Several hours after Lionel left he finally understood why all the people who had been outside of the village said traveling was difficult. His feet were already beginning to tire and hurt when there was still a lot of time left until his planned break.

His village had been situated so that both in the west and in the north grew vast forests while in the east was a river which the villagers used as a source of fresh water and they never crossed it. South were farmlands belonging to the village as well as plains and some other settlements further down.

As a result, now he was trecking through the northern forest which was enormous and full of life. Thankfully all the surrounding forests were cleared of monsters some time back, due to them flooding out into the vicinity of Stresia and posing a danger. They still have not recovered since then and you could meat powerful monsters in the depths of these forests.

Of course, traveling the wilderness on poorly made dirt roads still posed a challenge. Due to this his first day of traveling was both new and exciting, and at the same time full of suffering and exhaustion. Thankfully, he had not been assaulted by anything dangerous during the day and before night time he managed to find a good place to rest.

Now it was time for Lionel's first time camping experience and he was furiously thinking how should he prepare his campsite. He knew such basics as gathering firewood to make a campfire, but at the same time, he did not have such essentials as a tent or even a bedroll.

Understanding that his nights until Stresia will be uncomfortable, he searched for some softer leaves to create a makeshift bed at the same time as he was looking for firewood.

It was much easier to sleep even in his raided village where there was a bunch of cloth and other things to help create a better shelter. However, now he did not have such luxury and could only sigh while lighting a campfire.

Immediately after the fire got going Lionel decided to start cooking his dinner. He still had the rabbit he caught a couple of days ago, at the village he made sure to preserve it so it could last for a time. Besides the rabbit, he also packed a bunch of food which was still left in the village after the fire like vegetables and bread.

During the day while on the road he only ate some smoked meat and a few vegetables, so currently he was starving for something more substantial and was preparing to cook a broth. Of course, he was not planning to use up the whole rabbit during the first night, but since it was going to go bad quickly he did not use it sparingly.

Lionel dexterously cut up the rabbit meat and some vegetables with his new dagger. Then he gathered some water from a nearby stream and boiled it. When that was done he started to put in the ingredients in one by one. As soon as everything was in he put a few specks of salt on top and then covered the pot with a shoddy lid.

He was not someone who cooked frequently, nor someone who put a lot of effort into learning to cook, however, he believed that his cooking abilities were decent enough for what they were. Furthermore, a poor place like his village did not have many spices besides salt, so most of the food that the villagers would prepare was quite basic in the first place. Making them content even with the most simple of dishes.

While the food was cooking Lionel went to prepare his bedding. He used the gathered leaves to make a mound and then covered it with a larger piece of cloth, creating a somewhat soft and usable bed.

As he was doing so, he thanked the gods that the sky was clear and it did not look like there will be a storm any time soon. Otherwise, his journey would have become a disaster, since he did not have a tent nor the knowledge of how to camp in the rain. Catching a simple cold was already extremely problematic back in his village, now that elder Faf was not around and he was traveling on is own, even more so.

When he was done with the bed Lionel began to think what he could do more. Unfortunately, he did not know much else about camping in the wild. He knew that a lit fire usually was enough to scare away any normal animals and even some weak monsters, but it was also capable of attracting the unwanted attention of more powerful monsters and bandits.

Sadly he did not have any companions that could take the watch or some special magic which could alert him of trespassers. The only solace for him is that according to the tracks, those bandits which raided his village headed south.

It still did not mean there were no other bandits around, but there was always some danger in traveling and camping like this. And with his small amount of knowledge that he had, he could not do anything to minimize the risk any further.

When the broth was done Lionel ate his only satisfying meal of the day with relish, without leaving even a single drop. After he was done with the food, he quickly washed the dishes at the small creek and left them out to dry before going to sleep.

His first night out in the wilderness was unnerving but much better than his previous two nights. With a bit of trouble, he managed to fall into a light sleep.

Most of the night was quiet and seemed even tranquil, only the buzzing of insects could sometimes be heard, slightly stirring Lionel in his slumber. This lasted all until daybreak when Lionel got awoken by the sound of a snapping branch.

