Semi-retired Adventurer Lives Leisurely Chapter 15

Published at 6th of June 2021 10:50:50 AM

Chapter 15: That Night (Part 1)

The Expedition in the Forest of Flowtier.

Me, Jend, and Cyril are standing very close in a tight-knit formation and as move forward.

We are walking slower than usual. This is just to ensure that she does not lose sight of us….well, not like there’s a chance of that happening anyway.

I let these thoughts run, when Teo appeared jumping down before us.

That tree was really tall. I understand landing upright, but landing without a sound from that height is ridiculous.

Henry: “Teo, how was it?”

Teo: “Yeah, 2 O’Clock direction. 3 Giant Spiders. And close by is a pack of 10 Wild Bears.”

Henry: “That’s more than we expected.”

We’ve been on several expeditions together, and Teo has become an essential asset to our party.

Jend and Cyril are no longer skeptical of her scouting skills, and she’s never overlooked an enemy. Though we are proceeding slower, Teo is identifying all of our targets, so we are able to more efficiently and quickly dispatch demonic creatures faster than before.

You can say that our party is progressing with strong winds and full sails. So I’m thinking, “Maybe it’s about time---?” but I leave that thought for now.

Teo: “It’s this way.”

We follow Teo’s directions and walk for a bit.

She raised her hand when we got close to the enemy.

Teo: “.....If you run for about 10 seconds, the Giant Spider is waiting at its nest. See? There.”

Cyril: “Ick… I will never get use to how gross it looks.”

Looking where Teo is pointing, a Giant Spider hangs dangling from a tree waiting for its prey.

These guys will place their webs right below them, and as soon as something is caught, they drop right on top of you. Their webs are thin and hard to see, and any adventurers not used to detecting them will have trouble.

Cyril: “So all three are there. I’ll take the one on the right. Henry, take the one in the middle, and Teo, take the one on the left.”

Henry: “Sounds good.”

Teo: “Affirmative.”

Cyril begins to hum quietly. …..yeah, it really looks like she’s just playing around and doing anything seriously, but this is a legit spellcrafting ritual.

Since Cyril will take the longest to prepare, Teo and I prepare ourselves in the meantime. Teo readies her bow, and I focus on my spellcall stone.

Cyril: “.....alrighty, I’m ready.”

Henry: “Alright.”

Cyril: “On the count of 3. 1… 2... “

Cyril releases an arrow made of light.

I cast a [STRENGTHEN] Hazac + [FIRE] Ignis + [LAUNCH] Veros and fire off an upgrade version of my fiery arrow.

Teo did not use sorcery or magecraft, but used her human-crafted bow and releases her arrow.

3 arrows fly, and catch their mark. 3 Giant Spiders fall to the ground helplessly.

Teo: “....right side and middle, confirmed dead! Mr. Jend, please take out the one I shot!”

Jend: “I got it!”

Henry: “Alright, then I’ll hold back the pack of Wild Bears.”

The Wild Bears caught the sound of the arrows and explosions and are heading this way. I leave to intercept and welcome them.

A wounded Giant Spider, and 10 energetic Wild Bears. You would think that the Wild Bears would be stronger, but it takes time to get used to a Spider’s movement. So I let Jend get some practice and experience.

He’ll be fighting Underground Spiders and Arachnids which are higher-tier spider creatures, so getting used to fighting spiders now will help him in the near future.

It’s not because of my distaste for bugs - don’t get it wrong there.

Henry: “Here you, go, and…”

I swing my spear in a wide, exaggerated arc to gain the attention of the Wild Bears. The moment the Wild Bears stopped in their tracks, the one leading the pack got hit by one of Teo’s arrows.

Cyril: “Henry! To your left! [ICICLE COFFIN]!”

On Cyril’s cue, I step to the left. The Wild Bear on my right side was hit by the blue light that stretched out from behind me and became trapped in a block of ice. Another bear who was close by also gets trapped with his buddy.

