We set out, cart packed with goods and materials while covered by a large layer of fabric to protect some of it from water, apparently it is a thick tanned leather hide meant to protect the plant cargo from rain. They seemed a bit unsure what I meant when I brought up transporting the plants live, apparently only alchemists do such a thing as it can cost more and isn't that effective.
After all our preparations, along with some of the mercenaries saying goodbye to their family, we set off; down the south road out of the town. Apparently they dislike the word 'hireling' but I'm not even sure what the difference is, I suppose it might be like those politically correct people I had to deal with sometimes. They would claim that gang member was incorrect, that we were 'misguided youths' and the link. I know most of them were shut up when they came face to face with the real thing.
Elyn for the most part found it interesting to play with the horses, I had to keep warning her to never approach them from behind so instead she would walk with them till she got tired every half hour of walking.
"Why do the horses have to pull our things? Can't we just ride on them, doesn't this pulling our things hurt them?"
It took a while to explain how the harnesses are made to reduce the weight they have to deal with which accounted for most of the time she spent resting.
The guards shouted a few warnings at her which I had to translate when she ran around picking different flowers, in the end one of the girls in the party made flower necklaces with Elyn to keep her distracted before she went and touched something poisonous in one of the areas we were going through. Elyn apparently ended up learning the word for flower due to it being brought up enough in conversation as well as the most basic greetings. It was nice to see her still willing to learn even if she isn't familiar with the environment.
Luckily travel went by quietly, the few monsters that did appear were extremely weak and were quickly handled by only a few people while the rest stayed alert for additional ambushes. They seemed pretty focused on the enemies possibly flanking us, something I wouldn't have considered from these goblin monsters they killed 15 of just a moment ago. The topic of flanking made me realise I was underestimating creatures in this place. I thought they were strong and dumb like that troll from a while back but according to Gavin, they are capable of even using basic siege tactics.
The troll from before was only capable of charging and attacking the things it saw as weak. It probably targeted me as I wasn't going to be able to defend myself. These goblins tried to fight in groups, although not for long before the 5 people picked from Bimayas party finished them off with two people on each side and someone with a shield in the middle as their formation, they overpowered the weaker weapons of the goblins before crushing their side.
The tactics of this world might be something to consider though. While devising plans for camp I had to point out what I thought were somewhat basic factors for fighting. That it wasn't just about flat terrain and wide open spaces, but the use of traps that they were using for food could be used for alarms. I have a feeling only the more knowledgeable parties learn to do it after a while.
I had to explain a bit before one of the women named Mirabelle was able to understand everything I was saying, but due to a lack of preparation towards alarm traps didn't have enough tools to secure the whole camp. These events keep leading me to the conclusion that explaining knowledge from my country might be very beneficial for my survival at a later date, so I begin taking mental notes when I notice something wrong to follow up on later.