a fire mage is available.)
5. Rations of choice: preferably dried meat or at least hardtack. Or both.
6. First aid kits (At least two).
7. A bedroll for each person.
8. A pair of wooden poles. (optional due to space requirement) (In case a person needs to be carried. With a bedroll, a makeshift stretcher can be made.)
9. At least one bottle of general purpose antidote.
10. Tarp tent kits (4)
The list was apparently created by Sarah at the guild. Raem had sent it over to him.
“This is a pretty comprehensive list…,” He remarked.
She noted on the paper that the guild had a bundle deal. She, however, noted that she was unwilling to include bedrolls since they were all in their early teens and that the bedrolls would be too big for them, adding unnecessary volume. Additionally, she noted that she’d be swapping out large backpacks with small ones since they’d be too big for them otherwise.
“Makes sense. A bit too honest actually.”
Why would anyone dump a woman like her.
At the bottom of the paper, it said that the total cost of everything, bar the bedrolls and rations, would cost 2 silver coins.
Was it a good price? He had absolutely no idea. Thus, he summoned Emily, his headmaid. He handed the paper over to her and asked.
“I’ve been quoted two silvers for the items on the paper, excluding bedrolls. And it will be four small backpacks instead of four large backpacks. Do you find it reasonable?”
She looked at him and then the paper with a rather amused face.
“You are going somewhere?”
“I am considering. So, what do you think?”
Her eyes went up to down progressively while darting sideways. At one point, she had her fingers on her chin, doing mental calculations. She gave her answer after a minute or so.
“It will depend on the quality of materials they are using. But overall pass. It’s from the guild, so I don’t think they are going to cheap out on materials.”
Indeed, the guild would not want its members to wound up dead. They probably wouldn’t use the best materials but would certainly not cheap out, either.
“I see. In that case…”
He approached his desk and pulled out a drawer, revealing three small leather pouches. Each had a hundred iron coins inside. He pulled out two pouches which were heavy enough that he had to actually carry them with both of his hands.
“Could you give these to Karla of the decoy house? You do know her, correct? Tell her that it’s for Raem.”
Not wanting to carry the two heavy pouches, she called for two additional maids and gracefully departed.
It wasn’t that heavy though.
He carried them with both hands in case he dropped them. Picking up hundreds of coins would have been a pain.
Once that was out of the way, he paid a visit to Elias to inform him of the impending adventure.
“An adventuring trip, huh.”
He didn’t sound enthusiastic, which was understandable from his point of view. A noble heir running about in the wilderness was not something to be encouraged after all. At the same time, expecting the heir of the Fenchel to be locked up like a flower was ludicrous as well.
“Let’s say it’s for training purposes.” Ewald attempted to butter up.
“How long do you expect to be away?”
“Three days maximum. Two days if everything goes as planned.”
“What will it be about?”
He relayed what Raem told him previously.
“A small goblin camp a day away from Lux. I am not actually worried about the camp itself. I am more concerned about night attacks by random monsters.”
“Indeed,” Elias agreed with a nod. “A typical mistake made by new adventurers is underestimating the wilderness at night. It is good that you are aware.”
“The trip to the capital has taught me.”
Elias grimaced momentarily. The mention of the capital must have reminded him of the recent event with Ewald: the rebellion. He played ignorance.
No need to agitate them further.
After a short moment of uneasy silence, Elias told him.
“Alright, you may go. It’s not like we can stop you anyway.”
He grinned brightly.
“Thank you.”
With that done, he went over to his tea field where two loyalist maids were doing their thing. Sometimes they’d just stand watch. Sometimes they’d be pulling weeds. On this occasion, they were standing watch, vigilantly scanning the area. The thing was, however, there was no need to stand guard here. This was a corner of the rear garden of the manor, and the garden itself was walled. Besides, nobody was stupid enough to disturb a project worked on by the heir of the house.
Maybe they are trying to assert dominance? Well, whatever.
“Anything to report?”
The maids saluted at him. He never got used to how the loyalist maids acted like militia. He figured he’d ask, finally.
“May I ask why you salute? Don’t maids generally bow? You are not soldiers, you know.”
“Milord, we are actually soldiers.”
“I beg your pardon?”
It turned out that permanent maids who had gotten older were trained to act as guards within the manor, which made him realize that he barely noticed male guards within the manor. There were male guards in the lobby as well as at the main entrances. There was also a pair nearby Edmund’s study. Other than those, all male guards were outside of the manor, bar occasional male guards who patrolled the manor.
“Where are your weapons? Under your skirt?”
One of the maids nodded. However, the other pointed at her belt.
“Your belt?”
She pulled her belt out with speed. It was a strange contraption where a series of metal pieces clicked together to form a shortsword in a blink of an eye.
“Wow. I’d love to get my hands on that.”
“You should ask Sir Hunt. He can procure it for you.”
I see. So, the maids are literally acting as guards in disguise.
“I see. I see. I thank you for the enlightenment.”
