For their next mission, Zeigel and Saliza had to collect fruits from a dark pulsing tree. The fruits they had to collect looked like a large blue veiny strawberry.
Despite not having to fend off any monsters at the moment, Zeigel was on high alert, constantly checking his surroundings for any danger that may come.
So far, the only monsters he had spotted were rabbits covered in gems skittering around, one eyed crows perched atop trees surrounding the area, and a flying tarantula that zipped past him and stuck itself onto a tree.
Even though none of the monsters in the surrounding area had been a bother to him, aside from the tarantula which he incinerated with fireballs, Zeigel still couldn't help but feel apprehensive.
The forest was still very foreign to him and he wasn't sure if Reizo would always protect them if they were attacked by a monster.
Earlier, Zeigel had found another area with needlecaps free of any aggressive monsters. He asked Reizo why he forced them collect needlecaps in the one area with an aggressive three star monster, but the reply he got only pissed him off.
I could've collected those needlecaps without any worries but nooooo, I had to collect them with that giant bird of death hunting me down because 'being a vanguard isn't meant to be easy' and 'vanguards must learn to deal with unforeseen circumstances'. Fucking asshole!
Zeigel grumbled as a plucked the fruits from the tree and tossed them into a wooden box.
What a dickhead. For all I know he might not even protect me if a monster attacked me right now.
"I'm all done here!" Saliza said as she covered a box filled with fruits. She plucked one more fruit from the tree and lifted her mask to take a bite of it.
"Don't eat those, they're poisonous." Reizo warned.
Saliza promptly dropped the fruit and kicked it away.
"If we can't eat these fruits then why are we collecting them?" Saliza asked.
"These fruits can be used to create medicines."
"Medicines?" Zeigel asked in surprise. "Why is there a need for medicine? Aren't vanguards able to just heal any injuries?'
"Vanguards can't heal away poison or diseases." Reizo explained. "That's why we need to create medicines and antidotes to counteract them."
So vanguards can't cure themselves if they get poisoned? Interesting. Very interesting.
Zeigel plucked out a few more fruits to fill up his box. "Done." Zeigel said as he handed the box to Reizo.
Reizo placed the boxes of fruit into a bigger box containing the body parts of the zinite he killed earlier and dragged it along as they searched for the next the thing on their mission.
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The next thing Zeigel and Saliza had to do was fill up a jar Reizo had given them with sap from a white tree.
Saliza carved a hole in the tree to collect the sap while Zeigel sat behind her as he waited for her to finish and kept a lookout for any hostile monsters.
He hadn't spotted any monsters aside from a deer with bladed horns in the distance.
There's no dangerous monsters nearby and Saliza is nearly finished filling up that jar. Once she's done, we'll only need to complete one last mission and hopefully I can head back to my room to rest. Man, what a shitty first day.
Zeigel yawned as he watched the deer. Another deer appeared and it noticed Zeigel. It tapped its horns against the other deer's horns and they both began to stare at Zeigel.
I don't like the way they're looking at me.
Suddenly, the two deers began charging towards Zeigel with their horns pointed at him.
OH SHIT!
"Saliza!" Zeigel called out behind him. "Some monsters are coming! Go deal with them!"
After moment of silence, Zeigel turned around to find Saliza missing and a note on the ground that says 'handle it yourself'.
Fuck you Reizo! I told you I'm not good at fighting! That's Saliza's thing not mine!
Zeigel created as many caltrops as he could and tossed them in front of him, hoping that it would stop the deers.
Unfortunately for him, the deers leapt over the caltrops. One of them slammed its horns onto him as it landed. Zeigel managed to block it in time with his dagger, but the impact knocked him to the ground.
The other deer circled around to his left and charged towards him while the one on top of him raised its head to slam its horns onto him again.
Why does Reizo keep putting me through shit like this! He wants me dead doesn't he!
Zeigel blocked the horns that were slammed onto him with his dagger and released his grip on the dagger before the deer could raise its head again.
He grabbed a hold of the deers horn with one hand and with his other hand he blasted its face with a fireball to stun it before pulling it down to his left, causing it to be pierced through the back by the horns of its own kind.
Zeigel stabbed the deer in the neck to ensure that it dies before fleeing from the other deer while it pulls its horns out of the corpse.
