Chapter 4: This Job’ll Be a Cakewalk!

Chapter 4:
This Job’ll Be a Cakewalk!

 

AFTER EXITING through the western gate, the two walked for around an hour before arriving at their destination—the woods. Flum was feeling fine, thanks to the endurance-enhancing effect of her sword, but Milkit looked like she was nearing her limit.

“Wanna take a break before we head in?”

“Please don’t worry about me, Master.”

“We’re taking a break.”

Milkit reached up and fiddled with her bandages, something of a nervous gesture of hers. She hadn’t accidentally betrayed her true feelings, had she? In any case, it changed nothing. If Flum wanted to take a rest, then that’s what they’d do. She obediently followed her master to some tree stumps near the outer perimeter of the woods.

Flum sat on a stump and let her legs dangle, feeling the tips of the grass brush against her feet as the wind blew across them. She gazed absently up at the sky. Finally, her heart was at ease. But that feeling wouldn’t last. Not for long. She should enjoy it while she could.

But she couldn’t relax with Milkit just standing there like that. Flum patted the wood next to her.

“No need to concern yourself, Master.”

“Watching you stand there is causing me concern. Now hurry up and sit down.”

“Is that an order?”

“Sure, whatever. Now sit.”

With that flustered command issued, Milkit sat down on the stump, being mindful to keep her distance from Flum. Flum was a bit perturbed by the space but figured this was a fair compromise.

Finally, Milkit’s voice broke the silence. “Master…?”

She sounded like something was bothering her.

“Yeah?”

“Does my appearance bother you?” The bandages over her lips moved as she spoke, causing them to rustle against the other dried bandages around her face.

Flum answered honestly. There was no sense in hiding how she felt. “It does, actually. It’s kinda weird looking.”

Some parts of the bandages were stained red and black, and unhealthy-looking skin peeked from the gaps between the cloth. Even though she knew that Milkit was a girl around her own age, there was just something incredibly disconcerting about her appearance.

“Then why did you bring me with you?”

“I felt bad just leaving you all alone there.”

“In that case, I don’t think a cold, quiet person like myself is a good fit for you, Master. Perhaps you should just sell me and purchase another slave?”

Milkit was so incredibly pessimistic that it was actually quite annoying. She was technically correct, though: there was no real reason for Flum to keep her around. They’d merely happened to be in the same cage and happened to both survive their ordeal. And yet, Flum felt a sense of responsibility toward Milkit. Like she needed the younger girl with her.

“Well…maybe I’m not all that saintly, I guess.”

“Are you referring to the reason why you brought me along?”

Flum answered as honestly as she could, “Right. I was useless and couldn’t do anything for the people around me… In fact, that’s why I was sold off as a slave. I figured that if I could take you, someone worse off than me, and actually make you happy, then maybe—just maybe, something good would come of my being born into this world. I think there was a bit of selfishness in there, as well.”

The more she thought about it, the more she realized just how true her words were. She’d wanted to save Milkit from the depths of hell. Maybe she still longed to call herself a hero. Maybe, deep within, she’d wanted to gain back the confidence she lost after being dismissed from the party and sold into the bonds of slavery.

“I can’t say I completely understand it, but regardless of your reasoning, Master, are you saying that you’re trying to make me happy? If that’s the case, then you really should just sell me. I’m not the right slave for that.”

“You’ve already accepted me as your master, right? Then it’s too late. I’m not interested in trading you in.”

“In that case…” Milkit reached one hand back behind her head and began undoing the bandage.

“Ah…”

The sound escaped Flum’s lips before she even realized it. The sight was pretty grotesque. From chin to forehead, Milkit’s entire face was puffy, red, and mottled. The skin was swollen and inflamed in some places and peeling away in others, with a translucent liquid oozing from the open wounds.

“Do you still want to keep me around?” Milkit didn’t look particularly bothered by the prospect of being discarded by Flum. Maybe she felt that it wasn’t quite fair to keep disguising herself—that if she didn’t show Flum everything about her, she would be betraying her master.

Flum stood in stunned silence, her hand over her mouth. The world seemed to spin around her as a tangle of thoughts ran through her head. Sickening, painful, grotesque, pitiful…beautiful eyes. Alas, none of these words would mean much to Milkit, even if she did give them voice.

There was one useful fact amidst the flurry, however. Eterna had taught her about herbal remedies on their travels, and she distantly remembered mention of a special condition where only the skin of the face was affected.

