"I'll be back in a minute, Isaac." Druak said as he followed behind Iris who walked to a small bush away from Isaac.
After leaving with Iris they continued walking until they were a good distance away from Isaac. After going around some wildlife Iris finally asked what she had been wanting to ask for quite some time. "Why did you help me. And what are you after."
Druak was slightly thrown off by the question but he had kind of expected something like this so he wasn't at all surprised, and merely thought she would ask the question so abruptly.
Druak rubbed his head for a second and after thinking for a moment finally answered Iris's question. "It's because I wanted to."
Now it was time for Iris to be thrown off. "Wait what… Is that the only reason you saved me."
"Well. It's not the only reason, but there's no ill intent so you don't have to worry." Druak had looked towards Iris as he spoke and noticed the habit that she always had when she wasn't sure of someone. She would always cross both her arms and the stronger the grip she had on her arm the less she trusted someone, luckily for Druak it seemed she only slightly didn't trust him.
Letting out a sigh she responded. "Haaa. If that's all you want to say, that's fine… Anyway, no matter what your motive was, the least I can do is say thank you for saving me back there."
"Is there anything else you want to ask."
"No. I think it's best if I don't ask too many questions, and I hope you'll do the same." Iris said as she turned around and slowly walked away.
Druak looked toward Iris who was now walking away and gently smiled as he muttered. "It's the least I can do after you did so much for me."
The vision of Iris from Druak's past life slowly appeared as Iris walked away. It was an image of a one armed Iris covered in scars and looked as if she had fought countless battles. Druak recalled the first time he met Iris and how she faced off against over 100 soldiers, saving both him and his troop.
'This time it will be me saving you.' Druak nodded his head. "Now's not the time to reminisce." He then proceeded to walk back to the camp, not far behind Iris.
As Druak came back he was greeted by Isaac who had been busy setting up a campfire and had already started cooking up the meat of the leopard they had hunted in the past. This was a lucky find as it was one of the few animals which didn't have poisonous meat as all of its poison abilities were stored within its horn.
Just as Druak sat down Iris asked. "Where'd you find a monster which doesn't have poison in its body. I thought only monsters at the bottom of the mountain were like that."
Isaac chuckled as he responded. "Ha ha ha. That's because we did get it at the bottom of the mountain. In fact, it wasn't even that long ago, Druak probably still has the wounds from it."
Druak face dropped onto his hand as his face palmed. 'This idiot. Barely anyone knows about the secret path up the mountain and you've just revealed we know of that path. Guess it's not too bad since it's Iris, but I should probably teach Isaac to be more careful.'
"Wait. How'd you get up here so fast then. It's meant to take almost a week just to climb this mountain and you're saying it wasn't that long ago when you were at the bottom of it."
Iris seemed slightly flustered by this as when she was with her other party they said there weren't any shortcuts. This of course wasn't true as Druak and Isaac had already seen the two use the shortcut, so they probably took the long route just to ware Iris down, or at least that's what Druak was this
Iris looked toward Druak for answers, as she thought out of the two she was with he was the most knowledgeable. "So you're gonna tell me the shortcut or not." She asked rather aggressively.
"Now that's the Iris I know." Druak muttered before speaking clearly. "There's a shortcut that leads halfway up the mountain, but it's hidden by a load of vines so not many know of it. You end up helping us with our mission. I'll be more than happy to show you where it is."
'Having a shortcut all the way up this mountain could be a massive advantage for later hunters. But can I trust them, and is it worth the time I'll need to get that information.' After thinking of the advantages and disadvantages Iris decided depending on the answer to her next question, she would either follow them or leave.
"What's your mission and how long are you planning to take."
'Iris didn't beat around the bush and went straight to the point. Guess that's just who she is.' Druak looked at Iris and then responded with a smile. "We're after the Ghost poison flower and it's meant to appear in a little over a week, so…."
Druak was cut off by the shocked Iris who shouted. "Ghost flower. Are you insane. That flower is coveted by nearly any nature type class. And I've even heard that a 3rd stager is looking for it, and has already reached the peak."
Druak shrugged his shoulders. "So you coming or not."
Iris looked at Druak with a face full of shock, but at the same time a maniac smile peaked out of her face and she couldn't help but respond by saying. "Of course, I'm in."
Druak looked at Iris as a similar maniac smile appeared. 'Damn you. It's all your fault I got this habit. But at least I know you're still the same as in my past life.'
The first time Druak met Iris was on the battlefield, during the war between the Rose and the Argonaut kingdom. At the time Druak thought that Iris was just someone that had fought the 100 soldiers just to save her comrades, this was of course partly true but Druak later learned Iris's habits and learned that she would always have this maniac smile whenever she found someone interesting and would do anything to learn more about them.
Iris had also been a half-elf so she had always been hated by the elves who only cared for purebloods, so she had to learn incredibly quickly how to survive against stronger beings. This led her to develop greatly in her skills and she became very adept at fighting stronger stage beings, which is also why she seemed fine with facing a 3rd stager.
After they finished discussing the matters of the ghost flower all three of them ended up talking for a bit as they ate the leopard they had cooked. Isaac had made a few jokes towards Iris but after getting an intimidating glare from her he stopped and became much more docile, which both shocked and entertained Druak.
Now that everyone was finished with what they had been eating Druak said. "It's getting late. We should probably get to sleep. I'll take the first watch so you two should just head to sleep."
Both of them said, "That sounds good." Before walking into their tents.
Just before entering her tent Iris looked back and said. "I really am thankful for your help earlier. "She smiled toward Druak before entering her tent.
'Damn. This is the most I've ever seen her smile. It feels a little weird, but I'm glad she won't have to go through what she went through after losing her arm in her past life.
Druak began his watch unknowing of the dangers that were slowly encircling them.
A few metres from the camp the eyes of a visions predator were busy stalking its prey, its green skin making it almost impossible to see. Making its almost impossible to see body even harder to see the creature became almost completely invisible as it used its lesser camouflage. This creature, however, wasn't alone as not long after it disappeared so too did another and another, as slowly they went ever closer to Druak and his companion's camp.
Unaware of the danger that was slowly surrounding them, Druak decided now would be the perfect time to take out some of the plants he had gained and put them to use.
"For now I can only improve a very small amount of potions that have already been brewed. If I want to start making my own potions I need to get the alchemist subclass so I can gain alchemy fire. It would also be nice to get the blacksmith subclass but without the resources, I should probably prioritise alchemy and go for blacksmithing a bit later."
As he was using this time to think of what he should do next, almost an entire hour had passed, and just as he was about to get to make something he suddenly heard the sound of a twig breaking. Turning around he was greeted by 5 monsters which had utterly surrounded their camp.