Chapter 9

“...and even with all the blood around, the prostitute still managed to do jumping jacks for another whole hour. It was amazing.”

“...”

“Anyway, that’s how I got my medical license.”

We’ve been in the forest for about four hours now. My new watch said it was almost eleven in the morning and I was disappointed to find there were so much time left in the day. The first hour after we left the keep I’ve been tense, jumping at the smallest sound. The doctor, on the other hand, looked like he was out taking a leisurely stroll.

He picked up the random plant here and there. I didn’t know anything about them so I paid him no mind and kept my attention on our surroundings. That lasted until Lucian decided he had enough of the silence and began regaling me with stories from his school days.

At first it was fine and some of them were relatively interesting. Then everything quickly went downhill.

“So, tell me Reginald, ever thought of going to medical school?”

“If I ever did, now I’m convinced not to.” I said in an exasperated tone.

“Shame, you look like you have a good head on your shoulders.”

“Yeah, I’d rather keep it there, thank you very much.”

“Oh, don’t be such a wuss. The student decapitation rate falls significantly after the first year. It almost never happens after the fourth one. A shame if you ask me.” He said as if that was an actual bad thing.

I had no choice but to follow him around as he picked up things around the forest. Thankfully, he seemed to have grown tired of speaking so we spent the next few hours in relative silence. From time to time I’d jump at the random critter that passed us, making the doctor groan at how wound up I was.

“All right, we’ve been making good progress so far. I say we take a break and have lunch. This whole trekking through the woods is as exhausting as always.”

I looked at him curiously. “What are we eating? Should we hunt for a deer or something?”

“No need.” He shook his head and showed me the contents of one of his pouches. There were a few fist sized, brown mushrooms in there. “I came across these a few minutes ago. We’ll roast a few of them and keep the rest for dinner.”

“...those aren’t poisonous right?” I asked skeptically.

“Of course they're not. Do you actually think I couldn’t tell mushrooms apart?” He sounded offended at that so I made sure to apologize.

With no further ado, we gathered some sticks and lit up a small fire. We took half the mushrooms and roasted them like marshmallows. It was actually pretty peaceful and, honestly, I was tired from being on edge the entire day.

We began eating and I was surprised to find out that the things were actually pretty damn good. Just like that we spent another few minutes making small talk by the dimming fire.

Unfortunately the relaxing atmosphere didn’t last long.

“Waf, waf!”

“Are those...barks? Some kinds of wild dogs?” I asked hesitatingly.

Lucian who was yawning and lounging around earlier snapped his eyes open and got up. His visage turned serious and without a word he drew his sword.

“Get up Reginald! Those are definitely not just dogs.”

Seeing the situation had turned so serious I jumped to my feet and also took out my weapon. I tensely looked around, the earlier anxiety had returned in full force. This was it. It would be either sink or swim.

I heard the rustling of leaves behind my back. I turned around just in time to see three creatures coming out of the bushes. Lucian’s words were right, they weren't just simple dogs, but they definitely were related.

The canine creatures walked straight, on two legs. Their thick, wild, fur covered their one meter tall bodies, thinning out on their face and along the snout. Two of them carried improvised stone daggers, while the last one had a thick branch that served as a club.

They were sniffing around and I realized that the smell of our food must have brought them here.

I heard Lucian shuffle behind me. “Kobolds. Watch out for their bite, the stronger ones can easily get through bone.”

Well that was something I absolutely did not want to experience. Still, I was at a disadvantage numerically. I could probably trust Lucian to fight off one of them if it went after him, but that still meant I had to face two of them alone.

The kobolds already noticed us and were growling and began readying themselves to attack. The adrenaline was pumping and I felt the grip I had on the swords tighten. The three creatures wasted no more time and immediately charged me.

They didn’t seem to care about Lucian as all three of them converged on me. The first one, with the club, jumped intending to bash my head in. Thankfully, while they were fast, they lacked strategy and grace.

I took a step backwards and thrust the sword upwards. The kobold seemed to have realised how bad his situation was, but it was too late for regrets. Even with all the fur, my sword pierced him without any problems.

I didn’t have time to celebrate my quick victory as the other two quickly rushed me with their stone daggers. In the heat of the moment I had a flash of inspiration. As the soon to be dead kobold was beginning to descend, my blade still in him, I forcefully turned and pulled with all my strength.

The one coming from the right released a surprised yelp as his bloody comrade bashed into him, throwing the both of them to the ground. The last one, though scared by how fast I dealt with his friends, still found the courage to throw his weapon.

Fortunately he missed and the stone dagger flew harmlessly by my ear. Sweating a bit at how close the projectile went near my head, I straightened myself up and charged him.

He quickly realised that he had no other weapon besides his teeth. With an angry growl he tried to bite me, but my sword’s reach was much too big for him to even have a chance at touching me.

With a wide, diagonal slash another kobold fell to the ground. Unfortunately I knew I wasn’t finished. The one hit by his comrade’s corpse was still alive and kicking. I recovered from my wild swing and turned around just in time to see Lucian pull his sword out from the last kobold’s chest.

“A job well done Reginald. Even if these things are only a step above pests, they are still annoying to deal with in groups.”

I let the compliment fly over my head as I struggled to regain my breath. I could still hear my heart pumping strongly in my chest. That was my second experience with live combat and if I was honest with myself, I did a decent job.

But from my shortness of breath I realised that I could still get better. Much better. I had no right getting so worked up about something that was only “a step above pests”.

Lucian seemed to take the whole situation calmly as if this was a usual thing that occurred to him. Well, he did say this was not the first time he went out for ingredients. Who knows how many of these things he had already killed?

“Strange. How very, very strange…”

“What?” I asked him. He was searching through the kobold corpses with a strange expression on his face. After some time he took out what looked like a root one of them seemed to have carried.

Lucian narrowed his eyes at it. “What would these things need Rock Root for I wonder?”

I shrugged. “Maybe they tried to eat it.”

“Hmm, well kobolds are primarily carnivores, but they have been known to use different plants as something akin to spice. Still…”

“Think they’re trying to go vegan?” I jokingly asked.

Lucian snorted. “From the way they kept looking at us I don’t think so.”

“Well, it’s not like what these things eat is any concern of ours.”

“Hmm, I believe you’re right. Might as well keep this since it was on my list anyway.” He said and stored the Rock Root in one of his bags.

“I guess we should go back to work. I’ll stomp out the fire while you gather your things.” I said. The fire was already almost gone by the time the kobolds arrived so the few embers left were quickly dealt with.