In the afternoon, Meryda and her father were on her farm, looking at the enormous field of planted crops divided into squares by watery canals, with Bone Boars carefully walking in them, picking up fish to eat and making sure the water was flowing properly to irrigate the field.

Next to Mia were her friends, and behind all of them was the Guild Master, together with an enormous group of Explorers and Adventurers, and they were all watching the field in total disbelief.

Dralro Jic, the Guild Master, looked to his left and saw the dark cloud, the Emptiness Monster, leisurely patrolling by using the water canal that surrounded the entirety of the farm.

On the enormous tree next to the house, a Gigantic Spider was building a massive cocoon that would be her home and her partner. From the large forest after the enormously planted field, another Gigantic Spider was coming with some prey firmly glued to her back. Something the spider hunted to eat, it seemed.

The Guild Master and everyone in the Guild that came with him was in complete silence, while Meryda and her friends were enthusiastically talking with her father about what kind of seeds the kids planted.

The moment Meryda turned to him to ask if the Guild could help with the sales of all the products that were sure to grow in two or three days, the Guild Master slowly nodded and said, “Yes… I told you that already… Meryda…” After rubbing his face with both hands, he almost shouted, “What is happening here? This is impossible! Bone Boars taking care of fields? A massive Emptiness working as a guard? Gigantic Spiders…” he paused for a moment, watching the massive spider place her hunt at Meryda’s feet. “A Gigantic Spider making a new home over there, and the other hunting for you? What the heck?”

“What? You are making it sound like I did it on purpose! The first Bone Boar followed me here, and the others came in the next morning with all the Fur Cows! Then a few females came with the little calves. I talked with the Bone Boars, and they helped me and my father prepare all those fields and make the water canals. They even learned how to plant the seeds, bury them in the ground, and then irrigate them. They are very smart, and they can learn stuff if you teach them. The spiders are more surprising because they do a lot of stuff on their own. I never asked them to hunt for me, but it seems they thought they should do it.”

The Guild Master sighed and pointed to the dark cloud behind him. “What about that? Why is that thing patrolling your farm?”

“Well, I found out they like water, and they kind of absorb it to live, so I thought, why not make something for them and, at the same time, use their presence to protect my farm?”

“Has anyone told you that no other Monster Tamer ever accomplished something like this? I mean, I never heard anything like this happening, and by the looks of my Explorers and Adventurers, neither did they! This is so absurd, it is almost funny! When you told me about all these Monsters living on your farm, I thought you were exaggerating or messing with me, but this is absolutely crazy! Do you have any idea how dangerous it is to have so many Monsters gathered in the same place? What if they start fighting with each other? Or if they decide to go to the City for a snack?”

Meryda shook her head while still rubbing the spider’s head and answered, “I already told them they couldn’t fight between them, or they couldn’t live here. They all agreed. As for going to the City, why would they do that with that forest right there and a lot of other forests and open prairies with wild animals nearby? They even like to eat fish! I see no need for them to go after people in the City, considering they always have their bellies full.”

With a shrug, Craydon said, “It also worries me, but they are acting very peacefully, despite how scary they look. I still have no idea how Meryda can control all of them, but they obey her blindly.”

“Well, they do look calm and peaceful,” said the Guild Master while rubbing his chin, “but I suppose it is not the usual Magic power that Monster Tamers use. They seem to be doing all that because they want to, instead of being forced.”

Meryda hugged the enormous head near her, waved the spider goodbye as she went to the tree to help the other spider, and said, “I don’t force them to do anything. They are my friends. I just ask them to help me, and they do it. I also help them by grooming the Fur Cows, playing with the Bone Boars calves, or grooming the spider’s short fur on their heads. But I guess they like to be near me because I gave them a safe place to live.”

With a sigh, the Guild Master faced the group of nervous Explorers and Adventurers next to him and asked, “Does anyone want to quit this training session? I understand if all these Monsters frighten you. They scare the heck out of me, but we need to help Meryda learn how to use her Monsters in battle.”

