A/N: Before today’s chapter begins, I’d like to clarify something that was brought to my attention.  When Selena and Taishi begin a fight, they drop their packs before engaging.  Unless I specify otherwise.  When they go to loot, they can just pick it back up.  At some point I’d like to put that somewhere in the story, but for now this will have to do.  Sorry! And please enjoy!

Day 6

{Max Mana +9}

{Strength +1}

{Toughness +1}

{Endurance +1}

{Dexterity +2}

“Chi, let her sleep. She was up late.”

“But, but…”

“Ugh…  I’m awake.”  I peeked out from under my bedroll to see Selena holding Chi back by her collar.  “Is this a comedy routine?”

“Ha.  Ha.  Funny.  Since you’re awake, you might as well come have some breakfast.”  As we ate, I asked Selena how her watch went.  “Oh, not bad.  An ogre came near, but it went right by.  The dawn was nice too.”

“Hey, forget that.  What are our plans for today?  We’re going back right?”  Chi was completely indifferent to Selena’s efforts.

“I don’t know about Selena, but I need to make some coin today.”

I guess that came out wrong since the others looked confused.  Even Selena asked, “Isn’t that what all this loot is for?”  Indeed we had gotten a fair bit of leather and ogre horns, but overall I doubted it was more than a couple silver.  And it would be split three ways.

“Sorry Selena, but that’s not nearly enough.  I still owe 6 silver for my second dagger.”

“6 silver?  How are you thinking of getting that?”

Chi mind went somewhere else.  “You’re not taking my share without payment.”

“No no.  I’ll be able to get enough by the time we get home without the loot.  If you want, I’ll let you two split it.”

“Now I’m intrigued. How exactly are you going to get this coin without the loot?”

“The same way I got the coin I repaid you with, Selena.  Magic.”  I must say it was quite fun teasing the pair over that.  After a few attempts of putting it off, I finally caved in and told them.  “It’s something I learned about on my last world, but no one could use it without magic.  I won’t tell you how it’s done, but I won’t stop you from watching.”

Maybe it was because they were both used to being poor, but they got excited just from the thought of ‘free’ coin.

We packed up and started our trek back.  The others, Chi in particular, were way too close for comfort though.  “Girls, I need some room.  This is going to make a cloud of dust, so please don’t breathe it in or mess with it.”

Once they were a few meters away, I activated my magic.  It wasn’t much, but I knew it was working.  The last time I had done this, I only came away with six and a half silver.  But thinking it over, wouldn’t it be more efficient to draw just the gold?  There’s much less of it, but it’s worth much more per mana.  And I could draw from a wider area.  Since I had all day, waiting wasn’t a problem.

For Selena and Chi though, seeing almost nothing for half an hour was disheartening.  They could only really see the cloud when I gathered it in my hand, and even then all I got were little pebbles.

“Taishi, how long is that going to take?”  Selena spoke up first.

“All day probably.  Right now it’s taking about one mana every two minutes.  If we kill any monsters though…”

“So you’ll be able to keep it up all day?  What are you gathering exactly?”

“Gold.”

““...””

“It isn’t much, but if I keep it up all day it should be worth at least 20 silver at the coin exchange.”  Honestly I thought it might be more than that, but I didn’t want them thinking I was rich.

“Chi, do you know how she’s doing it?”

Chi shook her head.  “No.  It looks like she’s pulling it out of thin air.  Hey wait!  If us killing monsters helps you get more gold, then don’t we get a cut?”

“You’re right!  Taishi, don’t you think we deserve a bit of that too?”

“You’re siding with Chi again?  Look, I’m not doing this to get rich.  It’s only enough to get by.  I have no family or home, no experience with normal jobs.  I need something to start with right?”

Okay, maybe I was being a bit greedy too.

“Tell you what.  If I get anything over 10 silver, we’ll split it between us.  But then the loot also gets split 3 ways.  Deal?”

““Deal””

{Sustained Mana +1}

It took a couple hours to find our first goblin pack, and in that time my skill rose.  This time, since Selena was more excited about coin than magic, Only Chi would use her magic to fight.  Starting off a pack with an explosion near any archers, Selena would take care of any ogres while I sprinted in to finish any dazed goblins.

