Victor looked at the sight before him. Doliy was there with, who he assumed was Ruuz carrying more things on her back then looked realistic. Peering back at the trio of slaves he had behind him he found no trace of surprise on their faces before looking back at the pair, holding back a few words.

“So I see you both made it. Do you think you brought enough stuff?” he asked with a notable amount of sarcasm.

Looking at how much the person he assumed to be Ruuz was carrying, Doliy ran a hand through her own hair, twirling a few strands around one of her fingers.

“I think there are still some things that would be better to bring, but without us using a cart I didn’t want to get too much. That's why I just got everything that I thought would be the most useful or possibly dangerous to be without. Luck and skill are important as always, but preparation can be better than anything else if you go about the right way.”

Doliy looked at the trio of slaves that Victor had and sighed, “It looks like one of them is a complete loss unless you’re able to find a good medic and pay the fee to remove the venom fangs from him. Why did you waste money on something like that?”

“SomeONE,” Victor said, some of his frustrations escaping him, “His name is Drelt and I don’t care if he is a slave you will use his name just like you would use mine. Everyone here goes by their name.”

The figure that Victor assumed was Ruuz tapped Doliy softly and spoke, her voice carrying a slight distance. Hearing the voice verified that it was Ruuz, like he had thought.

“Let's talk about the boring stuff like this later. You said we had to leave why are we not leaving already?”

Victor and Doliy look at each other for a bit before he nodded his head, “Fine let’s go. We can walk and talk about things as we go. I just think that you have too much stuff with you.”

“What would you bring,” Doliy snapped.

Staring at him as they start to walk towards the edge of town she looks at the small pack he had, along with a few odds and ends that he had accumulated while working and shopping.

“I suppose you still have your spear where I saw you put it last?”

Victor tries to shush Doliy only to be interrupted.

“It’s not crowded so I'm using my magic in a tight bubble to keep us from being heard. Only us six can hear each other for now unless someone walks into the area of influence. I just want to know. Do you still got your...... tricky spear?”

Dorun walked up between the two, “My master has no spear and as long as I am by his side he will have my protection. As long as I live my master will be protected and not need anything like a spear.”

Victor stayed quiet while Doliy smirked a bit, “Oh, so he doesn’t know. I guess you might not tell your slaves about your magic. Well, regardless this one is missing a few important bits so I wouldn't rely on him for proper protection.”

Doliy chuckled while Dorun let out an irritated growl as the group continued to get to the road leading away from Green Rebirth and towards the open world.

“Alright,” Doliy started, “if we stick to the roads it is easier walking and there is less chance of beasts coming after us. On top of that, we might find others to travel with part of the way. That can be both good and bad depending on who is offering to come with us. While uncommon it's not unheard of for people to try something while camping together."

“If we choose to go off the roads, there are more animals that might fight us and the travel will be harder. That will mean we are less likely to have people notice us though which would be a very good thing, but unless someone knows how to keep us on track and not get us lost I would suggest against that. Getting lost could be a greater risk than any beast or bandit we come across.”

With a mental chuckle, Victor thought about his phone and some of the more mundane apps that would be amazing here. Assuming they worked properly at least. That and his phone could keep a charge. Even though he knew that he should try to ignore anything from home that had no use here, he kept wishing to check out new apps and go online from time to time. After all, having a fully functional smartphone in another world would be quite powerful.

“Right nothing like a compass or GPS around here I imagine. I guess sticking to the beaten path would work best. Can’t exactly call for help if we get lost after all.”

The small group looked at him a bit with different looks on their faces, although he couldn’t see Ruuz's face under everything she was carrying.

“If you don’t understand a word it’s because it’s something from back home that we would use. Don’t worry about it. I don’t have either of them on me anyway. Besides if I was going to wish for something from home I’d think much bigger.”

Leaving Green Rebirth behind, Victor thought about saying goodbye to the woman he had saved but decided against it. Sure she was the first person here that he felt he might be able to get comfortable with as a friend, but he didn’t want to leave information behind if he could help it. Especially if he needed to stay hidden.

At first, the group remained quiet, only making minor comments and barely speaking. Dorun helped Drelt as he walked because, as Dorun put it, he didn't want the fact that another slave was injured to delay the trip.

It wasn’t until sometime between mid day and late day that Alena broke the silence.

“Unless we are going to be marching all night it’s probably about time we start to look for a place to camp out. I’d gladly lose a little bit of travel time if it means we are less exposed to the elements or possible beasts.”

Slowing their pace, the group was in agreement and began to keep an eye out for a place that they could camp for the night with only minimal concerns.

Eventually, the group spotted an area that looked good further ahead, turning and walking about twenty minutes off the road, while keeping it within their sights. Once the sun was just about to touch the horizon they started to unpack their gear, and Ruuz removed the hood.

