Chapter Thirty-Two - Responsibility and Suchlike

Cover WIP by Sebastian!

Onwards!

***

“Are there more of them?” Rosario asked.

It took Lucky a few moments to catch on to what she meant. “The [Forest Raptors]? Ah, no ma’am, I think these five are it. They’ve been terrorizing the farms around here for a month or so.” She scanned over the corpses, some of which were significantly more intact than others, and her long tail swished.

Rosario tilted her head a little at that. The tail was just long enough to reach mid-calf and had very long hairs. She initially suspected some sort of dog, but the ears atop Lucky’s head were more deer-like? She could still be a dog person, but Rosario suspected otherwise.

“Cricket, do you have any harvesting skills?” Rosario asked.

Cricket did a handstand. There was no particular reason for it. “Nope!” she said before flipping over to right herself. “Nothing like that! I told you, I haven’t taken [Adventurer] yet!”

“That’s fine,” Rosario said. “Let’s cut their ears off and bring them to the mayor.”

“I’ll do it!” Lucky said. Before Rosario could protest she took off, running over to the nearest corpse and hacking at it with her... well, Rosario loathed the idea of calling the young woman’s weapon a ‘sword’ but that was technically what it was.

While she got to work, Cricket bounced over. “You made a new friend!” Cricket said. “I think she likes you!”

“I think she sees what she wants to,” Rosario said. “It’s probably just a reaction to being saved.”

Cricket hummed and tapped at her chin. “Mayhaps! I take it thee doth not wish for a little apprentice.”

“I have my hands full enough with you,” Rosario replied.

Cricket gasped. “I am not thine apprentice! I am your jester! Your royal giggler! Your bedwarmer, travelling companion and most favourite bug. Many things I am, but an apprentice I am not!”

Rosario didn’t have time to protest or counter the argument that Lucky was running back with a handful of ears. “I’m done, ma’am!” she said.

“Thank you,” Rosario replied. She took the ears, grimaced, and tossed them into her inventory. She brushed her hands clean on some grass. “Let’s get you back to town. Did you take that potion I gave you for your injury?”

“Ah, no ma’am!” Lucky said. She took out the potion and eyed it, then her eyes goggled.

“Rose, dearest of all elves, did you truly give that to the little horse?” Cricket asked. She leaned way up close to the potion, which was clearly infiltrating Lucky’s bubble because the girl backed off.

“Yes?” She used [Inspect] on the potion, just in case.

[Potion of Healing]

Magical Elixir - Fourth Tier

“Ma’am, I cannot!” Lucky said.

Ah, Rosario supposed it was on the expensive side. It was player-made, and not by her. She’d bought a lot of a hundred or so potions, each one costing about a hundred gold. Endgame trades between players often had weird price tags that she wasn’t sure translated well to the current era.

In any case. “Just take a sip, please. Your leg might get infected.”

“And you know what happens to horses with lame legs!” Cricket said. “The same thing as frogs!”

Rosario had no idea what that meant and chose not to delve into Cricket’s mind. She watched as Lucky very reluctantly opened the bottle, sniffed it, then took the tiniest of sips before shoving the cork back in and returning it with a bow. By the time Rosario plucked the potion back, the bit of scrapped skin on Lucky’s calf was fully healed, scabs flaking off. 

“Let’s get to the mayor,” Rosario said.

She could deal with all of this headache-y stuff later. 

The mayor, as it turned out, was quite pleased, both with the ears, the fact that they had nothing they could do with five somewhat valuable monster corpses, and that they had found Lucky alive and well.

He did give the young woman a stern talking to, which had her red in the face, especially when it came out that she had gone on to do something about the monsters herself with that piece of scrap she called a sword.

He sent her off, but Rosario couldn’t help but notice that the young woman didn’t actually get far, hiding in one of the barns right next to the town.

They were, of course, invited to stay the night. That included a hearty meal from the mayor’s wife, who could do marvelous things with a hunk of ham and some slow-cooked root vegetables, then they were given a room.

“Oh no,” Cricket said as she entered the guest bedroom. It was a rather small space, clearly doubling as storage for a few seasonal items. “There is only one bed! Whatever shall we do with their most irksome situation!” She spun, then crashed onto the rather small bed and shuffled until she was in a pose that she probably suspected was alluring, one leg folded, one hand on her hip and the other under her chin while she chewed on her lower lip.

Rosario stared for a moment, then looked away. She... well, she had things going on. “I wasn’t planning on sleeping anyway. Goodnight.”

“Wha!” 

