What's that you say? Story's pretty boring recently? Where are the actions? Bring the actions!
Alright, I get it. Just so happened a quest was assigned to me recently to hunt a rather troublesome but fearsome creature. My first quest as a Shadow Knight, and usually at this rank, most of the quests assigned to you are usually for you to undertake alone. Should you wish to bring along additional hired help or mercs, that's entirely at your own cost and choice.
What better way to show Rose what it's like to be an adventurer by asking her to tag along? She needs to understand the reality of joining a guild, which is not all fun and games. It's either your source of income or your permanent death. It's the harsh reality, but such is the life of an adventurer.
Rose seemed to be excited to follow me on my quest. Seeing that she had no weapons with her, I handed her my dagger as a form of protection, but I doubt she knows how to wield it properly since she told me that she had never had any combat experience before. And the fact that she's still frail from malnutrition and the lack of food that was provided to her at the orphanage, something that I've been trying to change by feeding her more nutritious food at the cost of me wallet. But for her health and wellbeing, anything is worth it. She was following me like a little bunny until we reached the city's northern entrance.
"So— what are we hunting, Onii-chan?" she asked me curiously with a cheerful tone.
"We are hunting daarette," I told her.
"Which way do we go?" she asked.
"In the direction of daarette," I spoke.
"Huh?" she tilted her head and stared at me, feeling stumped by my words.
I snapped back to reality when she tugged at my shirt. Woah, what in the world just happened to me? Suddenly felt like a dad. That was weird.
"Err, I meant, this way," I smiled awkwardly at her as I led the way.
According to the quest letter, the creature we're hunting is located up north from the city, in the area that is known to be constantly snowing throughout the entire year. We prepared supplies and winter clothing for the journey. It is currently autumn in the City Of Pines and will be stepping into winter soon. The thing is, it never snows within the City Of Pines. As a matter of fact, most of the places on this continent do not snow. Sure, the temperature will be cold, but it's never close to freezing point. I guess this is gonna be the first time we'll be heading towards somewhere that we can actually experience snow.
With that said, we proceeded with our journey northwards where the City Of Lilies Dahlee is located. The journey there is rather far as it's right at the edge of this continent. We were provided with a carriage that brought us all the way at the expense of the guild. There was nothing too eventful being inside a carriage, so I had a casual conversation with Rose.
"Have you ever held a weapon before?" I asked her.
"Hm, I think I sort of remember doing some training with my parents when I was young," she recalled.
Oh, so she at least has some basics in how to defend herself.
"May I ask about your parents? What happened to them? You don't have to answer if it's uncomfortable for you," I asked.
"It's alright, Onii-chan. If we're going to bond closer, you'll have to know about it eventually. From what I've been told by the soldiers, both of them were... killed by bandits. They—didn't make it back one day. I was about six when I was left all alone. The administration decided to place someone as my caretaker. I'm sure you met that 'lovely' lady," her face turned sour at the mere mention of that person. Not only did her parents die, she was left in the care of such a horrible person. This made me want to protect her even more.
I unconsciously reached out and petted her head, which she seemed to enjoy like some kette. Oh no—no no, don't bring back that horrible memory!
"But I'm not alone anymore. Cause I have you now," she stared at me, and I swore I saw sparkles in her eyes. Didn't realised she looked up to me THAT much. Got to make sure that I'm her cool, dependable brother rather than some loser. Don't wanna make her or even me look bad.
***
The carriage stopped midway to camp for the night. Despite being midway to our destination, the weather was already starting to get colder. We were already exhaling cold breaths as night approached. We wore our winter clothing, but Rose cuddled with me for the extra warmth. The coachman was staring at us as he maintained the campfire light with a stick after we had finished eating.
"She your daughter?" he asked.
"Oh no, my little sister," I answered.
"Glad to see there's still some love in this world," he said.
Woah, the conversation suddenly rolled deeper than Adele's song. I'm not used to having such deep conversations with a stranger out of nowhere.
"May I ask what you meant by that?" I asked him politely.
"Where you're heading—the people are mostly reserved. The weather made them unwilling to make contact with anyone else. Populations are dwindling as youngsters head elsewhere. Now—now only old folks live there," he explained.
"Are you from around there?" I asked.
"Aye, I am. And it calms me seeing both of you being so close together. Been a while since I felt the warmth of another person," he smiled sadly.
