...

Place: Inside a carriage

Time: While Alexander was building the engine

"I don't like traveling."

"Figures."

"Figures, what?"

"Figures because you can't shut the fuck up."

Aurum, Quill, Ocilia, and Maurice traveled through Kratikal to the refugee camp in a relatively inconspicuous large carriage. The carriage had a great interior and enough space even for a mini-kitchen. Accordingly, six mounts were needed to pull the carriage, which a trusted coachman led.

In addition to Alexander's retainers, Makol and Algol accompanied them as guides through the hazardous territory and as confidantes for the camp, so they had an easier time introducing themselves.

'I need a drink.'

Sitting at a small table, Aurum stopped writing his speech and introductions toward the camp since he felt irritated from the journey and exhausted from all the fighting Ocilia and Maurice had.

While pulling a bottle of wine from his spatial pouch and pouring himself a glass, he remembered that he never liked traveling. His worst experience was being immediately sent to boarding school after he got his [Divinity Line]. On those long journeys, he always felt alone and thought that something like that would be fun if he had friends or friendly colleagues.

Maurice became appalled by her being this irritated and direct, "You don't need to be so mean? What is wrong with you?"

Ocilia sighed, still training her thread arts and spell-casting, "I am just annoyed because of this damn miasma..." Her threads suddenly dispersed with her failing, making her hands cramp up, with her tone becoming overly irritated, "...I could be home and eating those sugar cakes while getting me..." She clicked her tongue, "... never mind."

However, his fantasy from the past couldn't be more wrong. Traveling just sucked overall, with or without friends, 'One more day... urgh.'

Aurum chucked a full glass of wine, and before pouring another, he put it back into his pouch and drank directly from the bottle while watching his friends and colleagues he respected so much.

'Let's see what those plebs are doing.'

Turning around, Aurum decided to relax and watch what the others were doing. If he were honest, he wouldn't choose his current companions for the activity of being encased in a metallic box for days on end.

"Parfaits."

"Bless you."

For one, while Maurice was overly relaxed and still had his excessively mild personality, which was welcomed, he couldn't shut up about his annoying and boring hobby.

"I didn't sneeze, though? I just told you the name of the pastry you always eat."

"I know. I just want you to shut up about baking."

"I didn't even say anything irritating you?"

"Sorry, my bad."

Ocilia wasn't better, though. Her personality had changed quite a bit in the last few years, becoming generally more harsh. With the thicker miasma, it was like throwing oil into a fire.

"So, a parfait is usually..."

"It doesn't mean I want to listen about it, so just shut up!"

Aurum wasn't usually one to agree with Ocilia, but listening to Maurice's extensive knowledge about baked goods would drive even a saint crazy.

"I will not bake a cake for you!"

"Good... wait, what?! Not even the ones with the cute..."

"No!"

"Hm, I heard your fiancé wanted to learn mana skills."

"Are you serious, because..."

"For enduring me and baking? Who cares. Master would probably be proud of me."

Aurum remembered how they were in a bar, and he talked with him about the proper grating technique for fruits while he tried to flirt with a cute girl.

'At least he is calm.'

While remembering his sexless life, he immediately thought about Quill, who was every week at some nature-dweller healer to get either STDs or stab wounds healed because of his open demeanor toward girls.

'Woah, is this the tenth package today?!'

Interestingly, while Quill appeared calm, he smoked one package after the other while having his eyes closed. Sometimes, he peeked at the camp representatives only to close his eyes again and smoke another.

"I am a blood elf named Larafina, with a level 6 hellfire glave, which will split dragons in two! I wear tight leather clothing and love the scent of baked goods in the morning, which I make for my beloved scavenger husband."

"I don't think it's allowed..." Makol shrugged, "...but whatever. You are now in a forest, surrounded by goblins, holding worn-out daggers and lusting after your body in those tight leather clothes. What will you do?"

"I will split the earth under them and cast the spell meteor!"

"Wait, you are a mage? You need to roll, I think, a nature check because you are in a forest?"

"Not a medicine check to see if they will die?"

'Those have a jolly time, though.'

Makol and Algol happily played a game Alexander once tried to introduce, but nobody liked it except commoners. Those two really loved the idea of imagining themselves as another character and playing through some imaginary scenario.

They appeared like nothing was wrong. Sometimes, they chatted in between playing about their daily lives and trying to rope others into this game, which only brought out rude remarks.

