Gerald and Sera finally reached their target. In front of them was an extensive lush green forest. It was not at all creepy as Gerald had imagined it to be.

In fact, it was quite nice and inviting. It was full of life and spring spirit. There were birds chirping in the dense tree canopies and insects were flying around in the air. Small lizards were basking in the warm morning sunlight.

Gerald and Sera were walking on the main road to the woods when they saw a group of people closing in on them from the side. Upon a closer look, Gerald noticed that they were youngsters around twenty years old. Just a few years older than him.

The two teams meet at a crossroads before the forest. The first one to speak was the guy in front, "Lady Sera, what a coincidence! Are you on a quest as well?"

He was clad in mostly leather armor, just the thighs, chest and head were covered with metal. He was also wearing a longsword on his left hip and a dagger on his right. A few small pouches were spread evenly across his belt.

He was extremely loud and confident, and Gerald immediately concluded that he was probably the leader.

"I heard what happened to your friends. I didn't yet have the time to express my condolences. It was really tragic to lose so many great warriors. If you need any help you just need to ask."

Sera's face became gloomy after he heard that. It wasn't long since the incident had happened and it brought the memory back to the surface. "Thanks for your kind words, mister Kerius. I will keep them in mind," she sighed.

Gerald nudged Sera with his elbow and hinted with his eyes that she should probably explain who these people were.

Sera lightly laughed and then said, "Look at me, I'm so distracted that I forgot to introduce you to each other."

She pointed at Gerald, "This is Gerald, he is my new teammate. We met just recently." She then turned around and introduced the group of warriors, "These are the Iron Hawks. They are one of the more recognized groups in the Guild. Their leader, Iron Hawk Kerius, is a strong Iron 3 rank warrior."

After the short introduction, she leaned closer to Gerald and whispered into his ear, "Iron Hawk is Kerius's family name. Three of them are basically cousins."

"Ah," Gerald said and nodded, indicating that he understood. With a few more words of explanation from Sera, he concluded that this team of six before them was actually really strong for their age. The composition was also pretty good.

Two big guys at the front had large round wooden shields that covered almost their entire bodies, and they were carrying strong spears in their right hands. They operated as a vanguard in fights. Behind them, or in between, was Kerius with his longsword, making sure no enemy would squeeze through.

Then there was also an Archer with a short bow and a novice Spellcaster with his magic spells, supporting his teammates from behind. Lastly, there was a Hunter, just like Sera. His job was to track down the enemies and also to guard their backs in a fight.

Kerius proudly laughed and spoke to Gerald, "Friend, I can see that you are also headed to the forest. I should warn you though, recently there was a spike in the Goblin population. We are just on a mission to reduce their numbers. If you want, you can tag along. It will be safer if there are more people."

He said that, but that didn't mean that he would babysit them. It was only a suggestion.

Gerald just casually waved his hand and declined, "I appreciate the invite but we don't plan on going deep into the forest. We probably won't encounter much danger and I would hate to slow you guys down. I am new here and I need to get more experience so that I don't embarrass myself. Maybe we could cooperate some time at a later date."

After a few more words of courtesy, the two teams split, and they both went their separate ways.

"Cousin, didn't you plan on inviting Sera into our hunting party?" one of the guys asked Kerius.

Kerius lightly sighed, took off his helmet, and scratched his head. "It doesn't matter now. She already joined someone else, even if it is just a nooby."

"But I thought you fancied her?"

"Hahaha…" Kerius laughed. "Who doesn't like her? She has a great body and an attractive face. But that's about it." He paused for a while and then continued, "We might be one of the more recognized teams, but that doesn't mean our lives are easy. It is difficult enough to take care of ourselves and I really don't have any time or money to spend on a girl right now."

Kerius sighed and shook his head. It was such a shame that life was getting harder and more chaotic with each passing day. Who wouldn't like to take a rest with a pretty girl by his side? Unfortunately, because they were more recognized, that meant that they also got more information. That brought more worry to the leader.

The recent ambush on Sera's team was just one of many in the kingdom. The beasts and monsters also started to get more aggressive and daring, attacking small farms and villages. There was never any time for the warriors to rest.

Kerius frowned, "Actually, I'm more interested in this guy…Gerald. Who is he? He doesn't look strong, but the way Sera acts around him, he can't be useless. Also, the way he speaks reminds me of the more educated folk. Maybe he is from a noble family?"

"Could be. Should we follow them? To see if they might need any help if nothing else?" the Hunter suggested.

"Hm, sure why not," Kerius shrugged. "Just stay quiet. We can't be seen as stalkers, after all. What would people think about us? Hahaha…" he laughed.

They turned around and went in the direction Gerald and Sera left. Although they were clad in armor, they barely made any sound. It proved how disciplined and trained they were.

Meanwhile, Gerald and Sera were completely oblivious to their stalkers and were walking without a care in the world. The forest was peaceful, and the sun shined through the canopy of the trees, making it look nice and refreshing. Not too warm and not too cold.

It was not even noon yet and the Black-Iron Moonglow wouldn't be ready for harvest for a while. Gerald was just walking around, looking at the plants on the sides of the road. "I didn't even hope to find so many, but they are actually everywhere!" he happily announced.

"What is everywhere?" Sera thought they were on a mission to gather Moonglows so she was confused as to what Gerald was talking about.

"Here!" Gerald pushed a stack of papers into her embrace. On them were pictures of the plants he was interested in. Since they had some free time they should make good use of it.

Sera looked through the drawings on the paper. They weren't the best quality since Gerald copied them in a hurry, but she could still understand what kind of plants were on them. There was just one thing she didn't understand, "Why did you just give me a bunch of drawings of weeds?"

"What do you mean weeds? These are some very important herbs!"

"No, I'm pretty sure these plants are worthless. I have never seen anyone buy or sell them. Actually, I have seen them fed to the pigs if I remember correctly," she insisted.

"Fed to the pigs?!" Gerald suddenly felt like the world was spinning around him and he got a headache. "You feed them Mana Roots? And Morning Dew? Wolfweed? To the pigs?" He felt like crying.

Sera sensed his frustration and tried to somehow console him, "Look, I don't know any of these names, but I'm telling you the truth. These plants make the meat more tender and juicy and pigs love them, other than that they are pretty worthless…at least in our kingdom... I don't know."

"Ten thousand years and you still can't figure out how amazing this stuff is… Gosh! No wonder this world is still in the middle ages even after such a long time of continuous existence…" Gerald was talking to himself more than anything. He was pacing in circles, complaining with passion.

After a while, he cooled down and ended the rant with a big sigh. He turned around and saw Sera just standing there, all confused and lost, not knowing what to do. It brought a smile to Gerald's face seeing her there looking all helpless.

"I should probably contain my excitement and sorrow from now on. I can't be seen as an emotionally unstable person after all," he murmured to himself.

He cleared his throat and took a deep breath to calm himself before talking, "Listen, Sera, it's not your fault… I just got too emotional when I heard that you consider these herbs worthless. They are just really extremely important to me," he explained. "I was actually hoping you could help me collect some of them."

Sera stayed silent. Now Gerald was getting slightly nervous. "I… I guess I could pay you for your help…"

"Pfff…" laughter almost escaped from Sera's mouth. She quickly covered her mouth with her hands. Then she shook her head and smiled, "You don't need to pay me, silly. We are a team after all. We should help each other, right?"

"Right." He returned a warm smile.

'Wait, did she just call me silly?'