Disturbing the peaceful afternoon of the forest, the sound of clashing swords could be heard through the woods. Near the river, a decrepit dog, a big spider, and a small hydra watch with middling interest the fight occurring in front of them. As we have been doing this for hours now, they saw me helplessly trying to defeat Lavanda dozens of times. Focusing on my sword proficiency, I wasn’t allowed to use magic for today's training.

Searching for any opening after each blow that I dealt, she easily blocked all my attacks and sidestepped with confidence, blows that I was sure would hit her. With her absolute mastery of her sword, she was so sure that I wouldn’t be able to land a single hit on her that she was wearing her everyday clothes without any armour or real protection against a cutting edge. If we were using wooden swords, this would have been fine, but we were using real steel weapons that could cut very painfully into someone's flesh. She was kind enough to not ruin my skin with scars and instead used the flat of her sword to hit me whenever I was defenceless. Which was often enough to make me learn that a weapon didn’t need a cutting edge to hurt someone properly.

Even with the minimal amount of force and technique she was putting into each strike, they still sent me away to eat the grass on the ground. We agreed beforehand that Tenta would be cushioning to a certain degree all the hits that I would suffer, just in case one of her attacks ended up stronger than anticipated. If it wasn’t for the padding of both my armour and the tentacles protecting me, my bones would have suffered fatality-style damage during our kombat.

This was the goal of training like this. To prepare against the worst, I needed to know the consequence of my and the enemy's every move. Each setback and somewhat painful shock reaching my brain was a very tiny lesson learned that would add up over time and maybe save my life later down the line. Done in a relatively safe environment, I could absorb as much fighting experience as our time allowed. Better here and now than there and then. I didn’t expect the world to be as kind as Lavanda's, and it was my job to be tough enough to protect and survive.

Lying on the ground, my armour was damaged at the hundreds of spots that Lavanda's sword hit and although my body was in much better shape, it was still a struggle to resist the temptation of giving up. Standing up, every fibre of my body wanted me to stay down and be spared from the next strike. With a proud smile that I didn’t know if it was for me or herself, Lavanda signalled that this would be the last fight of the day.

Taking a deep breath, I picked up Flash Bang by the grip and took my stance. Holding the sword with one hand, I prepared myself for what was about to come. I needed to as be sharp as possible if I wanted to win. With 5 metres separating us, I stood ready and observed Lavanda's every move. Awaiting my approach, she wanted me to be the one to strike first.

Dashing straight at her, I aimed toward the arm holding her sword. Deviating the tip of my sword with her own, I dodged her counterstrike with a well-timed backstep. Now that the fight was properly started, she didn’t let me go away that easily. Always keeping me within her sword range, I was forced to defend myself as she tried to knock the breath out of me with the flat of her blade.

Relying on my smaller-than-average size, I used my speed paired with quick jabs to push her weapon into uncomfortable positions that would leave her vulnerable. Always staying alert, I steadily kept attacking whenever I had the chance. At some point, she was the one defending herself, trying to not get overloaded by the approaching storm of slices and stabs coming at her.

Seeing her movement slower than before, I sensed it as an opening and took my chance to get my first cut on her since the start of our training.

Aiming to disarm her, I poked toward her right arm and was blocked by the hilt of the sword. Protecting her hand, she took a step back and jumped far backward with a backflip.

Not letting her leave my range, I immediately took chase and anticipated her landing point. At the moment she hit the ground, I was right in front of her, about to get the cut that would mean my victory. Instead, she used the palm of her left hand to push my sword away, and in one quick motion, kicked me in the stomach. Even with all the cushioning given by Tenta, her kick was strong enough to send me flying away above my familiar to crash into the river behind them.

Back first into the knee-deep shallow water, I felt the soft tentacles protecting me, doing their best to absorb the impact of the hard rock on my back. Thanks to them, my body was hurting but not broken.

“Are you hurt?” Offering her hand, Lavanda showed some concerns, but they were unfounded. Accepting the help, I was brought back up and was still standing with little difficulty.

“I’m fine, it's a shame that I wasn’t able to get any hit. You truly are something.”

“If I had allowed you the use of magic, I would have been in serious trouble. Do not underestimate yourself, you are young and lack experience, but show great promise. One day, I am sure you will be at my level, if not better.”

“Are you sure? Caryly told me how you handled that calamity monster after I was knocked out. It would have died by your hand if you had got just a few more hits in, and you did it without any magic left!”

“The monster was extremely weak at that point, if all its heads had targeted me, I would be dead.” She chuckled. “Besides, I hope you never learn, but rage and desperation are not to be underestimated, but enough of that. It’s getting late, and we need to turn in the quest before sunset. Randal, we’re going!” She yelled.

