The group of travelers was composed of five middle-aged men. They didn’t have any carriage and were only carrying backpacks. Each one had its own backpack. Four of them seem like mercenaries, they were wearing a chain mail and carrying a sword. The last man was in the center of the group, he seems more scholarly, and the others were probably here to protect him Edward thought.

The group was stopped at the village gate. Balin wasn’t on guard duty at the moment, some others guards were keeping the gate, Edward didn’t know their names. Edward’s group was able to hear the conversation from the wall.

“Greetings travelers, what brings you to Agripin?” one of the guards asked.

“Greetings, we are coming from Gobéliard we have a job proposal that should interest some of you. Now would you mind clearing the way?” The man answered arrogantly.

The guard was offended but before he could reply there was a sudden flash of pressure.

It was so swift that Edward wonder if he had dreamed it.

“Awaken!!” the guard exclaimed before letting the group pass through.

Right now there were only two awakens in the village, Caspian, the guard’s captain, and Balin. This village was quite isolated and it was rare for villagers to meet awakens. Clearly, this person wasn’t a nobody.

Well, it looks like I was wrong, if this guy is an awaken he shouldn't need any guard to protect him. Unless those guards are awakens too? But then why would a whole group of awakens come to a small village?

“Should we follow him?” asked Edward.

“No, it’s fine, he seems to be here for business. Besides, there shouldn’t be much of interest in our village for someone like him and we are still on guard duty.” Adrien answered.

“For once that something is happening I can’t go see it” Edward grumbled.

As soon as he finished his guard duty, Edward rushed to the village's inn. It was more of a restaurant and a bar than an inn right now due to the few numbers of travelers, but the establishment still had a few rooms that guests could rent.

The newcomer had put a notice for a job offer on a billboard inside the inn. It was the place where most of the villagers would come to meet and enjoy after a hard day at work. A billboard had been installed to share information even though it wasn’t used much. Considering the size of the village everyone knew each other and information was traveling fast enough by word of mouth.

The villagers were actually talking about this job offer right now. The newcomer, Marc Vega was searching to hire people for an expedition in the forest. He had discovered some ruins that were lying not far from Agripin and he needed carriers and guards.

He could just have hired people directly from Gobéliard but then he would have to feed and take care of everybody until they reached the ruins. The pay was five silvers per day for a carrier and ten silvers per day for a guard. Considering that Edward’s pay as a guard was fifteen silvers per month this pay was exceptionally good.

In the inn, the villagers were attracted by the offer but arguments were sent to both sides.

-“Five silver per day just to be a carrier, I say we should do it,” a robust villager said.

-“Don’t you forget that’s in the forest. A normal bloke like you without any blood enhancement would get killed by any random beast” his comrade replied.

-“True but come on we will only be carriers, not guards, I’m sure they can take care of the beasts, that guy is even an awaken according to the rumors. And it’s not every day that we will have an offer like that.”

-“Do it if you want, I won’t stop you but I’m not going. I value my life too much to risk it for a few silvers. I wouldn’t forgive myself if I died and left my wife and children alone”.

Edward heard the conversation. He didn’t want to end up stuck in this village and he had no family in this world. The life he lead back on earth had left a trauma, he was scared of getting trapped in a place living a boring existence. He had just come into a new world and the possibilities were endless, he was itching to move and experience this strange world. Even if the pay wasn’t so good he would have still accepted the offer. Still what the villagers said made him think. He had been in the forest only for a small time and he already had a preview of what types of beasts were residing inside. He had killed a black wolf on its own but the beast had been severely injured, he didn’t want to think of what kind of beast could make an injury like that.

He had only been in the village as a guard for two weeks, he was still a rookie. He could be considered at the quiescent stage since he had been exposed to beast blood, but he didn’t feel special in any way. He was maybe a tad stronger and faster than before but that’s all. The bit of blood he had been in contact with wasn’t enough to make a big difference yet.

All of that made him think, he was agreeing with the villager. He would still go to this expedition, who knew when an opportunity like this one would come again. he couldn't travel alone in the wild yet because he was too weak, and in this world, you needed beast blood to get stronger. It was the same kind of loop back on earth when companies were asking you to have job experience to get a job. Which meant you needed work experience beforehand to actually acquire work experience...

That's why he would still take this offer but he would go as a carrier instead of a guard. This way he wouldn’t have to confront the beasts directly and if by any chance an injured monster managed to slip by the guards he should be able to handle it. The organizer was also an awaken, he could probably take care of the beast that injured the black wolves, at least Edward hope so. If not he should still be able to stop it for some time, enough time for him to get away.

At the bottom of the job offer, there was a space to sign with your name. There were five lines in front of each role, either a carrier or a guard. That would make a total of sixteen people, composed of five carriers and actually ten guards if you included the guards brought by the commissioner. It would be a small expedition with an adequate number of guards.

This number of people shouldn’t attract too much attention, that’s good. The commissioner was also able to travel from Gobéliard to here through the forest it should be fine. Let’s go. Edward thought, signing his name on the paper for a carrier. He wasn’t the first one to register his name. There were already three other carriers and two guards registered. Edward was glad he didn’t come too late, he would have been mad if all the positions were already taken. The notice was informing people of a meeting in two days at sunrise. The equipment and the food will be provided by the commissioner. The expedition was scheduled to last no longer than a week.

There wasn’t much time between the moment the foreigner put the notice and the meeting, but it was a small village and either people will be attracted by the pay and go for the offer or they won’t because they will be afraid of the forest and what roamed inside. Giving more delay wouldn’t necessarily be a good thing, and would give more time for people to hesitate and waver on their decision. The delay was probably also there for the commissioner to prepare the supplies. After all, his group was rather light-equipped when they came into the village, and they didn't seem to be carrying enough rations for a whole expedition.

Now Edward had to prepare himself and announced his leave to the guard captain. He hoped Caspian wouldn’t take it too badly, at least a week wasn’t that long, it’s not like he wouldn’t come back.

The next day, before the training exercises began for the guards, Edward went to see Caspian.

-“Good morning Sir, can I have a moment to talk with you?”

Caspian looked at him.

-“Sure, but make it quick, the training exercises will begin soon and I want to be here to supervise it.”

-“You must know of the foreigner who arrived yesterday, Marc Vega. He put a job offer for an expedition in the forest; I accepted the offer and want to participate in it.”

- “And another one of my guards leaving.” Caspian sighed before frowning. “You are still a rookie, you just came in two weeks ago. It’s too dangerous for you.”

-“I want to go as a carrier, I know I’m not experienced yet so I will count on the others guards to protect me.”

-“A wise choice, still look at you, you were lucky to survive the forest and reach our village and you already want to go back.”

-“Sir, I was stuck in the world I come from. I know you and the village saved my life but I don’t want to become stuck again” Edward affirmed strongly.

-“Fine, fine” Caspian grumbled. “I can’t make you stay if you don’t want to, still be careful out there, you never know what can happen. Another one dreaming of becoming an adventurer” he mumbled after a pause. “Still since you are leaving tomorrow only you are not excluded from today's exercises and guard duty.”

-“Yes Sir.” Edward answered with a big grin.

He had been afraid that Caspian would force him to stay. In that case, there wasn’t much he would have been able to do. Even if he had left with the expedition against Caspian wishes it would have been a point of no return, and he probably wouldn’t have been welcome in the village anymore.

Edward felt a lot better now that this step was taken care of.