Chương 30: (30) B1 C30: Meeting Arthur

To my relief, Lucia didn't try anything that night, and over the next few nights, we continued to explore the forest around the cave. Now that Lucia had managed to equip herself with some gear, though, we began to separate ourselves during the night to cover more ground. Lucia had suggested that she go out during the day while I concentrated on exploring at night, but I didn't like the possibility that she'd run into slavers while I was busy sleeping back at the cave.

Thus, as we continued our exploration, we focused our attention on trying to find a possible merchants route or another possible shelter. Lucia found another shack, but that one was more damaged than the smithy, so we spared it little attention. Then, on night fourteen since I woke up in this new world, just a few days after we fought Ismena's group, we finally found a road that was wide enough to accommodate a full carriage.

It wasn't quite a paved road, but it was flat, well maintained, and even illuminated with simple magically-powered lightposts every dozen yards.

"You think it leads to a city?" I asked as I looked to one end of the road.

"Probably the slave camp," Lucia sighed.

"No, that end leads to the slave camp." I turned to point to the eastern end of the road.

"Probably. If we head west, though, we might be able to find some sort of civilization."

"But Mercentoria's a month away," Lucia pointed out, "What sort of civilization are you expecting to find—a roadside hamlet?"

"Anything with a roof is good enough for me. I just want to stop sleeping on the ground for once."

"Oh, nevermind, let's get going then," Lucia nodded with the eagerness of a racing child. We both carried heavy packs on our shoulders, yet she ran as if she weren't weighed down by anything at all. I found the sight amusing, and as I found myself laughing at her excitement, I soon joined alongside her.

"Lucia, slow down at least a little! You'll run out of stamina if you keep this up for too long!" … An hour later, we finally—FINALLY—found the first sign of friendly civilization. It didn't take the form of the walls of a small town, a roadside inn, or even an abandoned cottage. Instead, we found a sort of merchant's checkpoint, almost set up in a similar fashion as a racing pitstop, located at the junction of our road with another of similar size and style.

After the junction, the road continued West before quickly disappearing around a bend just twenty meters into the forest. On either side of the junction was a large wagon, each about the size of a short minibus, that were luckily closed-roofed. One wagon, the one closer to us, was set up like a food truck. Just in front of it were nearly a dozen tables organized in a loose grid-like pattern.

Three of those tables were occupied by a combined total of five patrons, each hooded and hard to distinguish apart from each other. As we approached, one of the patrons, a lone hooded figure drinking from a large tankard, looked up at us. Across the road was another wagon, yet this one was silent. There were no tables, visitors, or even lightposts for illumination. Near the end of the wagon, however, was a folded sign with the words 'Roadside Lodging—2 Bronze - 1 Night' painted into the wood with a dark hue.

"This'll work," I nodded. I turned to Lucia, then asked, "You don't have cash on you, do you?"

"You mean money? I have a little," Lucia nodded as she pulled a small pouch from her side pockets. Then, with a quiet whisper, she continued, "I was lucky to find these on one of the rogues from a few days ago. I don't think slavers are usually supposed to carry around their coin on them, but he must've not cared."

"How much is in there?" I asked as I attempted to peek into the bag.

"Uhhh…" Lucia slowly dumped the bag into her open palm. There were five coins in total—three larger bronze coins about the size of a US penny and two copper coins about the size of a US dime. Upon seeing the amount, she sighed, "Not much. This'll only pay for lodgings for one of us." To my disappointment, I was unfamiliar with the specific coins laying in her palm. FFO's currency system was entirely digital and used a currency simply called 'Coins' to refer to how wealthy a player was.

There weren't different types of money, let alone physical versions of currency that players could exchange with the NPC population. Upon seeing how disappointed Lucia was with our collection, however, I was able to assume that these bronze and copper coins didn't amount to much. I looked back up at Lucia, but before I could say a word, I heard a chuckle from our left. I looked to the side, where I watched the hooded figure lean back in his chair.

He brought his head up, revealing the grizzly smile hidden underneath his green hood.

"Where'd you kids come from?" He asked with a smirk. He looked to Lucia, then to me.

"Are you some traveling nobleman's daughter? And you her bodyguard?"

"Excuse me?" Lucia growled as she clenched the coins into her fist. She turned toward the man, her brow furrowed in annoyance, but the man simply laughed upon seeing her reaction.

"I guess it's the other way around," he chuckled. He turned to me, his shoulders swaying as he brought his gaze away from Lucia, before he leaned forward with his elbows placed upon the table, "What are you two doing all the way out here? You lost your mommy?"

"Watch your mouth!" Lucia shouted, to my horror, and soon I found myself stepping forward to put a hand upon her shoulder. Why the hell was she getting so angry? She was just fine a few seconds ago!

"Calm down, Lucia," I pleaded, "He's drunk. Now isn't the time to get into a fight." The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"You should control that dog of yours," The man scoffed. He turned to me, the smile on his face completely wiped from his expression. He stood up, his body swaying to one side as he briefly lost his balance, and accidentally tipped his tankard forward against the table. The vile abomination he'd been drinking quickly spilled all over the tabletop, drowning the wooden finish in alcohol.

"Fucking… Damnit, Bran!" I heard a voice shout from nearby. The drunkard waved his hand dismissively, then stepped forward. I leaned closer to my companion before whispering in her ear.

"Lucia, I'm supposed to be the violent one, remember?" I told her. Lucia slowly turned to me, then gave me a slow nod. I felt her shoulders relax against my palm, then watched as her breathing returned to a normal level. Then, I turned to the man and immediately activated Crimson Instinct. To my relief, his blood was shining as bright as the moons overhead, and was thus within culling range. When I turned my attention to the cleanliness of his veins, I found that his blood was clean.

