Calm before the storm

Walking down the hallway that was behind doors only accessible by the staff of the guild, Fae was getting a lesson on the multiple biomes of Flora, which seemed to be a country to have a small portion of territory in the Vael desert down in the south, and a small portion of the curtain of giant trees in the north.

"Miss Yulia!" Both coming to a halt as they looked behind them to see a slightly irritated Maria

"I haven't spoken about your decisions on ceasing recruitments but I won't stand for this harassment!" Yulia with parted lips and narrowed eyes looked at Fae

"Harassing who exactly?" Yulia asked Mariax as she put her gaze back at her, seeing Fae however move to hide behind the receptionist

"Oh thank you so much, Yulia was sooooo mean to me" Taking on the veil of somebody emotionally abused, Fae continued on with her charade

"H-hey what the hell are you doing" Yulia inquired with slightly furrowed eyebrows

"She wouldn't stop following me and telling me that I would amount to nothing" Fae continued on to fuel Maria's righteous kindness that was on the wrong target

"Miss Yulia!" Maria exclaimed with shock as she put her hands on her waist, Yulia on the other side could only give the smirking Fae hidden behind the kind Maria a fed up look

"haha don't worry Maria, Yulia has been very kind to me" Putting her hands on her shoulders, Fae smiled at Yulia while the latter could only cross her arms and click her tongue

She then looked at Maria

"In fact, we're on our way for her to register me as an adventurer" She continued on, Maria raised an eyebrow as she stared at Fae for a couple of seconds, before diverting her gaze to land it on Yulia who chuckled and scratched her cheek

"I'll fill you on the details later, just make sure Fae gets her papers right" Yulia told her receptionist, who gently smiled before giving back a slow nod

"And anyone else that wants to register will have to go through the test, just like usual" She added, bringing a question out of Maria

"So Fae will have to go through one as well?" She asked her, Fae looked at Yulia who scoffed and waved her hand

"Nah nah, she already passed it" Giving Fae a small smile, Yulia gave her a hand that Fae gently shook

"Like I said earlier, if you need anything you can always come to me for help" She told Fae, who smiled warmly

"Thank you, I really appreciate it" Waving goodbye to both of the women, Yulia walked back to her office

"Well, somebody is in a good mood" Putting her hands on her waist, Maria gave Fae a curious gaze with a raised eyebrow

"What were you two up to?" Fae just chuckled at the question that she was given

"Just a little eye opening adventure" She replied to Maria who clearly seemed unsatisfied with the answer given as she pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes

"That aside, let's get you in our ranks shall we?" Deciding not to pry any further the receptionist gave Fae a small smile as the both of them walked towards one of the staff room

"So, how old are you Fae?" She asked her, receiving a raised eyebrow from the inquired one that walked alongside her

"Twenty one, I'm guessing you gotta fill up some info for the papers yeah?" Fae asked back, merely getting a nod as a reply that seemingly satisfied her

"And do you have any experience in swordfighting or magic?" Asked again and bringing her to rub her chin, Fae hummed

"I was enrolled in a fencing school when I was a kid, does that count?" The answer giving her made Maria slightly open her mouth as she looked at Fae for a fraction of a second before furrowing her eyebrows to give her quite the concerned look

"You don't happen to be a noble, right?" Fae chuckled as she lifted her hands

"No no no, not at all don't worry" Clearly not convinced, Maria looked forward to then let out a smile

"Well then again, nobles would stick out like a sore thumb with their entitlement" Maria said, bringing Fae to scoff

"Actually I just remember, what happen to your quest alongside Gunther?" The words immediately made Fae's senses tense up as she could feel her insides slowly bubbling up just by hearing his name

"It went alright" Forcing a smile and giving it to Maria, Fae looked away after that

"Oh, I see"

Cursing in her mind, Fae could feel that Maria might know about what happened with the tone she replied with, and seeing on how Fae didn't tell her the truth she might feel as she isn't trusted by her

"There we are" Putting Fae's mind back in it's place by her words, Maria opened a door that seemingly lead to the insides of what seemed like a staff room with bookshelves all around, parchments and papers on top of tables, some were tidily organized while others seemed as if no care were put into them

"Alright, let me make this quick" Walking towards the table that was neatly made, Maria grabbed a quill pen and went on to write on a piece of parchment

"What is your family name?" Maria asked, Fae leaned against a wall with her left shoulder as she looked down at what was Maria writing

