“You here for the D-Rank exam? Good. You’re the last one. Let’s get a move on then.”

Having arrived at the meeting point of the D-Rank exam, One Swing had made it to the meeting point outside the capital city of Gran Torte on the outskirts of a nearby forest. Seeing as he was still being refused horse-drawn transport across the land for reasons he could still not discern, One Swing had simply walked all the way to his destination instead, his hefty one-hundred-and-sixty-four foot sword slung across his shoulder, trailing fifty meters up into the sky. Although it did take him a little longer to walk the distance, it was never a bad thing to be a little longer, One Swing thought.

As well as himself, there looked to be a handful of other E-Rank adventurers taking the exam just the same, all following behind an older-looking wolf-woman in dull and battered armour, with thick tufts of her coarse brown fur sticking out from between the exposed gaps in the metal. She seemed to be the one supervising their exam. Most likely a much higher rank than everybody else here, One Swing thought.

Walking in silence through the shallow undergrowth—the early afternoon light shining down from between the trees above—One Swing raised his voice to outwardly ponder a particular question that had been sitting on his mind for a while now.

“What are we doing out here?” One Swing asked.

One Swing had no idea what the exam entailed and what he was supposed to be doing.

He had planned on asking Grapple about the details of the exam, but he had been unable to find the man after the tournament a few days ago when the Krumbledome collapsed into a pile of rubble across the city plaza.

As for the tournament, One Swing was promptly disqualified from the match after his destructive act out on the field, and was barred from ever competing in any kind of tournament to ever be held in the city ever again. Not that One Swing minded, however, as One Swing still was not interested in a series of short bouts where he would be restricted to using short weapons.

As One Swing was disqualified, the win went over to the Hero of the Stampede, Thradish Three-Tails, who was currently still unconscious in a hospital bed somewhere, last he heard.

Waking up in the early morning of the exam say, One Swing had simply visited the Adventurers Guild and asked where it was taking place. In hindsight, One Swing realized he should have also asked what the exam was going to entail because One Swing still had absolutely no idea.

The gruff, older-looking woman leading the party glanced briefly over her shoulder at the man, before continuing on ahead.

“Kobolds,” she said. “We’re going to find them. And kill them.”

“Kobolds, huh…?” One Swing pondered to himself.

Kobolds were a very short breed of creature, and so One Swing didn’t have much interest in them. They closely resembled that of a lizard with many rat-like features. Or a rat with many lizard-like features. It was difficult to tell beneath the dirty and scraggy fur that grew across their entire bodies. Unlike a rat or a lizard though, they walked on two legs, and stood at about the same size as the average goblin.

As the group continued to walk in silence through the trees, One Swing felt a gentle tap on the side of his arm, pulling his attention away from his idle thoughts and to the person trying to get his attention.

It was a woman. A small elf woman with long pointed ears that stuck out from beneath her short purple hair. It was someone that One Swing knew.

“Oh, Arrow Grain, it’s good to see you again so soon,” One Swing gave the woman a short bow. “What are you doing here? Are you also taking the D-Rank exam?”

It was Arrow Grain. An E-Rank adventurer and one of the friends he had made on the goblin-hunting expedition in Bredkrum a few weeks prior.

“That should be my line!” the woman snapped, still keeping her voice to a hushed whisper. “You were still F-Rank the last time I saw you, and now you’re taking the D-Rank exam? I mean, I guess it makes sense because you’re pretty strong and all, but I figured someone like you would be getting into too much trouble to be allowed to rank up so quickly.”

“Ah, well I've only been allowed to take the D-Rank exam thanks to Grapple Krumble. It seems a recommendation from a veteran like himself holds a lot of weight across the Adventurers Guild."

“A recommendation from Mr. Krumble? Ah, that makes sense. Oh, speaking of that guy, have you seen him lately? I haven’t been able to find him since the Krumbledome mysteriously collapsed. What was up with that anyway?”

“…”

“Uh, One Swing? Why did you go silent on me all of a sudden? Don’t tell me… Did you have something to do with the destruction of the Krumbledome?”

“…”

“One Swing?!”