He immediately became alert and the drowsiness from sleep lasted only a moment or two before he became clearheaded. Thankfully since he slept in his clothes just in case there was no need to get dressed. The only thing he grabbed after waking up was the dagger which he had laid next to him before going to sleep.

With slow movements, Lionel stood up and looked around. It was still quite dark and the fire had already gone out, with a mere glance nothing could be seen in the surroundings of the camp or in the row of trees.

Lionel, however, was extremely careful and diligent in his search, which let him notice a pair of shining eyes staring at him from the bush. Those piercing green eyes that were so similar to his held a savageness in them.

The owner of those eyes soon stepped out of the foliage and revealed itself to be a big grey wolf. Memories from a long time ago leaped to the surface of Lionel's mind. This was just like the first time he met a wolf in the forest, this encounter seemed almost as if a reflection of that memory.

But this wolf seemed to be a bit different from the one in his memories. Scars riddled the body of this one and there was something different about its presence. It seemed both more defiant and at the same time more lonely than the one he met in his childhood.

Lionel had once heard the description of such a wolf from the village hunter when he was still small. Back then he said that this is how a lone wolf looks, which either got kicked out of his pack or left it on his own due to personal reasons.

While past memories were circling in his head, the standoff between him and the gray wolf continued. He had raised his dagger and taken a combat position, but he still had not moved to attack. It was not because he was waiting for the wolf to charge at him, he knew that for someone like himself taking the initiative was necessary to compliment his fighting style.

However, even when understanding this principle he stayed still, paralyzed. But not out of fear. It was because from the moment he and the wolf locked eyes he felt like the both of them were so damn similar. Both alone and without a home, they were cursed to suffer the pains of this world on their own. That surreal feeling stopped him from acting against the wolf.

Several moments passed as they stared at each other. Then with a turn, the wolf left. Lionel did not chase it, he only sat down on his leaf bed and stared at the first rays of light with a sense of melancholy. Loneliness he tried to keep away from the start of the journey seemed to return and gnaw at him.

Only when the sun had already fully risen did he stand up with a sigh and shake himself out of his gloom. He then hurried to make some quick breakfast and gather everything up to make up for lost time.

Due to the morning's encounter, the second day of travel had less enthusiasm than the first one. On the other hand, because he got more used to traveling he had made much more progress than the first day. Also, fortunately, today's travel was much more eventful than yesterday's and gave an opportunity for Lionel to clear his head of previous events.

When he was taking his midday break and wandering around the vicinity of where he had stopped he suddenly noticed a sound. He immediately stopped moving and tried to listen more carefully to verify.

It did not take long for him to hear the sound again and this time he recognized it as some kind of strange language. Curiosity quickly overcame him, with slow and methodical steps he prowled closer to where the words were coming from. As he did so the sound became louder and more understandable.

After mere seconds of sneaking, he saw where the people, or creatures, should be conversing. But he circled around the spot and only when he saw a large rock did he close in from behind it. He did not want to go in without understanding the situation a bit better. For that, he needed some proper cover, some thin trees would not do the job.

Reaching the rock was very simple. When he did so he was already more than close enough to see where the targets were. Slowly, with no small amount of alertness, Lionel peaked out from the side and threw a look towards where the voices were coming from.

There he saw two small and ugly humanoids with green skin. Lionel was not an expert on monsters, but even he knew that they were goblins. These little buggers were the most common monsters and would periodically cause problems for every village. Most of the time they would only steal some food or cattle, however, sometimes their tribes could grow big enough to attack and raid entire settlements.

Elder Faf said that although they were considered to be in the weakest strata of monsters when in large enough numbers they could be considered to have calamity level danger.

Luckily there were only two of them here. A normal goblin on his own could be killed even by a child, only in larger numbers, they would become dangerous enough to threaten adults. Still, another thing that makes goblins dangerous is that they always use poison.

Their poison is quite weak and can only slightly weaken even a mere farmer, but with a large enough dose of it in your bloodstream you can become completely paralyzed. Due to that, you can never underestimate goblins and have to always be careful in dealing with them. At least until you become high enough level that their poison did does not affect you anymore.

