I - Penniless Pan

Pan hit the road face-first as the burly innkeeper shoved her through the doorway.

“Oof!”

“Come back when you can pay, Easterner!” he bellowed after her before slamming the door shut.

A few passersby stopped to stare at the strange young woman with undisguised curiosity.

Dark fur covered most of her body. The round, furry ears poking through her black hair twitched as she groaned and pushed herself upright.

Her face, however, was almost entirely white. Only around her large, pale green eyes did dark markings frame her gaze like shadows.

“I told you I’d pay later this week, mm…” she growled, casting a venomous glare at the inn as a flash of sharp canines caught the light.

Pan brushed the dust from her simple cross-collar robe. The once-vibrant yellow fabric had faded with time, and a narrow cloth sash kept the crossed front closed.

“What are you all staring at, mm?” she snapped at the onlookers.

Only then did they look away and hurry off.

Grrrrrr.

Pan’s face instantly flushed red as she rubbed her stomach.

I’m starving…

Reluctantly, she reached into her robe and pulled out a handful of copper coins.

Not even enough for a proper meal anymore. Let alone enough to get me to the next town…

With a sigh, she slipped the coins back into her pocket and reached beneath her collar, drawing out an amulet.

Thoughtfully, she let the delicately carved pendant rest between her claws.

“I guess I don’t have any choice but to sell it…” she whispered.

After a long moment, she closed her paw around it, tucked it away again, and started walking.

***

The small town of Garend buzzed with activity. 

People hurried about their business in every direction, while merchants loudly hawked their wares from roadside stalls.

Deeper in the town center, not far from the marketplace, a line of coaches stood waiting, their harnessed horses patiently stamping their hooves.

Beside them hung a sign above a small office:

Garend Long-Distance Coach Service: The Affordable Way to Your Destination.

Below it was a list of destinations and fares.

Her gaze lingered on one destination near the bottom.

Aenzia

Fare: 110 guilders.

Pan scoffed.

“Affordable, my tail…”

She continued on until she passed beneath a stone arch marking the entrance to the Upper District.

The guards stationed there watched her suspiciously, but didn’t stop her.

Pan avoided their gazes.

They really don’t see other races here very often, do they?

After winding through another side street, she finally stopped in front of a half-timbered building.

Taking a deep breath, she stepped inside, a cheerful bell chiming overhead.

She hadn’t been in the shop for long before her outraged voice echoed all the way outside.

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT’S A FAKE, MM?!”

The elderly jeweler, still adjusting the magnifying monocle over one eye while turning the amulet toward the light, gave an apologetic shrug.

“I-I’m terribly sorry, young lady. Perhaps I should have chosen my words more carefully…”

He removed the monocle.

“The stone itself is genuine enough, but it isn’t jade. It’s an ordinary quartz. Aventurine, to be precise…”

Pan could only stare at him, mouth hanging open.

“And… how much would you give me for it, mm?”

The jeweler smiled wearily.

“Well… the stone is rather scratched, and the light trapped inside isn’t especially balanced…” He stroked his chin. “I’d offer you two silver coins.”

“TWO SILVER COINS?!” she exploded, spraying a few droplets of spit onto the jeweler’s forehead. “My grandma left this to me! She told me it’s priceless! The finest jade in all of Panwan!”

The jeweler wiped his forehead with a handkerchief and slid the talisman back across the counter.

“As I said, two silver coins are all I can offer. And even that is actually more than it’s worth…”

Pan snatched up the amulet and stormed out.

“No thanks!”

Back outside, she studied the pendant for a long moment.

I’ve kept this all these years because it’s the only thing I have left of home...

Her thoughts drifted back to the day she had washed ashore somewhere along the western continent’s coast.

The day she had found herself completely alone, and had been on her own ever since.

It seems I will never get back home again... 

Sighing, she put away the trinket and walked back to the marketplace.

She headed straight for the nearest fruit stand and held out her remaining copper coins.

“I’ll take whatever this gets me, mm.”

It got her a big, green apple.

A few moments later, she sat on a bench beside the fountain and took an eager bite.

Her face twisted immediately, and she wrinkled her nose.