"HAH! Good job killing your own friend dumbass!" Zeigel mocked.
The remaining deer was now enraged and charged at Zeigel with even greater speed, catching up to him quickly.
"Whoa whoa! Hey! I'm joking! Stop!" Zeigel screamed in panic.
Knowing that he couldn't outrun the deer, Zeigel covered his palms with a thick layer of wood and grabbed the deer by its horns as it kept charging forward.
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The deer violently shook its head to get Zeigel off, but he kept a firm grip on its horns and wouldn't let go.
These horns look metallic. If they really are made of metal then it might also conduct electricity.
Using a spell, Zeigel ran electricity through the horns and fortunately for him, the horns were in fact made of metal and he was able to stun the deer.
He pulled out his dagger and swiftly stabbed it in the neck three times before letting its lifeless body fall to the ground.
"Good work." A voice behind Zeigel startled him.
"Why are you always doing that!"
Ignoring his complaints, Reizo pointed at Zeigel's bracer. The gems on it were glowing.
"You leveled up."
"I did?"
Zeigel summoned his screen and found that he did level up.
Oh nice. But what should I invest my points in? Maybe SPD? I have been running from all monsters I've had to fight today. But ATK would make it easier to kill them, and DEF might save me from an ambush. Maybe I should just spread them out evenly for now.
Zeigel added a point to each stat and closed the screen to see Saliza running towards him with a jar full of sap.
"Are you okay?" Saliza asked, sounding unusually concerned.
"I'm fine." He replied as he removed the wood from his hands and healed the cuts he got from grabbing the horns of the first deer he killed.
I'm pretty sure DEF also raises my pain tolerance. Normally I wouldn't be able to handle the pain from cuts half the size of this.
"Your hands!" Saliza exclaimed as she held them together and healed them for him. "You didn't get too injured did you?"
"...No?"
Strange, normally she wouldn't be this concerned about me. I'm not complaining though. It's nice not getting laughed at after a near-death experience.
"Once you're done healing we'll finish up the last mission for the day."
Why yes Reizo, I'm completely fine after you made me fight two bloodthirsty deers all by myself. Douchebag.
"Your final mission is to hunt ten glimfoots. They're one star monsters that are commonly found in the forest, like that one over there."
Reizo pointed at a rabbit covered in gems hopping about.
So all I gotta do is hunt some rabbits? Oh this'll be too easy.
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"Welcome back." The receptionist of the headquarters greeted Reizo and his recruits as they returned.
"So how's your first day as vanguards?" The receptionist asked.
"It was so much fun!" Saliza joyfully replied.
"That's nice to hear. What about you?" The receptionist turned to Zeigel who was drenched in sweat. He only stared back at the receptionist with an unhappy look while panting.
"I'm guessing things could've gone a little better for you."
During their last mission, Reizo instructed the two to hunt down five glimfoots each. While Saliza had no trouble completing her task, Zeigel struggled to catch the fleeing glimfoots he encountered despite his increased SPD stat. He was even kicked in the face by one of them and found out that they were much stronger than regular rabbits.
While his stats did make him run faster, it didn't improve his agility or stamina.
God, chasing those stupid fucking rabbits was by far the most annoying and exhausting thing I've had to do.
The receptionist took out Reizo's file and stamped each of the forms to indicate that the missions are completed.
"That's five rank 1 missions completed," The receptionist counted. "So that earns you 25 dollars."
I was hoping for more, but it's still a decent amount of money.
"Of course," The receptionist continued, "Half of what you earned will be used to pay off the fee for your bracers."
THERE'S A FEE? Wait, calm down, it might not be that much.
"So uh, how much is this fee?" Zeigel asked.
"The fee for one bracer is 300 dollars."
Hearing how much he owed, Zeigel began to cough up blood.
"Just a heads up, if you lose your bracer, you'll have to pay the fee again to get another one." Reizo added.
I wanna cry.
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Finally back in his room, Zeigel laid on his bed while staring into space.
Five missions and I only earned 25 bucks, and half of it goes into paying off a fee, and I also have to split the money with Saliza. That leaves me with only 6.25. Five missions, and that's all I get.
The more he thought about his financial situation, the more he groaned.
