Chapter 10

I opened the door to Kinwall’s shop, there was nobody there but I could hear the clanging of metal reverberating throughout the shop.

“Be there in a minute, I’m in the back ”

“Hello, its Nyx”

“Oh it's you, just wait. I’ll get to you”

After waiting for around a minute, Kinwall walked out from the back of the store after putting down what he was doing.

“So what are you looking for?”

“Some knives and spikes that I can throw”

I thought while walking here to not only get some throwing knives, but also throwing spikes. Granted they are going to be harder to use but I could carry a lot more on me and they are overall cheaper to buy.

I told Kinwall how many I wanted.

“So you want 4 throwing knives and 10 throwing spikes. I don’t have any to sell, so I have to make them”

“How much and how long will it take?”

Kinwall rubbed his beard in thought and said.

“14 bronze and they will be ready in about 2 days”

“That is surprisingly quick”

At minimum I would have thought that it would take at least 4 days to make but I guess it is because he is a dwarf, he could make them in 2.

“Well you're my only customer right now and I have no orders coming in. Besides how is being an adventurer working out for you”

“I just became E rank today”

Showing him my adventurer card, which is now a bronze color, Kinwall showed some surprise in it.

“It seems that you have the potential to be a high ranking adventurer, normally people would take twice as long to get to E rank”

“Really?”

“Ya, seen a fair amount of people ranking up just as fast as you”

So, he said I could become a high ranking adventurer, that is interesting.

After I paid for my order, I said goodbye to Kinwall.

“Alright then, see you in 2 days”

It was still afternoon, so I decided to go back to the library, to continue where I left off yesterday. For the rest of the day I was reading silently with Mable till it was closing time.

The next day, I enter into my first E rank quest, which is to hunt some horned rabbits by a road that goes through a forest.

Each horn you bring back pays 1 bronze coin, and if you bring back any monster parts, you can sell it off for extra money.

I exited through the north gate and followed the road till I saw the edge of a forest.

This must be the location the quest told me to go.

People consider horned rabbits to be pests. From reading a monster encyclopedia book in the library, horned rabbits are normally solitary monsters, unlike the ones I fought when I traveled here. Generally they’re known to attack anyone going into their territory.

It would be a problem for the merchants, travelers, and townspeople if they were attacked; so the adventurers guild routinely put out subjugation quests to deal with them.

I entered the forest, following the road. I saw adventurers roaming through the forest, not far from the road, searching for horned rabbits.

I continued traveling on the road that goes through the forest till I saw an animal trail that the other adventurers didn’t notice.

I broke off from the road and followed the animal trail for a short while.

Eventually I found some imprints in the trail. They were tracks and they look fresh, it matches from the monster encyclopedia book with that of a horned rabbit

Then not a minute later, I saw a horned rabbit appear out of the foliage.

Compared to the white ones I’d fought, the one in front of me was smaller.

It growled and was about to lunge at me.

I smirked, taking out my sword, getting a bit excited seeing it.

Slashing at it with one swing as it lunges at me, it went down, lying motionless on the ground.

Is that it? Checking to make sure it’s dead I poke it with my sword, for no reaction.

Well that was disappointing, I didn’t think one slash would be enough to kill it but I was wrong.

Man, this is going to be a pain if they are this weak.

My enthusiasm dropped thinking that I’m going to have to hunt them all day. I wish that was more interesting.

However it didn’t last long, I heard a high pitched scream coming from the right side of the trail.

I saw a skinny boy with blue hair and eyes, around my age, running with teary eyes while being chased by a horned rabbit.

“Somebody help me!”

Well this has certainly become interesting.

I began to chase after them through the forest, marking each tree I passed with my sword so I wouldn't get lost.

“Hay!”

Shouting at the horned rabbit and getting its attention, it stopped chasing the boy and switched to me.

It charges toward me instead so I swung my sword at it once, for it to go down.

After dealing with the horned rabbit, I approached the boy who was hiding behind a tree after being chased by the horn rabbit.

“Are you alright”

Looking at him, his gear makes him look like an adventurer.

“What’s your—”

Before I could finish he clung on to me and immediately started sobbing all over my cloak. I’m really going to have to find someplace to clean off his snot and tears later.

“Thank sob, you”

Not knowing what to do, I waited till he calmed down for a bit and asked him what happened.

“Scary hic. It hic was chasing me”

“What happened?”

