“Why are we walking all the way to the Capital?” Lea groaned. Mages aren’t known for their stamina, Lea's one of the many mages with low energy. The trio walked down a road in an open grassy field that was one of the paths leading to the Capital. Further ahead was a large wooden bridge that lead through a forest entrance.

“We could’ve ridden on a carriage if you guys wanted something more natural…” She whined as it has been a few hours since they departed from town, it was currently midafternoon as the trio were walking for what seemed like hours.

“Quit your complaining, Lea!” Sal nudged her gently with her elbow, earning a gag from the battlemage as that nudge is not that gentle to someone like her. “I know you’re not the walking type, but were adventurers now, so you better get used to it!” She smiled at her before looking at her bracelets.

“Hoo…these things are pretty cool. But the extra weight is actually tiring me out. I think we should take a break.” She rarely ever calls for a break, the weights and the extra luggage she has to carry have been draining her stamina more than usual.

Alex was getting tired himself. They can see the walls of the kingdom through the open plains, they just have to keep following through the path and they’ll be there soon. “Good Idea. Let’s stop by at the bridge over there. I’ll probably get us some fish to eat!” Sure they have food with them. But It’s never a bad idea to get more food than losing some on the way.

The trio set up camp near the bridge as the two settled on the grassy floor. “How are you going to get some fish? I’m sure we didn’t buy any fishing equipment.” Sal commented as she noticed Alex summoning a trident of pure light. “Ohh—spearfishing!” She walked over and sat down beside him to get a closer look. She hugged her knees as she looked up at him. “Do you even know how to spearfish?” She said with a bit of a smirk, resting her head on her knees. Her wrists don’t have the bracelets on.

“I’ve watched people spearfish. I think that’s good enough. You just wait for a fish to come by aaaand—” Crash! An earth-shaking crash happened near them that caused the floor beneath them to quake and made Alex lose his footing and tumble down.

“Oof! What the!—” His trident vanished as he cut himself off, looking to where the noise came from. It was across the other side of the bridge, a tree fell down, then another as the trees fell progressively towards them. Birds were flying around in a panic from having the trees fall.

“What happened?!” Lea stood up from her resting spot as she hurried to the two, halfway running she tumbled a bit as her legs are still recovering from the long walk.

“Beats me!” Sal stood up as she helped Alex stand. “Let’s gear up and prepare what’s coming!” Sal readied her sword and shield as she looked at where the noise came from.

“Thanks.” Alex patted himself off and summoned a sword and shield for himself as they waited for what was coming out of the other side.

What came out were three teenagers. A pale woman with short white hair and blue eyes, sporting what seemed to green-dyed leather armor escaped the forest. Behind her was a sun-kissed, black-haired young man with a bow and quiver behind his back, wearing a regular brown shirt and pants, and the one beside him was a pale blonde-haired boy in white robes, wearing a hat and a long staff of white oak, shorter than the two by a couple of inches as he held on his hat tightly from running.

“Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go!!” The bowman said to the girl in a panic as he looked behind. “It’s coming!”

“Damnit, wait!” She cursed as she yanked the boys by the collar of their shirts as they both fell over the bridge.

“Oh no!” Lea suddenly walked at the edge in immediate concern from the people who fell the steep slope down under the bridge, with her friends following after to see that they are sliding down the steep slope on what appears to be a sled—wait...not a sled, it’s a shield! A giant, opaque blue kite shield that slid down on the slope as it crashed onto the water.

“A shield out of nowhere…just like Sharky’s...” Sal looked at them but quickly looked back to where they run out as a tree was pushed against the side. The push alone was strong enough to unroot the tree as it revealed who was the one causing the disruption.

It was a massive being of muscle standing 3 meters tall. Its skin leathery yet lean, grayer than ash, and extremely long pitch-black hair that coiled around its arms densely like fibrous muscles exposed externally, spreading across its chest and abdomen, it wore nothing but a brown loincloth. The defining feature of its goblin-like face was Its various injuries that were recent, caused by Arrow shots and punctures before it went away in almost an instant. It’s a…

“It’s a Troll!” Lea panicked.