After working on the field, he paid another visit to Elias to ask about the contraption.
Elias informed him when he inquired about the maids and the weird blade.
“Older maids know the manor layout like their own backyard. Once they become old enough, like 30s, we train them to be combat capable. They aren’t going back to society anyway, so it saves both money and manpower.
He nodded along, and Elias continued.
“As for the blade, it has two names. One is a snake blade. The other is an assassin’s blade.”
“An assassin’s blade?” Having just said so, he punched his fist into his palm. “Ah, I see.”
He didn’t know such a blade existed in the first place. He also did not realize that the maid’s belt was a weapon. It was easy to conceal.
“I’d like to obtain one,” He told Elias.
“That is not a problem although…”
He caught on the meaning of his silence.
“Come on, Sir Hunt. I am not going to assassinate someone with the blade. I just found it curious and want to equip it as my belt so that I don’t have to carry a sword around.”
“It does have some drawbacks as a sword. It’s not as strong, and a hard hit at a wrong spot can dismantle it. It is good for a first strike though which is why it’s called an assassin’s blade. A single hit is all you need after all if done right. Do you still want it?”
“Yeah, I’d like to play with it a bit and see if I can learn something from it.”
“Very well. I will put an order for it and will have your head maid deliver it to you.”
Several days passed peacefully since. A letter from Raem had arrived, stating that a girl named Rivka was waiting for him at the decoy house.
“Rivka? Doesn’t ring a bell.”
Upon arrival at the decoy house, it became all clear.
It’s Esther’s new name, huh.
Esther, now Rivka, stood before him. She had a typical scholar attire. She wore a dark blue robe with brown lining and had a point hat of the same color scheme. She had a long staff in her hand. Her long crimson hair was no more. It’s been cut to shoulder-length.
“Nice to meet you, Rivka. I assume you are the fire mage I’ve been told about.” He had to play a fool and offered her a handshake. She didn’t shake hands however.
Whatever.
“That's correct,” She replied curtly. Raem was a short distance behind her.
“Raem, have the equipment arrived?”
“They have. The only stuff we need is rations.”
“Right, I guess you don’t have jerky.”
“Yes, we’ve been out of meat for a while. The rabbit you caught the last time didn’t last even two days. We could purchase hardtacks, but mom told me to stock up on jerky instead.”
Understandable. There are three mouths to feed … Wait, now it’s four mouths.
The burden on Karla was becoming heavier clearly. Whatever savings she had, it wasn’t going to last for too long at this rate. It was at this point that she took out a small leather pouch.
“I’ve been told to give this pouch to the lady of the house.”
Thus, he called Karla over and had her take it.
“What’s in it?” Raem asked.
Karla looked quite surprised as she opened it.
“Ten silver coins,” She replied.
Apparently, they were aware of the financial burden Esther, now Rivka, was going to cause and had given her the coins as a compensation. With that done, Karla showed Rivka her room upstairs. Watching them go upstairs, Raem remarked.
“This house is getting fuller.”
“Yep, four people now, eh?”
“Yes, it had been just me and my mum for many years until a year ago or so. Now, there are Lara and Rivka.”
Ewald giggled. “There are two girls now. You’ve better behave yourself. Which girl triggers your fancy?”
Raem was taken by surprise by his sudden teasing.
“I’ve never taught about it,” He replied earnestly.
“Well, you are twelve now. Start thinking about it.”
Fifteen was the commonly accepted minimum age for marriage although arranged marriage proposals could start as early as ten.
Raem’s eyes were downcast, and he looked to be in thoughts. He soon came back to reality and asked Ewald.
“Would it be possible for me to marry a noble lady?”
That was a completely unexpected question from him, and it meant only one thing: He wanted to become a noble. If so, choosing his partner would be very important indeed.
“You want to be a noble, Raem?”
He signaled Ewald to go to the backyard. Once out, he made sure that no one was around.
“Yes,” He replied. “I don’t want my mom to spend the rest of her life like this and it’s for myself as well. It’s either that or becoming a full time adventurer.”
Ewald had no idea how to establish a new noble house actually.
“I have no idea on how,” He replied honestly. “I will ask someone about it.”
“That’d be great. Please keep this a secret.”
“Right.” He changed the subject. “Now, about the rations. We are going to need to hunt wild boars again. Let’s go hunting tomorrow. Let Rivka settle down for the day.”
“Understood. She doesn’t seem sociable though.”
Indeed, compared to Lara, Rivka was pretty much the complete opposite.
“Well, let’s give her some time. I’d say Lara was a weird case. I mean, she made this place home pretty much instantly.”
“Understood.”
“See you tomorrow then.”
The next day, Ewald visited the decoy house as soon as he was able. Even then, it was close to noon. Even though he woke up early in the morning, his breakfast took quite a while. He wouldn’t be allowed out before then. He also tended his farm. When his share of chores was done, it was almost pretty close to noon.
