Amazons lived in simple tents, and their settlement looked like a temporary camp. They had small flocks of sheep and goats. As we found out on the road, amazons did not have permanent vilges. Instead they had temporary pces where they stayed for a few month at a time. They also kept men as sves, who took care of domestic animals. Amazons relied on their sheep and goats mostly for the milk and fleeces, while meat mostly came from hunting. This settlement stayed in one pce for almost a year, because they were charged with keeping an eye on adventurers, and were waiting for our return.

  Trevor looked with pitying eyes on the men, who were guarding the sheep flock, and I whispered to him to keep out of the amazon affairs. We were not here to put an end to the svery, and I was ready to punish Trevor harshly, if he would do something stupid.

  Upon our arrival we were met by an old woman in long, gray dress.

  - Heraldia you have finally returned and brought with you adventurers that are supposed to help us.

  Heraldia jumped of her horse and kneeled before the woman.

  - Yes, holy mother. It was just as you said. These adventurers where expecting us and agreed to stop those sinners.

  - Good, - old woman snapped her fingers, and several skinny men run to us and took the reins of our horses: - Our sves will take care of your animals. In the meantime we can eat and talk.

  We left our horses with sves and followed the holy woman, to one of the rgest tents.

  - My name is Alke. I am priestess of Artemis and the adviser of this tribe. Our cn leader is absent, so I will tell you everything that you need to know and answer your questions.

  Other sves brought us food, and Alke waited until we could eat and got some rest. She gnced at Trevor, but did not object to his presence. Our meal was not exotic, but there was plenty of meat, cheese and for a drink we were served milk and water. Alke waited until we finished the meal, and sves took away empty ptes, before continuing with the conversation.

  - Thank you for coming all this way to stop those adventurers.

  - Do you know what they are doing right now and where they are?

  - They are continuing with their sacrilege and hunting down sacred beasts of Artemis. They also run into some of the sentient trees. Our allies tried to stop them from killing the moondeer, but adventurers killed all sentient trees. Our spies are tracking them. They are several days of walking distance from here. Our tribe is ready to assist you. We must stop them as soon as possible, before they kill more of our sacred animals.

  - That will not be necessary, - I shook my head: - We will go alone. Also why did you mentioned walking distance? How long will it take us on horses?

  - Northern and Southern forests are difficult to cross on horses. There are no roads and for that reason, merchant, who come to Denbing, prefer to go around the forest. I would advise you to leave your horses here. We will take care of them and make sure they are safe and well fed. But why do you refuse our help? I was pnning to call sentient trees as well. Those adventurers are strong, and you will need all possible help to stop them.

  - It will be easier for us to deal with them if we work alone. If we fail, I will need your help, but first we will try to deal with them ourselves. Perhaps we will be able to convince them to leave and avoid bloodshed.

  - They must pay for killing our sacred animals. Only our brightest hunters are allowed to kill them, and only with the permission, given by our goddess herself.

  That was interesting. So amazons did hunt those moondeer, when Artemis allowed. She probably used them as the life force source for her strongest warriors. That made sense, since just like in Rakshasar, dungeons in Denbing were destroyed as soon as they were discovered, and without dungeons, it was more difficult for amazons to increase their levels.

  - I was told to stop them. And I will choose myself how I do that. Most likely we will need to fight them, but first I will try to avoid unnecessary bloodshed. Besides they are A rank adventurers. It does not mean much to your people, but killing them without talking to them first could cause trouble for us with adventurer guild and Holy Griffin empire.

  - Do you think that killing Artemis's holy animals is not reason enough?!

  - For you, yes. But for people, who do not worship your goddess, it may not be good enough reason. Like you know, for other countries it is a crime to kill sentient creatures, but not animals, not even holy animals.

  Alke sighed:

  - I do not agree, but I do understand. Fine, do as you please. I will trust the words of my goddess, who ordered us to summon you and follow your orders. When do you pn to leave?

  - We will rest for today and leave tomorrow after sunrise. Please prepare a map for us, so we can find those adventurers.

