The gate branched off into three different paths, and we followed the one leading to the north. The greenery was lively, and I could see bugs and small animals charging through the grass. Eventually, that grass grew to occasional trees, which lead to a dense forest. The trees were on par with the forest we’d woken up in when arriving in this world. It would have been easy to get lost, but Gale’s navigation magic lead him towards our goal with a marker, reminding me of certain games I’d played in the past. Thankfully, careful efforts of nearby villages had lead to a relatively safe path carved through the middle. It connected Shortleaf, as well as a few other villages, straight to Elanis, the Capital of the continent we’d appeared on. The steady, safe supply of trade that had opened as the forest did led to a high standard of living. 

I had heard stories of Elanis. The villagers spoke of it with an almost mythological reverence. It was supposedly a city of great magic, and even the poorest lived in the luxury of outskirt nobility. It sounded fake to me, but my common sense could be different from this new world. Gale and I had decided to visit Elanis after Leyland. Anything magic inclined excited me; the fantasy of my youth burned too brightly to be ignored. Swords and magic, the objects of my adolescent dreams, were now in my grasp.

I summoned a random stick that looked like a sword to my hand. I had found it when out of town a few days ago, and I couldn’t pass it up. I swung it around a few times, almost hitting Gale in the eye. He dodged it with surprising grace. He reached out and grabbed my hand, which had bounced back towards his direction. Eyebrows raised, he gave me a questioning look. 

“Trying to kill me?” 

I smirked at him. “What do you think?” I wiggled my hand and scratched the side of his cheek lightly with it. He frowned and let go of my hand. Turning his waist he gestured towards the blade on his hip and said, “You know I have a real sword right? You can hold it if you want.”

“Oh? Which sword should I be holding?” My lips grew into a mocking grin. “Your ‘Excalibur’ from the other morning?”

His cheeks flushed a deep crimson, but he kept control of his face. He glared at me, only saying, “You’re impossible.”

I didn’t reply, instead smiling wildly and adopting a confident stride. As if I hadn’t seen him flirting with those village girls! He really left his best friend waiting tables to go talk to women! I decided he could use a lesson in humility. Unfortunately, we were constantly surrounded by other people during the day, and at night, doing something teasing to Gale might end up with a result I didn’t dare think about. Here, I trusted him not to take things too far — which meant he’d be frustrated, unable to act. In other words, a complete victory for me!

We walked quietly for a few minutes, before I deliberately slowed my pace by a couple of steps. With Gale in front of me unable to see my actions, I quickly raised an arm to my top shirt button. My hand hesitated. Was I really doing this for a prank? No, Gale needed to learn his lesson! This was revenge for harrasing me at work for a week! I forced the thoughts from my head and unbuttoned my shirt, showing the cleavage of my chest.

I adjusted my hair to fall on both sides of my shoulders, and smoothed it down. I rubbed my eyes to tear them up a bit, blinking a few times to nail the watery look, then used my healing magic to emit small motes of golden particles from my hair. Finally, I suppressed the malicious grin on my face to a small pout, and stepped forward. I grasped Gale’s arm, pulling it to my chest, drawing his attention in a shock. I looked up pitifully, gazing into his eyes. 

“Please, Hero, let me hold your sword…” I pitched my voice high like a songbird. I let my lips tremble, and I stepped closer to him, pressing a shoulder into his side. My lips tried to tug into a grin, but I help them back. Gale stopped walking as soon as he looked down. His gaze froze, as if the processing of his brain had stuttered. Slowly, a deep, crimson flush spread from his neck, then to his ears, before finally staining his cheeks. My smile finally cracked through my willpower as I saw his body reboot. 

I began to pull back, ready to tease Gale, when his hands rose and locked around my shoulders. He pushed, and I lost balance and stumbled into a nearby tree. The world was dwarfed by his form enveloping me, one hand on each side. My eyes widened in shock. His sharp eyes bored down at me, their hunger apparent. His face, still red, leaned in close to mine. I could feel his heavied breathing brush across my face. His hair, sweaty from the journey’s walk, fell over one of his eyes.  He lowered one hand, letting a finger gently brush my cheek. I didn’t dare move as my eyes followed his hand, and for some reason, my heart raced in a way I didn’t understand. 

I looked at his green eyes, and his face transformed into a gentle expression. His hands lowered to my chest, and I moved to stop him, but he simply grabbed the button on my shirt, closing it. He backed up, averted his gaze, and turned around. The events of the last 20 seconds flooded my mind again, and my face flushed red. I put a hand to my mouth, trying to hide my erratic breaths. I stepped slowly behind him, and whispered, “Sorry…”

With one hand in his pocket and one rubbing the back of his head shyly, he glanced over his shoulder and softly said, “You really don’t get how pretty you are.”

