Even if Kandy were to somehow find his way back to Boomtown, he wouldn’t recognize it in its current state.

Nor would most of its residents, for that matter.

In lieu of its old protective barrier, the residents had come together under the instruction of the village's resident farmer, Tiny, to dig rings of holes and plant an assortment of strange plants in those holes.

They’d finished doing so just a week ago.

With the help of some mana and Tiny’s special farming techniques, the plants had all grown to just about full size since then: four full rings of incredibly dangerous-looking plants surrounded the village.

Several were clearly carnivorous, with rows of sharp teeth lining the edges of their mouths. Others seemed to be perpetually burning, while the remainder were covered in and surrounded by rings of frost.

But of course, they had to notify the outside world of these new defensive measures, lest some pour soul accidentally venture into them by accident.

To this end, a single wooden sign had been placed next to the dirt road at the base of the mountain.

Boomtown is closed to outsiders. Attempting to enter will result in painful death.

A priest and a knight stood in front of the sign. After reading it, they both raised their heads, looking at the tall mountain before them.

Somewhere in the mountain forest was the Lord Commander of the Holy Kingdom, the messenger of the Holy Truth, and the hero of the Battle of the Angelic Plains, Dario.

The two of them had been assigned with the mission of escorting Dario back to Salfeia, the capital of the Holy Kingdom.

Dario had sent several letters to Salfeia since arriving in the holy land, Boomtown, detailing his stay. Apparently he’d been spending his time learning the ways of combat and… planting seeds?

It wasn’t that they didn’t think learning from the heroes of the Holy Land was a good use of Dario’s time, but those in power had decreed that it would do the kingdom more good for the people’s hero to show his face in Salfeia and hold a few speeches.

After a few moments of contemplation, the priest turned toward the knight.

“Well, I’m not going up there. If I die, who will expound the virtues of the Holy Truth?” the clearly well-fed priest said as he turned his nose up at the knight.

“I can’t go up there either. If I die, who will protect the land of the Holy Truth from infidels?” the stick-like knight stared at the priest and rested his hand upon the pommel of his sword.

The two stared at each other, unblinking, until the sound of another pair of footsteps sounded in the distance, a bit beyond a bend in the road just a dozen feet away.

The priest immediately moved to hide behind the knight. Doing so would have required illusionary magic of epic proportions to begin with, but the priest’s attempt was further hindered when the knight rushed toward the wooden sign and drew his sword.

“What are you doing?!” the priest hissed.

“Fixing the problem!” the knight whispered back.

With a swing of his sword, he sliced through the thin stick holding the wooden sign up. He then grabbed the fallen sign and threw it as far as he could into the forest, about three feet from where they stood.

Not a moment too soon, as the sound of the footsteps approached the bend and their source came into view.

It was a man in an all-black getup, complete with a black coat with a white dagger insignia on its back.

The priest and knight glanced at each other. This man didn’t seem like the type they usually consorted with, but they couldn’t be too choosy out here.

The priest raised his head and squared his shoulders, and the knight sheathed his sword and raised a hand to address the newcomer.

“Hello there, friend! What brings you to this neck of the woods?” the knight asked.

Strangely, as soon as the man saw the knight, his face blanched and he turned heel. The sound of heavy footsteps sprinting into the distance sounded from around the bend.

“What are you doing?! Chase him, he’s our only hope!” the priest shouted.

With a groan, the knight rushed forward and turned the corner as well.

“Sir! Sir! Why are you running?! Stop! We just want to talk!” His shouts could be heard fading into the distance.

The priest grinned. Yes, if they could just convince that man to head up the mountain, then he could tell his superiors, without lying, that he had traveled to the mountains and relayed the message for Dario to return to Salfeia.

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

As for if they were to ask him what Dario’s response was, he could just say that he hadn’t received an answer. Perhaps his superiors wouldn’t be happy with that, but he didn’t care.

If they didn’t like it, they could send someone else next time.

After a few moments of waiting, the knight and the darkly clothed man appeared from around the corner.

“Look, commoner,” the knight could be heard saying, “I told you already, I’m not here to do anything to you. We just want you to deliver a message for us.”

“Funny way of asking for a favor, tackling me to the ground and forcing me back here,” the man grumbled as the two came to a stop in front of the priest.

“My apologies for the brute’s behavior. Some in this world only know how to speak with fists and not their mouth,” the priest politely bowed towards the stranger.

The knight glared at the priest, who glared back.

“So, what kind of message is this? And why should I help you out?” the man asked.

“Well first, my…” the priest looked the man up and down. “...honorable friend. There is an important person staying at the village hidden within this mountain range. We are here to ask him to return to Salfeia, but these old bones of mine are unable to make such a rigorous trek.”

“Well, why not have this knight here do it?”

“I, uh. I’m here to protect the priest. Can’t leave his side.”

“There you have it.” The priest nodded. “The responsibility of delivering this message falls upon you. Pray tell, friend. Would you be willing to do such a thing for us?”