Following behind the gruff wolf-woman, the party of E-Rank adventurers continued to make the long trek across the wooded landscape. It was different to the goblin-hunting expedition near Bredkrum as the woodland was a lot less dense and the land was relatively flat. This meant for much easier trek and the party was able to cover a lot more distance because of it.

As day turned to night, the group made camp and—with a rotation of adventurers keeping watch during the night—the night quickly became day again, and the adventurers continued onward beneath the morning sun trickling down from between the tops of the trees.

“Hey, One Swing,” Walking alongside the man, Arrow Grain poked at his side to get his attention once again. “When you were on watch last night, did you see Miss Barbacoa?”

One Swing tilted his head to the side. “Miss Barbacoa?”

“Our instructor for the exam. The one up front,” Arrow Grain nodded to the older wolf-woman taking the lead. “Bloody Knuckle Barbacoa, they call her. She’s an A-Rank, if you didn’t know. Anyway, I was watching her last night, and she had her eyes open the whole time! I’m pretty sure she was sleeping with them opening!”

“I can’t say I took much notice myself…”

When it was One Swing’s turn to watch, he had spent most of his night shift looking up at the moon. Much like the sun, he liked to get lost in the unknowing of the unfathomable length of distance that existed between them. Except, unlike the sun, One Swing was able to gaze upon the translucent blue orb in the sky for great lengths of time without the added risk of temporary blindness.

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"Arrow Grain…" The gruff voice of a woman from up front called back to the two, cutting off their whispered chatter. "Instead of watching me sleep, I'd recommend watching out for kobolds instead."

Her strong tone of voice was stoic and blunt, although not at all unkind, One Swing felt.

“S-sorry, Miss Barbacoa!” Arrow apologized, bowing her head.

“It’s fine,” the gruff woman called back. “Just be wary of making careless mistakes.”

“Yes, Miss!”

“Oh, and one more thing…” The wolf-woman stopped in her tracks to turn towards Arrow, shooting her a stern glare.

“W-what is it, Miss Barbacoa?”

“There’s no need to call me ‘Miss’.” Turning back to the front, the woman continued walking on ahead, her thick brown tail sweeping softly at her back. “Call me Barxy. There’s no need for formality among friends.”

“Huh? Friends…? Uh, O-okay, Miss— Uh, sure thing, Barxy…?”

Arrow turned to One Swing with a look of puzzlement, which he returned with a simple shrug.

The trek through the woodland continued, and the surrounding trees and undergrowth became thicker, and harder to push through. Eventually, the wolf-woman came to a stop, holding a clawed hand out to her side to halt the group following behind her. Turning around, she gave the group of E-Rank adventurers a stern glare.

"As I'm sure you know, there's been a large outbreak of kobold attacks in this area recently, and we're here to deal with it," she began. "I know you're all eager to advance to D-Rank, but I don't want you to treat this exam as a test or a competition. First and foremost, this is a quest. So, do not try to impress me. Stick to the roles and formations you’re familiar with. And most importantly, do not die. Your life is more important than a meaningless rank. I will be keeping an eye on all of you during this quest, and you will be evaluated after its completion. Understood?”

She was met with an eager chorus of agreement in response.

“Good.” She nodded, before turning back to the front. “Then let’s begin.”

At her words, the adventurers all readied their weapons, and continued onward into the dense forest. Keeping at the back, One Swing gripped the handle of his lengthy weapon in preparation, watching his surroundings carefully. The purple-haired elf walked along beside him, an arrow already nocked against her bow.

“Skreee~!”

Suddenly, the familiar shriek of a kobold screeched out from the forest, echoing across the trunks of the trees. More and more began to follow, and soon, the air was filled with the rustling and pattering of many clawed feet tearing their way through the undergrowth.

—And then the kobolds descended upon the group.

Charging out from the bushes and behind the trees, the scraggy rat-lizards lunged out at the adventurers with claws and teeth bared. However, they were quickly and swiftly cut down by the formation of adventurers who were already well-prepared for their arrival.