My heart skipped a beat. 

Huh? Skipped a beat? My heart skipped a beat from the compliment of this worthless hero? My vision swam as I tried to understand what just happened. This wasn’t possible, I refused to acknowledge it. I slapped my cheeks with my hands, using the pain to reorient my brain. 

I walked ahead of him down the path, my steps wooden. I forgot where to put my hands, and wondered if I looked strange to Gale.

I heard him follow behind, but neither of us spoke. We walked for some time, and a weight grew in my chest. I stopped, ready to apologize to Gale when suddenly the chirps of birds surrounding us quieted. My voice caught in my throat when even the sounds of rustling wind and insects froze. 

I glanced to the trees surround us, barely catching the blur of something moving in the bushes. A small sound fell from my throat. “Ah?” 

Before my throat had finished the noise, something suddenly pierced from the woods towards me. A brown object flashed towards me, and only an awkward stumble backwards saved me from being skewered. The weapon flew out, sticking itself in a tree. The shaft  was long, only leading to a sharpened point. A spear, crudely made. I looked towards the rustling bushes and again jumped out of the way of a spear. Gale unsheathed his sword, and without hesitation sent a rush of sharp wind into the bushes. They snapped, unable to bear the wind blade, falling to the ground.

A pair of creatures jumped from their hiding place, snarling fiercely. They were a greenish gray, had chipped, pointed ears, and greedy eyes. Goblins! I summoned my staff to my hands, holding it in front of me. The goblin on the forefront suddenly rushed me, leaves kicked up from his speed. His body kept low to the ground, and he pulled a sharpened scrap of metal from somewhere on his body. He sped towards me, throwing himself into one of my legs, cutting the side of it as he passed. I couldn’t react, and blood suddenly spurted from the wound. Had it hit an artery?

I hissed as a painful burning sensation coursed through my body. The throbbing nearly overwhelmed me, and I brought a hand to my leg, casting my magic. The pain dissipated, and both the goblin and myself watched in awe as the skin knitted itself back together. The pain was replaced with a sensation like poison oak rubbing into a wound. I tried my best to focus on the fight, ignoring the uncomfortable and itchy sensation.

Gale took the opportunity to rush in, and his foot met the goblin’s head, sending it flying a few feet away before it could recover. The second goblin rushed to Gale’s back, spear recovered in its hand. I raised my staff and managed to deflect it, my hands steady and guided by some unseen force. Was this the system’s beginner skills?

With the goblin stumbling back from the recoil, I took a step and used the momentum of my hips to stab the staff forward into the goblins sternum. Its eyes widened in pain, and it brought a hand to its chest as if to help it breathe. I raised my staff and slammed it down on the goblin’s head. It offered little resistance, and its head splattered into the ground. I turned around, searching for Gale. 

[Hero Points +5]

He had the goblin on the defensive, weaving slashes between blocking dagger swings. His footwork was a bit clunky, but for his current opponent, it was sufficient. The goblin slashed forward, cutting  Gale’s arm, but was in turn pierced through the side with his sword. It stumbled back, growling with a maddened pain. As it was distracted, Gale held a hand up and sent another wind blade forwards. It sliced straight through the unguarded goblins neck, severing it. 

[Hero Points +5]

He stumbled a bit and brought his hand to his wound. Seeing the gruesome cut, I rushed forward, casting healing magic on it. I bit my lip as I looked at Gale. Suddenly having healing magic seemed quite convenient. I gently rested my fingertips on the wound, and with remarkable speed, it sewed itself shut. I wondered why it was faster than my previous heal before remembering the set I was wearing. Hero’s Favor! It looked like my healing received the same boost when used on Gale. My face settled into a relieved smile. 

“Are you ok?” I asked, voice quiet. He raised his hand to clasp mine, which had been casting the spell. This content belongs to novelFɪre.net

“I should be asking you that.” He said. His eyes lowered to the bloodstain still present on my leg, obscuring the now flawless flesh. 

I took a step back, pulling my hand from his. The wound on his arm was now gone, marked only by the mess of blood left behind. I pushed a stray lock of hair behind my ear and looked at him. He began to walk towards me, his eyes gentle. 

“Goblins are strong!” I said, excitedly. 

He stumbled, recovering after a step. He looked at me like I was insane. 

“Seriously, I thought they’d be trash mobs! They were way scarier than I thought!” I was smiling, remembering the action movie like sequence we’d just been in. 

