Next morning, me and the hateful lying dogkin again went to the Blacksmithing Guild. We didn't even bother talking to each other along the way, as we clearly did not see eye to eye.

Since my primary goal for today is selling the [Holy-steel Healing Dagger], I'll focus on making [Steel Swords] for the party. Not to mention, since tomorrow is pay day, I don't want to look like I'm slacking... I think making about 25 swords should be good... this way, it will look like I'm improving...

With my plans made up, I began smithing!

Overall, things were looking fairly good, but right in the middle of me making the 4th sword of the day, Harold showed up out of nowhere....

"Change of plans, we are leaving now! Get what you need within 5 minutes and head out!" he declared.

"Eh?!?! W-What happened?!" I asked, totally confused by sudden turn of events.

"I'll explain later, for now, get ready and let's go!" Harold insisted.

"O-Okay, be right there!" I relented and starting packing my stuff.

After I put everything away into my [Item Box], I headed out of the Blacksmithing Guild. Standing outside of the guild was the wolf drawn carriage, with Ariel sitting on top of it and Brian in the front.

"Quickly get in!" Harold commanded.

"O-Okay..." I nodded and headed into the carriage.

"Mayo..." Ariel muttered from the roof.

"Hmph!" I snorted, showing my protest to the wicked hero and got inside.

When I made my way inside, the carriage began to accelerate rather quickly... and once we left the walls of the city, the wolves went into full throttle! The speed we were going at seemed far faster than before!

Sticking my head out front, and glancing at the wolves easily confirmed that notion...

Your skill [RA][Sprint] has become Level 5

Your skill [RA][Sprint] has become Level 6

After staring out for a short bit, I began hearing some clamoring from behind... taking a look at the commotion, I noticed a bunch of soldiers gathering...

"So what is going on?" I asked Saron, not wanting to subjugate myself to anymore of Tina's exaggerations.

"An emergency message came from the gem mine settlement, it seems the monsters have overrun the second blockade. If the third blockade falls, the monsters will flood the settlement. So we have no choice but to move up our plans missy" Saron explained.

"Gem mine settlement? What's that?" I inquired.

"You haven't heard missy? About two year ago, there was a gem mine discovered in the Turgese mountains. And just last year, the decision was finalized to build a city there. So the area was cleared out by the Adventurers Guild and a settlement was built to oversee the transition. Since it was only a matter of time until the monsters would return, three blockades were set up to guard the settlement from the monsters" Saron answered.

* twang * * twang * * twang * * twang *

Our conversation was suddenly interrupted by a rapid sound of a bowstring, looking forward, Brian was quickly firing the bow.

You have acquired a new skill [NP][Bow Mastery] Level 1

I also began hearing the sound of trees falling and branches breaking in the background.

"If the settlement is under attack, then what are we fighting right now?" I asked somewhat confused.

"That is..." Saron hesitated.

The silence filled my heart with anxiety as all kinds of pessimistic possibilities flooded my head...

"It's nothing to worry about..." Tina interjected with assurance, "Just all the monsters in the area are swarming towards us. Around Hallion, there are fewer monsters these days, but as we head away from Tiamet, the amount of monsters increase" she then informed as though it didn't concern her...

HOW IS THAT NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT?!?!

I set there for hours restless, as the sounds of countless fighting, screams and shattering permeated the background. As time passed, I tried to get into knitting more fabric, but I simply couldn't keep up my concentration... I mean, try fitting that needle through that tiny hole when suddenly an earth deafening roar and explosions fill the background causing the carriage to shake violently. It literally felt like I was in the middle of a war zone!

The further we went, the more and more monsters attacked from all direction... My [Presence Sense] and [Smell Sense] were overloaded with all kinds of reactions! Why do they put me in such stressful situations?!?! Can't they see my hair going white from all the stress?!?!

Luckily, no monster made it anywhere close to the carriage. But that didn't stop me from having the horrid feeling like a monster is just going to pop out of nowhere and try to tear me apart...

I tried to probe for some information to buy the time and take my mind off things, but unfortunately there wasn't much I could learn... as they remained somewhat secretive about the details....

The only saving grace to this whole thing is that when I occasionally peaked into the front, I managed to get myself a bunch of juicy skills!

