Posts from Ritnaran Lekras (Heroist) Auto-translated

--Unfortunately, there are far fewer of them. These snails like to sit on very specific leaves, a local variety of grape. I'll warn you right away: this plant has very appetizing fruits, and they even look better than regular grapes, but you shouldn't eat them.

-I understand. - the wizard nodded. - Then, I'll go collect snails. Do you have any cockroaches? And also - Lasar - are you coming with me?

“There’s a tub, here it is,” he said, pointing with his finger at a wooden box without a lid, which was covered in dried slime. “Well, alright then,” replied the cabin boy to the suggestion.

-Then let's go, - replied the wizard and was the first to head in the direction where, according to the old man's instructions, wild grape thickets were supposed to grow.

Ritnaran easily reached the location, but then a small problem arose: the snails and grapes were absolutely identical in appearance and were clinging to the plant in exactly the same way. Apparently, collecting them required a certain amount of time to avoid confusing one with the other.

Ritnaran cursed under his breath but then decided to carefully separate them. He resigned himself to the fact that another day was wasted and decided to dedicate himself to this simple task. "Lasar, if you get tired, you can go help the old man with his work," he said to the young apprentice.

And yet, he managed to get the hang of it; after an hour, he had already collected quite a few snails. Of course, with Lasar's help.

-It seems that's quite enough, - said the wizard finally. - Let's go, we still have a lot to do.
Rithnaran got up from the ground where he had been sitting, resting and picking at snails, and then confidently headed towards the old man's cottage...

He had taken only two steps when he heard a loud, muffled bird cry behind him. If there were mountains here, such a cry would echo for kilometers around, and a bunch of travelers would immediately turn around to see what kind of marvel it was.

That’s exactly what Ritnaran did: it was, naturally, the instinctive reaction of any living creature.

A large, spectacled eagle was flying straight at him with all its might.

Rithnaran, without hesitation, fired a jet of air at him and jumped aside, frantically trying to find his staff, which seemed to have been successfully left in the old man's house.

The maneuver was successful: the eagle lost its balance in the air and knocked down a couple of branches on the tree.

Ritnaran didn't quite know what to do with the giant eagle. On the one hand, it would be enough food for a long journey, but on the other hand, the mage didn't want to kill it, and he wasn't even sure he could.
So, he simply prepared for any attack from the eagle, just in case, picking up the first stick he could find on the ground, and began to observe what his opponent would do next.

Meanwhile, the opponent recovered and settled on a branch, from where he glared menacingly at the barrel of snails. It seemed that he was also preparing for an attack from Ritnar.