Chapter 3

Joana and the rest of the party went to the leader of the village and got their gold. After that, they set off for their next distress call. Raine and Tina talked quite a bit so Raine had solidified her knowledge of the intricacies of the language pretty well. Thankfully, it was in a bit of a warmer area. At least it didn't snow in the summer there. Let's check in on them. "What the heck, Joana? Slow down!" Tina said, struggling to keep up with the group. "It's not my fault that you're the least athletic one in the party," Joana said, a small smirk appearing on her face. "That's not the problem! How come you get to be in a carriage but we have to suffer out here?!" Tina whined, visibly drained from the heat. "Tina, I'm the party leader. How can I lead if I'm too tired to speak?" Joana said, her smile widening a bit. "You… Well- aren't you admitting that you're also not athletic?" Tina said. "No, I'm saying that if we were to have to run from some monster I might be in your current state, which wouldn't be good for the party," Joana said, lounging back and smiling. "Well, shouldn't we all be able to keep up since I'm a healer?!" Tina yelled, exhausted. "Maybe you should use some of the energy you're using to yell at me to keep up with the group," Joana said, studying the map. "...That's so unfair," Tina mumbled, trudging along.

"I can help," Raine said, slowing down to match Tina's pace. "Thank you so much, you're a lifesaver!" Tina said, grinning and leaning on Raine. "Wow, you two have really hit it off, haven't you?" Carlos said sadly. "Why wouldn't she'd want to stay with Tina instead of a walking muscle?" Lucy said, snickering. "Hey- You take that back!" Carlos said, trying to hide his figure unsuccessfully. "Everyone, stay alert! I can tell that something is hiding around here." Hanna called to the group, taking out her daggers. "It's a Grand Orc…" Raine sighed, an uncharacteristic twinge of annoyance in her voice. "What's a grand orc?" Tina asked, squinting to try to see it too. "It's powerful and rare, but there were a few in the cave with me. I'll deal with it." Raine said, materializing her sword and starting to run. "No! Who will be my armrest now?!" Tina whined, reaching out to Raine. Raine went up to the orc, keeping a combative stance as she thought back to her brief interactions with orc commanders in the cave. "Who are you and what business do you have here?" Raine commanded, glaring at the orc. "A demon who speaks orc? I guess the one my master crawled their way right to me." The orc said, grinning as he leaned over Raine intimidatingly.

Raine frowned, using the demon art <Sword Slash> and narrowly missing the orc's right arm. Raine then took a sharp, irritated breath in, trying her best to not kill the talking muscle in front of her. "Listen well. I could kill you at any second so answer my questions. Who are you and why are you here?!" Raine said, raising her voice. The orc first looked at Raine bewilderedly in an attempt to understand why she was so powerful before casting aside that line of thought and attributing the attack to a fluke. "HAHAHA!!! You, a tiny girl who's being hunted like game, thinks she can beat me? The Great Vrogak the Conqueror? You're funny. I wonder how long your sharp tongue can protect you after I rip it out!" The orc yelled, running at Raine. "You just made a big mistake," Raine said, instinctively releasing her aura. It was a mixture of red and black aura swirling around her like a storm, and she always used it when dealing with non-humans. Her sword glowed red and she dashed at the orc, her patience running out.

Before he could even react she cut off his arm and backed away, almost instantly resenting herself for having such a short temper with guys like this. Seeing that the group was about to catch up to the scene, she jumped up and put her sword right in front of the orc's chest, which is an orc's weak spot, and spoke one last warning to the orc. "Choose your answer carefully. I don't care what your mission is anymore but I do care about who your master is. Tell me or you die." Raine said, her eyes glowing red. "You'll never be able to meet him. He's the king of the Demon Kingdom! He'll find you and your little posey and kill you all for this! I swear it!" The orc said. "Okay, thanks," Raine said before swiftly cutting off the orc's head.

