(Zhenya POV)

Sun’s about to set. Let’s call it a day and make camp. Pulling the reins, I parked alongside the road. It’s been a few days, so we pretty much had this process down pat. Freddie and I gather firewood, Nickolas preps dinner, and Rudi unpacks the beddings.

*Rustle* *Rustle* “Hey Freddie, the roads been pretty empty today, don’tcha think?” Even if said road is more of a dirt trail than anything, it’s oddly deserted.

“Seems normal to me. Travel between the two towns isn’t as frequent yet. With everything that’s happened, trade agreements have been delayed. Can’t exactly trade what you haven’t properly identified yet.”

Ending it there, Fredrica pulled me low. “Footprints.” She whispered.

Deep, but not enough to indicate plate armor, so not guard patrol. There’s no village nearby, so these people aren't hunters. It has to be bandits, no doubt.

Silently alarming Fredrica, we slunk back to camp wood in tow, where we filled the others in. Nickolas took the reins from here, asking me for all sorts of details, concluding that these bandits ambush travelers in the dead of night while they slept.

Welp, seeing how they left tracks behind and are likely using scrounged-up equipment, they’re probably two-bit thugs.

We ate a light dinner as night rolled by, spending our time playing card games in the wagon until we heard screaming.

“That’s the alarm.” A makeshift security system utilizing my rope strung and hooked up to various vials Rudi kept for self-defense. The footprints came from one direction, so it was a no-brainer.

Rounding them up didn’t take long. They were a disorganized mess fumbling around the treeline.

“That should be all of them,” I nodded to confirm.

“So, what now? We can’t just leave 'em here, and I don’t think road watch is due for another few days.” Fredrica started thinking.

But, “We just kill them, right?”

“Zhenya?”

“If we leave them, they’ll go right back to pillaging. Besides, without any restraints, we can’t exactly take them with us either. That and I doubt they’re worth much.”

Fredrica looked towards the other two but, “I lived alone in a forest before master found me, bandits were a constant threat, it was either them or...” Replied Rudi.

“Same, most of my life was spent on the road. Bandits were an everyday occurrence.” And Nickolas.

“You, guys...” Fredrica has probably never taken a life.

We gave each other side glances. She was obviously distraught about the way things were heading. When the silence became so palpable we thought the bandits might snap awake, Rudi sprung up and ran towards the wagon, then the woods, and back again.

There was some bubbling and explosions. We all knew what that meant! A new pot- Rudi ran out and slapped goop on their wrists. Goop, that’s what I meant to say.

It quickly solidified into a lump.

“Melpie weed, when crushed hardens unto the skin and causes irritation. I just added some reagents I packed for the trip to exacerbate the hardening trait. Can’t do anything about the itching, but I think that’ll be the least of their concerns.”

Rudi didn’t think much of it, but Fredrica poured on the gratitude nonetheless. The goop itself wasn’t hard to make, but those reagents were things he planned on leveraging to get better prices.

Hauling them into the wagon, we spent the rest of the night sitting around the campfire. Talking about this and that, but ultimately it rounded back to our willingness to kill.

The three of us had our own reasons of varying levels of privacy. But the sheer innocent determination Fredrica emitted made it hard to decline.

I went first. It wasn’t anywhere near personal it was simply a way of life. The North is an unforgiving place for anyone, let alone the inexperienced. Few merchants dare make the trip and those that do buy all they can from us to offset the risks presented. This also makes them juicy marks for bandits.

Merchants are the North’s lifeblood. If trade ever stopped, it would effectively cut us off from the world. So we take these attacks seriously, even offering to work for cheap guarding caravans.

Some bandits even get desperate enough to try their luck pillaging town. Other than outposts and rest stops, our town is the only real form of cooperative civilization. There are the goblins and Winter’s Bloom Beastman tribes, but considering their stance, yeah.

Since we can’t offload them for the bounty and didn't have enough food to keep prisoners, we offed any bandits we caught. It did help that they were total scum and not as pitiful as these guys.

Rudi chipped in on this too. According to him, only the most high-profile criminals even think of fleeing north. Somewhere neither country can touch them. Or rather, they simply can’t, too much manpower.

And that was the end of that.

Nickolas went next. His was a simple tale. In the aftermath of the war, banditry was at an all-time high. Him and his ma s’been dealing with highwaymen for a long time, they’ve had lucky run-ins and catastrophic failures. Little to say, not every run-in ended as smoothly as this one did.

