Chapter 2

As Darius was poor and didn't have much means to go about it, loaning the items was not a very big deal for him. Definitely so if someone was rude to him. The sudden realization woke his voracious hunger.

*Now that everybody is dead, I can take whatever I can.*

His earlier hesitation at home ended here, and Darius took his sweet time to rummage through the greasy kitchen of Malbus. After finding some dry meat, Darius went outside, seeing that the gurgling of Malbus had awakened a tendrilgolem, and it was slowly heaving itself in this direction. Darius adverted his greedy eye from the nearby houses and started running as fast as he could back to the alleyway and outside the village. Only screaming and curses of Malbus greeted his back while he ran like a rabbit out of danger,

"HEY YOU!! A son of whore, come back to die you idiot.. MILK DRINKER COWARD!"

Determined to survive, Darius ate his pride and continued running. He only stopped running when again jolt of pain hit him in the leg in the alleyway. *Damn, boots are doing their best to hinder his running.* Darius slowed down a bit and came to the gatehouse next to him he saw the legs of the guard half buried in the rubble.

Darius whistled, "nice boots you have there".

After a fast exchange of nothing, Darius had a new additional layer of socks and adult-size boots on top of it, comforting his legs considerably while he walked from one remains of a guard to another. Everything was in measly condition, and nearby houses were downed on the ground. What Darius could gather was only three purses of coins and miscellaneous items. No luck, no weapons. *Well, I probably could not even wield the weight of military gear on me even if I wanted to.* Darius had to focus on anything else that would help him to survive in the world.

Darius took a short knife with the holster from one soldier's boots. He started eyeing where he could borrow more useful stuff but suddenly building collapsing nearby directed his attention. On the other side of the building, three giant golems bashed the building while screaking lumber went to splinters. A punch of broken wood planks flies in all directions, and Darius gets solid hit on his torso by something. While gasping in pain, Darius started slowly climbing on the wreckage of gatehouse remains, hoping that tendrilgolems wouldn't see him under the billowing black smoke.

After passing the wreckage outside his home village, Darius started limping run while holding a potato sack on his back with his right arm and holding a painful broken chest bone with the other arm. Darius stopped finally after painful jogging after going over the witch's bridge. While leaning on the door of the witch's house, he stumbled on the entrance hall of the witch while dropping the potato sack on the fine red wool carpet.

His hand was burning from the earlier wound, and his chest rose only with wheezing pain with every breath taken. After lying down on the carpet for a while, Darius rose up and started looking where the witch might be. Darius saw some half-empty bookshelves and a fireplace in the Livingroom still with red coals inside of it. But Darius could not hear the witch of the forest anywhere in the building.

*Well, it would have been only half a chance to gain medical help anyway.* He thought while rummaging the house for anything meaningful before leaving the village forever. His eyes focused on the bookshelf that he had seen two years ago.

Back then, he started reading a magic book while the witch was not around the house. Or he had assumed so, but the witch had been in the cellar. Alarmed by the sound downstairs, he had left the book on the floor and slowly disappeared through the open window. Darius had managed to read some lines on the meditation practices and basics of magic. He wanted to know more, but he did not get another chance. After his first visit, the house door and windows were always locked when the witch wasn't there, so he didn't get any other option. Sometimes Darius tried to lurk in the house while the witch was in different rooms, but it was too difficult. Darius followed the introduction to meditation. He had imagined how he could do all manner of things with magic, but meditation didn't work as intended. He had to stay in the forest longer in a cave to meditate and could not do magic based on this. The only benefit of the meditation had been calming and clearing effect on his mind. Darius had viewed the meditation as a challenge and continued it in secrecy despite the difficulties.

*Finally, I am back*, Darius thought. Curiosity drove him near the fine oak shelf, and Darius saw some instruments that were finer than his aunt's mortar. On the same shelf was a book on the basics of alchemy that he had barely read from the beginning. After thinking for two seconds, Darius ripped off the bulky covers of the book and stuffed the pages into the potato sack.

