So that wasn’t really a nightmare, huh? I thought as the rays of the sun hit me in the face as if wanting to wake me up.

No matter what happened or who died, we still needed money, so we were going to hunt monsters today. I just wished it wasn’t so bright today.

We ate our breakfast and made our way to the Zone Two. We met up with Foulk on the way there and introduce the girls to him. The girls tried their best to be friendly but I guess they weren’t really in the mood to talk to other people.

We made it in Zone Two without much talking. The atmosphere was awkward, even Takana didn’t speak much.

I can’t handle this silence.

When we were eating breakfast, we talked about where we should go. Zone One didn’t give enough loot as the kasaks there were poor and weak. We wouldn’t improve or grow if we stick there, that’s why we chose to go to Zone Two.

Of course, we discussed about what would happen if we meet Bladetree. According to Foulk, Bladetree rarely went to Zone Two, maybe once in a blue moon. It was because Zone Three had plenty of wealthy wanderers or at least wealthy in these parts. So I guess we were just extremely unlucky.

“So, what’s the plan, Terrin?” Takana asked me as he unsheathed his colossal sword.

“Plan?” I furrowed my brows. “Shouldn’t you be asking Hashi?” I realized it was too late to correct myself.

Fuyuki and Kihana looked downwards again just like what they’d all been doing this morning and Takana just sighed as if he was done with me. The atmosphere became stiff and quiet again that I could almost feel it in my body.

Merry facepalmed. Since she was seated beside me, she snapped her finger on the back of my neck. Naturally, I was startled and I quickly looked at her, hoping for some answer. She repeatedly darted her eyes towards the party. As I looked at her, I remembered what she said last night.

All right, I have to this. But how exactly does Hashi do this? Usually, he would ask me to scout or be bait but is it really okay for me to leave them here? What would happen if I leave and something happens? Isn’t it the leader’s job to issue orders to the party?

I pondered there for about a minute and then suddenly announced “I’m going to get us some kasak, just prepare yourself.” And quickly went outside.

I hid and waited by the bushes near the river as the river was one of the places where you would usually find a kasak.

How does one become a leader? If I recall, they teach us that in school. They said something about being confident. I should have listened more if I knew this was going to happen. So does that mean I’m doomed to fail? I mean if I really think about it, I don’t have those traits. I’m confident but only within my own circle, heck even in my own circle it’s still hard to be confident.

As I contemplated about what it means to be a leader, I heard the unintelligible voice of the kasak.

Looks like there are three of them and they only have light armor or someone who uses a crossbow. Alright, I think we can manage that.

I threw a small rock at one of them to provoke them. Kasaks like these were a bit predictable; they would usually think that you were alone and would start to chase you.

Yup, they took my bait.

I went back to my party bringing with me three angry kasaks.

“Guys, they’re here!”

They were in our formation. We readied ourselves as this would be our first fight without Hashi.

Without Hashi…doesn’t that mean that either me or Takana would take two of them at the same time?

“Takana, can you take two of them?”

“Of course I can!”

The three kasak charged towards us. All their weapons were just a crude sword and an axe.

“Pound!” Takana pounded his shield and taunted the enemy. One of them got caught and immediately went to Takana. He used his shield to block its attack and with a roar, he brought down his colossal sword on the kasak, splitting its head into two.

It’s good to see you haven’t lost your edge, Takana.

The kasak that went to me had an axe on his hand and the other one passed by me to go to the rear. The axe kasak sliced me horizontally but I managed to dodge it by ducking. The axe kasak was flexible as after it tried to slice me, he spun and kicked me in the chest. It didn’t hurt but I still fell from the force and the kasak immediately tried to bring down its axe on me but I rolled to my left and immediately stood up.

“Sal, mo, rak!” Fuyuki casted Ice Shard. Three ice shards flew towards the sword kasak. It easily dodged it and made its way to Merry.

There are times when there are kasaks who are quick on their feet. Takana have trouble taking these quick kasaks.

I noticed that the sword kasak wasn’t aiming on Merry or Fuyuki but rather its eyes were focused on Kihana.

“Merry, protect them!”

“You don’t have to tell me.”

It’s the same before, no, actually most of them, when they got the chance, they go for the back and aim for Kihana. But why specifically Kihana?

The axe kasak that was in front of me again charged at me. It sliced me diagonally but I dodged it and sliced the kasak’s arm. My dagger smoothly sliced a part of lower arm causing it to bleed. My cheek suddenly felt painful, so I touch it and saw blood. It seems he sliced me.

That was close.

“Takana, help Merry! I can take this one.”

“Alright but don’t take your time with it.”

The axe kasak put the axe on his left hand. It charged in recklessly, holding the axe on top of its head.

There.

The axe kasak was slow and it allowed me to get in close but not without it trying to slice me. Although it almost sliced my hair, I nevertheless dodged it and stabbed it in the stomach. It involuntarily let go of the axe and shrieked as it threw a tantrum on the floor like a baby except with blood. I went near it and buried my dagger in its neck and twisted it, suddenly silencing the axe kasak.

