“So, they even branded you?”

The sound of a crackling fireplace could be heard while some people talked. A slight clank of metal against metal was also discernible.

“Regretfully so…”

A woman in a black coat was holding her hands out toward the fire. Her skin was dark caramel and she had quite the long ears. Her name was Aredhel and she was part of the moon elven nobility.

“Those damn bastards, if I ever get my hands on them.”

Another moon elf was here, this one was a bit angrier looking as he started spitting out profanities.

“Hey, stop moving. If I make any mistakes your head could blow up…”

Next to him was a dark-haired youth. Roland was his name and he was holding onto his blacksmith hammer. He was in the process of gently hammering the slave collar with it.

“I can remove these, but can’t really do much about those branding marks. You’ll have to hide them while returning to your own country.”

Roland had examined Aredhel slave collar first. It was something made by a runesmith so he could easily inspect the components in it. With the help of his debugging and runecrafting skills, he was able to find the prime rune. With its destruction, the shackles became nothing more than neck accessories.

Prying them off was another thing entirely. Even though the runecrafting job was done sloppily this item was still made from deep steel. It was much harder to break than regular steel and also resistant to magic to some degree. After deactivating the prime rune the locking mechanism was also rendered ineffective, so he needed to use some tools to fiddle it open.

Roland wasn’t sure at first if he should do this. The people were branded as criminal slaves, though that was a lie. He heard them talking before he saved them and it was clear that they were just captured to be sold.

He wasn’t sure if it was another squabble between noble parties but at this point in his life, he wouldn’t be surprised. The woman might have been an eyesore for someone in her own house.

This wasn’t the main reason that he decided to help them. That was the monster problem outside. The mountain was swarming with goblins, hobgoblins, and other monstrosities. He wasn’t even a tier 2 class holder, the chances of getting out of here in one piece were slim, he needed some backup. Roland didn’t want to rely on these strangers but he didn’t see himself getting out of here without some help. In the event of a betrayal, he did prepare some countermeasures plus he could always run.

The woman was a priest not of Solaria but of Lunaris instead. This was also the biggest reason the moon elves and sun elves were at each other throats. They both had different deities that allowed them to have priest classes. The healing magic of the moon elves was a bit different but it worked in a similar fashion.

When it came down to gaming terms. The moon priests were better at buffing their party while sun priests were ahead in terms of pure healing. There were also variations of the classes and some special ones that were great at both.

“Think… that should… do it?”

‘Clink’

He gently tapped the collar that was around Logon’s neck and it popped right off this time around. Roland grabbed the piece of deep steel and placed it inside his storage bag. He could melt these down later and maybe create a fitting weapon for himself.

“Golgrim turn now!”

There was a third member of these slaves, the large Half-Orc. Roland was a bit on the fence about setting this one free but the moon elf woman assured him that he could be trusted.

“Yes, yes. Just sit down and try not to move…”

He got back to work while the conversation continued.

“I’d advise you to just cover up and head for the nearest settlement. You’re not going through the border with those clothes or that slave status...”

From Roland’s perspective, it would be hard for those three to flee back to their own country. The slave collars were gone but they still had the slave status on them.

There was a certain process through which a person became a criminal slave. It involved some paperwork and a person with a Judge class. This was something akin to a curse but it could only be removed by someone with a similar Judge class. This ‘slave’ status mostly came with a timer but regretfully theirs was close to a hundred years.

“I’m thankful for all you did Carmine but we can take care of ourselves. I will bring the lady back safely!”

“Golgrim strong, no problem!”

Both Logon and the Half-Orc were apparently not worried about getting over the border. He wasn’t sure what they were planning but not like he would be going there with them. He also decided to give them a fake name, Carmine came to be after he thought back to his red comet signature on the scrolls that he used for his wares.

“Yes, Mr. Carmine you already did so much for us. You even gave us some clothes and food.”

Aredhel replied while munching on some beef jerky. The two were clearly malnourished so he decided to aid them a bit. He wasn’t doing it for free though, he would be getting most if not all of the mana stones from the monsters they slew.

He started with the two hobgoblins and now he had two more common grade stones to add to his new creations. He also gave the swordsman elf a spare sword while taking the enchanted one he had for himself.

The costs would probably equal themselves after he attained more mana stones. Moving safely in a group with two-tier 2 warriors would also be worthwhile. The elven maiden was just a tier 1 class, not even a full priest. Her class was called acolyte and it was similar to the Sun churches cleric class.