Fear and panic spread as their pack numbers dwindle, and I make quick, deadly jabs and take out 3 more.

Jend: “Henry, I’m here!”

Henry: “Alright, then let’s do this!”

I gaze at the Wild Bears on high alert after losing half their pack in a blink of an eye. Jend came to help as soon as he took care of the Giant Spider.

And with Jend, we take out the Wild Bears one by one.

Jend: “....I think we’re ready to take the next step, but what do you think?”

We completed our expedition.

We met at the Grandes Church tavern like we usually do, and we’re reviewing anything that could be improved for our next expedition. At the meeting, Jend starts us off with this comment.

…..Yeah, I thought so.

Cyril: “Yeah, I agree. Teo is getting used to our group, and right now, the enemies seem too easy.”

Teo: “I feel the same way.”

Everyone except me speaks in agreement.

Young people are always itching to keep moving things forward. Honestly, we’re making quite a bit of money even with 4 in the group, and personally, I don’t mind keeping things the way they are for a while, but…

….but unlike me who completely lost his purpose and goals and dried out, I shouldn’t take the other 3 down with me.

Henry: “Yeah, this will be a good time to transition to the next stage. Wait here. I’ll borrow a map of the Flowtier Forest.”

You can’t take the resources with you outside of the church, but they have a lot of information stored here. You can always borrow their documents as you please.

And they have especially several maps of the Flowtier Forest which is this city’s main hunting and fighting grounds for adventurers.

I finish the paperwork and borrow the map. We sit around the tavern table and take a look at the map together.

Henry: “So we are currently active around this area.”

I circle with my finger the entrance of the forest and the adjacent areas.

Henry: “Even if we go further, the demonic creatures will actually remain relatively the same.”

Jend: “I heard that too. In the past, a stray ogre or dragonkin appeared a few times, but they said those wandered in from other lands.”

Flowtier’s main demonic creatures are Crazed Rabbits, Killer Dogs, Kobalts, Wild Bears, Giant Spiders, and Griffins. They have everything from the lowest tier to the mid-mid tier rank creatures.

…..And concerning the Griffins who are the strongest…

Cyril: “Their territory is the mountain in the middle of the forest, right---?”

Teo: “I’ve been traveling in and out of the forest since I was a child, but I have never gone there myself.”

TBH, it’s far.

Even if we left really early in the morning and hiked nonstop, we would only have 1 hour to hunt before we have to head straight back.

And if we travel at such high of a pace, I’ve been through worse so I’ll be fine, but even Jend with high stamina and Teo who’s used to the forest will be worn out.

So in that case...

Henry: “We’ll have to camp out. Well, we also have other items we need to start preparing as a party anyways.”

Cyril: “OHHHH!! CAMPING?!”

Cyril seems really excited, but I can’t blame her. It’s not like we’re going without food, in a state of extreme exhaustion, and being surrounded by a horde of upper-tier rank demonic creatures and as a necessity, attempting to camp to recuperate our energy to survive. Since that’s not the case, I think I would be looking forward to camping too.

Henry: “The goal will be to travel near the mountains on day 1 and prioritize making camp. Once the camp is set, we’ll spend about half a day fighting and return. Depending upon our injuries and fatigue, we’ll decide whether to spend one more night or not…. Something like that.”

Jend: “Sounds good. I thought it would be about time. My store has camping equipment, so we can go buy our supplies tomorrow.”

We’re putting aside some money as a group budget, but I don’t know how much we have saved up so far… I hope we have enough.

Cyril: “So we’ll rest up a little, and then in a few days, we’ll go hunting for Griffins, right?!”

Henry: “Uh, Cyril, what are you talking about?”

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Cyril: “Huh? But aren’t we buying camping equipment?”

Oh, I get it now. She’s thinking we’re going to go straight into the real thing.

Henry: “It’s the first time to camp out for you three, and we need to test out the camping gear. ….So we’re starting off with a practice camp out.”

