The first two days of my journey were quite uneventful. The only thing that pushed me through those two boring days was my incoming second date with Maria.
I picked her up in front of her house at nine o clock as we agreed upon. We went to a nearby bakery which had delicious pastries. We talked about what happened to us in the game, but since I had nothing exciting to talk about I talked about the scenery which was in front and beside me. Maria talked about how she and Anna helped her sister to catch up in levels and we talked about our families in general.
After breakfast, we went for a little walk and then I escorted her back. Since her father was again looking at us from the window above, I could only wait for the kiss from Maria. Even though I collected the courage to kiss her by now I didn't want her father to have a bad impression of me. I knew how fathers are protective of their daughters since my father is protective over Hope the same, if not more then Maria's father.
Maria saw that I am waiting. She smiled, kissed me on the cheek and went inside her house. This time I didn't wait long but just nodded my head towards the window and went home.
The third day of the journey towards the town began to look like the other two before it. As I was moving south on my right side there was still the mountain ridge. I still couldn't see its end. On my left side there was a forest it wasn't as lush as the one north of the village but I went by it for two straight days so it must be bigger.
Today we can only see trees in parks in big cities, and if we want to see forests we need to exit towns and cities and go to the countryside. When people finally realized what are pollution and global warming doing to the Earth they made some progress in keeping the natural environment clean and started making it bigger again.
My initial assumption was that this day will pass like the two others before it. I was traveling on the road and stopped only for my meals. When night fell I found a place to spend the night. I, of course, didn't spend the entire night in the game, but I did sleep a little on the forest grass looking into the starry sky. I had to find a safe place from which I needed log out and log in.
But after I walked for about an hour I came by a crossroad. Now it made sense why merchants had the bodyguards with them. There was a sign showing the way towards the mountain and a sign towards the forest. So I had two options two choose from even though the destination was the same. On both pieces of wood, there were the same two words, Little Fort.
So, do I go over the mountain or through the forest? Since the old merchant said that the town was southeast the shorter path should be through the forest. I did see some marks on the ground which led on the mountain path. It must be from the carriages which go through this road. There were no visible marks going into the forest. This told me a few things. Either the mountain path was better for the carriages then going through the forest, or it is safer going over the mountain.
I decided. Through the forest it is. It may be more dangerous but I still didn't want to lose that bet I made with Wolf and Marco. There is one more thing that helped me choose which way to go. And it was more important then me winning the bet. Water. My two flasks of water won't last ten days of journey, or even half of that, by the way. And it will be hard finding any source of water in the mountains, if not impossible. Merchants probably have barrels of water on their carriages. I, on the other hand, don't.
It may seem like food is only important for the hunger bar in the game but water is equally important. Because of that, I choose to go through the forest.
Since my two flasks were getting empty, one already was and the other was half full, my first task going into the forest was to find some source of clean water. There is a river passing by the fields of the Little Rock village, going south or north, depends where its source is. Anyway, it should also pass through this forest so I should be able to find it.
I decided to go straight east. Even though that makes me go deeper into the forest I should also quickly find the river. And if I follow the river I should also arrive at the town that way.
I didn't lower my attention for a second. Who knows if there will be some monster or a beast right in front of me. If developers truly made the game as realistic as possible than bears should by now start their winter dream. So the only predators I should pay attention should be wolves or a mountain lions if some of them went down the mountain. But animal predators were not the only thing I should worry about right now. There are more dangerous beings lurking in forests and rivers, and they are not just Rage Beasts and Rage NIghtmares.
Walking slowly through the forest I spent my time picking herbs to refill my herb bag. During the Boss fight, I used medicine in one of my wooden boxes. So I refiled that one yesterday and now I should pick more herbs. This way I can improve my herbalist class.
Going for a few minutes nothing happened, so far. Not that I wanted to get attacked as soon as I entered deep in the forest, but I wanted something to happen. A little excitement won't hurt me, right?
