"Great to hear. As I made some adjustments to the mission, I give you around an hour to get anything you still might need. We meet up here again, and proceed our journey through the west entrance."
With this he finished their gathering for the moment, the other two rising up from the table, leaving.
Bjorn noticed Mikael didn't make a motion to leave, so he asked:" Don't need to prepare more? Nights outside are quite different from simply wandering around."
Mikael gave him a weak smile, patting his new bag pack. "Everything I have is on me. As you guys said, I'm new in this profession and still have to buy most of the essentials."
Bjorn's eyes scanned Mikael's equipment. "What book is that? Never did I see someone constantly walking around with one."
Putting the compendium back on the table, he simply said:" It's about herbalism. A friend of my father gave it to me for a debt, and now I try to read through it. With this I prepared for this mission, too."
"Can I take a look into it?"
Wordless Mikael turned the book in Bjorn's direction, and upon opening the first page, his head sunk some inches deeper, the nose dangerously close to the hide paper.
He didn't spoke anymore, and unsure what to do now, Mikael looked around to find Torik.
"I said he would loose himself quickly. From that state he can hardly be pulled out, except we deliver a shock." The mustache went up a bit, together with a nasty smirk he made.
Other customers began to come in, so Torik had to tend them.
"Looks like Bjorn is lost again. Can I give him a smack?" someone asked, sitting down at the bar ordering some mead.
'Does it happen so frequently they take turns?' Mikael thought shaking his head.
Bjorn on the other slowly turned the pages, reading intensely every information, sometimes carefully flipping back some pages.
To pass the time, Mikael began pulling out some of his equipment, giving it a quick check like he learned from Robert.
'Everything good here.' he put back the small box containing the sewing equipment.
'As great as this bag is, I need something bigger if I want to make trips like that more often.'
Soon Sophia came back, and with her a fairly big bag that seemed to contain camping equipment and her weapons, as a short sword and a slingshot of some sort hang on the outside.
"You have the honor." Torik said, walking past their position and tapping the table, looking at Mikael.
On his questioning expression, the motion of a hand falling on Bjorn's head made it clear.
"Should I really?" he asked, unsure to hit him.
"If you want to go today, yes. Believe me, he is accustomed to it, and when venturing outside, this has to be done, too."
Still immersed in the book, Bjorn didn't even notice that in the meantime Leon also came back, looking at him, then at his companions at the table, and back.
"Haaa, okay, I'll do it." Mikael resigned, standing up and walking next to the chair.
He tried to get Bjorn's attention by waving his hand before his eyes, but got no reaction, only his head Sinking even deeper.
The next moment he somewhat hesitating hit his back, again, no reaction.
"Can I try?" Leon asked, far too enthusiastically.
He laid down his backpack, and the now gloved hand smacked his side, slightly tilting Bjorn's position.
"Ouch, did I focused too hard again" he asked, rubbing his side and looking around his team. "Sorry for that, happens sometimes. But less force will also work. Nonetheless, thanks."
From the corners of their eyes they could see a slight shaking of Toriks head, tending another customer in their vicinity.
"It's a great compendium, almost wanting to buy it from you. Would you be willing?" He asked, his voice quite interested.
For a moment, Mikael considered it, wanting to ask for the amount, but quickly dismissing the thought.
'Knowledge is equivalent to power, and I only scratched the surface of it.'
"Sorry, but I still need it. And as a keepsake from my hamlet it has emotional value, too."
"Understandable, emotional value can't have a price, or it has to be ridiculously high."
He stood up, walking out the room and emerging a moment later with his own luggage at hand.
"If everyone is ready, the quest can begin."
Nervous, Mikael began to walk together with the others out the bar, towards the west exit he entered last with Robert and Diana, about 2 weeks prior.
This time two persons guarded the location, only quickly glancing at them and paying them no further heed.
They chatted lightly along the way, mostly Leon and Bjorn, Sophia being the most quiet.
When entering the perimeters of the forest, Bjorn simply said:" From now on I count on you. But it should be alright."
Leon took the lead, searching for possible tracks creatures may have left behind. Mikael remained close to his employer, focusing on close safety.
"Any special herbs you are looking for?"
He asked, looking around far to anxious.
"Nope, everything that can be useful, or even poisonous. Mushrooms, leaves, roots, also insects. So if you spot something from that book of yours, tell me please."
