Ten days had passed since we started hunting monsters.

“Hashi, are you sure about this?” my voice waivered.

“Yeah,” he sounded so serious. “if I won’t do this, my pride will be damaged.” His gaze was directed towards the man in the middle of a stage. His face was quiet and serious but not only him, everyone was the same.

He was holding a paper with something written over it. He held it so tight that a part of the paper was crumpling.

He’s really serious about this…

“Here it comes, Terrin.” As the man in the stage drew a paper from a box, Hashi’s stare became more intense.

After the man picked up the paper, he scanned the room, no, he looked at the people. After a while of looking, he coughed a few times and intensely shouted, “WHERE’S NUMBER SIXTEEN!? COME UP HERE AND CLAIM YOUR PRIZE!”

“I’M HERE!” the winner quickly ran to the stage while the room was filled with regrets and anger.

I was strolling in the town when I saw Hashi in this gambling house. Yup, who would’ve expected that he was gambling? Not that it was bad. Anyway, I said hello to him and you know the rest.

"Mine was number fifteen..."

As for the man beside me, I slowly looked at him. He got the number fifteen yet the one that got picked was number sixteen. He was literally one number away from getting the prizes. Talk about unlucky.

“Well, it can’t be helped.” He said while tearing up the paper. That was probably the blankest expression I’ve ever seen in my life.

“You move on too fast!”

“Hahaha,” he giggled lightly. “I wasn’t expecting to win anyway.” He sighed.

Clearly, you were expecting it.

“What was the prize, anyway?”

“A year’s worth of rice, fish and vegetables.” He casually said.

“What!? And you were so close on getting it.”

“Yeah, Merry and Fuyuki would have both like that.”

“Why is that?”

“Well, Fuyuki likes fish and Merry likes to cook.”

Even now he’s thinking about us. It’s a great thing we found these people.

“I thought Fuyuki was more of a meat person…”

“She likes meat, too, but you know how she is, she admires cats.”

That makes sense.

Our money problem had been quite troublesome but we managed to temporarily solve the problem.

On our third day of hunting, we hunted a total of six kasaks. We would stick to hunting two kasaks. We even got one who was sleeping under a tree. We used it as another target practice for Fuyuki. Though she did miss the two shots, the kasak was hit in the leg so it couldn’t run fast. We earned a lot that day, if I remembered right, it was about three silvers.

On our fourth day, it rained hard. We weren’t able to hunt monster as the ground became muddy and it became hard to move around. Instead, we just stayed in the house while Merry taught the other girls how to cook.

On our fifth day, there were a group of five kasaks wandering around. We knew we couldn’t handle them, so we hid and let them passed. Hashi was making a map of the Zone One as to make traps and where were the best places to ambush the kasaks. Seriously, where would we be if it wasn’t for Hashi? Anyway, we didn’t earn anything that day because we couldn’t find a group of two or three kasaks.

There were days we were lucky while some days it was just awful but nonetheless, just like Hashi said, we were fine because we were helping each other. That being said, we were still far away from earning that wanderers badge.

Right now, we were using some of our saved up money to buy things we wanted. Takana suggested that we used some of our money to go around town to do what we wanted. He said there was no point in living if we weren’t happy which was right, I guess. Anyway, what he said was surprisingly mature. What was more he said that in a straightforward manner as if saying that should be obvious. I didn’t know that there was some common sense on that brain of his.

“One more, pops!” Takana said after gulping down a bowl full of soup.

“How many have you had?” my eyes darted over the three bowls besides him.

“I think four? Anyway, who cares?” He just kept eating.

“Here you go,” the vendor gave Takana a hot bowl full of soup and noodles with some meat. It actually looked delicious, I would have ordered some if I hadn't eaten earlier.

“We’re going to meet the girls, remember?” I said with a tinge of irritation.

“Oh yeah,” his eyes widened a bit. “Wait a minute.” He slurped the noodles, gulped the soup and ate the meat all in two minutes. “Impressive, aren’t I?” a smug looked on his face.

