A Filling Chat

"So, why do people talk about me more and more? It's not like I've done anything particularly special." Sylvia and Mikhail had benched themselves at one of the town's multiple taverns for a late lunch at the latter's suggestion. "Is it really not obvious? This isn't to make fun of you, but a tale of an elf getting lost in a forest is not exactly one you hear every day. Though from what I've been able to overhear, then it has already been exaggerated a fair bit, as all such tales go."

When hearing it put that way, Sylvia couldn't fault anyone for finding the story funny or ironic. "It definitely isn't the story about me I'd have picked if I had a say in it, but I can definitely understand why it's spreading like crazy. Though would I be correct in my guess that my name isn't involved?" While it makes sense for the core of the story to spread, Sylvia herself wasn't known to anyone besides a couple guards, Mikhail's party, and the guild itself, so she figured that her name had probably been dropped from the story early on, since it was of little importance.

"Your guess is completely correct, at least from what little I've heard. Besides that, what story would you pick then? You sure sounded like you had something in mind." It was a little too late by the time she realized that she had backed herself into a corner. 'Actually, fuck it. What can it hurt to share that story.'

"Not long after I got lost in the forest and shortly after I had made myself a spear, I was level 16 or 17 and had an encounter with a large fire breathing bear that was level 50." Just her telling the matchup was enough for both of Mikhail's eyebrows to jump up. "It was an incredibly hard fight, especially since I only just acquired my class, my basic spearmanship skill wasn't even level 10, I only had a shabby stone tipped spear that I had made, and I had next to no experience with combat magic."

"Sylvia… Do you even realize how unbelievable that sounds? Every single factor was against you." His tone made it extremely clear to her how hard he was finding it to take her word for what really happened. "Well, it really did happen. Even the world recognized it and gave me a unique title; that's why I can use fire magic." Her mention of a unique title seemed to make him take it more seriously. "Huh… Sorry for doubting you then. Anyhow, now I just want to hear how you took it down."

Sylvia just shrugged her shoulders lightly. "No matter, it's what it is and understandable. Well, it started off quite poorly, with me almost being torched, followed by me breaking the tip of my spear without even damaging the bear. I managed to trap the bear's legs in the ground a couple times, but that did very little. Eventually I wound up injured on the ground with only my spear keeping the bear from chowing down on my head. That was the point where I resolved myself to die, so rather than attempt to get out alive, I just wanted to take the beast down with me. As it went down to bite my leg into smithereens, I spent almost all my mana to send a big spike into its stomach, which made it release my leg in pain. In that short span of time, I thrust my spear into its mouth, and it went through the roof of the mouth. To make sure that I got the kill, I had the spearhead explode and destroy its brain. Then I passed out."

"What in the name of Artemis did you do before you got lost? Or do you have some kind of blessing from Thor, Odin, Ares, or the like? This is the kind of story you'd hear from A or B rank adventurers; definitely not from someone who just became a D rank." She didn't even have the chance to respond before he added: "Though that not to say that I doubt you. Your achievement has been recognized by the world and I don't see what you'd gain from lying about that to me."

Sylvia just shook her head with a soft smile at that outburst. "No worries, I didn't assume that you did. This isn't the first time that someone has reacted similarly to something I've done, but I don't want to get into that right now. Now, to answer your question; no, I don't have any combat related blessing. The closest is the bear hunter title which I obtained from the battle. Instead, I just have an incredibly high mana pool and a medium affinity for Earth, though I at the time of the battle had very little experience effectively using Earth magic in combat."

It appeared as if her answer satisfied the blonde youth enough to not press on about what she actually did beforehand. "A medium affinity does make it make much more sense, though it's still extremely impressive. Since you mentioned a lot of mana, how much do you have available currently? Mine's around 5k MP in size." Since both the stat and the MP were written on the card and Mikhail just casually shared his, Sylvia figured that it was quite common to be open about one's stats, at least for adventurers.