“Well…” the man grinned. “As luck would have it, I was planning on visiting that damned place anyway. But I, Kaen, the Mountain Dagger B—, er, King, does not do anything for free. You see, I recently left my, uh, temporary lodgings, and I am in need of money to fund my travels and search for a new place to live.”

“So… money? That’s it?” the priest asked.

Kaen licked his lips and nodded. “Money.”

“Well, if there’s one thing the church has, it’s money.” the priest pulled out a large pouch and rattled the contents within.

He then tossed it at Kaen, who deftly caught it. Without opening the pouch, the bandit king sniffed the bag and hefted it a few times. “Twenty-seven gold coins? That’s quite the pay for just delivering a message. What’s the catch?”

“The catch, as it were, is the importance of the matter. It is imperative that you deliver the message without fail.”

Kaen side-eyed the priest as he placed the pouch into a bag hanging from his right shoulder. “All you need me to do is to tell this important person that the church wants him to return to Salfeia? Nothing else?”

“Nothing else.” The knight nodded. “You have my word.”

Kaen grinned. “Well, if you want to generously give me a year’s worth of coin for a simple task, who am I to say no? Who am I to look for?”

“His name is Dario,” the priest responded.

“Right. Dario. “I’ll be sure to let him know.” Kaen smiled, and walked past the priest and knight.

Kaen felt as if the gazes of the duo were burning holes in his back, but when a few moments had passed and they still hadn’t stopped him, he breathed a sigh of relief and dropped the pouch of coins into one of his coat’s inside pockets.

“Yeah, like I’m gonna do shit for the country that locked me up like a damn criminal,” Kaen muttered to himself.

“What, is it illegal to make some friends and visit a few villages and towns to make some money? Sure, we might’ve gotten a little handsy, but it’s not like we killed that many people.”

He continued to wax poetic to himself as he strode through the forest. “...Just gotta grab that idiot son of mine and we’re going to go settle somewhere down south. Maybe we could even get the old gang together, grab some better territory…”

Kaen paused. “That’s right. They took all of my daggers. At least my stash of poison coatings should still be safe.”

By the time Kaen entered the valley Boomtown resided in, night had fallen, and with it, all sunlight had left the valley. There was precious little moonlight to work with, too, as only a tiny crescent sliver of the celestial body could be seen amongst the stars.

As such, Kaen kept bumping into strangely-shaped, textured trees as he approached what he judged to be the center of the valley. After bumping into something for the seventeenth time he groaned, rummaged through his bag, and pulled out a few items. There was a textured metal rod, a rock, and a stick with a sticky substance covering the tip.

“Let’s see…” He placed the stick on the ground, then violently scraped the rock against the metal rod.

Sparks flew, providing tiny flashes of light in the darkness.

Kaen felt a shiver run down his spine. Look as he might, though, he couldn’t see anything in the darkness. All he could hear was the wind rustling through the leaves of the trees around him.

Still, he hadn’t risen to his previous position as the Mountain Dagger Bandit King for nothing. His gut has saved him time and time again… at least until he’d run into that green-haired monster.

So, he stayed still for several moments longer. Eventually his patience ran out, and given that nothing had come charging out of the shadows to eat him, Kaen turned his attention back to his tools.

After a few swift strikes, sparks flew onto the stick’s sticky tip and a steady flame quickly formed.

Kaen lifted the torch over his head and looked around. “Alright, good. Nothing around me but… wait. These aren’t trees.”

He craned his head as his eyes followed the plant next to him from where its thick trunk met the dirt, to where it split into several vines, to its… giant mouths?!

The sight was something out of nightmares, and as Kaen turned to run as far as he could from the monstrous plant, he found that, like in his nightmares, no matter how hard he tried to stomp his feet and run into the distance… he could only move in place.

Actually, that wasn’t right either. It took a bit for Kaen to realize, but his feet weren’t making contact with the ground anymore.

Like a carnival trickster performing for a hundred kids who’d just ingested a year’s worth of sugar, he was pumping his legs and arms while rising through the air—but this was no carnival.

He looked down at his waist. A thick vine had wrapped itself around his body and was raising him towards one of the gigantic mouths he’d spotted earlier.

As Kaen neared the mouth, he got a particularly clear look at the plant’s copious rows of sharp, wooden teeth.

It stuck its earthen tongue out and a pool of mud spilled forth, covering its teeth and dripping onto the ground.

Kaen screamed at the top of his lungs as he struggled against the vine with all the strength he could muster. “No! Not like this! Anything but this! Ahhh! Gods! Holy Truth! Anyone! Just save me, I swear I’ll lead an honorable life from now on! I swear! Please!”

When no response came, he closed his eyes and silently slumped within the vine’s grasp. “Yeah, I guess this is what I get…”

“Let the man go or I’m pulling your roots out,” a voice calmly sounded from a ways away, quiet enough that Kaen barely registered it.

He didn’t need to, though, as the vine wrapped around his waist suddenly loosened and he found himself falling to the ground.

Before he hit, though, a giant of a man appeared and caught him in his thick, bear-like arms.

“Are you hurt?” the massive human asked.

“My savior…” Kaen mumbled before succumbing to the darkness.