A knock on the door made him roll over and blearily open his eyes. The sunlight of a new morning nearly blinded him so he decided five more minutes would be long enough for the sun to go away. Reality fact-checked him to his dismay.

"Jera, get up! I thought you had an important thing today?" called his mom from the other side of his door.

He grumbled out something only his parent would understand.

"Alright, alright. Breakfast is ready for you when you're up," she said with a motherly sigh.

In the end it took him those five minutes to convince himself to get up out of bed so he could begin his day. He dressed up in his well-worn clothes, a long shirt and trousers since it was still chilly from winter just ending, before he started to strap on his leather armor. It was a comfortable weight on him now, much like his iron longsword at his hip.

Jera went out to the kitchen to find a spread of bread, eggs and oatmeal. "Jeez, can we even afford eggs right now?"

"What are you talking about? We can afford this much if its an important day," said his mom with a smirk. That smirk died when she inspected his armor. "Oh. I thought you were finally going to ask out that pretty girl, the one with the hat. You stopped bringing her around recently though, so Mom is worried."

"Sera didn't want to come over anymore 'cause you kept making those suggestions!" Jera glared at his mother as he scarfed down his food.

"Me, suggestions? Why I never."

"Mom, you literally asked her when the baby was due."

"Because I need a grandbaby! What with you and your brother still working for the Guild I can't help but worry." She sat at the table and began eating her own meal while glancing at the empty third chair. "Mr. Hammond told me yesterday he was in the need of an apprentice. I was wondering, well."

Jera loved his mom, really, but hearing the same thing every day since his brother had taught him the [Swordsman] class and signed him up for the Guild he never thought of doing something else. Something... as mundane as becoming a [Butcher].

It clearly showed on his face since his mom trailed off. "Honey, I know losing a class is a huge leap—"

"I'm level eight."

"—yes, yes, but in town it's safe. You wouldn't need to risk your life for levels. Mr. Hammond hit fifteen last month and he's only thirty-two years old."

"And I'm half his level after only three years."

"Alright, I get it. I don't want to get you in a mood for whatever plans you have today." She smiled sadly. "So are you meeting up with that young lady?"

Jera knew she wouldn't stop unless he admitted to something. "Yes, I am. Sera's cousin reached level five yesterday so we're going to party up with her."

"Ah. So..." She stared at Jera.

He nodded and they finished their meal in silence. After rinsing off both their dishes and drying them he grabbed his backpack from near the door and sighed to himself. Slowly he backtracked to his mother and gave her a hug. "I'll be back, okay? It's just to the edges."

"Be safe."

Jera left his house and stepped into the city. A few morning carriages rolled along the dirt street trying to get their business done early and avoid the midday influx of foot travelers and merchants. Wood buildings, rarely higher than one story, were packed together side by side but to compensate had wide streets.

It wasn't as glamorous as one of the inner cities like Patlen or Riol, with their fancy stone streets and brick mansions Jera had seen once on a trip with his brother. At least his city has good public order and was a key trading stop for many. He hurried along in order to not be late for his meetup.

As he neared one of the only three-story buildings as well as one built with an actual design instead of blocky structure he saw his partner relaxing against a large pillar underneath the entrance. She glared at him and gestured at a short, blond girl next to her that he didn't know with long hair and was wearing nice blue robes.

Sera, with her constant scowl and short brown hair was equipped much like him except with a more sparse armor placing to emphasize better movement. "Are you sorry?"

Jera blanked. "Yes?"

"You don't even know what for. See, this is why I told you he was no good," said Sera to the younger girl.

"B-But you always talk about how good he is and how lucky you are to have him as a partner."

Jera felt the blood rush to his face and quickly glanced around to see if anyone was paying attention. Sera, being her usual self, sighed. "It's true, but he's so useless outside of work. I told him all week and he still forgets the time to meet. Whatever, this is the dumb [Swordsman] Jera. Jera, this is my cute and prodigal cousin, Claire."

