Facing your Fears (for the Money)

Damien and Betty were standing in front of the Bronze-Rank request board, looking for one of the higher paying requests.

“I'd almost take another Harpy Matriarch request if there was one. At least we would know what we were getting into,” Damien sighed. “I guess another one hasn't spawned yet.”

Betty giggled. “That must be it. I haven't seen one on the board since we got back.”

- The previous day -

During dinner on their date day, Damien had been curious where the requests came from, and Betty had tried to explain the behind-the-scenes processes at the guild to him.

The creatures that got put on requests essentially 'spawned in' magically to different parts of the world (which would also show up on their status screen map), at random intervals, but in predictable areas, and the Adventurer's Guild had scryers that would use their magic to keep track of when and where new monsters spawned in. From there, the Guild would issue requests.

“Okay, that makes sense...but where does the money come from?” Damien asked.

“Some is paid by local governments for keeping the townspeople safe. The Guild makes most of it from the magical energy it sells, though,” Betty explained, like it was obvious.

Damien was taken aback. “Magical energy? From where?”

Betty took out her guild plaque. “From this, remember? When we slay creatures, it gets stored in here, and when the guild processes the request, it takes the magic out and stores it in the crystals. Then the crystals get sold to whoever wants the magical energy. Using it to power things, or enchanting magical items, like Madame Silvani.”

Damien nodded. “Okay. So I sort of get it now, but...how do they know where the energy came from? What if we killed something different and got energy that way?”

Betty shook her head. “That wouldn't work. The enchantment on the guild cards would prevent it from processing if the request hadn't been completed properly.”

Damien nodded. “That's fancy magic.”

Betty agreed. “It is. And once our crystals are full, we transfer all the energy into a bigger crystal inside the guild.”

Damien nodded again. “I'm curious, do all creatures we kill have their magic absorbed? Even ones that aren't part of a request? So there could be extra magical energy in our guild card.”

Betty thought. “Hmm...I don't know enough about the enchantment. It did seem like there is more magical energy than expected when I deposited sometimes.”

Damien sighed, “So they're getting more than we get paid for.”

Betty thought for a moment, than her eyes went wide, “Wow, you might be right!”

Damien crossed his arms, “Not like the guild hasn't been good to me so far, but I feel like we should get paid for that as well.”

Betty seemed worried, “I never thought about this before...”

Damien nodded, “I guess if we kill anything extra, we could look for a request for it and grab it, then turn it in right away. If we had the magic stored in our plate already, then it should register it properly when it gets processed, right?”

Betty seemed to be thinking, then nodded. “I guess we'll have to test it sometime...”

Damien nodded. “You know, shouldn't there be like a course where they explain this process? It seems like they could at least explain the basics.”

Betty blushed, looking down, poking her fingers together, “Sorry, I must have forgot when you signed up...”

- Back to Present -

As Damien was thinking about their conversation, Betty got on her tippy-toes to grab a request. “How about this one?”

Damien took a look, and a dark shadow crossed his face. “Owl-bears?” he shivered a bit.

“Yeah, it's twenty-five silver to kill five, and...oh...” Betty got red. “Sorry...”

Damien shook his head, “No, it's okay. I'm...not scared at all,” he replied as a cold sweat ran down his face. I wish I was at level 8. The Goddess better be right about me being able to help!

Betty nodded, taking Damien at his word. “Let's go find the others.”

Bluey and Aurora were playing tag outside with a little girl.

The little girl was holding her knees, breathing heavily. “Big sis, you're too fast...” she got out.

Bluey thought for a moment, then edged closer to her.

“Haha, got you!” the little girl said with a lunge at Bluey.

Bluey smiled sheepishly, “Haha, you got me!” she said as the little girl ran away. Bluey then turned on Aurora, “I'm getting you next foxy!”

“Piyu!” Aurora yelled, running away. As Bluey got close, Aurora suddenly disappeared, leaving an after-image where Bluey had been about to grab.

“Hey, no fair using Speed Boost!” Bluey shouted.

Damien smiled, “You two, we have a request,” he said.

Bluey and Aurora came over and mobbed Damien.

The little girl ran over, “Do you have to leave big sis?”

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Bluey patted her head, “Don't worry, we'll play again some time!”