That’s why he decided to invest in his new party. He lent one of his old robes to the woman, though he wasn’t willing to give up his good leather armor. He was still a bit stingy in that regard. Helping them warm up and eat would be enough, they now had weapons and with the acolyte in their party, they wouldn’t need to waste potions.

‘Clang’

The largest slave collar was finally gone and it was thrown into his spatial bag. He was really glad that he spent the money on them during his time in Edelgard.

The Half-Orc that was now free of the slave collar performed a strange jiggle, it looks like a sort of dance. He evaded the large hug that the mountain of muscles tried giving him and went over to the fireplace.

“What are you going to do if you run into those slavers?”

Roland asked while sitting down. This was also a possibility, if they survived the slavers could still be there. The bandits suffered some casualties and might have abandoned the chase as well. Maybe the people that were left from the caravan were looking for them now.

“Kill them all”

The silver-haired moon elf male replied while looking at the new sword in his hand. It was clear that he wouldn’t hesitate.

“We wouldn’t want to cause trouble for you Mr. Carmine but I don’t think they would just let us be. Don’t worry, we don’t expect you to involve yourself with us for much longer.”

Aredhel knew what Roland was getting at. He already could be branded as a criminal by setting them free. They were considered criminal slaves and even though that was a lie it would have to be proven first. If he went and aided them in a battle against the slave traders he would be labeled as another bandit.

That was something that he wanted to avoid at all costs. Having a wanted poster going around the kingdom would throw a wrench into his future plans. First, he needed to get out of this predicament alive.

“Well, I can always say that you forced me to remove those collars. There is a village If we follow the river, We should go there.”

Roland did bring a map of the area and had some prior knowledge of where he was traveling. He knew that it was always important to know your location and the geography of it.

He decided to go towards the closest settlement. He could try returning to where the caravan was attacked. The possibility of running into the bandits was high, they could have a hidden camp somewhere in the mountains as well.

His three new companions would stand out quite a bit. Two moon elves and a large half-orc don’t usually move around together. If the slave traders survived they would probably start searching for their runaways.

“Yes, that would be a good place to move. We can find provisions for our journey back home there.”

The elven woman replied while sipping on some tea. Roland was an avid tea drinker and he did have some fresh water and tea leaves with himself. Though the fresh water came in the form of a magic item. It was a steel tea kettle that had a small lesser rune on it, when mana was inserted water would be produced.

“Lady Aredhel you should go to sleep, it has been a long day, I will watch over you.”

The quartet had moved to a different cave but it wasn’t far away from the old one. They feared that the fresh goblin blood would attract monsters during the night. Logon was already rested as he had passed out after getting stabbed. Soon after he was healed by Aredhel which now gave him enough vitality to stay up through the night.

Roland was a bit apprehensive about having three unknown people around him. He did have a few magical items to help him sleep better. After activating them an alarm would go off as well as a shield would be placed around his body.

This was only a precaution as he didn’t really think that they would dispose of him now. They still needed him to get things for them in the village. He already helped them as well, there wasn’t any reason for them to think that he would double-cross them. He had the chance to kill them already and instead he helped them by removing the slave collars.

Roland finally leaned back against one of the walls. He had a pillow for himself but that was it. He placed it against the hard rock before resting. He already knew that he wouldn’t be sleeping that much but he could at least rest his eyes.

It took him quite a while to fall asleep as always. The only saving grace was that he could feel out his new companions and as he reasoned they didn’t cause any trouble.

He got a couple of hours of sleep and was up just as the sun was rising. At the entrance, he could see a snoozing green skin. The big lug was supposed to take over Logon’s shift but had apparently dozed off in the middle. His large frame might have been enough to scare off some of the monsters though.

“Good morning.”

Roland nodded at Aredhel while standing up. He placed his hand on his own neck and gave out a grunt.

“Yeah, good morning.”

He replied while trying to ignore his stiff neck. The moon elven lady looked quite beautiful and she also greeted him with a nice smile. The girl was surprisingly positive about her situation. He wasn’t sure if it was just an act or just a character trait.

“Think we should move, we don’t know what might happen.”

Roland nodded at Logon’s call out. Staying in this place for too long would be a bad idea. They would need at least three days to get to the settlement maybe even longer.

