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[15 Exp]x9

While Jay was sleeping, nine leeches were culled. The skeletons were active throughout the night, never resting as they searched the ravine and the forest for targets. They were merciless in their search, like hunting dogs as they ran through the forest faster than any human.

Meanwhile, Jay woke up a little wobbly after sleeping on the chaise lounge since he slept without a pillow. Anya had already packed her tent up and was in the other room playing with Naria and Kel.

“Morning” Mark greeted Jay from the hallway, leaning on the wall. He had stayed awake all night so was looking a little drained.

“Morning.” Jay rubbed his eyes “Want to have a quick rest before the journey? I’ll guard for a while.”

“Yeah, thanks. I ended up killing seven more last night but that was it, no more came in the last five hours.”

“Oh ok, good. Seems like there’s not many leeches left.” Jay got up from the lounge._.

Mark went into the room, taking Jay’s spot on the chaise as he rested his eyes for a moment. It only took a moment before he was lightly snoring.

Jay closed the door and glanced into the other room with the three girls in it.

Naria looked at Jay for a moment, seeing him protecting them in the hallway, but she quickly went back to playing with some wooden toys.

Kel was asleep on the bed. Last night, she and Naria slept in the double bed under the protection of Mark in the hallway, but Naria woke up much earlier, so Kel continued to sleep for a little longer too.

Mark and Kel had already searched the hamlet, so there was no point in the party sticking around in this tiny rural hamlet any longer.

It was still early in the morning, and after Mark and Kel had a short rest to refresh themselves the five of them started the journey back.

Since Naria was a child without a class, she wouldn’t be able to keep up with adventurers and their energy pools, so Jay and Mark carried her on their backs – though she took a little convincing to let Jay carry her. She was still slightly traumatised from his shield. Jay gave her the sword and shield to play with for a while so she could get over her fear, since she didn’t have a class she couldn’t analyse the items.

The sun went up, over, and down while they travelled the whole day. It was uneventful and borning, but Jay was surprised that even Naria didn’t complain – though she still was yet to say anything at all, she didn’t look bitter.

They had to camp once more on the way back to Losla, sleeping in the woods once again. They had travelled all day at a moderate pace, and were bound to arrive at Losla the next day around lunch time.

As the sun went down and it got a little too risky to run in the darkness they decided to make came.

Coming to a stop near a large boulder, Jay put Naria down from his back as this was a relatively flat place to camp.

“Hmm.. Naria can sleep in your tent with you right?” Jay asked Anya.

“Of course. I got some room.”

“Great. Here’s her pillow and blanket. I’ll go gather some firewood with Mark. C’mon Mark.”

Jay gestured to Mark and he followed Jay off into the woods while Kel and Anya cleared out a small area for the campsite and began making a fire pit surrounded by rocks.

Naria sat on a large rock, hugging her knees quietly as she watched them work.

– – –

Matheson exited the stink-rat marsh dungeon. He was quite exhausted, and going from the dank humid environment of the marsh to the cold dry environment of the bare winter forest was an unwelcome change. He spent all night in the dungeon, and the sun was just beginning to come up – that’s when he saw a glint on the ground. Crouching down, he found that it was one of the town guard’s scouts’ various badges.

“Huh, one of the scouts must’ve dropped it. I’ll give it to a guard on the way back, maybe I’ll get a reward.”

Matheson no longer looked like a noble, being covered in filth and stinking like a sewer – though through sheer bitterness and tenacity, he kept fighting through the dungeon, no longer caring about how he looked or smelt. In his own mind, a noble who couldn’t support themselves was simply a finely dressed beggar, and this change in his thoughts was what drove him. His pride wouldn’t allow him to stay the same.

“Finally, level 5, and I deserve it after fighting through that cesspool. Damn rats, easy to kill but they hardly drop any loot, pathetic. How are adventurers supposed to get rich anyway?”

All Matheson got from the stink-rat dungeon was fur scraps, though he had a rapier with a socketed fire gem which made it much easier for him than other adventurers with their low damage junk they bought from Bertram.

He was a little bitter. “Doesn’t matter, I won’t let father control me, that prick.”

Matheson didn’t have a good relationship with his father, in fact, he hardly ever saw him. He would attend the events the young nobles would go to and his father went about his business, making deals and for the most of his life, didn’t even live in the same mansion as Matheson. This of course led to Matheson doing what he wanted without giving any of his actions a second thought, as there was no one he would answer to.

A little dissatisfied, he began to run back to his mansion, still training hard even after the dungeon as he began to drain the last of his energy.

The south part of Losla came into view, he saw a guard standing there as if he was looking for a monster, but upon seeing Matheson covered in the same filth that Jay was, he promptly ran to another part of the city.

“Not a monster, my job here is done. The night shift is over. If I run fast enough I won’t be able to smell him.” thought the guard as he ran away.

The guards usually received tips about monsters, though this was another false alarm.

Whenever he remembered Jay coming back to town, he felt like he could almost taste the vomit from his memory. That day, they had a report of a monster approaching too. Even Michael the guard captain came to see, but it was just an adventurer going to the level one dungeon. That day was different though – with his captain around, he had to stand his ground and suffer from the stench.

“We really should find a way to block off that dungeon somehow,” he thought.

As he was heading home to grab some breakfast – or dinner for him, he felt like something was off, and the guard looked behind him.

“Oh shit, he’s coming this way. Fuck.”

The guard turned and ran a different direction, but Matheson followed behind, not slowing down in the slightest as he looked at the guard with murderous intent. Matheson wasn’t actually angry or anything of the sort, this was just the face he made when he was training.

“…Is he following me?” the guard wondered before shaking his head.