Rupegia Ch. 05: A Companion's Promise

My MP increased by 40 (now 255). That's kinda high since I didn't train very well yesterday, so could this be the result of prayer?

I decide to look at the extermination requests at the hunters' guild. With Alissa's tracking, we can hunt for some of those juicy bounties.

We walk along the streets with our arms entwined. She's a few centimeters taller than me, so it's a bit awkward at first until we get used to each other's rhythm.

We enter the guild and start looking at requests, then I hear footsteps approach.

"Hello! Are you Wolf Ryder?" A chipper and gruff male voice greets me. We turn around and see a short and wide man in full chainmail armor. He has black hair and droopy eyes that make him look like he's always thinking. "I'm Targua, from Honest Shield." He adds after a moment and gives us a diplomatic smile.

"Uh… hi, hello, yes, I'm Ryder," I confusedly return the greeting.

Another voice comes from further back in the guild, "Oi! don't listen to him, join my fellowship, instead!" A blonde and lanky man with a bow slung over his shoulder comes running and interjects. His face seems a bit roguish, and he sports a considerable nose.

"What?" I mumble, dumbfounded.

Stop, rewind, and start from the beginning this time.

Targua facepalms and chides him, "Bug off, mate. I haven't even asked him yet and you just jump in the middle."

The lanky man stops in front of me and gives me a business smile while extending his hand for a handshake. "I'm Simon, from Swift Wind. Pleasure to meetcha, yeah? How about you join my fellowship?" He quickly introduces himself and immediately announces his offer.

Where did you two even come from?

I hesitantly shake his large and rough hand, then Targua sends us a strained smile and continues, "Uh… sorry, but yeah, how about you join my fellowship instead?"

I frown in confusion and sincerely ask, "Why are you guys asking me to join?"

"No shit we're looking for you, mate," Simon grunts and snorts. "A magic swordsman who can killandcarry a Grey Berserker or an Orc Headhunter is no joke. And then yesterday, everyone at the training grounds was raving about your new companion who's a crazy pretty lass with an extremely deadly bow."

His speech sounds weird. Is this the effect of the [Andraste Language] skill trying to translate casual slang?

I look at Targua and he shrugs.

The thing that annoys me is how they wantusto jointheir fellowship. No, thanks.

I shake my head and reject their offer, "Sorry, but I prefer to keep walking my own path for now."

"Ehh. Really?" Simon frowns reprovingly, and I nod at him. "Well, that's a shame, mate. We could make a killing with you and the girl."

I feel Alissa's grip tighten in subtle anger.

Targua takes a step closer and clasps his hands in a subtle pleading gesture. "Is that so? Is there no room for negotiations? We could always search for a good deal that'd benefit both of us."

I kind of like your attitude, but back off, you're too close to Alissa.

I look at them sternly and stand my ground, "No, sorry. It's not a question about money, it's personal."

Simon shrugs and makes a sour face. "Well, I tried," he mumbles and walks away.

Targua gently nods in understanding and accepts, "Sorry to bother you, then. Be well Mr. Ryder" Then he also leaves.

"I fully agree with your decision, Master," Alissa whispers while sending a mean gaze to the two men walking away. "Those men would exploit you. It's almost always what happens when getting scouted by veterans. Fellowships are bonds made of trust, and those which are made of money are weak."

How romantic.

I nod in agreement, then we turn back and continue searching for a request.

There's a good one. It's a bounty for an Oodogloo which was found yesterday. This monster is a threat level three. It's a large, transparent slime with a human skeleton inside. Because it can walk with the skeleton, it's faster than normal crawling slimes that move like caterpillars or worms. It should have a distinctive ammonia scent, so it's easy to track with Alissa's nose, but it's a very annoying enemy to catch because it runs away from everything and preys on livestock. It was last found half a day away northwest from here, at the farms past Royd's Kerfuffle.

Alissa follows my eyes and sees the request I'm interested in. "I can take you there on my fox form," she suggests.

Oh, yes.

I smirk and reply, "Want to go there right now?"

She smiles brightly and her tail sways. "Yes! I want to test my bow. The Oodogloo is good for target practice because it's so nimble."

"Then let's go."

I want to go not because I'm excited to fight, but because I want a reason to ride Alissa. We already have all the requirements for sleeping outside, so we're completely ready.

We pass through customs with ease since we're both adventurers.