"I know I have a little dwarf lineage, but if we got slaves can't we have some of them help with carrying stuff after this? I feel like a packhorse."

Alena patted her on the shoulder and told her there would be a discussion.

Victor couldn’t help but be amazed on some level with how easily the group was able to agree on the camping site, even having a slight debate on which of the two locations had the less ideal situation based on minor details he wouldn't have noticed.

Doliy and Alena eventually finished their slight debate on which of the two close areas would be better. On one side a flatter surface would keep them more stable during the night, but on the other side, they could camp closer to some trees that would help cut down on the wind.

Ruuz and Drelt took it upon themselves to go and start gathering firewood, along with anything else they could find while Dorun kept an eye out as he stood close to everything that was put down for the campsite and travel.

“You all seem to really know your stuff. I feel kind of out of place with so many capable people around here.”

Looking at Victor, Doliy sighed with more than a hint of annoyance, “I wonder if I would have been better off just buying your slaves if you aren’t even starting to unpack the shelter supplies. Someone help him get…. Dorun you and him start setting up the shelters. I got two setups so I will share them with Ruuz and he can sleep with all of you. Hurry up and I’ll get stuff out to figure out dinner."

For a while, things were once again quiet amongst the group. Everyone was doing a job and eventually there were two shelters set up near the trees, with some extra padding under one layer as a way to keep it more stable.

Instead of a typical tent, the shelters started with oversized blankets that looked to have been knitted with multiple layers that rested on the ground. Then using wood posts, stakes, and rope, they set up what amounted to windbreakers and shade makers over each of them, but they didn’t fully separate the outside world from the sleeping shelter. Victor, as he had done many times, started to wish he could go online and make an order or hit the mall to pick up some supplies that, until recently, he had never once in his life thought about needing.

After the sleeping situation was taken care of, Dorun started to dig a hole with a tunnel that went from the base of the hole and extended up to the side, before filling it with wood. While he was doing that the rest of the group thought about what they had packed and what would be the first to go bad. Alena had found some plants nearby that, she said, were good for fatigue if boiled, but not if eaten directly, making Victor think about tea.

"I wonder if they have hot leaf juice here," he thought to himself.

Ruuz, while gathering wood, had managed to throw a stone well enough to confuse something similar to a rabbit long enough to kill it and, since she had already skinned it, was cutting it in preparation for the meal.

Only when Dorun finished setting up the wood and got the metal grate ready to put over it did Victor look down in the hole.

The wood was stacked in a square with a lot of small twigs and dry plants in it as starter kindling, “Is it ok to start the fire now or do we need to wait a bit?”

Without looking up Alena placed some of the herbs she got into a pot, “We got some time before the soup will be ready to cook, but if you got a moment to start the fire go ahead. If your magic skill is anything like the slavers it will take a bit before the…”

Before Alena could even finish her thought she saw smoke rising from the site of their firepit. It wasn’t much, but there was enough that she took notice.

“I’m not used to the hard work of marching and carrying and setting things up yet so I hope you don’t mind I did it the lazy way.”

Victor held up his lighter a second and with a flick of his thumb showed what he had done, “I can’t use this forever, when it runs dry it's useless, but I’m too tired to do more than I have to today.”

Dorun huffed a bit, “I would have done it for you master. It would have taken me longer, but I can start fires for camping. I’ve done it many times in the past and don’t think you should use your magical tools so casually when your slaves will gladly do as you demand.”

“Gladly,” Alena scoffed as she looked away from the pair so she could roll her eyes unseen by the pair.

Victor looked at her and smiled just a bit, thinking that if nothing else, she would be someone he could say he freed at some point. She didn't seem to be the sort of person who would refuse the offer he had made.

The rest of that night went by smoothly and the next two days were typical travel as well. With the roads empty and the only creatures, they came across being small ones who were either ignored or killed for a fresh addition to the days' meals, the march was pretty uneventful.

As it got later in their third day of travel, however, everyone was moving at a noticeably slower pace compared to the previous days. The hill covered land behind them had been the cause of many complaints and the sight of more ahead of them gave them no reason to be happy about the upcoming bit of travel.

It wasn't long before the group agreed that they would make early camp and found the first place they, reasonably, thought that they could camp out without major concerns. The only worry anyone had was someone coming down a hill and not seeing them in the night, especially without easily found firewood available.

Reaching into his pack, Victor took out his emergency flashlight, coughing to draw attention to him. Once everyone was looking at him he spent the next part of the day showing everyone the tool and how it worked, at least as far as he knew.

On the surface it seemed simple, crank the handle and the light would come out when you flick the switch, but he knew there was likely more to it. Victor just hoped that nothing would break on it and that everyone would take care of it because, as he told them, it wasn't the most durable so you shouldn't put too much effort into cranking it. Drelt seemed the most interested in it and started to crank the battery while everyone else did different jobs for the nights' setup.