“Could this be the effects of mustardo toxins?”

“Moostar…?” Milkit looked back at her blankly.

“Hold still, okay?”

If she was right, then that’d mean that most of the pain was gone by now. Flum reached up to touch Milkit’s face to see if she was, in fact, suffering from the effects of mustardo toxins. However, Milkit quickly stood up and turned away before she made contact.

“You musn’t touch my face, Master. You might catch it, too.”

“Mustardo toxin can’t be transmitted from one person to another.”

“I was told that my condition can, so perhaps you’re wrong about this toxin, Master.”

“Who told you that?”

“My previous master. I was told that once another person caught it, it could never be cured. Therefore, I must never let another person touch my face.”

Flum’s outstretched hand curled into a fist, her nails biting into her palm.

The world really was full of absolutely disgusting people. And it was always the weak and downtrodden innocents who became their victims. The villains continued to live lives of leisure while the ones they hurt struggled, suffered, and died, even their deaths becoming fodder for their murderers’ entertainment.

What allowed this to keep happening? Or rather—would she allow it to keep happening?

“Lies! Those bastards do nothing but lie!”

There was no one around for Flum to take out her anger on, though she was furious enough to rip someone in two, given the chance. Alas, the only ones here were the victims of these heinous acts. All they could do was lick their wounds and try to comfort each other.

Flum stood up and pulled Milkit close, hugging her tightly. The other girl tried to resist, but Flum wasn’t concerned—there was no disease to be transmitted. She pressed her cheek against Milkit’s.

“No, Master, please don’t do that. If you do wind up catching it, you’ll be just as hideous as me.” This was the first time Flum had heard any emotion in Milkit’s voice.

“I don’t care!”

Flum raised her voice, hoping it might help dispel Milkit’s concerns.

“Listen closely. I intend to be your master, Milkit. Maybe you would run if my face looked like that, but all you’ve done is further cement my determination.”

“That was never my intention, Master. But since you said you wanted to make me happy, I figured I should tell you that my previous master already told me my face will never heal. I just didn’t want to disappoint you.”

“I can’t believe he’d say something like that. I mean, sure, this is beyond what healing magic can do, but still…”

Most injuries and illnesses in the kingdom were treated not by doctors but by priests and shrine maidens. Those with a light affinity used healing magic, which could cure most ailments without the need for medicine or other surgical procedures. Thanks to the spread of healing magic, the average life expectancy of those living in the kingdom had rapidly increased.

Magic, however, was far from a panacea. There were still ailments out there that couldn’t be cured, and the skin inflammation caused by mustardo toxins was one of them.

“But there is a way to heal you, Milkit. It’s actually quite simple, too. Even if magic can’t heal you, there’s medicine out there that can.”

“You are certainly very knowledgeable, Master. But aren’t the medicine men all gone now?”

Milkit was correct. The church believed that the Pontiff, a long-standing position passed from father to son, should possess the only healing powers in the land. Deciding, thus, to destroy the medical practitioners of the land, the church had first used its power and influence to disrupt their practices before finally convincing the king to make it law.

The followers of Origin—which included the vast majority of the kingdom’s residents—believed everything the church told them. The priests told their congregations that turning their backs on medical practitioners proved their faith in Origin, and as a result, the vast majority of practitioners in the land were forced to shutter their businesses.

However, their teachings lived on. Before she was sent on her journey to overthrow the Demon Lord, there was a young mage who’d lived all alone in a secluded area largely beyond the church’s reach. The medical knowledge and techniques that were on the verge of being lost forever lived on in her—in the mind of Eterna Rinebow.

Travelling alongside Eterna on their journey to the Demon Lord, Flum had tried to learn everything she could from her about magic and medicinal herbs in the hopes of making herself more useful to the party. They’d only spent a short time together, so she didn’t even know where to start when it came to compounding medicine herself, but she had at least learned enough to be able to identify the source of a problem from its symptoms.

“I know the components we’ll need to treat you. Once I settle into life as an adventurer, we’ll start getting them together, and I’ll see if I can call on an acquaintance to help me make the medicine.”

Now whether Eterna—a woman who had so easily agreed to Flum being sold into a life of bondage—would even agree to help her out remained to be seen. But Flum remembered her as an easygoing woman who was kind and quick to share her wisdom, and as useless as Flum may have been, she’d tried her best to build decent relationships with the other heroes. Or at least, she thought she had. At this point, she doubted how close she had ever really gotten to any of them.

