Villager Three

Kira stood among crumbling stone ruins in a small forest clearing, shafts of golden sunlight filtering through the canopy of trees yet unable to dispel the early morning mist clinging to the ground. She wiggled her b.a.r.e toes, pulled her blue hoodie out of the Inventory to fight off a chill, then opened the Map.

「 Did the Gate put me somewhere random?... No, it says... What? 」 The girl frowned. The Map was lit up and filled out as though she'd been in that area before, yet the forest didn't look familiar at all!

She was so engrossed in scrutinizing the Map she didn't notice her voice sounded just a bit different: a faint echo was tracing every word, a trembling and charismatic resonance forming an undercurrent beneath each sentence. Not unpleasant nor overtly obvious, but definitely unusual.

A faint outline showed the walls made by the stone ruins, and a closer look made her stomach leap into her throat.

The layout of the ruins was familiar.

Very familiar.

Kira spun on her heel, blue eyes wide.

The stone walls were composed of large gray rocks slotted close together, mostly covered in vines and brush. Kira ran into the 'room' behind her into the far left corner.

A big shrub grew over the corner of the wall. Kira snapped branches and smashed the shrub with her feet, ignoring splinters of wood and thorn that tore into her flesh and made her HP drop.

When the bush was cleared away, Kira saw a white rock about the size of a normal brick, just a bit lighter than its gray peers. Her hands trembled as she fit her small fingers around the protruding edges of the rock, pulling it out of the wall.

Dust flew into the air. Behind the rock was a small gap with a rusted metal box hidden within. There was a tiny heart-shaped padlock keeping the box shut.

「 Oh... Oh no... 」 Kira's voice dropped to a hoarse whisper as she fell to her knees, her knuckles almost as white as the rock she clutched in her shaking hands.

When it was new, the house was a beautiful stone Ranch-style home with a unique, distinct asymmetrical floor plan. Big windows, big rooms, and a big backyard. Warm and welcoming and filled with memories.

Kira reached into the hidden alcove and flicked her finger against the padlock. The metal felt brittle and cheap, snapping easily when she gave a forceful tug. Part of the metal box came with it, tearing off with a faint crunching sound.

Inside the box was her prized gemstone collection. Kira swept them into her Inventory with barely a thought but focused instead on the padlock in her grip, crumbling bits of metal from the box falling to dust.

The title suddenly made sense. For her house to be ruins and a forest to have sprung up in the surroundings, with thick a.d.u.l.t trees and not thin young saplings, for the treasure box to have rusted to the point where it fell apart with some outside pressure?

「 How long... Was I really gone? My house, my room, my treasure... My... 」

Tears rolled down her face, a broken sob rattling in her throat.

「 No... No! This... This is... This is too much! I just... I just wanted a vacation, I just wanted to skip school for awhile and have some fun, I just... I... 」

Kira pressed herself into the corner and cried, hugging the padlock and white rock to her c.h.e.s.t.

Her teachers were gone.

Her friends were gone.

Her favorite friendly old lady who ran the corner market and gave free popsicles to kids was gone.

...

Her family...

Was gone too...

And from the looks of the house they'd been gone a long damn time.

All because she was lazy and didn't try harder to solve the Gate's simple mystery.

「 I didn't even think about them, I didn't even miss them! I... I... 」

Kira's broken sobs turned into wretched shrieks and screams as she kicked her feet, slammed against the walls, swore and raged and flung rocks and branches and even leaves. She ripped the flesh on her hands and tore off fingernails prying brick after brick from the walls to smash them against the ground or throw them against trees.

By the time her tears finally ran dry her voice was completely gone from her nigh constant screaming and cursing.

Kira fell on the ground and stared at the sky in a daze.

Then she sat up again because her nose was congested from crying and that made it hard to breathe when laying down.

「 I don't have my home. I don't have my family. I don't have toilet paper. 」 Kira sighed. She thought her house would be on the other side of the Gate door so she didn't bring any extra supplies from the cottage.

Technically she was correct, her house was indeed on the other side. It just wasn't in a state she expected to see. Or even wanted to look at ever again.

All her Credits were spent during the farewell party celebration. Her inventory held her treasured gem collection, her old backpack and school supplies, and a blue hoodie she'd had since before entering the Gate. Nothing that would really help in her current situation.

