Eventually I decided to break the awkward silence with Tib. “So, how does adventuring work for people in Heracleum? I’ve heard it’s mostly done through the government?”

Tib nodded. “Yes. You give the Bureau of Adventuring your party makeup and class and then wait to be assigned quests as they come in from outlying towns and settlements. Anything that’s dangerous past a certain point goes straight to the legion, but the legion is busy, and often strains itself past its limits, so often adventurers get work they shouldn’t be doing. More often though, it’s just the worst type of grunt work imaginable.”

“How well does it work? The system I mean?”

Tib shook his head. “Not well. I’m not just in Itlan for my cousin. I’m also here because even as bad as it is for adventurers here, it’s worse for them there.”

“Why?”

“The bureaucracy there is poorly managed and incredibly corrupt. Many patricians have pet adventuring parties that they like to use as mascots and so bribe officials to give them the most profitable and visible assignments. The rest are assigned basically at random, and adventurers have to complete the quest themselves in order to receive them. Some people find ways to game the system, but they usually wind up hurting others by doing so. My first year as an adventurer I wound up stuck with the same quest for a year. It was to clear skitterlings out of the sewer. The issue with skitterlings is that they breed as quickly as you can kill them. They wouldn’t let me transfer or quit the quest even after the system said that it was completed because someone else had said they’d seen skitterlings crawling out of an aqueduct. Technically, that’s still the quest I have assigned to me today.”

I nodded along as he spoke. That sounded like a terrible system. Though skitterlings sounded worse. I deliberately chose not to ask for more specifics on what they were.

“Why did you want to know? Thinking of doing some adventuring while we’re there? I expect we’ll be busy escorting the majority of the time.”

I shook my head. “Just wondering. It seems like adventurers have it tough everywhere in spite of being needed everywhere. I think there’s got to be a better way. I’d like to try and find one.” I left off the fact that I’d seen the concept of an adventurer’s guild in my home media. They didn’t know I was from another world, and I didn’t want to commit too heavily in front of others until I had more information

Tib nodded. “A worthy pursuit. If there’s any way I can help you, don’t hesitate to ask… anything’s better than a system that sticks you with skitterlings forever.”

I chuckled, and put my focus back on walking. This time, we settled into a comfortable silence rather than an awkward one. I’d been a bit put off by Tib at first, but I was finding myself coming around on him. He was a bit stiff, and authoritative, but he also clearly wanted to do the right thing. I was just used to meeting people with one of those aspects to their personality and not the other.

By midday we all decided to take a short break. Patience pulled the cart to the side and watered the mule, then we all had some lunch. I pulled out a sandwich I’d packed. When I’d first put one together I’d for some reason expected to be the inventor of the sandwiches in the new world, but that had turned out to be grossly off the mark. Turns out putting meat and cheese between bread was something humans just came to naturally. While I ate that, Zevrack worked on an entire log of salami.

Everyone else’s rations were much the same as mine, but Tristus was eating fresh fruit and sipping from a wine skin. When he was done with that he pulled out a small brown square and took a bite. I looked at it and raised an eyebrow.

“Is that… chocolate?” I asked.

He gave me a smile. “Yes. Are you familiar with it? I discovered it last time I went to the market. It’s scrumptious.”

“Yes, Elfland has something similar.” I’d always preferred more artificial and sour sweets, but the smell of the chocolate made my mouth water.

Tristus broke off a piece and handed it to me. I took it gratefully and had a bite. It was heavenly. I hadn’t had anything with a lot of sugar since I’d arrived, and with my fresh new taste buds made the chocolate incredible. I took one more bite and decided to save the rest, wrapping it up and placing it in my pack.

“Thank you,” I said, nodding at Tristus.

“Of course. You’re all protecting me after all. The least I could do is share a treat. When we come back I’ll show you where I got it.”

Before I could respond, an arrow flew out of the woods behind us and struck the cart just to Tristus’ side. Before I could draw my weapons, five men rushed out of the trees towards us. They were wearing black cloaks and wielding swords and shields that looked much like Tib’s.

One of them rushed straight for Tristus, but before he could reach him I threw what was left of my sandwich at his face. That made him pause for a moment so I leveled a kick at his shield to force some distance between him and his target.

Zevrack hopped down next to Tristus, holding a small dagger and his dart blower. “I’ll watch him.” he yelled, and Tristus dutifully shrank down behind the small Kobold as best he could.

With him covered, I was able to give the failed assailant my full attention. He started swinging his sword at me in wide, lethal strikes. Not giving me time to draw my own weapons or react. I positioned myself just to the left of a tree and when he swung at me I activated my flash step and was two feet back from where he’d last seen me. Instead of hitting me, he struck the tree, and did so with such force that he wasn’t immediately able to retrieve his sword. I grabbed his sword hand and yanked him toward me, putting him off balance and forcing him to take a step forward, chin first. After that I slammed his face with an uppercut, throwing him to the ground. I removed his sword from the tree, it was a perfect match for Tibs, and I struck at him.

Before the blade hit true he raised his shield to block. The sword bounced and I tried to strike around the shield, but again and again my attacks were blocked. Finally, I threw his sword into the dirt and grabbed the top of his shield, yanking it down and exposing his face. I put my other hand to it and cast a 1/10 fireball. The explosion was quick, and the body dropped to my feet lifeless.

I drew my own sword and went to help my companions, only to find they’d already taken care of their own opponents. One in front of Millicent had his feet skewered by spikes of rock, and had then been riddled with Zevrack’s needles. Tib had two of them lying dead on the ground, one of their shields completely shattered and the other seemed to have been brained by his sword hilt. Patience looked at ease, a man with a slit throat laying dead in front of her. Nica appeared suddenly from the other side of the woods. Everyone looked at her.

“Got the archer,” she said.

I bent down to start looking to see if the bodies had anything of value, but hesitated. “I know we haven’t discussed it, but loot on people who tried to kill us. Fair game?”

Patience nodded, she was already bent down at the body of the man she’d killed. I bent down at the one I’d killed. I put the sword and shield aside, then searched for his person. There was a small purse with about a dozen silver pieces, and nothing else. Once I was done I went to talk to Tib and Tristus, who were both standing by the cart in the midst of a discussion.

“So, is this more or less what was expected?” I asked.

Tib nodded. “Yes.”

“Should we expect more?”

Tib shook his head. “Likely not until we make it to the city. It’ll take awhile for them to realize this group failed.”

“What’s their motive?”

“My promotion,” chimed in Tristus. “A patrician’s bastard wants it, and in spite of his bribes, I’m the one who's getting it.”

“I didn’t think it was that coveted a position?” I asked.

“It’s not, but he’s not the man’s favorite bastard either.”

Tib nodded, a little embarrassed. “I apologize. I know the politics of my people are a little…unwieldy to outsiders.”

“Your people don’t carry much gold either,” muttered Patience as she hopped back into the cart. “Well, let’s not burn any more daylight.”

Tib looked confused. “I’m not leaving my countrymen unburied like this!”

“You can’t be serious.” said Millicent, having finished her own bit of looting.

This time Tristus looked at Tib with the same tired look Tib had been looking at Tristus with for the entire journey. “We may as well do it. It’ll be quicker than if we argue.”