Tonight I had another dream… another memory I’d rather leave buried…After my parents died we received a large sum of money from the life insurance but the various immediate costs made a dent in it. Funeral costs, finishing payments on the house, I even ended up selling their cars since we had no use for the extra’s. Every day Kenny and Mia would cry… Mia would sleep with me holding onto my shirt teary eyed, probably afraid I would disappear also.

Kenny tried to be strong but I could hear him sobbing in the middle of the night when everyone was supposed to be asleep. At that time I decided to stop going to college and get a job to help support my siblings. I promised my parents I would provide for them and love them enough for all 3 of us. I kept up the appearance of being the calm reliable brother to my siblings and I could only show my broken state to Arlene. Deep down inside I was angry… I wanted to avenge my parents murder.

The “accident” was the start of war between our two countries, it sickened me that my parents were murdered for such a reason. I remember not being able to sleep and instead every night I would devise ways to kill, torture, and break an unknown killer. It was the only way to curb my anger pointed at an unknown killer. There was an enlistment to enter the front lines but I didn’t because of Arlene… as long as she was here I would stay.

Slowly opening my eyes I turn to my side and see Lilly flinch?

(Lilly) “Scawy face! Bad! Lilly no like.”

And with that she runs off with a pitter patter. My face isn’t that scary right? My worries were proven unfounded after I got my things and left, Lilly latched onto me not letting me go. As soon as I told her I was leaving for a few days and to be good she grabbed onto me and won’t let go. It was mildly amusing dragging her through the manor for a while.

Eventually Melia removed her kicking and screaming, heh Mia would occasionally throw tantrums just like her.

“Lilly if you’re good I promise I’ll bring you back a gift.”

I had used this to convince Mia when I had to leave for a trip in my previous life, it was really effective so I’ll give it a shot.

(Lilly) *sniff* “Pwomise?”

I instinctively pull on her cheeks a little.

“Promise.”

She then stopped resisting and was carried off by Melia.

(Melia) “Be careful out there Kuro…”

You don’t have to worry so much Melia, I’ll be fine. Age must have made her a worrywart.

From the information Harvey left me there’s a village near the mountain range where the previous adventurers should have stopped by before. The road through the mountains was one of the main roads to the Capital. There’s a lot of merchants and travelers that pass through the roads so I was told to be careful. It would take about 3 days on foot to reach the village and a few hours to enter the mountains from there.

The trip to the village was quick since the road didn’t have anyone... not a single soul. My stay at the village was short, all I got was a meal and the fact that the others had left the day before. There was also a comment from one of the villager that gave me a bad feeling… There hadn’t been any travelers coming through the mountain range for the last 2 weeks now. I better hurry. My gut is telling me I have to act now and I quickly run to the mountain range, hand on my dagger.

After a half hour or so of running I see signs of a struggle, trees and some bushes look trampled and clearly visible cut marks. The best thing I can do right now is track the combatants and maintain my stealth. So I dash between trees, making sure to carefully transverse through the sparse trees. The fighting looked like it got more violent as I follow the trail … how far did they go?

It’s taking too long to trail them like this it’s best if I get a bird's eye view… the only problem is the better my view of the surroundings...the higher the chance the enemy will find me. But I’m running out of time, I feel I have to find them now! I ascend up a nearby tree and start following the trail… What’s...that? Not good!

I notice something flying towards the tree I climbed and it flies through the tree causing it to fall. At the last moment I jump off the tree and kick off another tree to try to kill the momentum of my fall and roll to minimize the damage. Did they find me? I take a quick look and see nothing but a giant sword stuck into the ground about 5 feet long… the hell!

This is reality not some made up story! Who the hell could swing this thing around!? No matter, despite it’s size I seem to be strong enough to dislodge it and put it in my bag… god I love this thing. At least I know which direction the fighting’s at now and run towards source of the sword and I see three adventurers… That makes my job easier!

There was a large muscular man clad in full body armor in the front holding down a large tower shield and a small red head healer, healing him from behind cover. Towards the back there was a young boy wearing a robe holding a cane staring down something. Following their gaze I see it… a Giant Nope… nope… don’t wanna deal with it...nope...nope… as I grin and formulate my ambush.

Staring down the party of Adventurer’s was a giant spider, no I don’t mean something like a daddy long legs. This thing was a legitimate monster of a spider and it was waiting for a chance to attack. Good… it still hasn’t seen me yet. Grabbing my bag in my left hand I decide to do what I always wanted to do in an online game… a surprise attack with a giant sword!

Slowly I move into position behind it and run at it full speed towards the spider’s hind legs. Drawing the large sword from the bag I swing at its left side legs as hard as I can. The sword cleanly cuts through two of the legs and dents the third leg before I let the sword go. It’s too large for me to control with this body so I slip in under its abdomen and plunge my dagger into it’s stomach… Are you kidding me?!?

