World of Karik: A Game of Villains 48 Life's Simple Pleasures

Using Arcobaleno made it much easier to fight local monsters. The surprise effect helped me get an upper hand in battle. The only sad thing was that its cooldown took a solid hour, so it was difficult to pick up the pace. What's more, I was really worried about my health decreasing in a blink of an eye. I tried to calculate how much endurance I lost upon its activation. The task was not a hard one. At this moment, it cost all of my endurance and made me wonder if I could save at least a bit of it if I leveled it up.

Ghouls, Kappas, and Skeletons wandering the swamp — all of them were already familiar to me. With fairly little effort, I was leaving behind a rather noticeable trail of disabled creatures. I also ran into new enemies. At some point, I was attacked by a colony of overgrown frogs, each of them about the size of a dog, which came out from some sort of a disgusting, green heap. They almost sent me to respawn, but I was rescued by my Stone Spikes spell and other skills with the "super-" prefix such as Super-combo, Super-fortress and Super-rage. This made me more cautious, as the supposedly explored swamp appeared to be hiding unpleasant surprises. Moreover, I could swear that fighting without killing was a thorn in my side.

In the meantime, the sun had already begun to set. Dusk was spreading over the forest and the swamp. The evening coolness was gradually taking possession of the air. It was time for me to return to the base.

As I turned the corner, I heard an unusual noise. We had twice as many people now, so the base was like a small village. The rally point, however, had wisely been replaced so as to avoid awakening another legendary beast.

Girls from the other detachment were scurrying between the campfire and the cave — they were to the new cooks, apparently. They were being helped by our newbie Lena, who, as I heard, was quite the cook.

Where are my herb harvesters?

"You're back?" the archer appeared out of nowhere. I even shuddered in surprise. "Don't look so scared!"

Dasha's eyes were shining with suspicion; her face was flushed and her voice was a bit louder than usual. Really now?

"We picked so much grass for you!" the girl said, all chuckles and smiles. She was, indeed, drunk! But how was that possible?

"Well, thank you," I tried to speak as if nothing had happened. "And where did you get the wine?"

"Boris… Oh!" Dasha exclaimed and covered her mouth with her hand. "They have a supply at the base. I don't know where they found it, but there is a lo-ot of it…!"

"I see," I nodded. "Where's Olga? And where are my herbs?"

Like a little girl, she pouted and pretended to think.

"We put everything in your… I mean in the boys' room," she said at last. "And Olga is talking with Vlada."

Interesting, I thought. Did the businesswoman decide to get closer to the leader of the other detachment? Or was it just a girly get-together? Still, Olga was older than the others and, probably, wasn't all that interested in communicating with someone like Dasha.

Looking closely at the faces of the people sitting around the campfire I noticed Olga talking merrily to Vlada about something. Vlada was listening attentively, nodding and frowning from time to time. She then suddenly laughed and Olga, looking quite satisfied, threw her head back, smiling and looking at her companion.

It turned out to be idle talk, after all.

Petrovich noticed me. "Vasily!" he barked. "You're just in time! Everyone stop blabbing!"

The last bit was aimed at those sitting next to the campfire. I approached slowly, chose a spot for myself and sat down cross-legged between Boris and the Major. It was getting dark, but the fire made all their faces clearly visible. Petrovich looked pleased and even complacent. Apparently, everything was going well in the united detachment.

"Cat!" the Major poked me.

I turned around to tell him what I thought about him touching me and caught a whiff of strong alcohol. Were we having a frat party or a Council?

"This guy, Boris, is a real man," the Major uttered with a wheeze. "He was the one who brought us the wine. They were saving it for a special occasion."

I nodded out of politeness and turned away. Looking at the others, I was relieved to see that no one was taking advantage of our new allies' supplies. Except for Semyon, who was drinking from a rather ugly cup from time to time. I didn't mind a glass of good wine, or something stronger, but there was a place and time for everything.

Marina, Ravshana and Lina brought the plates and the cutlery. Apparently, we were having soup for dinner tonight.

Lena, being the chief today, plunged a ladle into the pot and started serving us a thick, steaming brew. Judging by its smell, there was meat in it.

Chapter end