The sounds of birds chirping fill my ears as my eyes slowly open, waking up to Sköll licking me trying to wake me up. My body did not want to wake due to the pain it was still in. I groan as I sit up, not in as much pain as last night but sore as hell all over my body. A bit more rested and with less pain I slowly and carefully stood up and took a close look at the contents of the tent I found myself in and scratched Skölls ears.

I went to the most interesting thing in the tent and opened the chest at the foot of the bed, only to be a bit disappointed at the lack of anything valuable looking inside. Just some copper rings and necklaces,and a coin purse with some-

“Yebena mat'...”

The thing was filled to the brim with some few dozen gold coins, their shine seemingly lighting up the tent.

I still don’t know too much about the buying power of the currency here but this has got to be a lot of money, even for someone well off.

I noticed a letter that was under the coin purse and picked it up and looked at its contents. What I see makes me a lot less excited about the money I was holding.

[Taris you lazy fuck, since you couldn’t be bothered to get prepped the rest of us are heading out to make the trip back to Engardia with the new slaves we got, the coin in the purse is your share of what we’ve made so far. And if you decide to grab any more slaves just don’t take too many, we’ve already got the attention of the guild and it won’t do us any good iif you get caught.

-M.]

I look at the coin purse again with a sense of distaste for it now.

Chert voz'mi, this is slave money?

I look at the tent flap, hearing the voices of what were probably the freed captives yesterday.

I can't take this money. If those wrecked carriages I saw yesterday were theirs then they’ll need it a lot more than I do, I’ll just give it to them. It mentioned others going to a place called Engardia, is that a town, a country? Maybe that pretty- I mean fancy! That fancy dressed girl might know, she’s probably well educated.

Putting aside the coin for later I look around the tent some more but only find a few miscellaneous pieces of clothes and junk. With nothing of interest left in here I go to leave the tent before finally noticing I still hadn’t gotten dressed, a brief gold light covering me as I put my vest and helmet back on.

I put Sköll on my shoulder and walk outside to see the others walking around the camp, carrying scavenged supplies that were probably from the slavers, and there was a wagon I hadn’t noticed that they were piling the supplies into. I hear a neigh coming from the wagon, looks like they found a horse too.

Oh hey, there’s the slaver leader, or rather Taris I suppose. Doesn’t look too comfortable hog tied like that, well not that he’d deserve anything better. I feel like there’s a better place to put him than hanging from the side of the wagon though.

He struggles tied to the side of the wagon, muffled screaming constantly coming through a rag shoved into and tied around his mouth. Someone walking by smacks the stump on his arm, making the screams momentarily intensify.

“It’s the hero! The hero is awake!”

The two kids among them, a boy and a girl, run up to me and hug mey legs with happy faces. Not sure how to react I kind of just awkwardly stand there.

“Ehehe, um, heya kids?”

“You two get back here and get back to putting these on the wagon!”

One of the women calls out to the kids, probably their mother, and the two giggle as they let go and run off back to the cart.

“Oh thank Liarina, you’re finally awake. How are you feeling?”

I turn and it’s the fancy girl again. She seems to be in an oddly cheerful mood having just been captive last night.

“Well other than a little bit of pain still in my chest and soreness in just about everything else? I feel fine I suppose.”

She smiles and giggles at this. “Well good to see you’re doing a little better at least. Sorry for not doing so last night but I didn’t get to introduce myself and thank you for saving us. My name is Kaila Horaeden, daughter of Duke Porles Horaeden and Duchess Kailen Horaeden, and you have my deepest gratitude for saving me from a untimely fate of a life of slavery.

May I have your name oh hero? And who is this cute little guy?” she says with a smile and a curtsey, then reaching over to pat Sköll who leans into her hand.

“Ah, well my name is Mila, uhh C rank adventurer. And my friend here is Sköll. I'm just glad I was able to find you all in time and- wait, did you say your father was the duke?”

“Well yes, he is the ruler of Forswall and the surrounding lands. He or the guild did send you did they not? Though I would’ve thought someone of at least B rank would be sent rather than a C rank. Ah! Not that I am not grateful for your rescuing me or anything.”

“Oh no, it’s fine, it’s fine.”

But still, her fathers the Duke so then she’s his missing daughter? Ohhh man, not that I’m not glad to be able to rescue her but uh, this is definitely draw eyes towards me when I walk into town with her. Well not that people have really seen my face even but still. Although….

I look at her and note the quality of her clothes and her family's nobility rank, dollar signs filling my thoughts.

Since her father is the Duke then they must be loaded right? I didn't get the quest for rescuing her so I won't get a reward through the guild but her father will probably be very grateful, along with being very generous for having his daughter returned.

