VIII - A New Destination

The oppressive heat hung heavy in the dimly lit guild hall as Haku and Pan stepped inside.

“It’s even hotter in here than it is outside,” Pan groaned. She loosened the collar of her robe and fanned herself with one hand.

Only a handful of adventurers occupied the hall, and most reception counters stood empty.

“It seems the heat has the entire city in its grip,” Haku observed.

She was once again wearing her familiar armor and appeared almost completely unfazed by the stifling air.

Pan shot her an envious glance.

“Sometimes I envy you humans and your bare skin, mm...”

She tugged her collar down a little farther, revealing a patch of the white fur covering her chest.

“In weather like this, my fur is almost unbearable!”

Haku studied her for a moment, thoughtfully rubbing her chin.

Her eyes lit up.

“I could trim it down for you, if you’d like.”

Pan blinked.

Was that... another joke?

But Haku’s expression remained perfectly serious. Even her usual deadpan “Heh... heh...” never came.

She actually means it?!

“N-no thanks!” Pan said quickly, waving both hands before pointing toward the nearest counter. “Let’s just go collect the rest of our quest reward instead, mm!”

“Are you sure?” Haku asked as she followed her. “I used to cut the Great Hero Garatas’s hair all the time.”

“Uh, quite sure.”

But when Pan caught the brief flash of disappointment crossing Haku’s face, she couldn’t help feeling a little guilty.

“M-maybe... someday.”

Haku’s face brightened instantly.

“Mhm. All right! Just let me know.”

Pan raised an eyebrow.

Something that small really makes her that happy?

They soon reached the counter where the same clerk from earlier sat behind it, lazily fanning himself.

“So?” Pan asked eagerly. “Do we finally get the rest now, mm?”

Haku slid her adventurer’s card across the counter.

The clerk accepted it, searched through a stack of documents, and finally nodded.

“Yes. It appears the Mourning Heights are no longer blocked. Your involvement in eliminating the Mustels has also been confirmed.”

Pan’s eyes sparkled as the coins clinked onto the counter.

Finally! One step closer to home.

“Thank you,” Haku said with a slight bow before carefully stowing away the money.

Pan was already making her way toward the quest board.

“Come on! Let’s see what job we can take next, mm!”

Haku followed with a contented smile, clearly pleased by Pan’s newfound enthusiasm.

But the moment they stopped in front of the board, the excitement gave way to utter disappointment.

The large wooden notice board was almost bare.

“There are... hardly any quests,” Pan muttered.

Haku removed the few remaining notices and read through them one by one.

“Farmer Lombart is looking for workers for the turnip harvest,” she read aloud. “One silver coin per day.”

She picked up the next notice.

“Exterminate giant rats in the sewers. Ten copper coins per rat.”

Pan grimaced.

Haku continued sorting through the notices, but the remaining jobs were no better.

“If these are the only quests available, it’ll take us ages to earn enough for the trip to Aenzia!” Pan cried in dismay.

A serious look settled over Haku’s face.

“You’re right. We can’t afford to give the Demon Emperor that much time.”

Pan flinched.

“R-right...“

As Haku pinned the notices back onto the board, the guild clerk walked over, wiping the sweat from his brow with a cloth.

“You must not have been in this region very long,” he said. “It’s the Ember Weeks, the hottest time of the year. During these weeks, Garend usually sees very few major commissions.”

Pan frowned.

“Why’s that, mm?”

“Most merchants avoid long journeys until the temperatures drop again. Many wealthy clients also leave the city or postpone their plans.” He gestured toward the nearly empty board. “If you’re looking for better-paying quests, you’ll probably have to travel elsewhere.”

“But we still don’t have enough money to get to Aenzia,” Pan pointed out.

Haku rested a thoughtful hand on her chin.

“Then perhaps we don’t need to go all the way to Aenzia just yet.”

Pan looked up at her.

“What do you mean?”

“We could head to a city halfway there first. We can take on more quests there and earn enough money to cover the rest of the journey.”

Haku turned to the clerk.

“Which major city lies between Garend and Aenzia?”

The man thought for a moment.

“That would be Boramgar.”

“Boramgar?” Pan repeated.

“The City of Stone,” he explained. “It’s almost exactly halfway to Aenzia and has a much larger Adventurers’ Guild than Garend.”

Pan and Haku exchanged a glance.

“What do you think?” Haku finally asked, as though leaving the decision entirely to Pan.

The Panwanian thought it over for a moment.

Then she planted her hands on her hips.

“All right, then. Boramgar it is, mm!”

But her confident stance immediately wilted beneath the sweltering heat.

“Maybe it’ll be a little cooler there...”

***

Later that day, Haku and Pan left the tavern with their packs slung over their shoulders and headed for the ticket counter of Garend Long-Distance Coach Service.

