Stepping out into the morning sunlight, One Swing stretched the stiffness from his limbs and gazed out into the sun as it rose above the eastern walls in the distance.
One Swing liked to watch the sun. He liked to get lost in the unknowing of the unfathomable length of distance that existed between them, as well as feel comfort in the warm, black blotches it left across his vision that persisted for a long time afterwards.
After spending a few nights in one of Bredkrum’s jail cells, One Swing was eventually released back into the town. It seems that his display of pure length in the goblin assault the other day hadn’t caused any deaths or major injuries, and was practically ruled to be just a very extreme case of vandalism.
Although, he wasn’t free of consequence. As an adventurer, most of the earnings from any quests he took from now on would go straight back to paying off the damage he caused to the town. As One Swing had already given up his entire fortune and savings in order to forge his mighty soulstone blade, it seems he would have to live quite frugally from now on. At least, until his debt to the town was paid off.
As for the sword in question, it had been left at the remnants of the western gate after One Swing’s arrest. The guards had lacked the strength to bring the heavy blade along with them, and even if they were to succeed, there was no place for them to even store something of such a size. Seeing as it towered high above every building that stood within the town.
With thoughts of his sword, One Swing tore his eyes from the sun and turned to leave, when— He suddenly found his vision obscured by a towering figure standing at his back.
“Hey, human,” the shadowy figure called down to him, stepping out from a nearby alleyway. The voice that came was unmistakably the voice of a woman. “You just came from in there, right?”
One Swing squinted up at the towering woman, his eyes slowly adjusting to the new light.
Immediately, One Swing could see that she was tall. Very tall. The length of her body towered far above his own. A long, black cloak obscured the length of her frame, and she wore a large, wide-brimmed hat atop her short, black hair. Almost comically large was her hat, as if hiding something beneath it. Two piercing crimson eyes glared down at him from behind a thick pair of glasses, resting against her freckled face. And from beneath her cloak, a long, pale arm was outstretched at her side, a sharp, blackened nail at the end of her pointed finger gesturing towards the jailhouse in which One Swing had just spent the last few nights.
She was the most beautiful woman One Swing had ever seen. Although her body was completely obscured and her face wasn’t exactly striking, the sheer length of this woman had One Swing absolutely captivated. Although the man was typically more attracted to longer hair on a woman, he felt that the shorter black hair that only came down to her ears helped to further accentuate the extraordinary length of her body.
Was she human? An elf, perhaps? Whatever she was, One Swing was confident that she at least wasn’t a dwarf. One Swing hated dwarves.
In addition, despite being so early in the morning, One Swing swore he could smell the faintest whiff of alcohol on her breath as well…
“I did indeed come from in there,” One Swing replied, nodding towards the jail. “Although, if you’ve mistaken me for a guard, I’m sorry to tell you I am but a simple adventurer who just recently arrived in this town. I don’t know if I can be of much assistance to you.”
“Ah, no. If anything, I’d like to avoid the guards, if I can help it…” she said, pulling her hand back inside her cloak. “I just wondered if you saw anybody else in there. In one of the cells or anything.”
“Anybody in particular?”
“Well…” Poking her other hand up, she pointed another blackened nail towards her face. “I’m looking for my sister. Red eyes. Black hair. Looks a little like me, except a lot stupider. A lot shorter too. But especially stupider.”
“Hmm…” After thinking for a moment, One Swing shook his head. “I didn’t see anybody who matches that description. Sorry.”
The woman breathed a deep sigh. “Figured,” she said, before turning away and making to leave. “Thanks anyway.”
“Wait!” As she stepped away, One Swing called out to her. This woman was the longest person One Swing had ever seen. From just her length alone, she already commanded One Swing’s complete respect. He just had to know her name. “My name is One Swing, currently an F-Rank adventurer who aims to one day become S-Rank. If I happen to run into somebody who matches the description of your sister, might it be beneficial for me to pass your name along to them? If you’ll permit me to know it…”
Stopping for a moment, the woman tilted her head to the side in thought—her comically large hat flopping around with each little movement of her head.
