"I don't get half of these things," Wilona dropped the book about runes she got from her latest quest to the ground. It was kind of cool that she understood the language that it was written in though, she didn't know she had a built-in translator. Does that mean that she can understand the locals of this world just fine? And how far does it go?

  Can she talk to those beaver people even? Now she wants to try and see if she can...

  Wilona eyed her new quest suspiciously.

  "Fuzz? I think I know why I needed to stockpile on food."

  [New Quest! - Castorimorphian Aid!]

  [Quest Type: Prophecy]

  [Rewards: 4 Charges]

  ["You are now prepared to influence this world in a positive manner! Start by helping your local neighbors with their problems, then give them food that'll last them until they have built a new stockpile!"]

  She needs to help the beavers. Castori- whatever. They're beavers, that's what she's calling them from now on, the actual name is such a handful honestly. Wilona shook her head, she should probably focus on more important matters, like the new quest, "I need to help out the beaver people I found, they're apparently called Ca- Caster- Castorimorphians or whatever."

  "Hm... Those guys?" Fuzz hummed as if she was familiar with the species, "I think I've seen one or two of them before, they're pretty good architects. Swimmers too," a pause, then she adds, "They also have valuable pelts so people hunt them down, they disappear pretty frequently in cities, which is a bit sad..."

  "They're friendly?" Wilona asked with furrowed brows, those poor beavers...

  "Some of them, yes. Especially the ones who live in human towns, but I've never met the group that lives around here so I'm not sure if they're friendly or not. They could be aggressive but you still need to try talking to them."

  Wilona sighed, great, "it's not like I have a choice here..."

  The quest is basically asking her to help a group that's potentially hostile to her. Wait, is that why she needed to learn how to make plants glow? Her magic is strong enough to fight a group—probably. She didn't want to try though. - and she does know a few attacking spells but like, is the one that makes a light show meant for diplomacy?

  "I think they can be friendly... Maybe." Wilona nods, determination flaring in her eyes as she began packing the things she needs. "Let's see... Cloak, lantern, a dagger, definitely. Need those. My ring is also obvious, some food, water, and uh, that's it."

  Huh, it was a lot less than she first thought. Deciding that her extra bag still had some extra space, Wilona went on and stuffed a few of the smaller pots with dried fish. She might as well give them food after she meets them rather than ask them to go back to this place because she left it.

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  Now that she's thinking about it, the second option sounded a bit suspicious, didn't it? Especially if it comes from a stranger the beavers haven't met yet.

  Once her preparation was finished, Wilona said goodbye to Mossheart and Fuzz and then left her camp. When the witch was gone, Mossheart turned to Fuzz's newly acquired form, a faceless human-shaped fungal growth.

  "Guess she didn't notice..?" Fuzz scratched her head. How is that girl that aloof? Seriously! It's like she can only focus on one thing at a time.

  Mossheart let out a sound that was roughly a chuckle. Maybe. Fuzz wasn't sure.

  The swamp was the same as it always was, Wilona didn't think that it would change after she left it for what? Only a few days? But she hoped it did, like, this world had magic so maybe some giant snail ate some plants and left a grassless patch on the ground. That would be cool.

  Sadly, nothing like that can be found and Wilona walked along the path she made without anything interesting happening. She soon passed the spot where she gathered clay, and past that is an area with dense undergrowth and a thick canopy. It was dark here and usually, Wilona would cast orb of light so she could see, but she decided to test bioluminescence this time around.

  She cast the spell and immediately, a blue glow enveloped the area. Something hiding in the bushes got startled and ran away, but Wilona couldn't spot what it was. She was interested in it though, like, was it a tiger waiting to pounce on her or something? Scary.

  With her new spell, she managed to pass this part of the swamp relatively quickly, and before long, she reached the break between dry land and the expansive wetlands. This place must be why the area gained the title of "swamp" instead of rain forest. It was kind of beautiful, in its own way.

  It didn't even look like wetlands honestly, like, the better word she could use to describe it is maybe "everglades" because, well, there are a lot of plants dotting the landscape. Flora grew along the surface and blocked the sight of water. Anyone ignorant would fall for the trap and dive right into the abyss, they'd probably get eaten by tadpoles too or something.

  Do tadpoles eat humans?

  Crabs eat humans. They ate that stranded pilot girl, didn't they?

  But tadpoles aren't really crabs...

  Wilona's thoughts came to a screeching halt as her eyes landed on the large piles of sticks bursting out of the wetlands. They were gathered in large groups and looked like their placement was built with purpose and actual design, it wasn't haphazard at all.

  Or maybe that's just her knowledge of these guys actually being intelligent coloring her eyes.

  She needed to see for herself if this is actually the case. And to do that, Wilona went to the nearest spot in the break and waved to the Castorimorphians when they spotted her.

  The beavers' first reaction had been to look at each other for confirmation, then one of them shrugged and after a while, a large group descended from one of the stick piles and dived into the water. Which looked pretty deep...

  Wilona was genuinely glad she didn't go with her original plan and trudge along the wetlands to reach the beavers herself. The Castorimorphians had to come to her, that was the obvious thing that needed to happen here.

  When the beavers reached her, all three of them jumped out of the water to point primitive spears her way.

  And yeah, sure, she's being attacked right now, but like, Wilona took the moment to digest the fact that these guys looked like beavers. Actual beavers—they had a long ass tail that is as flat as a board, wet, brown fur, and a pair of buck teeth growing out their upper gums.

  Kinda fucking cool. Oh, and did she mention they wore the primitive equivalent to STRAP ONS?!

  Like, that's super cute. The spears aren't though...

  "Okay, chill out." Wilona raised her hands and the beavers tensed. What are these guys doing? Wilona watched them with one eyebrow raised, they closed their eyes and are now bracing for something. "Hello?"

  One of the beavers opened his eyes, "she didn't cast a spell!"

  "Wait, you thought I was gonna cast a spell?" Wilona crossed her arms, what? She would have, like, mixed sylph skin—the spell that made air currents always run through her body—with some kind of cooling spell for maximum output of cold or whatever.

  "Yeah?.." The Castorimorphian leading the trio lowered his spear. Though not by much. "What are you doing here? This isn't a place for humans."

  "I get that, totally." Wilona rolled her eyes, like, she didn't want to be here either. "Anyways, I'm here to help," she took out one of her clay pots and offered it to the beaver, she patted the lid of the container. "It has fish inside of it."

  The leading beaver took it from Wilona, his suspicions slowing down his movements by quite a bit, but once it reached him, he took off the lid. At the same time, the two other beavers moved forward to threaten Wilona while their leader is distracted.

  The smell of smoke made Wilona frown. She really hated the fillets when they were still uncooked, the Castorimorphians seemed to like it though. "Well? Do you trust me now or..?"

  "We'll see, stay here." The trio dived back into the water and left Wilona alone.

  She had the thought to turn off bioluminescence then. Huh, guess she's been making the plants glow all this time, no wonder the beavers thought she was gonna cast a spell at them earlier.

  Wilona fixed her cloak by the collar and waited.