Chapter 25:

First Quest Part 1

Mage and Mama Wolf


“Hey, mama, you still awake?” Madoka stared at the ceiling, feeling like she was about to crawl out of her own skin. “Unfortunately.” Selena shifted her body so that she was looking down at her daughter. “You can’t sleep either?” “Mmm-hmm.” Madoka was lying on her sleeping mat on the floor, using her mother in place of a pillow. Such was their nighttime routine since ending up in Nyxphiria. It provided Serena with the comfort she needed to relax since her animal body made sleeping with blankets, not to mention using a bed, nearly impossible.

“Anything bothering you?” Madoka sighed. “No. I just don’t feel tired.” “That’s odd. You’ve been sleeping like a rock ever since we came here.” “You haven’t been able to sleep, though.” Madoka shot back. Selena couldn’t deny it. “You know how hard it's been for me to adjust. I’m doing better but everything is still so uncomfortable. I’m just...too mentally exhausted to settle down at night.”

 The occasional snore from Aqua’s room across the hall or creaking floorboard downstairs were the only sounds as the two lay in bed. “Have you thought about taking on any quests soon?” Selena asked. Madoka was surprised her mother was the one bringing the topic up. Of course, she’d thought about it! She felt ready to take that step for weeks, but hadn't wanted to push her luck with how anxious and nervous her mother still was about this world. “I think I’m ready to start taking some easy ones, but what do you think, mama?” She answered tentatively. “Well, I was wondering when you planned to get started because I want to go with you.” Selena admitted. “I know I could have started taking on quests by myself a while ago, but I’m too nervous to go alone. This is more your area of expertise, and it would be easier if there’s two of us.”

‘Wait, mama is okay with me doing quests? And she wants to come?' Mahannana was incredulous. “Are you seriously going to let me go? I thought you’d fight me!” Selena sighed. “How inflexible do you think I am? I’m nervous, but I’ve realized I need to lose up  and start letting you do more things for yourself. Even back home, you never gave me any reason to not trust you and you’ve been incredibly responsible ever since we arrived in Umbria.”

She stared down at her daughter’s stunned face. ‘Was I really so negative and irrationally protective that Ma-Chan just assumed I’d shoot down anything she suggested?’ In that moment, Selena was painfully aware that, yes, she was in fact a painful uncool and out of touch mother. “I’m sorry I’ve been so dismissive of your feelings. I wasn’t taking your ideas or desires seriously and I underestimated what you’re capable of. It was rude.” Selena apologized. It didn’t encompass everythingthat she felt that she needed to make amends for, but she owed it to Madoka to acknowledge that she’d been wrong. She’d treated her daughter like she was a daydreaming idiot with no sense of reality, but really, she was the one who was being immature. While Madoka may have had an easier time assimilating into this world because of her deep knowledge of fantasy games, the girl was fully aware that their situation was real, and their actions could have consequences. Selena was the one who had resisted adjusting to the new world’s norms and stubbornly clung to her expectations of “normalicy”. She’d spent far too much emotional capital having a self-pity party. As much as the idea of “adventuring” terrified her, it was a good way to make money. If they ever wanted to become financially independent, Selena would have to take a page from her daughter and learn to acclimate to this world.

The surprise finally left Madoka’s face. “It’s okay, mama. You’ve been annoying, but it hasn’t been too bad. I just remind myself that you’re only upset because you don’t like your new body. That makes it easier for me to be patient with you.” Mahannana reassured her. ‘Ah, Madoka, always so brutally honest even when you’re trying to make me feel better.’ Selena smiled to herself, glad that there were no hard feelings. Madoka hadn’t taken Selena’s poor attitude to heart or let her mother’s disapproval stop her from pressing ahead.

“Then, can I go to the public adventurers hall and look at the board tomorrow?” Madoka asked. “That’s where you go to take requests if you don’t belong to a guild. The more dangerous requests are submitted to guilds because they require experienced professionals. I checked the place out while I was on a solo delivery last week.”

