I couldn’t see very well what was going on down there, but I heard grunts of exertion as Rast grappled for the tree limb. From what I’ve seen of his burly figure, he didn’t look like a climber. Mina did, but she still stood on the ground, bow on the ready. An incentive for me to keep still and quiet for now.

‘I can’t see a fucking thing from here,’ Pest said petulantly, but that instantly changed with excitement. ‘I bet he will fall on his butt before reaching the second branch.’

Something creaked threateningly where Rast climbed the tree. The branches I used to get up were quite thin for humans… ‘I think something will break under him.’

Pest cackled. ‘Even better! Do you know how fucking annoying the guy was?’

‘Do YOU know?’ I asked. ‘Do you know them?’

‘I’ve been stuck in their dead friend until he finally got himself killed on kobolds’ oversized toothpicks. Fucking awful, I tell ya, with teammates like these to nag on my ears all the time!’

“Careful, Rast!” Mina shouted, and then I head a loud crash of a heavy human body falling a couple meters to the ground. A pained groan was a sign that the body was still alive after that.

“I’m fine, I’m fine. It’s just a bruise. I won’t even waste a healing spell on that,” Rand said. I leaned to look through the gaps between the leaves and saw him sitting on the ground, rubbing his back and head at the same time. His teammates looked more concerned with the tree than with him at the moment.

“Now that the lowest branch broke, I can’t reach up either,” Gleidon said. “Damn, I wish I had saved at least something that could blast that lizard from up there. Hey, Mina, you have more DEX than us. Can’t you climb it?”

“I can, but then who will shoot it if it flies off? I can’t hold the tree and my bow at the same time.”

“Ugh, I can’t believe we chased that bastard through the half of the forest, only to end like this.” Rast sighed and stood up. “But since Gleidon is useless until he rests—”

“Hey, I’m not useless!”

“—we should just make camp here and blast the kobold after he restores his spells.”

“The kobold will rest and fly away by that time,” Mina said. “I can stay awake while Gleidon sleeps, but my aim will go to hell by then. We’ve been up all night already. I can almost see the sunrise.”

“Gah! So what, we should leave that kobold there? It looked like an elite. They pay!”

“You know, Gleidon, that’s strange. I don’t remember seeing a winged kobold around or hearing about it before. You’d think someone would’ve noticed,” Mina mused. “Maybe he is a wandering beast. It’s not unusual for elites to show strange behaviour for their species.”

‘Elites? What are they talking about? Pest, be useful for once and tell me.’

‘Why should I? Humph. What will you do to me, go and kill yourself on these assholes? Ha!’

Oh yes, I couldn’t get any information out of Pest because he hated me for not being a good puppet and antagonised me out of pure spite. I grit my teeth. Playing such games wasn’t even close to being one of my favourite things to do, but this time I had to.

‘You know so much about this realm, and I know so little. If you were to tell me stuff about this place, it would show me how much more you know. Like bragging,’ I spat out. I wasn’t saying the words, but they still stuck like a lump in my throat. Even so, I could just hear how lame this attempt at manipulation sounded. Meanwhile, the dialogue under the tree continued. I half-listened to that, too.

‘Ha! That’s true, that’s true, Your Lordship. Your idiotic titles mean nothing around here, ha-ha-ha! You don’t even know who the fuck elites are.’

‘So, who are they?’

“What are you saying, Mina?”

‘Oh, they are just monsters possessed by draining curses. When one of us finds a good fucking host to stick in and dick around, we empower the host instead of draining it. Stupid adventurers have no idea, of course, they just call us ‘elite monsters’!’

‘Huh, so I’m really an elite now?’ I snorted. ‘What a fucking blessing.’

“He might’ve not been from this village at all, in which case we have no revenge to make with it.”

‘Glad that you understand the honour of hosting Toriaxius Magnificio Daresco The Best, peasant!’

‘Hosting who?’ I pretended ignorance.

‘Me! That’s me! Toriaxius Magnificio Daresco The Best!’ Pest almost exploded with indignation, to my glee.

I paid his cursing no more attention for now, focusing on what was said below. That’s my fate was being decided now—whether I would be free to go now or would have to work on it harder.

“No revenge? No revenge?! Mina, they are kobolds! Monsters! Their all kind should be exterminated!”

“But not necessarily by us! We can return to the city, put a word to the Guild about him, and come again or let some other party kill it. Either way, it would be dead and we will get a bonus for informing the Guild.”

The Guild again. Pest had mentioned it before, and I had a half of mind to ask, but I doubted I would get anything more from him than insults right now.

“Alright, alright. Let’s vote. Who is for going back to the city, raise a hand. Who wants to keep chasing the lizard… don’t raise a hand,” Rast said.

I couldn’t see who voted for and who against because of the leaves, branches and the inconvenient angle I was at. Damn. Now I had to wait and listen.