Recalling all the information he had learned from elder Faf Lionel considered what to do. He could just leave and avoid this altogether. But it was clear to him that if he could not even defeat these two goblins he was not cut out to be an adventurer.

During travel, his mind has been constantly thinking about what to do when he gets to the town of Stresia. However, no matter how much he brainstormed there was no profession for which he had the skill needed to survive in a proper town.

His only option left was the same as his lifelong dream, to become an adventurer. That is why he did not want to abandon this battle. Goblins were one of the weakest monsters an adventure would face in his lifetime.

So to Lionel killing these two goblins will not only make him some money but will also give him some valuable combat experience. This was more than enough of an incentive for Lionel to take up arms.

With determination burning in his eyes he quickly began to plan after quietly making his decision. Killing goblins nonchalantly like some legendary hero was still very far for him. Even these two could be deadly for him if he was not careful, so he had to be prudent.

He stared at the goblins from behind the rock and started to analyze his situation. The creatures seem to be in search of something and were each carrying a stick with sharpened ends on which some kind of purplish fluid could be seen.

Honestly, this was poor equipment even for goblins. They did not even have any clothes besides the linen cloths on their lower bodies. It was clear to Lionel that the only troublesome thing about them was the poison.

Still, he did not want to fight both of them at the same time. Formulating a simple plan he backed away from the rock a bit and started searching for a sizable rock. From what he saw, the goblins were most likely looking for food and were quite unsuccessful.

If it was so, then it should be possible to attract one of them if they believed there was food in a certain direction. Carrying a rock that he found on the ground, Lionel slowly circled the goblin search zone and inched closer to one of them. After discerning that the goblins were far enough from one another he skidded the rock into a nearby bush.

The sound instantly alerted the two goblins. Then the closer one looked towards the other goblin and growled with ferocity before saying something in goblin. The other goblin appeared to be discontent but after a moment of pause, it consented.

Seeing this, the first goblin gleefully ran towards the sound which the goblin assumed to be some kind of animal. Unfortunately for it, Lionel was already there waiting for it, and the sound was nothing more than a trap.

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When the goblin reached his vicinity Lionel saw it scanning the surroundings, in search of its prey. Soon it began heading towards the tree behind which he was hiding. This was the perfect chance.

As soon as the goblin walked close enough he drew his weapon and jumped out from behind the tree with vigor, surprising the creature. Following up he struck out with his dagger towards the goblin's throat.

Unfortunately, his actions were neither fluid enough nor quick enough. In the time he spent jumping out and attacking the goblin was able to slightly shift its position, resulting in him hitting its collarbone instead of its throat.

A scream rang out from the goblin's throat and it dropped its spear, but Lionel knew that his attack was far from fatal. The goblins anguish quickly attracted the other goblin's attention and sounds of footfall could immediately be heard.

Knowing that he could not afford to stand in dismay any longer Lionel forced his body to move once again. This time the goblin was on the ground wriggling from pain which let him hit its throat accurately this time.

The warmth flooding into his body marked the end of this goblins life and gave him profound joy. Yet he did not have the time to revel in it. Footstep sounds of the other goblin had already reached him.

Seeing its comrade laying on the ground dead, the second goblin let out a furious roar. With bloodshot eyes, it saw Lionel standing over the corpse. Finding a target to let out its rage on, the goblin charged with its spear in hand.

Since Lionel did not have any plans on getting pierced by a spear nor to become food for goblins, he dodged backward as soon as it got close enough. However, the goblin was relentless and after the first one it followed up by a second and third strike.

Having longer legs and better agility Lionel found it easy to avoid the goblin's attacks, at least at first. This however changed after the fight continued for a while. It seemed that the goblin had something going for it which Lionel did not, and that was an absurd level of stamina.

As he began to lose his breath, the goblin was still going strong. Furthermore, although he managed to keep a distance, he soon realized that doing so was much more advantageous for the goblin than him.

The goblin's spear was much longer than his dagger. This meant that by keeping a distance he had no way to counter-attack. While the goblin, on the other hand, was keeping his initiative by constantly being on the offensive.