He started to wail even more once I’d ask. I manage to make out an answer out of his incoherent sobbing. Apparently his name is Rain, E rank, and this was also his first E rank quest. He got scared by a horned rabbit of all things and ran.

“Ya sob, they’re super scary, sob”

He's really a crybaby, I wonder how he even managed to pass the E rank evaluation test?

“Do you have a party or anything?”

“No, sniff”

Guess I can’t leave him here.

“You can let go now”

Rain slowly letgo, his face was all red, a combination of him crying and being chased.

“Follow me then, I’ll help you”

I pick up the dead Horned rabbit on the ground and I walk back to the trail by following the trees I had marked.

In the meantime, Rain was following me like a lost puppy.

“Where are we going?”

“We’re going back to the trail you ran past by, there’s a Horned rabbit I’d killed earlier so I want to pick it up, then we’ll look for some more horned rabbits”

Rain shrieked when I mentioned the words horned rabbits, like he is traumatized by them.

His tears were already beginning to swell up and began clinging on to me again with eyes like he just got betrayed.

“Please no, there too scary”

“Don’t worry, you’ll be fine, probably”

“What do you mean probably!?”

“Like I said you’ll be fine and I’ll even help you”

Honestly looking at him, he is really helpless, leaving him here by himself would be a really bad idea.

“But I don’t want to, they’re too scary!”

Rain started crying again.

Not wanting to deal with anymore of his crying and not wanting my cloak to get even more dirty, I did the only thing I could think of in this situation. I smacked Rain on the head thinking it might work because it usually works back at the nursery in the military base I was stationed at in my past life whenever the kids get out of hand.

“That hurts”

As expected it works, at least he stopped crying. Rain was holding both of his hands on top of his head where I hit him, teary eyed.

We walked back to the trail where I’d killed a horned rabbit.

Thinking of how I should help Rain, a horned rabbit showed up.

How convenient, let's see how well Rain can fight.

It screeched and went after Rain, I’m guessing it’s because it sensed he was the weaker one out of us.

Rain screamed in terror and began running in circles around me, being chased by the horned rabbit.

“Ahhh, please save me!”

“No, just fight back”

““I don’t want to!”

However it didn’t work, Rain was still being chased around in circles.

After a while of him being chased, he trips on a tree root. Unexpectedly he actually took out his sword but to my disappointment he swung his sword sporadically as the horned rabbit was about to attack him.

I'd step in and kill the horned rabbit just before it could harm him, then knock his sword out of his hand so he wouldn’t hurt himself by blindly swinging it.

“Hey, you okay?”

Rain was curled up into a ball repeatedly muttering “heh heh someone save me, I don’t want to fight”

Why does it feel like this is my fault for some reason?

With a sigh, I smack Rain on the head again, thinking that if it stops him from crying, then it might as well work the same. It managed to get him out of that state.

“Ow!”

“At least that some progress”

This is going to be more troublesome than I thought.

After several attempts where I had to resort to some… let just say forceful measures to get him to fight, he finally killed his first horned rabbit.

“I did it Nyx, I really did it”

Rain was jumping in joy and was about to start crying again but I raised my fist up in the air to which he immediately stopped and looked terrified at my clench fist.

We were by a creek and were taking a break under the shade of a tree. It was the mid afternoon and I was feeling hungry.

“Hey Rain, I'm going to make lunch. Could you make a campfire”

“Okay”

I began skinning all the horned rabbits we have killed by the creek, in total I killed 4 today while Rain only killed one.

After I was done skinning all the horned rabbits, I set the fur aside and looked at the meat. I choose the 2 best looking horned rabbits to eat.

Carrying the meat to the campfire that Rain had finished making, I began skewering them on a stick and roasting them over the fire.

I headed back to the creek. Taking off my cloak, I began washing off the mess Rain had made crying all over it. Once I was done I put it next to the fire to dry and sat by the fire.

While my cloak is drying and the horned rabbits are roasting, I decided to have a conversation with Rain.

“So, I’ve been wondering why you chose to become an adventurer?”

Rain doesn't seem to fit being an adventurer with him being a crybaby and all, plus he keeps trying to run away whenever there is a monster around. I’m honestly surprised that he’s an E rank, which is a miracle in itself, because I could not imagine him fighting an examiner, instead I imagine him just running away.

“I had a teacher who taught me how to use a sword. They told me stories of their adventuring days, so I’d decided to become one”

I guess that explains why she is an E rank adventurer at least.

“And where are you from and are you alone”

“I'd rather not say, it’s a personal one”

He had a pained expression saying that.

