While he was glad to be entering some semblance of civilization again, Jared wished this town wasn’t so… small-minded. Not because of himself; as a human, he was part of the majority in the Kingdom of Evandria. No, his concern was for his more…exotic companions. Bonlanu was quite imposing, as a towering tree-man covered in heavy wooden armor, so he wasn’t given more than concerned glances. His other companions, however…

“What are you doin’ here, green blood? You get lost flying back to your queen whores?” A man called at Eleisa from where he was leaning against the corner of a building. He spat at her, his spittle falling far short of even her large black and silver butterfly wings. Then he turned to address the final member of their group, a nearly featureless wooden doll the vague shape and size of a young girl. “And what are you supposed to be, a little dolly for some sort of giant?”

Naomi stopped in her tracks, falling slightly behind the other three. She turned her head to the man and opened her mouth in a toothy grin that stretched across her entire face. At the same time she turned her eyes solid black.

The man leapt back, gripping the wall behind him for support, and pointed one finger at her. “Wha-- What is that!?” A couple other passersby glanced over, but in a blink Mimi had reverted her face to what it was before, wooden carvings only hinting at eyes, a nose, and a mouth. Jared felt mirth bubble up from his bond with the mimic and he rolled his eyes. Despite being friendly towards most people, she had grown quite a mischievous streak. She particularly enjoyed playing tricks on those, like the man, who threw insults at their party. Unfortunately, those people were becoming more and more common the closer they got to the edge of the kingdom.

Jared shot a wink at the man, putting a little mana into his eyes in a specific pattern. A little trick he had picked up from a monster they had fought a week or so ago. It didn’t have much effect other than allowing him to see mana a little easier and changing his irises from their usual icy blue to an intense orange, the color his pure mana manifested as. But it was certainly intimidating to the weak.

The blood drained from the man’s face and he nearly fell over backwards in his haste to get away, scuttling off down an alley.

“I have told you previously that you do not need to respond to such comments. I am not one to be affected by words from those whose vision is so limited they cannot see beyond their small corner of the world.” Eleisa’s ears twitched, displaying her slight annoyance.

Jared smiled at her. “You know how Mimi is. She likes getting us into as much trouble as possible.”

“A nature that has started to rub off on you, I think,” Bonlanu chimed in.

Jared placed his hand on his chest in feigned affrontedness. “Me? Whatever gave you that idea?”

“Did you not just intentionally scare that man with your eye trick?”

“He deserved it.”

“I did not indicate otherwise. I was merely stating my observation.”

A few minutes later, they arrived at their first stop anytime they entered a new town or city: the Hunters’ Guild. They always checked the boards and asked around to see if there were any good monsters to hunt. Jared was constantly in need of good materials to make new bullets, and if they could remove some danger from a lower-level area, all the better.

This installment of the Hunters’ Guild had the same layout as all the other small frontier towns: a common area with tables and chairs, a corkboard covering the wall to the right, a staircase to the left, and a reception desk straight ahead. There were a couple of parties seated at some of the tables, but it was mostly empty. Eleisa went to look at the board with Bonlanu while Jared and Mimi approached the desk, where a middle-aged man sat tinkering with something small. He pocketed whatever it was and looked up at Jared, giving a small smile.

“Welcome to the Hunters’ Guild. How may I be of assistance?”

Jared gestured to his guild badge, a strip of metal inset with a circular green gemstone. When he had originally received it in a small nameless town, it had been made of copper. When he had Ascended a couple weeks ago, it had changed with him, its reddish hue becoming more yellow as it upgraded from copper to bronze.

“My team and I are passing through and we’re wondering if there are any mid bronze level threats around that have been giving you trouble.”

The man shook his head. “I can’t say I’ve heard of anything like that recently, but you might check the board. Something may have been posted there.” Jared was about to thank the man when he heard a commotion coming from the right hand side of the room. A glance was all that he needed to get an idea of the situation.

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Again? Really?

A large human man with an equally large sword strapped to his back was up in Eleisa’s face, sneering down at her from mere inches away. He had positioned himself so that he was standing between Eleisa and the rest of the room, effectively trapping her. Bonlanu was a few paces away, looking at a different section of the board. Jared caught his eye, but it seemed they were both more than willing to sit back and let the situation play out. Jared had missed the first thing the man said, but it turned out he didn’t need to, as the man repeated himself in a voice that was much louder than necessary. Especially considering his proximity to Eleisa.

“I said, I had my eye on that job. Give it here.”

