After the recent chaos, the two were in no mood to roam the wilderness any longer. They simply returned to the cave where they'd camped the day before and settled in again.
On the way back, Kase covered their tracks.
He might have his issues in combat, but when it came to Survival, he was a true-blue Half-Orc Totem Warrior. It was practically impossible for goblins to track them to their hiding place.
"I really didn't expect the crude bandages we made before setting out would actually come in handy," Colin flexed his shoulder.
Though the arrow wound had been treated, it still throbbed with a dull ache.
The good news was that he didn't feel any signs of poison, so the Antidote must have worked.
Plus, the goblin arrowheads weren't barbed, so pulling it out hadn't caused much secondary damage. The wound itself wasn't too large, either.
"How are your wounds?" Colin asked, looking at Kase, who was sitting to one side.
"I can take it," Kase said dismissively.
The Half-Orc was also wrapped in thick bandages; the goblins had stabbed him a few times with their Short Spears.
Colin, however, thought the Half-Orc's injuries didn't look that serious. At least, judging by the amount of blood, Kase was in much better shape than he was.
"Fine. Let's collect the traps tomorrow and head back. I, for one, can't take any more of this. We'll just eat cold today, lest we start a fire and let that pack of goblins find us."
With that, Colin tore open a bag, pulled out a sausage and some bread, and handed them to Kase.
He took a bite of the sausage himself.
The cold sausage tasted greasy and was so salty it made his tongue ache.
The bread wasn't much better. After two bites, Colin found he couldn't chew through it. He had to use his knife to cut off a piece, stick it in his mouth, and take a sip of water just to feel it slowly start to soften.
"To be honest, I never want to do a trip like this again."
"Just think about these two bags of herbs we're holding," Kase said. "Maybe we'll even look back on this trip fondly someday."
After they hastily finished their meal, Colin pulled over the package he'd snatched from the goblins.
It was about as heavy as his own herb pouch.
He tore it open and, sure enough, the bag was filled with a large pile of herbs.
Colin dumped the contents out onto the ground all at once.
There were far more herbs inside than they had gathered themselves. Most of it was Golden Thistle Grass, along with some Stone Skin Moss and other similar things. 'Looks like the Goblin Tribe must have an Alchemist who can make Potions,' he thought.
After sorting the herbs into piles by type, their total haul from the trip came to about fifteen pounds of Golden Thistle Grass, one pound of Stone Skin Moss, a few smoking Purple Mushrooms, and one of the most expensive items—a single Frost Star Grass.
When Colin added up the value, he was shocked.
All told, the value came to more than a dozen Gold Coins.
He ran the numbers several more times before he was certain he hadn't made a mistake.
Finally, Colin's gaze fell upon the Frost Star Grass.
'Even growing in such barren soil, this herb still looks so delicate. Maybe that's proof of its high value.'
As he looked at the Frost Star Grass, Colin was reminded of that troublemaking Dwarf.
'If I just rely on my Golden Finger to learn new Magic, it seems I can't choose which ones I get... But this herb is worth five Gold Coins. Am I really going to hand it over to that shady Dwarf?'
'Then again, if I were to study at a proper Magic Academy, the tuition for a single semester would be several hundred Gold Coins.'
'If that Dwarf can actually teach, it would be unbelievably cheaper.'
Colin thought for a moment, then glanced at his Panel.
His Casting Proficiency had reached 499 points. He was just one point away from leveling up.
He felt the throbbing pain from his back.
'All things considered, this trip was definitely worth it.'
"How much did we make this trip?" Kase asked.
Colin smiled. "After we split the money, it'll be enough for you to live comfortably in Thousand Masts City for a few months."
"We'd better eat something good when we get back."
"Say... don't you think those goblins were a little strange?" Colin hesitated for a moment before voicing the suspicion nagging at him.
Kase frowned. "What was strange about them?"
"Goblins are lazy and selfish creatures, right?"
"I know those little runts. They'd rather die than lift a finger for a companion. They hate anything that moves and love to torture any living thing," Kase said. "If they weren't so weak on their own, there probably wouldn't be any goblins clustering together at all."
"You also said they return to their nests for the winter. Winter is approaching, and there's a cold snap in the north. This year is bound to be colder and harsher than usual."
Colin continued, "So why are they gathering herbs, instead of hunting or picking berries to prepare for winter?"
Kase paused, lowering his head in deep thought.
"Golden Thistle Grass is used to treat the wounded," Colin said. "So my guess is they're either preparing for war, or there are already a lot of casualties within the tribe."
"Could be that Wolf Pack we ran into a few days ago."
Kase continued, "Remember that big white wolf we ran into a few days back? That's a Winter Wolf. They hate heat and Flame, so most of them live up where I'm from. It's strange for one to be down here."
Discussing such topics in the dark cave gave them both an uneasy feeling.
It was as if they had stumbled into some mysterious entity's conspiracy.
"Even if there is a conspiracy, there's nothing we can do to influence it," Colin said, putting an end to the conversation.
After eating, the two rested in the cave.
After taking turns on watch, the sun rose on the second day as usual.
Despite their injuries, the pair decided to go check on their Beast Traps. Even if they hadn't caught anything, the iron traps themselves were too expensive to just leave behind.
The two made their way through the craggy hills.
Kase had set the traps on a game trail where wolves were likely to appear. Baited with snake guts, the chances of catching something were pretty high.
When they reached the spot, they scanned it from a distance.
The spot where they'd set the trap was bare. There was nothing there.
Colin thought of yesterday's encounter.
He put out a hand to stop Kase, who was about to walk straight over. "Do you think those goblins could have found the traps and set an ambush?"
"Bullshit," Kase said.
"Then what about yesterday, when we ran head-on into a goblin patrol while we were gathering herbs, and neither side spotted the other until it was too late? You don't think that was bullshit?" Colin retorted. "Better to be careful."
Kase sniffed the air. "Fine. Stay close."
The two carefully picked their way up a jumble of rocks, trying to circle around to a vantage point above the trap site.
Before they reached it, a white figure hidden in a rock crevice came into view.
"Goblin's arse!" Kase cursed. "What are the odds?"
Colin looked closer. The white figure was stained with patches of blood red... 'Isn't that the Winter Wolf that attacked the caravan a few days ago!?'
The massive beast kept its body concealed, its eyes fixed on the trap baited with animal entrails.
It was a strange conclusion to jump to, but Colin felt the creature was ambushing the humans who had set the trap—namely, him and Kase.
The memory of the battle from a few days ago still made him shudder.
"Can we run?"
"No escape," Kase said in a low voice. "We came in from upwind on purpose, but a beast like that... it'll eventually catch our scent. Then it'll be a relentless chase to the death."
Colin stared at the terrifying predator, which was about the size of a horse.
Escaping its pursuit across these wide-open hills was pure fantasy.
"So the moment we got here, a fight was inevitable," Colin said with a sigh of resignation. "We really have the worst luck..."
"Good thing I was careful not to leave our scent when I set the trap," Kase muttered. "Otherwise, it would've hunted us down in the cave last night and finished us both."
Colin quickly pulled a Torch from his bag.
'There might be other Wild Wolves lying in ambush nearby.'
At that thought, he pulled the Purple Mushroom from his herb pouch and clenched it between his teeth.
Just then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw the Winter Wolf hidden in the crevice abruptly lift its massive head and look around, as if it had discovered something.
A voice screamed in Colin's mind, 'It's time to make a move!'