A Mage woman, carrying a staff with a white Magic Crystal on top of it, raised it and said, “I am ready! I always wanted to fight Gigantic Spiders! But I need someone who uses Water Magic to keep that scary Emptiness Monster away from me!”

Another Mage woman, carrying a staff with a blue Magic Crystal on top of it, answered the call, “Me! I can take care of that scary dark cloud!”

One by one, the Explorers and the Adventurers joined the two women, and they were all divided into groups. “Two Mages, two Explorers, and six Adventurers per group!” said the Guild Master. “Meryda, you and your friends, together with five Monsters of your choosing.”

The Adventurers started to complain, but the Guild Master silenced them all with a raised hand and a shout. “Silence! My training session, my rules! Let’s go to the front of the house because there is more space there. Meryda, try to keep your Monsters alive, and I will even let you use Earth Magic! As for you kids, try not to die, okay? Adventurers, Mages, Explorers, you can use deadly attacks because you will be facing dangerous Monsters, but try to go easy on the kids!”

As they were going to the front of the house, Meryda complained, “But Guild Master, if they use deadly force against my Monsters, some of my friends might die!”

“And?” asked Dralro Jic with a raised eyebrow. “Do you forget I don’t care less if any of your Monsters, or even all of them, die? It is up to you and your friends to keep them alive. But tell your Monsters not to kill my people, because I need them alive so that we can do this more often.”

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“Hey! That’s totally not fair! Your guys can try to kill my Monsters, and they have to be careful not to kill anyone? What is the logic behind that?”

With a shrug, the Guild Master explained, “One less Monster in the world won’t take away my sleep, but one less Explorer or Adventurer will be a problem.”

Meryda stopped in front of her house and crossed her arms over her chest. “Well, I am not doing this, then! Either my Monsters can also try to kill your guys, or we are not going to do this!”

Dralro Jic was about to say something, but the choir of voices from his Adventurers and Explorers, backing up Meryda, made him raise both hands, agreeing with the terms. “Okay, okay! We will do this the hard way, then, since everyone is so eager to put their lives on the line! I just don’t see the point in risking everyone’s lives with mere training!”

One Adventurer, a man with a serious look and a large scar on his forehead that went from one side to the other, making a permanent, profound wrinkle as if he were always frowning, said, “If this is real-life training, we should do it properly. There is no point if Meryda’s Monsters go easy on us. We all agreed to come here, not only to help Meryda train but also for us to train. How often can any of us face Monsters in a controlled environment? Besides, I am sure that if any of us are about to die because of a Monster, Meryda will stop them from actually finishing us off. We need to do the same, of course. We will try to kill her, her friends, and all her Monsters, but we will back off before giving the finishing blow.”

The Guild Monster sighed and asked, “You didn’t see what Meryda and her Monsters did yesterday in the Guild’s backyard, did you? Well, it is your butt on the line! Craydon, you stay put during the first rounds, and I will tell you when you can join a fight.”

A young voice said, “Well…” Everyone faced the young Demi-Lamia girl, Tetil Stog, who continued, “If my father is going to fight...” She took two sharp daggers from the belt at her waist and said with a grin, “I won’t mind trying to kill him. Mother will not like it if you die, so try to remain alive till the end, will you?”

From the middle of the group of Adventurers, a muscular Demi-Lamia man pulled out the sword from the sheath on his back and faced the young girl with a broad smile. “You always try to kill me, little one, but you still have to grow a lot more to be a worthy adversary! I will do what I always do when we spar! You will faint, and I will dance around your knocked-out body! Come at me, and I will rub the floor with your ugly face!”

Tetil Stog squeezed the hilts of her daggers and said with a scary smile, “We will see how you look after the beating I am going to give you! Mother won’t even recognise you when this is finished!”

While father and daughter were exchanging threats, Meryda whispered to Pof Grinun, “Are they always like this? Because she seems to really hate him! I wouldn’t ever say such a thing to my father, or even try to kill him during training!”