“Whatever. Let’s just go.”

We went to the house and it was already night. As expected, we found the girls there. They were actually in the kitchen, cooking something and by the smell of it, I was sure it was delicious.

“Hey, that smells nice.” Hashi sniffed.

“Of course!” Fuyuki shouted gleefully. The two of them were wearing an apron. “Merry taught us how to cook!” a cat-like smile plastered on her face.

The design of Fuyuki’s apron was actually a cat while Kihana was a rabbit. It was pretty cute on the both of them.

Fuyuki sure likes cats, huh?

“I-I only cut the vegetables, though…” Kihana said timidly.

I wondered why Takana wasn’t saying something stupid since we came here but looking over, I guess he was mesmerized by the sight of Kihana wearing an apron. It was understandable since if I were in his place, I’d be the same.

“That’s more than enough, right?” Hashi went to see what they were cooking. “You cut these vegetables properly. Good job.” A kind compliment coming from Hashi.

“I-I think it’s great too!” shouted by Takana.

Why exactly are you shouting?

Kihana blushed. I guess she wasn’t really used to being complimented by people.

“Where’s my compliment?” Fuyuki’s cheek inflated a bit.

“Alright, here you go.” Hashi patted her in the head.

I guess being a childhood friend, you’re allowed to do that, huh?

“Huh? Where’s Merry?” my voice was a bit awkward since I’m really thirsty.

“Behind you.” The air from her cold and monotone voice went from the back of my neck. It was cold.

“Whoa!” I jumped around. “That’s cold!”

Looking at her, she was carrying a bucket full of ice that must have been the cold air I felt moments ago. She was also wearing an apron with the design of a cute dog waggling its tail. A half-cat being wearing an apron with a dog as its design was definitely something you can only see in this world.

“Why are you wearing that?” my eyes focus on the apron.

“It’s pretty cute, isn’t it?” Fuyuki happily interjected. “I chose that for her, you know!” a smug looked on her face just like Takana.

“Hey! Don’t copy my facial expression!” jealously shouted by Takana.

As the two ridiculed each other, I asked “Where’d you get the ice?”

“Fuyuki made it using her ability,” she poured it in a container which contained water. “It’s pretty handy.”

“Huh, didn’t know she could do that.”

While the girls cooked, we boys prepared the table.

After cooking, they brought the food and we started to eat.

“Don’t just give me the things you don’t like, Fuyuki.” lightly chided by Hashi.

“What’s the harm?” an innocent smile appeared on her face.

Now that’s cute. Shakna might soon have a rival if I’m not careful. As if responding, my heart lightly tightened. I’m just joking.

“You know for a smart girl, you sure don’t act like one.” Takana was rampaging with the food they prepared.

“You know for a person who just ate a lot a while ago, you sure are getting a lot of food.” I said.

“My motto in life is ‘if you don’t eat, you’re always beat’.”

“I thought it was to be stupid every day.” Merry interjected coldly. She was still wearing the apron.

Hashi laughed, his red hair fluttered in the air. “You’re right, Takana. I remembered when in middle school, she would often get scolded by the teachers because she was always walking like a cat.”

“I know you like cats, Fuyuki but do you really like them that much, Fuyuki?” a bewildered looked on Kihana’s face.

“Yeah, her room’s full of cat stuffs. The ironic thing is that she doesn’t even have a cat.”

“Hey, I did! Remember Mr. Fluffy?”

“That wasn’t your cat. You just found it and took care of it for less than three hours before giving it back to its the owner.” Fuyuki glared at Hashi angrily.

“Why not just get a cat?” I asked, wondering why not.

That should be simple, right?

“I-I’m allergic to cats…” Fuyuki said dejectedly with her head hung low.

A boisterous laugh erupted on my left side. “Now that’s funny! It’s like an unrequited love!” Takana said while laughing and heavily pounding the table.

Fuyuki couldn’t even retort as she laughed dejectedly.

