8 Once More, Into The Fray

Theresa had just come back home from talking with Decena. What a hard girl to understand she is. She knew she was lying to herself though, Decena wasn't hard to understand at all. Many times over her career she had seen other men and women fall into that same trap Decena found herself in. Trauma, depression, sorrow, whatever you want to call it, it was a hard thing to shake off.

She walked across her room, taking her shirt off and throwing it onto the bed. She was going to change into something else, something a little more comfortable before visiting the local tavern later, but before then, she walked over to the window. Baring her naked chest with not an ounce of shame in her heart, she opened the window and made a gesture as if she was hugging the air. So refreshing~! She thought.

She looked down at the village after placing her hand on her chin and resting her elbow on the window frame. Generally, at this time the merchants would be closing up shop, or opening up shop depending on the business they ran, and the rest would be on their way home. So, there weren't many people out at this hour. However, a boy caught her eye.

The kid she'd met yesterday, he was running. Where to, she didn't know, but he was running somewhere. He was shirtless, and dripping with sweat, his brown hair flowing in the wind, his yellow eyes focused on his current task. Is he training? Theresa smiled. To run shirtless through a village packed with young women, the boy was either extremely confident or extremely dense. Considering his background, Theresa reasoned it was the latter.

He appeared in view once more, and stopped. He must be taking a break. Theresa squinted her eyes as she noticed the scars that ran along his body. Of course, someone who had to hunt down their own food was likely to take an injury here and there. But, some of those scars were a bit excessive. There was a large cut that ran from his waist, up his toned abdomen, and all the way to his shoulder. What manner of beast could cause a scar like that? It didn't seem like the kind of thing one could even survive.

Still, he was moving and jumping around as if it were nothing. It was fairly entertaining to Theresa, watching this boy train. However, she stopped when he started swinging his sword around like a child. No poise, no elegance to his motions at all, he flailed his sword like a complete amateur. No wonder he'd taken so many hits throughout his life. The more she watched, the more it got on her nerves. As a former teacher, it annoyed her to see something like this.

She decided to help the kid out.

She put on a black shirt, and walked out of the inn and to the side yard where Jin was. He hadn't noticed her yet. She cleared her throat, causing him to turn her way. Looking at his body this close, he was a lot thinner than he seemed to be from the distance.

"You're holding it wrong." She said. He blinked, looked at his sword, and looked back at Theresa.

"E-Excuse me?" He asked. She sighed.

"Here, let me show you." She extended her hand, beckoning for the weapon. She could see a little reluctance in his eyes as he gave it up. Did he think she would just stab him, here and now?

She took a few steps back and fixed her posture, straightening her back, and separating her legs a bit further than shoulder-length.

"Keep the thing in front of you, and keep it vertical. It's a lot easier to adjust to an incoming attack this way." It was the most basic lesson of all swordplay, but he apparently didn't know it. "Where did you learn to fight?" She asked.

"Um, the forest." He replied, scratching his head.

"No, eh, I mean who taught you."

"My aunt." He replied.

"And who taught her?"

"Uh..." He looked away.

I see. Theresa thought. An amateur raised an amateur. At least when it comes to the sword.

"Don't worry, everyone has to start somewhere." She tried to comfort him. "Run at me." He paused.

"Why?"

"So I can show you something. Don't worry, I won't bite." She smirked.

"Uh, okay." He clumsily started jogging towards her. She took a step forwards, and with a speed he couldn't register, she spun into an overhead slash that stopped just before hitting his neck. It appeared he didn't expect that, as he tripped and fell on his knees.

She laughed, holding a hand out to help him back up.

"Fighting isn't about being the most agressive. It's about reacting to someone else's over-agression. Well, the way I fight anyway." She said, handing him the sword back.

"O-Okay." He said. He's going to forget, isn't he? She hadn't known him for more than two days, and she already deduced he was likely to be the clumsy type. At least at this level of inexperience. A whim appeared in her mind. Like, all other whims, she decided to follow it.

"Alright. Come back here tomorrow, in the morning. I'll be teaching you how to fight from now on."

"Wait, what?" He was surprised.

"Did you mishear me? I said I'm going to teach you." She replied.

"Why?"

"It would pain me to see such amateurish swordplay every day. I'm just saving myself the headache." She reasoned. In reality, she didn't know why she wanted to help him. But, then again, she always followed the motto of "if your gut tells you to do something, unless it's food related, you do it".

