Soft hair brushed across my face as I woke up. Facing me she was still sound asleep. I closed my eyes as her breathing was soothing to listen to. I was ready to get up after a few minutes, but unwilling to and potentially waking her up and ruining her peaceful state. Eris seemed like an entirely different person while asleep. After observing her lips, eyes, and facial features for a while I got up.

The moment I moved, Eris woke up. “...Morning. You must have been exhausted to sleep so soundly.” I said as I slid my legs onto the floor to get up. “Mm, I had a good dream.” Eris said while rubbing away her grogginess, also getting up.

“I’m glad. We’ve got a long day ahead of us, so let’s have a good breakfast and head out again.” I went to prepare everything we needed. We ate at the cafeteria and bought two extra empty rucksacks before heading out.

Just before we reached the outpost gate a familiar face stopped us. “Oh, it’s you!” The trader from yesterday greeted us. “I’m happy we met again so soon. Does your group happen to need a cart?” Her tender words lingered as I saw her cart behind her in the distance, trying to figure out what she wanted.

“I’ll carry everything on the cart, while your group can focus solely on fighting. All I ask is for a ten percent cut or if you’re willing to sell it all to me then a bigger payout.” She continued to explain seeing my hesitation to respond.

“Will you be able to keep up?” The benefits offered were great though I had to ask.

“I enchanted my cart with weight and speed altering enhancements. It will practically be pushing itself. No need to worry! If necessary, I can also help fight with my water magic.” She spoke with confidence for her usefulness.

“We will be going pretty far into beast territory. We won’t be coming back until late and it’ll be dangerous. Are you sure?” I still felt uneasy bringing her along.

“I saw your last haul. Your group killed a Feral ape. I don’t think there’s much else to worry about if you guys could handle that just fine.” Everything she said was logical, and I had no firm way to decline her outright.

She would definitely make the scenery more beautiful at least. Unlike Eris, her body was fully developed and tempting to take second glances. I looked at Eris as I thought this and she seemed to be able to figure out my answer from that one look and took the rest of the rucksacks I was carrying, placing them onto the cart. Was she mad at me? Eris walked off after putting our things into the cart leaving us behind.

“Glad to have you with us then. Her name is Eris and I’m Volatis.” I pointed at Eris and quickly introduced us realizing that she wasn’t stopping. “Likewise, my name’s Veera.”

As we walked, Eris started up a conversation with me. “I thought you didn’t trust anyone. Why did you let her come along so easily?” She gave me a cold glare.

“I don’t trust her, but everything she said sounded logical to me. We need her cart for the extra storage and more money. Whether we can trust her or not, only time will tell.” Veera noticed the two of us talking to each other quietly as she guided the cart automatically forward without any contact.

“How far until we meet up with the rest of your party?” Veera asked since we had been walking for two hours and showed no signs of stopping.

“What party?” I paused realizing her misunderstanding. “It’s just us three. I never said we had a group.” I’m glad she took two hours before realizing or else our money cart would have run back to the outpost by now.

“Two people alone, monster hunting? That’s insane!” Veera's composure rattled as she frantically dealt with reality.

“I agreed to let you come along. So, I’ll make sure to protect you. Don’t worry so much, okay?” As I spoke to comfort her, a bright and loud firework-like magical flare brightened the sky.

“Someone’s in danger!” Veera yelled knowing full well what the signal in the air signified.

Eris and I headed in the direction, out of interest while not sure what Veera’s thoughts were as she followed us. The red flare just about disappeared before we could reach the destination. We heard sounds of a massacre as screams and roaring gave us a vivid imagination of how chaotic things had gotten. It sounded like the massacre would be over before we even got there so I split off from the other two at a faster pace.