Getting There First

"Whew."

"They're finally dead."

Watching the massive Trolls crash to the ground in the distance, Morgan let out a long breath.

Some members of the Company might have thought it was easy for Morgan to kill those Trolls—that all he had to do was lift a finger.

And in a way, that was true.

Aside from having to run around, keep his eyes peeled, and draw his bow until his arms ached, an archer did have it easier physically than someone fighting at close range.

But an archer's real exhaustion came from the strain on his mind.

The arrows in an archer's quiver were limited.

That meant an archer had to concentrate intensely every time he drew his bow if he wanted to kill as many enemies as possible.

After a battle, the mental toll on an archer was obvious.

Warriors spent their strength; archers spent their focus. Neither had it easier than the other.

After all, fighting was dangerous work.

That was the false impression outsiders got when they saw an archer having an easy time.

Morgan might have seemed to effortlessly shoot down a whole group of giant Trolls that the entire Expedition Team had been unable to handle.

But only Morgan knew the real difficulty involved—the mental strain and exhaustion.

Of course, Kili, a fellow archer, might have understood some of it.

"Hey, Gandalf, where did you go?"

"I thought you'd gone missing."

Morgan tore his gaze from the Trolls' enormous bodies, turned to Gandalf in the distance with a smile, and strode toward him.

"I just went for a bit of a walk. You know how stubborn Dwarves can be. Sometimes they're really, really impossible to put up with."

When Morgan asked, Gandalf shrugged and replied with some exasperation.

Morgan knew exactly what Gandalf meant.

Even setting aside Gandalf's earlier argument with Thorin Oakenshield, Thorin and the other Dwarves had shown their stubbornness many times over the past month.

"Relax. The whole world knows how stubborn Dwarves are."

Morgan walked up and offered a reassuring smile.

Gandalf shook his head without replying. Then he looked toward the enormous Troll corpses and asked with a frown, "How did you run into those monsters?"

"I'm not entirely sure."

"When I showed up, Kili and Fili were keeping one of them occupied."

"But I'd guess the monsters stole our horses."

Morgan shook his head and looked toward the bodies.

"Do you know what those monsters are?"

Morgan turned to Gandalf, asking even though he already knew.

"The only evil creatures that grow that large are Trolls—and these are Stone Trolls."

At Gandalf's words, Morgan seized on a detail and quickly asked, "You mean there are other kinds of Trolls?"

Gandalf didn't answer. Instead, he glanced at the sky.

The rain had stopped completely, and the sky had grown much brighter.

Seeing that it wasn't going to rain again, Gandalf took out his pipe, expertly packed it with tobacco, and lit it.

"Puff."

Gandalf took a satisfied drag and exhaled a cloud of smoke before finally speaking.

"Of course. There's more than one kind of Troll."

"As far as I know, there are several types, including Mountain Trolls, Stone Trolls, and Cave Trolls."

"These Trolls we're looking at can only come out at dusk and during the night. They turn to stone when exposed to sunlight."

Just as Gandalf finished speaking, another voice cut in.

"They turn to stone when exposed to sunlight?"

"So they can only come out at night. Then what were those three doing here?"

Thorin Oakenshield approached with the other Dwarves. Hearing Gandalf's explanation, he immediately asked, puzzled.

"That's exactly what I'm wondering."

Gandalf nodded and continued puffing on his pipe.

The members of the Company had long since witnessed Gandalf's vast knowledge.

If even Gandalf didn't know something, the others certainly wouldn't.

"Could it be that these Trolls fear sunlight and usually come out at night, but that doesn't mean they're afraid of daytime?"

"Maybe they stay away during sunny days because they simply dislike the daytime."

"Sunshine could break through at any moment during the day."

"But on a rainy day, they wouldn't have to worry about that."

After a moment's thought, Morgan spoke up.

"Hmm, that makes sense."

"That's the only explanation for why they were here."

Gandalf nodded in agreement, smoke curling from his mouth.

"If these Stone Trolls were here, their cave should be nearby."

"I've heard that many of these creatures like collecting things. Perhaps we should take a look inside their cave."

Having had his fill of pipe smoke, Gandalf put his pipe away and looked up at the others.

"Thoughtful of him. He's saved me from having to bring it up."

Hearing Gandalf, Morgan couldn't help giving him a mental thumbs-up.

"Those monsters like collecting things?"

"Then we've got to take a look."

"Maybe they're like dragons and collect treasure."

"How do you know dragons collect treasure?"

"I heard it somewhere."

"I don't know, but surely someone here does. Gandalf, I'm right, aren't I?"

"What?"

"I said dragons like collecting treasure. You must have seen a dragon's hoard, right?"

"Cough, cough. Maybe. Possibly. There could be one."

Watching the others bicker as usual before spreading out to search for the Stone Trolls' cave, Morgan stood in the forest and looked around.

Then he hurried in the direction the three Trolls had come from.

The huge, chaotic footprints clearly showed him the way.

A few Dwarves behind him had chosen the same direction.

Morgan quickly picked up the pace and left them behind.

The Company seemed to have been prompted by something one of the Dwarves had said during their bickering: "Maybe they're like dragons and collect treasure."

Seeing which way Morgan was headed, the Dwarves following behind him wisely chose different directions to search.

Morgan glanced back at the Dwarves and their little schemes, then grinned.

That suited him just fine.

He wasn't sure whether he could find the Trolls' hideout before the Dwarves did.

But whoever found it first, Morgan was determined to claim the High Elf swords inside the Troll cave.

He had every right to them.

Morgan followed the Trolls' enormous footprints at a quick pace.

Once he could no longer see any Dwarves behind him, he broke into a run.

His Agility had reached Level 2, and he was much faster than before.

Fortunately, he'd chosen the right direction.

He stopped in front of a wide, shadowy cave mouth.

Morgan let out a deep breath of relief.

He'd managed to get there first after all.

Now it was time to collect his reward.

Morgan grinned, drew the Cross Longsword at his waist, and stepped inside.