We are heading west from the vill on foot. There aren’t any roads and the trees are dense, leaving us to walk through the woods to our destination. Since I don’t know where exactly our destination is, I simply follow the two women of my party since they have have ventured past this area before with the men.

“So, blonde lady, what can you do?"

Lupine Tirvac, the dark elf asks Farnese in cold but harsh tone. 

Her leaf shaped ears twitch slightly.

Farnese is stunned but forces an answer.

“What can I do? As mentioned before we left, I’m poor in melee combat. I also basically can’t use magic or magical items. But…”

"What? You are useless, then why are you even here.." The dark elf's cold hostility increases, but she then gives me a sharp glance.

"Mm..I have a different skill that don’t need magic. That’s why I am entrusted.”

“So, what can you do with these skill?"

"Dark elf girl. Don’t talk about the subject. The mission requires us not to disclose her skill. That also means we shouldn’t probe too much into it.”

Selene scolds her. It seems this dark elven girl is behaving before the real elf.

We continue to walk in silence for hundred of meters until we arrive at place with variety of trees.

“Here we are. Who is going to take the lead from here? We’ll return to vill before dark so start exploring.” Reina who has been leading is slowing down her stride.

“Understood, let’s go in.”

Farnese steps forward to Lupine's surprise.

She pulls the Liberator shotgun off out of nothing, points forward then mounts the tactical light. 

“What-?! What’s growing out of your helm?! And what’s with that short stick?! What can it do without magic?!” Lupine speaks in panic.

The dark elven girl brims with curiosity, her lead shaped ears twitching wildly with sparkling eyes… Staring at Farnese's shotgun… the blonde girl could only reply “it’s a secret.” and move on.

The next region is different from preceding wilderness as it is rich with various trees. It is like a mishmash of tropical forest and European forest of my previous world. 

However, due to the confined spaces, it is a difficult place for melee fighters with swords and longer weapons. 

We switch on our torchlights.

“First, let’s head towards places that haven’t been explored yet. It’s a waste of time to survey what’s been mapped.”

“Understood.”

Reina voices up.

“There are 3 just beyond the left turn ahead.”

“You know?”

Lupine asks.

“Thief girl, did you catch that?”

Reina kneels and put her left ear on the ground for a while before peeking into the behind trees.

“Haven’t smelled anything yet, nya.”

“Their footsteps are light. I think they’re just ordinary trolls.” 

She catches their low voices perfectly, as expected of a talented thief.

On the other hand, Farnese leans on the left corner and peeks out. She asks,

“3 trolls confirmed. Attack?”

“Eh, blonde lady, what are you doing from over there?” Lupine seems perplexed.

“Once they see our light, they’ll come. Attack them.” I command.

There is almost no light sources in the woods.

Our torchlights are pretty eye-catching. The moment the trolls spot our light, they’ll rush us. Before that, we could strike first from this distance. 

The trolls come into her crosshairs. Their ugly faces zoom closer with the long-range function.  Seeing our light, they shout something. Not caring what they said, Farnese squeezes the trigger and fires at them. 3 shots in each one. She is in good form today, firing 3 neat consecutive shots. Smoothly gliding the crosshairs left to right, leaving holes in each of the trolls’ heads.

“Three down, let’s move on.”

Glancing at Lupine for…

“what’s that —–!”