Ezra took a few deep breaths. For a moment, he considered screaming. Perhaps even turning on [Calm] just from how overwhelmingly confused he was. What was Dorian thinking? What were Pete and Yuki thinking? What the hell was happening?

Ezra’s right hand twitched. A gift? Dorian was a jerk through and through. He sighed and looked over at the two unexpected visitors. Yuki was wearing different clothing: she’d swapped her jeans and blouse for a thick white cloak fastened with a buckle. He thought he could see leather armor underneath. On the other hand, Pete had changed into a green tunic with leather armor over it. He wore a pointed hat with a red feather and had some sort of guard on his arm, presumably for protection while shooting arrows.

“Alright, alright, alright,” Ezra said. “Answers. Now. If Dorian had been the only one to do it, I’d have been fine. But you two as well!? This is ridiculous!”

Pete rubbed the back of his head. “Well, it’s kind of a long story…”

Ezra’s left eye twitched and he glared at Pete.

“Cut it down to size, Pete,” he said.

Pete gulped, then let out a nervous laugh.

Yuki marched forward and crossed her arms.

“You’ve got a kill order out on you,” she said.

“Makes sense. But that doesn’t explain why you’re here.”

Yuki put a pack she had onto the ground, then popped it open and started looking through it.

“Why do you think, Ezra?” she said. “What possible reason could we have to be here?”

Ezra felt a droplet of sweat roll down his back.

“You’re here to capture me, aren’t you?”

“What!?” Pete shouted, his eyes wide. “No! What on earth made you think that?”

“You… aren’t here to capture me?”

Yuki’s eyes narrowed as she dropped to one knee, unshouldering her pack with a swift, practiced motion. The bag hit the ground with a muted thud, dust puffing up around it. She unbuckled the straps and flipped open the top flap. As she rummaged through the contents, the clinking of metal and rustling of fabric could be heard, the sound filling the silence. Finally, Yuki’s hand paused, her fingers closing around something inside the pack. She rose to her feet in one fluid motion, whatever she had found clutched tightly in her grasp. Without a word, she closed the distance between them in three quick strides. Her boots crunched on the gravel beneath as she stopped inches from Ezra, the air between them charged with unspoken tension.

Yuki thrust the object into Ezra’s chest with enough force to make him take a half-step back. His eyes darted down to the object now pressed against him.

“Take it,” she said.

Ezra looked down to see a loaf of bread and stared at it for several seconds.

“Why are you giving me bread?”

Yuki snarled and pushed the bread into his chest again.

“You haven’t eaten since you left, have you?” she said.

Ezra turned red at the accusation, then stepped back. “W-what are you talking about!? I ate—“

On cue, his stomach let out a little growl. Yuki stepped forward, her movements softer.

“Eat, Ezra.” Her voice had lowered in intensity. “Take it, please.”

Ezra darted a look at her, then at the bread, then back at her.

“Are you telling me that you followed after me to… to help me?”

“Is that so hard to believe?” she said.

Pete scratched the back of his head.

“I mean,” Pete said. “I owe you my life. I figure I should repay that debt, right?”

Oh, yeah, he did. Ezra had forgotten about that.

“Okay, fine, that explains Pete, but what about you?” Ezra said.

Yuki sighed, looked away, and crossed her arms.

“You’re an awful piece of crap, Ezra,” she said. “But even you don’t deserve to be hunted down without a single ally.”

It was taking everything Ezra had not to scream at the top of his lungs. They’d only get in the way! Plus, he’d have to share EXP. This was so not cool. Ezra looked over the two of them with a wary glance. He didn’t believe them for a moment. Most likely, they were spies. They’d grab his capabilities or something, then give it to Charles. Yeah, this was all some sort of plot… So then, what, should he fight them? No, no… Ezra could use this. Didn’t he need cannon fodder? Right, that made sense!

The real question was this: would he be able to deal with these two idiots for a protracted period? At least until he made it to the first boss?

Yuki sighed and grabbed his hand.

Ezra stiffened.

“Oh, quit it. Just relax.” Yuki pulled his fingers open and forced the loaf of bread into his hand. “Now then, eat. Please.”

Ezra slowly raised the loaf of bread to his mouth and then chewed on it slowly. The whole time, he stared at Yuki, an unreadable expression on his face.

He broke eye contact with her, then swallowed.

“Fine, whatever. Follow along if you want.”

There was nothing but his footsteps. A moment later, two more pairs of footsteps followed.

