Hera and Leo reached the city gates in around half an hour. The rain frog had attempted to flee a couple of times, but it was too weakened to escape. As they were crossing over the entrance, the guards stopped the duo.

"What do you think you are doing?"

The guards blocked the entrance using their spears.

"We need to take him to a healer," Leo showed the frog in his arms.

"Is that thing tamed?" the guard asked.

"Not yet, I'm taming it right now."

"No dice, you can't come in here with a wild monster."

"But we need to get help! We don't know how to heal him," Hera pleaded.

"You are not getting a wild monster inside the city. There is no discussion about it," The guard shook his head.

Leo was pacing around, and by his expression, Hera could tell he was considering something bad.

"Leo, stay here. I'll run to the guild and grab some help."

The hunter nodded, and Hera dashed towards the center of the town. It took her less than ten minutes to reach the guild. Hera arrived at the counter and asked for someone who could heal a monster. The clerk told her that she could post a quest for it, and any healer that was willing could help. But there were some procedures to take care of before she could post the quest.

"Healers? OK, Thanks," Hera walked away from the desk and towards the middle of the room, " I'll pay 500 gold for a healer who can cleanse poisons and help heal a frog," she yelled. Leo would own her a refund for this.

"Miss, you can't do that. If you have a request, you need to do it through the right channels," the clerk said.

"I'll do it later. It's an emergency."

Seeing her reaction, the clerk grabbed a tablet and asked her to place her bracelet on it. It was a way to create an emergency quest that could be filled out later. She only needed to say the reward and who she needed.

Before even finishing the registration, two healers were waiting to take the quest. Explaining once again what she needed a healer, one of them gave up the quest. She didn't have any emergency heals. The man who accepted the quest introduced himself as Runir. Hera thanked him, and they dashed towards the front gate. Less than half an hour after leaving Leo there, she was already back with the healer.

The hunter was in a shouting match with the guard. Hera was surprised at how much Leo seemed to care about the rain frog. Maybe he bonded with it more than she imagined. When he saw her, he stopped yelling, and Runir approached the frog.

"He's a healer. I hired him to heal the frog," Hera said.

Leo held the frog in place while Runir examined it, "Thanks, Hera."

"No need for thanks, I also expect you to pay me back what I'm paying him."

Leo nodded, "Sure, it was what? 100 gold?"

"500," Hera replied with a smile.

"WHAT?"

"That was to get someone here fast."

Leo looked at the healer, "Can't we negotiate this?"

The man chuckled, "She already created the quest, boss. We can only negotiate the extras now."

Leo cursed under his breath, but at the same time, he couldn't help but smile. It was a lot of money, but that only proved how much Hera trusted him. Runir kept using his spells to remove the poison and heal the rain frog. In around 15 minutes the frog was sleeping in Leo's arms, seemingly out of danger.

"There you go, boss man, all done," the healer turned towards Hera, "He is out of danger, and I don't think I can do anymore for him. Can we consider the quest complete?"

Hera looked at Leo, who gave an approving nod, "Sure, let me transfer you the money. Sorry for the freakout back there."

"No worries, we all get a bit crazy when our pets are hurt. I got five tickets at once when my dog got hurt last year. But who has time to stop for red lights when your little pupper is crying?" Runir said.

Hera laughed, she could understand that, even if she never had pets herself. After that, she transferred the money to the healer and thanked him once again. Only now taking a moment to look at him. Runir was a tall man with a tribal pattern buzzcut, dark brown eyes, and plump lips with a small ring piercing on the side. He had beige skin that leaned towards a sepia tone. He wore a long sleeveless vest and a padded shirt underneath it. He also had a necklace with an interesting pattern. It was almost like a big hourglass with two smaller ones in the middle of it.

"Listen, you guys paid a lot of money for something this simple. I know that for us, this is like three days of work, at least. Here is my contact info, if anything else happens with the little guy, call me. When I return to the city, I'll see if I can help," Runir said.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

Leo nodded, but he still was cradling the frog. Hera smiled, "Thanks, do you go out to hunt a lot?"

"Yeah, I could be working in the guild or as a healer in the city, but that is very boring. I rather be in the field, unlike most healers," he said, rolling his eyes.

"Yeah, we have a researcher in our group and as much as she loves to study. I think she's enjoying our hunts. Mostly because she is using a lot of magic, but still," Hera chuckled.

"Oh? You guys have a researcher in your party? That's rare."

"We got close during the training. It just felt natural to join forces."

Runir scratched his shin, "Yeah, I guess so. I wonder if that would have happened to me if I got my role skill on the first try too."

"Did it take long for you to get it?"

"A little, I missed the first few tries and had to work in the guild for a few months before trying again. Luckily I figured out that the role I was aiming for wasn't for me."

"We had a girl do the same. She changed from a fighter to something else." Hera said.

The two of them talked for a little while, and Runir left, heading towards the guild. Hera checked on Leo, who was still with the frog in his arms.

"His breath seems to be more regular now," the hunter said.

"That's good. Maybe he just needs some rest."

Leo nodded and kept staring at the frog, stroking its back gently.

"If you don't mind me asking. How come you are so attached to it?"

Leo raised his head to look at Hera. The hunter's eyes seemed full of pain. He rubbed them with his arm.