Raine then noticed that there was a pack on the orc's back. "Hey, there's something moving!" Raine yelled, motioning for the party to come over to the orc. There seemed to be a change in the mood of the party, and they were all dead silent. "That was… unexpected," Joana said, watching Raine skeptically and getting out of the carriage. "I know, right? C'mere you! Why would you just rush in like that?! You could have gotten seriously hurt, y'know!" Tina said, hugging Raine and patting her head. "...Hey Raine, can I talk to you for a second over there?" Hanna said, pointing to the back of the carriage. "Okay," Raine said, following Hanna. "U-Um, do you need to tell me something?" Raine said, smiling to try and lighten the mood. Hanna turned away and took a deep breath in, trying to stop herself from getting too frustrated. "Alright, Raine. Please explain what that was just now." Hanna said, glaring at Raine. "It was just something that I learned in the cave. Y'know, fighting tactics from the orcs." Raine said, averting her gaze. Hanna let out a sharp exhale before continuing her confrontation. "You lied to us about your strength and tried to befriend the group, and now that we know your strength you want to give me that bullshit answer?-" Hanna started, pausing to calm herself down for a second. "Look. You need to leave for both your sake and ours." Hanna finally said, punching the carriage beside Raine.

"I use my aura on monsters. You guys were the first humans I've had a fight with." Raine said, meeting Hanna's glare with an equally angry one. "Well then, I have another question. Why did you know that orc's weak point?" Hanna said. "... I've never been friends with the orcs. They only kept me because I could speak to humans. I could scare them into giving up their gold so that the orcs didn't have to use too many men to go to the village. They would have killed everyone there." Raine said, now using her other hand to stop Hanna's fist. Hanna glared at her one more time, then released her grip and stepped back a bit. "Tch. Don't you dare try anything funny, or I'll personally take it upon myself to kill you." Hanna said, walking away.

Okay guys, we have to get going. It'll be night before we know it so let's go!" Carlos said. They arrived at the town a few minutes later and went to the Tavern/Inn to get some rooms. "Carlos and I will go get some info on what's been happening in town recently. Raine, you can sleep in Hanna's room tonight so that you can be watched. Don't do anything stupid." Joana said as she walked away from the group and into the tavern. "Dangit, why can't I watch over her," Tina said. "Well, what would you do if she attacked you? We both know you wouldn't be able to fight back." Hanna said. "Well, yes, but…" Tina said, quietly. "No buts. Let's just get some sleep, okay?" Hanna said, grinning at Tina and fist-bumping her. "Goodnight," Tina said. "Goodnight." Hanna and Raine said. They seemed friendly, but it was a different story when they got into their room. "Just shut up and go to sleep, I need to do my research," Hanna said, sitting at her desk and putting her goggles on. Raine sneaked up beside her and sat down on the floor to watch what Hanna was doing. "Why are you there? Go to sleep!" Hanna said, annoyed.

"I want to see what those scientists and alchemists do in their labs. I didn't know you were one." Raine said sheepishly. "How do you know what those are?" Hanna asked. "Well, I've talked to one before. She was really nice. I wish… never mind." Raine said, smiling at first, and then looking pained. "You know one? How?" Hanna asked. "Well, the orcs kept slaves near where I lived so I went over to talk to them and bring them food every once in a while. I met this girl named Lily and she was an alchemist. She knew so many cool things. And then… and then I messed everything up." Raine said sadly, turning away from Hanna. "What do mean by "messed it up?"" Hanna asked, turning to Raine. "I… I thought that I'd try some alchemy, too. One that could dissolve rocks so that we could get out of the cave without being spotted. I messed it up and it exploded. I ended up just causing a part of the wall to collapse and she was there and- I couldn't get to her in time..." Raine said, hiding her face because she was about to cry.

"...You can watch. Just- breathe a little bit, I'm getting second-hand embarrassment. This is a healing potion I'm altering to make a potion for resilience. I've analyzed the potion many times already and I think I've come up with the perfect way to do it. Armored corn bugs. I've noticed that their shells have a small amount of mana in them, and it seems that it fortifies their shells. Since they have a minimal amount of cognitive ability, my hypothesis is that the mana naturally fortifies their shells. In other words, it's the perfect ingredient or this potion." Hanna said, trying to hide a small smile as she handed Raine a book about potions. "C-Can I have this?!" Raine asked excitedly. "I gave it to you for a reason. Just give it back once you're done reading." Hanna said, turning back to her potion and focusing on that. "Yay!!! Thank you so much!!!" Raine said, getting up and hugging Hanna. After a few seconds, both of them noticed how weird it was and let go. "U-Um, I'm really sorry. I was just really happy." Raine said, looking down at the floor. "...It's fine. Just don't bother me, okay?" Hanna said, turning to her potion. "Okay, thank you... Goodnight." Raine said as she went over to the bed. "Goodnight." Hanna said as she continued her experiment.