“Well, now that we’re talking I wanted to ask you, how did you all end up captured here? Especially you. Being the daughter of a duke I would’ve imagined that you would have an escort of heavily equipped guards.”

"Normally yes, but unfortunately I had opted to leave home without any, which as you can see was a terrible mistake. I was travelling with these people here to help transport essential supplies to a village that had just recently been devastated by a bandit attack, only to be captured by those slavers you took care of."

"I see. Well hopefully now you'll be more careful."

"I certainly will, next time I'll be sure to bring several knights with me."

One of the men walked over a bit exhausted and bowed to Kaila.

“Your grace, we have finished loading the wagon and have made sure to leave an extra seat empty for you. We are already to leave whenever you are. “

“Well I suppose we should not delay ourselves any longer and be on our way to Forswall. Well miss Mila, shall we be on our way?”

“Yeah, I’m eager to get out of this forest and sleep in a real bed rather than another tree branch.”

Giggling she climbs onto the back of the wagon and looks at me, then looks at me with confusion when I move to walk past it.

“Oh? Are you not sitting on the wagon?”

“Uh I am, I was gonna sit in the front with the coachman. Is something the matter?”

“Oh nothings the matter, just that I thought you would want to sit in the back here instead. There are some cushions here they found to sit on.”

“Well uh, where would I sit though? There’s only enough space for you, I don’t think you would find it very comfortable for me to sit there with you.”

She slides over to the side, creating some space next to her that she pats. “Oh no need to worry, I wouldn’t particularly mind.”

I blush under my helmet, stuttering as I walk to the front of the wagon.

“Th-that won’t be necessary, I’m fine with sitting at the front.”

She lets out a quiet laugh as I sit next to the coachman, who whips the reins on the horse as we all finally move.

“Uhm, so miss, where are you from?”

Asks the coachman next to me. Looking at his clothes it looks like he was probably a merchant like the other men looked to be.

“I’m from ame-”

Wait, I can’t say America, they won’t know what that is. And I obviously can’t say ‘a country on an alien planet through a blue swirly portal in the sky.’

“I mean, I’m just from a small farming village, too small to have a name.”

“A farming village? I would’ve thought you’d learned in a larger town or the capital from how you took down those bastards last night.”

“Well my parents were both part of an adventurer group of all gunmen, named the Marine Corps. They trained me growing up.”

Well, the marine corps ROTC specifically, I convinced dad to let me attend it after much nagging. And good thing too, I cant imagine I would survive here for very long without what I learned there. But it’s not like I can tell them what it actually is.

“The Marine Corps huh? Must not have lasted as a group for very long, otherwise a party of people as skilled as you woulda been famous all over Celaria.”

Kaila leans over from behind us, taking an interest in the conversation.

“They must be very strong fighters to have trained you. Where is their village? I’m very interested to meet such people.”

“Well, unfortunately they and our village were wiped out in a bandit attack, I only survived because I was out foraging in the forest. By the time I got back there was nothing left, not even any ruins, everything had been burnt to ashes.”

A look of guilt fills her face as she quickly stammers out.

“A-ah! I’m so sorry to have brought up such a terrible memory!”

“No no, it’s alright. It was a while ago, I’ve been able to move on from it.”

Dammit, I feel like an asshole for lying about something like this. But it’s not like I can just tell them the truth, I doubt they would even believe me either.

We continue talking back and forth as we rode through the forest, the others walking alongside us and the kids constantly running ahead and being called back by their mother.

Man, this is starting to get boring. At least before I could distract myself with trying to find the slavers but now? I’m just sitting here doing nothing. I wish I could listen to some music… Wait, hold on a minute.

I decided that since she already saw it happen it didn’t matter if Kaila saw it again, so I turned around and reached into the wagon while holding a finger in front of my mouth to her. A soft glow of gold light shines from under the boxes and bags of supplies as I pull out my backpack and Kaila quietly gasps. I sit up and ruffle through it looking for something.

Come oooonn, where is it- Aha! Found it!

I pull out my hand to reveal what I was looking for; my Epod! It was an Epod classic with a maximum storage space of 160gb. It was a device outdated by design, but it was something I cherished. It was gifted to me by my grandfather, who had gifted it to me in my first year of HS. I didn’t care that it wasn’t something like an Iphone or an android phone even when I got it. My grandfather and dad had made sure to raise me to appreciate any gift I received, and I took that to heart, being sure to use it as much as I could.

I reach in my backpack again and pull out some earbuds, putting them in my ears under my helmet and then going to turn on the Epod…. Only for the screen to stay off.

“Blyad', of course the battery is dead.”

I go to put it back when I notice some gold sparks along the bottom where the charging port was. I examine it again and see the screen turning itself on. Something odd though was that the battery indicator had an infinity symbol.

