In case you didn't notice it, I updated the 6th chapter because my brain forgot to put some stuff in the last third of the chapter. Check it out so you can follow the story better.

Chapter 7
Afterthoughts

"Well, I guess we've been found out." The High Slug with black, curly hair said as she was accompanied by two normal Slugs wearing a gray and white dress respectively.

Considering Alexander's dream from his point of view was all darkness and anger mixed with unwanted pleasure since he had been blinded by a pile of solid jelly for the whole time, it was the first time he had seen them all, and yet he still glared daggers at the High Slug in the middle, recognizing her as one of the voracious monsters living in the continent.

However, even though he was extremely angry, as one could see from his shaking hand holding on his ax, he kept his imagination in check. Instead of thinking about how much he wanted to just split her skull in half with all of his strength, Alexander took a deep breath and issued an order with the darkest tone of voice he ever used in his life. "Leave."

The High Slug felt a smirk forming on her face, as if Alexander just made a funny joke, and replied to him. "Do we look like we came here to play? Let's make it short, don't resist and we'll let you feel pleasure you never felt before. But if you decide to resist…"

The tip of the High Slug's tail lifted up, revealing a rapier she hid somewhere behind her. The tail threw the rapier forward, which she caught with one of her hands. "You're going to get eaten anyway, so I may as well make it easier for me to digest you and cut you in little pieces."

"Big sister, remember what we have agreed upon." One of the Slugs reminded the High Slug about a talk they had before the start of the ambush, and in reaction, the High Slug nodded with an understanding tone. "Sure, sure, I'll just focus on the big one, as long as you keep the little guy away from me."

"Fufufu, in that case-"

"Luka, go get the salt bag. I already can't stand the sight of these annoying vermin." Alexander interrupted the friendly conversation the Slugs had with each other, making them pause on their words and look at him in surprise.

"Salt?" Luka repeated with a surprised tone. "What do you need salt for…" He also paused as he realized what Alexander was aiming for. "Oh."

Without saying another word, Luka rummaged through his backpack and pulled out a small bag filled with salt that they used to season this evening's dinner. He lightly threw it in Alexander's direction while saying: "Here you go."

Alexander caught the salt bag in the air and glared at the three slugs as he forced these next words through his teeth. "Last chance, leave."

The three Slugs cowered in fear at the sight of the salt bag as they stared at Alexander with hesitation. Seeing that they weren't moving, however, Alexander took the initiative to open the bag and grab a handful of salt, before storming in their direction.

"Come here!" He shouted with a provocative voice, but as soon as he moved in their direction with a scary expression on his face, the Slugs immediately backed off while screaming.

"Alright! Alright! We'll leave! Calm down!" They decided that getting their skin ruined with salt wasn't worth the hunt, so they immediately left and retreated into the woods.

Alexander stopped as he glared at their disappearing silhouettes, before he retreated to his bed. Instead of sprawling his body on it, however, he simply sat with his legs crossed and placed the bag of salt in front of him. "Fucking whores, they just have to disturb me at midnight for this bullshit…"

After a few seconds, he looked at Luka, who was letting a yawn escape from his mouth, and told him: "Go to sleep, I'll guard here for a few hours in case they return."

"Are you sure…?" Even though he was tired, Luka was a bit worried about what Alexander wanted to do. Meanwhile, Alexander just waved his worries off and replied in a much calmer tone than before. "Just go, you've got your whole body to take care of."

"Alright… Wake me up when you're too tired." Luka ultimately indulged in Alexander's decision and returned to sleep. Meanwhile, Alexander stared upwards to the tree where Alice was supposed to sleep on, thinking about something that he just remembered.

'Be careful', those were the words she said before sleeping. Did she know that the Slugs would come here? Then she could have bothered warning them better than just using those two words that didn't make any bit of sense in the moment she said them. What was the use of issuing a warning that nobody understands?

"If you knew they would come here now, you could have just told us that directly instead of just saying 'Be careful'." Alexander directly complained to Alice, not caring whether she was sleeping or not. No, rather than that, he knew that she was awake, considering he could feel her aloof gaze setting on his face.

"I'm not your ally. In fact, I had no obligation to even warn you at all." Alice replied immediately, making Alexander's eyes narrow a bit in confusion.

