Putting away the ridiculous bright green hunting cap, Manco made his way around the lake. He kept himself hidden behind the tree line and the rocks, making sure to keep Rust's group in his vision without exposing himself. The tiny kodama trotted forward ahead of him without a care. Occasionally it would look back to make sure he was still following.

Along the way, he saw small critters approaching the lake for a drink. Seeing him, they were spooked and dashed away.

Eventually, Manco made it to the other side of the lake. Crouching behind a bush next to a big fir tree, he began observing Rust's group.

They were assembling what could be described as a wardrobe connected to a boiler.

The "wardrobe" part consisted of about a dozen long wooden boxes, stacked into four rows of three boxes each. As a man maneuvered the last few boxes into position, Manco saw that each box was made of rows upon rows of tubes stacked tightly on top of one another. All the tubes were pointing toward the lake. The boxes reminded him of elongated beehives.

Or more precisely, of primitive missile racks.

The pieces fell into place and Manco had a pretty solid idea of what they were assembling.

When the last box was in place, two men used ropes, planks, and nails to secure the boxes to each other and to the ground. A woman affixed a big metal cap to the end of each box and secured it. Each of the caps was connected, via a series of tubes, pipes, and valves, to a water boiler.

All the while, a short man was fiddling with the boiler, and another was carrying water from the lake to fill it.

Rust said something, but Manco was too far away to hear. He looked around for a path to approach the group but found nothing. If he got any closer, they would easily spot him.

Suddenly…

〔 'Hello, deer' has requested Mind Link with you. Do you accept? 〕

〔►Yes〕〔No〕

Manco looked around and spotted the deer-shaped kodama standing on a branch above Rust's group. He had no idea when or how it had got there. Smiling, he mentally selected "Yes."

Immediately, new voices filled his head. He closed his eyes and found that he was on a tree branch overlooking the group. The Mind Link was helping him see and hear through the kodama. He tried asking the creature to move around for a better view and found to his surprise that it complied.

"… How is it, Bolt?" Rust asked the boiler fixer. His genial tone replaced with an impatient grunt.

"It should work!" The short man replied with a wheezy voice. He moved his hand away from a valve, and immediately a piece of metal fell off.

"What the hell do you mean it should work? Either it does or it doesn't. Which is it?" Rust yelled. His handsome face scrunched up in an ugly scowl.

"Sure, Will, keep shouting," the woman interjected, "It'll solve everything!"

"SHUT UP, Trix!" Rust snapped and raised his hand as if preparing to hit the woman "And do NOT call me by that name!" The woman just shrugged and went back to her task.

Bolt tried to re-attach the piece of metal for a few more moments then gave up.

"Can't do this, man. We need a blacksmith for this," he said.

"Sure. Why don't you run back to the village and carry the blacksmith back here in, say, 10 minutes?" Rust sarcastically asked: "We don't have that much time, you idiot!"

"Should have thought of that when you take this job" the short man mumbled.

"What did you just say?" Rust growled, his voice betraying a threat of violence. Bolt visibly shrank at his tone.

"Nothing! I'll fix this!" he frantically answered and turned back to the boiler.

"No need! I'll do it!" Rust snatched the broken metal part from Bolt's hand.

Holding the metal part, Rust took a few deep breaths and closed his eyes. As his brows furrowed in concentration, the part began to soften like clay. Opening his eyes, he reattached the part to the boiler and deactivated the spell. The part immediately hardened and was secured.

"I'm getting some rest. You three finish things here! Wake me up in ten!" Rust said, his voice quivering, his face paled. He shambled toward tree several meters away and lied down.

The man stacking the box approached Bolt and asked: "I'm done. Now what?" He was tall and muscular but seemed a little slow.

"Cover it up with the branches," the woman named Trix replied.

Together, the three dragged the branches they had cut in advance toward the bolt launcher and covered it up.

"Shouldn't have taken this job," Wheezy said "We've one man short. Doing our usual run is already tough. Now we have this on top too."

"I don't mind," Tall Man shrugged "More work, more pay." He drank from a leather skin and splashed some water over his head and chest to cool off.

"Did you forget to take your smart pills again, Lug?" Bolt asked snidely "What's the point of being paid if you ain't alive to spend it?"

"It's not that bad," Trix assured him.

"The hell it ain't. The people who hired us to put this thing together is no common gang," Bolt grumbled, kicking at the machine. "And it's not like we don't owe any gangs already."

"We're already doing this. No point whining about it!" Trix snapped, having lost patience.

"Fine!" Bolt said. He stalked to a tree stump and sat down, scowling. Trix went and sat down next to Rust. Lug looked at each of them, then shrugged and walked to his belongings. He took out some rations and began eating.

Through the kodama's eyes, Manco carefully observed the contraption. The boiler would vaporize water and produce steam, which filled the big tank next to it. After several valves were opened, the steam would be directed to the boxes and shot out of the tubes. Knowing Rust's group had cleared out Braun's stock of special crossbow bolt the other day, Manco was certain what would be loaded into the tubes.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

In short, this was a steam-powered bolt launcher. He didn't question its physical feasibility, after all, this was a fantasy game. He instead focused on the question: "What should I do about this?"

