Year 5014, day 9 of the moon season.

 

“I heard what happened...” we exchanged glances. “How are you feeling?”

I feigned a smile, sensing the chilly wind breathing on my face, causing me to recollect the resentment of that day, “I’m a lot better. How’s your party tagging along?”

She kept staring at me for a bit longer, her way of making sure I was alright. Elise had become a good friend in the past years, and despite not ending up part of her adventuring group, our bond remained as tight. Yet, I really wanted to partake in a quest with her, one of the dreams we had since our younger days. I had been the biggest influence on her decision of quitting alchemy. She, too, wanted to explore the world alongside me, and in a way, that was all it took for her to join the guild.

Calmly my eyes stole a glance at Johan playing around with little saint, or perhaps, the one being played. It was smarter than what the young man thought. This boy was the son of Rohan, the merchant friend of my parents, the responsible person for selling the goods from my small fields.

Nevertheless, thanks to the snow, there was nothing for me to do in that regard. The leftover seeds were either frozen or buried below the whiteness of the typical greenery scenery I noticed during warmer seasons. And I wanted to help my parents in every way possible; sure I could have taken a smaller job like the kids of my age do, but there was just something about exploring this secret world that kept me from such ordinary employment. It was potentially the consequence of living a life chained in a mansion.

Consequently, I had taken this chance to be a helper and to do my best to promote to an adventurer; Oddly enough, the success rate was pretty high. It didn’t take more than a season to reach such status. Nonetheless, I was currently in a predicament. Thanks to the awful starting point, it had been 3 days since I last heard from the guild. There were some plans for tomorrow, but they hadn’t told me what they were about.

“Hopefully, I’ll be part of a new team soon,” I smiled eagerly at going back into action, not that I had much of it last time.

“If possible, a better one this time,” the boy sat on the snow, eavesdropping on our conversation, crossing his legs and arms as little saint placed his head on top of my lap tired from running around, and of course receiving yet another dose of my patting, throughout its fluffy hair. 

‘Nothing like being an enormous ball of fur,’ such was the abnormal coat my pet had during the cold seasons. And because of its body size, it often warmed my feet, which felt great.

“Agreed Johan,” Elise added, hoping for the best for my sake.

“We’ll see how it goes.”

The three of us mumbled practically at the same time. 

“Is your grandfather still mad at you?” 

At my question, Elise rolled her eyes, “yes...”

I giggled at that, “I’m sure he’ll forgive you at some point.”

“Ugh, that old man is so stubborn,” She covered her face with her palm hiding whichever pain haunted her ever since that fateful day. 

The boy smiled, “I’d be pretty upset if I had spent years teaching someone only for them to end up doing something entirely different.”

“Yes, yes... mister merchant to be.”

He rose his left hand, pointing at her with the index finger, “unlike you, I’m almost done getting my merchant license!”

I laughed at their friendly banter, enjoying my time with both. Of all the kids in the village, these two were the ones I spent more time with. They had never set foot in my house but were at least allowed to be in the plains. My dad was awfully strict about having guests; when there were some, I wasn’t allowed to leave my room or utter a sound. For my safety, it was important that I remained in the dark and that certain people didn’t know about my existence. 

Even the staff at the guild were cautious once they realized I was his daughter. Yet, when I innocently questioned one of them about it, they simply told me he was famous for saving someone. Still, that hadn’t been enough to uncover the truth. Perhaps it was better like that. But there were times when I felt like bursting through my room just to see what it was all about. However, I wouldn’t be able to face my father’s anger if that happened. I didn’t want to suffer again, in the same manner as in my past life. Just the possibility made me nervous to no end.

 

Year 5014, day 10 of the moon season.

“Let’s do our best Tania,” we exchanged a hug, giving peace to one another before walking outside the guild hall.

Similar to the last time we camped near the creatures’ territory, except this time a tad further away, with a more spacious area for us to not be caught off guard as easily.

“Thank you for bringing wood.”

“You’re very welcome, Benjamin,” I added with a faint smile toward our new party leader.

To my side, a slender arm found itself around my neck, “the instructor told us what happened. It was an unlucky incident.”

I kept quiet, hearing Bella’s words filled with irony toward us, the two newcomers.

“I’ve finished tracking.”

“Oh?” Her arm left as she found a new shoulder to rest on: Tania’s one.

The newcomer did her best to not say anything bad to Bella despite feeling uncomfortable about it, furrowing her eyebrows. Instead, she brushed it off, extending her arms to the side, “I found a pack of shroomies two hundred meters ahead,” she pointed southwest, towards the place where our companion passed away.

“Very good. Any clue about the said tusk boars?” He contracted his eyes, knowing we’d want to get back at them if there was a chance.

