52 The Trip

***Back to our MC***

Astaroth stood there, blankly, while the rest of the escort party was harnessing the wooden stags.

He had just seen his first mythical creatures! He was probably the first to see some!

He looked at the woods where the two giant stags had disappeared and then at Aberon.

“What were those?” Astaroth asked Aberon.

“Exactly what you scanned them out to be.” Aberon responded, flatly.

“How do you know I scanned them?” Astaroth asked, puzzled.

“I saw how Arborea looked at you. I recall telling you that magically inclined creatures could tell when you scan them. Also, I recall telling you it is rude.” Aberon replied, looking at him like he was a dumb kid.

Astaroth remembered that altercation and smiled wryly, scratching the back of his head.

He stopped pestering the old man and went to help harness the stags. It wasn’t hard to do, as all four of them stayed perfectly still as they were being bound to the carriage.

So many questions were floating around in Astaroth’s head, to which the people with answers refused to provide them.

He deduced he still hadn’t reached that level of trust with them yet. Astaroth made a promise to himself to strive for their trust until he got the answers he so desired.

He was so absorbed in his thoughts that his progress on harnessing the stag in front of him stagnated. He was eventually pushed aside by Korin.

The rogue looked at him with a grin and teased.

“Get your head out of the clouds, Wolfie.” he said, before chuckling at his own joke.

“Wolfie? You could have done better, right?” Astaroth said, looking at him with disappointment.

Korin opened his mouth to respond, but for a lack of a witty retort, he closed it back up.

Astaroth snorted and walked away before the man actually found something snarky to say.

They were soon ready to depart, as all the supplies were loaded and the stags harnessed.

Astaroth turned to Genie and crouched down.

“I can’t bring you with me, girl. Stay here. Be a good girl and don’t bother the villagers too much, alright?” He told her while petting her head.

Genie whined a little but still sat down, letting him leave alone.

As soon as everyone was on, Aberon whistled twice, and the stags started trotting away.

Astaroth glanced a last look at the village entrance, seeing Kloud waving from the entrance. He waved back.

Aberon had already told Astaroth that the journey would take three full days, but Astaroth expected some kind of action on the way there.

But all the monsters in their path magically veered out of the way or fled away from their carriage.

After the first day of travel, Astaroth got around to asking Aberon why that was.

“It’s because of the stags. Their natural aura copies the ones of their mythical creators.” Aberon said, pointing at the four wooden constructs.

“That means that any smart monster on our path moves away on its own, out of fear. Their instinct pushes away the less smart ones.” He added, chewing on a piece of jerky from his rations.

“Does that mean we won’t have to fight at all on our way to the capital?” Astaroth asked, slightly peeved at the turn of events.

“That is exactly what that means. It’s better this way. Some monsters in this forest you are no match for.” Aberon responded, looking into the surrounding darkness.

Astaroth went to lie on the ground, closer to the fire. He had gotten the last watch duty for the night, so he was better off sleeping soon, so he wouldn’t be tired the next day.

He turned around and closed his eyes, listening to the fire crackling and the trees rustling. The peacefulness of the forest lulled him to sleep.

I’dril woke him up a few hours before the crack of dawn. The fire was still burning lightly next to him, and most of the expedition party was asleep.

He nodded to I’dril and got up to stretch. I’dril took his spot and went to sleep almost immediately.

Astaroth spent the next two hours walking around their camping site, looking into the forest. The light began shining through the treetops.

He walked back to camp, boiling water for breakfast. Since he was the last watch, he was also in charge of the food.

The noise and smell of breakfast being prepared eventually woke the others up. Chris was the first one to rise to his feet.

Astaroth served him a bowl of warm porridge, getting a thankful nod in exchange. He smiled and served the others as they came to him.

They took half an hour to wake up and eat before packing up and resuming their journey.

Another day passed by, as uneventful as the last. This was quite the opposite of what Astaroth had in mind for a journey of a few days.

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It wasn’t as though he minded the peaceful travel, but he watched the level leaderboards every day, and people were still climbing.

Meanwhile, he was static in his level, ever since he had gulped down the potion. It was like this game gave him hope, only to rip it away from him right after.

He couldn’t wait to be at a level where he could venture forth into danger on his own. Theoretically, he already was at that point.

Sadly, both Aberon and Kloud had forbidden him from going too far from the village on his own. They both claimed there were monsters too strong for him to beat alone.

He knew that there were a few high-level monsters and higher-grade ones, too. But shouldn’t those be the exception, rather than the rule?

Albeit his many pleas, they never relented. He was stuck in the village until this trip.

And now the trip was even more constraining on him. Aberon had put a magic mark on him that would alert him if he got too far.

He felt imprisoned. He just wanted to level up. Was that so bad?

Night came again after their second day of traveling. There was one more day left of this, then they would reach the capital.

He got the last watch again since he was the one that had been up the longest that day. So he ate his dinner rations and went to sleep.

The night was calm again. That was until Astaroth walked further away from camp on his watch.

He wanted to find creatures to fight. So he walked a straight line away from the fire and into the night.

After walking for a few minutes, he saw a clearing to his left that was emitting soft white light. He felt like the light was beckoning him.

He turned and walked toward it, still feeling the aura of the wooden stags washing over him. He assumed he was still safe.

When he walked out of the tree line, his face turned ashen white and his jaw dropped by a bit as he nervously glanced at the scene in front of him.