EV B2 Chapter 10:

"Well, shit," I said to Astrid, and they leaned back in the booth, needing a moment to think. I lifted my glass and drained it, setting it down next to the wine.

"How far did you guys get?" I asked.

She grimaced. "Twelve percent."

"We need twenty?" I confirmed.

"Same as with the gauntlet we did together." She nodded grimly.

"How about the other challenges you did when I was gone? How did they go for you." I asked.

"I'll tell you about them later," Astrid said with a sour look on her face. "Probably after some drinks."

"And you had a full party of five when you did this last time?" I brought the topic back to the main issue.

She nodded again.

"How good were they?"

She lifted a shoulder. "They weren't the worst, but they didn't exactly think on their feet."

I grimaced, remembering my brief experience with the trial. This didn't seem like one you could just brute-force your way through, like the gauntlet that Thor was having us run.

"Okay," I said, tapping my chin in thought. "Okay, so tell me everything you know about this challenge."

Astrid began to talk.

***

This time, when I entered the challenge, I had a much better idea of what to expect. As I went through the encounter, it was almost exactly the same. I even chopped wood for a good portion of it. But this time, when the family insisted that they hide, I sent Astrid with them.

This was the first check—we needed to be able to do two things at once: protect them and protect the village. If we went with just the family, the village would burn, and there would be no progress. If we left, the family would die, and again, there would be no progress. We had to safely bring the family back to their home in the village before the next portion of the scenario could play out.

It was simply impossible to do alone. According to Astrid, though, the rest of the scenario should—and this was a very, very tentative "should "—be able to be completed with just the two of us. It was less a question of whether it was theoretically possible and more of whether we could actually pull it off.

I turned off my doubts as I charged into the village and entered combat. Astrid wasn't sure I'd be able to do this part by myself, but having done it before, I knew it wouldn't be too much of a problem. This time, I was actually even faster. I hadn't really improved since the last time, but I knew what I was looking for, who I was looking for, and the general goal. There was less hesitation, and I arrived several minutes earlier.

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The Raiders didn't stand a chance. I scythed through them like a hot knife through butter. My illusions, mana-strengthening, and body-strengthening spells made it effortless. For the most part, anyone with a class or good skills wouldn't have had much more of a problem. People who hadn't leveled might have struggled, but mostly, it would have just cost them time.

Having gotten a class so early made this whole thing a lot easier for me, as well as being able to work with magic.

***

When morning came, I found myself with Astrid, standing on the beach, looking out at the three boats I'd avoided burning as per her information. This was the next stage of the scenario. I wasn't exactly sure what would happen, but the family surviving was a prerequisite. If they had died, something like what happened last time I tried would occur: the village would just go on rebuilding, and that would be the end of it. Maybe it also had to do with how much of the town I'd managed to save.

As we watched, a man approached us. "Excuse me," he said. "I wasn't sure how you would react, but I thought it'd be best to offer you both a reward for the assistance you provided. Simple food and shelter for a few nights is not enough for such personal risk and prowess, especially when you could have just slipped off wherever you came from."

I nodded, letting Astrid respond.

"We would appreciate any reward you'd like to give," she said, "but we don't need much. Food and shelter are more than enough, and I know the village will be busy rebuilding for quite some time."

The man—Halldor—smiled. "Yes, but thanks to your efforts, we happen to have three new warships to add to our fleet," he said, gesturing to the small set of rowboat fishing vessels. They looked nothing like the dragon-headed ships that had landed on their beach, carrying in the raiders.

I chuckled slightly at the joke, and Halldor shot me a look. That was when I realized it might not have been as much of a joke as I had first thought.

"We may not have the money or experience to build ships like these right now, but if they've landed in our laps, well...we don't forget what our ancestors did. Many of us still know how to sail. We remember when we once had ships of our own. So, while we might not have much to give you now if you join us on our excursion, we'll have plenty of opportunities for you."

"We'd be honored," Astrid said with a fierce smile. "A share of the loot would be more than sufficient. Besides, it might help us along our way."

After Halldor left, I looked down at Astrid. "I'm not sure I'm entirely comfortable with raiding a village like this," I said, thinking back to how many of the raiders had been chasing down defenseless women and children in the streets when I killed them.

Astrid grimaced. "Yeah, that's what I said, too. Don't worry, though—they're going south, and there's a castle that we'll end up attacking. It's bloody and hard, and something my previous group never managed to get past. But we'll be fighting soldiers, not innocents."

I nodded, sighing in relief, and we went back to help with the cleanup for a few hours as the raiding party assembled. I figured that this wasn't exactly realistic, but I was glad the scenario didn't make us sit and wait for hours or days while they prepared.

***

Cold water splashed onto me as I half-kneeled at the prow of the ship, bracing myself as we crashed through another wave. The rain beat down on my head, plastering my hair to my face as I tilted my face up to the sky. It was cold, and the taste of salt wouldn't leave my mouth. But even as the wind howled and the rowers strained at their oars, I couldn't help but smile. I felt alive.

The cold didn't really bother me, thanks to my stats, and I had no problem keeping my balance. I'd been worried about seasickness for a brief moment, but it never hit me. Instead, I felt a strange sense of freedom, as if this was something I should have been doing my entire life but never had the chance.

Astrid was huddled in the cramped boat just in front of me, using my body as a shield from the wind along with the gunwale of the ship. I could feel her pressed against my thighs as she sought warmth. Even though she was at a similar level to me, the extra start from my class meant I'd automatically outpaced her in resilience. She was also being very careful about protecting her bowstrings.

"I can't believe you're having fun," she grumbled up at me.

I just laughed, letting the wind carry my voice.