Sunlight broke through the overcast clouds colouring parts of the landscape in a golden yellow. Edra enjoyed the trip very much, he was relaxed, he had escaped an impossible ordeal and he was alive, not that he wasn’t sad about his loss, but he was alive! He took in a deep breath and overviewed the area that he was passing through, it was well farmed and taken care of, with patches of different earthen colours depending on what was being farmed on the specific fields, the farm houses he did see looked very normal some with hay roofs some without, one small house in particular had a grass roof with tiny goats grassing on the top.

Hilde didn’t know entirely how to feel about their new travelling companion, or where to put him for that matter, for now they’d just wait and see what he’d want to do when he had better adjusted. The entire story was absolutely ridiculous she thought, and had she not seen his status screen herself she would’ve probably not believed any of it, although she did believe in the sorrow he spoke of.

“By the way boy, do not show your status screen so casually another time” she said with a friendly smile whilst giving the horse a “yip” with a light slap of the reins. The horse responded and increased its speed.

“Why not?” Edra asked with an inquisitive gaze?

Before Hilde could continue Ben rode up next to Edra “It is generally very personal, and many of the details shows your weakness and not just your strengths, not everyone is so kindhearted as the two of us” Ben finished with a slap on Edra’s back almost making him tumble over, at that they all laughed.

As the last rays of sun were about to disappear the group of three came across a small band of people standing in front a crossroad.

“Hail travelers” A man with a large scar across his cheek said amiably, he together with the rest of the group wore coarse leather clothes, but there were no weapons to be seen aside from a dagger or two by the belts of two of them.

“Hail to you too, what might we help you with?” Hilde asked loudly so that they could hear her properly.

“We were heading towards Loktath, but we seem to be have reached a crossroads in every literal sense, and our guide here” He said while giving a young man next to him a knock over the head, much to the man’s dismay “does not remember which path to take, so I imagine you see our problem, we’ve been stuck here all day, thanks Soktar that we came across you” The man with the scar finished with a big smile.

“Of course, it is our duty as fellow travelers of the roads to help one another” Ben proclaimed in a friendly manner “You will come to the main road towards Loktath if you take the road on the left, us however are heading to Baril so we are turning right here” This made Edra frown, wasn’t the couple going to Loktath? They had told him during the day that they were going to town to sell some skins and crops, however just as he was about to speak Hilde put her hand on his leg and gave him a knowing look, which made him shut up.

“Thank you for that, we will be on our way before the sun completely sets, may Soktar be with you” The band of travelers turned to the road on the left and began walking.

Hilde moved the horse into motion and they were soon on their way. No one said anything, Edra didn’t know if he should speak or not, but he was very confused and after a minute or two he couldn’t keep quiet anymore, but Hilde just put her hand on his mouth and beckoned for him to be quiet. She quickly let go of him and whispered “they were bandits, and they are probably following us, the one with the hoodie in the back was a beast-woman and they have excellent hearing, if they know that we are unto them, they might spring into action” Hilde’s face was contracted into a stressed and serious look. Edra didn’t know how the couple knew, or how they had communicated it, but they had far more experience than he did with these sorts of things so he simply followed their lead. Night time was encroaching covering the landscape in darkness amazing Edra at how dark the night was when the clouds covered the sky.

The horses were moving about a bit restlessly so Ben went over to calm them down while Hilda and Edra were setting up the campsite next to the road in the flickers of a lantern hanging off of a stick which Hilde had stuck into the ground. Hilde moved over to Edra to help him with the tent and some rope “Be quiet and listen” She whispered seriously “continue what you’re doing! I do not have time to explain now, I will when it is over, we will prepare the tent as usual, but go directly to bed, without eating dinner, I will give you a short sword and when you hear the signal you stab whoever is in front of you, we have to be fast!” Edra didn’t know what to say, but he felt his heart thumping violently, he barely had time to open his mouth when Hilde interrupted him “You’ll know the signal, just get the tent ready with me”. As such they continued to set up the camp in the dank temperature with overcast clouds allowing a glimpse of the moonlight to break free and give the previously calm landscape an eerie silver glow.

