“So, you think we’re going to find bandits or monsters first?” a guard of the Albrinters asks.

  “I hope for neither. I am ready for both.” a knight from the capital responds.

  “Yeah, but which one is first?” the guard asks.

  “I am not clairvoyant.” the knight says.

  “Okay, in your experience and with your personal feelings, what do you think we will or would encounter first?” guard asks with insistence.

  “Ugh! Townsy hill billy. Alright, a monster.” the knight finally snaps.

  “Hey! I’m not a hill billy!!!”

  A caravan of knights and guards marches through a stone paved road in the rain. Most people sat in wagons with bonnets shielding it’s occupants from the rain. There are also carriages that are built with sturdy roofs. Then there are knights and others who are riding on horseback. The horseback riders are only afforded cowls and cloaks to protect them from the rain.

  Ren was riding in a wagon. She was seated and still as a statue. Some of the servants, guards and knights that are sitting in the wagon too. They gossip and talk about normal topics.

  “You read any good light novels?”

  “Yeah, I’ve been reading about this one. It’s about wizards using a children’s card game to steal souls or something stupid.”

  “Ugh, my son tests my soul everyday. Hope my wife can manage him while I’m away.”

  “Actually, mine is into that story about the children’s card game and wizards taking souls.”

  “Ugh, gods. Those easterners are making card games dangerous.”

  “When was the last time anyone here has seen a real play. Like, a real play with the classics. Not those actors from the east.”

  “Gods, my kids are obsessed with those.”

  “Is that what my boyfriend was asking me out to watch?”

  “Hey, if you want, I have a brother who had his heart crushed by a girl. If you want to dump him, I can hook you up. It’ll be easy to hook him in with the way he is now.”

  “Poor guy got betrayed by his girl, and now his brother.”

  “Hey! I’m setting him up for success!”

  The caravan marches on as they gossip. Ren took no part in the discussion. There were already plenty of voices in her head. Instead just kept her composure. This first day was honestly, fairly boring. When it was getting time to take a break, the rain did not stop. The plan was to stop at a camping spot popular for travelers on the road. The problem now is that it had been raining for the entirety of the day. This makes the camping spot a bit muddy.

  “Well, this could be a problem.” Luard says. “How many shovels do we have?”

  “Not enough for all this.” Lutz says.

  “It’s okay, I have magic.” Ren says.

  Ren finds a mount that seems decently leveled above the mud.

  “Stone Wall.”

  At those words, massive stones are conjured beneath the mud and shoot upwards as massive walls. The mud also explodes around it to coat people in that mud.

  “Whoops.” Ren says.

  People caught in the mud blast begin to wipe mud from their face.

  “Well, I think we can probably use this somehow.” a knight caked in mud says. “Nothing to do but get to work.”

  Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  While arduous, the task of setting up a camp for the night was completed successfully without any further issues. Where circumstance gave way to disaster, magic was used to circumvent such issues. Where magic failed, some good old fashioned effort succeeded. The task was completed and camp was made for the rainy night with little issue beyond the one that Ren caused. Soon it gives way to a quiet night.

  “Gods, this rain hasn’t stopped at all today.” a guard complains.

  “At least the trip was quiet. No roaming bandit clans or monsters.” a knight says.

  “Yeah. I suppose so.” the guard says back.

  Guards and knights on watch sit beneath a linen camp awning. They idle the time away in a bid to maintain security on the camp.

  “Hey, you hear about that dangerous monster they made up north?”

  “No. No I have not.”

  “Yeah, so up north in the Razneck Empire, they did some weird magic stuff and now a monster escaped a lab and wreaked havoc. I heard it was going south towards us.”

  “Ah. I see.”

  A moment of silence passes between the two gossipers. That silence is soon broken when a massive figure impacted into the muddy camp ground behind the two. The landing force shoots mud in every direction. The guard and knight are flung forward. In a panic they wipe away the mud covering their eyes and look around. It was dark out. Looking over the source of the impact, they only see a vague shape from torches and other fires on the ground. From those fires they saw clawed feet and glimmering scales. They couldn’t see anything looking up until a flash of lightning struck to light the figure’s visage. The flash of lightning passes and the roar of thunder follows.

  “OH SHIT!!!” a guard shouts.

  The guard hurriedly grabs at the whistle around their neck and blows into it. It would be a miracle if anyone wasn’t woken up by the impact, first thunder of the night or the guard’s scream. Even if such a miracle did occur, the guard blows on a whistle to signal immediate danger. Everyone from guards and knights to servants peek out from their tents, covered wagons or carriages. As they all gaze at this figure, it finally lets out a monstrous roar. The second flash of lightning today reveals more of this figure. It was difficult to make out the color with the fire’s glow and brief lightning strikes, but the figure seems to be a dull sort of orange color.