"Ah. hey. I heard you hit level five. Uh." Jera shot a look at Sera. "Congratulations on being a... [Mage]?"

Sera punched him in the shoulder.

"She's an [Acolyte], you idiot! I"ve been bragging about her for weeks."

Jera rubbed his shoulder. "Hey, I just thought since you were a [Mage] she would be one too. So, the big five, huh? What's on the agenda today, captain?"

Sera pointed a thumb into the building. "Let's go and see. The original plan was to hit up the outskirts and see if we could get some easy practice in. Claire here hasn't been blooded yet so I want something simple. Maybe some slimes or beetles."

The group headed inside the large double doors and were hit with the loud chattering of voices, cheers and activity as dozens of people of all sorts milled about, sat at large tables eating and conversing, or grouped around a huge bulletin board off to the west wall. Near the board was a counter manned by two older men and one elderly lady.

"Come on, Claire. We need to get you registered," said Sera as she gripped Claire's hand. Jera followed behind enjoying the morning atmosphere. It would become hectic in a few hours when all the people like him, that is if he didn't have Sera to constantly manage him, would normally get around to working.

They waited in a brief line at the counter before the elderly lady could help them. "Welcome to Ardor's Commission Guild. Ah, I've seen you kids around here. I'll save you the usual spiel and you can tell this old woman how she can help."

Sera leaned on the counter and gave a smile the likes of which he couldn't help but be envious of. "We need to get my cousin registered and need some easy work. Maybe on the outskirts or somewhere around there?"

"That sounds easy enough." The elderly woman handed Claire a sheet of paper and tapped the spot where there was a quill and inkwell. "You'll have to read and sign it yourself, dear. If you can't..."

Claire stepped up with defiant eyes. "I can do that much!"

"I expected as much," said the woman with a small smile and a glance at Sera. "For current commissions there are plenty of city submitted ones up on the board. The current ones open by the Guild are for any of the standard creature parts with a special on goblin ears."

"Eww," muttered Claire as she finished filling out her form. "Why would you want their ears?"

"To be honest we could use the entire body but it is often troublesome to haul bodies over long distances so adventurers usually only bring back the most important parts. As for the special, well..." The woman looked troubled. "There have been a lot of sightings recently and even a couple people have gone missing. A lot of creatures will be getting active now that winter is ending and in search of food."

Sera patted Claire on the back. "Thank the lady, Claire. It's not the Guild's job to give out free information."

"Oh. Thank you, Miss."

"No, thank you for your efforts, Miss Claire. As of now you're officially part of Ardor's Commission Guild. It's nothing fancy but we always appreciate the efforts of any brave soul willing to risk it out in the wilds. Even if you stick to only doing city commissions we are always grateful."

Jera stepped up alongside Sera and placed seven copper pieces on the counter. "So when you say a lot of sightings, how many are we talking? Ah, sorry, but our plan is to blood Claire here and we don't want anything too dangerous."

The lady's face steeled itself and took the coins. "Quite a lot. Normally the Rosestone Swamp is a fairly low level area on the outskirts and gets worse as you go deeper, especially north, so we don't see goblin raids as often on our west side compared to the eastern section. Please be careful about going deeper if you spot any as there have been reports of larger than normal groups."

Sera frowned while Jera listened. The swamp was massive, easily spanning days of horse travel in both north and southern directions, with no way to easily clear through it. It was also the only thing between the Riolu Empire from the tribes of beastkin that lived in the east. While they weren't at war with them relations were usually hostile. Jera honestly didn't get it but Sera was a different matter.

"Thanks. Still up for it?" asked Jera.

"It'll be fine. You worry too much,” said Sera while slinging an arm around Claire's neck.

The elderly lady whispered to Claire, "Be tough."

Since they weren't taking a city commission the group left the Guild and headed out of the city. It was something that Jera and Sera had done too many times to count in order to level up and train their skills. They went along a route they were familiar with to head toward a specific clearing on the edge of the swamp.

