The carriage hadn't gone far.
Kase, sitting in the back of the carriage, said, "If something happens, stick close to me. If you die, it's all over. That little spark of yours isn't strong enough to turn the tide."
Colin nodded.
Due to their poor equipment and lack of strength, the death rate for low-level Adventurers had always been high.
Of course, he hadn't dared to take the mission just because poverty had clouded his judgment.
With a thought, a panel displaying his attributes appeared before Colin's eyes.
-----------------
Attributes:
Power 10, Agility 10, Constitution 10, Intelligence 10, Charm 10, Perception 10
Skill Level: Casting (Novice) 386/500
Magic: Cantrip [Flaming Arrow]
-----------------
Besides having a Half-Orc friend, his original self—a low-level Adventurer—naturally had his own trump card: the cantrip [Flaming Arrow] and a certain degree of Casting Ability.
This spell could create a small ball of flame in his hand that could be thrown, dealing a certain amount of damage if it hit an enemy.
Of course, this spell wasn't acquired through systematic study.
Before becoming a low-level Adventurer, his original self was just a dockhand.
One day, while passing through an alley by a tavern, he suddenly found a scrap of paper with strange characters drawn on it.
Sensing something was unusual, his original self spent a year and much of his savings just to learn from a few Mage Apprentices that it was a page from a Spellbook, and that it recorded a low-level cantrip.
To those high and mighty Mage Apprentices, a simple cantrip was just one part of their entrance exam.
But in the eyes of a dockhand, this was a chance to change his fate.
His original self studied the strange characters little by little, spent his money bit by bit to buy information from those Mage Apprentices, and after a long time, finally learned this simple spell.
It was also thanks to this that his original self found the courage to become an Adventurer.
In the end, however, the spell didn't bring his original self much of an advantage.
Colin focused his mind on [Flaming Arrow] on the panel.
The spell's effects immediately appeared before his eyes.
[Flaming Arrow]: Range 40 meters, Damage 1-10 points.
Colin had recently made a trip to the second-hand market and seen that an ordinary hunting bow dealt about 1-8 points of damage.
In other words, this spell was at best equivalent to a lit arrow.
It was certainly useful, but when considering the effort and money his original self had spent, it was hard to say if it was worth it.
While Colin was thinking, the carriage driver tried to strike up a conversation with the Half-Orc. "Are you from the north? Er... sir."
His tone reminded Colin of a chatty taxi driver.
"The far, far north."
"You must be a good fighter, right?" the driver continued to ask.
Hearing this, Kase grinned, baring a set of snow-white tusks.
He pulled up the hem of his shirt, revealing a powerful chest and abdomen, which, though covered in a layer of fat, clearly showed the lines of muscle beneath.
There was barely a patch of unmarred skin on his brown body. Bites, scratches, and stab wounds... Countless scars crawled across his sturdy torso. Just looking at them was enough to make one faintly smell the scent of blood.
"You..." The driver swallowed hard.
"These are my gifts to the Deity of Destruction." Kase patted his stomach and laughed. "You're smarter than most humans. At least you know who's boss!"
"Gifts?"
Kase said enthusiastically, "Think about it. If your body is bare, won't your soul be bare after you die?
If that's the case, when I meet the Deity of Destruction, I'll only have my mouth to smile with. I don't want that.
Look at these wounds, this spirit! My body's bloody smile will definitely make the god laugh with me! HAHAHA!"
Perhaps imagining the scene of the Half-Orc "smiling" with the bloody wounds on his body, the driver's expression instantly stiffened.
"What kind of trouble will we run into this time?" Colin quickly changed the subject.
Kase grumbled in dissatisfaction and silently lowered his shirt.
The driver coughed a few times and quickly replied, "There shouldn't be any trouble. No monsters have appeared in Silverpine Village for years. At most, there might be a few bandits, and I don't think any bandits would be stupid enough to provoke this big Half-Orc."
Hearing there were no monsters, Colin's heart skipped a beat, and he was immediately thrown into a state of conflict.
Logically, no monsters should be good news, but for him, it wasn't necessarily so.
No monsters meant the mission's difficulty would be lower, and so would the reward. But monsters also meant danger, and if he died, he'd have nothing.