{Unarmed +1}

{One Hand Blade +1}

It worked out well, and each pack we faced returned about 22 mana back to Chi and me.  It wasn’t enough to refund Chi’s fireballs, but it kept her from running low on mana in case we needed healing.

Eventually we ran out of packs to hunt, so my gathering came to a crawl.  Chi and Selena were a bit disappointed, but I just smiled.  They didn’t know just how much I had collected.  I also didn’t stop there.  Over time my mana regenerated naturally, and the occasional goblin or two helped as well.

{Kinetic Magic +1}

Apparently me drawing gold was also improved that.  It was slower to level than just shooting rocks would be, but I couldn’t complain about a free skill level.

Right around mid afternoon we reached Krale’s gate, and Jils greeted us.  “Hey girls.  Selena, hunting in groups.  The world must be ending.”

“Enough with the teasing Jils.  There’s no way I would go with some random people, and you know it.”  As they talked, we all went through the gate process.

“Yeah, yeah.  It’s just nice to see you hanging around people who aren’t in the guard.  Hmm, alright.  You’re all good to go.”

“Thanks Jils.  Come on you two.”  Selena lead the way to Stella’s general store.

“Welcome.  Oh it’s you two, and the new face from yesterday.  What can I do for you?”

“Just selling what we found for now.”  With that, we emptied our packs of leathers and ogre horns.  We hadn’t bother with the goblin knives because they took too much room.  Altogether we received 79 copper, each.  It wasn’t a bad haul for two days’ work, but we had also destroyed a lot of loot with our fireballs.

With most of my share, I bought a rag Selena recommended for cleaning monster blood off weapons, and tied it to my pack for later.

On the way out, Chi took the lead, saying “Now to get rich!”  Just the thought of of it was enough to expel her exhaustion.

“Oh, you’re back again.  And you brought friends.  What do you have today?”  The woman at the coin exchange was entirely unsurprised when I brought out all the tiny pebbles I had accumulated.

When I say all, I don’t mean to say it was a lot.  I could easily hold it all in my palm.  But when a single gold coin is worth 10,000 copper, you don’t need much.

The woman checked it for purity, then weighed it all.  “It’s about a quarter coin, I can give you 23 silver, and 80 copper.”

A small gasp from Chi made me chuckle a bit as I replied.  “After the first 10 silver, could you split the rest three ways?”

“Sure.  Crowns are fine, right?”  I nodded and she went right to counting out coins.  “Here’s the silver crown.  And here’s 4 silver coins and 6 copper crowns for each of you.  Anything else?”

“Nope, that’s it.  Thanks a lot ma’am.”

“This is what I’m paid for.  Now get out of here before your friend there starts drooling.”

Once outside, I was blindsided by a tight hug from Chi.  “Thank you!”

Even Selena had a cheeky grin as she said, “Thanks, little one.”

“Calm down.  I told you girls I’d split it right?  But now I have to report back to Eve at the smithy.”

“Ooh!  Can we come with?”

“No, Chi.  You and I are going for a bath.  Taishi, take your time.  I’ll try and hurry Chi along.”

“What?  Why can’t we all bathe together?”

“You know exactly why, Chi.  Come along.”  Seeing Chi’s defeated look as she was dragged away was a bit sad.  But I sent Selena a silent ‘thank you’ when she looked back.  There was no way I wanted to get trapped in the baths with Chi.

Inside the smithy, Eve was already helping another customer.  When she saw me though, she looked relieved and waved me over.  “Taishi.  Just in time.  Have you tried out the new palm daggers yet?”

“Palm daggers?  That does kind of fit.  Yeah, just got back from the desert.”

“This is the one you sent?”  For the first time I really looked at the ‘customer’.  The woman seemed middle aged, but very fit, and was dressed in leather clothes with tons of pockets.

“Ah, sorry.  This is Roh, a merchant.  She’s the one I was planning to sell the palm daggers to.  Roh, this is Taishi.  I figured if she could use them well, your customers would love them. Taishi, you have them with you, right?  Please show her.”

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

It seemed to surprise Roh when I took them out of my pockets.  “Hidden like that?  Hmm.  Okay then.  Let us hear how well they did then.”  It was a little uncomfortable with both ladies looking down at me, but I was short.  What else could I expect?