"So, um, why are we going to fight slimes or, ick, goblins?" asked Claire. "This whole blooded thing is because, well..."

Sera laughed and hugged Claire from behind. "It's because you haven't killed a creature yet. It's okay to be scared of killing, you know? As an [Acolyte] it won't even be your job. If someone as cute and adorable as you had to be on the frontlines then me and Jera probably kicked it!"

Jera hissed at her. "Hey, that's not funny."

Sera glanced back at Claire who was looking at her with wide eyes. "Oh, yeah, don't worry about that. We'd have to fight some crazy thing in order to flub up that bad."

"Why? Aren't goblins dangerous?" asked Claire.

Jera shrugged. "Yeah, everything is dangerous, but unless they're old or are Hobs they rarely have levels beyond five. That in itself is rare unless it's a whole tribe."

"That and they barely ever get classes better than low tier! Even those are pretty awful so they're perfect for us beginners. Ah, by the way Claire, can I ask what you chose? I know it's like super rude to do so, but I'm just curious," said Sera.

Claire squirmed and ducked out away from Sera's hug. Jera thought she was probably only a couple years younger than him and Sera. She truly was gifted if she was level five at her age.

"Ah, promise you won't laugh?"

"Promise," said Jera. Sera wavered on it before she too promised.

"It was [Lesser Smite]."

Sera burst out laughing to which Jera slugged her in the shoulder, also a minor payback for earlier. "It's not that funny, jerk. It's alright, Claire, just surprising."

"An aggressive skill from someone so adorable! I know you should've qualified for [Lesser Heal] too. Ah, dang, most choose the heal if they can because getting [Heal] is a huge pain. Some don't even qualify for it at level twenty, or so I hear." Sera inspected Claire closely then accused in a lower voice, "Where's your weapon?"

Jera wondered that too since the girl had chosen a smite skill. If Sera said she qualified for [Lesser Heal] then she at least had [Minor Heal]. It was always a pain lugging their bodies all the way back to town to get healing and it was far too expensive to carry a lot of recovery items. They had a couple for emergencies but at two silver per potion...

Claire pushed Sera back and glared at her with teary eyes. "I use my hands, okay? A [Monk] at the church taught me [Fist Techniques] because I thought it was cool! I don't want to be a healer, I want to be like you, okay?"

Sera blinked and smiled warmly at Claire. "Aww, thanks. I won't laugh anymore, I promise for real. Everyone always looks at me weird when I say I'm a [Mage]." She adopted a snarky tone. "You don't wear robes! Where's your hat or magic focus? Where's my [Fireball]?”

Jera coughed at that. "H-Hey! That was one time and a fireball would've really helped and my mom really liked your hat. Besides, I was joking!"

"Don't mind Jera though, he's just a boring [Swordsman]. Hit things with sword, repeat. Every party needs a Jera."

Claire nodded and they were nearing the edge of the swamp. Jera was seeing movement in the shadows of the trees and felt sweat on the back of his neck as his [Sense Presence] skill activated. So far it didn't seem like anything more than maybe a single goblin, maybe two, something they could easily deal with.

"There's a couple maybe under the trees to our right," he said.

"See? One in every party. Now let's traumatize a teenager!" yelled Sera with far too much enthusiasm in front of said teenager they were probably going to traumatize.

Claire ignored it because she was probably used to her cousin and instead glanced between the [Swordsman] and [Mage]. "So, um, is it me or are your names very similar?"

Sera ran on ahead as Jera sighed. "We don't talk about that in this party."

"Oh, sorry. I'm just nervous," said Claire. It was true that her robes looked near pristine and if he was honest a bit impractical. Maybe for an ordinary [Acolyte] but if Claire favored fighting with her hands they would get in the way. Just more reasons Jera knew she needed practical experience and also why Sera insisted on this whole ordeal.

Sera sprinted up to the trees and peered inside, the sunlight still filtering through the tree canopy but darkened as it grew thicker deeper inside. Jera focused on his skill and yelled, "More to your right, maybe behind that tree in the back!"

