The night before my first journey outside the village, I had another weird dream.

I stood at the bow of a large ship, sailing across an ocean. A great expanse of dark waters lay in front of us, a pure, vast emptiness. Our destination was uncertain.

I turned around, seeing a fleet of similar ships following me. Behind them, I could see a great landmass. Beacons and towers of light stood on a great city on this landmass. Home. That was the only name this place could deserve.

Yet this place I called home receded into the distance as we entered deeper into the ocean. This was a place I would never see again. No. Rather, this was a place that was impossible to see again.

As the landmass disappeared completely in the distance, my heart ached. I turned around and fixed my eyes forward once more, staring only at the empty ocean.

Did a place we could call a new home await us in the distance?

Then I woke up.

Dreams like these have been becoming more common. And every time I woke up, I found myself in tears. Something was becoming quite clear to me.

I most likely had memories of a past life.

When I thought again about the sight of that landmass, that city in the distance, I couldn’t help but feel a longing.

***

The sun rose over the horizon, bathing the village in a warm red-orange light. On the stone bridge, my mother made her farewells to me.

“All ready for your adventure, Luqa? Make sure you follow what Ersham says, okay? He’ll be your guardian, so rely on him when you have to!” She gave me a tight hug. “And have fun!… while being careful.”

I waved her goodbye before walking up to Ersham, who crossed his arms and watched his wife wishing farewell to Tavarius and Lucia.

“Tavarius, keep your guard up during the trip. If you really want to be an adventurer, follow what your uncle says, okay? And Lucia, you take care too. Don’t be afraid to ask the others for help.”

The little girl hugged her mother back, while the adolescent demon embarrassedly said his own goodbyes. Helena made eye contact with her husband, who watched with a relaxed smile. He nodded firmly at her, as if affirming she had nothing to worry about with him around.

“Right-o, let’s head out, you three! You all have your supplies in order?”

“Yes!”

The three of us responded affirmatively as we followed the swordsman out of the village, with no path or road to guide our journey.

“Gooooood luck, guys!” my mother cried out to us from afar. Eventually, she and Helena, and the village itself, faded into the distance.

“Oh, I almost forgot. Luqa, I have a gift for you, as a reward for your hard work training with me. I had a friend make it. Here. Use it for this journey.” Ersham handed me a sheathed short curved sword. I grasped it by the handle and unsheathed a part of it, admiring the luster of the single-edge blade. Lucia peeked over my shoulder to take a look as well.

“Thank you so much, Uncle Ersham! I’ll use it well.” I sheathed the sword and holstered it to my hip.

“Don’t slack on your training, though! In fact, I expect you to work even harder from now on, Luqa,” he said with a sharp grin.

Welp, that’s to be expected. How much did this sword cost, anyway?

“You’re gonna be a swordsman like me, huh, Luqa? Let’s work hard to get stronger than uncle!” Tavarius said to me with a proud look on his face.

The three of us continued traversing through the hills, cutting down vegetation that blocked our path occasionally. From time to time, Ersham carved a symbol into a tree.

“Make sure you don’t get lost. One way you can keep track of where you are and where you’ve been is to make markers like this. By the way, which direction is the village?”

We pointed our fingers east.

“Good. Let’s keep going.”

Forested hills gave way to forested flatlands as our journey continued. On the way, a large group of hostile wolves confronted us, and Ersham casually stood to the side, giving us the opportunity to take care of it.

“Work together you three. You can do it. Do your best. And don’t die!” He said nonchalantly.

I almost wanted to let the wolves rip me apart just to wipe that stupid look from his face. Almost.

I turned towards the horde of wolves intending to attack us.

“I’ll jump in first, can you two support me?” Tavarius charged onward with his blade. He avoided the lunges of wolves after him, cutting them down with one swing each time he dodged. Some of the wolves circled him, intending to attack him from the back, but arcs of wind cast by Lucia took care of them.

I decided to join hands-on as well, unsheathing my newly received sword. Its weight felt natural in my hands.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Quickly, I bolted forwards and directed a slicing motion at a wolf caught unaware, and its blood splattered on the ground. Another jumped at me from the side.

“[Stone Javelin]”

Instinctively, I used magic to dispatch it. A spike of stone pierced straight through the wolf, instantly killing it.

As I continued to fight, I supplemented my swordsmanship with quick uses of magic, mostly using precise single-target elemental spells. I certainly was nowhere near as skilled as Tavarius with the sword, but my ability to quickly and effectively use magic alongside my sword more than made up for that.

Two minutes later, we had taken care of all of them.

“Nice job, everyone! Good job coordinating as well. And no injuries, too.”

The three of us were catching our breaths as Ersham walked up to us.

“And now, is the best part!”

He took out a knife, knelt down a wolf’s corpse, and started to cut under a wolf’s skin, cleaving its pelt away from the rest of its body. With a series of practiced motions, he completely separated its hide.

“This pelt is something we can take back to the village and sell or use,” he said while rolling and folding the skin into a bundle. “There’s too many of them to skin, so we won’t skin them all. But each one of you, try to do what I did. You all brought a knife, right?”

Tavarius and I each moved to try to skin a wolf. To the side however stood Lucia, refusing to move a budge.

“Lucia, you too,” urged Ersham.

“I don’t wanna do it. They can take care of it.”

“Well, what if they weren’t there to take care of it? Who’ll do it?”

“But if I’m on an adventure, Luqa and Tavarius will be with me, of course. Why wouldn’t they be there with me?”