I kept quiet as I had no idea how to continue with the conversation. Perhaps his lover or child had passed for some time, leaving him all alone in this world. I decided to get some shut-eye to ensure I'm well prepared for tomorrow. From what Miss Angelica informed me, the creature I'm hunting is no slouch. Daarettes are fearsome creatures known for their strength and speed. Oh right, I hadn't updated my quest log yet.
Side Objective Unlocked: Hunt the murderous daarette.
What's a daarette, you ask? If I recall properly, I think it's related to venison in some way. I also remembered a certain Cdawg mentioning that daarettes are known as one of the most dangerous animals in the world. We shall see then. Hold up a minute, who the hell... is Cdawg? Sounds awfully familiar, but I can't quite put my finger on it. My brain is justgetting weirder day by day.
I placed my shoulder over Rose's head and we cuddled to keep ourselves warm. Just a few days ago she was afraid of me but now she's comfortable enough to snuggle with me. Glad that she trusts me now and we're no longer at that awkward phase, otherwise it'll be really hard to bond with her if she had kept herself reserved.
***
Dawn approaches, and we continued our journey northwards. As we proceeded closer to the city, sunlight had disappeared entirely. Snow began falling, and the skies darkened. It was as though we had stepped into the lands of Narnia or something.
We arrived at the city when it was late morning. Uh, city? Should I even call it that? It looked more like an abandoned village instead. Unlike the City Of Pines, this "city" had extremely worn-down walls, no tall buildings, or even a proper entrance. You can just hop right in, and no soldiers will be there to stop you.
The coachman also made his stop here, which I was rather thankful for. I asked him whether there was any tavern for us to stay in, and thankfully, there was. Only one tavern remained operational in this "city". He was kind enough to lead us since he was heading there himself. I checked on Rose to see if she was keeping up with this extreme weather, and indeed, she was. She couldn't keep her excitement seeing snow for the first time. With a fur coat and winter hat, there's no way you won't find that adorable when seeing her playing with snow. Even the coachman smiled warmly at the sight of Rose running around all excited.
We made it to the tavern and headed inside to warm ourselves. It was rather empty, with only one or two people inside. We took off our snow-covered boots and headed towards the counter.
"Hey Darcy, been a while. How's everything?" asked the coachman.
"Everything's good, Danny. Aside from that damn daarette terrorising everyone, all is fine," she replied to him with a smile.
"Would it be alright if you told me more about that daarette in question?" I interjected and placed the quest letter on the countertop. Darcy took the letter and read its contents. She made a couple of nods while reading.
"Sounds about right. What else do you wish to know?" she asked.
"Ah, pardon me. Two warm teas, please. What I wish to know is the location of where the daarette was last seen and the area with the most sightings," I placed a couple of copper coins on the counter.
"Hm, the most recent location is where everyone found the dead bodies. Just out of town, heading towards the woods. Strangely guarding the woods for some reason, but it's where we gather our firewood for years now. Either something spooked the daarette into attacking us or it relocated its way to the forest. Whatever it is, we need those firewoods or we'll be dead from the cold," she explained as she prepared and served our warm drinks.
Good. Only one location to lure the daarette out to kill it. Things are looking pretty straightforward so far.
"Did you all... chop too much wood or something? If it's snowing all year, how do trees even grow in such intense weather? Is that why the daarette is protecting the forest?" I asked them.
"No, never. We only procure what we need since there aren't many people living here in the first place. We have never touched any of the trees here, just picked up stray woods that seem to litter the forest. I should know since I'm one of the few that collects them. See for yourself, you won't even find a stump in that forest," the coachman explained.
Hmm... no logging despite such intense weather. Then what is the daarette trying to protect?
"Alright, that's all for now. Any room we can spend the night?" I asked.
"You're staying with your daughter? I have a room for two upstairs. Well, pretty much all the rooms are vacant right now since barely anyone ever comes over here due to the weather," she shrugged.
"Little sister, actually, but yeah, I'll take it," I passed her a couple of copper coins in exchange for the room key. Rather glad that this city uses the same currency as the City Of Pines; otherwise, I'm pretty much screwed. Highly doubt there's even a bank operating here for me to exchange.
"You're hunting that daarette?" asked a voice behind me. I glanced at who it was, and there sat an old-looking man.
"Yes, sir, I am," I told him.
"Be careful, youngling; what you're hunting is a bloodthirsty alpha daarette. It hungers for human blood after it claimed its first victim. Don't end up like those poor folks. Keep your daughter safe here," he explained.
The room felt colder after he was done. The whole tavern was dead silent as no one knew what else to say. It was Darcy who broke the silence, pulling us out from the sorrowful depths of that story.