Unbidden, a small smile came to Ezra’s face.

Well, he supposed that they would make things entertaining if nothing else.

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

“Look, we have to pick up supplies at some point, Ezra. We might as well do it now.”

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The three of them had continued walking along the forest road. Eventually, Yuki forced them to sit down and take a serious look at their supply situation.

“I don’t have infinite food, Ezra. We need to make a stop,” she said.

“Why the hell didn’t you grab more?”

“I was in a hurry!” Yuki said. “Can you blame me!?”

Pete’s lips drew thin.

“Ezra, I don’t want us to starve,” he said.

“So what are you suggesting?” Ezra said.

Yuki pointed ahead.

“Look, there’s a village up the road, Dorian told me about it. We can stop there and pick up supplies.”

“Dorian told you?” Ezra said. “That’s double the reason to avoid it, in my view.”

Yuki growled, then stomped the ground. “Ezra! We don’t know if there are any other food sources around!”

Ezra slouched and jammed his hands into his jacket pockets.

“Okay, okay. Fine,” he said. “We’ll stop by the village, we’ll be able to get some food there. I don’t suppose any of you have any cash?”

Yuki groaned and slapped her head into her palms. Pete laughed awkwardly, the sound dying off after a few seconds.

“I thought we might’ve forgotten something,” Pete said.

Yuki dropped to her knees and hands.

“I’m an idiot. How did I forget money!?” she said.

“We’ll figure it out,” Ezra said. “Come on. Let’s go.”

Eventually, the two got up and started following behind Ezra. It wasn’t long before thatched roofs and smoking chimneys entered their sights. Ezra glanced from side to side. Despite how picturesque the village seemed, there was an undercurrent of decay. Ezra could smell it in the air. The people looked sickly and exhausted, the fields had plants, but they were in terrible condition. There was a thick forest hidden behind the village, but the trees seemed to be dying, drifting brown leaves falling to the ground.

“What happened to this place?” Pete said.

“None of our business. Let’s find some food and leave,” Ezra said. “We can trade off our cloaks if that’s what it takes. I don’t want to spend any longer than we need to here.”

Pete gave a hesitant nod.

Yuki attempted to position herself in front of Ezra. “What if someone needs our help?”

Ezra rolled his eyes and dodged around Yuki.

“Come on,” he said. “There’s nothing we can do about a poor economic situation, Villages die all the time. Let’s just go.”

Yuki was still for a moment before she resumed following Ezra.

“You’re probably right,” she said.

“I’m definitely right.”

They continued walking through the half-destroyed, tired-out town. More than once, long glares and looks would cross their way. Ezra quietly ignored it while Yuki and Pete squirmed. Eventually, they stopped in front of a market stall that still seemed to have food. The woman glanced at Yuki’s staff and Pete’s bow. Sweat broke out on her forehead and she tensed.

Ezra took off his cloak and offered it to the woman.

“How much would you be willing to give us in exchange for this?”

The woman’s eyes shifted away from Yuki and Pete over to Ezra and his cloak. She bit her bottom lip.

“This is a nice cloak,” she said. “But I don’t need nice cloaks right now.”

“I want three week’s worth of food,” Ezra said.

The woman burst out laughing.

Ezra continued, “For each of us.”

“Are you kidding me?” she said. “Absolutely not. We barely have enough to feed ourselves right now.”

Yuki stepped closer and leaned in. “Wait, what? Why’s that?”

The woman sighed and tapped her fingers against the wood of the stall. “It’s a long story,” she said. “But we were hit by a curse. The land relies on the magic of the forest, see—“

“Don’t care.” Ezra crossed his arms. ”How much are you willing to trade?”

The woman’s left eye twitched.

“Four day’s worth of food.”

“What!?” Ezra slammed the stall with his fists. “This cloak is more valuable than that, and you know it!”

“Don’t care.”

Ezra was about to respond when he felt something in his gut. He paused and turned his head. Yuki was already looking in the direction he was now looking at. Pete was looking between the two of them.

Ezra’s heart rate shot up.

An animal had stumbled into view. It was a wicked-looking thing. A massive, man-sized boar with huge tusks. Its skin was covered in purple throbbing veins as it stumbled from place to place. A handful of people screamed and dashed inside their homes.

Cursed Boar - Lv. 14

“Shit!” the woman said. “Get inside, now—“

Ezra broke off into a sprint.

“What the hell is he doing!?” the woman shouted.