Ersham shrugged his shoulders and dropped the matter.

“Well, never mind then,” he said while patting his daughter’s head.

Oh, Mr. Ersham, please stop spoiling her. She’ll become insufferable.

***

By the time we were exiting the forest, the day had slipped into evening. The forests opened up to a stretch of grasslands.

Wildflowers and bushes dotted the landscape. Large bison-like creatures — wisunts, I believed they were called — were scattered throughout, busy chomping down on the grass below them. Far into the distance, a small, crumbling fortress of stone stood, a relic of a time before us, its walls covered with moss.

So serene… I could lose myself just gazing at this landscape.

“You see that building over there? We’ll be spending the night there,” Ersham said.

“Where did this castle come from?” I asked while walking, already somewhat aware of the answer that would be given to me.

“… Many years ago, countless humans used to live in this land. But then, during a war with us demons, they were driven away, migrating down to the south. After the war, most of them never came back.”

“Why won’t they come back?” Lucia innocently asked.

“You’ll find out why a bit later. Let’s keep going.”

As we approached the lonely fortress, a large tortoise-like creature with a beaked mouth and a jagged, spiked shell blocked the way. Each step it took towards us shook the ground.

“A kasaf… what the hell is it doing here?” Ersham drew his sword as he stepped forward in front of us. “This one will be a bit difficult. Var, back me up if you want to, but keep watch. And stay away from its mouth.”

The two ran towards the legs of the kasaf and hacked away, trying to bring the creature down. It turned its head towards Tavarius, opened its mouth, and let loose… a breath of fire.

“[Earth Wall]!”

The wall of earth I conjured protected him before he was incinerated.

This thing, judging by how it just took Tavarius’ and Ersham’s attacks without moving a budge, was a beast of formidable defense. But it was unbelievably slow.

“Guys, step away, let me try something!” I yelled at the two, who were still busy slashing at its legs. Hearing my words, they listened and jumped back.

This kasaf creature is tough but slow. The perfect enemy for my skills, then.

“This thing’s tougher than I remember. And, breathing fire too, never ‘ad I seen that too,” Ersham said with an irritated click of his tongue.

“Don’t worry, I think I can take care of it.”

Here goes.

“[Inferno]”

Intense flame escaped from my hands, blasting the monster with its full heat. I looked at the dumbfounded Lucia and nodded my head. She quickly nodded back.

“Spirits of the wind, wanderers of the weldin, shake the earth with the fury of your tempest — [Tornado]”

A tornado conjured by Lucia turned the flames into a swirling whirlwind of fire; the creature, unable to swiftly escape, had retreated into its shell, leaving us to burn it alive. I fed more and more mana into my spell, turning the flames brighter and brighter. The scent of scorched meat filled the air by the time we were done.

Yep, that thing’s definitely dead.

“Holy shit! Clara’s been teaching you two well,” Ersham said in astonishment.

“Nice, you two! You guys are awesome.” Tavarius patted us both on our heads roughly.

“Kasaf meat is usually really delicious, but it’s probably no good now.” He peeked into the shell of the creature and scrunched his nose at the strong burnt smell.

You were going to eat this thing? Ugh.

“Aw, really?” Lucia joined her father’s disappointment.

This whole family’s weird.

I glanced at Tavarius, who shrugged back with indifference.

Guess the meat enthusiast trait came directly from Ersham.

***

Helena rummaged through her box of items, while Clara stood against the wall, arms crossed, worry on her face.

“Have you really decided on this?” Clara asked the other woman.

Helena found what she was searching for, pulling out two daggers as well as a bag of gold coins.

“Yes. No one else can do this. And certainly, you can’t do it. Who’s going to take care of your son?”

“But Helena, you and Ersham can watch him. He's a smart boy, he'll understand. And what about Tavarius? Or Lucia? They’ll be distressed about you leaving. I’m human, I can do this too.”

“No. They have Ersham to take care of them. While he’s definitely not the image of a responsible father, I can trust him. Besides, there’s no one better than me for this job.” She looked down at the daggers in her hand. The sight of them made her feel nostalgic. “And you’re one of the village’s guardians as well as its healer. I’ve been enjoying a relaxed life here, in part thanks to you. Let me repay that debt, Clara.”

“We can also just tell the villagers and urge them to leave! Maybe we migrate to the Citadel or…”

“We can’t do that. We’ll end up getting half of them killed, trying to cross the wastelands,” Helena said somberly.

Clara went silent, realizing that no argument from hers could cause her friend to back down. She felt guilty that she had suggested the idea to her in the first place.

“… what’s your plan, then?”

“For the next few days, I’ll keep watch on those knights in the Black Forest. I’ll keep track of how many, take note of their outpost, find out how they’re able to stay with the miasma around, and maybe tail them if any of them there head back to the Millieun Empire.” Helena unsheathed one of her daggers, her calm face reflected from the sharp blade. “And if it’s as you suspect, I’ll go to the Millieun Empire to gather information. Depending on what I learn, we’ll move on from there. Not much has changed in the last three years with their outpost, right?”

Clara weakly nodded.

“Then a year or two probably won’t change things too much. Keep an eye while I’m not here, though.”

“Be careful, Helena. Those Holy Knights… they’re the type to eliminate anything they think might be a threat to them. If they hear about someone poking around for information, who knows what might happen to you?”

Helena smiled widely. “Don’t worry. Did you forget who I was? I’m hurt… I used to be famous, y’know? And anyone who comes after me will happen to just unfortunately and mysteriously die.”