80 Beneath the Ground

We travelled up the north at a steady pace. No variants or large groups of animals crossed our path, which led me to believe we cleared the territorial region of the Bears' Retreat. Shelly happily led the way, threading though the forest foliage. 'This turtle really acts like a dog sometimes... Just looking at it right now paints the picture of an owner with his dog taking a....', my thoughts stopped at this point.

"Shelly!?", I exclaimed a bit alarmed. Shelly jumped into some thick grass with bushes, but there was no movement for a while. I quickly rushed to the area, and heard a loud "Mah!". "What the...", what stunned me was a large hole in the ground. Shelly landed on its back, and didn't seem to be injured. Without any further ado, I jumped inside to help my friend.

"There you go... Fortunately, there doesn't seem to be any injuries. Just how lucky are you, to jump inside one hole in the entire forest?", I questioned, but Shelly wasn't in the mood for jokes. "Mah! Mah, maaah, ma", it complained as if saying, 'Why don't you try and fall on your back like that'. "I'm glad you are fine, though who the hell digs such holes in the forest?", I asked myself while looking upwards.

The hole was at least three meters deep. Climbing out with Shelly on my back wouldn't be easy, albeit doable. "Mah!", Shelly exclaimed again, trying to point at something. "Huh?... Wait, there's a tunnel here?", I became even more confused. "This wasn't a trap?", I added. The hole was a perfect trap for a wolf or a bear. Once the animal was inside, it would be easy to kill it, and therefore hunt it. That didn't seem to be the case, especially after taking a closer look at the hole itself.

'There's no bones, blood or signs of struggle. Digging such a hole requires a lot of energy, no one would do it for laughs. Since this doesn't seem to be a trap for hunting, what the hell is at the other end of this tunnel?', I thought while my curiosity grew with each passing second. "Do you want to explore the tunnel?", I asked my friend.

Shelly looked at the dark tunnel ahead of us, and shook its head. "Hehe, I had a feeling you'd disagree. Though it's not like we'll face bears or wolves here. Besides, with such a narrow tunnel, we're at an advantage even if there are multiple enemies. Since we are here, why not check it out. I'll make a torch, so we can see properly", I replied.

Shelly wasn't chaffed with my idea of exploring the tunnel, but in my view, this was something different. This was something new compared to the forest we saw everyday. "You wait here, I'll grab a stick we can use for a torch", with that said, I climbed out of the hole. Just in case the tunnel was long, I decided to take a few sticks with me. Back inside the hole, I made a few torches, then lit one of them up.

The tunnel didn't seem to have an end, as if it would span for many metres. "Just follow me, if we see or encounter something we can't handle, we'll escape". The tunnel was slightly rounded, a bit taller than me and most probably man made. A bit further inside, I noticed something attached to the wall of the tunnel. My theory about the tunnel being man made was correct. There was a torch attached to the wall.

"See, there shouldn't be any animals here. Otherwise, this torch wouldn't exist", I reassured Shelly and lit the torch on the wall. It was mostly used up, but good enough for a while. Further up ahead, we found another torch on the wall, as well as some clumps of earth on the ground. "I wonder how old this tunnel is. These clumps fell from the ceiling, who knows how long ago though", I commented.

We reached another torch on the wall, before arriving at the end of that tunnel. This time, it wasn't a hole in the ground, but a sort of cave. "Did someone actually dig this?", I asked myself stunned. The place was obviously man made, otherwise there wouldn't be a chair, desk and a bed. There was even a bookshelf. Everything looked rough and made from logs or planks.

"Someone put a lot of effort into this, but... Why make it under the ground?", I questioned myself. Whoever lived there wasn't present, for better or worse. Me and Shelly explored the cave a bit. I was mostly interested in that bookshelf, especially since there were books on it. "... These books, they are about hunting", I whispered to myself while skimming through a few.

Hunting books like these were really useful to me, especially if the contents hid some good information. "Mah!", Shelly exclaimed to get my attention. "What did you find?", I asked while walking over. What Shelly found was really amazing. There was another room in the corner of the cave, and that room had many herbs growing in there.

"Wow, there's loads of them here. Whoever lived in this cave must've planted them, they seem to be neatly arranged", I commented. As my hand was about to reach for some of these herbs, I heard a noise akin to a bow's string being pulled. "I think you had enough of a look", a voice said from behind us. "Nah ah, stay where you are, or you'll get additional hole in your body", the man added when he saw my hand move.

"... Listen, we didn't know someone lived here. We didn't mean to invade. Just let us leave, and no one needs to get hurt", I proposed. "Mighty generous of you to say that. How did you find this place", the man didn't relent. "Accident, my turtle fell down the hole, and we followed the tunnel up to this point", I replied while judging the distance and position of that guy.

"Nice story, you got another one?", the guy smirked. "Don't you see a turtle next to me?", I asked instead. "You want me to believe a turtle fell down one hole in the entire forest, coincidentally?", when he put it like that, it sounded ridiculous. "You don't have to believe me, but this is what happened... I mentioned this before, we didn't know someone lived here", I tried to persuade him one last time. My next action in line was attack.

The guy stood there for a bit, and then the string of his bow loosened. "I need to make a hatch for that damned hole...", he commented underneath his breath. "You are a hunter, right?", I asked while turning around. The man seemed to be in his fifties with a grey beard and muscular build. He wore a full leather suit, while in his hand was a nice looking bow. There was a medium sized knife on his belt, and a quiver on his back.

"How did you figure that out?", he asked sarcastically. "How about by the books on your shelf?", "It's not nice to go through someone else's stuff", he replied displeased. "Seemed abandoned... Anyway, did you grow these?", I asked instead about the herbs in his cave. "Why'd you wanna know?", "Because I know all of them except these glowing mushrooms. Maybe you can tell me more about them?". My reply surprised him a bit.

"Really? Then what is the one next to those glowing mushrooms called?", he asked as if to test me. "That's Ignius Fern, usually growing in dark moist places. Especially in rocky environments. You placed some rocks over there for it to grow better", I replied without any hesitation. "Heh, not bad kid. Then what about the one next to Ignius Fern? The one above it", he asked another question.

"That one is Earth Shroom. Though slightly poisonous, it has uses in some antidotes". My reply surprised him even more that time. "So you know your stuff. You are quite young though, I'd say about twenty years old. What are you doing here, away from villages and towns?", his questions changed. "Traveling? Same question to you? Why do you live under the ground?", I replied.

"I have my reasons, seems you have yours as well...", he said to a point but then stopped talking. The silence became kind of awkward. "Hey, you must have plenty of experience, right? Maybe you could tech me something, or at least allow me to read a book or two", I asked. "Hahaha, and what will you give me in return?", he replied.

I had some money on me, but he wouldn't be interested. That guy lived a self sufficient life. He didn't need a village nor a town to survive any time of year. "I'm not sure what you'd like. I have some money, but I'm sure you don't need them. I don't have a bow, or arrows... I could give you one of my daggers as a friendly gesture", he seemed interested after my reply, and asked me to show him the dagger.

I took one out of my bag, and threw it towards him. "That's one weird dagger for sure... I must say the grip feels nice, and it's well balanced. Did you make this?", He asked a bit doubtfully. "Yep, this is my design. Carved it myself, and cast it myself", I replied proudly. "In that case, I'll take this as a gift. Since you gave me a gift, I shall give one to you... You were really interested in my books, right? Stay here for a while and read them. They contain most of my knowledge about this forest", he replied.

The fact that he took me up on the deal was really great. A hunter witch plethora of experience was much more valuable than any amount of gold. He could probably tell that we were thinking the same thing. 'This guy isn't so bad'.