"Oh, that's just ol' Dean with his silly story. Try not to let it get to you. Good luck on your hunt, young adventurer," spoke Darcy.
I wish I could just wipe that story out of my head, but it felt as though it was a premonition awaiting to occur. We headed upstairs to store our belongings and tested the bed. Glad to see the room is kept clean despite not having many visitors. Rose was rolling on her bed when I called out to her.
"Rose, maybe—you should stay here while I hunt the daarette," I told her.
"Are you worried about what that man said? I'll be fine, Onii-chan. You don't have to worry about me. I can take care of myself," she answered.
"Just a gut feeling, y'know? I'm worried that I won't be able to protect you," I said.
"I'll be fine. Thanks for worrying about me. You're really a good brother," she smiled.
Her words were reassuring despite this being her first time being on a guild quest, a dangerous one at that. Perhaps things will be fine after all.
***
Making sure I brought everything I needed, we headed downstairs and proceeded to the location that the daarette was last spotted. It was snowing lighter compared to earlier, which is good for me. At least it won't hinder my vision during combat, which will be a disadvantage for me.
It was not long until we reached the site in question. The snow on the ground still had some hint of red, which confirms that this is the right location. I'm certain the people in the city had to scoop away as much blood-covered snow to hide the more gory scene.
I squatted down to look for some evidence or tracks on where the creature went. Strangely, there were none. With such light snowing, it would have taken hours to completely hide any prints if the creature ventured here. Damn, now I'm concerned that the daarette is no longer here.
Some rustling sounds behind triggered both Rose and me to unsheathe our weapons. We were in a clearing before the edge of the forest, so there wasn't much place for the creature to hide aside from some bushes.
I glared at what was making the rustling, and a red foxette poked its head out of the bushes. Rose jumped in excitement upon seeing the animal and gestured for the foxette to approach closer as she attempted to pet it. To my surprise, the foxette actually did. It came within arm's reach for Rose to pet it. The foxette seemed to be enjoying it, which made Rose giddy in excitement as she turned to smile at me. I smiled at their interactions until the foxette started to make some weird noise.
"Ding ding, ahie ahie!"
Why— is it making that noise? Is it trying to sing?
It emerged from nowhere before I realised the angry presence behind me. I immediately leapt forward towards Rose and grabbed her away by the arm, pulling her away from the path of where the creature dashed at us. She, in turn, managed to grab the foxette and hugged it closely. Even without glancing at what it was, I knew what the angry presence was. It was definitely the daarette in question.
You think the deer in your world are scary? Imagine a buffed-up version, tripling in size with ridiculously sharp horns. That is what I'm staring at right now. How it hid its presence until the last minute is beyond me. Perhaps that was how it ambushed the citizens and killed them.
The horns of this creature were soaked in dark red at the tips. Safe to say that this is definitely my target. No wonder the old man said that this is an alpha daarette. Its size is larger than your standard daarette. Now, how should I play this? Distract it while Rose seeks cover? I need to be sure that she's safe before I fight with it.
"Rose, get away from here. I won't be able to fight properly while needing to protect you," I told her.
"No, I'll fight with you. I can do it, Onii-chan," she placed the foxette on the ground, which it scurried away immediately.
"Rose—this daarette is no slouch. Even I can't say for certain that I can defeat it on my own," I told her directly. This is not a good time to be arguing with your brother.
"I've fought monsters before. This one won't be any different," she assured me.
Huh? Did I mishear? When she said monsters, did she mean those imaginary ones under her bed?
No time to argue now; the daarette started charging directly at us with its horns. I instinctively reached out to grab Rose, but—huh? Where did she go? Oh, she had already leapt to the side, dodging the charge.
Not bad, she is nimble and appears to have some combat experience. Maybe she wasn't lying after all. I quickly leaped out of the way of the charge. The daarette made a quick turn and resumed its charge. Now it started swinging its horn frantically while charging directly at me. I stood my ground and used Fear, hoping to scare the creature in some way. Damn it, doesn't seem like it is working! I quickly rolled to the side to avoid getting rammed by those extremely sharp horns.
As I was thinking of ways to stop its movement, Rose leaped in and stabbed the daarette on its left hind leg. Nice one, Rose! Now get out of the way.
Hang on, what is she doing? Is the dagger stuck?!
"Release your grip and jump away!" I shouted.
The enraged daarette used some sort of spell that summoned spiked horns from the ground. I leaped backwards several times to avoid those spikes, all the while making sure that Rose is safe. Her battle instincts are pretty good. I'll admit, she can handle herself pretty well but she's unarmed now.
