1

It was early morning at about 0800 hours. It had just stopped raining, giving us a much needed break from the heat of summer. The outside was another mess of mud and barbed wire.

We were sitting in a dugout roofed with wooden logs and covered in thick mud for camouflage. The .50 caliber machine gun was unmanned at the moment. Dani and I were the only occupants and we just leaned back against the wall smoking cigarettes.

I’ve been staring at drops of water hitting my knee for several minutes as it’s the only interesting thing happening at the moment. We had already finished a pack and were trying to toss cigarette butts back in from where we were sitting. It was a remarkably peaceful day.

“Hey, Dani. What are we doing tomorrow?” I ask, flicking a cigarette butt and missing.

“What do you think? Patrol, then back here again, patrol, and maybe we go out to change the barbed wire at night.”

I finished another and missed again.

“Hey, Suzi. Did you talk to your family?”

“No. Line for the phone was too long again. I’ll try again tomorrow. What about you?”

“You know I can’t.”

Of course I knew why. She hadn’t spoken to them in four years and has no desire to. Rico was confused by that decision and tried to talk to her about it but she always shot him down until he finally stopped.

“Suzi… Why did you give the order to move up?”

“What are you talking-”

I froze when I looked at her. Almost everything below her chest was missing. Her intestines were stretched out and I was sitting in a sickeningly large pool of blood. Looking inside, I could see her heart was still beating. She was staring at me with a blank expression.

“Back at the airfield. The Germans didn’t kill me. You did.”

“N-No… I-I-I-I… D-Don is the team leader.”

“Don’s dead. You took his place and you got us killed. They were your orders.”

She frowned slightly.

“I don’t care about myself, in fact, I’m glad I died, but Rico, Allen, McKnight… They’re dead and it is all your fault.”

“S-Shut up!” I cried. I covered my ears but it did nothing to drown out her voice.

“Do you think their parents will recognize their mangled bodies? Is there even anything left of them?”

“I SAID, SHUT UP!”

I bit my lower lip hard to hold back the tears, my head was aching, and my heart felt like it was about to explode.

“I-I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for any of it to happen. I didn’t want any of you to die.”

“It was your responsibility to make sure we got home. Now we’re all dead and you’re in a fantasy world,” she chuckled. “You were always lucky, Suzi.”

She placed her hand on my shoulder and started to shake me gently.

“Are you having fun yet? Huh? Are you?”

“Please stop,” I begged. “I never wanted this.”

2

When I opened my eyes, I was greeted by the red eyes and large ears of the other new adventurer. She had her hand on my shoulder and gave me a warm smile.

“What are you doing here?” I ask, groggy.

“I was told to come wake you. Don’t you remember? We’re going on our first quest today!”

That’s right. New adventurers in Iron Hawk are required to complete a few quests with a high level party to gain experience. There were no exceptions and I was not going to refuse a chance to figure out how the hell this world works.

“Come on! Get up,” Lily said. “Everyone’s waiting for us downstairs. Did you sleep okay?”

I looked at the clock hanging on the wall. Fifty-six minutes. I was asleep for fifty-six minutes. For my entire first night, I was pacing around the room provided to me trying to make sense of my situation. A lot of my questions were reasonable, like how leveling up works. It gives me a headache but I can learn.

Some of my other questions give me the most painful migraines. Why was a succubus an adventurer? They’re supposed to be demons that prey on men to survive. I can’t blame the men for wanting an easy way to relieve stress but there are women out there that don’t suck the life energy out of people. Given how quickly she revealed herself to be a succubus, Maria’s abilities must be common knowledge in the town. Does she have some kind of business set up or does she secretly stalk men at night? For now, I can only guess.

How did I get here? Before I woke up in that shack, I heard a woman’s voice. I couldn’t see her but I felt an overwhelming presence. She had to have been some sort of goddess.

The more I thought about everything and the more questions I asked, the more irritated I got. Eventually, I gave up and went to sleep just as the sun was beginning to rise.

I put on my shoes and let Lily lead me downstairs to where the rest group was waiting. On the way, both of us were given cold stares and heard hushed insults from most of those who passed us. Most of them were directed towards me.

“Not the friendliest bunch, are they?” I comment.

“Yeah. I tried talking to some of them but they ignored me. Looks like we’ll have to go on a few quests for them to accept us.”

Do I want them to accept me? Does it even matter? That can only be answered with time.

We stood before three people with high level gear. I was calm while Lily was drenched in sweat and frozen like a statue.

“You must be Suzue,” a woman with red hair and wielding a halberd held out her hand. “I’m Anya and I’m the leader of this party.”

