Departure

Early in the morning, the small village of the Black Iron Tribe was already very active. As usual, the hunters were preparing their equipment and the women were preparing to go to the river. However, this time, while all these activities were taking place, a group of 10 barbarians was brought to the Shaman's tent and was being coached by Achi on the trip to the Wild Bull Tribe.

"Remember that the most important thing is to maintain our relationship with the other tribes! Our village is not very far from the townsmen's encampment, if a war really was to happen, we would be one of the first to be affected. It would be best to avoid the war or at worst, remain friendly with others so that they can help us. I will give you 30 minutes to say goodbye to your families. Meet at the entrance of the village in exactly 30 minutes, I will go bring the guests," said Achi.

As soon as they received the permission to leave, the 10 barbarians hurriedly made their way back to their tents; they did not know how long the trip would last and wanted to spend their last moments here with their family.

Baltra was about to leave the Shaman's tent when he heard the Shaman's old voice, "Baltra, can you stay behind for a moment. I have a few stuff to give you that might be helpful for the trip."

"Yes, elder!" quickly answered Baltra as he returned to his sitting spot. As much as he wanted to go back, he was the leader of this trip; it was normal for him to shoulder more responsibilities.

A few moments later, the Shaman quietly sat in front of Baltra and took out a few bottles, as well as a few small bags. "Keep them very carefully and give some to the others too. Use them only if necessary! These things are not easy to get," said the Shaman after explaining the use of each item.

"Thank you, elder!" exclaimed Baltra, excitement was clearly displayed on his face. For the first time, he felt like he was an important member of the tribe, carrying all these powerful items with him.

The Shaman gently smiled as he waited for Baltra to pack up everything. After making sure that no one else was there, he murmured, "Baltra, the main task of the expedition is to unite the tribes against the potential attack of the townsmen but I shall give you another personal task to accomplish!"

Surprised, Baltra answered, "Of course, elder. I will make sure to accomplish it, what is it?" Having just received a lot of items from the Shaman, Baltra was already elated; now that he was even being trusted by the Shaman with another important task, his ego went through the roof.

"As Achi said earlier, you will also be escorting 2 guests to the Wild Bull Tribe to give a statement. I swore an oath to make sure the other tribes and the members of our own tribe won't seek trouble after them. Make sure that nothing happens to them, they are very important partners and it is thanks to them that the village is prospering like that. However, I would like you to observe their behavior and also their strength. Also, I only mentioned that no barbarians would look for trouble. You should know what I mean."

The Shaman spoke and quietly patted Baltra's shoulder before disappearing between the messy piles of items.

...

At the same time, at the edge of the forest, Five yawned and stretched his arms. It had been a long time since he had to wake up that early and clearly, his body was asking him to return to the comfort of his bed. Next to him, Ariel was quietly observing the surroundings, making sure that no enemies were hiding nearby.

It was just yesterday that Five finally announced that he would bring Ariel with him. While it looked like a last minute decision, it was not hard for Five to make his choice. Out of the strongest monsters of the dungeon, she was the most suited to bring on the trip.

Dreidus was definitely ruled out as he was in charge of all the other monsters; it was all thanks to him that Five could feel safe leaving the dungeon. Ivan and Lyra were also eliminated as they were the most recent monsters, compared to the others, their strength was lacking and while it was not mentioned, Dreidus was obviously against the idea of Lyra leaving the dungeon.

Among the harpies, Angela declined the trip by herself. She knew that she was not suited for combat and she still had lessons with the Shaman. As for Alice, the young harpy was very curious about the outside world and was looking forward to the trip but in the end, Five chose Ariel other her as he would prefer to leave the troublemaker at the dungeon. The two harpies had approximately the same strength but in terms of personalities, Five found Ariel's more suitable to bring on a trip.

"No ambush, Master. Everything is clear. Should we just wait here?" asked Ariel.

"Yes, the old Shaman told me to wait at the edge of the forest near the village. We should rest while we can, we will probably be riding horses all day long," answered Five as he sat on the ground.

