"C'mon asshole!" Lola barked at the final rock crab as she pushed at its "shell" from behind. "I'll smash you open."
The rock crabs proved simple opponents for the three ladies present to train on. The monsters posed very little threat. The bizarre hermit crab creatures poked their legs and head out from under the heavy boulders that they used to disguise themselves. They scuttled along the sandy ground of their coves, waving one large pincer claw at those that tried to attack them. They were very slow, however. Lola was more than strong enough to push them over so that their vulnerable undersides were exposed for Katrine to finish them off, using her short sword that was imbued with some magic enchantment from Isdiel who also used her abilities to keep the other girls at peak fighting condition.
"And done," Katrine noted as the rock crab toppled over and she yet again drove her softly glowing sword into the fleshy weak spot of the monster. The odd crab let out a bubbling gurgle as it turned to dust while Katrine retrieved her blade.
"Is that all of them?" Isdiel asked, ending her constant stream of restorative magic. Sweat was forming on her brow, but there was no headache.
They had only been fighting that particular pack of rock crabs for half an hour, but they had been combing the various coves along the shore since the sun rose. It was getting to be late afternoon on the Merde Coastline, with the sun easing its way down over the watery horizon. Isdiel normally loved coming to the coast. She could watch the waves come in from atop one of the grassy cliffs all day.
However, she dreaded the jobs that they had been on for the last three days. Her, Katrine, and Lola would get up in the morning and break down their camp. They'd have a quick bite to eat, usually digging into their supply of dried jerky. Isdiel, not having to prepare much gear of her own, would make a pot of tea for everyone while Katrine and Lola prepared their equipment for the day's excursion. They would read over the job they picked up at the Registrar's the previous evening, and they would spend the whole day cleaning up whatever monsters they had been assigned.
The first job they took involved a colossal slime monster that was spotted crawling along the beach and preying upon the unwary. When they found it, they quickly learned (from Katrine getting her arm stuck in it) that weaponry and physical attacks would have no effect. It took a long period of dodging and hiding from the creature, but eventually Isdiel blew it away with her Purge penance. The slime counted as an enemy leader, so the three girls were rewarded with some extra gold from their treasure orbs.
On the second day, their task was to scare off sea centipedes. The bugs were several meters in length, and their cruel methods of attack were coiling around their victims to crush them or gnaw at them with long mandibles. Isdiel was the one to get in trouble during that job, having several of the monsters corner her against a cliff wall. One of them was going to snap its mouthpieces around her neck before Katrine quickly came to her rescue. After they returned and got their reward from the Registrar, Isdiel purchased a small bottle of white wine and shared it with Lola and Katrine around the campfire that night.
That day, Day Three, was thankfully a more relaxing one. The extra notes in the job description said that the rock crabs were easily worth a more experience than they initially seemed. Katrine stated her belief that the unconventional manner they needed to use to slay them probably added to their value. She also sounded eager to check her growth at some point after their job was finished.
"Feels like that's everything in this cave," Lola said as she holstered her axes. The Amazonian looked a little disappointed that she didn't get to use her weapons at all. But Isdiel agreed with her friend. The unearthly chill that came with Detect Foe had faded. Now it was just the cool air of the shady beach cave that remained.
"Izzy, can you check the job?" Katrine asked while sheathing her sword. The glow of the weapon enchantment had worn off, leaving it as just a normal iron blade before it disappeared.
"Sure," Izzy replied. She had to think about where she had put the important piece of paper. Isdiel had decided that she wouldn't be wearing any of her usual dresses while she was out training with her comrades. No, for these outings the high elf had decided to don more appropriate combat garbs. She wore a leather chest piece painted white over a tight fitting black shirt underneath. It was an unusual feeling, considering she had bought the armor at the last minute instead of taking the time to get one that fit properly. But it had buckles and padding and had indeed protected her from a couple scratches by the centipedes, so functionally it was just fine.
