The oppressive air, filled with odors of rot, shit and hot garbage marked the place where Jean wandered as the town's underbelly. The very part of the town that people avoided at all cost… except for the dregs of society, which thrives in places like this.

  And Calamon, as a frontier town, had an abundance of lowlives...

  Having lived near the slums of Tondo Manila, Jean is no stranger to the dangers of dark alleyways. The young woman knows what the men behind her are thinking.

 

  "Looks like there are lowlifes here as well…" Jean thought as she slowly turned around to see how many her assailants would be. 

  "One, two, three, four, five, six…" she mentally counted, taking great care not to make any sudden movements. Jean took note of ruffians. 

  " Hmm… the skinny one with a bald patch must be the one who had a squeaky voice, then these two assholes looked like twins, both are fat and ugly beyond imagination, eeww gross! The other one seems to be around fifty years of age, his numerous scars on his arms and face suggests he is a veteran of battles… he is the most dangerous of them… two are just boys, barely fifteen, one blond and one ginger, they looked scared, they must be apprentices or possibly their gofer..." She then turned her attention to the surroundings, looking for possible exits if she needed to flee.

  "I still don't know anything about this world… Yes, I may have had some new powers when I came here, but maybe everyone has the same power in this strange world, maybe theirs is a lot stronger than mine… if I am to be careful, I have to assume the latter… also, for some reason, I can actually understand their language… hmm, must be some kind of isekai perk..." The black haired girl concluded as she assessed the situation.

  "Well lads, I think I shall be going first! Kekeke!" The squeaky voiced man said to his companions. "I am going to fuck the brains out of this pretty little cunt! Kekekeke! You can have her when I am finished with her" The squeaky man said as he licked his lips lasciviously while flicking his jagged dagger.

  A beefy hand suddenly grabbed the squeaky man's shoulder, stopping him in his tracks. He turned towards his companion, his eyes barely hiding his anger for being interrupted.

  "Do you have a death wish, old man Bron?!" He snapped at the grizzled looking man. A flash of steel suddenly rested on Bron's neck, a drop of blood trickling from a nick made by the tip of the squeaky man's dagger.

 "Oh, he is fast!" Jean noted mentally, still staying quiet and alert. She was just standing and observing the ruffians, looking for possible advantages and ways to exploit the situation. "But if worse comes to worst, I have to kill them…" The young girl coldly concurred.

 "No boss…" the grizzled man started to say, still careful with every word as to not agitate the squeaky man and getting stabbed to the throat "I know this girl, I saw her before, she is one of Madame Germaine's girls! You know how she is, we might get in trouble… even the guildmaster avoids confrontation with her…" Bron explained, hoping that his squad leader will see this potential problem.

  "That's true boss, I saw 'er one time with Matron Germaine too. Maybe it's better if we just let 'er be?" Added the young boy with blond hair.

  "Whoever this Matron Germaine, it looks like they fear her… maybe this is my chance if I play this right.I need to exploit this." Jean smiled to herself at the unexpected turn of events, her mind is already formulating plans.

 "Ho ho ho! You are indeed right, young man!" Jean tried her best to act haughty and confident, hoping to play on their fear of this Matron Germaine. 

 "The Matron is expecting me to be by her side in an hour, and she will not be happy if someone delays me. So I think it's better for everyone to let me be on my way, don't you think?" Jean stated matter of factly. She noticed that her words caused uneasiness to some of the ruffians, nobody is laughing lewdly now. All six ruffians are completely dumbfounded. 

  "If she's a whore, then why not let's have fun first eh? All we need is to pay her gold and it wouldn't be illegal isn't it?" The squeaky man said as he took a pouch of gold coins under his clothes… gold coins that were probably acquired by thievery or worse. 

  Jean's cheerful tone suddenly turned ice cold.

  "If you don't leave me alone right now, I will kill you all…" obsidian bolts started cracking at her fingertips.

 CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

 "THE TOWN'S ALARM BELL!" The grizzled man shouted, stealing the attention of his comrades away from Jean. 

  The rogues started to run the other way, completely ignoring the dumbfounded Jean.

  "What is happening?!" Jean shouted as she also started running towards the group… her fear was completely overwhelmed by curiosity and confusion.

  "Town bells only meant one thing… an attack! And of course, in an attack there are soldiers and dead soldiers… which mean GOLD COINS! HAHAHAHA! And in this world, girly, gold is far better than pussy! Keh keh keh!" the squeaky man cackled.

  "Of course…" Jean sighed in relief.

                  ……………..

 The town's guard was already assembled at the northern gate of the town, their weapons drawn as they nervously faced the attacker… a towering frost troll from the Umbra mountains ten miles north of Calamon. 

  "Cap'en! The men are assembled, but these are the new recruits that just finished their training… we might lose a lot of them before this day is over!" A look of concern flashed on the grim face of the old veteran Sergeant Moran as he reported the situation to the young captain of the town's guard Boris Malt.

  "Frost trolls have been very active as of late. These behemoths usually kept to themselves, holed up in their mountain, only attacking those stupid enough to enter their territory… what made them leave?" Boris pondered   

 "These monsters are extremely hot tempered and strong but also dimwits… we may have a chance sergeant..." Boris said to Moran, smiling as he clapped the old man's shoulder in assurance.

  Emboldened by his captain's words and confidence, Moran ordered his troops to attack.

  Fifty towns guard rushed the frost troll, swords waving in the air.

                   ………………

 Blood, guts and dismembered body parts were all over the ground when the rogues and Jean arrived at the north gate.

  "A real troll! Holy shit! It looks like those trolls from Tolkien's book! So these monstrosities exist in this world after all!" She exclaimed, as it was the first time Jean saw such a creature.

  "This would be a good way to test my gunpower!" Jean thought as a cocky smile formed on her lips.

  "Let's go boys! The gold is waitin' keh keh keh!" The squeaky man shouted to his companions as they started to run towards the dead guards, checking the pockets for gold coins, oblivious to the fifteen foot frost troll.

  "We be makin' a killin' this time boss!" Cried the young boy with glee as he fished three gold coins from a dead guard.

  WHAM!

 The young boy jolted from the force of the blow, he slowly turned his face towards the direction of his comrades who were just a moment ago checking the pockets of dead guards for coins… All he saw was a pool of mashed flesh and a gigantic wooden club dripping with blood.

  His companions are all gone, the realization of danger had finally washed over him like a tidal wave as he felt the troll's gigantic hand closed over his body picking him up. He was still clutching the three pieces of gold coins when the troll bit off his head and devoured half of his torso.

  The frost troll noticed a lone black haired girl dressed in rags and started to walk towards her.

  The cocky smile a moment ago was wiped away from her lips... after seeing the gruesome scene, her confidence was replaced with panic and her mind went blank, her body shaking uncontrollably unable to move away. 

 "Calandra, what are you doing here?! Get back inside the town! This place is not for people like you! Move, NOW!" A female voice shouted from behind her back.

 Jean felt two strong hands grabbing her shoulders from behind, but she was too stunned to react. All she could do was stare at the lumbering troll walking towards her with the promise of death.

  "Arcus! Now!" The female voice from behind her shouted.

  "I'm on it Lodis!" 

  From the corner of Jean's eye, she saw a red haired young man in leather armor carrying slightly curved daggers in each hand sped past towards the troll.