I picked over the burnt ruins of the bandit camp, hoping to find anything of interest. I'd pocketed some food from their storage hut before my attack, and I had my daggers, coins, clothes, bottles, backpack and few jewelled rings I'd taken from Leo's hut, but that seemed like rather slim pickings for an entire bandit camp. There was some stuff that had survived the fires, but it wasn't as if I could lug furniture around with me. Even a spear seemed rather heavy and unwieldy to be traipsing through a forest with. I was better off travelling light, so all I took were some more coins I found, along with some minor sundries, like a random spool of string. One thing I did want, now that I had more time, was to get into Leo's locked chests.

  Alas, someone had beaten me to them.

  Both chests had been broken open through judicious application of violence, if their state was anything to go by. Whatever their contents had been, they were gone. That was a pity; given that there was still copious amounts of jewellery hanging around in the ruins of his hut, the chest contents must have been good if someone had taken them. Or perhaps it was simply an issue with jewellery not being fungible.

  Given how they'd been smashed open, it seemed likely that my pursuers had been the thieves.

  Now that I'd shaken them, was I going to get more pursuers from the local count? I probably should have spent more time figuring out what the deal with this canton was. From what the bandits had claimed, the count had mines, run by slaves, and he didn't care where the slaves came from. And if people like these bandits didn't have any for sale, he took the kids of the locals? That seemed... unsustainable.

  Regardless, while his behaviour irked me, it wasn't as if I could do anything about it. Seeing Leo and my pursuer fight, followed by my own fights with the bandits, had made a number of important points clear. Firstly, if I tried fighting anyone with a combat orientated Skill build, I would die. Secondly, if anyone got the drop on me and attacked before I could react, I would die. Thirdly, if I got into a fair fight against someone with higher physical Stats, or experience at fighting, I would die. Fourthly, I was bloody lucky that none of those things had happened thus far.

  Not that I regretted picking a fight with the bandits. The slavers needed to be stopped. No way could I deal with the count himself, so perhaps I hadn't actually done anything to improve matters, averaged over the scale of the kingdom, but hopefully the problem would be better confined to those of this canton.

  ... Phrasing it like that made the victory seem bitter indeed.

  It was unlikely any more bandits would return to this place, given all the smoke making it obvious the place had been destroyed. In fact, there was a chance it would attract attention from others, innocent or otherwise. It was time I left.

  I wanted out of this canton. Mum had advised moving several, and given what I'd heard about the count, this place didn't seem to have any attractive qualities. On the other hand, from what I'd seen at the border of the forest, there was nothing I could forage there for food. The land had been desolate. I could march a few days on what I'd taken from the bandits, but if I didn't find a new food supply by then, I'd experience difficulties.

  It was a pity the bandit leader didn't have the decency to keep a map in his hut. I suppose, being local, he knew his way around.

  I could return to the edge of the forest and then skirt around it, hoping that the north or south edges would cross into another canton, but even if they did, they were likely to border Cargellen Canton. Maybe entering one and then crossing it would be safer than crossing Harvent Canton, but I still had food issues, and winter was drawing near. With my looted currency, perhaps I could buy food in villages. It would depend if they had any spare; no-one could eat coins.

  I was seriously hampered by my lack of geographical knowledge.

  It was tempting to dump more stat points into Reasoning, but that wouldn't magically gift me with knowledge of the surrounding cantons, their borders and their circumstances.

  It was also tempting to spend my skill points, especially now that I'd searched the camp and come up empty for skill crystals.

  I could max out [Expert Stealth]. I knew B-rank Skills couldn't be obtained from simple evolution—hence why us serfs were only expected to get [Expert Farming] to the fifth stage and then we were left free to spend our skill points as we wished—but there was always the chance I'd find some way to advance it further. Plus, it would be helpful if the local count decided to send anyone after me.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  On the other hand, [Expert Foraging] might let me survive the winter. I even had the option of dumping the points into [Fishing] now that I had sufficient gear to craft myself some kit to fish with.

  No, it was best to hold on to them for now. If I had food issues, I'd spend them on [Adept Foraging] or [Fishing]. If I had reason to believe I was being tailed again, I'd max out [Expert Stealth]. Until I needed them, they were best saved. I'd head back to the Harvent Canton edge of the forest, then head south, hugging the forest edge. South was chosen over north simply on account of the approaching winter, which would be less harsh further south. Whatever I found there, I found.

  Decision made, I headed out, using the sunlight to keep myself orientated as best as I was able. I wasn't running in a blind panic this time, but I was also taking more care to head in a straight-ish line, so it took the same two-ish hours as the last time to reach the forest edge. The second look once again confirmed the desolate nature of the canton, with little plant-life growing and no sign of human habitation.