Svyatoy, it works! An infinite symbol on the battery indicator though? Damn that is sweet, with a gun with infinite ammo my Epod having unlimited battery wouldn’t be too surprising.

I look through the songs in the plethora of installed albums, finally settling on a russian folksong. I sit back and relax, bobbing my head to the tune of the music when I feel a tap on my helmet. I take out my earbuds and turn around to see Kaila looking at the Epod with a look of wonder.

“What is that magic device? It lights up and shows little paintings that look so life-like, it’s like a small messaging orb!”

Rather than try to explain it, I hold my earbuds to her.

“Why don’t you put these in your ears and find out?”

She looks at them quizzically, carefully taking them and holding them to her ears. Her eyes widen and mouth opens in shock as soon as she hears the music coming from them.

“Music! I can hear music! But this doesn’t look like it’s connected to another messaging orb, how is it doing this? And this song, it sounds so strange, the instruments sound so peculiar yet oddly satisfying to listen to, and it sounds like they are singing in Russeras as well!”

I laugh to myself, seeing the childlike wonderment at something so advanced to her yet so simple and common to me.

“Wait, what about you, how will you listen to the music now that I’m using these... “ “Earbuds.” “...earbuds to listen to them?”

“Ah it’s fine, you can use them I don't mind letting you have it for a while.”

“No, I shouldn’t do that! This is your music device and I would feel bad to keep it to myself even if only for a little while.”

Suddenly she climbs out of her seat climbing to the front and then-

“Wh-wha hey! Miss Kaila what are you doing?!”

-with no empty room up front, promptly sitting herself on my lap. Sköll barks and leaps into her hand and she giggles, playing with him on her lap.

“I’m sitting up front here with you so we may share the music!”

“B-but miss Kaila you’re sitting on m-”

“I see now problem with it, we are both girls after all no one would, well, have too much of a problem with it. Also no miss! Just call me Kaila from here on, at least when it’s just us that is. Oh! Now a different song is playing-”

She takes and puts an earbud in my ear under the helmet, only to jump a little in shock as we both hear electric guitar riffs play along with guttural screams.

“Aahh! What is this screeching voice and metal scratching?? And such vulgar words!”

Ah dammit, it shuffled to a death metal song. I really don’t want to have to even try to explain the idea behind that genre of music.

I quickly take back the Epod and find another russian folk song to play, for which Kaila is visibly thankful for. It feels a bit awkward with her sitting on my lap, having never been this close with someone before in my life. But I’m eventually able to kind of just ignore it and enjoy the music and scenery. It would probably take until late afternoon until we got back to the city.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Your Grace and Miss Mila, Forswall is finally within sight! We should be there within a matter of minutes.”

I’m jolted awake from my nap I didn’t notice I’d fallen into. And it would appear it was the same for Kaila and Sköll as they jump awake. Once she saw the walls of the city in the distance she climbed off of me and into the back seat, putting Sköll on my shoulder.

“I know what I said earlier, but my parents would still ask me rather annoying questions if people in the city saw me sitting on your lap.”

I nod in understanding and look at the city ahead. Eventually we reach it and come upon a line of people out the gate, but rather than stopping in the back the merchant and the others go around it straight to the front, much to the very verbal complaints of the people in the line. Though the one or two nobles in line seemed to recognize who was in the carriage with us and didn’t voice any complaint. Once there the guards at the gate bare their weapons and yell at us.

“The hell are you lot doing coming up here? Get to the back of the line and wait like everyone else!”

That’s when Kaila stands up and makes her presence known.

“I am Kaila Horaeden, daughter of Duke Porles and Duchess Kailen Horaeden! I must see that these people are given care and lodging and show my father and mother that I am alright. And to make sure my hero here-” She leans down and gives me a quick hug much to my embarrassment. “-is properly compensated for rescuing me.”

“Y-y-your grace!”

Both drop to their knees and slam their heads into the ground in a bow, with people in the front area of the line doing the same.

“We’re sorry for not recognizing you sooner! We’ll have someone run to the mansion to notify him of your safety right away! And-”

Taris squirms again from the side of the wagon, drawing the attention of the guards.

“I’m sorry your grace, but who is this?”

“That would be Taris.” I answer, drawing their eyes to me now. “He’s the bastard who captured Miss Kaila and these people here. He was going to sell them all into slavery.”

Suddenly their eyes fill with anger and a few shouts of anger sound around us, along with an oddly intense bloodlust as the guards stared at Taris causing him to squirm even more.

Well, she seems to be well liked by the people around here to elicit a response like that from not just the guards but the common people too.

“We will take him off of your hands then your grace, and bring him to the dungeo-”

“No need, I’d like to bring him to my father myself. I’m sure he would like to personally ‘have a few words’ with him himself.”