"Walker" Briefly replying to her, Maria quickly wrote the details before grabbing the piece of parchment and giving Fae a smile

"I'll be back in a minute, you stay here meanwhile" Giving back the gentle smile alongside a nod, Maria exited the room to head to wherever god knows, leaving Fae to look around the room, noticing a faint energy pile up to form a silhouette

"She seems quite the diligent woman" Yuna remarked as she got Fae to chuckle

"You've got that right" She replied, seeing her Eastern warrior partner walk around the room as she inspected her surroundings

Fae figured out that Yuna took every opportunity to appear in the physical world that she could, appearing in front of people would just scare them and bring Fae to have to explain a long story, so she looked like she would appear every time Fae was by her lonesome or alongside Yulia and Yulia only

"I always wondered" Fae started with, bringing Yuna's attention away from the book covers she admired and into Fae's eyes

"Where do you go to when you're not around?" Yuna looked away with pursed lips, caressing the book covers that she was previously inspected, but feeling no contact, her hand phasing inside the book

"I don't know, it's all dark" She told her, sorrowful eyes on her face that looked down

"That must be scary" Fae replied with, crossing her arms as she looked at Yuna with a gaze filled with empathy

"Terrifying" Yuna answered her, pulling back her hand from the insides of the book before looking back at Fae

"But I can feel your emotions and surroundings" She added on

"It is the like of a sixth sense that I've gained, through you" Yuna looked like she was done speaking her part, as she tightened her hand that was in the air, turning it into a fist

"Better than dead, right?" Fae asked her, getting Yuna's gaze back at her again but now with furrowed eyebrows

Her mouth opened but no words escaped her lips as she immediately vanished

"Alright, looks like everything is done" Maria said as she opened the door, seeing Fae nervously chuckle

"That was fast" She answered her, making her chuckle

"I'm used to paperwork, here you go" Getting handed what looked like a necklace with a small iron plate, and on closure inspection she could read her own name alongside a big letter, "D"

"As you can see, D is your rank, the more quests you complete the quicker your promotion to the next rank is" Maria said, Fae nodded but her eyes were fully fixated on the necklace

"If you fail a quest your rank will get a penalty, of course failing one quest won't get you demoted immediately, but multiple failures will, and more than that and you might lose your rank, makes sense?" Fae slowly nodded as she wrapped the necklace around her hand

"Yeah, it does, thank you" She added, giving a small smile that was immediately given back

"You're welcome" Widening her eyes in surprise, Maria walked to another table as she pulled one drawer

"That reminds me!" Turning around to meet Fae, she handed 10 silver coins to the confused woman

"Uh, what's this for?" She asked Maria with the coins in the open palm of her hand

"That's your share of the quest you did with Gunther, he told me to give it to you" Seeing Fae's eyes narrow at the words she said, the woman handed back her hand towards Maria

"I don't need them" Her hand however, got pushed back

"You did your work and you get paid for it, nothing more, nothing less" Staring at the smiling Maria for a split second, Fae sucked in a deep breath before letting it out through her lips

"Alright then, thanks" Giving her a slow nod that was replied by the unwavering smile that Maria had

"Great to hear! and with that aside I strongly advise you to pay Ulfgan a visit, him and his daughter were worried that you didn't come to the inn last night" Fae, staring dead in the eyes of Maria formed a warm smile on her face before nodding with a grin

"I'll be sure to do so, thanks"

"You're welcome, if you're in need of any questions feel free to talk with me about them" She replied to Fae, getting a slow smiling nod as a reply

....

Opening the doors gently, Fae got inside the inn as she could see scarce people around the tables scattered within, enjoying the little free time they had in their hands before resuming their daily routine

Fae raised an eyebrow when she saw a familiar trio having drinks in the furthest table away from the counter, as she locked eyes with the only woman in the trio she got reminded that it was the people that were accompanying Gunther to look for her in the forest

"Hm" Immediately breaking eye contact with the woman to head towards the counter, Fae wanted no business with those three people as she waved a hand with her smile to Ulfgan

"Ah there you are, where were you last night?" He asked, dropping the tankard he was wiping on the counter as he gave Fae his full attention

"Doing a little adventure with the guild master herself" A smug smirk on her face as Fae dropped on the stool and her crossed arms on the counter

"Oh~? and here I thought she wouldn't even accept you" Fae laughed as she broke her crossed arms to give him a singular finger gun with her right hand with a wink