Advancing through the trees in a spearhead formation, the adventurers continued to cut down the swarms of kobolds as they jumped out, eager to take down as many as they could for the sake of their exam.

Barbacoa, however, had not joined the melee, and instead was hanging towards the back of the group, keeping a watchful eye on all of the other adventurers. Beside her were One Swing and Arrow Grain, who had also not joined in.

“You haven’t fired a single arrow,” Barbacoa commented turning her stern glare towards Arrow. “Why?”

“Huh? Oh, Miss— Uh, I mean Barxy.” Arrow shot the wolf-woman a quick glance. “I’ve been keeping an eye on our back. I don’t want a repeat of the last quest I did where I got jumped from behind by a direwolf. There’s no point in me getting some shots in from back here.”

“Mm.” The wolf-woman gave an approving nod. “Very good, Row-Row.”

“… Huh? Row-Row?”

“It’s just a simple gesture of fellowship between members of the same party. Think nothing of it.”

“I—I see…”

Despite Barbacoa’s face and tone being stern and serious, the thick tail sticking out from her amour had been sweeping fervently at her back since being called ‘Barxy’. It seemed to even pick up speed after referring to the confused elf as ‘Row-Row’ in return.

“And how about you, Onesie?” Barbacoa turned to One Swing with a stoic glare, her tail still sweeping furiously at her back.

“… What?”

"You're not going to join the fight, Onesie?"

Ignoring the aggravating shortening of his name that he most definitely did not approve of but chose to push aside for the sake of the quest, One Swing shook his head.

“My chance will come,” he said simply, tightening his grip on the handle of his weapon.

Much like in the goblin-hunting expedition near Bredkrum, One Swing knew that his chance to prove himself useful would surely arrive. As much as he would like to swing his one-hundred-and-sixty-four foot blade down in front of him in this very moment, erasing all traces of any kobolds with its fifty-meter range, One Swing thought it best to not do so, as all the surrounding adventurers would surely be erased along with them.

“Ah! Found a burrow!” The voice of an adventurer called out across the commotion as they continued to cut their way forward. At his feet, a wide hole dug deep into the dirt.

“Leave it to me!” Another adventurer called back. Rummaging around in his robe, he pulled out some kind of pouch from across his belt and tossed it into the hole. Shortly after, black some began to rise out from the opening, followed by the shrieks of wailing kobolds.

Scrambling out from the burrow, the hairy creatures began clawing their way out of the smoke and into the fresh air, only to be swiftly cut down by the adventurers already standing in wait for them.

“There’s another burrow over here!”

“Found one here too!”

The sharp cries of the monster’s bloodcurdling shrieks filled the air as kobold after kobold was sliced apart, crushed, or impaled across the forest, their innards spilling out across the dense undergrowth and turning the forest floor red with their blood.

As the killing continued, a confused shout of an adventurer called out from up ahead.

“H-hey, I found something weird! Someone come take a look at this!”

Picking off any straggling kobolds, the group made their way over towards the man and gathered around him.

“… Huh? What the hell is that?”

“Is it a monster? It looks kind of like a horned rabbit…”

“It’s not alive is it?”

More confused chatter broke out amongst the adventurers as they gathered across the edge of a clearing, looking out towards its center. Arriving from the back of the group, One Swing went to stand beside them, peering curiously into the clearing that had stolen everyone’s attention.

In the middle of the dense forest, was a small clearing with no trees or undergrowth. Scattered around it were various trinkets and effigies made of bone, as well as a random assortment of items. Coins, jewellery, tools, weaponry. Clearly things that had been stolen or taken from the corpses of dead travellers and adventurers.

And at the very center of the clearing—the thing that had the attention of all the adventurers—was a bunny. A large bunny, bigger than a carriage. Its eyes were black and hollow, and underneath all the moss and dirt that coated its skin, One Swing could make out what looked like the glint of metal. Not only that, atop the metal bunny’s head, between its large ears, was a long horn, shaped like a drill. Also made of metal.

As One Swing stepped into the clearing to take a closer look at the bizarre thing—

Sparks suddenly fizzled out from its metallic joints, and its eyes began to glow red.