Yuki dashed after him. Pete bounced in place for a moment, glancing between the woman and the boar before running over to the boar.

“Wait for me!” Pete said.

Ezra stared down the boar. Could he use those ranged abilities? He hadn’t grinded the skill, though… No, he needed to rely on his bread and butter.

“[Entangle]!”

Thick threads launched up and around the boar—only to phase directly through the monster. The boar screeched and dashed at him.

Ezra dodged to the side, having seen the attack coming. He looked over at the boar as it sped past him. These things were immune to [Entangle]? How was that possible? Yuki came to his side, her breath coming in big gulps. She dropped her hands to her knees.

“Ezra!” she said. “What’s the plan?!”

Pete followed a little bit afterward.

“Guys, don’t speed on ahead without me!” he said.

“Abilities. Now,” Ezra said without looking in their direction.

“Uh, I’m straightforward. I just… shoot things,” Pete said.

Yuki pulled herself back to a standing position.

“I give buffs and debuffs,” she said.

“We need a better game plan. For now, I don’t know, just… Pete, support me from a distance while Yuki does whatever she wants.”

Pete nodded and broke off to the side. “Right!”

Yuki gripped her staff, then broke off to the left.

Ezra looked back at the boar. It was staring at him. Ezra suppressed the urge to run at it, it would be better to let it come to him. He stood still. The boar’s hoof padded the ground, its veins throbbing and pulsing.

After a moment, it broke off into a run.

As it approached, Ezra narrowed his eyes. When it got close enough, he jumped to the right, shooting his needle out straight for the thing’s chest.

Now, Ezra wasn’t a good shot, but even he could aim from a foot away.

The needle flew forward and pierced straight into the monster’s chest as it flew by. It let out a pained cry and slammed to a halt.

465/510

Ezra held his hand out, his needle glowed and teleported into his fingers. A moment later, a twang echoed out as a glowing, translucent arrow flew through the air. It pierced near where Ezra’s needle had landed and sank into the monster’s stomach. The beast thrashed against someone’s house and let out an enraged screech. It’s health dropped.

434/510

A warming sensation washed over Ezra. He glanced over at Yuki, who had her staff pointed in his direction. A stat buff? It looked like it increased his dexterity based on how smooth his movements felt. Perfect. Ezra slowly approached the monster.

It perked up and backed away, snarling.

Ezra got ready to attack it—

Then it broke off to the right.

Ezra cursed and ran after it, but he was quickly outpaced once the boar hit its stride.

The boar aimed toward Yuki. She backed up, her eyes wide.

With frantic movements, she held out her staff, and the air shimmered. The boar kept on moving right into the glistening air.

The front half of its body disappeared.

There was a glow from Yuki’s staff, and then—

And then the air stopped shimmering, and the back half of the boar dropped to the ground. Blood flew toward Yuki from the remaining part of the creature. She shut her eyes and covered her face with her arms. Once the blood stopped, she pulled away her hands and looked at the corpse. There was nothing in her eyes at first. Just a dull boredom, the kind you see at the subway when someone’s staring, looking for some kind of dopamine stimulation to activate their fried brain.

Her eyes widened as she took a step backward, turning pale and wiping her face with her blood-covered palms.

Not only did she have exceptional powers that he never knew about, but she was also more interesting from a personality perspective. Perhaps she had a similar ability to him? Some kind of crappier version of [Calm]? Ezra was about to march over to her and request answers when footsteps approached him.

“You… you’re adventurers, aren’t you?”

The woman from the stall was staring at him with wide eyes.

“Yeah, I guess so,” Ezra said.

“You have to be! I mean, you killed that corrupted creature with no problem! That was incredible!” she said.

Ezra continued walking.

“Sir, listen, can you speak to our village head? Please, we need help!” she said.

“Not interested, thanks.”

The woman squawked. “What!?”

Ezra didn’t glance at her.

“Look, we’re kind of in a rush, sorry,” he said. “No time to help out—“

“6 weeks.”

Ezra stopped and slowly turned around. “What?”

“You said you wanted four weeks? I will guarantee you six weeks’ worth of food for each of you.” She looked down at the ground. “I know it’s not a lot. But—“

Ezra reappeared in front of the woman.

She jumped back. “What the hell!?”

“You know what, lady?” he said. “I think we can come to some sort of agreement.”

The woman took a halting step back.

Ezra stared at her intensely.

“Take me to your leader."

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Charles - Otherworlder - Lv. 18