Another Boss, Another Problem

Gwen collapsed to her knees, staring at the giant spider. The arrow pinned its body ‌to the ground. “I can’t believe we actually killed another boss…” she muttered ‌aloud.

“Hell yeah, we did!” Chris cheered, rushing over and picking up his sister.

“Put me down, you idiot; I’m still injured.” Claire scolded, though a smile tugged at her lips.

Gwen looked at them, smiling. She felt something soft brush against her hand and noticed the karate rabbit looking up at her. She channeled magic and started rubbing the top of its head. “We couldn’t have done it without your help, little guy!”

The Karate Rabbit pranced under the attention, radiating pride through their bond; its wounds quickly healed.

Once its injuries closed, Gwen removed her hand and placed the rabbit on her shoulder. With a groan, she got to her feet and made her way over to the two siblings.

“Alrighty, Chris, go get Kira, and I’ll heal Claire.”

“Yes, ma’am!” Chris said, ruffling his sister’s hair one more time before sprinting off.

Claire glared at his retreating back. “There’s something wrong with that boy.”

“He’s just happy to be alive,” Gwen said, shrugging. “Truthfully, it was a miracle any of us survived, let alone we beat it?”

Claire turned to Gwen and raised an eyebrow. “I’m sure you could’ve defeated the monster without any help.”

“I think you’re overestimating my abilities.”

“You didn’t even use more of your combinations, like the meteor.”

Gwen glared at her. “Do you want to be healed or not?”

“Yes, please!” Claire quickly replied.

“Good, then shut the fuck up.”

Claire hurriedly sat down in front of her.

The silver-haired mage ignored the chuckling rabbit ‌on her shoulder and channeled magic. A green mist erupted from her hand and surrounded Claire’s body. A small gasp escaped the dagger wielder's lips; the wounds on her body rapidly closed.

The spell lasted for a full minute before it stopped, allowing the green mist to disappear. Ignoring the world spinning, Gwen focused on Claire. “How are you feeling?”

Claire clenched her muscles, doing a few movements. “Other than being out of magic, the rest of my body feels great.”

“That’s good.” Gwen yawned despite trying to stifle it; her reserves were pretty empty at this point.

Footsteps, followed by broken branches, sounded from the left.

“HOLYSHIT!” Kira’s voice echoed loudly “You guys actually killed the Boss Arak!”

Haha, I knew it was a boss, Gwen thought, but didn’t voice it out loud.

Chris followed behind her. “Yeah… it was an interesting fight, one I don’t want to repeat.”

“You just don’t want to repeat it because you were almost spider food!”

Chris shivered. “It wrapped me up, man; never again do I want to fight an Arak.”

Kira ignored the siblings' banter and approached the monster. A strange look plastered on her face as she studied every inch of the giant spider.

Seeing the look, Gwen approached her. “Is something wrong?”

Kira glanced at Gwen over her shoulder. “We’re going to have to report this back to the guild.”

“How come?”

“I can’t take this monster apart here…” Kira trailed off, turning around to face Gwen. “The acid alone would kill me just trying to reach the mana stone.”

Gwen glanced where the acid landed. Bits of the green liquid were visible, with smoke rising from the holes.

“Yeah, that makes sense.” She sighed. “I was hoping we wouldn’t have to get the guild involved.”

“I’d rather not take the risk of dying if I open it up.”

Gwen rubbed her temples in annoyance. “Why couldn’t anything just be easy?”

Kira stared at her, deadpan. “I don’t want to hear you complaining about anything, Miss, I’m going to run into an army of goblins by myself to save a village.”

“Fair… fair enough.” Gwen blushed.

Ignoring the cheeky grin on Kira’s face and the amusement from the rabbit, she marched a little ways away from everyone.

“Let’s make our way back to the guild and get this monster taken care of.” She called out over her shoulder.

The party followed slightly behind her as she led them to the exit.

***

Gwen’s eyelids were slowly falling.

Bang!

She shot up straight from the table, eyes wide open. Straight ahead, Mel glared at her, lips pulled back in a frown.

“Can’t you take this seriously?”

Gwen yawned. “I’m exhausted; killing a giant monster isn’t easy!”

Mel took a deep breath to visibly calm herself down. “You could’ve just taken this week off to give yourself- mainly me, a break!”

“I thought going into the dungeon and gathering cores while training would be a good way to keep making money without being able to take on jobs.”

“That isn’t the point, Gwen!” Mel paused, taking a breath. “Since you started being an adventurer, you’ve been killing monsters above your rank.”

“None of which is my fault, mind you!” Gwen argued. She grabbed one sheet from the table and held it up. “Like the village, your sister wanted to help the people of Raom, and I killed all the goblins.”

Mel shook her head. “Listen, there’s been rumors—”

“Yeah, like I haven’t heard that before.” Gwen interrupted.

“About you causing the dungeon to get stronger, which is leading to more adventurers dying.” Mel continued, ignoring the interruption.

“What, that i-is fucking stupid!”

“Well, many people are beginning to feel that way. It’s something they’ve been looking into since monsters have been getting harder to defeat.”

Gwen exhaled sharply through her nose. “This is bullshit! Why the hell am I getting blamed for something going on with monsters?”

“Look, it’s why I’m sitting here talking to you. I didn’t want you to feel panicked after finding out you’re being investigated.”

“Yeah? Whose bright idea was that, Eric’s?”

Mel shook her head. “It was Director Adrian.”

Gwen tilted her head. “Who the hell is Adrian”

Mel’s ears flopped downward. “He’s the person whose job is to oversee all the guilds around the kingdom, along with making sure the capital’s dungeon is running okay.”

“That doesn’t make sense. Why would he want to investigate me then? Wouldn’t the person behind the goblins to attack the village be more of a lead?”

“It’s not that simple… while I did my best to try to shield you from the guild’s questions, but in the end it caused more issues.”

“So I’m being blamed for being too good at my job? Doesn’t that sound crazy as hell to you?”

The words hung heavy in the air. For a long moment, the only sound in the room was the quiet breathing of the karate rabbit on Gwen’s shoulder. Gwen ran a hand through her hair, the feeling of being lost strong in her stomach.

She racked her brain trying to figure out if Adrian was part of the anime, but nothing came to her.

“Listen, Gwen,” Mel suddenly spoke, getting her attention. “You need to lie low at least until the investigation is over.”

Gwen opened her mouth, but Mel bet her to speak. “That means going into the dungeon if you can help it.”

The silver-haired mage closed her mouth, and just stared at Mel with dead eyes. The silence stretched on as neither side moved.

A loud snore from the Karate Rabbit on her shoulder broke the silence, getting a snort out of Mel.

“Fine…” Gwen said, staring at her. “As long as I can still adventure, at least on the first floor.”

Mel nodded. “That's fine! For now, just don’t leave the capital, and for Hael’s sake, please don’t do anything suspicious or get into any more fights.”

Gwen sat back, crossing her arms. “I make no promises, but I’ll do my best. I don’t want your sister to be dragged down anymore by my mistake.”

Before Mel could reply, the door suddenly burst open, and Prince Eric rushed into the room. Gwen slapped the top of her head with her hand.

What the fuck is the pompous dick doing here?