We're back to Anna's pov

Chapter 7

A day in the city

I found myself aimlessly wandering around the city. I guess I was hoping that the change of scenery would help me solve a couple of my problems. One of them is this body is simply too fragile. Not only do I have the strength of a toddler, but I only have enough mana to only shoot one fireball. Terrible right? Surprisingly enough that isn’t my main problem. Being weak is definitely a huge hindrance to my plan, but I still have access to my own magic, even though I can’t use it that long in this body. My main problem right now is money. Finding Alice requires me to travel, and traveling requires supplies, and supplies require money.

Maybe I should become a knight. No, that wouldn’t work. Females can’t become knights, and even if I could, I still wouldn’t join. If I became a knight I would probably be stuck protecting a single area. I need a job that will allows me to travel. A merchant? I seriously can’t see myself doing that. A thief? No, I’m trying to stay off the map, stealing will just put me on it. Besides, I’m not really a stealthy person. I’ll problem get caught immediately.

Damn it, I scratch my messing hair in frustration. Thinking doesn’t suit me. I miss the simple days, where if I wanted something I would just take it.

“Are you lost kid?” The voice pop me out of my mind. I look over to see a small man sitting at a stand.  I was confuse for a while because I didn’t see any kids in the area. Until it dawn on me that I’m currently in a kid’s body.

“You talking to me?”

“Yes I’m talking to you. Where’s your parents at? ”

“There around here somewhere.” The closer I got to him, the more I realize that he wasn’t human. His body was short and stocky. And brownish red beard that went down to his chest. A common characteristic among Dwarves.  

Dwarves are known for their ability to create strong weapons. I wonder if that’s what he selling. Curious, I went over to his stand to see that he was selling crystal marbles. I remember seeing the father using these. Apparently people put their mana into these crystal in then sell them. These things are perfect for people who have no mana, or people who want to reserve their mana in battle. Maybe these will help out with my mana problem. *Smack* The dwarf hit my outreaching hand.

“Ow.” That actually hurt. I rub the red spot on my hand.

“Didn’t your parents teach you not to touch stuff that don’t belong to you?”

“Jeez, I just wanted to look.”

“These things are not toys. Playing with these could-“ The dwarf froze in the middle of his speech. He had a horrify expression on his face. Following his eyes, I found what he was looking at, Standing on top of a building was a… well a huge frog. That’s the best way I can describe it. It also had white horns sticking out of his head.

“What the hell is that?” I never seen a creature like that before, and I been around for a long time.

“It’s a bull frog” The dwarf said.

Well I can see how it got its name.  Suddenly, the bull frog started turning its head and every direction.

“Get down kid! Don’t let it see you!” The dwarf shouted, as he duck behind his stand. Looking around I notice that the entire area was empty now. I was the only one still out in the open.

The bull frog head stop at my direction. I couldn’t tell from my distance, but it seems like it was looking right at me. The bull frog crouches on both of its leg like it was getting ready to sneak up on its prey. Then, without warning it launches itself into the air. The creature flew through the sky landing right next to me. Creating a dust cloud upon impact. What an incredible jump! I can see how he got past the city wall.

The dust cloud completely cover up the bull frog. I strain my eye to look through the smoke cloud that it created, only to see a pink worm-like-thing burst out of the smoke. I tilt my head out of the way just before it hit me. What the hell, was that his tongue?!

It became easier to see the creature as the dust faded. Man, it looks even worse up close. Its body was cover in slime and black bumps. I never thought a frog would ever look threatening, but its size and the horns on its head gave it a very menacing appearance.

“You pick the wrong person to attack buddy.” I didn’t think I would be force to fight this early in this body. Not that I’m complaining. I been itching for a fight for a while now. The frog begin to slowly open his mouth. Bastard is still trying to eat me. No problem, I dodge it last time. I can easily dodge again.

“Watch out!” Just as lash its tongue at me, I was tackle away by the dwarf.

“What the hell are you doing?!” I shouted

“I was going to ask you the same thing. Are you seriously trying to fight that thing?”

“Yes, now get the hell off me!” I tried push the dwarf off, but fail miserably.

“Crazy kid, don’t even have the strength to push me, what makes you think you can defeat a monster?”

Damn it, guy this refuse to move. I look over to see the monster had its mouth wide open again. Fuck, can’t dodge with this guy on top of me!