“Dora? Ah, there you are, don't run off without me,” a woman, holding a small child, came out of the crowd towards them. “Oh, thank you again,” she said, bowing slightly towards Bluey and giving her some folded up bags. “I ended up selling some of the rabbits, but I cured as many as we had room for, so we'll be set for a while.”

Bluey smiled, taking the bags and handing them back to Damien, who sighed.

“I hope they didn't cause you any trouble,” Damien said.

The woman smiled and shook her head. “Not at all, the girls and I will be well off for a while with all that rabbit meat.”

We probably could have used that money too, he thought, before looking at the woman and girls. Well, it's fine.

After saying goodbye, they quickly packed some supplies and headed towards the forest. They would be gone for two days based on how far away the owlbears were, so they left their chest with Liz again before heading out.

“It would be nice if we could get our own apartment,” Damien said.

Betty smiled and nodded. “If we're willing to rent a small one, we probably could...”

Damien shook his head, “We should at least get two beds. Preferably two bed-rooms if we can.”

Bluey said, “The three of us can just sleep on one bed!”

Betty and Damien both blushed and shook their heads. “That won't work.”

Bluey nodded, “I guess you like privacy when you mate.”

Betty blushed harder, “You don't?”

Bluey shrugged, “I don't care either way.”

Damien cleared his throat. “That wasn't the only reason. Aurora will need somewhere to sleep eventually too, even if we're two to a bed.”

They all looked at Aurora, who was happily plodding along next to them.

“Piyu?” she replied, looking at them.

Damien thought again about what Aurora would look like once she transformed at level 10. Originally, he had thought about a foxgirl with Betty's proportions, but now he was thinking of one closer to Bluey. That would be pretty... he shook his head. No, just let Aurora pick what she wants...

They traveled to the northeast of town, following the map to where the owlbear territory was. The journey was fairly uneventful, besides a few times when Bluey or Aurora would take out random murder-rabbits here and there.

In the evening, they reached owlbear territory, and still had a couple hours before dusk.

“Why are we stopping?” Bluey asked, punching the air. “We can go get them.”

Damien shook his head, “We can't fight in the dark.”

“But Betty has her light-magic,” Bluey reminded him.

Betty seemed conflicted, before casting her light spell, causing a ball of light to float in front of them.

Damien gulped. “Um...I guess its fine then.”

Betty grabbed his arm, “We don't need to force it.”

Damien shook his head. “No, its fine. I need to...face it head on.”

Betty smiled as if to reassure him. “We've got this!”

Bluey nodded vigorously at that. “Yeah, we got this! We can always stop once it gets too dark.”

“Piyu!”

The four Adventurer's slowly trod through the forest, forming a diamond as they walked in the bubble of light.

“How long does your light last?” Damien asked.

“About an hour. And it costs almost no MP, so I just re-cast it every so often to be safe,” Betty explained, recasting it right then to emphasize her point.

“If we get surrounded, you should use your barrier,” Damien said.

Betty smiled, “I know, I planned on it.”

Bluey looked back at Damien, “Master, stop worrying, we'll-”

She was cut off as Aurora started frantically crying loudly, before casting Flame Wall a couple meters ahead of them.

Through the Flame Wall bounded a bear. Damien was frozen in fear at what he assumed was an owlbear, as the bear had the elongated face of an owl for a face, and a beak instead of a snout. It stood on it's hind legs and roared, a deep roar that seemed mixed with the hoot of an owl, but was no less terrifying.

“Oh Goddess, shield us from harm!” Betty shouted, creating the barrier around them.

Bluey, however, had been too fast, and charged at the owlbear with Lightning Enhancement activated. The owlbear was knocked back a bit, but then attacked Bluey, who blocked the claws with her arm.

Betty dispelled the shield, then shouted, “Oh Goddess, bolster my allies!”

The other three all glowed green.

Damien started casting Heal on Bluey, while Aurora ran around to the side and started casting Fire Breath.

The owlbear seemed distracted by the fire, allowing Bluey to get another punch in on the owlbear's face.

The owlbear turned back to Bluey, clamping it's beak down on Bluey's forearm, causing blood to spurt out.

Damien started using Heal again, “Bluey, get back!”

