When we returned to the town, we sold all that we looted from the kasak. It amounted to a measly silver coin. The fangs were ten bronze each, there were six claws which totaled to thirty bronze and the two defective daggers were thirty bronze each. Overall, it wasn’t enough. We had to divide it for six people which were sixteen bronze each, the remainder was kept for next time.

This isn’t enough.

This was barely enough for one meal. What was more, the money we got from the guild was almost depleted since we used it for the past two weeks. Even though we were frugal, two and a half silvers just wasn’t going to cut it.

If fighting monster won’t kill us, starving to death just might do the trick.

Sadly, I had to postpone my true goal. While it would absolutely hurt me, I was no used to Shakna dead. Not only that, I needed battle experience, too, and a lot of it if I was going to save her.

After going to the market, we went home. We took a bath and slept early as to have the strength necessary for tomorrow. As for me, I couldn’t really sleep, so I went outside of the room to the backyard, where we usually cook, with my earphone connected to my phone.

Sometimes, when I couldn't sleep, I would often went here and took a look at the heavenly sky. Listening to music while looking at the heavenly bodies was a pure bliss for me since there were no city lights here. The view was breathtaking even if I wasn't in a high vantage point.

I wonder how things are back home…is my cat still alive? I really hope they take care of him.

While I do miss my home and my family, I didn’t have a strong urge to go back home. There were only three of us in my family and my parents were always busy with their work that we barely interacted with each other. That was why I had a cat, to keep myself accompanied in the empty house. With that being said, I was thankful for them for raising me and it was regrettable that they would spend their lives not knowing what happened to me.

I turned my head around as I heard footsteps. In the darkness, my ears and eyes were sensitive, so I would notice something though compared to other assassins, my abilities were mediocre at best. I quickly hid my phone in my pocket as I absolutely didn’t want my heart to be squeezed in the middle of this beautiful and dazzling night.

“Is that you, Terrin?” a faint voice ranged out. It was weak but I still heard it.

“Hashi?”

“Yup. What were you doing?” he stretched as he walked to me.

“Nothing. Just enjoying the night sky.” I casually said.

Well, in our world, using a phone would mean you’re not doing anything at the moment, so I didn’t lie to him. Okay, maybe a little.

“It is beautiful…” he said as he looked smilingly at the night sky. “Did something happen?”

“I was just thinking about home.”

“Home, huh?” he said with a longing look towards the night sky.

Does he miss our world?

Since I don’t really know anything about them, I took my opportunity and asked, “Speaking of home, do you and Fuyuki know each other for a long time?”

His eyes widened a bit and said, “I’m surprised you know.”

“You did mention it two weeks ago and I’ve never really got the opportunity to ask.” I sounded like a gossiper.

He took a seat and paused for a bit with his hand on his chin. “I guess we’ve been unfair to the both of you since we hardly talk about our past.”

“No, no, no,” I waved my hand in the air. “The same goes for us. We really do hardly talk about our past.”

“How about this? I’ll tell you about our past and you tell me one about yours?”

“Alright,” That did sounded fair.

“I’ll answer your question before. Fuyuki and I have known each other since we were maybe six or seven because our parents are good friends. We went to the same school and ever since then we’ve been stuck with each other. In other words, she’s essentially like a little sister to me.” he explained with such an innocent expression. They must really be close. “Did that satisfy you?”

“Yeah, though when you are together, you don’t look like close at all.”

“A lot of people do say that. I guess that’s just how our relationship works.”

“Alright. You can ask me.” I said.

“Hmmm,” he contemplated then looked at me. “How about you, Terrin? Where are you from?” his eyes narrowed.

Is he onto me?

I can literally feel my heart tighten as the second goes by. Is it because he’s suspicious of me?

Right now, it wasn’t painful enough but I can physically feel it. “I’m from a town called…Colkin in the neighboring kingdom.” I tried to be as vague as possible but I explained it in an awkward way because that was an impromptu. I was hoping he didn't know any town from the other kingdoms.

His narrowed eyes turned into a smile as he said calmly, “Is that so?”

The moment he said that, the pain in my heart completely disappeared.

“Why did you ask?”

“You’re very different from the people here, at least from what we’ve seen. Also your name, it’s like ours. Since you’re like that, I was curious at where you live. They must be good people like you.” He said smilingly.

That did make sense but he was really observant. I should be more careful.

“Well,” he stood up. “thanks for the chitchat. Don’t tell this to others but I’ll be going out. Don’t worry, I’m not gonna do anything shady.” He laughed and then with a wave of his hand, he quickly left.

It’s not like I’m his parents to stop him…

*

“Takana, it’s going your way!” I said.

