As soon as he opened the door of the general store, Manco's ears were assaulted with arguing voices.

"C'mon, man! Twelve gold for this crappy dagger? Gimme a break!"

"I don't believe this! The monsters are hard to kill, and the store is cutthroat!"

"I told you! This place is fucking hard mode! That's why there's no guide about it! No one's ever been here!"

"Oh yeah? And who wanted to explore the unknown and get some hidden quests with phat lewt? You did!"

"Shut up! I never said that!"

"You shut up!"

…

He sighed 'Yeah, it was fun while it lasted!'

Some players had decided to spawn in this village. It appeared his brief period of relative peace would soon come to an end.

He stopped at a rack, pretending to look at some potions as he inspected the group. There were six players with level ranging from 3 to 5. They probably spawned here yesterday.

His hunting gear had been left at the armorer to be repaired, and he was wearing his old clothes. At a glance, he looked no different from the villagers unless someone inspected him. Nevertheless, he did not want to waste time with players.

He decided to come back to the store later, after they had done shopping and left. The moment he opened the door, someone bumped into him.

"Ouch!" the figure bounced back and fell down on its back.

It was another player, a shaman from the look of it. She was dressed in a simplified gypsy costume, consisting of a white ruffle blouse made of soft fabric, an earth-toned ankle-length dress, and high-heeled leather boots. Her auburn hair was styled in a simple braid and accessorized with a headscarf, framing her round, youthful face.

"I'm sorry!" She hastily said, then stood up and gave a quick bow. She was surprisingly polite, especially considering he looked like a bum.

"Don't worry 'bout it, miss!" doing his best impression of an NPC, he wished her a good day and walked away.

Consulting the quest list, Manco visited the leather maker, the guard's office and other designated locations to claim the bounties. To his pleasant surprise, on top of the quest reward, they also paid for the material at market value. A few quick stops net him close to 80 Ducats. Together with the amounts he looted and saved up during previous days, he now owned around 150 Ducats. He also had some loose jewelry he would pawn off as soon as he reached a sizable settlement.

At the guard office, he noticed several requests concerning the Corruptor. One for sightings of it, another for the location of its lair, and yet another for killing it. The reward for killing the Corruptor was quite decent, but it required handing over some proof, which would be confiscated and studied. Manco only had the wand, which he would much prefer to hold on to. Not only was it a useful weapon, but he also needed to show it to Queen Tarathiel if he decided to play messenger.

Eventually, he settled for giving directions to the cave in Death Forest. The officer at the table told him to come back the next day and promised to hand him the reward after they had confirmed the location.

When he left the guard's office, he saw the earlier bunch of players heading out the north gate, apparently having formed a party. The shaman girl that bumped into him was also with them, trying to keep up while maintaining a distance from the male party members.

Shrugging, he went back to the general store. Araun was behind the counter fiddling with something as usual.

Manco replenished his supply of crossbow bolts. He expected to get the gun soon, but in the meantime, it wouldn't hurt to be prepared. He also bought several dozen empty vials to contain the blessed water.

"What's the biggest shield you have that requires around 15 strength to use?" he moved to the last item on his shopping list.

"Wait here," Araun left his seat and went back to an inner room. Several minutes later, he emerged with a tower shield.

Perhaps shield was the incorrect word. It looked more like a small door with a handle to hold on to. The shield was rectangular in shape, made of wood and rawhide, reinforced with strips of iron.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

Manco held the tower shield and crouched down, pleased to find that it completely covered him from head to toe. It was moderately heavy and slowed him down a little, but it would do.

"How much for this?" he asked.

"25 Ducats. Yer heading to the frontline or something, lad?" the shopkeeper asked curiously.

"No," he answered with a chuckle, "just have a hunch I would need it soon."

Leaving the store, Manco waited around until the armorer had finished repairing his leather armor, arm guard, pants and boots. He re-equipped his gear and found each of them had the maximum durability reduced by 1 or 2 points, which was acceptable. After checking his equipment once again and finding them adequate, he looked at the time. It was almost 5 p.m.

He waited near the north gate, idly opening the crafting screen to make random items to pass the time. At around 5:30, Rust approached him and wordlessly nodded. He followed Rust outside the gate, where Trix, Bolt, and Lug were waiting. Together, they headed north-east along the main road.

The western area of Betovium had relatively diverse terrain. The border between Betovium and Haufaria was marked by a massive mountain range called the Iron Wall, which ran from the north-west to south-east, parallel with dense and dangerous Death Forest. As one moved toward the east, the forest became less dense, and the land became more fertile. Misty Woods was located between Death Forest and the hilly area where the outpost ring was built.

Mistwood Forest was built on a hill surrounded by relatively flat farm-able lands. It was connected to other villages in the outpost ring with small roads and had a large road leading toward larger settlements in the flatlands. Manco was currently traveling along this large road.

On the way, they saw wagons and carts carrying workers and cattle back to the village after a hard day's work. Ignoring the villagers' curious looks at the group who left the settlement's safety at dusk, they kept moving.

The road they were traveling on was large enough for three wagons to travel side by side. It was well-traveled and well-maintained.

Rust led the way, followed by Manco and Trix. Bolt and Lug hung back a few paces after them. As they traveled, Rust made small talks with Manco, while Bolt and Lug were immersed in some obscure game which Bolt always won. Trix was silent most of the time and only talked when spoken to.

"Did you get into a fight?" Manco jokingly asked Rust, gesturing at his split lower lip.

"No," Rust chuckled humorlessly, "Calling it a fight is not quite accurate. It was a little one-sided." He subconsciously lifted his hand up to massage his jaws, revealing swollen knuckles.

Earlier, Manco had spotted Bolt with a black eye. He could pretty much guess what happened between them.

They were getting increasingly stressed out. One member of their group went missing. The job with the Sacred Dear went sideways, so they had to move up the schedule for this current job. Bolt had a big mouth, so at one point or another, he might have said something to which Rust reacted by punching him in the face. Considering Lug and Bolt were as thick as thieves, it was quite likely that Lug also participated, which explained Rust's split lip.

It looked like Rust was losing his grip on this band of misfits. They were beginning to question his leadership. Sooner or later they would turn on him.

After about an hour, the grassland gave way to a dense forest. The road directly cut through the forest and was a little more uneven. Trees on both sides of the road had been felled, creating a one-meter wide strip of clearing to improve visibility and to give travelers a moment of warning should wild beasts or bandits show up.

When it was completely dark, three torches were lit, illuminating the path around them in a flickering orange light.

The creatures around these parts were a lot tamer and less dangerous than those in Death Forest. Manco only heard small animals scurrying about. Occasionally there was a wolf howl, but the party did not run into any predator.