Arilee arrived at Camp just after nightfall. She said her goodbyes and thanked him for the day out hunting.

“I was glad to have your assistance. Come by the Hunter’s tomorrow for your part of the reward. It should be ready in the afternoon.”

“Thanks, I will,” said Arilee as she turned to leave for her campsite.

She enjoyed her day out and wondered how the rest of the groups went. She hoped Slicks and Chip did okay at the guard training. And that Leela’s day went well. She also hoped more than anything they saved some dinner for her.

As she neared, she could smell the food cooking from the footpath. It smelt so good, Arilee almost broke into a run. Chip must be cooking.

At the campsite was the usual site of her friends relaxing after a hard day. Chip was stooped over a cooking pot, while Slicks was lounging out in a comfortable sitting position against a tree stump. His eyes were closed. Leela was lying down using a bag for a pillow.

No one noticed Arilee come in, so she announced herself. "Hello everyone, I'm back finally."

Slicks opened one eye, saw Arilee, and then closed it. Chip looked over his shoulder. “Hey there, Arilee.”

Leela waved. “Come sit and join us. We only all got back a little bit ago.”

“Thanks,” smiled Arilee, unequipping her gear and placing it on the ground. “How were your days?”

“Exhaussssting,” hissed Slicks.

“Yeah, they worked us good,” said Chip, laughing.

“How about you, Leela?” asked Arilee.

Leela smiled. “It was good. Everyone was so nice,” she laughed tiredly. “I think I met like half the caravan though. So many people. It was very tiring. How was your day?”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

“It was good,” said Arilee. “Also, very tiring. A nice elf named Tre brought me out on a hunt. A local village put in a request for help with a giant boar problem they were having. You should have seen the size of this thing. It was twice as tall as me!”

“No way,” said Chip. “Twice as tall? I don’t believe it. That’s like three meters tall.”

Arilee laughed. “Oh no, it really was. It took six shots for us to bring it down. Or well, for Tre to bring it down. I was mostly support.”

“That sounds way cooler than what we did today,” said Chip. “All we did was fitness training.”

“Run here, run there. Run in circlessss. Jump on the ground, jump back up. Jump on the ground again. It never stopssss,” groaned Slicks.

“That’s pretty much how our day went,” Chip laughed. “How about you, Leela? You said you met a lot of people?”

“Yes, the priestess brought me on her rounds this morning. She had people she recently healed she wanted to check on. Then there were people who needed healing. She healed the first few people but had me take over after that. She wanted to see my skills, you see. And then, after all that, she introduced me to the other five priestesses.”

“Sounds like we all had long days,” said Arilee. “Is the food almost ready, Chip?”

Chip gave the cooking pot one final stir. “It is now, come grab a bowl!”

***

Early the next morning, Arilee awoke before the rest of the group. She quietly did the morning errands and started the morning breakfast. Her arms and legs felt heavy as she went through the motions. As she was preparing breakfast, Tre walked into camp with a wrapped bundle in his arms.

“Good morning,” he said, “I saw your campfire as I was walking back to my camp from the leatherworker. I have something for you,” he said, offering the bundle to her.

“Good morning,” said Arilee, taking the bundle from him. She unwrapped it to reveal a set of leather armor. It felt light for how strong it looked. “Is this from the boar?”

“It is,” said Tre. “The leatherworker said he worked all night on it. He’s a Wood Elf friend of mine.”

“Thank you so much,” said Arilee.

“You earned it. And Wood Elves are the best leather workers there are, so you know it’s the best quality. It should be much stronger than what you are wearing now.”

“This is so nice of you.”

“You earned it yesterday. I was told they were able to salvage plenty of meat and hide from the boar. The Corruption had not spread too far. And now we have Corruption samples for the camp mages to study. The Caravan is set to take off today. Are you ready?"

"Of course. We are excited to get onto the road."

"It's quite the event. I still have a few more errands to run before. I will see you then.