The next day, we visited Jend’s store and gathered our camping equipment.

We went on a typical expedition, and we set up camp nearer to the entrance of the forest where only Killer Dogs appear.

Jend: “Oh, hey, what’s this? Putting up a tent is trickier than it looks.”

Henry: “Yeah, it takes a few tries to get used to it.”

I’ve set up countless tents, so I left the tent setup to Jend for practice. I’m sure this experience will come in handy for him in the future.

Teo: “I set up the barrier to keep the demonic creatures away, and some noise traps for when they approach.”

The Cloudy Plains style was made for outdoor survival.

In Teo’s magecraft tools, there were some items that made it more difficult for demonic creatures to find us, so I had her set those up. And if that fails, she set up the noise traps to alert us as backup.

Teo: “Should I set up some traps as well?”

Henry: “Ah, not right now. I’ll ask you to do it on the actual camp, but new adventurers will be coming around this area to collect herbs, so I don’t want them to accidentally trip the traps and get hurt.”

Teo: “I understand. Oh, and I picked up some firewood to hold down our costs.”

Teo takes out the dried branches from her bag.

Henry: “Great. Let’s start the fire and start prepping dinner. Teo, could you do that?”

Teo: “Yes.”

And Teo reaches in to her bag and pulls out equipment after equipment.

We had firewood we bought from a logging store, and she also had pots, pans, knives, and a cutting board. She brought out stuff that lasts longer like potatoes, carrots, and onions. She must also have collected herbs that grow around this area, and a rabbit she caught during our expedition.

Cyril: “Oh, leave the rabbit to me. I’m used to it.”

Henry: “Sounds good. Then I’ll start the fire. Cyril, could you also cut up the vegetables?”

Cyril: “Yessir-----”

I’ve never camped with so much luxury. Typically, tents are only used by larger parties who have luggage carriers. With that in mind, Teo’s bag is amazingly helpful.

We will compensate her for any arrows or other ammunition used during the expedition from the group funds, but this is not a comparable compensation to how much trouble she’s saving us with her godly equipment bag alone.

I need to make sure to thank her later.

Henry: “There. [FIRE] Ignis.”

I set the leaves and Teo’s dried branches and start a fire with magecraft.

I start putting in the bigger pieces of firewood, and the fire is going now.

There’s something about watching a campfire that is really relaxing and cathartic.

As I gaze at the fire, Cyril brings the pot with all the cut up vegetables.

Cyril: “Here’s all the veggies.”

Henry: “Alright, let’s boil it. [WATER] Eedle.”

I fill the pot with water.

Cyril: “....wow. I’m starting to think that it will be better if I learn some magecrafting.”

Henry: “I heard the stronger your magic, the harder it is to learn magecrafting.”

On a side note, I also have pretty strong magic power, and it was a pain learning 6 different types of spells. Well, they also say if you have really good magic sense, it doesn’t matter.

I heat the water over the campfire. As the water begins to boil, Tio puts in the rabbit meat.

Teo: “You’re supposed to let the meat rest and ferment for a few days but…”

Henry: “Well, I’m sure it’ll still be edible.”

I’ve cooked a lot during these kinds of camp outs.

Using the fragrance of the spices, we used a lot of seasonings all thanks to Teo and prepared the dish.

And after it boils for a bit…

Henry: “Here, Cyril, try it out.”

Cyril: “Sure… hmmm… it’s pretty good.”

Looks like it’s ready.

Henry: “Jend, we’re finished cooking dinner.”

Jend: “Oh, right. I’m just wrapping things up. And this should do it.”

As soon as he said it was complete, the tent crumpled uselessly to the floor.

Well...shoot.

Jend took it pretty hard. I’ve never seen him so down.

Henry: “I’ll help you set it up after we’re done eating, so let’s eat dinner first.”

Jend: “...’kay…”

And that’s how first night of camping began as we share some good laughs.

Chapter end