I recover my senses, I’m on a bedroll. My head hurts where the orc hit me. But I seem to be whole and wholesome yet. I look around, and see Cloude cooking some soup. Besides him, a repellent potion, activated. Our bags are with us. Good. I'd hate to go all the trouble of getting stuff to negotiate with Grendel and losing it because of some stupid orcs.

“Welcome back, Marcy. Are you fine?” Marcus looks tired. I bet he had a hard time finishing those orcs.

“My head hurts a little, but it will be over tomorrow. Were you hurt?”

“I had to use two potions, but I am fine now.” He didn't look at me while saying that. He might be hiding some injury.

“And the orcs?” I don’t see any orc body.

“They are all dead. But after the combat, I was treating you, some devil monkeys came and took the orcs bodies away. I collected their snouts before that anyway, so we can submit for the record. I leveled up from that fight, so everything is good.”

“And the monkeys they did not attack us? Isn’t it strange? But to think about them, Devil monkeys are F rank and do not like to make a frontal attack. They only attack if they sense a weakness or are either provoked or defending their territory...”

“I had already set the repellent potion. It is not like all monsters will be abnormal like that one...” Cloude grimaces as he remember the terror he felt when we met Grendel. A cold shiver runs on my arms and spine too.

“Good. I’m glad it is working or we would be dead now. Are we much off-track?” I need to keep looking forward. There is too much stuff piled up behind me, If I look back I am afraid this stuff will devour me.

“No. The fight happened right there.” He points at some place a bit away.

“All that is left is to sleep then, and resume the search tomorrow, right?”

“Yes. Here, have some soup, then sleep.” Cloude has his moments, right?

I eat the soup while worrying about the denizens of this forest. Five orcs is already too much, but these monkeys too… It is like something is pushing them away from the deep forest, forcing them to broaden their range… It is useless to think about this.

I am almost sleeping, when [Presence Detection] picks a faint signal. Something small, a bit away from us. It vanishes after a while. I’m startled but tiredness wins in the end.

We wake up, pack everything and resume hiking. Their trail goes back and forth. They were searching, and this has slowed down their pace. They have the habit of leaving the heavy knight behind, so it is easy to follow their track without having to go through all these side individual tracks. It also means we are gaining on them.

Signs of battle. Blood splattered around. They encountered monsters here. These gray chips are scales… scaled monsters. Maybe lizards? Here and there, chips of stone. It is almost as if a statue broke and small pieces were left behind. I find one carcass too charred and smashed to yield materials. It is a basilisk. A C rank monster with the power to paralyze and petrify using eye rays. Even if the carcass is burned to the point of being unusable, Its eyes were removed, so it was killed by adventurers.

Some monsters have a standard rite to be followed after its defeat, in the case of the basilisk, even without the magic stone, the eyes can fire their residual energy even hours after death, if some strong magical reaction goes off in front of them. So the guild demands of all adventurers to remove the eyes and stow them away in a bag.

They rested in this place. There are also some broken potion vials here.

While walking through almost our entire third day, The forest changes gradually. Some thick trees with a more closed canopy form a meadow, with an uncomfortable aura around them.

“Cloude, stop. Those are death willows. We are already out of the ‘forest of beginning’… I don’t know what monsters are in there, but they should be strong.”

Death willow. A cursed tree with poisonous thick sap. It is said that even breathing the fumes the tree releases can lead to a gradual and painful death. When one moves in this meadow and pushes the hanging branches around, they release even more poison.

“Where the trail leads to?”

“The trail here splits, it seems they went separate ways to scout, then gathered back here. See this patch, the heavy knight with them kept walking and stomping the ground here.”

“But they returned here, then…?”

“Give me some time. I need to check the trails. Stand on guard. Something may come out of those woods.”

The trails went back and forth several times. They avoided the Death Willow Meadow while they could. There is also signs of a camp but they didn’t make a campfire. Finally they went straight into the Death Willows. We should be less than a day behind them now.

