Kevin watched the fire blaze, large enough to light up the entire campground. Through a combination of magics by the adventurers, the flames would not be visible to anybody outside the actual campsite. It was mostly Tomo who hid their campground from prying eyes. Her wind magic, in particular, was exceptional for this purpose. Of course, any creature sufficiently powerful, or any person with strong enough magic or senses, would be able to tell they were there.

Still, for the most part, it was a relatively secure campsite, especially with the night watch rotation.

Kevin was almost done with his shift. Each person's watch lasted ninety minutes, including ten minutes of overlap with the previous person and the next up. It was about to be Fili's turn at watch. Kevin quietly moved to the dwarf and shook his head when he saw the man's eyes open, but sound asleep. The team's rogue truly did sleep with his eyes open. Kevin nudged Fili's boot and then stepped back. At first, Fili didn't make any obvious movements, but then his eyes snapped closed, then open, and he smoothly sat up.

"Time for watch, I suppose, eh, Kevin?" said Fili quietly.

"You got it," Kevin whispered.

Then he left for the edge of the campsite where he'd been sitting earlier. He'd had a bit of experience in more than one lifetime now keeping watches, but George wanted everyone to do their watch duty in different ways, to mix it up between sitting and standing–vary their patterns. This was definitely a deviation from Kevin's second life as a knight. Oh well, when in Rome, do as the Romans do… Or in this case, the adventurers.

A few moments later, Fili joined him, sitting on the same log. He looked up into the starry night sky and said, "Sometimes, when it's quiet at night like this, I really think about how lucky I am. Even though, after all this time, I have to admit I still hate the sky."

"You hate the sky?" asked Kevin.

Fili grunted a quiet laugh. "I am a dwarf, after all."

"Oh, yeah, sorry," Kevin made a rueful expression. It was probably good he was going to bed soon because that had been a faux pas that he normally wouldn't have made during the day.

Fili was chewing on a piece of grass, the firelight hitting his back as he stared out into the darkness. "It's been a couple of days," he said. "I'm surprised you haven't asked me about my background. We haven't worked with many people before, our little group, but whenever we do, the first thing they usually do is start prying into everybody's past."

Kevin shrugged. "None of you have done that to me, so I wouldn't do it to you either. I felt like there would be a time and a place, and it hasn't been the time or the place yet."

Fili nodded sagely. "That's some wisdom there. Figures, being a new prodigy in the Magi Guild." He gripped one of his hands in the other and stared at the sky again. "It's important to talk to people to understand them. It's kind of frustrating that about our group, there are a lot of people that seem to make assumptions about us without ever actually talking to us. For instance, me—a lot of people assume that I'm angry at other dwarves or something. That I'm grinding gears at the dwarves in the city I come from. But nothing could be further from the truth. I'm actually extremely homesick. I just..." He shrugged. "I like adventure. This is my dream. I like the danger of the open world. And I want to be famous. Something I realized when I was a young lad is that if you become famous in the outside world, when you return back to the dwarf kingdoms, you'll be famous there too. That's more than double the fame!" He puffed his chest out in pride. "I think I'm on the way there."

"What do you mean?" asked Kevin.

"Well," Fili paused and ran a hand over his face, obviously still waking up, "The Mountain Fingers, our group, is ranked B right now. But I think that we should be at least A. Sure, we don't have the power that some groups do, but they also aren't as good at everything else as we are. All of us trust each other too, and that's extremely important. I think that it's only a matter of time until we hit S-Rank. And after S-Rank, I think it's safe to say that we'll be relatively famous."

"Really? Are S-Ranked adventurers famous?" asked Kevin.

Fili gave him an incredulous look before pounding his chest. "That hit me right in the heart. Scholar, why do you have to challenge my illusions like that? I want to believe that if we hit S-rank, everybody in the world will know who we are." He chuckled at his own sarcasm. "But yes, if we hit S-Rank, we really will be relatively famous. At the very least, it will also set us up to become even more famous in the ranking…eventually."

