"Hey, do you know who those people are?"

"No, you are guard on duty. I just came for a moment here. In a minute I will be patrolling elsewhere."

I curse the lazy jack-ass beside me and prompt him.

"Let's see who they are first. After that, you can do whatever you like."

I hear him grumbling a little, but he settles in place and takes a firmer grip on his weapon. At least he isn’t stupid.

Their approach is slow, but I don't mind it. It gives me time to take a closer look. As they all get closer, I see a pair of people in the lead I recognize. They are decent hunters. I don't know their name. But that's to be expected, I don't know most people's names in the village. There is simply no time to be chatting away whenever they pass through the gate.

A dozen meters from me the six well-dressed people behind them stop at their prompting. They are all equipped with simple but well-made gear. Pairs of bows, spears, and swords are their choice of weapons.

They also all wear lightweight leather armor. Just like I expect from people from other villages, they are all wearing different styles. In the weapons, it’s very subtle. But for the leather armor the way it was sewn together, and the patterns it forms, you can see the difference. For anyone paying attention, it’s something very easy to notice

As they get closer, I hear the taller of the hunters speak.

"Hi, I was going to my usual place to hunt when I ran into these people. They claim to be envois from another village."

After a few such encounters, I know my answer. "Ok, I just send for Charlie. He will be here in a few moments."

And Charlie was there in less than two minutes. A few guards accompany him. Opening the gate they are invited in.

"Hi, I’m Charlie. The guild's spokesperson. Where do you hail from?"

Those words are said in the most diplomatic tone possible and the answer surprises me a little. Though it shouldn’t.

"We come from Lord Max's village."

I should have expected that. People are already calling themselves Lords. Let's hope they are allies, not enemies.

-----------------------

I lead them to my office and say when I arrive.

"What brings your team to our city?" In my office, I say to the arrivals.

What a pears to be the leader of the group starts speaking.

"We have become aware of you a few days ago. A few of our scouts ran into yours. We didn't make contact with them at the time. But we still like to get to know our neighbors better."

In the face of it, his word sounds fine, but I don’t trust them. Just a feeling in my gut. They are lying, it may be about something unimportant. But the lie sits as a barrier between us nonetheless.

Having dealt with a few of these encounters by now I’m experienced enough. My face shows nothing of my thoughts, only a smile. And with that smile, I speak:

"That is to be expected. We don't know each other yet. I hope we learn about each other."

"Yes, we will. What do you wish to discuss first?"

--------------

"I don't trust them. I can't put my finger on why exactly, but I'm certain they lied a lot in our conversation."

With a questioning tone, I ask: "About what exactly?"

"I don’t for sure. But I can tell they were trying to deceive us with the way they presented the encounter with the scout. My guess, they were the ones starting trouble with their neighbors."

"You really don’t trust them, do you?"I say with a wry smile.

"It's not that. But it is clear they are at the very least lying on very interesting subjects."

"Do you think the person following our scouts was from their village?"

"It’s likely, along with the scouts snooping around here and the report from the team that just got back. The ones I told you about before. People wearing a style of gear we haven’t encountered up to now."

“They got back? I didn’t see them.”

"They are resting for now.” After a brief pause, he asks me: “Do you also think the clear difference we noticed in the leather armor and other equipment is intentional?"

"Yes. It would make infiltrating with anything beyond a basic weapon much harder. Otherwise few people would know the faces of everyone in the village even weeks after we got here."

"We may have the size of a small town, but we haven’t lived here long enough to get to know each other."

"Do you have an idea of what we should do?"

"Nothing beyond the obvious."

"Come on, out with it. What is the obvious to us mere mortals, ooooohhh, The Great Magic Man."

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

With a grimace, I grumble:

"Shouldn’t have told you about that.” Seeing his grin I ignore him and continue.

“Basically what we are doing right now. We don't buy a nice farm in a developing area. Even if we could make a 500% return in less than a year, no matter what the realtor or your friend tells you." I speak with a smile on my face. With a more serious look, I continue. "As long as we don't let ourselves trust their words we will be fine. We are already hiding the crossbows and anything else they saw inside is of little relevance."

“How did you figure it out? We were hoping to string along with the ballistae thing a while longer?”

“It’s a secret. Now back to the important business. Our new friends.”

"Ok. We are fairly trusting with our tentative allies. But we had already taken measures. Two of our visitors, I was told, had very high perception stats. Without a concerted effort to hide anything of importance, they would have been able to learn much more than is prudent for us to allow.

"How did you determine their stats?"

"By chance. As they made their way here there was a loud crashing sound I'm pretty sure came from something breaking. My guards were paying attention, so they noticed the two in the back wincing in pain. It was disproportional to the noise. They calculate at least 30 in the stat."

"I don't think we have anyone quite that focussed on perception. That does make me more likely to think they are spies, but it’s not proof. "

"That is the only thing that makes sense to me. What else could they be?"

"Don't assume malice to what could just as well be stupidity. This does have a lot of exceptions, and we should take reasonable precautions. But we can't live believing we will find evil under every rock. If we do so, the universe might deliver. Let us hope for a good outcome.” After a brief pause to catch my breath, a question strikes me. “But something is nagging at me, why do you spend so much time keeping me in the loop?"