“Nothing for now,” Tania pointed upward at the snowing. For a tracker, snow-covered footprints and trails ruined and twisted any paths, making it harder to foresee any traps. 

“Understood. Go to the fire, keep it under watch.”

I accompanied the girl, going as far as to sit next to her, “what are they like?”

She gazed at me with doubt, raising her right eyebrow, “what do you mean?”

“The shroomies,” I rested my cheek on top of my knees, focusing my peaceful eyes on her.

“Oh!” her mouth opened wide. “They’re big colored mushrooms, as tall as our knees. Dangerous ones reach about our waistline.”

 

 

 

I opened my mouth, surprised; the frontier beyond it were the restricted limits imputed by my parents when I was younger. Everywhere else almost was fine for me to explore, aside from going too far onto the mountains in the east. Golems lived there, and they were neutral to us, or so the saying went: The creatures who guard humanity, smashers of fiends till flat they become.

Yet everyone I had questioned about it didn’t know much about them. Creatures made of stone gave birth to curiosity within me, willing to learn more about the different races and their uniqueness, the possibilities of meeting them, and perhaps even befriending one.

‘Except the vile creatures who took down Brook,’ yes, that’s where I drew the line, setting my boundaries on the pretext of having lost someone. I couldn’t allow them to go undefeated, not for vengeance, but for justice. What they had done to us, to him and Chris, was not right, and my heart ached for those sinful acts.

“Shrooms... eh?” I finally added after a long time in silence, thinking that potentially we were not too different from said creatures. After all, we too were on a mission to exterminate living beings. However, I didn’t feel bad about it, not yet at least. I had yet to kill one of them with my own hands, to feel their warm blood flow towards my body, drenching it and changing my skin tone to a filthier red, only then would I know if that was enough to sense guilt or a more distinct emotion.

“Mhm... “ 

“You look tired. Go rest. I’ll keep watching.” Tania consented my way with a soft nod, reaching out for a sleeping bag, a bedroll, as it was called, some made of leather, and more comfortable ones made of more expensive materials. Mine was cheap, one that I almost lost during that chaotic night, but despite its price, I had earned nothing as a helper, and I didn’t have money left to buy another.

‘It would be tough to sleep on the floor,’ I sighed, calmly looking at the surrounding darkness of the night, hoping that no enemy would approach. Thanks to the guild and in a way, since an adventurer died, a party went ahead to retrieve our things. Such would not be viable if a creature had taken them before the adventurers arrived; Luckily for me and Tania, that hadn’t been the case.

Once again, I stood at the rear of the party, and this time around our scouter did things by herself. She was no longer inclined to go through seeing someone die and in a way, I still felt like a coward, relieved within me to be the one positioned in the safest location. Unlike the rest of them, I had already died one time, losing everything, even if what I lost hadn’t been special. Yet it still had been my life, and that had some worth.

‘If there’s any fighting... they need to save energy...’ and with such a thought, I pulled some of their burdens onto my shoulders. The night went on with no one dying and I more than the rest, spent the most time being vigilant of enemies, so that my teammates could rest. After all, I was the luggage carrier during the daytime.

We left the camp on the first daylight, “are you okay?”

“Yes, just a bit sleepy,” I quickly lied, to leave Tania’s mind devoid of worries about my health and fatigue. 

‘It was just an extra turn keeping watch... or was it two?’ The time for the night to pass was long and at times, it felt eternal. The chilly breeze had kept me awake, and the fireplace on my back allowed me to resist the constant breeze. I got a quick hold of my white fur jacket, crossing my arms, brushing some of the snow off them; My clothing too had been the greatest of help during times like these.

“Lead the way Tania,” Benjamin declared, pointing in the last time we were here direction, thus we followed her.

Through the naked trees, we moved, dazzled by the unknown and white of the vast plains. Few were the bushes that remained green and intact, barely providing us with any camouflage. It was easy for my allies to keep an eye on any fiend hiding on top of the trees, as they had no verdure for coverage. The bad thing was that anything could see us approaching. 

It didn’t take long for us to find the shroomies group.

‘What are they doing?’ I remained still, staring at them with an open mouth, dumbfounded about the culmination before me, the mushrooms had tiny legs that led to the cap, but they seemed to lack eyes, instead in the center of the top of the hat, there was sunlight going in, almost as if they were channeling it somewhere.

A whisper came, keeping us all edgy, “we must defeat them now whilst they recover.” Tania didn’t add an explanation when she referred to the group as we, for my job was to remain here, and theirs to move and attack. Our formation needed me to stay behind in case something bad happened, to check if more enemies would join the battle or any other thing that I’d need to alert them about.

