Content warning:

 

 

Michelle

Just as they had expected, the Guild was packed the following morning. Jobs were posted whenever they came in, not just in the morning, but the more daylight you had to work with, the better.

Because of how crowded it was, Sarah left by herself to get a job for them, while the other three waited. As they stood there, many of the people from Earth were discussing things with each other, but were passing by Michelle's group.

They were talking about strategies and equipment, especially because the Earthlings were forced to limit the sizes of their groups. The more people that were in a group, the less money each person would earn per job, as the pay didn't increase along with the group size.

“You seem disappointed?” Amber asked her.

“I thought people would be more talkative with us, but they seem to be avoiding us for some reason.”

“It’s probably that scary look you’re giving everyone.”

“How am I being scary?”

“Mom, what job are we doing?” Luna suddenly asked for the third time.

“We’ll find out when Sarah gets back, so it should be soon,” Michelle told her. Everyone had been incredibly bored back at the base, so being literally anywhere else after all this time was beyond exciting. Luna had been hit the hardest, and was practically vibrating from the anticipation of finally getting to do something.

Michelle internally sighed, seeing her daughter all geared up in leather armor and with a shortsword on her hip.

It would ordinarily be cute, like wearing a costume, but it just fills me with a sense of dread instead.

There were even a few other kids at the Guild—ones who were residents of the city—which only exacerbated what she was feeling.

They did have a plan, however. During fights, Luna would be kept on the motorcycle, with the canopy up. They had tested its durability and found that it was pretty solid. Michelle didn’t even have to be touching it to repair any damage that occurred, though it couldn’t be moved without actually sitting in the driver’s seat.

They would always try to keep someone close to Luna; most likely Amber, as she was their ranged fighter. And they had also explained to Luna that her Gift could be used for defense as well. She could not only keep an animal out full-time now, but in its current form of a wolf, it also had fangs and claws.

Michelle was really lamenting that the few good connections with other Earthlings they’d been able to make hadn’t lasted. Those people had either left in earlier groups or were still at the base, waiting for their turns to leave. Anyone she might’ve even considered as a potential person to watch Luna wasn’t available.

The job Sarah had gotten for them was to hunt a deer. It sounded like a relatively simple task, but animals in this world were mostly omnivorous, and people were a good source of meat and mana, which improved health in general when consumed. But the same was true for the monsters as well, which is why people ate them.

Because most monsters that managed to eat a person were killed pretty quickly, that meant the chance of eating a monster that had eaten a person was actually pretty low. And people also avoided eating that meat, but would still take whatever they could use from the monsters otherwise.

And it’s not like that was a waste of food, either, as monsters reproduced quickly. Monsters were so abundant that people weren’t lacking for meat in their diets, and keeping livestock was a rare practice.

In fact, at least in this part of the world, food was rather abundant. The space needed for farming was much smaller here because magic and enchanted farming equipment sped things up.

Their main issue regarding the mission, beyond killing the monsters themselves, would be transporting the carcasses. Everyone was physically enhanced by nature of simply possessing mana, but that was still a ton of weight to lug around.

There were various means they could use to get the job done, but all of them were currently out of their budget. That pretty much left Michelle’s motorcycle as their only option. None of them, not even Michelle, were sure about how feasible it would be.

With everyone as prepared as they could be, they set out. Michelle wasn’t going to use her motorcycle in view of the city because she still wasn’t sure how valuable it might be to other people, and also because it used her mana as fuel. So the less she drove it, the less mana she spent.

We just have to do this for long enough to settle down somewhere and get Luna into school. And me, Amber, and Sarah can start with the creative jobs we want to do. This is only temporary.

Michelle and the others each reminded themselves that they weren't going to kill monsters for a living forever. They just had to get away from here, first.

 

———

 

The nearby forest surrounded about two-thirds of the city, but had been cut down to a certain extent to make it difficult for monsters to easily approach the walls without being spotted. It was still close, though, and didn’t take very long to walk to.

The forest had a much wider variety of plants than any of them were used to seeing in one place, and more than a few of them had colors that weren’t just the typical green. Some types of plants could even come in various colors. One might be green, and then the next one of the same plant they saw might be red.

We have a whole new ecosystem to learn. And yet ,some plants are similar to the ones we know. Hell, this world even has monster versions of horses and rabbits and a lot of other things.

All the knowledge they had obtained from the game, other Earthlings, and some helpful soldiers at the base all combined, resulting in them generally knowing what they should be doing as they moved forward.

There were plenty of signs that they knew to look out for, and they did find some after a while. As the four of them trekked through the forest, they didn’t need a break like she had thought they would. It came as a surprise to them, who hadn’t gone outside the base and only done general exercise and training there.

Being magically stronger has its perks. Even though I was fit back home, I still would’ve been completely winded by now.

A few hours after leaving the safety of Elsanth’s walls, the group came across a group of monster rabbits. The visible differences between them and the regular rabbits they were familiar with were that these ones were larger, rougher-looking, and had claws.

Amber nocked an arrow and drew her bow. It would be her first time using her archery skills in this world. The bow she had purchased yesterday wasn't great, but Amber's Gift at least gave her confidence that it was unlikely to break.

I hope the small amount of practice we were able to get in with our weapons will be enough. They really didn’t give us any time at all to ease into things.

She let the arrow fly, but missed by several centimeters. The rabbits immediately bolted into the foliage.

