My life was flipped upside down on the day I turned eleven. Those men with the wolf insignia took my family from me. I was left utterly alone, my only lifelines were the large inheritance my parents left for me and my healing magic. I just couldn't bring myself to spend the money my parents spent a good deal of their life saving to send me to the academy in the capital, so I lived off the meager pay I earned by being an amateur healer. It was difficult but seven years later, I can now set off to the school my late parents dreamed I would go to. Maybe I can find some more info on my parents killers while I'm there.

 I'm sure my parents are smiling in the afterlife as I grab the pony I bought's reins.

------

"Tekekakeca"

The sudden noise causes my pony to panic and throw me off before running away. Dammit I don't know what hurts more, being thrown onto my ass or the fact i just lost my fairly pricey steed. I look towards the thing that made the noise, a monster known as a pygmy hyenacinth. Its a mix of a hyena and a plant that can still laugh despite its head being replaced with a flower.

"What the hell is a monster doing on the main path?"

The hyenacinth's response is to attack me with the vines on it's back. I manage to pull out my great sword quick enough to intercept the strikes from the beast, but the vines return to their neutral position of facing towards the sky before I can strike back. Looks like I get to go on the offensive.

I quickly get into attack range and pull off the only sword art I know...

[Swipe]

My body moves inhumanly fast, releasing a horizontal swipe with my hefty blade. The attack sends my smaller opponent sprawling. The hyenacinth's body becomes mangled like a broken branch with its vines fading away and its flower head wilting.

As the adrenaline coursing through my body eases, I can't help but feel a wave of exhaustion roll over me. I plant my sword into the ground and lay down. Using that sword skill really tired me out. Thankfully I didn't suffer any serious injures or I wouldn't have enough mana to heal them after using that attack.

A few minutes pass with me laying down on the ground. With my head cooled down, I realize how bad of a situation I'm in. My pony, which has all my stuff, is who knows where by now. That means I'm without my food, extra clothes, and camping equipment. Even if I did have all that stuff, I'd have to trekk quite the distance by foot. While I did give myself three extra days of leeway in case I got delayed I'll probably just barely miss the enrollment deadline if I walk unassisted. Making it would be feasible if I had strengthening magic, but I don't know those spells yet.

"Hahahaha, I'm screwed."

"Tekekakeca"

It seems my plight amuses the world because it's laughing too.

"Tekekakeca"

"Tekekakeca"

"Tekekakeca"

"Tekekakeca"

Ok quite a few things are laughing at me too. I raise my head and realize I'm surrounded. Four-no five pygmy hyenacinths have circled me. 

"I really can't catch a break, huh?"

"""""Tekekakeca"""""

They all seem to find my jokes funny at least. I will my tired body to move and raise my large blade. 

"I'm probably gonna die here, but there's no way in hell I'm going down without a fight!"

I'm heavily outnumbered, so my best bet would be to thin their herd. I rush to the closest one my great sword held high...

"Tekekakeca"

 only to feel something plant-like hit my leg as I run. I trip and face plant unto the ground. Looking behind me, near my feet, I see one of the hyenacinth's vines slowly pull back to their neutral state. Suddenly I feel a sharp pain like something thrusting into my back. As whatever went into my back starts to drain my life force, I feel a lot more things stab into me all over. I can now see its the hyenacinths' vines, so this is how they eat their prey huh?

Its no good, huh? This is how it ends. Memories flash through my mind. Happy memories from my child, my mother's cooking, my father's warm hugs, the two praising me for my magic. Then I see their deaths. The smug smile on the killers' faces underneath their masks. The wolf insignia with string around it one member dropped then quickly picked back up. I still have so much to do. I have to enroll into the academy. I have to find my parents' killers. A burning uncontrollable wrath flows out from within my heart.

Strength flows through my body like the fatigue was never there. I get up and rip the vines out of my back. The mere fact these fucks thought they could slurp me up like pudding pisses me off. I let out a roar causing a Shockwave around me which stuns the soon to be lawn clippings. A single swing cleaves two in half at the same time. One of the remaining three hyenacinths regains its wits and attempts to pounce on me. I catch it by the neck(stem?) mid air and impale it on my sword. I swing my sword launching the corpse of the third hyenacinth at the fourth killing both. Finally as I approach the fifth dragging my sword on the ground, the last hyenacinth starts to uncontrollably shake and it's vines disappear as it dies to the stress.

I once again collapse onto the ground. My sword, now to heavy for me to lift, falling limply to the side. I'm exhausted and want to take a nap. In fact it would be so easy to close my eyes right here...

-----

"I'm pretty sure that yell came from- Woah!"

Someone's voice jolts me awake. Before me lies a boy around my age. His handsome face looks very shocked. He rushes over to my side.

"M'lady are you alright? You're bleeding quite a bit! You need medical attention right away!"

His words shake me out of my groggy stupor and I realize just how injured I am. The hyenacinths' vines really did a number on me. Luckily it seems my mana recovered while I was asleep so I quickly heal myself up, much to the boy's shock. He quickly puts back the potion he pulled out.

"You're quite proficient with healing magic I see. That's quite the relief as I was unsure if my potions would've been enough to heal all your wounds. Are you perhaps well enough to explain what occurred here?"

"How about you explain who you are first."

The quickly averts his eyes as he blushes in ... embarrassment I guess?

"Many apologies M'lady. I got so caught up in everything happening and forgot to introduce myself, how shameful."

He stands up and dusts off his chainmail before giving a salute and saying,

"Wofrren Wan Welshfield, knight in training at your service M'lady! Although that's a bit of a mouthful so I usually have people call me Woff."

Hmm Welshfield, were have I heard that name before? Anyway lets not be too quick to trust this guy yet.

"So you're a squire, huh Woff? Can you show me your crest then?"

"Of course M'lady!"

He pulls out a golden badge with the royal family's insignia on it and his name. If its faked its a incredibly good one.

"That looks pretty authentic. Sorry for doubting you sir, it's just someone tried to scam me by claiming to be a knight once before."

"Oh no its perfectly understandable. Such cases pop up from time to time so its always good to check people's credentials first."

Seeing as he seems trustworthy enough I decide to tell him the basic run down on what happened from me setting off towards the academy to getting jumped by monsters on the main road.

"Hmm, I'll need to report about this to my superiors. Even if the monsters were merely pygmy hyenacinths, for them to appear on the main road is unacceptable. Also I suppose you're quite lucky because I believe I found your pony right before I encountered you unconscious."

"Wait really?!"

"Yes It was quite spooked so it took awhile to calm it back down. I left it by the stream near here so it can drink."

"Wow thank you so much! I wouldn't have known what to do without a ride..."

"Really it was no problem, however considering we're both traveling towards the capital, perhaps you'd like to travel together?"

"Sure, I see no reason not to."

Wofrren Wan Welshfield has joined the party.