“Was bear meat really the best option?” Ted said, biting into a slice of freshly cooked bear meat.

  All three of the young adventurers now sat around the fire, the scent of sizzling meat wafting through the small camp as Sanet tended to a large slice of meat that hung above the now blazing flame. The darkness of night now engulfed the landscape while allowing the ember orange of the fire to wash over the group.

  Sanet just shrugs, “I went into the forest and sought food. I didn’t know if any of you had a preference for a certain type of meat, so I looked for myself.” She glanced at the defeated carcass with something almost akin to pity, “I must say, he did fight well.”

  Ori said, while nibbling on a piece, “It’s tolerable.”

  Sanet raised an eyebrow, “Where I’m from such meat is quite valuable. Supposedly, the strength and spirit of the beast is integrated in its meat, so stronger meat results in a stronger consumer.”

  Ted asked, “Really? Where are you from, anyways?”

  Sanet replied, “I am from a small town far south of here, in the Duchy of Cante.”

  Ted’s eyes widened in surprise, “That’s quite the travel on foot.”

  Sanet bit off a piece of the now-cooked meat, “It was. However, I had assistance from friends at home.”

  Ori entered the conversation, “I’m not familiar with countries and the land they claim they own. I simply travel through.”

  Ted turned to Ori, “What do you mean? I figure it’s pretty important to be familiar with the land you intend to go to.”

  Ori replied, “Most land in the world is untouched by the enlightened races of the world. Many kingdoms and empires draw their borders on maps with no regard for what they actually can control. I sometimes walk through whole countries without seeing any settlements.”

  Ted frowns a bit, looking down at his meal for a few moments, contemplating, “I sort of knew that. Just like how Vestia needs us to explore the frontier, even though they have it claimed on maps already as territory. I didn’t think it was common among other countries though.”

  Sanet leaned back in her stump-turned seat, “When I first began my travels up here, I foolishly thought that some of the trees had to be Lignum. After making my way up here though, I’d have to say that Cante is fairly well explored as opposed to this frontier.”

  Sanet then grinned, “Of course, that’s speaking nothing of the capital of this kingdom. It’s a grand place, at least for the few days I spent in it.”

  Ted nodded, “Mhm. My family used to visit during the summer, we had some relatives down there.”

  Ori turned to Ted, “You must live in Vestia, then?”

  Ted shrugged, “Yeah, my hometown is a ways south of here. It’s no capital, but it’s a good place.”

  Ori just hums in response, a not uncomfortable silence falling over them as he stares into the flames of the campfire for a few long moments. Then he stands from his log and looks back to the others.

  “I’m going to get some rest. I suggest you two do the same, we have no small distance left.” Ori said, before he walked to his tent.”

  Ted yawned as he picked up his bag, “Right, I’ll probably go to sleep in a bit.”

  Sanet sat up, “Already?” she sighs but just sits up and grabs a flask, “I’ll put the fire out.”

  Ted stumbled over to his tent, tired from the events of the day. He was starting to be really thankful of Ori, this must’ve been the best tent he’s ever stayed in. Not like he had much experience with luxury tents, but if such a thing existed, this definitely fits the term. Ted laid back on the soft cloth of the tent as he dropped his bag down. He then untied the roll of his sleeping bag from his pack and laid it out in the middle of the tent. After clipping the entrance to the tent shut he winced as he leaned down to crawl into the sleeping bag, his wound stretching uncomfortably. Though when he settled down it was actually quite pleasant, the quiet of the woods only disrupted by the hissing sound of Sanet pouring water on the fire.

  He had thought it may be difficult to go to sleep after such an eventful day, normally his head constantly works to think over every little thing. However, a sense of almost contentment washed over him and after just a few short minutes of silence his eyes grew heavy as lead and his breathing evened out as the realm of sleep overtook him. The entire forest was filled with calm, that is, until the morning. Ted was woken up far earlier than he expected, when Ori came into his tent.

  Ori calmly said to the barely cognizant Ted, “We should go, I don’t want it to be dark when we get there.”

  Ted then heard Sanet lament somewhere outside his tent, “I stayed up to put the fire out, why’d you have to wake me up first!”