Before they had started to prepare dinner, but after they had their camp set up for the night, the clopping of hooves on the road was heard coming towards them.

Ruuz quickly put on her cloak and hood, Dorun grabbed the handle of his weapon, and Victor thought about his spear while he touched the handle of his sword, just in case.

When the sources of the sound reached the top of the hill and came into view, three carts, one covered, came into full view. The horses were moving at a lazy pace while a variety of people were around it.

Victor noted three people with weapons, that he could see, as well as at least one child who was being talked to by a woman who he assumed to be the mother. His worries about the unknown people did start to dissolve, but not completely diminish as he looked at the rest of his group.

The group seemed to relax at the sight of the people coming their way and before long the two groups met.

Stepping down from the lead cart an older man with only human features came forward.

"I see no cart or horses. Is there a town or village nearby not on the map or are you just out without those for your travels?"

Doliy stepped forward, pulling Victor with her, "My soon to be husband and I are just taking a vacation before our wedding to make sure we still love each other when we don't have the comforts of home. We took some of our slaves so we didn't have none of the comforts though. Still, we thought not using a horse would make it more..... true for us regardless of how we feel after."

The old man raised his head, "I see. My grandson did the same thing a few years ago. It worked really well and, instead of coming back home after, they moved into a town they came across on their travels. A great thing when it works if you ask me."

"Now I noticed you already set up camp for the night. This is one of the places we stop during our travels to do the same. Would you mind terribly if we intruded upon you and set up camp as well?"

Before Victor could say that he didn't think it would be a problem, he found his mouth covered by Doliy.

"We don't mind, but you should at least camp a bit away from us. My fiance here is a very jealous man sometimes and Dorun over there has been ordered to beat anyone who tries to make a move on me. He is so capable that he sacrificed some fingers to kill someone who was intent on forcing themselves on me while I went to wash a few days ago."

Nodding his head the elder snapped his fingers, whistled, and pointed a bit to an area nearby.

"That's fine. I'm not worried about that sort of thing, the guards know they won't get paid if something happens, and my family has a lot of flaws, but I can't think of anyone who would try to make a move on someone else's partner.

Going back to his group the older man waved as everyone seemed to start getting set up.

"You're pretty good at lying you know that?" Victor asked.

"Thank you for the praise," Doliy said with a smile, "Lying is a skill. Like any skill, if you want it to work when it most matters, you need to practice it when it doesn't."

"Still," Victor started, "I thought that we could have a proper story we use and you can let me know what is going on instead of just using me as a prop. Or you could tell the truth that we are just traveling together for mutual protection."

Tracing a finger along Victor's cheek, Doliy leans in and kisses his cheek before whispering in his ear.

"You will sleep in my shelter tonight. I'm warning you now I will get handsy if I notice the other people are starting to have suspicions about us. Perhaps you should practice your lies a bit more so I don't have to silence you and lead every dance."

Swatting Victor on the ass, Doliy walked away and whistled softly.

The rest of the evening quietly moved into the night and the night was met with people changing watches. Those who were guards from the caravan had their routine setup, but that didn't stop Victor and his group from doing their watch rotation.

Sleep was harder because the other night watch would talk while they kept watch, and Doliy could only keep up her magic while awake so once she fell asleep the others would have to deal with a sound much worse than Drelts snoring.

About halfway through the night, during Alena's watch, she went to the tent to grab her weapons seconds before a loud gong could be heard from the other group.

As everyone woke up and gathered what they might need for a fight the source of the concern was easily found.

Peering down at both groups was a beast that Victor thought was equal in size to a school bus. It couldn't all be made out, but parts of its body seemed to be glowing a subtle purple, along with lined runes, that could barely be seen in the darkness, but the guard from the caravan had been a beastkin who found the creature right away and called out before she rang the alarm.

A total of five people looked ready to fight when the beast lunged forward. Its panther-like body twisted easily around a spear that was thrown at it, landing in the midst of the caravan and without a word of a plan those who found the beast in its midst started to bark out codes and whistles as everyone started to prepare, fight, or flee.

Victor almost found it to be like a dance, a show one might watch, until a scream was heard, accompanied by an arm flying and landing in his camp.

"I'll protect you, master," Dorun stated as if it was a fact that had no need to be questioned.

Taking out his spear, Victor looked at his smaller group and took a deep breath.

"If anyone thinks they can help kill that thing do it. I know wanting to live is a big deal but....."

Victor was lost, trying to think of the right words to say when the beast let loose a roar that shook him to his core.

"Sometimes to live you have to kill faster than you die!"

With those words, two things happened at once.

Dorun charged in with weapon in hand, ready to fight with those already putting their lives on the line.

Meanwhile, Ruuz picked up a wagon wheel that had been broken and knocked into their camp and threw it at the beast, hitting it with a glancing blow on its middle left leg, making it flare up just a bit brighter with a purple glow.