“Did you know there’s a field of sunflowers just over that hill?” she said puffing a big breath of air. Sweat formed and beamed down her face, as her breaths became so fast, she could no longer stand.

Actually, she just let herself fall to the soft grass, staring ahead, no, staring up; just a little more to go but no energy. The climb really was strenuous, more so for a novice like her. Her staff lay next to her.

“Perhaps, though I don’t know if it still there,” The voice came. Behind her. A man had been climbing. Rugged, somewhat well-built and a little older than the girl.

“Oh, you’ve seen it?” She mumbled. “I’ve always dreamt of seeing that field… a field of sunflowers…” She smiled, still a little uneasy but she sat down. “How was it?”

“It’s been a while but,” the man snickered. “I’m sure you’ll see soon enough.” he walked past her. Leather boots. Loose pants, just a shirt and a really large hat.

When she, Jane first met him, she really didn’t believe this man was an expert hunter. Forget about the hunter part, she couldn’t believe he was an expert at anything. Lots of facial hair, barely any armor, just a rusty naked dagger and that’s all there was to the man. He didn’t even have a sword.

But during these last two weeks, she’d learned again… appearances, really could deceive.

“How long are you going to lie there, little miss?” He looked back.

“Just a minute longer…” the sun was warm, and she’d almost caught her breath.

“You know you’re lying on slugs, right?”

Jane stared at the sky, smiled, “EKK!” and haphazardly jumped off, furiously slamming her fists on her robes, in the hopes of somehow getting the slugs off.

Pant- pant- but as she calmed down a little, she realized- “There are no slugs,” She stared dumbfounded at the man- or rather, the lack thereof. He was already way ahead. “You fucking dick!”

He looked back, tipped his comically large hat, smiled and kept walking.

Jane cursed but did pick her staff up and jogged.

They were almost at the top… almost.

***

Jane was brought up in a fairly solvent family; not very rich, not very poor. But as a lady of the middle class, she had to learn noble etiquette in the hopes of being married off to a wealthy merchant or if she was lucky, a nobleman.

She was somewhat smart, capable and decently good looking, so her chances were high; perhaps why her parents really pushed her in every way possible. But that also meant, she was a bird in a cage, at least to her. What was the point of spending all your youth trying to impress some middle-aged man and then being locked away till you die? Being his… toy?

And so, when her house burnt down from a random fire, despite losing the place she called home for sixteen years, she was actually glad. A little scared about the future but glad regardless.

Jane had little freedom but she got some pocket money every now and then and she’d saved that over the years. It was enough for her to afford the help of a mercenary to cross cities and hopefully never be bound like that. Was this an extreme way of doing things? Probably. But was she so fed up that she paid the last of her coin to a random stranger in the hopes of escaping fate? Definitely.

To reiterate, Jane was somewhat smart… but perhaps, not enough. Because just after setting out, she realized, the mercenary ran off with the money and abandoned her in a village inn. With barely anything left but her clothes and staff, she had no choice but to offer her bracelet, hoping for someone to accompany her to the city.

But the nearest city was her homeland and it was the last place she wanted to be at. And the city next doors? Still two weeks’ worth of journey and full of danger, danger a sheltered city girl had no way of defending against. Even with her magical talents.

“Please- I need-”

“Huh? What is wrong with you? Why would I want this flimsy bracelet with barely any gold?”

It was the same response she got. Didn’t matter where she went. No shop and no villager, no one took her seriously.

Her leather armor was cheap; the robe, even cheaper. Her staff was nothing more than just a wooden stick barely containing any magical potential. She only carried it out of respect for her late grandmother. And the bracelet? Silver with just a little gem and some gold embroidery; cute but not valuable.

As she thought, people weren’t kind enough to just randomly help her out of the good of their hearts.

I brought this on myself…

Yet, she didn’t give up. She tried finding work, and that proved to be quite difficult for a sheltered city girl. Especially in a village like this. She didn’t know housework, and she was a liability when it came to hunting. With the last of her food running out, there was only one thing left for her to do. Sell her body.

But wouldn’t that be the same?

Didn’t she run away to escape a caged fate to begin with?

So, she just took a gamble. A gamble with her life. She left the village. Or rather, she was about to leave the village when she met a man. A particular man who- for better or worse was headed in the same direction, to the Citadel of Ale, the city next to her destination, Silverstar.

Jane didn’t trust the hairy man, nor his intentions. He was somewhat short for a man, slightly taller than herself and definitely older. Maybe late fourties? Would that man really be able to cover her during this journey? And was she really safe with him? Lots of worries but beggars couldn’t be choosers.