My newly reinforced Main Gauche shattered on impact with the spider's abdomen and it continued to fall to it’s side from losing two if it’s legs.Dropping my dagger I grab for my sword with my left hand and in a drawing movement slash through it as I retreat behind it with a side flip. My sword cuts through the spider's carapace easily drawing blood but in my impatience had moved too far and and ended up sliding farther away from my target then I had wanted.

I look up as I intend to continue my assault and the sky is littered with spears of fire… I’ve been careless… Harvey warned me some monsters can cast magic and prepare for impact. I watch as the spears impale the spider burning it to a crisp… it was the mage in the back! Nice support! After confirming the spiders death I slash off the blood on my sword and clean it as I walk towards the group.

(Armored Man) “Thanks for the back-up kid were were in a pinch! I’ll let the rough use of my sword slide!”

The man lets out a hearty laugh. Wait… he uses a tower shield AND that sword!?! How strong is this guy?

(Armored Man) “Where are my manners, my name is Kalibur, my friends call me Kal for short. The small red head boy here is Erin, and the uppity magician in the back is Damien. And to whom do we thank for the assistance?”

Hmm… boy…? I take a good look at the person known as Erin… no matter what I do, all I can see is a girl. She must be hiding her identity for a reason … I’m a pretty good judge of a person’s gender.

“You can thank that old bastard Harvey for sending me out here. The name’s Kurogane, nice to meet cha!”

With a light salute I start gathering information from them…. Just my luck… why can’t I get a nice easy job? Only Damien and Kal were sent by the Guild, they met Erin while they were investigating. Erin was traveling to Demarrer and had been attacked by the giant spider. While Erin was running away to lose the spider he ran into Damien and Kal and the fighting started.

Since they were constantly being pushed back Kal was having trouble keeping it at bay long enough for Damien to cast any larger spells and was eventually disarmed and slashed by one of the spiders legs. My appearance was at the perfect time, it gave Damien enough time to cast a spell and let Erin have enough time to heal Kal.

(Kalibur) “We’ll return with Erin to the nearby Village and rest before we return to Demarrer. What about you Kuro? Did you want to join us? We couldn’t find any signs of the first Adventurer, he probably was eaten by this monster here.”

Kal breaks off one of the spider's fang and hands it to me as Damien has his hands behind his head grinning.

(Kal) “Take it, it’s your kill.”

(Damian) “Take it ya Thief! And thanks for saving Kal’s sorry hide. The thing probably would’ve tried to eat me next once it was done with him.”

Heh, this Damian kid seems like quite the character, I don’t hate that kind of person.

(Erin) “Umm, Thank You for saving us! It would be reassuring having you join us... if you could.”

Erin then bows while holding down his hat.

“Ahh.. well I would love to travel with all of you … but I would like to check the area one more time.”

I hope they don’t take offense but I really like to do things myself, also there’s still that feeling of uneasiness that I haven't been able to shake off… I feel like I’m missing something.

(Kalibur) “Well then we’ll head back first then, let’s meet back at the Guild then.”

Kal salutes me as he starts to leave.

(Damian) “Yep! See ya around kiddo!”

Damian spins around and trots off after Kal. Flustered Erin looks back and forth before bowing towards me and runs after them. Well then… time to get to work. Continuing to survey the area the eerie silence persists.

There’s nothing here at all… I don’t see any signs of wildlife or anything alive. After looking around for a while the foot of the mountains had nothing.. I guess I’ll head up the road that goes around the mountain and scout that area out.

Nothing… this is strange… this is a major road how come no one’s here? … what’s that? Straining my eyes I notice something strange in the wooded area near the road…? Straying from the path I enter the thick forest and I see... webs?

This must have been that spider’s den then, best make sure it doesn’t have any young before I head back to report. I slowly traverse through the trees, the density of webs growing more and more as I go farther. Eventually I began to see broken wagons and cocoons… there are so many I’ve lost count… this is what happened to the people traveling through here.

Occasionally I would see a pool of blood… how many families did this thing destroy? Offering a prayer to the departed, I continue until I see a cave… Bingo. I quietly enter the cave and reach a large opening. There doesn’t look to be any young here the only thing I can see is a splotch of blood in the corner... and a bow?

There in the corner of the room was a composite bow and a quiver of arrows. Most of the arrows have been snapped in half from what I assume as a heavy impact. I salvage what I can and find a small bag with some Cura… and an Adventurer’s ID. I was too late… I put my hands together and pray for the Adventurer to rest in peace and leave the cave after tossing everything in my bag. Mission complete… time to head back and report to Harvey my findings.

