“This is it, Iroha. We’re here.” Ririna speaks as the three of us come to a halt.

 

After yesterday’s conversation with Ririna and the others, it had been decided that I would join Sarasa in helping Ririna gather the materials she needed for her request. Ririna needed to gather something from a type of monster, and for us to find that monster, we had to take a hike first. Now, the three of us find ourselves in a hilly area around thirty minutes away from town.

 

The elevation in this place wasn’t too steep, but it was clearly not flat either. There wasn’t much to look at here, apart from some sparsely placed trees and some very strange rocks. The rocks were the star of the show here, no doubt. They were big, sharp rocks, and the vast majority of them were standing up straight, with the bigger rocks being more than twice my height. They looked kinda like spikes coming from the ground. The rocks were spaced around at random, and the place wasn’t exactly littered with them, but they were still far more than the trees.

 

Despite their unusual shape and positioning, there was nothing visibly wrong with these rocks. Without them, this would be a perfectly grassy hill, and this way, it looks more like a forest without a canopy. Ririna had just said this is the place, so this should be where the monsters she wanted are, though there’s nothing in sight right now. Ririna was in the middle of a conversation before we stopped, so she picked up where she left off.

 

“Like I told you, I’m not gonna be fighting, but I will support you if need be. All I can do is use the item I’ve crafted, so stay safe, okay? Don’t force me to step up in front of a monster.” Ririna showed me a variety of medicines, and of course, her explosives, to illustrate how she’s supporting us. “Also, don’t forget to give me a sign when you’re ready for me to throw a bomb. Even if I’m the one telling you to pull back and that it’s time for me to use explosives, I’m not gonna throw it until you give me a sign. You might not have heard me, and it’s just by coincidence that you pull back just as I tell you to, and I don’t want to risk you jumping into the blast area. This isn’t a very dangerous place, so I’m probably not going to need to use any explosives. Still, it’s better for you to know this than not. Just in case.”

 

“You won’t do anything unless I give you a sign. I got it.” We’ve only met yesterday, but Ririna’s really concerned about my safety. She’s such a nice girl, it warms my heart… Talking about girls that warm my heart, where is Sarasa? She was right next to Ririna when she started speaking, but now she’s not there anymore. Ririna seemed to notice the same thing and started looking around.

 

“Sarasa! You’re already going off on your own?!” Sarasa was already some steps ahead of us, and Ririna screamed while running towards her. “Wait for us!”

 

“You done already?” We caught up to Sarasa, and she just shrugged us off. “I got bored just standing around.” Sarasa put her hands behind her head and stretched her body.

 

“*Sigh…* Iroha, make sure you learn nothing from her. Stay with me and don’t go off on your own, okay?” Ririna turned to me with an exasperated look on her face.

 

“Of course.” I don’t know what Sarasa is thinking or if that’s just how she is, but I’m not interested in leaving Ririna behind for no reason.

 

“Bad news!” Sarasa turned around quickly and caught us by surprise. “We haven’t found any monsters yet!” Sarasa acted like this was a big revelation, but…

 

“We know.” Ririna responded with an annoyed face after Sarasa startled her for no reason.

 

“That’s boring! I wanna fight something already!” Sarasa complained and started walking towards a nearby tree. “Hey, Iroha, are you ready? Don’t you just wanna start fighting already too?”

 

“Uhmm… Sure. I just don’t really know what it is that we’re gonna be fighting.” This whole time, they ended up never telling me exactly what kind of monster we were gonna be fighting.

 

“Oh! That’s right. We never got around to telling you that, did we?” Sarasa now remembered how that conversation had been cut short. “We’re gonna be fighting Golem Munchers. Have you heard of them?”

 

“I don’t think so…” Maybe I would remember when I saw one of them, but the name by itself doesn’t ring any bells. A golem, though? Shouldn’t I be worried? How am I gonna fight a golem with a sword? It’s made out of rock, isn’t it? I don’t think I’m strong enough to be cutting swords with a katana just yet. Maybe it will be fine… We’re still in one of the early areas, and I don’t think there were any enemies immune to swords around here. Unless this is also different from how it as in the game.

 

“So… Golem Munchers are these four-legged monsters made out of rock. They’re really brittle, so if you just hit them really hard, they shatter easily.” Sarasa punched her own hand as she finished explaining.

 

“They eat the tall rocks around here, and, over time, a blue crystal is formed inside them. That crystal is a magical material, and it’s the one I need for the request.” I see now, I think I’m starting to get the picture.

 

“That’s the gist of it.” We had just been following Sarasa’s lead, and when we got close enough to the tree, she broke out into a sprint and quickly climbed up the tree. “Monsters! Where are you?” Sarasa popped her head out from in between the leaves and scouted the area. She looks silly and kinda cute like that.