“Well, you know what they say, Demi-Lamia are very aggressive, but those two are completely nuts. Tetil is always calm and fooling around, but in a fight, I wouldn’t want anyone else at my side! You will see what I mean when she starts.”

The Guild Master waited for Meryda to choose the Monsters that were going to fight at her side, and after she told them what they were going to do and that they should stop before giving the deadly blow to anyone, they all got ready, each group of fighters a few metres from each other.

…

By the middle of the afternoon, the floor was a mess of rubble, holes, pools of blood, and knocked-out Adventurers, Monsters, and Explorers.

Tetil Stog kicked her father’s tail to be sure he was out, and with a quick movement, she made a thin cut in the middle of his lower body, making Meryda wonder why she was doing that. It was then that Pof Grinun pointed to Tetil’s lower body, and Meryda saw a bunch of thin scars that seemed to be quite old, realising those were probably the times she lost at her father’s hands, and that cut she was making with such a happy face was probably the first time she had defeated him.

Meryda was seated on the floor, dead tired, and with her clothes all wet from the attacks she suffered. One spider and two Bone Boars were knocked out on the floor, with only minor wounds on their bodies.

Lyzy, the powerful and young Salamander, was seated on the floor next to the Slime, poking the bouncing gelatine with his snout to check if the Slime was out or not. His insistence made the slime annoyed, and he got a slap from one side of the slime, warning him to stop it.

A few metres from them, the Emptiness was hovering next to all the Mages he had knocked down as if making sure they were all alive.

Craydon Crawler was lying on the floor, his crossbow next to him, all dirtied with blood. In the last fights, he had no ammunition, so he used the crossbow as a mace, splitting a few heads or breaking some hands.

There were scattered Mages, Explorers and Adventures, all over the floor. Some were knocked out, others were awfully tired, and only two joined the Guild Master and were giving Healing Potions to the ones that ended with nasty wounds.

Meryda’s friends, besides Tetil Stog, who only had a black eye from a punch an Adventurer gave her when she was trying to get to her father, were all wounded.

Pof Grinun had a dislocated shoulder, and a broken leg, but he still endured the pain until the Guild Master could get to him to give him a Healing Potion.

When they were all healed and seated on the ground, trying to recover their breaths, the Guild Master said, “This was interesting to see, and I hope it was a learning experience for everyone! In a Party, you have to always, but always, protect your comrades. You can’t only worry about yourself. The strength of a Party lies in every member. As for you, Meryda, you need to get used to seeing your Monsters get hurt. You can’t lose focus, and with that, forget your Spells, because you got worried about one of your Monsters! If you have time to worry, you have time to throw a Spell to help them! You can’t be screaming for an Adventurer to stop hurting your Monster and cry instead of helping your Monster!”

“But… but...”

“No buts, you stupid brat! Your Monsters got distracted because you were crying and shouting, and with that, some of them got knocked out! They were trying to protect you, and your screams and your lack of focus on your Magic almost made them get killed! We will do this every afternoon from now on until you get used to these dangerous fights! Because believe me, fighting against people or Monsters that want to kill you is scary, and you will die if you get yourself distracted like what happened so many times today!”

Craydon raised his arm, still lying on the floor, and asked, “We are what? Doing this every afternoon from now on? You are nuts!”

That remark granted him a kick on his waist from an angry Guild Master, who continued while Craydon complained about the pain. “You all heard me! We will be coming here every afternoon from now on until I am satisfied! The only ones who are excused are Party members who have a Quest to fulfil. Everyone else will come here right after lunch and fight until you can’t stand! Understand, you lazy bunch? I got enough of so many Adventurers and Explorers lazing in the Guild main room, having a rest between Quests! If you can rest, you can train here!”

Craydon mumbled, more to himself than to anyone else, “Darn it, this will be so tiring…”

And that granted him another kick to shut him up from an annoyed Guild Master, who was now shouting threats of what he would do if someone got knocked out during a training session.