《Damsel of Distress》Hunters 01: Goodbyes
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The next three days passed by in a crawl. Ever since their little argument, Neither of them really knew what to say to the other, and such time passed by in awkward silence, only interrupted by the occasional monster.
It was sometime around noon that Victoria noticed that the trees slowly became smaller, and the next time that enemies appeared, they werent the oversized animals' Victoria had gotten used to anymore. Instead, their opponents turned out to be a group of what looked like miniature werewolves.
Humanoid enemies that were most definitely intelligent considering they could communicate with each other and build more than one trap to kill them. "Kobolds" as the system called them.
Fighting them was by far not as hard as giant squirrels and wolves of a similar level, though it caused Victoria a significantly higher amount of moral troubles. She could, and would, fight and even kill them considering they went after her life first, but that didn't mean she wasn't troubled.
In the end, when she mentioned to Daniel that she was happy that no humanoid monsters appeared during the first wave, he ended up explaining to her that those, in fact, weren't monsters. Instead, they were called "Goblinoids".
While "Demons" is the umbrella term for pretty much everything that wants to kill them, they were split into six sub-categories depending on which of the three energies they had access to. Where humans have access to all three, Monsters could only use Aura, while Goblinoids had access to Aura and Psy.
It was around midday of the fourth day of travel when they finally found what could be the closest thing to a road one may be able to find under the current circumstances. Not an hour later, they entered the clearing surrounding the city that called itself "New London".
The way the city looked honestly surprised Victoria. What she had expected was something more along the lines of a much bigger version of the fort, with gigantic stone walls. It wouldn't have surprised her seeing something like that build since, despite having lost all of their technology, humans had gained supernatural powers that could more than make up for it.
Instead, what it turned out to be were small, squat buildings, very few higher than three stories. And the wall surrounding the city? It was barely two meters tall.
But after what she had experienced, it made kind of sense. Anything big or strong enough to climb over this wall would be something they wouldn't want to be unable to do so, lest they just break through the wall, opening up the way for other demons.
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At the same time, the houses were built the way they were to make walking over the roofs easy, giving people an easier time defending against anything that can fly.
When they finally about to walk through the cities entrance gate, they were stopped by a guard standing in front of it.
"You two, I don't know you! The way you look, newcomers from the last wave, right?" the old guard said gruffly.
"Ah, yes."
"Considering the direction... What was it called again?"
"We're from the Dire-fort," Daniel answered.
"Ah, that one. How did it..." the guard stooped speaking for a moment when he saw the still slightly bloody hole in Victoria's shirt. The wound had already healed thanks to Daniel's magic, but the hole was still there. "No, I can see how it went. I guess old Marge didn't get away, did she?"
"Grandma Meg?" Victoria asked surprised, to which the old man nodded. "I don't think so, but she helped me out a lot."
"I see. Just... Think about them once in a while, will you? It's the only thing we can do for them," the old guard said resigned.
"Yes, I will."
"Well then, I don't know how you survived that," he said as he looked at Victoria's stomach. "But I guess it's related to you, right? You look far too clean. If you're a high-level, you have to announce your presence in the city hall.
As for you girl, you will have to decide on what you wanna do from here on out. Since old Marge took care of you, Seamstress work I would guess?"
"Is there some job where I can get stronger quickly? Something like an adventurers guild maybe?"
"Haaah... And another one with a deathwish it seems. If all of you young folks die on us, who is supposed to give birth to the next generation? Huh? Argh... Fine, it's called the hunters association.
Also, take this," the guard said as he held a small piece of wood towards Victoria. The piece was engraved with something like a serial number and the word 'newcomer'.
"What's this?" Daniel asked.
"Newcomer token. Give em to the guild or association you want to start working at, and in exchange, they will have to give you some support for the time being. High-levels like yourself won't have much trouble, but your girlfriend will need all the help she can get to set up anything resembling a life.
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Now go. I still have stuff to do."
Taking the token in her hand, Victoria shook the old man's hand and said: "Thanks. Call me Victoria by the way."
"Gregor. Now get going. And don't ya' dare dyin' on me!"
With a smile on her lips, Victoria turned away from the gruff, old man and finally entered the city.
But after just a few meters, she stopped.
"I... guess this where we split up then?", she finally got out.
"I see... Well then. I... will think about the things you said...", Daniel replied. Victoria could clearly hear the sad tone in his voice, despite him trying to hide it.
"Goodbye..."
Victoria got the feeling that, once they separated, they wouldn't see each other again for quite a while. And from his reaction, she could tell that Daniel got the same feeling.
Just as he turned away, she quickly said one last thing: "I will find a way to contact you when I'm ready. When the time comes, let's meet up here, Okay?"
"Yeah. Let's do that. Then, 'till later."
"Later... Ah, fuck!" Victoria took quickly two steps towards Daniel and hugged him from behind.
"We will definitely see each other again! And then I will give you the beating of a lifetime. So prepare yourself!"
As soon as she could see even a hint of a smile on Daniel's face, she let go of him and walked right into the nearest alleyway, without saying another word.
As soon as she was out of sight, she sat down on the ground with her back against the wall. She hugged her knees, rolling herself into a ball.
Those last words of reassurance had been for herself as much as they had been for Daniel. Until a few moments ago, she hadn't even realized how much of a help it had been to simply know that Daniel was close. That, if she just asked, he would help her. Even if she never asked, never even planned to ask him if possible, and they almost didn't talk during that week. Just knowing that he was there was reassuring.
But now? She was alone. No one to rely on but herself. And there was no one to blame for it but herself. Sometimes, she could be an idiot.
But it wasn't like she was wrong about the things she said. While she did like his more confident self, Victoria didn't think they would get along as well as they used to with the way Daniel was right now.
The clever boy who could turn around even the worst situations in the most incomprehensible ways and a severe lack of self-confidence was gone. In his place, was a reliable guy who solved problems with brute force. And if it didn't work, he would rely on his Gods.
Even if he seemed more reliable at first glance, Victoria could tell from what she had seen from his fight with the boss. He had lost an important part of himself and he didn't even seem to realize.
But, she couldn't afford to be down for much longer! Besides, even if he wasn't nearby, just knowing that someone she knew was in this world was more than most people probably had! After all, who knew how many Waves, how many years it would take for all humans from the old world to appear in this new one. And who knew how many already died.
Victoria jumped back to her feet and stretched herself. Her old life might be lost, but with the token, the first step to her new one was already prepared. And with a second life, she also had a second goal.
She would become strong, and then kick Daniel's ass. And she would continue doing so until he understood that, instead of relying on gods to protect her, they should rely on and protect each other.
Well, it may be a bit hypocritical to say that, considering she was planning to rely on the Status reset Skill a certain self-proclaimed God had given her, but that would be just to make sure. Best case, they would find a way to achieve the same thing on their own.
Now, as for the first step towards her new life. She had to ask someone where she could find that Hunter's association!
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