As we approached Wolfhaven, the sun began the earliest phase of its slow rise, casting its first rays of light upon the city. Miotu and Craig paced ahead of Hana and I, shielding us from the light with their shadows.

Remarkably, Hana was able to keep up with their pace now. She must have gotten some semblance of physical boost from her awakening, though she was still sweating as hard as an unconditioned girl might.

Catching my questioning thought, she shook her head, confirming that she had definitely not been able to run like this in the past. I smiled at her honest response.

(Can I mention how convenient it is that you can kinda read my mind, by the way?)

Even if it was a little bit jarring at times.

(I was thinking the same.)

Hana and I had discovered that we could communicate telepathically shortly after our shared thought experience... thing. It seemed as though we could hide our thoughts from each other if we so choosed, but by default, we could hear one another if we didn't explicitly want our thoughts not to be heard. I would imagine that I'd slip up once or twice... or a lot.

In any, as Hana pointed out, it was a blessing, given our current reluctance to engage in any sort of audible conversation. It just took too much energy out of the both of us right now.

Even still, I jogged casually alongside my three companions, maintaining pace until we reached the imposing front gate of Wolfhaven. It didn't take nearly as long as I thought it might. We must have been running faster than I felt we were.

The gate was a massive, stone structure reinforced with bars upon bars of steel. It loomed over us threateningly, adorned by a frightening number of visibly repaired damages.

The main entryway to the city looked about as welcoming as I remembered, which is to say that it was not at all. I had visited Wolfhaven a few times for monster-related quests, but its atmosphere had always left me feeling uneasy. As a result, I made a point to accept as few requests from the area as possible.

It was frankly just creepy and stiff. Definitely not a place I’d visit for fun.

The actual city was nestled within an expanse of a forest that bore the tallest of trees, in front of a range of mountains that rose high above the surrounding landscape. The stone walls, fortified by generations of (presumably) skilled masons, encircled the city in a protective embrace, blockading both the inside of the city and any route that the layman might take to the mountains. Watchtowers stood sentinel at regular intervals along the walls, their vigilant guards ever present.

Fortunately, they let us through after Miotu and Craig gave them a quick wave.

Upon entering, we were met with a busy, yet organized scene.

Cobblestone streets bustled with activity as blacksmiths forged weapons and armor. Stables housed well-groomed warhorses, their muscular forms hinting at careful breeding and maintenance. The town’s militia marched in formation, their polished armor glinting in the sunlight, while archers honed their skills in the training yard, their arrows plunking and plinking into painted hay targets. The banners of Wolfhaven, depicting a snarling wolf against a backdrop of deep crimson, fluttered proudly in the breeze.

I could feel that Hana was struck by the heavily militarized city. It was a much more warrior-centric culture than what Alonzia would lead you to believe most towns were like, and Hana was put off by the change in atmosphere. For someone like her, who had probably never seen anything like this, it must have been quite the shock.

(The outer walls of this place are all about the same, but as you get closer to the center of the city, where the Guild is, it has a very similar feel to Alonzia. It’s not all just swords and sandals,) I assured her.

Without looking at me, she nodded in response, and I could feel a faint hint of relief seep emanate from her conscience.

In any case, it’s not like we’d be staying for long. We were just here to drop off Craig and Miotu, and the Guild was just a short walk away.

It would take no time at all.

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

In the midst of a decimated town, the remnants of a demolished guild hall lay scattered across the ground, the once-magnificent structure reduced to little more than rubble.

Among the wreckage, a hidden stone door, covered in a layer of dust and debris, began to shift ever so slightly. With a low groan, the door pushed up and outward, revealing a secret chamber that had remained untouched by the razing outside.

A young blonde-haired girl, no older than twenty-one, cautiously emerged from the darkness of the concealed room. The hide-out had been her saving grace, protected by a potent magic that rendered it both soundproof and invisible to the naked eye.

It had been put in place for exactly a situation like this, but when her predecessor had told her about it, the girl had wrote it off as a paranoid old woman’s ramblings.

How she thanked her mentor now.

Silently.

She didn't know if there was still any gargoyles around.

…

It had been a long night for Claire, her heart pounding in her chest as she wondered whether or not the monsters had retreated yet. She took a tentative step out of the rubble, her eyes darting back and forth in search of any lingering threats. There were none, but what she saw instead made her wish that she hadn’t crawled out of her safe, little cave.

The air was heavy with smoke, and the town square now lay silent and desolate. Its cobblestone streets were marred by the scars of battle, and the gruesome sight of cut up, burned, and bitten corpses lined the streets. Scattered amongst the human carnage, the shattered remains of the stone gargoyles that had attacked the town lay unmoving.