Only items with traces of mana could be sold to the System Shop, and for far less than they were actually worth. She couldn't just grab some random twigs and berries to sell for supplies.

「 Mm. I have to find people. Get a job maybe. Find out how things have been since... 」

Hot tears stung the corners of her eyes once more. She dragged her thoughts away from that particular depressive mire and jumped to her feet.

「 I can't just be lazy all the time anymore. 」

She fled the ruins of her house like they were haunted, without looking back once.

The surroundings were different, but she walked the streets of her hometown enough to find where the road used to be. Somehow it turned into a wide but shallow creek, lined with weeds and flowering bushes.

Kira followed the creek for a long time. She didn't want to see how the old familiar landmarks had changed, to see her favorite spots become strange and overgrown.

So she walked.

And walked.

Took a break to soak her feet in the creek.

Then walked some more.

Kira refused to think about anything regarding the past. Instead she enjoyed the fresh morning air, the clear skies, and the peaceful quiet, immersing herself in the present moment.

She practiced using Earthshaping as she walked, causing the earth under her feet to undulate and ripple like water. Not enough to be a strain on her mana, but enough to practice the feeling of manipulating it.

The key she learned from the Porin was visualization. A strong visual meant more effective Shaping and was more efficient in terms of mana consumption. Since Shaping was the foundation of Spellcraft, practice would only help her future magic career.

Career...

「 Haa... I don't have to go to high school or college anymore, right? I didn't really have a plan for the future to begin with, but now... 」 Kira scratched the back of her neck and let out a deep sigh. 「 Whatever. I'll figure things out as I go. First priority: food and shelter. Everything else can wait! 」

Her stomach released an audible growl as though agreeing to her decision. She paused and sniffed the air, hoping to catch the scent of something yummy - ever since the [Sense] ability showed up in her Profile, her ability to perceive things in the surroundings kept getting better. If she focused on what her sensory organs were picking up Kira could even increase the range of detection.

Whether it was enemies, small animals, or even edible food, her sharp senses allowed hunting them down with relative ease.

Just because she couldn't Inspect her Skills for greater detail didn't mean she was completely oblivious to what they did! Their names were pretty descriptive.

She exhaled slowly and focused.

Instead of ripe berries or fruit, her s.e.n.s.i.t.i.v.e nose was teased by the faint stench of blood.

Kira's sleepy expression turned sharp, and she hurried off in the direction of the disturbance.

.....

Brigit Cinderscale, a proud Drakke Squire and aspiring Sword Saint, found herself cursing her erstwhile 'teammates' in her heart. Her muscular body was littered with deep wounds and bruises, armor dented and clothes torn. She breathed heavily, struggling to remain on her feet. "Why... Are you...?"

Tim and Boris Bonehorn, Orc brothers, couldn't help but glance at each other and laugh. Tim had an arrow notched in his bow, the arrow pointed toward the ground and string lax. Boris, on the other hand, held a large iron mace in one hand and a heavy wooden shield in the other, waving the mace menacingly.

Both of them were in much better shape than the Drakke, but their bodies nonetheless bore evidence of her struggle. Boris had one eye swollen shut, blood dripping from his cracked lips, while Tim had countless lacerations of varying depth on his body. Despite their injuries, the brothers didn't seem to be experiencing much pain.

Tim drew back the bowstring, aiming his arrow at the Drakke's c.h.e.s.t. "This entire excursion was a bust, and it's all your fault! We almost died in that hole, you dumb lizard bitch."

"I acknowledged... My mistake and... Was going to pay... The three of you back when... When we reached town." Brigit glanced at the Kobold Acolyte standing to the side, an expression of hurt flickering across the Drakke's beautiful face before it was replaced by her usual calm demeanor. "Lamp... You... Agree to this?"

Lamp avoided Brigit's gaze and remained silent. She clutched her wooden staff tightly, neither moving to defend Brigit nor obstruct Tim and Boris.

Brigit felt her heart break. The sword in her hand trembled. Tears sprang to her eyes, rolling slowly down her blood spattered cheeks.

They created a Party together, conquered several Gates as a team. Brigit one day received news of a treasure in a den of wolves in the wilderness, but her information source failed to mention the wolves were led by an evolved Dire Timber Dweller. Against a Level 15-E monster, the Level 5-F party was lucky to escape with their lives.