"What do you mean?" asked Kevin. "There's something above S rank?" This was a first for Kevin. None of his books had mentioned it.

"Well, technically no," said Fili, "at least not by adventuring guild rules. But there's an unofficial ranking that all of the top 10, maybe even top 20 S-ranked individuals and parties around the world are constantly moved around within. It's actually a great subject of speculation. People make bets. And there are even scholars that do nothing but keep track of all the S-ranked adventurers' exploits."

"Really?" Kevin's jaw dropped. He had no idea that adventurers could be so popular in this world. He should have known better. It had been like that on Earth, too.

Fili chuckled as he saw how Kevin was reacting. "You know, it's not for the first time, and I know you're a goblin and all, but it almost feels like you come from another world. Dwarf priests who have never been out of the temple know more about the open world than you do about some things."

Kevin's mouth closed with a click as he realized the dwarf had come uncomfortably close to the truth. After all, Kevin had been raised by dragons on a remote mountain. To his mother and father, S-ranked adventurers were like ants—ants with a very short lifespan. That begged the question of how they felt about him, actually. Maybe he was an extra special ant. He shook his head. That was uncalled for. If it was one thing he knew after all this time, it was that his parents truly cared about him.

"So, since you're telling me all about adventures and whatnot, is this a good time to ask for your story, Fili?" Kevin grinned as he turned and regarded the craggy-faced dwarf, the darkness adding even more shadows than usual.

"I never knew goblins could be so smooth-tongued," said Fili.

"How many goblins have you known?" asked Kevin.

"Okay, that's a good point." Fili grinned. "But truly, even though I haven't known many goblins as closely as I have you, I have met them before, and they do have a reputation."

"Well, what about the reputation for dwarves?" said Kevin.

Fili oofed and hit himself above the heart with a fist again. "I think you have a talent for this, Mr. Goblin Scholar. But to be honest, I have to admit that some of the stereotypes for dwarves do describe me as well, at least somewhat. Some don’t."

Kevin didn't say anything but moved his hand to signal that he was listening. Fili continued, "You know how people say dwarves are some of the hardest working people in the entire world?"

Kevin hadn't exactly heard that before, but he nodded in agreement.

"Well, I was an exception. Even from a young lad, I was extremely lazy. But, for some reason, I didn't mind spending lots of effort on avoiding work." He chuckled quietly. "Especially after finding out I couldn't do any magic. Most other dwarves didn't expect much of me. That's a little unfair, since most dwarves can't do magic, either. But I guess they expected it of me, with my family and all." He shrugged.

"When I was young, lots of other young dwarves wanted to be my friend, but after finding out I couldn't do magic and that I was so lazy and probably wouldn't have any position of authority, over time I found myself alone more often than not. Turned out, I didn't mind being alone or by myself in the dark. Most dwarves usually don't, but for me, it truly felt like home, walking old tunnels by myself. So, as I got a little bit older and a little bit more daring, I started to explore the tunnels outside of the city.

“My adventures went out further and further until I started encountering monsters and realized that if I had poison of some kind, I could stop accidentally breaking so many weapons." He chuckled. "I have no idea what my father thought I was doing with all those broken weapons before. Maybe just raging and hitting the walls."

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He shrugged. "Anyway, eventually, I actually became good enough at alchemy that other dwarves recognized it. Next thing you know, even in my spare time, I was making potions that turned a tidy profit. But it wasn't my true love. And the first chance I got when I was old enough, I left the Dwarf kingdoms to explore the world. Then, as they say, the rest is history," Fili smiled.

“Thank you for telling me. It’s interesting that you learned to make poison so you could go on walks easier.”

Fili grinned. “I’ve never heard it put that way before, but I can’t deny it. Anyway, since you asked and you have been with us for a while, I suppose I can tell you a little bit about some of the others, too."