  Ted groaned, “Alright, fine… just give me a moment…”

  Calling it morning was a stretch, as there was barely any light out, the sun not quite peaking over the mountains in the distance. Nonetheless, Ori did have a point, it wasn’t like Ted wanted to get there late either. He still would have liked to sleep in for another hour. He pulled himself up, and stretched, before he helped pack up the rest of the camp. In an hour's time, they were ready to continue their travels.

  The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  They continued through the forest for several long hours, seeing some common wild-life on the way, but nothing overtly interesting. Eventually though, after a bit less than half a day, the trees began to dissipate, before opening up to a clearing with a town settled in the distance. Well, calling it a town may be a bit much. There were buildings, yes, and they looked brand new, but there was also an excess of large tents scattered around from the town center. Construction seemed to roar everywhere around the center, multiple buildings actively being constructed clearly visible, even from their distance. There was a basic fence around the town, with a more substantial wall further inside.

  As the group made their way closer, a pair of guards on horseback moved to intercept them before they reached the settlement. After they came to a stop, one of them vaulted off of their horse and stepped forward, holding up his hand to greet them. The other stayed back, 15 feet or so feet behind his companion. The guard was a large man, just a bit larger than Ted himself. He was clad in a mix of chainmail with a bit of plate in vital places on top of it. He had intense green eyes and a full brown beard.

  “Hello, if you don’t mind I’m going to need to see your ID’s.” The man said, his hand resting on the hilt of his sword casually.

  Everyone nodded and complied, handing them over.

  The guard shuffled through the ID’s, listing them off, “Theodor Bonumas, Adventurer Rank: Unranked, Ori Shimada, Adventurer Rank: Unranked, and Sanet Ficantem, Adventurer Rank: Dire Bear.”

  Ted shrugged, “That’s me.” with everyone else sharing various remarks of agreement.

  The guard gave the ID’s out, “Alright, you all are good to go. Remember though, pass Fort Trionis, you’ll have nothing but wild territory. There’ll be nobody to save your hinds if you get robbed or killed on the frontier. Got it?”

  They once again shared various remarks of agreement, and the guard got back on his horse, riding back to the town with the other guard. A silence between the group followed, the only sound the galloping of the horse’s hooves hitting the earth rhythmically.

  Ted said, “Sanet, you never told us you had an actual rank?”

  Sanet, shrugging and resuming their walk to the settlement replied, “It didn’t really cross my mind honestly. I got it six or so months back on my way here when I killed that bear. Had to do something for some extra coin y’know?”

  Ori tilted his head, confused, “I took a few monsters down on the way here. How did you get a rank out of it?”

  Sanet said, “It’s easy! You just have to take a part of the monster and show it to one of the attendants at the Adventurer’s Guild! I just ripped the head off of the thing and took it there!”

  Ted just stared at her for a moment before looking forward again and remaining silent.

  Sanet slightly confused, “Did I say something wrong?”

  Before Ted could answer, Ori tactfully intervened, “Well, would you look at that, we’re here.”

  Ted and Sanet stopped their conversation, and turned to the town. As they began to enter the town proper, Ted looked around at the large tents that they started to pass. Some seemed to be just used for personal lodging, many people coming in and out of them. There were few children, one younger boy, maybe 10-13 years old, nearly running into Ori as he chased his friend. Ori though tactfully side steps the boy and continues on like nothing happened. Most of the residents here are clothed in armor and have a busy look about them. This makes sense though because this place is still functionally an outpost for the frontier rather than an actual village.

  Ted said, to neither of his two companions in particular, “So, what are we off to first? We can go ahead and meet with the Horizon Collective.”

  Ori agreed, “If we are all going there, then we should visit them first. We can get business out of the way, then split up as needed.”

  Sanet said in a quieter tone, “I would rather just rest. After all, we do have a crime that we would have to report.”

  Ted’s face darkened, “Yeah, many young men died yesterday. We cannot delay telling an official. It’d be almost disrespectful.”

  Sanet averted her gaze from his and hesitated a bit, “My apologies… we can go.”

  With that the three of them made their way deeper into the settlement. They passed many construction sites as they actually started to see many newly built wooden and stone buildings. The architecture wasn’t overtly intricate, but it was sturdy and clearly meant to strike a balance between efficiency in construction and reliability in its endurance. The population became more dense and the smell of fresh baked bread spread throughout the cobblestone street as they snaked their way through the crowds of people, and occasionally walked to avoid tall wooden carriages that rolled down the pathways.