"My current MP is a little over 13k, so I probably had 2.5k to 3k back then." While she had expected him to be surprised about it, she had not expected him to be completely gobsmacked. It took close to a minute of him just blinking, before he had properly computed what he had just heard. "Sylvia, do you have any idea how much mana that is for someone at your level to have? Even my 5k is on the larger end of the scale for someone at my level, and that's thanks to one of my blessings. 13k is about what you'd expect as a minimum from most B ranks at level 800."

While Mikhail was holding his head in both his hands, Sylvia just nodded appreciatively and made a mental note of him saying blessings, plural. "So, my mana pool is about the minimum for anyone 10x my own level; good to know. My respect for the higher adventurer's ranks keeps increasing the more I learn. Well, with that out of the way, do you have any idea why Philip and especially Enelise have gotten so popular in so few days? I recall the guard mentioning that there's already one Proficient blacksmith and a couple Experienced."

The change in topic seemed to fit Mikhail perfectly and he immediately gave a satisfactory answer. "Ah! That's quite easy to answer. This town and similarly sized outposts generally house somewhere between 200 to 1000 people, with pretty much the entire economy revolving around adventurers, especially with regards to metal- and gearwork. This means that if the town isn't located close enough to a B rank hunting ground to attract enough of said adventurers, then any Proficient rated craftsman will have a hard time selling their best wares at a proper price, since Proficient is around the rating that B ranks become the most relevant customers."

"So, you mean to say that the blacksmith left because he could get a better profit elsewhere? Did he then leave for another outpost closer to a B rank hunting ground?" A quick nod followed her first question and a short headshake at the latter. "That's indeed why he left, but not to another outpost. Forests similar to this exist around the world, but they always have the higher tiered hunting grounds further inside, so there are few outposts where B ranks really want to stay; such outposts are usually be found at more specific hunting grounds."

"Instead, there are a few commerce towns that act as a connection between the outposts and the rest of the different nations. They're also where we get most of our imports. Most B ranks in the fief near the forest stay in this fief's forest commerce town. From there they take whatever subjugation quests the outposts sends or the hunting quests that the craftsmen or merchants submit, before travelling to the relevant outpost to use as a temporary base while completing their quest."

"Thank you for the insightful explanation; that all makes a lot of sense." Now that she had an answer to that question, she had another issue that had been bothering her that she wanted to learn a little more about. However, this topic was one that she had to be a lot more careful about. "On a completely different note, yesterday when I was out hunting Adult Rock Rats, I saw one of them seemingly turn somewhat to stone. Earlier today I learnt that it was infusion, I think, but that's not really what I want to ask about. Instead, since I didn't know what it was, my mind was trying to think up different options while I was on my way back. Would you mind if I just throw them at you in case you know of a creature that has such an ability?"

"Sure, why not; maybe you'll even give me something new to consider." Sylvia brought her hands together with a clap as she finished lining up her thoughts. "Awesome. So, my first thought was if there are creatures that can completely disguise themselves as natural objects, such as plants and rocks; you know, like a more detailed chameleon." "Those kinds of creature certainly exist, but you're much more likely to just run into creatures that are essentially living versions of natural objects."

The thought of trees being creatures brought a specific creature to the forefront of her mind. "Are you talking about creatures like Ents?" Just as the words left her mouth, she immediately regretted mentioning them, and Mikhail's creased eyebrows only served to exacerbate said regret. "That is indeed correct, but since you already know about creatures that are literally made up of what they can 'disguise' themselves as, then why that initial questions?" The tone hadn't turned hostile, but definitely more interrogative.

"Because I had forgotten about them. I have only heard about them a couple times back home, so they weren't at the forefront of my mind. Also, my thought process had been if a creature could disguise itself as a natural object, not if a natural object could be a creature, so it wasn't until you mentioned that scenario that I recalled having heard of Ents existing." Her quick thinking seemed to satisfy the youth and his expression relaxed once again.