“Then why are you not allergic to Merry?” a good question coming from Kihana.

“Hmmm?” she tilted her head, a quizzical look on her face. “I’ve always thought it’s because she’s not entirely a cat being.”

That makes sense but I wonder how does Merry feel for being a half-human or a half-beast?

Before I even got the chance to look at Merry, Fuyuki was already hugging her.

“That’s why I’m thankful for Merry.” Fuyuki smiled at her. “She made one of my dreams come true! Now if you will only let me touch that cute tail…” a perverted expression appeared on her face.

Stop drooling.

“No.” Merry irrefutably said. Her cat-like ears appeared and she slowly said “But you can touch these…”

“Yehey!” With an ecstatic look on her face, Fuyuki rubbed her face against the Merry’s ears. It was…stimulating.

We continued to eat while Fuyuki and Takana bickered from time to time.

As the bright light from the candle and lamps, the foods that were lovingly and caringly prepared in front of us and the warm smiling faces of my party surrounds us, my outlook in the future was looking great. But I guess what people said was right.

The calm before the storm.

*

Today we were going to zone two. We’ve actually went to zone two just two days ago. Hashi said that we need more money if we want to completely resolve our problem and he was confident that we can now go to Zone Two.

Zone one, two and three were like a hierarchy of kasak, the higher the number, the stronger, smarter and higher loot to take. Zone two is a bit farther than zone one but they have the same landscape and same structures. I guess zone two was another bigger village that was overran by monsters.

Kasaks here were different. In zone one, they were buck naked and a little bit thin. In zone two, not only kasaks looked healthy, they had weapons and were wearing armors. Most had either a dagger or a sword and the armors were only made from leather.

The terrain wasn’t difficult as it looks the same as zone one, the river from zone one was also connected here.

“Take this, you little shit!” Takana cleaved the kasak. Currently, we were inside a house, fighting three kasaks. One was with Takana, one to me and one to Hashi.

The kasak used its sword to block the attack of Takana but it failed, its sword couldn’t handle the weight of Takana’s sword. The sword cut the kasak’s head causing it to shriek in pain and eventually die.

“I’m really the best!” Takana shouted. He started to rummage the sack of the fallen kasak.

“Takana, you can do that later. Help Hashi first!” I said while dodging and deflecting the attack of the kasak.

“Oh, mine’s already dead.” Hashi casually said. On a closer look, the kasak looked like it was stabbed many times.

“Then please help me!”

“No, I’m busy.”

“Sorry, Terrin but I’m really thirsty…”

Does my party hate me?

The kasak that was in front of me held the sword double-handedly and sliced from left to right. I ducked and stabbed it on the leg. My stab hit deep and the kasak fell. I jumped on it, aiming for its neck. He blocked my hand and tried to stop me, its face full of hate and rage. I used both my hands and slowly pushed the dagger towards its neck. After about five seconds of pushing, I managed to bury my dagger and the kasak slowly and painfully died.

I guess I’m use to killing these guys, huh? Never thought I’d see the day.

“What took you so long? Hurry up and collect their loot!”

“Okay, okay.”

I collected its loot which consisted of its sword, teeth, claws, and one dagger. There was also a wanderers badge in there, so I guess either somebody died or they stole it from them.

“Why did no one help me?”

“Well, I can’t really hit the kasak when you’re on top of it.” Fuyuki said.

That made sense. I looked at Merry.

“I couldn’t care less about you.” Merry said coldly.

“You guys really hate me, huh?” I said dejectedly.

“No,” Fuyuki said. “I like you, Terrin.” She said in casual way. Nothing romantic about it but still, it made me blush. Could you really blame me?

“Do you even know what you’re saying, Fuyuki?” Takana said. He sounded a bit irritated.

Fuyuki just now realized what she said and turned red. “No, that’s not what I mean!” she embarrassingly looked to left and right then looked at me intensely. “I’m sorry, Terrin but I didn’t mean anything by it. I hope we can still be friends.” she bowed multiple times.