I’m sorry but you’re death is necessary for our survival. Hashi had always said that in the battle, lives are at always stake. I have to do my best to keep our party alive. I’m not going to let you down, Hashi. I hope you’re guiding us in the afterlife.

“What the heck? You didn’t really need my help now, did you?” Takana said.

I looked towards the commotion and saw that Merry was holding the sword kasak by its head. It didn’t move or struggled, it was just being carried by Merry.

That woman is really strong. She can probably…

After I received another scolding from Kihana, she healed me and quietly enchanted “May Shaina's sacred mercies enveloped you…Heal.”

With the battle now being over, we collected our loot. In total, we collected six fangs, six claws and a wanderers badge and we also collected the axe and sword.

“Hey, take a look at this.” I showed the wanderers badge to my party.

Fuyuki took it from my hands and said “If you return a wanderers badge to the guild they would give you one silver for it, right?”

I’m glad she finally spoke.

“Yup but more importantly, those who have the official badge are only hunting kasaks in the Zone Three, right? Have any of you seen any Wanderers in Zone One and Zone Two?”

“Now that you mentioned it, I haven’t seen any of them…”

Phew, I thought Kihana would never speak again.

“Right? That means this kasaks are from Zone Three. In other words, we have defeated kasaks from Zone Three.”

“What if they just lost it?” Fuyuki tilted her head. I’ve seen it many times but it never gets old. It was still cute.

“Sure you can say that they just stole it or other wanderers just lost it but do you really believe that those people are that clumsy? If it were us, then I would have 100% agreed with you especially since Takana is with us.”

“That’s rude. Are you saying that I’m dumb or something?”

“Yes. The fact that you didn’t understand what he said shows that you’re an idiot.” Merry said coldly. When it comes to Takana, there’s no compassion in her eyes.

“Listen here, Merry.” He inhaled loudly. “I’m not an idiot!” Takana shouted.

“Yes, you are. Take a look at your feet.” Merry pointed downwards.

Takana looked downwards and saw everything was normal there. “Huh?” he was quite bewildered.

“Good expression. Just like a monkey who follows orders.” Everyone laughed.

I didn’t know if Takana turned red because he was angry or embarrassed but he stopped talking and just crossed his arm in the corner like a kid who was in a timeout.

“Anyway, as I was saying, I think we should entertain the idea that we should go to Zone Three. These kasaks have more loot than the kasaks in this place. What do you guys think?” I asked.

“But isn’t that where Bladetree originally from? What if we encountered him?” a mix of anger and fear clashed in Fuyuki’s voice.

“Hmmm…we should probably prepare ourselves and our equipments before going there, so we’ll be prepared unlike last time. How much money do you guys have?”

“Not much, maybe around two silvers. Us girls bought clothes last week which cost about half a silver.” Fuyuki said.

“S-Same as Fuyuki.”

“I only have about three silvers, if I recall correctly.” Merry said.

“What about you, Takana?” I had to increase my voice a bit since he was a bit far away.

At first, I saw his mouth moved but I couldn’t hear anything but then he shouted “I only have maybe less than 500 bronze coins!” as he came near us.

I facepalmed. I knew this would happen. “What happened to your money?”

“So listen to this, there was this new food shop near my association’s area and a buddy of mine invited me to eat there. It turned out the food there was similar to my world and I had a blast eating there. I think I spent about two silvers there.” Takana narrated while he was drooling. It seems it was a great shop.

“My world?” Merry was confused.

Yeah, normally you wouldn’t say my world, Takana.

Fuyuki pulled Takana’s ear and quickly said “Ahhhh, what he meant was, that’s right, it was a restaurant we ate before we met you two.” Fuyuki awkwardly smiled. She was waiving her hands around; it seems she was not good at lying.

It seems Merry believed them.

I wander why they were summoned in this world…

I looked at Fuyuki in the eyes, which was enough to made me blush, and said “Can…Can we use Hashi’s money?”

Fuyuki was the one who kept Hashi’s belongings. Since she was the one who had been with him the longest, it was only natural.

“Of course, I think Hashi would agree to give it you guys instead of not being useful.” She said without hesitation in her eyes. “Although I think it’s only about three silvers.”

“That’s plenty enough.” I said with a smile.

It was our fault that Hashi died. If we didn’t rely on him, he would still be alive right now. Now that I am in his position, I can say that being a leader was absolutely hard. You would often think about your party while fighting at the same time. You would always be pressured by your choices, not knowing if it would be the right one because we know that one mistake can mean someone’s death.

“Well, since we’ve rest up, I’m going to get more kasaks for us.” I stood up and went again by the river.