“Yes, your grace. And we apologize, we won’t hold you here any longer, and we will escort you to the mansion. Make way and let them through! And someone inform Duke Porles and Duchess Kailen that her grace Kaila has returned!”

The wagon finally moves again and we all make our way down the street, a squad of guards walking ahead of us and clearing the streat as we head down the main road to the Dukes residence.

“Hey, I was wondering, what was up with the people back there?”

“The guards? Oh they probably just didn’t notice ma t fir-”

No not that, I meant how the other people in line reacted when they heard our friend tied up here was the one who kidnapped you.”

“Well, it’s most likely due to my efforts to help people around here I guess? Mother and Father did their best to raise me to be kind and charitable to the less fortunate and I guess I ended up taking that to heart. A lot of the money that I get for allowance the majority of it goes to funding kitchens that serve out basic but free soup and bread, along with a few communal houses.

I know that because of this it’s made me rather popular with the populace,, but to be honest I’ve never seen them react so… strongly like they did at the gate.”

She runs charity efforts too? Well god damn she just keeps looking more and more perfect. A charitable soul and damn beautifu- dammit Mila, stop doing that!

With the way being cleared we soon arrive at the mansion and stop at a rug leading to the entrance. There were several servants standing alongside it, butlers and maids wearing uniforms that looked straight out of a manga.

Geeze, did a weeaboo get isekai’d here or something?

Standing in front of the doors were a man and a woman wearing rather extravagant and expensive looking clothes. Kailas parents if I were to guess.

“Father! Mother!”

“Ohh, my dear Kaila!”

“Ohh Kaila you’re alright!”

Kaila jumps out of the wagon and runs into her mother and fathers arms, being picked up and hugged tightly to them. I watch the scene of a daughter being reunited with her parents with a smile, though there was a hint of jealousy in my heart.

I’m glad to have gotten her back home and that I can see something like this. But, I’m jealous of her. I never got to experience any moments like this with my own dad.

I get off the carriage and stand on the edge of the carpet, with the others standing behind me. The Duke and Duchess finally look up taking notice of us, with the duke letting go of the hug and approaching us.

“Ah, and I assume that you are the hero we have to thank for saving my daughter?”

Not sure how to respond, I do my best to give a rather awkward bow. “Uh, yes your grace. My name is Mila, rank C adventurer, at your service.”

"Rank C? An oddly low rank for someone strong enough to have rescued not only my daughter, but also all these people here too."

His eyes look over the others but then lands on Taris still tied to the side of the wagon.

"And I assume this is the slaver responsible for all of this?"

He approaches and looks down at him, Taris glaring back with anger and defiance in his eyes. The Duke raises a hand and brings it down in a fist with the wrath of a wronged parent, knocking the gag out of his mouth along with several teeth.

"Ghaaaagh!" Taris screamed out in pain, blood dripping from his mouth.

"I would love to stand here all day venting out on you, but must see to my daughter and her hero now, I'll have plenty of time to 'question' you later in the dungeons, you damned filth."

He turned back to us with a smile on his face and motioned towards the door.

"Now why don't we head on inside? You two must be anxious to get some proper rest and relaxation. And I see you have a woodland wolf pup with you as well, ohoho those are notorious for their hunger. " He turns to the servants and snaps his fingers. "Be sure the others here are also all taken care of. They are to all be treated like nobility for the night!"

Some cheers sound from behind us as the Duke leads us inside and the duchess follows. What I see inside is nothing short of amazing.

"Svyatoy…."

The place looks like what you would expect a rich noble's home to look like, especially one of such a high rank like a Duke. Marble pillars along the hallways, suits of armor here and there-

No wait, one of them moved, I think those are actual people. Personal guards?

-and tapestries and paintings and fancy looking antiques displayed in front of nearly every wall with gold lining every nook and crevice. It looked more like they were showing off an entire treasury.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"Yes, quite an amazing display of wealth isn't it?"

The duke says with a proud smile.

"This is the result of many generations of the Horaeden family's work. Through trade routes and a few ancestors' advancements in magical devices, outside of the royal capital and its surrounding areas, we have become the richest territory in all of (country name)!"

Certainly could have convinced me that they were the richest on this damn planet. It feels like there's enough wealth here to make Melon Usk and Beff Jezos cry with envy.

"We'll be heading to the gazebo in the garden to relax. There you can tell me all about what happen-"

"Dear, I think we should let them rest for the day. Just look at Kaila." The Duchess spoke up this time. "You haven't been able to get much rest have you dear?"

We all looked at her and I finally noticed the state of her. She was slightly swaying side to side on her legs, and her eyes had bags under them.