Not an ally? Didn't she literally just teach Luka how to use a sword? What the fuck did she mean with 'I'm not your ally'?

As if she guessed his thoughts from his facial expression, Alice elaborated. "I thought I was clear before, when I said that I only helped Luka learn how to use a sword as a way to repay him for cooking dinner. That, and because it would be boring if his journey ended too soon, are the sole reasons why I taught him something that everyone should have at minimum to even start a journey like this."

"My intention was never to make friends with you two. I've said that I would travel along with you two just to watch Luka fail in pursuing his childish dream, not to help him with that impossible task, so don't expect me to go helping you around like a slave." After saying that, Alice remained silent, waiting for a response from the young man. However, she didn't receive any rebuke from Alexander.

Alexander listened to her whole explanation in silence. Even though he was a bit peeved off at her words, he understood her point of view. It was normal for her to act so indifferent towards them, considering they have been just strangers a bit more than 12 hours ago.

Although, maybe Alice should have told him in detail about how she won't be of any help instead of using vague words that could be easily misunderstood, back when they met again at the northern exit from Iliasville.

A sigh escaped from Alexander's mouth as he realized that he wasn't that much angry about it as he should understandably be. In the end, it is what it is. There is no reason to get angry about it now that the worst has already passed without a hitch, and now, Alice also properly explained her position in a much clearer way than before.

Meanwhile, seeing that Alexander wasn't judging her or even talking at all, the Lamia spoke her last words before she fell asleep. "If you have nothing else to say, I'm going to sleep, so don't disturb me until it's breakfast."

"..." Alexander merely stared at her silhouette hidden between the branches of the tree before he pulled his gaze away from her. Another long sigh escaped from his mouth as he felt the last bit of anger he kept in himself disappear like smoke.

He laid an elbow against his thighs and used it to support his dangling head. After he finished his short conversation with Alice, his thoughts wandered to what he faced before.

That one was a weird dream… Was it a premonitory dream? He remembered having a few of them in the past, although they never reached such a scale. At most, those past premonitory dreams consisted of stuff like staring at a butterfly in a particular place, or walking at a certain moment of the day while looking at certain strangers walking on the road at that moment.

Also, according to his knowledge, premonitory dreams always showed the exact events that would happen in the future. Following that logic, he should be trapped under the sticky and acidic body of the High Slug right now. But instead, he was able to use the dream to foresee the immediate danger, and warded off the nocturnal monsters.

Well, he really got lucky for noticing the ambush before they took the initiative. If he didn't, he would truly become a skeleton as the acids of the High Slug devoured his flesh and organs.

Just the thought of it gave Alexander chills on his back upon realizing how close he had been to death. He really did dodge an arrow there…

But as he thought about it further, he realized something. Was he really that lucky?

After all, just by heading to the nearby Iliasburg, he already met a voracious monster. He would be okay if the one to rape him was one of the other two Slugs. Even though their lower bodies look disgusting and they also released a foul smell due to their sticky mucus, at least he would still be alive after getting raped, in the worst case scenario.

But with a High Slug? Well, the consequences of getting captured by such a creature were very clear now. He didn't know what such a voracious monster was doing here, as High Slugs like that one should be spread around the north-east of the Ilias Continent, not here at the south-center of it. However, getting to meet her out of all possible monsters on his first night outside of the village was truly a misfortune.

Meanwhile, as he kept thinking about an answer to that curious question, his mind slowly wandered to what he could have done to avoid such an encounter. And upon coming up with some answers, the anger that was once aimed for the High Slug not only did disappear, but it was now redirected back at him when he realized the levels of stupidity and carelessness he showed off recently.

First of all, they should have rented a wagon no matter what, even if they had a monster following along in the group. Alexander and Luka previously shrugged off the idea of renting a wagon to save money that was better spent on tools, food, and weapons in Iliasburg. After all, why buy a wagon when you can travel there at foot? That's what they thought when they made that decision.

However, if they had rented a wagon, they would have reached Iliasburg by the time it became night, and not only would they have not met any kind of ambush considering that monsters rarely attack wagons because they can easily retreat from any casual ambush made by a few monster, but they could also sleep in better places rather than the open, while also not worrying about monsters invading their camp in the night.

