Confrontations, Revelations, and Resolutions

The hours passed and the people came and went, until all that remained was the passed out drunks and the barkeep himself.

"What are you all still doing here?"

"Hello there mister, fancy a... uh... wait what how the fuck did yarra convince me to bother?"

I got up from my chair and strode close to him.

"Im tired of you preying on this community."

"What you going to do about it, give me a speech about it?"

"I'm going to kill you."

"You... you're serious arent you? Time to see what you're really made of then!"

Sling!

I had only drawn my sword and the barkeep collapsed to the ground...

"Well, that was quick."

Yarra seemed thoroughly unimpressed given the fight ended in less than one move.

"I know you hated that guys. Feel good to kill him?"

"...no. I dont feel anything. it was just the correct decision. Lets load up everything from his stores."

______________________________

As the night continued to pass by the four of us loaded up everything we could find of use from the barkeeps storehouse onto his wagon and hitching up the horse.

Yarra teased Aka the whole time about how the horse was well hung like a horse, Aka meanwhile rebutted that something of that size was impossibly as it would just split you in two.

Once we were done the bar was basically empty except for the alcohol itself which we'd left behind.

Since the wagon was loaded up we set off.

A few days passed until we stopped off for a rest to water the horses.

"... and so i decided i should at least try bounty hunting. Pretty pathetic, isn't it? I was just wandering through my life before you came along."

"I dont think its pathetic Aka. most people get a lot older than you before reflecting on their lives."

"Even you? because im having a hard time imagining you as an aimless youth."

"When i was 15 years old, the Demon lord arrive on our shores and the war began."

"Haha, thats what i thought. But that means you remember the world before right? I cant imagin how things would have been back then."

"Similar."

"Really? The inclusion of an invading army trying to rape the world and spreading corruption everywhere didnt change life that much?"

"Less than you might think. Many people pretend that things were better then, but that's-"

"Alright you two time to stop talking about your feelings. I finished scouting ahead and this next pass is infested."

"I was hoping we'd make it the rest of the trip without trouble. Alright, lets leave the wagon and clear out everything in the way."

"Qum stop running in circles, we're leaving."

"What's that? Qumdump doesn'tknow you you're talking to."

"...fine. Qum D'umpe, we're leaving."

"Cumming!"

Qum had become slightly irritating during the trip but she really was just asserting the use of her name so i can't exactly fault her for it.

Since Yarra had done the scouting the four of us set off.

Since i gained my power i could see our levels and everyone was pretty low, even lower than my own which was odd since my stats even at a higher level than everyone else was still lower than theirs.

Our goal was what the heroes called levelling up.

And so we began to face off against the multitude of Corrupted monsters, such as snakes, slimes, and imps.

This was a public service as well since these roaming monsters could attack innocent passerby's.

The cleanup of this stretch of road was almost competed when a powerful monster appeared.

"A chimera"

"No way!"

These were beasts created by the demon lord using dark magic combining various creatures together in an attempt to make the ultimate battle beast, however all turned out to be failures but that did not stop them from being difficult to deal with.

Out party formed up in a standard T formation.

With Qum as a healer in the rear, Yarra casting magic from the middle while Aka and i engaged from the frontlines.

Our days spent travelling had been fortuitous, Aka had been training with me in combat and i managed to learn her attack piercing strike which would cause greater damage when used against a monsters weak spots.

So while one of us defended the other would target and deal heavy damage.

And in the event we took a hit Qum would heal us, her mana was not infinite but it made me feel invulnerable.

Even against such a tough opponent as a chimera our party was well rounded and we dealth the killing blow to the beast.

Having slain the monsters on the road it was now clear so we made our way back to the wagon.

"So, where exactly are we headed now?"

"There's a trading camp not far ahead. It's one of the most critical point for commerce between Oscil, and Brarus. If there a problem limiting trade to Farrow, its probably there."

"Is it important enough to help us gain power, though?"

"People who are important enough will be there, especially this season. While we resolve the trade problem, im hoping we can find a significant merchant to work with. From there we could make a significant alliance in Stineford, and with that we might be able to talk to the people who matter in Brarus."

"Ah, so were working our way up."

"I'm not saying it's a bad plan, but arent most of those steps unnecessary? The queen of Brarus is an attractive widow by all accounts - It'd be easy just to make her a fuckslave."

"Right, because the queen just sits around alone and undefended."

"Making too many plans now is meaningless. Before we do anything else, we need to find a merchant ally."