You have acquired a new skill [NP][Bow Mastery] Level 1

...

Your skill [NP][Bow Mastery] has become Level 6

Your skill [NA][Hawk Eyes] has become Level 4

Your skill [NA][Hawk Eyes] has become Level 5

Your skill [NA][Item Box] has become Level 4

Your skill [RA][Lightning Horn] has become Level 2

You have acquired a new skill [NA][Rapid Fire] Level 1

...

Your skill [NA][Rapid Fire] has become Level 4

You have acquired a new skill [NA][Power Shot] Level 1

...

Your skill [NA][Power Shot] has become Level 4

You have acquired a new skill [NA][Sniping Shot] Level 1

Your skill [NA][Sniping Shot] has become Level 2

It was literally a skill galore... Well, mostly from just Brian, as Harold was just keeping watch. So the only thing I managed to get from him was an [Item Box] level as he took out more arrows for Brian. And unfortunately, I couldn't get any skills from Ariel as she was out of sight on top of the carriage...

Like that we drove for many hours...

At one point when we traversed deep into the forest, the carriage abruptly came to a grinding halt, followed by Ariel's presence suddenly vanishing from the roof of the carriage...

"Everyone off!" Harold exclaimed. "Saron! carry the package into the village, everyone else provide cover!" he then declared.

"M-Me too?" I asked, trying to figure out my role.

"Just stay in the center and try not to get in the way!" Harold replied.

"A-Alright!" I affirmed and got in my position.

I could have sworn I saw that stupid dogkin smirk... well whatever, who cares about that jerk! Soon after, I heard the sound of battle ahead, so I activated [Smell Sense] and [Presence Sense] to get a better idea of the situation...

Blood... lots of blood... and I am also picking up a bunch of presences ahead as well...

"Surround the settlement and make sure no monster gets in, if it's too strong for you to handle, use [Howling Call] to notify me, this is an [Order]" Harold declared as he unfastened the Wolves from their reigns.

Shortly after, the wolves ran into the forest and we proceeded ahead towards the settlement. When we came there, Ariel was standing in the center of a bunch of wooden houses.

Your skill [RA][Presence Sense] has become Level 3

All around her, I saw corpses that have been torn to shreds and body parts all over the place... but those parts did not seem to belong to humans... while their overall shape was similar, they were fully covered in fur and looked kind of like werewolves...

Looking at my [Identify] skill, they seem to be called [Mountain Lycanthropes] and their levels seem to be about 50 - 55! So upper Rank D to lower Rank C I would say? Either way, just one of those would make quick work of someone of my level... I tensed up and got closer to Harold just to be safe...

"The villagers are in the basement. I'm going to go ahead and check for survivors by the blockades, as well as sweep up the mines while I'm at it, but I'm kind of running low on swords..." Ariel explained.

"Shiro, go restock Ariel. Saron, begin the installation, everyone else on guard!" Harold commanded.

"Y-Yes" I hurriedly responded and ran towards Ariel.

As I approached, Ariel made a whistle with her fingers and out of nowhere the [Lightning Wolf] jumped out of the forest and landed next to her taking me by surprise!

Your skill [RA][Jump] has become Level 3

Once I got over my short stumper, I took out the 80 swords while still maintaining a good distance of a few meters. And after the swords were out of my [Item Box], I took a few steps back just in case...

Ariel came up and put the swords into her [Item Box], then spoke to me.

"Alright then, let's go Mayo! I'll keep you safe!" she exclaimed, and before I knew it she was already holding my arm and dragging me along!

"HIIIII?!?!?!" I shrieked, almost getting a heart attack from the sudden turn of events!

I tried to forcefully break free of her grip, but all of that turned out in-vain.

"No! No! No! Let me go!" I demanded in desperation.

Suddenly a hand came from behind and stopped Ariel in her tracks.

"That's enough Ariel, you know full well she is only going to get in the way. Plus, when you get into high gear, you'll probably even forget about protecting her... as always..." Harold reprimanded.

"That's not true! I'll be sure to protect Mayo!" Ariel assured with conviction.

