It was only after they had entered the Forest of Illusions that Elric had realized that their traveling group was ill fitted for the mountains. The very first problem to address was the equipment. Kite insisted on carrying his giant two-hander. For protection he said. Elric had previously wanted to bring a pike to replace the cumbersome two-handed sword, but Kite had rejected the idea. Conversely, besides the irksome presence of Kite’s two-hander, his luggage was also considered quite unsuitable. Belladonna had plenty of substitute clothing (Three undergarments, three long sleeves, three skirts, a single formal attire, and a bathrobe), all of which was quite superfluous. But all of these clothes combined couldn’t even compare to the weight of Jerry’s items. He had carried five hundred golds, five hundred silvers, and five hundred coppers. For goodness sake!

Elric had suggested that they hurry on over to the village near the Forest of Illusion to reallocate their equipment before entry. But this proposal had only met with a slight moment of thinking from Kite while the other two had rejected it as one. Belladonna was especially unwilling to put away her spare clothes.

With stubborn heads, they traveled for a whole day and night before Belladonna and Jerry had finally reached a compromise. For they had already eaten their fill of sufferings. With no other choice, the entire group had decided to retrace their steps. After another day and night had passed, they made their way out from the forest in complete and total exhaustion. On the road, the entire group had reached an agreement that they would all comply with Elric’s configuration of their equipment. No one would ever have a say or challenge him on it.

Entering the village, the group headed straight away for a small inn. After listening to the situation of the village from the innkeeper, Belladonna and Jerry headed upstairs first to rest while Kite and Elric were in charge of procuring their equipment.

Every year there would be a plentiful amount of people that would travel to this village. The vast majority of them would come during the spring and autumn period. Hunters and merchants alike would go hunting in the Forest of Illusions in order to obtain rare materials or monster hides to sell to the village; and as a result, the village had plenty of supplies to sell to them. It was because of that that Kite and Elric were able to buy all the equipment they needed after a single trip around the village along with a simple but effective map of the layout of the forest. Elric had also bought everyone a set of luggage that would be easy to carry and was meant for traveling purposes. Working here as a travel merchant was actually quite profitable—Elric had half a mind to go back home and refer his father to go and peddle their wares here.

At the village forge, Elric had also managed to buy the group four pikes and two machetes. Although his own father had given him a foldable machete, when Elric saw these machetes for sale, he just had to buy them. The blacksmith forged every single item here for the people of his village to use, meaning that the quality of them all were extremely fine from the meticulous care put into forging them. Simple and crude in appearance, these machetes still followed the thousand-fold method of folding metal over itself for a stronger result. Meant for the average family to use, they were tempered by the hottest flames of the forge and the heart. The blade itself had been brightly-colored from the unevenness, but the edges themselves were grinded to the utmost point. Compared to the machetes that were produced in a large quantity at a time, these machetes were superior in every way possible but amount.

Noticing how appreciative Elric had been of his craftsmanship, the blacksmith was more than happy to invite them to his workshed to pick out several items that might suit his travels. It was in this work shed that Elric had discovered an even more precious item. From the supply, there was a single multi-purpose pick that was meticulously designed and forged for use on all terrains. This was not an original work, as the blacksmith had gleamed the recipe from another person but felt that it would serve quite usefully in any case. Aside from that mountain pick, Elric had managed to get another three spears, five thin daggers and a single three meter long chain.

Returning back to the inn, Kite and Elric happened upon a family of hunters where they managed to buy a single hunter’s bow and two quivers of arrows.

It had been a plentiful harvest for the two of them, but when they returned, Belladonna and Jerry were already fast asleep.

While Elric took out the map to study it, Kite stood off by the side and began to strum the hunting bow with great interest.

Still tired from their day’s travel, Jerry and Belladonna had refused to get up from their beds for supper. And so Kite and Elric could only go down to eat by themselves.

Because the village was right next to a forest and mountain where game was plentiful, their meal had been scrumptious. The innkeeper had been more than happy to answer any question Elric had, and even if he didn’t know the answer, the elder man would scribble away the question for later and promised that come tomorrow morning, he would have a satisfactory answer in store.

When Kite and Elric returned to their rooms, Kite immediately rounded on him, “Didn’t you say this was your very first time leaving your home? Why do you act as if you’re a seasoned traveler?”

“Even as a child, I would often help my father out in his store. The majority of our customers were all travelers. Coffee was a common favorite in our store, and so many of the travelers would love to have a cup of it while they talked about whatever. I was fortunate enough to listen to them.”

And so the two talked deep into the night.

On the second day, Elric and Kite had been pried from their beds by Belladonna and Jerry. When it came to waking them up, they were impossible to deal with, but when it came to them waking anyone else up, they were second to none. In annoyance, Elric had demanded to know the reason why he had been waken up so early. As things turned out, Belladonna and Jerry had both woken up in the middle of the night with their stomachs growling with hunger. The two of them had managed to find the rations and polish them off in a single stroke before finally managing to go back to sleep. But when daylight came, the two of them couldn’t stave off their hunger anymore and were determined to wake up Kite and Elric so that the two would be able to help them in their plight.

And so escorted by the pair of city babies, Elric and Kite had walked downstairs to where the innkeeper was and knocked on his door. Clicking open after a small moment, the sleepy old man could be seen with his pillow in hand and a yawn on his face, “What did you need from me this early in the morning?”

“My apologies, but could you possibly prepare a meal for my two companions?” Kite apologized.

It was with great reluctance that the old man parted from his beloved pillow to go and wearily prepare the fire for breakfast.

Still completely out of it, Elric and Kite were sprawled on top of the table in an attempt to re enter their slumberlands while Belladonna and Jerry were left to their own devices and eat their meal at high speeds.

By the time both Belladonna and Jerry were done eating their fill, Kite and Elric were already back to normal however.

And now that their meal was finished, the innkeeper had politely brought up the answers Elric had last night and begun to answer them in detail.

For remuneration of his questions answered to his satisfaction and the fact that he felt very apologetic on waking the innkeeper up so early, Kite had left two gold pieces for him.

And so with the cordial farewell of the innkeeper, the party left the inn to continue on with their luggage. But before they left, Elric had first asked for two bags of seasoning, a bag of flour, more rations and some drinking water from the man.