Anya was about as tall as me, if a little shorter. She wore steel gauntlets and boots but had only a swimsuit to protect her torso and groin.

I shook her hand and expressed my thanks for her willingness to teach us. Lily frantically did the same as she had forgotten to when she introduced herself.

The next person greeted me with a big smile and an arm around my shoulder.

“How’s it going? The name’s Jay! Nice to meet ya!”

He had bright orange hair and wore ripped black robes.

I carefully pushed his arm off me as he was rambling about nothing in particular and let the last guy introduce himself.

He had snow-white hair and piercing blue eyes. He wore an all-black leather outfit and gave Lily and I a disapproving glare. If this was an anime and I was still twelve years old, he would be my favorite character.

“I’m Jack Vorst. Don’t bother trying to learn it. I’m not interested in being friends with a cheater.”

“Who said I wanted to be friends with a punk like you?”

There was a noticeable twitch in his eye and it looked like he was ready to fight me.

“Is that how you’re supposed to talk to your superiors? Are you asking for a fight?”

I cracked my knuckles and walked toward him. “Alright, bitch, show me what you got.”

Anya stood between us before we could come to blows and scolded us. She sounded tired and annoyed rather than legitimately angry, like this was a common occurrence that she had to deal with.

“I already have Jack’s short temper to deal with and I don’t need another. Now let me see your guild cards. All you have to do is reach your hand into something and if you intend to pull it out, it will appear. The same goes if you want to put it away.”

I did as she asked by retrieving my card from underneath my open palm. Anya took both of our cards and read them aloud.

“Time to look over your stats and skills. I’ll start with you, Suzue. Let’s see… Strength is high, as is your Intelligence. Oh, wow! Your Stamina is extremely high! Same with your Luck and Vitality. Agility is average. As expected, your Magic is below average. Overall, these are solid stats for a beginner. You can be a Knight, Warrior Marksman or Archer. You could choose the basic Adventurer class if you need more time to decide. You can learn various skills from the other classes but don’t expect them to be nearly as effective. Speaking of skills, let’s see which ones you inherited.”

“Inherited?” I ask with a raised brow. I’ve never seen that in any RPG I played.

“Inherited skills depend on someone’s prior occupation since becoming an adventurer. For example, if one used to be a blacksmith, they’d automatically have the Blacksmith skill while everyone else would have to learn it. Your skills are… Advanced Marksman, Advanced Hand-to-Hand, First-Aid, Advanced Knife Wielding and Intermediate Cooking. You even have Enhanced Perception. These are great skills to have at Level 1. What exactly did you do before you came here?”

“I was a soldier for about eight years.”

Anya and Lily seemed impressed at my years of experience but I don’t see anything special about it. There are millions of others more experienced than me and I don’t understand how my skills are “advanced.” I’ve lost plenty of the sparring matches that my comrades did to pass the time and stay in shape. There were many times where it seemed like I couldn’t hit the broad side of a tank but it is rather difficult to aim when dirt is flying in your face and you’re trying hard not to get yourself killed.

In fact, the cooking skill should be higher. My comrades couldn’t make a simple sandwich and the few times they did eat something other than rations, they were culinary disasters straight out of Lord of the Flies. The only exception would be Baumer as her ability to bake a cake out of whatever she finds in the field would make her an Arch Wizard in this world.

“As for you Lily… Strength, Vitality, Luck are all… average. Your Intelligence is high, that’s good. Your Magic is also really high. Agility and Stamina are below average.”

Lily deflated upon hearing such a mediocre review but I was interested in what kind of magic she could do.

“Intermediate Summoning Magic? That’s pretty impressive. What kind of spirits can you use?”

“Spirits?” I ask.

“There are two different types of spirits that Summoners can call upon,” Lily explained. “Standard and Mythical. Standard spirits are things like animals while Mythical spirits are the souls of those who made contracts with the God of the Spirit World before they died. There aren’t a lot of scrolls so they’re extremely rare and I have four.”

“You have four Mythical Spirits?!” Jay exclaimed, astonished.

“Most wizards that specialize in summoning spend years trying to find one,” Anya said. “You’ll have to show them to us at some point.”

While everyone else was amazed at the many spirits that Lily had acquired, I was too busy trying to figure out what the hell the Spirit World was, what the God of the Spirit World is and why anyone would willingly become one. Everytime I ask a question I get seven more.

“Since that’s over with, go collect your gear and grab a package from the guild alchemist. Renta will show you the way. Once you’re done, meet us out front.”

Renta greeted us from behind, which startled me and almost made me punch her. She led us through the east wing of the building to the alchemist. On the way, I asked her about the blue feathers that made up her hair and apparently she’s half harpy.