 

“Do you see anything?” Ririna looked up at Sarasa. She wasn’t pleased that the cat girl climbed up the tree without consulting anyone first, but she knew she couldn’t do anything about it.

 

“Nothing. Let me go higher.” Sarasa’s head disappeared into the leaves and popped back out at the top. “Maybe I can see something from up here…”

 

*Crack!*

 

“Nya?!” Sarasa only received a very short warning before the branch she was standing on broke, and she started falling. Everything went by so fast, and we heard some noises leaking from Sarasa’s mouth, only for her to grab onto another branch on the way down and land completely unscathed.

 

She looked like one of those gymnasts with her arms raised, which almost made me applause. Ririna, on the other hand, shook her head disapprovingly. “What do I always tell you about being more careful?”

 

“Nyahahahah! It worked out in the end, didn’t it?” Sarasa replied with a full-face smile. “This way!” Without giving us much time to process what just happened, Sarasa pointed in a direction and started walking.

 

“Did you find anything from up there, at least?” Sarasa replied by shaking her head. “Then why did you choose this way?”

 

“There were a lot of rocks in this direction!” Sarasa ran ahead of us, and this time Ririna didn’t try to catch up.

 

“There’s no shortage of rocks in any direction…” Ririna retorted, but Sarasa was already too far away to hear. “Thanks for coming with us, Iroha. Now I don’t have to run after her constantly.”

 

“Hahaha… I’m glad I could be of help.”

 

“Whenever she helps me get materials, I have to be on constant alert. She runs off on her own, so I always have to run after her. If take too long gathering something, she might disappear on me. She’s too reckless! How long can she continue to get lucky? She’s gonna get seriously hurt one of these days.” The two of us talked while looking at the girl walking ahead of us.

 

“Why do you have her accompany you then?”

 

“Because she’s my friend, despite how wild she can be. I only met her two years ago, when I joined the alchemist’s guild in the capital, and it was even worse before that. I had to gather materials on my own, and a lot of the time, I had to leave things behind because some monster would force me to run.” Ririna laughed with an awkward smile. “When Sarasa is with me, I have a much better time getting the materials I need. It comes with another set of stresses, but it beats being alone.”

 

Couldn’t she just hire someone else? Maybe that wasn’t an option when she was just starting, or maybe she’s just more comfortable being accompanied by someone she already knew. Does that mean she wouldn’t have invited me if Sarasa also hadn’t come? That’s bad for me! I know I’m not the most trustworthy person, and I do have ulterior motives, but you can trust me. I swear.

 

Me and Ririna were looking around the rocks as we passed by them when Sarasa suddenly turned around and ran back towards us. “Did you see something?” Ririna asked, but Sarasa’s relaxed posture told me it was likely just on a whim that she came back.

 

“No, not really. You two were just being too slow, so I came to check up on-” One of the rocks caught Sarasa’s attention, and she quickly stabbed a short dagger into the rock. “There’s one!”

 

What just happened? Apparently, Sarasa saw one of the monsters we’re looking for and immediately stabbed it. The attack was strong enough to cause the monster to crumble into pieces. How did we not notice that one? He was right next to us. “Wow…”

 

“That scared me.” Ririna sighed with relief. “Nicely spotted, Sarasa. Just give me a moment to pick up the crystal.” Sarasa holstered her short sword while Ririna crouched down near the remains of the monster.

 

“Did you see that, Iroha? That’s the monster we’re looking for.”

 

“Uhmm… Kinda…” It shattered so quickly that I barely had time to look at it. It was hugging onto the side of one of the tall rocks, and it looked to be the size of a big dog. It’s the biggest monster I’ve seen so far. I’m a little intimidated, but it really didn’t look that threatening. It was just there, munching away at the rock.

 

“Don’t worry, just grab your sword, hit them with all your strength, and they will shatter right away. No need to be scared.” I think I’m more nervous than scared, but hearing Sarasa say that it’s that easy puts me at ease.

 

“I got the crystal. Let’s keep going and get some more.” After Ririna was done grabbing the crystal, the three of us started looking around the nearby rocks to see if we could find more Golem Munchers.

 

“Do you really need these crystals to make dirt?” Ririna ended up not telling me all the details of her request, so I didn’t fully understand what the point was yet.

 

“Apparently. It’s a new recipe for me, so I haven’t tried it out just yet.”

 

“Is it fine for you to accept the request like that? What if something goes wrong and you can’t do it?”

 

“Everything’s fine. It’s a great learning experience for me, and it’s not that hard of a recipe. If I want to get ahead in my own personal research, I have to create as many different things as I possibly can. That’s the only way for me to find new interesting stuff in the world of alchemy.”