Ariel nodded but she did not join him. Instead, the young harpy quietly leaned against one of the trees in such a way that she could see both Five and the Black Iron village at the same time.

After a brief moment of silence, Ariel finally decided to speak, "Master, was there a need to bring one of us on this trip? After you leveled up, you are strong enough to deal with them, right?"

"What? Are you not happy that I picked you? This trip is mainly for us to have a look at the outside world. I believe there would not be any conflict on this trip but we never know. Also, I brought you because you can fly, maybe that ability would be useful to us. After all, there is a possibility that what the barbarians observed has something to do with the upcoming trial," answered Five.

As he spoke, Five took the opportunity to perform one last check on his character. He did not bring the dungeon core with him but he could still open his character window since he was a player. There has been a lot of changes since the last time he checked it; first of all, he was now level 18, three levels higher than he previously was. After the short meeting with the monsters, Five decided to spend the DP he had collected until now on himself.

He had long wanted to increase his own strength to not have to rely entirely on the other monsters and this trip was the perfect excuse for him to strengthen himself. Aside from increasing his level by 3, Five also purchased some basic Grade 1 equipment, followed by a series of useful skills. As he was a dungeon master, he was not restricted to any classes but due to his situation, Five decided to focus on mage and priest skills.

As much as he wanted to contribute to the dungeon, it was clear that he could not fight on the frontline; as the leader of the monsters, his death on the battlefield could have a severe impact on the moral of the monsters. Therefore, Five learned a series of long-distance skills which would allow him to safely participate in a battle. These skills ranged from level 5 to level 20; compared to the two skills Five purchased earlier, the new ones were way cheaper to purchase and did not consume a lot of mana to cast. He could easily use 5 to 7 skills in a row. In total, Five spent as much as 300000 DP on strengthening himself; it was as much as he would normally spend on a dungeon floor.

"Master, someone is coming!" suddenly warned Ariel. The harpy had been on high alert and immediately spoke as she saw a tall burly barbarian making his way toward them.

As he heard Ariel, Five raised his head to have a look and easily recognized the barbarian. "Mmm, that's the chief of the village, let's wait for him," said Five.

Achi was taking his time to walk to the forest. He did his best to look friendly and made his approach obvious by walking loudly as he did not want Five to misunderstand him. Soon he arrived in front of Ariel who was standing in front of Five, "Hello Miss... Hello Five. It has been a while."

"Achi, thank you for sheltering me on that night. I am very grateful," politely answered Five as he stood up.

"Let's go, everyone is waiting for you, I still need to present you to the team," said Achi. At the same time, he took out a black cloak and handed it to Ariel. "This is for you. The Shaman said that it would be useful to hide your identity. It would be best to avoid proclaiming to the world that you are not human."

"Oh?" Ariel hesitated to take the cloak but when she saw Five nodding, she quickly took it and put it on. The cloak was not very large but it allowed Ariel to hide her wings and her aura.

"Looks good, you look just like a regular human," commented Five as he sized up Ariel. He did not know much about Ariel's aura but at least, the cloak could conceal Ariel's identity physically.

Ariel slightly bowed to Achi, "Thank you for the cloak."

"Haha, this is our Shaman's gift. Let's go to the village."

...

At the entrance of the village, the ten barbarians going to Wild Bull Village were already riding their horses, ready to leave as soon as they were told to.

Baltra, who stood at the front, shouted, "Make sure you do not forget anything, this is your last chance!"

"Baltra, do you think the 2 townsmen will be able to ride our horses? They are different from the townsmen's horses, ours are wild and will often only obey their owners," said one of the barbarians.

"Hmmp, don't worry about that, since the Shaman told us to bring them with us, they naturally should be able to ride our horses. If not, I guess we will have to leave them behind or use a cart?" said a barbarian while laughing. To the barbarians, not being able to ride a horse was a clear sign of weakness. It was very degrading for them to have to travel in a cart rather than on their horses.