At his lady's command, the black wyvern came out of the shadow, holding a dead big monster-looking bird in his mouth. Putting it into a highly stretchable bag, Lavanda packed the dead target on her wyvern.

“How’s the egg?” I asked Tara. Being the most fitted and enthusiastic to the task, she had been guarding the egg while I was occupied. Uncovering the blanket hiding her back, she tapped gently the neatly tied egg. Once I was sure it was safely locked, I praised her. Having to worry about it all the time would be horrible, so I needed to find a way to keep it both safe and secret. With both my dragons gone, people with not enough things to worry about would wonder where they are gone. If I started walking around, showing off a decently big egg, someone was bound to understand its provenance, and nothing good would come from that. For now, hiding it in a blanket on Tara's back was the best thing to do.

When we were all safely buckled up on Randal, Lavanda gave him the go. Escalating fast in the sky, the sun was slowly letting the night in. Not long after the magnificent dawn, we arrived at Dawnriver.

Letting us off in front of the guild building, I grabbed Hybry in my arm, and Lavanda took the bag from Randal's saddle. Still, on the wyvern’s back, Tara and Gnash held on tight as he ascended once more. They would go ahead to the inn without us since there was no need to parade them for the world to see. If anything, it was safer for the egg that way.

Inside the guild, there were very few adventurers left, as they had all already finished their quest long ago. Actually, there were few healthy people around, but it did surprise me to see so many injured adventurers filling the place, and they were not looking great. Wrapped in bandages, many of them were clutching themselves in pain in a corner of the building. Holding a staff, one woman with a simple brown ponytail was using her magic to heal them to the best of her ability. She cast multiple healing spells on the injured wounds. When someone had its injury mostly healed, she immediately got to work on the next one. Barely saying a word to those she was helping, she had a face that made it clear that she did her job only because she was getting paid. She didn’t even pay attention to the “Thank you” she was receiving, on the contrary, it looked like she hated it.

Walking up to Sophia's counter, Lavanda gave her the bag, and the receptionist glanced at its contents before taking out a small pouch of coins. She looked so tired that I put Hybry in her arms for soothing cuddles. Hugging the cute little hydra, she enjoyed him for a few seconds as he scratched his heads against her fur. When she looked better, and more importantly, happier, she gave him back.

Stolen story; please report.

“Thank you, I needed that.” Sophia said. “Good job, for completing this quest, this one has been up for some time now and nobody was available to do it, even if it was only B-rank.” Her normally well-maintained black fur was in total disarray, and her posture suggested that she had been busy for most of the day.

“Don’t mind it, glad I could help.” Lavanda said with a smile.

“Are you okay?” I asked. “You seem tired, you should get some rest.”

“Thank you for your concerns. Someone will take my place soon, so I just have to stay awake a bit longer. There have been a lot of problems today. Compared to what these unlucky adventurers have endured, my job is easy.” She said, nodding toward the line of adventurers who waited for the single healer's magic healing.

“What happened to them, run into a dragon or something?” Lavanda asked.

“I was wondering the same. I never seen so many people injured. What happened?”

“Honestly, we’re not sure.” Glancing at the once proud adventurers, Sophia looked more worried about them than the one in charge of healing them. “We had multiple groups of high-ranked adventurers missing recently, but we never thought it would be this bad. This group was triple their number when they entered the dungeon two days ago. They say that something was roaming the shadows and tore them apart one by one. Some more literally than others. It’s a miracle they made it back. With that unidentified monster roaming around, the guild has restricted access to the deepest part of the dungeon. There is already enough casualty, and we can’t afford to lose any more than we already have.”

“I’m S rank, do you want me to handle that monster? With me and Caryly, there is no way that the both of us can’t handle whatever is down there.”

“I appreciate your offer, I will suggest it to the guild master as soon as he gets back from his expedition in the dungeon. As soon as she saw the state of these adventurers, she assembled a team of the best A-rank she knew to go search the dungeon for potential survivors.”

“Aren’t you worried that she’s not going to get back? Whatever monster is in the dungeon must be quite the threat to take care of so many adventurers.” After seeing the state of the poor fools that made it out, that guild master must be suicidal to step into the monster nest that willingly.

“Don’t worry, although she is just A-Rank, her goal is search and rescue, not hunting down the monster. Her team is composed of the finest hunters this guild has to offer. If someone can find survivors and get out safely, that’s her and her team. If you want to help more, Miss Lavanda, I suggest that you take up more quests. With the number of adventurers diminished for the time being, there has been a pilling up of B and A rank quests. It would be truly appreciated if you could help clear them!”

“Understood, I see what I can do tomorrow!” Agreeing to the proposition, Lavanda was more than enthusiastic to help the friend of her best friend.