A few meters away from the crowd trying to enter the town, Alissa turns to me and excitedly says, "I'm skilled enough to absorb my clothes after transforming, but you'll have to hold my weapons, Master."

I hold them for her, and she turns around.

Here comes the trademark of magic in this world: she starts to shine. Her skin turns black, and her armor disappears inside her body, then orange fur starts to grow everywhere and her limbs warp. In just a couple of seconds, she turns into a one-meter tall orange fox.

Her big orange eyes look at me, then she opens her mouth and talks, but her jaw doesn't move, "Master, get on me, please." Seeing her speak like this is really weird.

"Uhh… shouldn't we get a saddle?" I question.

"There's no need; just grab my fur. This form is made of mana, so I don't feel pain."

I shrug. "If you say so."

I awkwardly mount her and delight myself with her incredibly soft and warm fur. I immediately notice that a big part of her body is pure fluffy fur and that she isn't very muscular.

I nuzzle up to her neck and secure myself.

Once I'm comfortable, she starts walking forward and explains, "I'll increase speed slowly, so tell me if it shakes too much."

"Alright, let's go."

Then she starts running, and I start to feel weird from the rhythmic swaying. She's fast, though, so it's really advantageous for us to move this way. I've never ridden a horse, so I need some time to learn how to deal with this.

During the trip, I keep thinking about what to do with her skill points. She has six free points that I can assign, and that's kind of a lot.

It's going to be hard to explain this ability to her, though. I can just use the "it's a secret" excuse, but this is kind of a big and weird secret because it seemingly violates the laws of the skill system. She could even think I'm a demi-god, or something, and I'm not comfortable with that.

I think I'll lie to her, again. I'll look into the skill she wants to improve the most and slowly put those points there. It's just the less messy way, I believe.

Well, Icould just do whatever I want and shrug if she notices something wrong. It's not like she's going to assume I'm the one doing it. But I'll tell her the truth, one day… just not now.

To test things, I put one point in [Enhanced Stamina].

-

The landscape remains the same all the way: long plantations on one side of the road, and a small wall on the other with the Sea of Trees behind it. It's a rather calming trip through a soothing scenery.

It takes us less than half the time to walk there, and we reach our target location a few hours before midday. We stop in front of the farm that was attacked, Woodwick Ranch.

Alissa slows down and stops under the shade of a tree by the road, then I drop down, and she reverses the transformation. She graciously gets up from being on her fours and looks at me, then I notice her posture seems a little droopy from tiredness.

I sit down on the roots and pull out the old sleeping bag beside me. I return her weapons to her, then she ties the sword and quiver to her waist and slings her bow over her shoulder.

"Lay down here, please," I ask and pat the bag.

"Thank you, Master," she diligently obeys.

She's so polite. She's always thanking me, but it does make me a bit uncomfortable, though.

"This is odd, I'm not as tired as I thought I'd be," she remarks and lays down.

So she noticed.

I pat her head, then she closes her eyes, and her tail twitches under her.

"Is that so? Didn't you miscalculate the distance? Or perhaps just by sleeping with me you got stronger?" I suggest with a grin.

She opens her eyes in surprise and stares at me.

"That was a joke, my body is no miracle drug," I add flatly and snort.

She awkwardly looks away for a moment. "Y-yes. That's not what I was thinking, though."

"Then what were you thinking?"

"It's what you said about being happy increases performance. It could be true."

So she's actually happy, now? I'm glad.

"Well, I wasn't lying," I tease her with a pout.

Her face warps with fear. "I'm sorry! That wasn't what I meant. I wanted to say that I just noticed it for the first time."

I chuckle at her, and she immediately pouts at my teasing. "It's okay, I understand," I whisper and pat her head faster.

She calms down and closes her eyes again.

-

She gets up after a good half-hour, fully recovered from our trip.

"Oh? I got a new skill, [Enhanced Stamina]," she observes and knits her eyebrows in confusion.

I hold back my grin and respond, "That's great. It means you can stay longer in your fox form right?"

"Yes, precisely," she mumbles with a puzzled face.

"Something wrong?"

Her tail lazily sways. "It's just that it was too easy. Like 'Endurance,' these sort of skills are hard to come by."

"Maybe you put more effort than you thought. I think you're a serious and hard worker, so this isn't unexpected for me." I give her shoulder an assuring squeeze.

