Sunlight shelled the town before my eyes. Enormous walls shielded the town from the cold winds as winter was about to make itself known and the noises of stamps and rolling of wheels overlapped with the small talks and rackets of nearby wagons.

Just east of the town, a castle stood on a large hill as if watching over the town. It was the very first time I saw a castle in this world. The castle’s design and engravings made it mighty and intimidating. The castle was surrounded by three giant towers, it was a symbol that nobody would be able to break in it.

“Another human town…Shakna’s already been with humans for three whole days and now, Shakna’s have to do it with more humans…?” Risa let out a despondent sigh as she whispered to herself. She rubbed her hands together and reluctantly wore the winter gloves. She then wore the rest of the winter clothes we bought from the previous village. The wool and cotton gave her enough comfort from the cold as she let out a sigh of relief.

“Come on, it’s not that bad.” Compared to Roq, this town was somewhat livelier. You could see it from the wagons and coaches that were entering and leaving the town.

“You don’t get it, do you? If you don’t like something, you feel uncomfortable. That’s what Shakna’s feeling except a million times worse. Damn humans.” Risa, as usual, was still the same. Of course, I couldn’t blame her for that but considering what she did last time, I had hoped that she would at least tone down those harsh words and cold glares.

“You’re so cute at your winter clothes! Do you like what Kihana and Merry made you?” at the request of Fuyuki, Kihana and Merry worked together to make Risa a custom winter gloves. It had cat designs all over it.

“No, Risa doesn’t like it!”

“And yet, you’re still wearing it. You’re such a cute kid, Risa.” she had a point. Maybe she did change.

“What did you expect!? It’s freezing outside!” although Risa shouted what she said, Fuyuki didn’t hear it, she was probably thinking how cute she was with the cat gloves. I’d be the same if I was in the same position as her because she was indeed cute, though I wouldn’t be drooling.

I knew that this town was better than Roq in every way ever since we started passing through the gates. The guards at the gates looked motivated and the way they did things were orderly and proper.

As we passed through the gates, we were stopped by the guards. Chance handed them a small stone tablet and a guard took it inside of their office. Meanwhile, the other guards checked our wagon. After checking, the guard came back and gave Chance’s stone tablet back.

When I asked him what it was, I first got a dubious look from him and then told me that it was a verification certificate. In every town, a businessperson must have the necessary documents in order to allow their products to enter the said town. This was one of their measures to prevent illegal stuff from entering.

After renting a place to park the wagon and leaving Sray in a stable, we decided to split up. Risa, Merry and I would be going to the Wanderers Guild, Takana, Fuyuki and Kihana would be going to an inn where we would be staying for the night while Chance would go and check emails at the post office.

“We’ll see you guys later.”

“Yup! Take care!”

Prosk looked like a great town. The houses and establishment in every street made the town vivid and bustling. I didn’t know if it was normal, but there seemed to be far more people going out today.

The roads became cluttered as clusters of people were pushing their carts with their goodies inside. They were probably selling items and buying foods for the winter. Risa was wincing the whole time whenever she would see a group of people together.

As not to get lost in the messy crowd of people, we decided to hold Risa’s hand.

Damn, this is embarrassing. Sometimes, being self-conscious just absolutely sucks.

The Wanderers Guild in Prosk looked proper. The only Wanderers Guild I’d been was Roq and compared to this, this was much, much decent. The guild had two two-story establishments that were connected at the middle. Outside of it was a flock of people entering and leaving the guild with their weapon either on their back, hand or waist. But something was weird, I didn’t know what it was but I felt that there was something strange with their weapons.

When we entered the guild, an employee greeted us.

“Hi! Welcome to Wanderers Guild of Prosk. What a cute family! How may we be of service?” the woman asked politely. She even bowed her head before she spoke.

It would have been perfect if she just didn’t call us a family. But seriously though, was Roq forsaken?

“I’m sorry but we’re not a family,” Merry firmly denied it. Though I would do the same, I couldn’t help but feel a little bit hurt. Just a little.

Also, stop looking at me like that, Risa.

“We’re naught but a few Wanderers only checking the guild. Any recommendations on what we should do?”

“I see!” the woman was really brimming with positivity. “Well then, if you would allow me, I’ll give you a tour.”

“Lead the way.”

She led us to three billboards. There were a bunch of drawings and papers on it.

“As a Wanderer’s journey will take them far and wide, one of the things in their mind would be work. This section provides information on which job you would want to tackle. There’s a wide variety of work here ranging from helping the locals to fighting monsters.”

“I thought a Wanderer’s job is only to fight monsters like mercenaries?”

“Once but in today’s time, that is not necessarily true anymore. Ever since the witch had been defeated, the north of Ergaos had almost been a barren of wasteland for monsters to live, they instead sought refuge from the other witch that resides in Ergaos. Wanderers in this guild had been leaving and going to other town in order to earn money. The witch’s defeat was great but economically, it was a disaster…”

So, this place is the same as Roq, huh?

“Ha! You should have thought of that before killing a witch!” Risa said.

“Maybe the King should have,” She jested. “Anyway, if you’re interested on taking any job, bring the paper over one of the clerk over there.”

“All right, we will.”

*

“Finally!” Takana raised his mug. “I can now sleep properly! Can we just stay here? I don’t want to sleep on the ground anymore!”