"Well, that too" She replied as she made Ulfgan laugh out loud with his burly voice echoing throughout the inn, but the people around talked loudly enough for it to not be an inconvenience to anybody

"That sounds like Yulia alright, but I'm glad you managed to get through" Raising an eyebrow by the nostalgic smile he had on his face, Fae inquired more about it

"You know her?" She asked him, bringing out a nervous chuckle out of him just by the thought of her alone

"You could say we're friends, dating all the back from when we were kids" As he chuckled Fae got reminded by how Yulia lost her leg, she thought whether Ulfgan was around her when that happened, the latter turned around to bring a tankard filled with Ale that was stored from a keg behind the counter

"Here, on the house" Fae raised an eyebrow with her smirk still not fading away from her face

"I didn't know that I was charming enough to get two free drinks in a row" She exclaimed, bringing a light chuckle out of the man before he dismissed her with the wave of a hand

"Oh please, I see you like a sister to Ysabel at most" He said

"Besides, it's not always that I get a good conversation, so might as well keep it going with a drink or two eh?" Ulfgan asked her with a smile as he pushed Fae's drink towards her

"Really? you'd think somebody with your kind of work would get to speak to a lot of people" Fae said, wrapping her fingers around the handle of the tankard before taking a sip

"Ah well, people come and go a lot yet there's not many regulars that just want to have a good talk with an old guy like me" Fae giggled inside the tankard that she was drinking from

"What old guy, I don't see any" She said with a smile that brought Ulfgan to let out a brief laugh

"Believe me I've seen enough of the world lass, Now I just want to take it easy with my daughter until it's my time to go" Fae smiled and decided to take another sip, her mind wondering why he was so attached to his daughter yet never mentioned his wife, maybe he adopted her? or maybe something happened to his wife? Fae was curious yet she wouldn't dare to ask him so ultimately she decided to keep it at that

"Talking about her, where is she?" She asked him as she looked around the big room with no signs of the cheerful girl

"She's playing with some friends of her age today, I usually don't let her help around the inn unless I really need the extra hands" His words brought out a gentle smile from Fae after she had a sip

"What a caring father you are" She said with a smile and slightly furrowed eyebrows that made Ulfgan chuckle

"I just think that around her age she should be playing more than working, but I'll take the compliment" Fae kept her smile plastered on her face as she sipped the tiny ale she had left in her tankard

"Alright I'll get going to my room now, thanks for the drink" With a quick appreciative nod Fae got up from her seat

"Always a pleasure lass, take care of yourself" Ulfgan replied, receiving a wave of goodbye from the woman as she climbed up the stairs to the room that was temporarily her own

Grabbing the door knob and turning it, she opened it before getting inside and closing the door behind

With a big inhale, she sat down on the edge of her bed, grabbing her backpack that was under the blankets and putting it on her lap

"What might that be?" Yuna appeared in front of Fae, her blue eyes locked with the scroll that was resting in her partner's hands

"Something I need to deliver to the capital" She replied, inspecting the scroll closer as she noticed the little gems engraved alongside letters that she was none the wiser about their meaning

"And when is the deadline?" Fae scoffed at the question she was given, shrugging with her shoulders raised as a reply

"Guess there's no deadline, but it's something I have to deliver" Putting the scroll aside with a sigh, Fae looked up to lock eyes with her ethereal friend that was standing in front of her

"If it's important to you, we can postpone our journey-" A wave of Fae's hand cut Yuna's words

"It wouldn't make a difference, the capital is on the other side of the country and the town we're in is right next to the border of Aralia" Rubbing her chin, Fae continued

"And since the place you died is in Aralian territory, it would just be better to go there before heading for the capital, it's a shorter distance than to the capital" Yuna gave her a slow nod

"Understood, I'm in your debt Fae-san" Fae could see Yuna give a slight bow that made her chuckle

"Ah don't worry about it, you're helping me stay alive anyways as I'm not really the strong woman" She told Yuna, who gave her a small polite smile

"Of course, Leave your safety in my hands" She replied with a hand on her chest

"But then again, I was wondering if you could teach me a bit of swordsmanship, if that's fine with you" Yuna looked at Fae for a full second of silence before nodding twice

"It'd be a pleasure" She said with a small bow with her hand on her chest, making Fae feel like maybe she was a noble all along yet none the wiser about it

....

