Chapter 2: Everdark Forest

As I approached the outskirts of the forest I briefly hesitated. Sure I had come this far, and it was my best chance to make some merit and increase my adventuring experience, but I also didn’t want to die.

But then I remembered that I had my handcrafted sword “Lock-on” with me and Sashimi dangling from my pack for moral support. This was a job that I really needed to do, and I could do it.

I continued along the path, at walking speed so that I could better observe my surroundings.

The forest held true to its promise. Even though it was the middle of the day, once I was inside it everything became very dark. There was a small amount of light that could still be seen through the canopy in certain places, but for the most part it was so little that most travelers, including me, used light sources like torches or lanterns to traverse the rough forest path.

I was using a covered lantern.

Due to the ecology of the forest, monsters and wild beasts were just as active at all times, but criminals who stalked the woods were much more likely to be active during the day, as that’s when travelers would always move through the forest.

The danger of said criminals could also vary according to Zoul. He used to know a guy that ran an operation where he’d escort people through the path safely for a high but manageable rate, but Zoul had lost contact with him for well over a month now, and so the path was considered far too dangerous for non-adventurers at the moment.

“Speaking of danger…” I said to Sashimi as I heard a slight rustling nearby. “Please be a harmless wild animal… like a deer or something, please.”

It wasn’t. From out of the dark bushes emerged what I could only recognize as stereotypical bandit grunt numbers two and three. The skinny one had two iron short swords and the bulky one wielded a spiked iron mace.

“What do we got here?” asked bandit number three.

“Looks like a little kid got lost playing hero.” The other one answered.

I didn’t really want to fight, I was still level one after all. “Don’t mind me, I’m just delivering this package.” I explained.

“Yeah, what’s in it?” bandit number two inquired with a street gangster growl.

“I don’t know.” I told them. “But whatever it is, it’s not yours.”

From behind me came a handful more goons that were even less impressive.

“Sounds valuable to me, no use for the kid though.” One of the bandits observed.

But where was the bandit leader, the de facto bandit number one? There was always one guy at the top. And he’s who I was actually scared of. “Unless…”

I instinctively back stepped away from bandits two and three, and not a moment too soon as I saw several throwing knives land on the spot that I previously occupied. I quickly moved to set down my gear and unsheathe Lock-on.

“Close, but you missed.” I called out to bandit number one. I hoped this would goad him into revealing himself, but I was greeted with silence.

This however didn’t stop the other bandits from attacking. I was closer to the random bandits, so we attacked each other first.

They were the poorest equipped. I slashed into the first guy who had nothing but a torch and a dagger immediately. The next bandit had an annoying small wooden shield and a club. He swung and hit me in the arm, it hurt but not enough to stop me. I swung and he blocked with his shield, but I was able to recover and thrust past his shield before he could stop me. The last of these no-name bandits had a single sword. We exchanged swings and blocked each other pretty equally, but I could tell I was the faster of us, and so I waited for him to swing, parried, and struck him down the shoulder.

I wasn’t sure if I’d killed them or not, but I couldn’t dwell on that right now, because two and three were incoming.

Two entered range much faster. I swung at him. He dodged under it.

“Crap, he was able to read my moves after such a short exchange with the underlings.” I thought.

Two went right for my throat. I emergency back stepped, but two just kept stride and was in my face in an instant. I went for a horizontal slice. He side stepped, and I side stepped in the opposite direction. There was just enough space between me and two, whereas three was still outside of immediate danger range for now.

Two came charging again. This time I swung with a quick yet seemingly powerful slice straight downward. And I knew that I had him in my trap. Instead of intercepting my strike, he tried to dodge to the side again, the same side even.

Before my swing had finished its arc, I curved it towards number two and got his side. The cut appeared so clean that I didn’t even see any blood. Nevertheless, he dropped to the ground like the others.

This made three really angry. He swung at me trying to take my head off. I narrowly back stepped out of his range.

With only one opponent left, I was able to actually devise a strategy to take down three, which was good because given his physique and current mental state, I would need one.

I back stepped out of his attacks whenever they were about to hit me. I had just figured out what to do, when I back stepped from what I thought was an attack. But actually it was a clever feint. Three charged at my position and body slammed me. We had both used a decent amount of stamina, I was just under half, and three was starting to swing his mace slower. However now I was dazed.