“Can you sprout wings and fly?” I asked.

“No, of course not!” she laughed. “But I can sing a melody that can knock people out. Ah! We’re here.”

I look at the sign hanging above the door and read it aloud.

“Koku… Chia? You have a relative here?”

“Yep! My little brother.”

She opened the door and we entered a standard fantasy alchemy shop. Shelves were filled to the brim with bottles of strange liquids and powders. To the left was an entrance to what appeared to be a greenhouse and to the right was the front desk. Just barely peeking over the top was another head of blue feathers and beady yellow eyes.

I will not be able to handle this.

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

With an exclamation of excitement, the boy ran around and embraced his beloved older sister and my heart was beating out of control. I started breathing heavily when I noticed a slight blush on his cheeks.

“It’s good to see you too! Lily, Suzue, this is my little brother, Koku- Woah, you’re drooling!”

I wiped my mouth and quickly changed the topic.

“S-Sorry! It just happens sometimes. Anyway, we’re here to pick up something for our first quest.”

“That’s right! Anya told me about taking you two on your first quest. Let me get it for you.”

Koku went into a back room and I heaved a heavy sigh like I just dodged a tank shell. He came back out carrying a small box full of various different potions.

“These red potions are for healing and the yellow ones are for stamina.”

He closed the top and handed the box to me and wished Lily and I luck on our first quest.

He’s so cute! I want to talk to him more. But alas, I had a job to complete. I gave the box to Lily so I could grab all of my gear. Once I had everything, I went outside to where everyone else was loading supplies in a horse-drawn carriage.

I walk over to Anya and ask her about the quest.

“We’ll be going north to help a village that’s been having trouble with a group of mercenaries,” she explains.

“Anything else?”

“No, that was everything.”

I let out a light frustrated sigh. It seems that no matter what I’m doing, I’m forced to figure crap out as I go along. It’s annoying but I’m used to it at this point.

“You should take off that jacket,” she says. “It’s been pretty warm lately.”

I hadn’t noticed it before as I was in utter disbelief when I first arrived but it was summer here as well. A pretty warm one at that but not scorching hot.

I decided to do as she suggested but still put it somewhere safe just in case the temperature dropped. There were too many times where I didn’t have my ACU jacket nearby and regretted it terribly.

The rest of the supplies were loaded in the carriage and we left the town.

3

“And it’s five, six, seven, open up the pearly gates. Ain’t no time to wonder why, whoopee! We’re all gonna die.”

I was lazily reciting the lyrics of I Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-to-die by Country Joe McDonald. Not because it was particularly relevant but rather due to boredom and it was one of Dani’s favorites. We would sing it almost every chance we had, though not too often given my annoyance with the incessant use of music from the Vietnam Era.

Along with my hushed singing, I was scanning the terrain for potential threats. No stone unturned and definitely no tree unchecked. Whenever I look up at one, I scan it for movement and move on to the next as quickly as possible.

I almost got close to staring at one for too long when a squirrel decided to linger. It was enough to remind me of certain memories so I decided to take a short break.

I was feeling a little groggy so I pulled out a few packs of coffee that I had saved up.

“Watchu got there?” Jay asked.

“Instant coffee. You want some?”

“Yeah, thanks!”

“I-I’d also like some! If you don’t mind,” Lily requested.

I handed them each two packs.

“I’ve never seen coffee packaged like this before. It’s so convenient! Jay, can you hand me a cup, please?”

“Sure thing! Just let me get one for Suzue- Huh?”

I opened four coffee packs and poured the contents directly into my mouth. Everyone looked at me like I did something gross.

“What the hell are you looking at?”

“Why’d you do that? I was going to heat up some water,” Jay said.

“I always do it like this whenever I’m on the move.”

“Maybe we should wait until we stop for the night,” Lily suggested.

We stopped at a clearing just as the sun had started to set. I helped to collect firewood along with Lily so that we could cook some food. I’m honestly looking forward to it as I haven’t had a properly cooked meal in years and when I opened my last MRE, there was only peanut butter again. It was my last chance to get some jalapeno and cheese over dry tasteless breadsticks. That doesn’t sound very appetizing but when you’re out in the field for weeks, it’s quite the feast.

Jay lit a fire using his magic and cooked up some chicken for all of us. It was dry and rather bland as he didn’t use any seasoning but it was still better than most of the garbage I had to eat.

After our meal, Jay and Lily make the instant coffee I gave them. They looked excited to try it but after the first sip, they seemed disappointed.

“It’s not bad but I honestly expected more,” Lily admitted.