She shrinks her posture, feeling a bit shy, but her tail starts wagging.

"Perhaps…" And her voice trails off while she looks into the distance.

Now that she has a better [Sense Presence] than me, I decide to remove it along with [Mental Resistance] since there's no need for it here. I increase [Blessing Magic] to level ten so I can use [Swift Foot] to give us a boost in speed. I increase [Electric Magic] to five and [Mana Control] to one so I can use [Lightning Bolt] more effectively to stun the Oodogloo because it's likely to run away.

My skills look like this:

-

['Wolf Ryder Skill Report']

['Physical']

[Skill Name: Level | Skill Name: Level | Skill Name: Level]

[Sword Use: 6+2 | Dodge: 2+4 | Parry: 1+4]

[Block: 2+4 | Shield Bash 0+1]

['Magical']

[Skill Name: Level | Skill Name: Level | Skill Name: Level]

[Mana Efficiency: 4+0 | Mana Recovery: 3+0 | Reduced Mana Cost 3+0]

[Mana Control: 1+0 | Electric Magic: 5+0 | Nature Magic: 5+0]

[Blessing Magic: 10+0]

['Miscellaneous']

[Skill Name: Level | Skill Name: Level]

[Andraste Language 10+0 | Dismantling: 0+1]

[OBS: Level means (free point)+(trained point)]

-

Now I need to explain my skills to Alissa, it's time to lie… again.

"Alissa, strategy meeting. Time to tell you another secret," I call her attention, and she sits down again obediently. I clear my throat and continue, "I have a power that basically allows me to use all kinds of magic, but it takes time to switch between magic types, and I'm not exactly proficient in any of them."

"Wow… that's amazing, Master," she innocently coos in wonder. "So, you're actually a genius magician."

Not true, but it's convenient that you think like this, so I won't tell you otherwise.

I awkwardly massage my neck. "Well, err… perhaps it is so. I just know it's something I'm capable of. But like I said, I'm not very proficient in magic in general. I'm a jack-of-all-trades, master of none."

"'Jack-of-all-trades'?" She tilts her head. Her confused face is adorable.

"An expression from my homeland, it means 'a person who can do anything,' but I'm not particularly good in any of them, therefore, I'm a 'master of none.'"

"I see…" She nods in understanding.

"Then, for this hunt, I'm going to use [Blessing Magic] and [Electric Magic]. I'll give us [Swift Foot], and when we meet the monster, I'll use [Lightning Bolt] to try to stun it. You just turn it into a pincushion."

"Pin… cushion. Ah, with the arrows. Another reference, I think." She looks puzzled, then smiles faintly once she gets it.

The pincushion isn't a thing yet?

"Ready?" I ask.

She gets up and hums confidently, "Yes, let's start looking for the monster."

Since Alissa has [Sense Presence] and the bow, she'll be basically assassinating every monster while I kind of do nothing until the battle, but there's no way around it, that's how trackers work.

Still, we're going to search the Sea of Trees during the day, so we could meet something that won't go down so easily. That's when I'll have to protect Alissa from getting into melee.

I cast [Swift Foot] on both of us, and two-thirds of my mana disappear.

-

We'll search the Sea of Trees for the Oodoogloo during the day while it sleeps, then we'll return to the farm to protect the livestock when the night falls.

This monster is the annoying kind that preys on large animals, but it isn't smart, just cowardly. It attacks the farms at random, so finding it before it leaves its nest is a better option than waiting for the night to come.

I bought a small compass, which will help with navigation, but we're basically going to wander around until Alissa catches its trail. If a farm gets attacked tonight, then it might leave tracks for us to follow, but the reward will drop a bit if it kills anything, so we don't want to rely on that.

As we make our way into the Sea of Trees, a familiar scenery appears before me: huge trees, damp air, dark atmosphere, unfamiliar fruits, gigantic entwining roots, hanging vines everywhere, and random patches of weirdly colored trees. I'm surprised there aren't more insects here considering how warm and wet this place is. Thank god for the Japanese devs who must hate bugs.

I lead the way with the compass, and we go directly west, deep into the forest.

-

After half an hour of walking, Alissa stops me. "Something is coming. Two small monsters," she whispers soberly.

We hide and wait for them to get into visual range, then Alissa ID's them: two lightly armored goblins. They have leather jackets, loincloths, a stone-tipped spear, and a crude wooden shield.

