Six slimes, that was all that was left when Ofris finally stopped me. He congratulated me on a job well done and then handed me a pair of gloves and a small sack made of linen.

“Now begins the bad part,” he declared.

The bad part consisted of only one thing: gathering the cores of the slime monsters that were hidden in smelly slime or filthy water. The gloves were absolutely needed for this task, if not to protect myself from the nasty remains of the canalisation, then to guard me from the stinging pain that assaulted me whenever I accidently touched the remains of a slime.

Luckily enough the goo-like mass didn’t exactly hurt more than my mood, reminding me of why slimes were treated as a weak and almost harmless monster. If anything it felt as if I was searching for gems in a pile of puke, which, of course, was far more of a task than dispatching the slimes had been.

On the bright side I could work without needing to wait for my mana, which took about three to five minutes to become full again once I emptied out all of it. This also meant a lack of dizziness that came from using too much of my mana.

Ofris quietly looked at me doing my part. He only gave me hints every now and then or pointed out slime cores I had missed, never choosing to step in to do it himself. Not that he needed to. It was easy work, albeit a nasty one.

When I had finally finished gathering the cores, Ofris took the linen sack and the spear, leaving me with nothing to carry.

“Good job.”

“Are we done?”

“Almost,” Ofris said with a nod. “We still have to bring back the cores and get your reward.”

“My reward…”

A warm feeling spread out deep inside of me. Just thinking of the word made me feel gleeful. This was going to be my very first reward for doing work here. And it wasn’t just any, but fighting monsters of all things! How could I not feel proud and content?

“Let’s go!” I decided.

And so we went. We first walked back to the bridge we had come from, climbed up the ladder and, simply nodding at the guards at the gate, made our way back inside of the town.

The way back to the mercenary guild itself went without any major events. Some of the passersby looked at me with contempt, others seemed indifferent but became interested once they saw my treasure dangling around my neck, but not a single one chose to call out to us. It was only when we arrived back at the guild that we were greeted.

“Oh, Ofris!”

A girl of about my age greeted us. She had shoulder-length, honey-colored hair, emerald-colored eyes and pinkish lips. A dark brown leather armor and ankle-height boots protected her shapely body. If that wasn’t enough, a sword and two daggers could be found hanging on her hips. I could only stare at the warrior woman.

“Mabel, long time no see!” Ofris greeted her back. “How have you been?”

“I just came back from Amberfield,” she explained, “we guarded a merchant caravan.”

“Amberfield? That takes me back.”

“How is Maxon doing?”

Ofris’ mood immediately turned sour. Maxon was the leader of the boys he was tasked to train into becoming full fledged mercenaries. It was them who had attacked and almost killed me.

“I gave up on them.” Was the only thing he said.

“Oh, I see. Want to talk about it?”

“Give me a drink or two and I might.”

Mabel laughed hearing that. “Shouldn’t it be the other way around?” She turned towards me. “Anyways, who is the cutie?”

“Cutie?”

“Mabel, this is Rika,” Ofris introduced me. “Rika, this is Mabel. She is a former trainee of mine.”

“Nice to meet you,” I greeted her.

“Nice to meet you as well,” she answered with a smile, before turning back to Ofris. “She is your new trainee?”

“Something like that,” Ofris answered. “We never talked about it.”

“You never talked about it?”

“I found her in the ruins of Omlia. She doesn’t remember much about her past.”

“I- I see…” Mabel answered, clearly dejected. “Sorry to hear that.”

I could only look down in shame upon hearing Ofris sprout the lie I had told him. And Ofris? He sighed before placing his hand on my head, right between my ears.

“How about we meet at Armin’s in two hours?” He asked. “We can talk then.”

“Sure thing.” Mabel said, this time with much more life in her voice. “Don’t forget to bring the cutie with you.”

After saying that much, Mabel went off like a storm. I followed her with my eyes for some time, but she soon went into a side road, hiding her from view. And I just stood there staring holes into the air where she had just been.

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With another sigh the hand was removed from my head. Ofris pointed to the guild’s door.

“How about you finish your quest and we get you a nice bath?” He suggested. “I think you need it with all that filth on you.”

He was right. I was smelly, and not just because of those slimes. Even with the self-cleaning underwear I felt filthy. So when Ofris made the suggestion to quickly finish our business at the mercenary guild and return home for a nice hot tub of water, I couldn’t even think of anything else.

“Let’s go!”

⊱————　❈　————⊰

A faint, hot mist was rising from the large wooden cup standing in front of me. If only it had been something like coffee or hot chocolate I would have emptied half of it already, but the strong smell of alcohol combined with the curious eyes of all the strangers surrounding me made me swallow my own saliva instead. 

