Chapter 7: Friends?

Chapter 7: Chapter 7: Friends?

Small, thin, and green, with a long, thick nose and sharp eyes, he was hunched over, standing on two feet, and wearing animal hides as a poncho. Saying he looked like a goblin was a stretch, because although there were similarities, this one looked more like a wild monster, with small scales poking out from his neck.

Three men traveled alongside him. The one at the front, the supposed leader of the group, was handsome and young, with a determined expression, silver hair, and a black mark resembling an elongated crack running from the corner of his eye down to his chin.

He dressed like a classic fantasy adventurer, carrying a one-handed sword at his waist.

The other two accompanying him were identical in appearance. They dressed similarly to the leader, were somewhat short, and had messy brown hair and beards. One carried a large backpack, while the other carried an arsenal of weapons.

A hammer, an ax, a bow and its quiver full of arrows, a short sword, and a large two-handed sword.

Just by looking at them, Victor could already tell they were enemies. You didn’t carry that many weapons just for decoration, after all.

"This will do," the leader said in a deep, eloquent voice. "The orc won’t be able to reach us up here as long as we don’t make too much noise."

The one carrying the backpack hurried to the highest point, where Victor had been observing the different areas, and said:

"Damn, man. Where are we supposed to go? There are too many places."

His twin approached, leaving the weapons propped against a tree nearby. He sighed tiredly.

"Wherever we go, it doesn’t matter. There’ll be monsters everywhere."

"Yeah... We were lucky to start with Paths designed for combat, or we would’ve died to that damn bastard. The others weren’t so lucky."

’The others?’ Victor thought.

The leader must have been referring to the girl and the other two people who were surely already food for the monster, which had now been revealed to be an orc.

"Anyway. Dorian, take care of the campfire. Darius, you know what you need to do."

Dorian, the one with the backpack, dropped his load on the ground and pulled out some dry branches he had tied together. Darius, on the other hand, pulled a wooden wand from his pocket and waved it forcefully.

"Protect," he said, and a small dome of green energy formed around the four of them before fading into the darkness.

Luckily for him, Victor had been left outside that mysterious barrier.

’Magic...’

He knew it. He couldn’t afford to stay in this place, but if he moved too much, he’d make noise, and that would be his worst mistake. If they heard him, he wouldn’t know what to do about it, so he waited patiently.

’There’s no way they’ll see me. I have to... I need to think of something.’

The green monster remained standing beside the leader, who had taken a seat on a rock. Taking an orange from his pocket, he handed it to the little monster.

"Eat. You’ll need the energy if you’re going out on patrol tonight."

The creature happily accepted the orange and devoured it in one bite.

’So that’s why it smells like oranges.’

But putting that aside, the three men seemed very relaxed, which meant they hadn’t realized Victor was watching them from the bushes. Well, the area was large enough to accommodate quite a few people, so there was plenty of room to hide.

’It doesn’t look like any of them can smell me or sense that I’m nearby. What kind of Paths does each of them have? That one carries a sword.’

He could make a guess, but he couldn’t be certain.

△▽△▽△▽△▽△▽△▽△▽△▽

Strangely, time passed without them noticing his presence. When he saw everyone preparing to sleep, it seemed very strange to him because none of them seemed to be keeping much of a watch, but that’s where Victor was wrong.

"Linlin, go scout the area," the leader said to the small monster.

The creature nodded and, without hesitation, ran down the hill.

’Nighttime scouting, huh. That’s why I could smell it passing near me. So this is how they make sure no monster sneaks up on them.’

What kind of relationship did the monster have with these people? It had a collar around its neck. Was it some kind of pet granted by the System? Whatever it was, he didn’t care.

When the lights went out and the mysterious adventurers went to sleep, Victor thought.

’I don’t know why I have this stupid urge to kill them while they’re sleeping, but I know that’s impossible.’

If he tried, he might be able to kill one of them, but that would alert the others. Tonight, running away was the best decision.

Slowly crawling through the bushes down the hill, Victor began his escape. He went down a few yards through the bushes, but just as he was about to stand up and take off running, that damn little bastard appeared in front of him.

’No...’

At the same time, the edge of a sword touched the back of his neck.

"You were spying on us," the leader’s voice said. "No, that’s not it. You were already here when we arrived. I suppose we took your spot."

With one hand near his knife, Victor turned to look at the man. However, he was putting his sword away and, out of nowhere, extended his hand to help him up.

"Tell me, have you been alone this whole time? If so, let me tell you that you’ve been lucky."

"You..."

"Don’t be scared. I’m not here to do whatever those stupid gods tell me to; that includes killing potential friends," the leader said with a friendly smile. "In any case, let’s start from the beginning. I’m Ayax. It’s a pleasure to meet you, companion."

On this strange night, with death lurking among the trees of the forest, Victor was completely confused.