Quite a bit of their meager savings went into travel costs and supplies. They used all their potions and scrolls during the escape, and didn't even manage to loot anything worthwhile!

Their Party's finances were deep in the red and they almost died all because Brigit's information was lacking. Anger was understandable.

But she thought they were friends. Teammates. Companions! That they'd turn their weapons on her without a second thought after everything they went through together...

A cl.u.s.ter of bushes atop a nearby slope rustled. Tim and Boris directed their weapons to the new threat while Brigit remained unmoving, tears rolling down her face, disbelief in her golden eyes.

Until a thin girl fell out of the bushes, stumbled down the slope, tripped on an exposed root, did an awkward pirouette, and landed unceremoniously on her face in the dirt between the Drakke and her 'teammates'.

She held up a one hand clenched in a fist, then stuck out her thumb in a strange gesture.

Brigit stared.

Tim and Boris stared.

Lamp stared.

The girl sat up, brushed dirt off her shirt, and started babbling in an incomprehensible yet oddly familiar language.

Strangest of all, none of them detected her presence until the moment she fell through the bush into their midst! Everyone in the Party was already Level 5, they experienced countless dangers and just escaped a life-or-death situation. Their senses were on high alert and attuned to the surroundings, only something of a higher level trying to hide its presence could pass by so close without them noticing!

Except...

-----

Kira Hawthorne - Lv. 1-F Human Geomancer

HP: 16/20

MP: 32/50

-----

Everyone used their various Scan-type skills simultaneously, so their reactions were nearly simultaneous as well. Lamp screamed and backed away until her back hit a tree. Tim's hands shook so hard he dropped the arrow notched to his bow. Brigit, kneeling on the ground, could only stare at the girl in disbelief.

Only Boris reacted sensibly, holding up his shield in a defensive position. Only the bright sheen of sudden sweat on his fat, bald head gave away how he really felt.

The girl looked confused, furrowing her eyebrows. She spoke slowly, but her words were still random gibberish.

Tim and Boris exchanged glances.

A young Human, in the wilderness alone?

Yeah, right! And Boris was a Beauty Queen!

"We'll let you off this time Brigit," Tim said as he backed slowly away behind the cover of his larger brother and his sturdy shield, not making any sudden movements. "Looks like you'll die soon enough anyway, no matter what we do!"

Tim, Boris, and Lamp turned and ran without another word. Brigit received a notice that she'd been removed from the Party only after they vanished from sight.

Meanwhile, the Human girl looked absolutely baffled. She turned to look at Brigit, her babbling sounding hesitant and questioning, but still incoherent.

Brigit kept staring.

A Human!

A real Human!

Not a Demi of any kind, but a full pure-blooded Human! With 50 MP and 20 HP at Level 1-F!

Anyone or anything below Level 5 couldn't consume elixirs, use treasures, or otherwise utilize anything that would permanently alter their base stats. Most Beings got between 5-15HP and 5-20 MP per level depending on species and Class bonuses. But at Level 1, hardly any Being in the world would start with values above 10 each!

Even if her Class was unfortunate...

The girl wasn't acting hostile or arrogant. She didn't call for her Clan or signal any hiding companions.

Her clothes were a mess from the fall, her hair was filled with twigs and leaves, her exposed limbs were riddled with shallow scratches and smears of blood, while her b.a.r.e feet were caked with mud.

She didn't look anything like the terrifying monster she'd grow up to be.

She just looked confused.

A loud growl emerged from the girl's stomach, causing her to blush a bright red as she pressed her hands to her belly in a desperate attempt to stifle the noise.

Brigit glanced around. Seeing nothing in the surroundings ready to pounce on her for being too close to a Human child, she pulled a bread roll from her Inventory and held it out to the scrawny Human. "Are you... Hungry? Do Humans eat bread?"

The girl's eyes lit up. She babbled a short phrase before taking the bread, bobbing her head up and down in thanks, then devoured the offering in two greedy bites.

Brigit laughed and pulled some more bread from her Inventory, handing it all over to the suddenly very excited Human girl. "I guess Humans eat bread."

.....

Kira really didn't know what to make of the situation.

First, she tracked the source of the blood stink to a group of fighting... People?

Monsters?

