"Eli, Eli!" shouted a little girl as she ran through the guild hall, heading for the blonde girl in front of the counter. When she reached for her caught her in a hug as her eyes sparkled with clear excitement.

"Wow, hey, what's up, Riri?"

"Hey, what do Kobolds look like?"

"Kobolds? Why do you want to know?"

"I saw a mission on the board that was about hunting them." Little Miriam pointed her finger at the large wooden board on the wall filled with scrolls, which named several different types of quests.

The girls had gone out together to spend the morning in the guild hall, as being in that rented house in the city of Mashigaya, where they currently lived, was extremely boring. Reilanis had left very early in the morning to complete a mission, leaving Elisa in the care of her cub, confident that she could handle everything.

"Hmm, well Kobolds are something like wolves that walk on two legs and are the size of goblins. They are somewhat stronger but less numerous."

"Ohhh! And you think I can beat one? Mom says I'm strong enough to beat a bunch of goblins."

"*sigh* there you go again. Always thinking you're stronger than you are. - Elisa thought for a moment, meeting the dragon girl's bright eyes. Eyes full of curiosity, anticipation, and excitement. - "Though... do you want to give it a try?"

"Really?! - the girl replied excitedly, though she immediately slumped, clutching her shirt sadly as she realized it was impossible to do. - But... I don't know if mom will let me do it..."

"Well..."

Although Elisa knew it was quite risky to try, the idea of taking the mission carrying Miriam in secret didn't seem so bad to her, after all, she could protect her if something happened. She was confident that she was strong enough for it. Besides, if she could show off a little, make herself look better... Elisa really loved when her little sister looked at her with admiration.

She thought for a long time until those pleading eyes of the little cub convinced her completely. She smiled at her and, patting her head, replied-.

"I think we can try-"

"Yay!!!"

"Shhhh!"- Elisa covered the little girl's mouth in panic. If anyone else heard them they would be in serious trouble with the guild... or worse, with Reilanis. - We'll do it, but you have to promise me that you're going to follow my orders and no matter what happens you won't say a word about this, understand?"

Miriam nodded excitedly, she was only 8 so she couldn't register as an adventurer yet, that was until she was 10, so being able to do adventurer things was definitely something she couldn't pass up. Elisa, at 12, already had almost 2 years of experience, so if it was with her, she felt confident that nothing bad could happen.

Elisa went to the mission board and took the scroll Miriam had pointed out to her, handed the paper to the receptionist to accept the request, and quickly left the guild along with the cub. Fortunately, the mission was rated as a D-rank one, something she thought she could do without a problem. Elisa was at E-rank, but the guild allowed taking missions one rank above her current rank. That was until A-rank was reached, where it could only be done in parties with at least one member in S-rank.

Both girls rushed straight home to pick up their equipment and go immediately to the mission site. They were very excited and perhaps more nervous than they would admit. It didn't take them more than a few minutes to grab everything they would need, and before they knew it they were on the way to their destination.

A couple of kilometers southeast of Mishigaya, there was a long road surrounded by large grasslands. This road led to the city of Komuho, the southernmost city of the Neradi kingdom. The mission said that several groups of Kobold scouts had been sighted a few kilometers from the entrance to the city, near a farm. Miriam and Elisa walked to that place and talked to the farmer, who, concerned, asked them if they could really do something. Elisa, showing her great magical ability, showed him several spells without chanting, impressing the man. After that, he indicated the last place where the Kobolds were seen, to which they both moved immediately.

They hadn't gone far when they spotted at a short distance some beings barely smaller than themselves, completely covered with fur and with wolf heads. They wore simple armor of leather and scraps of fur baked roughly with each other, and very rudimentary weapons made of pieces of rusty iron poorly maintained. The two girls hid behind the hill they had just climbed, to watch them and think of a plan.

"There are 3 of them, one with a club and shield, another who looks like a wizard, and an archer. We have to take down the archer first. Riri, can you distract the one with the shield after I take him down? I'll take care of the mage in the meantime."

Miriam seemed to hesitate for a moment. It was as if just now she realized what was about to happen. Realizing this, Elisa flashed her a confident smile and patted her head.

"Don't be so nervous, we'll do fine. I kill the archer, distract the one with the shield and when you least expect it, we'll be home."

Miriam nodded feeling a little more relieved and waited to receive the signal. Elisa stood up, dusting off her tunic, and raising her staff, which was barely bigger than she was, made of elder trent wood, and a red mana stone wrapped in a wooden knot at the top. She channeled her mana, aiming it directly at the Kobold archer, giving it some extra mana to increase the damage of the spell. This was the staff's special function, aside from giving her a boost to the casting.