She still struck a deal with the man. If he’d let her travel with her to Ale, she’d give him her staff. It looked like an ordinary staff but had a lot of value- or so Jane told the man; she’d also bundle her bracelet too. It wasn’t a lie parse but she had no other choice. This was her last resort. He needed to be protected. As a mage, she had the fire power to stand up to almost anything the wilderness had to throw at her, but, but she needed someone to protect her while she cast her spells and cautioned her against dangers, she had no real way of knowing about. Without that protection, she was just going to be chewed on by some rabid fox demon. A fate she didn’t want to experience in her lifetime.

But most of her worries came out to be untrue. One, the man wasn’t weak. Two, he didn’t try to force himself on her and three, he really knew his stuff. But one worry did come true.

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“You stink!” She yelled reflexively every time he came near her.

The man hardly took insults, he either brushed them off with his signature “Heh” or just broke into fits of laughter.

An odd man, Jane thought. And her opinions of him only got odder and odder over the course of the first week.

***

“It should be just up ahead,” the man staring out.

They had reached the top of the hill. The climb was stiff. The descent was not. Fairly pleasant. Soft grass, hardly any slugs or bugs and quite fragrant grassy smell. An exciting feeling, but not just for that but rather- “Beautiful…” Jane mumbled, her eyes almost painted yellow.

Beauty was solely tied to the beholder. If someone found something beautiful, there was bound to be someone who found it ordinary or downright ugly.

However, this was one of the few sights that most humans would probably agree to be beautiful- or so Jane told herself over and over again throughout the journey.

When she’d left her home for the first time, she wanted to take the shortest route. But she didn’t. Because she wanted to experience the same view her grandmother had.

The sunflower field.

“it’s beautiful,” She repeated.

Hundreds, no thousands of sunflowers. Some flowers bigger than her and the man’s head combined. Some plants only had one flower while others, many. They grew haphazardly and in no particular order. One spot had nine plants huffing for some light while there were free spots here and there.

It was said, long ago, about three centuries ago one merchant had been carrying a bag of sunflower seeds to the nearest mill to sell them for some quick cash. But due to an accident, the bag fell over the cart and despite the merchant’s best efforts, some seeds spilled out and those seeds birthed this whole field in a matter of decades.

Jane didn’t really know the legitimacy of the story since her grandmother had a habit of mixing in white lies to stories, making them exciting and all. Besides, the lady was somewhat delusional in the later portion of her days anyway. But she kind of wanted to believe for once.

“I wouldn’t get too close though,” the man said.

“Why?”

“Tall trees, you can hardly see what’s inside the dark crevices and well, not enough room. Hardly anyone would be stupid enough to go in there,” he shrugged. “We go around.”

“That’ll take hours.”

“Yes, but it’ll also save us unnecessary butchering.”

Jane wanted to yell at the man and tell him how much she hated being told what to do. But she didn’t. One, because the man was really helping her, perhaps from the good of his heart or perhaps he had some ulterior motives but he was indeed helping her. And two, he was right.

“Alright.”

Jane wanted to see more of the flowers. And from up close too. And she’d been wanting to for several years at this point. It was one of the fundamental reasons why she chose this route and even the city to begin with. But- she was still somewhat content. After all, she did get to see the field at least… even if she was seeing it from a distance.

“Don’t be too down,” the man walked ahead. “Monsters can sense depression.”

These parts didn’t have any roads. There were occasional cedar trees and lots of grass, sometimes large enough to cover half of Jane. The man did for the most part warn her not to go near those patches of grass.

“You speak as though they’re intelligent enough to-”

“Cause they are,” He stared back, almost serious for a second. “And you’d be better of remembering that at the very least.”

“I guess.”

Jane had spent one week with the man so far and there was still another week to go.

So far nothing had happened. They hardly came across any monsters and even if they did, the man quickly disposed of them. He even gave her tips on how to avoid being prey and how to be the hunter and stuff like that. Most of which she already forgot because she had no real interest in the subject to begin with.

In her mind, she just wanted to cross this place, find new life in the city and then go on with her life. This hunting business just wasn’t for her. However- that thought came in with some baggage. What work? What life? What place…

Rustle-

The man held a hand up- and they both stopped.

“What?”

“Shh…”

Wind blowing. A fairly bright sunny day, no clouds. Birds flying by, chirping; nothing dangerous around in hindsight. Yet, there was tension in the air.

The man stared back, smiled. “Run.”

“Huh?” Jane stared, somewhat dumbfounded but as she saw the man running for dear life, she didn’t hesitate to either.

