That night—
The stars twinkled.
The night sky was unexpectedly bright, adorned with starlight and moonlight. This was a starry view Nolan had never seen in his previous life, not even in the countryside.
Crackling, crackling!
The firewood in the bonfire ignited, making crackling sounds as the flames danced.
Enfilea sat by the bonfire, holding a few herbs and studying them, sniffing them occasionally, and even taking a bite to taste.
Grandma Lizzie stood by the carriage not far away, checking the condition of the herbs on board.
Among the 'Rock' team, only Dosaari, the captain, and Land, the elder of the twins, stood on the periphery as guards.
The remaining two had gone to scout the surrounding environment.
They were currently camping in the wilderness.
According to Captain Dosaari's reminder, there was a village not far from their location where they could lodge.
However.
Grandma Lizzie refused, as she didn't want to take a detour.
Since there was a box of relatively valuable herbs purchased from the capital on the carriage that needed to be refined in E-Rantel as soon as possible, they chose the fastest route.
Because of this, they skipped some towns along the way.
Such a choice by the client would undoubtedly increase the dangers on the road, and under normal circumstances, it would naturally cause dissatisfaction among the adventurer team.
Ultimately!
The client and the adventurer team are only in a cooperative relationship. If the client does anything during the mission that the adventurers cannot accept, the adventurers can naturally stop the commission midway.
However, this would require paying a considerable sum of money to the Adventurer's Guild.
In a situation like this, where they were both doing hard labor and not following the safe route, an adventurer team would normally have clashed with the client long ago.
Yet!
When the 'Rock' team learned that Grandma Lizzie was the owner of the potion shop in E-Rantel, known as E-Rantel's best alchemist—
Their initial dissatisfaction completely vanished, and they even became much more attentive along the way!
This made Nolan unable to help but sigh that the 'Rock' adventurer team was truly exceptionally pragmatic!
Nolan sat by the bonfire, observing Enfilea's focused movements as he studied the herbs.
Enfilea was currently holding a slender, root-like plant, about the length of a thumb, in his palm, and he took a small bite of it.
In the next moment!
Enfilea spat out the bit he had bitten off: "So it's Bitter Root. The two look completely identical from the outside."
After saying this, Enfilea finally noticed Nolan, who was sitting beside him watching.
"This herb is called Bitter Root. It's identical to this one, Mugwort Root. You can't tell them apart by appearance; you can only distinguish them by taste."
"Their effects are also different. Bitter Root is suitable for brewing wine and has certain detoxifying effects; it's a basic ingredient for making antidotes."
"While Mugwort Root also has a bitter taste, it has an extra hint of sweetness and is suitable as a basic ingredient for healing potions."
Enfilea, who was naturally a bit shy, had his eyes light up when talking about herbs, and his voice became much more confident.
"I see."
Nolan nodded, looking like he was listening intently.
In reality, he just wanted to see if he could acquire the 'Alchemist' profession by learning about herbs.
Currently, there were no prompts on his attribute panel.
"Tang, are you very interested in herbs?" Enfilea's bright blue pupils looked at Nolan.
"I am somewhat interested, indeed." Nolan nodded.
"Hmph!"
Just as Enfilea was about to say something more, a soft snort sounded.
Grandma Lizzie walked over with her hands behind her back, "Enfilea, don't show off your shallow knowledge."
"Tasting with your mouth is the most basic and lowest method of identification. Your nose isn't incapable of smelling!" A stern voice, mixed with a hint of scolding, came.
"I understand, Grandma."
Enfilea lowered his head, speaking with some shame.
Nolan averted his gaze. He didn't know if Grandma Lizzie's scolding of Enfilea was also meant as a warning to him.
In this Another World (otherworld) where knowledge dissemination was clearly restricted—
His actions of asking Enfilea about herb knowledge during this time were indeed a bit inappropriate.
"No need to be nervous."
"Although I am a bit petty, I won't get angry over such a small matter." Grandma Lizzie looked at Nolan and spoke indifferently.
Uh... calling herself petty, even though it was true!
But Nolan, as an outsider, knew that anything he said at this moment would be inappropriate.
"You want to make healing potions just by understanding the characteristics of a few herbs? Don't even think about it."
"Since you have some talent in faith-based magic, don't waste your energy on other things. Knowledge of martial arts or herbs is just a waste of time."
Grandma Lizzie spoke unhurriedly.
Nolan was startled, realizing that she was kindly reminding him. He quickly recovered and said, "Thank you, Lady Baliare."
Hearing Nolan's address—
The wrinkles on Grandma Lizzie's face smoothed out considerably; she seemed quite pleased with this address.
"Baliare" was her surname.
Nolan had learned this when he was talking to Enfilea, though he already knew it.
Thump! Thump!
Two sets of footsteps came from the wilderness.
It was the twin brother Lel and the archer Basque, who had left to scout the surroundings a short while ago.
As the two returned, the expressions on the faces of the other two members of the 'Rock' team subtly relaxed.
"Oink... oink."
A weak groan came from behind Lel.
There he was.
Lel was carrying a wild boar weighing over 200 jin, looking remarkably at ease: "Good luck, caught a wild boar. We have dinner tonight."
"An arrow pierced its brow? It's not dead yet."
"Hey, Basque, your archery has improved again."
Land put his hands on his hips, looking at the wild boar his brother was carrying, especially the visible blood hole on its forehead.
"Just a wild boar." Basque said with a light chuckle.
Thump!
Lel walked to the bonfire and threw the wild boar off his back onto the ground with a dull thud.
"Tang, it still has one breath left."
Lel grinned at Nolan, then pointed a finger at a spot on the boar's neck: "Strike here, and you can kill it with one blow."
"Thank you." Nolan rose from the bonfire and walked towards the wild boar, which lay on the ground with only a breath left.
Since Grandma Lizzie needed to return to E-Rantel as quickly as possible, although the route chosen was faster, they couldn't rest in towns.
Grandma Lizzie had naturally planned the route well in advance, so she was prepared and didn't lack food, but this evidently didn't include the 'Rock' team and Nolan.
Therefore!
Besides conserving their own food, the 'Rock' team also hunted to acquire food and provisions, which was clearly not a problem for adventurers.
During this process—
Nolan mentioned that if possible, he would like to deliver the final blow to any captured game.
His stated reason was—
He had thoughts of becoming an adventurer, but he hadn't seen bloodshed before, so he wanted to get used to it in advance.
And regarding this explanation—
The 'Rock' team had no suspicions whatsoever.
Because Nolan really didn't look like an adventurer; even the lowest-level adventurers would carry some tools when traveling long distances, but Nolan had no awareness of this at all.
They might doubt their strength, but they could still discern this much experience.
So—
The 'Rock' team didn't hesitate at all. During this time, whenever they caught a beast, they would keep it alive for Nolan to kill.
Swish!
Nolan drew his short sword from his waist and walked beside the wild boar, which lay on the ground, its body still twitching slightly.
Without the slightest hesitation, he raised his short sword and thrust it into the part of the wild boar that Lel had just mentioned.