Slowly I exit the cave and I see several globs of white fly towards me? Crap! I was careless! I side step quickly to dodge but my right hand is caught by one of the globs flinging me into the wall. At that moment I saw it… another Monstrous Spider stares at me…

Great no backup and no initiative… I look at the spider again seemingly laughing at it’s foolish prey. Heh… let’s see who caught who, as a grin appears on my face. Clenching my right fist I burn the web with an Ignition spell, burning it away and run towards the spider. It steps away from me seeing the fire before letting out a cry running towards me.

Got cha! Reach my hand into my bag I take out another bag and throw it at it’s eyes, the contents were useless shards of metal now embedded into it’s eyes. The monster lets out a pained cry as I step the the right drawing my sword hacking through it’s legs.

I don’t stop until I get some distance from it. The spider is now writhing in pain after I get a few feet behind it and stab my sword into the ground drawing the composite bow and arrows. Staring at my target I nock an arrow and take aim carefully and release the arrow… into a tree…

Ok... NO one finds out about this… I figured I could shoot a bow. I mean how hard could it be? … Much harder than I thought… Oh? You’re not going anywhere! Placing the bow back in my bag I grab my sword and run towards the retreating spider.

It desperately tries to spray it’s web at me, in response I set the webs on fire with Ignition the flames burning the insides of the spider. Continuing my assault I reach the back of the abdomen and repeatedly slash at it until it stops moving and clean my sword and return it to it’s sheath.

With this I hope the families left behind will find some ease with it’s death. On my way to it’s mouth to break one of it’s fang’s I notice a ring on the ground? I clean it off with magic and put it into my bag… I guess monsters drop items!

Wait… the other spider… I didn’t check to see if it had anything in it’s stomach! Quickly I break off one of the spider’s fangs and run towards the other corpse. After I cut it open I found a Cloak… it was black with a red hue complete with a hood and mouth cover? This looks useful and end up stuffing it in my handy bag before making a trip to return.

Again… I am plagued by my inability to pack enough food… when I left the forested area I ate some jerky and bread as a victory snack. After that I had traveled to the nearby village and spend the night and slept all day delaying me further.

I made sure to buy everyone little trinkets from the village and I left without checking my food supply. And here I am… half way to Demarrer and out of food… Where did I go wrong… I bought 4 times as much as last time! I even bought a bunch of bread!?

Where did it all go… does my bag eat too or something... ? No I’m just not thinking straight due to hunger… Of course there isn’t anyone around me that I can buy food from… this sucks… Am I going to die from hunger?

I should have eaten those spiders… I wonder if they would be tasty? My thoughts continue to wander until I finally make it back to the Guild. So hungry… I’ll talk to Harv after I eat… Seeing an open table I sit and put my head against the table for a moment. Waitress.... I need food… I get an order in before placing my face down again. While I’m waiting face to table I hear a scraping sound

(Kalibur) “Finally made it back Kuro? Did you have any trouble on the way back?”

I slowly raise my head and see a plate of vegetables… and a nice juicy steak. Before Kal could react the steak was already in my mouth. As I’m chewing I look up and see Kal’s face filled with surprise.

“I *chew* promise *chew* to *swallow* pay you back *chew* for *chew* this.”

I dislike talking with my mouth full but this was an emergency, any hungrier and I might eat a horse… somebody's horse, and I’m sure they wouldn’t appreciate that. Kal just blinks and laughs at me.

“Slow down there boy, chew! Saving my life in exchange for a steak is a cheap price to pay.”

I stare at Kal and stop chewing for a moment

“This doesn’t make us even, you still owe me I’m taking this as interest.”

And swallow the steak.

(Kalibur) “Haha it’s a good appetite you have there, finish it I’ll just order another. Thanks again for the assist, Damian and I will pay you back in the field one day!”

Before Kal could return to his table the waitress brings out my food… Kal’s face was priceless he didn’t expect me to order enough food to fill the table, nor for me to be able to finish it all. Ahh… that was good… next time… I buy everything the stall has…

Alright time to get down to business, I move towards the Guild counter and present my ID with the spoils of the mission. The Girl at the counter thanks me for bringing Kal and Damian home and the ID of the remaining Adventurer. The cloak, ring and bow were mine to do what I wanted and I decided to give the bow up to return to the family.

The cloak and ring however had no owner so they became my property. After getting my payment I was told to go to the Guild Master’s office to talk with Harvey. The meeting started well, I gave my report and I was payed the other half of my payment for the mission.

When I told Harvey that the spiders corpses were still there he quickly called someone over to retrieve them. The body could be used for materials by smiths and make new armor or weapons from it. Hmm I should take this occasion to tell Harvey about the ring I found… hoping it was a magic item!