Rudi’s was even briefer. In the past, he’d hunt down bandit camps whenever they settled near him. He was, in the truest sense, a wild child. Fredrica stopped him there. I haven’t seen him trembling this much since the dungeon burning incident.

We switched back to cheerier topics, watching the sunrise.

The last leg of our trip was rather uneventful, besides dumping the bandits at the nearest guard station for a few GP.

The wagon nicked and clacked as we hit a main road. On the horizon was Felschonheit, a town so steeped in trees it was like civilization never took root in these lands. And at the heart of it was a mountainous tree, splitting the clouds, pinks petals billowing off its obscured peaks.

Not a bad town if I say so myself.

Getting in was standard fare. ID, and a lump of GP. One thing I did notice, idly glancing around in line. The ‘walls’, were actually thickets of controlled trees.

Strolling into town there were a plethora of people hawking specialty plants. Ranging from saplings to aquatic lilies. Wait, is that an ice lotus! I thought only the Winter’s Bloom cultivated them.

Anyways, we’ve arrived. It’s time to go our separate ways. Rudi headed towards the warehouse district, while Nickolas disappeared into the crowd like only a local could. As for me and Freddie, we had the request.

The Crescent Hare’s inn. One of the older buildings accompanied by similar clientele. These guys had an air veterancy about them.

Taking a table, a waitress, bunny beastkin, came to take our order. “You gals from the new dungeon?” Were we that obvious? “Any Felschonheit adventurer knows the tools of the trade.”

Looking around, they seemed to be carrying some manner of canister alongside jars of bugs. “Just a heads up if you’re planning on entering the dungeon. Now your order?”

“Oh yeah, we were wondering about this request.” Fredrica hands over the slip. And instantly the waitress's mood takes a dip as the tavern patrons started cackling.

“Gahahaha! Another sucker!” “I wonder how long they’ll last?” “500 GP on a week.” “No 300 Diana shoos them away on the spot.”

“Huh?” This is a reaction?

“Up. Now. Follow.” She dropped the waitress act and pressed us into the back room, slamming the door behind her. “You seem like nice girls. But I’ll tell you this now, don’t. Leave the request be and move on.”

“Wait, what do you mean leave!?” Fredrica was pissed. “You’re the one! You posted this!” She poked the name on the request!

“I said Leave! I told the damn A.A to take that request down ages ago!”

“Tsk!” Fredrica scrunched the paper in her grip. “It says, help my friend! How heartless can you be! Take it down? Leave? Are you going to leave your FRIEND to rot in that room?!” She burned with knightly righteousness.

But the waitress was burning even hotter. “Friend, save? You money-grubbing bastards don’t give a fuck about Sushila! It’s all about that 'information' with you!”

“Now I won’t repeat myself, leave!” Diana flung a finger towards the door, narrowly missing Nickolas. “Eh, Nick?”

“Whoa, Di, still got that temper I see.” He immediately went to calm her down. “Fredrica and Zhenya are good folks. We can at least let them try with Su.”

“So you heard everything.”

“Heard? Everybody in the district can hear you. Actually, Paulie called me over.” A lanky patron waves from outside.

“Haaaa, age must be getting the better of me.” She slumped onto a chair. “Nick, I’ll take your word on them, but just let me rest a little.”

Heading back to the dining room, Nickolas immediately got dogpiled on by the older adventurers welcoming him back. It was all in good fun, they bantered and bickered, but things never got too outta hand. I’m starting to miss the guys back home already.

By the time we finished our dishes, Nickolas clambered over, picking up where he left off. “Sorry about Di, she’s always been a big sister for the folks here. In the past, there’ve been all sorts of unsavory people aiming for Su. Some even resorting to violence.

She knows things. Things the A.A wants so badly, that they might overlook a few transgressions.”

He lowered his voice as if someone was listening in, asking two things of us.

That was to forget about the info. It was something no one should care about anymore, let alone torment a poor girl over. And the other was to save her.

Su could finally move on with her life, the request would be taken down, and those hounds would stop coming after her.

It was a bitter decision but one we made instantly. We wouldn’t pursue this information. It wasn’t like we were coming out of this empty-handed, there was still the accolades from finishing an almost decade-old request, and 350 GP was nothing to sneeze at. There was that other request too.

Nickolas thanked us, almost shedding a tear. It’s difficult to think how long and hard he’s tried to help his friend that he’d even ask us.

All we needed now was for Di to come around. Getting up to leave, Rudi called out after us. As thanks for hearing him out, he offered to handle our tab here, which means room and food. At least until we find work.

Well, now that living arrangements are settled. Let’s check out what the city of flowers has to offer!