I rubbed my eyes and blinked at the soft pink sunrise coming over the horizon.
My bag sat heavy on my shoulders, and the air was cool enough I had the winter coat on.
Rey had his on too, and we both lingered at the entrance of the farm.
The road continued north until the next village, and then we took a road northwest to get to the capital… “You two watch out for each other.
Be wary of strangers.” Bella kept smiling, even though she looked like she wanted to cry instead.
Angie put an arm around her, pulling her close while addressing us.
“Remember what I taught you on the value of your pelts and catches.
Don’t let anyone shortchange you.” Bella sniffed and wiped her eyes as I tried to articulate my goodbye.
“Thank you for everything.
When the two of you find a child to adopt, they’re going to be the luckiest child in the whole world.” Rey nodded in agreement.
“Now we can support ourselves, even if we can’t kill slimes and adventure.
Thank you so much… we’ll miss you.” Bell finally couldn’t hold it in, and tears began rolling down her face.
But she still forced out her words.
“G-Good, goodbye, you, you two.” Angie pulled her in, and she cried on Angie’s shoulder.
Angie patted her, comforting her, and smiled at us.
“We still have to find a child to adopt.
In the spring, we might make a trip to the capital.
If you decide to stick around… we’ll see you there.
Let’s say at the southern plaza, by the fountain.
On the spring equinox.” Ah.
I smiled, and Rey and I took our first steps.
I turned back and waved as we crested a small hill.
They both waved back.
Rey waved with me as they dipped out of sight.
Then sighed.
“I guess this means we’ll have to stick around the capital until we see them again.” “We’ll have to keep training to show them how powerful we are next time we see them!” I kept my voice upbeat.
Trying to feel that way myself.
He chuckled.
“Yeah.
We will.
Race you to the top of the next hill!” He took off and I gasped.
“Hey!
No fair!” I took off after him, but soon I found myself laughing as his game and grin cheered me up.
“These are winter pelts sir.
Not summer pelts.
They’re worth at least five silver total!” I proudly stated, holding the gaze of the tanner with confidence.
They scowled.
“Five silver is highway robbery!
I won’t pay a copper more than three.” Hmph.
I swept the pelts, the squirrel, rabbit, and the pheasant feathers I was offering off the counter.
“I guess I’ll just have to take them to the next town then.” I turned and walked towards the door, but paused and smiled when I heard the “Wait!” I turned back around, and the tanner sighed.
“Fine.
Five silvers.” Got them.
I’ve found this walking away tactic to be very effective at getting people to pay fair prices for our goods.
I trotted up and began unhooking the pelts from the pelt rope I had them on.
“Thank you very much sir.” He grumbled.
“Yeah, yeah… here, five silver you little robber.
Don’t spend it all in one place.” Our business concluded, I left the little tannery, covering my nose.
Woof.
I don’t think I’ll ever get used to how bad these places smell.
I jogged away quickly so I could breathe again.
Rey and I agreed to meet up at the general store on the corner.
He was waiting for me there.
“Kat!
How’d your trading go?” I proudly held out the five silvers in my hand.
“Great!
How about you?” He sighed and held out his hand, which had two silvers.
“It’s getting harder and harder to forage as it gets colder.
I only had two silvers worth of elixirs…” “Well, come spring you’ll be making more than me.
Hunting is harder in spring because you don’t want to hunt baby animals…” Angie has impressed upon me how important it was to hunt responsibly.
No doe hunting in the spring, no hunting pregnant animals.
It was important to keep their populations up.
He nodded, handing me the silver, and I slipped it into our purse, which was getting heavy.
“You’re right.
In the fall and winter, you make more money.
In the spring and summer, I make more money.
Huh.
Do you think that’s why Bella and Angie learned these skills?” Hmmm.
“Maybe it was more their skills complimented each other.
And that’s why they started traveling together.” I fell in step beside him, looking up at the sun.
It was getting low, as it took all day to set up here in this little town, but I think there was just enough time left for what I wanted to do… I grabbed Rey’s hand.
“Come on!
I want to take you somewhere!” “Huh?
Where?” Rey was confused, but he let me tug him along to the inn.
Once inside, I brought him to a small table by the window.
It wasn’t too busy inside, and it was just a regular inn, the table in front of us worn smooth.
He sat down across from me, still confused.