“But I’m not alone, I’m living with a relative”

So… he has his own problems to deal with, like me.

“How about you, Nyx. Why did you choose to become an adventurer?”

“You could say I want to start a new life, I guess”

“A new life…?”

“Ya, a new life. Like you, it’s a personal one”

After around 20 minutes of us talking, the horned rabbits looked to be done cooking. I took mine out of the fire, checked if it was done, and bit into it.

“Hey Rain, it’s done cooking”

It tasted okay, not as tender or tasty as the white horned rabbit I ate.

Rain took her own horned rabbit and looked a bit awkward trying to eat it, like she hasn’t done this before.

Once we finish eating our roasted horned rabbits, I ask if Rain wants to go back.

Before Rain could speak, I heard a rustling sound behind me.

Noticing the rustling, Rain immediately tries to flee in the opposite direction of the sound while I draw my sword.

I guess I have my work cut out for me.

Waiting in anticipation to see what it was, I saw that it was just a horned rabbit coming out of the bushes.

Once it saw me, it immediately charged at me. I swung my sword and killed it in one swing, then I looked for where Rain had run off to.

“Hey, Rain you can stop hiding now”

“Uuugh”

Instead of him coming out, I heard him groaning in pain. I’d walk in the direction where Rain had run off to and discover something really shocking.

Rain tripped and fell on a bush, his pants got caught on it and revealed something that made me stand there, stunned by what I saw.

I could even feel an expression form on my default expressionless face. He was wearing panties, and they were up in the air for everyone to see.

Is he a pervert?

Once Rain got up, he noticed that I was staring at him with actual emotions on my face.

“What's wrong, Nyx?”

Rain looked at me with a bit of confusion, then he looked down to realize his pants were down.

A short awkward silence was in the air. Then his face turned all red and he screamed.

“Ahhhhhhh!”

Then he tried to cover it with his shirt unsuccessfully and ran behind a nearby tree instead. Rain started crying again as I was still standing there stun

“You saw, you saw didn't you? You saw my secret”

His cry became even louder.

“Now I can’t get married!”

Can’t get married? Wait, don't tell me…

“Hey, do you know Hutch’s clothing store?”

It was worth a shot and it managed to get Rain out of his, no her stupor.

“Wait, how do you know about Hutch?”

“Same reason as you do”

It seems that I found another crossdresser in this town.

“Heh!? That would mean, wait no that, your your a…”

She was in a daze till she finally connected the dots that I’m also a girl crossdressing as a guy.

Who knew… like what are the odds we cross paths with each other, two people crossdressing meeting each other by chance.

“A girl!”

Rain was about to go back to being in a stupor, so I smacked Rain’s head with my fist again so she wouldn’t get back in that stupor.

“I think we should go back”

This is certainly a weird day.

After I finished skinning the horned rabbit and getting its horn, I picked up my cloak by the fire that had finished drying and we started walking back to town.

“You don’t have to worry I won't tell anyone about you crossdressing as a guy and I wouldn’t ask why too”

We reached the northside gate and went directly to the guild and turned in the horned rabbits we hunted, completing the quest. It seems that Emma isn’t here today.

“Here”

I gave Rain half of the money from exchanging the horn to confirm killing the horned rabbits and money from selling the fur.

In total we got 6 bronze coins for killing the horned rabbits and 6 large copper coins for the furs.

“It’s too much, I only killed one and I’ve been a trouble for you all day”

“Just take it, we’re working together, aren’t we”

Rain was about to start crying again so I raised my fist up in the air to stop her because I didn't want to clean my cloak again from her sobbing to which she was now shuddering in fear.

I put my fist down and asked her if she wanted to work together tomorrow.

“Yes, I would like that very much”

“I might show up a bit late, I got something to pick up, so could you wait a bit for me?”

“That is no problem”

“Okay, goodbye then”

“Goodbye Nyx”

Rain went back home, to her relative's house that she is staying at. As for me, since there was a few hours till the adventurer guild closed, I went to the library.

“Hi there Mable, I finished my first E rank quest earlier than expected. It looks like I still got some time left for today”

Mable was silently reading a book in this cramped library as usual, she looked up from her book and greeted me.

“Do you want to continue where you left off?”

“Yes”

Mable grabbed the book I didn't finish yesterday and gave it to me. I silently continued reading that book with Mable till it was closing time.

After that I went back to my inn, bought some dinner and went to bed.