--- Rest Area in Meridien Forest ---

"Graim! How many times I said this before, don't - eat - my - food!"

"Come on, Dan. You can't eat all of that food by yourself."

This old man, he eats so much but nothing goes to his brain at all. *sigh

"Hey, you two. Finish up the food. It's about time to move."

"Yes, captain!"

--- Paved Road in the middle of Meridien Forest ---

"Huh?"

Is that . . a man?

"What is it Dan?"

"ah, I think there is a body over there."

"Another dead body, huh?"

"There are some monsters inside the forest, but still, it's rare to find one in the middle of the road like this though."

"Well, it's in our way, we should check it when we're close to it. We might know him."

--- Near the dead body(?) ---

"So, what should we do captain?"

"wait. Let me check on it."

Check on it? why is he going to check the dead body?

"Hey, seems like he is still alive!"

whoa, really? or... is he day dreaming again? anyway, who is on their right mind to sleep in the middle of the forest without any protection like that?

"Hey, Wake up. This is not a place to sleep."

Isn't that a wrist-card? Any adventurer should know a basic camp skill and where to rest if they don't have any preparation. Sleeping in a plain sight like this is suicide.

"Captain, is he really sleeping?"

"Yeah, he is a weird one."

Just when the rest of us get closer to the dead body(?), it suddenly moves.

“Oh, he woke up”

Eh? He really was sleeping!?

“Hey, what are you doing sleeping in the middle of the forest like this?”

“Even though it’s near the road, this place is still not perfectly safe”

“Hey! Are you listening?”

“Eh? Ah! Yes! I didn’t mean to sleep here, but I run out of breath and fall asleep when catching my breath. The next time I woke up, you guys already in front of me”

“Anyway, if you want to take a rest in your journey, you should at least set a simple camp. If you don’t have a camp set, then you should find the rest spot which shared for everyone to use”

“If you are traveling alone, you should know about this already”

What a weird guy.

“Well then, we will be on our way, be careful next time”

“Ah, wait”

“Hmm? Do you need something?”

Shouldn't we just ignore him captain? Why are you giving a respond?

“Actually, can. . . can I join you guys until the nearest city?”

“The nearest city? But, we are on our quest to send these medicine to Daren Village in the west."

“If you want to go to the nearest city, you should follow the road to the east. You should see a city after 3 days, if you're going on foot"

“Ah, then, can I join you guys to the Daren village?”

“Hmm? Don't you want to go to the city?”

What is this guy talking about? The two places are on different direction.

“I - I want to find a place to stay, and considering what I have, I won't survive in the city”

"Hey Graim, what you say?"

"Hmm? as long as he won't get in our way, I'm OK with it."

If Graim says so, he should be able to take care of him if something goes wrong.

"Well, you can join us until we reach Daren Village."

"Thank you. ah, by the way, I am Taka, nice to meet you"

“Right, we haven't introduce ourselves. I’m Gareth, the leader of Silver Sky Adventure Group. That guy with a big shield is called Graim. That guy with the bow is Dan, and that girl is called Dia. You can follow us, but keep up to our pace, we will leave you if you are too slow"

Well, as long as he does nothing weird, it should be fine. Right, at least I've got to find out what is his reason to be sleeping in the middle of the forest.

"Hey Taka, you said that you ran out of breath, right?"

"Yes, I was running so hard at that time"

"What made you running like that?"

"Ah, I spotted a goblin settlement, then I run away as hard as I can"

Goblin settlement? So that quest to investigate goblin activity in Meridien Forest is a real threat.

"Hoh, so there really is a goblin settlement inside the Meridien forest. And where is that settlement?"

"If I'm not wrong, it should be in this direction"

"To the north it is"

That direction . . . is the goblin settlement near the mountain to the north? Wait, the mountain is too far from here, that means the settlement must in the middle of the forest. I've got to tell captain about this.

"Eh?"

Hmm? Is that a Serpent!?

“A serpent is coming our way! Form formation one”

All of us go to our position as usual. . . But, what about Taka?

Huh? He is moving behind me? Why? Wait, is he planning to hold me as his shield? But, he doesn't look afraid? What's with this guy.... Anyway, if he is moving behind me not to hide himself, then he might be looking out for other monster that might come from behind.

--- After the Fight ---

“We are finished here, but don’t drop your guard”

That's right, if there are more, we will be in trouble. Oh, there is Dia.

“How was it?”

“There is nothing around, seems like they just got attacked and scattered when they run away”

This road supposed to be safe, it's really rare that a monster come across this road.

"Dan, retrieve the core"

That's right, the core.... Right beside the heart. After taking the core, we continue our journey to Daren Village.

Hmm.. I can already see the village. . .

“Hey Taka, we can see the village now”

Ah, It still too far, I forgot I can see better than the others, I should tell him later on when we are closer.

“Ah, so that’s the Daren village”

. . . Wait? Does he able to see it too? That means, he got an exceptional eyes. if he is a lone adventurer he must have trained his vision too, having a bad sight at night will be a real threat for any lone adventurer. That's right, the first time we met him, he is sleeping in the middle of the forest, it's not only about his vision he must be also able to sense any threat too, that's why he can be brave enough to sleep defenseless like that. He also able to run away from a goblin settlement without any injury.

This weird guy might be dangerous, but, he is not showing any malice, it should be fine as long as we don't make him our enemy, he wears the wrist-card too. I've got to talk about him with the others later when we reach the village.