“Kat, we need to save money.
There’s a food cart by the plaza we can eat at for just a few coppers.” “Not today!” I chirped, and the waitress came over.
I ordered two of the nicer meals, which were two silver each.
Steak and potatoes.
This was a special day after all.
Rey looked at me like I was crazy as she walked away.
“Kat, seriously, what’s going on with you?” I rummaged through my bag, looking for it.
“You’ve completely forgotten, haven’t you?” “Forgotten?” He was still confused as I pulled out his gift.
“Tada!” I held up the light leather armor I’ve been lugging around for the past two weeks.
“Here!” “A-Armor?” He took the clothes.
Most of it was lightweight, and flexible, made for movement while still offering some protection.
The breastplate and shoulder guards were stiffer though, made for taking heavier damage, while not sacrificing mobility.
“I found a smaller set in the back of a secondhand shop in Traven.” I had been trawling shops precisely to find a gift for Rey.
“It might be a little big for you right now, but I’m sure you’ll grow into it in no time.” “Kat, this is incredible, but uh… why are you giving me this?
We’re still E-rank adventurers, we can’t even go into dungeons yet.” Really?
He still hasn’t figured it out?
“Rey, it’s your birthday!
Happy birthday!” His eyes widened.
“My birthday… Oh my gosh.
You’re right!
I completely…” He looked down at his new armor and smiled.
“Thank you, Kat.
I’m sure by the time I’m able to use this, I’ll be able to fit into it.
And I’ll get you something even better in the spring when your birthday comes around!” My birthday was right at the end of winter, and the start of spring.
“I’m looking forward to it.
And I figured we could eat something nicer tonight to celebrate!
Happy eleventh birthday!” He was touched, and our food soon arrived.
We dug in, the big meal filling us up more than usual.
And it was absolutely delicious.
We even ordered dessert, two big cookies from the bakery next door.
We devoured the sweet treats, and soon we were on our way back to the plaza, laughing and giggling the whole way.
Until… we made it to the plaza.
I looked up at the guard on confusion.
“All… all out of space?” The guard scratched his neck and nodded.
“Sorry kid.
This time of year, adventurers tend to flock to the capital for winter.
We ran out of space about an hour ago.” O-Oh.
I looked at the tent city that was the plaza.
I guess… we were too late getting here.
Rey took my hand.
“Okay, thank you sir!” He pulled me away, heading for the entrance of town.
“It’s okay Kat.
We can just sleep outside of town tonight.” I nodded and sighed.
“Yeah.
I’m sorry Rey.
I guess we should have secured our spot sooner…” “We’ll know next time.
As soon as we get to the capital, we’ll reserve a plot in the plaza to sleep.” It was a small town, with only one farming dungeon, like Clifton.
The walls here were wooden rather than stone, and we were able to get out just in time, before they closed the gates.
There was a miniature tent city here too.
We picked away along the wall, until we found a good spot and set up camp.
It wasn’t like we were strangers to sleeping in the wild after all.
Soon we had a good fire going, and our barrier rope was set up.
I poked at the fire as Rey set the heater up inside the tent.
It ran on slime cores, and one core was about nine hours of heat.
“Okay, it’ll be warm in there soon, and we can go to bed.” I nodded, pulling out my spellcasting book and cracking it open.
“Rey, do you think I should specialize my mana?” “Is this about the different kinds of spellcasters?” He settled beside me, taking over the fire stirring duty.
I nodded.
“There’s… a lot.
I could become a summoner and tame monsters.
Or I could become a shaman and make friends with spirits who do magic for me.
Or I could even become a necromancer and use curses and death magic to control dead things.” “Whatever you want Kat.
It’s not like you have to make a decision now, right?” I shook my head.
“No… I can’t even make a decision yet.
I have to be third tier before I can start specializing my magic.
Or, I don’t have to specialize at all, and just be a mage who can use a wide variety of spells.” He quit poking the fire.
“Then you have plenty of time to think about it.
Is there one you really like?” Um… I shook my head.
“No.
Not really.
But some of them make me more powerful quickly.
Like becoming a sorcerer.
I sacrifice my internal mana, but I can use the mana in the environment to manipulate the elements.” “… My father always said there are trade-offs to everything.
That must be true with spellcasters too.” “Yeah.