She must've not gotten any sleep last night, helping the others the whole time I guess? That would explain why she fell asleep in the wagon.

"*sigh* Sorry mother and father, the past few days have been, well, stressful and I haven't haduch opportunity to relax."

"Oh don't worry dear, you and miss Mila here can tell us all about what happened tomorrow. Besides-"

She grips a hand into a fist and suddenly a shiver goes down my spine with a feeling of dread, Sköll whimpering and hiding his face against my helmet. And I swear I saw some kind of red energy around her for just a moment.

"-I'm sure the 'guest' you brought tied to the wagon will be able to occupy us until then."

Geeze, never get on her bad side.

The Duchess snaps a finger and a nearby maid comes over. She whispers something in her ear and the maid nods, walking over to Kaila and escorting her off to somewhere as another approaches.

"Now I know you must be just as exhausted. She will take you to a guest room where you can get some well deserved rest. "

"Ahh, thank you your grace. I'll be sure to do so."

Giving a bow I follow the maid, going up some stairs then down a few hallways before finally arriving at a door.

"These will be your quarters for your quarters during your stay here Miss. If you should require anything then ask any of the servants and they will assist you."

“Ah, in that case could I have some food brought to the room? Me and my furry little friend here are a bit hungry.” I ask and Skölls stomach growls.

“Yes miss, right away.”

She gives a bow and opens the door, closing it as I head inside.

"*whistle* Looks just as impressive as the rest of the place."

It was just as extravagant as the rest of the mansion with walls lined with gold and marble pillars again. The bed was huge at what looked to be the same size as an Alaska king sized bed, and with silk curtains around it. There was a door that led to a balcony outside that overlooked a garden, with a table and chairs.

Man, this room alone is even bigger than my family's old apartment we used to live in.

I see two large ornate wooden dressers and open one of them, finding a plethora of rather simple yet high quality dresses.

Are these for guests to wear?

I notice a body sized mirror next to the dressers and think to myself:

Well, probably not the best for sleeping but it wouldn't hurt to try them on.

I set Sköll down to run around the room and I grab a few random clothes and look at them; a black and red frilly dress with a silk and silver hair band of the same colour, a blue and white one with a skirt, and a white blue and green dress that looked like robes of sorts, and I find some dress shoes and high heels inside as well.

I try putting them all on, looking at myself in the mirror and giggling to myself smiling at what I see.

I didn't think just wearing a dress would feel this… nice, it's fun too.

I must've lost track of time, having too much fun trying out all the different clothes, only taking a break from it when the food arrives and feeding Sköll. By the time I'd noticed it was already dark outside. A loud knock at the door jolts me out of my thoughts with a *yelp!*. Sköll had fallen asleep at this point but thankfully hadn’t woken up from that.

"Mila, are you still awake? It's me Kaila, I wanted to talk about some things if you don’t mind."

"Oh uhm, ah, j-just a minute!"

I rush to change into some clothes better suited for bed, finding in the dresser a black and white night gown. I rush over to the door and open it to let Kaila in.

“Sorry about that, I was just getting changed. Anyways, you wanted to talk about something…”

I looked at her and my brain slowed to a halt. She was wearing a nightgown like I was, though a bit more covering as to be appropriate for walking down the halls. The wall in the hallway opposite my door had a large window, and through it I could see the moon as it highlighted her.

Holy she looks beau- DAMMIT Mila! Can you stop being gay for 5 seconds!?

Shaking my head to quiet my thoughts I listen to her.

"Yes, about yesterday actually, and today as well. That music playing artifact and odd gold magic ligh-"

"SSSHHHHHH! Not out loud! Come on just come inside!"

I grab her arm and pull her inside, quickly shutting the door and leading her to the bed to sit down.

"Alright, now we can talk. But *sigh* I knew you would ask me about it eventually. So, which you wanna know first?"

"That golden light I saw you make, every time I saw it either you made something disappear or appear out of thin air! It was like you had an invisible holding bag!"

"Well, I suppose it basically is a holding bag in a way."

I hold a hand out and summon my Epod with an 'Ohhh' from Kalia.

"It's my, uhhh, 'unique' magic. It allows me to store things and take them out without any fear of it's contents being stolen as I am the only than that can open it. (At least I think so). So far I haven't encountered any sort of limit yet as to how much and what can be stored, but I've Yet to test it and see if there is one."

"By the gods, such a useful ability. Merchants and nobles would kill to have such magic for their own use. Well, what about that artifact you used to play music, what is it exactly?"

Gonna have to come up with something here, not sure if I should explain to her what scientific technology is.

"Well, this is something called an Epod, at least that's what my father told me. He said it was from some ancient ruins or some such he explored in his adventuring days. He found an ancient script with it that explained that at the time when it was made, people found a way to 'capture' sounds and place them on things like this that allowed them to play what was heard again."