The amount of mana and miasma inside the Death Willow Meadow is stronger. It should make monsters inside stronger, but not enough to raise a grade. We proceed with caution without disturbing the willow branches and after we walked inside for a few minutes presences appear in the distance. On top of trees they are following us. Probably monsters. We move and they follow. We stop and they stop. Keeping almost the same distance. Almost at the edge of my detection skill.

“Cloude, there are monsters following us.”

“When will they attack?” Cloude readies his bastard sword.

“I don’t know. They have been following us for a while, and are beyond arrow range. Their numbers is not changing either. They are just watching us. They are probably monkeys.”

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“Can you see them?”

“No. If it were Master, his trained eyes can see almost the same as a detection skill. But I am not that good.”

“Should we press forward, or fall back?”

“We need to find the Shining Blades. Anything else is failure.”

“Forward then.”

We walk for some time, and we see some grayish heavy mist covering the ground. Ahead of us there are signs of yet more combat. Lots of blood, and some charred Willow trees. From the tracks visible in the thin mist it looks like orcs. I can see pieces of flesh on the ground. This flesh was cut by a sharp blade. Too sharp for monsters' weapons.

I tell Cloude the results of my investigation. “The shining blades fought orcs here. But I can’t see the orc bodies.” Adventurers don’t take orc bodies. Just the snout, as Cloude did. There are no useful materials in orcs. "Take care while you walk so you don't raise this gray mist too much. This is probably Death Willow fumes. See those burned trees? Death Willow's sap release toxic fumes when heated."

“Maybe the monkeys picked them up like they did with ours. See if you can find monkey trails.”

I search the outskirts of the combat zone. And there they are. Monkey footprints. Deep footprints. Like they were carrying something heavy. Why would the monkeys carry bodies elsewhere? Not even the orcs’ crude weapons were left behind. What use monkeys have for equipment??

A chill runs on my nape. Devil Monkeys using weapons. If they can learn weapon skills, their rating would bump one or two categories. Definitely two, if they would coordinate their attacks. It could be a sign of a mutation.

“Be on the lookout for monkey signals, Cloude. I have a bad feeling about this.”

“Hey, Marcy, if we die, I’d like you to know one thing...” He stops when I glare at him. What is this stupid boy talking about in a place like this??

“Shut up. If you have something important to talk, say it in the town main square. It is too coward to spit it out under tension and fearing death.”

I’m angry. This fidgety look, I don’t like it a bit. It raises my danger sense more than being surrounded by the monkeys.

“but… if we don’t make it back...”

“Then it would matters not. If we don’t make it back then everything is LOST!!!!” Helen will be executed if we don’t return. I will never be able to apologize to Mr. Benjamin.

“Calm down, Marcy. Don’t shout. You might attract something.” Cloude, of all people, is blushing. My temples pulse.

“That something you fear, it already knows we are here. It is not attacking because it didn’t want to attack. Yet. Hey monkeys, we are here!!!” I shout.

I’m trembling. The amount of unknown factors are piling up, and the stress buildup in me is reaching its boiling point.

“Marcy, if you want to call every single monster in this forest, go ahead. I’ll stay with you to the end. But I want to know what is worrying you.”

“Hold!” I put an extended palm right in front of Cloude. Stop trying to act cool, you are embarrassing yourself.

No, that is not it. The real reason I stopped him is to listen. There are sounds… of battle.

“There is a battle going on ahead, Cloude. Lets hurry. Be ready to fight.”

Flashes of light illuminate the shaded meadow. Magic. Fire magic. More of the dangerous fumes of the Death Willow sap are slowly seeping on the ground. It is like the morning fog covering the ground. But the fumes are heavy. We can’t move fast, or the fumes will be kicked up and we will inhale it.

We move forward, and stop over a small mound. There we find our quarry. They are below in a depression ahead. There is no direct line of sight, but we can hear the sounds of combat. We drop our gear on the side we climbed the mound. If there is a fight, you need to be able to react. The shining blades’ camping gear is on the ground near a rock on top of the mound. They are fighting further ahead, but the fumes are stronger down this mound. For Cloude and I, going down is suicide.