They ran, they ran hard. Through the grass, through the bugs, through everything. They just ran!

Pant- pant- wheezing like she had third stage lung cancer, Jane fell on her knees, hardly able to stand up. The man stopped as well, dagger on his hand.

“Wh-what are we eve-n running from?” Jane tried to breathe but it was hard, really hard considering she’d hardly ran all her life. Besides, the robe and the grass weren’t really offering her a favorable track.

“Goblins… ten- no, at least fifty,” the man mumbled, quickly putting the dagger on his belt and picking up Jane. No, not like a princess but like a potato sack on his back. Her behind on his front, and her head straight looking behind the man.

Although Jane wanted to complain a little, there was no way in hell she was going to do that now….

Jane could see the things crawling out of the grass, little things, almost the size of toddlers. Purple green in color, long nose, short pointy ears, bone necklace, stone knives, and loincloth. Those things had intelligence, somewhat, and they loved feasting on humans.

“But weren’t goblins weak and a single person could take on five, six?”

“Huh? Goblins, weak? Are you crazy, lady! Those things will eat you up.” The man ran fast, not wasting any breath.

“Ea-eat me up…” Jane couldn’t help but feel the man meant something else but she also didn’t want to bother. After all- “They’ve got flutes?” She wondered.

“Shit.” The man took a nosedive with Jane.

Tick!

Something flew over their heads.

“Poison darts,” he got up, cracked his neck.

“OW!” Jane yelled, almost sniffling but getting up anyway. Her bottom took quite the fall.

“Complain later, run.”

“You?”

“I’ll fight them. If they catch me, they’ll kill me. If they catch you, they won’t kill you, so run.” He dashed ahead.

Jane ran.

She wanted to stay, she wanted to stay and fight, prove she wasn’t just a liability and yet, yet she ran. She ran with all her might, till her lungs gave out and she couldn’t see the man’s silhouette anymore.

Panting, she sat on the ground, the bugs didn’t bother her, as much as the rustling. Even though she knew, the things couldn’t have come this far… she couldn’t rest. Besides, if the man really did fall… who’d protect her and-

No, no!

She couldn’t be selfish and worry what would happen to her. The man literally sacrificed his life for her, she had to go back and-

Rustle-

Eyes furious, Jane swung back, staff ready to club. Some bushes, some rustling-

Spee!~ a little fat Fluffball came out: big eyes, catlike ears. The weakest of monsters, and also harmless.

Letting out a sigh of relief, Jane loosened her shoulders but instantly stiffed up again. There something, something behind her and she could feel it. she could feel the pressure, she could feel the gaze, she could feel the… lust.

“AH!” Screaming she swung her staff- hitting the thing on its torso- a goblin.

Grr… it brushed off the attack like it wasn’t a big deal and snickered. A rock in hand, the thing slowly came forward, while Jane slowly went backward….

Just grass and fields. Thick grass, and if her eyes didn’t betray her, there were more in there, snickering.

Think- think- think!~

But no matter how she tried, she couldn’t think, she couldn’t remember any incantations and she couldn’t keep her heart from pounding, her breath from wheezing….

It’s going to kill me…

“If they catch you, they won’t kill you, so run,” His voice played back in her mind. No.

Grasping her staff even tighter, she gritted her teeth- glaring. “Fires of Null, dangling in front-” He started running, Jane ran backwards- “Come before me, slay the foe, erase sorrow-” Voice shaking, Jane knew she was mixing up incantations and there was no way a spell would form under these conditions. A mage had to stay calm to use magic, and she was anything but calm. Wah- she fell over. “FLAME SPEAR!” Staff pointed, she shouted at the top of her lungs but nothing happened.

Tears sprung up I her salty dumplings.

“Ki- ki-ki-” The thing laughed in odd ways and-

Sparks. Instead of fire, sparks formed and RUMBLE! Thunder descended, instantly burning the goblin alive.

Breath all over the place, Jane somehow stood back up on her feet. What the fuck… She could not believe it, no.

That was surely not her, she knew that. But that begged the question, who?

There was no one here, so-

So, who?

But before she even had the privilege of worrying, she saw more things. More goblins, in the range of a few hundreds.

He’s dead… Jane’s mind snapped back, eyes sharpening. “Come flames of null, devour my foes, my woes, and-”

“HUH!!” A mighty swing, leaving almost entrails in the air: The man, had come.

He came running, and that’s when Jane realized, the goblins weren’t really running to her, rather, those things were running away from the man.

She again fell on her knees, this time, out of sheer relief. “Took you long enough…”