Then there was her wand. The smooth, polished oak tool with a clear blue jewel embedded in the pommel of her weapon. The wand was about the length of Isdiel's forearm and managed to stay perfectly straight. There were stories of people who took poor care of their wands, warping the wood over time until one day it didn't work anymore. Isdiel's wand, however, was always perfectly maintained. She rarely used it on jobs, but she made sure to tend to it and keep it peak form whenever she had the time. On the occasions where she did take it out, she kept it holstered on her sash on the opposite side of her potions.
"Yo Isdiel," Katrine said, breaking Isdiel from her daze of thinking about her equipment. "Did you lose the job form?"
"No, no," Isdiel replied. She conjured up her Item Box and popped it open. It was neatly organized, with spoils and drops occupying one side while more immediately necessary things sat on the other. After reaching in, Isdiel pulled out the rolled-up parchment and opened it up.
"Are there any more caves?" Lola asked as she walked over to the entrance of the cave where the other two had gathered. "I'm getting really tired of pushing these rocks."
"I'd offer to switch," Isdiel said as she started scanning over the job form. "But that might take even longer."
That got a little smirk from Katrine. Isdiel was glad to see that the Swordsman (woman as Katrine would often correct her) was back in proper form. Katrine was less testy since they had started the jobs as well. The day before their departure when she had fought with Noah had put her in a terrible mood. Now that she was running around and fighting things again, she seemed to be feeling much better.
"Here we go," Isdiel said once her eyes reached the bottom of the form. Scrawled in green ink and with much worse handwriting than was on the rest of the form was the word COMPLETE! "Looks like this was the last group of them." Isdiel placed the form back atop her things in her Item Box before sending it away.
"Thank God," Katrine said. "Can we stay at an inn tonight?"
"I think we've earned a break from the harsh outdoors," Isdiel replied with a smile of her own. She wasn't opposed to spending more nights laid out on a bedroll, chatting with her friends as they looked up at the starry night sky. However, it might be a good idea to pamper themselves and sleep in propers beds.
"Are we going all the way back to Remnant?" Lola asked.
"There's a few cabins near the Registrar's Office. And we've hardly seen anyone since we came out here, so we're sure to be able to get one all to ourselves."
"I hope there's a warm bath," Katrine said as she sheathed her sword, the scabbard bouncing against her hips as she walked out of the cove.
"There better be," Lola said as she stretched, following closely behind Katrine. "You've smelt terrible since that first evening, and I've been sleeping next to you the whole time."
"You're not much better, honey," Isdiel commented. The elf quickly caught up with her two friends, not wanting to spend any more time than necessary in the cove. "We all need to clean up."
"Some of us have a desire to draw people, Lola," Katrine noted as they stepped out into the afternoon sun. The sands were starting to cool down as the evening approached, and no one could be seen down either direction on the shoreline. The girls turned away from the setting sun, heading down the beach to make their way back to the Shoreline Outpost. Normally, Isdiel would prefer the quicker way of taking a portable Gate back to the place, though lately she preferred walking back with her more physically able friends. She figured it was good exercise, as well as providing a nice opportunity to chat idly about meaningless things with her friends.
"Lola has no problem with drawing anyone," Isdiel added, putting an arm around her two friends' shoulders. "Her favorite suitor can't ever take his eyes off of her."
"I stand by what I've been saying," Lola replied. It was a standard tease of Isdiel's, but nothing that caused trouble to play with. "You planted all those feelings in his head."
"No ma'am." Isdiel's mouth was slowly turning into a big smirk. "He developed those all on his own."
"Count yourself lucky," Katrine said before sighing softly. "Your man will always be waiting for you. Mine hasn't even tried finding me yet."
"Kat-," Isdiel started, but there was no good way to comfort her friend on that matter. The memory of Katrine's lover was something that Isdiel begrudgingly granted her. She had been so lonely and terrified when she turned up in Remnant. Isdiel felt compelled in the end to give her a more personal memory, one that would assure Katrine knew there would always be someone who cared for her. Isdiel just wished she had the ability to give her the boy's name. She knew who it was, very well in fact, but Katrine needed to have the right memories of him.
"He isn't my man," Lola replied, wanting the awkwardness between them to end as fast as possible. "He's too young. And too scrawny. I like my men older. And more built too. Who wants a guy that can't even match you in strength?"
