Episode 13: Familiar monsters

The trio of adventurers were carelessly walking across the tall grass, supposedly they were whispering, but their voices and laughter were quite audible. Taro and Shizuka were walking slowly, trying to disappear into the grass before they could notice

Shield guy: I’m getting hungry, could sure have some soup with the dried meat I have in the backpack

Short guy: what did you say? I didn’t hear you

Spear guy: brutaro, Shizuka, hurry up, if you stay behind, the “monsters” are gonna get you heheheh

Shizuka just smiled and pretended to be on the lookout for threats, Taro was unamused by their classic lack of discipline

short guy: man I’m so thirsty, but it’s the bad kind of thirst, lemme get some of that sweet sweet cirul wine I just bough

shield guy: where one drinks, 2 can drink

spear guy: where 2 drink, 3 can drink hehehe

they stopped while rubbing their hands, waiting for short guy to get the bottles from his backpack

Shizuka and Taro maintained their careful distance, movements, and whispers

Shizuka: Taro, now’s our chance, let’s get away from—

Before she could finish the sentence, a wooden training mace went flying across the grass, hitting shield guy square in the face, knocking him out instantly. Half a second after, Ari emerged from the grass and using a limb made of her mana, she swung a mace at spear guy, knocking the wind out of him

another half a second later, a mace was thrown from the grass in Shizuka and Taro’s direction, Shizuka’s quick reflexes kicked into action and she cast a shield made of her mana, blocking it, but it hit right in the center, leaving cracks

short guy: that was dirty!, you attacked us in our moment of trying to enjoy some wine. If you surrender now, you’ll still have a chance I forgive you for this

Ari: alright then, here, have my weapon

she threw her mace to the ground and deactivated her mana limb

short guy: huh, didn’t expect it to be so eas—-

Ari quickly closed the distance and hit him with a shorter mace she was hiding behind her back

Ari: Did you guys seriously not learn anything about the protocols?, c’mon, this is too easy!

Shizuka: Ari?, looking fabulous again, what brings you here?

Ari: h-huh?, I will not fall for your tricks, prepare yourselves

spear guy: yo-you underestimate us, let me show you why we’re professio—

Suddenly, a huge mana arm emerged from within the grass, yanking spear guy off the floor and throwing him high into the air. Ari was not alone, there was something in the grass, and neither Shizuka nor Taro wanted to find out what was it

Taro: run Shizuka run!!

Shizuka: that’s my line! run!!

they disappeared into the grass while the trio of adventurers pleaded for mercy and surrendered while being juggled in the air. After covering a decent distance, Shizuka and Taro stopped to catch their breaths

Shizuka: What was that? what was that? what was that?, nobody told us the training was going to be this scary

Taro: yez, scary, too scary (Ari was already bad news, but then that arm came out, I had seen people in the town using limbs made of mana to work or grab things before, but I’ve never seen one that big and menacing)

they heard footsteps, and the grass rustled. Shizuka pulled Taro to the ground, and she fell on top of him

Taro: Sh-Shizuka?

Shizuka: shh, I heard something, if we lay low, we’ll be harder to find, oh goddess I don’t wanna be thrown into the air

she held Taro tight, half scared and half thinking they’d be harder to lift if they stuck together

Taro: (uh-oh, she’s so close, and she’s holding me so tight, no!, get it together!, this is not the time for that, this is not an anime!)

the footsteps got close, and when Shizuka looked up, she realized they had been found

Sidra: goddess gracious, what are you two doing?

Taro: (I can’t believe I’m in a real ecchi misunderstanding moment, Shizuka has a talent for this kind of thing)

Shizuka: it-it’s not what it looks like!, we were hiding from the hand monster! T-Taro! don’t blush!

Sidra: “the hand monster”, huh?

