Chance Encounters

A bright light shone into the room, and Tanya groaned as she tried to feel not-bad. It didn't work.

Last night was… muddled.

She had had to consume alcohol in her first lifetime at various company parties. She had gotten used to it, and even enjoyed relaxing and having a drink occasionally.

This body, however…

It was what one would call a lightweight. Plus, Tanya hadn't had anything that even resembled alcohol in sixteen years.

She winced in remembrance. The closest she had been to having alcohol in her second life was when she'd died. They had been at a bar specifically because she was at the age she was allowed to drink in the Empire.

Tanya didn't remember much after that last drink in the guild, besides that she had probably had one too many arm wrestling matches.

She sat up and looked around. Where was she, anyway?

Fearing the worst, she looked around. A room bare of decorations and smaller than a walk-in-closet greeted her vision. Compared to her first life, the room was rather dismal. Compared to her last one it was alright.

She'd been well housed whenever she was away from the front, but housing on the front itself was variable.

Regardless of how nice it was, however, she'd make due, as she always had.

More importantly, it didn't seem like anyone else was there, thankfully. She sighed in relief. She didn't even want to contemplate doing… that with a man.

She shivered, pushed unwanted thoughts of her last life out of her head, and began to check her body for possible injuries. Nothing was sore, besides her arm.

Tanya smiled. She wasn't sure if it was just the sleep, but it didn't hurt too much. She'd probably be fine pulling off some of her more impressive maneuvers in the air, then.

She felt through her clothes, which she must have fallen asleep in, ensuring her possessions in place.

Type 95? Circlet of Greatness? Contract? All in place.

She saw the sword, still contained within a polished blue scabbard, at the foot of her bed. Her money bag – now bulging – sat atop it.

Nodding, she rose out of the bed, and began to get ready for her day.

There were fewer amenities here than in her second life, however, which meant that preparation amounted to trying to tame her hair a bit and straightening her clothes.

Suddenly, she had an idea. She took the pouch of money from her belt, the ones she'd received from Aqua, and the other bag that had been on top of her sword.

She placed the circlet in the slightly larger bag, and placed the smaller bag with her money in it inside that.

She smiled. She'd concealed the more risky relic without having to stash it away in her clothing.

Speaking of clothes…

These things didn't fit in at all.

They were, by her second time's standards, normal for a soldier on leave. Just a simple white button-up shirt, green pants, and black boots. But here, where the culture was different, she was sure that more than a few of the odd looks she'd been given on her way from her… spawn point...?

Well, they looked at her like she'd had a second head. Once she figured out her monetary situation, getting proper equipment would be key.

An army couldn't run, after all, without rations, ammunition, and plenty of supplies, which meant she needed to evaluate her resources and options.

She tread down a dimly lit hallway, into an area above where she'd been last night. It seemed like more seating, to her, but maybe it was some sort of day café.

She'd seen weirder things.

She walked down the stairs, looking out into the room. She started to walk towards Luna, at the reception desk, when people began to call out to her.

"Thank you for the drinks, Miss Degurechaff!"

"That was amazing what you did to those three warriors!"

"Are you buying tonight again?"

As she walked, she smiled and waved, giving them back empty assurances and trying to remember what the hell she'd done last night all the while.

Soon, she reached the front desk. "Er… Luna? What did I do last night?" she asked tentatively.

The receptionist chuckled. "You arm wrestled nearly everyone to a standstill and earned money in the process. You even beat three of the strongest warriors at once!"

She chuckled nervously. Was that all? She hoped so. Anything more might have been seen as suspicious.

Luna continued. "After that, no one else wanted to try their luck, so you bought everyone even more alcohol to try and butter them up. Of course, you passed out after a drink, so the maids arranged a room for you," she said, staring down at Tanya, apparently amused by the whole affair.

Tanya was much less amused. Sighing dejectedly, she asked, "How far in debt am I?"

Luna laughed. "Not at all, actually. You even came away from it all with a bit more money, since we paid you a bit for being an entertainer."

Tanya nodded, casting a quick glance at the money bag hanging from her belt. "So… how do I earn more money?" she asked plainly.

Luna pointed to a board Tanya hadn't noticed yet. "There are quests over there. They give you a rating of difficulty, depending on the number and type of stamps on them," she said.

Tanya strode over, and began to peruse them.

