The eastern forest was about a two-hour walk from Reflet. Maybe a carriage would come by we could hitch a ride with, I thought — but no, none came, and exactly two hours later we arrived at the forest edge.
We pushed into the dense forest carefully. Every sudden bird call or rustle of small creatures startled me; I was nervously on edge — until I noticed a strange sensation kicking in.
I could feel the presences around me. Where various creatures were, what they felt toward us, that kind of thing. I could tell. What was this — a sixth sense? Maybe another gift from the god.
While I was processing that, I picked up two hostile presences to our front-right. Clear killing intent.
“Heads up. Something’s here.”
The twins immediately stopped. I gestured toward the forest with my eyes, and they shifted into combat stance. Right on cue, a black shape launched out of the brush at us.
“Wh—!”
I twisted out of the way reflexively. Okay. I can see its movement. Gray fur, a black horn from the forehead. Big-dog-sized, but the ferocity wasn’t dog-level. Horn-Wolf.
While I faced off with one, I saw another lunging at Elze from a different angle.
She met it head-on and drove a full-body punch into its snout. The gauntlet connected and the Horn-Wolf hit the ground and stopped moving. Instant kill.
While I was admiring Elze’s work, the wolf in front of me bared its teeth and rushed me again.
I read its movement calmly, drew the katana at my hip on the cross. Single stroke as we passed each other. In the same instant, the wolf’s head spun through the air and bounced.
First time killing something. A flicker of guilt and revulsion ran through me — but four new wolves emerged from the trees, two charging me, and there was no time for it.
“Flame, come — red shot — Ignis Fire!”
A voice rang out and one of the wolves coming at me was instantly engulfed in flame. Linze had fire-magic’d a backup shot. Damn — first magic-use in this world and I missed it.
I dodged the second one and cut it down with the katana. It dropped and stopped moving.
Looking at Elze: she had heel-kicked a charging wolf in the gut and sent it flying. Beside her another wolf was burning in Linze’s fire. Missed it again.
“All done. Request was for five, we got six.”
Elze said, knocking her gauntlets together. Six total, two each. Solid for a first fight. Well — first for me, anyway.
Now we had to bring the wolves’ horns back as proof of kill. I cut six horns and put them in my pouch. Take these to the guild and the job was done — mission complete.
Exiting the forest felt like a weight came off. Strangely freeing. I’d need to get used to this kind of work.
A carriage came by on the return trip and we got a ride. Lucky.
Back in town, we went straight to the guild and turned in five Horn-Wolf horns at the request desk. The extra horn I kept as a souvenir for the first kill.
“Confirmed — five Horn-Wolf horns received. Please present your guild cards.”
We handed them over. She pressed something stamp-like onto each one — a magic-circle pattern flickered for an instant and faded. As I later learned: different ranks of job leave different stamps; cards accumulate stamps and color-promote at thresholds.
For reference: beginner-black, then purple, green, blue, red, silver, gold. Steady climb.
“Here’s your payment — 18 copper. Request closed. Good work.”
I took the payment and we split it three ways — 6 each. Three nights of lodging covered. I was starting to feel like maybe I could make it in this world.
“Hey hey — let’s grab a meal somewhere to celebrate our first successful job.”
Elze suggested as we left. A bit early for dinner, but — come to think of it, I’d skipped lunch. Why not. Plus I had something to ask the twins.
We picked a café in town.
I ordered a hot sandwich and milk. Elze got a meat pie and orange juice. Linze got pancakes and tea. After the staff left, I started.
“Hey — favor to ask, you two.”
“A favor?”
“Mm. Could you teach me to read and write? Not being able to read is inconvenient. Going to keep being a problem otherwise.”
“Ah — yeah, makes sense. Can’t read job postings, that’s a problem.”
Elze nodded; Linze nodded along with her in sync. Twin thing.
“Linze’s the one to ask. She’s smart, good at teaching.”
“Th-that’s not… if it’s okay with you…”
“Thanks. Appreciated.”
That settled my reading and writing path. Now I just had to study. Good teacher. Oh — and…
“Right, Linze — while we’re at it, could you also teach me magic? I’d like to try using it.”
"" Eh? ""
Stereo. What — that surprising?