Spell ready, a bolt of fire formed in front of her, she pointed at the bow-wielding kobold and with a steady voice, uttered the keyword and cast the spell.

"[Fire Bolt]"

The mass of fire shot out with great speed directly towards its target, hitting it in the stomach and causing an explosion of flames that knocked him to the ground, leaving him inert. The other two Kobolds, along with the unfortunate one, were left in shock by the unexpected attack, something Elisa took advantage of to send Miriam ahead.

"Now, go!"

The cub ran with all she could, straight at the shield kobold who was still distracted by the fall of his companion. The girl started the fight with a strong kick straight to the monster's back, who unfortunately, noticed her just in time to stop her advance with his shield. The mage behind him came out of his confusion and began to chant a spell to support the remaining kobold, but Elisa was faster and had already prepared her next move.

Several rocks began to float up from the ground, at the height of her gaze, and, while the kobold mage was distracted with his chant, Elisa cast her magic at him.

"[Stone Blast]"

The group of rocks hit hard at the mage, knocking him to the ground and causing a great deal of damage, completely preventing him from doing anything to attack Miriam. A few feet away, the cub was relentlessly attacking the armored monster. Blow after blow the girl kept it in place, completely on the defensive. The kobold was trying to find an opening to attack, but the girl kept on the side of its shield delivering heavy blow after heavy blow, not giving it a single chance to respond.

Elisa approached the fight taking advantage of the fact that Miriam was doing her job perfectly and that the kobold mage was just starting to recover from her previous attack. She stopped about 5 meters away and readied a second [Fire Bolt] to finish him off, and then help Miriam.

*twang*

"Arghhh!"

Suddenly, a loud cry of pain came from the cub, just as Elisa cast the spell ending the mage's life. The blonde immediately turned to her little sister, only to witness with horror how an arrow had stuck in the girl's arm, falling to the ground in pain, and the armored kobold preparing to finish her off. Without any doubt in her mind, Elisa lunged at the monster hitting it on the side of the head with her staff, breaking it into pieces, but causing enough damage to knock it away from the girl.

With Elisa now standing between the shield kobold and Miriam, she could see several meters away the archer who had somehow survived her first attack. His stomach had a gaping hole in it and he was breathing heavily, but mustering all his remaining strength, he held his bow, ready to shoot another arrow. Whether by a miracle or because the kobold was already on the verge of death and did not have enough strength to aim properly, his first shot had missed a vital point and had ended up impaled in the cub's arm.

The blonde acted immediately, and as fast as she could she threw an [Ice Pick] straight at the archer's face killing him instantly.

"Riri! Get up, I need you to help me with this guy!"

Unlike Elisa's expectations, Miriam lay on the ground, crying in agony from the pain. Her arm was bleeding profusely and the tip of the arrow could be seen protruding from her left bicep. She realized instantly that she would no longer be of any help, so she prepared for a possibly difficult fight against the last Kobold.

The monster watched her cautiously with his eye, as the blow Elisa delivered to his head when the staff broke, stuck a piece of the mana gem in his left eye, leaving him one-eyed. Elisa concentrated on her opponent's movements, trying to predict what he would do. Since he wasn't moving, the blonde took the initiative, throwing several [Stone Blast] at him. Rock after rock hit the Kobold's shield, making Elisa feel anxious, trying to think of how to get rid of the monster and be able to tend to Miriam who was still crying on the ground. "At least she stay still in one place, I don't know what I'd do if she thought to get up and run away."

The Kobold took a few more steps forward but was met with more [Stone Blast] from Elisa. The fight was at a stalemate, and neither seemed to be able to find an opening. Tired of this, the blonde threw another [Stone Blast], knowing that her remaining MP would not be enough if this went on much longer. The Kobold, once again, raised his shield as the rocks hit one after another, but this time there was something different, the girl disappeared from his sight.

He began to look for her everywhere, but when he didn't find her, he assumed that she had abandoned her companion and fled the place. He advanced to finish the girl on the ground, but, just when he lowered his guard and his shield... "[Ice Lance]", that scream was heard and immediately the kobold felt a strong blow on his side that sent him directly to the ground.

A large piece of sharp ice had embedded itself in his ribs, piercing one of his lungs. The monster desperately tried to catch his breath, but every time he inhaled, he felt as if he was choking. Large gulps of blood came out of its mouth, worsening its situation. Elisa approached the Kobold, and taking a small dagger that she always carried at her waist, she stabbed him in the throat, ending his life.