Tanya didn't understand all of the terms they used, but judging by the stamps, most of them were probably outside her ability. At least, until she had tested out all of her skills.

"Luna? Do you have anything easier?" she called out. The woman rushed out from behind the bar, looking at them.

"Well, not really. Most of the monsters were cleared from the surrounding forests long ago, which means that the only monsters available are the easy, seasonal ones that pop up, or the ones that are farther away from town," she explained, looking at them all.

Tanya nodded, considering her options. Then, Luna spoke again. "You could get started on the Giant Toads," she said, pointing to one of the signs.

Tanya looked up at the thing.

'MARCH OF THE TOADS BEGINS SOON. MINIMAL REWARD OFFERED.'

Tanya sighed, resigning herself to yet more questions. "Why the minimal reward?"

"Well," Luna began, "the Giant Toads emerge at two times in the year: spring and autumn. They begin breeding in the autumn, and the young grow to their full size in the spring. They usually stay far away from the city during the spring, satisfying themselves on weaker monsters."

"Lately, they've been coming near the city in the spring, too. So we need adventurers to get them to leave," she finished, smiling.

Tanya tilted her head. "Why not just kill them all if you know where they usually hide?" she said.

Luna shook her head. "Well, they burrow underground to hibernate, so it's hard for beginner adventurers with few skills to find them. Also, they taste pretty good, so we don't want to destroy a valuable food source."

Tanya grinned. This would be nice and easy, then. She'd faced armies of humans in the past. How hard would a couple of overgrown pests be?

-OxOxO-

Tanya grumbled. Not hard at all was the answer to her question.

The quest had been to remove any Giant Toads that strayed into a certain area. She'd rushed to the area, skipping breakfast and intent on finishing it quickly to be back in time for lunch. She'd come out, stood in the middle of a farmer's field, and waited.

For two hours.

The old geezer had told her that if she did anything other than chase out the Toads, he'd give her a bad report. Tanya didn't know exactly how much the supplies she wanted would cost, and she wasn't about to come up short if she could avoid it.

So she'd stood there, doing nothing.

Until now.

She'd had enough, and she was fairly sure that he wasn't watching anymore. He was probably in a different field right now, so she'd just test out a few things inconspicuously.

First, her Flight spells. Her fighting style relied on her speed, agility, and maneuverability in the air. Without those, she'd be a glorified foot soldier.

She took a deep breath. She hadn't been completely idle. She had spent a large part of those two hours attempting to craft a Flight spell that would allow her to circumvent the use of her Type 95. She had been pouring mana into the spell for over ten minutes.

This was it. She took another deep breath, and…

Slowly, she rose into the air, until she was floating an inch off the ground.

She smirked, and rose another inch up. The increase in the mana drain was almost unnoticeable. Tanya frowned.

An increase in only an inch shouldn't have even registered in her mana drain.

Tentatively, she continued to rise, foot after foot.

Soon, she was floating above the rudimentary fences the owner had constructed.

Tanya breathed a sigh of relief the increase was noticeable and not… debilitating. She'd be able to continue fighting how she liked it, if she could replace the cursed jewelry around her neck with something more appropriate.

Just then, she noticed something on the horizon.

A large, bulbous, bright blue toad was hopping. It was nearly double her height, and it was supposed to only be an adolescent. The way its skin shone in the light of the day reminded her of something.

She inhaled.

Something else and worse that towered above her, engulfing her in size and staring down at her with its beady little eyes and it was bald and had power and it was engulfing her and try to to to-

Tanya shuddered, briefly, and pushed down those memories, instead choosing to rocket towards the thing. She was airborne, so she'd never need to fear being engulfed by the thing.

She then began to barrel through the air, propelled by momentum instead of mana as her spell malfunctioned.

There had been a sharp increase in the mana drain, and she cut it off, in fear that she'd go rocketing off at an appreciable fraction of the speed of sound.

She soon impacted the ground, only just slamming Reinforcement spells into action.

Dazed, Tanya looked up into the large, bloated eyes of the pest. It looked down at her, for a moment.

It then lowered its head down, intending to gobble her up.

She snarled. Not that she'd let that happen.

Fast as a thunderbolt, Tanya drew her sword and imbued it with mana as it sliced through the air.

Her attack struck true, showering Tanya with a flood of blood and bodily fluids leaking from the gash she'd torn in its stomach.

