01.12 - She Professed Herself Pupil of the Elden Lord

“Don’t you get it?” asked Isabella. “Horned Rabbits aren’t loners. If there is one in view, there’s sure to be a whole pack hiding somewhere close by.”

“Oh, and what are they gonna do?” asked Tia. “Nibble at me?”

“I got this,” I said as I drew my sword and stepped closer toward my target. “Tia, keep Isabella safe.”

The Horned Rabbit’s gaze met mine.

Its big, round eyes twinkled at me…

Meanasingly…

Oh, who am I kidding.

Hard to believe such a cute critter would pose any threat to…

The fluffy bastard leapt towards me.

I barely managed to dodge in time.

It targeted the left artery in my neck, no doubt about it.

Unfazed by my first evasion, the Horned Rabbit leaped at me again, this time targeting me from behind.

I switched my sword to my offhand, did a three-quarter spin, and aimed the blade just high enough to intercept the fluffy fiend.

The leftover momentum from its leap made it jump right against the edge of the blade.

One down.

Tia on the other hand did not hold back at all.

It only took her a few seconds in between our first encounter and the end of my skirmish to incinerate the undergrowth in a ten to fifteen meter radius and eliminate the five Horned Rabbits foolish enough not to flee along with their pack.

Dinner indeed.

—

We reached the camping grounds near our destination well before dusk.

Tia and Isabella went to collect firewood and water, while I cleaned the Horned Rabbits that had crossed our path earlier that day.

The ‘Wild Edibles’ Skill was a godsend today.

Having pushed ‘Forager’ instead of Leveling up more common Combat professions outside the sword-art related Classes was a good decision after all.

The ‘Herbalist’ Skill ‘Herb Gathering’ proved useful too as there were some plants close by that could be used for seasoning.

Using the ‘Botanist’ Skill ‘Plant Analysis’ could also come in handy tomorrow. It might even earn us a nice bonus.

I could also spend some points on cooking related Classes, but my supply of Experience Points isn’t that great yet, and there are more pressing needs.

Night had fallen by the time the Horned Rabbits stew was done, and the three of us sat around a campfire.

“Second serving please,” said Tia after gobbling down her first portion in an instant.

“This tastes really good,” Isabella mumbled while still chewing. “Are you a cook?”

I chuckled. “I might have some skills when it comes to foraging.”

Quite literally. Not that it mattered, the regular folk didn’t seem to know about anything related to the system… maybe except for the chant back at the Evaluation Ceremony. I still didn’t know what to make of that.

‘That which is below, is like that which is above, and that which is above, is like that which is below.’ Those words still lived rent free in my head. But now was not the time to ponder.

“We’ll split tomorrow,” I said. “Tia will look after you. I’ll look for that flower of yours on my own. Except… Do you have a picture?”

Isabella finished her portion of th stew before she started searching through her bag.

She pulled out a scroll and opened it carefully. “It looks like this.”

There was a drawing of a humongous flower, with a sketch of a person for reference.

Going by the drawing, the flower was the size of an average adult, at least while closed.

“Got it,” I said.

“It’s hard to overlook,” Isabella said. “You can also smell it from quite far away.”

“Smell?” I asked.

“Once it opens,” Isabella said. “Its nickname is ‘corpse flower’. That’s how it smells. It tends to attract scavengers and monsters of all kinds."

“Sounds nasty,” I said.

“It is,” Isabella said. “But its nectar is precious. It is an important ingredient for a number of potentially life saving potions. Normally, my fellow students and I would harvest them in droves… but there were some… complications… this year.”

—

The hunt for the flower nectar started in the early morning of the next day.

Tia and Isabella began their search in the southern parts of the forest, while I looked in the north.

My initial search was fruitless.

The sun slowly rose on the horizon.

It was almost noon when I finally saw, or rather, smelled it.

Just after I had reached the flower and soared above the trees using the wings granted to me by my ‘Shapeshifter’ Class’ ‘Transform’ skill, a new encounter caught my attention.

There was a party of seven, on a clearing in the forest, not too far away from the flower I had found.

They were surrounded by at least twenty small and one large Bone Fiend.

Bone Fiends were a type of undead monster usually made up of bones that attach the muscles and skin of their victims to their own body to acquire their strength.

It looked like the party was about to join their prior victims' fate.

Two members were already wounded.

The other five kept the enemy at bay.

Should I jump in?

I might lose the chance to harvest the flower.

They might make it on their own.

But leaving people to die for a raise in my quest reward was clearly wrong.

Then again, Isabella had mentioned that the potions could save a countless number of people.

Not like I had a lot of time to decide.

I dove down, right in the middle of the melee, severing one Bone Fiends skull from its torso with my sword.

It was the enemy closest to the group.

The other enemies hesitated for a second or two before closing in again.

“What the?” asked the wounded guy I just saved.

“Grey Morgenlicht,” I said. “Bronze rank adventurer. I am here to help.”

“Bronze rank?” one of the others asked, visibly confused.

“Lucy Morgenstern,” the girl behind him said. “Pupil of the Elden Lord. We are grateful for your assistance. Let’s continue the pleasantries after we survive this.”