Eleisa was unruffled, responding calmly and logically. “I selected this job while you were sitting at that table. Judging by the smell of alcohol on your breath and the complexions of your companions, I can infer that you have most likely been here at least since sunrise. You could have selected the job at any point during that time. Furthermore, it is a bronze ranked job, and therefore too dangerous for a copper ranked team such as yours. If I allowed you to take this job, your deaths would be on my hands, which is something I do not want. Now if you would remove yourself from my path, my party and I have a job to complete.”

The man scoffed. “I’m sure that I can handle anything a bug like you could without getting yourself squished. Give. It. Now.”

“If you are so confident in your strength, I will allow you a chance to prove it. If you are able to land a single blow on me, I will surrender the job to your team, and my party and I will be on our way.”

The man smirked. “You’ll regret saying that.”

He struck out instantly with a fist, aiming for Eleisa’s stomach. With a small movement of her arm, she deflected the man’s strike into the wall beside her. He seemed confused that he had missed, but quickly collected himself and lashed out at her again, this time aiming for her face. With a slight sway of her head, she caused the man to once again miss. He growled as his fist impacted the wall, the spongy corkboard the only thing keeping him from injuring his hand.

Visibly enraged, the man snarled and unleashed a flurry of strikes at Eleisa, moving at a speed that would have been barely visible to Jared when he had first arrived on this world. Despite his speed, each of his blows was effortlessly dodged or deflected, with Eleisa utilizing the smallest movements possible. It was like Jared was watching a toddler try to attack a martial master. With each missed punch and kick, the man grew more furious, until something within him seemed to snap. He took a half step backwards, face flushed, breathing heavily, then drew his sword into an overhead slice, intending to cleave Eleisa in half. The man suddenly sped up several fold, and Jared could see the telltale glow of mana wrapping the man’s body and sword as he activated some sort of Skill. A jolt of concern went through him, but something held him back as he moved to help. As it turned out, he needn’t have worried.

A clang rang out as the man’s Skill infused strike landed, but it wasn’t on Eleisa. She was standing just to the side of where she had been, having dodged out of the way of the strike. And where she had been standing now stood the middle aged man who had been behind the counter a moment before. In an upraised hand, he held the attacker’s blade. Despite his lack of protection and the power of the blow, his hand didn’t even have a scratch.

“Now, now. I don’t mind a little exchange of pointers to prove a point or settle a score, but when you threaten to do real damage to my guildhall or any of its occupants, I find myself unable to stand aside. You know the rules, Rodrick.”

A vein pulsed in the large man-Rodrick’s head, and his eyes widened in fury. “You’re protecting this insect? You saw what happened. It was deliberately disrespecting me.”

The guild official shook his head. “No, what I saw was a very patient member of the Guild trying to teach one of her juniors something he should have gotten through his thick head long ago. Now, apologize to the young lady for attempting a potentially lethal strike.”

Rodrick spat. “I ain’t apologizing to no green blood.”

The guild official clicked his tongue. “I was going to let you off easy, but it seems you are committed to learning your lesson in the most painful way possible. I will oblige you.” He met Eleisa’s eyes. “Same deal as you gave him. You may strike him once. Make it a good one.”

Rodrick sneered. “Like a bug like her could do anything more than----”

He was interrupted as Eleisa’s fist crashed into his face with a meaty crunch. Rodrick was sent sprawling, and Jared was pretty sure he saw a tooth fly from the man’s mouth. The guild official looked down at him. “I should let you stay like this as punishment for your behavior, but fortunately for you, I am not that cruel.”

He snapped his fingers, and a white glow surrounded Rodrick’s face, particularly bright around his broken jaw. There was a crack, and Rodrick groaned. A moment later, he sat up and blinked, rubbing his jaw. The guild official gestured to the man’s party, who had been sitting watching the whole thing. Without a word, they picked Rodrick up and headed out the door. The official turned to Eleisa and bowed.

“Thank you for your restraint. You almost certainly could have killed Rodrick with a blow, and while we are not short on hunters, we would suffer for losing an upper Copper rank such as him.”

Eleisa nodded. “I was speaking truly when I told Rodrick that I do not want his blood on my hands. I thank you for your timely intervention. While his strike would not have hit me, the escalation of the fight was undesirable.”

The man gave her a smile. “Just keeping the peace. Now I would suggest that you and your companions be on your way sooner rather than later. If you linger too long, this incident may repeat itself.”

She nodded again, and the man went back to his position behind the desk, and the rest of the group gathered around Eleisa.

Jared waved at the page in her hand. “What you got? Anything interesting?”

In answer, she handed the sheet of paper over to him. As he read over it, one of his eyebrows raised.

“Spellcasting…cows?”