Everyone laughed. And as I was about to reply to this erratic girl, I heard a sound. It sounded like footsteps coming behind the wall.

“What’s wrong, Terrin?”

As the seconds go by, the sound was getting closer and becoming louder.

This is bad.

“Everyone, get away from the wall!” I shouted, my voice filled with worries and distress.

Everyone knew what I meant and they quickly moved away from the wall, going to the opposite side of the house. Not a minute later, a huge monster crashed to the wall, causing it to break.

If I didn’t hear that footstep, we would have been crushed by that monster.

“Everyone, get ready to fight!” Hashi announced. I can see that he was worried too. We’d never fought a monster that huge.

As the clouds of dust faded, three more monsters appeared. They were all kasaks.

“That’s not fair! Isn’t he a bit huge?” Takana said.

The huge kasak was wearing a helmet and a leather chest plate, he also had a club. The other one was tall but thin, he also had a metal and a curved longsword. The kasaks on the left side had a dagger and a crossbow.

What really caught my eye was the kasak with the crossbow. We'd never seen and fought one.

“Takana, you take the big one. Terrin, you take out the crossbow immediately, it’s too dangerous. Merry, protect the two girls. Fuyuki, use your ability when you get the chance and as for me, I’ll take that tall one.” Hashi commanded. “As long as we stick, we’ll be fine.” a confident look on Hashi’s face but his voice suggested otherwise. We were all the same; they must be our strongest enemies yet.

As we were talking, the tall kasak was talking to the other kasaks.

All of a sudden, the huge kasak charged forward.

“Split up!” Hashi shouted.

Takana collided with the huge kasak using his shield. It pushed him back a lot.

I have to do my own job.

The bow kasak saw me and immediately fired its arrows at me.

Shit!

I ducked immediately but the arrow still grazed my left cheek. The kasak was reloading its bow and I quickly dash towards him. He ran and while running, he was reloading his crossbow.

There’s my chance!

I jumped on its back and was about to bury my dagger on his neck when he randomly fired his crossbow on his back. I pulled my head back and managed to dodge it but he elbowed my stomach, causing me to fall.

I hastily got myself backed up and saw the bow kasak aiming its crossbow towards the girls, more precisely towards Kihana.

But why specifically her when it could have shot me first?

Merry was being preoccupied by the dagger kasak, so she wouldn’t be able to see the arrow. I didn’t have time to think about why he was doing that and I quickly tackled the bow kasak.

It managed to fire the arrow.

With unprecedented speed, the arrow was coming for Kihana.

“Merry, the arrow!” I shouted.

It’s no use! She’s too occupied!

“Kihana!”

With the sound of a cry, the arrow hit its mark.

The arrow hit her in the left shoulder making her fall and causing blood to spit out. She cried out in pain. What surprised me was Kihana wasn’t the one that was hit.

It was Fuyuki.

Fuyuki pushed her and instead took her place. If it wasn’t for that Kihana would have been seriously injured or worse.

She might have died.

“Fuyuki!” Hashi shouted as he dodged the relentless attack of the tall kasak. He was quite fast and he could dodge the Thrust of Hashi.

I have to do something.

As the crossbow kasak looked over the girls, I tackled him and pinned him on the floor causing him to lose the grip on the crossbow. I buried my dagger in his face but he blocked it with his own hands. Blood fell on his face as he cried out in pain. As I was about to finished him, I heard Merry called out.

“Terrin!” I instinctively looked towards Merry. The dagger kasak was coming for me. It seemed he wanted to save his friend.

“GRAAAA!” The dagger kasak shouted.

I couldn’t fight the dagger kasak while killing this one, so I stood up but not before stabbing the crossbow kasak’s legs to disable him.

“Don’t stand up.” I said with so much hate that I barely knew my own voice.

I ran around to get a view of the situation while the dagger kasak checked his friend.

I guess even monsters care about their companions, huh?