The next day we came back and immediately hunted kasaks. It was not that we were eager to fight, more like we didn’t have enough money left. Their situation was the same as us but apparently, Takana had it worse as he had to buy a lot of armor and he also sharpened his huge sword to a blacksmith which cost a lot of money.

“I have eyes, you know!” he shouted while pounding his huge sword on his shield. This was one of his abilities, Pound. Basically, whenever the enemy was within range, when they hear the pounding sound, they would be enraged and thoughtlessly attack Takana.

“Come here, you little shit!” as he pound his sword on his shield, the infuriated shout and the resentful eyes of the kasak were now directed towards Takana.

Our enemies were two kasaks. As for the other kasak, Hashi was fighting it one-on-one. We found them by the river in which they were putting water in their canteen. The river was a great hunting spot since all life here needed water.

As the kasaks attacked overwhelmed Takana, I blended in with the shadows and circled around in the back. This was one of my basic abilities which was Stealth. All assassins must learn how to do it.

One of the basic things an assassin must know is to know where to hit the vital spots of an enemy. Many spots can be fatal for an enemy but since there were many monsters with different kinds of body structure, it was hard to tell where it was but the rule of thumb was these monsters would always have some kind of feet or hands, just like the kasaks. So it would be better to start there instead of attacking aimlessly and randomly.

I quietly went behind one of the enraged kasaks. As I moved, I accidentally stepped on a branch. It made a crackling sound. The moment the crackling sound happened, the kasaks stopped attacking and immediately looked at my direction. I tried to bury my dagger in its neck but the kasak dodged it by turning to the left. My dagger passed through and hit slightly hit its shoulder instead.

So that’s how a cutting a flesh feels like. It was the same as cutting a chicken yet at the same time, it was sickening. Was it because they have self-awareness that I find it sickening to kill them?

After dodging, it regained its posture and attacked me diagonally.

Shit!

I tried to block it with my dagger but since it was small, I couldn’t completely block it and the kasak managed to wound me in the upper arm.

That hurts!

“What are you doing, idiot!?” Takana brought up his sword and tried to hit the kasak vertically. As the kasak was quick and flexible, he managed to dodge it.

“Man, you’re really useless.” Takana chased the kasak.

As for me, I didn’t want to anger someone, so I went to Kihana.

“Terrin, you’re truly pathetic.” Merry said coldly.

She transformed into a half-beast with her arms and hands turning into bluish fur and having cat-like ears. I’ve only seen it twice but I feel like I was looking at the real Merry, not that her appearance before wasn’t real. Her main job was to protect the rear but she could also join or swap with others if necessary.

“I’ll take over your place,” She stretched her hand and feet. “Don’t let anything bad happen to these two, do you understand?” she looked at me and scarily narrowed her eyes.

“Yes, ma’am!” and with my affirmation, to the battlefield she went.

She can be really scary if she wants to.

“You’re really close to each other, huh?” a teasing remark from Fuyuki. At the moment, she wasn’t doing anything because she was not entirely confident on her accuracy. So Hashi said we should first slow the enemy and let Fuyuki get the killing blow. They did say teamwork makes the dream work.

“Let me see the wound.” I showed it to Kihana and with a serious look, she examined it. “You should be more careful, Terrin. What if that kasak hurt you somewhere fatal?” she scolded. Now that I really think about it, Kihana sounded like a caring mother.

She put her hands in front and prayed, “May Shaina's sacred mercies enveloped you…Heal.” Light enveloped my wound and in an instant, my wounds were healed.

“Thank you very much.” I said.

Hashi was still fighting the kasak while the other two were doing the same. Being in the back really makes you see the entire fight.

It must have been hard for Hashi watching others while fighting and leading…

Hashi was using his skill, Backtrack, which allowed him to make space whenever the kasak gets too close. He’s quite fast and strong, so he was overwhelming the kasak. He hit the kasak diagonally but the kasak dodge it by stepping back. While the kasak was in midair, Hashi, with one of his foot forward, bended his knees and thrusted his sword forward. The kasak couldn’t dodge it, so it was a direct hit but it seemed it was shallow because the kasak was still moving. It was only a matter of time before the kasak fell.

On the other side, Merry and Takana were having trouble catching the kasak. Takana’s Pound no longer affected the kasak, so they had no way to keep it still anymore. Though Merry was definitely fast, the kasak was nimble and quick, and it allowed him to dodge their attempts.

Merry’s choice of weapon was her fist. Her bare and naked fist. Due to her abnormal strength, her fist hurts more than it should. When the kasak was on a tree, Merry tried to punch the kasak but the kasak managed to dodge and instead hit the tree, her punch leaving a fist mark on the poor tree.

Making her angry should be anyone’s least priority.

“You’ve got nowhere to run!” a grin could be seen on Takana’s face.

