A distinct smell of lavender filled the air. The source remained elusive until the group made their way down and reached the start of the forest. It was then obvious that the trees themselves released the smell, which became even more apparent when the first campfire was built.

According to March, the group was scheduled to remain a week in the forest itself, hunting and getting water and firewood. Dallion asked about stones and rocks, only to be told that would take place during a later part of their trip.

Eury was separate most of the time, scouting ahead in her full hunter gear. The armor design was completely unlike anything Dallion had seen, although he could imagine it coming from her. Even so, his music skills let him know that a lot of the people were nervous when she was nearby.

As evening approached, all members of the party gathered at the campfire. Most of them were out hunting, with little success by the looks of it. The rest—including Dallion—had been in charge of chopping and collecting wood. It was a boring, though interesting experience. For one thing, Dallion wasn’t used to being perfumed by a tree each time the axe hit it.

“What do you think of the first day?” Euryale asked, sitting down next to Dallion at the fire.

“Not what I expected,” he replied cautiously. In truth, he wanted to ask what she was doing with the group, but knew that doing so would likely create more questions than answers. As Nil liked to say, there was plenty of time to investigate later. For the moment, he had to focus on the goal at hand.

“It’s exactly what I expected,” Eury said, her snakes constantly moving about. “The creatures are not that much, but they’re smart enough to hide. Whatever predators there are, they’ll appear after dark. And judging by the new animals in the forest, I’d say this is their turf.”

Dallion looked around.

“You won’t catch them like that,” the gorgon laughed. “They’ll avoid this place. Fire isn’t something they’ve seen in a while. Since the last expedition, at least.”

Across the fire, relatively secluded from everyone else, Vend was explaining something to March. Dallion couldn’t make out the words, but the emotions told him that neither of them were particularly pleased.

“He’s explaining that they won’t meet the food quota,” Eury said, seeing what her boyfriend was looking at. “The wood won’t be a problem, but meat might be. He’s proposing that they search for alternatives. March is against it, of course. She’s never trusted plants in the realms.”

“You can hear them?” Dallion sounded impressed.

“No, I told her the same thing a few hours ago, and if I know Vend he also sees the danger.” There was a slight pause. “Well, not real danger. Rather he knows we won’t be ready in two days.”

“So, Vend is her number two?”

“You can call him that. March saved him. She saved him from jail.” This time, Eury’s voice was low enough so that no one but people in her immediate vicinity could hear. “He used to be a thief and pickpocket before joining the guild. A lot of natural awakened are in this world. However, he tried to snatch something from a noble.”

There was a slight pause, enough for Dallion to give the man another glance. This wasn’t the first time he heard this, but he still found it difficult to believe that Vend was a street pickpocket as a child.

“Commoners can’t steal from nobles, unless the nobles let them. Vend used his splitting to take a brooch from a city noble, who in turn let him do it. A few hours later, the overseer.”

“Why?” Dallion asked.

“While it might be fun for the noble, the overseer doesn’t like to create precedents. An act against an active noble of Nerosal was the same as declaring war. The mirror pool was informed of the event and was told in no unclear terms what would happen, should they have any dealings with the boy. Poor boy didn’t have a chance. He was delivered to the city guard by the mirror pool the very same day.”

“And March saved him?”

“Not quite. March wasn’t here back then.” A secret the size of a pea appeared in the gorgon’s head, clearly visible for Dallion to see. “She visited him later and convinced the overseer to release him to the guild. Since March was an imperial soldier in the past, the overseer agreed.”

Being an imperial soldier definitely had its advantages. Lately, though, Dallion had started realizing what came with the title. It wasn’t just something a person could buy, it meant that the March had the skills of a minor noble, but had chosen to roam about the wilderness fighting monsters or armies of neighboring countries for the sake of the empire.

“Vend has been loyal ever since,” Eury said, just as March shook her head at Vend. The man remained still for a few moments, then walked away. “There you go. She’s probably told him that they need to get the supplies and do it in two days. Now he’s trying to figure out how to share the news with the rest of the group.”

“You seem to know a lot about the guild…”

“A hunter knows a lot of things about a lot of things.” The gorgon smiled. “Also, I had dealings with the guild in the past, a bit like Jiroh.”

“You never told me.”

“Maybe one day I will.” Planting a kiss on Dallion’s cheek, the gorgon then stood up and moved away from the fire.

For some reason she didn’t like Vend too much. Looking at Vend, Dallion could only see that his mentor was too worried about something else to notice.

“Listen up,” Vend said. “We’ll be making some changes tomorrow. We’re on track for gathering the wood we need, but not the food.” He looked at the dozen of small animals that had been caught—small things that appeared to be a cross between a sheep and a hare. “That’s why tomorrow, everyone but Dal and Agnii will be hunting. That includes the gorgon.”

The silence was full, only broken by the crackling of the fire.

“And I don’t want to hear that time is irrelevant here. We’re here to do something, so let’s do it properly.”

“Are all meat types acceptable?” Euryale asked with a smirk. “It’s night, so there should be a bear or two out there. I can scout about and try to catch something.”