"Like that time you were supposed to protect that caravan, but got distracted and annihilated half of it yourself? Or that time you were supposed to protect that clerk, but ended up chasing the enemy and nearly getting him killed?" Harold questioned, seemingly unconvinced.

"T-That's different!..." Ariel tried to defend, seemingly not even confident of her own words...

"So if she dies, you'll accept it this time?" Harold emphasized in a stern tone.

"Tch, fine! I just have to kill them myself right?" Ariel relented with disappointment, then mounted the [Lightning Wolf] and sprang into the forest.

"Don't you dare collapse the mine!" Harold yelled out to Ariel who was already long gone...

ARE YOU SERIOUS?! She was just going to take me to the middle of the monster den, and then just leave me there to my own devices... *shiver*

I really need that combat class as soon as possible... with 'friends' like that... who need enemies?! At this rate I won't last long...

After calming myself down from yet another near death experience, I took a look around my surroundings... The first thing I noticed was this large orb with dense green runes all over it... It looked quite bizarre and gave off this hard to describe... weird vibe... Feeling curious, I used my [Identify] skill on it, which somehow left me with more questions than answers...

City Core

[Information Blocked]

Operation Mode: Positive

[Made by ??????]

Durability: ?????/??????

Quality ?????/?????

Uhm... ok..ay...

"Carefully lower it into the hole..." Harold cautioned as Saron began to lower the [City Core] into the large socket on the ground.

When the ball was fully placed in the ground, Harold took out a key covered with runes and placed it on top of the [City Core]. He then uttered some phrase, and with it, the runes shifted color green to red. Using [Identify] once more, I noticed its Operation Mode seemed to have now been set to Negative...

"Saron, remain on guard here just in case. Tina, set up a temporary wall around the area. Brian and Shiro with me" Harold commanded.

Aw... I wanted to see the magic being cast... but I guess the situation is a bit serious for me to be suborn ha? Either way, there should be plenty of chances...

We then entered what seemed to be the biggest house, and found what looked like a secret passage leading into the basement. Walking into the basement, we proceeded down a short hallway and beyond it lay a metallic door. We could hear voices muttering something behind it.

"W-Who goes there?!?!" someone exclaimed with caution.

"My name is Harold, and we are commissioned adventurers set to deliver the [City Core]" Harold informed.

"Does that mean there is a Rank A adventurer here?!" the man let out an elated voice.

"Yes... Ariel is outside cleaning up the Lycanthropes, it won't be long till they are wiped out" Harold assured, "Can you please open the door?" he then requested.

"Y-Yes, give me a second" the man anxiously replied and began unlocking the door.

As we entered in, we saw 54 people there, many of them injured.

"It is blessing that you are here! Oh sorry, let me introduce myself. I am Cain, the one in charge of this settlement" the man introduced.

"So... Cain, what happened here? Last I checked in the mission profile, there should have been two Rank B adventurers stationed in this settlement. I find it hard to believe that mere Lycanthropes would be enough to kill them..." Harold queried.

"About that... at first when we started this settlement, things were going according to plan, but last month we saw a sudden increase in monster activity. So we requested some backup, alongside the expedition of the [City Core] deployment. By the time reinforcements were approved and dispatched, the third blockade fell. While that was an issue in itself, it wasn't too much of a concern since the third blockade was the hardest to defend position-wise, and with the addition of 10 Rank C adventurers as reinforcements, we were able to hold the second blockade quite easily. That was until yesterday..." Cain's voice suddenly faded off...

"What happened yesterday?" Harold probed.

"We... don't know..." Cain relented as his face became grim.

"What do you mean you don't know?" Harold questioned.

"I-It all happened too fast... even now, I still can't wrap my head around the whole ordeal... It all started when the Alpha of the Lycanthropes was spotted during one of their assaults on the second blockade. Since Lycanthrope's command chain centers around the alpha, Allan and Dawn, the Rank B adventurers decided to take a small group to trap and kill the alpha... at least that was the plan... but before we knew it, the group was carrying Dawn back to camp unconscious. We asked the group what happened, but none of them knew... they said that Allan and Dawn ordered them to surround the Alpha to prevent it from escaping and Allan and Dawn would confront it directly.

