*Creak!!*

With a loud creaking sound, the trapdoor hidden beneath the bear’s pelt opened.

Reizel looked down and into the darkness as a small cloud of dust made its descent into it. A ladder was strapped on the wall before the trapdoor, making it easily accessible.

Kneeling down, he could feel a mild itching coming from his back. The injury didn’t really approve of the motion, forcing him to patch it up before checking the hidden compartment.

‘It’s not like the cellar would go anywhere...’

With that thought in mind he went back to the bedroom, opened the closet and took out two of the shirts.

‘Tsk.. This will be wasteful...’

Done picking out shirts, Reizel made his way back to the main room and inspected the stuff he gathered earlier. He didn’t need to think twice before picking out the good ol’ kitchen knife lying among the pile. Blame it on the heavy layers of dust or due to how long it had been left unused for, the knife turned out to be quite dirty. Letting out a sigh of defeat, he picked up a dust cloth and wiped it to the best of his abilities.

Five minutes of wiping later, the knife was now clean enough to use. He didn’t waste time, quickly transforming one of the shirts into strips of cloth.

Surprisingly, the process didn’t take long. It was probably due to the [First Aid] skill assisting him during the process, but who cares? If it helped him save some time and effort then it was always welcome. Reizel made two sets of bandages (strip cloths), using one to patch up his injury while keeping the other one as a spare in his new shirt’s pocket.

A quick inspection downwards showed the results of his efforts.

‘Damn I look more like a ghost than anything else...’

His pale white complexion in combination with the white shirt and trousers he wore, really made him look like a ghost out of a fairy tale. Buttoning the shirt up, he discovered it didn’t fit him all that well. Judging by the shirt size alone, Erin was more robust or at least more top heavy than him.

‘I should change my pants too... I don’t want others to think I have haemorrhoids or something...’

The linen bandage wasn’t the only thing covered in dried blood as the backside of his pants was smeared in it as well.

Sad news for Reizel, a belt was not provided alongside the leather pants, which with another pair of pants in hand and a sigh of despair he tried on.

Surprisingly enough, the waist line of the pants was not too different from his own. Making it almost a perfect fit...

‘Phew.. At least I don’t have to hold onto them at all times...’

Satisfied, he let out a sigh of relief as he made his way back to the trapdoor.

‘If only I had a flashlight... Wait, flashlight? Great.. Another one to ponder over...’

Feeling a headache incoming, he knew that word fit the situation perfectly and yet he couldn’t recall anything of a tool named ‘flashlight’. A quick glance at the lantern resting on the table and he was already shaking his head left and right. Even if it had oil left inside, he wasn’t confident in his ability to start a fire up with his knowledge.

With fingers crossed and hoping for the best, Reizel began his descent into the darkness.

*Creak..Crack...*

The ladder made some rather awful creaking sounds. Thankfully for him, it wasn’t long before his bare feet left the ladder. The cellar didn’t go too deep into the ground apparently, five to six meters at most. What was even more surprising was that it wasn’t as dark as he first expected it to be. The faint shape of boxes stacked on top of each other could be observed further inside.

‘Do I have Darkvision or something? Am I perhaps a vampire?!’

A silly thought, but no one could blame him for that. The light coming down from the hole wasn’t enough to brighten up the whole cellar. Maybe a meter or two in front of him? Anyway, the room expanded sideways as two pillars holding up the roof could be seen from the entrance.

Like a robot walking, step after step Reizel made his way towards the dusty boxes. Cold sweat trickled down his nape. It’s not like he was scared or anything. It was just the musty odour of the cellar accompanied by a deathly silence and a bunch of cobwebs and dust particles lightly moving around. But under no circumstances was he scared that a ghost or something worse would jump scare him any moment now.

The cellar was more or less a weirdly shaped square, four wooden pillars holding it in place with a few miscellaneous items he couldn’t clearly see around them.

Further inside the room, among the cobwebs, a faint source of blue fluorescent light could be seen coming from the other side of the wall. Therefore, solving the mystery as to why the cellar wasn’t consumed in complete darkness.

The source of fluorescent light was firmly strapped on the wall with a piece of leather that had almost rotten out, cobwebs covering its surface.

‘The hell is this?’

Closing in on the crystal-like object, he gave it a good stare after pulling out the cobwebs hindering its shine. The crystal wasn’t too big, almost half a foot in length and as if it were alive, it pulsated with a faint light blue glow.

Curiosity killed the cat, many would say, but Reizel knew none of that as he picked up the glowing crystal anyway. Pulling it out off the wall, it felt a bit chilly in his hand.

“I don’t know if this is creepy or incredible? It definitely is spooky though!”

As if sensing his presence, at the sound of his voice, the crystal’s glow increased ever so faintly, though not enough to make him notice it.

Pulling his focus away from the crystal, Reizel waved it around, lighting up the basement. What seemed to be a hunter’s workshop was on one side of the room, while a few barrels and weapon racks were lying in between the four pillars.

‘Now that’s more like what I’m talking about!’