Two monster men faced off against a monster woman, yelling at her in a strange language while the woman seemed to be weakly responding.

Off to the side was something that looked like a bipedal puppy with soft brown mottled fur wearing a plain robe and holding a staff in its paws.

The men were huge, over two meters tall each, with one being skinny while the other was fat. Their skin was a deep green color. Most shocking of all were their pig snouts, cow ears, and heavy tusks protruding from their mouths.

Across from them was a strange but beautiful woman with long dark blue hair plaited into an intricate braid that almost reached the ground when she was standing. She had large gold reptilian eyes, beautiful facial features in no way diminished by her sharp protruding canines, long pointed ears, and dark blue horns curling up and away from her temples.

She seemed to have teal skin from a distance, but once Kira accidentally tripped into their midst she saw the woman actually had scales - the scales on her face and neck were smaller and less distinct than the ones on her arms.

Cl.u.s.ters of darker blue scales decorated the sides of her face, neck, and the backs of her hands, almost like freckles. Gold patterns shimmered on the woman's eyelids.

「 Hey, guys! Sorry about dropping in on you. Uh. It was an accident, really. I wasn't planning on getting into the middle of whatever this is. Since I don't know your situation and if this pretty lady did anything bad or what. Sorry! But now that I'm here, maybe you can talk out your problems instead of resorting to violent murderdeath? I mean... Murder's illegal, isn't it? And morally reprehensible. But also illegal which is arguably worse. 」

Silence.

And then a scream, as the dog let out a piercing shriek and backed into a tree. The skinny man dropped an arrow, while the fat one held up his shield like he thought Kira was going to fling herself bodily against it.

The men started backing away, saying something Kira couldn't understand, before they and the dog turned to flee.

「 So uh. That was weird? Are they coming back or... Are you even okay? 」 Kira asked the teal woman, furrowing her eyebrows as she glanced over the woman's many injuries.

More silence.

Then her stomach growled, and the teal woman gave her a very delicious bread roll! She seemed happy when Kira ate it, laughing and handing some more over.

「 A language barrier huh... 」 Kira sighed, rubbing the back of her neck. 「 How am I supposed to ask her where a town is...? Oh! 」

She clapped her hands, startling the teal woman enough that she scooted away a few inches. Choosing to ignore her strange reaction, Kira grabbed the backpack from her Inventory and pulled out a notebook and pen.

Her art skills weren't anything phenomenal, but she could at least draw something simple. A person standing alone surrounded by trees in one corner of the page, and in the opposite corner a cl.u.s.ter of houses.

Once she finished, Kira proudly displayed the product of her labor to the teal lady.

She pointed at the lone figure in the drawing, then to herself. Then she pointed to the cl.u.s.ter of houses and made a shrugging gesture before shielding her eyes with her hands like she was looking for something in the distance. Then she shrugged again.

The teal lady seemed thoughtful.

She held out her hand to ask for the pen, then drew two figures on either side of the lone figure, larger in stature but basically the same design. The bigger figures seemed to be holding the smaller one's hands.

The teal lady turned her questioning gaze back to Kira, who sighed.

She took the pen back and slowly crossed the figures out. Her hand shook, causing the lines to wobble. Kira scribbled in frustration, blacking out the two figures entirely and ripping the page before throwing throwing pen into the bushes at full force. Then she hugged her knees to her c.h.e.s.t, hiding her face in her arms.

After that temperamental outburst she was too embarrassed to face the pretty teal monster lady.

Comprehension dawned on Brigit's face. She wasn't able to understand the Human's strange spoken tongue, but that body language and reaction were a different story entirely. It also explained why Inspect didn't reveal the Human's Clan along with her name.

The little Human was alone.

All the lingering fear clouding Brigit's heart disappeared, leaving only sympathy and concern for the young Human girl by herself in the wilderness.

Brigit sheathed her sword and slowly climbed to her feet. Once she was stable and upright, she extended a hand to the Human.

Kira glanced up at the teal woman. Tall, muscular, monstrous yet somehow pretty even with all her injuries and broken armor. On her face was a small smile, not scary at all despite the sharp teeth and protruding fangs. Warm kindness shone in the depths of her gold reptilian eyes.

And the teal lady gave her so much yummy bread!

After only a moment's hesitation, Kira grabbed the hand.