Claire gagged, her throat filling with bile.

"No… no…"

She had prayed that she would never have to see something like this, despite knowing there was always a possibility. She was born into the age of the Demon King’s 16th awakening, after all. But she had never anticipated a catastrophe of this magnitude to arrive so soon.

Yet here was her town, the one she had spent building her life in, completely and totally annihilated.

"This can’t be real…"

As Claire cautiously navigated the devastation, the eerie silence weighed heavily upon her. Her heart ached in her chest, remembering the faces and smiles of the countless people she had attended to in her occupation. Many adventurers she recognized lay lifeless amongst the dead, and her thoughts quickly shifted to her best friend, worrying immensely over his well-being.

From what she had seen, it seemed as though not a single life had been left unextinguished, leaving Claire to face the realization that she might be the only survivor.

Quickly, she brushed off the thought, thinking it far too pessimistic to be considered a well-thought-out conclusion. Surely, there had to be some survivors.

Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

If she was to make the most of this situation, she would need to observe the town calmly and with a sharp mind.

So she did.

…

The desolation was absolute, no sign of Sun or the hero Hana anywhere. Yet, this was not necessarily a bad news to her. Slowly, her heart began to fill with a peculiar joy, her findings leaning more and more into what she had suspected.

‘This is good. Most of the bodies are torn up and disfigured, not entirely gone. If I can’t find Sun or Hana’s body around here, they probably fled.’

Claire’s inference was quick and precise, never once betraying her trust and faith in her companion’s ability to stay alive. If that capability was supported by any sort of evidence of a successful escape, she could almost be sure that he wasn’t dead. And if he wasn’t dead… that meant he would likely decamp to the nearest settlement:

Wolfhaven.

She didn’t have any time to lose.

Sun was much faster than her, and she was out of shape. She didn’t want to lose his trail just because she was physically incapable, so breaking into a run, Claire forced herself to adhere to a very strict pace.

It was one that was well thought out, allowing her to go as fast as possible without overexerting herself, while still exhausting all of her available energy. She estimated that with this speed, it would take about an hour and forty minutes to reach Wolfhaven if she didn’t stop or slow down.

It was an imperfect calculation, and her assessment was based on speculation, but it would have to do. After all, book smarts were her specialty, but practical smarts were her game.

It was a receptionist’s talent.

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

Just as expected, it took almost no time at all to get Miotu and Craig to the Guild hall, quickly exchanging pleasantries and our final goodbyes. It seemed a little odd to depart from them so quickly, after what we had just experienced together, but such is life.

After we dropped those two off, I figured that it would be a great idea to pick up some equipment for Hana while we still had the chance. Sundresses didn’t make for very good armor, after all.

So we strolled through the bustling Wolfhaven market, which was fortunately positioned right outside the Guild. Our eyes scanned over the myriad of colorful stalls and vendors selling their wares. The contents of their market were very different from Alonzia, mostly focusing on military gear rather than food and produce. That made me kind of sad, I could really have used something to eat.

One thing that didn't change was the sound of merchants hawking their goods, pitching their items to anybody who would lend an ear.

As for me, I wasn’t really listening to anything they had to say. I already knew what we were looking for in the way of armor, and had a pretty good idea of what would be the best weapon for someone with little to no combat experience. Something that would complement Hana’s increasing agility and small frame – a spear.

It was an obvious choice.

The spear's design was simple yet effective, and it didn't require extensive training to master its basic techniques. The reach and versatility would provide Hana with the ability to keep her distance from most melee-ranged enemies, while also allowing her to strike deadly. For the most part, this is what I wanted for her. A safe tool that was easy to operate and hard to fight against.

There was just one thing that I didn’t account for.

"Sun, look at that sword! It splits into two swords, isn’t that interesting? I want that one."

She was a little too enthusiastic.

"Uh… do you think you could use it?"

"Mmm… no. But I’d learn eventually, right?"

"I don’t know, I couldn’t teach you. You’d have to figure it out yourself."

I couldn't help but notice the gleam in Hana's eyes as she marveled at the wide array of items on display. It was like the shy, reclusive girl I had met at the guild had entirely vanished. She was practically a kid at a confectionary. From polished swords to elaborately crafted shields, the market was a treasure trove for any would-be adventurer. How could I not expect her to have her own opinions on her own gear?

It would've helped if she wasn't picking all of the weird equipment, though.

As a martial artist, I would be kettle calling the pot black if I spoke up about practicality, so I just stayed quiet and let her do her thing. I didn't even have a weapon.

With my plans for our equipment hunt thoroughly uprooted, we browsed around until we ended up approaching a stall run by a grizzled, yet amiable blacksmith, sitting slack in his chair. Immediately upon glancing at his wares, I knew Hana would be here for a while.