"Fair enough. Sorry if I of come off as a little judgmental; it's just that everything about you is incredibly unusual, and as with most adventurers, I am naturally skeptical if I pick up on too many unusual things." She just waved his response off lightly. "No worry at all; I completely get where you're coming from. I already assumed that not all adventurers are cut from the same cloth, so caution is obvious."

With the friendliest expression she'd seen on him yet, he sighed lightly. "I'm happy that you're understanding. Now, with all of that stuff out of the way, what other ideas did you think up?"

Her next idea concerned creatures disguising themselves as man-made objects, like a typical mimic. The answer surprisingly turned out to be much the same this time, with some creatures being able to disguise themselves as specific objects, but that it's more likely to find creatures that are essentially awakened man-made objects, similar to an item possessed by a spirit.

"Last idea. Are there creatures who can transform themselves into people?" Unlike the two other questions, this one prompted Mikhail to shake his head after a couple seconds. "Not to the extent of my knowledge. The closest extent I can think of is either a being using Elemental Transformation to try and alter their shape, but a proper appraisal will reveal them, and especially so with a creature who doesn't even have a class."

That answer relieved her quite a lot, which Mikhail clearly noticed. "I can understand why that relieves you. I wouldn't want to have to worry about who around me is real and who isn't. Though I do need to stress that this is only limited to what I know, and there is most likely some title out there that allows someone to change their shape in a practical way."

"Yeah; that's probably the case." Sylvia really had to try not to smile at that. 'Oh, if only you knew that you are literally talking to one with such a title. But maybe you will soon enough.' "Well, thank you for laying my thoughts to rest." "No worries. It was interesting to hear your idea of a creature that could disguise itself as a person."

By the time they were finishing up their meal, Sylvia recalled that there was one thing she had long wanted some more information about. "So, how are orcs treated by the guild?" Mikhail's eyes perked up with curiosity. "They're considered targets to be exterminated. They're rarely much of a threat on their own to anything beyond a village, but they often team up with stronger creatures and act as scouts or trackers. What makes you ask that?"

"At one point while I was lost in the forest, I ended up close to an encampment of what I later heard from Enelise and Philip to be orcs, but they both said that I'd gain more reliable information from asking an adventurer, since they had only heard about them in passing." "You're one lucky girl, Sylvia. If just one of those orcs had caught your trace, then you'd have been dead before you reached this town. It's not fully known how orcs' tracking works, but it's generally agreed upon that it's not scent based. A common theory is that it's somewhat similar to your guys' forest mapping ability."

"So, I assume that I should report to the guild where I found orcs, even though it's about two weeks ago." She could almost see the gears in his brain turn. "Two-week-old information is quite on the late side, but I think it's still best to inform the guild. Since you're an elf, you should be able to pinpoint their location on the map. While they may have moved, a large party of orcs generally don't concern themselves too much with stealthy travel if it isn't needed. Actually, how large was the group?"

"I definitely saw 10, but I didn't stick around to figure out if there were more around, so I can't say for sure, but my guess is that they weren't alone." "I think your guess is correct. It's quite rare to find an orc scouting party larger than five of them, while any larger groups are at least 30-40 orcs." She found it interesting how serious Mikhail seemed to have become, especially since the levels she'd heard from the craftsmen seemed low compared to what a C rank should be capable of.

"Are they so much trouble? I was informed that their levels for a hunting party was roughly 50-100, with the leader being a fair bit stronger." Seeing Mikhail cover his face with one hand was all Sylvia needed to realize that her information wasn't entirely accurate.

"Let me guess, you heard it from the craftsmen?" -She nodded- "I fucking swear. When do they learn of the actual dangers we face." Despite the last part just being said under his breath, Sylvia had no issue hearing every bit of the frustrated statement, but she chose to refrain from commenting on it. "Well, the numbers aren't completely off, just add roughly 100 to them, then you're in the right ballpark."