 

Ririna strikes me as a very studious girl. She took on this request just to learn, and she wants to discover new stuff? I can’t help but want to cheer for her. She’s very beautiful, and as if that wasn’t good enough by itself, this whole thing makes her very endearing to me. I wonder if Sarasa’s motivation for helping Ririna is also to cheer for her success. Since I was thinking about her, I instinctively looked towards the last place I saw her, but she was nowhere to be found. “Where did Sarasa go?”

 

Ririna looked around in a frenzy after she heard my question. “She vanished. This is what I’m telling you. She must have found something that caught her attention, and now she’s gone.” Ririna then calmed down and lowered her voice. “And the worst part about this is that she’s gonna appear just before anything goes wrong. She’s gonna laugh it off, and I’m gonna feel silly for even worrying about it. See how difficult this is?” Ririna smiled like she was making a joke.

 

I was getting a little worried, but since she said everything would be fine, I just smiled back at her. However, just because Ririna says that it will be fine, that’s not necessarily true, and all of a sudden, two Golem Munchers appeared from behind the rocks.

 

“Oh great… They just have to appear as soon as Sarasa is nowhere to be seen. Iroha, can you handle them?”

 

“I think so… I’m not entirely sure.” I pulled my sword out and prepared myself for combat.

 

“That’s alright. I’ll support you. If you feel like you can do it, run away, and I’ll throw a bomb at them.”

 

I nodded back to Ririna and gripped my sword with both hands. The two monsters were slowly walking towards us, and I remembered that waiting for them was not what I should be doing. I forsook the two-handed grip and ran towards one of the monsters with my sword on my right hand. I’m not exactly sure how the monster fights or how intelligent it is, but it’s better to be on the offensive than wait for it to attack. That’s what Katja said, at least.

 

As soon as I got to a certain range of the monster, I activated Agility Burst to quickly close that final gap. I waited to see how the monster would react, but I didn’t see any movements. It doesn’t matter how intelligent it is. If I can catch it by surprise, I’ve got the upper hand. “You’re mine!” I activated Slash Flurry, and three quick slashes passed through the monster’s body like butter.

 

The monster shattered, and the speed of my attacks caused a small dust cloud to form as the fragments fell to the ground. Wow… I can’t believe how well that went. That was so easy. Am I actually really strong right now? Or are these guys just too weak? This is it… This is what I wanted… I think I’m actually having fun now…

 

I turned my gaze to the other monster, and I swear I saw it flinch for a moment. You’re right to be scared. I would have given you a chance to run away now, but since my precious Ririna needs the crystal you have, the only choice I have is to exterminate you. I started walking towards the monster, and it got up on its hind legs and tried to make itself bigger. It might be a little taller than me right now. What do you think you are? A bear? Whatever the case, I think it’s safe to assume these monsters are adaptable to a certain extent. After it saw that I’m a potential threat, it entered into a combat stance.

 

“Be careful! It’s about to do something.” Ririna was watching from the sidelines, and she must have seen something that I couldn’t see, so I slowed down my approach in preparation for its next move. The monster then jumps and slams its belly into the ground. From the sound of the impact, it would have hurt a lot to be crushed by that, but the monster jumped the gun, and I wasn’t even that close to it yet. I was able to just take a step back and avoid the attack without resorting to any skills.

 

The monster picks itself up and goes back into its combat position. Is that all? You’re just gonna try to do the same thing again? Alright, let’s see how that works out for you. I walked towards it again, and this time, it didn’t attack before I got close enough. Too bad I’m not even gonna give it a chance to attack. Agility Burst, and I’m right in front of its belly. No reaction. Slash Flurry, one, two, three, and dead.

 

Another cloud of dust appeared where the monster previously stood, and the various fragments could be heard falling onto the grass. “You did, Iroha! I knew you could do it.” Ririna ran towards me with a huge smile on her face.

 

“Thanks…” I was a little embarrassed by her for being so impressed by something so simple, but I was really happy with the way she was looking at me. “It ended up being easier than I thought.”

 

“I could tell! That was really impressive! Even Sarasa would have been clapping if she hadn’t disappeared.” Ririna was holding onto my arm, and was shaking it up and down with excitement. “Thanks so much for helping me, Iroha. If you don’t mind, I need to grab the crystals you got for me now. Just wait a second.” Ririna let go and walked towards the monsters’ fragments. I went with her and observed as she looked through the debris to find the crystals.

 

The big crystal was easy to spot, but there were also smaller shards that Ririna could only spot thanks to the sunlight they reflected. But suddenly, a big shadow covered the debris, and all the tiny shards became impossible to see. I looked up to see what kind of cloud decided to make Ririna’s life complicated and noticed an even bigger complication.

 

“Ririna! Move!” I grabbed Ririna by the waist and pulled her back with Agility Burst before a big claw smashed into the ground where she previously was. I moved my gaze to identify the claw’s owner and saw a creature three times as big as the previous ones.

 

“What the hell?”