A tiny girl with twin tails is sneaking up on a beret wearing boy.

"Gotcha, Paige! Where havja been? Daddy is very cross with ya, ya know! You didn't come home last night! And you can't use the sky is dark as an excuse! The clocktower tells you when to go home!"

"Anny, quit following me, go home. I'm boutta go on a mission."

"No can do! Daddy is gonna make me do ya chores, don't wanna!" She throws a tantrum and begins stomping her little feet.

"I'll get you something nice to eat if you do the chores while I'm gone, promise." Paige pats her head to console her however Anny's pouting expression informs everyone present that her tantrum had yet to end.

"Mmm... Still don't wanna. There're always folk mad at me when I do chores. Lemme follo' ya instead!" She holds his hand as if expecting Paige to comply with her.

"Paige, who is this?"

"Umm... Ms. Sophie, this is Anny, my lil sis. No need to mind her, I can go on the mission. Anny, let go..." Paige tries prying his little sister away.

"Nooooo!!" The girl grabs tighter onto Paige's waist in an attempt to force him to stay.

"Anny..."

"Don't worry, child. I, guard captain Hagen will bring your sibling home in one piece."

"You will?"

"On my honor. I will."

After lots of tears, wailing and a tearful farewell, Anny reluctantly let go of Paige.

----------------------------------------

Now we're in the forest. Sophie's using her light magic to keep visibility high.

"Hold up, children. Look at the ground. Leaves rustled and broken, clumps of dirt and hoof prints. This be the deer we're looking for. Hmm, odd. It seems there's only one set of prints."

That is strange. They're supposed to be in herds.

With Hagen observing our surroundings and taking caution, I can conserve a little more energy than usual. I appreciate the rest.

"Paige, boy. Stay in the middle. Ambush predators lurk in the tall grass and trees looking to pick off the youngest in packs. You could be snatched up without any of us even realizing it."

"Gulp... Yes, Sir Hagen!"

"Claud, this shield's itchy..." Sophie whispered.

I could only sigh.

-Willpower: 43/44-

"Bear with it. We'll get you a personal shield after this."

Hagen lent some things from his armory to us after hearing we wanted to buy some new gear.

Unfortunately, a lot of it was old things from his training days. But it's still better than what we previously had.

"Everyone, wait. I see it. There's one deer with large antlers at the clearing ahead."

"Good eyes, lass."

Just the one stag...

"Umm... do deer normally shake?"

Shaking...

Is it sick?

"No lass, deer don't usually shake."

"It doesn't matter, right? We kill it and no more herbs will be eaten."

Paige steps forward, but the three of us grab him by the shoulders and collar.

"Lest it run away, best be we not get closer to get a better view."

-Willpower: 42/44-

"It might be shaking because it's ill. Whatever virus it has may transmit to us, if we make contact. Getting infected by something magic can't fix is certain death."

The medicine in this world is very primitive because healing and detoxification magic exists. Humanity has relied too much on it.

"Good judgement, boy. We kill from distance. So, who amongst you would like to try? Youngsters?"

Hagen looks at me. There's no way I'm making that shot. High stats don't mean I have the aptitude to use different weapons.

He looks at Paige. "I've never held a bow before, Sir..."

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

He looks at Sophie.

"Uhh... I-"

I whisper to Sophie interrupting her.

-Willpower: 41/44-

"Change your class to Archer, you'll gain the relevant archery information."

Just like how swordsman become more familiar with swords, archers gain a little bit of mastery over the bow when they change classes as well.

"... I think I could do it."

"Whenever you're ready, lass", he says, handing her a bow and quiver.

Sophie took a breath. The glimmer in her eyes told me she was activating a skill. The Archer's skill, focus. It guarantees an attack will travel its intended trajectory.

She draws the string and releases in a single smooth motion.

"Umm, I got it. The arrow hit."

"Good job, lass. Now let's hurry home, the weather's turning bad."

----------------------------------------

After returning to the guild hall and getting our reward, we were approached by some people wearing dull grey and green robes.

"Pardon, are you the party responsible for taking on the deer extermination quest? We are part of the Monster Research Community, the client for this quest. We have some questions to ask. Roughly how many deer were there and how many were killed?"

The Monster Research Community?! Isn't that the place that writes all the books about monsters that Claud keeps reading?

"Only one was seen and killed. A male stag", Sir Hagen replied.

"Hmm... That's not good."

"Why is that not a good thing?"

"Ah, are you curious, young lady? Typically, around this time entire herds are moving from their usual habitat foraging for food to survive the winter months. We need to exterminate deer that encroach on that particular forest but if the deer population drops too low, that would be problematic."

"Why is that so?"

"The wild monster population normally avoids humans. They're intelligent enough to understand that humans are extremely dangerous which is why we kill deer that enter that forest, it teaches them that humans control that territory. But with the declining deer, predators that eat the deer have to look elsewhere for food or starve. So, they expand their territory in search of food, that causes more conflicts to happen between monsters and humans. Around the winter months is when encounters with monsters happen most frequently."

