The trip back to the village was quiet as we were trying to get there as fast as we could without attracting any more attention to ourselves than we already had from running through the place. My mind wandered back to the magic the kobold was using and how he used quick bursts of earth to help his speed and strengthen his weapons when attacking without using a continuous infusion like the wolf had.

Not paying attention I crashed straight into Hatchet who had suddenly slowed down probably spotting something I had missed.

“ I know you just got out of your first fight kid but pay attention to your surroundings” he didn’t sound very upset, but his voice was still firm, conveying the message that in this forest I was one moment of carelessness away from death with my stats.” here chew on these they should help your body fight off the poison” he shoved some leaves he ripped off the plant into my hand.

I put one in my mouth and instantly tried to spit it out, the bitter taste overwhelming me. MY eyes squeezed shut but I felt a hand over my mouth keeping the foul leaf in.

“Yeah, Yeah, I know it tastes like the sole of your boot, but I told you to keep away from the kobolds so think of it as your punishment for failing” he lightly chuckled without letting me go. “ Don’t swallow it just chew on it for a few minutes then you can spit it out”

I nodded and he took his hand off my mouth. “Ugh, if for no other reason than to never have to taste this again I’ll find a way to level this poison resistance skill” Clearly trusting Hatchet with my new skill was a good idea, I didn’t want him to think of me as dead weight and sharing my new skill would at least build some more trust between us, I definitely didn’t just tell him about it so I wouldn’t have to chew on another leaf, definitely not.

“You got poison resistance out of it, eh?” He scratched his beard as we started moving again, a small file of smoke visible in the distance showing we were close to the village. “ Well at least all the pain of that burn on your arm won’t be for nothing then.”

“Why did you go for the kobold in the back, was it because of the staff?” I asked him, seeing as we were so close to the village there was less danger in talking while running.

“Nope, had nothing to do with the staff, he had a container of mosquitos on his belt, clearly he was some kind of disease magic user, definitely something I didn’t want you to have to deal with even if he was low enough level for it not to pose much danger to me.” This obviously surprised me as I had thought the gem on the staff had marked him as a magic user that needed to be dealt with.

“Then what was with the gem on his staff” I ask him, bringing the orb I picked off the end of the staff thinking it had some value.

“That is most likely an enchanted object to help him control the insects better, but its by no means required for it. Not good for much, highest price you’ll get for it will be from an engraver who already knows how to carve the same rune just so his competition can’t grab it and that's if you go to a city.” he told me clearly aware that he was stomping on my hopes of it being something valuable.

“Now head on home and go to sleep, you still have poison in your body and the adrenaline is about to run out and you’ll crash. I'll go inform the headman of the kobolds.” he lightly pushed me in the direction of my house.

At home, I found nobody in the house but by the time I entered I was already feeling dead tired so I just grabbed a few pieces of fruit to eat and headed to bed to crash.

The sun’s rays woke me up the next day looking a lot later than I usually woke up. A cold bowl of soup on the nightstand by the bed told me that my parents found out what had happened to me and let me sleep last night. I drank down the soup and got up to go to my usual training, even if I was to start a bit later today I was feeling fine, the burn on my arm reacting well to the healing I used right before going to sleep.

As I exited my room I found my parents as well as Judy and Alana all sitting down at the kitchen table, their eyes on me as I exited my room.

“Morning” I sheepishly say before trying to extricate myself out of the situation “I’ll go get started on my exercises.”

I didn’t make more than a step for the door when mom cut me off pulling out a chair for me “Sit.” She then filled my plate with food and continued as I sat down for breakfast. “Your father and I have decided that you will join your sister for her trip to Lessis”

“What why?” I quickly try to think of a way out.

“We’re not saying that you can’t be a hunter, but with the kobolds so close we decided this is the best for you, as such you’ll make the headman happy by playing the role of messenger and let him think you might be turning to that career after your experience with the kobolds, this also presents a perfect opportunity for you to visit Tom and Kate and we both agreed that you will not be going back in the forest before you unlock your stat points and have a better chance to defend yourself” Her explanation calmed me down quite a bit and I found myself agreeing with her.

The plan sounded well thought out, it not only got me off of the headsman's shit list but also gave me a chance to see what a city was like and to visit Tom and Kate. I wasn’t thrilled about the lost time but on our way back Hatchet did mention that he would most likely have to go without me for a while anyway so whether I did my training on the road or here it didn’t matter much.

“Oh come on little brother, you could at least make it look like spending time with me isn’t a punishment” Judy managed to make me crack a smile at that as I inhaled the food in front of me, clearly a lot hungrier than I thought.

“I didn’t say anything though” I defended myself against the allegations.

“You looked like they just told you to go help clean the horse stalls” she fired back not letting me get a solid footing in so I did the only smart thing left to me, I kept my mouth focused on eating and conceded this round.

“You can go do your training for the day but since you’re leaving in the morning with the caravan make time for tonight to have a chat with me, after all you’ll have your stat points unlocked on this trip and I need to talk to you about it” dad said while getting up to head back to the forge after his lunch.

I nodded my head, stuffing all the remaining food in my mouth and also headed for my room to grab a new pair of clothes seeing as I was only wearing a pair of pants, realizing how badly I messed up my initial excuse of training while wearing this. Quickly changing and heading out the door, my sister and mother were still sitting at the table talking with Alana, probably something to do with their reason for the trip as merchants in training, but all the while Alana’s eyes followed me out the door.

Training today started differently, with me taking out one of the arrows I looted from the dead kobolds yesterday and giving myself a very small scratch, hoping to raise my poison resistance and as a way to progress my vitality along with the rest of my stats. I also started chewing on one of the leaves Hatchet game me yesterday just to be sure I wasn’t doing anything stupid and then started my to go through my usual training.

“Looking to train up you poison resistance” Hatchet announced from behind me as I was just about done with the last set of climbing exercises, he was coming out of the forest clearly he hadn’t taken the day off like I had.

“That’s a good way to get yourself killed just where did you stick this arrow?” His voice was cold but I could see signs of worry in his eyes.

“Just a light scratch here” I showed him the thing line I made with the arrow close to the wound from yesterday,” and I chewed through about 4 of those leaves you gave me yesterday.”

His expression warmed some when hearing that but his voice didn't. “Next time you get it in your head to experiment with things that can kill you, how about running it past me first?”

“I tried to but I couldn’t find you and since I am leaving with my sister first thing in the morning for Lessis I didn’t want to miss out on that much time levelling up this poison resistance, especially if we have to deal with kobolds again later” I answered back to him, though the looking for him part wasn’t exactly true save for a quick glance on my way to my training spot.

“You and I won’t be dealing with the kobolds, level 30 and above soldiers led by at least a few level 50s will be cleaning out the kobold problem, don’t be in such a hurry to get yourself killed” he shook his head “I’ll have a new leather chest piece made for you from the wolf’s hide by the time you come back, that with the stat points unlocking should help keep you on even footing with whatever we find in the forest after the soldiers clear out the kobolds.

That was all he said to me as he headed towards the headman’s house, probably to give a report of his mission and I headed back home to have a conversation with my father.