"Well, I don't think anybody is around" Yuna muttered, appearing with her hand on the handle of her curved sword, Fae looked around the trees and bushes around her as she shared the same sentiment

Both of the women felt the breeze fly through them, in Fae's case it was in the literal sense as she sheltered her face with her hand, while Yuna felt it emotionally through her memories rather than physically, she looked at the ground and tightened the clutch that her fingers had on the handle of her blade

"Eastern and western arms are different, but the basics are one and the same" Yuna suddenly said, turning to look at Fae's somewhat focused expression

"If I remember correctly, you said you practiced a bit of fencing, yes?" She asked Fae, who answered in the positive with the nod of her head

"Then why was your fighting style so alien from fencing when we battled?" Fae could but only scratch her cheek with a nervous chuckle escaping her mouth

"Well, to be fair I didn't think any fencing training that I did would actually be useful in actual combat" Yuna raised an eyebrow in confusion

"What?" She replied to Fae, crossing her arms

"Then what's the point of it?" She questioned Fae, who really wanted to say 'I did it for fun' since back in her original world the chances of her actually needing to use that knowledge in a fight to the death was miniscule, but this isn't her world, this world's values and perspectives are far more different than the ones that she carried over

"I guess I lacked the confidence to put it into combat" She meekly answered Yuna, who only gave her a gaze that was laid on her for a fraction of a second, before closing her eyes and nodding

"Confidence can be gained, a fighting spirit cannot" Eyeing Fae from up to down, she put her eyes back on her partner's own eyes

"Let's start with defense, how about it?" She asked Fae, who gave Yuna quick nods to prove her eagerness

However, Fae's eagerness and enthusiasm was quickly defied by Yuna unsheathing her long ethereal blade, gulping hard she hoped she wouldn't get hurt

"Let's start with the simplest way to defend one's self" She grasped the handle of her curved sword with both hands and raised it above her head in a high guard

"Try to protect yourself from this strike, ready?" Fae gulped and unsheathed her own short sword

Yuna sliced the air as her attack got blocked by Fae's shortsword being put in it's way, Fae could easily react to the attack that was thrown at her but she knew that it was only because Yuna was training her, if she was in real combat it wouldn't even be half this easy

"See, a defense like this is engraved in our instincts" Yuna said, Putting her sword away as she locked eyes with the attentive Fae

"A block" she added on

"The simplest form of defense, but not quite the most effective as you block the entire momentum of your opponent's attack which will tire your hands and body after blocking for multiple times" Fae's friend from the other side put her arms down, the point of her blade aimed at the ground as she looked at Fae

"Now try to attack me" Fae gulped

"Don't worry you won't be able to hurt me" Yuna continued on, seeing Fae attack from a horizontal slash from left to right, she quickly reacted by dodging back

"A dodge is a way to evade an attack without having to collide steel with your enemy" Putting her free hand on the sheathe of her curved blade, Yuna looked at Fae

"However, it's extremely dangerous against an experience opponent as their attack might have been a feint all along" Fae remembered the words she said from her short time in fencing school

"A feint is a fake attack, right?" Yuna gave a small smile as she slowly nodded

"I'll show you" She replied to Fae, slightly bending her knees with her blade held close to her chest

"Try to dodge this without blocking it" And immediately after, Yuna struck the same attack that Fae did previously, Fae dodged back but then she could see Yuna immediately turn her slash into a thrust right towards Fae's stomach

"If this was a real battle, you would've been in quite the disadvantage" She told Fae, before resting her sword down

"And for the most efficient way to defend yourself, Parrying" Yuna approached Fae as her free hand gestured in the air to help her words

"Parrying or deflecting, means throwing away the enemy attack's momentum in another direction rather than blocking it head on" The wraith explained

"As you might guess that would result in less stress on your hands and give you the opportunity to counter attack, and you could even mix it with a dodge to make yourself mobile and keep wearing the veil of unpredictability" Furrowing her eyebrows to focus, Yuna readied her blade yet again

"Try to attack me" And with those words, Fae lunged at Yuna with a downwards slash, Yuna put her right foot forward and her blade up to receive the strike but as their steel collided, Yuna let her blade be pushed down by Fae's attack and used that momentum to spin it all the way around and to slash at her partner's face while her body moved to the left and away from harm's way

"See?" Yuna muttered, her blade merely millimeters away from Fae's defenseless face as the latter only nervously chuckled