  After about 20 minutes, though, they finally approached a building that was substantially more expansive than the others. Near the center fort, on top of a nearby hill sat a large, stone building. A center building towered over the rest, with smaller buildings and houses connected with paths to the entrance. The center building was horizontal, with an arched roof that had a small lookout tower on top. The external layout of the building reminded Ted of a church, though it was most certainly larger than most he’d seen. As Ted read a nearby sign, it was clear that this was the Horizon Collective’s Guildhall. Ted, Ori, and Sanet would walk up the path from the main road to the building, passing by several of the smaller buildings. The smaller buildings seemed to range from homes owned by the guild, to extensions of the Guildhall and offices.

  Eventually, they reached the main building. It had a large, imposing wooden door on a small stone landing that was reached with stairs. Ted opened the doors to the building. The doors opened up to a main hall area. Chandeliers lit the entire room up, seeming almost unrealistically bright. In the main hall, there was a long carpet on the hardwood floor that stretched to a few desks and booths, which housed attendants and workers for the guild. To the left and right of the booths were hallways that led deeper into the building, and in-front of the hallways, were two curved staircases opposing each other, leading to an upper balcony area that also led deeper into the building. Closer to the entrance were several vendors serving food, and various tables and chairs, most of which were filled.

  Adventurers of all shapes and sizes were visible, some looking quite experienced. One table had a group of what appeared to be people that had donned heavy diving gear around it, though the tanks seemed to be filled with water. Liquid swashed around in their bronze helmets with every movement. Another had a group of dragonkin, who seemed to be reveling and chatting with each other. A few Alesians, those who shared more with birds with humans in terms of appearance, were talking on top of the balcony. Another group sat at a table, donned in white robes and a sort of spiritual aura. Yet another surrounded a woman clad in various gold objects. There were a few other groups spread out, with any assortment of the various Enlightened Races.

  Ted paid no mind to this for now though and focused on making his way through building and toward one of the attendants. Sanet however openly gawked at the varied races around her. Not that there weren’t many different races outside, it just wasn’t common to see so many in one place is all, much less merfolk.

  As they walked though, the room went silent when they heard a commotion behind them. They turned to see a group of humans and dragonkin surrounding a man standing in the middle. The man in the middle had short, blonde hair that was parted down the middle, making wispy bangs that ended at his eyes. He wore a large black coat, and a blue cloth undershirt. He had dark blue slacks and well-made boots on. He wore a golden necklace around his neck that was partially tucked under his shirt, and had a ring with an insignia on it on his ring finger.

  One of the humans around the man hissed out, “Since you’re new here and all, mind lending me some of your jewelry? I promise I’ll take care of it!”

  Some of the others that surrounded the man started clamoring at this, with one of the dragonkin saying, “I recognize that ring, you’re some sort of noble, aren’t you?”

  The man politely said, “If you wouldn’t mind, could you all step out of my way?”

  One of the humans surrounding him said, “Ooh, what are you gonna do so far from home? Sic your butler on me?”

  This elected laughter from the group surrounding the man, a laughter that was quickly hushed as the man acted. The man raised his hand, and closed it. In concert, five glasses filled with various drinks flew to the man. Four of the glasses smashed directly into the back of the head of the men surrounding him, with the fifth one landing into his hand.The men stumbled to the ground as the man took a sip of the glass in his hand.

  The man with the glass hummed, “Hmm… is this whiskey? It’s alright.”

  One of the human men on the ground spit out, “Why you…”

  The man on the ground got up, and unholstered a knife, aiming it at the man with the glass’s neck.

  The man with the glass replied, “It’s quite rude to raise a weapon at a stranger, if not an outright crime in some parts.”

  The man dashed to the man with the glass, who stuck his hand out. When he did so, the knife flew to his hand. He promptly grabbed the man by his shirt and pulled him over, holding the knife to his throat. The cold metal digging into his flesh, a bead of blood running down his neck.

  Ted shook his head, “Simon! What the hell are you doing?”

  The man known as Simon dropped the man and the knife, and appeared to light up, “Oh, Ted? I didn’t know you were in the frontier, how did you know it was me? It’s been a while since we’ve seen each other, and my clothes are quite different.”

  Ted sighed, “There’s only one guy I know in the world that can do the things you can do, and will do the things you do, and that’s you.”

  Ori and Sanet stood there, confused.