Chapter 1

Arriving at Garandale

  A small trader ship had just docked in the port city of Garandale. It was just one of many and remained inconspicuous as its crew brought the cargo down to the wharf.

  “Captain Ruen, thanks a lot!”

  On the deck, three figures where conversing with each other. The one who just spoke was an 18-year-old girl with curly dark-red hair in a short boyish cut.

  She wore a jacket made of brown leather over a simple light gray shirt. Her shorts revealed a pair of healthy thighs. On her back was a crossbow and on each side of her waist had a bolt quiver.

  Her name was Tarafina, a young huntress from the small island nation of Sesinni. She had boarded the ship from Sesinni and had now finally arrived at Garandale.

  “It’s no big deal, missy,” replied a stout middle-aged man. His looks were rough and rugged, but the smile on his face was filled with a gentle warmth. “I’ve known your father since we were wee lads. You should take care out there, alright?”

  “Of course! Besides, I have my little bro with me.”

  Tarafina and the captain’s view landed on the third person, a thirteen-year-old boy with short black hair and sharp eyes. His attire was simple: a white shirt and black shorts. A huge pack was on his back, exuding a sense of dissonance. He was the smallest among the three after all.

  His name was Erik.

  “I’ll make sure she doesn’t do anything stupid,” he said.

  “Hearing that come from you, for some reason, makes me feel relieved.”

  “Hey! You make it sound like doing something stupid is inevitable for me?”

  “Isn’t it?”

  Captain Ruen laughed before saying, “Enough with the bickering now. Any more of this and you might end up taking the ride back home.”

  They ended their conversation and after bidding their farewells, the two finally disembarked from the ship and walked into the city.

  The hustle and bustle within Garandale was a new experience for the pair. When they were in Sessini, they lived in a rural town near the sea and rarely went to the cities. In the few times they went, it was still incomparable to the sight in Garandale.

  Tarafina looked around wide eyed while stopping by almost every interesting thing she saw. There were shops and stalls selling all kinds of items like armors, clothes, weapons, food, and many other things.

  “I wonder if we should grab a meal first or find a place to stay at?” she mused as they passed by a decent-looking restaurant. The ship had arrived before they could have had breakfast.

  “If you’re hungry, we could eat first,” Erik said. “Originally, our plans were to head directly to the capital as soon as possible and gather information there, but starting the info gathering much earlier doesn’t seem like a bad idea.”

  “Then let’s eat first!”

  The two backtracked to the restaurant they had just passed and ordered a sumptuous meal.

  After the meal, Tarafina and Erik found a good inn and managed to rent a room. It was a room meant for couples, but since they introduced themselves as siblings, it was acceptable. The room had a double bed, and even had a bathroom with a shower and tub.

  “Wow, I’ve only seen these things in the bigger cities back at Sessini,” Tarafina said with her voice filled with admiration. “I can’t believe we were able to afford this room and managed to rent it for a week.”

  Tarafina was obviously excited as she walked around inspecting almost every object in the room.

  “That’s a huge cut on our budget. Aside from gathering information, we also have to find some ways to earn money here. If our expenses exceed expectations, we might need to stay longer and find a cheaper inn.”

  Erik’s words poured cold water on her mood.

  “Hmph! I’ll take a bath!”

  “Don’t use too much water. If you’re too wasteful, the manager might charge extra.”

  “Stop treating me like a kid!”

  Tarafina grumbled as she took off her clothes and entered the bath.

  “And don’t peek!”

  On one side of the bath, there was a small stove used for heating water. She didn’t use it though while filling the tub.

  “Take a cold shower first.” She heard Erik’s voice from the room and pretended not to hear it. Still, she turned on the shower for a short while but was staying outside the range of the water’s spray. A smug smile hung on her lips as she pretended to take a shower.

  She heard a small sigh from the room and knew that Erik found out what she was doing.

  “And I told him not to peek,” she mumbled with a slightly flushed face. She then stepped into the shower and washed her body.

  Tarafina was a huntress and so she spent most of the mornings and afternoons in the forest near their home in Sessini. She also used to go with her father to sea to fish. Because of that, her skin was slightly tanned. It was a sort of blessing though that the tan was just light despite all her time spent under the sun.

  There were a few times when the other kids showed some envy and resentment toward this quality of hers. It was because she had the blood of an elf mixed within hers. If her lineage was traced, her mother had an elf for an ancestor.

  Her elf blood showed slightly in her appearance. Aside from her resistance to tanning from the sun, her ears were also slightly pointed. She was also slender and slightly taller than others of her age. Furthermore, she had been quite good at hunting. At first she thought it was because her father was a hunter himself, but when she found out that she had actually elf blood within her, she believed that this was the reason.

  After washing under the shower, Tarafina looked at the tub filled with cold water. She raised her hand and pointed it at the tub, then whispered a few words that she herself did not understand.

  A warm current flowed within her body towards her hand. Then, the air within the bath seemed to stir and twist, but it was just something that she felt. The air itself was calm and steady.

  Tarafina felt a slight sense of loss. In that instant a magical rune appeared within the water near the bottom of the tub. The water simmered for an instant and steam appeared.

  “Good,” she said, feeling relieved. She then entered the tub and soaked her entire body from the neck down. She then placed a wet towel over her head.

  “Ahh~ this is paradise.”