Sidra was unimpressed, and Nagye was as red as Shizuka

Taro: it true, hand monster, scary (who in their right mind would fool around in such a dangerous drill anyway?, oh wait, I know 3 guys who would do worse)

Nagye: if-if Taro says so, th-then I guess this is j-just a misunderstanding

Shizuka: Wh-why just Taro, believe me too!

Sidra: Looks like the gap between our courses is quite big, we were just told to follow the path and practice caution, meanwhile you guys have to deal with a hand monster. may the goddess bless your treacherous path

Taro: (we’re gonna need that blessing, we barely escaped. now that I think about it, it hadn’t been that long since I told Shizuka about the shield idea, and during the ambush, she actually protected us with a mana shield) Shizuka, mana shield, protect us, wooosh

Shizuka: hehehe, they don’t call me a genius for nothing. though, I couldn’t make the shield hard enough, when the mace impacted it, it cracked

Taro: (that’s because the impact was direct, if the shield was curved, the mace would have been deflected to one side, or so I’ve been told by the shields flavor text in that one game. if I only knew how to explain this)

Nagye: a shield made of mana? I-I’ve read about them! There was this unit of knights who would use weapons made of their own mana. Magicians call this kind of control Mana Constructs, it's quite an advanced topic, so I’ve never tried it myself. m-may I see the shield?

Shizuka: sure, here

a mana shield was manifested effortlessly, it looked dense and opaque, and when Nagye knocked on it like a door, it sounded like knocking on glass

Nagye: Wow, this is amazing!

Sidra: by the goddess, I’ve never seen something quite like it

Shizuka: praise me more hehehe

Taro: (I have an idea) Shizuka, look

Taro was in pantomime mode again, he lifted a palm up, simulating a shield, and punched it with his other hand, then he rotated his hand a few degrees and punched again, showing how the punch slid across the “shield”. Shizuka watched him with her classic confused expression, but then something clicked

Shizuka: You want me to tilt the shield to the side? like this? hmm

she pulled one of her hands back, and the shield followed

Taro picked up a rock and stood in front

Taro: this rock, mace, look

he tossed the rock and after impact, it was deflected to the side. The girls were still confused by what Taro was trying to say

Nagye: I d-don’t quite get what he means, but, he helped me before with one of these explanations, so I think it must be something helpful

Shizuka: Taro can be a mystery sometimes, who knows what forbidden knowledge he’s hiding beneath his “brute” demeanor hehehe

Taro: (demeanor?, I’d call it language barrier)

Sidra: …

Nagye: oh! I have an idea!. What if I use my bird to find the hand monster? perhaps you can avoid it if you know where it is

Sidra: You can use your bird to see from the skies? most wonderful

Shizuka: Nagyeee! you’re a life saver!, please do

Nagye closed her eyes and her bird flew away. Taro tried once again to use his mana as a radar to help with the search, he only managed to make the air around him glow and sparkle

Nagye: hmm… oh!

Shizuka: d-did you find it?

Nagye: I see Ari carrying some tied up people, hehehe, they look like grain sacks

Taro and Shizuka sighed in relief

Nagye: oh!, ummm…

Shizuka: What is it?

Nagye: somebody is coming towards us, he is moving very carefully

everyone entered stress mode upon hearing that, they tried to hear the footsteps, but the background noises were louder

Shizuka: b-but it's not a monster with a huge hand, right?

Nagye: n-no but, I see the black cloth on his left arm

Sidra: That's the instructors’ color

Taro: (then the huge hand was a very well-polished mana technique, honed for many years, makes sense it would be from an instructor, and he’s coming directly our way) it, it hand monster!

Shizuka got into position, ready to cast her shield, Taro picked a rock for each hand again, and the other two girls stepped back.

Nagye: he’s very close, be careful!

a menacing, hunched over figure slowly emerged from among the grass, he was holding a big shield, a short mace, and 2 long maces on his back

guild secretary: didn’t expect you guys to detect me so fast, as expected from the genius and my best forager ha-ha!, or was it the court mages’ daughter who found me?, doesn’t matter, it's time to show me what you’re made of