We arrived at the dungeon portal just in time to see another party exit it, but something had obviously gone wrong.

Two elves stepped out, a man and woman. They were young and looked inexperienced judging from their light, cheap-looking armor, and carried a third person over their shoulders who had suffered a leg injury; blood-soaked bandages were wrapped around one of his calves.

They placed him on the ground as the female elf reached for a vial on her belt, which she uncorked and brought to the wounded man’s lips. At the same time, one of the soldiers at the campfire not far away from the entrance saw it happen and made his way over, asking if they needed emergency care.

Despite the amount of blood visible through the fabric, everyone seemed to be surprisingly calm about all this.

“I’m fine, I keep telling you,” The hurt man said, gritting his teeth, looking at his companions before his head turned to me, his face running pale when his eyes met my lower ones.

“No you’re not,” The Elven woman said sternly. “Drink up and have a healer look at that wound.” She looked at the other adventurer, who nodded and walked towards the nearby building, acknowledging my presence with a nod, much less frightened than the harmed individual.

The man in question still stared at me, causing his companion to look up at me and simply shrug it off.

“She’s the person the mayor informed us about. Now, let’s disinfect that wound.”

She reached for a hip flask, put it down and started removing the bandages, causing the other person to grit his teeth again. He was acting tough, but in a world of hurt.

“Mind if I have a look?” I asked politely, keeping my distance.

“Can you heal?” She asked.

“Yes.”

“Then, by all means, go ahead.”

“Don’t I get to have a say in that?” The injured man said in protest.

“No, you don’t,” The female said sternly. “If she can fix you up, it’s going to save us a lot of money.” She then looked at me in realization. “You don’t charge much, do you?”

“What?” I asked in disbelief. “Of course not. I’ll help for free.”

I placed my lower head on the ground, trying to get as close as possible to the man who was less than pleased with my presence. He trembled at the sight of me, even as I tried to come across as friendly as I could.

The other adventurer finished unwrapping the bandages, causing fresh blood to stream down his leg as the wound was reopened. I quickly placed my hands on his leg and cast my healing light, sending warmth through his body.

After one cast, the bleeding stopped, but it needed a second cast to fully heal the tissue damage. When I was finished, his trembling stopped, and his wary attitude was replaced with confusion and surprise.

Simultaneously, the adventurer that was out to get help returned with someone else, an older-looking, bearded man, holding a wooden suitcase with a large plus symbol on it, no doubt filled with medical necessities. That wasn’t the end of his arsenal, as he also carried a belt that reminded me of Cellestra’s, one with pouches and vials of all colors I could imagine.

The soldier who had asked if help was needed was left dumbfounded and returned to his campfire and companions without saying a word.

“I’m sorry,” The female adventurer said as she stood up from her crouched position. “I’m afraid we don’t need help anymore.”

“Fair enough,” The veteran healer said in a slightly irritated, but understanding tone before he turned around and walked back to the inn.

“Did you do that?” The young man who went to fetch him asked me, alternating his gaze between the healed leg and me.

“Yeah. Piece of cake. What happened if I may ask?”

“Lapse in judgment,” The female adventurer said as she walked over to the portal and picked up a kite shield and a bloodied short sword, which she cleaned in the grass, and then sheathed in a scabbard on her belt.

She was a melee fighter by the looks of it, as was the man who went to get help, although he possessed a longsword instead. As for the injured man, I couldn’t tell. I saw no weapon of any kind.

“We fucked up in the long grass part and had a lioness bite our friend’s leg before I was able to put it down.”

She walked up to me and extended an arm.

“Liare’s the name. Thank you for your help.”

I shook her hand as the second person did the same.

“Veleth. Pleased to meet you.”

“Kealyna,” I said in response.

The last person finally got to his feet, kicking the air with his now-healed leg as he looked at it with astonishment before Liare gave him a push in my direction. He got the hint and shook my hand.

“Servas,” He said, his arm shaky when he looked down into my arachnid eyes.

“Kealyna,” I said again, warmly. “And this is Cellestra.”

The brunette held up a hand and shyly said hi to the others.

“Nice to meet you, Cellestra,” Liare said.

“Likewise,” Cellestra replied softly.

“Glad I could be of assistance,” I said. “But we’ll head into the dungeon for ourselves now.”

“How far were you planning on going?” Liare asked. “Would it be possible for us to join you for a bit? Servas here lost his weapon in our retreat.”

I looked to Cellestra at my side who nodded. Seeing no objection from her, I agreed with the adventurer’s request. I’d be happy to help, and then do our training routine after they’d left. We had no need for prying eyes when casting our spells.

We entered the portal, the novice adventurers following close behind us as we walked out into the steppe on the other side. A titan anteater walked around to our left, paying us little heed.

“Where did you lose your weapon if I may ask?”

“Somewhere in the grass. Shouldn’t be hard to find as we left a trail of blood behind,” Liare answered.

I nodded as we moved forward into the second area. In the meantime, Liare walked up to my left as Cellestra walked to my right. No words were spoken, but I could see the adventurer was curious about me. Even if she didn’t specifically mention it, it was easy to see.

Her two companions followed behind her and didn’t seem to share the same sentiment. The previously wounded man seemed to be quite wary, even after I healed him and shook his hand, whereas the other had a more carefree attitude.

“So, are the two of you a party?”

“Yep,” I said. “Just got accepted into the guild.”

I showed her the silver bracelet.

“Wait,” She said, shock in her eyes. “How far did you get with just the two of you?”

“Third floor. Killed some things there too. Had to call it quits because we ran out of mana.”

“Holy…” She let out in disbelief. “That’s insane. We were hoping to get past the stalking predators in the tall grass, but perhaps that was a bit too optimistic without our fourth member.”

She shook her head and looked at the ground. “Damn fool.”

“What happened?” I asked, wondering what had happened after her apparent frustration.

“Idiot broke his foot stepping down a ladder. He’s had it healed, but he needs a few more days of rest, and the bill of that little accident left us broke enough for us to be unable to leave behind a weapon like this.”

“Ouch,” I let out.

“Yeah, that would have sucked. We’re most grateful for your help.”

We entered the tall grass, and our travel companions pulled out their remaining weapons and formed a close formation. Cellestra remained at my side but had moved slightly closer. I held my blade at the ready to deal with any danger.

“There,” Liare said, pointing in the distance. “Should be somewhere around there.”

I looked at where she pointed and, thanks to my keen eyesight, noticed hints of red in the grass.

“I see it, slightly to the right.” I pointed to where I spotted the blood.

“You kiddin’ me?” She said in disbelief. “You can see that from here?”

“Well, yes. Do you think these eyes are just for show?”

Liare looked at my large, frontal eyes while Cellestra giggled. I had to agree it was quite funny, and would have enjoyed her cute snickers more, but I noticed a dot of red moving closer from the left.

“Watch it!” I shouted as I fired off a high-velocity ice lance in the direction of the stalking enemy. From the roar that followed, despite not having visual confirmation, I understood that I hit my target. I fired another, and then another spell as the dot was still moving towards us, at an increased speed.

Both attacks hit, and the lioness came to a halt a few yards out.

You have killed a Steppe Lioness: No experience was awarded.

“It’s dead,” I said, trying to put the others, who still had their weapons drawn, at ease.

“Unreal,” Veleth said, staring at where I’d launched my spells.

“Trust me,” Cellestra said with a chuckle. “You get used to it.”