"Shouldn't you let them speak for themselves?" asked Kevin.

Fili shrugged. "Probably, if I was more polite, but I also know them well, and I know they don't care if I tell you a certain amount. I mean, a little bit of backstory is one thing, but if I start telling you about Tomo's underwear, she might put an arrow in my forehead."

"You know about Tomo's underwear?" asked Kevin in confusion.

"Well, not intentionally," the dwarf scratched his cheek. "Actually, you know what, forget I said anything about that and just erase it from your mind." He started hitching his shoulders like he was expecting an arrow to sprout there any second, and Kevin couldn’t help smiling at Filip’s antics.

"There’s a good lad," said Fili. "Well, anyway, you know we all follow George. He's actually pretty well known for being a B-rank adventurer since he's got no faith in the gods, but a lot of people mistake him as a paladin at first, with all the armor and the healing and whatnot. I don't know what you've heard about lizardmen, but believe it or not, George is probably the kindest and most generous of our entire group. That shocks people sometimes if they've known a lot of lizardmen. Lizardmen aren't exactly known as being touchy-feely types."

Kevin nodded but didn't respond. Fili continued talking.

"Jagna has some sort of history with her clan. This is one instance where I can't blabber on too much without betraying my comrade. All I can say is that her clan was trying to push her into a role that she didn't want. And by rebelling, she had to burn some of the bridges behind her."

Kevin nodded with more force at this. He could definitely relate to some of those sentiments, especially in his first life.

Then Fili said, "Tomo is, believe it or not, probably the most mysterious in the group. Some of it's because she just doesn't talk as much as others, including yours truly." He hooked a thumb at himself. "But she doesn't talk about her past much, and we also don't meet many other humans from her country."

"Where is she actually from?" asked Kevin.

"I think I've heard it before," said Fili, "but I forgot the name. I believe it's one of the farthest human kingdoms from where we are right now, at the edge of the continent. All I really know about Tomo is that she knows a surprising number of skills and knowledge." He was already whispering, but he lowered his voice further and said, "Sometimes I even think she might be a noble. But if she were a noble, what the hell would she be doing hanging out with a bunch of morons like us?" He chuckled at his own joke, shrugged, and said, "That's about it. But I have to admit, I'm glad you're here with us. All of these other misfits are like family to me now. And I have a feeling that you being with us will make it more likely for us to survive. And that's definitely a good thing in my book."

Kevin tilted his head curiously and asked, "Why do you think that? You've only known me for a little while."

The dwarf shook his head. "Well, I just said that Tomo is the most mysterious person in the group, but I think you might have her beat.”

“Really!?”

“Yes, you are a goblin and young at that, but it feels like you have the knowledge of ten normal scholars. Then on top of that, you never seem to get tired. You have impressive combat skills, judging by that bit of sword practice you did yesterday on your own–"

Kevin interrupted him. "You saw that!?"

Fili rubbed his chest with his knuckles. "I'm a rogue. It's my job to sneak around."

"I'll keep that in mind," Kevin said dryly.

"Anyway," Fili shrugged, "you also got an absurdly high ranking after applying to the Magi Guild, which is hard to get into in the first place. And they even recommended you to us. Granted, I know some of that is because you're a goblin."

"Excuse me?" asked Kevin.

Fili shrugged, this time more self-consciously. "You must have noticed that everybody in this group is a different race. The mayor doesn't like us very much, mainly because of Jagna, but there are others who support us, especially groups that are hoping all the races can eventually get along one day and stop having stupid wars that destroy entire countries." Fili spat on the ground.

"We have friends in high places, which is honestly why we've been able to get as far as we have. Because in some cities, we haven't exactly run into helpful people.”

“Even within the Adventurer Guild?" Kevin asked.

