Kale, a sword and buckler known for his… Well he isn’t well known yet. Or at least that's what he would say. But he almost passed the Knight academies final exam. That was another of his boasting points.

To brag about failure says a certain something about the person. But nonetheless he was a genuine person. He had the ideals of a knight with the price of a sell-sword.

At his back, masking each step he took was Jia armed with twin daggers. The daggers themselves were ordinary, it was their location that made people fear him. Each was sheathed in specialty pockets in his thin wrists.

Said specialty need not be mentioned. It should be self evident.

Last, bring up the rear and glancing at each tree carefully, Layla. She wore simple black and white clothing. White hood and black fabric at the chest.

Such a thing isn’t rare. All nuns are sent away to preform deeds of good throughout the heathenistic world. Her duty was to preform miracles on the battlefield. In doing so it would bring renown to her holy sect.

This group could be found anywhere. Occasionally the close range damage dealer would be switched for a mage if one could be found, but Jia was skilled. It would be hard to find a mage that could replace his damage dealing abilities.

Kale, the core of the group was also skilled. After four years in the Knight academy he had never let his body dwindle. A knock of his shield could topple just about any creature so long as it wasn’t magic.

Layla too prided herself in her skills, a non gushing wound could be healed in seconds. Even large lacerations could be healed in not too long. She didn’t have the abilities of some of the higher bishops and sisters but she was not ranked low when studying at the covenant.

However these three were regarded as beginner adventurers. And they wouldn't even argue it. It goes to show how advanced expert level really must be. Even the sight of an expert level is something to behold.

Their current mission was a simple one but they wouldn’t lower their guard. They were to enter the North Forest and search out a certain mushroom. Its shape was round and it was found buried shallowly in the dirt. It could be found by following the scent of cooked meat.

Ah, you can see where this is headed then?

Yeah.

The three walked along the North Forest Trail for awhile before the spotted the scent. It was far closer to town than they expected. They excitedly, yet cautiously stepped off the trail towards the smell.

Kale as always had his sword and shield readied. A battle can start at any time. In a previous mission that should have been easy. Merely retrieving a white flower from a field to the south of town, ended up being a life or death battle against a Black Tailed Boar.

‘You must never let your guard down’ That was something he learned in the academy. He didn’t need to pass an exam to figure out that tidbit.

Perhaps he’d be in a far different place if he took that to heart back then. But he enjoyed the company of Jia despite his questionable origins, and Layla was the picture of beauty, exotic skin tone, alluring accent. No, he didn’t entirely regret his current place. Pay wasn’t great but they survived.

Most of their jobs paid only a few hundred coins but if they are able to find this mushroom they were promised over ten thousand. Obviously half the money comes just from the risk of the location, who would pay ten thousand for a mushroom? No meal could be worth that much.

The group continued deeper through the woods. Being mid-morning the fog was thick and the branches were wet with dew. The closer the group neared the more the smell permeated. Suddenly the sound of rushing water could be heard. The group were unaware of any waterfall or stream so the sound was strange. A creature of some kind?

As the fog lifted the view that welcomed was one unlike what they had expected.

Deep in this thick grove of trees, built into a fallen tree sat a small shack, and outside stood a man cooking in a cast iron pan.

His face was gentle and kind making the scene even more strange.

Jia wondered if perhaps it was a hallucination but seeing as the rest of the group collectively stared at the scene he brushed away that conclusion.

"Hungry?" The chef in the forest asks flipping a thick steak in the pan with the flick of his wrist.

Realizing this was the source of the smell they all inwardly cursed. But what stopped them from walking away at that very moment was the smell. It wasn’t only a smell of meat, there was also something that politely burned at their nostrils. They vaguely recognized it as something that had been appearing in town over the last few days. The stew at their local haunt had a similar smelling dish.

"Uh…" Kale could only murmur staring mouthwatering at the dripping steak the man held on a small chipped plate.

"Sit, sit." The man says indicating to a few log benches in front of a rough table. One by one he put slabs of meat onto plates. He then handed each a knife and fork.

Only one among them inwardly remarked about the quality of the cutlery and china they ate on. None could guess it was hand-me-downs from the king of their country.

The man in the forest was extremely curious about their work, especially after telling him about the mushroom. When he realized why we had come he laughed. Unfortunately he didn’t have much information although he did say he heard the sounds of boar type monsters to the east. Since boar type monsters are known to like ground mushrooms they figured its worth a look.

Strangely they felt the man was completely trustworthy despite his strange locale. He just seemed to them like a strange young hermit. It wasn’t entirely unheard of.

Waving to the man the group took their leave and began to walk back towards the trail and investigate the area he had mentioned.

Only once back on the trail did the group full understand the strangeness of the situation. It was as if they had stopped along the trail to get a meal, in the most dangerous forest on the upper continent.

Jia was the first to burst into laughter as he walked.

"What a strange man." He says wiping his eyes.

"Mhm," Layla agrees patting her stomach in satisfaction. "But his meat is good."

"Y… Yeah." Kale agrees nodding to the two. "Weird that he can live like that out here though. He must be someone incredibly strong. I mean, there's supposedly a big goblin mound somewhere in this area."

"I’m sure if it were an issue he would just sweep it up with his cooking knife." Jia says with a snort.

"So you saw that too? What was it, silver-steel?"

"Psh," Jia sneers with a glance towards the girl. "That was the material silver-steel is meant to replicate. That's the real deal. I was seriously tempted to nab it, its probably worth a fortune."

"Jia!" Kale shouts, smacking him in the back of the head.

"I didn’t, I didn’t. I just said I thought about it." Jia replies rolling his eyes. "Anyway like I said he’d probably cut me down before I could even touch the handle."

"If even you say it then he really must be dangerous." Layla says shaking her head in amazement.

"What the hell’s that supposed to mean?"

"Hmm? Sorry, I’m bad at English." Layla smiles innocently.