*Better lose the dead weight.*

After repeating ripping the hard book covers three times, he glanced and took several fine-looking alchemy tools from the same shelf for the chance of curing himself later. Maybe some of the items could be sold in towns. Then his eyes noticed a weird rise on the carpet. Darius lifted it away and saw a cellar hatch with a sturdy iron handle that could be lifted from the carved wood. Without hesitation, he lifted the hatch and climbed into the dark cellar.

*Maybe there is food in here or some forbidden artifacts that will save me.*

With minimal light from upstairs, Darius could focus his eyes on a small cobblestone cellar with sturdy wood beams supporting the floor on top of it. After his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he saw a labyrinth of shelves full of potions, faunas, dried monster parts, tons of different coloured rocks and some shining rocks that he put in his purse immediately. Potions he didn't even move because there were no writings on them.

*Okay, lets not touch something weird and get killed..*, he thought while venturing further into the cellar.

He noticed a large coffer in the corner. It had old blacker iron hinges and corner metals, and the wood was more refined than Darius had ever seen in his life. He tried to lift the coffer, but it was very heavy for some reason. After trying to open the coffer, Darius hit the axe between the lid and the coffer and used the axe to leverage the coffer lid up.

After struggling with the lid, Darius finally got it turned around. Sadly, the coffer was half empty. There were purses, papers, old parchments, and pergaments, some even with the sealed vax. Darius took several papers with seals and threw others on the floor. Next, he saw a small box that did not open, but after hitting it on to the wall box cracked open, and a rain of coins flew everywhere.

"Wohoo, so much money! I've never been so rich in my life!!", Darius shouted while feverously picking the coins up. After stuffing coins in his belt purse, he noticed how heavy it was. With a sad sigh, Darius had to throw half of the copper coins away, but he kept half of them and several silvers.

The next town was far away, and he could not eat metal. Also, reckoning that the witch's items would be far more valuable than the coppers on the floor. Darius took last glances at the cellar.

*I guess forest witch wasn't as rich as I believed*

After lifting himself with hefty purses but lighter feet and mood, Darius returned to his potato sack and stuffed some items into it. While glancing at the village from the window, he noticed some monsters nearing the bridge. There were several golems but also blue-skinned goblins that he had never seen before, even in the forest. Darius had only heard that they came from the mountains, but the last time had been decades ago. Hulking grey-looking golems and almost nothing compared to tattered goblins with brown rusty weapons and gears were already half a way to the house from the village.

"Damn it! I have to run now!."

Darius took his sack of loot and started yet another jogging marathon to the forest while the last minutes of daylight reached the village. When he finally got to the woods, Darius saw the house of the forest witch on fire already. He didn't look back anymore and started walking longer toward his hidden cave.

Darius had to go across a small river but did not go through the usual route. He picked a more narrow part of the river and threw his purses and the potato sack on the other side. Then he hoped that this trick would fool goblins' sense of smell.

Darius did not know much about goblins, but if they were like monsters or animals, he presumed they would have a better sense of smell than golems. Darius walked to a different location of the river and walked on the sand and mud bed of the river until he returned to the sack of items on the riverside.

While gripping the lush grass, Darius lifted himself from the riverside, and with a bit of pain, he finally got to the other side of the river. While repeatedly watching behind him, Darius continued up the river. He sometimes returned to the river while raising the items in shallower water.

After zig-zagging into the river and out, Darius returned to the other side. He had finally gotten to the foot of the mountain. From there, it was a shorter trip through bushes and sharp rock boulders, and Darius could see one specific familiar boulder. Behind the boulder was the entrance of a small old cave, and he finally could rest.

After sitting on the ground and putting his sack next to other stuff in the cave, Darius leaned on the rocky cave wall and rested his eyes for a bit. After a while, he jolted a bit and opened his eyes to ensure nobody was there. The aching body, dull pain in his left arm and chest, and mental fatigue finally overtook and lulled him into a restless sleep.