It seems that Belle had been having quite the productive week as well. I heard that she had been helping out in Cal's shop helping with his experiments, apparently she had even been getting reading lessons from Ashley for which she was ecstatic. 

I listened to her describe the week's work somewhat disinterestedly... categorizing herbs and monster ingredients, tidying the laboratory, sweeping the shop. My eyes instead focused on her swinging tail, and bouncing butt while she bobbed up and down on my lap. 

When we were done, I had her dress me for the occasion. Strapping down my leather armor over warm clothes, and carrying my helm and shield in one hand before I set out. Today was the third outing of our fledging party, and one which I was quite eager for. 

It seems my reputation had taken something of a hit among the craftsmen of the town due to my 'class gathering' idea. Even Cal seemed somewhat cold, thinking I had taken too much advantage of his goodwill. My pride was somewhat hurt by this and I felt the need to prove myself.

The others were assembled at the guild, ready as usual. Fully armed and better armored than before.

Greeting them as I looked about. Tammy was over by the counter, more attentive than usual as she stood talking with another woman. I recognized her from when I first registered, she was the mage-looking one. Milky white skin and long raven black hair with faint streaks of dark red, extremely subtle but the way it caught the early light made her black hair shimmer like it was burning. An extremely unusual coloring, and one that I hadn't noticed before at a glance. Like before she was wearing expensive looking dresses rather than armor, and she carried an intricately carved staff with a gemstone set atop it.

Even though I was talking with the others about our plans, Tammy seemed to have noticed my staring as she glanced at me before continuing on. The beauty in elaborate dress soon saying her part before leaving. 

Our conversation continued on for a while longer, the others talking about which monsters we might run into, before I split off to approach Tammy. 

"Who was that?" I asked her, mostly interested in what a mage would be doing out here.

Tammy looked at me, grinning slightly while she sat down behind the counter, resting her head on her arms. 

"Interested in her?" She teased me, seeming to imply I had ulterior motives. 

*ahem* I cleared my throat. 

"How do we have a mage in the guild? This isn't the kind of place that would attract one..." Mages were almost entirely royalty or at the very least nobility. Given that the academy only admitted those of nobility, not to mention the cost of raising mages was prohibitively expensive. 

"She's a Marcet." She replied as if that was the end of the explanation. 

Cal's sister? I've never heard she was a mage. Just another thing I would need to ask him about, but it certainly did explain things. Only the Marcets had the ability to raise a mage, and given that this was their territory it wouldn't be unusual for the daughter to be around, mage or not. 

I nodded and continued the conversation to its end. Asking about what other parties had seen around here lately, which seemed to be more muck rats and less mud-men, the lack of rain for the last week drying out the terrain substantially. She did ask about my hand, and was surprised to see it had fully healed already. 

Art, Sebast, Orion, and Kalm were waiting at the door for me to end my conversation. 

We went out into the bright winter morning, walking along the near empty streets. Once we were past the inner wall I could see the farmhouse that Cal had lent me, the fields looking as dead as always whereas most of the other fields had winter crops planted, the bright green a stark contrast to the dull grey of the soil.

We passed the guards with a nod as they let us through, heading outside the small gate at the end of the road and into the expansive prairie beyond. We could see the tree-line far off in the distance, but didn't dare go that far. We could try for slimes or mud-men again, but given what we had heard the lack of rain was making them harder to come by, making muck rats the most likely target, albeit a much more dangerous one. 

I took the vanguard position as usual, but given we had no enemies yet our formation was closer together than usual, helping us to respond to any direction of attack. No matter how far we walked to the treeline it didn't seem to get much closer, making me wonder just how large those trees had to be exactly. We made it to a local high-point, the tallest hill we could find in the distance that let us look over the tallgrass from a vantage point. From here we could see several groups of rats, walking in formations eerily similar to our own as they passed through the grass that stood taller than themselves. From what we had heard, it was somewhat easier to fight the rats in the fields than in the open. Muck rats could coordinate better in the poor visibility, given their sense of smell, but the rats were physically weak and poor in close combat given their reliance on tools and projectiles. The grass itself made an effective buffer against their slings, reducing the effective range greatly and preventing accuracy. Our strategy would revolve around that. 

Orion and Kalm held their spears, abandoning their primary weapons. We would charge as a unit, and take as much of an advantage as we could.