“Move out,” Benjamin signaled by waving his hand, and they held onto their diverse weapons. As my group was about to engage them from the east, on the opposite side, a familiar sound approached: The dreadful stomping of the tusk boars, but more than that screams, coming from four green-like creatures that I had heard stories about, goblins.

All of us froze at such a commotion and the way the green fellows ran towards the shroomies. By no means were these plains safe: often a bloody, chaotic, and savage festival where plenty of distinct races often met and despaired. After all, they were enemies of one another. A battlefield beyond the protection of the saintess, where even the strong die.

“Newcomers stay here and keep our rear safe no matter what,” Yegor and Bella followed Benjamin’s lead, dashing toward the shroomies.

One of the small creatures noticed the humans approaching, following through by using the screech skill, alerting his surrounding allies. Further ahead, more of its kin poured from their hiding spots, a few goblins below the snow and others behind the trees. In total, a group of six kept their distance from my allies, and in a way, continued to wait out for the tusk boars.

‘So they hunt in large numbers,’ it made me realize that despite their low intelligence and mana, they were far from being dumb. They were actually leading them into a trap, far better than us back then who were caught by those charging fat creatures. Their weapons were a lot more rudimentary than ours, plain-looking sticks, sharpened in the tips, barely any clothes on them despite the cold season. Yet it didn’t look to me like they suffered from it, perhaps from a young age. They were bathed in icy water, or forced to stand out in the cold, increasing their natural resistance.

An abrupt howling breeze hit my face, forcing my hair to flow onto my back.

I rose my palm, aiming it at my allies. This time around I’d use my ice skill to make a difference, in any way that I could.

“I’ll watch the surroundings,” I nodded in her direction, consenting to Tania’s wise decision so I could keep focused. Thus, she vanished into the trees and bushes further behind me, keeping herself ready for any who might attempt to get to the supporter, me.

I kept calm, looking at the situation and pondering where my little mana would be best spent. “Seventy-two,” I whispered to myself, knowing there must be something that I could do with it. And then, from observing the way the goblins ran away with their small legs, taking the narrowest possible paths, an idea surged within me, causing me to smile faintly.

Without the order of the leader, I decided then to choose my own way, to pave the battlefield through the little ability I had, the start of a new style, my own.

I did my best to keep myself steady, controlling the magical circle to appear in front of the goblins. I aimed it towards the pathway that looked like they’d run over as that was the direction to the rest of them. Once my mana finished converting to my ice element, I released the skill, “freeze.”

Notice: System consumed 70 mana.

“Attack them!” A yell burst with almighty strength from my lungs, and my allies noticed the light blue magical circle approaching our enemies far ahead, illuminating one of their paths.

“Close their way out!” Benjamin ordered, causing the trio to change plans and aim for the goblins instead.

The light, too, was perceived by our enemies, but we left them with no choice. Someone had ruined their plan, and they didn’t know what I had done further ahead. Between being smashed by the tusk boars, or running into a trap, they kept going, yelling, alerting the rest of them: the ones ahead.

Everything quickly became a mess, but the best part was the way it made my hand shiver from the excitement that ran across the fiery blood in my veins.

‘Get them!’ A smile from cheek to cheek surfaced on my face, gaining a bit of confidence from not missing the spell. 

I shrouded away the mist of doubts about the outcome of my action the moment I saw everything happen. Like dominoes, but the type that were alive, with eyes, noses, mouths, and with a soul inside being crushed onto one another, goblins being smashed against the nearby trees, slipping without being able to get away in time. Their bodies puked green liquid, a different type of colored blood than mine, stickier and repulsive nonetheless. The beasts that hurt themselves from the sharp and cold branches and weapons roared in despair. 

They were about to fall prey to the hands of the backup who awaited them when my allies started pressuring with their presence and sharpened weapons.

It was chaotic for the goblins’ side as they attempted to dodge the enormous animals.

Whenever they tried to escape, my allies would kill them. The only way out was straight ahead with this or that tree in the way. But for that, they needed to run all the way to the backup, but the icy ground made sure that didn’t come easy.

Yegor, a warrior with two small axes, one in each hand, made an abnormally great leap towards one beast that went out of the path.

The animal noticed him too late, allowing the brave warrior to pierce the beast's eyes, piercing them all the way to the brain.

“One down!” He shouted convicted, increasing Bella's and Benjamin's morale.

The two of them followed his example, using their swords to slice through the fallen goblins. It was easy since they remained on the coldness, slipping without being able to get a hold of their balance.

“To think she could do this,” he grinned, feeling that I had been an excellent addition to the party.

“Brother! Right!” 

“Backstep!” He shouted, his skill unsure if he could dodge that attack on time, causing a surge of mana to cover him from the feet to the knees. And then, before the enemy goblin reached him, he jumped back, avoiding the attack.