“I agree, we should probably hunt something along the way, the rations that I brought with me will run out soon…”

Roland didn’t expect to have party members that he would need to feed. He also didn’t have that much space in his storage bags. They were mostly filled with various tools and materials.

“You should probably wake him up…”

Roland pointed at Golgrim that was snoring loudly and scratching his behind. It was surprising how relaxed he was and how well he could sleep on the rocky ground.

They all finally gathered up. Roland lent Logon some spare shoes and some sandals to Aredhel as he felt sorry for their shabby looks. Walking barefoot for three days would probably be very taxing. He didn’t have anything for the half-orc though, but that one looked comfortable walking without any boots on.

They started going, Logon and Golgrim were in the front with Aredhel in the middle and Roland in the back. This wasn’t the greatest set up as they didn’t have anyone with a scout or tracking like class. He would need to use his detection device to somehow fill that role.

The acolyte was the weakest of the group so they decided to put her in the middle. She could heal moderate wounds and perform certain buffing spells.

It didn’t take the party long to meet their first opponent. It weren’t goblins or hobgoblins this time around. These creatures that they came across were something new that even Roland had never seen before.

Adolescent Bocanach [ L 46 ]

He identified the creature's name and level. The creature had a humanoid shape with long lanky arms and a goat head. Their legs had hooves and it looked like a Satyr below the waist. This was a type of goat monster with giant horns and crooked teeth. It wasn’t alone as there was a similar-looking one next to it, at a similar level as well.

This was when he noticed the weakness of this party. The moment Golgrim noticed the creatures he bolted forward.

“Golgrim bash ugly goat!”

He gave out a roar that caused the two monsters to focus on him. This would be a fine start but the loud scream also alerted more of these monsters to their whereabouts. Roland could see them popping out from the bushes, the moment they did Logon decided to move back.

“Get behind me Lady Aredhel!”

The moon elf was sticking to his duties as a bodyguard a bit too much, while the half-orc just charged into the distance leaving the rest of the party behind. What was left was a fight at two fronts with also losing the element of surprise.

‘These guys don’t really know how to work together…’

Aredhel complained while her companion stuck to her like a tick. Two other Bocanachs came out from the sides and locked on the two elves.

It was lucky that they ignored him for now. This gave Roland ample time to use his wand that he had repaired the day before. A bolt of heated energy collided with one of the goat heads. The scream that the monster gave out was truly frightening.

This would have been a good moment for Logon to move forward and deliver a finishing blow. To Roland’s surprise, the man didn’t want to abandon his lady, he was probably afraid that something might happen to her if he moved too far away.

“Tch…”

Roland clicked his tongue while firing off another spell towards the other monster. This one dodged slightly to the side and got his horn blown off in the process. It then charged forward the mage that was causing the most trouble.

It would have been an easy battle if the two warriors kept the monsters busy. He could then fire off spells from a safe distance. Not protecting your mage was one of the worst things a frontline warrior could do.

The creature was now close and charging with its head lowered. It wanted to impale the attacker on its good horn.

Roland wasn’t such an easy target though. He was someone close to level 70, thanks to the blacksmith class he now had stats comparable to warriors.

He grasped his arming sword from the side and waited for the right moment. He used the creature's momentum against it as he dodged to the side. The monster ran past him and came to a stop but as it was turning around to have another go at it, it saw a flash of blue light.

This was the tip of Roland’s enchanted sword and the runic version of the mana thrust activating. The condensed magical skill connected with the goat creature’s upper body.

With Roland’s massive mana pool and high intelligence, he could really cause some damage. This was demonstrated by the giant gaping hole that appeared in the monster's humanoid chest.

The Bocanach collapsed to the ground right after while giving out a strange wail. Roland then turned around to see the other monster swinging its long lanky arms around. After receiving a hit to the face it was disoriented but not dead. It possessed a thick skull which made its head not much of a weak point.

Finally, Logon decided to move in and delivered a killing blow to the confused creature. He did it only after it got too close to where the woman he was protecting was. The two creatures were dead and after a bit, the half-orc returned as well. He was covered in scratches and even some holes.

Aredhel got to healing his wounds quickly while Roland scratched his head. Besides the two warriors, the acolyte that was supposed to buff the party didn’t do anything. The woman lacked combat experience and probably was too nervous to act.

‘This… maybe I should have left them in that cave…’