  “Please tell me that’s not it.” a knight says. “That’s not the weird magic monster, is it?”

  In a panic, everyone who was armed grabbed a weapon. Those who choose to sleep in their armor dash out. A hail of gunfire came from musketeers with a shoot first, ask questions later sort of mentality. The musket balls vanish in the darkness. The musketeers who fired them are unsure if they even hit. As they do, Ren peaks out from the covered wagon where she was assigned to sleep. In the dark, no one sees where she pulls a musket from. Ren lines up a shot and fires at the figure, joining the scattered attacks. Within her head, the Hit Marker skill showed her and the voices that she had hit something with her musket ball.

  While everyone was questioning what the figure was or if shooting the figure achieved anything, a third lightning strike came down. It strikes the figure. A direct lightning strike only managed a dull thump against the figure. Strange lights begin to run along the length of this form. Finally a mage steps out and casts a spell to reveal the dark figure.

  “Light!”

  A magical light shines around the figure. The span of this figure’s leathery wings flung out to the size of a barnhouse for each wing. It stood on four legs and revealed a reptilian head with a headcrest. Below that were two reptilian eyes. But where you would expect a reptile’s snout, there is instead an elephant’s trunk covered in orange reptile scales. There were no tusks or floppy ears, but a row of sharp teeth still drew breath below it. Along it’s back were ridges or humps of some kind. Sparks of lightning lanced off of them and glowed. It all ended in a long and thick tail with what looks like a spiked mace at it’s end.

  “What the hells is that?” someone in the dark asked.

  The strange beast gave a roar. Everyone plugged their ears as best as they can and the magical light vanished.

  “No way! An anti-magic roar?”

  “Get away!”

  “No! Stand together!”

  “Where! I can’t see!”

  “Someone cast a new light spell!”

  “Over here! Over here!”

  Someone in the dark grabbed a torch and waved it around in the dark. The rain wasn’t helping. Ren and the voices in her head can only vaguely see the figure in the fire’s light. Ren swiftly and deftly loaded her musket again. She lined up to shoot at the figure and pulled the trigger. Unfortunately, nothing happened.

  “Ren, what are you doing?” a voice called out to her. “I know I’m a musket shill, but even they don’t work in this rain. Water dampens black powder. Even worse in strong winds.”

  “Oh.” Ren says in her blank tone.

  Ren stows her musket away in the dark. She then points a hand out at the figure.

  “Chain Lightning.”

  Lightning shoots from her hand. As it does, more magic lights shoot up the monster. The monster roars and all magic heading towards it vanishes. Even Ren’s spell.

  “Damn it! I can’t get a spell off!”

  “What’s it doing! I still can’t see it!”

  The sound of a massive object cutting through the air rings out.

  “Someone do something!”

  At those words, a heavy gust of wind blows through the camp. Mud is tossed up into the air.

  “It did something! It just did something!”

  “Light!”

  Another spell lights up the camp. Where there was once a strange figure, there is now nothing but a crater with crushed, lopsided tents and stone walls.

  “What in the world was that?” Velaura Albrinter asked.

  Velaura was caked in mud and was knocked to her back at some point during the chaos. Luard pulled himself from the mud not too far from Velaura.

  “This is the first time seeing it for myself, but I know about it.” Luard says. “That was Krosstetch the Warped Wyvern. A horrid monster and failed magic experiment of the Razneck Empire up north. Now it plagues us.”

  “What happened? Why did it attack us?” a servant asked.

  “That I don’t know.” Luard says. “Check for casualties! Missing people!”

  “Yes, Chancellor!” a knight says.

  “Uh, sure.” a guard says.

  Both the guard and knight wade through the newly upset mud. For the rest of the night, everyone was scrambling after this supposed monster attack. When a full head count and inventory had concluded, everyone was surprised by the outcome.

  “So! Nobody got hurt. Everyone got muddy, but that’s nothing new. No one is even missing, despite one guy running for the hills. A lot of our supplies and equipment were smashed, but that’s mostly manageable. It’s just that…” the guard hesitates for a moment. “Well, the rear wagon was smashed. We did a whole search and tried to recover everything. We got most everything from the rear cart back. It’s just that… well… all 4 powder kegs are missing.”

  Most of the people taking stock of the situation shook their heads before giving the guard a hard stare.

  “Wait, what?” Perschale Albrinter asks.

  “NO! YOU CAN’T BE SERIOUS!!!” Sardon was much more emotionally hurt by the news.

  “O- okay.” Lutz Albrinter says. “So a monster attacked us. And the only damage we suffered was a smashed wagon and all our black powder stored in bulk is gone?”

  “I don’t know what to tell you, sir.” the guard shrugged his shoulders.

  “What the hells is a monster doing with our powder kegs?”