“You seriously expected a gourmet cup of coffee from a plastic pack?” I questioned.

“I suppose I was expecting too much. Why are you sitting all the way over there in the dark?”

The moment Jay lit the fire, I instinctively moved away from it. To them it’s nothing more than a means to cook food and stay warm, but from my perspective it’s a dead giveaway to enemies. Even just lighting a simple match for a cigarette is considered a death wish as it gives a sniper an opportunity to line up a shot.

They won’t understand my reasoning so all I can say is, “I just don’t like fire.”

Jay patted down a spot next to him and said, “Come on over! There’s nothing to be afraid of.”

“How can you expect to be accepted by the guild if you won’t even share a meal with us?” Jack snarled.

“Leave her alone, you two,” Anya ordered. “She doesn’t have to join us if it makes her uncomfortable. Besides, it takes time to get used to a new line of work such as this. Give her some time. She’ll warm up eventually.”

Jack scoffed and Jay expressed his disappointment in a missed opportunity to know more about a new member. Lily appeared to be almost worried.

I didn’t sleep because nobody else was gonna keep watch. However, I didn’t exactly do a good job as I just stared at everyone sleeping in peace. For as long as the fire burned, I fully expected them to die.

4

We arrived at the village at around noon. The sky became overcast so we rushed to avoid the rain. As a result, the horses were tired and I was annoyed. What if we needed those horses later? They won’t be able to be used as effectively just because a few people can’t handle a little rain.

The village was surrounded by a wooden wall and the gate before us was closed shut. Standing above were two men holding spears that looked more like farmers than guards. One had bull horns and the other had cat ears. I noticed that they tightened their grips on their weapons when we approached. I ended up doing the same.

“Who are you?! Answer us at once!” they demanded.

Anya held up her hand to show we meant no harm.

“Please calm yourselves. We’re the adventurers you’ve called for help. We’re from Iron Hawk.”

“Really?! I heard you guys have tattoos. Show them to us!”

Everyone complied with their demands. First Anya showed the tattoo on her right shoulder, Jay on his right breast, Jack on his left shoulder and Lily on the back of her hand. Everyone except for me.

“Hey! Are you deaf?! I said, ‘Show us your Iron Hawk tattoo!’”

“No.”

“Come on, Suzue. Just show it to them,” Lily whispered.

“I don’t have to show it to anyone if I don’t want to!”

When I took a bath on my first night in this world, I discovered that my guild tattoo was in a rather embarrassing spot. I wanted to kill whoever was in charge of where we get our tattoos and swore that I would take the location of mine to the grave.

“Well, I suppose the others showing their tattoos is enough. Open the gate and inform the Chief!”

We walked through the gate and were met with an entire village of people with animal traits. They’re called the Beast-Born.

Before us stood a short elderly woman with cat ears holding a wooden staff. Despite her short stature, she didn't look like the type to give up easily. She led us into her home and sat us down around a dining table. She offered us tea and we humbly accepted.

I took a sip…

“Hmm… This is shit.”

“S-S-Suzue! That’s not nice!” Lily desperately tried to apologize on my behalf. We barely know each other and she’s trying to act like my mom? I expected Anya to scold me but she didn’t seem to have the energy to deal with me. Actually, there were tears in her eyes.

“I was hoping you’d be more mature than the others. Now I have another guild member with an attitude problem to deal with. Why can’t the gods give me a break?”

“I’m just being honest.”

“Finally!”

The Chief yelled suddenly, startling us all.

“Too many people hold back on me just because I’m old! It’s a good thing you were taught to be honest with your elders.”

“Enough messing around,” Jack demanded. “We wanna know more about these mercenaries.”

The old woman’s face soured.

“Honestly, they’re more like barbarians than soldiers for hire. We originally hired them to eliminate a group of goblins that were causing us trouble. They did what they were asked and we paid them what was owed. However, they demanded us to pay more and when we refused they destroyed our crops and stole what few valuables we had. We tried to fight back but they defeated us and our best fighter, my granddaughter. As punishment, they took her and our children hostage. They said that if we don’t pay up by the end of the month, they will execute them.”

Jay slammed his fist into the table and snarled.

“We’ll do everything we can to help,” Anya declared. “We’ll get your children back. I promise!”

The Chief teared up and graciously thanked us for our assistance. Anya sent Lily and I out into the rain for guard duty while they worked out the details for a rescue. She also taught us an important skill called “Communicate” that allows the user to speak to others over long distances.

We took the place of the two men that initially greeted us above the main gate. They put up a tarp for us to protect us against the rain.

“Couldn’t we have waited until it stopped raining?” Lily complained.