Stepping back and away from her partner, Yuna nodded to herself

"That does it for the basics of the defense, always mix dodging with another form of protecting yourself to not fall face first into a trap from the enemy" Fae quickly nodded, already feeling the sweat slide down from her forehead and her hands tightening their grip to not let the handle slip away

"As for attacking you have multiple options, slashing vertically, horizontally, diagonally, thrusting and etcetera" Yuna continued on with the next topic

"Of course there are multiple stances belonging to their own fighting school, Aralian swords for example use different combat stances with different fighting manuals than the ones where I come form" She explained in details, using her open hand to gesture around while speaking

"For example you could use a high guard for quick downward cuts" She proved her words with executing a high guard herself with her sword above her head

"Though it's quite obvious where your attack will strike from" She added on, slicing the air down

"But... you could throw a feint when the enemy is confident" She readied her high guard again, showing the sign of slicing down yet stopping right there as her attack moved down for a thrust at Fae's chest but stopping immediately

"Alright, you have any questions so far?" Yuna asked as she straightened her posture and locked eyes with Fae who quickly shook her head

"Good, let's have a spar now, a surefire way to reveal your strengths and weaknesses" Putting back her stance with both hands gripping tightly on the handle of her blade and close to her waist, Fae gulped and did the same

"Do not worry my blade shall not dare to touch your skin, however I do expect the opposite from you" Those words seemed to be the last Yuna had to say as she stepped forward and towards Fae, who tightened her grip on her Shortsword and kept her eyes glued on Yuna's blade

Yuna suddenly lunged at Fae with a thrust right towards her chest, Fae quickly reacted by colliding steel with Yuna and stepping back, grunting, she immediately counter-attacked with a thrust That Yuna easily deflected with her blade, pushing Fae's sword to the side before striking down at her

Fae evaded to the side with a quick sidestep before slowly backing up with quick and heavy breaths

Suddenly however, she could see Yuna gently stabbed the tip of her sword on the soil of the forest, to all in the blind of an eye throw dirt at Fae's eyes

Blinded and with a groan and before she could even take more distance away from her temporary enemy, she could already feel something on her neck

"Hey!" Coughing the dirt that got inside her mouth, Fae rubbed her eyes even more and stared at Yuna with furrowed eyebrows and an upset tone

"That's not very honorable is it?!" However, she Immediately wished to eat back her words at the sight of Yuna's expression turning sour, approaching Fae until their face was as close as their breathing

"Honor is what got me killed, now unless you would care to join me I suggest for you to quickly drop that notion" With furrowed eyebrows Yuna made sure Fae got a piece of her mind as the latter dropped her eyes on the ground before taking a step back

"Right... Sorry..."

"Again!" Yuna exclaimed, raising her sword in the air while Fae followed

....

Strike after strike, Fae pushed against Yuna's blade with her own before stepping back, yet receiving no time to rest as her sparring partner immediately put one foot forward and slashed downwards to get her blade deflected by Fae putting her sword in a steep angle as it let Yuna's blade slide down and away from her body

"Good!" Yuna exclaimed as she saw Fae push her even more back with a quick step forward and a swift slash to the side that Yuna blocked by grabbing the end of her sword with her free hand, using it like a spear to block Fae's horizontal slash before pushing her away

"Strike again! Strike harder!" She yelled at Fae, who gritted her teeth as hard as she could before lifting her sword and cutting downwards as hard as she could

But even with that speed Yuna could easily see it crumbling down on her head, smoothly blocking it with her sword above her head as it both steel collided, or she thought they would

Fae immediately redirected the momentum of her blade to Yuna's side before slicing horizontally and towards her chest

Smart but lacking speed as Yuna stepped back and away from Fae's short range

"Wait!" Yuna raising a hand towards Fae while her gaze went elsewhere, deeper into the forest

"Hah!... sc-... scared?" Fae taunted her friend between heavy breaths, her face and shirt soaked in her sweat while her shivering hands held tightly to the grip of her sword

"No, something is coming..." and as she ended her words, a brown horse suddenly appeared in the green patch the duo were training in, jumping in the air and landing next to Yuna

Both the duo could see that there was a man on the horse, unconscious however as he was bent forward before eventually falling down from his horse that kept its speed to disappear into the forest again

"That must have hurt" Fae said, relaxing her muscles while Yuna vanished to appear next to Fae, her body and gaze facing the fallen man

"Let me go first" Yuna muttered while Fae gladly accepted as she walked behind the wraith

Crouching down next to the man, Yuna stared at his pale face and the sheathe of a sword attached to his waist