“Well, I don’t have the strength to cut or break bones, but I had no problem slipping the blades between them.  I was even improving my unarmed skill with the follow through punches.  The only improvement I could suggest is extending the knuckle guards.”

“Oh really?  Wouldn’t that be harder to conceal then?”

“Sorry Eve, I think she’s right.  They prefer unarmed combat down in Antor, and they have no need to conceal their weapons.”

They were missing something though.  “It isn’t just that.  It’s next to impossible to parry or block with just the blade.  Even a flat cross guard at the base of the blade would work wonders for that.”

“Ah.  That would be hard to deal with.  Okay, Roh.  If I make multiple sizes, all with full knuckles, the dragon root alone would jump the price ranging from 40 to 50 silver per unit.  You okay with that?”

“Yes.  I’ll need varied sizes, from small like this kid’s, to large hand sizes.  Let’s go with three hundred pairs.  If I end up running out the local smiths will eat it up.”

“Ven’s not going to like it, but we can do that.  Give us a few days to see how fast we can produce them.”

“Sure thing.  And kiddo, thanks for the suggestion.  Take care.”  As Roh left, Eve turned back to me.

“Taishi, I can’t thank you enough for that.”

“No no.  I didn’t even pay the cost of my own daggers yet.”

“Nonsense.  That 6 silver you owed was paid just now.  An order that big doesn’t come very often.  Now, would you like a full knuckle on yours too?  Free of charge of course.”

“Wait, really?  I’ve already gotten so much.”  Did this woman really run a business?

“And so have I.  That order was almost 300 gold.  You more than earned it. Now, do you want full knuckles?  Yes or no?”

I felt bad, but I answered honestly.  For the record, I don’t like getting free things.  “Yes.  But I don’t want them to be too big.”  I handed her the two daggers and their sheaths.

“I got it.  We still have your hand molds too, so it won’t be hard.  They’ll be done tonight.”

I wasn’t even given a moment’s pause before Eve pushed me out of the store.  Once outside I felt for the silver crown I had thought to use.  ‘Maybe I should keep this a secret.’  Since I still had my pack with me, I hid the coin in that.  Just in case.

Luckily the others weren’t in the baths when I got there.  I don’t think I could have fended Chi off if they were.

It was then I found out just how difficult washing long hair was.  Selena had always been the one to help with that.  After a few minutes of fighting knots I gave up and used magic.  It hurt a bit, but at least I was able to straighten it out again.  I did get a few pitying looks though.  Once that was done I had time to soak and think.

‘What do I want to do now?’  I finally had some magic practice under my belt, and my weapons fit me perfectly.  I even had a way to earn coin in a pinch.

‘I don’t know enough to decide yet.’  Once I understood that, my next option was to get some answers from Selena.  I got out and collected my things, then headed back to the inn.  ‘I hope she’s back by now.’

When I got back to our room, she was there eating dinner.  “Good, you’re back.  I was worried your food would get cold.”

“Thanks Selena.”  I sat across from her to eat, but I didn’t want to waste time.  “Would you mind telling me what the world’s like?  I mean countries and such.”

“Hmm, I guess you should know that before too long.  Alright.  This country is named Fiila.  The desert here is the southern end, and north of it is a huge farm land area, with trees and rivers. Further north is the country of Sanura, which has a few weak volcanoes in the center, and forests around them, then eventually plains.”

“I guess there would be strong monsters in those woods right?”

“Yes.  Enough that they have hunter camps surrounding the volcanoes.  Now south of us, past the mountain range,  is Antor.”

“I met a merchant today that was going there.  She said they preferred fighting unarmed there?”

“That they do.  Almost everyone there gets trained in it, but they keep mostly to themselves.  The only times people see them is when they trade for dragon root.  Otherwise, people tend to stay away from the dragons.”

‘Dragons huh?  I wonder what level they are.’

“On the other hand, Damasca is completely different.  They go everywhere, though they tend to go back.  Most people will think you are from there. It’s the home of nekos.”

“A whole country of neko girls. Wow. Where is that compared to here?”

“Ah, Damasca is on the eastern continent.  It takes up the entire southern half and has forests, plains, and swamps.  Lots of humidity, but little rain.  I think that’s why the nekos made it home.”