As soon as Karla spotted Ewald, she called for Raem. He and Lara were training in the backyard with Rivka holed up in her room.
“Sir,” Raem curtly greeted him.
“Hello!” And Lara greeted him cheerfully. She was gaining muscles at a steady rate; Her body was becoming toned. He had mixed feelings about that.
“Let’s get ready. I will call Rivka.”
“Let me show you her room. We have to go to our rooms to get our equipment anyway,” Raem said.
After showing the door to her room, Raem went into his and so did Lara.
He knocked the door three times in quick succession.
“Yes?” A muffled voice was heard beyond.
“Rivka, we are heading out. Come on.”
He heard a loud sighing and was told, “I will be out soon. Give me a sec.”
Raem and Lara didn’t take long at all to prepare. Rivka, however, took some time. When she finally made it downstairs, she was donning the exact same outfit as before. Ewald noticed that Raem wasn’t too pleased with how Rivka had been behaving so far whereas Lara couldn’t care less.
“Alright, let’s head out,” Ewald told them as he led the group.
“Our goal today is two wild boars,” He declared as they were walking out of Lux. “With Rivka, it should be a piece of cake.”
Raem nodded along and added, “Let’s see what a fire mage can do.”
“Meat!” Lara exclaimed with great expectations in her eyes.
Rivka, however, looked downbeat.
“Cheer up, Rivka,” Ewald told her to which she glanced at him momentarily before sighing.
“Easy for you to say,” She retorted before looking away.
What’s her problem?
Not wanting to damper the mood however, he kept his mouth shut.
Around Lux, there was a large forest right nearby that covered east to north. The edge of the forest had been where they had been hunting boars. This day was no exception. On plains, the best they would find was rabbits or hares along with random monsters.
Upon entering the forest, light would dim and the sudden change of atmosphere was like magic. Everyone was used to this, bar Rivka who was probably venturing outside for the very first time in her life. She looked spooked by the sudden change and held onto her staff firmly while looking around with an alarmed face. Kamil, meanwhile, was inspecting the forest floor along with Raem. Lara was standing guard.
“At least one boar is around,” Kamil remarked to which Raem agreed with a nod. “Alright, let’s search.”
It didn’t take long to locate a boar. Everyone knew what to do, bar Rivka.
“Rivka, you stay behind and cast spells like firebolt. Avoid fireballs since that will likely cause forest fires,” Kamil instructed her. “Cast a spell now!”
The boar was digging one of its front legs, readying to charge.
With a staff in her hand pointed at the boar, she reluctantly began to chant.
“Elementals of fire, heed my call. Summon a bolt of fire at my foe: Firebolt!”
From the tip of her staff, a small bolt of fire that was the size of a dart flew its way toward the boar, hitting its forehead. It fizzled out, leaving a tiny spot of burnt fur.
Tilting her head, Lara blurted, “That’s it?”
“T, this is like the third time I cast a spell!” Stammering, she defended herself.
“You need to practice spells to get stronger?” Ewald asked because he never needed to practice for spells to become decent.
“Y, yes, you do!”
“Whatever, here it comes!” Raem interjected as he readied his shield. This time, however, he had a plan. Instead of simply taking the charge on, he waited for the boar to get close enough and bashed its head with his shield. It was a shield bash. The boar seemed to get dazed for a second before it ran back to make a distance.
“Elementals of wind, hear my call. Give me an arrow!” Kamil fired his magic arrow at its hind leg. It was bullseye.
Rivka’s eyes widened as she saw the magic arrow. “W, what was that?”
“A magic arrow?” Lara replied.
“A magic arrow?” She repeated. She had never seen or was told anything like that existed. For the majority of mages, magic spells were independent things, meaning magic generally did not involve or interact with another physical item. One may have used something like a staff to direct magic at targets, but Kamil’s case was different where he was summoning magic arrows in conjunction with a physical bow. His spell wouldn’t fire without the bow. This was a new concept for mages in fact.
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
Anyway, with one of its hind legs disabled, it could no longer charge in spite of it trying. Panting loudly, it still attempted to charge at Raem which was no longer powerful at all at this point. He bashed its head with his shield which made it recoil several steps.
At this point, with a shout, Lara charged in with her spear pointed at the boar’s belly and punctured successfully, causing internal bleeding. She pulled out her spear again and thrusted once more, puncturing its belly again.
Meanwhile, Kamil fired his arrow again at its other hind leg after dashing around, completely disabling its ability to run at all. All the boar could do was limp. Rivka was simply watching at this point. She was too new to have formed a teamwork spirit with the rest of them.
The boar went down eventually without causing much fuss soon enough.
“One down!” Lara exclaimed joyfully while Raem was tying up its legs to carry it with a pole.
“I, I didn’t do, couldn’t do, anything…,” Rivka whispered to herself, which Kamil heard but chose to ignore. In his mind, if she wasn’t going to cooperate, that was it. He wasn’t going to go out of his way to force her. Her choices were very limited however. She would no longer be welcomed back as a maid. She'd have to enlist herself as an adventurer after turning twelve.