The last thing they needed was to concentrate on imaginary skills while using theirs to avoid being provoked by the slightest comment. Aurum already imagined Ocilia strangling Quill because she rolled a one.

Other than that, they were calm and not the least suspicious, soothing Aurum's paranoia, 'Master is right. Them setting a trap for us would be insane.'

While Aurum and Ocilia regarded this trip as risky in terms of getting betrayed, he, at least, rationalized it, thinking that it would be moronic to attack them. They were the camp's saviors, already delivering massive amounts of food, water, clothes, potions, and many more resources.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

Through private chats with some of those, they learned that William had a sick Mother at the camp. Because of that, he received a dozen healing Temple talismans, usually reserved for high-ranking members.

'I can't believe the fucking miasma is this dense here.'

While observing everyone while getting drunk was fun, it became slowly exhausting to use that many skills to calm down. The further east they traveled, the thicker the scent of insanity became. Without waiting any further, Aurum pulled out a pipe and a potent herb to calm him down. The camp representatives recommended it since most non-fighters or those with weak mental fortitude would go crazy when they stayed too long in this territory.

After the first puff, it worked, but it was still too weird. While relaxed, Aurum also felt as if something wanted to take the camp's representatives' dice and shove them into their throats since they were too loud, but in a more calm manner.

"What?! Why are the goblins doing this to me?!"

"Didn't Mr. Alexander say that they would do something like that?"

"All goblins I met were nice, though."

"Hm... I think Mr. Alexander just heard bad rumors. How about..."

'Can't believe that they survived here that long, though.'

It became ridiculous when he could barely see the smoke, but while he abhorred being here for a second longer, it was necessary to go through this. If they wanted to build a good relationship, they needed to visit them and show it with some good faith actions.

"No! Lalafina is the daughter of the archmage!"

"Blood elves have no archmage! This is a human thing!"

"It was a hot and sticky night, and Lalafina's mother..."

"By the red moon, don't tell me your fantasies again!"

'I hope they are somewhat competent, but I doubt it.'

After Alexander chose Narsiz to lead the entire operation, Aurum was chosen to become his group's leading representative while at the camp. He could only be convinced after long and exhausting debates.

'At least it makes sense.'

While he despised visiting them, it was a reasonable gesture with a tremendous return on investment. Ignoring that it was an economic term, it was equally valid for socialization procedures, and every little gesture that would cost them barely anything and had little risk involved would be stupid not to go through with it if it had gains beyond imagination.

Advanced payments, mana skills, first deliveries, showing respect in negotiations, and being as amiable as possible. Everything was peanuts compared to what they would get—a dungeon.

Sure, they already had it, but having a group of people who were not affiliated with anyone was like rolling a 20 ten times after another. They could be used for war, assassinations, or other deeds. The sky was the limit. As such, they should make every little gesture of goodwill so the camp would later become their hounds.

'Hounds huh... shouldn't use those terms. The canine-kin are a little sensi...'

Rumble!

His train of thought was interrupted when it rumbled, and the carriage came to an abrupt standstill, 'What's going on?'

Before Aurum could comprehend the situation, Quill put out his cigarette on his shoe sole, stood up, and gave out commands very calmly, not panicking.

"A monster attack. Maurice, stay with Aurum and Kai, the coachman. Ocilia and I will do this."

Ocilia wasn't too happy about it, "Who made you my boss?"

"Do it."

However, even though stubborn, Quill cared little, and with a little more stress in his voice, Ocilia just rolled her eyes, dispersing the construct in the form of the threads she was playing with and staying up.

While Ocilia fought with everyone in situations like this, she knew when to shut up and just follow orders, which she did, listening to Quill tell her what she needed to do.

"I will help too since I am your guide, and Algol will protect Aurum then."

The camp representatives stopped their little game, with Makol taking his new bow and arrows and readying himself while instructing Algol what to do, following Quill's example.

'Is it really a serious monster attack?'

Aurum knew almost nothing about war but how to finance it, and seeing both of them slightly serious but somewhat casual made him relax. Whatever made their carriage rumble was probably dangerous but manageable if they didn't plan to run.

After everyone took out their weapons, Makol and Quill walked side by side, discussing their plans and experiences. They decided to follow Makol's plan since he was a native of this place.

'Didn't they fight against each other?'

Aurum remembered that they had fought, almost killing each other, and now they were working together—a genuine sign of overcoming their past conflict for a similar goal.

"Oh? A new bow? Hope you don't suck that much now."

"If I get serious, you would know."

