Chapter 28: A Trip to the Forest, Part 1

Chapter 28: A Trip to the Forest, Part 1

Gerald and Sera finally reached their target. In front of them was an extensive lush green forest. It was not at all creepy as Gerald had imagined it to be.

In fact, it was quite nice and inviting. It was full of life and spring spirit. There were birds chirping in the dense tree canopies and insects were flying around in the air. Small lizards were basking in the warm morning sunlight.

Gerald and Sera were walking on the main road to the woods when they saw a group of people closing in on them from the side. Upon a closer look, Gerald noticed that they were youngsters around twenty years old. Just a few years older than him.

The two teams meet at a crossroads before the forest. The first one to speak was the guy in front, "Lady Sera, what a coincidence! Are you on a quest as well?"

He was clad in mostly leather armor, just the thighs, chest and head were covered with metal. He was also wearing a longsword on his left hip and a dagger on his right. A few small pouches were spread evenly across his belt. New novel chapters are published on

He was extremely loud and confident, and Gerald immediately concluded that he was probably the leader.

"I heard what happened to your friends. I didn't yet have the time to express my condolences. It was really tragic to lose so many great warriors. If you need any help you just need to ask."

Sera's face became gloomy after he heard that. It wasn't long since the incident had happened and it brought the memory back to the surface. "Thanks for your kind words, mister Kerius. I will keep them in mind," she sighed.

Gerald nudged Sera with his elbow and hinted with his eyes that she should probably explain who these people were.

Sera lightly laughed and then said, "Look at me, I'm so distracted that I forgot to introduce you to each other."

She pointed at Gerald, "This is Gerald, he is my new teammate. We met just recently." She then turned around and introduced the group of warriors, "These are the Iron Hawks. They are one of the more recognized groups in the Guild. Their leader, Iron Hawk Kerius, is a strong Iron 3 rank warrior."

After the short introduction, she leaned closer to Gerald and whispered into his ear, "Iron Hawk is Kerius's family name. Three of them are basically cousins."

"Ah," Gerald said and nodded, indicating that he understood. With a few more words of explanation from Sera, he concluded that this team of six before them was actually really strong for their age. The composition was also pretty good.

Two big guys at the front had large round wooden shields that covered almost their entire bodies, and they were carrying strong spears in their right hands. They operated as a vanguard in fights. Behind them, or in between, was Kerius with his longsword, making sure no enemy would squeeze through.

Then there was also an Archer with a short bow and a novice Spellcaster with his magic spells, supporting his teammates from behind. Lastly, there was a Hunter, just like Sera. His job was to track down the enemies and also to guard their backs in a fight.

"What is everywhere?" Sera thought they were on a mission to gather Moonglows so she was confused as to what Gerald was talking about.

"Here!" Gerald pushed a stack of papers into her embrace. On them were pictures of the plants he was interested in. Since they had some free time they should make good use of it.

Sera looked through the drawings on the paper. They weren't the best quality since Gerald copied them in a hurry, but she could still understand what kind of plants were on them. There was just one thing she didn't understand, "Why did you just give me a bunch of drawings of weeds?"

"What do you mean weeds? These are some very important herbs!"

"No, I'm pretty sure these plants are worthless. I have never seen anyone buy or sell them. Actually, I have seen them fed to the pigs if I remember correctly," she insisted.

"Fed to the pigs?!" Gerald suddenly felt like the world was spinning around him and he got a headache. "You feed them Mana Roots? And Morning Dew? Wolfweed? To the pigs?" He felt like crying.

Sera sensed his frustration and tried to somehow console him, "Look, I don't know any of these names, but I'm telling you the truth. These plants make the meat more tender and juicy and pigs love them, other than that they are pretty worthlessat least in our kingdom... I don't know."

"Ten thousand years and you still can't figure out how amazing this stuff is Gosh! No wonder this world is still in the middle ages even after such a long time of continuous existence" Gerald was talking to himself more than anything. He was pacing in circles, complaining with passion.

After a while, he cooled down and ended the rant with a big sigh. He turned around and saw Sera just standing there, all confused and lost, not knowing what to do. It brought a smile to Gerald's face seeing her there looking all helpless.

"I should probably contain my excitement and sorrow from now on. I can't be seen as an emotionally unstable person after all," he murmured to himself.

He cleared his throat and took a deep breath to calm himself before talking, "Listen, Sera, it's not your fault I just got too emotional when I heard that you consider these herbs worthless. They are just really extremely important to me," he explained. "I was actually hoping you could help me collect some of them."

Sera stayed silent. Now Gerald was getting slightly nervous. "I I guess I could pay you for your help"

"Pfff" laughter almost escaped from Sera's mouth. She quickly covered her mouth with her hands. Then she shook her head and smiled, "You don't need to pay me, silly. We are a team after all. We should help each other, right?"

"Right." He returned a warm smile.

'Wait, did she just call me silly?'