  - I can send one of my warriors to guide you.

  - No. And also call of your spies. We will go alone, and I need you to make sure that there are no other amazons nearby.

  - But why?- Because your goddess trusted me, and ordered to you to follow my orders. Just think of it as part of my pn.- Very well. I will do as you ask.

  Amazons freed for us one of the tents, and, after spending a night in amazon settlement, we left them with first sunlight. Forest was thick, and Alke was right about horses. It was possible to move around the forest on horses, but we would need to be careful and make many detours. In the end our speed would be simir.

  - So what is our pn? - asked Luara, when we were deeper in the forest.

  - We found those adventurers. Until we do, we kill any moondeer that we come across. We should kill at least two or better four or eight, before we meet them.

  - What? Were we not suppose to stop Swords of Destiny from killing those animals, instead of killing them ourselves?

  - I got permission to kill some of them. That will be the best way to convince Swords of Destiny party that we are friends.

  - Why do you want to do that? - asked Nelly: - Did you not said that you will talk to them and try to convince them to leave?

  - That is useless. Amazons and those sentient trees already tried to do that. They will not listen to us. They are here to level up, and will only return to Holy Griffin empire, once they can find no more moondeer.

  - Why do you think that? - looked at me surprised Nelly.

  - That should be obvious. Denbing, Rakshasar and Holy Griffin empire are kingdoms were dungeons are destroyed. That makes it more difficult for adventurers to level up. Only other way is war, but that could be even more dangerous than hunting monsters in the dungeon. And there are no rge scale wars happening right now. Those adventurers probably find out about the moondeer, animals with great amount of life force, and came here to kill them and increase their levels. They are animals. Holy Griffin empire might not approve of their actions, but they will not punish A rank adventurer party too harshly. After all A rank adventurers are too valuable. Also adventurers do not belong to any kingdom and amazons will not be able to bme the empire. So Swords of Destiny will be warned not to do that again. Maybe they will be forced to pay some money for breaking the Denbing w and killing some amazons and sentient trees, but they will not be punished to harshly since they were protecting themselves. And they can always say that they did not know that killing those animals is forbidden. For that reason they will not listen to us. So instead we will join them, and gather more information, before fighting them.

  - That does not sound honorable, - objected Trevor.

  - Just think of it us attacking your enemy from an ambush. You will not say that it is forbidden, will you?

  - No. But that is still dishonorable.

  - Well, you are not a royal knight any more. And when you joined my party, you all agreed to follow my orders. I will not fight A rank adventurer party in a fair fight that we will lose. What do you think is more honorable - attacking them together with amazons and sentient trees and allow them to kill dozens of our allies and possible some of us, or attacking them using surprise attack, to avoid casualties among us and our allies?

  - I still do not like that, - sighed Trevor: - But I do see wisdom in your words.

  - Good then. Nelly use your View air spell to locate some of those moondeer. Also put your staff in your magic bag and do not take it out until our job is over. Trevor you as well hide your Sword of heaven and Bat shield.

  - But why? Won't it make us weaker?

  - It will, - I agreed with Luara: - But that way they will also underestimate us.I also pced my Barrier destroyer inside my Female purse and equipped my bow, steel arrows, and orichalcum sword. I also concealed my poisonous knives, but made sure that they are easily accessible.

  - From this moment on, we are adventurers with no honor. Once we meet them, leave talking to me and follow my example, no matter what it will be. Also be ready to attack Swords of Destiny adventurers at any moment and do not hesitate. Everyone ready. Good. Then let us go and kill some sacred animals.

  Half a day ter we encountered our first moondeer. It was a beautiful animal. It slightly glowed with silver color and looked majestic, like a king of the forest.

  I took careful aim and released my arrow. It pierced animals leg, and wounded moondeer started running away. Another arrow pierced its second leg, and animals speed slowed down considerable. I needed another four arrows before wounded animal fell on the ground.