"Why? You would immediately run away instead of letting a colleague die?"

"You are an asshole, you know that?"

"Works for me."

Or at least they tried while walking outside the carriage. It was clearly in jest, but the look on the night elf's face said that he wasn't too amused, wanting to use Quill for target practice.

However, when they stepped outside and met the coachman, fearful and panicked, Aurum saw why he was like that, "That's... is it safe?! Shouldn't we attack?"

Before them was a giant pig-like demonic monster, three meters in height, with darkish red skin and fur that looked like ore. Its hooves clapped like steel, making a clattering sound with every step, while it sometimes licked its tusks with a furry tongue, covering them with greenish goo.

'It's just ignoring us.'

Makol sounded very relaxed, not even readying for a fight, "Why should we? It's a mama traveling with her children."

Beside the enormous boar were three dozen smaller piglets, all running around and playing, but calling them little was an understatement. They were at least a meter in height and looked dangerously musculous, able to kill their mounts, who were not amused by this scene, trying not to move or breathe too loudly.

"I get it, but shouldn't we eliminate everyone we can in those parts so it doesn't come to demon runs? If this is a family, it can only grow from here on out, right?"

Makol sighed, readying his bow, "Aurum is right..." He looked back to his colleague, "...Algol, get ready. We now work together, and endangering our future benefactors because of laziness is not something we should do."

Aurum didn't just say those things for fun or out of fear but meant them. He knew how demon runs started and that they would need to put a lot of resources into exterminating those wild demons regularly so they wouldn't come into their territory and contaminate their places with demonic energy.

Ocilia and Quill walked forward, with Makol looking seriously at the monsters and pulling an arrow back, "When I shoot, all of them will run toward us, so be ready."

"You got it, boss."

"Just hurry."

When pulling back more, straining the bow, reddish and dark bluish energy surrounded the arrow, almost breaking it from the vibration it experienced.

"Go!"

He let go, and the arrow accelerated fast but suddenly stopped, moving exceptionally slowly halfway toward the boar monsters while still in mid-air. The arrow's energy suddenly hardened, rotating and creating a whirlwind, with the boars turning toward it, looking confused.

"Urgh! All those fancy skills are useless if you need a lifetime to cast. Let me show you what rapid-fire means."

Seeing when the arrow stopped, Ocilia sighed, walking forward and creating multiple tubes out of her threads, which appeared seemingly out of nowhere. Little chunks of metal floated toward her tubes, getting inserted, and others just stacked to the side of her.

"Y'all are really giving all, huh? It feels bad not to contribute."

Quill also walked forward, pulling dozens of tiny throwing daggers out and enchanting them, relaxed as if there were no worry in the world.

Aurum looked at the scene, not liking it. Before them was a wild demon boar, wanting to charge with dozens of smaller ones. They were all looking toward them and readying a charge, with their terrifying auras now emitting toward them, saying not to attack or they would regret it.

"Tier 3? What do you think?"

Algol shook his head, "Mama is Tier 2, at most."

"How so? Shouldn't she be stronger when she is that big?"

"Nah, you will see."

However, before he became more anxious when his guards leisurely discussed how a giant monster could be weak, Makol's skill finished after he looked around, seeing that everyone was done with whatever they were doing.

Boom!

The arrow accelerated slowly, like an animal about to attack, only to unexpectedly shoot forward rapidly toward the enormous boar while rotating around itself—a moment and everything ended.

It pierced into the monster, creating a giant hole, stuck inside with everyone looking confused at the bizarre scene, only for Makol to smirk, "3... 2... 1... and...." He looked confused back toward Quill and Ocilia, "...get ready, I made a mis..."

BOOM!

Another explosion occurred with dozens of energy arrows flying from inside the boar, piercing every one of her children and making them explode. It was a slaughter and excessively gruesome, with chunks of meat and intestines flying around, having a pungent and disgusting smell, even overwhelming the miasma.

"Keugh!"

Aurum needed to puke, not able to stomach it, but after getting the wine out, he suddenly heard a screeching sound, annoying and loud. Looking up, he saw a child crying, half dead, barely able to survive the next few minutes.

Makol stretched while walking to the back and smiling proudly, "It's your turn now."

Ocilia raised an eyebrow, confused, "What do you mean it's our turn? Do you mean me to get the material of the monster? Not gonna happen."

He shook his head, but before he could say anything, the ground started to rumble, and everyone heard Algol's excited voice, "Papa sound pissed!"