Chapter 2: Woods

"So what do we do with the rest of the money?" - Mawra holds her books.

"From what I heard from my parents, the majority of the money should be spent on provisions and necessities" - Polwil ties leather scraps

"How so?" Darvic crosses his arms

"Scrolls of returning are the most expensive of them all. After all, would you rather die horribly by monsters tearing your limbs and organs or live at all costs?" - Polwil checks his craft

"That is scary. I don't want to die that way" - Tiary fiddles her hands 

"Beside monsters, we have hungers, unexpected dug out traps by idiots who forgot to clean up, obstacles and so on." Polwil swings around the sling. 

The four walk out to the gate. They show their tags and wave goodbye. 

"May god watch over you" - One of the guards taps their halberd. 

"We will" - Tiary waves and smiles.

On the way, the four look out for ambushes, traps, obstacles and useful items. So far, Tiary manages to find a big branch but she is depressed. 

The danger of encountering slimes in the north is almost nonexistent. The riskiest part is just dissolving liquids that can cause burns and corrosion to the skin. These kinds of creatures have a tendency to eat corpses and dead bodies. The best bait would be a rotting stench or something similar. They are being hunted for the core which is great for making decoration items, their bodies to make glue and lastly if captured alive, they would be valuable for alchemy as it is a source for making corrosive potions and other potions. But our party can only do as much as collecting their core as intact as possible. Slimes can be killed if their majority of liquid is off or their core is broken.

 "Beside the slimes, what other things can we do?" - Mawra glares

"Scouting ahead, collecting information and maybe looking out for herbs. I can recall that you know a lot about poisonous herbs and mushrooms" - Polwil picks up some pebbles.

"This is boring, we have seen nothing but sticks and stones" - Darvic inspect his dagger

"Please no monster be killed. I don't like fighting" - Tiary looks around

"We have troubles" - Polwil slings a pebble ahead

It hits a slime at the front lunging toward the four. There are 5 of them in total. Mawra raises a barrier for Tiary. Tiary is in panic, swings her branch around, 3 slimes get caught and killed. 

"Ha ha. I hate this. I hate this" - Falling on her knee.

"As much as I hate only to see sticks and stones, I hate people who can't stand their own fear more than." - Darvic holds off against a slime.

"Shut up, I am trying to protect 2 people at the same time." - Mawra tries to hold on to her feet.

[I don't know if this is the right thing to do in the long run] - Polwil looks at the three.

The battle is over, Tiary has gained a lot of stress and also experience from killing 3 slimes. Mawra has gained experience from protecting and pushing her magic limit. Polwil has gained experience from initiating the battle and leading the team. Darvic has gained experience from finishing off the 2 slimes and healing himself. 

The four camp outside, just enough ration for the meal. Darvic goes for the first watch, Tiary is exempted from the night watch, Mawra is on the second watch and Polwil polishes the loot. On the first watch, Tiary kneels down to pray, Mawra reads her books and Polwil practices his throw on a tree nearby and is safe enough from his allies. On the second watch, Darvic carves a wooden hare head to cheer up Tiary, Tiary sleeps soundly and Polwil reads his books. 

When the sun rises, the group buries the campfire and moves on. Mawra takes her notebook and charcoal pen out, Tiary walks sorrowly, Darvic frowns and Polwil looks around for valuables. The woods always welcome the people but also charms the greed of mankind. With the greenery and sunshine, it hides the rotting corpses who were overconfident. 

"Mawra, write that we have encountered a pack of wolves gathering in unusual numbers and they looks hungrier than usual" - Polwil signals 

"We should return now. I cannot take this"- Tiary is about to burst tears.

 "I am not a fool to run into such things" - Darvic is intimidated

"Well, you two sure look like cats"- Mawra writes down her notebook.

On the way back, the party has met an unexpected encounter