"Stand back, Rose! Wait for an opportunity!" I shouted at her, and she nodded.
The spiked horns sunk back into the ground as quickly as they were summoned. The enraged daarette was now glaring at Rose with murderous intent and had begun charging after her. I quickly chased after the daarette to attack it from behind. Rose timed the daarette's charge properly and leaped to safety at the last moment, causing it to crash onto the tree behind her. Seeing the daarette was disoriented, I decided to use my new signature spell.
"Getsuga—!!" Hang on, wrong spell. "Shadow Strike!" I shouted.
Black trails enveloped my blade, Inazuma, as I swung it at the daarette's right leg, expecting to sever it with a single strike. I was a fool in thinking so when I felt like I struck a metal bar. I could feel the vibration of the impact on my fingers as it struck the thick bones of the daarette.
I regained my bearing and saw that my fully powered Shadow Strike had only caused flesh wounds rather than severing it completely. Not deep enough to affect its movements in the slightest. Damn it, this daarette had such strong bone density that it could deflect Inazuma? Rose must have gotten really lucky and struck a vulnerable point of the daarette. The dagger was still pierced deeply in the daarette's left hind leg.
"What shall we do, Onii-chan? Seems like we need to pinpoint its weak spot to pierce it," said Rose. Not bad, her instincts are good. To be able to analyse and reach the same conclusion as me.
"I've got a plan. But I need to lure it into the woods," I said.
"Huh? Are you sure? It's quite dark inside and we'll be fighting in its own turf," Rose explained.
"Will it?" I left Rose with a question as I prepared myself.
The daarette came charging at us with a giant log stuck to its horns. Yikes, need to dodge even further now! I quickly grabbed Rose and tossed her towards the woods. She landed on her back, but the snow dampened her fall. She understood why I threw her and quickly rushed into the woods. I followed after her while the daarette charged after me. I managed to dive into the woods just in time for the daarette to be stopped in its tracks by the other trees. That log somehow saved our lives. Can't come in, can't ya?
It continued to rampage as it tried to remove the log from its horns. I took a deep breath and used my second spell that I obtained from the latest rank. I used Conceal and vanished from sight. Rose was surprised by my sudden disappearance and started looking everywhere for me. Conceal can only be used in dark places. Completely useless in bright areas when there are barely any shadows for me to hide in.
The daarette managed to dislodge and threw the log aside from its horns and glared into the forest. Rose was sitting on the ground alone, and it slowly approached her. Trying to savour your prey before going in for the kill? Like hell I'm gonna let you. I appeared unexpectedly on its left and cast Fear. The daarette must have been terrified by my sudden appearance and spell that it stood up on its hind legs. This exposed its underbelly, which I quickly stabbed with Inazuma. I reached out and pulled my dagger with my left hand with all my strength and tossed it over to Rose.
"Go for the neck!" I shouted at her.
Rose reacted quickly and leapt in for the kill. She stabbed the daarette on the neck while gripping the dagger two-handed, causing it to pierce deeply. The daarette was spitting blood from its mouth now that it was heavily injured. Just... need to hang on a little longer, and it'll be dead.
Both of us held our weapons tightly, trying our best to push deeper to quicken the process. The daarette let out a loud shriek that made me instinctively leap towards Rose, leaving Inazuma behind. I grabbed her by her clothes and leapt onto the daarette's back. As I suspected, the daarette used all its remaining strength to summon spiked horns again. Thankfully, my instinct was right that the back of the daarette was the safest spot.
The daarette started losing balance and began dropping to the side. Shit, where can I go?! The horns are still all over the ground! I jumped as high as I can while holding Rose and thankfully landed directly on the daarette's body. The spiked horns somehow did not pierce through its body. Holy shit, we're alive!
Upon making sure the horns had finally retreated into the ground and the daarette was really dead, we retrieved our weapons and I took a part of the daarette's horn as evidence. The red, sharp tips of the horn are a clear indication of who it belonged to.
Phew, glad that's over. Time for us to head back to the village to close the quest. I held Rose's hand as we headed out of the forest but she was hopping on one leg, which I stared funnily at. Why is she doing the bunny hop now?
"Did you hurt your leg?" I asked.
"I think so. Might had slipped earlier. It just hurts a little bit, you don't need to worry about it," she answered.
If it hurts a little, you won't be hopping right now.
"Alright, show me your leg," I told her.