“That works.”

Hearing the answer, a few more people stood up, only to be given warning glares from Vend.

“Keep in mind that we won’t be carrying anyone during the day. If you’re out in the night, you better catch something. If not, you’ll be joining the morning hunting groups.”

Some of the people sat down, though others didn’t. Interestingly enough, March was one of the people who left.

“Three people take first watch.” Vend stepped away from the fire. “Two shifts.”

You haven’t seen this side of him, have you, dear boy? Nil asked. Vend is usually like that when he’s not roped into helping with exams or training others. It all goes back to when March found him.

Everyone has their secrets, Dallion thought. It was of note, though, that Nil didn’t mind sharing them once Eury had.

Finishing off his evening ration, Dallion curled up near the fire for some sleep. Before he did, he looked at the sky. As the sun completely vanished, the Moons emerged. All seven of them were there, looking at the ground, careful judging all that happened. The blue moon shone brightest, but the green moon was also brighter than Dallion remembered it to be. In the past, it had been little more than a pale circle in comparison, though no more.

Night to you too, Dallion thought, then turned to the side. As suspected, he wasn’t among the ones woken up for the second shift. At the crack of dawn, though, he was unceremoniously shoved into awareness by Agnii. The rest of the group had already gone hunting.

“Sorry,” Dallion yawned. “Not used to sleeping in the open.”

“Better get used to it,” the woman said. “It’ll be a while before you see a bed.”

The first thing Dallion did was to find a good spot in the forest to do his business. It felt strangely weird, as if Dallion had gone to a rural camp. Washing his hands with what little water he had, he then got to chopping wood. Considering he was one of the two people to do that, this was turning out to be a long day.

Using an axe turned out to be quite different from what Dallion imagined. Thankfully, since this was an awakened realm, there were combat markers to help with that. Dallion had already memorized the order of the markers from the previous day, but he still followed them, more to train his reactions than anything else. Also, he made a point to split into at least five instances. From what Nil had said, doing so helped improve his control and stamina.

Around lunch some of the guild members started showing up. Vend’s speech must have been quite inspirational, because they had caught a lot more animals. Unfortunately, that meant that Agnii had to focus on skinning and food prepping, while the chopping remained all Dallion’s.

By evening, Dallion could barely lift the axe. Not since his first few levels had he reached a state in which his stamina wasn’t enough. Facing a forest of trees clearly proved more challenging than any guardian.

A bit of help, Lux, he thought.

The firebird had instantly appeared, doing its best to make him feel better. Alas, pain wasn’t considered a wound. After a few minutes, Dallion had no choice but to send the bird away and suffer in silence.

Exhaustion prevented Dallion from staying awake for Eury’s return. Way before the sun had set, he was out, sleeping ten feet from the campfire spot. When he next woke up, it was mid-morning.

“Crap!” Dallion jumped to his feet. Strangely enough, all the pain in his arms and body had vanished.

“Wonderful, isn’t it?” Agnii asked, pouring herself a mug of steaming wine a short distance away. “You always feel fresh the next day, no matter what you do. I wish it could be like that in the real world.” She downed her cup in one gulp. “Would have made things a heck of a lot better.”

“Right,” Dallion nodded with a guilty smile. “I’ll get to chopping.”

“Best thing to do. You have a bit of catching up to do, but I feel you’ll manage. Just one thing. Pay more attention to chopping up the firewood. Quantity is important, but so is quality.”

Clearly, she had noticed that Dallion was focusing on getting things done faster than getting them done right. With that one remark, the work continued.

Focusing more on chopping and less on making instances, Dallion managed to cut up another five trees before the guild members returned. All of them were carrying a wide variety of animals: sheep-rabbits and bears mostly, but also a few birds, as well as a fish or two. All of them were skinned and sliced up by Agnii who did it with such speed that Dallion thought he was watching a cartoon.

When afternoon arrived, so did Eury. The gorgon, from what Dallion had heard, had managed to catch two large bears, which had helped with the provisions quite a bit. Seeing Dallion’s suffering, she had also helped with the lumber gathering. One by one, so did the rest of the party.

By the time March appeared, both wood and provisions were gathered in large enough quantities. Even so, Vend remained concerned.

“Do we have what we need?” March asked.

“We have enough,” Agnii replied. “We could have used a bit more food, but we have more furs than expected. By noon we can—”

“It’ll do,” March cut her short. “Everyone, eat if you have to, shit if you need to, then prep up. We’re heading through the forest.”

So soon? Dallion wondered.

Despite her faults, of which she has many, March doesn’t waste time, Nil said.

“We’ll be heading through the forest all the way to Tear Town. After we rest, there we’re heading straight for the Edge Temple. Eury, you’ll be our eyes on this.”

“Gotcha.” The gorgon nodded.

“Dal, you and your firebird will be upfront with me,” March continued. “If anything unexpected happens, I’ll need you to react quickly.”

“Yes, ma’am!” Dallion said. This was starting to sound serious.