She scowled. “Sorry.”

“That was pretty good,” Sarah told her. “That was literally the first attempt any of us have made, and you got really close!”

“Yeah, I’m just nervous about failing. And feeling a little guilty about missing, because this is necessary for us.”

Michelle asked everyone, “Should we take a break now? We’ve already been walking around for a few hours.”

“Sounds good to me,” Sarah replied.

Luna had been good this entire time, not making a lot of noise or trying to play around. She understood she needed to be serious right now.

She’s such a good girl.

With everyone in agreement, they decided to take their break in the clearing the rabbits had just vacated. Amber retrieved her arrow, then set up earthen walls in a large circle around them, then chairs and a table for them to sit on.

Casually making walls and furniture wasn’t a big deal for her, as her large mana pool had carried over from the game. Out of the four of them, hers was the largest. The walls weren't super sturdy, but would still provide at least some degree of cover and protection.

Michelle’s capability with magic was also rather high, as she had played the game quite a bit before Mia’s death. Despite having to suddenly switch from wind magic in the game to water magic in this new world, she had been able to make the adjustment during the previous four months they had spent just waiting to leave.

Their mana pools were all also bolstered by practicing with the Gifts every day, as those also required mana and control to use.

And having so much mana also means having a much longer life, which is weird to think about.

The four of them sat at the table Amber had made, and Luna’s ice wolf hopped into her lap, which was adorable. Michelle made ice cups filled with water for everyone, and they all took the opportunity to snack.

Amber had left slits in the wall so they could keep an eye on their surroundings, and Michelle had filled them with clear ice. Her magical ice was much stronger than natural ice as long as she kept supplying mana to it, so this helped prevent anything from attacking through the gaps.

Reaching over to rub Luna’s head, then the wolf’s, she asked, “Since you’ve been keeping it as a wolf for so long, have you given it a name?”

Many of Luna’s previous animals had been given names, but none of them had been permanent. Eventually, she had used so many names that she had just started calling all her animals Icy for simplicity’s sake.

“Umm… Diamond!” she happily replied.

“That’s a pretty name. Why Diamond?”

“Because she’s pretty!”

Michelle chuckled amusedly, “Yes, she is.”

Sarah asked everyone, “Should we change up our strategy? We’ve only seen small monsters so far.”

Amber replied, “We’re not as good at tracking or being quiet as we need to be, yet. And other general forest knowledge, too, I suppose. I’m not sure what we would be able to improve by making a sudden decision right now.”

Michelle reminded them, “Sitting still in a forest like this is also akin to acting as bait. I’m not keen on that, but we’re not making progress otherwise, and we’re all still keeping an eye on our surroundings.

They sat for a little longer before deciding to get moving again. It was as Michelle stood up and could see over a particular section of the wall that she spotted it at the same time as it spotted her. It was huge, and its antlers looked vicious enough to shred straight through a tree.

“Monster!” she yelled, immediately stepping in front of Luna and pulling out her sword. She formed her motorcycle for Luna to get into, then enclosed it once her daughter was in the seat.

Everyone else also jumped up and spotted it, already charging at them. Amber created some spikes sticking out of the ground aimed at where she thought the deer would break through.

As it got closer to the wall, Michelle could tell that it was at least twice as large as a regular deer from Earth.

Are we seriously going to fight that thing?!

Unfortunately, they had no choice but to fight it. They already knew that the others from Earth had failed to get safer jobs. In this part of the world, they’re all unwanted, and they don’t have the requisite supplies to safely travel to another city. Many of them are also lacking in the survival and combat skills required.

If the four of them died here in this forest, it would only make the locals happy that there were fewer Earthlings to tolerate.

No, I can’t fail here! I need to kill this fucking thing for Luna’s sake!

She had no idea if anyone else was panicking like she was, but she yelled, “We can do this!” Her shout had been more for herself than the others.

The deer’s momentum was increased by running downhill and using wind magic to accelerate itself. It finally burst through the wall, and while some of Amber’s spikes did impale it slightly, they didn’t go in very deep.

Amber fired an arrow at its chest, and Michelle aimed shards of ice at it, specifically, its head. Sarah was almost exclusively a close-combat fighter, so she couldn’t do much just yet, but she was ready to step in.

It’s up to me and Sarah to deal with it when it gets closer.

The deer simply lowered its head and continued its charge, now with its massive antlers pointed right at them.

Michelle created a massive blast of water that hit its head, causing it to stumble slightly, and Sarah took that opportunity to swing her enormous hammer into its neck, using her wind magic to increase its speed, and her Gift to further destroy where the blow connected. A sickening, wet crunch rang out, and it fell to the ground, dead.

The three women were panting from the adrenaline, and once Michelle finally realized that the fight was over, she turned around to check on Luna, but was interrupted.

She didn’t have any time to think, so she could only create a simple wall of ice between her and the approaching monster wolf. Her wall hadn’t entirely formed when the monster's jaws slammed into it, shattering it.

Michelle stumbled backward from the surprise, and Amber managed to stab its neck with a dagger during its brief moment of disorientation, knocking it down in the process. It managed to get back up, but was choking on its own blood. Michelle swung her sword through its neck, ending it for good.

While having a large mana pool will make a person’s body more durable, that isn't the same thing as being invulnerable. Michelle could’ve been seriously injured just now. Monsters had mana enhancing their bodies, too, after all.

I almost died just now…