“What are you talking about? We still got a long way. Don’t start complaining at the very start.” Chance raised his mug, too, and they toasted. Chance and Takana had one thing in common, they were both drinkers. During our journey, they hadn’t talk to each other much but I believed that they found out that they were kindred spirits in alcohol.

We were in a tavern near our inn. We hadn’t taken a relaxing afternoon during our trip, so we decided to spend the afternoon at the tavern. Unlike in Roq, the tavern in Prosk wasn’t so full of Wanderers.

“The post office said it would take a while for the mails to be sorted out, so that gives you enough time to be sleeping in beds, Takana.” Chance said.

“I wouldn’t just be sleeping, you know. If I do that, then my awesomeness would vanish. That can’t happen.”

“Listen to this fool. One of these days, Shakna might just have to run a blade in his throat.” Risa whispered. It was kinda surreal hearing a child talked like that while happily looking at her meal. The tavern, surprisingly, had a meal for kids.

“So? What are we going to do while we stay here? Our money isn’t running out soon but I believe it’s better to save some, so I suggest we do what the employee recommended to us.” Merry said.

“Yeah, let’s go there and check out the jobs tomorrow. Though, it might be a good idea to bring everyone, so we won’t be misunderstood…”

“Yes, that is worth considering…”

“Hey,” Takana solemnly said. “Why do I smell the irritatingly fragrance of youth and love, huh?” Takana could become anything as long as he was drunk.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, what happened?” Fuyuki came close as she said each word. She was also curious like Takana but in a friendly way, unlike Takana who was staring daggers at me like I was someone who betrayed him.

“While Risa and them were going in the guild while both of them were holding Risa’s hands, an employee called us a “family”.”

“I could see that,” Unbelievably, Takana didn’t get angry. “Look at you people right now. You look exactly like a family.” Risa was seated between Merry and I. In a way, he was right.

“You know how much I hate agreeing with Takana but he’s right. You’re like a cute family! Risa would be the child, Terrin, the father and Merry would be the mother.”

“T-Terrin is a decent guy…so I have no problem with him marrying to Merry but I see them as siblings more than couples...”

Okay, how did the conversation went here? And I’m glad I’m a decent guy in front of Kihana.

“Yeah, siblings might be right. Merry takes good care of Risa and it’s making me jealous.” She pouted. “I want to be close to Risa, too…”

“Not happening, human.”

“Ack!” Fuyuki acted as if she was shot. “Merry! How does one become a “sister”!?”

“Risa’s not a kid, human.”

“I don’t know if I’m right but it probably has something to do with experience.”

“Experience? You’re probably right.” Fuyuki sighed. “Most kids get scared of me whenever I came close to them.”

“That’s because you’re a weirdo.”

“I don’t want to hear that from you, you monkey.”

“Monkey is getting repetitive, you know? Don’t you have better insults than that?” This was a new counterattack from Takana. It was surprisingly effective against Fuyuki as she racked her brain for a new insult.

“Nah, you’re not Takana if you’re not a monkey.” Fuyuki smiled.

“W-What’s that supposed to mean!?”

As the two bickered in the background, Kihana asked Merry. “By experience, you mean your time during the orphanage?”

“Well, not entirely…” She paused. “Anyway, that’s what we should do tomorrow.”

“Chance, what’s wrong?” as Takana and Fuyuki were fighting, Fuyuki noticed something.

“It’s nothing…it’s just that this drink taste so bland.” He looked like he was about to cry. “I’m going to get something else.” He stood up and abruptly went to the bartender.

Well, the food at Roq is better than here. Or maybe it’s because I’m not yet use to it?

*

We were in our room. In our room, it would only be us boys except for Risa, who always wanted to be with me whenever she slept for some reason. The two other boys that were drinking earlier had fallen asleep the second they made contact with their bed. Risa was preparing herself as she slept besides me within the space of the small bed.

“Terrin,” Risa called me. “Shakna’s been noticing that you don’t know much about this world.”

Well, it was true, though. There were times where I would get in trouble since I didn’t know much about this world.

“Yeah, and to be honest, it’s a pain not knowing much especially since the curse you gave me could literally kill me.”

“And Shakna doesn’t regret it, as Shakna said before, humans cannot be trusted.” Though I’d seen and heard it many times, I still couldn’t comprehend why she always say that. “But let’s not talk about that. Every night, Shakna’s going to drill knowledge in your thick skull. Also, remember when I said I gave you powers? Let’s talk about that tomorrow, okay?”

“I don’t know what you’re getting so worked up for but okay. What knowledge are you going to drill into me?”

“For now, just some basic stuff. Humans are so slow when it comes to learning.”

“Like what?”

“Human history and probably the history of humans and witches. Also, Gods.”

“For someone who hates humans a lot, you sure do know a lot about them.”

“You idiot,” she poked my cheeks. “The things you hate are always the things you should know about most.” I didn’t know if that was right but when I think about it, people did say “know your enemy” or in this case, what you hate.

“Onee-chan told me that, you know.” Her happy face appeared again. “That’s right! I should also probably tell you about the history of the witches and who are the others. Right now, you’re priority is to get Shakna to Shakna’s sister and if Shakna’s going to do that with you, you have to become knowledgeable about this fundamental matters.”

What she said were facts. There were too many things I didn’t know in this world. Too many matters that I couldn’t or wasn’t able to comprehend. But now, a witch was in front of me. One of the most powerful and extremely intelligent races. Surely, I’d learn a thing or two, right?

But before that, something would happen. One that would make her experience euphoria while others, miserable.