Not much had changed since Erion first arrived in the city. The road was an immutable entity, constantly populated with people from all over the world. One could tell the story of a traveler by simply looking at his clothes and the way he walks as the road only calls for a certain type of person.

But Rasla and her party were not interested in people, only in the fastest way of reaching Aseena, the town terrorized by the fiery wolf, target of their hunt.

“Hmm… We’ll probably have to go through some trails deep into the forest if we want to get there fast. The main road does more curves than I thought.” She said while looking an old, ragged map.

“Isn’t going through the forest dangerous? …I ask for our new friend here, of course.” Harry said.

“I don’t think so. It has the usual slimes and goblins but nothing we can’t handle easily. We’ll just have to pay more attention when we start approaching Aseena since the wolf lurks around the area.”

Max, who was paying more attention to the birds flying around than to the conversation, suddenly interjected:

“But how long will it take for us to get there?”

“I believe we’ll take 2 days and 2 nights with short breaks along the way. Maybe a little more if we allow ourselves some lavish meals prepared by Erion.” Rasla responded.

“Ah, we shouldn’t waste the stuff we bought. I’m sure the wolf will still be there if we show up a few hours later than expected.” Harry said.

“This rarely happens but I agree with him.” Max completed.

The Barbarian smiled.

“Alright, I don’t want to skip over meals either. Guess you’ll do a lot of work, Erion, haha.”

So the five went forward, with Rasla happily carrying the cart while everyone talked. Erion got to know about some of their most interesting adventures and all the troublesome situations they somehow got away from. Even Anda told a tale or two, describing her slick and silent assassinations of mostly creatures with one or two humans inbetween.

As the sun faded, the party deviated from the main road, going for one a little more precarious. Far in the horizon they could see a wall of tall trees; the forest they were supposed to get into.

“It’ll take a few more hours for us to get there. We’ll set up camp right at the forest’s border and take off with the morning’s first light.” Rasla declared.

The group seemed used to long walks, however, they were quite new for the inexperienced field chef, whose each step felt like walking over needles. The lesser quality road did not help him as numerous pebbles started making the steps even worse. He tried to hid his discomfort from the other four but it was quite noticeable as he struggled to not stay behind.

“Damn, I forgot you were not used to traveling by foot, sorry. These boots of yours certainly don’t help, we should’ve bought new ones at the city.” Rasla said after noticing his slow pace.

“It’s fine… I’m just a little tired… I’ll make it to the camp.”

“Bullshit. Get in the cart.”

“What?” He asked in astonishment “No way. There’s already a lot of stuff on it… And I’m not baggage!”

“The quicker you get on it, the quicker we’ll reach the forest. You’re slowing everybody down with your sluggish walk. Just jump in.”

“Oh, come on, boy. You’re being offered the easy life and you don’t want it?! I wish I was lucky enough to have weak feet.” Harry complained.

“No, I just...”

Without waiting for a complete answer, Rasla suddenly grabbed Erion by his clothes and threw him onto the food, making some vegetables fall from the cart.

“W-what the hell?!”

“Now be a good boy and don’t move too much.” The Barbarian said “No need to worry about me, I constantly carry stuff heavier than a scrawny kid.”

He opened his mouth for a rebuttal, but decided it was wiser to keep quiet and just let her carry the heavy cart. If it was someone else, maybe he would’ve jumped anyway. She, however, seemed truly unfazed by the extra weight, sometimes even going faster than the other three.

Not much later, the sun started to set. There still was a good amount of terrain to cross until the border and everybody was starting to feel tired.

“You can carry me too, can’t you, Rasla? I’m just as thin as Erion.” Harry joked, possibly with a hint of honesty.

“Keep walking, idiot.” Was her response.

And so they did, until the sky was black and the sun was replaced by its little silver sister. Slightly before the border, the terrain started an upwards inclination, making the path substantially harsher. Even Rasla was soundly panting – so much that when Erion jumped off the cart, she remained silent.

Everyone sighed in relief as the trees became more numerous and a huge green/brown wall emerged right in front of them. It was the chosen resting spot.

“I was almost thinking that the road was growing longer as we walked. Damn, I guess Erion’s lack of experience affected us all!” The Warlock said as he sat on a convenient log.

This time, all four ignored him, choosing to focus in setting up the camp or simply resting after such a long walk. Rasla quickly gathered enough firewood for a night, Max unpacked the sleeping bags and laid them on the ground, Anda wandered off, checking for anyone (or anything) nearby and Erion looked at the packed supplies, seeing if everything was still fresh. The enchanted chest apparently did a nice job; everything was smelling fine and looked bright. Without wasting much time, he readied the ingredients needed for the dish he was going to cook that night.

Soon enough, Anda was back and everything was set up, including the intense campfire right at the center. Erion and the Assassin got the compact cauldron and other utensils from the cart and positioned them around the fire. With some improvisation, they made a support for the large pot, hanging it above the flames.

The other three rested, rarely helping the two.

The ambient was also uncomfortably silent. The cook started to feel awkward as the girl helped him in absolute quietness. Slowly, he stuttered out some words:

“So, Anda… How did you guys meet?”

She raised her head, confused.

“Excuse me?”

“You four… There certainly is an interesting story behind such a… unusual group.”

“What do you mean by unusual? Am I weird?”

Erion blushed.

“No! That’s not what I meant! I just… Is there a story or not?”

