The next day, the sun was shining brightly.
He Xi woke from a deep sleep and contentedly stretched.
He made a simple breakfast by pouring hot water over the oats he'd brought and mixing in some chopped dried meat.
He'd slept remarkably well the night before.
Although he'd firmly refused Trist's pot of food that looked capable of poisoning an ogre, he hadn't turned down the hot water and wooden tub Trist had provided.
A satisfying hot bath had washed away the dust of days on the road. And since he hadn't needed to take a watch shift, he'd slept until dawn.
Incidentally, Bruce had been stripped of the right to sleep beside He Xi.
Ever since putting on the [Sleepy Knight's Bracelet], the dog had started snoring at night—and loudly, too. Its sleep-talk had gone from "milky cookies" all the way to "roasted Cracked Hoof Bull ribs," and it had drooled all over the place.
In the end, it had been ordered to move next to Belt, who snored just as thunderously.
That night, the man-and-dog duo had played a duet of "Thunderous Lullabies" for the camp. Amid their vigorous protests and everyone else's even more vigorous unanimous veto, the arrangement had been made permanent.
Once everyone was dressed and ready, they headed toward the kobold cave.
As they made their way through the forest in the faint morning light, Hulk suddenly stopped. With the tip of his sword, he lifted a taut tripwire from beneath a pile of fallen leaves. The other end was attached to a net woven from vines and filled with stones.
He looked at Trist without expression.
When everyone turned to look at him, Trist awkwardly scratched his head. "Uh... I set that up to keep the kobolds from wandering near my house. Sometimes