The next mistake he made was forgetting the true meaning of camping in the wilderness. He should have bought a Monster Warding Bracelet from the Ilias Temple to keep monsters away from his camp, so that such a situation won't happen again even if he had to sleep outside like now. And now, because he forgot that, his sleeping time has been cut off by more than half, taking in consideration that he won't immediately fall asleep once he switches out with Luka.

As for the last mistake he could think of with his exhausted mind… He didn't properly prepare for anything.

His initial plan was very simple: Get baptized, get the church's support, pay for everything necessary with a good sum of money, and use them to find his father around the world.

That plan failed in the most horrible of the ways: The Goddess Ilias didn't show up at all, so he couldn't get baptized into a Hero.

Without counting the disappearance of his father, Alexander didn't have to face any setbacks in his life, and that led to him developing a rather carefree and weak personality. Following that — when he received the news that he couldn't get baptized — instead of making proper plans around the issue he simply thought that he could continue his plans without the support of the church.

He just had to follow the plan? What plan? The plan he put together in a few minutes was centered around the financial support of the church of Ilias; without that, there was no plan.

He had always thought of himself as being more mature than Luka, but at least, Luka had a clear view of the path he had to take to accomplish his goal, even though it was seemingly almost impossible for him to attain without a miracle.

As for Alexander? He was more like a brat wearing a big coat and fake mustaches faking his way through adulthood… At this point, he couldn't help but secretly thank the ambushing High Slug for giving him a wake-up call like this.

Alexander's gaze rose up on the starry sky as he entered into deep thought.

Enough of self-deprecation, now it's time to really think about his future. There are many issues to solve, and no matter what kind of means he must use, he will have to solve them all to find his father in the fastest and most efficient way possible.

The first hurdle to deal with is money. At this point, he still doesn't know how much money he needs, but the more the merrier. It can keep him alive, it can give him a roof to sleep under, and it can equip him from the toes of his fingers to the edge of his teeth.

After all, it was better to have a lot of money without no place to spend it rather than not having money when you need it the most.

Is there a way to gain quick bucks? Yes, there is. Each big town or city like Iliasburg has a bulletin board exclusively set up for people in need of quick money like him, so that even actual hobos can find a ray of hope to live luxuriously as long as they work hard for it. It is set up in the middle of the city for easy access to everyone, including strangers who have never been there before.

According to his memory, the request board should have a lot of job requests hanging around, which are written by both the surrounding population and even other towns and villages. All he has to do is choose which job looks promising, and then follow the information written on the slip of paper.

As long as he can pull it off, he will be rich very quickly. But can he do it? Can Alexander finish one such quest that will immediately bring him lots of money without being too time-consuming?

Of course not!

Why? Because of his lack of individual strength, which was his next hurdle. He is as strong as the average man, and that was bad, because the quests that he has to choose to get a lot of money from are made for people who are above average. After all, people set up those quests in there because they themselves couldn't do it.

Of course, there can be reasons such as old age, being busy with something else, or having a handicap getting in the way. But Alexander doesn't want to do those kinds of quests, they don't give a lot of money. He needs to do quests that are hard to accomplish even among warriors, because the reward after accomplishing them will be very generous.

Because of that, he will have to practice very hard. And how will he practice?

As Alexander thought about that question, he frowned a bit. Indeed, what is he supposed to do? He didn't touch a weapon for more than three years, and even then, he couldn't be called proficient in the usage of any weapon, so he will basically have to start from zero.

He has to find a good teacher that can teach him basic stuff, at least, and it would be very nice if he could find one such person very fast and without the need to throw away too much money.

"..." His gaze shot up to Alice, who was sleeping inside the foliage of the tree she hanged on.

'That's right, I have a very good teacher right here…' Alexander's eyes shone with a certain brightness as he stared at the silhouette of the Lamia sleeping over the branches of the tree.

But if he wants to listen to Alice's teachings while she teaches Luka, he will have to follow them along their journey.

So… Should he do it?

Of course he should! So what if he has to change his plans? So what if he has to postpone his search for his father? He has the opportunity to be properly taught for free! All he has to do is keep Alice well-fed, either with his food or Luka's food.