It was now or never. I slashed at his wrists because they were so close to me. Whether it was from my dizziness or his reflexes I couldn’t say, but I just barely missed. But that was only one part of the plan. I also went after his legs. He wasn’t so lucky this time. I gouged into both of his legs pretty deeply. He felt it, and he was immobilized. He swung at me one more time and then collapsed.

My health was low, my stamina was gone, but at least I was safe now, right? Surely the leader got scared off when he saw me defeat all of his minions by myself. He was clearly too much of a coward to…

That’s when bandit number one casually appeared right in front of me. He was a muscular man with blonde hair, and he had a smug look on his face as if he owned the world and everyone in it.

“My, my, you’ve taken care of all of my subordinates.” He said as he strode towards me in a determined, yet unhurried manner.

I got into a fighting stance. The whole scene probably would have looked cool and iconic if I felt like I stood a chance.

“I’m so afraid, whatever will I do?” He mocked.

I saw the barrage of five blades before they hit me, but I didn’t even have a single stamina point in reserve.

I heard a terrible shlorp sound. The piercing pain went through my chest and limbs. I dropped to my knees. Not good.

“You know, I’m pretty disappointed you’re the leader. I was hoping you’d at least be some cute girl considering how shy you were to show your face, but it turns out you were nothing but a…” I tried to say, when he kicked me in the face.

“Little bastard, you’ve really pissed me off.” He said. “I was going to enjoy killing you, but now I’m going to enjoy making you suffer first.” He said as he kicked me again.

I forced my body to be as upright as I could make it. Which ended up as little more than a crouch, and even then the pain was excruciating.

“Look at you, trying to stand up. Against me, WIN. Pitiful.” He said.

I threw a handful of dirt into his eyes.

Bandit number one was actually surprised. “What!?” He flailed wildly and I jumped at my chance.

I tucked into a roll and got behind him, and stabbed him in the back. I thought about how cool I would be if I said some badass one liner like a western gunslinger, but I was drained and near death. I shambled away from the bandits with my stuff for as far as I could before I too collapsed.

When I woke up it was just as dark as when I passed out. And I was in the same place. “Dang it, shouldn’t I have been rescued by a beautiful maiden?” I asked. “Ow.” My injuries weren’t bleeding anymore, but they weren’t completely healed or anything. My stamina bar had completely filled up to a full 99, but my health was down to 10 hit points.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

On the bright side, there weren’t any bandits around trying to kill me. Sashimi was still here, he didn’t seem any different, so that was good.

I once again began walking along the path and did nothing but pray that I would have an easy journey for the rest of the way.

For a little while there I actually thought I would get my wish for once, but then I ran into trouble again.

An arrow flew right past my face. I froze up.

“Who’s there?” I asked as I struggled to bring up my sword.

“You first.” A female voice demanded.

“Uh, I’m Masamune Hiro.” I said. “I’m a newbie adventurer.”

There was no reply.

I couldn’t tell where she was at all. I had an uneasy feeling about all of this. This was suspiciously similar to my encounter with bandit number one. I was not ready for a repeat performance of that one.

I back stepped out of fear and into someone’s body. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the girl’s.

A man just as muscular as that knife thrower before grabbed me from behind and grasped my throat.

“Come on out, little girl. I’ve got a hostage.” The man said.

“Is he talking about me?” I thought.

He continued. “You were real close to finding me, too. But I’m afraid I found you first…”

The girl still didn’t come out.

“… And I’m not going back to that cell.” He finished.

I felt him squeeze down harder. I dropped down to nine hit points. I needed to do something, whoever this girl was, I couldn’t rely on her. I would have to save myself.

I back stepped into him a few times taking a bit of damage in the process, but my gamble paid off and he eventually let me go, and as soon as he did, I fled.

Whatever was going on, it was out of my league. It wasn’t very heroic, but I tried my best to run away.

I wasn’t able to get very far. I could hear the sounds of their fight worryingly close behind me. “What’s happening?” I thought before the sound died away.

“Get away from me, you bastard!” I heard the girl’s voice yell in the distance. I stopped running. “Please! Help!” I heard her voice cry out.