“Cloude, it is too dangerous. Lets go back.” I stop Cloude that was ready to jump into the fray. A fight that fierce is no place for a beginner adventurer like us.

“But Helmholtz is ahead. We haven’t completed our mission yet.”

“No. Our task was to find out what the Shining blades are doing. We already did it. We located them, and they aren’t dead or either abandoned their quest. This is enough to report.” I point at a decorative strap on one of the packs.

“Yes, that is the Shining Blades insignia. They brand those medals, it is almost like it is a kingdom’s coin.” Cloude knows everything about the Shining Blades. It is like Helmholtz is his role model.

“Can we obtain one back in town? Do you have one?”

“Hell, no! These things are rare! They don’t hand them out except in some cases, and it is not sold.”

“Good. Let’s take one as proof we found them, and go back to town.” We have to get out of here. There are big readings on the [Presence Detection] where the fight his happening and the fight still rages on. And if even the battle doesn’t catch up with us the poison fumes will.

“Marcy, we need to talk to Helmholtz. Lets wait here.” Behind us, the monkeys are approaching our gear.

“We need to go back now. Lets pick up our things at least.” I try to scare the monkeys. They backoff.

“No, we can keep watch over it from here. Lets wait.” Cloude is clingy. Evading him, I take out a dagger and cut off a medal from a pack. He is getting on my nerves.

“I’m taking this with me, when the Shining Blades return to town we arrange a meeting to hand the medal back to them. Is it fine this way? You get to meet your beloved idol in the Guild, where you can talk all about magic swordsmanship. We have to go now.”

I’ve wasted three days already in this stupid errand. I need to go back to Helen. In a swift motion, I put the medal in my bosom. I actually took two medals, but I didn't let Cloude see me getting the second one.

Cloude then begins to order me around. “No, Marcy, you are stealing a medal from them! Stop or you will become a thief! We are staying here! I’m the leader here. Put that medal back NOW.”

Obey Cloude. Not even if he were the King. Don't shout at me.

Such a Marcy that would submit to Cloude, doesn’t exist.

I’ve had it. My anger bursts.

“THEY ARE GOING TO MURDER HELEN, YOU BIG STUPID IDIOT. WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU WAITING FOR!!!!!!!!!!!!! WE NEED TO GO BACK!!!!!!!”

Cloude freezes. My heart is pounding so hard I can feel my temples throb.

“Marcy, what do you mean? Who is murdering Helen?”

Cat is out of the bag, isn’t it? I open my mouth to answer, then…

“ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWAAAAAAAAAAAARRRG!!!!!!!”

A roar so loud it could only come from a dragon echoes in the meadow. I resist the urge to faint. Cloude runs away. I run as well. I am not in control of my legs. I can’t even hold my bladder. It is a primal panic.

We leave our bags behind. We run out of the death willow meadow with the fumes raising all around us. Branches bash our bodies, our faces. Our breathing is ragged. We inhaled poison. Cursed sap poison. It is slow acting.

It takes half an hour until we can get a hold of ourselves. Panting, I turn to Cloude.

“Cloude, we need to get back to town. If we don’t go back, the death willow cursed sap will kill us. You inhaled those fumes too, didn’t you?”

“Yes. I’m not feeling anything, somehow.” - Dummy.

“Death willow poison is slow acting. It takes some days to kill a healthy person. But it is deadly. If we don’t take an antidote, we are done for.” Death willow sap is sometimes used for stealth assassinations. But there is always the risk of someone finding out and administering the antidote. It is not hard to make.

“Do we have time to reach town? I'm not going back to retrieve our gear.”

“If we hurry. But we will need at least a night out in the woods.”

“I kept two repellant potions on me. I’m not committing that mistake again. Lets run.”

“Understood. Lets go. We can get water in a stream ahead, and if we jog, we can make it back to town by tomorrow.”

“We better hurry.”

We make our return journey. Gearless, as usual.