“I guess that’s… fine,” she said hesitantly. “It’s Trish. If you see my idiot sister, tell her Trish is looking for her.”
And with that, the woman left, ducking back into the nearby alleyway from where she first came. Her mumbled complaints disappearing into the darkness alongside her.
“Ugh… Just where did that stupid meathead run off to…? Mom is gonna kill me…”
As One Swing watched her leave, he suddenly became aware of the fact that it probably would have been more beneficial to learn her sister's name as well. All he knew to look out for was somebody with black hair and red eyes. Presumably stupid-looking as well. Whatever that was supposed to look like.
Oh well, One Swing thought, and then continued on his way.
Before One Swing went to pick up his sword left at the western gate, he figured it best to make a stop at Bredkrum’s Adventurers Guild on the way. It was like a large inn of sorts, set up as both a place for lodging, dining, and a place to congregate for those with the role of ‘adventurer’. Adventurers would pick up ‘quests’ from the guild, complete them, and turn them in for monetary reward. A great place to find work, if you were the sort of person who hated finding a job.
As One Swing passed through the wide, double doors of the guild, he felt oddly naked, and very small. Seeing as his large, violet blade very rarely left his side, doorways were always one of One Swing’s biggest foes. Always struggling to guide the blade carefully through the opening without destroying whatever property was on the other side of the street. The victory over today’s doorway felt like a very hollow one in comparison...
Inside the hall, he could see other adventurers already milling about. Either talking with the woman at the front desk, looking through potential quests at the noticeboard, or discussing plans with one another around one of the many tables littering the large hall.
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One Swing approached the noticeboard himself and took a look through the list of quests. His stop in Bredkrum wasn’t meant to be a very long one, but finding himself low on both funds and supplies, he needed to find a well-paying quest in this town before continuing on his journey. An especially well-paying one, seeing as most of his reward money would now be going to paying off his newly acquired debt.
Finding a few quests that he liked, One Swing plucked them from the board and approached the woman at the front desk.
“Good morning!” The especially chipper woman greeted him as he approached, a pair of brown, furry ears twitching happily above her head. A wolfman. Half-wolfman, perhaps, seeing as she lacked a tail and—aside from the ears—the rest of her appeared human. “Before I let you accept those quests, I’m going to need to see your adventurer’s ID. Do you have it on you, sir?”
Nodding, One Swing pulled the dull plate of brown metal from a pouch at his belt and set it on the desk. Engraved on it was his adventuring name, ‘One Swing’, along with his current rank.
With each new rank somebody achieved, a new ID would be issued. One Swing hoped that, as his rank grew, so would his title. Much like ‘Demon Queen Gluttony, the Wandering Calamity, Black Death, and Mother to the Bloodstained Blackspawn’, as well as ‘Kokoro la Peppyseed, the One True Queen Who Knows All, Sees All, and Stands Above All’, One Swing too hoped to achieve a title on the same level of length as those much more renown than he was.
But, for now, he would have to remain content with the name ‘One Swing’.
“Ah, One Swing, is it? An F-Rank, huh? Let me see…” After looking at his identification, she started browsing through the papers he had taken from the board. “Ah… I’m sorry, sir, but this quest to exterminate the giant snake is restricted to B-Ranks and above, unfortunately. The monster seems to be Cursed and it might be a little too dangerous for somebody of your current rank…”
“I see. Very well then…” One Swing responded disappointingly as the woman placed the request to the side and moved on to the next.
“Ah, this one might be an issue too. This quest to collect the hanging bloodvines from deep in the forest is restricted to those above C-Rank. The forest these grow in has become long overgrown and many giant spiders have taken to living there.”
“I see.”
“And this quest to follow the river to the base of the mountain and back to check for any blockages has been shifted to D-Rank because of all the goblin attacks recently…”
“I see…”
“And this one… Huh? This isn’t one of ours. This is a request from someone looking to have their hair ‘massaged, washed, and treated by a professional hair stylist or beautician to bring some life back into these overgrown locks’, so it says. I—I don’t know where you got this from, sir. You must have brought this in from outside…”
“…”
One Swing sighed. It seems his road to becoming an S-Rank adventurer would not be an easy one.