"More people would be in danger if monsters have to go outside of their territory to look for food."

"Precisely. Did you notice anything else unusual?

"The deer was sick... It was shaking and drooling."

"Noted. Anything else? Did you retrieve the body?"

"No. We were worried it was sick and left it."

"I see. Well then, thank you. I appreciate it when adventurers are so cooperative. They're usually not interested in anything that doesn't make them money. Here is the reward money for completing our request. Now that we've found some reliable personnel, we hope to hire you again in the future. The community will send a personal request to you soon."

The men walked away.

"Sir Hagen, do you understand what they just said?"

"I do not. The intricacies of these academic types are beyond me."

"Claud, isn't that great? We got gold coins! Gold! And we got noticed by a large research community! They said they'd hire us again!"

I can tell Claud is a little bit happier than usual, his eyes are a little more open and his eyebrows are lifted higher by a smidge. Today went by without any hiccups after all, he must be smiling deep down inside.

"Well, this party has completed its first quest. We celebrate! To the tavern we go!"

Entering the tavern, Anny ran up to her older sibling.

"Paige, you're back!"

Paige took a seat and Anny plopped herself onto his lap.

"I'm home. Have you been good?"

"Mmm! The chefs let me cook! I made some potatoes for you!"

She pulled a potato from her pocket.

"Pfft... Ahahaha!"

'Cook'. She only peeled the potatoes...

"These are a lil misshapen, Anny. Thank you..."

"Enjoy em!"

Hagen smiled looking at the scene. Even the corners of Claud's lips were slightly upturned.

"Drinks, bring drinks! Boy, as the second eldest of the party, I'll have you assume the role of my drinking buddy!"

-Claud's Willpower: 40/44-

"No, thank you. Alcohol is bad for your health and I'm not 15 yet."

"Hagen!!!!"

A loud yell emitted from across the tavern. A lady with sharp ears wore a furious expression on her face.

"Eleanor, my gorgeous, beautiful wife~ Why are you so angry, my love?"

Sir Hagen has a wife. Wow... She's pretty... Really, really pretty. Blonde hair, blue eyes, long ears. An elf. Maybe I could grow my hair out like that too... Would Claud like long hair? I want to be like her someday.

"Where have you been this entire day?! Your troop told me you went out to escort children on a hunting quest! You irresponsible lout!"

She tugged on his ear. Okay, maybe I don't want to be exactly like her... Hurting family is no good, even if they did something bad.

"Mabel was waiting for you to come home from lunch but you went to spend time with other children instead?! What is wrong with you?!"

Sir Hagen left his child alone to be with us...

"I-I couldn't leave children to perform a hunt quest alone... they didn't have a guardian..."

I feel guilty... I want to say something to help him but there's no room to speak up...

"Well, your daughter didn't have her father and you broke your promise! Which is more important!?"

Even though her remarks weren't directed at us, I cowered with every word.

"I apologize! I'll make it up to Mabel, I promise!"

"Good! Go to her now!!!!!!"

The big man ran off as if he were being chased by a monster. His wife stayed behind... Is she going to scream at us? I hid behind Claud similar to how Anny hid behind Paige.

"I apologize for the ruckus children... My husband is incredibly short-sighted. He never thinks things through enough. If he considers one thing, he'll just forget another. But he's a good man... Albeit a little simple. Take care now."

She spoke with a light voice and bowed elegantly, as if she hadn't just finished cussing out her husband seconds earlier... Scary...

Even Claud was taken aback by the abrupt change. His shoulders had hitched.

----------------------------------------

After lunch, we sat together reading a book while Paige played with Anny. Haven't we read this book thrice already? How is Claud reading the same thing over and over again? We already know what's in the book...

1 pm. It's early and we've got no destination to travel to. Without the constraints of food and time, and within the safety of town, our urgency was cut. I'm not too sure what to do with so much free time. Claud doesn't seem bored though. He seems happy to read while glancing up every so often to observe our surroundings.

"Claud, do you want to... go out?"

-Claud's Willpower: 39/44-

"Go out where? Do you have any place you want to be? Do you want to rest at the inn?"

"No... I'm tired of staying indoors."

-Claud's Willpower: 38/44-

"I understand. Paige, pack your things. We're going sightseeing and we need a guide."

Yes!

"O-okay. I'll lead the way! Come on, Anny."

Anny happily hopped on her brother's back.

As we were about to exit...

-Claud's Willpower: 37/44-

"Wait. Everybody stays indoors. Nobody is leaving."

"Claud? What's wrong?"

Looking outside, I see what made Claud stop. The rain... is black. I can sense an eerie mana, crashing down all around us. Is there mana in the rain? It's not a living thing emitting mana into the surroundings, mana is coming from the rain itself. As if the rain were alive.