  She remembered the first time she soaked in hot water. She was around ten years old back then. After reading a book about cultures in different places, she discovered the existence of hot baths and hot springs and told her father that she wanted to experience it.

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  Her doting father was unable to deny her of her wish, but they weren’t exactly well-off. Bringing her to a city with a hot both just to experience it was too costly so he built one instead.

  He reinforced a barrel and filled it with water then placed it over a stove. He then allowed his daughter to soak in there. He then went as far as to add herbs in the water to turn it into a medicinal bath.

  Tarafina laughed as she remembered that scene. As a child, she had fun bathing that way but looking back at it, if someone else saw that scene, they would only see a grown up man happily stewing an innocent little girl.

  Her thoughts were interrupted by a knocking sound on the bath’s door.

  “I’m going out for a while,” Erik said from behind the door.

  “OK. Take care.”

  “I’m locking the door. Don’t let strangers in.”

  “Stop treating me like I’m a child!”

  She heard a door opening and closing. He already left.

  “Geez. That idiot,” she murmured as she sunk her head into the water.

  Although they would always introduce themselves as siblings, this was not true. Tarafina had always been an only child. Erik only came into her life three years ago which caused drastic changes she never expected.

  She and her father found Erik adrift on the sea. After rescuing him, he refused to talk to anyone. Shortly after, an incident occurred in their town and her father died after involving himself.

  Falling into a depression, unexpectedly, it was Erik who supported her during that time. She then began treating him as her younger brother.

  “The way he acts make it seem like he’s the older sibling, though,” she pouted.

  But she didn’t resent that. Although he would scold her every now and then, when she makes an important decision, he would always be right beside her providing her with the support she needed.

  She lost the only family she had, but she gained a new one.

  Slowly, the comfortable bath and her warm thoughts sent her to a deep slumber.

  …

  …

  …

  “Please, go out on a date with me, Liss!” Borfin said as he held the hands of the pretty young lady behind the counter.

  She had been handing over his ID card when he suddenly grabbed her hands and started reciting a cheesy poem then asked her out. With a troubled smile she tried retracting her hands but his grip was strong.

  “Hey hey, Borfin! You’re troubling lady Lissan here,” a man behind said as his shoulder was grabbed.

  “Fuck off, man! I’m busy here!” the man called Borfin said as he let the lady’s hands go and turned around.

  Behind him a huge bulky man with face riddled with scars was staring at him with an ugly smile.

  “Uhh…” Borfin tried to make an excuse but before he could say anything the man’s grip on his shoulder tightened. He felt like he heard his bones crack.

  With a thud, he was sent out of the building and into the road. His card went flying after him and hit him on his head.

  “Damned scar-face! I bet he also likes her and was afraid that I might win her heart!” Of course this was just Borfin’s nonsense.

  “I’ll definitely get my revenge one day!”

  He stood up and patted his pants free of dirt and picked up his card. That was when he noticed a young boy by the side. It seemed he like he was about to enter the building but stepped aside when Borfin was thrown out.

  “Excuse me,” the boy said with a blank expression as he walked in.

  “Another dreaming youth, huh?” Borfin mumbled to himself. “He’s just like me when I was his age. Well, it won't be long before he realizes how futile his actions are.”

  A proud smile appeared on his face as he looked at the building where the young boy disappeared into.

  It was a three-storey building with a unique design compared to the other buildings in the vicinity. The windows were of uniform and neat design, and the walls were plain and undecorated, giving the entire building a professional feel. A signboard was hung over the entrance and in bold letters was written, “Adventurer’s Guild.” Beneath it in small font was, “Garandale Branch.”

  “Should I take another request?” he thought as he stood before the entrance. He had just submitted the items for a previous request earlier and had received his reward.

  He had asked the lady behind the counter on a date because he had saved enough money to afford one, but now his plans were completely ruined.

  “Never mind. Maybe, I should just hit the bar or something.”

  He found his favorite bar and ordered a meal and a glass of ale. As the usual waitress took his orders, he added in some cheesy lines to ask her out. Of course, he was rejected with a professional smile.

  “Man, I just don’t have luck with girls,” he grumbled as he stuffed his mouth with food.

  While having his meal, he perked his ears and listened in on the conversations in the surrounding tables.

  “I heard that Eaven organized an expedition to finally wipe out Inferna this time.”

  “That’s impossible. Even though the rumors say that Inferna is currently lordless, I think this is all part the demons’ plans. They’re baiting us and its going exactly as they planned. We gather forces to attack them, then they wipe us out, and that’s when they start invading again.”

  “A Sacred Knight had been loitering in the capital for a few weeks already.”

  “Really? I thought those guys never leave Eaven?”

  “Apparently they’re recruiting people from other nations to join the expedition to Inferna.”

  Most of the rumors were about the expedition organized by the Kingdom of Eaven. This wasn’t what Borfin really wanted to hear, but information was information so he kept it in his mind.

  As he continued to eat and eavesdrop, he noticed a figure on the streets through the window. It was the young boy he saw by the guild earlier.

  Normally, he wouldn’t care about a child like him, but there was something about the boy that Borfin couldn’t put into words.

  The boy entered the inn on the other side of the street from the bar. After a while, the boy went out again but this time he was accompanied by an older girl.

  As soon as he saw her, Borfin froze in place.

  That dark-red hair! That slender figure! Those healthy thighs!

  She was just his type!

  Quickly, he finished his meal and emptied his glass before rushing out of the bar.