“Stop whining. It’s just a little rain.”

I carefully observed the road leading into the forest for any suspicious movement.

“Come on fathers, don’t hesitate. Send your sons off before it’s too late. And you can be the first ones on your block to have your boy come home in a box.”

I found myself lazily singing the same song from the day before. Lily took notice of it as well.

“You’re singing that song again. Do you like it?”

“Not really. It’s actually kinda depressing.”

“What’s it about?”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“Why do you sing it?”

“A close friend of mine liked to sing it wherever we were traveling. We’d sing it along with other songs to pass the time.”

“This friend of yours… Where are they now?”

“... I don’t wanna talk about it…”

The two of us were silent for a bit. The sound of rain hitting the tarp was soothing to me but I didn’t let it distract me from my duties.

“You got any family you write to? Tell them about how you joined a guild?” I asked.

“N-No. Actually, I ran away from home. I don’t have any desire to see them again.”

I didn’t pry any further. It was personal and none of my business. Dani always said Rico could learn from my example.

“What about you?” she asked.

“N-No… I don’t have anybody. Y’know, you remind me of one of my little sisters.”

“Really? How so?”

“It’s the hairstyle. Also, you’re way too damn polite. I think she’d be around your age.”

She laughs nervously. “How many sisters do you have?”

“I’m the second oldest of seven.”

“Seriously?! That many?”

“Yeah, it might be- Hold it. I see movement.”

I crouch down and aim right at three approaching figures. I couldn’t get a good look at their faces or bodies as they were each hidden underneath a cloak.

“Are they mercenaries?” Lily asked.

“I don’t know. We should kill them just to be safe.”

“Right. I’ll let Anya know- Wait! You’re going to kill them?”

“Yeah. I’m playing it safe.”

“B-But they might just be simple travelers.”

“Do you know that for certain? You might just let a group of mercenaries in to fuck this place up. Think of it this way, Lily. If in your mind you kill to protect yourself, your party or innocent people, it’s the right thing to do.”

Lily insisted that we at least call Anya and hear them out. I begrudgingly accepted but promised that if they so much as breathe the wrong way, I’m shooting them without a second thought.

I kept a close eye on them right up until they were right below us. I could see them clearly now. One was a woman with two daggers at her hip and the other two were men with a sword and flail.

“State your business,” I ordered.

The woman pulled her hood down, revealing three deep scars along her face and a menacing smile.

“Well, would you look at this? Seems those damn beasts hired some adventurers. Why don’t you kids run along and tell that old hag that we need the money right now!”

“I thought it was until the end of the month!” Lily protested.

“Something came up and the deal changed. Fork over the money now or else those kids and her daughter are gonna be six feet under!”

Before I could splatter her brains all over the dirt, I heard Anya’s voice in my head. It was clear with a slight echo and it made me a little nauseous but I got over it quickly.

“Suzue, Lily. The mercenaries are there? What do they want?”

A small glyph appeared on my hand and I spoke into it.

“Anya, this is Suzue. That is affirmative. There are three mercenaries and they are armed. They are demanding the money and threatening to kill the hostages. Over.”

“Damn. But this does give us an opportunity. Try to send them away. Don’t attack them.”

“This is Suzue. These are armed hostiles. I’m requesting to at least snatch one of them for interrogation. Over.”

“No. Lily, can you summon a spirit to follow them?”

“Y-Yeah. I can summon an eagle or a squirrel.”

“That’s perfect. Do your best to send them back to their camp. Then we’ll use Lily to find out where they’re camped. Make something up if you have to.”

It was a good idea. We’d get valuable information with very little risk to ourselves. However, I might not have any other choice but to kill them. Not just because I want to, as they are mercenary scum, but they might not be too willing to leave without getting their money.

I looked back at them and told them the first thing that came to mind.

“I’d love to get this whole thing over with and be rid of you but we can’t let you in,” I explained. “We’re dealing with a sudden outbreak of a very contagious disease.”

All three of their faces went pale.

“W-W-What kind of disease are we talking about?”

“The physician says it’s an extremely deadly and rare case of fuck the hell off.”

“I’ve never heard of such a disease,” one of the men said. “We should leave. Right now!”

“Agreed. The boss will understand. Let’s go before we catch it.”

With that, they ran back down the road and Lily summoned an eagle to follow them.

That actually worked?!

On one hand, I managed to defuse a potentially violent situation but it made me kind of disappointed with myself. Lily took notice and asked me about it.

“My first encounter with an enemy in this land and I fabricate some cowardly bullshit to get out of fighting. I had front-row seats to a beautiful headshot, too.”