I still have the money that Reizo gave me, but I need to save it for emergencies. I've already had to spend some of it today and I'd rather not use up anymore of it.
Saliza's clothes were starting to smell and she didn't have anything else to wear, so Zeigel was forced to buy her some new ones.
Maybe money shouldn't be my main priority. What I really should be focusing on is getting the hell out of this world. But how? The only clue I have about the portals are the cursed shards. If I can just get my hands on one of them, I might be able to figure something out. But there's one major issue. I'm not allowed to keep those shards and Reizo is always keeping an eye on me while I'm in the forest. The only way I can avoid that is by reaching rank 2, but I don't know how long it'll take for me to reach that rank.
Zeigel groaned once again. This time, Saliza came into the room to check on him.
"What's wrong?" She asked with worry in her voice. "Is it about my clothes? I promise I'll pay you back for it."
"It's not that." He lifted his head to answer her before plopping it back onto his pillow.
"Then what's gotten you so down?"
"Everything." Fuck portals.
"Are you still mad that I kicked you so hard? I'm really sorry about that."
"Good to know that you understand how much you suck."
"So you forgive me right?"
"Yeah, sure. Now go away."
Much to Zeigel's annoyance, she refused to leave. She stood by the door while twiddling her thumbs, looking uneasy about something.
"Please don't quit." She finally spoke. "I know it's been a rough first day but you can't quit."
"Where did that come from?" Zeigel asked in confusion.
"Err, well, I'm not supposed to tell you this but when you were fighting those edgorns, Reizo pulled me away and told me some stuff I'm not supposed to tell you."
"What's an edgorn?"
"They're the monsters with the sharp horns you fought remember?"
Oh, she's talking about those deers I had to fight by myself.
"Yeah I remember. So what exactly did Reizo tell you?"
Nothing good I assume. He probably told her that I'm a terrible vanguard and he's trying to get me killed by forcing me to fend off monsters knowing that I can't fight.
"He told me not to tell you."
"Tell me or I quit the vanguards."
"But you can't!"
"Then tell me what he told you."
Saliza hesitated on what to do. She eventually gave in and decided to tell Zeigel what she knew.
"Fine, I'll tell you what Reizo said, but you have to promise me you won't tell him what I told you."
"Yeah, yeah, I promise. Now tell me all the shit he's been talking about me behind my back."
"He didn't say anything bad about you."
"Really?" Zeigel looked a little surprise.
"He said that he knew you weren't interested in becoming a vanguard and that you were probably forced joined due to circumstances."
That's kinda worrying to hear. What if he suspects that I'm from Earth?
"Did he tell you what he thought my circumstances were?" Zeigel asked anxiously.
"He thinks you're a homeless orphan."
Then I'll go with that if he ever asks about my past.
"I see, carry on."
"What else did he say again?" Saliza mumbled to herself. "Oh yeah, he said that he's worried about how you're handling being a vanguard and is afraid you might quit, so he asked me to be nicer to you."
Huh, I wasn't expecting him to worry about me so much.
"He's actually much nicer than he looks. He even said that as out trainer, he'll gladly give up his life to protect ours."
....Maybe I might've judged him too harshly.
"So that's pretty much everything he said. Now you won't quit right?"
"No," I don't have a choice anyways. "But why do you care so much about whether I quit or not. It's not like it'll affect you."
"I just don't want to lose my only friend."
"I'm your only friend?" Zeigel asked, sounding surprised. "Don't you have any friends outside of the vanguards?"
"Nope."
"What about friends from school? Did you even go to school?"
"I dropped out of school to train myself before joining the vanguards."
"So you're telling me that throughout your entire life, I'm the first friend you made?"
"Yup."
Zeigel paused for a moment and gave her a concerned look. "That's honestly kinda sad."
"It'll be even sadder if you quit the vanguards."
"I'm not gonna quit."
"Really?"
"Yes really."
"Promise?"
"I promise."
"Then it's settle then..."
Almost immediately, her entire demeanor became much more joyful.
"The great Saliza and funky eyes are gonna rise up and become legendary vanguards!"
"I told you to stop calling me funky eyes!" Zeigel scolded.
"But we gotta change your name to funky eyes to celebrate our friendship!"
"Fuck you! I'm gonna quit!"