"Silence!" shouted Baltra to maintain the order. In the corner of his eyes, he had already noticed the arrival of Achi and the two townsmen.

After a short visit at the Shaman's tent, Five and Ariel were finally brought to meet the barbarians going on the trip. "This is Baltra, he is my right-hand man now, if there is anything you need, just ask him," said Achi.

Baltra nodded to acknowledge Five but he did not bother to get down of his horse, "You look familiar. Have we met before?"

"Maybe. I came to the village before, you could have seen me there," honestly answered Five. He quickly looked at the other barbarians and nodded to them.

"Alright, let's not lose time and set off right now. If we wait any longer, we might have to continue to ride even after the sunset," declared Baltra. With his right hand, he signaled one of his men to bring forward the two horses for Five and Ariel to ride.

The latter was puzzled. It was the first time she was asked to ride a horse. As she could fly, riding was a useless skill to her and the horse in front of her did not seem to be beginner friendly either. He condescendingly snorted in front of Ariel and turned its head in a snob-like fashion.

The barbarians quietly smiled as they observed the situation. Baltra showed no sign of wanting to help them either, instead he was thinking, 'if they can't ride, I'll just ask the girl to ride with me. As for the man, the cart should be good enough for him'

Seeing the situation, Ariel frowned, how could a mere level 20 beast act like this in front of her. "So you don't want to cooperate, huh?" said the harpy as she stepped forward and raised her hand.

Her actions caused many barbarians to sigh. 'As we predicted, she is going for the soft approach. Unfortunately, it won't work on our horses.'

However, as Ariel's hand was about to touch the horse, instead of gently patting it, she swiftly grabbed the horse's skin and dug her long nails into the horse. As soon as it felt the pain, the horse opened its eyes in surprise and turned toward Ariel, only to see an innocent face looking at him.

Ariel looked harmless at the surface but the horse's instincts were now warning it not to mess with her. The fact that she could easily pierce its skin with her nails was a clear indication of her strength. If she wanted, she should also be able to quickly end its life. That was clearly something the horse did not want to see.

Before the horse could do anything else, Ariel swiftly jumped and gently landed on it. To the surprise of the barbarians, the horse did not even react to Ariel's bold move. Had it been one of them, the horse would have at least screamed in surprise and tried to throw them off. But in front of them, the horse did not even react as Ariel quietly caressed the horse's sides.

As for Five, there was no need for him to intimidate the horse. As soon as the barbarian let go of the horse, he swiftly jumped on it, grabbing the horse's mane and tightly closing his legs around the horse.

The loud neigh of the horse immediately attracted the attention of the barbarians who commanded their own horses to a step back. They watched as Five's horse screamed, jumped and shook itself to try to throw off Five but to the barbarians' surprise, Five did not seem to be disturbed by it. He firmly held his position on top of the horse and soon, the poor beast gave up struggling, it knew that no matter how hard it tried, it would never get rid of the human; it was best to be obedient or it might suffer later.

Five was imperturbable. To him, subduing the horse was an easy task as riding was one of the many skills he had been trained in. As an assassin, he needed to be ready for all sorts of situation and sometimes, the mission might require him to ride horses which were often used in parades or in the wild. Although he did not get to put his skills to the test very often, he still remembered the theory behind horse riding.

The barbarians' eyes were wide open. Never did they expect two townsmen to successfully subdue their horses, each with their own method. It was a simple act but it was enough for the barbarians to have a newfound respect for them.

'Looks like they have some skills after all...' thought Baltra from the side. "Very good, since you all know how to ride, let's leave quickly!"

He raised his hand, signaling to everyone to start moving. Turning toward Achi, Baltra said, "We are leaving chief. See you again in a few days!"

Achi waved his hands and watched as the small group disappeared from his view. He sighed as he made his way back to the Shaman's tent. He was honestly hoping that this small expedition would go well and that they would all return safely.