The ticket clerk glanced up, pulled out a timetable, and smiled.

“You’re in luck. The stagecoach to Boramgar leaves at noon today, and there are still seats available.”

Pan and Haku exchanged a glance.

“Perfect,” Pan said. “We’ll take it, mm.”

By noon, eighty guilders poorer, they were seated on a long wooden bench inside the spacious stagecoach.

Not long afterward, the coach lurched into motion.

Its wheels rattled over the cobblestones as Garend’s city gate slowly disappeared behind them.

For a while, the journey passed in comfortable silence, and Pan let her gaze wander around the coach.

An elderly merchant was already dozing with his mouth hanging open.

A young couple chatted quietly among themselves.

On the bench opposite them sat a stout man with thick mutton chops. Pressed close beside him was a little girl with curly red hair, clutching a stuffed rabbit as she curiously looked around the coach.

It didn’t take long before her attention settled on Pan, who was rummaging through her backpack.

“Bamboocrap...” Pan grumbled. “Why did I pack the dried apple slices all the way at the bottom, mm...?”

At that very moment, she felt a sharp tug on the fur covering her arm.

“W-AH!”

Pan jumped in surprise.

The little girl had leaned far over the bench and was grinning shamelessly at her.

Pan rubbed her arm indignantly.

“Hey! You can’t just grab strangers like that, mm!”

The girl didn’t answer.

Instead, she stuck out her tongue.

“Bleeeh.”

Pan blinked and nudged Haku with her elbow.

“D-did you see that?!”

But the Sword Saint was completely absorbed in the map they’d bought a day earlier, quietly muttering to herself.

“So it’s a peninsula... interesting...”

The girl waited until Pan looked at her again.

Then she stuck out her tongue once more.

“Bleeeh.”

Pan turned to the girl’s father, forcing herself to keep her voice reasonably calm.

“C-could you please tell your daughter not to bother other passengers, mm?”

The man barely looked up from his booklet.

“Sabbel, sweetheart, don’t do that.”

He turned another page while Pan stared at him in disbelief.

THAT’S IT?!

The little girl giggled to herself, and for a moment, peace returned.

Pan let out a deep breath and closed her eyes.

I shouldn’t let a little girl get under my skin...

Then she felt another tug on her fur.

Her eyes flew open.

Sabbel snatched her hand back with a grin.

“Knock it off already!” Pan snapped.

But when the girl showed not the slightest hint of remorse, Pan reacted on instinct, reaching over and snatching away the girl’s stuffed rabbit.

“All right, then. That’s what you get for...”

She never finished the sentence.

The girl’s wail exploded through the entire coach.

“W-w-waaaahhhhhh!”

Only then did Haku finally look up.

Together with several of the other passengers, she turned toward Pan, her eyes falling on the stuffed rabbit in her hands.

Whispers immediately spread through the coach.

“What happened?”

“Why is she making that little girl cry?”

Pan felt every pair of eyes settle on her.

Wait...

I'M the bad guy now?!

Pan struggled for words.

“She... I... well... she’d been...”

Only then did the father finally lower his booklet.

His eyes immediately fell on the stuffed rabbit in Pan’s hands.

His expression darkened.

“...Excuse me? What exactly are you doing with my daughter's toy?”

Pan opened her mouth.

Then closed it again.

”I...”

Sabbel burst into even louder sobs.

Feeling every pair of eyes in the coach fixed upon her, Pan reluctantly returned the rabbit.

“H-here... I’m sorry, mm.”

Sabbel snatched it away at once.

Her sobbing dwindled into quiet sniffles as she shot Pan an angry glare.

Pan slumped back onto the bench.

We've been traveling for less than an hour...

...and I already want to get off.

Sabbel waited until Pan looked her way.

Then she quickly stuck out her tongue again.

“Bleeeh.”

Pan ground her teeth.

But this time, Haku noticed.

She looked from Sabbel to Pan, then gave a small, knowing nod.

“It certainly isn’t easy.”

Pan stared at her.

“Huh?”

Haku offered her a small, encouraging smile.

“Being a Great Hero. If I learned one thing on my journeys, it's that this path is full of misunderstandings.”

Pan slowly covered her face with both hands.

“Is it now...”

For a while, only the rhythmic clatter of the wheels and the quiet snorting of the horses filled the coach.

By the time the sun hung low in the sky, the stagecoach rolled leisurely past fields of golden wheat.

Then, without warning, it began to slow.

Finally, it came to a complete stop.

“Hm? Have we reached the first stop already?”

But the driver said nothing.

Pan raised an eyebrow.

Something’s wrong...

She leaned out of the coach, trying to see what had happened.

At that very moment, a shrill, ear-piercing screech echoed from the surrounding fields.

“Oh no...”