IV - My Very First Quest

The metallic-blue triskelion pin fastened just below Haku’s collarbone was almost lost against the silver gleam of her armor.

Yet it was the first thing most people noticed.

As Haku walked through the streets of Garend beside Pan, passersby stopped in their tracks, staring after her in disbelief. 

“A Diamond Rank? Here in Garend?”

“I thought there were only a handful of those in the entire kingdom!”

Haku paid them little mind as Pan looked up at her with a frown.

“For someone who practically gave that guild clerk a heart attack with your test results... You’re taking this surprisingly well, mm.”

The Sword Saint merely shrugged.

“Every world’s aptitude test has placed me exceptionally high so far. After a while, I just got used to it.”

Pan gave an awkward smile and fell silent as she recalled how Haku had patiently repeated the test again and again before the guild staff finally accepted the result. 

Even then, they had awarded her the highest possible rank with considerable reluctance.

It hadn’t taken long before adventurers swarmed Haku with invitations to join their parties.

“We could use someone like you!”

“We would pay you generously!”

Before long, they were crowding around Haku from every side, yet she had politely declined every single invitation.

It still left Pan flustered that she had chosen to travel with her instead.

If she’s already this strong... why is she even looking for a Great Hero? She should look for other strong adventurers like her to defeat the Demon Emperor instead.

Well... if such a thing existed.

Once they had passed through the city gates, the two stopped beside a signpost where the road split into several different directions.

Haku scratched her head as she read the many unfamiliar places carved into the sign.

She turned to Pan.

“I think you’re better suited to navigating. I’ve only just arrived in this world some days ago.”

“It’s not like I know the area all that well either, mm...”

With a sigh, Pan pulled out the quest notice they had taken from the guild’s board and unfolded it.

“This doesn’t even pay half the fare we need, but It was the highest-ranking quest the guild was offering at the moment.”

Her eyes drifted over the text once more.

The Vadonian Trading Company offers one hundred guilders to any Gold Rank adventurer or higher who drives out the Mustel marauders occupying the northeastern road crossing Mourning Heights, a branch of the Northern King’s Road.

A faint smile crept across Pan’s face as her fingers brushed over the parchment.

I may not have been able to accept the quest by myself...

...but I’m really going on one.

“A real adventurer’s quest...” she murmured in awe.

When she noticed the gentle look in Haku’s eyes, she cleared her throat in embarrassment, quickly rolling up the notice again.

“Ahem... the Mourning Heights are that way.”

She pointed down the road before glancing over her shoulder at the bulging backpack strapped to her back.

“If the clerk was right, the journey should take at least three days, mm. The provisions we bought with the silver you had left should just about last us until we’re back.”

Haku nodded.

“Then we’d better not waste any time. With your appetite, we might run out of food before we even make it back.”

Pan blinked.

Was...

Was that supposed to be a joke?

Only after several long seconds did Haku say, “Heh... heh...” in the flattest voice imaginable before quietly setting off down the road.

Pan’s face instantly turned bright red.

“I-I can control myself perfectly well when the situation calls for it!” she burst out before hurrying after her.

“If you say so...” Haku replied with exactly the same deadpan tone, which only made Pan even more flustered.

“W-what’s that supposed to mean, mm? I’m not some sort of raccoon!”

“I never said that...”

“But you...”

Their banter continued all the way down the sunlit road, long after Garend had disappeared behind them.

***

The sun was already hanging low when Haku and Pan finally left the King’s Road and turned onto a narrow forest path.

“This looks like a good spot.”

A small clearing opened up between the trees. Along one side, a narrow stream babbled softly over smooth stones.

With a relieved sigh, Pan dropped her backpack into the grass.

“Finally... I can barely feel my toes anymore, mm.”

Haku carefully set her shield and sword against a moss-covered stump before surveying the clearing.

“We’ll have a clear view of anyone approaching...”

As she began gathering dry branches from beneath the trees, Pan had already settled by the stream and slipped her furry feet into the cool water.

A contented sigh escaped her as she stretched lazily.

