Chores.

  Arellian didn’t expect her first big Quest on another world would be chores.

  Not that she was averse to chores.

  Some could call her a master of chores from the amount of them her parents and the witches made her do.

  So many chores…

  She was in the middle of pulling a cart loaded with full barrels stacked extra high like some kind of beast of burden.

  Normally, Brewmaster had her deliveries done throughout the day because her workers couldn’t pull nearly as much weight.

  The ever-present guards watched closely.

  It seemed that the displays of superhuman strength and tireless stamina through the day hadn’t put them at ease.

  Who would’ve thought?

  “Hello! Hello, my precious!”

  Her grandfather’s voice came over the comms.

  “Yeah?”

  “Busy?”

  She eyed her cart.

  “Yes, but I can stop if you need me…”

  Hope bloomed in her heart.

  “Ah! That’s good you’re helping the Riverdelans! Which is why I’m calling. I’m going to finally do the same. Going to leave for a few hours to take care of some bandits.”

  “I can help!”

  “I’m sure you can, but you’ll sit this one out.” Her grandfather’s voice dropped to a whisper. “The village headguy says they’re cannibals.”

  And her hope sputtered out like a candle in the wind.

  She considered pleading her case, nay, begging!

  Then decided that was what immature Arellian would’ve done.

  That was no longer who she was ever since she had grown up from being a dumb kid.

  “I probably won’t be back till well after dark.”

  “That long? For just bandits?”

  “Yup! Gonna clear out a few spawn zones while I’m out. Plus, I’m going to do some stealthy spying.”

  Grandfather sounded sketch like the olden people did when they were trying to keep the whole truth from her.

  The suspicion senses every young person had tingled.

  “Where? And whom will you be spying on?”

  “Don’t know yet.”

  She could picture his shrug.

  “Maybe… everyone in the valley? This monarch guy needs a—”

  “Grandfather! We’re not supposed to do regime change, remember? We have to let the local population decide if that’s what they want and then only help a little.”

  “But how much is a ‘little’? It was a little unclear.” He chuckled at a joke she didn’t get. “Anyways, my precious! Keep up the good work. I’m hearing the word spread about your incomparable physical might. Oh, if they ask you to go fight stuff, tell them absolutely not until I return. Obviously, if monsters attack then you can help.”

  “If it’s bandits? Er… cannibal bandits? Do I have to hold back?”

  “Always prioritize your safety first. Then the Riverdelese. But, don’t worry, I’ll do a local area sweep before I leave. Make sure there won’t be any surprise attacks. Stay safe. Don’t trust anyone. Especially boys.”

  “Bleh!”

  “Exactly! See you later! Love you!”

  “See you later, Grandfather. Don’t die.”

  Pause.

  “Ahem…”

  She sighed.

  “I love you too.”

  She finished the deliveries as the sun slowly continued its dip toward the west.

  Despite the towering trees of the forest she was able to enjoy the views of the even more towering mountains in every direction as they rose into the very clouds.

  She’d have seen nothing but the trees if Riverdel hadn’t constantly maintained a large amount of clear space around their village. Tall trees too close meant monsters could use them to drop inside the walls.

  Her next few hours contributed to that task as she joined the brave tree cutting team in their perilous trip down to the ground and the tree line.

  Normally, they had to bait out monsters first and kill them before they could proceed.

  Thanks to her grandfather that wasn’t an issue.

  Brawny-armed men and women chopped with axes and cut with saws, using Skills that made the chips fly like snow.

  They had her beat with that and just good technique.

  All she had was an axe and superhuman strength.

  Still, they didn’t exactly blow her away when it came to output.

  Plus, she cut trees down all on her own and they had her do all the hauling around of the felled trees.

  “Sorry, old one,” she whispered to a fallen log as she dragged it away from the darkening tree-line.

  Some of the nature witches wouldn’t be pleased with her.

  She tried to guess how long the stain of treeicide would remain on her hands that they could sense.

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  “I have no idea,” she muttered. “They can’t blame me, right? It’s for the Quest and Grandmother wouldn’t let them hex me… I’ll just have to plant more trees.” She left the log with the others then tromped back to the lumber procurement team. “I probably scattered a ton of seeds just when the tree timbered… does that count? Do I have to dig the hole and put the seed down myself? Hmm… intent matters just as much as action in the witch ways.” She decided she’d have to do just that and added tree seeding to her list of things to do while in Balomren Wood.

  The surrounding forest seemed a little too quiet to Arellian.

  Even in the weirdness of the Fae Realm the forest was filled with sounds.

  Birds, insects, wind.

  A cry shattered it!

  “Danger! Everyone to the village!”

  The locals ran for it without hesitation.

  “Yes!” she pumped her fist. “I mean, oh no! Everyone run! I, uh, I, Minokawa shall, um, shield your backs!”

  Target acquisition, target acquisition, she thought.

  “Wait! Wait!” one of the women shouted, waving her arms, gesturing at the speaking stone in her hand. “It’s not us, it’s not us! It’s the fishing platform!”

  They looked to her.

  She cleared her throat.

  “Return to your walls, nonetheless. I shall check it out.”

  She located the suspension bridge leading to the fishing platform and took off in a sprint underneath it.

  Halfway there she saw men and women running on the bridge going in the opposite direction.

  “Oh, right! Drat it!”

  She forgot to contact her grandfather.

  He didn’t answer, which meant he was inside a spawn zone.