“H-how about this one, sir?” The woman said, pulling another paper from beneath her desk and placing it between them. “This quest is only a short distance from town, and all you’ll need to do is collect the tiny thorns that sprout off of the low-growing prickle—”
“Absolutely not!” One Swing bellowed, slamming his fist against the desk in anger.
“Eeek~!” The woman recoiled and fell back from her desk in surprise at the sudden outburst.
Such a short-sounding quest was something One Swing felt was far beneath him. A good fit for a dwarf maybe, but not somebody who one day aspires to become the longest, he thought.
“Hey there, brother!” From behind, a hand suddenly clasped itself across his shoulder.
Turning around, One Swing found himself face to face with a large man. He was tall. Taller than One Swing, who himself was only of average height. There were thick, rippling muscles across his huge body. Visible due to the fact that he also wasn't wearing a shirt for some reason. The hair that hung down to his shoulders was a dirty blonde, matching the colour of the thick moustache that grew around his mouth in the shape of an upside-down horseshoe.
“The name’s Grapple!” he said, giving his pecs a quick flex for some reason. “Grapple Krumble! I usually host the arena back in Gran Torte. I’m sure you’ve heard of me!”
One Swing shook his head. “I have not.”
He had not.
“O-of course you have! It’s me, Grapple Krumble! And welcome to the Krumbledome!”
“…”
Ignoring the blank look that he got in response, Grapple continued on. “A-anyway! I heard you were looking for a quest. Is that true?”
“I am.” One Swing nodded. “Why?”
“Well, even though you’re only an F-Rank rookie, as a veteran adventurer, I can tell that you're a pretty tough one! You’re not satisfied with any of these piddly F-Rank quests. Picking flowers and finding lost pets… You want something meatier than that, am I right?”
“Yes!” One Swing gave a fervent nod. “Something with a lot of length!”
“L-length? What does that even—? I—I dunno about length, but a bunch of us are looking for a few more members to party up with to help take down a big ol’ goblin den. How does that sound?”
“Goblins, huh?” One Swing scratched at his chin in thought. One Swing didn’t particularly find the idea of hunting goblins to be that exciting. Goblins were very short, after all. Most of them were bald too. And One Swing hated bald people. “Will there be hobgoblins?”
“Haha! You bet! A den is bound to have a few hobs in it!” The man chuckled and gave One Swing a friendly slap on the shoulder. “I’m sure you’ve heard about the goblin attacks in town recently. There were also reports of a lot of adventurers going missing around here too. As a veteran myself, I had to come all the way down from the Capital to check it out. Turns out they’ve already arrested the one responsible for the missing adventurers, but the goblin attacks are still a major threat. There’s been reports that a hobgoblin is leading them all, and due to the organized nature of the attacks, it’s been difficult getting a crew together to wipe them out. Until now. After that petty attack the other day, it seems their leadership has broken down a little. This is the best chance we've got to go up there and check the place out! What do you say, brother? You in?”
Grapple stuck his hand out between them, awaiting a response.
Although goblins weren’t an interesting quarry, the sheer length of numbers that an entire den of them implied did stir feelings of excitement within One Swing’s heart. The possible addition of hobgoblins—lengthy goblins that stood the same height as the average man—was also an enticing prospect. And due to the length of this shirtless man’s funny-shaped moustache, One Swing was positive he was a trustworthy sort that could be relied on. There was no doubt in One Swing’s mind about that.
“I’m in!” One Swing took the man’s hand and gave it a firm shake.
“Great!” The large man turned towards the lady at the reception, nervously sitting back behind her desk again. “There’s no problem with that, right? We’ve got an A-Rank joining us so there shouldn’t be any issues bringing an F-Rank along.”
“N-no, that’s fine with me…”
“Alright!” The man said, before turning back to One Swing. “Go get your gear and meet us by the west gate in an hour. Or, whatever’s left of the west gate. Heard some real loony messed it up in that last goblin attack. What did they say his name was again…? Oh, speaking of names, I didn’t catch yours. What do they call you, brother?”
One Swing smirked.