“Haa…”
The morning air was cold.
Each breath left Xia Nan’s mouth in a pale cloud before dissolving into the mist.
A mace.
A two-handed axe.
Two daggers at his waist.
And a heavy bundle strapped across his back.
Xia Nan was tired.
Very tired.
But whenever he imagined how much all this might sell for once he returned to town, a little more strength somehow appeared in his legs.
This trip had been far more profitable than farming at home.
Morning sunlight slipped through the gaps in the canopy, scattering patches of gold across the green ground.
Xia Nan walked almost mechanically, and before long, his thoughts began to wander.
As for Maji…
Now that the man was dead, Xia Nan could only think that things never needed to end that way.
He had inherited eighteen years of memories from the body’s previous owner.
But the person controlling that body was still someone who had grown up in a modern, civilized society.
Xia Nan was not trying to act morally superior.
He simply felt that Maji had never needed to put on that generous act back in the cave.
If Maji wanted something, he could have said so.
If there was a disagreement, they could have negotiated.
It was that simple.
After all, the bugbear had been killed by both of them.
Maji’s first arrow had triggered [Deathline]’s [Deflection Field], putting the ability on cooldown.
His second arrow had pierced the bugbear’s eye and left it paralyzed.
Only then had Xia Nan been able to use his freshly enhanced body to finish the monster off.
Maji’s contribution had been enormous.
If he had openly asked for the enchanted ring and compensated Xia Nan for the share he was owed, Xia Nan would have been perfectly willing to discuss it.
His first adventure had already been wildly profitable.
And with someone as experienced as Maji leading future quests, Xia Nan had assumed there would be plenty more opportunities to earn money.
But after replaying everything in his head from beginning to end, Xia Nan realized he had made two mistakes.
The first was that his mindset had not fully changed.
He had crossed into another world, but he was still instinctively judging the people around him according to the morals and assumptions of his previous life.
[Maybe I need to adapt a little more to how people here actually live.]
The second mistake was more practical.
He had been making assumptions about adventuring without first understanding how adventurers actually viewed things.
For an experienced old hunter like Maji to risk everything just to monopolize one item…
That said a great deal.
At least among low-level adventurers like them, magic items were clearly far more valuable than Xia Nan had imagined.
Time passed.
The thin mist gradually faded.
The air warmed.
The dense forest began to thin, and man-made paths appeared more frequently between the trees.
Soon, wisps of cooking smoke rose into view.
A few medieval-style brick-and-tile houses appeared ahead.
A clear stream wound through the settlement.
Several peasant women crouched along its banks washing clothes, occasionally laughing among themselves.
Two small boys were playing beside the road.
One held a crude wooden sword and wore an expression of fierce righteousness.
The other waved his arms and bared his teeth, apparently playing the monster.
After spending so long inside Misty Forest, surrounded by danger and far from other people, the ordinary sight loosened something inside Xia Nan.
His nerves finally began to relax.
The town housed the only Adventurers’ Association branch in the area, so the people living nearby were obviously familiar with adventurers.
The two boys watched Xia Nan from a distance, their eyes fixed on the bundles and weapons hanging from his body.
They were curious.
But they did not approach.
Their parents had probably warned them.
Xia Nan, meanwhile, had only just escaped the constant pressure of Misty Forest and was feeling unusually relaxed.
The boys looked thin.
Too thin.
Their arms and legs had the wiry look of children who had spent a long time never quite getting enough to eat.
Xia Nan reached into his things and pulled out a strip of dried meat.
He tore it in half and beckoned.
The boys’ eyes lit up immediately.
They ran over without hesitation.
Watching them wolf down the meat, Xia Nan reached out and lightly ruffled one boy’s hair.
“What are your names?”
“Moses.”
“Faye…”
Xia Nan nodded.
He had just opened his mouth to say something else when an anxious voice called from behind him.
“Sir! Sir, I’m sorry!”
Xia Nan turned.
A blonde woman in an apron was hurrying toward them.
She looked younger than thirty, with a full figure, freckles scattered across both cheeks, and two braids hanging over her shoulders.
She had the plain, practical look of someone who worked with her hands.
The boys immediately ran to her.
Their mother, most likely.
“Didn’t I tell you not to talk to people like… this gentleman?”
Her voice dropped sharply halfway through the sentence.
“But Mom, he gave us dried meat!”
“Not even for dried meat! Not even for sweet cakes! Listen to me!”
The woman was trying to keep her voice down.
Not very successfully.
Xia Nan heard every word.
The lightness he had felt since leaving Misty Forest slowly cooled.
The woman noticed him looking.
Her face tightened.
She hurriedly pulled both boys behind her and began bowing again and again, ignoring the sweat running down her face from the rush over.
“I’m sorry, sir. I’m truly sorry.”
Xia Nan looked at the two boys hiding behind their mother.
They stood perfectly still, silent and nervous, as though accepting a stranger’s dried meat had been some terrible crime.
Then he looked at the woman.
Fear in her eyes.
A stiff smile on her face.
Xia Nan suddenly lost all desire to say anything.
He waved a hand.
Then turned and walked away.
At the same time, inside a nearby house with its doors and windows shut tight…
“What do you think, Boss? Should we do it?”
A burly man with a somewhat vacant face crouched awkwardly beneath the windowsill.
Despite his size, he was trying very hard to look sneaky.
The effect was not convincing.
The man beside him had a crew cut and a vicious-looking face.
“Don’t rush. Watch him a little longer.”
“What are we waiting for? I checked. He’s alone!”
The burly man was already getting impatient.
“He’s got a mace, an axe, all kinds of stuff. He has to be carrying valuables. If we don’t hit him now, someone else might beat us to it!”
He reached down and grabbed the pitchfork lying beside him.
From the look of him, he was ready to kick open the door immediately.
A hand smacked the back of his head.
“You noticed all those weapons too, did you?”
The crew-cut man glared at him.
“He’s alone. Walking straight out of Misty Forest like he owns the road. And he’s barely injured.”
His voice dropped.
“You really think he’s some easy mark? You think every good thing in the world is just waiting for you to pick it up?”
The more he spoke, the more certain he became.
He pressed himself against the wall and gestured for his underling to look through the narrow crack in the window.
“Think about the adventurers we normally see.”
“Which ones don’t travel in groups of three or five?”
“And the ones who do come out alone?”
“They’re covered in wounds. Half-dead. Lucky to have escaped the forest at all.”
He pointed subtly toward Xia Nan’s retreating figure.
“But him?”
“Walking right down the middle of the road. Carrying that much loot. Not even worried someone might take an interest.”
“How many people like that have you seen?”
The burly man scratched his head.
“Now that you mention it… none.”
“So what do we do next, Boss?”
The crew-cut man took one more wary look outside before pulling away from the window.
“That kid looks young, but he’s probably got something up his sleeve. He won’t be easy to deal with.”
“We let this one go.”
“We’ll wait another couple of days and see if a better target shows up.”
His expression hardened.
“We’re leaving anyway. One last job. Rob someone, then disappear.”
“So many adventurers die every year. Once we’re done, we throw the body into the forest.”
He gave a cold smile.
“Who’s going to know?”
The burly man’s face brightened.
“I’ll follow your lead, Boss!”