Sophia trailed a bit behind them, leisurely and with a steady pace.
Sometimes she went a bit farther left or right, but always close enough to not loose them.
The first hours were uneventful, no animals daring to approach them.
Leon found some tracks wandering Goblins left behind, but they were old, not posing any threat.
Despite the calm, Mikael checked his surrounding the whe time, sometimes not daring to blink. Every time some sound of breaking twigs or falling branches broke the silence, he winced, holding his hammer on the neck, ready to draw it.
It got so intense that at some point Sophia got closer, tapping on his shoulder.
"You have to calm down. If you are so alert of every little thing, it may be more harmful later. Relax a bit, loosen your muscles, talk a bit. But make this not more difficult for us if you later don't have the energy to take the night shift."
She went back to her position, but not without whispering:" Amateur, always."
He took these words seriously.
'They got the experience, but seriously. First time on a mission to protect someone. How couldn't I be nervous.'
But after another hour past without anything happening, other than a flock of birds that got startled by Leon.
Mikael also relaxed more, taking Leon before him as an example.
'He seems already so knowledgeable and calm. But still has his eyes everywhere.'
He did his best to also work for his money, glancing around the dirt and foliage.
'In the book was written that some fungi should sprout in this climate, around darker and moist areas.'
To his surprise he truly found many mushrooms, but when he showed them Bjorn, he just said:" These are edible ones, not having a effect I can extract. You can gather them for tonights meal if you'd like. Look for these that have either weird forms, present themselve more openly or got stinging colors. These are mostly poisonous, so I can make it later more potent, or use it to cure others."
"Cure poison with poison? How would that work?" Mikael exclaimed, not really expecting an answer.
But Bjorn answered more enthusiastically than on other questions before.
"I know, weird, right? But that's how it functions. You see, if we can extract a particular portion of the poison, mix it together with other kinds of extracts, the result..." and he began to talk how he can change properties, effects or neutralize different poisons or mixtures by combining or extracting fluids, drying it or injecting it in diverse parts of the body.
He got so immersed in his talking that after a while he nearly trampled down a flower that bloomed despite the season, and only the interference of Mikael saved that precious herb.
But still, albeit more aware, he continues to explain, resulting in Sophia distancing herself farther, and Leon more rarely spouting some of his usual reports.
But as the sun went down, and it got darker as the time passed, Leon came over, holding two finger on his lips.
This sudden non-verbal gesture made them immediately alarmed.
But not Bjorn, who still talked in his usual tone about different effects poisons can have depending in what doses one consumes then.
"Shhhhh!" came the hiss of Sophia, followed by a quick light whack on the back of his head. He went silent, rubbing his head and looked at her as if she kicked a dog.
Leon came even closer, waving his hand, motion them to get closer.
"We soon have to make a camp for tonight, and I bet no one of us wants to sleep in the open or build shelter.
But I may have found something."
He pointed towards a small hill, covered by dense ever green vegetation. The trees and bushed made it hard to see what's behind.
" I found some kobold tracks, not more than 10 and quite shallow. They wander around here frequently, and to this time should be in their lair. What do you say?"
His first hurdle was the okay from the employer, as he had to decide whether to take the risk or not.
"It gets quite late, and we found till now no better option." he whispered, thinking about the pros and cons.
"Additionally Kobolds like to gather different herbs and fruits. Are you confident in taking them out safely?"
"We are three people, two with experience, and his weapon won't be decoration, either." As if on command, Mikael took his hammer by the neck, holding it downwards and ready, should they advance.
"He seems ready. And Kobolds aren't really a challenge, and from the wildlife I saw they shouldn't have any evolved amongst them. Even if there were twenty, we can take them on."
Bjorn took a look at Sophia, who began to put on leather gloves, the sheathed shortsword on her lap.
Then Mikael, who, albeit nervously whipping his weapon, showed no objection.
" Then I think we can dare it."
"Good. And Mikael, I know you can't have much experience hitting creatures with that, but trust me. These are just monsters, and they won't hesitate to tear you apart, biting chunks out of you, so don't hesitate either. Clear?"
These words spoken, Mikael swallowed a nervous clump that arose in him back down,mentally preparing himself.
He exhaled and inhaled deeply, looking straight into Leon's eyes.
"Lets do this."