  Now that I stopped to consider it, it was odd how the forest just kinda cut off. Yes, the last few lines of trees were somewhat scraggly compared to the deeper growth, but there was still a rather stark cut-off from green growth to grey rock. Was this canton just naturally barren?

  Heading south for a few more hours didn't change anything. It was only after a few further hours of walking the following day that I spotted a village. Not that I'd seen it from inside the forest, where I was walking to avoid being easily spottable by anyone outside, but rather I was given a clue when the forest gave way to a wide patch of tree stumps.

  The place was surrounded by a palisade, very much like the bandit camp. Heck, maybe the 'village' was a bandit camp—it wasn't as if they advertised. The wood for building it had obviously been taken from here. The odd thing was that the land was still barren. No fields surrounded the village, nor could I see pens of livestock. The ground was stone, with no sign of soil. What was the village doing there? How did they feed themselves? Was it a woodcutting camp? But while the path of felled trees was big, it wasn't big enough for the village to make a living by selling it.

  This canton really made no sense. Or perhaps it made perfect sense, and my common sense had simply been stunted by a life spent in a single village or a single canton.

  Part of the answer came as I watched, with a group of three villagers leaving the treeline a little ahead of me, carrying a dead boar between them. Hunters. I'd run into so little wildlife in the forest—goblins and bugs excluded—that I hadn't considered hunting. Given that the hunters looked a little on the thin side, it seemed likely that the forest didn't have enough of a population to support them. At least, not fully.

  A part of me was tempted to call out, to question them on the local geography and how much further it was to the edge of the canton. My Reasoning pointed out that it was a dangerous idea. There were three of them, and they obviously had the skills or Skills to bring down a boar. That implied weapons, too, and two of them were visibly carrying bows. I'd already seen that people of this canton put themselves above outsiders. Interacting with them could very likely prove deadly. I waited for them to pass, instead, and then I continued my journey south.

  It was approaching evening when the forest edge abruptly curved away to the left, leaving me with the choice of breaking cover or turning back east. The land to the south was just as barren as the rest of the canton, while tall mountains stabbed out of the horizon and into the sky.

  That wasn't ideal. I could fill my pack with food from the forest before setting off, but there would be little [Expert Stealth] could do to hide me as I crossed the flat, desolate landscape. Then I'd need to cross the mountains without having any idea of what was on the other side.

  The alternative was moving back north, but I'd already spent a day travelling south. I'd need to waste another day retreading my path, then however much longer finding the forest's northern edge. And, once I got there, I might find myself facing a situation no better than this one.

  The mountains were peaked with snow, but I was fairly sure I could see patches of green. That was enough for me; green meant food.

  I spent the evening harvesting whatever food I could find that would last a few days, and even found a pleasantly clear stream to refill my water bottles. Maybe, once I crossed the mountains, I'd be willing to risk lighting a fire and put my [Cooking] Skill to use. I'd taken some jerky and dried fruit from the bandits, but that would keep, so I was saving it, instead eating a diet that consisted mostly of fruit and berries, and it was leaving me distressingly regular.

  The next morning—having spent a night without my snoring attracting a single bandit—I left the cover of the forest and began a steady jog over the rocky plains. I'd considered travelling at night, the darkness giving [Expert Stealth] more ammunition to work with, but my Reasoning advised that I'd be better off sleeping under the cover of darkness instead. The plains held no shelter, and there was nowhere safe to hide during the day. While awake, I could react to being discovered. While asleep, I was defenceless.

  And so the mountains drew closer as the sun wheeled across the sky. Water risked becoming a concern; there was no sign of river or spring anywhere on the flat, rocky ground. I was sure I had enough to reach the mountains, though. I hadn't been able to see their base, even by climbing a tree back in the forest, but they couldn't be more than another day away.

  The trip seemed to be going well. Too well, in fact, which was why I found myself unsurprised when glancing behind me, I saw a moving cloud of dust on the horizon. I queried [Expert Stealth], but it came up empty. The land was completely flat for miles around. It was grey in colour, and I was wearing black. Even dumping my skill points into it wouldn't be able to help. I hunched over, making myself as small as possible in the hopes that they remained too far away to notice me, but it soon became obvious that while their path didn't take them directly over the top of me, they were still going to pass close by. Hoof-beats sounded in the distance, and the cloud of dust resolved itself into individual horses. At least a dozen of them, and they weren't wild; each had a human rider.

  Their path curved toward me, making it obvious not only that I'd been seen, but they'd taken an active interest.

  "Poo," I muttered as I came to a halt. Best to face them with as much of my Stamina available as possible.