"Damn vermin."

With those words, Elisa sighed wearily, and then immediately ran to Miriam who, desperate with pain, was looking for a way to remove the arrow from her arm, but every time she touched it she felt a stabbing pain that made her withdraw her hand and cry once again.

"Miriam... Miriam!" shouted Elisa, holding the girl's head so that she would look into her eyes. Her expression was panicked. She was absolutely terrified and completely lost. Her eyes were pleading with her older sister for help, anything to relieve her pain.

"Listen to me, I have some recovery potions, but I can't give them to you until we get that arrow out, do you understand? We need to get it out."

"B-but *sniff* it hurts... it hurts so much."

Miriam replied between sobs, too scared to do anything but cry.

"I know, but if we don't do something you're going to bleed out and die, so just stay still."

Hearing such words left Miriam in complete shock. She opened her eyes to the limit, turned pale as her blood left her face. Elisa took advantage of that moment to grab her arm, extend it and check the wound.

The tip of the arrow protruded slightly through her arm, narrowly dodging the bone, allowing it to pass easily through the soft flesh. But this also made it somewhat more complicated to pull it out. If she tried to pull it out from the point of entry, she would end up making it worse, so she had no choice but to push it in until the tip came all the way out, break it off at the back, and then taking it out on the other side. Elisa explained this to the girl, who felt worse with every word. The fear, the pain, and the loss of blood made her feel dizzy, almost to the point of losing consciousness.

"Riri, listen to me, I need you to hold on a little longer, okay? I'll make it quick so it won't last long."

Miriam didn't answer, she seemed gone, as if at any moment she was going to pass out. Elisa noticed something was wrong with her, it was like she was going to…

"*Blegh* *cough cough*"

And so, Miriam began to vomit, a consequence of how bad she felt at that moment. Elisa barely managed to dodge it, but almost all of the girl's stomach contents ended up on her own body. She was now soaked in blood and vomit. The poor cub was a complete mess and now, more than ever, she wished she had never asked about the Kobolds. "If only...if only I had never said anything, this wouldn't be happening...now...I'm going to die...I'll never see mom again...she...she..."

"I've had enough of this."

With those words and an annoyed expression on her face, Elisa stretched Miriam's arm, and taking the arrow, pushed it deeper into her arm. The girl began to cry and scream in pain, and that same pain prevented her from moving from her place.

"Keep your arm straight!"

After yelling at her, and the aggressive way she was treating her, Miriam had no choice but to follow her orders, as much as she wanted to do otherwise. Elisa took the arrow from the back, and with all her strength, snapped it close to the fletching. The cub felt even more pain, she even started to feel cold, but before she could even think of anything else, Elisa took the tip of the arrow and pulled it out completely on the other side.

A significant amount of blood began to gush out, and, either out of curiosity or out of wanting to check what had happened, Miriam looked at the hole in her arm, getting to see the reddish-white bone inside. And that, was the straw that broke the camel's back, giving her the final blow and falling unconscious on the floor.

"Don't pass out now, damn it, we have to get out of here!"

A while passed in which the blonde tried by all means to wake up the girl on the floor, until she, on her own, woke up, confused and completely lost. Elisa immediately took out a potion and ordered her to drink it, which the girl did immediately. The wound would take quite a while to close completely since the potion she had drunk was of low quality. Elisa had to compensate by bandaging her arm, hoping that this would help it heal.

Finally, it was all over, leaving Elisa to fall to the grass sighing in relief.

"Eli...*sob* I don't want to do this again...I want to go home... *sniff* I want to see mom."

"This wouldn't have happened if you had paid more attention."

"But..."

"Shut up! Get the hell up, I'll get the bodies and we'll go."

Although her tone was very antagonistic, blaming everything on the girl, Elisa knew perfectly well that she was the biggest culprit. She didn't make sure that her first attack had killed the archer, and she was so focused on her own fight that she completely forgot that Miriam had almost no experience fighting seriously, and that... she had never taken damage from a fight, so it was obvious that being hit in any way would knock her out. But would she admit it that? Never. She didn't want to think she was guilty of almost killing Miriam. Just knowing that had been a possibility…

Elisa shook her head, took out a waterskin, and gave it to Miriam. Something to wash out her mouth that surely still tasted of bile from vomiting earlier. She collect the bodies, and with that done, took the girl by the hand and returned to the farm, feeling defeated, even though they've won the fight.