She would never really know the answer unless she asked Eterna herself. For now, Flum decided to just stay positive and believe that she’d help them. They had enough working against them as it was. She chose to have faith.

She and Milkit finally broke their embrace.

“First things first, we need to get through today.”

“You’re right, Master. If we spend too long here, night will be upon us.”

Flum smiled brightly at Milkit, causing the slave girl to shyly avert her gaze. It was rather cute, actually. She helped Milkit bandage her face back up before the two girls made their way into the forest, off to find the werewolves that apparently lived within its confines.

 

***

 

The forest was dim, with only a few rays of light peeking through the dense foliage above. The air felt damp and cool on their exposed skin. The ground was moist and sank beneath their feet, as if it were moments from trying to suck them in. Flum gripped Milkit’s hand a little tighter to keep her companion from tripping as they proceeded deeper and deeper into the woods.

This was going to be the first time that she actually used her cursed sword in real combat. In fact, it would be the first time she’d even battled a monster. Flum’s heart raced in her chest, fear creeping over her as she questioned how good an idea this was. Her feet felt heavy as they plodded forward.

However, the warmth of Milkit’s hand in hers brought forth a desire…a sense of duty to protect her young companion. The gentle, innocent warmth that emanated from Milkit’s hand into hers pushed her fears to the back of her mind and gave her a renewed sense of courage.

 

***

 

About fifteen minutes after they’d entered the forest, Flum finally stopped. Some distance behind them, she could still see the faint light of the “entrance” of sorts where they found a break in the tree line. She pulled Milkit behind a tree and brought her index finger to her lips.

She had just spotted a pack of three wolves walking along on the path ahead.

 

Grey Wolf

Affinity: Earth

Strength: 108

Magic: 9

Endurance: 61

Agility: 109

Perception: 98

 

Each one had a combined stat value of 385—and were E-Rank monsters.

Thanks to the boost from her Souleater blade, Flum’s stats were locked in at an impressive 995. As long as she kept her cool, she should be able to take them down without a problem. However, she’d been told she was out looking for F-Rank monsters, which were a fair bit weaker than these grey wolves here. This wasn’t exactly the ideal situation to get her practice in. Milkit’s shoes were pretty much torn to shreds and weren’t exactly good for moving around stealthily.

Just then, the wolves suddenly stopped and looked in Flum’s direction. Trying to get Milkit out of here was no longer an option. Flum decided it’d probably be wiser to draw the enemies to her, rather than turn her back on them and run. She gestured to Milkit to wait behind the tree for her.

Looking up at the sky, she drew a deep breath. Just as she let it out, the wolves began to growl. They arched their backs in unison and lunged toward the still unarmed Flum, who clearly presented a tempting target.

As soon as the three wolves were in range, Flum summoned forth her blade.

“Hyaaaah!!”

FWOP!

The black blade cut straight through the wolves’ heads, not just severing flesh, but even cracking their skulls, sending brain matter in every direction. The three wolves dropped instantaneously to the ground.

“Hah…hah…hah…”

Flum’s hand trembled. She, a girl who had been useless in a fight her entire life, had now taken a life in combat. This thought ignited a fire in her heart. Her shoulders trembled as she tried to steady her breathing.

Insects were already descending upon the corpses to feast on their still-warm flesh. In a matter of time, the wolves’ bodies would be returned to the forest.

Milkit called out, her voice devoid of any emotion as usual. “Quite impressive, Master.”

The seemingly empty compliment was like a splash of cold water, putting an end to the excitement welling up in Flum. She turned toward Milkit and reached out her hand. “Let’s get going.”

These weren’t the monsters they were looking for. However, if she was able to so easily slay these E-Rank monsters, then the F-Rank ones she was looking for should be no problem.

Her confidence renewed, the two moved deeper into the woods.

***

 

It took another 20 minutes before they encountered the monster they were looking for.

“There it is,” Flum whispered to avoid drawing the attention of the bipedal wolf up ahead. It appeared to be looking for its next meal.

“You know, Master, I can’t actually fight. Is it really best for me to be all the way out here?”

While her observation was certainly spot on, it was a little too late for that now. Flum leaned in close to Milkit and whispered in her ear, careful to not make any more noise than was absolutely necessary.

“I originally planned to leave you behind in the capital to wait for me, but to be honest, humans are probably more dangerous than these monsters.”

