Chapter 207: Chance encounter

Walker saw this notification as well and immediately pushed in to motion waking up the others. Once everyone was awake he frantically started to break down the camp, there were more horned rabbits around like before and he did not want to be caught up in the chaos. Remey and Su read their own systems seeing this and had not even questioned what was going on. They started to break the camp down even faster. Walker almost missed the notification from Clara.

"I saw what had happened and found that those numbers of horned rabbits were unusual. The records showed that it may be an outbreak. Please return to the kingdom immediately." Walker headed this message and set his sights on moving the entire day without rest.

"Maria today may be a bit tough, when you get tired let us know and you can ride on our shoulders to keep watch for us ok?" Maria nodded unsure of what was going on since she was not a member of the adventurers guild and had not received this notification. 

"All cleaned up here." Gil had just dropped the tent in front of Walker so it could be stored. 

"Fire is out leader." Su and remey had gotten the fire out and cleaned up along with the food scraps from their meal the night before. 

Midnight came up and pushed her nose against Walker showing that she was happy he was up and moving, however she knew that they were about to get on their way. Luckily she understood the system notifications as well as they had. Walker gave her a pat on the head appreciating the action and stored away the last of their camping gear. It was time to make haste.

They moved at a much faster pace than usual, there seemed to only be tracks from horned rabbits leaving the area due to the terrifying explosions from the day before. These had done well to scare off them and any other monsters around. Gil even pointed out some snow imp tracks that had made a very straight line away from where the party had been camping. It would seem they had their usual night watch for nothing since the noise they had made was enough to scare away any danger. 

The grass was long enough for it to be above the melting snow and ice. As they walked they could swear more strands of dried grass were popping up out of the ground, the ice was releasing them from its grip. After some time the sun had reached the highest point in the sky paving the way for tougher travel in the mud of the paths. 

Small birds seemed to flit and flutter around them looking for anything the party had kicked up while trudging through the mud. Maria had quickly become tired and took a spot on Su's shoulders. Walker noticed Maria tug on Su's hair a bit to get her attention, she was pointing forwards with a serious expression. She was taking the joke about watching out from up high very seriously. This was good for them however because Gil took this as a sign to move ahead quietly to see what was up ahead. 

Returning took just a few moments, Gil's face said everything. "There are way more horned rabbits up there than before. Even an army would have trouble with them." This was not an overstatement at the least, Gil had spotted over two hundred of the horned rabbits lounging about in the sun, napping. "We should head back and skirt far around them, they seem to mostly be asleep so I think we should be able to get far away without any noticing us."

Walker nodded and everyone followed Gil's suggestion. Fighting one horde of horned rabbits was more than enough for them until they had gained more strength. Taking the same path backwards the party then got off the path and on to the grassy un-tread land. They made a very large arc around where the horned rabbits were resting avoiding them without trouble. Once they were safe enough away almost everyone let out a sigh of relief. 

This lucky dodge gave them more incentive to move faster, their past became almost jogging as they wanted to reach home as soon as possible, or at the very least reach more adventurers to team up with. Maria was having a rough time bouncing on Su's armor so she chose to jump on to Walker's back enjoying some time with Onyx who was quickly becoming a close friend. While mid jog Gil pulled up his bow, "Front left, we can take it down while moving it looks like a single."He had aimed at a horned rabbit that was covered in dirt, it seemed to just have come out of its own hibernation.

When Gil released his arrow Walker had also sent a fire bolt. They had changed direction slightly moving towards the horned rabbit. The arrow and fire bolt hit at the same time completely knocking the horned rabbit on its side. With their target down Remey used her speed to sprint forward, the rabbit struggled to stand but as it started to rise it was beaten down again by Remey. The horned rabbit had no chance, it hadn't even seen its defeat coming.

Walker ran up storing it way before everyone gave themselves a quick check and kept on their way. No other horned rabbits seemed to be around which made them all much happier. Their pace was much more than they were used to but it was paying off greatly. The sun had just started to sink in the sky when some shapes started to form in the distance. This was something they were all warning to see, a tent. 

"Looks like there is at least one person up there making camp for the night, Leader do we want to stop?" Walker was a bit put off by a solo adventurer or merchant being out but it made more sense to camp with at least one more person, more eyes to spot danger were always welcome.

"Walker nodded and gave a shout, "Hello there, anyone home?" The tent rustled a bit before a large person opened the flaps. 

"Ha! Who would have expected me to run in to you scamps here. I was out for an errand when that quest showed up. Now I will roam about the plains for a few days." It was Barry, of all people they had encountered it was their vice guild leader. This was better than running in to a camp of ten adventurers, if any horned rabbits even looked this way the party was sure that Barry could deal with them in an instant. 

"Barry! We were just looking for a spot to camp and noticed your tent, of all the people to see!" All of them were equally surprised, the only one that was confused was Maria who had never seen this man in her life. 

"I take it you all were the cause of the guild wide quest? I would be a fool not to put two and two together. Hero title holders travel through the plains and all the sudden there is a horned rabbit outbreak? It seems too coincidental not to be related." Barry was much more relaxed than he had been when they met. Walker had his suspicion that the meeting in the castle had added just enough stress for him to be a bit more rigid. 

"Funny story about that one," Gil was scratching his head looking away as he spoke, "We kind of ran in to a large horde and tried to take them out....It was a bit rough" Barry heard this and started examining every one of them for injuries and damage but only noticed some scorch marks on their clothing and the obvious tiredness from jogging most of the day. 

"I can see that, Is that where this little lady came from?" He gestured to Maria on Walker's back.

"Oh, this is Maria. She joined us while we were in the demi-human kingdom. That's another long story, isn't she the cutest though!" Remey made the introduction but Maria shrank behind Walker a bit more seeing the attention on her. 

"Well it is nice to meet you little demon girl, I am Barry the vice guild master of the adventurers guild in the city of Diamond. I look forward to you joining one day." How sly he was trying to recruit her before she was even a citizen of the kingdom. Just the fact that she was with the party made him try this. 

In response the light seemed to bend around Maria making it hard to make her out on Walker's back. "Ah it looks like I scared her, I know I am a bit large but I promise I am nice enough." Barry's voice got a little high pitched which made them all want to laugh. Having a lot to talk about the party started to set up camp finding that Barry didn't have any materials to start fire with and had planned just to sleep without one. The party did not agree to this and started one themselves, Walker and the others had diligently stocked up on some wood and dried grass while at the tamers guild.