Doing the same to bring herself to a lower level

"His skin colour looks alright" Fae muttered, Yuna switched her gaze to her partner as the former looked at the lips of the unconscious man to notice a change of colour, putting her ear next to his face for a couple of second, Fae could then confirm that he was still breathing

"No blood on his clothes either, I'm guessing it was fatigue?" Fae asked with her gaze still on the man, Yuna unknowing of what to reply with kept her silence

Fae then grabbed the man's sword and unsheathed it, and to the surprise of both the sword was broken in half, and what left of it was clearly covered in old blood

"Running away from something?" Fae muttered

"If he was then we should not stay here, it is unsafe" Yuna replied, Fae letting out a sigh sheathed back the broken sword before putting her hands on her knees that were on the ground

"I agree" She answered her friend before noticing something as she reached for the men's neck

"This is similar to your own" Yuna remarked while Fae nodded, it was the necklace that the guild provided as a mean of identification

"Faylar Cassindar, that's a mouthful" She whispered to herself as she read what was on the man's necklace

"He's B rank, whatever he was fighting wasn't just goblins" Yuna added as she was bent forward behind Fae to read the engravings

"Alright let's leave, I'll carry him" Fae said, Yuna nodded and replied to her

"Very well, I'll make sure to keep you safe"

....

"Almost there Fae-san" Fae heard Yuna's voice inside her own head as the man she carried on her back weighted heavy, but leaving him there was unfair, especially on the kindness she was given ever since she arrived in this world

"Y-yeah, just a bit more" Heavy breathing and sweat all on her face, Fae could barely lift one tired leg after another

Looking at the front gates of the town, she could see the two guards stationed there hurry towards her as soon as they could make the silhouette on her back

"Isn't that Faylar?! what happened to him?!" The younger one said, while his partner relieved Fae off the weight

"I'll take this from you young lady" In no state to refuse his offer, Fae gladly passed the duty onto him

"Thank you s-so much..." Letting out a tired breath Fae put her hands on her knees as she steadied her breathing

"Graham you stay here, I'll head over to the guild" With Faylar on his right shoulder, the burly man made Fae a bit self conscious of her strength with how easily he carried the weight of the sleeping adventurer

"As for you, I thank you from Faylar's behalf" He then spoke to Fae, who did her best to give him a composed smile as she nodded, hand on her chest to comfort her from the exhaustion

"Don't worry, it was the least I could do to help a fellow adventurer" She answered him, making a polite smile appear on the older guard who nodded to her and walked towards the open gate not before patting the shoulder of his partner

"Well" Turning to see his guard friend walk away, he then faced Fae

"What really happened?" He asked her, receiving a shrug

"I don't know what happened to him, he appeared out of nowhere on a horse and then fell down on the ground, I checked up on him and saw that he had a necklace like mine so I thought he might be an adventurer from here" The guard widened his eyes

"Ah right, you're not from here" He nodded and then put his right hand on his waist

"Faylar is one of the best adventurers we have in this town, if something pushed him to this point then that doesn't bode well" Staring away from Fae's curious gaze, the man sighed before looking back at her

"Anyway, no wonder you're the Knight's friend, you'd need a knight's chivalry to help somebody you don't even know" unknowing of what to reply with Fae nervously chuckled as she scratched her cheek

"My name is Graham, nice to meet you" Handing her a hand to shake that she did so, Fae smiled politely

"And my name's Fae, nice to meet you too" Parting hands, the guard walked Fae closer to the gate as he told her that the surrounding forest might become more dangerous now than ever

"Alright, I'll keep it in mind, thank you" Graham slowly nodded with a small smile

"It's a pleasure, if you need help or directions you can ask me or the ol' guy that was with me, his name is Kurk" Fae nodded appreciatively with a smile before parting ways, getting deeper into the city as she wondered what she should do now

Looking up the sky she noticed that the orange of the sunset started setting down on the sky, with a sigh she looked back down to the busy street that she was in

"Time sure flew fast" She said to herself

"It was a productive day, we sparred and you helped a man get back to his land, you have the right to call it a day" Yuna spoke inside the walls of her mind, bringing a beaming smile onto Fae's tired face

"We helped a man, not just me" She said inside her before walking deeper into the town

....