  Thus, she left him a not at all panicked message.

  It was very calm and mature.

  Telling him not to worry.

  That she was going to take care of the mysterious danger at the fishing platform and—

  She ran out time for she reached the river.

  “Oh…”

  Did she have to fight that?

  If there were people in danger, then yes—

  “Help!”

  Three people clung to the broken remnants of the fishing platform.

  A monster with many snapping mouths lay beneath them oozing juice all over the mossy ground as it used some of its mouths to gnaw at the thick wooden poles holding them up.

  “Do not fear, brave people of Riverdel for Minokawa is here!”

  She pointed, activating the artificial gravity generator in her armor.

  Three very thin people shorter than her was well within its max weight limit.

  The gooey monster surged like a mass of poop in a sewer wave, snapping after them.

  “Easy, easy, don’t drop them,” she muttered as she floated them over to the suspension bridge. “Run! I shall vanquish this foul monstrosity!”

  It turned its pooey hunger toward her.

  A pseudopod-like extension as thick around as her lashed out with surprising quickness.

  She leapt back a dozen meters and fired her— sigh— surprise of sunbirds.

  “That’s not even a thing, Grandmother.”

  The flock of bright yellow and orange birds descended on the disgusting brown mass of oozing goo and gnashing teeth. They pecked and scratched for a few seconds before bursting into tiny flames that magically clung to the monster.

  She toggled her spell selector with a cybernetic thought and bathed the monster with a spray of oil.

  Many small fires became one large fire engulfing most of its front half.

  The sludgy monster oozed her way like that fatberg her mother once showed her underneath London.

  That one had been hiding a huge elemental of filth—

  She shuddered at the memory and gave thanks to her armor for filtering out the smells.

  She spread the fire with a few happy, smiley sun bolts, hoping that the people running away on the suspension bridge weren’t watching that part.

  The burning smiley face carved burning furrows into the back half of the monster.

  She continued to leap away like a glorious solar rabbit as she blasted.

  Its oozing slowed as it grew drier and drier until it stopped moving.

  Even its teeth stopped gnashing.

  “You can’t fool me, poo monsters. I know your kind with your tricks.”

  A memory came to her unbidden.

  She banished it with a witch’s disgust and contempt.

  The bridge looked clear.

  She didn’t see anyone watching, but she ran a scan anyways to be sure.

  The people of Riverdel couldn’t know what she had in her bag of holding otherwise they might’ve insisted on it joining her sword and poleaxe in their guardhouse.

  She pulled out a palm-sized orb and tossed it in the center of the dried monster mass.

  The magic activated on contact, shattering the orb and releasing a pulse to destroy the magic core or cores, since it was so big, that gave it life.

  When the first Riverdel guards came running down the bridge all that was left for them was a pile of dried… stuff.

  Oh, and a ruined fishing platform.

  Arellian wondered if she’d have to help rebuild it.

  …

  Arellian helped haul lumber to the ruined fishing platform until the sun set.

  Luckily, her titanic battle, which was the talk of the village, had scared any other monsters or megafauna away from the immediate area.

  Dinner came in the form of fish and vegetables cooked over fire.

  She would’ve thought her first meal with the locals would’ve been something of a completely brand new experience.

  And yet she couldn’t help but be a little disappointed.

  The fish looked like fish she had back home.

  Same with the veggies.

  She supposed if she was more aware of the specifics she could’ve recognized what made them different because they were different… probably.

  They tasted good though, so she decided to forgo disappointment and embrace gratitude.

  Not that the Riverdel villagers were feeding her out of pure hospitality.

  She did do the work of dozens in a tireless fashion and killed a monster and saved lives.

  From the way the headman kept glancing at her, she could tell he was bracing himself for what he expected was a very expensive bill. Or he, like the other villagers, was trying to get a peak inside her helmet through the small opening she made for the spoonfuls of food.

  At least that’s what her finely honed witchy sensibilities told her.

  Most of the village, aside from the people on guard duty, had gathered underneath the open air eating area.

  A roof to keep out the elements and a low wall around some sections was just about all to the structure.

  Fire pits were situated at one end.

  There wasn’t much of a breeze to worry about blowing spoke toward the people, but they had vents with fans sucking it up and out the roof.

  The vents were crudely made with beaten iron and wood.

  From what Brewmaster had said, they needed replacing often, which wasn’t a big deal since they had a lot of wood and could reuse the iron sheeting. Plus, it was good for the mages responsible for the enchantment that made them work. They had to cast the spell more often, which meant they got better at it and leveled, if slowly.

  Arellian ate alone at a table given a wide berth by the villagers.

  Understandable, if disappointing.

  She had heard whispers, some, not all, ventured the possibility that the monster attack was intentional. A part of her plan to ingratiate herself to them.

  Immature her would’ve snapped at them for being dumb and not seeing the obvious.

  Mature her bit her tongue.

  Thus, she ate and ate and ate.

  A growing superhuman girl needed her calories after all.

  Until, she sat alone and all the cooks had stopped cooking and started clean up.

  The village headman approached her then.

  “If it pleases you, honorable Witchknight Minokawa, I would like to discuss what happened down at our dock.”

  “Very well. I accept.”

  “Then, please, come to the great house at the bell’s next chime.”

  “I know the location. I will be there.”

  The old man nodded and quickly walked away.

  Hmmm… she forgot to ask how often the bell chimed.