*

We hunted three more kasaks and by the time we finished. In total, we collected 12 fangs and claws, 2 daggers, 4 swords, and 1 axe. After that we decided to go home. The girls wanted to rest, so they went home while Takana and I went to the tavern again.

“It’s like we never left this place.” I said astonishingly because when we left the tavern, it was still lively and now it still was.

“What did you expect? Anyway, come on, let’s find a table.”

We found a table and Takana immediately ordered two beers for him and a juice for me.

“Come on, are you really a man?”

“Not drinking something alcoholic doesn’t mean you’re not a man.”

“What?” he was bewildered. “Drinking them is what it takes to be a man! That’s why nobody likes you.”

“Nobody likes me?” that hit hard more than I expected. “Y-Yes they do…” I can’t really say with full confidence that they like me.

“I’m sorry to say but no, they don’t my poor friend.” He went beside me and put his hand over my shoulder. “Think about it. Merry doesn’t like you, Fuyuki’s just being nice and so is Kihana. Trust me, I’ve been with them more.” He whispered it to me like a devil whispering to someone.

“Seriously?” Takana went back to his seat because the workers brought our drinks. Takana quickly drank one.

“What were we talking about again?” a moronic expression appeared on Takana’s face. Again, his face was red after drinking one jug of beer.

“You’re the worst drinker in this world. Just so you know, I’m not going to stop you if you’re going to kiss someone again.”

We were here to talk to Foulk about what Zone Three looks like. If we’re going there, we had to be prepared for everything.

I don’t want to lose anyone again.

Suddenly, there was a commotion.

“Hey, isn’t that symbol from the clan Fel Crows!?

“What? Don’t be stupid. They won’t come to a shoddy place like —“the man did a double spit take when he saw it. “Whoa! It’s really them!”

“That’s Ryuu from the newspaper!”

“For real!? It’s really Ryuu!”

“Ryuu!”

The people in the tavern celebrated and mentioned their name as if they were celebrities or something. I can’t blame them, though. They do look amazing.

I don’t know who was Ryuu was because there were five of them. There were two girls and two men but one of them was wearing like a gas mask, so I didn’t know if he was a man or a woman but judging from that person’s height, he looked like a man. They were wearing red cloaks with their weapons.

The man with the glasses looked around as if finding something but when his eyes came to our view, he slightly furrowed his brows. He came to us, though I don’t know who he was or what his business was to begin with.

“Takana…is that you?” his voice sounded sharp and mighty. I can tell from my first look that he was a prideful man. He was carrying a bow on his back and he had a short sword on his waist.

Takana was drunk. Drinking two jugs of beers already, I didn’t know if he was sober enough to properly talk someone. “Can I help you?” I said in a polite way.

“Shut up. I’m not talking to you.”

Scary. That’s too scary.

His gaze was like the gaze of a lion hunting its prey. He was so intense that Merry’s coldness didn’t even come close to him.

Takana was making a funny face because he was drunk but when he looked at the terrifying man, his eyes bulged, it was as if he instantaneously became sober.

“Shiro…W-What are you doing here?” I’ve never seen Takana being respectful before.

“So it is you. Where are the others?” Shiro said as he looked around.

“They’re not here right now…but Hashi’s dead.”

“That man’s dead, huh?” he said as he touched his chin.

“I told you he would die but you didn’t believe me!” the man on Shiro’s right laughed as if it was a good joke. He had a sword but this one was like Hashi’s. It was long and there were three gems in the hilt. The scabbard itself looked magnificent.

Takana put on a fake laughed along with them. His face was that of a scared like a victim laughing along with his bully.

“Leave.”

“Who’s this?”

“He’s just a nobody, Ryuu. Don’t mind him; he’s not even worth your time.” Takana said tactfully.

I quickly stood up and tried to punch the guy that made fun of Hashi but someone punched me. I narrowly dodge it and the blow instead hit the table. With the sound of crashing, the table broke.

She’s strong!

“That wasn’t necessary, Aya.” Shiro said.

“If I didn’t punch him, Ryuu would have and then he would die. I’m a priest and I don’t want anyone dying.”

She’s a priest? What the heck? Her punch broke the table. I can’t imagine Kihana doing something like that.

“Alright, alright.” Shiro said. “Let’s leave. There’s nothing worthwhile here and oh yeah,” he took out a gold coins in his pouch and gave one to me. “This is for Hashi and for the table.”

“We don’t need it.” I gave it back to him.

“All right, then.” After that, they left.

Takana suddenly slammed parts of the broken table and angrily said “Why didn’t you accept the gold coin? We could have an easy life with that single thing!”

“Shut up! They were making fun of Hashi and you didn’t even do anything about them!”

“There was no point in provoking them. Listen Terrin, those people are monsters. Especially that guy with the glasses.” I couldn’t see his face but he was gripping his fist hard. “Anyway, pay for our drinks and the table, I’m leaving.” Takana quickly ran to leave.

What the heck…not only I almost got punched by a girl, now I have to pay this?