Perhaps he wasn't as clean as Hamund had been, but he was maybe at a similar level as Dave. He was a warrior, but not a high level one. If there was a fight, I knew I wouldn't have to worry about losing.

"Ooh, trying to see how strong I am?" The man laughed. He stumbled forward, his feet almost tripping over each other as he lifted his arms, before confidently placing himself only a few feet in front of us, "Well, don't be shy! I'll show you!" Before either of us could react to his challenge, a figure rose up from behind the man. With a quick strike to the back of his head, the shadowy figure easily knocked the man to the ground.

He crashed into the table on his way down, quickly catapulting the tankard into the wilderness as his weight tore the table from its structural support. The drunkard crashed into the earth with a heavy thud, then began to groan in pain as he quickly put his palm upon his growing bruise. Although he hadn't quite been knocked out by the attack, whatever aggression he'd been showing had disappeared alongside the vanished tankard. All three of us looked to the attacker.

Although Lucia and I were curious, the drunkard seemed terrified.

"What did I tell you about watching your behavior, Bran?" the figure asked with a rough voice. He was a big man—easily seven feet tall and three hundred pounds of pure muscle—yet what truly stood out to me wasn't his size or width, but rather the thick coating of brown fur covering every inch of his body. A pale snout grew from where his nose should've been, and two round ears poked out from the top of his head. His thick beady eyes tore away from the drunkard before falling upon me.

"Sorry about that," The humanoid bear sighed. He folded his arms, then shook his head in disappointment before continuing, "He's not usually that stupid."

"Oh… that's alright," I nodded, my mouth refusing to close as I watched the bear set the table upright. Then, he took the drunkard, Bran, by the shoulders before dragging him back up to his feet. Bran stumbled for a moment, his eyes glazed over with confusion as he leaned upon the table for relief.

"I'm cutting you off, Bran," the bear sighed before pointing to the other wagon across the road, "Go to bed!"

"Fine… fine," Bran sighed as he stumbled across the road.

"Now then." The bear turned back to us.

"Again, sorry. Why don't you sit down? I'll get you something on the house, as an apology for that dumbass."

"Sorry?"

"Aren't you hungry?" The bear asked. I looked down at his body and recognized the white apron hanging from his neck. He wore a basic black outfit underneath it, yet both the apron and his regular clothes were covered in numerous food stains.

"Are you a cook?"

"I'm the cook. Or I will be until this sorry lot gets to Mercentoria," he nodded before gesturing to an open table only a few feet from the food wagon. Lucia and I looked at each other, both of us unsure how to react to the sudden change of hospitality, before we slowly sat down at the table the bear was pointing at, "The name's Arturas, but mostly everyone calls me Arthur. Now, if my ears didn't deceive me, it sounded like you two might be having a bit of a financial crisis.

Let me guess: you're another slaver who decided to call it quits after what's been happening over the last few days?" I felt an eyebrow rise upon my face as I heard a disappointed sigh escape Lucia's lips. So he'd heard us whispering to each other? I looked to Lucia, then drifted my attention down to the coins held in her hand. Shit, did he hear about how we'd stolen our wealth from a slaver, too? Fuck, that was a rookie mistake. How'd we manage to fall for something like that?

I turned back to the bear, hoping to keep my voice calm as I continued the conversation.

"Slavers?"

"Oh, sure, this is an open caravan," Arthur nodded, "We travel all around the country picking up strays wherever we go. I'm guessing, then, that you don't know what's been going on recently? If you're not one of the slavers from around here, who are you?" I looked to Lucia, who returned my gaze with one of her own. We didn't rehearse a story, did we? After a moment of silence, we turned back to the bear, and to my relief Lucia was the one to speak first.

"We're traveling mercenaries," she said.

"Ah, so you're here for the rumors, then?" He returned her explanation with a confused glance to our gear.

"You aren't very well equipped."

"What do you mean?"

"The rumors? Have you really not heard?" The bear sighed, "Talk about unlucky. Well, there's a few things spreading around, but none of them good. From what I've heard, the nearby slavers organization is under attack. They've already lost a few of their members, some to mysterious deaths, some to blatant attacks, and others to rampant desertion. It's got the leaders freaking out, but that's not even the worst of it." The bear leaned forward, then looked to the other patrons as if he didn't want to be overheard.

Then, once he confirmed that nobody else was eavesdropping on our conversation, he looked back to us and lowered his voice.

"Some of the slavers say something is hunting them. Something evil and unnatural—during the dead of night when nobody is around. There have only been a few deaths so far, but the way they were killed… it's like something stepped straight out of a nightmare," The bear whispered as he shivered in fear. I felt Lucia's stare drilling into the back of my head, yet I ignored the sensation as I focused instead on the bear's 'rumor'. It was familiar… but it couldn't have been. Was that how… no, there was no way.

"What happened?" I asked, hoping for clarification.

"A few nights ago, just after one of the nearby docks was attacked by a large force, two small scouting groups stopped all communication with the nearby camp. It was a small number of people, just nine in total, but when somebody went to investigate, they found signs that a monster had attacked both parties. There were bloodless corpses, each with a bite mark as big as my arm, and enough gore for a lifetime. Strange thing, though, is that they weren't eaten.

Whatever killed them did it for sport, and supposedly neither party stood a chance. When you consider what else has been happening, it's no wonder some of their people are starting to panic." That was me, wasn't it? Man… Lucia was staring really hard.