  - Nelly finish it off, - I ordered. She sighed and followed my orders. Lightning fell on animal, and it stopped moving. We approached the moondeer and I grimaced. Nelly's lightning damaged animal's skin. It lost its glow and was burned all over.

  - Next time use spell that will not damage his hide.

  - Why did you not kill it yourself?

  - We will use the opportunity to level you up.Usually I would kill animals myself, but at my level, I probably would need dozens of them in order to increase my level. And since Hermes would reward me by increasing my level, all the life force from such kills would go to waste. So I decided to use the opportunity to increase Nelly's level.

  - Not that I mind, but why Nelly? - asked Luara.

  - I want her to finally increase her Wisdom and Earth magic skills, so she could use Guild portal spell. Once she can do that, then next time when the opportunity comes we will concentrate on one of your levels. But Nelly and Guild portal spell comes first, until then.

  - It is about her coffee again, - sighed Trevor: - This way Nelly can take her to Grimsburg whenever she wants and she could get her horrible drink.

  - Definitely about the coffee, - nodded Nelly.

  - Hey, do not call coffee horrible. Just because you cannot appreciate it, does not mean that other people can't. No wonder I never let you drink it.

  - You did not allowed us to drink it because you are too greedy, - objected Nelly.

  - Hey, do not call your party member greedy! - well, they were right. But just because they were, did not meant that they should know about my pns. My coffee supply ended long time ago, and I really missed fresh cup of hot coffee in the morning.

  I considered eating meat of the moondeer. It looked really tasty. I sighed. Killing Artemis sacred animals was already bad. I did not want to made her angrier by eating her favorite animals. So I decided to leave all good smelling meat behind.

  During next four days, while we were searching adventurers, we killed six more moondeer. I wounded them first with my arrows, and then Nelly used her Water bubble spell to kill them, and we were able to collect their hide. Water bubble spell created huge water bubble around the target and drowned the victim. It was not the most merciless death, but it was only spell that could kill the animals and preserve their hide. Another spell that could do the same was Death wave spell. But it worked by consuming opponents life force. Nelly tried to use that spell first, since it would kill animal painlessly, but even after using spell six times, moondeer did not die. Even wounded by my arrows they had too much life force, which made Nelly's Death wave spell almost useless. We got their hides and were carrying them, instead of pcing them in our magic bags.

  We encountered Sword of Destiny adventurers on the sixth day. We found out about their presence thanks to Nelly's View air spell, but I ordered everyone to pretend that we did not noticed them and pretend that they caught us by surprise.

  They surrounded us and came out of the forest with weapons ready to use. They all were young, especially two elves. But, as a long living species, they aged slowly and could be old men in comparison to ordinary humans.Both elves were aiming at us with arrows, and female magician was pointing at us with her staff. She probably prepared some spell and was ready to release it at any moment. We looked defenseless, but what they did not realize, was that we all also prepared spells and could use them, if they would decide to attack.

  - Well, well, a fellow adventurers, - said one of the swordsmen.

  Both of the warriors were wearing heavy armor and were armed with shields and swords. Priest also was armed with a mace, and even female magician had a short sword on her belt. I noticed that priest had an amulet with a crown engraved on it. It was crown of Hades. So their priest worshipped the god, who ruled the world of the dead. No wonder he had no respect for sacred animals.

  - Did not expect to meet another adventurer party in these woods, - continued the swordsman. He gnced at hides and grinned: - Has no one told you that killing these animals is forbidden?

  He probably was their leader, which would make him one of the three reincarnated. At least that was my guess. I also suspected that other reincarnations were elves. Or high-elves. As a fellow elf I was able to sense the difference between an elf and high elf. I suspected that they were reincarnated people, because elves had innate respect for the nature and would not agree to hunt holy animals. Only reincarnated people, reborn as elves, would have such disregard for the lives of sacred animals.

  - They are just animals, - I shrugged: - Besides their hides are worth a lot of money. I might be convinced to share the reward with you, in exchange for a small favor. Besides, there is a reason for you to help us, - I pointed at the horns of moondeer that the priest was holding.

