After the plates were cleared and table cleaned, Alren cleared her throat, taking a sip of steaming green tea that was handed out after their meal.

“Those boys should be here any minute now. When they stopped by yesterday I said that you were visiting and was kind enough to give them some pointers today. Fair warning though, they seemed skeptical that the little eight year old in their memories can teach them anything, especially since they’ve advanced to D rank, they think they’re unstoppable.”

Alren let loose a sigh that betrayed her age, then a mischievous smile as she spoke to her co-conspirators, “Don’t be afraid to beat some sense into them, they don’t listen to anyone smaller than them.”

“Don’t worry Ms. Alren, I’ll handle it.” Rin’s face adopted the same smile, Adrest almost pitying the children, but his thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the door opening, metal clanking, and footsteps so loud you could have mistaken them for a stray horse finding itself inside.

Instead what greeted them were two mountains of men, all of six and a half feet or more, curly brown hair, copper skin, and faces filled to the brim with freckles.

Betraying the gruff and imposing atmosphere and features of the men were their bright green eyes, filled to the brim with happiness and warmth, doubly so upon seeing Rin, recognition flashing before the boys darted over. Adrest almost lost track of Rin between the boys as they tightly hugged the returned hero.

The one of her left spoke first, a voice deep but not gruff or scratchy. It was smooth and flowed like honey.

“Rin! We never thought we’d see you again!”

Rin wriggled free from the bear hugs, stepping back a few feet. “I’m back! And I heard you two became adventurers as well?”

The boys puffed their barrel chests in pride, the one on the left with a mace at his hip spoke, “Sure did. We’re even D ranks now, if you aren’t careful in a few years we might even catch up to you.”

Rin giggled, brushing off their confidence to turn towards Alren still sitting at the table, “Well, we’ll be off Ms. Alren, I promise I’ll bring them back in one piece.”

Alren nodded and sipped her tea as she watched the group office walk out the door.

Only just starting down the trail towards the woods nearby, Roy looked behind his shoulder at Adrest and Belle following alongside Rin.

“I’m sure you’re pretty tough now Rin, but he’s built like a toothpick and she’s just a kid. What if we run into something we shouldn’t? Rodge and I can’t protect everyone.”

Belle had put on a scowl that scrunched up her entire face that just made her look cuter by Adrest and Rin’s eyes, while Adrest was trying to hold his laughter back, letting Rin handle everything since it was her home and family after all.

Rin had to put a placating hand atop Belle’s head to calm the rabbit down, then spoke to the two boys ahead, “They’ll be fine, they’re both C rank adventurers. You should start worrying about yourselves instead. There’s a D rank Dark Squirrel about a quarter mile ahead of us. Lets go and see exactly what you’ve learned these last few years.”

The boy’s eyes bulged hearing the demi-human that looked younger than some of the children at the orphanage was already a rank above them. But after a second doubt crept in their minds, reasoning it as Rin trying to show off and look cool in front of old friends. Instead of bickering, the twins shrugged and jogged off as quietly as their huge builds would allow into the trees.

Rin sighed at the commotion. Branches snapping, dried leaves crumbling, the regular thwack of bent branches snapping back to form.

Adrest stepped beside her to speak quietly, “Think you can knock some sense into them? If you want Belle could do it too, that’d be a fun show.”

Belle eagerly nodded, ready to show them who’s boss, making Rin break into sweet laughter.

“Thanks Adrest, Belle. But let’s see how our first test goes, then we can think about putting them through a round with our ruby-eyed menace.”

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She followed the obvious trail of where the twins barreled through, the others following behind. Even with three people walking single file, not even the smallest crunch was heard underfoot, not a single blade of grass put of place, their Spartan instructor would accept no less. As they closed in on the destination Rin pointed towards earlier, Adrest could yet again hear the boys before seeing them. It was a song of dull thuds, loud swearing, and then pair of deep voices letting loose a roar of victory.

Rin broke through the brush to the sight of the boys standing in a small clearing, a dead Dark Squirrel lay dead at the feet, missing half its head. The source of the racket was obvious seeing the dozen or so small depressions in the surrounding ground and the dirtied mace and axe.

Rin took in pair of young men, taking long, deep breaths, their clean leather and metal armor now coated in dust here and there. Roy even had a small cut on the top of his wrist, hiding it behind his back when he noticed Rin stare at it.