"Amazing! If only the Artificers and mages in the royal capital could also create such a wondrous artifact. Such an invention would make anyone rich for generations!"

She holds up the Epod, her eyes lighting up with excitement as she pressed the buttons and watched the screen change.

"Oh, and what about your rifle? Other than the Russaras royal family's own relic rifle, I've never heard of a gun that could fire so quickly!"

Ruserras? That sounds really close to Russia. And they have a repeating rifle as well? I'll have to make a note to look into that.

"It belonged to my grandfather, I inherited it from him when he passed away. He had gotten it in some lands somewhere during a war, but he wouldn't tell us exactly what happened there. And well, I can't really explain how it works. Grandfather made me swear to never tell a soul about how it does what it does."

"Ah darn, a shame, I can only imagine the wonders of design and engineering that would be contained within."

"Well, you've asked me a few questions now. How about I ask you some? That healing magic you did before, I've never seen anything like that. How do you do it, and could anyone do it?"

She lifts a hand and it glows with a soft yellow light.

"Well, when I learned healing magic there were two ways of casting it. You could either use your knowledge of medicine and anatomy to help guide your mana to heal an injury, or you could make a prayer to Liarina to fill in the 'gap' of any missing knowledge."

The light fades as her shoulder slumps and she lets out a breath she was holding.

"Sorry, even a little bit of healing magic tends to be exhausting for most people. But as for the second part of your question. While technically anyone could learn it, it can be much more difficult for some people to cast than others. If they don't have the affinity for it then it becomes much more difficult and mana costly to cast the same spell as compared to someone with a higher affinity for it. Though it's possible to increase how much mana you have to compensate for this, it is very difficult to do."

"And I assume that's something you're either born with or inherit?"

"Yeah, though it's usually a matter of chance how high your magical affinities are, lineage does have bearing on it. What has the biggest affect on the cost and effectiveness of magic is your knowledge and understanding of what you are casting.

For example, if you are to cast a fireball without knowing anything about how one is normally made then the mana cost would be rather high. But if one knew and understood that fire is made by creating sparks onto something that easily burns like kindling and then burning that to create fire, then the mana cost for them would be much lower thant for the first person."

She holds out a hand and in her palm a floating orb of flames appears, disappearing just as quickly.

"Woah, that looks awesome. Do you think I'd be able to learn it?"

"Uh, well without an artifact for measuring your affinity and mana we won't know if you have any natural ability for it. We won't know if it's because of affinity or a lack of mana. But you could try anyways. Do you have a knife in that hand holding nag magic of yours?"

I summon my utility knife and she takes it, grabbing my hand and making a small cut on it.

"Der'm- what was that for?"

"Oh shush, it's just a small surface cut. Now pay attention and do what I say, or else it'll end up healing and I'll have to do it again. Now close your eyes and focus."

She grabs my other hand, a pleasant relaxing feeling coming from it.

"Now, focus on how the healing magic feels. Try to imagine the same feeling in your other hand, thinking about how it will heal the cut on it."

Alright, so try to replicate the feeling over where the cut is, and imagine the ‘how’ it will actually heal the cut. Come on, try to remember at least one thing from biology class and training… Ah, right! Red blood cells carry collagen and form a sort of foundation for new tissue to form over it. Then slowly skin will form around the edges as the cut gets smaller and smal-

"*gasp*!"

A gasp of surprise from in front of me breaks my focus and I look to see Kaila holding my other hand. A line of yellow light glows where the cut once was and quickly disappears.

"But, that shouldn't be possible. You've never used healing magic before right?"

"Nope, my storage magic is the only magic I've ever used."

"Then you shouldn't have been able to heal it so quickly for your first time, even someone with the knowledge of a court physician wouldn't be able to immediately heal a cut like that when using healing magic for the first time!"

Looks like my corpsman training in the ROTC came in handy, and it seems like I have potential for magic maybe. She mentioned a royal magic academy before right? I should see if there's a way for common folk to get into there.

"Guess I have potential for this then huh?"

"You certainly must, again it's amazing you did so well for your first try."

“Yeah, I guess so.. Oh! I almost forgot to ask. Back at the slaver camp I’d read a letter from what seemed to be another slaver addressed to the leader we’d brought with us. It mentioned taking other people they’d captured to a place called Engardia do you know what that is?”

Suddenly her face darkens, looking down as her hands gripped the bed sheets.

“That’s where I almost ended up? By the gods… *Ahem* Sorry. Well, Engardia is, to put it frankly a country considered terrible by most and downright evil by some. It is a place where humans are the only race have any rights, with any non humans living there all being slaves. They claim the many gods of A’leiria are all fake, saying that their god Yahsus is the only true god.