  - What kind of favor? - swordsman gestured to others and they lowered their weapons.

  - We were hired to hunt some of these animals, but run into some amazons. They attacked us. We defeated them, but some of the amazons escaped. Turned out that they gathered a small army and now they are following us. My companions are C rank adventurers. We could fight of small group of amazons, but they numbers are too much for us to handle. If we could unite, we would have good chances of defeating them, - I looked at their golden tags: - Especially if A rank adventurers would help us out.

  - When did you started your job?

  - Five days ago. We were pnning to hunt down the moondeer and disappear before anyone would notice us. Not the first time we did it. I did not expect that amazons will gather an army and start hunting us so fast.

  Swordsman exchanged looks with his party members, and one of the elves nodded.

  - How far behind you are those amazons?

  - Day or two behind us.

  - I see, - he clicked his tong: - Why don't you join us for tonight. We will discuss your predicament and decide what to do ter.

  They came closer, still keeping us surrounded. It was obvious that his invitation was not the one that we could refuse.

  - Thank you. Your offer is much appreciated.

  Their camp was near the stream. Adventurers had prepared firewood and took out meat that they cooked on an open fire. We shared with them cheese and dried fruits. I wondered if the meat that we ate belonged to moondeer or some other animal.

  - Feels niece to eat something else than meat, - said one of the elves, throwing another dried plum into his mouth: - We should have brought more supplies.

  - Have you been here long? - I asked.

  - No, - answered their leader and grinned: - Have a long road behind us. By the way, why are you carrying the moondeer hides, instead of pcing them into your magic bags?

  - They are too big for our magic bags. We were pnning to buy more spaces magic bags, but weapons always come first.

  - What about your magic bag? Seems expensive, should be spacious enough?

  - Ou, it is just a female purse. Don't you think that it looks cute? - I demonstrated my magic purse to the female magician. She looked at it and nodded.

  - Yes, it looks good on you.

  - I know. Bought it because I liked the way it looks, - I smiled at their leader, and he nodded.

  - I see, - he squinted his eyes and looked at my bag. Then he carefully looked at me and then on my companions. So, he had appraisal skill. He was definitely one of the reincarnated people. I also wanted to use my appraisal spell, but I was worried that they could detect use of the magic.

  Swordsman also carefully observed our gear and seemed to be satisfied.

  - My name is Robert. And these are my party members. We are Swords of Destiny, adventurer party.

  - So you are an A rank party that I heard about? My name is Avone. I am a B rank adventurer. These are my party members. Our party does not have a name yet, but we prefer to travel together.

  - Avone, ha. I thought that you look familiar, - Robert exchanged looks with elves.

  - So you have also heard about me?

  - Something like that.

  I doubted that he heard about me. Probably they recognized me as a character from the game.

  - Very well. We will help you out. But you will owe us. We are not very interested in the money, so you can keep it, but perhaps we could use your help in the future.

  So he decided to treat me like a useful character from the game. That was better than I could have hoped.

  - Your help will be much appreciated. If you need to find me in the future, just use Adventurer guilds help.

  - Then it is settled. First, I want to take a look at those amazons. Once we do, we will devise a pn how to deal with them.

  I nodded and we all started to prepare to leave the camp. Wu put down the fire and, after cleaning our ptes, were ready to leave.

  Robert took a lead, and I positioned myself behind the elves. Priest was at my right side. It was perfect. I used my both arms and through my poisoned knives. Right knife pierced elf's neck, while the left one wounded second elf in his leg. Priest grabbed his mace and started to turn towards me, but was a moment too slow. My sword cut his throat and he grabbed his neck. His hand went read with blood. Priest groaned and fell on his knees. The wound was lethal.

  Wounded elf screamed to warn his companions. He pulled out the knife and cursed. Nelly and Trevor looked almost as surprised as Sword of Destiny adventurers, but Luara did not fail. She jumped at one of the swordsman, wrapped herself around him and then stabbed his neck with her dagger.

