Kaldalis told the story to Balrim, and with both him and Myrin there, he filled in a few more details. He didn’t completely let Garyung’s secret slip, but described their conversation before the meeting, and what Kaldalis was starting to think of as the Bhogad’s Big Betrayal when he gave him the job anyway.

They could assume the unspoken details if they wanted.

He also decided that they deserved to be appraised of the other matters Kaldalis had picked up on over the course of his latest adventures. With an internal sigh, he described what Garyung had told him about the other foreign nations making contact and offering support, and how the pair of them had conspired to keep that option open, in case they couldn’t maintain friendly relations with Zara.

Then he told them whatever he could remember about the meeting here in Panbu, explaining that the council was focusing on defenses first, but that their priorities were split moving beyond that. The council had thus far been inclined towards arguing in circles, and so Kaldalis told his friends not to expect the town building quests to have even the faintest hint of a method to their madness. It also seemed smart to warn them about Demriv’s familiar appearance, in case they saw her out and about in town.

“I think that’s about it,” Kaldalis said when he was finished. He looked around and realized they were deep into the white-blossom forest already. “So where are we going?”

“Nowhere,” Balrim said.

“Everywhere,” Myrin said at the same time.

“I missed you guys and your well thought-out planning,” Kaldalis said with a laugh.

“Okay, so we have two goals here,” Balrim said, bringing the trio to a stop so that they could have a proper conversation. “The primary goal is the same as always. We just explore the area and uncover more of the map. The secondary goal is to try and find the main plot.”

“Also the dungeon,” Myrin added helpfully with a tap against Balrim’s elbow. “If there’s one out here.”

Balrim started to count on his taloned fingers. “Okay, three goals, uncover the map, find the plot, and find dungeons,” Balrim said with a nod. “Also to farm crafting materials. Four goals. And experience points. Five-” He stopped and shook his head, though he couldn’t completely suppress his grin. “I’ll come in again.”

“Okay,” Kaldalis said, waving a hand to stop him from continuing the bit. “I get the picture. We’re out here to see what we see.”

“I’m also going to be trying out a new weapon,” Myrin added.

“Why?” Kaldalis asked. “The greatsword not doing it for you anymore?”

“The greatsword will always be my first love,” Myrin said with a laugh. “But I wanted to explore my options. I really like the sound of the sprint cooldown you get from daggers, so I might just carry them around in town for mobility, even if I stick with greatsword in combat.”

“Chief amongst our goals,” Balrim announced in an imperious tone, “are uncovering the map, finding the plot, finding dungeons, farming materials, grinding experience points, and gaining weapon skill. And hanging out as friends. Seven goals. I-”

“I should have expected that,” Kaldalis interrupted with a sigh. He gestured for them to start moving on, and the trio continued through the forest. “While we’re out here, did you want me to share Sivima’s quest with you?”

“Do you think we’re going to finish it?” Myrin asked.

“Maybe,” Kaldalis said. Despite exploration being their goal, he found his tank instincts taking over, and he took the point position at the head of the trio. “Are you going to be doing much fishing?”

“I won’t,” Balrim said, grimacing at the thought of fishing. “It’s not my thing.”

“I might,” Myrin said. “You already told me about the fish, too.”

“The other annoying one is from mining,” Kaldalis said, leading the group off to the left to circle around a white-blossomed tree ahead of them that he knew was a treant waiting to ambush them. “A sanguine diamond. From what I can gather, you can get it anywhere, but it’s one of those super low drop rate things.”

“I’m out, then.” Myrin spat the words so forcefully she almost tripped over a root. “I swore off that shit years ago. I got my Peacekeeper relic quest done and then never did it on another class ever again. Fucking yarn drops.”

“Yeah.” Kaldalis grimaced at the memory of his own relic quest. “Zero point zero zero at the start of a drop rate ought to be illegal.”

“Could be worse,” Balrim said. “You could be playing a Gacha game.”

The trio continued farther inland, and eventually the white-blossom forest gave way to denser jungle, where the trees started to show more variety, and vine-like foliage dangled down from the canopy. Unlike the area around Cotanaku, though, there wasn’t dense foliage on the ground, meaning that they had relatively clear sightlights of the immediate area as they made their way forward.

Without any real direction, Kaldalis just wandered, and neither Balrim nor Myrin had any problem with that.

The walk wasn’t uneventful; there were still enemies in the woods. They found that treants outside the white-blossom forest didn’t have the telltale white blossoms that had let Kaldalis lead the trio around. But these fights went much smoother than what Kaldalis had gone through that morning.