When he realized this, he knew that he had to be more aggressive and to not just keep evading. Gritting his teeth Lionel waited and charged after another of the goblin's thrusts missed. Him taking such a course of action seemed to shock the goblin and break his rhythm.

Feeling relieved at the goblin's confusion he slashed at it with his dagger. He was not very composed at the moment and did not feel like he could aim for the opponent's throat and hit it in an upfront battle like this, even if he became better. That is why he chose a larger target.

Unfortunately, this resulted in him raking across the goblin's chest, and only after doing so, he realized how much of a problem the ribs were. His attack left only a mere flesh wound. Realizing that he screwed up again Lionel released two more attacks in his opponent's direction, this time stabs towards the belly.

His first attack was dodged by the panicking and bleeding goblin, while the second one hit home and lodged itself in its guts. Shrieks echoed out from the goblin as it struggled to push itself off the dagger. It succeeded in doing so, but it was already too late. No strength was left in the goblin's body and its intestines had already been spilled on the floor.

With a few agonizing wails, it collapsed on the ground. The rewarding warmth soon was felt inside Lionel's body once again and he realized that the battle was over.

Sighing in relief his nerves finally relaxed a bit. Although he had not been injured this fight, the mental exhaustion and the constant danger he had felt still made him tired and scared.

However, he could not rest in a place full of blood like this. He decided to make haste and to quickly loot the bodies. Unfortunately, besides the left ears which could be traded in for a reward, the goblins did not have anything valuable on them.

"How come I had to encounter such poor blokes. Damn it."

Lionel felt so frustrated at the lack of spoils that he could not help but curse out loud. Goblins were among monsters that were renowned for pillaging and actually gathering stuff, so he felt that they should have at least something besides the roots and grasses he found. Of course, if they had been richer they might not have been using such poor gear.

Luckily, while he was musing about loot he recalled that elder Faf once said how creatures like goblin had nests or caves where they stored most of what they had acquired in their lives. This lit a flame of hope in Lionel's green eyes, but it was quickly snuffed out when he realized that there might be more goblins in their home.

He figured that there was at most only a small number of spoils in there at most considering the situation of the two he killed, but appropriately there should not be many goblins left as well.

A decision like this made him rack his brains. To risk going or not. Surprisingly this dilemma did not last. The risk was not big and success would make him slightly richer. In case there are too many goblins he would scout at first and if it was really too difficult he would leave.

Done with making his decision he did not immediately begin tracking down the goblin lair. He still needed to regain his strength also he had something he wanted to do before leaving.

He walked over to one of the small goblin corpses and began to stab it. Any other normal person who saw this would say he is letting out his frustration or mutilating the body out of anger. In reality, however, he was practicing.

With every stab, he was trying to hit in between the ribs. During the previous fight, he screwed up because he did not know any good places to deal proper damage besides the throat, so now he is trying to fix that problem.

After doing this for half an hour from various positions Lionel finally stood up with both joy and frustration on his face. He believed that now he would be able to get past the ribs and deal lethal wounds with one out of three attacks if the enemy was standing still.

He was proud of his accomplishment, yet at the same time annoyed that he will not be able to do this if he does not catch his opponent by surprise. At least for the next battle, he could not yet aim for the chest.

When he was done with his practice Lionel moved away from the place where he left the mutilated corpse and began to track the goblin hideout. Thankfully these goblins were not keen on hiding their tracks and like most small goblin groups, operated in close vicinity to their base.

It was not very troublesome to reach the cave they resided in. Only after doing so did a problem arise. He was successful in finding the cave and immediately saw that there were no guards, this was a good sign for him.

He stealthily closed in towards the entrance, and that was when he had to stop. Even during mid-day, the cave was pitch black, to go further in he would have to use a torch, and he indeed had one. Unfortunately, that would quickly alert any goblins that are still inside. On the other hand, going inside without a light source would only inconvenience him, since goblins have dark vision.

In the end, he decided to try and tackle the problem in the same way he did with the two goblins. Only this time he walked much further away from the cave entrance and looked for rocks on a larger scope, he wanted something bigger this time.