Bluey seemed to ignore him, putting her free hand on the owlbears neck, and sending a point blank Lightning Bolt surging through the owlbear, causing it to start writhing a bit, but keeping its beak clamped down. When Bluey ran out of MP, she started punching the owlbears face again, until it finally let go, slumping onto the ground dead.

Damien ran over, grabbing her bleeding arm. There were deep gouges where the beak had been, blood pouring out. A couple tears on his face, “Dammit, Bluey, be careful.”

Bluey seemed confused, “But it didn't do much damage, and I killed it.”

Betty grabbed her arm, adding her Healing as well. “Bluey, you can't just let yourself get bitten like that. Damien will obviously get upset seeing you hurt.”

Damien nodded. They continued Healing until the wound was fully closed and her skin was back to normal.

Betty grabbed a cloth, wiping off the rest of the blood. “Besides, you don't want to get your pretty skin scarred up, right?”

Bluey thought for a moment. “But...Carleen has a scar, and she's still pretty.”

Damien shook his head, “Yes, but you shouldn't try to get them,” he said, the scars on his back tingling slightly.

Bluey looked down and nodded, “I'm sorry, I'll be more careful.”

Betty grabbed her arms, looking them over to make sure they were fully healed, then nodded approvingly. “Maybe we should get you some armor.”

Bluey shook her head, “I don't want to get weighed down by armor. Plus it would affect my spells, right?”

Damien thought for a moment, then said, “Maybe we could get you some bracers, at least? That way your arms would be protected.”

Bluey looked at her arms, then nodded.

“Piyu! Piiiyu!” Aurora started crying, looking into the distance.

Betty sent her light forward, and they could see another owlbear, this one seemingly trying to sneak up on them.

“Aurora, can you try to surround it?” Damien asked.

Aurora didn't reply, bounding ahead and casting Flame Wall multiple times, causing the owlbear to start howling.

This one seems more cautious. “Betty, cast your bind on it. Bluey, use your jumping ability and get into the trees, then aim a big kick on it from above.”

Bluey smiled nodded, reactivating Lightining Enhancement before bounding into the trees.

“Oh Goddess, bind my target!” Betty prayed.

Aurora was casting Fire Breath on the immobilized owlbear, but stopped when Bluey got close.

Bluey jumped up out of the tree, doing a flip and doing a dropkick onto the owlbear's head.

The owlbear crumpled instantly as the fires around it died down.

Betty smiled, “Good plan!”

Damien nodded. “It might have only worked because this one was less aggressive, but I'm glad it did.”

After that, dusk had arrived, and they decided to set up camp.

Since they didn't want to attract owlbears, they forewent a fire and quickly cuddled into the tent, before Beatrice set up the barrier.

“Will we really be okay?” Damien asked.

Betty nodded. “Yes. I'll get woken if the barrier is hit, so we'll have a bit of time to react.”

Damien nodded.

Bluey hugged Damien tightly, “I'm sorry about earlier...”

Damien rubbed her head. “You don't need to be sorry, I know you were just fighting like you thought you should. You just need to...watch yourself.”

Bluey nodded, giving a slight 'huwaaah' as she fell asleep on his chest.

Betty giggled, “I'm a little jealous.”

Damien rubbed her head too, causing her to blush and lean on his shoulder.

“Piyu, piiiiyu!” Aurora chirped at him.

“What's-...” What's wrong? he asked Aurora using Message.

'Master, I have a level up!' Aurora replied.

“Oh, shoot, sorry...”

“Piyu,” Aurora replied.

He hadn't pulled up the status screen after the last owlbear was killed, since no one had been hurt by that one. Sure enough, Aurora had a level-up.

Aurora leveled up

Fire-Fox – Level 7

STR – 48

VIT – 58

MAG – 129

DEX – 69

Fire Breath

Speed Boost

MAG +20

Flame Wall

New Ability Available

MAG + 10

Fire Mastery – Fire Spells cost 33% less MP.

You gotta get that Fire Mastery skill, right? he sent through Message.

'I believe so too, Master. It seems my spells will be a major part of our team, so being able to cast more would be beneficial.' And with that, Aurora nudged the Fire Mastery skill. “Piyu!” she ended as she bounded at Damien

Damien caught her and scratched a bit behind her ears. “I'm sure that will come in handy tomorrow.”