A wild grin appeared on his face as he checked out the workstation. A few incomplete bear traps were resting on top of it along with several trap making components. Strings of different sizes, metal spikes, arrow heads and shafts messily lay there as tools like small hammers and wrenches to help put everything together could also be found lying around.

Even though everything mentioned above could help increase his chances of survival inside the misty forest, none of them grabbed his attention as much as the piece of parchment covered in dust that lay in the middle of the chaos right in front of him.

Blowing the dust on top of it away, Reizel coughed twice before placing the crystal close to the parchment.

‘This is it! My way out of this god forsaken forest!’

A map lay before him. But not just any map; It was a hand drawn map!

His brows furrowed at the sight before him. One look at this map was enough to know that whoever drew this, probably Erin himself, was an awful cartographer...

Ink stains next to what seemed to be illegible words could be seen here and there. Most of them had long since faded out, but luckily for him, three clear ones managed to win over the passage of time.

The most obvious one of the three was the drawing of a cabin sitting in the middle of the map. A cabin drawing it was not. More like a square with a triangular roof attached to it. Above of which, the words ‘Log House’ were written in bold letters.

East of the cabin was what seemed to be a lake? It wasn’t too far away apparently. According to the map at least, it was supposed to be right next to the cabin... Yes, that’s right, the lake’s drawing was right next to the cabin... The space between them was small enough that the drawings even overlapped a little.

Judging from that it shouldn’t be too hard for Reizel to find water.

‘Mystraline Lake? If the map is even slightly accurate, it shouldn’t be too far away.’

The last landmark that had yet to fade away was on the north side of the cabin. This one was supposedly quite far away. Seeing how the distance between the cabin and the last landmark was only a few centimetres on the map, and if one placed the lake drawing as a measuring standard, then it should be at least five lakes distance away.

The drawing seemed to be that of a cave. It wasn’t obvious, but the word ‘CAVE’ written in bold letters above the black dot that was a little bigger than the stains, really helped out...

‘This is weird... Where is the exit?’

The map had definitely seen better days. It had yellowed out from the many years it had been left in the open and the smaller details like certain hunting grounds and points of interest had long since faded out. Even the direction marker showing where north, east, south and west were supposed to be had almost faded away. Thankfully, the ones pointing north and eastwards were still there making the map semi-useful.

‘Damn it Erin, couldn’t you make a bold circle with the word ‘EXIT’ above it? Was it really that hard?!’

Reizel couldn’t help but grumble in his head as he carefully rolled the map and stowed it away. He didn’t say it out loud, but his excitement meter at the mere thought of treasure hunting was already way off the scale.

The trap components were left alone for now as he turned his attention towards the barrels behind him. Holding the source of light at his front, a few broken cobwebs later he was led to the discovery of barrel taps on the bottom part of each barrel.

‘Is this what I think it is?! No... Calm down Reizel! This isn’t the time to panic!’

A glint flashed through his eyes inside the darkness as he neared one of the barrels. With shaky hands and a prayer to god knows whom, he turned the barrel tap on.

‘Come on please don’t be empty!’

*Screech.. Snap!*

The rusty metal of the tap was unsatisfied with the sudden motion after god knows how long ago its last spin was and decided to express itself by breaking.

“What?!”

Even though the barrel tap broke, nothing flowed out of it. Disappointment was painted all over his face as he moved closer to the next barrel. With slower and more careful movements this time around, he slowly gave the tap a turn.

“...Why?!”

Needless to say, this barrel was empty as well. And with only one more barrel left as his last hope... Reizel’s gaze could almost burn a hole right through it. Wishing third time is the charm, the barrel tap was slowly turned. No more than three spins later, liquid slowly started to drip down from the tap and onto the stone floor.

‘Yes! Yes! Yes!’

Excited at the results of his effort, he picked up a mug resting upside down on a stool nearby and glared at it with his burning gaze. 10 minutes later and a wipe good enough it would put the best of bartenders to shame, the mug was as clean as it could have been in his situation.

‘Phew... Better than nothing!’

Merrily filling it with the liquid flowing out of the barrel tap, he turned it off and without any second thoughts brought the mug to his lips. The fragrance coming out of it was a pleasant surprise, as he took a big sip to quench his thirst.

“Pffffftttt!!!”

Not even a second later, Reizel spat out whatever the hell he’d placed in his mouth.

“What in the world is this?! What did you place in those barrels, Erin you maniac?!”

Most people wouldn’t even need to taste it to recognise what it was, the strong smell particular to wine alone would be enough. But to Reizel who didn’t know the taste of wine, he thought the hunter placed juice inside the barrels.

Looking down at the half empty mug he couldn’t help sighing.

‘Damn it Erin... Couldn’t you make some regular juice? It kinda tastes like it though... Did it go bad after such a long time?!’

Staring at the mug for a little while, the fragrance muzzled his thoughts as he brought it back to his lips, taking a smaller sip this time.

‘It is definitely bitter... But I wonder why..’

Taking another sip, he couldn’t help grimacing at the bitter taste as a red tint appeared on his cheeks. Not that anyone would be there to notice it anyway but still...