With every rustle of a branch, with every movement of a leaf and with every shake in the canvas of the tent he felt his adrenaline circulate. When ben came inside he nearly jumped up, but somehow kept his body still, Ben greeted them both as if nothing was wrong and padded down a blanket at the entrance of the tent, after which he moved into his coverage and bid them both good night, once more as if nothing was wrong, Edra couldn’t even detect a treble in his voice. Until this point he thought he had fully accepted his new reality, yet now he realized he truly hadn’t, fear was evident and coursed through his body together with the adrenaline making his back drenched in a cold sweat.

Time went by, and yet no one came, how long had it been since the camp had been set? His grip on the hilt of his sword was drenched in sweat; however he kept it in an iron grip unrelenting without loosening, his hands long since cramped stuck.

It was just a vague moment, but he saw it! A shadow passing by in the lantern light outside the tent, he felt like puking, did he live only to die now? It was the last stray thought he had before everything lit up in a beautiful inferno in front of the tent, and a shard of glass ripped through the tent and landed next to Edra, he realised it was the lantern that had exploded, but how? Was not something he had time to contemplate because all hell broke loose, a myriad of curses broke out in front of the tent and a guy ran in from the entrance with a grim look on his face, that would be his last look as the carpet all of a sudden whipped up with a huge hook spiking the man, blood splattered from the back where he was penetrated through. Another bandit broke through the side of the tent with his sword, but was met with the muzzle of an old fashioned looking rifle that exploded in his face, it was Hilde who had crouched up on her knees in a steady position and fired of the gun.

“NOW!” she yelled and she and Ben ran out to face the intruders.

Edra wasn’t far behind, all of the adrenaline pushed his body into motion instantly, he flew out of the tent passing through the spiked man, when he passed him by it was as if in slow-motion, the flames from the front casting shadows on him making his death look even more grotesque and had Edra had time to think about the sight, had he been given a second or more he might’ve covered and retreated.

“You..!” was the only word the beast-woman had time to utter before Edra sailed his blade into her face, it wouldn’t penetrate? Why wouldn’t it penetrate? so he stabbed again and again, until he was slapped to the side with unearthly strength, his body rolling over flames and shards of glass. The Beast-woman turned to the woman whose rifle was the only sound deafening out the bandits’, who were screaming every time she pulled the trigger. She only got to take a step or two before she felt the blade sink into her back, it was that mosquito from earlier, she felt her vitality ebb a trickle with every unrelenting stab. The danger wasn’t in the stab, but the distraction, and the distraction was deadly and at the flash of a muzzle her vitality hit zero and she passed away. It was easy pickings afterwards, the husband and wife duo cleaned out the bandits one at a time, eventually stabbing and shooting the guy who had broken through the tent and was stuck on the spike, apparently the spike had been laced in some special poison and paralyzed the man, luckily he had been one of the strongest fighters who had been paralyzed and not one of the pawns. In the end the couple sawed off the head of the paralyzed man and the beast-woman and put their heads in a small bag, then they took the valuables off of the bandits and threw it in some hemp bags as well and loaded up the wagon with it. At the end they gathered the bodies and debris and put it on fire. Meanwhile Edra was puking, his hands finally dropping the smeared blade, his body collapsing in a tremor ‘oh my god, what have I done I killed her?! But if I didn’t they would’ve killed us, shit shit!’ it was while he was wallowing in his self-pity that he felt a blanket cover him and two steady hands help him up, it was Hilde, she was speaking to him, but he heard none of her words, all he felt was a pressure on his ears and a small sound almost like a kettle boiling that kept increasing in volume. It wasn’t until a while later while they were carefully making their way down the dark country highway that the sound reached its peak only to disappear at that very moment.

“…Lucky this time, but we might not be so next time” Ben finished his sentence while taking a long sip from a leather wine-pouch, he passed it on to Hilde, who took a gulp.

