Watt choose to continue down the road from where it had branched off towards the castle, Jorge was happy enough to follow him.

Occasionally, the path branched off and the pair often choose the lesser travelled paths.

As they walked, they encountered fewer goblins than before. It seemed their conquest had thinned out the goblin tribe.

However rabbits multiplied in number again, though nowhere as common as near the city.They occasionally even crossed paths with a wolf.

Watt continued to use his bow, hitting the creatures and killing them in a single blow as soon as he saw them.

Jorge meanwhile just watched as he walked, his fireballs had nowhere the range that Watt had.

Watt indiscriminately killed anything he saw, the sole exception being the wolves which Watt kindly left to Jorge.

However Jorge wished he didn't. Jorge occasionally missed as they slunk low to the ground and were very nimble. They made horribly difficult targets in the long grass.

When they got too close, he was forced to dodge before calling over to Watt to finish it off.

He didn't mind Watt killing all of the small mobs. At their current level, Watt shouldn't be getting much exp from this. So Jorge could only assume that Watt was gathering resources.

Before sunset, they would setup a campsite, and Watt would start doing push ups and lifting heavy rocks/logs.

The first time he saw this, Jorge was in disbelief.

Watt was obviously a archer, so why was he training his strength?

Jorge would spend most of the night offline, and the times he was on he would perform intricate tricks in the night with his fire to gain better control.

Watt found the flickering of Jorge's fire distracting but didn't complain.

Without the fire, he wouldn't be able to carve at night. However he only created arrows.

So the days passed, and Watt's pack started to grow very heavy.

Jorge didn't have problems with his pack, as unlike Watt he didn't pickup everything he killed.

He preferred to keep only the better items, and would discard anything that was worthless.

However he was starting to suspect the reason why Watt trained his strength..

Watt never seemed to grow tired despite having god knows how many items in his inventory.

The mobs grew scarcer and the rabbits were being replaced with deer.

Soon however that too disappeared and as the plains gradually turned to marsh and the ground grew soggy, swamp snakes began to show up.

Jorge hated this, they were both attracted to his fire and poisonous. What he really hated however, was that they were hard to see until they were too close.

At night, they took turns keeping a eye out.

But much to Jorge's chagrin, Watt didn't have a problem spotting them.

While Jorge himself could barely see them until they came into the open.

They eventually reached a village deep inside the marsh.

By then the roads were barely solid mud surrounded by vast expanses of water with small islands scattered covered in bushes and the occasional tree.

The air was damp and fog often rose and covered the ground.

At this stage, Jorge was regretting the path they took.

The road was wet, he constantly had to keep drying out his shoes, and there looked to be no end to the marsh in sight.

But worse of all.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Watt seemed to be enjoying it.

Jorge had high hopes for the village however, for while it looked rundown and the walls consisted of sparsely spaced sticks. He could smell a quest in the air.

Parts of the walls were torn down as if run over, and the few villagers he saw looked worn, tired and haunted. Inside the open doorways of the huts, a few villagers were injured and lying in bed.

From his viewpoint, it was obvious they were being attacked by a monster.

Jorge led the way inside and started looking around for someone in charge.

Behind him, Watt spotted a sign displaying the universal sign of a merchant. He tapped Jorge on the shoulder and quietly said "I'm going to sell my things"

Jorge nodded distracted. He spied a elderly villager sitting outside his house. He appeared to be the one in charge.

Jorge stepped before him and respectfully nodded his head.

"Mind telling me what's wrong with the village?"

"You can't help" the man flatly said in a tone of finality.

"Really?" Jorge exclaimed. "If its a monster, my friend and I cleared a entire castle out. It had this huge goblin and his army that we roasted alive!"

The old man sadly smiled and shook his head. "This is far beyond your skills"

Jorge unsuccessfully tried to wheedle the old man for information, but the old man refused to say anything.

Disgruntled, Jorge set off to find Watt.

Inside the store, Watt was also having problems.

The merchant flatly refused to buy all of his goods.

"There's too much!" she exclaimed.

She explained herself further "Its not that I can't afford it. Its that I can't handle that amount of furs!"

Watt furrowed his brow. He needed to sell some of his furs.

His feet were sinking deep into the ground on the road and his movement speed had dropped.

He didn't mind it much, but Jorge was constantly irritated and hated waiting for Watt to catch up.

Watt caved in with a sigh and sold the furs she would accept. He stepped outside, which is where Jorge found him.

"Any luck?" Jorge asked, hopeful Watt found something about this village.

"I could only sell some of my things" Watt shrugged.

"Right." Jorge slumped. He had hoped Watt would have something else to say.

"Well. You see how parts of the wall has been knocked down?"

Watt looked where Jorge was pointing and nodded.

"I'm thinking something has been attacking them. And there's a quest around here for it"

"Quest?" Watt inquired.

"Ah you know. They say to do something. You do it. Then they give you a reward"

"Ah" Watt nodded wisely.

"Sooo" Jorge asked. "Did you hear anything about it from the merchant?"

Watt shook his head.

Jorge nodded. "Hmm. Ok then."

This left him two choices.

He could continue to ask around the village in the hopes someone would talk to him.

Or they could hunt around for the monster themselves.

The old man was a pretty good indicator that none of the villagers would be willing to talk to them.

And while he suspected that the monster may have a level higher than theirs, he didn't see the harm in 'taking a look'

"We are going monster hunting" he grinned at Watt.

Watt nodded and took his bow back out. He hoped the monster wouldn't drop too much stuff.