He would need Rust's group for the "Helping Hand" quest which provided access to the location with the gun. There were still other quests that did the same thing, but they would require days of traveling, and he would rather not waste time. Hence, if at all possible, he preferred to leave this group unharmed.

On the other hand, a kodama had asked for his help. He was pretty sure that the creature they were planning to hunt was definitely a powerful being and helping it would net him some considerable benefits.

After considering his options, he decided the best course of action was to sabotage the machine.

Trix, Rust, Bolt and Lug's positions created a triangle, with the machine in the middle. It would be impossible to mess with the machine without them noticing. At least, normally that would be the case.

Fortunately, he already had the best tool for the job right in his hands: the kodama.

He tried commanding the kodama to scratch the bark of the branch it was standing on. It did so, and he found the claw phasing through the branch.

"So it is incorporeal. Interesting." He mused.

There was no other way around it. He would need to physically attack the machine to break it.

The kodama looked back and forth. Through its eye, Manco saw that the group weren't paying attention to the machine. They were all nervously watching the lake, except for Rust, who was sleeping.

Manco ran through all the options in his head.

Hitting them all with bolts dipped in poison or paralyzing potion might work, but it was impossible to get to all three before they closed in on him. Besides, doing that meant Rust's group would turn hostile to him, and his quest would be canceled.

"How about I shoot at it and run?" Manco mused: "It might work."

He couldn't shoot too early, or the group can fix the machine. Shooting too late would be useless. He needed to time the attack just right to do the most damage.

Mahn Li opened the menu and activated 'Aiming Assist.' The bolt's estimated trajectory was displayed on his vision. He activated 'Focus Shot' and 'Aimed Shot,' then aimed at the metal part that Rust had fixed earlier.

"It's here!" Trix hissed. She poking Rust, who started awake, half drawing his sword. Lug and Bolt lied flat to the ground, eyes fixated on the lake.

A creature appeared in the middle of the lake and began walking toward them. From his hiding spot, Manco saw that the creature looked like a gigantic deer. As it came closer, he identified it as [ Misty Forest's Sacred Dear ].

"Now!" Rust said quietly. Lug and Bolt began firing up the boiler. They had kept ember within the burner. After a minute, a bubbling sound was heard and wisps of steam were coming out of the boiler.

The Deer was unhurriedly walking toward the lake shore, Its hooves barely touching the water's surface. Manco could swear the creature was an illusion if not for the occasional birds landing on its massive antler.

"Prepare to clear the branches!" Rust ordered. Trix and Bolts crawled to the front of the machine, next to the branches covering it.

Rust crouched next to the valves, eyeing each of them. In a moment, when the deer got in range, he would open them and direct steam to the tubes. The hundreds of bolt launched would definitely wound the creature, if not kill it outright.

The Deer was at the shore now. It was heading toward a bowl-shaped stone sitting on a naturally formed stone platform.

"Ready!" Rust said.

"This is it!" Manco muttered. He carefully took aim. His hands were rock steady as he gently guide the targeting line to the weak spot on the machine. Then he held his breath and…

*Twang!

The bolt shot from his crossbow and for a moment, time seemed to slow down. Manco watched as the bolt grew smaller and smaller until it disappeared completely between the mess of pipes and valves. Then…

*POP! *HIISSSS!

"AArrrgh!"

Not sticking around to find out the result of the shot, Manco slipped away. Deftly navigating between the bushes and rocks, he put as much distance between him and the group as possible, ignoring the angry shouts behind him.

"F*ck! My eye!"

"Calm down, let me have a look!"

"Who shot that bolt?"

"Did you see anyone?"

"No!"

…

He reached a large tree. Looking back to make sure the group at the lake could not see him, he climbed up and hid on the thick branches.

He searched for the Mind Link with the kodama and found it intact. Closing his eyes again, he watched through the creature's eyes.

The bolt launcher was busted. A section of pipe had a gaping hole in it with steam bursting out. Manco had shot the bolt at the weak point when it had high-pressure steam running through it.

The four-person group was huddled together. Trix was bandaging Rust's head while the other two looked nervously at the Deer.

"That's it! I'm outta here!" Bolt whimpered then turned and, well, bolted away. Lug stared at the creature for another moment then lumbered away after Bolt.

Rust was still clutching his head in pain.

"Dammit!" He cursed. With one good eye, he glared at the Deer that was slowly walking toward him, as if just looking could kill it.

"Come on, Rust! Let's go!" Trix pleaded, tugging at his shirt.

Eventually, he looked away and took Trix's hand. They fled from the lake.

As the group ran past below him, Manco held his breath. When the sounds of footsteps and rustling of leaves were gone, he lowered himself onto the ground and approached the Sacred Deer.