"And he's blonde too, huh?" Isdiel asked.
"Oh yeah." Lola was smiling brightly, lost in her girlish daydreams. "Really pretty, wavy blonde hair. And-."
"Big strong arms?" Katrine added, trying to hold back the imminent joke.
"They could wrap around you like big, hairy snakes," Isdiel suggested.
"They wouldn't be hairy," Lola corrected, leaving her dreams and speaking with pure seriousness. "He'd shave them because he knew the hair would tickle me."
"Oh that does sound nice," Isdiel replied, restraining her own urge to laugh.
"Too bad this mystery dream boat of yours is unbelievably gay," Katrine said. Her and Isdiel were unable to stop themselves any longer as they both broke out into a full force giggle fit.
"Fuck you guys," Lola grumbled, turning her head away from them to face the ocean as they continued to walk. The giggles slowly started to die down, and once the others had finished, Lola asked her own question.
"Izzy, do you know Noah from somewhere else?" she asked.
"Ugh," Katrine groaned. "I nearly forgot about that little seri too. Why'd you have to bring him up?"
"Kat, don't be rude," isdiel quickly said. Katrine gave the elf a curious look, but then went back to looking further down the beach. "And no, Lola. I met Noah at the same time you did."
"Ah," Lola replied. "So, it was just love at first sight then?"
"Nothing that serious." Though her reply was cool and simple, Isdiel did need to take a moment to collect her thoughts. The fae practically oozed pure Adventurer's Spirit if their parley in that cavern was any indication. Noah's looks weren't anything to ignore either. However, they had only just met recently. Flirting with him and kissing him was mostly to gauge what Noah was interested in. Isdiel could've just asked if he was straight or not but teasing him was far too fun.
"Harmless flirting is all it is," Isdiel stated, continuing with a well calculated response. "He's cute, and I wouldn't mind getting to know him a bit better. For now, Noah and I are just friends."
"It'll probably stay that way for a while," Katrine said. Both Lola and Isdiel looked to her, waiting for the proper explanation that followed. "He's only got eyes for that villager girl. He's just a kid far as I'm concerned. Probably latched onto that maid because she was the first girl that gave him the time of day."
"You think he's that simple?" Isdiel asked, trying not to sound too concerned about this bit of information.
"He's like a fresh born babe," Lola answered. "He isn't simple. Just-."
"Ignorant," Katrine finished. "Hopefully Teague will get him to finally read his guidebook. At least then, there won't be a stupid question every time he speaks."
"There's nothing in that guidebook about crafty girls," Lola said, giggling a little to herself.
"Well he'll just need a kind woman to look out for him," Isdiel said. She immediately regretted that statement, as both her friends were shooting her curious looks. The elf wouldn't mind the opportunity to get closer to Noah, but she probably shouldn't have used that phrasing to state her desires.
"Good to see you're only a little interested in him then," Katrine said with a little smirk.
"You could easily steal him away from that maid," Lola assured Isdiel amidst laughter. "I've seen her. You easily have her beat when it comes to maturity."
"All you have to do is hope that Noah will be down with whatever parental play you have plan-"
"ENOUGH!" Isdiel shouted loud enough to stir a flock of birds they recently passed. The girl's face was beet red with embarrassment. She came to a complete stop, and Lola and Katrine had taken a few more steps forward before turning to face her. "It's not like that at all, you two!"
"We were just picking, Izzy," Katrine said.
"Yeah," Lola assured her. "We know you won't do anything like that to him."
"Good," Isdiel said, her face regaining its proper color as she walked past her friends. "I'm glad that's established now."
The other two continued to watch their de-facto leader proceed ahead of them, taken aback by her sudden outburst. They silently agreed not to bring up Noah like that ever again before following behind Isdiel.
The walk down the beach back to the Gate continued in the same uneventful manner, with the three occasionally exchanging work talk between each other. Lola was just about to explain how she was intent on changing out her axes for better ones soon when Isdiel suddenly shushed her and brought the trio to a halt.