(Harvey) “Wha? You found a ring in the belly of one of the spiders and wondered if it was a magic item? Hahaha! Of course it isn’t, there’s only a few people who can Embed magic, if someone with such an item lost it or was killed there would be someone looking for it! I’ll humor you though let me see these things you found.”

Placing the cloak and ring on the table Harvey examines the cloak first.

(Harvey) “Hmm this is made of good material… it looks like Wyvern Skin. Not as hard as your scales but stronger than any armor you’ll find except something made by a Dwarf.”

After handing me back the cloak Harvey examines the ring. He spins it around in his hand and his eyes widen as he grasps the ring in between his hands?

(Harvey) “You found this… in the spider’s stomach you say…”

Harvey’s voice was quivering… and his eyes looked moist...

“Yes Harvey I found it in the stomach of the second spider.”

From Harvey’s eyes I could clearly see tears fall…

(Harvey) “You made that bastard suffer right… you didn’t give it a quick death right… this ...ring is my daughter’s wedding ring… she visited last month and returned 2 weeks ago...I thought…”

After uttering those last words Harvey breaks down crying, all I could do was try to comfort him with the method I killed the it leaving out a certain detail… his face softened a little afterwards.

While I was trying to comfort Harvey who had lost his daughter then there was a knock and I could hear a girl's voice.

(Girl) “Is Harvey in?”

And the door opens. There stood Erin, getting a better look at him he looked like he was 15 with flowing red hair up to his shoulders.

(Erin) “What did you do to grandfather!”

I can then see a hand fly towards my face? Leaning back in my chair I see Erin’s hand fly by and flick his forehead.

“At least figure out the situation before you slap someone.”

After holding his head in pain and pouting for a moment, he goes to Harvey’s side. Minutes later I now have to deal with a chorus of wales and tears. Erin had traveled here looking for her mother after she was gone longer than the family was expecting… yes her mother… Erin’s a girl.

She disguised herself as a boy and traveled all the way here. She just found out that her mother was eaten by a monster spider that was still in hiding when she left the forest… I know how they feel and try to calm them the best I could.

Once they both started to calm down I got the rest of the story. Erin had infact snuck out of her home, and the ring had inscriptions that were special made by her husband and were one of a kind. I decide to give them some personal time and excuse myself and slowly close the door and return home to my family.

Wedding ring huh… my feet slowly carry me towards my destination as I reminisce my past for a moment. I used to wear my ring with pride for the longest time, it was to me the bond between me and my wife. We spend hours looking through catalogs, going to different jewelry shops but couldn’t find a pair of rings we liked.

It was then I remembered, my mother used to go to a shop at the Asian Mall and I took her with me. The shopkeeper when she saw me gave me a hug before I could say a word, I had accompanied my mother frequently when I was younger but I didn’t expect her to recognize me. Tears welled up in her eyes as she told me how glad she was to see me and that I was doing ok.

She even asked me how we were doing financially and offered to help us if we needed it but I declined. My mother was a kind lady and helped many people, never asking for anything in return. Whenever someone would try to pay her back she would push it back and smile telling them the thought was more than enough for her.

The Shopkeeper was one of those people, my mother apparently had helped her get the shop started, without her she would still be working minimum wage. She was an amazing woman my mother, I sometimes wonder if we were really related. At that shop we found a pair of rings that we loved and the lady I thought was a shopkeeper gave us them.

(Owner) “It’s the least I could do, think of it as my congratulations to your marriage.”

As she refused payment repeatedly. I wonder how she’s doing now… I haven’t seen her for a long time.

When I reach the Manor I notice some guards acting strangely? They seem to be avoiding eye contact with me… suspicious… as I walk towards them my face suddenly hits the ground and a wave of laughter can be heard.

Lilly and Aoi had been lying in ambush and jumped down from a nearby tree. The guards were luring me over with their behaviour, it was an excellent display of teamwork! Since Lilly is on my back now I revert to my Dragon’s form and start running around the courtyard as she excitedly laughs.

After horsing around with Lilly and Aoi for a moment I take a ribbon out of my bag and give it to Lilly and a hairpin to Aoi. The looks on their face when the recieved my presents made everything worth it.

I then left those two to continue playing and go look for Lila and Edward, whom I find in the dining room having a snack. Lila’s eyes bright up when she sees me and nudges Edward and points at me

“Dear he’s home from his trip, I think we’ll need more food!”

Giving both of them a hug I hand them my presents, a matching pair of cloaks, they thanked me and tried them on. They fit perfectly; I’m not the best judge of size so I was quite proud of this and spent some time helping them “clean” the table.

After the meal Lila goes back to her room to rest with Edward and I end up going to bed early. For some reason today I'm absolutely exhausted but strangely still hungry… ah screw it I'll grab a snack before bed. In a daze i enter the kitchen and stuff myself until I'm full and drag myself into bed passing out as my head touches my pillow.