Do whatever you want. I am not going to force you to do anything. It’s your life.
Internally shrugging, he thought to himself. With the upcoming arranged marriage with a princess, he no longer had any urge to coax her anymore. Yes, he did find her attractive. However, so far they hadn’t been getting along personality wise.
“Let’s carry it back before hunting another,” He told the others.
“Yeah, we don’t want to lose it like the last time,” Lara agreed.
Raem held the front end of the pole while Kamil held the other part. The dead boar was in the middle, hanging upside down with its legs tied up. Lara was walking alongside them proudly like a triumphant soldier returning home. Rivka was following them from a short distance.
When they dropped the boar off at the decoy house, Kamil asked Rivka.
“Are you coming or do you want to stay?”
She hesitated to answer. Raem was silently glaring at her.
“Stay then,” Kamil told her and turned to Raem. “Let’s go.”
She had mixed expressions on her face as she watched the trio leave.
“What should we do about her?” It was Raem who asked on their way out.
“She did give lady Karla ten silver coins. We are obligated to look after her until she decides to leave.”
Raem seemed to have forgotten about the fact.
“Yes, you are right.”
“Even if she doesn’t earn her keep, you and lady Karla should look after her until she can become independent.”
“True…, are we going to take her to the goblin camp?”
Kamil rejected the idea flatly with a firm shake of his head.
“Not when she is like that. Hell no. Us three work far better as a team.”
“We can take on anything!” Lara shouted aloud with her spear up in the air.
Looking concerned, Raem asked, “Will the three of us be enough?”
“I think … we three might just be enough. I wanted a fourth member as insurance.”
Raem stroked his chin as they made their way into the forest once more.
When they were back with another boar, the sky was drenched with twilight colors.
“Sorry that I have to leave skinning and all to you, but I gotta go,” Kamil said as soon as they dropped the boar off in the backyard. Lara was already skinning the first boar.
“I understand,” Raem replied.
“Let’s meet up three days later for the adventure, alright?”
Raem reluctantly nodded. He was still worried about having just three members in the party. Kamil understood his concern. But, for the time being, he had to return to the manor.
Once back at the manor, Emily and her maids invaded his room again to prepare for dinner and then a bath. In the bath, he racked his brain to find someone else for the party. With his limited social connections, however, there was no one around him to recruit. He called Emily over a room divider.
“Emily, why did you pick on Esther?”
With Esther gone, she was open to talking about her.
“She was too passive and pessimistic as a maid,” She replied. “Our job demands us to be proactive and bright.”
Passive and pessimistic was how he would have described her as well. He agreed with her.
“She has been, sort of, given to me,” He told her.
“I pity you, Milord,” She said curtly which made him laugh.
“Do you think she is hopeless?”
“She’d make a perfect noble’s wife is what I’d say.”
“Oh? Explain. I am intrigued.”
“She has the appearance for the job. All she has to do is look pretty. That’s all she is good at.”
It was a harsh judgment of a character. Alas, she wasn’t wrong, either.
That’s kinda sad.
“She wouldn’t have made it as a maid anyway,” She continued. “I’ve sent a few reports stating such to Sir Hunt.”
Her statement made him think -
Is it possible that she has been put under my care because of that?
Sighing deeply, he shut his eyes and decided to just enjoy the bath. He could see why Emily refused to bring Esther with her even when he requested her presence numerous times. Simply put, she would have been a burden doing the job, thus Emily chose not to. As a head maid, she made the correct call.
Exactly three days later, after informing Elias that he was going on an adventure for three days maximum, he was able to leave the manor early. He had tended his tea field prior and had done all he needed to do at the manor. He was prepared to go.
Upon reaching the decoy house, Raem and Lara were ready to go as well. They were fully prepared. Rivka wasn’t present however. She was probably holed up in her room. Karla handed him his backpack that was packed to brim.
“Oh, shit, this is pretty heavy,” He remarked as he placed it on his back.
“Water is heavy after all,” Karla told him, which made him think.
“Lara, can you not summon water?”
“I can?”
“The water arrow magic? Lady Karla, could you bring a cup?”
Nodding, she went into the kitchen and brought an empty cup. Then they went into the dining room, and Kamil placed the cup on the table.
“Try casting a water arrow into the cup and let’s see how it goes. Use the spirit version so that it’s weak.”
Intrigued by the interesting prospect, she cast a spirit version of water arrow which was basically a water dart into the cup. The four people looked into the cup.
“That’s water, ain’t it?” Kamil asked the others.
“Is it safe to drink even?” Raem wondered.
“Conjured by water spirits, I’d say it should be cleaner than what we drink,” Kamil replied. Having said so, he took the cup and drank it at once. The other three people looked at him with amused eyes.
“It’s water. I mean, it’s just water. It tastes like water and is water.”
