"Alright guys, we're nearly there."

Fighting the Iron Ants had tired the three hunters, to say nothing of the additional weight they were carrying. Fortunately, they were still quick enough to return to camp before sundown. The sun was just about to hide behind the mountains, they had approximately thirty minutes before the valley was bathed in darkness, but Loran was confident they would be back before then.

"Finally!" Alexx cheered, the most exhausted among them after all the running he had needed to do today.

"So what's the plan for tomorrow?" Zed asked. "Looking for the new players or the nest."

"...Neither."

"Huh?" Alexx stumbled.

Zed's face scrunched up and he stopped running. "What's that supposed to mean."

Loran raised his hand defensively. "Hear me out. Right now, the only people we can tell about this are the people at the camp, and after everything that has happened over the last few days I don't want Bates to know about this."

Zed's face relaxed as he nodded knowingly. "He has been acting up recently. Him and his crew being a part of meeting this new group may make them decide to keep their distance."

"Why? Wouldn't it be better to work together while we're stuck here?" Alexx asked.

"Have you never seen a 'trapped in a game' anime before?" Loran asked.

"A what?"

"Don't worry about it. Basically, with how... intense, this whole situation is it wouldn't be out of the ordinary for some players to go crazy," Zed explained.

"Or some may decide that even though we're all trapped here, it's still just a normal video game and will still be willing to kill for fun. Honestly, I'm not sure if Bates is that crazy or in denial, but I don't want to take that chance. If nothing else, they may have already had a bad interaction already, and we'll need to negotiate with them, and Bates definitely can't be trusted with that."

"Okay, but then why don't we deal with it?" Zed asked.

"Well," Loran pointed to himself, "I'm not exactly a people person," he pointed at Zed, "you're almost as bad as Bates," he pointed at Alexx, "and you're not awful, but you aren't enough to compensate for me and him."

Alexx and Zed were silent for a moment, looked at each other, and then nodded in agreement. The three of them were a powerful team, but wouldn't be the best for first impressions, especially not if Loran was right and there was a need for real negotiation.

"So what's your plan?"

"I say me and Zed should run back to the village tomorrow, let them handle the whole situation with the other group. We can focus on the Iron Ant nest when we get back."

"Bates is probably going to wonder why we're heading back."

"Which is why we're going to be bringing back the Iron Ants as a cover, and we can let him handle mapping things for the day."

"Didn't you guys spend last night arguing about that," Alexx asked, "now you're letting him have it?"

"The problem was that we had a plan and he wanted to change it for petty reasons."

"Like you aren't petty with him too?" Zed asked with a smirk.

"Shush. I'm also betting that he won't do that well tomorrow. None of his team is better to handle the Iron Ants than you two, so if things go badly for them it will hopefully put his ego in check." Loran looked at them expectantly. "So, does that sound good?"

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

"I don't love it, but it makes sense." Zed sighed.

"Am I supposed to be coming back with you two?"

"You could, but I want someone to still be in the camp in case there's an Iron Ant attack or if Bates really manages to fuck up somehow."

"Let me!" Zed perked up. "I can stay here."

"Alright. Alexx, does that sound good for you?"

"Yeah. Just try not to run too fast."

"Okay, are we done?" Zed asked. Loran nodded and the three continued running back to camp.

~~~~~

Soon the valley was beginning to turn dark, and Loran could see the light of the camp's fire. As they continued walking they each heard a thump from above. They reached for their weapons before seeing that it was Bates standing on a tree branch.

"Finally back?" Bates asked as Loran, Alexx, and Zed entered the small clearing around the campsite.

"Try to hold back your excitement," Zed scoffed.

"Anything unusual happen while we were away?" Loran asked.

"Nah, not really." Bates dropped down and began walking with them. "A couple of wolves came by, but they're roasting over the fire now." Bates glanced at the Iron Ants over their shoulders. "I guess things went well for you?"

"Yep. No one's hurt, we expanded the map, all according to plan."

He smirked at Loran. "I bet you were useless though."

'Why does he insist on doing this?' Loran couldn't help but wonder. "I already told you, my job is to make the map, not to fight."

"Maybe, but I could've done better."

"Can you please shut up," Alexx said, giving Bates a tired look.

"I thought you guys settled this last night?" They had gotten close enough to the camp for the others to hear their argument. They were now looking on, worried that they may actually come to blows as they had nearly done last night.

"We haven't settled anything."

"You know what Bates, fine. If you want to prove how great you are, then go ahead, you can handle exploring tomorrow."

"Wha-"

"Huh!?"

"Seriously?"

Bates seemed truly taken aback by that. "Really?"

"Yeah. You seem so confident, so go ahead, show us what you can do." Now within the campsite's defensive barrier, Loran set down his pack and quickly pulled out his map. "Here, just try to be careful with it."

Bates stared at the map for a moment, as if waiting for Loran to try smacking his face with it. When no face slapping seemed to come, a grin slowly spread across the face and he took the map. "Glad you're starting to see things my way."

"Don't kid yourself. If you can actually do it better than us, then we can talk about changing responsibilities."

"T-then I guess you guys will be watching the camp tomorrow?" Calix asked, her eyes quickly glancing at them before returning to the meat she was slow roasting over the fire.

"I want to take these ants back so the Workshop can work on them. Me and Alexx are going to go, Zed will defend the camp."

Each of the noncombatants flinched at the idea of being isolated with Zed, but whether they were less on edge after last night or because they decided that there was no point arguing, no one said anything.

"So, uh, what did you guys see out there?"

Alexx began describing their trek through the woods, touching on the landmarks they had seen along the way before finally telling everyone about the empty field and the Mountain Goats. Loran was briefly worried that Alexx might let the knowledge about the new players slip. Still, his worries were unfounded as the brawler did an excellent job pretending that they had simply found the giant herd animals with nothing out of the ordinary.

As Alexx was describing how weird it was being out in the open field, one of Bates' teammates got a strange look on his face.

"Hey, if those goats were that docile, do you guys think we could tame them?"

All other conversations quickly died down as they heard his idea, being quiet for a moment before they all began asking questions.

"If they're just big goats then I think we can."

"But should we? Can we even take care of them?"

"Goat milk does sound n-nice."

"And they're definitely strong enough to be worth it. Maybe we can ride them like horses."

"Hey boss, we have enough guys, right? Maybe some of us should give that a shot.

Bates began clapping to get everyone's attention. "Alright, that's enough everyone. I really don't think we should be focusing on this right now," he said with a strained smile. As tempting as having his team be the first to tame the goats, he didn't like the idea that his chance to show up Loran was being overshadowed by another of their discoveries.

"As much as I hate it, Bates is right." Loran sighed.

Bates turned to look at Loran, flabbergasted. "Why are you being so agreeable today."

"Don't get too excited. We came out here to do one job, getting distracted by a second project is a good way to fail at both. I'll tell the others about the idea of taming the goats, let them handle it."

Bates looked at Loran skeptically but didn't seem to question the situation further.

As the camp began settling down, Bates began planning for tomorrow, while Loran couldn't believe his luck. With the idea of taming goats already in Bates' head, it was a perfect explanation for any diplomatic team heading out to look for the new players.

'Maybe I'm thinking too much into this,' Loran thought. Bates seemed to pass up on goat taming easily, even though it would definitely be more impressive than the mapping expedition. 'I guess he really is that petty, just wanting to get back at me for last time.'

Either way, it didn't matter to him. As long as Bates didn't do anything to mess up the player search, he could sleep easy.