Chapter 62 Arriving at the village? (2/2)

“Oh really? You seemed older… I just assued soical races in this world and also vitality increased even huevity It wouldn’t be much of a stretch to believe that Roland here was much older than he looked

“You don’t conduct yourself like a child, you remind me of my uncle”

“I’ll take that as a coon was also here, he was responsible for ood with these sorts of things Apparently, his father had been your typical elven hunter that taught hi a warrior class instead of an archer one

Golgrim peeked in as well, he was a bit in the distance as he was shooed away by Aredhel He already devoured some of the fish before they could even be cooked This left the rest of the party uard duty He was now leaning up against one of the trees while looking for possible e sound entered the party's ears which made the with the wand he had repaired Logon leaped in front of Aredhel while looking in the direction of the strange ru noise

“Grrrrr…”

What they saas not ahis sto The trio of baffled individuals narrowed their eyes at the half-orc while he twiddled his thuot their share of the fish, the hungry green-skin included

Nothing out of the ordinary had happened that night but there were souard duty through the night, they made it till the next day without any major problems

They continued their journey towards their destination Soet more fish Once in a while, they would be attacked by stray roups

What they all noticed that the closer to the village they got that the weaker theinto tier 2 monstrosities but now they were left with easy tier 1 mobs Some of them would be easily dispatchable by the acolyte in their teaht next to their destination The large et out of the gorge They just needed to follow the river to arrive at the village

They finally saw sons of civilization as a dirt road appeared They could even see soone by At least that hat Logon was clai from the way the tracks e passed this way…”

The moon elf tracked with his eyes fro all the way to the e they just passed

“It could be the slavers…”

He htly This threrench into their plan If they met up with the slave traders they would probably not react kindly to three of their oandering unchecked Depending on how many of them were left alive they could even attack

“Don’t worry Golgrim will cut puny ene his hands around while holding onto the appendages of the ed his catchphrase a bit after exchanging his club with those

“Well, isn’t that reassuring!”

Aredhel clapped her hands and s with her hyperactive child

Roland on the other hand orried, he didn’t want to be labeled as a cri criminal slaves you would most likely be also sentenced to be one He also wasn’t interested in fighting the people froive a similar result

“I think you should wait outside the village I can see that there is a forest area around it, how about you lay low there while I scope out the situation?”

He didn’t owe this group of three anything by this point He still wanted to keep his end of the bargain He proet food and a set of clothes if it was possible

If the caravan survivors were in the village it would actually be a good thing for him He would be able to continue the journey with them, he did pay for the trip already

“Mr Carmine… You’ve already done so much for us I’m not sure that we should inconvenience you with our probleainst his plan Though Logon on the other hand was quick to juument

“My lady! We will need those clothes and provisions If any traveling soldiers spot us ill be done for”

He saw the bigger picture and knew that they still required help When soe half-orc in a loincloth they would surely approach theh identification skill or a body search their true identity would be revealed Then running or battle would be the only option

Roland was fine either way, but if he was in their shoes he would probably take him up on the offer The only reason he would turn the favor aould be if he suspected foul play

Even though these four spend so each other's backs, they were still strangers They couldn’t be 100 sure if Roland wouldn’t double-cross thee where the survivors fro with some soldiers The only reason they trusted him was because he removed their slave collars, but he could have done that just to survive

“You are right… but we shouldn’t rely on Mr Car if he continued to aid us”

Logonwith the previous plan

‘These two sure don’t seeh and the third one…’

He looked over to Golgri his weapons around and was now picking his nose Roland was just in tier which e

‘Yeah, that one is a lost cause Hope I’ paranoid here but I should probably think about soencies’

Roland had his own reservations about these three, they two could still try to double-cross hi with some money for the mana stones

“I also think we should visit the village first, you can decide after I return Think if we stick to the trees we all can get closer”

The party decided to journey forward Just as Roland proposed they strayed froilant There were no dangerous monsters in this forest, only some animals In a couple of hours, they arrived at the town outskirts with luck on their side

They had a safe spot to exaon took it upon himself to cliood though

“What do you see?”

“I can see soes, the people from the caravan are there but…”

“But?”

“There are others… it looks suspicious, I can’t see any far ared some information before he hiood at this thanks to doing a lot of tree cli in his youth He noticed what the elf meant when he saw the situation

What he saas aruish their arood ear possessed

He had seen siroup of people before If he got closer he et a look during the fighting

“It’s those bandits, they have taken over the village”

He could see soons from the caravan there The robbers must have followed them here or this town already was part of their territory

The problematic part in all of this was that he now couldn’t approach the village to get provisions The next settlehting monsters on the way That would still probably be a safer option than attacking the bandits here

While deliberating about the next e Both he and the elf looked to the source only to see a person running It was a wo on the ground with an arrow stuck in her shi+n They looked as she was dragged back by a bandit into one of the shabby huts before silence took over

‘They have hostages…’

It was now clear that this wasn’t a bandit hideout They had clearly taken over it and the villagers were still there Now a decision needed to be made, either help them or escape The second option would probably be the easier one