After about ten minutes he finally found a rock that suited his needs. It was big enough that you could not fully wrap around it even with two hands. With a brisk pace, Lionel returned to the cave with the rock in hand.

Making sure there had been no change in the surroundings while he was gone, he closed in near the entrance and threw the rock into the depths of the cave. Soon a sound of two rocky surfaces colliding sounded out in the darkness.

Lionel immediately froze and started to keenly listen. And he did not have to wait long, after a moment of deafening silence he heard a now familiar goblin language ring out from inside the cave.

Unfortunately, after not getting a reply the goblin stopped speaking. The area descended into silence and Lionel was left standing not knowing what to do. His plan did not show any obvious results and he did not know what should come next.

Although it did give a small probability that there was only a single goblin inside he did not want to take the risk of storming the cave. Even one goblin could be life-threatening in such an environment. Due to this, he decided to take the approach which is the most familiar to him, waiting.

When enough time passed the ones inside should become worried about the hunters not returning. The lack of food and clean water should give a sense of danger and force them to exit. That was the moment when he would strike.

He made himself comfortable at the entrance and prepared himself to wait for a long time just as if he was hunting animals back in his home forest. He had already gotten used to sitting in one place for long stretches of time so this was not much of a challenge for him.

Unexpectedly, either due to its curiosity, or maybe stupidity, he did not have to wait for long. After about an hour or so he started to hear footsteps coming from inside the cave. This caused him to tense his muscles as he stood up and drew his dagger.

Soon enough a goblin exited the cave with nervous movements. It was not even able to react before Lionel rapidly rushed to him and this time learning from his mistakes, plunged his weapon into its stomach.

Some gurgling sounds escaped the goblin's mouth before it collapsed, dead. Lionel then pulled his dagger out of the body and looked down at the laying corpse. The ugly goblin's face still made it hard for him to understand its gender, supposedly they also had females and males, but on the other hand, he felt like he was getting more used to killing them now.

After having already taken the lives of four humanoids his hands no longer trembled after he killed and he has become able to do it more methodically. Feeling a bit afraid of his newly gained apathy he searched the goblin and after finding nothing valuable or useful he headed inside the dark cave.

Before he entered he lit a torch to have some lighting. When he saw how only a single goblin went out to search he knew that there was either no one else inside, or they were non-combatants.

If they had more able bodies they would have sent more than one goblin to see what was going on, in case there was an ambush and one died there would be another who might be able to alert the others. Goblins were not exactly smart but their cleverness and carefulness were well known, only sometimes their curiosity and naivety blinded some of the young ones.

Just like he had guessed, after entering deeper into the cave he did not find any other living beings inside. All there was in what he assumed to be their living space were some old clothes and random food like grasses, herbs, fruits and such.

What he was truly anticipating was the place in the back which seemed to have a tapestry covering its entrance. With a spring in his steps, he rushed over to the "treasury" and as soon as he pushed aside the tapestry the view of another cave space appeared in his eyes, only this one had a small pile of random stuff in the middle of it.

Lionel felt a bit disappointed, but he had already guessed there would not be any mountains of gold here yet it did not stop him from feeling vexation. Still, there could be some unexpected surprises in this stack, so with excitement rapidly returning to his eyes he ran over to the "treasure" pile and began to look it through.

It was not very big so sifting through it did not take that long. Most of the things he found were various general goods for which he neither had space nor time. However, some things made his eyes sparkle. Besides 5 gold, 6 silver, and 24 copper coins he found a bottle of good wine, a silver canteen and most importantly a small topaz.

Maybe for a rich person, this would be a poultry sum, but for Lionel, this was a huge surprise. He greedily packed everything valuable into his pack, after which he sneakily looked around and immediately left that cave a bit richer and much happier than he when he had entered.

Having taken care of the goblin situation he did not stand around and vacated the premise to continue his journey as soon as possible. He had already been waylaid for too long and needed to catch up for lost time. However, now comparing to the morning he was obviously traveling with a much brighter look on his face, his sadness almost forgotten.

During the rest of the day and the night he did not encounter any other problems and during the second half of the third day he finally left the overgrown forest and for the first time cast his look on the town of Strasia.