“I was totally gonna die if I didn’t have healing magic!” I grinned. The expression was wiped from my face by a slap on the back of my head. 

“This isn’t a game,” Gale said, his voice serious. I rubbed my head, aggrieved, and looked at him. 

“I know it’s not a game, I just think it’s cool.” I said. 

He shook his head, sighing, and just ruffled my hair. I let him. Not because of anything before, but because I owed him from the teasing. 

It wasn’t long before we came across the herbs we’d been searching for. I raised a hand, and directly plucked the bunch from the ground into my item box. It was a feature I’d discovered when I’d found my stick. I found I could collect natural resources like they were game items without any of the real life effort. I smirked at the thought of Gale having to kneel in the mud without my magic. He was truly helpless without me. 

A sudden rustling in the bushes startled us into drawing our weapons. The figure emerged from the foliage, clumsy and stumbling, taller even than me. I glared at it, only to realize it was a human. The boy from before! Rickard, maybe? My mouth twitched when I realized this ‘kid’ was taller than me. 

“What are you doing here?” Gale asked, lowering his sword. The child looked up, surprised to find people here already. He looked guilty, like a hand caught in a cookie jar. 

“Oh, uh….did my dad send you?” He asked. 

“He did,” I replied gently. Seeing him so afraid of being caught, like a naughty kitten…it was adorable. It made me think having a kid would be kind of nice. 

The boy suddenly knelt in front of us, raising his hands in prayer. He lowered his head, crying out, “Please! Let me take these herbs!” 

Gale and I looked towards each other, surprised. “Why?” Gale asked. 

His face twisted into a frown, and he raised his head towards us, with a pleading expression. “I fought with my father earlier today.” He started. I didn’t interrupt, but leaned forward, took his hand, and beckoned him to stand up. 

“Ever since Mom died, he’s just been… so much more serious recently.” He looked down in remembrance, his voice turning somber at the mention of his mother. 

“I don’t want to fight with him, but he keeps pushing me into following his business…”

“You don’t want that?” I asked. 

He raised his head, his eyes bright. “No! I hate that, I’d rather paint. Jessie’s the only one that paints. Other than me.” He smiled at the thought. 

I nodded my head, and reached a hand out. The herbs appeared, stacked and bundled together. 

The boys eyes sprang open, his jaw dropping at the display of magic. Gale stepped forward, and warmly said, “You’re a good man. But the forest is dangerous. You wouldn’t want her to see you brought home in a coffin, would you?” 

Rickard shook his head vigorously. Gale beckoned him to follow. “We’ll take you back.”

Gale and I left, barely able to escape the shouting of the father. With the promise to visit his stall during the festival, we departed. I looked over my shoulder at a now meek Rickard, looking like a drowned cat. I laughed. 

“What’s so funny?” Gale asked. 

“Kid’s are cute,” I said, wistfully. I had often thought of having children, but with the threat of death looming over me for the majority of my adulthood, it was a wish that had gone unrealized. I wouldn’t selfishly bring a child into this world only for it to be left alone. I knew all too well what that was like.

Gale bumped into my shoulder, playfully asking, “Want one?” 

I nodded, smiled at him and said, “Sure, with your mother. Then you’d have to call me step-dad!” 

He laughed, and we walked without further conversation. We decided to freshen up before we met for the festival. 

My heart dropped when Gessa pulled me by the ear into her home, intending to give me the makeover experience. I tried to refuse, but she wouldn’t hear it.  “You’re not going to the festival looking like that are you?”

She sat me in a chair, fussing over my now-drying hair and touched up my face with unfamiliar makeup tools . I suffered through half an hour of primping and preening before she forced me into the dress Gale had bought me, and patted me out the door. 

I stared down at the beautiful dress that wrapped around my body, my delicate skin showing through the tasteful cuts in cloth, and swallowed. I was suddenly very glad Gale was a man with restraint. A shiver ran down my back as I imagined him with looser morals. Then I remembered that Gale had bought this dress in the first place, and clicked my tongue. That bastard! One week as a girl and he was already trying to put the moves on me. 

I gracefully forgave him, and walked back towards our meeting spot. He was standing, hands in his pockets, his hair clean and styled, framing his face like a work of art. His neat clothing followed the shape of his body, displaying his well-defined physique. 

Damn, how was it possible for a guy to be this handsome? Was this a buff provided by the Hero class?  I gathered my courage and stepped forward, suddenly self-conscious of the dress I was wearing. 

Ugh, tonight was gonna suck…