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The voices came nearer and the pair peaked around the boulder. A group of four people came into view and Rain instantly recognised them as an adventuring leveler team, one he had never seen before.

He was uncertain exactly how long it had been since he had died, days probably, but he was still frustrated to realise that it wasn’t Brax’s group, he had hoped that his murderers might have stayed by the lake. He let himself relax slightly, he wasn’t sure it would have helped if they had been Brax’s, he had no way of defeating them in his current state, levelers killed monsters all the time and he was by no means an atypical challenge for someone immensely strong like Brax... yet.

He didn’t let himself fully relax. This was still a dangerous team of levelers and he intended to gather information if possible.

There were four of them in the team, a male human, a male elf, a female Satyr, and a female half-elf-half-felis: that is an elf with feline features.

No one Rain knew. He suspected they may have come from out of town as he knew many of the levelers who made a home there. A pretty common occurrence as the town of Lynthia was built originally to be a stopping off point before entering the local dungeon. People came from far away to get access to the dungeon all the time.

“What the? What a monstrous alligator! We don’t have to run do we?”

“I don’t know Belle, how would I know- hey stop!”

The male elf booted the giant alligator. The alligator didn’t respond.

“Hey, that's dangerous! What would you have done had it been alive?” snapped the Human.

“It’s fine, I used one of my Skills to check. Things stone cold dead, died of old age by the looks of it.”

“That’s the kind of thinking that gets a leveler killed, especially when they aren’t familiar with the local monsters. For all you know it could have been hibernating and giving the illusion of death, or hell, it might be an undead, it’s the right color for it.”

The Elf pursed his lips but took a step back from the alligator.

“Look at that thing on its head! That’s got to be worth a few coins.”

“I bet the monster parts are worth more, high levelers will pay out the nose for good quality materials.”

“I don't know, that is a fair bit of gold.”

“I checked the sides, looks completely unmarked, no sign it was killed by a monster or leveler. As the elf said, it most likely died of old age.”

The Satyr wandered up to it and withdrew a longsword from a scabbard at her side.

“Good, that means it’s ours. All we got to do is lopp of a foot and take it back the guild as proof of our claim. Then we can come back with some pack mules and cart it to the surface in bits. Hopefully no one tries to poach it while we’re doing that.”

She took a few steps back and swung the sword around a few times to warm up, then stretched her neck and shoulders. Finally, she raised it above her head and with a yell swung it down on the wrist of the alligator.

‘Tink!’ Her sword snapped in two and the broken part of the blade flew off and plopped into the lake.

“OH MY GOD MY SWORD!”

“What? What happened?”

“My sword! Do you even know how much I paid for this?!”

The Satyr hopped up and down on the spot in pure rage.

“Well, it can't have been very much if it broke like a cheap piece of tin.”

“It was enchanted surefire steel damn you!”

“Well damn. Maybe you got scammed?”

“ARGHHHH!!!”

“Look, just let me handle it, I have more levels than you anyway,” said the Human as he unhooked an axe, one of two, from his back.

The Satyr glared at him as she cradled her broken sword like a wounded child.

“It’s not gunna work.”

The man rolled his eyes and without preamble heaved his axe down on the alligator’s wrist. The axe head promptly shattered and chunks of metal exploded across the ground.

“This thing is made out of bullshit!” screamed the man.

“I told you! I told you so! But would you listen! Nooo, nobody listens to the Satyr. Just a dumb drunkard species, who needs their advice? You just had to try it didn't you!”

“Shut up! Shut up! I am higher level than you and I demand you shut up!”

“Please you two,” said the half-elf calmly. “It’s pretty clear that this monster is extraordinarily strong or under some unknown effect now it is dead. I doubt anything less than Lynthia’s ranker would be able to cut its body.”

“Then what do we do then? We found it!”

“I don't see that there is much we can do. If we get the town’s ranker involved he will no doubt steal it from us and we won’t be able to say a word against him as he is significantly higher level than we are.”

“So, what? We just destroyed our weapons for nothing?

The calm half-elf pursed her lips. “I don’t see any other way it can be interpreted. The most we can expect is a reimbursement from the guild for the information, that is if someone else hasn't already told them. We appear to have little or nothing.”

The male elf groaned. “Why did I choose to team up with you idiots?”

“Because no one else would take your sorry ass.”

“Go orgy yourself Satyr girl.”

“Hey! That's speciest!”

“I don’t know, is it?”

“Yes! It’s a stereotype. Satyrs don't just do orgies you know.”

“They mostly do, let's be honest.”

“Okay, granted, but still.”

The man sighed and rubbed a hand over his face.

“Or at least that would be the case,” continued the half-elf. “If there were not a rather large chunk of what looks like pure gold, gold that is soft enough to cut, attached to the alligator’s head.”

The four levelers looked up at the circlet in silence.

“Well, who wants to try and remove it?”

“Not me.” grumbled the Satyr. “Might be magicked. I’ve already lost one expensive thing today.”

The human and the half-elf shared a look.

“Oh, you bunch of pansies,” spat the Elf as he jumped up on the Alligators snout. He strode forward and unsheathed a dagger at his side before stabbing it into the circlet.

The circlet immediately exploded.

The Elf was blown off the alligator and slammed into a nearby boulder where he slid to the ground, the shield on his back having cracked the stone he hit so hard. Pieces of gold were flung in all directions, mostly far over the lake, the rest cracked against any nearby stone with enough force to make sparks. The Satyr flung herself to the ground with a yelp. The half-elf rushed to the side of the male elf who had been catapulted by the explosion and began checking him over, green light suddenly shone from her hands as her feline tail lashed behind her. After a moment of this the male elf groaned and woke up.

“I’m not saying anything. Not saying anything at all. My wine-loving lips are sealed,” said the Satyr from prone on the ground.

“I… I think I made a silly mistake…” moaned the Elf.

The half-elf sighed. “You’re fine. A few broken ribs but I’ve already fixed them. Next time don’t be so reckless.”

“You’re so stupid lucky we have a healer on the team,” said the man. “Not exactly a common Class.”

The Elf groaned but held up a shaking hand within which he held a good eighth of the circlet.

“Just take my sacrifice into account when we split the loot.”

“Pssh you wish.”

The team busied themselves with picking up the shattered chunks of gold. There wasn’t as much as they were hoping, maybe a quarter in total, less than they expected having seen how much came down on land. The Satyr stared forlornly over the lake's dark waters.

“This has been mostly a complete disaster. Look, I’m going to go find some monsters to kill with my one remaining axe so I can grind out a level up. Come with me?” said the man.

The Satyr scowled at him but gestured her agreement.

“Wait, let me make a note claiming we found the monster body first.”

The half-elf pulled a piece of paper and ink from her satchel and scratched out a note. She then tucked it in between the alligator’s lips so that it hung down limp.

“All our names right?”

“Yes.”

“You know my names spelt with a ‘k’ right?”

“Yes.” said the half-elf slightly more forcefully.

“Alright fine, let’s go.”

.