I'm walking with Andreas and Val to Dasi village now.

Andreas didn't lie when he said Dasi is in a jungle.

The more step we do, the trees are growing more frequently until we end up with thick vegetation in our both sides.

But it's not scary like you go into a witch-invested forest or something. The road is quite wide, enough for a single horse-drawn cart to pass each other. The trees are not too thick either that there's still adequate light for me to see individual bark.

Rattle... Rattle...

[Hmm?] Me

[What is it, Dean?] Val

[I see something moving there.] Me

[It's a jungle overall. So there are bound to be animals living here. Wait? Is it a bear?] Val

[I don't think so. I only see that shrub there that moving slightly.] Me

[Hmm, it is indeed too small for a bear to hide. Wait? Maybe a bear cub?! Then its mother probably near!] Andreas

[Let's hasten up then.] Val

Hmm.. baby bear huh? I only see it moving slightly though maybe just a rabbit or a fox.

I'm summoning my 1911 just in case.

After walking some more, the jungle is getting thicker. The road is still as wide as before but the jungle makes it seem narrower.

[Can we rest a bit?] Val

[How can you both doesn't seem tired at all?] Val

[That's because we didn't bring that big of a backpack in our back.] Andreas

It's true though. It's not because Val is weak. The backpack he uses is the kind that medieval people used. Basically, just a cloth and string tied to a wooden frame. Even that backpack alone must weigh a ton.

[You seem to be bringing a lot of things, Val.] Me

[Of course. Because an empty backpack for merchants is a period when we can't sell anything.] Val

Hmm, it's true enough. For traveling merchants, they never know when and where they might meet their customer, so they never want to bump into a potential customer without wares to sell.

[So are we done res...] Me

Rattle...

[Wha... What is that!!] Andreas

From the jungle. A black figure resembling

standing animals stand up almost 2m tall.

A wolf? Wait, a werewolf?

But it's not even a full mo... Wait! It's not even nighttime yet! A lycan?

Crap. It must be waiting for the time we're off guard. Lucky that Andreas notices it earlier.

But what do we do now?

Beside me Andreas and Val already drawing their short sword. Even though they aren't mercenaries, they still carry a bare minimum to protect themselves.

But then what do we do? I don't want to fight that thing if possible, but I guess trying to outrun that thing is out of the question