Opening the door to the inn she was staying at, Fae smiled when she was noticed by a tiny silhouette

"Fae! you're back!" Ysabel came running towards Fae who couldn't help but have a huge smile on her face while the child barely stopped herself from colliding into her adult friend before she looked up and at Fae

"Where were you all this time?" With her smile still on her face Fae crouched down to be in the same level as Ysabel

"I went to a little adventurer with some friends" A smile turning into a slight smirk, Fae ruffled Ysabel's hair

"Now I wonder if somebody got worried~" Chuckling as the girl tried to wrestle with Fae's single hand, the young woman looked around the empty lounge of the Inn looking for Ulfgan, noticing him in the back of the room at the furthest table tending to a woman that was seemingly sleeping with her head rested on her arms that were crossed on the edge of the table

And upon closer inspection, she recognized the woman as the one from the searching party that looked for her after her accident with Gunther, Ulfgan noticed Fae as well as he gave her a short wave before looking at the unconscious woman again

Fae with curiosity walked over to them

"Hey, is she alright?" Fae asked, sitting next to a table that was in front of the occupied one as Ulfgan let out a sigh

"Drank too much, just like she always does" He replied alongside tightly crossing his arms

Suddenly however the woman lifted her head to give a freezing gaze at Fae, her cheeks were faintly red confirming Ulfgan's words

Standing up slowly, she stepped up to Fae and stared at her right in the eyes, none of them uttering a word to each other as the tall woman looked down at Fae

Ulfgan however, grabbed the woman's arm and gave her a warning look

"Don't do something you might regret Athena" He told her, getting her to look at him for a brief moment before setting her eye back at Fae

"I suggest you to go back to whatever household you came from, this life isn't for one like you" With sharp words and no time to give Fae for a reply, Athena left the two adults and the child as she left the Inn with a surprising composure for a drunk woman

"Best friends?" He said with a mocking tone as he crossing his arms again, bringing Fae to a scoff from pure reflex

"She wish" Fae replied with, looking at the door Athena left from back to Ulfgan

"Anyway, what's for dinner?" She asked

Ulfgan chuckled and walked back to the counter

"A tasty and heartwarming meal, but not free this time" he exclaimed loud enough for Fae to hear, she chuckled and followed him to the counter, planning to immediately hit the bed after that

....

"C-come on we have to go!"

Fae heard a voice, and she could only hear as her eyes felt like they were eternally shut, only catching the nauseating darkness around her, and after that voice came a loud thud, and then a metallic sound echoing throughout as it bounced

And then a loud bang

"Two suspects! one of them has a knife!"

"Drop it!"

"Taser! taser!"

Fae could hear the voices around her, from left, right, and no matter where she faced she couldn't tell where they were coming from

"HQ, we've got the last ones and we seem to be in some sort of makeshift surgery room, over"

And then came the noise of footsteps and iron chains as they made Fae gulp hard

"Sir there's one in the back of the room on a table! bleeding from the chest very quickly!" a far away voice said

"FAE!" And with a gasp Fae woke up, standing straight on her bed as she made eye contact with Yulia who had her hand on Fae's shoulder

"Are you alright?" She asked her now awake friend, who held her head in pain before letting in a deep breath

"Yeah yeah I am" Wiping the sweat off her face Fae looked again at Yulia

"What are you doing here? is something wrong?" Yulia pursed her lips

"Everything's wrong" She gently removed Fae's blanket from her as the latter only had confusion on her face

"The town's evacuating, and you are too" Furrowing her eyebrows, Fae demanded an explanation

"Wha-? what's going on?!" She told Yulia that walked next to the door of Fae's room to grab her boots

"Faylar was tasked to scout a disturbance around the town" She then came back and dropped Fae's boots next to her bed

"What he found was a full on army of goblins and ogres coming our way" Fae, sitting on the edge of the bed had her mouth open to the news, looking up at Yulia's eyes before getting up immediately and wearing her boots

"So we're all just leaving?" Yulia sighed before answering

"No, their scouting force already came here so that means their main army is right next to us, we don't have time to evacuate the whole town" Opening the door and leaving Fae's room, her friend clumsily grabbed her cloak and backpack before following her

"So the adventurers and the vigilante will have to defend until the evacuation is done" Fae then grabbed Yulia's arm just to stop her walking so she could talk

"Wait that means I have to defend too!" Yulia had the expression that she was expecting the words she was given, she sighed and looked at Fae with the face that she saw when they first encountered

"Please Fae, you barely have any experience in actual combat, there is no shame in living to fight another day" Yulia said, slowly pulling her arm away from Fae's grasp, who slightly furrowed her eyebrows and slowly shook her head