With a snort, he answers me:

"I have told you before how important you are to the village. You may only have an honorary position in the guild but by all intents and purposes, you are amongst the five most important people in running things. On the same level as Stuart and the guard commander."

"Looking from that perspective, I think I get it. Though I’m not that essential.”

He gives a disbelieving snort before we each go our own way.

-------------

I’m left with a lot of things to think about and to do. I should check that everything is ok, and that's exactly my course of action.

I talk with Stuart, my group, and a few other people in town. I will be leaving for a day and it’s best not to leave anything to chance. Nothing can fall by the wayside while I‘m gone. And I need to go for a day at least. The stress has been piling up, and I need to take a breather. Nothing too long, but I can't stagnate in my current rhythm.

Stopping to eat quickly, I fill almost to bursting before setting out. It may not be the best way to do things, but it’s something I have gotten used to over the years. To eat once or twice a day, not every couple of hours.

On my way out, the guard post has a few extra people. The earlier commotion caught everyone's attention. Even after they left there are people here. It could be nothing, but staying for such a short amount of time tends to indicate they came to spy rather than to establish proper diplomatic channels. They didn’t even invite a team to follow on their trek back.

Though I don’t know why they wouldn't stay a while longer and try to gather more intel. The whole thing sounded fishy. Not only their actions but the way they went about it makes me think they were more spies than anything else.

With staff in hands and pockets full, I go play with the wolves.

I try to recognize each of the wolves I have encountered. Most of the time I succeed. The first few times I encounter a wolf, he is just as aggressive as the first time. There are two however I ran into 6 times up to now. They are slightly changing their perception of me. Nothing dramatic, just waiting a little longer to engage me or hesitating wherever they are going for the kill. I have more and more begun to think that they are being unnaturally forced to be more aggressive. There doesn't seem to be any control mechanisms on them. They just feel an unnatural rage and attack anyone that gets too close.

But there are still too many questions unanswered.

My feet hit the ground as I run. As I get used to the system I notice its effects on my body even more.

The other increase of my stats across the board has given me perspective on what I require. And how each of my stats strengthens me.

For now, every single of my stats is quite important. I don't see myself forsaking one for the sake of another. I doubt I would ever be one of those with the highest stat four or five times higher than my others.

That could change. I still had no idea how things would be in the higher levels. But this was my plan for now.

We barely knew how would things be at level 50, let alone level 500. That is if there were even people that high-leveled.

With my mind back on the hunt, a few encounters in, I run into one of the wolves I know better. This time he is with another pack, the old pack must have died.

We circle one another but from his stance, it's clear he thinks he cannot beat me. To anyone with sense that is also obvious, but the other two wolves don't notice this.

Blind with rage, though still aware enough to work as a pack, I see them all charging me.

I don't have the killer instinct or the highest skill level, but sparring with them is most of what I have spent the last week doing over the night.

Each of their moments is contested with ease, and all are repelled dozens of times. Sometimes with pushes, others with blows from my staff.

We trade in kicks, punches, scratches, and bites. This time I don't leave after a couple of minutes as usual.

I stay.

Ten minutes go by then twenty. By the mark of thirty minutes, the only wolf who hasn’t run out of stamina is the biggest one.

Being lv. 9 from his spars with me and other encounters, he can push longer, but I can already see him slowing to conserve his stamina.

By his demeanor, it’s clear he wants to keep going. It may be the epitome of waste, I have so little time to go around as it is, but I continue there. The doubts won’t stop me.

And so we spar or play. Even with his skin deformed and little knowledge of wolve’s body language, I know he is enjoying this, and frankly, so am I.

I'm elated by the encounter. Time loses its meaning while we are rolling with each other and playing. Once in a while, one of the other wolves jumps in, but that isn't much of a concern. Even my new friend doesn’t like these interruptions.

By the end, when I can already see he can barely stand, I approach and touch the back of his neck trying to send my well-wishes. Exactly as I do most of the time when planting something. It’s something similar to the state I try to constantly be in, though more focused. I don’t know how effective it’s but I do it nonetheless. Even what I’m fairly sure was the result of my interactions, could just be chance.

But I still feel better by trying to affect change in the world not only by my actions but also by who I am, and I won’t stop just because I can’t see the results clearly outlined. I’m already far too logical and unfeeling whenever we are talking about something that is not Pando.

What gives me pause are the words in my head. I should come up with better terminology for stuff.

The night is ending as I find a quiet spot to sleep. Just 10 miles away from the city, and I judge it’s unlikely I will be bothered in the hour before sunrise.

I will be taking a risk most people would not think twice before declining. Danger and fear. Those concepts rule most of our lives. I try to have a healthy respect for anything dangerous. For anything else, I find where the danger lies and take precautions. But whenever you go beyond the measure response to something that might kill you, there is where the real danger lies.

Remembering wise words, we have nothing to fear but fear itself. And I will no longer let fear be the driving motivator of all my actions.

Never again. I will die before I let that happen.

A small shiver runs by my back, and I keep on my way. Puppies to play with everywhere. Puppies with big long teeth trying to kill me.