"Yeah, I guess the situation reminded me of when I was little. I had this cat, and one day I ended up giving him food that made it sick. My parents were busy with some new exhibits and couldn't get home to him to the vet. I was 13 at the time, I had no money for a cab and there was no one that I could call, so I ran with the cat in my arms towards a vet. But I wasn't very sure how to get there. I ended up taking too long, and by the time I got there, my cat had to go to intensive care. The worst came later. He had an allergic reaction to the medicine, and that triggered a bunch of problems. Two months later, he died. I blame myself to this day. I guess that triggers some memories."

Hera sat down beside the hunter and put her arms around him, "You didn't mean that to happen. I'm sure you were just trying to make your cat happy."

"Yeah, I didn't know cats couldn't eat chocolate. I thought it was just dogs," the hunter said, touching his head with Hera's.

"It was a kid's mistake. A dumb kid mistake, but still just a kid's mistake. You can't blame yourself forever."

"I won't, just until I die," the hunter chuckled. Hera poked him with her elbow as a reply.

The two spent a couple of hours sitting beside the city gates. That attracted the stares of a few people passing by, not so much for the two sitting outside the walls but the small rain frog on the man's lap. The guards kept a close eye on the frog, worried about the monster waking up and rampaging near the gate.

After some time, the frog started to move once again. It woke up and stared at Leo for a moment. Then it nuzzled in his arms once again.

The hunter chuckled, "Hey there, Tiger," He turned to Hera, "I guess I got my pet."

"Really?" Hera asked, looking at the frog.

"Yeah, I just got a notification. I got the skill, and I could use it on him. It also came with a couple of other skills, I can see where he is on the map, and he can understand me better."

Hera looked at the rain frog and activated her [Observe].

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tiger (tamed)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Did you really name him Tiger?" Hera asked.

"Yeah, I was thinking about my old cat."

"Still... Tiger?"

"I was a kid, ok?" Leo shrugged

"I'm fine with that. But you have to introduce him to Blue and Alex later."

The hunter's eyes went wide, "Oh no."

The two of them walked toward the gate. Showing the tamed frog to the guards, they were allowed to pass. However, Leo had to stop by the guild to register Tiger as his pet. He also wanted to search around for a bed and some supplies for his new companion. Hera went to guild to finish registering the quest. Runir had already marked it as completed, and then she gathered the rest of the party.

Sometime later, the group met up for lunch. Leo introduced Tiger to the rest of the team. Alex wanted the beast to be far away from her. She wasn't comfortable near frogs yet. Bonnie kept badgering Leo with questions about how the skill worked and what the frog could do to help.

"Please tell me you didn't try to kiss him. You know that those are just fairy tales, right? The frog is not going to turn into a princess," Blue teased.

"It's a he ok. He's male," Leo replied.

"Ok, sorry. I just never took you for the damsel in distress type, hoping the prince come to your rescue," Blue replied.

The group laughed and discussed their plans. According to the information they got for the Frog Valley, the dungeon itself could take around five hours to finish since it was a search based quest. And another four hours to travel to it. Thankfully, there was a small encampment near it to have a relatively safe place to rest. Leo also didn't want to go too far while he was still getting used to Tiger. He needed to train him before he was useful in actual combat.

They decided to hunt as a party of four for the next few days while Leo trained his pet. Bonnie also wanted to make some money, and if the rest of the week went well, she might have enough for the first payment she had to do. Hera also made it clear she wanted to be in the city by Friday to meet with Helena, and that the mage wanted to talk to Bonnie. Blue was also on the fence about joining the order but asked if she could speak to Helena to get some more information.

Before long, the week had ended with the group training in the morning, hunting frogs in the afternoon, and resting in the evening. Their speed also increased thanks to their level up and the sash Alex had. By Wednesday, Bonnie had gathered the 10 000 gold she needed. Every night they would gather in a bar or a diner to watch Becca interviewing the high ranking explorers. Wildborn was a muscular man with a long wild beard connected to his hair, but he had a bald spot on top of his head. The healer was very enthusiastic and exaggerated. Everything he did seemed over the top, but somehow it seemed natural to him. He demonstrated one of his abilities, roaring at a group that was injured from the hunt, healing their bruises almost instantly.

Toxic Rain was a weird person. She was like a caring grandmother, always asking if everyone was ok and if they needed something. She would even carry around some adhesive bandages with flower patterns and would give it to anyone who had small scrapes. Yet, her fighting style was to poison her enemies and stalk her prey until they died.

Iron Heart wasn't just shy. He had trouble speaking with other people and always wore full steel armor, including a helmet. The armor was a bit odd since it had to be made for someone skinny. During the interview, Becca asked why he agreed to the meeting, and the man revealed that he was a big fan of hers. He even asked for an autograph. It was a lovely moment, and the crowd watching on the diner cheered for the man. Hera could even see the people rooting for a new couple to be formed.

The interview with Azure Chain was cut short when a monster attacked the camp. Luckily no one was hurt, but they had to stop the interviews until more people arrived after that.

Friday morning, Hera was waiting for Helena in front of the doorway, excited to see her friend.

It was 11:15 when the mage arrived through the doorway, opening a big smile when she saw Hera waiting for her, "Hello, sweetie."