They’ve shown themselves to be a nuisance and many times a threat to the nations around them, with many skirmishes breaking out on the borders with them.”

Blyad’, to think that’s where she could have ended up.

I look out the window and note how dark it was outside.

"Well, not that I don't enjoy talking to you, but I think I'd like to get some sleep now."

"Uhm, well actually I was wondering…"

"Hmm?"

"...n-never mind, it’s nothing. You rest well Mila!”

She gives a quick hug before getting up and leaving the room. Shrugging I lay back down on the bed,, turning on my Epod and close my eyes, falling asleep to the sound of music.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

It was the next day, and I was being led to the dining hall by a servant after putting on a casual red dress (At least I thought it was casual, can't tell with these fancy clothes) for breakfast, Sköll yawning from my shoulder. Opening the door I’m greeted by Kaila and her parents at the table, having already begun eating. The Duke sees me and waves me over.

“And the hero awakens! Please, take a seat and eat with us.”

I take a seat next to Kaila who smiles, putting Sköll down on the floor and a servant puts a tray down in front of me and a plate on the floor for him, the contents surprising me.

Pancakes? Like, actual fluffy sweet pancakes with maple syrup! Along with sausages and- what the, is that egg purple?

Ignoring the odd looking bit of food I dig into it, trying to be careful to mind my manners. Though that proves difficult when I find out how surprisingly good it tasted.

“Now, miss Mila. Kaila told us what she knew already about what happened before and after her rescue by you, but we wish to hear your side of things as well. Would you mind telling us what you know?”

Taking a moment to finish eating I answer, recounting my tale of accepting a bandit/slaver subjugation quest, how it apparently was unable to be properly ranked due to arbitrary needs for ‘definitive proof, and how I came upon Taris and his goons holding Kaila and the others captive.

“*sigh* So once again Yorlan couldn’t assign a proper ranking to a quest due to arbitrary rules and requirements. I’ll need to have a word with the Head Guild Master about this.”

“Anyways,” Kaila speaks up “What are your plans for now Maila?”

“Well, I was going to be heading back to the guild to officially complete the quest. Then I was thinking to work for a bit more to save up some money before travelling to the capital. Oh, that reminds me, you mentioned a royal academy before. Is it possible for commoners to get into it?”

“Well, commoners can get into it by paying a fee, or with a letter of recommendation from either a Duchy or the royal family. Oh, that’s an idea! Father, why not write one for Mila? She would do wonderfully well there, just last night I saw her cast healing magic! And since I’m going there next month as well we could go together!”

“Oh but of course, for the one who saved my daughter such a thing would be trivial. Don’t worry miss Mila, I’ll write the letter for you and cover any costs for travel and board at the academy.”

“Thank you your grace, that is very kind of you. But I’m not sure If I should accept as I do not intend to actually attend the academy and it’s classes, at least for now. I was more interested in just accessing its library.”

“Oh not to worry, while not very common for people to do, there isn’t any set time you have to complete any classes or age requirement or anything. Why in the past sometimes even people as old as 40 were seen attending and finishing classes! You can take as much time as you want coming and going from there.”

“Well then in that case I will accept your offer.”

We continue eating breakfast, the Duke and his family making small talk about politics and other such things. Afterwards I give them my thanks, getting changed back into my gear and heading to the door for me and Sköll to make our way to the guild.

“Mila, hold on a moment!”

Kaila runs up to me at the gate to the mansion, panting and holding something.

“My father forgot to give you this, here.”

She hands me a very large coin purse- no actually it’d be more accurate to call it a bag, that when I grab it I nearly drop it from the unexpected weight.

“Svyatoy! What is in this?” I say as I open the bag and my mouth immediately dropping open.

“Some gold my father had wanted to give you as a reward and thanks for having saved me.”

“But this much? There’s probably enough here to buy every building in a small town!” There’s got to be at least a few hundred gold coins in here!

“I suppose it is a lot, but I think that’s just how my father wants to show you how thankful he is for what you’ve done.”

“Well then, be sure to tell him I said thank you then! I’m not sure what I’ll do with this much but I will make good use of it.”

“And uhm, before you leave, there was one last reward for you before you go…”

She looks at the ground, fidgeting her hands and her face blushing.

“Oh, I’m not sure if I should take anything else. This is really more than enough-”

“No! S-sorry, but it’s alright. I’m sure I want to give this to you..”

“Oh, it’s something from yo-?”

Before I can finish she gives me a hug-

*smooch*

-and kisses me on the cheek.

InternetDialUpNoises.mp3

“U-uh-uhm, well you take care now. Try not to get killed on a quest, and you’re always welcome to visit any time!”