“Get off of me! It’s going to attack again!”

“Watch this kid.” Reaching into his pocket, he pulls out a blue marble. He throws the marble at the ground creating a huge ice wall, trapping the frog on the opposite side.

“C’mon, we’re getting out of here!” Grabbing my hand, the dwarf pulls me away from the ice wall.

Damn it I don’t want to run, but I can’t shake my hand from the dwarf grip. Before we could get any real distance from the ice wall, the bull frog crashes right in front of us. I wasn’t surprise, after witnessing its jump earlier, I figure escaping it would be impossible.

“You got anything else up your sleeve?”

“I’m afraid that was it.”  The dwarf face was cover in sweat. It seems he was at his wit end. Well I didn’t really expect him to help. The problem is, if I attack the bull frog, the dwarf is going to stop me again, and probably get us both killed in the process.

“Alright kid, listen up. I’ll keep it distracted. What I need you to do is pay close attention to the monster mouth. When it sticks its tongue out, I want you to run away as fast you can. It won’t be able to attack again with its tongue out, so use that chance to get away, got it?

“Yea I got it.” Like hell I’m running. That frog is my prey, but I do like that plan. The dwarf will be too busy trying to dodge the frog next attack to stop me. The moment the frog attacks him, I’ll go in for the kill. We both patiently waited for the frog to attack. As the frog open its mouth, we both got ready to initiate are own plan. But before it could attack, a spear comes flying in, piercing it.

“!!!!” The frog shrieks in pain.

“Why the hell did you throw your weapon?!”

“It was going to attack them, I had no choice.”

Standing on top of a building, two men calmly look down at the creature. Both of them had dark brown hair and leather amour on. One had two daggers in his hand, he look like he was in his twenties. While the other one look a bit older, he had a huge scar going vertically across his face. I assume he’s the one who threw the spear since he’s bare handed.

“Let’s hurry up and finish him off before it attacks someone else.” Jumping off the building the younger man rush at the frog. The frog quickly lash its tongue at the young man.

“You should keep your tongue to yourself!” Man ducks under the tongue. Placing both his dagger underneath it, he cuts it in half.

“!!!!” The frog screams in pain again.

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“It’s open, hurry up in finish it off!”

“I got it!” Jumping on top of the frog, the man with the scar,  grabs his spear and yanks it out of the frog body. “Don’t worry, I’ll put you out of your misery soon.” Raising his spear in the air, he sinks it into wounded frog head.

Poor frog didn’t even stand a chance against those two.

“Hey, you two alright?” The younger man comes over to check on us.

“Yea thanks to you.” The dwarf said.

“Good I’m glad to hear that.”

“C’mon, let’s hurry up and claim our reward.” The older man said, as he pull his spear out of the frog head.

“Alright, well stay safe you two.”

“You got lucky missy, if it weren’t for those two we both be in trouble.”

*Tch* those two stole my kill. Agitated, I headed in the direction they went.

“Hey miss.” Dwarf calls out to me. “Try to stay out of trouble ok?”

“I’ll try.” With those final words, I run off to find those two from before.

.

.

I wonder who those guys were. They seem too ill-equip to be knights, but at the same time they seem too skilled to just be normal civilians. Looking around I finally manage to spot them. It wasn’t really that hard. The oldest one was carrying his spear on his shoulder, with the bull frog blood still on it. After finding them, I followed them from a distance They said that they were getting a reward. Following them, I might find a way to quickly earn money.

I follow the two until they enter a building. I guess this is where they work at. I blankly stare at the building for a while, debating whether I should go in or not. Well I made it this far, might as well go all the way. Besides, I’m currently a little girl. So even if I’m not allow in there, I can simply lie and say I got lost. Gathering my resolve, I go inside the building.

This place isn’t what I was expecting. I thought it would be a dark place, where bad asses go to find their next target. Instead of something cool like that, what I got was a normal bar. They even got a cute waitress with a blonde ponytail. I guess they just came in here for a drink. Well, since I’m here might as well investigate further.

“This isn’t a place for kids, you know?” The man with the scar cuts off my path. The look on his face made it seem like he just caught someone committing a crime.

“I’m sorry, I got lost.”

“You don’t seem lost, you’ve been tailing me this entire time.”