This small revelation changed a few things for them. Instead of carrying loads of water, they decided to carry a small waterskin for each and then carry a cup instead. Taking two waterskins out of their backpacks wowed them.
“Much lighter,” Raem remarked gleefully.
“Yeah, much better. But we now have to rely on Lara for our water supply.”
Puffing her chest, she declared, “Leave it to me! It’s not like I get to cast any magic anyway.”
Kamil glanced at the stairway upstairs. Rivka was yet to show herself.
So be it.
“Let’s go.”
They visited the guild to officially register for the request. Only Raem put his name under it since he was the only iron rank adventurer. Sarah seemed concerned but they weren’t breaking any rules. Thus, she had no power to stop them. With that done, they departed Lux for good.
While walking, Kamil felt it was a good time to discuss their plan at night.
“Not sure whether I told you before, but I am more concerned about monsters attacking us at night than confronting the goblins.”
“What do you plan to do? I’ve heard that monsters attack at night, yes.”
“I don’t plan to make a campfire. I think light is what attracts them.”
“It does get pretty chilly at night though.”
“We will use our lanterns as a heatsource. It shouldn’t be bright enough to attract monsters. To be honest, though, let’s try and see if we can get by without any light.”
“Understood.”
As they left Lux behind, the city was becoming smaller, and so did human traffic. Less and less people were seen. Soon enough, no one was around, leaving a bit of eerie feeling when all they could see was endless plains.
The note from the guild stated that they’d need to head NW until they’d spot patches of smaller forests.
And, because their backpacks were much lighter, they made good progress to their destination. In fact, they reached the goblin camp by evening of the same day.
“Oi, is that the goblin camp?” Kamil pointed ahead. There was a makeshift camp right by a small patch of a forest. There were four rudimentary tarp tents around a single campfire. It was walled by a very basic fence.
It was both good and bad news. Good news was that they located the goblin camp much earlier than expected. Bad news was that it was getting dark. It would not be wise to fight them because it’d attract monsters.
“Let’s keep a safe distance and camp,” Raem suggested.
“More than a safe distance. We are going far away,” Kamil replied.
By the time they could no longer see the goblin camp, it was already quite dark.
“We camp here,” Kamil declared as he unloaded his backpack onto the ground. Raem and Lara did the same.
“Not sure whether we can build our tents, but let’s try to do it without lighting our lanterns.”
Alas, it was already too dark. In fact, it was pitch black. Having no other choices, they lit their lanterns. To make their situation worse, it was their first time ever building a tent. While Kamil and Raem managed to build one, Lara couldn’t. The boys had to assist her in building hers which consumed additional time. They were exhausted at this point.
“I’d really love a campfire right now,” She complained while chewing a strip of boar jerky.
“No can do,” Kamil replied. “And do not speak unless you must. We must stay alert.”
“Doesn’t this mean someone has to stand guard the whole night?” Raem asked.
“Lara and I will stand guard.”
“Why not me?”
“You are the frontline fighter. I want you to be full of energy.”
Raem grimaced with dissatisfaction but didn’t argue.
“Lara, I will stand gu-”
She was already asleep with a strip of jerky in her mouth. Kamil placed her lantern close to her so that it wouldn’t emit as much light.
“You get some shuteye, too, Raem.”
“Understood.”
He laid down inside the trap tent and shut down his lantern. As for Kamil, he shut his lantern down and walked away from the others for his eyes to get used to darkness.
The night was eerily quiet. All he could hear was wind and the sound of grass dancing along. He would have enjoyed this quietness if it wasn’t for the occasion. He got down to the grass and stayed still. Vision was pretty much useless in dim darkness. There was no such thing as the Moon in this world. Thus, it was very much pitch black at night. However, there were numerous stars in the sky, providing a bit of light.
He scanned the vicinity constantly in search of any possible intruder.
Where do monsters come from anyway? Like the werewolves, where are they coming from?
They must be inhabiting somewhere. He encountered packs of werewolves routinely during the trip to the capital. They had to be living somewhere during daylight.
Do wolves turn into werewolves at night? Like all of them?
That seemed to be the only explanation in his mind. Werewolves were very much like humans in their shape. That many werewolves would have formed some sort of settlement if they retained their form under daylight.
He looked up at the night sky and wondered.
What makes them turn into werewolves? Is it the lack of sunlight?
With such questions, he managed to keep himself occupied without falling asleep.
When the sun started to creep above the horizon, the night sky started to turn crimson. On the cue, he stood up and dusted off his clothes.
“Aw, my bones.”
Cracking fingers, shoulders, and whatnot, he stretched. He was up all night. He was unable to see but he had dark circles under his eyes. It was no easy feat staying up all night.
“You must have stayed up all night,” was what Raem told him when he went back to wake them up.
“I didn’t have a choice, did I?”