I went to Hashi to assist him.

Stealth.

“Help Takana instead of me, Terrin!” Hashi shouted. “This kasak is good. He knows you’re there. He was waiting for you to attack. Go help Takana, if he got injured, no one would be able to stop that big kasak.”

“But Hashi…”

You’re injured, too.

He got cuts from his shoulder and legs, parts of his clothes are cut, too. He’s also breathing heavily; the tall kasak must have worked him for his money.

“Come here, Terrin.” I came closer to him while keeping our eyes to tall kasak.

Why is he not moving?

“Terrin, tell the others that we have to retreat. These kasaks…they’re too strong and look closely at the left side of his chest,”

I looked and saw a couple of dangling badges.

They were Wanderers badges.

“This kasak has a lot of experience when it comes to killing Wanderers. You can see his confidence by letting us talk to each other.”

He’s right. There’s no point in letting ourselves be killed here.

“But will they just let us escape?”

“We’ll escape while Fuyuki covers our rear then Merry will carry her. It seems Kihana already healed her. I want to punish these bastards for doing that to her but right now the gap in our power and experiences are too great.” He was gripping his sword strongly while his eyes burned with hatred.

I thought that he was calm all this time but I was wrong. There’s no way he’s not angry for what they did. Still, he’s doing his job as the leader.

“I understand. I’ll go tell them,”

I made my way to Takana and told him we had to escape. All this time the huge kasak was bringing its club down on Takana’s shield relentlessly. Takana wasn’t injured but he sure was getting exhausted tanking all this attacks. I didn't think he’d be able to hold out much longer.

“Hang in there, Takana.”

“You don’t have to tell me!”

Next, I told the girls the escape.

“Okay. We understand.” Everyone nodded.

Just like what Hashi said, Fuyuki was already healed, not even a scar can be seen.

“You okay, Fuyuki?” I asked, my voice sounded worried.

“I’m okay,” she smiled. “Now I finally know what you guys feel on the front. I’m part of the injured squad!” she cheerfully said. It seems Kihana was still worried for her.

We’re lucky we have this girl.

After we prepared, everyone was ready to commence the plan.

“Hashi, Takana, go away now!” I shouted, my voice echoed throughout the house.

The two simultaneously stepped back and turned around towards us, our enemies in pursuit but that what Fuyuki was for.

While writing unintelligible writing in the air, she quietly said “Sal, mo, rak,” and three shard ices appeared. This was her ability, Ice Shard.

She was still not confident with her accuracy but nevertheless fired it at the enemy. The enemy, including the dagger kasak who just returned, took cover as Fuyuki slowly fired the shards.

“Run, everyone!” Hashi shouted.

There was a destroyed wall behind us and we used that to escape. One by one we crossed the destroyed wall as Fuyuki covered us from behind. She used another Ice Shard to summon three more ice shards.

Merry stayed behind to scoop up Fuyuki and when we got far enough, Merry returned with Fuyuki who looked like she was exhausted.

I was worried that they would chase the two but surprisingly, they didn’t pursue them. They just looked at us while we quickly escaped towards zone one.

“That escape was a bit anticlimactic,” Takana was sitting on a tree, trying to catch his breath.

“What, you wanted more?” I said.

“Of course not but I expected them to chase us.”

“They wouldn’t chase us,” Hashi said as he was being healed by Kihana. He sounded a bit tired. “The huge kasak wouldn’t be able to run that fast meaning that only two of them would be able to catch up and fight with us.” after being healed, he stood up. “Great job, everyone, we made it out there alive. This will give us more experience and knowledge about how they fight and how we will fight,” Everyone agreed.

That makes sense. I’m just glad that was over and no one got seriously injured.

We drank water and rested a bit before going back to the town.

Then suddenly, we heard a thud.

It was Hashi.

He fell.

At that time, everyone else thought he just tripped or fell but I knew that there was something else going on.

Oh, how I wanted my instincts to be so wrong.