I sprinted back to where the man was. The view I saw was terrifying. The man who I could now make out clearly was rather nondescript apart from his borderline monstrous musculature, but his intentions could be seen clearly. He had the girl pinned down underneath him.

I needed to act fast, but my earlier sprint ate up a lot of stamina. I heard the sound of clothes tearing. I moved without thinking. One, two, three back steps, and a swift stab into his back.

This man really was out of my league. He seemed barely fazed by the attack, but he was distracted, and in that instant I saw the girl pull a knife out and stab it into the man’s eye.

He rolled off of her, and got up on his feet. I chased after him with a strategic back step, and the girl nocked an arrow in her bow.

I swung to distract him yet again. He slapped my sword away with his bare hand. But my distraction worked and the girl’s arrow hit the man right in his other eye. Now completely blinded, I had a chance. I slashed at any part of his body that I could touch.

He wasn’t taking much damage from me, but it was clearly slowing him down, and starting to hurt.

And then, one arrow shot his neck, followed shortly by another one hitting what looked like his heart. He slumped over dead.

“Level Up!” Flashed before my eyes and I thought about how this was no time for fanfare when I abruptly collapsed again.

But, was my dream finally coming true, I woke up and there was a girl there who had taken care of my unconscious body.

“Sakura?” I asked as my blurry vision slowly came into focus on a girl who looked a lot like Sakura. She had messy, shoulder length brown hair, soft and light skin, and very similar proportions to my former coworker. Except, this girl had icy blue eyes as opposed to Sakura’s plain brown ones.

“Huh, who the hell is that?” She replied. “My name’s Marie.” She said.

“What happened?” I asked. “Are you, okay?”

“I’m pretty sure I should be the one asking you that question.” Marie said. “We fought a criminal. I killed him. You fainted.”

“Who was he?”

“Moritz Vagner, he was a serial rapist and killer. He was also a level 6 martial artist.” Marie said.

“That explains why my attacks didn’t do much.” I said.

“Yeah, and why I couldn’t kill him on my own. He intercepted my arrows, and when he knew where I was, I was done for. How about you?”

“I was in the process of delivering a package when I got ambushed by a small group of bandits who nearly killed me. I got away a while ago and then I ran into you.”

“So you’re a newbie adventurer?” She asked.

“Yeah.”

“Idiot. Didn’t anyone ever tell you how dangerous Everdark Forest is for newbies?”

Now she even sounded like Sakura. “In fact, they did, but I had no choice but to take this route. This package I’m delivering is really important.” I said. “I can’t waste any more time.” I told her as I tried to stand up and walk.

“You aren’t in a very good condition to be traveling around these parts, especially not alone.” She stated. “I’m coming with you.”

I didn’t know Marie very well, but she had a point, plus she seemed trustworthy enough, so I didn’t say anything.

Plus one harem member! Maybe?

“But…” She interrupted after I explained my story in a bit more detail. “How were you able to fight off a group of bandits and escape without leveling up? It sounds to me like you should have gained at least a level or two.

During the fight against Moritz I did assist Marie who clearly fought and killed him. It sounded to me like this really is like in a game. We were in the same fight against an opponent and they died at the end of the battle, so we gained experience and I leveled up.

“I guess that means I didn’t kill any of the earlier bandits then.” I figured.

“That’s okay.” She reassured me. “You can always get them next time, unless I get to them first.”

I didn’t really think killing people would be my kind of thing. “Do you go after criminals a lot?”

“All the time.” She said like it was no big deal. “In fact, I’m kind of disappointed you haven’t heard of me yet. I have a bit of a reputation as ‘The Man Hunter’ even though I hunt monsters and man-eaters as well, I guess the name just kind of stuck.”

Marie and I were able to make it out of the forest without any more wild encounters. She also informed me that she would accompany me to the town because that’s where she was going to get her reward for Vagner’s corpse, which she was carrying in her magical bag, somehow.

We eventually arrived at our destination: Pineshear. The town was a lot larger than Meadowpatch the only town I was actually familiar with thus far. Vendors of all variety lined the streets, guards patrolled up and down the alleys, and everything had a fast paced and lively atmosphere.

I told her that the first thing I had to do in town was deliver my package but that she was free to do her own things.

“Don’t worry. I’m coming with you.” She quickly responded.