A fourth member would have really helped in this situation. Since it was rapidly becoming day, it was now safe to make a campfire. After a cup of warm water and a strip of boar jerky, Kamil felt extreme drowsiness clouding over his head. He resisted it and stayed awake while Raem and Lara ate their shares.
“Why don’t you take a nap? There is plenty of time,” Raem suggested.
There was a dilemma in this. If Kamil pushed on and exterminated the goblin camp fast enough, it looked like it was entirely possible to go back to Lux within the same day. If he took a nap, they’d likely need to camp in the wilderness one more night. He wanted to avoid the latter.
“No, we are going to finish the job and are going to head back home. We may be able to make it without having to camp one more night.”
“It’s going to be tight though. We should take it easy and slow.”
“Sorry…,” Lara apologized, realizing that it was partially her fault.
Kamil considered available options once more after taking Raem’s opinions into account. It was going to be tight indeed. Feeling that rushing for time and pushing for limits was a fine recipe for a disaster, he decided to heed Raem’s suggestion.
“Yeah, I will take a short nap. Do wake me up before noon though.”
As soon as he laid down, he started snoring.
When Raem woke him up, it was some time before noon according to the location of the sun.
“I hope you are feeling better now.”
His eyes felt heavy still, but the intense drowsiness was gone. After washing his face with water from his waterskin, the trio started deconstructing their tents and prepared for a battle.
When they approached the goblin camp once again, it was brimming with activities. Several goblins were dancing around the only campfire. They were cooking some meat on it. Some were sleeping in their tents. Some were wandering around the camp, looking for food or anything to use.
“One, two, three ….,” Kamil began to count them from afar. “Around fifteen here. They will probably be more around.”
“Alright.” Raem readied his shield. “Any advice on them?”
“Aim for the head or neck. That’s the quickest way to kill them. I will provoke them with my arrows. I will try to kill as many as possible before they dash toward us. Lara, you stay close to Raem and provide protection from the rear. Don’t worry about me. I can fly away in the worst case.”
“Okay!”
Recalling that the spirit version of magic arrow was good enough to one-shoot them, he summoned them instead to conserve his stamina. He aimed for a goblin near the entrance to the camp and fired the shot to its head, instantly killing it. Other goblins in the vicinity failed to notice its death actually.
“Really? That’s dumb,” He remarked as he drew another arrow.
When the second goblin was shot to death, it was only then other goblins noticed that something was amiss. They gathered around the downed goblin and started kicking it at once as if expecting it to wake up.
“Okay, one more shot then.”
After the third goblin was shot to the head, only then they started to look in their direction. Their initial confusion was due to the fact that there was no physical arrow to be found. In their eyes, the second goblin simply fell asleep. The red liquid coming out of a hole on its head was nothing of their concern because they didn’t know the concept of blood. Only after they saw the third goblin going down, they realized they were under attack.
“Here they come, Raem!”
“Roger!”
Raem dashed toward the incoming goblin group; there were about twelve of them left. He had his shield forward. Lara was following him from behind with her spear ready.
“TAKE THIS!”
His shield bash, coupled with his charge, launched a goblin into the air literally, falling on its head and cracked its skull.
“HIYAA!”
Lara thrusted her spear powerfully. Her spear pierced three goblins at once. They weren’t dead but were unable to free themselves at which point Raem slashed their necks, beheading them clean. There was a stray goblin that was trying to sneak in an attack.
“No, no,” Kamil said as he fired an arrow to its head.
After five goblins were wiped out in a matter of seconds, the remaining goblins displayed hesitation in their movements. And that moment of hesitation proved to be fatal because Kamil continued firing arrows at them. After two further goblins went down, they began to scatter. Lara was able to catch one of them with her spear.
“Victory!” Raem roared aloud with his fist in the air.
The battle lasted less than two minutes in total. Of course, there were additional things they had to do.
“Awwww, really?” Lara complained when she saw Kamil and Raem pulling out their daggers and cutting ears off the goblins.
“We have to,” Raem replied. “This is the only way to prove to them we killed goblins.”
The ears were placed in a leather pouch. After that was done, it was time to loot the camp. Goblins were often referred to as little green bandits because they stole frequently from human settlements. This camp was located about 15 hours from Lux which may seem far, but goblins made such trips just to steal things from humans because they loved shiny things.
There were two crude wooden boxes found in the camp which contained gemstones and jewelries. The boxes were about half full each.
“Look at these ~,” Raem said while letting out a whistle. For Lara, it was her first time seeing gemstones and jewelries.
“What are these?” She innocently asked.
“Gemstones and jewelries,” Kamil explained. “Wealthy women love these.”
Raem drooled. “Man, these are gonna earn us way more than just 75 iron coins.”
“You bet. Let’s empty the boxes and light the camp on fire.”
As they emptied the boxes and lit the camp on fire, a group of three goblins shrieked and charged at them from a distance. Those three must have been returning from their looting trip. Sadly for them, they were absolutely no match for the trio. In fact, two of them dropped dead even before managing to reach them. The last one was bashed to death by Raem’s shield. Kamil found it interesting that Raem was using his shield more frequently as a weapon.
