Don't quest with strangers, please! part 3

Contrary to his own expectations, staying up all night wasn't even remotely difficult for him. If anything, he got bored, but thankfully the soulbound card didn't need any light to be seen even at night. Ryu took advantage of this to study his own skills and fidget with them a little. New skills were still showing up on his card, but most of them were grayed out which meant he wasn't able to use them because he lacked the energy, even reading their names was difficult because the letters were too faint. As he flickered and tapped the card it suddenly went blank for a second and when it came back on it's display looked completely different.

It expanded in all directions and now he could see messages below different objects whenever he used analyze, there was even a numeric indicator of the distance at which an object was located and even with the night vision skill off he was still able to see the names of the objects he had analyzed previously. The physical space the card possessed was nothing compared to the new display, which now allowed Ryu to see the full list of skills right in front of him in what seemed to be a transparent screen that didn't block his view.

Unfortunately for him, it was time to wake up already and he needed to start making breakfast before everyone woke up as he usually did. He always brought with him a small container with assorted spices, but he preferred to use whatever he found on the way to 'taste' the places he visited, turning a simple breakfast into a memorable experience.

He chopped some vegetables he picked up the day before and placed them into a cooking pot, stir fried them with oil and added some dried meat and water. Since the dried meat already had salt, he didn't need to add any, but he still tasted the broth to see if it was sufficient.

The taste was a bit diluted because it wasn't ready yet and the vegetables still needed to release their flavour, but it tasted just fine.

As usual, whenever he cooked, his pets were drawn to him, and just as always, he refused to give them anything.

"You already have your croquettes, you don't see me eating your food, do you?"

The amarok's energic tail, fell limp after hearing his master's words. But Mochi was presistant on getting some. Ryu took a spoonful with the laddle and offered Mochi a small piece of leek with his hand.

The purring cat drew closer to smell it, but instead of the tasty meat he so desired, it was grass! The cat opened his mouth, just a little, and a funny expression of disgust was formed on his face making Ryu chuckle at the sight.

Mia woke up before anyone else with an unusual bitter mood which made Ryu think it was because she had been deprived of her daily health potion the day before, but the truth was something entirely different.

"Don't ever make me sleep next to another guy"

"What got into you Mia?"

"I was in the weirdest, dirtiest, dumbest dream ever. What do you think got into me?"

"Would a health potion make it better?"

Instead of her usual eagerness to consume her favourite food, Ryu's potions, she gagged and was about to puke. She absorbed nourishment from Kinta's dream during the night and it was so perverted and disgusting, her appetite was completely ruined. The residual energy Kinta let escape during the night amounted to nothing but a snack, not only because her succubus absorbed more nutrients from bodily fluids but also because his energy was way too low for her, and the taste was so terrible she felt sick.

"Charming him into stabbing himself would make me feel better"

"That's forbidden, you know if they find out about you I won't be able to protect you any longer and We wouldn't be able to go back to Celarent anymore"

Ryu looked at Mia straight in the eye, and she reluctantly acknowledged his orders by nodding.

One by one everyone got up and grabbed a bowl of soup. Shortie, who had been awfully quiet most of the trip, dodged Ryu's attempts to make conversation and when Ryu questioned him about his strange behavior thinking maybe he wronged him without noticing, Shortie said he simply wanted to focus on the quest and didn't feel like chatting. That actually made sense to Ryu, since focusing on the quest was the proper thing to do.

They broke camp soon after breakfast, but Kinta and Thea didn't bother to wash their dishes or pick up after themselves

"Are you seriously not going to help!?"

Sera asked Thea in a less than friendly tone.

"Why should I get in the way of supports doing their job?"

"Precisely, you guys are the supports, in fact you should be carrying our bags too"

Kinta threw his bag directly at Ryu, with the intention to hit him on the face, but he didn't have trouble catching it in the air.

"I'm sorry, but our pushcart is full"

"I knew you were stupid, but I didn't know you were this stupid! that's why you will be carrying it yourself, or you are so weak you can't even carry a small bag. Shortie, Thea Give Ryu your bags too"

Shortie looked awkwardly at Kinta for a few seconds, but he lowered his gaze and handed Ryu his bag.

"I'm sorry, but I don't have a choice"

"Don't you dare opening our bags, if something goes missing we'll know it was you!"

Thea scoffed at Ryu, as she followed her boyfriend who was now leading the group. There was only one path and the bushes and trees on the sides prevented people from straying.

They had to spend one more night in the forest before arriving to the place the goblin village is located. This time Kinta ordered Ryu, who had been walking the same as the others, to stand watch too, only this time he had Shortie accompany him claiming it was too dangerous.

Again, Ryu didn't have trouble remaining awake, he was tired but drinking a tonic was enough to replenish his energy. Thanks to his second sleepless night he acquired a new skill called night owl. It didn't have a description, but he figured out pretty quickly it allowed him to remain alert at night.

Breakfast next day was comprised of dried meat and wild berries, they were too close to the goblin village to risk being spotted by enemies and they were known to defend their home no matter how many of them died. Even high rank adventurers would get killed if they didn't run away in time.

Not even two hours after breaking camp the landscape in front of them changed abruptly, allowing them to see in the distance.

"Hey Kinta, is this normal?"

"How am I supposed to know, Ryu is our goblin expert, Hah!"

"Well, I don't know that much about goblins, but they cut off all the trees in the vicinity. One thing I know for sure is we can't get any closer without being spotted"

"No shit"

Kinta scoffed and set foot out of the woods. They couldn't move to the sides because they were surrounded by dense vegetation which left only forward and backwards as their only options.

"I'm not failing this quest only because a simple support got scared, if you want to go back you're free to go alone but the girls stay with me"

"Speak for yourself, If Ryu leaves we go with him"

Sera didn't take any form of disrespect towards her savior lightly and she was already tired of Kinta's constant abuse.

"If you go, I won't be signing you on to this mission and you would have wasted all this time. If Ryu leaves but you stay behind I could still think about it"

"So that's the reason why you didn't sign us up in the counter, you scum!"

"If you keep talking dirty to me I may fall for you"

Kinta directed his lustful gaze towards Sera, but she remained completely unfazed.

"The wimp is probably right, we shouldn't walk in the open"

Thea tried to keep her boyfriend from getting near Sera and stood in front of him.

"Hey! I have an idea"

Kinta said staring at Ryu.