"What is it?" Katrine asked, moving her hand down to grip the hilt of her sword.
"We have some company," Isdiel said as she drew her wand. It was the first time she had done so with intent to use in the entirety of their three-day journey, and Lola and Katrine mimicked their actions. There was no chill in the air like the one that belonged to the Detect Foe skill. However, a strange static that raised the hair on their necks surrounded them.
"Lower your weapons and just let this go easily," a raspy voice ordered them. Atop a jutting stone platform above them was a group of strangers. Three teenage boys in shabby leather armor and one grown man in more casual clothing were visible, but Isdiel couldn't imagine the raspy voice had come from any of them. Stepping to the front of the group was a white-haired dwarf in a set of too long gray robes. There was no hesitation as he perched himself along the edge of the cliff, idly twirling his own gnarled wand between his fingertips as a sickly grin stretched across his face.
"It's a bit rude not to introduce yourselves," Isdiel said to them. "Who are you guys?"
"Just lowly Hunters," the dwarf answered. "I believe you know what happens next."
There was a soft growl, though neither of the other girls had to look to confirm that it was coming from Katrine. She was scowling at them as she held back a violent hiss, barring her fangs at the Hunters above.
"I am a bit curious about what happens next," Isdiel said. Unbeknownst to the men above her, the magic energy was starting to gather within her core and travel to her wand hand. The tip of the slender piece of wood was pointed right at the dwarf. The three younger men looked more hesitant facing up against less frightened victims than normal. The dwarf glared at her, and the older man behind them all continued looking at the situation with the same stoic face as before.
"Izzy," Lola whispered.
"Put your reservations aside for now, Lola."
There was a loud crack that echoed across the empty shore as Isdiel shot out her spell. The spell, which looked like a large orb of distorted air but was really formed of pure, condensed magic, launched forward and collided with the stone platform above them. The older man reacted in an instant, leaping from the platform before the point of collision. The other four on the platform weren't quick enough. The force of the spell's explosion on impact with the rock knocked all of them back. Two of the teenagers fell from the platform, the other teenager was knocked back against the cliff behind him, and the dwarf stumbled around until he followed the other boys down to the sandy ground below.
Shockblast-Non-elemental spell sending out a ball of magic that explodes on impact.
The three girls showed mercy, merely watching as the enemies that fell to the ground got to their feet with a chorus of groans. The dwarf's cocky grin from earlier was replaced by a ferocious snarl of her own. The boys beside him drew their weapons, one with a sword and the other with a set of wooden tonfas.
"Now you bitches are pissing me off!" the dwarf howled. With a flick of his wand, a stream of fire spewed forth at Isdiel. The elf countered by waving her own weapon and slapping away the fire before throwing out another nameless bolt of clear magic.
"Lola!" Isdiel shouted, continuing to shoot more bolts at the dwarf mage only for them to be swatted away. "Katrine! Rush!"
The two girls didn't need to be told twice as they charged forward to meet with the other grounded hunters. They had the advantage of having not taken a ten-foot fall to the ground and were easily overpowering the young Hunters. Meanwhile, the magical duel between Isdiel and the dwarf continued. The weak blasts of magic volleyed between them, the dwarf finally firing off some of the rudimentary spells himself. It was part of Isdiel's hasty plan though. If she kept him busy with the simple attacks, the dwarf had no time to prepare any meaningful spells.
A cry of pain from the tonfa wielding Hunter broke the dwarf's focus. Lola had managed to break through his guard, with the next swipe of her axe driving deep into the boy's side. The blood had just started flowing before Lola's other axe was planted into the Hunter's face, another soft sound of pain before he died.
Isdiel had no quarrels with striking a distracted opponent and sent a stronger yet still basic bolt of magic right into the dwarf's chest. The small Hunter was unable to deflect the blow, taking it full force and making him hunch over. Isdiel launched another powerful bolt his way, but the dwarf barely managed to parry the blow.
