On the third day, the army officially entered the wilderness. Scouts sent ahead brought back plenty of information, and the adventurers who had spread out made a few gains of their own. Quite a few merchant caravans had been attacked and robbed recently. Their goods had fallen into the hands of wilderness creatures, only to be seized as spoils after a fight. Soren had killed several enemies along the way, bringing his accumulated Slaughter Experience to 3,000 points, but once the money was split between two people, neither of them got many Gold Dalers.
"There's a village ahead." As the road grew familiar, Soren said to the Half-Elf Ranger beside him, "I passed through here a while back. The place was attacked by Lizardfolk. I don't know if the villagers moved away, but by now it's probably become a Lizardfolk settlement."
If they hadn't moved away, everyone in that village was probably dead.
He signaled to Yas, and the two of them crouched low and advanced through the grass. A small river ran beside the village, and Lizardfolk liked to settle near water. Once they could make out the village's wooden palisade in the distance, the Half-Elf Ranger took a tube from his pocket, twisted it, and raised it to his eye.
A Monocular? Soren stopped and waited for Yas to finish looking.
"Looks like the Lizardfolk have taken it over." Yas handed the Monocular to Soren. "A little Alchemy gadget. Ten Gold Dalers apiece."
Glass was fairly common, but making clear glass was much harder.
Monoculars were small Alchemy products. Without enchanted Spell Runes, one cost around ten Gold Dalers. With special effects added, the price could climb into the hundreds. Soren raised the Monocular and looked through it. He easily spotted a Lizardfolk guard on the watchtower. Much