Chapter 5: The Hunt for Bad Decisions

Erica had mentally checked out of the one-sided conversation almost immediately. She stood there, eyes glazed over, nodding at the appropriate moments while Sydney babbled on about how Sid would never be able to survive in the wilderness without her and how she could totally thrive in the wilderness if she had to. Her words blurred into background noise, leaving Erica to contemplate her life choices up until this unfortunate moment.

So, when a deep, unfamiliar voice suddenly cut in, Erica nearly jumped out of her skin.

"If you're looking to make some real money in this village, selling animal fur is your best bet."

Erica barely had time to recover before the self-proclaimed expert on profitable ventures fully inserted himself into their conversation. He was the exact kind of shady character she had been trying to avoid. But before she could dismiss him and move on, the twins betrayed her in an instant.

"How do we get the fur?" Sydney asked, practically bouncing with curiosity.

Erica exhaled sharply, already irritated. "We're not interested."

"Wild beasts," the man continued, ignoring her entirely. "The fur is valuable because of how dangerous they are to hunt. Not everyone has the guts for it."

That was the moment Erica completely lost any potential interest. The second she heard the word "dangerous," she mentally noped out. Unfortunately, Sydney had the opposite reaction.

"How dangerous are we talking?" Sydney's eyes gleamed with excitement.

Sid, on the other hand, was looking increasingly hesitant. His earlier enthusiasm had started to wither the more details they got. Erica took that as her opportunity to intervene before things spiraled any further.

She clapped a hand on Sid's shoulder. "Sid and I are going to leave you to die on your own. Have fun with the creep, Sydney."

To her dismay, it wasn't Sydney who responded but rather the merchant himself. He gasped dramatically, clutching his chest as if she had physically wounded him. "Cruel! Absolutely cruel! I am a well-respected merchant across the continent, and you wound me with such slander."

Erica stared at him, unimpressed. "Couldn't hear a word of that over the sound of how much I don't care."

Instead, she turned back to Sydney, her voice cooling. "Well? Are you coming with us, or should I take this as your final words?"

Sydney glanced between the three of them—though Sid barely got a second of consideration—before squaring her shoulders and declaring, "I'll go defeat the beast on my own. You can just sit and wait."

Erica groaned. "Oh my god."

Sydney knew exactly what she was doing. She had perfected the art of manipulating Erica into following her reckless whims. The moment she started her stubborn, childish tantrum, it was over. If it were anyone else, Erica would have waved them off with a sarcastic goodbye. But no, she just had to be stuck with this unbearable need to keep the twins alive.

"Fine," Erica sighed, rubbing her temples. "We go. But only if we agree to kill something as small as a rabbit. If anything bigger so much as looks at us, I'm leaving you to die."

Sydney grinned triumphantly, practically bouncing in place. "Oh, this is going to be so fun. I can't wait to use these brass knuckles."

Erica shot her a blank look. "What exactly do you think you're going to kill by punching it?"

Sydney scowled. "It's a valid strategy!"

Sid, ever the voice of reason (or at least, the closest they had), hesitantly raised his hand. "I, uh, do have that knife I bought. You know, before I got scammed out of the rest of my money…"

"Yeah, thanks for that, by the way," Erica muttered. She gestured to herself. "Notice how I don't have any weapons? That's because I'm going to run while you two get mauled."

Truthfully, she just didn't think to get any weapons, but there was no need to bring that up now.

The self-proclaimed merchant, who had stuck around far longer than necessary, chose this moment to step back. "Well, good luck, young adventurers! If you survive, maybe I'll—"

Before he could flee, Erica grabbed him by the arm and yanked him back.

With a deadpan expression, she said, "Oh, no. You're taking responsibility for this headache."

"I, uh—excuse me—" he stammered, suddenly full of excuses. "I am but a humble businessman, not a hunter! I would only slow you down—"

Erica ignored every single word and kept dragging him along as he scrambled to explain why this was a terrible idea.

She had a feeling this was about to be one of the worst decisions she'd ever made.