I recalled the neko lady who worried about my fur the other day.  That country seemed perfect for them.

“The fifth and final country is Dorna.”

“Wait, final?  Are the countries that big?”

“I don’t know if you’d call them big, but there’s no where else for people to live.  The only other land mass is the Isle of Fire, and that’s just teeming with volcanoes and high level monsters.”

“That’s where I want to go!”

“Ah, so that’s the reason you asked...  You’re leaving, aren’t you?”

Oops.  “Well, yes.  I didn’t plan to right away, but the monsters here are boring, and I want to see this world I’ve been thrown into.”

“Hmm…”  Selena said nothing as she sat there, looking a little down.

“Selena?”

“Yes?"  Did she perk up at that?  Just a little?

“Would you...” Oh yes, she did perk up, so I finished asking.  “Would you like to travel with me?”

Her smile could have lit up the night.

“Do you know how boring these past couple years have been for me?  Then suddenly you show up and I’m having fun again.  Of course I want to go with you.  It feels so weird though, a kid like you asking if I want to go.”

“I’m sorry.  I didn’t know if you’d ask on your own.  Or if you had a reason to stay here I didn't know about.”

“Oh no.  I made a promise to my parents I would stay here until I had a full set of gear and learned magic.  That’s why I’ve been so broke.  Oh, I probably would have forced myself on you if you tried to leave alone, but I’m glad you asked me instead.”

“I’m glad too.  I didn’t want to travel alone.”

“I doubt very much you’d be alone.”

“Why’s that?”

“It seems Chi wants to start her star tour soon.  No doubt she will want to joins us.  Or you in particular.”

“Star tour?”

“It’s called the star tour because the capitals make up five points of a star on a map.  Chi wants to be a sage.  The first thing they do is visit every nation’s capital to learn how the world works, before being set loose.”

“Maybe we could follow her?  That seems a fun way to see things.  Though maybe not too exciting for a hunter?”

“Who knows?  There are hunter camps and towns like this one all over the world.  The thing is, Chi seemed set to go the moment you gave her that money.  She might even decide to leave tomorrow or the day after.”

“She won’t leave without telling me.  She even told me not to disappear on her.”

“Okay then, how about a bet?  On when she comes to us to ask.”

“Okay, you get the first guess.  And how much?”

“Let’s do a copper crown.  I say she’ll be here first thing in the morning.”

“Alright.  I’ll say in the next five minutes.”

“Whoa.  confident little kid aren’t you?"  Selena pulls out a crown.  “Alright.  She has five minutes to sh-”

*Knock knock knock*

“Damn!  Fine here’s your copper crown you cheat.  You saw her out the window didn’t you?”

“Hello?  Are you girls in there?”

“No, I didn’t see her.  But Chi’s hyper when she’s happy so there’s no way she’d be able to sleep yet.”

“Hello?  I can hear you mumbling in there.  Can I come in?”

“I guess you’re right Taishi."  Then towards the door, “Alright I’ll get the door.  Hold on Chi.”

“Oh thank goodness.  I was afraid you’d eat out or something.  I have something I need to tell you.”

I looked at Selena, who smiled and nodded.

“We would be glad to go with you Chi.”

“Eh?  … Eh?”

Oh god, her face was amazing!

“Eeeh?!  What?!  How did you know what I was going to ask?!”

“Selena here said you’d have to do a trip of some sort, and it fits with our plans too.”

“Wait!  You want to leave too?  And you’re fine with going with me?  But I may never come back here!”

Selena answered this one.  “We have nothing to keep us here.  Even without your star tour, we’d do the same thing anyway.”

“Like she says Chi, we’d leave anyway.  Hell I was going to ask you to come with me.”

Chi lost it there and broke down crying.  I moved over to her gave her a light hug until she recovered.

By the time Chi finished, she was too exhausted to go back to the church, so we let her share our bed.  It was a little early, but neither Selena or I had much more to say without Chi.  Thankfully the bed was just big enough for the three of us.

Of course, Selena slept in the middle.  Just in case.

A/N again:  Sorry if I messed up anywhere. Today was really hectic for me, and I'm amazed I actually finished this.