"You want to see my maiden's leg, Onii-chan?"~" she acted shyly. I knocked her head lightly as now was not the time for jokes.
I removed her boots and inspected her leg. It seemed to be swollen a little on her right ankle. Perhaps she might have sprained it earlier during the fight.
"Alright, hop on my back. I'll give you a piggyback ride," I said to her.
"Are… are you sure? I'm quite heavy," she uttered.
"Geez, Rose, you're just eight. C'mon, hop on so we can get going. Make sure you hold on to your boot," I ushered her.
She leapt on, and we could finally head back to the city. Thankfully, it's not that far to reach the tavern. Rose hugged me tightly and began rubbing her face on my back. What is she even doing back there?
***
After some time, we safely made it back to the tavern. Danny stood up immediately upon seeing that I'd returned. I sat Rose on one of the tables as I planned to rub her swollen foot. Darcy came over with a towel and a bucket of hot water in her hands. Rather well prepared of her.
"So— you did it, kid?" asked Danny.
"Sure did. Here is the horn that belonged to that murderous daarette. I believe you can recognise this bloody horn?" I showed him.
"Aye, yes indeed. You really did it, youngling. You really did it," said Danny as he placed his hand on my shoulder.
"Right— who shall I hand this quest letter to? I need it signed. The corpse is still inside the forest though. Way too heavy for me to carry back if you needed food," I asked Danny. It is usually the leader or mayor who signs the letter, but… is there even a mayor here?
"I'll sign it. I was the one who raised the request in the first place. I'll gather some men to collect the corpse later before some wild animal takes it. Been a while since we had daarette stew for dinner," spoke Danny as he took the letter.
Oh, so he was the one who raised it? Why didn't he say so?
He handed the letter back to me, and everything seems to check out. I thought we could head back home today, but I decided to stay the night due to Rose's swollen foot. Food was on the house, which made me feel bad. It snows all year round, so hunting food in general must rather be difficult here. But Darcy insisted that we eat for free as her way of showing thanks. That, and the fact that the food we ate was the daarette I killed.
After our meal, I carried Rose upstairs to our room. I inspected Rose's feet once more and noticed that they were subsiding now. We should be able to return to the City Of Pines tomorrow, hopefully.
"Onii-chan—may I join a guild?" she asked me once again.
"Any particular reason as to why you wanna join one?" I asked her. What made her check that book in the first place?
"I want to help you. If I didn't join one, I won't be able to fight by your side," she explained.
"Helping me with house chores and cooking is also a way of supporting me. You don't necessarily need to be on the battlefield with me, Rose," I explained my reasoning.
"But… I wanna repay you more than that. What if you don't return from a quest one day? I'll be left alone again and might be sent to another horrible caretaker. I don't want to experience that again," she started tearing up.
Ah, I finally understood what she's trying to tell me. She needed to make sure that I'm able to come home with her. From where she stands, she would die with me on the battlefield. Death was less important to her than feeling alone again. I won't say that I understand her feelings, but I understood her intention. I gave her a hug and petted her head.
"Alright, you can join a guild. However, before you turn 11, I need to make sure that you are fit enough to join one. Otherwise, you'll be staying at home. Deal?" I asked her.
"Deal! I'll show you that I'm capable of joining a guild!" She smiled brightly.
"Any particular guild you have in mind? Which one are you thinking about?" I asked.
"I do. I would like to join the Light guild," she answered.
Just as I suspected. The only guild that provides spell buffs to other guild members. That was probably what she was looking for in the book that she was reading. I won't say I enjoyed the idea that my little sister will be facing dangers on a daily basis, but I'm sure she can handle herself seeing that she's quite capable today. I have my utmost faith that she'll succeed.
***
We returned to the City Of Pines the following day and arrived when it was late evening. Danny brought us back, and we gave our thanks to him before our farewell. Rose gave Danny a hug, which surprised both of us. Hadn't realised that Rose got so attached to him. Danny petted Rose at first, then he started tearing up and hugged her tighter.
Way to go, Rose. You somehow melted his frozen heart. I don't know what Danny had been through, but I'm rather glad that she did.
We waved Danny farewell as he took his carriage out of the city, and we proceeded to head back to my guild. Rose glanced at me and gave me a peace sign, not before she made a cheeky smile. This cheeky brat, she must have overheard our conversation between me and Danny and decided to act.
There will come another day where I'll start training Rose for her guild initiation. And the beginning of my nightmare to increase my skill stats. Until then, stay tuned for the next chapter.