Also, while he travels around with them, he will still be able to fulfill part of his original plan to personally look out for his dad, considering that Luka's destination is all the way to the other side of the globe. He can use the opportunity to look at his surroundings, and when he is strong enough, he will gain a lot of money and personally check out every square meter of this whole world.

While he supports Luka in his own way, he will also enjoy the privilege of being taught by Alice. It was a simple and efficient plan, unlike the previous one that was based on stuff he doesn't have.

Ok, now he has an idea on how to get both more powerful and get money. After that, he will have to find assistance to find his father.

The Information Broker Guild is clearly incapable of finding him, so who should he ask for aid?

'Damn, this one is tough…' Alexander thought as he scratched his chin. The Information Broker Guild is the best place where you can go if you are seeking something, there is nobody else more capable than them, as far as he knows.

"...Yeah, maybe I shouldn't get so excited. I can't really make up a perfect plan in a single night." Alexander muttered under his breath.

He doesn't even have enough money to spare that isn't used to buy food or tools. Instead of thinking about what he should do with his imaginary budget, he should focus on turning that imaginary scenario into reality.

Stuck in an impasse in his plan-making session, Alexander couldn't think any further beyond this point, so he could only give up. Besides, his brain wasn't even in its best state, as he was supposed to sleep now if it wasn't for the possible presence of those Slug monsters.

Maybe he should kill some time by looking at his surroundings like an actual watchman should do, to make sure that the Slug monsters actually left and didn't just hide somewhere behind the trees waiting for the right opportunity.

Once he finished mulling over, Alexander stood up on his feet and started to walk away from the camp while carrying his bag of salt and his ax for self-defense, as it would be problematic to go into the woods while carrying a long spear. However, he still remained in proximity to the camp, to make sure he would return quickly if someone snuck past him.

It was hard to look around when the only source of light he had was a half moon casually hanging on the sky, but it was still good enough to look at the trail of slimy mucus that the Slugs left behind in their run.

Alexander paused on his steps as he looked down on the trail of mucus, and then he changed direction to follow after the trails, curious to see whether the Slugs left or not.

He went through a few dozens of meters before stopping, still not seeing any weird silhouette hiding behind the surrounding trees while the trail kept going forward into the darkness.

Ultimately, he decided to trust the words of the High Slug and returned to his camp. The High Slug and her friends should know that they would stay in alert against them now, and as long as they have salt to spare and an awake person in the camp, there was no use trying to ambush them again.

Even if they did actually return, they couldn't do anything but watch for a bit and then give up on them. That is, of course, as long as there is still at least one person between Luka and Alexander who stays awake.

As Alexander returned to the camp, he continued to wait while standing on his feet until his time would pass, so that he could finally lend this annoying job to Luka and catch a bit of sleep.

Fortunately, he didn't have to wait a lot, because while he was lost in his thoughts, time passed before he even took notice of it. The moon already moved a lot and he felt way too tired to keep watching out for nearby monsters, so he took this opportunity to wake up Luka.

"Hey, Luka, wakey-wakey." Alexander shook Luka's body to wake him up properly, but much to his surprise, the purple-haired boy immediately sat up on his ass and loudly shouted in surprise: "Ilias?!"

"What the fuck are you shouting about?" Alexander immediately scolded Luka with a hushed voice and slapped the back of his head.

"Ouch…" Luka grunted in pain as he covered his head with his small hands, before looking up at Alexander with a surprised face. "...Alex? What…"

"Time is up, it's your turn to guard the camp."

"...Oh." Luka remembered the agreement they had some hours ago about guarding the camp and nodded in understanding, before he opened his sleeping bag and freed himself. Meanwhile, Alexander handed him the salt bag.

"All you have to do is make sure you look like you mean no business. If monsters are watching, that's fine, just attack only if you are sure they are going to do something. Understand?" Alexander told Luka as he passed the responsibility to make sure the camp stays secure, along with the salt bag.

"Umm… Yeah, I think."

"Good." Alexander nodded as he walked back to his bed. However, before he closed his eyes, he told Luka. "Don't wander too far off from here if you have to move, and don't worry about staying away for too much time because soon the sun will rise. Good night."

"Night." That was the last word from Luka that Alexander heard before he closed his eyes.