Kamil said, “Alright, we are done here. Let’s get back home.”
Raem was looting the three goblins and found a few gemstones in their hands.
Looking up at the sky, it was just before noon. They were unlikely to be able to make it back to Lux before it’d get too dark.
The hard part is not actually done yet.
They walked as fast as they could. Alas, walking straight for ten hours is not something to be taken lightly. The only reason they were able to reach the goblin camp as fast as they were able to was because it was their first time. Their initial excitement of an adventure concealed exhaustion. Thus, they were able to push themselves.
Now that the initial excitement was over and that they were out in the wilderness for two days or so, their muscles were back to reality and accumulated exhaustion was starting to surface. In other words, even if Kamil skipped out on taking a nap, they wouldn’t have been able to make it back to Lux in a single day.
“Okay, the sky is crimson. We are camping for the night,” Kamil declared as he stopped walking.
“We are a lot slower this time,” Raem remarked. “We are about half way.”
By the time they were done constructing the trap tents, it was pitch black.
“I will stand guard tonight,” Raem volunteered, which Kamil had no reason to reject at this point. He was very tired anyway.
“Alright, I am counting on you. And Lara, you shou-”
She was already asleep.
“Man, this girl falls asleep fast,” He remarked. “She is not pretending, is she?”
“No, I don’t think so. She falls asleep like that back at home as well. She takes naps after training sessions and falls asleep pretty much instantly.”
“That’s pretty amazing and amusing at the same time.”
Raem snickered in response.
Shrugging, he pushed himself into the bedroll and shut his eyes. As soon as he did that, his consciousness faded into darkness.
“Wake up! Wake up!”
Kamil opened his eyes slowly while frowning. It was still dark which meant only one thing. His eyes opened at once, and he got out from his bedroll with haste. As soon as he spotted glowing red dots, he instantly knew what was going on.
“Werewolves! How many?!”
“About ten or so,” Raem replied. Lara was already up and had her spear ready. Fire was their weakness. Of course, they had no way to use that to their advantage.
“Fight defensively. I will do my thing.”
Raem and Lara stood back to back while Kamil cast the spirit version of levitation to have a bird’s eye view. Indeed, there were twelve werewolves. Now, the issue was how many elemental wind arrows he could fire under this situation since he had already cast levitation once.
“Elementals of wind, hear my call. Grant me an arrow!”
Summoning an arrow, he fired a shot at a werewolf which pierced its head, and it fell. The werewolves were startled by the sudden death of their comrade and growled loudly toward Kamil. However, looking up when there was a spearman, or a spearwoman in this case, ready to thrust was a fatal mistake as Lara thrusted her spear right into a werewolf’s jugular. The werewolf’s glowing eyes faded as he fell. When they turned their attention to Raem and Lara, another werewolf was fallen by Kami’s arrow.
The werewolves’ advance halted at once after having lost three already. There were still nine werewolves left however. Some of them howled at each other as if they were communicating. Then another werewolf fell to Kami’s arrow.
Raem took that as a cue and charged forward with a roar. He dashed toward the group of werewolves and bashed his shield powerfully. Unlike goblins, the werewolf was knocked backwards only but that was the last of him as Lara thrusted her spear into its jugular again. The duo’s teamwork was impeccable. Basically, Raem acted as a shield and created openings while Lara attacked from a safe range. At the same time, she also provided protection for his rear.
“Damn, they are good,” He remarked.
The remaining eight werewolves which had just become seven after another fell to Kamil’s arrow began to withdraw at once.
Well, at least they have the intelligence to determine a lost battle.
When he landed down, he and Raem high-fived.
“Good job, dude!” Kamil told Raem who replied with a wide grin.
Since the werewolves were repelled, they decided to go all out and lit a campfire, away from the scene of course.
“This was my first time fighting werewolves, and I must say that they weren’t as tough as I thought they’d be,” Raem remarked as he rubbed his hands near the campfire.
“Yeah, they weren’t too hard,” Lara agreed. She was roasting her jerky over the fire.
“You two were really good. I mean, the teamwork was something else.”
Laughing, Raem replied, “Has to be good given how much we’ve trained alongside each other. At one point, we created a sort of a plan to fight together.”
Kamil really thought that Rivka would complete this party. Elemental damage was the only thing that was missing from this group.
“We need to find a mage,” He told them. “It’s the only missing link for us.”
“Have you given up on the girl already?” Raem looked amused as he asked.
“Can you blame me? You saw her firebolt and her behavior.”
“Yeah, that firebolt was pitiful,” Lara added. She took a bite out of the roasted boar jerky. “Not bad.”
“I thought you spent some effort trying to get her down at the decoy house. I think you are giving up too easily.”
“You are defending her?”
“Don’t mistake me. I am not disagreeing with you. It’s just that she’s stuck with us for years probably. Perhaps it’s better to make it work rather than outright giving up on her. You may not get to see her often, but Lara and I have to live with her.”