Three minutes later and the wooden mug was emptied out... The wine was quite strong for a heavy drinker, so don’t even mention a non-drinker trying it. Feeling light headed, his reasoning told him it would be to his benefit if he stopped, alas his hands turning on the tap again showed otherwise as he filled the mug again.

“One more cup wouldn’t hurt anyone, right? Hic!”

⚔ ⚔ ⚔

“Master William, welcome! We have been waiting for you!”

A tall man with short black hair, slanted eyes and a smile similar to that of a door to door salesman ushered the two of them into the building. He didn’t stop there though, as he continued talking.

“And you must be young master Kyle! Oh, I’ve heard so much about you!”

‘Young master?’

Kyle was perplexed, who was that man before them? Why did he refer to him as young master? And how were he and his master related? All those questions passed through his mind but he didn’t express any of them outwards.

“After all these years you are still the same old fox”, Kyle’s master William laughed heartily as he embraced his friend in a bear hug, the two of them leading the way inside while smiling. “Glad to see you haven’t changed at all, old friend.”

“Oh, that’s right!”, added Kyle’s master. “This is Bryan Fulton, Kyle. He is an old acquaintance and friend of mine.”

This was a rare occasion. Throughout the years he spent under his master’s guidance, Kyle’s master introduced him to several ‘acquaintances’ he had. None of which were followed by the word ‘friend’.

After walking through the hallway, the three of them reached the living room of the place. Cardboard boxes littered almost the entire place and in the middle of it all stood a man so tall that he could only be described as a giant by human standards.

The giant was surprisingly thin, making even Bryan look robust in front of him. His long hair covered the entirety of his face making it impossible for Kyle to make out his facial features. What’s more surprising though is that it was dyed in a darker shade of green, something rarely seen around these parts, brown and black being the majority.

“Hey Dylan, put down those boxes and come say hello to our new member.”

Bryan said as he beckoned for the giant to come over. Surprisingly or not surprisingly, he abided with a single nod of his head and moved closer.

“Let me introduce you, this is Dylan Cote. Although his fame didn’t reach anywhere near yours in the game, he did have his fair share of achievements. You might recognise him better as Cavern Lord though.”

With a beaming smile on his face, Bryan introduced Dylan to Kyle.

‘Cavern Lord? The turtle? If I remember correctly, he was a hermit who never left his realm from start to finish. Till the end, no one managed to raid his place once.’

With those thoughts in mind, Kyle inspected the giant standing in front of him as he extended his hand.

“Kyle, nice to meet you.”

The giant grasped his hand and shook it, nodding lightly at his greeting.

‘Has this guy gone mute or something?’

From the looks of it, Dylan was a man of little to no words.

“Oh, that’s right! I forgot to mention, Dylan, the guy standing in front of you is the rumoured Reizel”, Bryan couldn’t help adding slyly from the side. Dylan flinched for a second and uttered a few words.

“It’s... An honour...”

“Reizel?!?! Is he finally here?! Where? Where is he?!”

A childish sound came from somewhere upstairs before rushing footsteps could be heard closing in from the hallway. Before long, a midget no taller than a meter and a half rushed into the living room. He had short blond hair and a pair of sparkling blue eyes.

Like a small typhoon, the midget circled around Kyle as he kept asking question after question at the speed of sound.

“Are you really Reizel? Ohhhh!!! I am a fan! Can I have your autograph?! I can’t believe I get to see you up close!”

Making a fuss seemed to be part of his expertise? Forcing Dylan to grab him by the collar and pull him back.

“...Stop...”

“Wow, even big bro Dylan spoke! Talk about rare. But I really want an autograph! Let me go!”

“Haha, this is another member of our studio. This excited little fella is Robert Wynn. He rushed to join us from overseas as soon as he heard you will be part of the team.”

The midget glared at Bryan and spoke in an infuriated manner as he threw a tantrum.

“Manager! I am not little! I am a fully grown adult!”

“Yes yes..”

He didn’t really come out as pissed though, but more like a child having a temper.

‘Robert Wynn? This guy is Rahn? Rahn the mad? No way... That guy fought against me like a mad dog. What part of this chihuahua resembles Rahn?’

Kyle was a little surprised at this as he recalled his fight with Rahn. The guy managed to destroy three of his swords with a single attack during the fight and even laughed off some serious injuries dealt to him.

Bryan seemed to pick up on Kyle’s surprise as he added.

“Those are only two of the members. There are two more that are currently absent but they should join us in a little while.”

Kyle calmed down and pulled his thoughts together. He was ready to say something about the whole ‘member’ thing when a woman walked in.

“What is all this fuss about?”

Her short black hair and eyes attracted everyone’s attention as Kyle’s eyes widened.

“Ahh Olivia, you are here. Come in, let me introduce you to Kyle. He is..”

Bryan didn’t get to finish his sentence as Olivia interrupted him, gluing her dark pupils on Kyle’s figure.

“No need for that. We already know each other, right Reizel?”

Kyle had an expression of disbelief painted all over his face. He couldn’t help muttering as anger welled up in him.

“Reichel...”