Colin pushed these thoughts to the back of his mind.
'The rewards from my Golden Finger can be earned little by little. The main goal right now is to make this month's rent.'
'Right, the driver was just asking about Kase's origins. Maybe he's looking to hire a Half-Orc for a job or something...'
With this in mind, Colin braced himself and asked, "Sir, we're a bit tight on cash lately. Is there any work to be had in the city?"
The driver turned his head to size him up.
Then he glanced back at the Half-Orc sitting behind him.
"Didn't you see all those refugees on the streets? They've even picked the wild herbs clean to trade for money. Do you know how desperate they are?" the driver said flatly. "I'm afraid my own job will get snatched away."
A little disappointed, Colin nodded slightly. "Thank you for the information."
The surrounding wheat fields came to an end.
The carriage swayed as it entered a dense forest.
The conversations within the caravan died down.
A light breeze blew, and the rustling of leaves was incessant.
The dense canopy left only a few spots of light on the ground. It was much darker inside the forest than outside. Looking to the side, he saw that the light-starved woods were overgrown with vines and shrubs, creating an indescribable sense of dissonance.
As time passed, the sun slowly set.
The few paths of light in the forest vanished, plunging everything into a sticky darkness.
Sitting in the carriage, Colin took a deep breath.
'First, I'll secure these few Silver Coins, then I'll see if I can find another mission. Paying this month's rent is what's really important.'
'And...'
'Are there really no monsters in this strange forest?'
The caravan continued on its way.
Along the way, they didn't see any monsters, not even a few Wild Wolves.
Kase's snores came from behind him. Hours of tedious travel had Colin yawning repeatedly, and what little nervousness he'd felt before had been worn away.
'Maybe most forests in this world are like this,' he thought.
"Whoa, whoa there, good boy," the driver murmured, pulling on the reins.
Colin put a hand on the hilt of his sword. "What's wrong?"
"Don't be nervous, we're just resting for the night." The driver stretched and shouted to the back of the caravan, "Gentlemen, clear out the camp!"
Someone from the back of the caravan complained loudly, "Dammit, why do these weeds grow so fast? The last guys must have been lazy."
Looking around, Colin noticed several leaf-covered tents by the roadside, along with a large patch of dead bushes.
He turned and called for Kase to join the others in their work.
The camp itself consisted of a dozen or so haphazardly placed tents, with several campfires scattered among them.
The group cleared away weeds and fallen leaves, the drivers parked the carriages around the camp, and a few experienced Foresters set up some traps around the perimeter, practically turning the small camp into an iron fortress.
After finishing their work, people started lighting fires and setting up pots.
Several blackened iron pots were filled with water, oats, and dried meat.
Having finished his tasks, Colin walked over to a campfire and sat down on a section of a broken log.
Kase sat nearby, sharpening his axe. The driver who had been chatting with them earlier and a few other Adventurers were also sitting by the fire.
With a crackling pop, the flames licked the bottom of the pots.
The firelight overpowered the moonlight, illuminating only the small camp and a few surrounding pine trees, making one feel as if the whole world had shrunk to just this small space.
No one was in the mood to talk; the camp was so quiet you could hear the wind.
After relaxing, Colin's mind started to wander.
'Thinking about it carefully, the fact that no monsters have appeared on this road for years doesn't actually mean it's completely safe.'
'What if these monsters are territorial, like animals? In that case, wouldn't several years without monsters just mean there's a "big guy" in the area?'
At this thought, an unavoidable chill ran down Colin's spine.
He realized it seemed a little too quiet. He couldn't even hear any birds chirping.
The orange glow of the campfire made one's eyelids heavy.
Colin relaxed again.
'The refugees who dare to be Adventurers now were once people like Foresters or Militia. Things like goblins or Wild Wolves wouldn't escape their notice, not to mention the traps around the camp.'
'And taking a step back...'
'For a four-Silver-Coin job, how tough could the opponent be?'
'The Carriage Guild must have had its reasons for hiring only this many people.'
'A greenhorn like me is definitely being too nervous...'
Just as Colin was thinking this, a piercing scream tore through the tranquil night sky.
"What the hell is that thing!"