Rosario snuck out of the house, though not before having a quick chat with the Mayor. She asked about Lucky and got some details. The young woman’s family, one of the many Smith families from the town, had passed away some time ago.

Rather than allow herself to be adopted by distant relatives, or accepting an early marriage to become a proper [Farm Wife] at a slightly younger age than usual, Lucile had become something of a trouble maker.

Not in the way that someone like Cricket might have. She didn’t pull pranks and annoy people. Instead, she volunteered to do hard labour to earn her keep. She had apparently gained six levels in just under a year, which sounded like an impressive feat.

Her determination to work hard was appreciated, but her goals... less so. She was determined to become a [Sword Saint] which, in a town like Smithville, population sub-one-thousand, that was quite the strange dream.

“She’s gonna get herself killed,” the Mayor said. He had taken out a pipe and filled it with some sort of pungent weed. “I... no one wants to see that, miss Thorn. But I think... I think something broke in Lucile when her family passed on. Bad business, that. The world and the village would be a better place if she settled down, put that hard head of hers to work raising a good family. Ah, but I was young too, once, I suppose.”

Rosario thanked him, then she shifted her job to [Rogue] and proceeded to grind. 

Her idea of grinding was... perhaps a little less exciting and level-efficient than most, but still. She ran a circuit around the town, snuck through windows, riffled through people’s belongings, and looked for trouble.

Unfortunately, Smithville had no hidden cults, nefarious guilds, or even particularly rude people. She discovered a few villagers that were sitting on some stashes of silver crows and bronze bits hidden beneath old floorboards, but she elected not to steal from anyone.

Then she moved around the town’s outskirts, using a [Green Mage] spell to attract monsters. Those she fought using only a knife and her [Rouge] skills to land careful critical strikes. 

She did pause to take a nap, ironically in the same barn that Lucky had snuck into. The young woman slept with her ‘sword’ next to her. She didn’t sleep well, constantly twitching and moving.

Rosario... considered it. 

Did she want an apprentice? No, not particularly.

On the other hand, there might be some use to having someone along who wasn’t Cricket. For one thing, she didn’t feel comfortable sparring with Cricket. For another, Lucile seemed eager, and like a hard worker. Maybe some of that would rub off on Cricket?

On the other other hand, maybe Cricket would rub herself all over the young horse woman, and Rosario didn’t want to be responsible for anything like that. Though she suspected that Cricket was a little more respectful than that.

And on the topic of Cricket... actually, no, Rosario took those feelings and bottled them up for later. She had a lot of things going on, and... yup, it wasn’t appropriate for a maid. That was right.

She awoke before the sun, mostly because Lucile did the same. The young woman went to a well and grabbed a bucket. When she started to wash herself off in the barn, Rosario snuck out, switched jobs, and went to wake Cricket up.

“Come on,” she said to the lazy clown. “Time to hit the road.”

“Thou art a torturer most unkind!” Cricket said.

She still allowed Rosario to drag her out, though they did have a quick breakfast with the Mayor and his wife, finishing up only an hour after the sun had risen.

Rosario could respect the farmer-like work ethic. It was very maidly.

When they stepped out, it was to find Lucky standing outside, a small sack made from loose cloth over her back and a piece of bread in hand. She was clearly waiting for them. “I’m ready to follow you,” she declared.

“Are you?” Rosario asked. “Do you know what being my apprentice would even mean?”

“It would be the first step towards growing stronger,” Lucky said. “If you can give me that, then I’ll take anything you can give. I can handle you!”

Cricket giggled, at least until Rosario nodded. “Okay, then,” Rosario said, which had Cricket cut off. “Your first test is to make it to Ofrustaoir.”

“That’s four days' walk from here,” Lucky said.

“We’re arriving by tonight," Rosario said. 

“T-tonight?” Lucky asked.

“Tonight!” Cricket shouted. “Oi! Not all of us have long elven gams!” She hopped over and stood on her hands, then wiggled her hips and legs, which were notably shorter than Rosario’s. 

“By tonight,” Rosario confirmed. “My path to [Swordmaster] started with [Soldier], and the most important skill a soldier can have is the ability to endure through a long march.”

Lucky took a deep, deep breath. “Okay! I’ll do it!”

“And you have to carry me!” Cricket added. “To make it a proper chall--” She quieted down to rub at her head where Rosario had (very, very gently) flicked her. 

“Let’s get going, shall we, ladies?”

She’d see how this worked out. If it didn’t, then she'd pay for a cart-ride back to Smithville for the horse girl. If it did... well, her mistress would no doubt need a few more soldiers. She was sure she could help one grind out a dozen levels between here and Dawntown.

***