Raem did have a valid point, he thought. Quite frankly, Kamil found that he hadn’t had luck with ladies so far. Noelle didn’t like him and neither did Rivka. The only girl who was favorable to him was ironically Flora Flissing who he had to work very hard to reject…
This is not a curse by the Gods, is it? Hmm, wait, Flora…, huh.
He had just come up with an idea to perhaps reject the royal marriage. But that was for another time.
“Raem, can I leave her to you? I think she doesn’t like me at all. She hasn’t really listened to me. Perhaps, she will listen to you.”
In truth, he didn’t want to deal with her anymore if possible. In his mind, she was already a goner.
“Alright, I will see what I can do. I guess you have enough on your plate already.”
Once they had some sleep, they continued on their journey back to Lux. They didn’t depart as soon as the sun came up since they were aware that they had enough time to get back home in time.
When they arrived back at Lux, the sun was racing toward the horizon. They headed straight to the guild to sell their loot. The guild wouldn’t give the best prices but it was far less hassle. Since they had tens of gemstones, trying to sell them individually to get the best price would prove to be a headache. Not only would negotiating be difficult for them because they were children, finding the right buyer would also prove to be a challenge.
All in all, it was best just to sell everything to Sarah. Anyway -
“You actually managed to exterminate the camp?” She blurted loudly as she opened the leather pouch Raem handed over. “Oh, my Goddess. So fast as well.”
“They weren’t that hard. The werewolves on the way were a lot harder,” He replied with a confident grin.
She looked over Raem. “So, you three really did the job, huh.” She looked really impressed as she gathered 75 iron coins and handed them over to him.
“Give me a sec on the loot. I will have someone count them and give you a total in a moment.”
“Right.”
There were about twenty gemstones and a small number of jewelries. A scholarly man came down and began counting them standing next to Sarah. At one point, the man picked up an earring.
“Ma’am, this here. I believe there is a request to retrieve this. It’s #32, I believe.”
Apparently, the man had memorized every request posted on the board. That was some brain power. Sarah pulled out a book and checked. She glanced back and forth between the earring and the book.
“Yes, that looks to be the earring. Raem, you get the reward for this request which is 30 iron coins.”
He was delighted at the unexpected windfall. In the end, the loot netted him twelve silver coins, plus the extra 75 + 30 iron coins. His jaw dropped at the amount he had just earned.
O Man, that means Martin earned A LOT back then since he was the only one who took the loot. It was a larger goblin camp as well. No wonder he was doing well. The guy’s set for years.
Raem had literal tears in his eyes while staring at the silver coins on his hand. He had struggled to earn 10 iron coins back then. Now, he had just earned 13 silver and 5 iron coins. 13 silver coins would translate to 1,300 iron coins.
“Congratulations,” Sarah declared with a bright smile.
He clenched his hands, coins inside, and dropped his head toward them, and started to sob. He felt as if all these years of his efforts were paid.
When they returned home, the decoy house, he gave all the coins to his mother, Karla, who was beyond shocked to have seen how much was earned.
“This much? From just one adventure?” She was clearly doubtful.
It may have been just “one adventure”, but they risked their lives for it. The task itself was probably doable with just two adult warriors. Making the trip, however, was unknown. Would two warriors have survived against twelve werewolves at night? What if more came? This unseen variable prevented a lot of people from taking tasks that involved traveling afar.
If a group of four adventurers did the job, the coins would need to be divided. Each would end up with about 3 silver coins each which was a decent earning but nothing to brag about as adults. Given the cost involved in equipment, food, medical if wounded, and whatnot, the pay would have been strictly average. A week of slacking and eating good food at the guild would probably drain most of their earnings. It was a rather vicious cycle. Adventurers earned more clearly. At the same time, the more one earned, the higher living standard would become, resulting in higher expenses.
In Raem’s case, the earnings looked extremely high because the money wasn’t divided. Of course, that didn’t alter the very fact that they managed to come back alive with no one hurt, which was the most important thing.
Bidding the emotional family good-bye, Kamil returned to the manor. The first thing he did upon return was the Macomaco tea harvest. That had to be done first. Otherwise, he may have to replant them all over again. The loyalist maids saluted at him upon spotting him. There were two of them this time, and both of them looked to be in the 40s.
“How long have you been here?” He figured he’d ask.
“I’ve been here since I was eight,” One of the maids with blonde hair with brown eyes replied. “It’s been around three decades for me.”
The other maid with brown hair and blue eyes replied, “I’ve been here since I was ten. About three decades for me as well.”
Do you regret being here?
He wanted to ask but felt it was a stupid question. They didn’t have a choice. This manor was their whole world.
“I see. Thank you for your service so far.”
The maids beamed a grin at him.
The first adventure was over for him. Everything went according to his plan, bar a certain girl.
What am I gonna do with her…
He wondered.