Ah crap, I rack my brain trying to come with a excuse, but nothing came to my head.

“Sorry to keep you waiting” The waitress rushes over to me and gives me a hug.

“You know her?”

“Yea I’m supposed to be watching her for a while. She was following you because you two was both coming here.” The look on the man face pretty much says he doesn’t buy it.

“Well you should take better care of her. It isn’t safe for a little girl to the walk the streets by herself.”  Walking away, he look back and gave me the “I’m watching you glare.”

“Why you help me?”

Turning around she gave me a huge smile. “Because I can’t stand seeing someone as adorable as you in trouble.”

Adorable?! I held back urge to lash out at her. No need to get mad, being cute actually save my ass this time.

“So what’s your name?”

“..Anna.”

“Anna, that’s a nice name.” The waitress started patting my head. “My name is lily, I might be able to help you.” Lily led me to a table and usher me to sit down. “I’ll be right back.”

I guess that went well. I manage to get inside the bar. Now I just need to see if this place is actually just a normal bar. Since Lilly is so fond of me, I guess I could ask her. While I patently waited for lily to come back, I took a second look around the bar, and notice a few things. One, everybody had some kind of weapon on them. And two, they actually do have a bounty board in the back of the bar. So I guess this is where all the bounty hunters come to work. Bounty hunter that seem like a job I can do.

“Here you go.” Lily slides me a glass of orange juice. I ended downing the whole thing in one go. I guess tailing someone for an hour and almost being eaten would make anyone thirsty. After finishing the drink I notice that Lily, was staring at me like I was a cat that just perform a trick.

“What?”

“Nothing, I just really like your hair.”

…Well that was an out of nowhere compliment. But I guess I should expected it. My black and brown hair does make me stand from the crowd. Well it’s mostly black now. Only the front-end of my hair is still brown.

“Your mom doesn’t do your hair? I bet it look better if you took care of it.”

If I was a normal kid she would’ve hit a sore spot just now. My ‘mother’ is currently not in a position to take of herself, let alone her kids.

“So what is this place?” Lily frown a little. I guess she wanted to talk about more girly stuff. Sorry, I didn’t come here to talk about hair. I came to gather information.

“This an adventurer Guild”

Adventurers, they didn’t exist two hundred years ago. At least I think they didn’t. I really didn’t pay too much attention to human affairs back then.

“What do adventurers do?” I know it sounds like a stupid questions, but humans tend to have do double meaning for their words.

“Hmmm, adventurers do a lot of things, but I guess the main thing they do is kill monsters that the knights are too busy to deal with.”

I see, everything starting to make sense to me. Back in the day, the only thing that was protecting the human race was the hero and the knights. After my death the humans expanded their empire, which means the knights had a lot more areas to protect. With the knights spread so thin, regular civilians had to defend themselves, and I guess somewhere around there adventurers were born.

So far being an adventurer doesn’t sound bad. You kill stuff and you get paid. Sound like a dream job to me.

“So what’s the requirement to becoming an adventurer?” I can only hope that the requirements aren’t the same as knights. If you’re a female then you can’t become a knight.

“You want to become an adventurer?” Lily had a shock expression her face.

“I’m thinking about it.”

“There’s two requirements for becoming an adventurer. One is you have complete control of the mana inside of you.”

I guess that make sense. Fighting a monster without knowing how to use magic. Is like challenging a dragon bare handed.

“And second one is, you have to be 14 years old or older.”

“Ah.” Was the only thing that came out of my mouth. Well the good news is, I can become adventurer. The bad news is, I have wait eight more fucking years to become one.

“Sorry Anna, you can’t become an adventurer yet.

“I see.” Well I got all the information I came for. I got out my seat and headed for the door.

“Eh, you leaving?” Lily had a disappointed look on her face. If I stay here any longer I feel like she would start petting me again or something.

“It’s getting late, I have to go home.”

“Oh, well you can come back and visit me anytime.”

“...I’ll think about it.” Heading out, I look up at the sky to see the sun started to sun. I blankly stare at the orange-color sky, trying to sort my thoughts out.

Eight years huh? How annoying, but at least I got solid plan now. Becoming an adventurer I will be able to move around while earning money. Who knows, I might even get some clues to Alice location. Right now I just have to be patient. So until then, you have stay alive for me Alice. You can’t die until I find you.