We set off down the tunnels once more.

We face our first split in directions. Gareth, remembering my orders, takes a right tunnel, then does so again when the tunnel splits into three ways.

We walk the path.

A quiet descends between our group. Gareth fully concentrates on sensing any threats, the twins follow with the threat of danger that could come at any moment.

I don't blame them for keeping quiet.

Though I am surprised they aren’t panicking, cracking jokes or even talking to distract themselves.

I hope it means that they are concentrating or trying not to distract Gareth or myself from keeping watch.

If it is because they are terrified, then I have failed to protect them from fear. As long as they don’t become hostile to the idea of fighting as a group they can grow.

We just don’t have the resources to accommodate anyone who can’t work with us adventuring.

In the future when we create and initiate the plan to acquire property. Once we have some and the stable foundation it provides then I can direct them towards areas where their talents will flourish and they can be happy.

"Three rats!" Gareth calls out.

I let the mana form in my hand and Gareth in the distance does the same.

"Guard." I order the dog. "Lie on the floor, girls!" I command. My voice is soft but firm.

Both of them in unison lie on the floor in an act of immediate and absolute obedience.

The shot flies widely off target. The rats are about fifty metres away and moving fast. I have the time to form a mana arrow and launch it. Splattering one of the plague of rats.

They reach Gareth at the twenty-metre range. Gareth’s body blocks my view. I shoot past him the bolt piercing through the eye of the rat.

I focus on forming a large Mana arrow wide enough that I have to launch it from my palm.

I let it loose, it flies past the girls and Gareth. It hits the flank of the last rat distracting it as Gareth lands the killing blow.

"We will keep watch, go get the tails Lovia." I remind her.

The Twins get up from the ground and dutifully Lovia goes to complete her job. Her sister raises her crossbow, ready to kill anything that seeks to harm Lovia.

Gareth was definitely right when he chose them. He always did have good instincts when it comes to finding good people. I should probably trust his judgment in that regard more often. Well, usually right. Alessia…

"Master, are you okay?" Subia asks her eyes peering into my own.

"I am now." I reply petting her head rubbing the spot with my large hand in between her ears my thumb and pinkie brushing against her cat ears.

Lovia walks past Gareth a few paces behind. "It is a dead-end ahead."

"Got it." I turn to Subia. "How could you tell I was upset?"

"Your eyes are sharper than usual," she traces my eyes with her finger which follows in tandem with her words. "Your brow come closer, your lips thin, down here is stiff," she traces my jaw. "You look angry. It is scary and I don’t like it, Master." Her eyebrows knit together and she gazes down at our feet.

Uncertain, I pause. No words come to mind. Not a single utterance spills from my mouth. The silence hangs, painfully dragging. She has spoken, she will do nothing more until I am ready.

"Just remembering the past. Worrying about shadows and dust, I suppose."

"I will prove myself worthy, Master." She promises with an air of confidence.

"Okay." I feel we are talking past one another.

As we are talking, A fat rat the size of a wagon had only one eye green like an emerald. Thick fumes swirl around it and its large, hairy is covered with big spots of pus. A rare encounter…

Subia swings around and fires off a bolt in flow with myself launching a mana bolt.

The creature screams with rage and pain.

Gareth leaps and slashes with a downward strike. He carves through its flank like chicken at the inn.

The creature lunges and catches me in its jaws. It bites and tears into the skin. I feel the burning poison course through my veins like streams of fire. I am being cooked from the inside out.

Subia rushes forward, brave as a warrior, and stabs a bolt through its thick hide. Her augmentation makes her stronger than a bear.

One arm down the throat of the beast I form and blast magic down its stomach.

Gareth, Subia and I carve, stab and fry the monster in a savage onslaught.

It crumbles to the ground dead. A pile of stinking flesh. There was no cleverness to this hunt, there was only fearful survival.

Gareth heals and plucks the eye from the creature. He infuses the eye with Subia's crossbow with skilful enchantment. "It will carry the rat’s poisons now, making it deadlier still to any who survive its sting."

"Thank you, Gareth. I will pay you back one day, I promise."

We settle back into a careful exploration of the tunnels.

"I have another question, Master." Subia whispers to me.

"Go on."

"Would you sacrifice my sister to protect me?" her expression gives nothing away. I know the answer, what I must do even as it would rend my soul.

"No, you value your sister above yourself. I will respect that desire." I answer calmly not betraying a hint of my reluctance.

"Thank you, Master." She lets out a sigh of relief.

Retracing our steps, we return to the three-way split in tunnels this time taking the middle tunnel.

I’m pleased I summoned the dog, it can keep watch while my mind is elsewhere. My eyes trace Subia.

The waiting is long and tense as we march through the tunnels.

When the dog starts barking I almost feel I sense of relief. I let the mana form in both hands.

"Ambush!" I shout while turning around to face the threat. That is more than three. Four. Five. Six of them. "Six…" I spot one more "Seven rats, Seven rats!" I repeat my voice loud cutting through the barking of the dog.

I fire the mana bolts killing two of the rats.

I glance at the dog, "Kill." I utter.

The dog speeds towards the rats and leaps at its prey. Opening its wide, toothy maw it bites and tears a rat apart.

I have enough time to brace myself before a rat leaps forward its mouth wide and ready to sink its teeth into my flesh. I take a step to the side and let it pass. I grab and yank its tail. I drag towards myself with a single burst of strength.

Using both hands I open up its upper mouth and stick a foot down inside its mouth. I anchor the rat in place and pull the upper mouth back. My back burns from the strain and I struggle to keep my footing but I pull.

I rip the rat’s head off.

Another rat goes down a crossbow bolt puncturing through its skull. Another is bearing down on Lovia who is still in the face of the ferocity of the rat. Gareth makes it in to chop its head off.

Subia struggles with the last rat. She struggles with all her strength to keep it from killing her. Its teeth are too close to her frail neck. I dash to her and with a last mighty effort, I rip the upper mouth of the rat off until the spilt reaches half the rat"s mass. Buckets of blood pour out from the rat drenching my grey robes.

I see Lovia, snap out of her panic, and pull the rat off Subia

"There is no way this is getting washed out." I mutter with a sigh.

The summoned dog comes over to my side, blood dripping from its muzzle and not a scratch on its body.

"Good doggie." I say while crouching down petting it. My fingers sink into the rough fur sharp enough to slice through flesh.

I note Lovia is already cutting four tails of the seven tails. Subia has her crossbow loaded and Gareth is fulfilling his role as the vanguard. Even though this is our first time we held cool under the ambush.

Not perfectly. Lovia panicked, Subia was defenceless in close quarters. Gareth failed to utilise any offensive magic relying on augmentation and his sword. I did not keep them back, allowing four rats to pass by me. Further, I was slow to kill in close quarters.

It could have gone far better. Our positions worked, with more experience and a foundation of training we could be guild ready in a couple of months rather than a year.

"I’m done." Lovia calls out.

"Let’s get moving." Gareth replies and we set off down the tunnel.