Following their command, they spread out and surrounded the Alpha's position, they then slowly closed in their formation to trap it, but to their surprise they found Dawn critically injured on the ground instead, and Allan was nowhere to be found... Judging the situation, they decided to retreat and take Dawn back for medical attention... after that, things only became worse as we began to be overrun by monsters. Before we knew it, we lost the second barricade and were forced to retreat to the first, but even that quickly fell. Since escape was impossible, we holed up in here and hoped that the message we sent to Tiamet would bring reinforcements in time... I really can't say this enough, thank goodness you are here!..." Cain exhaled.

"Are you saying there is at least a lower Rank A threat out there?" Harold asked frowning his brow.

"I wish I could tell you more... but that is all we know..." Cain replied.

"You say that you brought back Dawn correct? Is he still here?" Harold inquired.

"Yes, but he is critically injured and has not woken up since... so I doubt that he will be of much help... If only we didn't lose the doctor during the collapse of the first blockade, then maybe we could have done something... With our limited ability, the best we could do was offer first aid" Cain sadly informed.

"That is fine with me, I want to examine his injuries to see if I can find any clues. Since some time passed and treatment was given, it may not serve much of a reference, but something is better than nothing. So if you can bring me to him, that would help" Harold requested.

"Yes, right this way..." Cain responded and brought us to a corner where the most injured people seem to have been placed. Everyone here seemed to be in critical condition...

"Hmm... looking at the wounds it is hard to say... I do see marks of Lycanthropes here and there, but nothing that stands out at first glance..." Harold said as he inspected the body carefully.

"I wish we could be of more help..." Cain regretted.

"No, it's fine. I doubt it will be too much of a problem... I'm going to go out there and inform Ariel. Brian, I want you to distribute healing potions to the ones who need them the most, and Shiro, cast [Enforce Weapon] on my blades" Harold requested.

Hmm?

"Uhm... can I ask something...?" I hesitantly asked....

"What is it? Is it something that can wait?" Harold questioned, somewhat annoyed.

"... Uhm... what is [Enforce Weapon]?" I timidly queried...

"..."

"Bahahaha! I told you boss that she was totally useless!" the hateful dogkin jeered.

"I'm not useless!" I defended.

"Really now? You're a blacksmith who can't even do something as basic as [Enforce Weapon]! How is that not useless? Do tell me, what use are you?" the hateful dogkin provoked.

"You want to know what use I am?! Sure! I'll show you!" I declared.

"Please do!" the stupid hateful dogkin sneered.

"Look guys, this is no time nor place to be fooling around..." Harold reprimanded.

"... [Light Magic: Holy Light]!" I chanted as light enveloped Dawn and healed his injuries.

"..."

"You got to be shitting me?!" the hateful dogkin exclaimed in total shock.

It's as if his jaw was slowly extending downwards to hit the ground! Priceless! Feel stupid now don't you?!

Feeling pride in my achievement, I took on a bossy pose and confronted the dogkin.

"Now then, what use are you?!" I shot back.

"... I-I don't have to answer to you!" the hateful dogkin replied not even willing to make eye contact.

Yeah, I thought so!

"*sigh* Settle down children, we have work to do. Brian, I want you to issue potions and Shiro, once the main effects of the potions wear off, I want you to offer healing to cover what the potions can't heal" Harold requested.

"Uhm... I don't think I have the mana to heal all this..." I sadly informed.

"What's your total mana pool?" Harold inquired.

"It's only at 55..." I replied.

"Then take this and see to their treatment" said Harold while handing me a potion.

Mana Potion

An average quality mana potion. Used to restore mana.

+25 MP

+25 MP/min for 5 min

+5 MP/min for 1 hour

Quality 5.7421/10.0000

Wow... I've seen these go for like 10 gold coins in the Alchemist Guild... is it really okay to use this? Well... it's not my money so no loss here...

"I'll be back soon" Harold said his goodbye and left the basement.

As instructed, we continued issuing treatment to the wounded the best we could... It took us a few hours, but we managed to at least get everyone in stable condition. Casting spells non-stop ended up far more tiring than I would have originally thought... specifically to my [Mental]. By the time we were done, I couldn't hold my eyes open any longer and fell asleep right on the spot...

...