Like I could see into the future, something did happen. I heard some noise and ratling of the leaves and branches not far from me. I lowered my body down to the ground. I wasn't sure what it could be and I didn't want to take any risks. But as it showed up it seems that my caution was unnecessary. Trough the leaves I could see animals moving parallel with me deep into the forest. There was maybe a dozen of them, I couldn't see them all because of the leaves. They walked on four legs, had short brown fur and big horns on their heads. Obviously, it was a herd of deer.
I didn't want to startle them so I waited for them to pass me a little before I started following them. Only then I paid more attention to them. The one leading them was the biggest stag in the group. His horns were also bigger than the others. There were two young ones and the rest were does and couple more bucks.
After almost half a day walking behind them I could hear a flowing sound. River, I thought to myself. Of course, this deer herd must have been going to their watering place which should be this river.
We arrived shortly. Deer went to drink water and I waited for them to finish. I didn't want to give them any thought that I am provoking or hunting them.
Instead, I looked at the river. On the other side was also forest, or should I say that the river was going through the forest. Its width was maybe twenty meters. How deep it was I couldn't say from here.
Deers were drinking water and I waited for them to finish. Then a light breeze passed us and deer herd got restless. At first, I thought that they smelled me but I was wrong. Or maybe they already did but didn't felt any danger from me. Instead, they looked to the south from which direction came that light breeze. Ah yes, wind brings the scent with it.
But what made them restless? Bucks surrounded fawns while the young ones drunk the water and does looked from the south direction and then into the forest left and right. The stag looked everywhere with the seriousness in his eyes. His small ears also moved in every direction.
I used this opportunity to get a little closer to see what is happening. Then I could see four figures coming from the forest. they showed up maybe half a kilometer away from deer. I recognized them instantly. Wolves. They looked in this direction. I almost felt like they are looking at me but I knew they were looking at deer.
But they just went to the river and started drinking water. Even predators and pray have the same watering places in the wild, so this is not that surprising. What surprised deer was probably the time at which wolves showed up.
But seeing the wolves busy with drinking water, stag urged fawns to move. Using this time deer went back into the forest. That only left me and the wolves by the river. I was still hiding not daring to leave my spot. I had a feeling that wolves already spotted me, but didn't pay any attention. Hopefully, they already ate before coming here. One of them looked in my direction, which made my blood chill in my veins. If four of them came at me together I would be finished very quickly. But after that, they entered the river and swam across to the other shore. At first, I was surprised why they didn't go the way they came from or after the deer. Maybe their lair was on the other side of the forest or they had something to do on that side. Either way, I was now alone and could fill my flasks with water.
I filled my flasks, collected my nerves a little and started moving down south by the river. I didn't move directly by the river but I was near enough to see it. If I moved that way every being in the forest could see me if they looked in my direction.
When I got tired I knew that it was time for me to eat. I sat down in front of a tree looking in the direction of the river, took the jerky from the bag and started eating. Jerky didn't taste bad. Villagers must have made it with salt and some herbs since I could sense some herbal taste on the surface.
After eating and drinking a little water I continued on my way.
The river changed direction to the east a little and on times got smaller but it generally flowed south.
As the night was slowly approaching I knew it was time for me to make the camp for tonight. I need to find a good spot where I could sleep and make a fire for the security. Previous two nights that passed by I camped by the road so I felt safe. But here inside the forest, I needed to be extra careful. I spent half an hour looking for a suitable place to spend the night. I finally found it, put my things on the ground and started a fire. Then I lied down trying to sleep a little and look for some signs if there are other beings here beside me.
Lying down for some time I thought that my day will pass like this without any more excitement, but I was wrong. First I heard some small sounds from the ground and then some hooting in the air, followed by the silence. Those sounds repeated itself a couple more times and then nothing again. It seems that owls started hunting some small animals. I wanted to hear a little more and pay more attention If there are some other things out there. But all that hoot, hoot sounds made me feel tired and wanting to sleep so I logged out, thinking that owls will look after me tonight.