The wheels on the carriage squeaked in tandem with any uneven bump on the road. The horses in front were silently working on pulling the cart, slowly trekking forward. Derb was still on his horse, lying on its back once again. He wondered if he’d have been able to do this on Adalia, a perk in having such a… squarish mount, he guessed? In the carriage were the trio, silently following along with the stranger. They were trying to figure out what would happen. “Do you think we can trust him? He looks a bit… menacing.” Derrick asked, eyeing Derb as he read his small book on rituals.

“He helped us with the map, I checked it and it doesn’t seem to be faked, it’d have to be a pretty elaborate plan if it was,” Jenny said. The warrior had just handed them the map and told them to use it. It was a massive sign of trust that had baffled all three of them. He even tried to put his mount for the carriage but it was far too large to fit, him having to trot alongside them. Frederick wasn’t having it. “It has to be for some reason. No one would blindly hand over a map like that unless they were stupid or lazy.”

The three nodded in agreement. The mysterious warrior hadn’t spoken much to them since the beginning, only calmly lying on his powerful steed with a certain grace. “We can’t just refuse his hospitality… we’d be far too lost at that point,” Jenny whined. She wanted to prove herself, she wanted to stand at the top in Ooraville! The two brothers looked at each other and squinted knowingly, there wasn’t much to do but let her take the reins. With a sigh both relented. “He doesn’t seem like a bad guy.” “He does look pretty scrawny...” She grinned and hugged them both, today would be a good day.

___

Man, did Derb pull a smart move if he said so himself. With the map out of his hands and with more experienced adventurers, he wouldn’t have to stop every half hour to make sure he wasn’t lost. He leaned back on his horse spirit and took in the information from the book. He realized that most of these rituals were small specifically to be useful to those with great control. To others, it might have seemed like a waste of time but it seemed like almost cheating once you reached a certain level.

He let the ritual wrap around his glove, something called writer’s grip. He could feel his hand muscles soften and relax whenever he wasn’t doing anything worthwhile. It was completely useless to him as he didn’t really write but he understood the reasoning behind it. By the time he went through many more debatably useful rituals, the sun had started setting. “Hey, you three! Do you want to stop for now or would you like to head out a little longer?” The three’s heads had jerked up from their little group’s huddle and turned to him

“O-oh. Yes please, let’s take refuge for tonight.” Derb nodded. He noticed the strain in their eyes and stature. It seemed like these three weren’t used to riding on a carriage. He’d be the same had it not been for the ever-useful rabbit spell, however. The three-headed down from the carriage as Derb prepared the camp. They wouldn’t have much protection but he’d make sure to at least provide a fire. He took out some of his fancier rations to share with the three. Dried meat and cheeses, nothing beat this kind of-

He watched as the three took out long cloths from their tent, along with various poles and tools. He quickly hid his rations when he saw the splendor of their food supply. Sweet rolls and what looked to be glazed ham. He’d wondered where they came from until he saw a sizeable box that it all came from. He knew there was no way it’d fit in there naturally. “What kind of tool is that?” Derrick and Jenny froze in front of the carriage, not realizing that the hooded man was staring at them.

Frederick stepped in, with a steady and smug gaze. “Haven’t you heard of one? It’s a dimensional box, created by space magic. It cost us quite a lot to obtain during our journeys.” Derb looked longingly at the box. How useful would such an item be? “I guess they’re pretty hard to obtain, huh? Damn...” Derb sputtered out. He assumed it also didn’t let food rot, how else could they pull a damn ham out? Frederick’s nose seemed to grow even longer at the reaction. He was the one to painstakingly work his ass off for it.

He almost kept bragging until Derrick kicked him in the back of the knees, toppling him like a house of cards. “Don’t mind him, he likes to think he’s the smart one but he’s really just lucky.” Jenny walked towards them, still carrying a surprising amount of materials. “Come on, you two. You can talk after we finish setting up. The camp won’t set itself.” The two sulked and took the materials out of her hands. “Yes, princess...” Her face of shock and embarrassment as the two guys went running to set things off was quite amusing. They weren’t that funny to Derb, though.

He instantly dropped to one knee. Christ Gerald and Deitre were right about him always getting into all kinds of trouble. He’d basically asked them to do all the work while he laid back to enjoy some study time! If word got out to anyone with a speck of authority he might ruin his teachers’ reputation. “I… apologize, I didn’t realize you were someone of such importance-” “No no no no! Oh, I’m so sorry... those two are such idiots!” She desperately reached to pick him up only to be surprised at how light he was. The thought quickly faded as she heard the raucous sound of things dropping and laughter coming from behind her.

