With the campsite cleared and their gear packed, the party took one last look at the map before getting on the road again. They had all slept well after the pixie incident and felt refreshed. With a plentiful breakfast to fuel them, the party should be able to progress according to the plans with plenty of time to rest and eat along the way.

Gilbert pointed at a field on the map, or at least Anastacia assumed it was a field since it didn’t have trees or water drawn on it. “This is where we are now, and if everything goes well, we’ll be able to camp again by this lake here. The road doesn’t go by it so we’ll be going through this small swamp here, okay?” He said and traced the route with his finger. “We’ll be able to replenish our water reserves there too, and maybe fish a bit if we make it there in time.”

Anastacia took better a look at the tattered map. Unlike the one they had looked at earlier while planning the whole trip at the inn, this one didn’t have entire countries marked on it, only the area they were going to check and its surroundings, but in far greater detail. The wear and tear on it suggested that Gilbert had relied on it for quite a while; almost every free inch of it had been filled with notes on possible campsites, known threats like bandit activity and some of the more fearsome creatures.

“Why don’t we just go straight from here? Does this circle here mean something? If it’s dragons, you should draw one on it.” Anastacia asked. The path Gilbert suggested went around a small mountain range, giving them a wide breadth. A straight route would have been possible without actually having to climb a mountain.

“The terrain there is rocky and kind of dangerous, but the circle means that there might be some military activity there. A couple years ago, some mines were built there. Apparently, they found something of value, since the local lords on both sides of this border have sent some men there to claim it. It’s not really a problem for us since we’re on guild business, but they might still think we’re spies or something. You’ll understand after a few years of doing this.” Gilbert explained and folded the map into his pocket.

“Fair enough. Dragons would’ve been cooler though…” Anastacia remarked and stretched her back. Sleeping on the ground had its downsides.

With Gilbert’s lead, they departed from the field in high spirits. The day was going to be another hot one, but luckily the road continued along a forest and the trees shaded a good portion of it, at least for a while as the sun was still rising. It didn’t take long before Anastacia stared to push some of her gear on King. Gilbert had taken some of the shared gear from the simulacrum’s load as they were getting ready to leave, partly because he had expected for this to happen and felt sorry for the poor fellow, and partly because it gave him an opportunity to flaunt his victory over King.

None of them were talented musicians or entertainers, so boredom was a serious problem during the long walks, especially for the youngest member of the party. And when Anastacia became bored, she started to become increasingly difficult to deal with, becoming a problem for everyone else.

“How about we play a little game?” Emilia suggested, hoping it’d engage Anastacia even for a while. “There’s this game I’ve seen kids play while I was working in a temple. It’s called ‘my ship is loaded with’, the basic idea is that we pick a letter and a category and start taking turns naming things that fit into the category and start with the selected letter. For example, we could go with animals and the letter C. So I’d start by saying ‘my ship is loaded with cats’ and then it’d be Anna’s turn and so on. No repeats and if you can’t come up with anything in a timely manner, you lose.”

“My ship is loaded with cows!” Anastacia yelled.

“My ship is loaded with Corvianian arch vipers.” Gilbert said when his turn came.

Emilia looked at the party’s leader for a second before continuing. “Okay, I might have made a mistake picking the category… A new rule: one of the other players must know the animals you say.” She said, fully knowing that it probably wouldn’t make a difference. “My ship is loaded with cougars.”

And so the game continued for a while. Anastacia and Emilia began to slowly run out of animals, but Gilbert had no problems coming up with obscure animals either Anastacia or Emilia could vaguely remember from somewhere. At one point, Anastacia began obviously making up species of common animals that were just named after places starting with C, but the other two players let it slide as it kept her in the game and thus from being bored. Eventually it was decided that Gilbert had won, but just as they were starting the second round, Gilbert stopped the party.

“Hold up, we’ve got some military types coming this way.” He said and pointed at three approaching figures in the distance.

On the road ahead of them were three men, clad in identical armors and riding horses towards them. Gilbert recognized them to be a part of the personal army belonging to one of the lords warring over the somewhat nearby mine. The quality of the plate armor suggested that the men were of some stature within the army, perhaps a commander and his guards. Under the suit of armor, they wore dark green tunics, similar in color to spinach. As they closed in on the party, they slowed down to a walk and stopped about seven meters away from Gilbert. The rider in the middle jumped down from his horse and walked a bit closer before removing his helmet.

“Good day to you all. I am Anton Valza, a camp commander in service of Lord Vertas.” He greeted them and started slowly walking around the party, clearly to inspect them more closely. “I would like a word with you.”

Anastacia took notice of his light blue eyes as they were somewhat mismatched with the commander’s darkish skin. On top of that there was something about him that made him look kind off odd, but she couldn’t quite put a finger on it. The commander obviously noticed that Anastacia was staring, and stopped for a second to stare back.

“We’ve been keeping an eye on this road for a while now and seen plenty of people come through, but you are without a doubt the most curious group so far.” He said and stopped again. “You have a priestess, a young girl and this… thing. Didn’t know its kind could be tamed. If I had to make a guess, you and the simulacrum were hired from Valor to get these two safely to whatever destination they may be headed to. Tell me, was I even close?”

This wasn’t the first time Gilbert had been interrogated and he knew when the situation was actually dangerous. This was not one of those situations. Anton had correctly guessed they were from Valor and was no doubt aware that attacking an adventurer would be a foolish mistake. “On the contrary, they’re here to make sure I stay safe.” The old adventurer joked.

“Ha! Good to see someone with some sense of humor for once!” The commander laughed and returned to the front of the group. “I’m just going to be straight with you. You are not spies or the like. The brat looks like she’s going to explode unless she gets to say something to test my patience. She would be a terrible spy. You’re free to go, if you so wish.” He declared, put his helmet back on and climbed on his horse. “But we could actually use some help from the priestess. Some of my lads got a bit banged up on the last skirmish; a bandage and a word of encouragement would do wonders to them. I promise, it won’t take much of your time. And perhaps some of our supplies might go missing while you’re helping…”