Sorcerers get powerful quickly, but they can’t really grow stronger.
They’re reliant on the mana around them.
If there’s not a lot of mana, they’re weak.
If there is a lot of mana, they’re strong.” He chuckled.
“Yeah, I figured it was something like that.
Kat, you can pick whatever you want, but I want to make sure you really want to.
And that you don’t mess up your future by taking a shortcut to get powerful.” “… I know.
I think for now, when I get to third tier, I’ll just keep being a mage.
Uh, that’s the general spellcaster.
They’re kind of slow to start… but as they grow their mana and learn magic, they get really powerful.” They could even become archmages, which are the most powerful of all spellcasters.
That sounded kind of cool… having lots of mana and a spell for every occasion.
For now, I should practice my second tier two spell.
I grabbed a rock off the ground and set it in front of me.
And focus… There!
It wobbled!
I’ll get the hang of telekinesis in no time… He pulled out the monster book and read for a while as I practiced my spell.
Until it was time for bed, and we crawled in the warm tent, ready to sleep.
Mmm.
Noise.
A crack.
What… I blinked.
It was still dark.
I turned to try and get back to sleep.
Only to see a hand reaching out in front of me.
I jolted back, letting out a bloodcurdling scream that made Rey jolt awake.
The owner of the hand, a large bushy man, cursed and reached for me instead.
“Fine, I wanted to do this the easy way, but now that it’s come to this, I’ll sell you both too.” “Get away from her!” Rey had his swords now, two thin iron rapiers, he thrust one forward at the man, who lurched to the side, dodging.
“Little bastard!” His hand whipped out, covering the distance between him and Rey easily, grabbing his throat.
Rey coughed, and the man moved over him, squeezing his throat as he struggled.
But the man was too strong.
No no no.
Rey!
I frantically looked around and spotted my wand, a little carved branch from an oak tree.
I ripped it up and pointed it at the man.
“G-Get away from him!” The man glanced over and snorted.
“Seriously?
A stick?” He kept squeezing.
Rey was barely struggling at all now.
I closed my eyes.
And fired a mana arrow.
“Aaaaaagh!” A short, sharp scream of pain.
Then nothing.
I slowly opened my eyes, dreading what I might see.
My hands trembled, my wand shaky.
The man… blood.
So much blood… “Kat!” Rey!
He was struggling from under the man’s body, coughing.
I scrambled forward, my shaky hands shoving him aside, and pulling Rey out.
Rey scrambled over to my side of the tent, taking greedy gulps of air as he blinked at the man slumped over.
Not moving.
A Large wound in his side, where his ribcage would be… Oh my God.
I dropped my wand, bringing my hands up to cover my mouth as I shook.
T-That wasn’t a man anymore.
“Kat, Kat look at me.” Rey.
I managed to tear my eyes away from the body.
It was dark in the tent, only a little moonlight peeking through the tent walls.
But I could see the bruises just faintly outlined on his pale neck.
His mouth drawn in a tight line.
His honey-gold eyes which held mine.
“Kat, you saved my life.
Focus on that.
You saved me.” I… saved Rey.
“But—” “No!
No buts!
You saved me.
That’s all there is to it.” He kept holding my eyes until I slowly nodded.
He let out a breath and looked over at the body.
“Somebody should have heard your scream.
But… we’re outside of town.
Nobody…” He shook his head and got up.
“I’ll take care of it.
Rest for a bit.” It was that.
I finally kick-started at the mention of him working and me doing nothing.
“No.
I can help.” He glanced over but didn’t say anything.
Instead, he took the head and shoulders, and began dragging him… it… outside.
After a heartbeat, I grabbed the feet and helped.
We dragged it outside, and Rey kicked it off into the brush.
I shivered, looking back at the other tents.
Some people were still awake, keeping watch around fires.
They had to have heard me scream.
Saw the man moving our barrier rope and sneak into the tent.
But… But they didn’t… They also didn’t seem to care that two children just rolled a dead body into a bush.
I kept shivering, until Rey grabbed my shoulders.
He pulled me in for a hug.
“We already knew Kat.
Not everyone we would come across would be good people.” I swallowed.
And nodded a little.
We were naïve.
Orick warned us.
He warned us it was dangerous to stay outside of town.
Maybe… Maybe it was even more dangerous than sleeping in the wild.