Gagging, Tanya shot away from the thing in a moment, airborne once more. She might have smelled worse, sure, but that didn't mean she wanted to get coated in frog guts!

She realized she was airborne once more, and flew around the dead corpse. The drain wasn't nice, when she was moving through the air instead of just hovering. That much was evident.

But… she could manage it. She would have to, actually, until she figured out how to make a Computation Jewel.

Landing, she studied the body.

Her job had been, specifically, to drive them off. Killing them was fine, but she'd need to get rid of the body.

Tanya began to drag it away, towards the uncultivated hills nearby, when a loud, wet ribbet emanated from her left.

Slowly, she turned, and saw three more Toads, all eyeing her. Tanya growled in annoyance, before remembering her greatest asset.

She rose from where she'd been trying to find purchase on the dead toad's slippery skin to begin dragging it, far above where they could try and eat her. She smirked down at them.

"What's wrong? Oh right, you idiots can't fly! I guess you shouldn't have tried to mess with me then, huh?" she shouted. Sure, it was childish, but she'd been standing in a field for over two hours. She wanted to vent.

The lead frog of the trio, apparently, did want to try and fight her. It raised its head, looked at her, and-

Shot its tongue at her.

Oops.

Tanya narrowly avoided the long, pink, rope of a tongue it had shot out. Right. Frogs could do that.

Tanya rose higher, nervously eyeing the road. If someone came by and saw her flying, well…

She didn't know what they'd think. She still didn't know if that was considered 'normal' or not. Flight spells came easily to people from her second world, but they might be seem impossible to the people in this day and age.

She soon retreated to a hill outside of the farmer's land. They seemed content with this, and began to hop towards the home. They were likely headed for the livestock.

She sighed. What a dilemma. What had Luna said? They liked livestock, right?

A new plan in mind, Tanya began to pour mana into another spell she had been working on in those two hours. She these pests needed to be fooled, but this was going to be unpleasant.

Five feet away from her, a… blob of white color that might resemble a child's drawing of a sheep materialized. She frowned and hoped it looked real enough for them.

"Hey, you Toads! Look at this!" she called out. They turned, as one, and saw a fluffy, white looking object.

It was enough for them.

They began to hop closer to her, moving as quickly as their large bodies could. Tanya ran down the side of the hill, and made it look like the illusion was running away. They pursued, and were soon off of the property.

Tanya laughed triumphantly as they hopped away. She turned back to the body, decided that dragging it to the side of the road would be enough, and returned to the field. She'd done enough, for now.

-OxOxO-

It came to an end. Eventually.

A few more of the things had come by, but she'd just led them off with illusions. Overall, it had been a nice, relaxing day full of nothing but watching clouds fly in the sky, reworking her spells to work without a Computation Jewel, and trying not to wince at how much mana she was using without a proper Computation Jewel.

It was peaceful, nearly stress-free… and boring.

Tanya was concerned about the boring part. She knew she'd acquired a… taste for the kind of fights the war served to her regularly – it was hard not to at least enjoy the air, not to mention the challenge – but she shouldn't have missed the opportunity to just take a minute to stop fighting.

She sighed as she walked to the man's house. Having so much violence in her life probably didn't do wonders for her taste in people either.

She arrived at the door and peered inside, searching for the man. She didn't see him at first, but she did eventually spot the old man's small form.

He was curled up on a chair, snoozing away. He greatly resembled some sort of cat, with how content he looked.

Tanya shrugged. She needed to report to him that she was done. She walked into the house, and gently shook the man.

"Hey. Wake up," she said. He rose quickly, grinning.

"Finally decided you've had enough, eh? No worry, I'll show you-" he began. He stopped suddenly, when he saw her clothing.

"Er… Did you fight something?" he asked. Tanya scoffed. Of course she did. She'd had to patrol the livestock for half a day, clothes bathed in blood, and he was asking if she fought something?

"Yeah. One of those frogs was on your property, so I killed it and moved it to the road," she explained, an eyebrow raised.

This, apparently, brought the man up short. "You… you moved it? By yourself? Without anyone telling you to?" he asked.

"Well… duh. The job said to keep the Toads off your property," she said. He looked down, suddenly, a look of shame on his face.

He licked his lips, and took the small hat on his head off so he could nervously wring it in his hands. "I apologize, young girl. I had meant for you to stand in the field until you quit. This job is usually saved for newcomers who don't have any respect for the people who don't roam the world, fighting monsters," he explained, eyes downcast.

