The days weren’t easy.
We hardly had any time to play.
But… We got through it.
Rey kept up on his training, Anna’s praises of his diligence motivating him.
I managed to fire my first mana bolt, and I discovered I had an excellent mana recovery rate, which was great for us.
In the mornings, we hunted for slimes and herbs.
Some days, we found a lot, and some days we hardly found any at all.
Mana herbs too, could be unpredictable, although we always managed to fulfill requests asking for them.
And our savings gradually grew.
I counted our savings in our tent.
We have spent just about two weeks here, and all our hard work was threaded on strings in front of me.
I threaded the last of our coppers onto a money string.
Seven.
I laid it down beside the others.
One, two, three… Twenty-two silvers.
What we started with.
And seventy-seven copper.
“Kat, I’m back!” I looked up to see Rey, holding two bowls of the delicious noodle soup.
I held my hand out and he gently gave it to me.
Still warm.
I took a spoon and began slurping it up.
It had some veggies and meet cut up into it… yummy.
He sat beside me, munching.
“This is really good.
Definitely my favorite.” I made sure I chewed and swallowed before speaking.
“We have twenty-two silvers so far.” He perked up.
“Not bad for only two weeks!
And Anna said I’m really getting the hang of dual wielding!
I might be ready to learn some more techniques soon!” Yep.
Another slurp, chew, and swallow, and I continued.
“At this rate, we should have enough to pay Guildmaster Orick back in… another month!” “And after that, we can start buying the things we really need.
How are you doing on your spellcasting?” “My progress has really slowed down.
It’s harder to expend all my mana, so I can really only train it when we’re hunting or training.” I could fire… about two mana bolts in a row now.
After that, it took about ten minutes for my mana to fill back up.
I could also keep my finger light going for an hour.
Magic was a lot harder than I first thought.
There were things about efficiency, imbuing mana with intent, mastering certain spells which require practice and understanding of how mana interacts with the world.
“I won’t need another spellcasting book for… a while.
I can’t even cast a second level spell yet…” Rey reached over and ruffled my hair.
“No problem!
Your mana bolts are already a huge help.
And anyway, after we pay Orick back, we need to save up for some more equipment.
We need a compass, a defensive barrier, and some hunting knives!
Then we’ll be ready to leave this city and continue on!” Oh.
I fidgeted again, looking down into the bowl of noodles.
“Are you sure you want to leave?
These people here… they’re nice.” He deflated a little and sighed.
“I… I know.
They are nice.
But… Clifton is only two days away.
Your parents come here to Duval a lot, don’t they?” Oh.
My stomach sank.
He… was right.
It was just too dangerous for us to stay here forever.
“Then… where are we gonna go?” “Wherever we want!
The eastern sea, the western desert!
Even the capital!
We can even leave the country and explore the world as much as we want!
Isn’t that exciting?” “I… I do want to see the capital.
And the ocean.” He grinned.
“Perfect!
Then we have our first destination!
Let’s go to the capital!” As always, his cheerfulness buoyed me.
I smiled at him, feeling gratitude well in my chest.
“Thanks Rey.
Without you, I never could have done all this.
I would have…” He reached over and pulled me against him.
“Kat, I told you, we’re partners!
And I’ll always protect you.” Rey… I sniffled, feeling happy.
I could never thank him enough for everything he’s done for me.
I leaned against his arm, feeling safe.
“Thanks Rey…” I looked up and smiled at him, and his face turned red again.
He quickly let me go and turned back to his food.
“L-Like I said it’s not a problem at all!
Let’s just focus on becoming the best adventurers ever!
We’ll become so strong, nobody will mess with us!
We’ll do whatever we want to for the rest of our lives!” Right.
I finished the last bite of my noodles.
He’s always had such grand dreams… so grand, it makes me want to believe in them too.
I gave him my bowl, and he took them, turning to the entrance of the tent, ready to take them back, when I heard the sound of someone running, boots slapping on the ground.