Fili spat again. "The Adventurer Guild isn't immune to politics. In fact, they're a pretty big player. And remember how I mentioned S-ranks before? To go from A rank to S rank requires a lot of politics. So since everybody in our group wants to eventually end up there one day, we all decided a couple of years ago that playing politics wasn't inevitable. So we do wade in from time to time. Can't say I like it, though. It's much more straightforward to stab somebody you hate in the dark than smile in their face and give them money to leave you alone." Fili spat a third time and said, "I think that's about it for the overlap time. You can go to bed now."

Kevin nodded wordlessly and gratefully spilled himself into his bedroll. It had been fascinating hearing such a coherent info dump on the group from Fili, but he could sense that the dwarf's flood of words had been about to end, probably because he'd woken up fully. Kevin made a note to himself that if he ever wanted to ask Fili anything sensitive, to wait until the other man was sleepy.

***

The next day, a large group of monsters attacked the party for the first time. Instead of Fili, it was Tomo who gave the others their first warning. "Large group coming from behind," she suddenly shouted.

"Tomo, move further ahead. I'll stop here. Javna, with me. Fili, find a good place to stage yourself," George commanded. He turned to Kevin and paused, considering. "Can you hold your own in a fight?"

"It depends on what they are," said Kevin. But he casually unsheathed his longsword. Over the last few days, the group had run into a handful of solo monsters, but the other members had dispatched them easily. This would be the first time that anybody in the Mountain Fingers actually witnessed Kevin fight.

George paused again. "Anything I should know?"

"Not really," said Kevin. "I'm just curious why we stopped here."

George nodded, and as he did so, snarls floated over the treetops from the distance.

"They're getting closer," said Tomo as she moved further away.

George gestured around them and said, "We're currently on a hill. We have the high ground from the direction they're coming from. If we were to run, we might get a slightly better position, but probably not, and by then we'd be tired. It's better to stop and make a stand."

Kevin noticed that Tomo, who had moved ahead, was not standing on an even higher patch of ground from the position she’d had earlier. The woman had her large bow strung, and her face was calm–completely devoid of emotion as she watched in the direction that the pursuing monsters were coming from.

Suddenly, she announced, "I just saw one—it's lion-wolves. I hate them."

George nodded. "I know you do. Do whatever you can, Kevin, just don't die. Got it?"

A moment later, Kevin noted that George had made a very good decision to stand his ground. On one side of their position, there was almost a cliff, and on the other side, a steeply declining hillside. The little clearing they were in forced the lion-wolves to charge up the same path that the adventurers had been following. So, eventually, all the lion-wolves had to approach them from one direction, easily and naturally funneling them into an area that forced them to charge two or three across.

At this point, George proved his qualifications to be a B-rank adventurer and their head warrior. He slammed his shield forward repeatedly, battering the monsters back, doing damage each time. His sword flashed, and the beasts hissed in pain whenever the bright blade descended. The lizardman was powerful and used his tail rigidly behind himself as a brace.

The lion wolves roared, their cries shrill and disturbing. Each of them was the size of a mountain lion. Their faces and tails were feline, but they had more lupine-looking bodies. Their paws and claws were huge. .

Jagna was everywhere that George and his shield weren't. Her spear flickered forward, doing damage and killing creatures that George had only wounded. Behind them, Tomo unleashed arrows after careful aim. Their velocity was dizzying as she applied wind magic to the already speedy projectiles. Each member of the team obviously had complete trust in each other.

Fili had somehow scaled the cliff-like hill to one side and stood on it like a billy goat. He called down, "I'm throwing the scent powder."

"Do it," yelled George.

Fili threw a bottle of something into the midst of the lion-wolves, where it immediately exploded, and the monsters all began howling and tearing into each other. It was absolute madness. And that one change in the battle turned the front line from a close fight into a slaughter.

However, right as Kevin began to relax, three lion-wolves came charging up the steep hill to one side that he’d assumed none of them could scale. One of them ran at Tomo, and the other two headed for Kevin.