She wiped her mouth with her sleeve, her eyes bloodshot “with risk comes reward, I gained almost a full level from those bandits, don’t tell me that you didn’t gain any experience, and the reward for catching the ring-leaders of the highway bandits are sure to bring us some coin, and possibly also some experience!” she took another swig of the pouch and passed it to Edra whereas she continued “however I do agree husband, maybe we should settle in the city with our kids after this, if I hadn’t had some artifacts from before I became a merchant this would’ve been it for us” she shook her head in terror and grabbed the wine pouch out of Edra’s hands before he could take a swig of his own and took a big gulp before returning the pouch to Edra “take some boy, killing does not conform with me either, even after having been a hunter for a long time I still need a drink, be that man or animal” her eyes having clearly calmed down from the alcohol, her face Solemn in the rays of the rising sun. Edra took a big gulp and passed on the wine and just like that the three of them continued on in silence towards Loktath, the sun of dawn bringing new life with it.

. . . .

The remaining two days went by rather uneventfully, the closer to the city they made it, the more houses popped up, and the dusty dirt road, hilly landscapes and the accompanying fields changed to cobble and city outskirts composed of red clay brick and dark grey stone houses, with children playing and adults working and elderly playing chess or other board-games under shaded trees. The overcast weather had finally cleared up and bright rays of sunlight shone from a clear blue sky. Edra shaded his eyes as he looked up into the sky, the entire trip from his row-boat till now seemed like a passing dream, yet the evidence of the changes were stacked up around him. Looking around he couldn’t help but wonder about the technology level of the world, and why it was so low, disregarding the other parallel worlds, at least his own should’ve had people who could advance technology, so why was it that he didn’t see any, but obviously some sort of guns existed, and even here in the outskirts of town he saw drainage and manholes, hinting at a more advanced infrastructure than he originally suspected from the farms and farmhouses he had seen on the way, he couldn’t help but wonder just how long had passed?

Hilde drove the carriage towards a small guard-house located not too far away from a short city wall that encircled a fairly large area, but considering the short stature of the wall it wouldn’t appear that Loktath was a big or central city of any sort; Ben rode his horse over first and got a hold of some of the guard personnel.

“So you country folk caught yourself a bounty huh” a hard faced square-jawed man asked in a not so questioning manner. He wore a faded black leather jerkin, with a red upper garment that bore the mark of a fish on the left chest, he didn’t wear a helmet showing an impressively bald head, it was evident though that the guards wore helmets as everyone else had a leather cap on with a feather stuck to the side; Edra noticed curiously.

Hilde picked up the hemp bag with a buzz as it was surrounded by flies and handed it over to the guard officer. He took a quick look and compared the heads to a wanted poster he had been handed by a subordinate.

“Well done well done” He spoke and gave them a hard glance, his eyes resting a bit longer on Edra who was the odd one out “I’ll write you up a notice so you can pick up your reward at the magistrates office in town” He gave the bag to one of the younger guards who had a green face from seeing the contents, and turned back into the office whereas he wrote up the reward notice and stamped it. The whole process was surprisingly stream-lined there was no heavy corruption or dismissal of the reward, he felt slightly betrayed by popular media from his own time, but was mostly just grateful that the process was over with without a hassle, and personally he was happy to be rid of the heads as they had begun smelling through the bag.

“Does your kids live in Loktath?” It was a simple question, innocent in and by itself, but the reaction he got from Hilde was stiff and uncomfortable.

She looked at Edra for a moment before she answered “No… “ She took a deep breath “It is not a big secret or anything, so I don’t know why I’m being so silly about it” She laughed haggardly at herself, earning her a pitiful glance from Ben “Before Ben, back when I was a hunter I had kids too with a rich merchant, he wasn’t a good man, nor was he a bad man, however unbeknownst to me he got himself in debt, the debtors burned down our home on a day where I was out hunting for animal skins” she sighed sorrowfully, looking older than ever. Edra realizing the implication quickly put his arm around the woman’s shoulders.

“I understand you don’t need to say more” he spoke gently, squinting his eyes in the bright sun.

Hilde grabbed his hand for a bit “Thank you Edra, you are very kind” She slowed down the horse while passing through the city gates because of the inbound traffic “After the incident I left for the countryside in Siktath, without a clear destination or path, it was then that I met Ben, he found me passed out drunk on his farm, apparently I had been conversing drunkenly with his scarecrow” she smiled to herself, life coming back to her eyes “It was his kindness that gave me purpose again”.

Ben laughed warmly as he rode up close to the wagon “Look at you speaking like an old woman!” Edra couldn’t help but chuckle, receiving a long stare from Hilde albeit only for a moment before she too began laughing.

