"Training. We've worked ourselves to the bone for the last few months."
"You made that much progress in less than a year?"
"The system is designed to heavily reward those who put in the work. I don't really understand how it works exactly, but as long as you are pushing yourself, you will continue to develop."
"Wow." I can see a new determination alight in her eyes. She takes a stance at the starting line as Josh and Sakura descend. Another photo finish occurs, and we start running ourselves. We run up and down the length of the cave for an hour or more. Shinobu runs out of energy pretty quickly, but she keeps at it. At some point, the race format breaks down, and Shinobu keeps running while the rest of us take turns.
'Bleugh.'
Unsurprisingly, Shinobu loses her lunch all over the basement floor.
"You know, you could have done that outside. Now the whole place is going to smell." I hold my nose as I back away from the slurry of bread and meat.
"Shut..."
'Bleugh.'
She vomits again before she can finish telling me off. We all have a good laugh as we catch our breath.
"Ready to go hunting?"
"We're doing more today?" What little color is left in Shinobu's face drains away at my question.
"Of course. There's still plenty of daylight left. Plus, we need to recoup our losses after how much we all spent today. I don't know about you guys, but I'm running low."
"I still have some money." Josh shakes his still healthy-sounding pouch in the air.
"Same here." Sakura does the same.
"Either way, it's important that we keep a steady cash flow." The newlyweds nod at my words while Shinobu flips over and stares at the ceiling. "We'll take a few minutes to rest while we practice our meditation. Let's get ready."
We get our armor on and check our weapons while Shinobu lays on the ground near her puddle. Once we're set, we walk outside to the fort.
"I'll have one of the fairies clean up the vomit for you," Inari explains from the top of the fort.
"Oh, thank you. I should have had her wait outside once she finished running."
"No! I don't want anyone touching that!" Shinobu's face goes red at the idea of someone else cleaning up her mess.
"Touch? All fairies are born with some magic affinity. We'll just bury it with magic."
"Oh, okay." From the looks of it, Shinobu is even more embarrassed after that misunderstanding.
"Now, everyone, take a seat." We all sit in a circle around the edge of the fort and get comfortable.
"Take a deep breath and clear your mind. Feel the exhaustion in your muscles; notice the turn of your breath." Inari focuses on acclimating Shinobu to the routine, but it's still an effective meditation. Her ability to adjust her behavior to best suit our situation is astounding. I shoo away the admiration growing in my mind and concentrate on my breathing. "The most important thing is to not focus on how great I am."
I grin at the comment that was most likely aimed at myself. We hold the meditation for about half an hour.
"Ow, ow, ow." Shinobu groans as she tries to stand up.
"Your muscles must have gotten stiff from sitting for so long." I extend my hand to help her up. She smiles and accepts my offer.
"You guys are amazing. I can't believe you have kept up this level of training for months."
"You'll get used to it." I turn back around and look at the fairy leader. "Is Woohee going to guide us today?"
"Actually, it would be a big help if I could rely on some other fairies to escort your party. Would you be comfortable with Hai showing you the way?"
"Hi!" A green-haired fairy with a caramel skin color flies up next to Inari. I recognize her as the fairy who was chatting with Sakura earlier.
"Hai! I can't wait to spend more time with you!" Sakura stands on her tiptoes and waves wildly to the fairy that can't be more than five feet from her.
"It's going to be so much fun!" Hai waves her arms back at us.
[At the very least, this will be interesting.]
I have my doubts because I would prefer to keep the same guide from day to day, but there isn't any downside to befriending more fairies.
"Sounds good to me." I swallow my misgivings and agree to the change in host.
"Thank you so much; I won't let you down." Hai pumps her arms up and down in a show of determination.
"Be careful out there; the cold bite of winter brings many terrors with it." Inari leaves us with that ominous statement, and we head into the woods. As soon as we start, Sakura and Hai begin their chat. They're talking over each other so much that I can't understand anything they're saying. Hai doesn't look like she's paying attention to where we're going, as she mostly flies backward while talking to her counterpart. I hold back from raising my concerns because I want to trust her, at least. My doubts prove unnecessary as we come upon a large group of Punctastars preying upon some Slimes. It's sad to see the squishy little creatures desperately trying to escape from the grasp of their enemies, so I'm glad we have the opportunity to help them.
"Shinobu, I want you to stay at the back and prepare a spell to attack the Punctastar."
"Okay, I'll injure it so the three of you can finish it safely." Sakura and I share glances at her suggestion. "What's so funny?"
"No, we want you to finish it off to get the experience. We'll do all the work fighting it."
"Don't do that; they're dangerous. They may not move quickly, but I know a lot of adventurers get injured trying to fight them."
"Just watch." We pick out a target and quickly dismantle its defenses without taking a hit. I stab deep into its flesh, indicating that all of its health points have been depleted. "All of its health is gone. The next hit should kill it."
Shinobu is looking at us in slack-jawed astonishment. She doesn't even respond when I tell her to use a spell. Surpassing someone's expectations is always very satisfying.
A narcissistic smile burgeons along my face as I wait for the young girl to recover. I'm so used to negative reinforcement at this point that her reaction makes me giddy to impress her more. I push away these immature emotions and call out to her again.
"Shinobu. It's your turn." She shakes off her disbelief and lowers her stance.
"Current wave!" Lightning travels across the air and penetrates the body of the half-dead creature. It squirms slightly before succumbing to its inevitable demise.
"Good job." The kids and I turn to the next one while Shinobu still stands there. "Are you coming?"
"Aren't we going to skin it?"
"No, they're worth more when you sell them whole."
"Oh, okay." Shinobu is at her wit's end, listening to our methods. There isn't much to do but get her used to it, so we move on to the next fight. We take down four more for the next hour. With the addition of the magic bag, we are now able to carry five Punctastars back at a time. We tested it, and the bag can hold three full stars, but none of us can carry that many at one time. I load two into the bag and heft the straps over my shoulders.
"Is everyone ready?"
"Yes!"
"No, I don't think I can make it." Shinobu's legs are shaking under the weight of the monster.
"Don't worry about it. If you run out of stamina, you can just drink a stamina potion."
"Okay…" She doesn't seem very enthused with the idea but goes along with it regardless. We bring the spoils back to the den, where we say goodbye to Shinobu for the night. We agree to leave four magic rods and some cores in the den just in case. We talk it out and decide on the Fireball rod, the Lightning rod, one Ice rod, and one Compression rod to leave behind. Josh then throws Shinobu's Punctastar on his back and carries it back to town. He has to take a stamina potion before we make it to the guild, but we'll still make a profit with the extra one we're selling.