  - What the hell! - cursed Robert and unsheathed his sword. Trevor finally reacted and also took out his sword. Robert cursed again and attacked Trevor, who was closest to him. They crossed swords and exchanged blows.

  - Nelly get the mage! - I screamed.

  Female magician turned towards Nelly, which gave me an opportunity to throw my dagger and wound her shoulder. Magician screamed in pain and got distracted from using magic. Nelly started acting and ice covered female magicians legs and was approaching her upper body.

  I did not see what happened next, because I had to protect myself from wounded elf. He was skilled swordsman and, even wounded, forced me to retreat. But then poison started working, he stumbled and coughed blood. My sword pierced his heart. For a moment I was surprised. I half expected that he had chainmail or some other armor beneath his cloth.

  Lightning hit female magician, and she fell on the ground. Nelly was heavily breathing, but she was unharmed. Luara and Trevor were fighting Robert, st one of our standing opponents.

  - Finish her, - I ordered Nelly and joined fight against Robert.

  - Why are you doing this?

  Trevor stepped back and faced Robert: - We were hired to stop you from killing moondeer.

  - But you killed them as well. The hides were still fresh, you just...

  He had to stop talking and block my sword. Unlike Trevor, I had no intension to talk and wanted to finish this as soon as possible. Luara sighed, but also attacked Robert from his blind spot. Panther girl's sword scratched swordsman armor, and he jumped aside. Another lightning fshed behind us. I hoped that it belonged to Nelly.

  - Now Trevor! - I screamed. Robert gnced at our knight, but he was still standing aside. The moment of distraction allowed me to pierce his hand, between his armor pieces. Robert again tried to jump back, but Luara's sword cut his leg. He tripped, and my sword cut his forehead. Robert took out his dagger, but Trevor joined our attack and cut off his arm. Robert screamed in pain, and my sword pierced his neck. Blood came out of his mouth and he fell on the ground. I looked around. Female magician was dead, just as the rest of Sword of Destiny members. My companions were shocked, but unharmed.

  - Good job, - I nodded and cleaned my sword against Robert's cape.

  - Why did you do that? - asked Trevor.

  - Because I want to live, and I wanted you to survive. I told you - we are not ready to fight A rank adventurers and defeat them in a fair fight. Now help me to bury their corpses.

  - You want to bury them? - asked surprised Luara.

  - Yes, them, all their equipment and also moondeer hides. Everything. And do not take any of their equipment, not even the coins.

  - But why? - asked Trevor, but the same question was written on my other companions faces.

  I collected my knives, used my life magic abilities and created several holes in the ground. Originally I learned this spell so I could fill it with hot water and enjoy the bath, during our travels, but I did not had enough mana to fill rge enough space with hot water.

  I grabbed one of the elves and through him inside the hole.

  - Because they are members of an A rank adventurer party. They probably have friends and patrons in Holy Griffin Empire, and I want to visit that kingdom in the future. And I do not want the word to spread that we killed them. No need to create enemies even before we visit Holy Griffin Empire. We will tell amazons that these adventurers left the forest and swore never to return to Denbing.

  I through second elf in another hole and then moondeer hides. They were probably valuable monster materials, and it was such a waste, but I did not knew people who I could trust to buy this forbidden treasure. I sighed. So in the ground they go.

  Luara joined me, and soon Nelly and Trevor followed our example. We buried all adventurers, and Luara also covered blood with dirt and hid all traces of our battle.

  I stepped back and looked at the pce. There were traces of disturbed earth, but nothing I could do about that.

  - Should be good enough. Time to get back and report our successful negotiations.

  My companions were silent and slightly depressed. I regretted the way I handled this job, but I could not do it alone. Also I considered several other ways to handle the quest, but all other ways would end up in casualties among my party members, and I was not ready to sacrifice my companions. I promised myself not to get my party members involved in any more such jobs. I was afraid that they will leave my party, and regretted the way I handled our st job. On our way we did not talked about that, and it took a lot of time, for their mood to improve. At least we needed month and a half to get back to Tyco. and it bought me enough time to pretend that nothing happened.