First quest, first partnership

As soon as we arrived in the fields, I immediately sprang into action. I took off flying off the horse like a shonen protagonist in an action anime, completely neglecting Misaki, who panicked and hurriedly grabbed onto the horse by laying down on her stomach. I think she might have been yelling out some obscenities while shouting at me for abandoning her, but the horse kept up its momentum forward and was gaining more distance by the second. So I couldn't hear her properly. At least, that was what I told myself.

My focus was on the objective in front of me. Completing the quest. The cursed pond was just up ahead, and around the location, I could see them.

Ducks.

My updated sunglasses were able to provide me with the information I needed just by looking at them.

...

Cursed Ducks.

Level: 5.

Highly territorial.

Dangerous in packs.

Make for excellent duck soup.

Due to high market demand, one duck costs five silver.

Beware their beaks.

Good luck hunting.

...

I instantly reached for my pistols, pulling them out of their holsters. Vanessa and Ashley. My only companions in the coming fight. I set the weapons to lightning rounds, then got ready. We had like a mini Mexican standoff. Myself and the ducks. I slowly placed my fingers on the triggers, just as the fantasy water birds spread open their wings, shook their bodies, and stretched their legs as they lowered their heads and stalked forward in preparation for their assault.

A second passed.

Then another.

And another.

A breath.

Then all hell broke loose.

I took off sprinting across the field, firing my weapons in the process. Tiny white projectiles shot forth at blinding speeds, hitting the ducks and delivering a shock throughout their bodies. More ducks emerged out of the pond, rapidly replacing the numbers of those already incapacitated. I came to a stop when I reached the halfway point, quickly swapped out my empty magazines for fresh ones, then continued my fiery assault on the aggressively squawking water birds as they switched tactics and began trying to swarm me.

The battle was legendary. There was a consistent barrage of lightning rounds flying everywhere as I continued firing. Ducks would jump towards my head, but before they could even touch me, they ended up on the ground, their bodies shaking and convulsing from the electricity. My ammo was coming out in bursts of threes, meaning I had a total of ten shots each time before needing to duck, dodge, or roll out of the way while reloading.

However, I was making quick work of them. Shooting, turning, dodging, shooting, turning, dodging, shooting, turning, dodging. It was a rhythm. A dance. One where I was taking the lead, and I was going to be crowned the victor.

Soon enough, the remaining surviving ducks began waddling away back to the pond in a hurry. Instead of chasing after them, I utilized the moment to catch my breath. I lowered my pistols, which were now steaming in the aftermath of the fight, then I lifted my head up to scan the battlefield.

My spoils of war were everywhere. My magic-enhanced sunglasses did the counting and presented me with a number.

...

27 cursed ducks successfully eliminated.

A total of 135 silver has been credited to your account.

The guild has been notified of your achievements and will be there to collect your earnings shortly.

Congratulations on your hunting, adventurer. Duck soup for you tonight. Courtesy of guild employee Babs.

...

I jumped up and pumped my fist in the air. This was it. This was the rush I was missing from my previous life. I began to do a little dance out there in the fields to celebrate my victory. I didn't care if I looked embarrassing or not. I had suffered too long in my previous world, but now, in this one, I was having fun. The excitement was straight-up intoxicating, and I never wanted to stop celebrating. However, a thought soon crossed my mind, dampening my mood and causing me to stop doing what I was doing.

Misaki.

Was she okay?

I turned in the direction where I last saw the horse. Just how far did they go?

I couldn't see any signs of the two of them, nor was I able to hear the distant dulled sounds of someone riding on horseback. Other than the chirping of birds, the place was completely quiet.

A sudden rush of dread gripped my chest in that moment. Sh-she didn't know anything about this world. What if the horse took her to some unknown territory? Or worse, she accidentally fell off and broke something important?

God, why was I such an idiot? Why didn't I just stop the horse so she could get off?

I was tinkering with my sunglasses, trying to see if I could get it to reveal Misaki's location to me via voice commands. If I had to walk the whole way to find her, then so be it. But while occupied with that small task of mine, I heard the sound of something large emerging out of the pond behind me as it simultaneously let out a guttural squawk. The noise caused me to jump a little, and when I turned, I was face-to-face with, not one large thing as I initially thought, but three of them.

Much larger. Red eyes. Mama ducks.

Each one was around level 20, which meant they had more defense than the smaller ones. They were going to be a pain to take down, especially given my lower stats. But the only way I could level up was to fight much stronger enemies, and... I lifted my weapons and aimed them at the creatures. That was exactly what I was going to do.

Or not.

I suddenly found myself underneath the webbed feet of one of the mama ducks. She was crushing me to death. Apparently, the "beware their beaks" warning I received from the system through my sunglasses was a very valid one. Before I could even begin fighting, I was hit with some kind of beam from one of the mama ducks as she let out a squawk. This rendered me completely frozen to the spot, unable to move a muscle. After that, they all simply waddled forward, with the one in front knocking me over with her nose before stepping on me.

If my sunglasses had some kind of health bar, it would have shown my health rapidly dropping into the red. Damn, I couldn't breathe. Was this what dying felt like?

The level 20 mama duck was relentless in her assault. As she continued to push her weight down on her leg, I could feel the bones within my chest start to break.

Snap.

Snap snap.

I coughed up blood as my mouth slowly began to fill with the reddish substance. My vision began to fade. This was not good. This was not good at all.

My first day in this new world, and I was already going to leave it as quickly as I arrived. I don't know why, but I could only think of Misaki in that moment. I really felt bad for leaving her alone. I hope she was okay, wherever she was.