Being closer to the creatures like this, seeing them isolated, he realized that their real danger was the fact they hunted in large packs. There had originally been about twenty of the creatures he'd judged. But individually, they were less dangerous than any of the monsters he'd killed after leaving his parents' cave.

But hadn’t those all been leaders and named monsters? Maybe Kevin’s worldview was skewed.

Of course, his lack of respect for the lion-wolves wouldn't matter if they tore him open. He kicked himself, making his brain move again, and then smoothly spun his sword, scoring a deep cut into one side of a lion-wolf. The creature bounded forward before spinning, swiping one clawed paw in the hope of hitting Kevin, but the strike hadn't come anywhere close. The lion-wolf's mane seemed to get larger in anger as the monster bared long teeth above yellow eyes and flexed its feline claws. Then the other creature came to stand next to it, as if daring Kevin to attack again.

The monster hissed in surprise as Kevin turned and ran the other direction. He sprinted at the one that had gone for Tomo, barely managing to clip its hind leg as it bounded up the hill.

The strike wasn’t as solid as Kevin would have liked but was still good, barely severing the monster's tendon. It went skidding forward, rolling into a heap.

The sound of the other two beasts closing from behind were as loud as thunder in his ears. Kevin turned and his sword began weaving a web of steely death. In a direct fight like this, as a goblin, versus two faster monsters, he really didn't have many options other than to fight defensively. He always had his sword tip blocking any of the monster's forward movement or they’d impale themselves.

Then matters got worse.

The monster that he'd hamstrung jerkily crawled forward to end his life from behind. But Kevin danced back and deftly skewered it through one eyeball with the tip of his sword. Then he spun and managed to take one of the front paws off another monster as it aimed for his neck.

Kevin had always been good with a blade, but now it felt easier than ever to wield his longsword. He realized this was the effect of his [Elvish Acuity]. His feet always seemed firm, his movements graceful, the sword danced out, flashing as it drew blood..

By the time the last monster was down, after feeling like he'd been fighting a lifetime even though it had only been a few seconds, Kevin stabbed his sword deep within a weakly struggling lion wolf’s body and kept watch to the hill they’d come charging up before.

Javna, Fili, and George wrapped up with the front line soon afterward, killing the last of the beasts that ran forward with reddened eyes and slavering jaws. Fili's alchemy surprise had definitely been effective.

Down the trail, George turned and headed back towards Kevin and Tomo. The lizard man flared his nose appreciatively, examining the corpses of the monsters that Kevin had killed. "Very good work here," he said. He glanced up at Tomo. "Why didn't you help Kevin?"

"I almost did," she shrugged. "After it looked like he had the situation in hand, I guarded the hill where these things came up so there wouldn't be any taking him from his blind spot."

"Good thinking," said George.

Kevin nodded too.

Fili came scooting down the steep cliff where he'd posted himself. "I don't mean to interrupt the mutual admiration here," he said, "but we should probably get the hell out of here. With all of the blood and entrails on the trail, other monsters will be around soon."

"Very true," said George. "Let's go. Tomo, lead the way again, please."

The five of them set off again, but Kevin could definitely feel that he'd become a bit more accepted into the group.

***

Finally, several days after leaving Clear Mine, longer than Kevin had originally been told, and longer than any of the Mountain Fingers had expected to spend on the trail, the five of them finally came within sight of the ruins that they'd been trying to find this whole time.

This time, Fili scouted ahead. The rest of them waited in uncomfortable silence before the dwarf returned. He nodded at George and whispered, "I've spotted our target."

Then all five of them crept forward to a good vantage place that Fili had found to observe the ruins guardian in the distance. When Kevin got his first good look at the monster, his eyes widened, and he quietly muttered, "That thing looks a lot scarier than I'd imagined."

Seemingly with similar thoughts of her own, Jagna muttered, "I sure hope this is worth it, because that thing looks like death just lying there."

Kevin could only nod in agreement.