Her face now so red you would think it was bleeding, she runs off back into the mansion, leaving me standing there still processing what happened.

Did… did she just kiss me?

Shaking my head in an attempt to regain focus, I turn and start walking to the guild.

That uhh.. That’s probably gonna make it a bit awkward when we meet again.

Soon I reach the guild, and thankfully there wasn’t a line this time and I headed inside. But as I do I find that a lot of adventurers were crowded around the quest board murmuring about something. I walk up to the counter and see Elia there. She and a couple other receptionists have papers sprawled out all over the counter, all working frantically and looking exhausted.

“Hey Elia!”

She jumps in surprise, clearly focused on her work.

“A-ah! Oh Mila it’s you, you’re finally back!”

“Yeah, wanted to turn in the bandit quest. Turned out to be a bit more than what I was expecting haha.”

“A bit? It was a lot more than just a bit! I and the guild master were already informed of what happened. You took out a slaver group and rescued the Dukes missing daughter! Some people are already talking about you, the brand new C rank adventurer who completed an A ranked quest!”

“Haha, I’m already getting a little famous huh?”

Didn’t expect to stay under the radar after that, but was hoping it wouldn’t spread too much for at least a day or two.

“Yes, very much so. Ah right! The quest reward! For taking out the bandits- well, slavers actually, the guild master decided you should receive a slightly bigger reward of 5 gold coins rather than the initial 2. And while you technically did complete an A ranked quest, because you weren't officially written down as having accepted the quest you unfortunately cannot receive the reward for it. But to try to compensate for this the guild master has decided to allow for you to go straight to doing a rank up quest to B rank. Though there are not any B rank quests to do that right now.”

Well, I seem to be advancing pretty quickly through the ranks here! Hopefully a B rank quest does get posted soon, I’d like to be able to rank up before leaving for the capital later this month.

“Ah, shame about the reward but what I got is good enough. Besides, the Duke rewarded me very well so I’m not exactly hurting for money right now.”

More people have come into the guild now, it finally becoming busy as a line begins to form to the other counters.

“Ah, well I don't want to end up clogging the line up here. But before I go I was wondering, what’s got people over by the board so riled up?”

“Ah that. Well, an adventurer party came back severely wounded and said they had come into contact with a woodland wolf. Though normally a party like theirs would be able to handle one with some effort, they had barely managed to even escape with their lives. And they also reported it to have been at least 3 times the size of a normal one, almost as big as a hut. And they say they think it was even using some form of plant based magic,, manipulating the trees and grass to try to trip them over.

When the guild master learned of this he Immediately put out an alert to halt all other ongoing quests believing we’re dealing with a magic beast and put up a notice on the quest board to gather a hunting party to track it down.”

A woodland wolf causing trouble, and it's a magic beast? That sounds like it means it’s stronger than a typical monster. That isn’t good, maybe I should join the hunting party, which might prevent some injuries or even deaths if I help out.

Sköll barks and licks my face at seeing my worried expression. I look at him and smile, rubbing his head to reassure him I’m fine.

“Would participating in the hunting party fulfil the rank up requirement?”

“Wh- are you sure? Well yes it would, but It’s ranked as an A rank party quest. It’s going to be much harder than dealing with those slavers even with multiple people joining.”

Sköll barks, ready to pounce as though to look ready for a fight.

“Haha, I’m sure I’ll be able to survive, even little Sköll here is rearing to go.”

“*sigh* Well alright. You survived the slavers so I know you can handle yourself in combat, but this is still going to be dangerous. I’ll write you down as having joined the hunting party. Upon the hunts completion you will receive a reward of 5 gold and possibly more depending on your contributions.

Though this is supposed to mostly be for A and B rank adventurers so you’ll need to sign this waiver stating that you’re aware of the risk you’re putting yourself at by joining.”

She hands me a sheet of paper with with terms and conditions stating that I accept the risks by joining the hunting party and I quickly sign and hand it back to her.

“Alright, the guild will be recruiting people for the next two days before the party heads out with whoever has signed up by then. I would suggest stocking up on supplies and resting up before then, you’ll need all the preparation and rest you can get.”

“Thank you Elia, I’ll make sure I’m ready for it when the time comes.”

I head out of the guild and down the road, making my way to the end of the main street near the gate where all the shops are.

Like she said, I should take this chance to buy supplies and rest up. With the gold I got from the Duke I’ll be able to get whatever I need. I should see if potions are a thing here and maybe any magic devices or maybe scrolls too can be found anywhere.

I keep walking, making a list in my head of what I know I will need and contemplating what magic items might reasonably exist that would prove useful for the hunt.

This is probably going to be the hardest fight I’ve been in yet.