The sudden realization that she had multiple times gone close to creatures of such high level made Sylvia gulp. She was just level 83, and she already thought that her senses were getting quite good. "Doesn't that put them in the upper range of D rank adventurers?" "Exactly, and that's purely based on level. Most orcs in a larger party are tier 4 or 5 with one or two being tier 6, which is low C rank."

"Holy shit…" Mikhail refrained from saying more for a bit to let it sink in for her. After half a minute of silence, Syliva broke the silence. "How would your party fare in a fight with a group like this?" "We'd destroy them, no questions asked. The only real danger would be their leader, but since Halaetain is a full-fledged C rank adventurer and I'm close to that, then even that wouldn't be too big of a deal."

"Though even if they aren't the strongest foes we can face, we still have to take the battle seriously, as orcs aren't exactly dumb. They may be relatively simple-minded, but their skill at using proper weapons makes them far more dangerous than their level would suggest. This is why they're some of the creatures to kill the largest number of budding adventurers, as many who haven't faced them already, underestimate them; thinking their intelligence and skill more akin to goblins than people, which is a fatal mistake."

"Since you mentioned that they're an extermination target, would the guild post a subjugation quest once they know of it?" "Most likely. Since the information is from a member with no previous trust record and the information is a couple weeks old, they'll probably send a scout out first, after which they'd post a more detailed mission."

"That makes some sense. Though, since it's a question about general safety, what prevents them from just sending Haris? Since he's a B rank, then he should be able to deal with them with ease and be back quickly. That way they also don't have to pay for the reward since he already works for them, right?"

"Yes and no. You are absolutely correct about him being able to clean it up quickly, but since he's officially retired as an active adventurer and works in the guild as a peacekeeper, bouncer, examinator, and last line of defense, then sending him out wouldn't be the wisest move without someone to fill in for him. There's also the fact that he'd likely ask for a higher price to deal with it than a regular adventurer, as he gains nothing from it, especially since their levels are so much below his."

Satisfied with the answers, they finished up and left for the guild, with Mikhail wanting to show Sylvia the process of submitting such a report. With Mikhail vouching for her, she was told to point out on the map where she had last seen the camp and such. They were then informed that if there really were some orcs in that area, then a mission would be put up within the next 1-3 days.

That was when Mikhail intervened and requested that they wait with posting the mission until they had asked his party if they wanted to take it, which the receptionist immediately agreed to. That whole exchange confused Sylvia a little, but Mikhail quickly explained once they were out. It turned out that it was an open secret that those who discover a dangerous foe who they can't immediately handle, are given a day to gather people and accept the mission before it's released publicly, as long as they ask for it and the guild finds the difficulty reasonable.

Shortly after leaving the guild, the two companions were about to go their separate ways for the day, when Mikhail had an interesting offer. "Say, Sylvia. Would you potentially be interested in watching the battle, should my party agree to it? You have an insane amount of mana and a medium Earth affinity, so as long you're able to hide underground at a moment's notice, then I think witnessing the fight would be quite beneficial for you."

The sudden prospect of watching a C- rank party in action excited her quite a lot. "Absolutely. I'd greatly appreciate being able to witness the capabilities of the creatures I'll eventually have to face myself. I will make sure to be able to hide at a moment's notice by the time you head out. Actually, when do you think it'll be?"

"That's great to hear. It will most likely be in two days at the earliest. If the guild is efficient, then the mission will probably be ready around midday tomorrow, but by them we'll already be out hunting, so we'll accept when we get home, which leads us to setting out the following day. With that said, I'll go tell my party about it. They'll probably be fairly excited; subjugation requests often include a lot of killing, which means a lot of exp."

The two shook hands, said their goodbyes, and went their separate ways, with Sylvia heading back to her inn to work on the Toughness Enhancement.