They skidded to a stop in front of our tent.
“Kids!
Emergency!” W-What?
Rey paused before quickly untying the flap.
Sure enough, the guildmaster was out there, breathing hard.
He crouched down.
“Kat, Rey, Count Solace is here looking for you!
The two of you need to get out of town!” Wh-What?
Rey reacted before I did, scrambling back and rolling up the bedrolls, grabbing his swords and putting them in his belt.
After a moment, I followed his lead, packing up as quick as I could.
Meanwhile, the guildmaster grabbed our bowls, taking them back for us, and he returned quickly.
“I know you two aren’t fully equipped to travel and sleep outside town, so here!” He pulled out a rope, a dagger, and a compass from his spatial pouch.
Now Rey hesitated.
“But we already accepted the books and the lantern…” The guildmaster snorted.
“Kid, I’m not fussing over one or two gold when the lives of two children are at stake.
Anna is distracting him for now, but he knows the two of you have been around town!
You need to get out of here, yesterday!” Rey tsked before grabbing the supplies, tucking them away in his bag.
“I swear, we’ll pay you back when we become really strong adventurers.” Orick chuckled.
“Sounds good kid.
You two watch yourselves out there.
Look out for each other.
Now, let’s break down this tent…” With Orick’s help, we were packed up in record time, and he ushered us away, pulling out two thick cloaks that were just our sizes too.
We pulled the hoods low to hide our faces, and we headed to the northern gate.
The gate was closed, but there was a hooded figure standing beside it.
He was a dignified older gentleman, with a rapier at his side.
“This is them?” Orick nodded.
“Yes, thank you for your help, Viscount.” “Nonsense.
Solace gives all of us elegant nobles a bad name.
Now, come along you two.” He led us to the side of the gate, into the guardhouse where the mechanism to close and open the gate was.
He pulled out a thick iron key and opened a matching thick iron door.
It opened to reveal the northern road.
This… was it.
We were really leaving.
Rey paused, and turned, bowing to both the guildmaster and the noble helping us.
“Thank you for everything.
I swear one day, we’ll come back and repay you.” Orick snorted, then smiled.
“Just take care of yourselves.
That’s all the thanks I need.
Oh, and keep up on your training.
Anna said she’ll be testing you the next time you see her.” The viscount we haven’t been introduced to gave us a slight nod.
“No thanks are necessary.
It is the duty of a noble to keep the wickedness of others who do not understand elegance in check.
Godspeed to you both.” With that, we ushered out.
Into the dark of night.
Mmm.
I rubbed my eyes.
My feet hurt.
We’ve been walking as quickly as we could, away from the city.
All night long.
But my bag was heavy, and my empty stomach rumbled, informing me we couldn’t keep this up for much longer.
We hadn’t had time to prepare anything, so no rations to snack on while we walked.
The sky was even beginning to grow lighter.
“Rey…” He glanced back at me, the lantern he was holding shifting the shadows around us.
“I know.
I’m hungry too.
Let’s… move into the forest.
We have to find a good spot to hide.” We did just that, pushing past the underbrush.
The sun was almost all the way up before we found a small, clear spot next to a creek, partially hidden by a boulder.
I set up the tent, debating between sourcing food and sleeping.
Rey used the hatchet to cut some sticks, and used some leaves as kindling, starting a small fire.
He sighed and looked around.
“We… We didn’t have time to pick up rations.” We didn’t.
I pulled out my mess kit, setting it down.
“So… we forage?” We both knew what edible plants looked like now at least.
But he shook his head.
“Heading north, it’s another week until we hit another town, and it’s smaller than Duval.
We won’t be able to sustain off just plants… we have to hunt.
Er well… you have to hunt.” “Me?” I looked up at him in shock, and he nodded, gesturing to his swords.
“I can’t exactly hunt with only swords.
You’ll have to hunt with your mana bolt.
We should be able to get some squirrels and rabbits that way…” It was the first time he ever asked me to do something.