“Ugh… that’s so sour…”

But the hunger kept her eating.

After devouring the apple down to the core and stem, she leaned back and closed her eyes.

Maybe I never should’ve left Castran. Life there wasn’t that bad...

Slowly, she drifted off to sleep.

Some time later, a loud voice jolted her awake.

“How many times do I have to tell you? I don’t know anything about a heroes party!”

It came from the opposite side of the square.

Pan sat up and rubbed her eyes.

“What’s all the yelling about, mm?”

Her attention was immediately drawn to the woman in gleaming armor adorned with silver feathers, whose upper face was concealed by the visor of her helmet.

Despite her imposing appearance, her desperation was clearly visible as she pleaded with a city official for answers.

“No heroes party?” the woman repeated, bewildered.

She turned away from the flustered official for a moment and rubbed her chin thoughtfully.

“Does that mean this world’s Great Hero hasn’t appeared yet? Hmm… In every other world, they’d at least made a name for themselves by announcing their plan to defeat the Demon King…”

The official stared at her as though she had lost her mind.

“Demon King? What on earth are you talking about?”

Haku blinked.

“The leader of the dark hordes threatening this world! Do you call him something else here?”

“We don’t have anything like that here!” the official cut in, exasperated, before finally storming away.

“W-wait!“

Haku just stood there, staring at him.

“No heroes? No darkness threatening to swallow the world?” she whispered. “Then… why was I even sent here?”

Pan watched her with growing curiosity as Haku slowly walked away.

She seems to be a high-ranking warrior. And she’s looking for heroes? To fight some sort of evil king?

Without really knowing why, Pan found herself following her.

What a peculiar woman. I wonder what she’s about to do now…

Haku shuffled through the streets, lost in her own muttered thoughts.

Eventually, she reached the city gates. 

She paused, scanning the forests beyond.

“It seems I’m in the wrong place,” she murmured.

Then determination slowly returned to her face.

“I guess I have no other choice then.“

She headed straight toward the forest.

Pan hesitated only briefly before following.

After walking through the woods for some time, Haku suddenly stopped as though she had sensed something.

Pan slipped behind the nearest tree.

Did she notice me?!

But Haku’s serious gaze wasn’t directed toward her pursuer.

It was fixed on the eastern forest.

She continued onward.

Time passed, and the woods grew steadily darker and more oppressive.

A cold shiver ran down Pan’s spine.

What is she looking for out here? These parts of the woods are infested with monsters.

Doubt crept into her mind.

Maybe I should just turn back.

Before she could act on the thought, Haku stopped in the middle of a clearing dominated by a massive cave.

Its yawning darkness seemed endless, and the foul stench wafting from within made Pan’s stomach churn.

Ugh… what kind of place is this?

Haku calmly set her shield aside and removed her helmet.

Chin-length silver hair framed a face far younger and gentler than Pan had expected.

Bright silver eyes, calm and unafraid, looked toward the cave.

Pan found herself stepping silently from one patch of moss to the next without taking her eyes off Haku.

She is beautiful...

After planting her sword upright in the earth, Haku shouted toward the cave.

“Come out, beast! I know you’re in there!”

Silence answered.

Then a deep growl rolled out of the darkness, freezing Pan’s blood.

“A-a monster, mm?!” she whispered.

Two crimson eyes flared to life inside the cave.

A massive black paw stepped from the shadows.

Then another.

Until the beast stood before the Swan Sword Saint.

It was enormous, with a broad jaw packed with razor-sharp teeth and two long, curved horns rising from its black skull.

A nightmarish fusion of wolf and bull, wrapped in an aura that left no doubt it lived only to kill.

Pan’s eyes widened.

Is she planning to kill it for the bounty?

But to her astonishment, the warrior didn’t reach for her sword.

Instead, she spread her arms and closed her eyes.

“Go on,” she called to the beast. “Kill me already.”

The monster pawed at the ground and bared its fangs as though eagerly accepting the invitation.

“If there’s nothing for me in this world…” Haku murmured, “...I’ll just try again in another five hundred years.”

Pan was certain she’d misheard.

...What?!