Part of the improvement was just outright stats. Balrim and Myrin were the same level as Kaldalis, meaning that their damage was significantly higher, ending the fights much faster. Another component was the obvious team composition improvement. A lot of pressure was taken off of Kaldalis with Balrim at hand to clean up his mistakes. Furthermore, Balrim’s healing meant he started every fight at full hit points without having to weigh the pros and cons of spending potions that he might struggle to replace.

But the biggest advantage was the synergy the trio already had. Myrin always focused exclusively on damage, but when Kaldalis or Balrim had to adjust or move, she’d follow just about any direction they gave. Balrim didn’t just provide healing when Kaldalis needed it, but understood Kaldalis’s capabilities and limits, making every heal count. He also used his bow to allow himself freedom of positioning, but kept himself near at hand, so that Kaldalis could move to his side if unexpected danger appeared.

Kaldalis knew that, eventually, Reno and SeventyEight would develop the same comfortability and trust with him in time, but it was really nice to have the hard work already done.

Eventually the forest started to thin, as rocky outcroppings began to poke up through the forest floor. They were largely covered in thick teal moss, with the occasional root spearing through or winding around them. The rocks caused the forest canopy to open up above them, letting them see that they’d lost track of time entirely.

Above them, the sky started to turn purple, revealing that it was approaching sunset.

“We should turn back,” Balrim said, casually tossing another potion to Kaldalis’s feet, topping him off. “As much as I want to see if we can emerge into an open field or a mountainside or something, we didn’t bring enough supplies for spending the whole night out here.”

“At least,” Myrin added, “not for three.”

“Sorry,” Kaldalis said, even as he reversed direction to lead the group back towards Panbu. “I should have thought of that. I’d love to keep looking, too. I really thought we might find the dungeon entrance.”

“We met most of our goals, though,” Myrin chirped cheerfully. “We explored, we got some crafting materials, a few hundred exp, and my dagger skill is caught up. And it was nice to have you along again.” She reached up and gave Kaldalis a friendly sock in the arm. “Not a bad use of time.”

“Yeah,” Kaldalis said with a laugh, “you’re right. But I was hoping to find something. I don’t have time for the plot, but if we could find the dungeon, that would be very useful to my own goals. I could use it to grind exp with Reno and Ess, I could run the Panbu council through to gain some favor with them, and that’s without the gear to be gained.”

“And the tablet power,” Myrin added. “Don’t forget about the tablet power.”

“I don’t know if we could have reasonably expected to find it,” Balrim said as the forest grew denser and the canopy of branches and leaves closed over them again. “The one in Cotanaku wasn’t uncovered until after the Infernal Horde attack.”

“Not just that,” Myrin said, “it was uncovered by the Infernal Horde attack. And it was under a random tree. Maybe we can’t find it because it can’t be found without the raid.”

“Ah, like it’s part of the plot?” Balrim asked.

“Right,” Myrin said. “So we actually can’t find it until after someone finds the Infernal Horde and triggers the attack.”

“That’s not necessarily true,” Kaldalis said, pushing a vine out of the way as the forest started to grow dense enough to call it a proper jungle again. “Think like a speedrunner for a second. If we can find the entrance, we can find a way in. It just takes an understanding of the systems at work. We can cut down trees. We just have to find the right one.”

“That kind of thinking can be dangerous,” Balrim warned. “Speedrunners only focus on one thing: speed. They don’t think about other silly matters like consequences and morality. And they don’t have to because they’re only spending a few hours in the game world. We still have to live here at the end of the run.”

“Alright,” Kaldalis said with a sigh, “I’ll give you that point. What do you suggest, then?”

“Prioritization,” Balrim said. “You said that the council here has their first focus on defense, right? Then we get the walls built first. A few guard towers for the archers, too. Even the killbox. Until those things are done, we need to be aware that decisions we make have consequences.”

“Basically,” Myrin said, patting Balrim on the elbow to cut in. “One step at a time. Maybe we could find a suspicious-looking tree with a door-shaped root structure. If we do, we should make sure the whole town doesn’t have its pants around its ankles before we start cutting it open.”

“I guess our course is set for the next few days, then,” Kaldalis said. “As long as you two still want to look for this hypothetical tree-root-door, I’ll be glad to go with you.” He coughed when he caught Myrin giving him a look. “Once I’m done doing the town building quests with Reno and Ess.”