I nodded, determined.
“I’ll do it.
I’ll hunt as much as I can.” My stomach growled again, trying to gnaw through itself.
His growled too.
Our noodle dinner was long gone.
Sleep could wait.
Rey was counting on me.
“Let’s go hunt now.” He nodded, and we shouldered our bags once again.
I ignored my aching feet and did my best to silently sneak through the woods.
We had to eat to keep up our strength.
We could rest after.
I was the only one who could hunt.
I would prove that Rey could rely on me too.
We reached the edge of a meadow.
I scanned carefully, then spotted movement, freezing.
A rabbit.
It hadn’t noticed us.
I slipped my wand out of my bag.
Just like hunting slimes… I slunk forward, making as little disturbance as possible.
I pointed my wand.
Fire!
A yellow bolt of mana flashed from my wand to the rabbit.
It began spazzing, its feet splaying everywhere.
It wasn’t quite dead yet.
Rey rushed forward, holding the dagger from Orick.
He grabbed the rabbit and stabbed it’s head.
It jerked once and laid still.
I slowly let out the breath I’d been holding.
Hoooooo.
We were successful.
“They’re… sturdier than the slimes.” “Well, slimes are known for being weak.
Um…” He pulled the knife out, it coming away red, picking up the body.
“We… have to clean this right?
And butcher it?” Oh.
Uh… “Yeah.
Let’s take it back to camp.” More grumbling from our stomachs made us move quickly.
Once we were back at camp, Rey deliberated over how to butcher the rabbit while I set up the defensive barrier.
I rolled the rope out around our little camp.
There was about fifty feet of it.
Once I touched the ends together in a circle, a purple-tinged, translucent barrier popped up.
Now we didn’t have to worry so much about monsters.
I was glad Charlie showed us how they worked once.
I wiped my brow and turned back to Rey.
His hands were covered in blood, and he grunted as he pulled strips of meat out of the rabbit.
The skin had been hacked off, looking nothing like the neat skins hunters bring back.
He sighed.
“We need to buy a book on how to do this.
Or pay someone to teach us.
If we knew, we could have sold the skin…” It was a shame.
But we hunted the rabbit for its meat.
I opened up my mess kit, taking out the utensils.
I unhooked the hinge and pulled the handle out.
“I’ll cook it.” Or at least try to.
He handed me the strips of meat and I laid them on the now pan.
I held it out over the fire.
Soon, they were sizzling, and giving off a delectable scent.
There was just enough for both of us, including the bones, which should have marrow.
Meanwhile, Rey foraged the surrounding area.
He came back with a few roots and berries.
I threw the roots to roast with the meat in the pan, and he got us both water from the creek, filling up our skins.
Ready.
I took the pan off the fire and shuffled the wild rabbit and root roast into the bowl side of our mess kits.
We wasted no time digging in.
It wasn’t nearly as good as the food in town, but hunger was the best seasoning.
I didn’t even mind the bitter roots as I devoured it all as quickly as possible, sucking the bone marrow out and tilting the bowl to drink all the juices.
Wow.
I burped once on was finished and drank some water.
That… was the first meal we made ourselves, from start to finish.
“Are we… independent now?” He finished the last bite of his and puffed his chest out.
“Of course we are!
We can feed ourselves now, can’t we?
Let’s wash these in the creek.” We opened the rope and washed out the mess kits the best we could before returning.
The fire was burning down by this point, and Rey kicked dirt over it.
“We need to be careful.
They could spot the smoke from our fire, so we should only make a fire when we really need to.
Let’s get some rest.
When the sun starts setting, we’ll head back to the road and keep moving forward.” I nodded.
Moving at night was our best bet to stay hidden.
I crawled into the tent, pulling out my bedroll, utterly exhausted.
Rey did the same, groaned as he laid down.
“Goodnight Kat.
Or uh… good morning?” I smiled at him.
So silly as always.
“Good morning.” I yawned, and quickly fell asleep.