With not another word, she turned around, and walked away.

Jin stood there for a moment. What just happened? It felt like a storm had just come and gone. Well, regardless, he needed to end his training session for now. He wanted to take another job at the guild.

He walked inside the inn, and went to his room, to grab his shirt. After putting the thing on, over his sweat-covered body, he left.

All things considered, his first job went well, but he still wasn't used to this village. Everyone had complicated expressions he couldn't read, and spoke of things he didn't understand. In the morning, he had walked into someone and almost knocked them down, and they asked if he was "part of the circus or something". What even is a circus?

So far, hunting was the only thing that made him feel like he was making any sort of progress in getting acclimated to this place.

He found the guild, not too far away, and inside were several men and women dressed in armor, a few maids and butlers, and Ricca behind her desk at the back. He walked up to her, and noticed how her wings started to flutter lightly.

"Ah, Jin, how can I help?"

"Are there any hunting jobs?" He asked.

"We just put one up. Check it out." She gestured towards the job board.

"Thank you." Jin replied.

He walked over there, and saw the options. Among them, was one that read: Hunting: There's a pack of ice-wolves to the west, near a cabin that needs to be eliminated. 20 silvers. Five silvers extra, if you find a copper ring inside the cabin. He ripped the paper off and handed it to Ricca. Her strange lips curled into a smile.

"Good luck." She said.

Jin walked out of the building, but before he could take another step, he heard a voice to his left.

"Jin!" A female, high-pitched voice called out to him.

"Viscerin?" He asked. Sure enough, the girl was waving her hand and jogging towards him. Is waving your hand how they say hello around here? He awkwardly waved his own hand back.

"Hey, I'm glad I caught up with you. I was looking for you. I-I just wanted to ask if you wanted to do another job together." Jin raised an eyebrow and looked behind her. The other two weren't there.

"Where are the others?" He asked.

"Hm? Oh, Thompson and Goljin are hanging out at the tavern."

So, just us? Jin thought. Well, she's not terrible with her bow... Maybe she can help?

He remembered that largely, the reason their plan had failed when they hunted the thunder-bear was due to Goljin. Just thinking about that moment made Jin grimace. But he shook his head and turned his attention back to Viscerin.

"Sure." He said.

"Awesome!" She raised a fist and grinned.

They began walking towards the northern gate.

"What have you been doing?" Viscerin asked.

"Training, I guess."

"Is that it?" She asked. "Come on! You have to go around the village and see what it has to offer. We aren't that boring around here."

"What is there to do?" He asked.

"Well, the sattreus is really entertaining." She said as the exited the village.

"Sattreus?"

"It's a place where the adults dress up in costumes, and act out scenes for the children to watch.

Scenes. Act. Costumes? Nothing was registering in Jin's mind.

"Besides that," she continued, "there's the Music Box."

"What's that?"

"It's a place where people play music for silver. Don't worry, they're really good." Viscerin smiled and looked away for a moment. "How about I show you around after this?" Her voice had gone low, and she seemed timid. "If you want to, that is." She said. Something about this girl made him feel warm inside. It was... Unnerving.

"I... don't see the harm." On the contrary, maybe this was just the kind of thing he needed.

"Great. So, where are we headed?" Viscerin asked. Jin forgot he hadn't told her about the mission.

"Well, there's supposed to be a cabin around here somewhere. There's a pack of ice-wolves inside we have to deal with."

"Ice-wolves!?" Viscerin asked.

"... Yeah." Jin replied.

"Why didn't you say so~! Those things scare the crap out of me." She said.

"Sorry, it sort of slipped my mind." He looked down.

"N-No," She replied, "I guess it's my fault. I-I should have asked." She began breathing deep, and muttering to herself. "Come on, Vis, you've got this."

Soon enough, they came across a grey cabin, made of rocks. However, the view caught Jin off guard. There was dried blood sprayed out across the ground, and a single, man's corpse just outside the front door, positioned as if he was crawling away. He didn't have legs. It was so gruesome, it made Jin halt. He looked to his side, and saw Viscerin with a hand on her mouth.

"That... That looks bad." She nearly whispered.

"The wolves should be inside the cabin." Jin said, trying not to focus on the body. "I'll draw them out, and you shoot them from afar, okay?"