I was a little confused. “I’m sure nothing is going to happen to me while in town.” I said. “You really don’t have to.”

“What? You don’t want me coming along?” She asked with a hint of irritation.

“No, no, that’s not what I meant. I just… if you’ve made up your mind follow me.” I said with a small sigh.

I knew next to nothing about Pineshear, but I had very good instructions on where the package was supposed to go. Set apart from most of the other buildings in town stood a large and fancy house that clearly belonged to some important family in the region. Marie and I knocked on the door, introduced ourselves to the man who answered, and showed him my license and the package.

“I have the medicine.” I stated.

His cold demeanor immediately melted away into a visage of relief and he quickly led us upstairs and into a bedroom with several people attending to a young girl lying on a bed wrapped in bedsheets with her eyes half shut. Someone who looked like a nurse was wiping her ghostly pale forehead and face, and around the room sat other signifiers of her illness like empty potion bottles and bloody rags.

I gave the package to one of the men who introduced himself as the young girl’s doctor. He opened it up to reveal some kind of special potion with a yellow-orange color that danced in the bottle like liquid fire. He quickly brought it over to the girl and administered it.

Everyone watched the girl with a silent intensity. After a few moments the effects of the potion began to manifest. This girl who had very clearly been hovering at death’s door, rapidly and within moments experienced the color returning to her face and her eyes opening wide.

Smiles spread across the room. The two people who were pretty obviously her parents hugged her with tears streaming down their faces.

Marie seemed struck by the events she had witnessed and merely stood there staring. I tapped her shoulder and gestured for us to leave the room and give them some privacy. But as I turned to head out the door, the girl looked over to me. “Thank you.” She said in a sweet tone that must not have been possible without her being cured.

I wasn’t sure how to respond so I merely gave a small bow. “You’re welcome.”

Marie and I waited outside for a short while and when the doctor came out, he tended to my injuries from the forest and even graciously gave me a high quality healing potion. He said it wasn’t needed by the family any more, and that it was the least they could do. But honestly, I was just waiting to get the confirmation signature from the father considering he was the one who posted the job and his signature was needed for me to collect the reward at the adventurer’s guild.

When it was just the two of us Marie started pestering me. “You told me you didn’t know what you were delivering?” She asked.

“Sorry, I lied.” I told her. “I made sure I learned from Zoul all the details and knew all the risks before I even set foot in the forest.”

“But then that means…” Marie said as she puzzled the pieces out. “Goddammit Hiro-kun, why would you risk her life to save me?” She yelled as she punched me in the arm.

“Sorry.” I said as I rubbed my newly bruised shoulder. “I guess I’ll just leave you behind next time.” I told her.

“N-next time?!” She stuttered. “Oh you better not. There’s more where that came from.” She said with a blush on her face and her hand in a clenched fist.

Plus one harem member confirmed.

A little later, Marie and I made our way over to the guild where I turned in my receipt and Marie handed over Vagner’s corpse for identification. We both received our rewards. Marie’s was notably larger. But my reward wasn’t too bad, I was given a Forte which was worth one thousand merits.

“So what are you going to do now?” I asked the first of possibly many girls who would be interested in me for seemingly no good reason.

“The guild doesn’t have any more jobs that I’m interested in right now, and I got a pretty good sum from the last job, so I guess I’ll hang around town and rest up.” She said. “You?”

“I want to upgrade my license.” I told her.

She looked me up and down. “I’d say you have a pretty good shot at it. You have a bit of battle experience and enough merits to apply at least.”

“Do you have any advice to help me out?” I ask.

She thought about it for a second. “The guild runs an exam to test adventurers on their abilities before they grant bronze licenses. They happen fairly regularly, but the guild doesn’t publicly share where they are going to take place, therefore the first part is proving yourself as an adventurer and getting there in the first place.” She said.

My nervousness must have shown on my face.

“But don’t worry, there are various guides who know exactly where to go. I know a family of them, I can introduce you.” She said. “Make sure you get everything you need packed up first though, it’s a long journey.”

“I thought you said you wanted to relax in town?” I mentioned.

She shrugged. “I can do that later, it’s not a big deal. Besides, it would be nice to catch up with them.”

After an hour or two, Marie and I were geared up to hike into the mountains to find these mysterious but helpful guides.