"I'm coming through!" Lola cried out. Isdiel halted her barrage so Lola could use her Charge skill and move across the battlefield. Her target was Katrine's opponent, who was caught unaware as the cone of blue energy in front of Lola made contact. The Warrior girl came to a halt upon impact, knocking the other Hunter to the ground and leaving Katrine standing beside her with a look of genuine surprise. The sword wielding Hunter was still lying on the ground before Lola pounced on him, driving both axes directly into his chest. There was a wet, choking sound before the boy died, his blood still staining the sand.
"You'll die for that!" the dwarf Hunter spat. He pointed his wand at Lola as she slowly turned to face her attacker. From the tip of his wand another jet of fire shot forth. This time though the stream of flame was not entirely formless. Instead this fire turned into the shape of a bird. Its infernal beak opened to let out a piercing cry as it darted towards Lola.
"I got the spell!" Isdiel said, pointing her wand at the fiery bird and gathering up her magic into her wand hand again. "Kat, sic him!"
A rope of water shot out of Isdiel's wand. The tip of the liquid tendril hit its mark perfectly, wrapping around the neck of the flaming raptor. The fire spell let out another screech as Isdiel whipped the water noose, tightening it around the bird's neck and slamming it to the sand below. The creature let out one last whimper before vanishing.
"Got him!" Katrine called out. With a sigh of relief Isdiel holstered her wand and turned to confirm that indeed, Katrine did get the dwarf. She had gotten behind him, likely using some movement skill judging by how hard she was breathing as she pressed the sharp edge of her dagger against the dwarf's neck. Lola approached their hostage, ripping his wand from his hand and snapping it in half.
"Talk," Lola said before giving the dwarf a solid backhand across the face.
"About what?" the dwarf spat at them, doing all he could not to look at any of the girls.
"About why you attacked us," Isdiel said as she approached them. "This is the middle of nowhere. We don't look like we have anything worth the risk of killing us."
"Were we just practice?" Katrine asked, pulling the blade closer to the Hunter's throat.
"It was something like that," a new voice said. There was a sharp gasp from the dwarf, and the three girls only had a moment to notice the knife buried into the top of his head. Katrine let out a girlish squeal before dropping the freshly made corpse. The owner of the voice was sitting with his legs over the edge of the stone platform. Beside him was the last teenage hunter, a similar pair of small knives in his hand.
"No fucking way," Isdiel muttered as she looked up to the man. The man descended from the platform with a heavy drop to the ground, giving the girls a much clearer look at him. He was clearly a grown adult, though he didn't look like any kind of adventurer they had seen in Remnant. He was wearing a mint green tunic and black pants made of fine cotton, both of which looked very loose on the unhealthily thin frame that the man possessed. On each index finger were fine looking gold rings with large rubies embedded atop of them. His shaggy brown hair had bangs long enough to obscure his eyes, but the rest of it was cut back all around, leaving little hair on his neck and showing a pair of non-pointy human ears. Most noticeable was the large sword that he held at his side. Bony fingers were wrapped around a dark blue cloth that covered the length of the blade in lieu of a scabbard, but they couldn't wrap all the way around the thick weapon. The blade itself was at least five feet long, its true sized masked by the cloth that covered it.
"That's pretty coarse language coming from such a lovely girl," the man said as he walked closer to the trio of girls. Lola and Katrine were wise enough not to raise their weapons to the stranger. Despite the lackadaisical aura that the man seemed to exude, they knew better than to challenge the slow walking man. He could easily overpower all of them without breaking a sweat.
"What are you doing out here, Paolo?" Isdiel asked. While not ready to challenge the man, she didn't hide her dislike for the man who apparently wasn't a stranger to her.
"Watching over a new group of potential recruits," the man known as Paolo answered. "It seems most of them were a bit lacking."
"You could've helped them," Lola interjected.
"And then all of you would have died, Lolarion."
Lola's eyes widened, shocked that this man she had never met before knew her full name.
"He's right Lola," Isdiel explained. "But that doesn't excuse what you did."
"Whatever do you mean?" Paolo asked, shrugging with the shoulder not holding up his huge weapon.
"You killed your own man," Katrine said.
