It was quite funny observing four catkins gulping down food with their tails swaying. Veles was not much surprised by seeing their kind. For example, the ruins inside the Forest of the Forgotten showed clear traces of elven culture. By observing various forest inhabitants, he could also discern that there was a very high possibility for humanoid beasts to appear.

Looking to his right, he could see that Davis was barely holding back from showering him with numerous questions…

And Veles could understand why. He was also interested in various things like the way those runes worked or what was going on with all ‘class’ stuff. However, asking those questions right now would raise suspicion, especially about what these people probably consider common knowledge.

There was also the option of getting answers by force. Veles was fairly confident he and Davis could beat them up without much problem. While they seem to have good teamwork while facing that porcupine, Veles could easily tell they still lack experience fighting other people.

But he was against the pointless violence. There was no need to dirty his hands with the blood of young and talented individuals just to get the information he would get in the future anyway.

“This is the best fucking meat I ever had!” Valyo, the Berserker exclaimed loudly. He shamelessly licked his fingers, not wanting to waste a single taste of the skewers Veles had prepared. Then with the same greasy hand, he scratched the back of his head, ruining his mane of brown hair. The thick muscles of his exposed upper body would flex with every movement he made, making his every move intimidating.

It was a rare display of true savagery Veles hadn’t seen in a very long time.

“I can make more if you want?” Asked Veles, amused with the excited brute in front of him.

“Of course, I wa-” He didn’t have time to finish. A wooden mug hit him on the side of his head, making him touch the place of impact awkwardly.

Zunna, on the side—still having her hand in the throwing position—rebuked him. “Control yourself, Valyo. Don’t be rude!” She then faced Veles and apologized. “I’m sorry, Mister. This idiot here can sometimes be a real handful.”

Watching a mountain of a man awkwardly avoiding the gaze of a small woman near him was a sight to see. Zunna had the same brown hair as Valyo, and she was also quite short, but the two had a strange resemblance with each other that didn’t escape Veles’s notice.

But seeing her with short bob hair and round glasses—looking like a typical nerd—next to the meathead who looked like he just exited his cave. And that the same meathead looking scared of her was another reason why Veles decided not to forcefully extract information from this group. They were just overly amusing…

“Oh, come on. Let him be. His carefree attitude is to be envied. Let the man enjoy himself.” Veles then spent just a few minutes making more skewers and putting them on fire. He also made it so he didn’t need to reveal his own storage ring. He just used some meat they had previously hunted and took a few aromatic leaves from the bag he sneakily filled with the necessities from his ring.

“So, Fagor. I meant to ask you. How much until we reach the town of Koria?” Veles—already back at his sitting place—asked. He looked at Fagor, who hadn’t even once separated himself from his shield.

“Hmm, if we wake up early, then we will reach it by noon.”

“I imagined it would take two or more days. Why not travel at night, then?” Veles could tell there was more at play here…

“It's extremely dangerous at night.” Fagor slightly grimaced.

“Looters?” Veles guessed.

“Yes, and other mercenary groups…”

Seeing Fagor being uncomfortable about the issue and the rest staying quiet, Veles figured out what was happening. “Looks like you already experienced it, huh?”

“We did. This is already the fourth time we’ve ventured into the forest, and during the second run, just as we were on our way back, another group intercepted while demanding our loot. Which we had to give, their leader was much stronger than any of us, and we were outnumbered.” Zunna was the one to explain it, albeit bitterly. Fagor appeared to be truly displeased to even talk about this event.

However, Veles offered them no sympathy. This, in a way, should be a common occurrence in their field of expertise. “That’s unfortunate. Have you tried to inform authorities?”

Zunna shook her head. “Many did. But the guild doesn’t care. Whatever those ruffians steal from us ends in the guild’s hand anyway.”

Nodding understandingly. Veles didn’t press this issue anymore.

“Sorry if I’m being rude, Mister Veles. But I’ve been meaning to ask you,” said Zunna. “Are you perhaps high staged assassin? Your daggers and deceptive fog are rather unique.”