His stall was vastly different from the rest, seeming to have plenty of freshly crafted pieces for sale. Some even bordered on experimental: spears with awkwardly shaped blades, swords with enchanted crystals embedded in their hilts, and other similarly eccentric pieces. They attracted the attention of Hana very easily, as she seemed to be more interested in the novel items rather than the tried and true. This whole time, she had barely given the polearms more than a moment’s glance.

"You have a lot of strange weaponry here." I said, just trying to make conversation with the owner while Hana ruffled through the man's goods. He was very quick to oblige me.

"Ha! Well when ye’ve done what I’ve done for as long as I’ve done it, ya can’t help yourself from trying something new every once in a while."

The man’s voice was booming, but filled with a jolly cheer that made me feel very comfortable. We chatted for a while, exchanging small talk about the weather, food, and seemingly silly weapons that some adventurers used. It was a pleasant time, and did wonders to keep my mind off Claire. I almost wished we could talk for a bit longer, but it seemed Hana had made a decision.

"Hey, Sun, I think I found the one I want!"

Hana interrupted our conversation, finally finding a weapon that captured her fancy.

"Oh yeah? Let me see it."

I turned to face her, eager to find out what Hana had taken interest in. In fact, I was almost a bit nervous. Whatever she had found, it wasn’t very likely to be standard.

Turns out my hunch was more than correct.

She was holding a long, double edged sword, but its blade seemed to be broken up into eight segments rather than being one full blade.

"Look at this," Hana said, pulling a lever hanging down from the hilt of the weapon.

Instantly, the segments disengaged from each other, separating, and revealing magic wire within the blade holding all of the segments together. It fell flaccid, the segments swinging back and forth like a pendulum.

Frankly, it looked incredibly impractical to me.

Upon seeing what Hana had selected out of the vast amount of options his store had to offer, the blacksmith sighed. It looked like he had gone through this before.

"Lass, that weapon there is easily one of my favorite works. Unfortunately, it’s become more of a showpiece lately, since nobody seems to be able to wield it."

The man gestured at Hana to hand him the weapon, and she obliged. Grabbing the handle of the whip-sword, the blacksmith pumped the weapon with mana, its many blades lighting up with an azure glow.

Then, as if the sword had been given life of its own, it began to snake around in the air, forming figure eights and slicing imaginary foes. Initially, it was quite impressive. However, the demonstration quickly showed that it took an incredible amount of skill to use.

The blacksmith manipulated tendrils of mana to guide it around, but he still seemed to be having trouble getting it to move accurately in a consistent manner. I could tell that some of the movements he was trying to create were falling short of his imagination. Sweat started to form at his brow, the handling of the weapon seeming to take a toll on him. Shortly after, the sword fell limp once more, losing its glow. Panting, the man handed the weapon back to Hana.

"That’s how yer supposed to work ‘er," the man said, panting heavily.

"Sadly, I think the warrior types are too boneheaded to learn how to control mana like that. I figured that mages might be able to use ‘er with their better control of mana, but what mage is usin’ a blade anyhow? Hah!"

The man rapped on the side of his head with his knuckles, hinting at his absentmindedness.

"Guess I wasn’t thinkin’ about all that. I thought since I could use it a little bit, a more talented feller could make it really shine. So far, not a soul like that has shown up."

Then he looked at Hana, a tiny inkling of hope creeping into his eye.

"Maybe ye’ll be different. Give it a try, lass. Just channel your mana and think about where ya want the blades to go. Real simple, I promise. There’s no limit to how far the wire can go, as long as ya pour more mana into it."

Hana looked at me, wide-eyed. I immediately knew what she was thinking.

(Sun, I have no idea what I’m doing. I’ve never used magic before.)

I shrugged.

(Now’s as good a time as any to figure it out. Magic is a feeling thing anyway. Just think about the energy shifting through your body, and control it how you want to.)

After all, it’s not like she was trying to conjure a [Fireball] or something that could potentially blow up in our face.

Spells that needed to be materialized outside of your body were the worst offenders of that for the strict reason that detaching mana from your physical body while maintaining control was extremely difficult.

It was very fortunate for Hana's first experience in magic to be controlling previously existing objects that she could hold in her hand, simply because it was less dangerous and easier to execute. In fact, it was so easy to execute, it made me wonder why there weren't more sword-mages.

Plus, she would be utilizing the same magic concept behind my own skills, only I used my limbs instead of swords. I was sure that she'd do just fine.

Also…I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a little curious about her ability. Since she was the hero and all, I would assume that she had the massive mana reserves to go along with such a title.

Now was the time to test that logic.