Claire watched in confusion as Sera didn't bother with a reply and took off according to his directions. Jera and Claire were catching up to her as they picked up their pace. An awful noise like a gurgling cry came as Sera rounded on a tree.

It was short, almost childlike in stature with green skin, long ears and red eyes. Jera had seen enough goblins to know that this one was young, maybe born just before winter, and definitely out of its league. Sera kept a hand on her sword at her waist and went behind the goblin to flank it.

Sera's speed as usual was always surprising for a [Mage] as it was on par with his as a [Swordsman] despite her not getting any stats to agility. It just showed how hard she had trained to obtain physical stat skills since [Mage] gave intellect and wisdom.

"Wow, she's fast! Is it normal for you to be so fast, Sera?" asked Claire as they neared them. The goblin was panicking but knew that if it fled it would be cut down. To fight also meant to be cut down and no matter what anyone said even goblins as young as this one were smart enough to figure that out.

Sera was focused and ready to strike at any moment but still smirked and answered. "No, not at all. You know I'm actually aiming to be a [Magic Swordsman], but actually doing it? Ah, it's hard, truly very hard."

Jera assumed the same stance as Sera. The goblin thought it was finally finished and tried to make a last ditch effort to flee only to be cut off by Jera. The two of them might have been a bit of an unorthodox pair but they had excellent teamwork to show for all their training.

"Alright, Claire, it's time. This goblin is young, maybe has just gained its class. Kill it by yourself," stated Jera.

Claire backed up and looked to Sera for help only to find her looking stern in place of the wild and carefree girl she was. There would be no salvation there. The goblin sensed the situation it was in and reached down, slowly as it glanced between its captors, to grab a rock.

While the two noticed what it did Claire had missed it entirely. Still, as cruel as it was, they couldn't help her beyond saving her life if it came down to it. And then they would try again, and again until she finally succeeded or quit. Fighting wasn't for everyone and this was a rite of passage.

First blood went to the goblin. It threw the rock at Claire's head and snatched up another as it ran at her. The rock smacked into her forehead so she flinched when the goblin smashed the rock into her knee.

"Ahh!" She yelled and fell to the ground. Sera was about to step in when Jera shook his head.

Claire rolled away from the goblin as it tried to bring the rock down on her chest and scrambled back to her feet, her robes now dirty and streaked with green and brown. Her eyes were tearing up and she was sniffling as she clenched her fists and took a stance with one foot forward.

The goblin cackled, a grating noise no matter how much he heard it, and threw the rock at Claire.

Claire snatched it out of the air and threw it back in one motion. That was impressive! It pegged the goblin in a similar spot to where Claire was hit, a vengeful move that Jera expected Sera might do, and burst forward to quickly close the distance in a couple steps. She even had a movement skill?

"[Lesser Smite]!" It was a strike that Jera could tell was practiced. Even as he read the hesitation in Claire's movements her punch didn't falter. A golden energy enveloped her fist and when it struck the goblin's head it exploded. Not just the light but the actual head.

Jera whistled. Even with the level difference, Claire was only five. To kill a goblin in one hit when it should've taken two normally was impressive. Well, with her strength maybe that rock did more than a tiny bit. He wouldn't have expected such a small girl would to take such skills.

"Aww, you did it! Claire, I'm so—Claire?"

Claire's face contorted and she broke down crying. Jera rubbed the back of his neck and felt awkward. He wasn't ashamed to say he reacted the same way, although apparently Sera had wanted to kill another one right after her initiation. Sera looked between Jera and Claire and fumbled.

"Ah, um, there there? It's okay, see, you're fine, just a bump on the forehead and oh your knee. You can cast [Minor Heal], right? Shh, hey," said Sera as she tried to soothe her cousin. Jera gazed around the area and deeper into the swamp. [Sense Presence] wasn't picking up anything nearby, although further ahead there was a reaction. It wasn't precise that far out at its level.

It was going to be a long day.