"No, I'm not leaving"

Yulia gritted her teeth before grabbing Fae's wrist tightly

Yet before Fae could fight back a ghostly blade slowly rested its unfeeling steel on Yulia's neck as Yuna slowly appeared between the two

"She will go where she pleases, she will be what she pleases" Yuna told Yulia, a sharp gaze on her eyes and the veil of apathy on her face

"Yuna, please don't" Fae said, gently putting her hand on the spectral blade to lower it, noticing a slight drop of blood that came out of Yulia's neck and Fae's hand that neither felt until they could see it

"You know as much about war as I do, you can see that it's a bad idea" Yulia pleaded, the eastern warrior closed her eyes before sheathing her blade and opening them again

"All I see here is Fae's debut, her first battle, and her first lesson" She replied to her with a tone that had the unwavering stubbornness of Yuna

"We're outnumbered and in complete disarray, how can you even consider this" Yulia answered, dropping her arms to her sides as she seemingly gave up arguing with the two

"I can't back down Yulia, everybody's has been so kind to me here, how can I ever run away?" Fae asked, her hand on her chest and her eyes filled with the desire to be useful, to be helpful, to finally give back

"Yuna..." Yulia looked at the wraith that raised an eyebrow with her hand rested on the grip of her sheathed blade

"Keep her safe will you?" She asked, Yuna replying in no words but a closed fist on her chest and a slow nod of agreement

Yulia sighed as she walked down the stairs, followed by Fae and Yuna that vanished away

"So what's the plan?" Fae asked

"Defend the town outside of the gates, we can't have them enter or else people will suffer" As they entered the lounge of the inn, they could see Ulfgan packing with Ysabel

"I've already sent messengers back to the nearest city for help, we'll see how that goes but for now we're on our lonesome" Yulia walked to Ulfgan followed by the curios Fae

"Ulfgan..." Yulia said, stepping next to him as he was on his knee giving Ysabel a smile that wore off when he heard his name

"Ysabel, can you go get me my stuff from my room?" The child looking at the faces of Fae and Yulia then looked back at her father and nodded with a smile

As she went away, Ulfgan stood up and looked right at Yulia's eyes

"We need all the help we can get" She said

"I can't" He immediately replied with

"You know I wouldn't ask something like this, but this is for the town's sake, you're one of the strongest people we have" She added on

"I know, I know, but I'll have to refuse... I'm sorry but I'm not an adventurer now, I don't want to put my life in danger anymore..." He said, looking away from Yulia's gaze and into the hallway that Ysabel took

"Even if it's for the town?" Ulfgan feeling like he was getting his emotions taken advantage for, lost his composure as he looked at her with furrowed eyebrows

"For fuck's sake Yulia what will happen to Ysabel if I get killed?!" He exclaimed with a pointed finger at her

"I have a family now and I need to stay alive at all costs for it, you wouldn't understand" He then slowly settled down as he looked away and at the ground

Yulia with no words to say had an open mouth

"I-... You're right, I'm sorry" She walked past him with her head down, her bangs hiding her eyes as she went on to leave the inn

"Wait Yulia! I'm really sorry I didn't mean it like that!" Ulfgan called for her, but she didn't bother to even turn around let alone reply, leaving the inn as Fae caught up to her

"Don't worry I'll take care of her" Ulfgan could barely muster the emotional strength to give the running Fae a smile of appreciation

"Yulia, wait hold up!" Fae caught up to her friend that didn't slow down to make it easy for her

"Are you okay?" She asked her, seeing her smile and shrug

"Don't worry I'm used to it" She replied with, Fae narrowed her empathetic eyes slightly

"Are you sure?"

Yulia smirked as she gave Fae a sidelook before pushing her head down

"You have your own safety to think of, you can start worrying about me after the battle" Fae smiled at her as she fixed her hair

"Anyhow, let's get you some proper armor, that cloak around you is just for show and won't stop a butter knife-"

Before she could even finish speaking the sound of a warhorn blew high in the sky and all into the town, Yulia tightened a fist immediately

"Damn it they're already here, you run get yourself something and then fall in line in the northern gates, alright?!" Yulia told her friend as she already was running towards where the battle would take place

Fae on the other hand headed to the other side, running as fast as she could past the panicked populace evacuating towards the southern entrance and away from danger, wiggling her way between them until she reached her destination