If she left Milkit, a slave, alone in town—they might never see each other again. Weighed against the risks of being attacked by a monster, the forest seemed like a safer place for Milkit to be.

“That may be true, but I still can’t be of any help to you here.”

“Just keep yourself safe. Run, if you have to. I’m pretty sure you can escape from an F-Rank monster. We’ll come up with a strategy for what to do next time, later.”

For now, they really just needed money to put a roof over their heads tonight. Before she did anything else, Flum decided to scan the werewolf. Words and numbers filled her peripheral vision.

 

Werewolf

Affinity: Earth

Strength: 159

Magic: 22

Endurance: 79

Agility: 207

Perception: 54

 

After taking in the stats, she felt an indignant rage rise up within her.

“That bastard Dein. He wasn’t trying to help us at all—he was sending us into a trap!”

“What is it?”

“The werewolf has a total stat value of 521. Any monsters over the 500 line are considered D-Rank monsters.”

“But weren’t you sent out after an F-Rank monster?”

“We were tricked by Dein and the guild.”

Sending a new adventurer off to fight a D-Rank monster was essentially sentencing them to death. Even with a well-formed plan of attack, your chances of victory were slim at best. Dein and the guild were trying to kill her and Milkit.

“Unfortunately for them, I’m no pushover.”

Thanks to the Zweihänder’s stat boost, Flum was more powerful than a mere D-Rank monster. In fact, she was nearly on par with C-Rank monsters—defined by having a total stat value of 1,000. Moreover, the blade had a curative effect on her body.

This werewolf should be no problem.

Flum concentrated and summoned forth her blade. A moment later, she felt the heft of the sword in her hand. She gripped the hilt tightly in her hand and began to close in on the werewolf.

She locked her feet and was about to unleash a powerful strike when, suddenly, she heard Milkit frantically call out to her.

“Master, look!”

In the direction Milkit was pointing, she spotted another werewolf.

In fact—she spotted another two coming from different directions, making for a total of four werewolves all descending on the same spot.

The most dangerous thing D-Rank monsters could do was come together and attack as a pack. In fact, there was a popular saying among adventurers that if you saw one, you should assume there were another three nearby. Even with Flum’s impressive stat buffs, fighting four D-Rank monsters at once greatly reduced her odds of victory. She’d need to split them up somehow.

Flum eyed her opponents warily. One of the werewolves shook its head from side to side and began to look around. It must’ve caught her scent or heard her movements. The other three immediately went on guard and began to look around them, too.

Flum and Milkit ducked behind the trees, hoping to wait the werewolves out until they calmed down.

Before that could happen, however, a sudden blast of wind burst through the forest, shaking the trees and showering them in leaves. The suddenness of it all caused Flum to cry out.

“Ack!”

She held her arm over her face to protect it from the blowing debris and risked a look in the werewolves’ direction. She was shocked to see the severed lower half of a werewolf body in the clearing. And even more so to see a huge, lion-like creature munching on the severed upper torso.

The new creature had massive, bird-like wings growing out of its back. The other werewolves launched at it but were easily dispatched with a swipe of its powerful paw, sending them crashing into nearby trees before the creature closed in to eat its latest victims.

“Scan!”

Flum had never seen a monster like this before. She immediately checked its stats.

 

Anzu

Affinity: Wind

Strength: 542

Magic: 408

Endurance: 301

Agility: 422

Perception: 214

 

Its stats were nearly twice that of Flum’s, at 1887.

“C-Rank?! No way…”

There was no way she could win against this thing. Her only choice was to try and escape before it found them.

Alas, hiding in the shadow of a tree was hardly enough to keep the monster from sensing their presence. The anzu had already noticed them. Shreds of flesh dribbled from its mouth as it fixed its beady black eyes in the two girls’ direction. A deep growl reverberated deep in the monster’s throat as it began to flap its wings, whipping up a localized wind storm in the middle of the clearing.

It was readying to strike.

“Milkit!!” Flum moved instinctively, shoving Milkit away. At least…at least one of them could survive, maybe.

“Eeek!” Milkit tumbled to the ground before readjusting herself and staring up at her master.

The anzu let out a roar as it gave its wings one more furious flap, summoning up a powerful magic attack. The wind formed into strong gusts as sharp as a blade, tearing up the earth in their wake as they closed in on Flum.

There was nowhere to run.

The trees around them were smashed to little more than splinters. Flum’s arms and legs flew off in every direction, plumes of blood marking their flight through the air.