128: Colin

As we travelled along the road, I could tell everyone was a little on edge, but Colin was happily chatting to Milo on the front bench of the wagon. Unfortunately, I couldn’t hear the conversation from the back.

After about fifteen minutes of riding, Jen rode up and handed me a piece of parchment.

Show nothing, leave dinner to us tonight.

I just nodded, storing the parchment to destroy later, instead opting to pull out the history book and start reading that. What could be more uninteresting than someone just learning history?

We rode until the sun was setting on the horizon, and the surroundings changed very little. It was just vast rolling hills; I couldn’t see any planted fields. These were all just grasses and shrubs, and the few times I attempted to use Arcane Foraging I saw nothing really—a dull glow of blue on the grasses.

But if I filtered out common, there was nothing around us. I was a little disappointed by this. I also thought about attempting the nine-hour one, but I’d need to have mana candies or something lined up for that.

As we passed over a stone bridge that crossed a slow-moving river, Hari decided to stop for the night.

Milo got to work as he always did, today creating a stone hut of sorts, but it looked thicker than normal—closer to the one he built on the mountain when we were hunting the Galvonson nest.

I made sure to follow the instructions I was given and did nothing with my abilities, instead choosing to join Darren and George with their combat drills.

Both had come a long way in such a short time; they didn’t even look to be straining now as they swung their weapons over and over.

Hari caught on quickly as I joined them, pulling out a wooden sword and throwing it to me. It was far heavier than I expected as Hari spoke, “Ah, excellent. Take this training sword, Trev, and follow my lead.”

I took a position next to the others, sword in hand, and started swinging. From where I was training, I saw Colin had set up his own camp outside our building, currently building a fire and clearly looking around for firewood.

“Hey, folks, I don’t suppose you have any firewood stashed away, do you?” Colin asked as he approached.

Hari shook his head. “Afraid not. We don’t use much wood anymore since having the fire elemental in the party.”

Colin’s face dropped a little. “Damn, I usually carry some with me, but I overstayed in the dungeon this trip. That’s alright. You don’t mind if I join in the training, do you?”

Hari again shook his head. “By all means, the more the merrier.”

As Colin took his place standing beside George and took out his sword, a very familiar pressure arrived. This caused both Darren and George to falter in their swing, but Colin looked around frantically before his eyes landed on me.

Well—not me. Rather, Lily, who was sitting next to me, staring at him.

Colin’s mouth was moving, but no words were coming out, as Hari continued on as if nothing was happening.

“Keep swinging. You need to be able to fight under pressure. If you freeze up or panic, you’ll die!” Hari said, looking at Darren and George.

They shook themselves out of it, clearly under some strain, and started swinging again.

Lily looked up at me.

“We’re just training, Lily. The new guy is someone we don’t really know. His name is Colin—an adventurer from the dungeon nearby.”

Lily turned her attention back to Colin, who finally found his voice. “Ca… cat.”

Hari smiled. “Well spotted, Colin. Now back to your exercises. You, of all people, should value being able to train under such pressure; it’s not every day you get the chance.”

Colin seemed to snap out of his stupor, nodding to himself before returning to training.

Lily didn’t leave, choosing to lie down between myself and Darren, who was clearly struggling with the close proximity but trying to grit through it all the same. My guess was she was putting herself intentionally between me and the stranger.

It was while I was swinging my weapon that a thought came to me. I had prepared meals—exactly for this reason.

“Excuse me, Hari, I’ll be right back. I just need to speak with Milo quickly!” I said.

Hari gave me a look that said he didn’t approve of my interrupting training but didn’t say anything.

As I went towards the hut, Lily got up to follow me.

“It’s okay, Lily. I’ll be right back out.”

I dashed into the house—apparently faster than I expected, because everyone looked up when I entered.

“What’s wrong?” Milo asked.

“Oh—sorry, nothing.” I shut the door behind me, whispering, “Is it safe to talk in here?”

Jen let out a sigh. Liane chuckled.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“What did I do wrong?” I asked, confused.

Milo responded, “Yes, it’s safe. But if it were not safe, asking what you did would make anyone listening know that you have something to hide.”

“Oh.” That was all I said, feeling embarrassed.

“Oh indeed. Now what’s up? Is everything okay out there?” Milo asked.

“Yes, everything is fine. I came for two reasons. One was to see Crisplet—if he’d like to come outside—and the second thing is I have several prepared meals already,” I said.

“What’s wrong with my cooking?” Milo said, pretending to be hurt.

Both Liane and Jen gave him a look before Jen spoke. “Are they buffed?”

I just nodded. I had buffed them all.

“Then I think we’ll have to stick with Milo’s. We don’t want a repeat of the Kevin situation, especially with someone we don’t know,” Jen said.

“Do you think he’s up to no good?” I asked.