The first rays of sunlight cracked through the horizon and illuminated the village. As dawn broke, both the villagers and fighters woke up to begin their day. Jacob walked out the door and sat down next to Roy and Robb on their usual bench. He took out his pipe and lit it before looking at Roy, “You wanna try?”

Roy looked at the pipe in the doctor’s hand for a few seconds before nodding, “Sure, let me try. I never smoked before.”

Jacob chuckled before handing Roy his pipe, “Careful, it’s strong.”

The doctor’s words only served to ignite Roy’s spirit. He lit up a matchstick before putting fire to the pipe.

Just as he inhaled his first puff, his throat closed and he threw a coughing fit. Roy clenched his chest as a stabbing pain pierced through his lungs.

“It’s-it’s too strong…” Roy could barely voice out his words amidst his coughing. On the other hand, Robb and Jacob were both laughing at the poor young man’s misery.

Robb shook his head at Roy’s pitiful sight, “You can blast off monsters from legends with your fireball, but you can’t handle a mere pipe?”

Roy took a deep breath followed by a burst of coughs before his body finally calmed down. His eyes were red and tears dried up on his skin.

“Why don’t you try it out if you’re so tough?” Roy handed the pipe to Robb with a challenging look.

Robb chuckled at his friend’s provocation before shaking his head, “I already tried it and I don’t like smoking. There is no reason for me to do it now.”

“Pussy,” Roy muttered under his breath before looking back at Jacob who was trying hard to hold back his laughter.

Roy handed Jacob his pipe before changing the subjects, “About the poison, do you think you can finish it early today?”

“Yeah, I told you yesterday, don’t worry about it,” Jacob smiled before lighting up his pipe and taking a puff. “I should be done by midday. I can then help you lace it on the spikes since that can be dangerous.”

Roy’s mind was half focused on Jacob’s words and how easily he was smoking the tobacco mixture in his pipe. How does he do it? Are his lungs made of iron?

Jacob who knew exactly what Roy was thinking, laughed and said, “One day you’ll be like this too. This is just the result of years of burning my lungs with ash and smoke.”

Jacob’s eyes looked beyond Roy and Robb before gesturing with his head behind them, “Looks like the two kids came.”

Roy turned back to see Lorenz and Jaimie walking toward them with massively different attitudes. Each step that Lorenz took was heavy, his eyes were exhausted, and his shoulders were slumped over. Jaimie, on the other hand, was casually strolling and dancing around with his arms crossed behind his head.

Roy did not need to ask to understand the gist of what happened. Robb was also chuckling at the scene.

When Lorenz reached close to the bench, his legs gave out and he faceplanted on the ground. Without saying a word, he fell asleep on the sandy ground while snoring.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Roy looked with an open mouth at the sight in front of him before shifting his focus on Jaimie, “What the fuck did you guys do?”

Jaimie looked up innocently in thought before responding with a wild smile, “Well, we killed a lot of goblins. Then we started killing ogres too. After that, there came an ogre with a bunch of goblins, and we killed those monsters too. But after that, we met with a bunch of ogres that were together and they kept following us around the village.” Jaimie’s smile grew even bigger and more innocent, but to Roy, it was the most sinister of all. “It was like a game of hide and seek, but so much more fun!”

Robb couldn’t help but burst out laughing, while Jacob looked at Jaimie with an open mouth. In the end, the doctor could only cover his face and shake his head, “Should I even say something to this?”

Roy kept looking at Jaimie in shock before he clenched his fist, “What part of not doing anything dangerous do you not understand? I told you to listen to Lorenz, didn’t I?”

Roy’s words were stern and loud, taking Jaimie aback at his tone shift. “But, it was not dangerous. It was not dangerous at all!”

Roy furrowed his eyebrows as he stared at Jaimie before noticing the look of fear on the young boy’s face. Roy closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He then looked back at Jaimie, and just as he was about to say something, Robb tapped his shoulder.

“It’s not the time now,” Robb said while shaking his head. “Just calm down.”

Robb then looked at Jaimie with stern eyes, “Jaimie, you know that Roy was worried for you, right? Monsters are not toys, you can’t be playing with them.”

Jaimie raised his eyebrows at Robb’s words before looking down and biting his lips, “I’m sorry, I’m not going to do it again. I promise.”

Roy let out a deep breath before looking down and seeing Lorenz still sleeping on the ground. His face looked more peaceful than he had ever seen him.

Roy smiled at the young blacksmith’s sight, “Let’s get him inside.”

After Roy and Robb took Lorenz inside Roger’s house and let him sleep on a bed of cushions, they walked out and started searching along with Jaimie for buckets. They spent around an hour going from one house to the next, before clearing out the north side of the village. By the end of their small trip, they were able to bring back ten wooden buckets that were in good condition.

As Roy entered the house, he couldn’t help but notice that Lorenz was nowhere to be found. He went inside the kitchen to find Aunt Martha cooking breakfast in a huge pot.

“Eh, aunty Martha, have you seen Lorenz by any chance?”

The brown-haired middle-aged woman looked up in surprise at Roy, “Oh, Karthus’s kid. I think he went with Jack’s group, he said he had some work to do.”

“Thank you,” Roy lightly bowed.

“You’re welcome,” Martha smiled before focusing back on the task at hand.

Seeing that she was busy, Roy walked out of the kitchen and joined back up with Robb and Jaimie.

“So, where is he?” Robb asked.

“He went to the forge with Jack, I think,” Roy responded. He then looked at the buckets that they were all carrying with both hands, “Should we go to the forest and bring Marth this stuff?”

Robb nodded, “Yeah, let’s do it; the earlier the better.”

“Can we go see that big wolf?” Jaimie suddenly cut in. “I wanna see that big wolf we fought yesterday.”

“Sure, let’s do that,” Roy smiled. “We can go to the dungeon after helping Marth’s team a bit.”

The group of three then made their way to the forest. Of course, just as they reached close to the bear’s territory, they covered themselves in dirt and mud. The three then trudged slowly toward the lake, where they found Marth’s group digging with shovels and pickaxes.

“Oh, you brought some buckets,” Marth looked up at Roy’s group before walking out of the big hole that he dug with the rest of his group. “That’s great, we were going to need those.”

“Already?” Roy raised an eyebrow. “What are you going to use them for so early?”

“Not now, it’s when we dig the trenches,” Marth shook his head. “I want to pour water on the grass, roots, and trees around it. If they soak enough water, they won’t catch on fire as easily.”

Roy smiled at Marth’s suggestion, “What can I say? A smart idea as always.”

“You’re truly the best,” Robb added.

“If you have the time to joke around, why don’t you come and help us?” Marth shook his head at the two’s compliments. “You can start with digging the trench now.”