I give the order, "Fire at will. I'll block the second one if it reaches us."

She nods vigorously. "Understood." Then she gets up and fires two quick arrows.

Both goblins silently die with an arrow between their eyes before they can even react.

"Well…" I shrug and smile wryly.

I collect their ears and return to her.

"Likely scouts. There could be a small group camping nearby," Alissa guesses.

"Let's not get close to their camp."

"Understood."

Her demeanor has become as serious as when she was training, and I guess it's because she's fulfilling her "duty."

We move west again, and only a few minutes later, we have our second encounter. This time, there are three enemies coming, fast.

Alissa doesn't recognize what they are, and she doesn't believe they've detected us, but our paths are going to cross, and they're too close to safely avoid.

I decide to ambush them, so I'll get the one on the right, and Alissa will try to quickly kill the two on the left.

We patiently wait for them to approach, and I start to hear the pitter-patter of multiple small feet scurrying closer to us.

Alissa gives me the signal, then we spring out of our hiding spot and attack. Our enemies are three Mossy Fangpines.

I immediately cast [Lightning Bolt] at the first Fangpine, and the second receives an arrow on its head. A second arrow immediately flies towards the third Fangpine, but it's way too agile and manages to dodge, then it charges towards us.

I cast another [Lightning Bolt] at the stunned Fangpine, then an arrow sinks into its forehead and it dies.

I prepare myself to receive the charging monster. With my sword hiding behind my shield, I wait until the last moment, then I thrust.

The Fangpine is stupid and jumps into my sword, which sinks into its body, then it falls on my shield and I nearly lose my footing.

It starts to wriggle wildly, so I cast a [Lightning Bolt] with my shield hand right at its face and it goes limp, then I use my shield to push it off from my sword.

It falls on the ground with a thud, but it doesn't get up.

"Dead. You must've pierced its heart," Alissa comments.

"Lucky strike, I guess," I respond nervously.

"Perhaps… you could use a spear?" She suggests tentatively.

I scratch my head. "Perhaps… I feel a bit more comfortable with the sword, though."

She gives me a rather pitying look. "Your sword has a small reach, and I don't think you have the 'Strength' to use anything bigger."

I feel like pouting, but I hold it back.

I'm working on it.

The Fangpines are valuable, but their price varies depending on the stocks of ingredients for the alchemists or meat for the restaurants. So far, I haven't seen their meat being sold, so maybe the stocks are low.

"They must've sensed the goblins' deaths," Alissa speculates.

"Then let's change our direction. Let's move towards the north a little."

I collect all of their bodies and we move on.

-

There are no encounters for another hour, so we decide to have lunch early.

I spread a large cloth over the ground, and we sit down on it.

Our meal is a bean paste and Rabid Rabbit meat sandwich on a not-baguette. Unfortunately, the crust is not as crunchy as I'd like, but at least it doesn't make a mess. I forgot to buy fruit for juice or to even bring tea, so the meal is kind of boring.

"Next time, we should buy tea," I mutter.

Her ears twitch and her tail wags. "Oh? You like tea? You didn't tell me."

I smile awkwardly. "I forgot…"

My mind was too busy with abusing your body.

-

After our meal, I cast [Wind Armor] on both of us and [Sharp Blades] on myself. After the next break, I'll cast [Sharp Blades] on her. It's kind of annoying that I don't have enough MP to cast all my [Blessing Magic] in one go, but that can only be solved with more training.

We get up and move southwest since there's not much sense in going north too far. The Oodogloo nests deep in the forest during the day, but it's not smart enough to move diagonally to purposely avoid those chasing him.

We walk for another half hour before Alissa detects the next enemy.

"This one is large. I don't think it's a Grey Berserker, but I don't know what it is," she reports.

"Then let's observe."

Alissa leads ten meters in front because I don't have [Quiet Steps].

She makes the signal for me to stop, then sneaks ahead, circling a large root. She sights our target, then comes back to report.

"It's a Young Ogre."

A threat level 4 monster. It's capable of wiping a squad of soldiers, but we should be able to deal with him if we follow proper tactics. A simple plan is the most powerful power multiplier.

They're becoming a common sight after the culling, it seems, and this must be why their leather is cheap. The new monster is emigrating into the empty territory. They'll likely remain a common encounter until the next culling.

I store my shield inside my "Items" and give up on using a spear. Neither of these will be useful in this fight.