Megumi was glad that she had managed to gain another two TP from Sanguine Infusion from those animals posing as men. She placed the points: one into Sanguine Infusion and one into Corpse Explosion. She also took a moment to place another point into Poro-kun's sword mastery skill. She considered the events that had transpired earlier in the day. The truth was that she didn't particularly care about orphaning children, although it did bother her a bit. The primary reason she had jumped into action was that Tara bore a striking resemblance to her deceased sister, Miki. 

The three of them continued to walk for several hours and once the girl became too tired to continue, Megumi had Poro-tan carry her. He was more than strong enough to be up to the task, and they needed to keep moving so that they wouldn't have to sleep out in the wilds. Just before dusk, they spotted a small village nestled into the mountainside by the main road. There were perhaps 25 buildings in all and there were cows grazing in the fields covered the mountainside. 

Tara had fallen asleep over Poro-tan's shoulder a little while ago and they needed to find an inn. Luckily, there was a farmer out in one of the fields, and so they stopped for a moment to ask for some help. "Excuse me. Does this town have an inn where we could get a room for the night?" she asked in her cute voice.

The farmer looked them over for a moment and then replied," Sorry, but we don't have an inn here. If you don't mind sleeping in my barn, then you can sleep at my farm tonight. I would hate to see two young girls eaten up by monsters." 

A barn? Megu should just kill this man and sleep in his house! She considered the implications of this though and didn't want to have to murder the whole town. The whole mess would probably only leave a trail of breadcrumbs for the Adventurer's Guild to follow. She did buy a tent in town, so it wasn't like the barn would be a bad place to set it up. There would be solid walls around them at least.

"Really?! Thank you so much! Megu and her companions really appreciate your kindness! This is Poro-tan, my brother," she pointed. "And that is Mi⁠— er... Tara, my little sister."

The man eyed her again after she fumbled over the little girl's name. "Fake names, eh? You running from something? Don't want no trouble here. Maybe this was a bad idea. Sorry, kid."

Fuck! So much for that. Screw this podunk little town then! She simply nodded to the man and they continued walking. Once they got to the other side of town she had Poro-tan set up the tent and she had him pull out all the rest of their camping supplies. Soon they had a large tent with a nice floor made of thick blankets and even a fire outside the tent to keep them warm while they stared up at the stars. This isn't so bad, Megu supposes.

"You forgot the little girl's name for a second?" Poro-tan said as he poked a stick into the fire, stirring the embers around. 

"She's lucky Megu remembered at all. It's not as though Megu cares about the little girl... not really." 

"If you say so."

"Megu says so. Drop it."

"Whatever you say."

She pulled out some of the fruit that she grabbed in Oleander and ate some. Tara had remained asleep and was curled up inside the tent. Megumi felt a sort of kinship with the girl, five or six years ago she had been in a similar boat. If she had one piece of advice to give the girl, it would be that the world was a harsh place, and that people were rotten, selfish beings; herself included. She stared into the dancing flames of the fire for a long while contemplating her next plan of action. 

Megumi was definitely no hero to come in and save the day, but she had created some enemies today. They wouldn't just let the fact that fifteen or so of their comrades were obliterated go unanswered. So the best course of action would be to put up a strong offensive front and go after them. It would be satisfying to crush the lot of them under the heel of her boot. Tomorrow Megu will do some digging in this village and find out more. The bandits probably extort this whole region. With luck, we can wipe the lot of them out and then continue on our journey. Megu is itching to plant that dungeon core already. 

Rivean was a place she had heard of before joining her guild. The city was said to be a fortress that the kingdom of Castellum used for defense against sieges. The capital city of Aurora was even higher in the peaks and had never before been sacked in its 1000 year history. The country lacked any dungeons, and so when she planted it, she hoped that it would become extremely powerful. It was also unlikely that the monarch of this country would let such a treasure go, no matter the unethical way that it found its way into his domain. 

"So why would a heartless creature like yourself keep a children's picture book?" Poro-kun asked her. 

Tch! He must've saw it the night we were attacked in Megu's apartment. It's none of his damned business! She turned to him and replied, "Megu just likes the story, that's all. Megu doesn't want to talk any more about it."

She could tell that even a blithering idiot like him could tell that he had touched a nerve and he backed off the topic. "Megu's going to bed. Keep watch."

"Good night," he replied.

She climbed inside the large tent and cuddled up against the small girl. Just to stay warm, no other reason! She closed her eyes and after a short while, fell asleep.

****************

When she awoke the next morning, it was time to get to work. "Poro-tan, clean up the camp. Tara, stay with Poro-tan, okay?"

"Okay. You won't go away forever, right?" Tara grabbed onto her leg.

"Megu will be back. She promises." Megumi patted the girl on the head and began the short walk into the village. 

There weren't any services in the town. No stores or restaurants and everyone appeared to be farmers. She found a woman crossing the street with her little boy and stopped her. "Can you tell Megu anything about the bandits in this area?"

The woman's face became white as a ghost and she shook her head, scurrying into the house. Ugh! Who does Megu have to kill to get some damned answers around here! 

She asked four more villagers and got pretty much the same response from all of them. Just as she was about to give up and leave the city an old man came out from his home and stepped in front of her. "The ones you are looking for are Tivor, the fallen monk's bandit crew. The government doesn't bother with helping our small communities so we have lived under their thumb for nearly a decade."

"Fallen monk?"

"Apparently, their leader was an extremely gifted adventurer who fought for the side of good for many years. One day he just decided to switch sides and has been tormenting all of us ever since."

"Where are they and how many?"

The old man looked at her appraisingly. "Are you sure about this? You don't appear to be a fighter, and you're not very old. Why trouble yourself with our problems? Why throw your young life away?"

"Megu has a debt and they will collect on it sooner or later. Megu doesn't run from problems, she faces them head on." 

"Don't say I didn't warn you. I'm only giving you this information because I saw you come through here with that swordsman yesterday. He must be incredibly strong if you're so confident, and I suppose that I can let myself hope that you'll free us from this mess. My family's on the line, after all."

"Get on with it, old man. Megu has got some bandits to kill." Megumi had quite enough of this whole dancing around the subject business. It was time to get down to the details.

"They are holed up in an abandoned fortress, an hours walk from here. There are probably 100 of them total. Continue up the main road until you come to a fork in the road marked by a dead tree that looks like it has been split by lightning. Take the small trail up the canyon and you can't miss it. May the gods bless you on your journey, young lady. And may they forgive me for probably sending you to your death. I don't see how any two people can stand up to such overwhelming odds against an army like that one."

"Megu IS an army." She sniffed and turned to leave without saying anything more.

When she got back to the camp she updated her companions on the situation. "I've heard of him before. You mean he's THAT Tivor? The man is well known throughout the various chapters of the Adventurers Guild. It is said that he was level 40 and could kill opponents with a touch of his finger. That was before he betrayed the guild and disappeared. Maybe we should leave well enough alone, Megumi."

"You turning into a coward, Poro-tan? Megumi will crush them all. It's decided." She turned to Tara who stared up at her with a look of awe in her eyes. "Do you want to stay behind and wait for us?"

"No! I'll go wherever Megu-chan goes!"

"It's settled then. Let's go."

The three of them walked up the mountain road and came upon the gigantic tree which had been supposedly struck by lightning. It was two hundred feet tall and split directly down the middle. Megumi couldn't help but notice that the split originated from a fist sized indentation in the trunk. They turned towards the narrow canyon trail that lead off to the side and took their first steps toward the site of the impending battle.