Tanya just smiled. "It's fine," she said, heading for the door. Apparently, she had exceeded what had been expected of her, as usual.

She had other things to do, and it was already past midday. Heading for the city itself, she left behind the farmer without another word.

The farmer's wife, hovering in the kitchen, smiled triumphantly. "Told you that one of them wouldn't actually be a brat about standing in the heat, watching crops grow."

He glared back at her, sullen. "Oh, quiet you. It hasn't happened before now, and with her name and looks, I hadn't actually expected her to be understanding."

-OxOxO-

Tanya had gone back to the guild, to get her payment. Unfortunately for her, Luna said she needed confirmation that she had done her job, and since the job was about completing a task instead of just killing monsters, she needed confirmation from the person that had put it out.

Luna had said that she could look at the number of toads she'd killed, if she wanted one transported back to the guild so it could be used for food. Lacking anyway to transport its corpse, she'd agreed. Every little bit helped, after all.

She'd wanted to enjoy lunch, but she realized, after comparing the money she was supposed to earn and looking at the price of the food, that the Eris and Yen were in no way comparable. The food was horribly expensive compared to similar fare from her last two lives, and the Toad hamburger she had eventually settled on had tasted much worse for it.

Afterwards, she left the building. While the sun was beginning to fall from its height, she still had errands to run.

Luna had given her directions to a few places that Tanya needed to get to. Clothing, of course, was on her list. She needed better clothing, and she needed to get something made that would cover her Circlet. She knew this was a Kingdom, and wearing a crown might be seen as some sort of affront to the nobility.

Tanya wasn't about to get thrown in jail because of her attire.

More importantly, however, were the second set of directions. Luna had directed her to one of the city's Blacksmiths.

It wasn't even a matter of saving money. She needed to get levels in the Blacksmith Job to make her weapon.

A gun it would allow her to greatly increase the range of her spells, give her something she knew how to wield, and allow her to stop casting spells through her fingers.

The risk of blowing them off wasn't high – a Mage in the Guild had scoffed at the idea of such stupid drawbacks, which was a good sign – but the possibility was there as far as she was aware, and it rose they more difficult the spell was.

Which was the problem.

The Type 95 was, unfortunately, her best bet at survival. It meant that the casting time of any of her spells was shortened and that the risk of failure was next to nil, as long as she didn't grossly overpower something.

Without it, the majority of her spells would take far too long to use to be useful against anyone with two brain cells, and that wasn't even factoring in if this world's magic functioned or altered her own.

Of course, those benefits to her survival also came at a price. It was very, very detrimental to her mental health – but the temptation was gnawing at her. She was hoping she could recreate the Type 97 by working backwards. She did, after all, know some of the inner workings of the Type 97 by heart from deconstructing them for maintenance.

Computation Jewels didn't need much in order to function, as long as they weren't damaged. They did, however, require basic maintenance once a month, which included cleaning and the replacement of worn-out components.

The Type 95 needed even less maintenance, probably due to its divine nature, but it still needed replacement parts every once and awhile. Keeping it in top shape and trying to recreate a bleeding edge Computation Jewel would be next to impossible using only her memory.

So she needed a Blacksmith's Skill, first and foremost, because she wouldn't entrust either task to someone who might squeal on her and reveal any of her secrets.

Following Luna's directions, she soon arrived at the building she had described. Somewhat small compared to the buildings around it, the building had a number of shields hanging in the front and a dingy window that didn't look like it had been cleaned in ages.

Tanya just sighed and walked up the stairs to the door. Why would someone leave pieces of equipment out where anyone could take them?

She peered into the room from behind the door, making the decision to walk in after only a moment. It certainly looked like a blacksmith's shop.

Or, at the very least, it looked like the room of someone with a fetish for weaponry, since nearly every inch of free space was covered in it.

Stands in the middle of the room held up an assortment of swords, while baskets of daggers lay next to those. A barrel full of spears sat in a corner of the room, while even more shields and even larger swords lined the walls.

Tanya stared at the largest ones in shock. Could people actually wield things like that? Maybe they were just decorations for someone with a weapon fetish.

A countertop, reminiscent of your everyday grocery store checkout aisle, sat near the back of the room. The room behind the counter was shrouded in even more darkness, which wasn't surprising. The windows were covered in dirt, even on the inside. On the far wall, stands of full plate armor two times her width showed themselves off, while other, miscellaneous pieces of armor sat on a shelf above them.