“AH! Aha! Oh god, my sides...” Derrick was pointing and laughing at her while holding his stomach. Meanwhile, Frederick was on the floor gasping for breath. “Princess… Ahah… Don’t you think it’s a bit rude to hold on to someone that long? Pfft...” Frederick shouted between gasps. Jenny, who was now red ear to ear, realized she still had her arms wrapped around his arm. She let go in a panic and missed the pole under her feet. In the moment of imbalance, Derb activated snake eyes, simply stepping on the pole so she wouldn’t roll. He reached out and pushed her gently on her back, her balance regained.

“Th-thank you… I’m really sorry about everything I-… Those two did!” She glared at the brothers, who immediately started picking up the mess and got back to work. Derb just raised his hands apologetically, removing his hood and helmet. “It’s my fault for jumping to conclusions. I merely saw how extravagant your camp and food was so I assumed you were from a wealthy family.” He brushed a hand through his hair, no sense in looking homeless in front of these three. “I caused a lot of trouble because of it...” He bowed in sincerity, earning a sputtering and embarrassed counter apology from Jenny.

He noticed how easy she was to fluster, something the two boys in the back knew far too well, apparently. He couldn’t help but be reminded of Hannah when they first met, though she obviously had a wary eye on him from the start. Was it the armor? Nah. “Let me help you three set up, I’ll go get some wood to light a fire.” She nodded, turning back to her two companions. She suddenly remembered to ask him where his camp materials were and turned back only to find him gone, moments from where he stood.

Derb went fast, he needed to impress and he needed to do it soon. He made sure he was far away enough to not cause a ruckus and then aimed his sword at the thickest tree he could find. He activated the power of the boar and went to town, razing the tree with as many of his techniques he’d thought would work on an unmoving target. The cuts weren’t clean or precise but man did they cut deep. He tried slathering his sword with dark mana but noticed the wood turning a suspicious brown color and stopped immediately afterward.

A few minutes of chopping was all it took for the mighty tree to fall. He scraped off the remains that were hit with dark mana and proceeded to slice through the middle. Now that the tree was felled he had better leverage to rip it to shreds. A few minutes later and he had enough to last the night, and a bit extra. He walked back with the long pieces of chopped wood in his hand, planning to make a large bonfire to scare off predators. He’d only made it halfway back before he heard the sound of struggle.

He immediately dropped the wood and leapt to go check. By the time he made it back the camp was overrun. Tens of massive rat monsters with spears and clubs were attacking the trio, who were honestly doing quite well. Jenny laid in the background, shooting rocks at great speed at the rats, who could barely block it with their shields. Both the brothers were in the midst of battle Derrick was jumping in and out of the field, picking off whatever was alone. A green wind lit up his shoes and sword, slicing apart what came near. Frederick was a different story, his sword was just as small as Derricks but his attacks launched out in vicious flames and fury. They looked about ready to fall apart, though.

Derb couldn’t sit back and watch. ‘Connor, protect the mage while I fight, don’t let anything near her.’ Connor teleported in front of him, charging towards the position Jenny was at. Derb threw himself forward and attacked, with no plan in mind. He activated his cloak to make himself harder to hit, the cloak spreading like tendrils and masking his movement. The rats were as tall as him but almost twice as muscular, almost as big as the two brothers, in fact. He felt like he couldn’t afford to take too many hits.

He slammed his sword against a spear, slashing right through into the chest of the rat demon. He ignored his earlier advice and took a club to the back to continue the swing. It hurt but he felt like it didn’t cause too much damage. The spin reached full mass and he took two rats down in one blow, each splitting apart in a gory scene. The cloak caused a rat to miss a spear just in time for Derb to jump, slathering his sword in his deadly dark mana. The sword hissed and sputtered as it made its way through flesh. Even those who seemed like they would live slowly fell to the ground as he only felt stronger.

The blow to his back didn’t hurt anymore. Only feeling stronger than it was before. In his fit of violence he couldn’t help but think… he never really used the dark mana on anything living before, had he? By the end 17 rat demons laid under him, his armor bruised and torn. The cloak was still activated but he wasn’t in the right mind to turn it off. He’d been through a deadly battle before, Deitre made sure of it. He went through all that to harden him but he still felt sick at taking so much life in such a brutal way. He pierced the heart of a retreating rat demon, not even thinking twice about mercy.

It was instilled in him since he came here, instilled in him how to kill. Jenny and the brothers had killed the rats near them a while ago, staring in shock and awe. It wasn’t that he was strong, Derrick himself had tied with Derb in terms of kills. It was the savagery that came from the usually mild-mannered man’s attacks. They were scared to go near and help lest they become a part of the rending. He didn’t seem to swing more than once, using his footing to keep ravaging everything in his path. At some point, the rats started fleeing and they didn’t bother to give chase. The warrior didn’t follow that train of thought.

Derb sighed in relief as he and Connor had finished picking off the remainder. Connor had been a big help in that regard, shooting dark bolts at the backs of those escaping. 10 minutes later and the camp was safe if a bit messy. He noticed the tents were still useful, they were just brought down amongst the rampage. “Are you guys alright? I came as soon as I could but I didn't expect there’d be so many...” Derb hovered over the three, they didn’t seem to have many wounds, and the girl was unharmed as far as he could tell.