“I help too,” I followed. “I’m not gonna refuse some free experience after all, nor the money that comes with it.”

“That's great, but I recommend that you stick to B rank quest for now.” Stopping, she got closer so that nobody would hear, and continued in whispers. “I know you’re A rank, but without your dragons, it is better if you avoid tackling A rank quest. At least not without a group with others A rank in it. I don’t want to write another missing report, especially not with your name on it.”

“Fine, I do as you say.” I still needed training, but there was no need to put myself into situations that would be too dangerous for me.

That meant that I wouldn’t be able to go with Lavanda on A rank quest for now. I didn’t doubt her ability to protect me if anything went wrong, but that would mean just that. Being protected. Slowing her down while she would have multiple quests to do was bound to cause problems and put both of us in danger.

Reylia and Phyralia mentioned that they were B ranks, so I’m sure they would be down to do some quests with me and teach me new things. There was still a lot that I didn’t know about being a pure elf, and as two pure elves, they were totally qualified about the subject. Plus, we had a few affinities in common, meaning they could teach me a spell or two. My repertoire of spells was lacking, and concentrated more on a single trick with each affinity. It was time to learn and upgrade my spell list. Otherwise, why even have multiple affinities in the first place.

Talking a bit more, the healer who was healing the adventurers left the ones she was helping mostly healed and walked up to Sophia, without a glance at those still left in pain. None of them were in life-threatening danger, but it was clear that they needed a lot more help if they were to sleep peacefully. Unfortunately, my skill set didn’t allow me to heal them more than they already were. I only knew how to cauterize and mend surface wounds, not fix broken bones or alleviate pain.

Lavanda had the same face that I did. She would have helped them if she could, but as she only ever healed my wounds with potions and basic spells, I guessed that she didn’t know more than I did.

Having finished our main business here, Lavanda and I stood aside, letting the girl pass.

“Get me my money. I can’t do more for them.” The woman with a small ponytail said.

“But they are still clearly in pain! Can’t you numb it more?”

“No, I’m way too mana-dry for that. Consider it lucky that I was able to heal them all as much as I did. Now, where’s the money we agreed on?” She said in an unrelenting manner.

Calling out one of her colleagues, Sophia told her to get the money they discussed earlier. Not long after, the other receptionist arrived with a big pouch that could barely fit in her hand, and heavy in coins. I didn’t know how much was inside, only that it was a lot.

When she received the money, the healer checked its content to make sure the count was right, then left without another word.

“Who is she?” I asked Sophia.

“She is a B-rank adventurer who recently arrived in town. The only thing I know is that she studied as a disciple at a church of healing. This is one of the few establishments in the world that can provide better education in the art of healing than the Academy of Magic. Before leaving, the guild master hired her to take care of the injured.”

“Was she really that necessary? She seemed expensive. Even I could have provided some basic healing, and it would have cost you a fraction of the price.”

“She was there when the guild master left, so the decision was taken on the spot. I won’t diminish your ability, but these adventurers were in a much worse state before you arrived, she truly did miracles on them. You are blessed to have been spared the sight.”

“Well, I wasn’t here when it happened, so I won’t comment on her work, but I did hear great things about the church of healing. As much as she looks to hate her work, if she says that she did her best, then there is nothing more we can do.” Lavanda said. “ If you want, I have a few good healing potions I can sell cheap. There won’t fix them, but a small sip, and they be able to sleep tonight without too much pain.” When Lavanda put the three vials filled with reddish liquid on the counter, Sophia immediately left and returned with more money.

Taking only a single gold coin for the three potions, Lavanda insisted that it was enough as Sophia tried to give her at least a few more coins. Instead of agreeing to a higher pay, Lavanda took another potion out of her pouch, this time a purplish colour, and pushed it into Sophia's hand.

“This one for you. Drink it before going to sleep, and you will have the best rest of your life. Don’t you dare pay for it. You've been good to Emery and me, so just do your best and I take it as compensation.”

“Thank you.”

“Come on, Emery, let's go home before it's too dark.”

Wishing a good night to Sophia, we were walking home when I wasn’t able to contain my question anymore.

“What was that purple potion? You never showed it to me before, you only taught me to make basic healing and mana potions.”

“That particular potion is my personal concoction and is not that hard or expensive to make. It just makes it easier to fall and stay asleep for hours after consumption.”

“If it is that useful, why you never share some with me? I never saw you use something like that.”

“It may have a small aphrodisiac effect at the moment of waking up, so I rather you avoid using it. I can give you the recipe once you get married, not before.”

“And you didn’t think about warning her?”

“Why? Some fun right after waking up is one of the best things ever, you learn that someday. Also, I wasn't laying about the potion giving the best sleep possible.”

“You pervert.”