She was surprised to realize that he was the last one standing against the thunder wolf that they fought.
The man fell to his knees and bowed.
"Thank you so much for saving our lives." Tears fell down his face, all of the previous day's injuries now fully gone thanks to the medics help.
"Don't even mention it, but I'm happy to see you are okay." She closed her eyes and smiled wildly.
He took something out of his bag and placed it in his savior's palm.
"If you are ever near the port city of Tideshore, give us a visit. My dad will for sure want to meet you." With that, he waved her goodbye and ran off towards a carriage in front of the fort.
She looked at what he had given her; it was an emblem resembling a fish in the middle of jumping out of a pond. The material used to create it was silver, which usually meant that it's a very important guest entry card.
She compared it to the keepsake of her late mother hanging on her neck; the brown color looked way worse than the silver of this one.
'I will just have to store it in my backpack.' She stood up and went towards the tower where she and Sillia resided.
The top of it was the tallest point in the entire fortress. It had only one person living there until recently, and that person was their sage.
knock knock
"Come in!" The short woman shouted, letting Luna enter. "Did Vulcanus find something to your liking?" She inquired.
"Yes, he did," the girl sighed. "But it won't be easy to make; I will need to already go on an expedition." She walked towards the small room in the corner of the tower.
Ever since she hit puberty, she wanted to have her own room, and because she was the only other woman in the entire fort, they decided to make her share the tower with Sillia.
"Remember to pack your slayer identification." The sage pointed towards a piece of paper on the desk.
"Is that a new thing? I don't remember hearing about it." Luna took the kit in her hands; it had her details aside from the race and a symbol of a wolf on the front page.
"Oh right, you weren't there. It's a new thing required by the monster slayer association. It's basically your golden ticket to getting a job." The short woman walked closer and pointed at the part mentioning all her previous jobs.
It was made this way as to attract customers looking for a higher-ranking slayer, but because the girl was still new, it only had the basic assessment of her abilities.
"Thank you for reminding." Due to the unnatural mental barrier in Luna's mind, they couldn't use Sage's eye to check the abilities in more detail, leaving just a basic summary.
'Well, it is what it is.' A sour taste in her mouth, being limited by her circumstances again.
"What did the old Vulcanus make you hunt?" The short woman stared at her, thinking a lot about what it might be. "You wanted an accessory... and you had four fangs... was it some golden troll hair and dwarven gold?" She snapped her fingers.
Luna opened her mouth widely and quickly stared straight at Sillia. "You won't believe!" The odds of guessing that were close to zero. "It's exactly that! How did you know?"
The sage started laughing. "The look on your face!" She chuckled so much that her belly started to hurt. "I just checked your mind, you dummy!"
"And I thought you guessed it..." She scoffed and turned away, then froze for a moment.
"You checked it?" She ran up to her, picking her up in excitement. "Does it mean that you can check them? My attributes?" A grin from ear to ear appeared on her face.
"It seems so, at least partially." She held her chin high up and puffed out her chest with her hands on her waist.
"Is it related to you entering my mind space when I drank the elixir?" Luna tilted her head in confusion, seeing Sillia's face turn red like a beetroot.
"So someone told you..." She wriggled herself from the girl's grasp and ran to the balcony, turning away from the girl, hiding her expression.
"But yes! That's exactly the reason." She said while fidgeting with the curtains. "But it's kind of hard to explain. So I will just show you." She went silent, confusing the girl even further.
'What is that old hag thinking...' The short woman ran up to her, slapping her with a firm hand.
"I'm neither old nor a hag!" She frowned and stared at her.
Luna's immunity to the sage's eye mind-reading ability was gone just like that. She was about to curse at the woman for hitting her but stopped herself, as to not get hit again.
"After sixteen years, I can finally enter a part of your brain on my own." A smirk appeared on her face.
"I will come back as soon as possible then!" With newfound motivation, Luna ran off to the exit; the thoughts of seeing the summary of her skills filled her head.
Sillia chuckled seeing her all pumped up. As the girl ran out of the tower, she opened the window and shouted, "Good luck!" while waving.
"See you later, Aunt Sillia!" Because of being distracted and not paying attention, she bumped into someone on her way out.
"Even though you are a monster slayer now, not a lot has changed." Dirk, whom she had run into, helped her get up. "Just remember that if anything goes wrong, you can always come home." He hugged Luna tightly.
"To think you would grow up so fast." A small smile appeared on his face. He never planned to get emotional, but all the years he spent taking care of her with Sillia and Rogard made him tear up a little.
"There, there," she patted him on the back. "I'm no longer a small girl, you know?" She smiled, enjoying the moment between them.
They stood like that for a moment, letting it all out.
After putting his emotions in check, Dirk let her go. "I hope you find whatever you are looking for." He walked away, trying not to show more of the vulnerable side of himself.
Luna chuckled and went towards the closest village. "Oh wait, a new dagger!"
After a short detour to the storage room, she was on her way.
A few hours of walking later, she decided to take a break. The sun was still up, so she didn't feel like there was an urgency in getting to her destination.
'I will buy a horse with the money I make; walking like this sucks.' She wiped the sweat off of her forehead and grabbed out rations from the backpack.
She was about to take a bite when.
help.....
Luna stood up, not being sure if she heard that right. Dagger already drawn, ready to be used.
Help!
The voice was way louder now, which meant only one thing: the person was getting closer.
A small girl ran out from the thick forest, waving her arms around and crying.
"Please help me, miss!!" She hid behind Luna before, not giving her a chance to answer.
And the thing chasing her? A direboar, a way more aggressive and violent counterpart of the usual hairy pig.
She waited for the stupid animal to jump before sinking her knife in its throat.
After making sure it died, she turned back to the crying child.
"Are you hurt? Where is your mom?" Luna crouched to be on the eye level with the kid, her voice warm and inviting, calming the small girl down.
She was still sobbing and pulling on Luna's shirt. "I got lost in the forest... and then this boar attacked me." She whimpered.
"Are you from the village nearby, perhaps?" The monster slayer pointed towards the way she herself was going. After seeing the girl nod, she stood up. "Come with me then; I will help you get home."
growl~
The kid's belly let the slayer know of how hungry she was; her eyes were glued to the rations Luna was about to eat.
The slayer rolled her eyes and gave the food to the kid.
They began walking after the girl finished eating. But they didn't get far as her smaller frame and so many emotions made her sleepy.
Luna crouched in front of the girl with her hands pointed back. "Get on; I'll carry you."
"Thank you, miss..." She got in just in time before falling asleep from exhaustion, her weight slowing Luna down.
Luckily, nothing else happened, and they safely arrived at their destination.
Even though it was already evening, Luna could spot a lot of movement coming from the town square.
A big group of people with torches and pitchforks stood in the plaza, murmuring something between each other that she couldn't make out due to the sheer number of voices.
She walked their way, thinking of getting some information about whose child she had on her back.
When one of the villagers spotted her, she waved towards him, but instead of welcoming her back, he screamed at the top of his lungs.
"THE WITCH IS HERE!" All other residents of this place screamed loudly while running her way, their pitchforks pointed right at her.