The city itself wasn’t too different from the outskirts, although there were far more shops and bigger buildings which were a mix of pure wooden structures and brick and stone buildings, they all had a timber-frame though, reminding Edra of an old German town he had visited once. The town was lively and people were going about their daily business, the men wore linen garments some with shirts and a vest others with long or short sleeved shirts, there were women with similar clothes but most of the women wore dresses in various styles and colours. There were a lot of leather pants too for the first time Edra began dreading his future.

Hilde rode the carriage over to one of the stagecoaches; Ben let his horse stay there. Apparently only the locals within the city could use horses in the city, and only the ones who got permission from the magistrate, so everyone who came with a horse left them at one of the many stagecoaches that were located at the entrances of Loktath.

Edra was like a country-bumpkin in the big city for the first time, his eyes darted everywhere left and right up and down, once in a while he’d see a beast-man which made his eyes marvel, much to the discontent of the beast-man. Remembering his one status update he couldn’t help but ask “Why aren’t there any dwarves around here?”

Hilde looked at him inquisitively “I’m still not sure I buy your story son, but every now and then you convince me a little more, Loktath is a town on the outskirts of the kingdom of Brutsch, because it is on the outskirts it is close to one of the borders of the beast-man kingdom of SharthSaith therefore there is a lot of trade between the two” Hilde explained patiently “Where the dwarves reside I do not know, I’ve spent my entire live in Loktath and Siktath and have never encountered one, nor have I sought one out” she finished as a matter of fact, Ben just nodded grudgingly. Edra was somewhat flabbergasted at the response; it was similar to some people living a short while from the ocean but went a life-time without seeing it! After a few more questions he realised that they had never really looked into the geography of Brutsch or knew anything about other races on the Pahain continent.

It only took a short while for the group of three to arrive at the magistrate’s office; it was clearly marked on the front of the building in silver writing on a blue faded wooden sign. People could apparently go there to lodge official complaints or suggestions, and the magistrate would handle or dismiss such cases. It didn’t take long for the three of them to meet with one of the employees, a young woman with short hair greeted them, she as well as her colleagues all wore blue robes that went a little past the waist, and black linen pants underneath.

G-level Bounty Quest Completed: F Grade

Capture or kill the rogue high-way bandits who have been ravaging the country-side of Loktath, territory Siktath.

Completion of quest 80% complete

Killed two of the leaders of the Bastard Bandit’s Bandit Troupe and a large amount of their subordinates.

Quest Reward: 5 exp points, unlocked Bandit’s Bane title track,

- Reward received deductions as you were not officially in a party with any of the largest quest contributors, as well as your lack of participation.

[Because Edra Walker has no class, Experience points will be turned into experience towards Bandit’s Bane title track]

Edra received a fifth of the gold from the bounty as Hilde explained very nicely that they had had to use up some of their last artifacts. Edra of course was very grateful as he felt that he received too much in a way, at least as far as he could see from his quest reward he shouldn’t receive very much.

Afterwards they walked over to a merchant who decided that he’d go take a look on their wares. The entire process happened fairly quickly and Edra blindly followed along, absorbing a bit of the conversation during the process. After Hilde sealed the deal on what they were selling she turned to Ben and had a few quick words.

“Edra what do you want to do?” The day had been long and the sun would be setting soon, but where would he set his life?

“I don’t know!” he answered earnestly with an awkward smile “The two of you saved me, and I would like to pay you back somehow, but I don’t know how to do that”

“Silly boy!” Ben spoke clapping him on the shoulder “You don’t owe us anything, you could’ve ran off the moment we struck danger, but you didn’t, and neither did you cower, had it not been for your distraction that beast-woman might’ve gotten the better of us!” Ben’s face was serious and grateful “Just tell us what you’d want to do, if you would like you could come work at the farm, although I don’t see you as much of a farm-hand boy”.

Edra laughed itching the back of his head “I suppose not… I guess I would like to learn more about this world, so I guess I’ll try my hand at getting a class and maybe a job in town somewhere, and who knows maybe go travelling” he didn’t know why, but he got a bit shy speaking of his future ideas like that, but he wasn’t met with derision or mockery instead he only saw the warm smiles of the only two people he knew in this world.