Tanya looked around the room again, searching for the blacksmith. Luna had told her the man didn't really leave his house that much…

Shrugging, she began to try and cast a few Observation spells. They'd tell her if there was any magical activity. If the man didn't have any mana it wouldn't detect him, but it was still worth a try.

They found nothing in the front of the shop, and when she turned to the back…

Still nothing.

She walked over to the counter, and saw a note.

'Look up.'

Readying her mana in case of an attack, she did just that. Tilting her head upwards, she saw more nothing.

A rush of movement in front of her sparked action. She drew her sword quickly, thrusting it towards the disturbance.

"Hey, watch out there, little miss!" someone exclaimed as her sword was batted aside by a similar looking weapon.

Tanya looked at the man who had deflected her sword.

Taller than her by over a foot, he smiled easily, rubbing the back of his head with his free hand. In the other glove-covered hand, he held a small dagger, which had deflected her strike.

Tanya looked at her own blade. Was she that weak?

"Sorry about startling you, miss, but you really shouldn't attack people like that," he said, posture relaxed and face glowing. Tanya lowered her blade, and the man did as well, setting the knife down on the countertop.

"Why'd you try to scare me to death?" Tanya exclaimed. If he didn't want her to kill him, he shouldn't have scared her.

He rubbed the back of his head. "It gets boring in here, and I like to mess with people."

Shaking her head, Tanya asked, "Would you happen to be the Blacksmith?"

He grinned and said, "Well, I don't know about the Blacksmith, but I am a Blacksmith."

Tanya nodded, studying the man's darkly tanned face. He had a short beard and a few strands of hair groups together on his upper lip that might constitute as a mustache. Above those wisps was a long, sloped nose and small eyes.

Tanya nodded. "Er… I was wondering, sir, if I could learn some Skills from you?" she asked hesitantly.

He looked up, gripping his face in contemplation. "Well, I don't think I have the skill to warrant me taking on an apprentice, but-"

Tanya shook her head. "No, sir, you misunderstand me. I am an Adventurer, capital 'A,' and I wanted to learn some skills, at some point in time. I was just wondering if you would be open to that," she explained, raising her card by the upper left corner, in order to block the revealing description of herself and show him what her job was.

"Ohhhhh," he exclaimed. Tanya squinted at the man. Did he disapprove of her or something?

"Well, while I would like to help out someone as- er, misguided as you, I can't just do these things for free," he said.

Tanya raised an eyebrow skeptically. Misguided?

She shook her head. She didn't have time to explain why she needed to be an Adventurer, nor did she particularly want to. "Of course. Why would I expect you to give away things for free? I was just wondering what it would cost," she said. The man squinted at her, this time.

"Well, alright, then," he said. Tapping a finger on his chin, he suddenly smiled.

"50,000 Eris so that you can watch me work," he said. Tanya raised an eyebrow, careful to ensure that the man didn't catch a whiff of her excitement and dread.

Haggling. Bargaining. Something she was vaguely familiar with in this odd world. She smirked as she began to mentally debate what she could do.

50,000 Eris. She didn't have it, but she could hopefully earn the money in the next week.

Not that she'd pay that much to watch the man. She made sure to seem outwardly skeptical of the price as she stared him in the face. "Oh please. It's not like I have to work with you. I could just go to another blacksmith and get a much better price. And considering the state of your windows, I don't think you can even justify earning that much without a special order. 25."

"I bet you can't even meet the Strength requirement for taking a level in the Blacksmith job. 55," he countered.

The price raise stung a bit, but she didn't let on, only smiling. "My Strength doesn't matter, since the Adventurer job means I can surpass any requirements to learn a skill. 30."

"I wouldn't want you running off and starting a rival business, would I? Plus, I'll lose whatever business you could have done with me, if you take enough levels. 45."

Tanya smirked. That sounded fine. "Just to watch you melt some metal? I don't think so," she said. They stood there, staring at each other, waiting for the other to move.

"Fine, then. I'll cut you a deal," he said, crossing his arms. Tanya nodded. This would be the actual offer.

"I'll demonstrate to you a single skill, Smith, and if you can keep up with me after taking it, I'll only charge you 40, for proving me wrong. Otherwise, it'll be 45" he said.

Tanya frowned. It was only one, but…