The four adventurers are in dead silence, staring at Natalak, drinking all the water they gave him.
"Ahh, finally." Natalak moans in relief after he had greedily gulped all the water.
Still stained in blood and mud, one of the adventurers came forward to express gratitude for the help they had received from those monsters.
"We thank you for your help. My name's Sei." The man is extending his hand.
Wearing a padded scale armour, adorned with steel and leather. Sei gave a class aspect of a fighter. Similar towards his other male companion. They are young adventurers; from their looks, he can tell they are really novice adventurers.
"No need to thank me," Natalak said, accepting Sei's hand. "Do you still have some of that healing magic you've used?"
Their mage, once she heard his plea, quickly called to his aid.
"May I?" The lass expressed.
Wearing a robe that of a mage, he notices there's a layer of a padded leather cloak on her robe.
"Um…" Natalak stammers.
"Your injuries, I might be able to heal them." She follows.
Natalak nods, slowly as he unveils his armour. "Then would you take a look at this?"
For her, she was slightly thunderstruck by his way of medical aid— the mashup grass balls were plastered deep into his wounds, and some of them entered the open flesh. Yet her healing slowly reverses his skin, spewing out the meshed grass.
"By the way, my name's Sheila." Said the mage.
"N-Natalak." He said, muffling his groan.
"There, it's done." Sheila implores her allies to return.
Staring through the sky, time was already dusk when, suddenly, the sound of his stomach rumbling in hunger.
"Shit. Does it have to be at this time?"
When nighttime came, there he was, sitting two meters from the campfire, waiting for the food to be cooked.
Observing the party preparing for the night, Natalak watched Sei's other male companions cook while the two female companions prepared the camp. Pulling bedroll made of fur and other magical items, possibly warding off nightly creatures.
He didn't see Sei, thinking he had gone to look for some provisions or something. A short while later, Sei came with firewood and some ingredients Natalak wasn't familiar with.
Although doing nothing, Natalak was mortified just sitting waiting for a portion of food to eat. Adding up his rumbling stomach won't ease, as it's intensifying, making him more uncomfortable.
"Would this stomach of mine stop for a moment?" Natalak reckons, grinding his teeth while his stomach pleads for food.
"The food's ready." Exclaimed Sheila.
Hearing Sheila utter the word food, Natalak's eyebrows raise, driving his gluttony.
A moment later, the female archer came, giving a bowl of soup containing meat, mushrooms, and other ingredients that Natalak couldn't identify.
"T-thank you!" Natalak stammers, gathering around the fire.
He wanted to finish the meal quickly and gluttonously, but when he first observed them eating, they ate slowly. He shifts to his discipline style and eats his meal too slowly.
It was silent at first until Sei and his other male companions leaned closer for a conversation.
"By the way, are you an adventurer?" Sei initiates.
"Ah, no." Natalak shakes his head.
"Ah, I see, I'm a third-class silver adventurer," Sei replied, slightly elbowing one of his stout friends.
"I'm sorry, my name is Reith, and I'm a second-class bronze adventurer." The man said, revealing his guild badge.
After the two lads, the next were the two young ladies.
"I'm a fourth-class silver adventurer." Sheila smiles.
The last one, however, is somewhat shy; regardless, she gathers enough courage to introduce herself.
"I'm Riya, a second-class bronze adventurer."
"Nice to meet you all, name's Natalak, a traveller."
"A traveller, you must have visited Ravalind?" Sei reply.
"Yes," Natalak says, still holding the bowl, hoping they could give him another round, still puckish.
"Why didn't you register for the guild. You might become a good adventurer." Sheila says.
Shaking his head. "I would love to, but some things aren't fitted to be somebody."
While they continued chatting, Natalak didn't realise he was the only one still holding his empty bowl. Riya was the first to notice his thoughts, so she got up from her seat, filling another bowl of stew before extending it over towards Natalak.
"Shiiit. This is a bit embarrassing." Praying his thanks, Natalak continues his meal.
"I was hoping that no one could beat our gluttonous Reith here." Sei towards Reith.
"Hey, you're the one who's been eating food at night." Reith scoffs.
The two young women laugh at their friends' argument about their daring act.
"Can you all please stop talking about the food topic? I'm already mortified." Natalak smiled, trying his best to accord with their topics and humours.
Around the warm fire, a burst of warm laughter can be heard as they exchange jokes and stories.
"By the way, Natalak, where did you come from?" Reith implores after their laughter subsides.
"I think you are asking the impossible." Natalak humor.
Understanding his jokes, both lads began to titter, possibly trying to comply. Sheila, however, was a bit repulsed by his words, as Riya didn't quite get it.
"Fuck I shouldn't push this joke too far." Natalak contemplates the moment he noticed Sheila's discomfort.
"Ah, what I said was where you are from," Reith asks smilingly.
"Earth." Natalak smiles.
"Earth? Never heard of that place." Sei reply.
"It's just a far, faraway place from here," Natalak says,
Not wanting to make it more complicated, he changes the topic.
"I was wondering, what brought you all to this place?" Natalak follows.
"Ah, we came here to scout and investigate the area. And as soon as we found something, we just headed back to the guild and reported it to the head office. We're on a scout mission, actually." Sei answered hesitantly.
"I see, there must be a big reason for this?" Natalak replied, unknowingly hitting the core.
To them, their face turns to distress as they realise the reason was personal. He then quickly changes the topic.
"By the way," Natalak says, searching the grimoire in his bag.
Asking Sheila if she knows something from the book. And for a moment, the book was far beyond her knowledge. However, she was shocked when she turned the pages.
"This is an ancient word," Sheila says.
"Ancient, huh? That's quite interesting." Natalak ponders, relieved to see someone who knows little about the book.
Sheila assumed it was an ancient word from the era of dark times. She also supposed that having an ancient and powerful grimoire like this might lead you to become a sage.
"The only people I know who might decode this grimoire are the high mages at Maginum. And possibly the great archsage Azageis, who is said to be roaming around the world looking for something." Sheila says, after exploring the book.
"Can a lich crack this grimoire?" Natalak blurt.
Following his word, it took Sheila some time to answer his ridiculous question.
"Well, it might work, but who knows? No man has ever spoken to a lich and survived."
"How stupid of me." Natalak nods.
The night was getting late, so Riya and Sheila went to bed first.
"Natalak, you can use one of our bedrolls," Sei said.
"Thank you, but I'd like to have my own for the night. You should take some sleep, don't worry, I'll keep an eye on you." Natalak refuses.
Denying their words, both Sei and Reith nod to his words.
"We'll take the night watch." Sei follows.
Not gaining their trust enough was obvious enough to someone like Natalak. Fake his sleep near the fire; Natalak waits to see if they can truly take the night watch. Funny enough, the two doze off after only four hours.
Near the far end of the trees, seventy meters away from the open field campfire. Natalak saw a man stalking from the woods, realising the stalker's presence was detected, the person quickly paced out.