Selena hadn’t expected Madoka to have the information ready to go, but she shouldn’t have been surprised.  Madoka was interested by something, she’d lean all the ins and outs of it and absorbed new information easily. ‘She’s been thinking about this for a while, but just wasn’t brave enough to ask me. “That's a great idea. I’ll leave it to you, then, since this is your area of expertise.” Madoka let out a big yawn.

“Thanks, mama.” Madoka mumbled. “Now that I have something to look forward to, I feel sleepy...” Selena watched her daughter succumb to her exhaustion. “I love you, Ma-Chan.” She whispered, touching her nose to her daughter’s head.

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Mahannana had a spring in her step as she headed for the public adventurers hall. Ever since her and her mother had been sent to Nyxphiria, things seemed to be lining up perfectly and going her way! Her mother not only approving of her desire to go one quests but wanting to join her was a dream come true!

‘I just hope they have something worth the effort.’ She thought practically. ‘As I am now, quests involving gathering items or physical labor are about all I’ll be able to take, especially if mama is with me.’

“Big sis Ma-Chan! What’re you doin’?” Mahannana about fell over on her face. “Aahhh! Bisky-Chan!” She looked up and saw the cat girl hanging from a lamp post. “Sorry!” Bisky swung down and landed next to Mahannana. “I was in the neighborhood, and I saw you leave. You’re going somewhere different than usual.” The young girl’s analytical abilities were frightening! Ever since Bisky-Chan had first come over, she’d popped by a few times. Sometimes by herself, sometimes with her friend Pip and 9 out of 10 times for free food. The thief's tendency to appear out of thin air was something that Mahannana still hadn’t adjusted to. ‘Well, she is quite literally a cat burglar. Doubt she’s ever going to ditch her natural behaviors.’

“I'm going to the public adventurers hall.” Mahannana explained as Bisky naturally fell in beside her. “Mama and I want to take requests to make  money.” “Oh, that sounds fun!” Bisky grinned. “Can I join?” Mahannana shrugged. “Why not? It’ll be easier with more people and I’d rather you get money from questing instead of robbing people.”

The public adventurers hall was only a few blocks from Aqua’s house. While the hum of a crowd was emitting from within, there was fortunately no one else at the postings board in front of the building. “How does this work?” Bisky stared in confusion at the array of papers. “You choose the one you want and take to the receptionist inside.” Mahannana explained. “This hall is a mainly meeting space for independent adventurers, but there’s a person whose job is to record which quests have been taken and by who.” “Okay, that makes sense.” The girls perused the postings.

Mahannana had no idea which quest was the most ideal.  'I don’t think any deliveries are worth it. They are currently all within town and pay less than I'm tipped for Aqua’s deliveries. Maybe one of the medicinal herb gathering ones? But I’m still struggling with identifying the plants used in healing magic. I’d be too worried that I’d bring back the wrong thing.’

If it hadn’t been for Bisky, Mahannana would've sat and agonized over the pros and cons for the rest of the day. “This one! We have to take this one!” Bisky exclaimed as she ripped a paper down. “Wait! You can’t take it down unless we’re going to do it!” “But this is a good one!” Bisky insisted as she presented the paper to the older girl. “Slime extermination in a cave! Slimes are easy to get rid of and there's no danger! The pay is good and, since we’d be responsible for the clean-up, we can sell the slimes to get more money!” Mahannana scanned the paper, but everything Bisky had said was accurate. “What do you mean we can sell them?” “People eat slimes here. It’s basically like a jelly. Some stores buy it wholesale and, if no one will take them, we could try and sell them to Aqua’s customers.” Mahannana remembered the food that Lirhilde had bought at the festival. She looked at Bisky's pleading eyes and cracked. “Let's do it! I want the chance to test out what I learned from Elfrida-Chan.”

Bisky squealed in delight.  Let’s register and find your mom so we can get started!” She grabbed the mage’s arm and dragged her into the building. “Ah, slow down Bisky-Chan!” Mahannana stumbled as the child jerked her around.

As the two girls rushed to the reception desk, they didn’t notice the woman with dark hair eyes studying them intently from across the street.