Runaway (3)

I feel smaller than an insect as I step into the guild hall but I hold my chest out anyway. I've read that our emotions mirror our body language and that we can make ourselves feel more confident by changing our posture, though I can't say it's helping much now.

The familiar buzz of the Adventurer's enters my ears and I smile lightly in their direction. No one even seems to notice my existence but I suppose that's all I could really expect.

"Right this way." Shelly smiles as she leads us into the backrooms.

The wooden hallway is poorly lit but it feels warm at least. The walls and floors are well maintained which adds a level of confidence to the organization. Aesthetics are important.

Shelly leads us into a room where Ashley is waiting to measures us up. We greet her before trying on some well-worn leather armor. It's not much but it's better than nothing.

"I got this for you." Ashley whispers, her breath sends a chill down my spine as it brushes past my ear. I feel something heavy fill the palm of my hand.

"What's this?" I ask.

"It's Monster's Bane. It'll work in a pinch if you need to make a quick escape. Just throw it down at the ground and it will create a protective smokescreen."

"Thanks." I step toward Ashley which causes her to flinch. "Oh, sorry."

"No, it's fine. I'm sorry."

I allow the awkward air to sit for a moment before I speak.

"How about a firm handshake?"

"Sure," Ashley beams so brightly that all the doubts I felt earlier are swiftly washed away. "Good luck."

"I swear, if you get Josh hurt I'll kill you even if you're already dead." Sakura hisses at me as we walk out of the guild. Her threat promptly pulls me back to reality and I throw on my most convincing smile.

"We'll be fine. We even have this Monster's Bane if things get hairy."

"I don't believe you." Sakura frowns.

Perhaps my smile wasn't as convincing as I initially suggested.

"Why don't we just head to the treeline and look around; we don't even have to go into the woods."

"I hate how you always do this." She huffs.

"Is that a yes?"

"Fine."

We all head past the North Gate and make our way across the open field to the woods. Several other Adventurer's are pass us along the way. I take note of their downtrodden expressions.

Just before the treeline, a small crowd has formed.

"What's going on?" I ask as we walk up to the group.

"What do you mean? We're all working here." one man responds.

You could have fooled me.

I hold back these words as I glance around at the loiterers.

"Slow day today?"

"Same as always," he says.

I quickly shift my perspective to that of someone in this man's position. He works a dangerous job around the forest and probably tries to spend as little time in there as possible. The days bleed together as the safest spots near the treeline are so thoroughly picked clean. Extra effort hardly ever leads to greater gains. Thus, the only reasonable option is to put in as little effort as possible.

"You don't say." I reply absentmindedly. My vision shifts to the treeline where mostly younger Adventurer's are fiercely foraging. The older people in the crowd look down at the kids with pity in their eyes.

This reminds me of fishing for some reason.

If foraging is so fruitless, then there must be another way these people make their living.

"INCOMING!" A shout rises from the woods and the crowd of Adventurer's spread out in a line as if to form a net.

A man with rabbit ears bursts out from the woods with two insects in tow. They look like praying mantises except they're each the size of a Schnauzer.

The Group of Adventurer's all descend on the bugs like a storm and stomp them into the ground. When the dust settles, only battered corpses remain.

I guess this is the fishing parallel, if you could call it that.

A frown spreads across my face as I look at the pile of insect guts now lying on the ground.

"Way to go, Scott. Now we can't even sell the meat."

"Me?! Everyone was beating the crap out of it; how is this my fault?!"

The crowd soon descends into a heated argument. I scoot past the wall of angry Adventurer's and make my way to the treeline with my teammates following close behind.

"Want to go in?" I ask.

"Whatever, you're just going to talk us into it anyway." Sakura says with her arms crossed.

"Well, I was certainly going to try."

Josh just nods at me with his usual serious expression.

I look deep into the forest where the light is blotted out by the leaves overhead.

We're at a disadvantage as we enter the forest due to the light. While those inside can hide within the darkness, we will be silhouetted against the light.

A knot fills my stomach while I try to think up a strategy.

"Let's stick close to the treeline for now as there's no good way to enter the forest with the suns at our backs. I don't want to get ambushed by something hiding in the dark."

"Finally," Sakura cries. "That's the first thing you said today that wasn't stupid."

"I'm glad I have your support, Sakura; It really means a lot."

"Pffft."

I chuckle to myself as the pink-haired girl walks past me. While she certainly doesn't like me, I'm glad there's someone on the team that I can bounce ideas off. While I love Josh to death, he isn't much for conversation.

We spend the next hour or so walking along the tree line while Sakura explains the nature of all the different types of flowers and their uses. Despite the heavy traffic in the area, it seems most people don't have her breadth of knowledge as we pack our bags with a decent haul. According to Sakura, we should be able to make a few silvers off what we found today.

As we're leaving, I glance into the darkness and notice a small pair of feathery wings sticking out from the side of a tree. I look around to make sure there are no other Adventurer's nearby and then walk up to them.

"Woohee?"

The tiny blond fairy quickly pops her head out to see me before ducking back to cover. Her antics instantly put a smile on my face.

"How's it going? Are there any monsters nearby?"

This time she pops out only long enough to shake her head.

"Cool." I walk back over to the kids to let them know the situation. "Apparently there aren't any monsters nearby so it should be safe to head in for a bit."

"How do you know?" Sakura asks with her usual snark.

"Well, Woohee said the coast was clear and I don't think a fairy would be roaming around if there were anything dangerous nearby.

"Who's Woohee?"

"Woohee." I respond while pointing over at the pair of trembling wings still sticking out from the side of the tree. "She's the fairy I met when Tyrion and I fell into that hole during the expedition."

"She's so cute!" Sakura squeals. The young girl darts past me to introduce herself.