He suddenly realized he looked the worse off, his armor was bent in and jagged openings were protruding all over his body. His wounds had mysteriously closed mid-battle but the blood remained, soaking the armor and cloak in his and other monster’s blood. The trio didn’t realize he was fine and rushed to help. “He must be delirious from lack of blood… Derrick, get the medical supplies. We need to thicken his blood quickly.” Derrick nodded and jumped to obey Jenny’s order. Frederick was in the background setting some things onto a bowl.

Before Derb could speak an apple was placed in his hands. “Eat this, for now, you need as much help as you can get...” She tried to set him down but noticed how heavy he seemed to be, almost unmovable compared to before. “I’m fine, the wounds have already closed, see?” He took off one of his gauntlets, slowly flexing the free hand that was stained in blood. The wound was barely visible, something that used to be a gash across his forearm. She winced at the closed wound. That had happened to him mid-battle and still he held the massive sword?

She shook her head in disbelief. Was he a moron or a veteran? “You… as long as you are ok. Please don’t overwork yourself.” Derb nodded “I’ll be back, I need to go collect the firewood I left behind. Sorry… ” He left in a flash, bounding into the forest until he wasn’t visible. The girl sat down amongst the ruined camp. Luckily the rats didn’t seem too focused on attacking anything that wasn’t them so everything was mostly unharmed. The corpses meant they had to find a new place, however. Jenny looked on at the severed arms and torsos left behind by that man. The girl felt a migraine coming on, whoever this person was... he was a bit much.

___ an hour later

“The way you took those hits was crazy! I didn’t expect that kind of fighting style from someone as skinny as you.” Frederick had gotten friendlier the moment he saw the way Derb fought. He and his brother were always at odds in the way they learned the sword. Derrick chose to be nimble while Frederick chose to be more brash and powerful. Derb threw any sense of self-preservation out the window when fighting, however. Derb raised his hands. “That’s just how I was taught, is all. Instructor Deitre showed me how to use a sword while teacher Gerald showed me magic.”

Frederick didn’t seem to be listening as he downed another pint. “Nonsense! That’s how a real man fights! Isn’t that right, Jenny?” She looked away, annoyed at the man’s rambunctious attitude. “Maybe you’ve had too much to drink, Frederick?” Derrick asked, removing the pint from Frederick’s hand. “Not enough to deal with your bullshit, Derrick.” He countered, lunging for the stolen beverage. Derb watched as the two spilled drink all over themselves as they struggled on the floor. He watched Jenny look on in roguish amusement.

She noticed Derb’s gaze. “What? Can I help it if they're fun to watch while they're drunk?” Derb looked away, making sure not to focus on the fighting brothers. He’d removed most of his armor while Connor was repairing it, only leaving the leggings on. He’d been so used to his helmet and cloak hiding his emotions that he was a bit of an open book at the moment. He was wearing a simple dark green tank top, a stark contrast from his usual appearance.

He gazed at his arms, the time in the armor had made him forget just how skinny he was, tense muscle betraying its explosive strength. He looked on at the two brothers in envy. Even when he was at his biggest he wasn’t half their size. They had won the genetic lottery. He noticed the girl staring at him and he looked away, embarrassed for thinking such things. “You said you had two instructors? That’s rare.” Derb nodded, recalling the chain of events that led to his teacher wanting him to learn under Deitre.

It was to help both himself and the blacksmith, Derb knew that and felt almost guilty for taking advantage of that fact. “The two were close from before I was born, they each saw potential in me and fought to… keep me under control.” He laughed at his own self-depreciative joke. “What about you? Who did you and your brothers learn from?” She laughed at the words, Derrick stepping in before she could respond. “Her father taught her how to use the sword at a young age, but she was better fit to be a mage.”

Frederick cut in too. “He hated us because we were so close to his daughter, but then he realized he could use us to protect her.” Jenny looked down in embarrassment as they continued. “He did horrible things to us just so we could catch up to his best. Frederick was a bit slow but we both managed to reach the top ranks because of it- ow!” Frederick wasn’t having any of it. “He taught us thoroughly until we were satisfied with our strength. He came to respect us as loyal guards to his daughter.”

Derb nodded at the cheesy story. “Didn’t you two think it’d be dangerous with just this many guards, though? We almost became overrun back there. This is supposed to be an extremely dangerous forest, you know?” The two hung their heads in shame, only for Jenny to step in. “These two are great enough on their own! I’m sure we would have figured something out… we always do.” The two looked at her as if she were an angel. Derrick took a pint and waved it in the air “All hail our little princess.” Frederick reacted with a pint too, and so soon did Derb. They had just fended off the demonic threat, they deserved a break.