“Give me the last jerky! You jerk!”

Mun groaned with all her might.

“You already ate three pieces! This is my third one!”

Tal responded while pushing Mun’s head away from the jerky he was holding. With one quick motion, he ate the entire jerky in his hand.

The shock from having a jerky taken from her caused Mun to fall onto her back.

“Hm? What are you looking at Din?” Tal asked as he noticed my gaze. “Don’t tell me you wanted that last piece too.”

“No, that’s not it,” I answered. “Just nothing much else to do. I’m about ready to sleep now.”

Tal stood up while brushing off jerky pieces off his clothes.

“Go ahead, I can take the first watch. Lewis and Chris are already asleep, I can have one of them take the next watch.”

Lewis and Chris had gone to sleep while the three of us stayed up a bit longer to eat some jerky pieces. I was surprised they were able to sleep through Tal and Mun’s yelling.

I nodded to Tal before laying down on my sheet that I had spread down on the grass. I pulled my blanket over myself and then got into a comfortable position. As I was getting ready to sleep, I noticed Lorelei, who had been standing quite a bit far from us. For some reason, she was staring off into the direction of Lanport.

I was too tired to ask so I decided to just go to sleep.

—We left as soon as the sun became visible. According to Lewis, we would reach Lanport by the end of today. Because we knew Lanport was so close, we only stopped once to eat our lunch. By sunset, I had already muted Mun’s constant complains.

“We’re almost there. After we get past this hillside, we should be able to see the city,” Lewis pointed out.

We had been walking on the same trail for a while now and I was glad to know that our long journey was almost to an end.

I looked over to Lorelei, who had remained silent for most of the journey.

“Something on your mind?” I asked.

She appeared distracted so I called out to her.

“Lorelei?”

“Huh? Yes, Din?” She asked.

“You’ve been really quiet. What are you thinking about?”

Lorelei was hesitant. She glanced at the ground for a second before replying, “It’s just been a long walk from Newron city. I’m just feeling a little under the weather.”

She didn’t seem to be telling the truth, but I didn’t pry any further.

“Was it something big?” Lewis asked me.

I was still the only one that could see and hear Lorelei so he didn’t hear her answer.

I shook my head. Lewis nodded to my response and then continued forward.

As we reached the top of the hill, we noticed a small figure standing on the very top. It was the size of a kid wearing a red robe that covered not only his clothes, but also his face.

“Who’s that?” I asked.

Lewis shrugged. “Not someone I know.” He then stepped forward to call out to the kid. “Hi, are you from Lanport?”

The kid remained still.

The sun had already set, but because of the bright color of the kid’s robe, he was still clearly visible.

“What’s with this kid?” Tal asked as he began approaching the kid.

When Tal got close enough, the kid suddenly rushed past Tal and then continued running past us. He made sure to run at a distance where we couldn’t reach him as he ran past us.

“That kid stole my pouch!” Tal called out.

Lewis chased after the kid in an instant. The rest of us took a second longer to react but we followed closely. Lewis was a lot taller than the kid, but even he had trouble catching up to him.

It wasn’t until another figure came out of the woods and blocked the kid’s path. The kid tried stopping to avoid being grabbed, but his momentum carried him straight into the figure’s arms.

“Let go of me!” The kid screamed as he tried punching and kicking the figure to free himself.

The figure was a man who was dressed like a farmer. He was mostly bald with some hair on the sides of his head.

“What did you take from them?” The farmer asked.

As we got closer, the farmer finally released the kid, knowing that there was no escape for him.

“What did he take from you lot?”

“That little punk took my pouch!” Tal answered.

Tal began approaching the kid, but the farmer raised his hand to stop Tal. Noticing that Tal had stopped, the farmer got on his knee and was head level with the kid.

“Now, give back what you stole from that young man. This is your final warning from Crowell,” The farmer said gently.

The kid placed Tal’s pouch in the farmer’s hand, but then immediately fled into the forest.

“Wait, you little—!” Tal began.

“You don’t need to do that,” the farmer called out. “I have your pouch right here. You can head into the city now with no problem, right?”

He then looked over to the rest of us and a sign of recognition appeared on his face, “Well I’ll be. If it ain’t Lewis! And Chris too!”

It took Lewis a second before he recognized the farmer.

“Holy shit, old man Oskar! It’s been way too long,” Lewis greeted the farmer. “Your farm doing well? How’s everything in Lanport now?”

“Oh you won’t believe me if you don’t see for yourself. The pirates, Lewis, the pirates have stopped rampaging the city. I can’t even remember the last time there was any conflict in the city!”

Lewis laughed abruptly. “I see you still have your sense of humor, old man Oskar. I would love to see the day where pirates don’t cause a problem.”

With a great smirk, the farmer held Lewis’ shoulder, “I ain’t telling you a joke. Just look at it yourself. Once you settle in, go to the bars and see for yourself. Lanport is very peaceful nowadays.”