They finally cornered the kasak on the back of a destroyed house. Merry made the first move and punched the kasak on the stomach. She was successful and the kasak let out some saliva. Merry retreated and Takana, with the might of his huge sword, brought it down on the kasak. The kasak’s shoulder was torn apart and it screamed until it could no longer stand, blood gushing out of its body.

As a finishing blow and an accuracy practice, they let Fuyuki finished the kayak.

“Fuyuki, you can do it now. And for the love of God, Don’t miss!”

While writing unintelligible sigils in the air, she quietly said, “Sal mo rak,” three big ice shards formed around her and it was pointed towards the kasak. This was her magic ability called Ice Shard. She fired it, and with rapid speed, it hit the kayak on the face, feet, and chest. It was quite gruesome to look at.

“I finally did it…”

I looked at the girl who gave the finishing blow. She had that scared expression but was also smiling at the same time, she even fell down. Kihana went and hugged her.

As for Hashi, he thrusted his sword many times that the kasak couldn’t block it all. That was his skill, Thrust. The kasak got hit and this time, it was deep as a lot of blood came gushing out. With a last swing from Hashi, the kasak fell.

I guess I’m the only one who’s useless here, huh…

We collected the loot which was the claws and fangs, this time they didn’t have anything valuable with them. We took shelter in one of the old houses and ate our lunch there.

“Man, you're so useless, Terrin.” Takana complained before eating his meal.

It consisted of gasa which was like brown soup and a combination of meat and vegetables. Actually, we all had the same food and Merry cooked it as to not spend more money. Even though she wasn’t a maid anymore, she still kept doing these. Anyway, the food was great.

“For once, I agree with you.” Merry said before drinking water. We get our water from the river just like kasaks but we’re being careful as we don’t want to be ambushed. Incidentally, the water was cold and clean, so it was a great way to cool since it was a hot today.

It was hard to retort when they’re saying the truth. Hays.

“Our hate for Terrin is about the same level, huh, Merry?”

“You could say that but my hate for you is on entirely new level.”

“Yes, yes, he really is —“he choked and coughed a couple of times. After he drank water, he shouted “What did you say!?”

“She said she hates you.” Fuyuki said. “This is one of the reasons why I like Merry, she hates you, too.” Fuyuki smiled at Merry and Merry was blushing. She must not often receive a smile like that.

“Ha!” Takana pointed at Fuyuki. “You talk big yet you can’t even hit one kasak!”

A vein can be seen on the face of Fuyuki. “I might not be able to hit them but I’m sure I can hit you right now.” a wicked smile on Fuyuki’s face.

“What!? I was just telling the truth!” he blocked his face with his hands.

“P-Please don’t hit Takana, Fuyuki…” Kihana said pleadingly while tugging her clothes.

“Kihana!” uncharacteristically or characteristically, Takana was about to jump to Kihana to do something but luckily, Fuyuki was there to stop him. She punched him in the face, her fist deeply buried itself in Takana’s face.

“What were you about to do!?” an exasperated voice come out of Fuyuki.

“Nothing!” he checked his nose. “I was just going to offer my thanks!”

“Yeah, right, you scum.” Fuyuki looked at Kihana. “Listen, Kihana, guys like this, they’re scum. Look closely at his face, it says ‘scum’. Don’t pity people like this especially this one.” Fuyuki said coldly. No, that wasn’t cold, that was a weapon. A brutal weapon that couldkill someone.

“Okay, okay, that’s enough.” Hashi ceased the fighting. “We all did great even Takana. We supported each other and that’s what matters.”

He was right. Every one of us had roles to keep and if we keep it, we’d be okay. Though the only thing I can do right now was being bait. I hate being bait.

“Just trust me, guys! Am I not the strongest here?” Takana threw out his chest and pounded it with his right hand. It seemed the earlier deadly remarked didn’t affect him that much. Everyone ignored him and continued to eat their food. Poor Takana.

After eating, we rested. After that, we hunted another set of kasaks. Though it was still messy, we were getting the hung of it. We managed to hunt them down and looted their claws and fangs. After those two fights, we went back to the town.

Overall, the money we got from the kasak totaled to one silver and fifty bronze. It was a slight improvement considering this was our only second day. We believed that we were off to a normal start. We divided it to twenty-five bronze each, though it was only barely enough, earning something was a lot better than nothing.

The girls decided that they wanted to explore the town and that included Merry. Even I hadn't fully explored the town yet but I didn’t want to impose to them. Besides, I wanted Merry to feel like a normal girl.

As for us boys, we went back to the house and rested. It was mostly us boys on the frontline, so it was kind of tiring.

I’ll just sleep for an hour…

At the end of the day, just as Hashi said, as long as we'd stick together, we'd be fine. At this rate, I’ll be back to my true goal in no time but for now, I’ll enjoy the time I have with these people and yes, even Takana.