Lyn sat under the shade of a tree, cooking some meat over a small fire that she made, using dried branches she had gathered from her surroundings.
She took a sip of water from the bottle Reed had gifted her, and sighed.
'God this is boring.'
The mountain had disappeared from view, meaning that she was nowhere near it.
The meat she was cooking was from a three-meter-tall deer she had decapitated.
Her journey had been uneventful, except for some weak creatures that had caught sight of her, so she was quite bored.
The meat was done, so she picked it up and took a bite.
'I should have listened.'
Reed had suggested keeping condiments with her 'just in case' and had simply shrugged that suggestion, after all, they were right next to a city and they weren't traveling, and she was regretting that decision now.
She took another bite.
'I wonder how he's doing?'
At that moment, Reed was looking at the corpse of a giant bull, sitting on the seat of his vehicle with the engine off.
It had a large gash in its side, along with a dozen bruises over its body.
He got off his bike and walked up to it. He inspected its wounds and came to the conclusion that the attack that had killed it had been made of wind magic.
'The wound is straight, and if it had been done by a blade, the blood spatter would have been obstructed. Water magic would have left marks on the ground, and earth magic would have been much blunter.'
'The wound is very clean, if a blade had exited, it would done additional damage at its exit point. Fire and lighting are out of the question.'
He stepped back to admire the corpse.
'Quite a specimen.'
He removed one of its two-meter-long horns and put it away. He also took away a part of its still-fresh meat.
He looked at faint disturbances in the soil made by two pairs of feet leading into the distance.
'Two people...'
Reed looked into the distance and wondered if he should follow the trail.
It didn't stray him too far from his path, and it was possible that he could gain something from them.
'The corpse is still fresh, and there doesn't seem to be any large threat if they struggled with this.'
Reed decided to follow the trail, he got on his bike and revved the engine before taking off.
As it turns out, they hadn't gone very far at all.
Reed's radar picked them up just five minutes after he had started following them.
He put away his bike and walked towards their position so as not to give them any information.
As he drew closer, his eyes glowed blue under his helmet as he perceived their current actions.
One of them was sitting on the ground as the other attended to his wounds.
They were both wearing light armor, without helmets. They were both black-haired, and of a fairly muscular build.
Reed did not hide himself as he walked up to them openly.
He was seventy meters away when one of them noticed him and called out to his partner.
By the time he was fifty meters away, they were both holding swords and looking at him.
Reed stopped thirty meters away.
"Mind if I come closer?" Reed called to them as he analyzed their actions.
They whispered something between themselves.
'Fear, uncertainty, and hope?'
"You got any food?" One of them called out.
Suddenly, the hope made sense.
"I do, but I won't be giving it for free."
Reed pulled out a half-full box and walked forwards, showing its contents to them.
The one on the left tightened his grip.
Reed looked at him and put the box away.
"Don't do anything stupid." Reed turned his head towards his face and spoke.
"Hand over the box and we'll let you leave." The man didn't listen to Reed's warning, hunger clouding his mind.
The other one seemed a little uncomfortable with the situation.
Before they could react, Reed summoned his pistols and aimed at them.
"Don't make any stupid decisions." He warned them.
They froze when his guns appeared.
"Tell me what I want and I'll give it to you, don't make me beat the answers out of you."
They didn't move a muscle.
"Now, I'm going to put my guns away, and we can talk this out like civilized people."
The guns disappeared, and they didn't attempt to attack him.
"Let me heal that." Reed gestured to the one on the right, who seemed like the calmer one of the two.
The left one growled in distrust, but the offer was quietly accepted.
"What do you want to know?" The one having his shoulder healed asked.
"How did you enter the event together?"
"Hm?"
'How did he know?' The question might as well have been spoken aloud for how obviously it was written on his face.
'The trust between you two is quite obvious, and trust isn't formed overnight.' Reed answered the unspoken question in his own thoughts.
"Don't ask." Reed shut down the question that was about to emerge from the other's mouth before a sound was made.
"Just answer the question."
Their hostility had ceased with Reed's show of goodwill.
They looked at each other and the other shrugged.
"We held hands and clicked on the button together."
Reed thought about it as he finished healing the man's shoulder.
"I see, thank you." He brought out the box and handed it to them.
"I can give you more if you have something to offer." Reed offered another deal as they opened it and looked at its contents.
"Really!" They sounded hopeful, but the calmer one grimaced.
"But... I don't know what we can give you."
Reed was quick to soothe the concerns.
"Any books containing useful information, any items you don't know the use for, any information that could interest me, etc. As long as I find it interesting or useful, I'll give you more food."
They thought about it for a moment.
"You got any books?" The calm one asked his companion, who shook his head.
He muttered something and brought out a book.
He offered it to Reed who took it and read the cover.
'The basics of blacksmithing?'
A panel popped up.
[Would you like to learn 'Blacksmithing?]
Reed blinked.
'It's a skill book!'
He looked at the person who had given it to him.
"Are you sure?" he asked.
He received a shrug in response.
"I'm not interested in that, and the food you'll give me will allow us to travel more, and that will get us better rewards."
His reasoning made sense, but Reed still thought it a little stupid.
'This skill could prove useful in many situations.'
Reed mentally shook his head, put the book away, and brought out a piece of meat he had taken from their earlier kill.
He brought out a few dry branches and set them down.
He prepared the meat as the two looked at him in silence.
A minute later, he put the meat on the fire, then got up from the ground and brought out two bottles of water.
He tossed those to them and pulled out a small salt sprinkler.
"Here."
"Turn it over after five minutes, and let the other side cook for six. After that, it's ready to eat."
With that said, he turned around and prepared to leave.
"Thank you." he heard the other one say.
Reed raised an arm in response, not looking back.