“Haaaa...”

Tilting her head back, she called out, “Why don’t you join me? It feels amazing!”

But Haku merely shook her head, her arms full of firewood.

“In a minute. Let me get the fire going before it gets dark.”

A few minutes later, a small campfire crackled softly.

She sat down beside Pan, pulled off her sturdy boots, and cautiously eased her delicate feet into the icy stream, toes first.

“Mmh...”

Only then did she notice Pan staring.

“What?”

Pan looked up from Haku’s feet.

“After everything you’ve told me... I was just wondering whether you have webbed toes.”

Haku blinked.

Then a light giggle escaped her.

“It appears you still don’t quite believe my story, do you?”

Pan gently kicked her feet back and forth through the shallow water.

Splish. Splash.

“I do believe you, mm...”

She shrugged.

“It’s just hard to imagine spending five hundred years alone as a swan in some mystical in-between world every time you die. Doesn’t that get unbearably lonely?”

For a moment, Haku said nothing. She simply watched the stream with a faint smile.

“Time passes differently there,” she said at last, her voice quiet, carrying the weary familiarity of someone who had explained this many times before. “It’s a little like a dream. The centuries pass, but I feel them more than I actually live through them. It’s... difficult to explain.”

Pan stared at her.

That doesn’t make it sound any less sad...

“But where is your home? Where did you come from? What happened before you were sent to help the first Great Hero?”

Again, Haku gazed thoughtfully into the distance.

“I don’t know. And it doesn’t matter. Because I know what my purpose is.”

The knot in Pan’s chest tightened as the first stars appeared overhead.

“I see. So that’s how it is...”

She’s smiling, but not like she was yesterday.

Is she really happy with a fate like this?

To live only for these endless missions... and to wait for the next one?

“And what about you?”

Pan flinched as the question pulled her from her thoughts.

“Me, mm?”

Haku’s eyes settled on the pendant peeking from beneath the collar of Pan’s loosely tied robe.

“Do you miss it? Your home?”

Almost instinctively, Pan reached for it, remembering the moment she had been told it was worthless.

“To be honest... I barely remember it anymore,” she admitted at last.

She looked over at Haku.

“My parents died when I was little, so my grandparents took me in. They were traveling merchants and never stayed in one place for long. I was eight when they took me west.”

She paused briefly.

“Nine when our ship was caught in a storm west of the Rondaerian Sea...”

“Only nine...” Haku echoed compassionately.

Now it was Pan’s turn to offer a forced smile.

“So technically, I’ve spent so long here that I’m more Vadonian than Panwanian now, mm!”

Haku was quiet for a moment.

“But if you left the east when you were so little... how do you know about the Demon Emperor?”

Pan froze.

Bamboocrap, I didn’t think about that!

“T-that was actually one of the reasons we traveled west, mm! To warn people. And to find someone willing to help.”

Haku’s expression darkened.

“Then the situation may already be worse than you know.”

Pan stared at her.

“Y-yeah...”

“And yet you still want to go back?” Haku asked after drying her feet and pulling them from the water.

Pan nodded.

“It’s still my home. And I’d like to see it again before...”

“...before darkness engulfs it,” Haku finished gravely as she rose to her feet.

“Uh...”

I was actually going to say: before it becomes completely unfamiliar to me.

“Don’t worry, Pan,” Haku continued firmly as she walked back toward the fire. “I won’t let this Demon Emperor lay waste to your homeland, or anyone else’s. Whether I fight by your side or alongside another Great Hero...”

Pan swallowed hard as her lie caught up with her.

I really should do something about this, shouldn’t I?

But when Haku opened the backpack and took out their provisions, Pan’s nose instantly twitched.

Crispbread. Dried fruit. A wedge of cheese.

She sprang to her feet, hurrying from the stream to the campfire with unexpected agility.

Oh well...

Pan licked her lips as Haku handed her share over, then settled down beside her.

At last, her worries gave way to her appetite.

There’s still time to figure out how to deal with that later, I guess.