“What is this even...”

After taking a long, nice soak in hot water and getting myself free from all the filth that had accumulated for days, I had followed Ofris to a rather large tavern that had several groups of adventurers wasting all their money on cheap drinks. He had told me something about a tradition spread among those who come back to the town after killing their first monsters, which somehow led to my current face-off with this ridiculously large cup of liquor.

"Drink it, Rika!" A far too joyous Mabel animated me. "They are all waiting!"

Once again my gaze wandered over the round tables surrounding our own. All of them had men and women waiting for me to chug down the alcohol, with the men being a clear majority.

It was obvious they would love to see me drink from this ominous looking liquid, the so-called ‘House Special’, as this body of mine clearly was younger than any of their own. It looked like a fifteen-year-old girl, maybe sixteen or even seventeen, but not a single year older.

If I was honest, I would have starred just like they did now. A cute fox girl trying her first liquor? Hell yeah! Nothing would have stopped me from staring at her! But being at the receiving end of all those stares felt humiliating, ashaming even.

I felt as if that fancy dress the vixen had given me would suddenly turn invisible should I do a wrong move. Luckily, even Cilia wouldn't go that far. 

“Just do her the favor,” Ofris commented, “she has no other joy in life.”

“What did you say?!” Mabel shouted at him, playing angry.

“They seem to be good friends …”

 I leaned forward, grabbed the cup with both hands and led it towards my lips.

“Only because it is you asking.”

A spicy, hot sensation invaded my mouth. The liquor tasted like a weird mixture of pears, chili peppers and the smell of glue, but it somehow still tasted good enough to have people paying for it.

While it made me feel slightly dizzy even after taking only as much as three sips, it also let a comfortable warmth spread in my body. I felt comfortable and cushioned, as if rolled in several blankets made of soft wool. As the minutes passed by, this feeling only further intensified. By now a low rumbling noise could be heard coming from my chest.

“So good~” I purred.

“Glad you like it!” Mabel laughed.

Ofris revealed a smile, but he seemed slightly worried too. “You don't have to drink all of it if you don't want to.”

“It tastes good~” I reassured him. “Don't worry!” 

My slow sips turned into gulps within minutes, then I even lost this last hesitation and finished half of the remaining liquor all at once. Mabel watched all of this with a mischievous grin. She waited for me to place down the mug before she spoke out to me.

“You almost drink like a man!” She laughed.

“I~ I do~!”

Her laughter grew even bigger after hearing my tipsy voice. “Now tell us more about your adventure today!”

Ofris tried to intercept. “Just don't ask, ok?”

“Why would I not ask! Isn't she a real mercenary now? How did your fight went? Tell us!”

Colorful scenes appeared in front of my inner eye. They showed several massacres, a heartfully laughing fox girl and a bluffed Ofris trying to calm her down again. It got funnier the more I watched them.

“There were those slimes,” I began to explain after staying silent for what must have been like half an eternity, “they wanted to eat all that filth! But I showed them! I burned them all away!”

“You burned them away?”

“They are pudding now! Hehe~” I again took a minute to recall it. “Ah, no! They are all dead! All of those little slimes are dead!”

“You can use magic?” Mabel asked, clearly surprised by this reveal.

“I burned away all of them! Nobody makes my clothes filthy!” I took a long look at Ofris. “You neither!”

Mabel’s smile grew wider and wider as I continued telling them any detail I could think of.

“And then he made me gather all of their cores. They were so filthy! He is so mean!"

“It seems a lot happened!”

“I learned a lot!” I cheered. “I even learned how to dance! I have never danced before! Do you want me to show you?” I turned to Ofris. “How about we find out who is better?!”

I didn't wait for an answer - why would I? Who wouldn't be proud to learn dozens of dance moves within a day!?

Without hesitation, I used the command the vixen had given me. “Skills!”

 A familiar wall of text appeared in front of my eyes. Now that I had become weirdly restless, I couldn't even think of wasting my time on studying it. I had to make it a bigger font or at least less text!

“Dance!”

The screen instantly made way for a new one.

 

『Dancing Skills:

⇒Dancing (Fox Edition)

Foxtrott, Foxmenco, Foxy Belly Dance, Foxy Tango, Vixen's…』

I closed the window without bothering to finish reading the text. By now I was more than slightly agitated. Mabel, upon reading my face, could only look at me in confusion. She looked even more confused when I reached out for her and grabbed her by the hand.

“Foxy Tango!”

...