She looked overly interested in this matter. And Veles could tell it wasn’t out of pure curiosity. He and Davis had already spent a couple of hours with this group, during which, there were numerous small attempts to gauge his and Davis’s background, all done by Zunna.

“Maybe, who knows?” Veles mysteriously replied. “What brought this sudden interest?”

Zunna fixed her glasses and shyly looked to the side. “Well, you are the first person I’ve met who has no mana undulations around them. The trait of only top assassins could learn. And I’m currently doing research based on that exact topic…”

She trailed off at the end. Veles could barely understand what she wanted. Was this girl shameless enough to ask him to help with her homework, or what was going on? He wondered what the hell was going on inside her head, even if he was the top assassin, as she said. Asking a person like that for help in these matters was reckless… or rather plain stupid.

“Sure, I will help you,” Veles agreed, nonetheless. “However, can we do it after we reach the city?”

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“Of course,” she beamed. “Thank you, Mister!”

This played in Veles’s favor. He could fish a lot of information from this girl.

After a few more minutes of small talk, Veles decided to excuse himself, and he and Davis went further away to rest…

When Veles was sure the group couldn’t hear them talking, he decided to warn Davis. “Listen here. Tomorrow, there is a good chance we would be attacked like they did.”

“And?”

Veles raised his eyebrow at this casual answer. “And. We are going to fight since I need to test something. So, be prepared, I’m not sure of their capability, and for that reason, if we can’t handle them, we retreat. Don’t act like a hero, understand?”

“Sure,” Davis replied seriously. It would seem like their time spent traveling together made him understand Veles’s intention.

Not long after, everyone went to sleep, but beforehand Veles watched as Zunna carved a few runes into the trees surrounding them, probably some kind of protective measure—like wards. Not like anything would dare to disturb Veles’s rest while the Squirrel was still watching from the tree nearby.

***

What a cliche. It happened just as Veles expected. The moment they left the forest, he and Davis didn’t have time to appreciate the unobstructed sun or gentle breeze when a dozen mercenaries welcomed them. Each and every single one of them was geared to the teeth, but they displayed no worry or any particular care about the current situation. They only acted as if what they were doing was a common morning chore as they surrounded them.

One leading this band stepped forward. He was a tiger beastman. At least, that was what Veles guessed by the stripes on his exposed forearms and ears.

His steps were steady while he strode toward Fagor, his figure getting bigger and bigger amidst the knee-tall grass. Until he just stood a couple of steps away, his hands crossed, looking down at the group with his towering height. He, similar to Valyo the Barbarian, had an imposing figure, but was much more threatening and menacing, probably due to scars crawling around his tiger-striped forearms.

“It’s been a while Fagor. I hope you didn’t miss me too much.” Contrary to his visage, his voice was ‘normal’, something one would assume belonged to a usual day-to-day middle-aged guy. And the way he phrased his words, it appeared like he genuinely saw his friend after a long time.

“Nobody can miss your presence Marguse,” Faglor said after a sigh.

“Come on Fagor, no need to be shy. I know you missed me!” Marguse cheerfully replied and then turned his attention toward Zunna. “I hope you guys had a great catch!”

Then he added with a voice full of righteousness. “Like always, we will help you to carry it. Isn’t that right, boys?” He then mockingly looked at Fagor while a few of his guys snickered from behind.

But Marguse’s face suddenly fell. His eyes met Veles, who smiled slightly, he didn’t hold any enjoyment in this classic example of scumbags bullying the weak scenario and displayed it rather openly.

Their eye contact lasted long enough for Marguse to grow uncomfortable. He was forced to switch his target to Fagor, his expression becoming many times uglier. “What are you doing with humans, Fagor?” He asked, his steps slowly going Veles’s way.

“We met them in the forest. They gave us a helping hand.” Fagor replied. Not sharing any extra details.

Standing in front of Veles, Marguse being head taller, looked down at him mockingly. “I don’t like the way you look at me, human.” Seeing Veles not budging, appeared to have infuriated him even more. “Do you understand your situation?”