"Annihilation! Annihilation! Annihilation! Oh my god, Daichi, are you okay?"

***

When I opened my eyes, I found my ex-wife gazing down at me, a worried expression on her face. The back of my head was resting on something soft, and I quickly realized what it was.

Misaki was kneeling in the grass beside me, and she had lifted my head and propped it on top of her thighs... She also had one hand placed on my chest, and it was glowing. Was she?... Was she healing me? It certainly felt that way.

"You idiot," she said. "What were you thinking? You know all of this is not some game anymore. Why did you have to run off to play hero like that?"

I looked up at her face as she spoke. She was angry, concerned, worried, annoyed, all at the same time. It was a familiar face, one I hadn't seen in a long while. But why was she only scolding me for my reckless behavior? Why wasn't she pissed off at me for ditching her on the horse?

I tried getting up, but there was still some pain in my chest, so I winced and laid back down.

"H-Hey, don't try to get up just yet. Doctor's orders," Misaki said, gently easing me back onto her lap. "If I'm doing this right, then in a few more seconds, you should be good as new." She now had a determined look on her face as she continued to heal me. She briefly stopped to scratch the side of her grime-filled hair, which still had little twigs and green webs stuck to it from our earlier trek in the forest. And about half a minute later, it was like the pain in my chest simply evaporated.

"Alright, that should do it," Misaki said.

I got up to a sitting position, then glanced around the field to take in my surroundings. The bodies of the three cursed mama ducks lay on the ground, scorched and smoking.

I turned to Misaki.

"Thanks for coming back," I said, nodding my head in appreciation. "And for also patching me back up. I would have been dead if it weren't for you."

"Hey, did you forget? Saving lives is what I do, alright?" Misaki said, nervously waving her hands in the air and smiling. "So don't mention it. I'm just glad I was able to arrive on time and be of help."

"A big help," I emphasized, shifting my gaze towards the giant duck corpses. She must have made quite the sum from those kills alone.

"And..." I continued, scratching the back of my neck. "Sorry about the whole... ditching you on the horse thing. I was a little in over my head, and that wasn't cool."

Misaki's eyes widened in shock, her breath catching in her throat.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Mm, mm," she shook her head in response. "It's nothing. Just... promise not to leave me like that again, okay? From now on, we stick together. If that's okay with you, of course."

My ex-wife held out a hand for me to shake, a request that we become temporary partners in this new world.

"And I don't mean just this one quest alone," she said. "You almost died, Daichi. And I was terrified."

".!"

"I know we have our past and all, and it's not pretty. But you obviously need me, Daichi. And I need you," she added, thrusting her handshake forward. "So let's do this. Let's become partners. At least for the time being. We don't have to forget everything that happened between us, that's not what I'm asking. We just have to learn to live with it so we can support each other in this new world."

I thought about it for a second, and she was right. As painful as it was to admit, she was the stronger one of us two, and her healing magic did bring me back from the brink of death. If anyone needed to plead with the other to become partners, then it should be me. I was the weaker one, reckless with no strategy, and it almost cost me my life.

But here she was, extending the olive branch herself, choosing to help me when she could easily find some other party to travel with. All she lacked was knowledge on how the world operates, and whatever group she ended up joining would gladly teach her these things in exchange for having someone as powerful as her among their ranks.

But she wanted me to do it instead.

Inwardly, I was grateful for that.

"So, what do you say, Daichi?"

It wasn't another full-blown marriage commitment, nor was it an invitation to forget all of the emotional baggage and hurt we brought along from our previous lives. It was just a compromise. I'll help you, and you help me. Let's help and support each other for the time being.

And with all of that upfront understanding, I swallowed my pride, took her hand, and shook it. Nodding, she then helped pull me up to my feet.

"So, giant ducks huh?" Misaki said, holding onto her staff as she gazed out at the field. "This world just keeps getting crazier and crazier. I'm just glad it's all over."

In the middle of dusting myself off, I froze.

A flag.

She just triggered a flag.

I instantly grabbed a hold of her hand and began running in the opposite direction.

"Wait, Daichi, what's going on? Why are we running?"

But I didn't answer. There was no time.

Just then, five more giant ducks began emerging from the pond.

"Hoowhaaa?!" Misaki shouted, her eyes finally landing on the new threats. The moment the mama ducks broke out of the water, they did not waste another second. They took off bolting after us, their large feet slapping the ground with loud thuds as they got closer.

"Wait, l-let me try something."

"No, what are you doing?"

Misaki came to a halt, turned around, and fired off three shots of her annihilation spell. The first one missed, the second one got the duck on the right, and the third one got the one on the left. That just left three ducks still sprinting towards us.

My ex-wife turned towards me, smiling. Yes, it was impressive the way she took out two of them like that. But...

"What are you waiting for?" I yelled. "Keep firing!"

"Right!"

She spun back around to face the approaching ducks, her cape and robes billowing behind her in the wind. Okay, she kinda looked cool in the moment.

She pointed her staff in front of her, concentrated, and...

Nothing happened. The ducks were still casually sprinting towards us. It was a good thing we had a head start.

"Hm! Hm!"

Misaki was shoving her staff out in front of her, but no magic was coming out the other end.

"Daichi? It's not working!" she yelled.

She was probably out of mana.

"I think it's out of power or somethin..."

There was no time to explain. I quickly grabbed her and continued running. Luckily, the horse was grazing nearby, and we got aboard and began heading back towards town. The ducks eventually ended their pursuit when we were far enough from the pond, and only by the skin of our teeth, we survived our first quest in this new world.

At the very least, we should have made enough money to rent ourselves a semi-nice place to sleep tonight.