The escaped adventurers finally noticed the group when Lea spoke up. “Oi! You guys get out of here! This is a Hunter’s job!” The woman said as she grabbed on the shield, it tore self apart into three pieces, one side for each of the boys she’s paired with as the one in middle moved on its own.

The very waves of the water were flowing differently to only make her move but not the other two. As she hopped out of the river, bringing the shield with her, gripping onto the handle of the shield as she whistled at the troll.

“Fweet! Hey, Ugly! Look at me!” The Troll made a confusing noise as it looked at her. The hair coiled around its arms tighter as he snarled.

“Kill!” He got onto all fours as he ran after the woman. “I’ll kill you first!” she charged after him at the same time, instead of hitting him head-on, she quickly slid to the side and impaled the edge of her shield piece like a lance, impaling the elbow of the Troll with all her strength, letting go after impaling, making the shield piece to lodge itself as she ran away from the Troll.

The Troll turned itself around as the broken elbow forced itself to tumble down and disconnect its arm. It flailed around in pain and distress. Making inhuman cries of agony, as it flailed on the ground like a child throwing a tantrum.

She looked at the fallen troll. She quickly lifted her arms in the air as the people who were with her are in mid-air, being lifted by the shield she split apart for them to stand. “Do your magic, boys!”

“On it! I won’t miss this time! Charge! Force!” The bowman chanted as he pulled an arrow, he let’s go of the bowstring as the force of the arrow was strong that he recoiled a bit from the force of his own enhancement, he held onto the shield piece to not fall down as the arrow aimed for the brain of the Troll.

“Enchant: Puncture!” The priest buffed the flying arrow as quick as he can to enchant the arrow with an enhancement, it was coated in a glowing light as it successfully hit its target. The Troll stopped its flailing when the arrow pierced its skull as it laid limp.

“We…we did it!” The woman said as he lowered her shield beside her as the boys looked at each other.

“We actually killed a Troll on our own!” The bowman sighed in relief as he sat down on the ground.

“That means we can get the reward money, right? Right?” The priest looked at woman who also sat down with the man.

“Obviously…it's our kill.” She assured the priest with a simple and relaxed smile.

“Yay!” He leaned over her to give her a surprise hug out of excitement that they have succeeded their hunt.

“Let’s go get our proof and—” She cut herself off when the Troll leaped towards them, not as much as making a sound. Her eyes widened in shock and dread. It’s not dead. It was dead for a moment, but the heart was still pumping, meaning the body had time to forcefully remove the arrow via regeneration and instinctively attack their killers.

But it failed. As the Troll’s face was immediately kicked in the face by Alex's rocket-powered greaves, almost out of nowhere. “Oh no you don’t!” Alex jumped out of the kick, forcing more essence power into it as he sent the troll flying and crashing its head onto some trees. Landing back on the ground he turned to Sal and smiled. “Thanks!” He looked down and kneeled on the three. “Are you guys alright?”

The priest lets go of the hug as he nodded to him. “W-we are...t-thank you, Lady!”

Alex stiffened from his comment of him being a lady. “I’ll go take care of this problem. You guys should rest…” as he was about to walk towards the Troll. The woman grabbed Alex by the shoulder to stop him.

“We don’t need rest. We’ll finish it off...” She glared at him with her eyes like daggers and her hold tightening. “We’ve been fighting that thing the entire day since yesterday. I’m not gonna let some random schmucks take the credit and steal what we worked hard to earn.”

“Then tell the guild you guys killed it and take the full credit. What matters, is that you guys have been fighting for too long.” He looked at the Troll who slowly recovered. “How about I help you guys out. Deal?” He lets go of her hold as he offered his hand to her.

“...Deal.” She said begrudgingly. She threw aside her pride for a moment for the sake of the priest. “What’s your name…?”

“Alex.”

“Eine. This boy's Hoff and the archer's Ren.” The two waved back at him. “The bright side of this. It’s nice to temporarily have another girl around…”

“Look, I’m not—…let’s continue this after the fight.”

Lea and Sal crossed the bridge to help out as Sal stood by Alex as both are the front liners, Lea took Hoff with her to support them from behind, as they all stood to watch the Troll, stand up and snarled at the group as the temporary party raised their weapons to fight!