Adrest was next to pop out from the bushes, stunned at the scene. Belle couldn’t keep it together when she saw the scene and buried her face in Adrest’s back to hide the runaway giggles, it reminded Belle of the first time Alissa made her fight.

“Well, what do you think? We took care of it before you could even get here? Not bad right? Even if we didn’t have the academy, we didn’t fall too far behind.”

After the first question from Rodge, Rin opened her mouth to answer before being cut off, each additional sentence making Rin’s thoughts of letting them down carefully and gently go up in smoke.

Rin grinned while nodding, “Not bad, if you were still in your first month of the Academy. It was only a single D rank and the two of you still got beat up taking it on together? Roy is even bleeding! Anyone with eyes can see how many times you missed your target, and you in particular looked like you were about to pass out with how hard you were panting. What kind of D rank Adventurer can’t even control their breathing and pace their fights?”

With each new critique the boys shoulders sunk lower, feeling ever smaller in front of the now intimidating presence. By the end, they couldn’t look up from the ground at their feet.

Rodge, still feeling defiant muttered, “We just wanted to impress you...”

With Rin’s hearing she could of course hear it clearly, she sighed and turned to Adrest and Belle.

“Would you mind helping me with a little field trip for the rest of the day?”

Seeing the pair nod, Rin smiled gratefully and turned to the twins, “Clean up your arm and we’ll get going. Ms. Alren said you thought you were ready to see the deeper parts of the forests.”

The boys’ bravado faltered at that, reconsidering, but Rin’s stare brokered no argument. Under her stern gaze, Roy washed the cut and wrapped some clean linen around it. Flexing his fingers, Roy regained his dopey grin, “She’ll be good as new by tomorrow.”

Rin started marching off deeper in the trees, motioning for the group to follow, “We have to leave in a day or two at the latest, so hurry. Today I’ll teach you enough where I can rest easy knowing you two won’t get yourselves killed.”

It was a long day of marching for the group, hours and hours inside sparse woods, slowly growing thicker, darker, foreboding. The sounds of birds and the small wildlife completely ceased. It was like they crossed an invisible border, the brothers’ skin crawled feeling like they were being watched from somewhere in the murky shadows creeping in on all sides.

Rin raised a single hand in the air, all stopping at the symbol, “Roy and Rodge, you two are taking point. You’re looking for signs of monsters, deciding our route, everything. Don’t worry about us, just act like you would alone.”

Roy and Rodge turned a shade paler and gulped at the responsibility, but didn’t dare say no. They shared a look, tightened the grip on their drawn mace and axe, Roy said, “I’ll keep track of our location and route back. Rodge, you take the lead and stay alert.”

Tentatively, the boys took their first steps gaining confidence as the trekked into the deep dark. Rodge’s head was on a swivel, on alert for anything out of place while Roy was occasionally taking out a map to make sure they were on course. Rin was a little impressed by their newfound professionalism.

Adrest leaned into Rin’s ear, “They kind of look like adventurers now. You think they’re as bad as Alren was afraid of?”

Rin fixed a stubborn stray lock of hair that kept falling over an eye, “They are vigilant now at least, but they still haven’t noticed our new friend that’s been stalking them for the last mile or so.”

Adrest looked where Rin gestured with her eyes, just barely able to see the glint of pitch-black eyes jumping silently from branch to branch, stalking from above, waiting for a chance to strike.

Adrest was surprised to see a C rank so close to town, he assumed that some were around due to the forest’s reputation but not on the outskirts.

“Want me to go take care of it?”

Rin shook her head, “Let’s wait until it’s about to attack. Belle can give it a try if she wants, it’s about the perfect strength to be her sparring partner for a bit. Plus, I think she’s still annoyed that the twins underestimated her.”

Adrest got Belle’s attention and Rin explained, as expected her eyes lit up hearing she’d get to show off in front of Roy and Rodge. Rin put a single finger to her lips to keep the teen quiet and added, “Oh yeah, don’t use your new swords for this one, you can’t start relying on them.”

Belle nodded and ran back to her position, albeit slightly closer to her target without giving anything away. The attack happened with no warning in complete silence. As a spectator a few dozen paces back, Adrest had a perfect view of the entire scene as it played out.