"Darn it!" Hannah yelled.

Seeing the shot overshoot the target, Claire didn't bother wasting valuable time to curse their luck as she watched the horned rabbit charge towards where the two of them stood.

Swinging the barrel of her rifle towards the rabbit, at the last moment, Claire remembered to aim slightly ahead of it. "Don't aim where it currently is, but where it'll be in the future," She breathed out and gently brushed the trigger.

The energy from the weapon struck the monster's head, stunning the creature. Propelled by its momentum, it rolled several feet before stopping on the grassy ground. There wasn't any movement. Its body was in shock from Claire's attack.

Claire held onto her weapon as she rushed towards the monster. There was only a precious amount of time for her to finish the task before the horned rabbit recovered. The stunning setting wasn't strong enough to kill it, just temporarily immobilizing it.

Putting her rifle on her back, Claire proceeded to grab the horn of the rabbit with her left hand and the body with her right. In a smooth motion, she yanked the horn back and felt relieved upon hearing the snap of its spine.

"You did it!" Hannah congratulated Claire.

As the killing of the creature was finished, Claire soon felt her hands beginning to shake.

"Claire?"

Claire barely recognized the sound of her friend's voice as she struggled to cope with what she had just done. Though she had killed monsters before, it was the first time she had done the deed in such an up and close manner like with the horned rabbit.

There was something vicious in the manner the monster was killed, especially how short of a time it had occurred. Seconds passed before the sound of the spine snapping was audible.

Closing her eyes, Claire took deep breaths.

Repeating the process, it wasn't long before her hands ceased to tremble.

"You okay?" Hannah asked.

Nodding, "Yeah," Claire answered. "I guess a part of me wasn't expecting I'd be killing something with my bare hands." She was quiet before saying, "I wonder whether if I'll be able to do the same thing beyond the Fort."

Hannah was silent for a time. It was as though Hannah was contemplating the words. After some time had passed, "I think that's why Star and Moon created this area. It's designed to get our minds ready for what needs to happen."

"We were truly pampered before everything went to crap," Claire chuckled. In her mind, she thought back to the food they'd pick up to eat, already prepared and packaged. But now, in front of Claire was the dead body of the animal. It wasn't something she just needed to pick up but instead something she'd have to kill personally in order to survive.

Hannah placed a hand on Claire's shoulder. "We need to adapt to our new world. This is for the best."

The words that Hannah had spoken helped Claire's thoughts. "No longer will we be able to return to that world filled with innocence. Though there may be conveniences provided, like inside of the Guild and in the Underground City, I'll always be marked by the viciousness required to last in the world." Claire thought to herself.

Grabbing the horn of the rabbit, Claire stood up. The rabbit had a decent amount of heft to it. A reminder that it had been alive just seconds ago.

With her free hand, Claire pulled out some string from one of the many pouches on her waist. Deftly, she wrapped the neck of the rabbit with the string before attaching it to her waist.

"That's one down," Claire forced a grin on her face as she looked at Hannah.

Hannah had a grim expression before she, too, nodded, "That's one down." Hannah repeated Claire's words.

---------------------

"I can't believe we ended up running out of string," Hannah shook her head in disbelief.

Giggling, "Though it took a lot longer to reach that point," Claire looked at the sun that was beginning to set. Raising a free hand, Claire had her fingers beneath the sun and parallel to the horizon. Counting how many fingers were between the sun and horizon, she dropped her hand to her side.

Seeing Claire check how much light they had left, Hannah asked, "How close did we get?"

"About forty-five minutes left before night," Claire answered. She adjusted her shoulder, which had a string across it, connected to several rabbits. In order to not make walking awkward, they kept only one string attached to their waist.

When they had been hunting, the person not shooting would hold the extra strings that had the bodies of rabbits hanging from it.

"I'm actually glad that we're heading back. Next time, we'll need to figure out a better way of hunting these things, instead of using string." Claire side. She remembered the packs they had seen in the Guild store.

Nearing the village, the two began seeing the villagers get ready for the night to fall on them. Clothes set outside to dry were brought in, in addition to the kids who had been playing outside.

Adventurers were beginning to take their positions in the designated spots, guarding the village against monsters that could attack at night.

When Claire and Hannah were close enough, they saw a pair of adventurers, a man and a woman. Both of them had a mishmash of equipment, the helmet and partial chest plate not matching, indicating they were just barely above Level ten.

The man had a scar on his cheek, obscured by his full beard. Though his arms were muscular, a belly could be seen below the plate on his chest. In his hands was a large double-edged ax.

Next to the man was a woman with bright red hair that wildly flowed down her back. Like the man, her arms were bare and revealed a nasty scar.

As Claire looked at the woman, it was obvious that people would still consider the woman to be a beauty with the scar, only accentuating her figure. The plate on her chest had been altered to allow her chest to have more room. Unlike the man, the woman had leather armor strapped to the front of her thighs. Along with the leather armor, she had a leather skirt that looked to provide some protection while allowing her to move during a fight.

"You girls should've been back a lot sooner," The man gruffly told Claire and Hannah. "The stronger monsters become more active around this time."

"Brother is right," The woman joined in.

Getting chastised upon returning, Claire felt her face blush.

"It's not worth going through the revival process, just to gather a little more Guild Points," The woman continued.

"We're sorry. We'll try to return sooner." Claire answered the two adventurers. Though she initially didn't enjoy getting lectured about something she thought was a trivial matter, Claire realized that the two were correct.

Hannah apologized after Claire, looking equally embarrassed by the experience.

Seeing that Claire and Hannah were taking their words of caution seriously, the man grunted approvingly. "It looks like the two of you have just arrived in the village."

Not wanting to break character, Claire nodded, "We had arrived just this morning and signed up to be adventurers."

"With our Levels being low and our lack of experience, we had decided to start off with a job that we could finish," Hannah added to the conversation.

Sighing, the woman said, "Seeing the two of you makes me think back when I started last year with my brother." She fondly touched the large sword at her side. "My name is Kaja," Kaja nodded at Claire and Hannah.

"My name is Bard," The man introduced himself. "You'll have to forgive my sister for being such a sentimental woman," He chuckled.

Though they had started off on a rough encounter, Claire giggled when the two hardened adventurers opened up. Placing her free hand on her chest, "My name is Claire."

"I'm Hannah," Hannah said after Claire.

"Are you two guarding the village?" Claire asked Bard.

Bard nodded, "Since our Levels aren't high enough to explore the surroundings at night, we often take the job of defending the village."

"The Guild provides food for those who take up this job, in addition to the standard Guild Points, which isn't a bad amount," Kaja said. "The two of you should check-in with the Guild. It's not a good idea to have the scent of those horned rabbits on you at night. Those that are active at night tend to be hungry, and the scent of the meat could attract them to the village." Her eyes moved to look towards the forest off in the distance, as though she could spot the monsters lurking inside the darkness.

The two thanked the older adventurers for the advice. Moving into the village, Claire and Hannah waved to Kaja and Bard, as they made their way to the Guild.