“Quick slash!” This time, the mana covered his arms, giving him the energy required to cross his sword on the opponent's throat, decapitating him in a blink of an eye.

As the blood gushed out from the headless body in a vertical fountain style, Benjamin fell to his knees.

“Yegor!”

“On it!” The bulky young man rushed to his companion's side, throwing the hand axes to two distinct goblins that attempted to approach. “I got you.”

He lifted his body, placing Benjamin over his shoulders, carrying him to me.

Noticing this, I took out my sword, “Tania they need us!”

I heard the bushes on my rear to shake, causing me to point the tip to it, pulling the sword to my waist to pierce if necessary.

“I’m here. What’s wrong?” 

I noticed Tania’s hand lifting one of the branches as she made her way to me, glimpsing to my posture, thinking that I was ready to attack her.

“We need to help them,” I lowered my guard in her presence, pointing in their way.

Her eyes soon fell on the shroomies, understanding that they were still busy with their recovering endeavours.

“Let’s hurry,” she ran without waiting for my consent, and I followed after her. 

We needed to be fast, to avoid getting caught between the tuskboards, the goblins, and the shroomies.

We ran for our lives, looking at Yegor's outline physique, the muscles that made its torso shape clear. Benjamin by no means looked light, at least not like me or Tania.

I had heard of such skills: quick slash and others that began with the quick word meant they excelled in the use of the body muscles exhausting them.

This made me think he was quite brave about using it when he did, without knowing if rendering his legs wouldn’t cause his doom. But their trust in each other, their teamwork, had made it possible.

“Here,” I quickly sheathed my sword, getting hold of Benjamin's arm, leaving the other one for Yegor to handle. 

Together, we took him back to the camp. None of us died, not even got hurt. To me, that was the most important. And we had even killed a few of them. 

‘We won!’ I thought happily, giving some peace to my last party experience. 

It was a shame that things went the way they did. We hadn’t defeated all of them, far from it. 

However, our escape ended up with a positive result: three of my party members had gained experience, and for an adventurer to become stronger, that was a must.

“Thank you guys,” we felt his weight becoming lighter. His legs were starting to work again.

“We got you,” I smiled briefly, improving the pace with his renewed self. The camp was closer now and all of us wanted to get away as fast as possible.

Tania stood behind, something to do with our trails. Perhaps her family had taught her to cover our tracks. Knowing her, it would surely be a useful task so that the goblins wouldn’t find us easily.

If they’d come for revenge, we’d need to survive and fight back. The problem was the number. They weren’t as dumb as I had expected. 

Their hunting tactic had been quite interesting. I believe they would’ve made it a great killing on a few of those boars had we not meddle.

But I suppose, after looking back at it, we had been caught by surprise, unlike the goblins who lured the enemies.

‘Initiative...’ My mother had told me something similar, that often the first to land the first attack is bound to win the duel.

We arrived safely at the camp, each taking a seat in their own corner, with their backs against a distinct tree.

All of our breathes was fierce, our hearts too heated violently.

“Iris...” I stole a glimpse from Benjamin, he who took a deep breath before speaking further. “I didn’t expect you to do that. It was amazing!”

I got to know then that I had been truly amazing. And for someone with not that much self-esteem that had meant the world to me.

And I failed to hide the happiness I felt with his words. 

All of them saw my joyful smile. It had been my ace in a hole. 

Yegor raised his thumb toward me. A man that didn’t seem to talk much, unless necessary.

“That wasn’t half bad,” Bella added, with a somewhat indifferent tone, feeling the gazes of her favourite people stolen by me.

“I’m glad I could help!” And deep down I truly was, more than even thinking of taking revenge. 

That was when I realised I wanted to defeat those beasts, not because they had harmed my initial companions, but because I wanted to do it, to know that it was possible. 

My goal was still to get strong enough to protect my family. Therefore, growing in whatever way possible to match that outcome made me fulfilled. 

It was fine if I became a party support, if I learned skills to be useful to them. If they could grow further stronger with my help, reducing the number of enemies against humanity.

‘We can do this,’ I left a long sigh of relief towards the sky, watching it become a little cloud from how cold it was.

“Everything’s arranged,” Tania’s voice came from behind. I was expecting her to return safely. I trusted she’d do a good job in whatever task they had given her.

“I’ll patrol,” without waiting for anyone’s permission, Yegor got up, taking Benjamin's sword with him into the woods. 

He had lost both of his axes, securing the leader's life. He could always buy new ones, but the same couldn’t be said about anyone’s life.

Bella got up and went closer to me, “grab the chance to rest kid.”

I nodded at her words, allowing exhaustion to overwhelm me. Falling asleep.