"He could've told you something you didn't need to hear." Paolo raised his free hand up, and all three girls tensed up in preparation for a potential attack. Instead, the man was merely trying to push his bangs out his face to reveal a pair of dull green eyes. "I think I remember you."
"Paolo," Isdiel said, stepping closer to the man.
"You were one of us too. You fucked your way too to the top from what I remember."
"Paolo!" Isdiel repeated, grabbing hold of the man's collar and hastily pulling him down to face her. "That's enough out of you. Either tell us why you made those boys fight us or take off."
"Why don't we play your favorite game, Izzy?" Paolo asked as a small grin started forming. "I'll answer your question if you answer mine."
"Deal," Isdiel replied, releasing Paolo's collar. "Why'd you make those guys attack us?"
"They wanted to be Hunters. I suggested what I thought would be an adequate challenge from our Blue Book."
"Why the hell are we in your Blue Book?" Katrine asked, another fang barring snarl on her face.
"No ma'am. You need to wait your turn. Now here's my question." Paolo's eyes had returned to their hiding place behind his bangs, but Katrine and Isdiel could tell that he was glancing back and forth between the two of them. "Where is your brother? Milo wishes to speak to him."
"I'm not sure," Isdiel answered. "Last I heard he spends most of his time following his new guild leader around. Find that guy, and you'll find my brother."
"Well if you see him, please pass that little message onto him. As for the Blue Book, it's not all of you." Paolo pointed the hilt of his sword over to Lola. "It's just you, Lolarion. I'm pretty sure either Izzy or Rapide would know why, so don't waste a question on that."
"Izzy, what's he talking about?" Lola asked. "What's this Blue Book thing?"
"I'll tell you later, Lola," Isdiel answered, focused less on soothing her friend's worries and more so on getting anything she could from Paolo. There was only one question she had to ask, though. She was about to ask that very question before Paolo cut her off.
"Is Rapide trying to form another Jaegers?" Paolo asked.
Isdiel fought the urge to make any outrageous faces. Lola and Katrine had to make no such effort, considering how inconsequential Paolo's question might've seemed to them. Even Rapide, the subject of that query, would be a taken aback by Paolo's words.
"Judging from that look you're giving me, it's clear that's not his intentions right now," Paolo assumed correctly. "However." Paolo leaned forward, putting his lips right to Isdiel's ear and whispering quietly enough that only she could barely hear it. "That's not to say you don't have that in mind."
"Get out of here, now," Isdiel responded in her own whisper.
"Fine, fine," Paolo said, stepping away from Isdiel. With an effortless leap, Paolo returned to the stone platform where the other young Hunter was still perched. "I hope you don't sic big brother on me, darling. I'm not looking forward to that reunion."
Before any of the girls could give any retort, there was a bright flash of white light. Once their vision cleared, it was no surprise that Paolo and the final Hunter had disappeared. All the bodies of the fallen Hunters turned to dust that scattered in the wind, each leaving behind one piece of their gear.
"He was from before, right?" Lola asked. "That's how he knew all about us."
"Come on you two," isdiel said, turning to continue back to the Gate further down the beach.
"Where are you going?" Lola asked, grabbing hold of Katrine's arm and dragging after their friend.
"We need to go back to Remnant," Isdiel answered. "Rapide needs to hear about this."
--
From the Adventurer's Guide
Section on Hunting Basics
The Auto Loot Function vs. Harvesting
Ugh. Why do I have to help some loser like you? Fine.
I'm Tsun, and I'm gonna tell you all about something basic that you should already know. For today, I'm going to tell you how drops work. Normally when you defeat something, a set value of gold depending on the victim will appear in your Item Box. Sometimes, you'll even get something from that monster that you can sell for even more cash or put to your own personal uses. In case you can't figure it out, this is the Auto Loot option.
Your other option is Harvesting. Using certain abilities will prevent monsters from vanishing for a period of time. You can then harvest materials directly from the corpses. Gross! But, it guarantees you get the best of the monster parts that you can. However, you don't get gold from the monster itself by doing this.
What you choose to use is up to you. Do you want the cash payout right away, or do you want to gamble on selling your monster pieces?