Viscerin shook her head, and nodded.

"Okay."

Despite what they were seeing, she looked much more composed here than she did last time.

Jin understood. The first time Elizabeth took him to go hunt, he had tasted true fear. After that day, he still got scared at times, but nothing scared him quite like that. Viscerin must have gone through that yesterday.

Jin unsheathed his sword, and began walking forwards. He took one look back, and saw that Viscerin had already nocked an arrow. She looked determined. Jin felt reassured. Maybe she wouldn't shoot with her eyes closed like she did yesterday. Oh, dammit. Why did he have to remember that?

Another thought appeared in his mind as he approached the cabin. How many wolves were there? Was he walking into a den? The cabin wasn't that big. He got closer to the door, and opened it. Immediately, three ice-wolf heads snapped in his direction. They were eating another corpse that hadn't made it as far as the other man had. The smell was terrible.

One of the wolves lunged towards him. He instinctively drew his blade up, shielding him just a little as the wolf tackled him. Dammit! He'd been caught off guard. The last thing you wanted while huntin was to have an animal on top of you. The fight was basically over for Jin at that moment.

Or it would be, if an arrow hadn't struck the wolf's head. Surprised, Jin looked to his right. Viscerin was breathing heavy, but that determined look was still there. She had come through for him.

No time to rest though, as the other two ice-wolves began running towards him. He remembered the lesson he had learned not too long ago, and tried to imitate Theresa's pose. She was right. Something about it just felt comfortable. As one of the wolves stopped and cast an ice spell at him, he ducked underneath the propelled blue beam. The other jumped towards him, much like the one from earlier.

But this time, he was ready. Instead of allowing it to tackle him, he spun like Theresa had, and sliced the ice-wolf's snout clean off. It fell nearby, and to its credit, it didn't give up. It tried to lunge towards Jin again, but before it could build momentum, an arrow found its body. It whimpered and tried to get away, but quickly, another arrow hit. It died.

The last wolf was still far away. Jin gripped his sword tighter, and tried to appear taller. There was a very simple reason for this. Often times, when animals find their allies dead, much like humans, they will choose not to fight whatever killed their friends. Sure enough, this wolf simply ran away.

Just like that, the fight was over. Real fights, don't last long. Jin remembered.

He sheathed his blade and instinctively walked towards one of the wolf's corpses.

"What are you doing?" Viscerin asked.

"I'm taking it back." Jin replied, as if nothing was wrong with that.

"W-What? Why?" Viscerin genuinely looked stupefied. Did these people not eat what they hunted? Jin made an exception yesterday because he wanted to go back to the village as quickly as possible, but here were two fresh Ice-Wolf corpses. Why not eat them?

"Jin, if you want food, just buy it." Viscerin said with a smile. Right, Jin had forgotten that around here, people could just trade that "silver" for food. What a strange system.

He shrugged and put the ice-wolf down.

"Oh, right. The mission said something about a ring." He said. "Wait for me." He told Viscerin.

"O-Okay."

He walked inside the cabin. The smell hit him again, harder than that ice-wolf had earlier. He'd never smelled a decaying corpse. He'd always eaten them before they had a chance to get like this. He steeled himself, and began looking for the ring.

The cabin was extremely small, nothing like his own. There were two beds, a few tables and some decorations. Nothing more. He got closer to the table, and found a copper ring on its edges. There!

He exited the cabin, to find Viscerin staring at the wolves. She wasn't showing anywhere near the same amount of discomfort as she had yesterday, but she was probably still shaken up a little. Jin had come to terms with the fact that this kind of stuff wasn't common for these people.

"Viscerin." He called out. "Let's go."

They returned to the guild, and brought two blue horns from both ice-wolves as evidence of the mission being complete.

"Good work." Ricca said, not just to Jin, but to Viscerin who was standing next to him.

"Thanks." Viscerin gave a shy smile as Ricca gave Jin a pouch filled with silver.

"Oh, here's the ring." Jin said. Ricca grabbed it, and analyzed it for a moment. The way she looked at it was almost as if she recognized it.

"I see..." She muttered. "Well, that's all. Thank you." She said.

They exited the guild.

"Still want to come with me?" Viscerin asked, her cheeks were bright red.

"Yeah."

"Alright, let's go."