“There’s one… But I don’t think it’s very interesting. I’m almost certain.”

“Tell me. You can’t know if a story’s uninteresting when you never told it to anyone else.”

“Okay.” She hesitated momentarily “It was back when Julius The Dragon was terrorizing the region.”

The young chef almost burst out laughing, but barely kept his composure.

“There were a lot of new adventurers and the demand was really high. All four of us were brand new in the business and we all went to a certain inn in look for a job. The only one left required a party of four people so it seemed natural. Afterwards, we kept doing missions. I don’t know their reasons for sticking together, personally, I just thought it was practical to stay in an already set party instead of looking for another one.”

“That’s it?”

“Yes.”

“Oh.”

“What’s the matter?”

“Well, I thought that it would be more… intense, you know? A tale of how a strong friendship was born…”

“I told you it wasn’t very interesting.”

“But you guys seem like great friends! Does it just come with the time?”

She stopped for a while, thinking.

“I don’t feel like we’re the biggest friends. We have a good relationship but most of the time it seems that we just tolerate each other. I’d say that all of us are kind of the lone wolf type, but we don’t mind having some reliable companions.”

“I see… It’s hard for me to understand something so far of the concept of party in my head. All the stories you hear about legendary groups of friends and their unbreakable bond… Now that I look at it, it’s definitely too idealized.”

He assumed an easily noticeable sad face.

“Now, you shouldn’t let a party of four people change your perception of the world. Sure, not everything is perfect, but these groups of best friends you talk about… They definitely exist.”

Thinking her job was done, she turned back to the cauldron, adjusting it to not fall if something too heavy is put inside.

Anda, as Erion observed, was not of easy contact. She rarely talked when not prompted and had a weird “mechanical” aura when doing so. It was like she tried to mimic how someone is supposed to feel and act, but didn’t have enough understanding of it to make it convincing. She didn’t seem like a bad person, she just not felt completely genuine on her actions.

Either way, a lot of the cook’s thoughts vanished as they finished setting up everything and he started to cook their dinner.

While the cauldron was warming up, he picked up a good amount of ground beef from the supplies, alongside with many herbs and vegetables. He poured a small amount of water inside the recipient, letting it boil as he mixed the herbs into the meat mince. Soon, bubbles started to appears in the liquid, signalizing it was time to throw in onions, milk and salt. With enough time and mixing, it became an onion cream, basis of the night’s special.

After tasting the cream and adding a little more salt, Erion threw the ground beef into, letting it cook slowly. It would take a while, he observed, using the time left to wash and prepare the lettuce he would use. In each of the four plates, the cook placed a single large leaf and, with the onion cream plus ground beef prepared, used them as a recipient for the main dish. He carefully closed the lettuce leaves around themselves, utilizing melted cheese to seal it without the leaf opening by itself. Finally, he boiled some potatoes and cut them into round pieces, pouring a little bit of onion cream over them.

After finally finishing it, he called the other four, who almost had fallen asleep during the process. Everyone instantly had their eyes wide open by the word “ready” and instantly jumped to get their plates.

“It smells pretty good...” Rasla commented.

“…I told you it would be fine as long as it wasn’t vegetarian, boy.” Max said while looking at the closed lettuces.

“Oh, don’t worry. There’s plenty of meat inside them.” Erion said.

“Yeah. Definitely.” Harry was already filling his mouth with the food. The very thick onion cream slowly came out of his open lettuce, showing everyone how great it looked.

Like predators, they attacked the food. Erion was pretty satisfied with himself, watching everyone’s wordless appreciation. He was also smart enough to do enough food for everyone to repeat at least once. And so they did, filling their stomachs as they were not fed for days. Anda herself, who did not seem very hungry, quietly ate as much as Rasla, unstoppable on her Barbarian fury.

“You certainly proved yourself as a cook, Erion!” Rasla congratulated him after her last plate. “I wouldn’t not mind to eat like this on the road!”

“Yeah, you have talent. It has been some time since I ate something quite good like this.” Max admitted.

“It could’ve had more potatoes… But it was still alright, calm down.” Harry said.

“I wish I had bought a barrel of ale. A mug of it would certainly feel correct after this meal!” Rasla lamented, drinking a cup of water.

“Wait, let’s not get too happy. We still have to wake up early and follow the trail. We should decide the patrolling turns before everyone falls asleep.”

Sad that such moment had to pass, everyone one agreed and a schedule was quickly set up. Harry was first, Max was after him followed by Rasla and, finally, Anda. They decided to spare Erion in gratitude for the great dinner.

The young chef fell asleep with a smile on his face. It had been a great day for him. After months stuck in the same place, setting out for the road felt liberating and filled him with newfound determination to be one of the greatest. As he closed his eyes, a smile quietly roamed a few meters in front of his face, remembering him of what was truly unique about his skills.

Unfortunately, the sleep full of hopeful dreams wouldn’t last. At least one hour before the supposed time to wake up, Anda pulled his leg.

“Get up! Quick!”

His mind couldn’t process the situation. His eyes opened but Erion could not understand anything other than weird, blurry shapes covered in light. Another voice started talking.

“It’s taking too long! We have to go, they’re coming!”

As the cook finally understood that grass was the thing beneath his face, his body suddenly started to float away from the ground. It would take him a few more minutes to realize that he was on Rasla’s back as they entered the deep forest in haste, leaving almost everything behind.