The Tales of Draconic Warlock

Once we made a camp for ourselves, we prepared our own food as we did at noon.

There are a lot of foods that we brought with us. Most of them are dry rations that would survive even if they were not stored in space rings, but we did. So, they would last long, but fresh food would rot even while stored in a space ring, though slowly than outside.

So, first we needed to finish the fresh food, such as that stupid fish that we ate at noon.

What kind of fish rots that quickly, even while stored in a space ring?

No wonder there are a lot of those fish available with the merchant. He didn't reveal the issue behind that before we bought them, only after we did so.

How could he scam a customer like that?

Well, they are all like that. So, we have no choice but to go to the known scammer who is less likely to scam a huge amount from you.

I think that was his confidence about never lacking customers.

Though it can't be exported, the fish was available in huge numbers around the city, making it one of the cheapest options for food. So, there would always be many people who eat them as soon as they are brought to the shop.

So, no matter what, he could always have customers.

He knew that we were going on a long journey. Did he recognize that we were not locals and probably wouldn't return?

Is that why he didn't tell us the info until we brought the fish?

I perfectly remember his smug face, with a fake smile and everything. He definitely knows that we are not locals, and he thinks that we won't return. Even if we did, what can we do to him?

Nothing. So, we left, but not before the twins threw a glare at the merchant.

---

After setting up tents for us to sleep in with beds and everything, it's time to eat. Yeah, the work of setting up the tents fell upon me while the twins were busy cooking food.

Why are there two to fry a fish?

We set up our own camp fire near where I started to set up tents, one for each. Though as much as I want to sleep with Angela, we are outside in the wild, where dangers appear out of nowhere.

Moreover, we both kind of slept in a single bed for a week. It's time to have separate beds for a while or beds big enough to support two. I don't want to be suffocated with another person in a single bed.

Anyway, before I set up the three tents for us to sleep in during the night, I was the one who made that campfire for us. They are now using that to grill the fish over it.

What exactly have they done? I have no idea. I could have done that easily.

I told them that I had never set up tents before and whatever knowledge I had was from reading. They said that they would help me, but they escaped, saying that they needed to cook food.

So, I on my own after many tries, had successfuly set up tents, hoping for a good cooked meal, only to be disappointed to see that the food is just a grilled fish. There was a lot of grilled fish, ready to eat and a few more fish on sticks, ready to be grilled.

So much disappointment about the food, but there was nothing I could do about that. So, I ate the grilled fish, which was at least not bad. So, I can accept this as a bribe for now and go to sleep, but in the morning, packing up the things would be their job, not mine.

---

The Next Morning...

Things went without a hitch.

The previous night, nothing bad happened as we thought it would. It was probably because with three caravans present here, there are a lot of adventurers and guards are here too.

Also, this stop is only a day away from Crystal City. If reinforcements were called, they would be here in hours, which might be bad for the bandits.

Unless they were higher in number than the three caravans combined and could suppress us before any possible reinforcements, it's wise not to act against us.

If the leader was an idiot, they might have acted hastily as three caravans means more wealth for them. Since nothing happened, if anyone was following us, then they should be quite intelligent.

Intelligent bandits like that are dangerous and have to concentrate more on looking out for them.

This is giving me a headache. No, not an actual headache. My attributes are too high for such a thing to happen for something so small.

It's the unnecessary stress of thinking about all those possible scenarios.

No matter how much I wanted to curb such thinking, I couldn't achieve that. It's the con of having such high INT.

Hehe, everything has both pros and cons, but I wouldn't change anything. With such a high INT, I am safe as long as I don't face an opponent with special skills that can restrict the attributes of others.

Anyway, it's time to move and I should pack up our things.

Yeah, the twins dumped the work of packing things upon me. When I asked them, they replied that pretty girls shouldn't be doing such things.

So, it became my burden, and there was no room for me to argue either.

I was the one who set up the tents, all on my own. Even though that was my first time setting up a tent, I did my best after a few tries. Now, I have to take them down and pack while they just cooked breakfast as they cooked food last night.

It was just a fried piece of meat, which I am sure I could do myself.

No matter the world, some things don't change.