As the anger started coloring his face, Marguse continued, “Do you know who i-” But then, his voice stopped working, and he blinked…

“So, it works, huh,” said Veles. His gaze planted on his two fingers glowing faintly silver while covered in blood. “I suggest you hold your wound tightly. Unless you want to bleed out to death.”

It would seem his eyes worked perfectly well. Not only could he perform psychic attacks on people and make them dazed, but he could also taunt them. Unfortunately, he never had a chance to test them beforehand because if he tried on Davis, it could possibly cause the guy to grow intense hatred towards him.

Marguse, who just stood there not knowing he just served as Veles’s test dummy, clenched his throat. The pain had finally settled in, making his expression aghast. The two tiny bloody holes in his throat left him powerless. Even holding it with both his hands, blood flowed from the wound like a river, his legs losing all their strength, making him fall to his knees.

Veles just moved to the side, then proceeded to clean his two fingers of blood using the back of Marguse’s shirt, totally unbothered by the painful gurgling sounds the guy released.

“I will give you a choice. You can help your boss and leave, or we can settle this the other way.” But the moment Veles said this, the group surrounding them without hesitation went fully offensive.

Veles took out his daggers. His body slowly released the black fog. Not giving a chance for the goons to attack first, he rushed toward the nearest guy. The distance between them was closed in a second. But the guy saw it coming. And that was where the smoke surrounding Veles’s body came into play.

Looking at the approaching Veles, the goon shouldn’t be able to discern the distance or the exact place where he was coming from. However, the guy showed his experience. His sword and wrist were surrounded by a thin layer of runes, enchanting his strength.

Sword and dagger clashed. Veles hand jerked backward. The guy in front of him clearly had more strength than him. Alas, Veles never played fair. He immediately went for the eye contact—intending to momentarily daze him. But to his surprise, the guy didn’t even flinch.

Instead, the guy yelled. “He is psychic! Protect your minds,” then he backed away. “I knew you used dirty tricks on our boss.”

Without saying anything. Veles scanned his surroundings. And, of course, others were not idly watching. He saw three ranged ones—a mage and two archers— looking his way as they were getting ready to send their attacks. This was the cue for him to perform the primary test he wanted.

He took several steps away from the guy he’d just faced. And the black fog surrounding his body was replaced by a silverish hue.

Then under the astonished eyes of the people targeting him. Veles’s body disappeared. It looked like he was sucked into something invisible. The loud sound—like someone tore a piece of paper—reverberated through the miniature battlefield, followed by a man’s painful scream.

Veles stood behind one of the archers. Using his dagger, he stabbed the poor guy from behind. However, he precisely made sure the attack wasn’t lethal.

What transpired was the result of this small ‘test’ Veles performed and it caught him by surprise. The occurring battle went silent. Everyone just focused on him, their expressions filled with dread.

The nearest one to him, a mage-looking guy, just dropped his staff, and all the runes he’d already drawn in front of him disappeared. He pointed his shaky finger at Veles and shouted. “No runes… w-with S-Spatial affinity!”

It lasted barely a couple of seconds, during which Veles found funny how everyone looked at him like he was some kind of mythical monster. But when the mage’s words fully sunk in, they served as a sign to retreat. The goons picked up their stuff and scattered each their own way. They also made sure to drag away all of the injured ones. The guy he originally faced fed the poor Marguse with the greenish potion, then placed him over his shoulder and pulled him away—it required quite the strength to carry that big guy, luckily Veles clash with him didn’t last long.

After looking at this, Veles wondered if he’d made a mistake. Spatial users were always placed on a pedestal and even feared due to their prowess. His original plan was to test how these unimportant low-lives would react to his simple dash. However, after checking Fagor’s group, seeing as they all were filled with awe like they were in front of some legendary figure… Veles could already feel the headache he would need to deal with in the future.

Observing once again, as the silhouettes of those idiots vanished through the endless tall grass, he felt no need to pursue them. He had no idea how society here worked, killing them could bring him even more trouble.

After ensuring all the goons were out of his sight, Veles turned behind and looked inside the forest. His eyes met those of the Squirrel. Little thing waved at him while smirking. Probably, the little rat was glad they had finally parted ways.