Technically speaking, I knew my way around a sword. Although I never had any formal training back home, I did collect swords of many kinds and trained with them on straw dummies and similar training machines. The techniques I learned were mostly from watching historical reenactments and videos on YouTube. Granted, I didn't ACTUALLY know how to properly use a sword, but being in the type of world we were in, that didn't really matter much.

Especially when you work in a library.

It had been a few days since we got here, and thus far most of the money I made went to paying for meals so we could eat. 120 Eris a day from working at the library just about covered our meal expenses and them some. I didn't really like working in the library, especially when there were big quests and adventures to go on. That thought nearly brought a tear to my eye.

"I've received some more books in to add to the collection today. Be sure to put them up." the librarian said. I had learned his name was Gilderoy, which I thought was an awesome name. While he was a very pragmatic person he was also pretty fair. He didn't just shove all of his work on to me while he sat behind the counter and read some books from his private collection. I had also learned that he harbored strong feelings against adventurers who didn't respect literature.

While I was putting some books on one of the upper shelf's, someone called up to me from the ground "Excuse me, I was wondering if you could help me find a book."

I looked down towards the person, who appeared to be a young girl "Yes, give me a moment." I say as I climb down the ladder. The girl was quite scantily clad. She had silvery hair, purple eyes, and a scar just beneath her right eye. She also wore a scarf and a short green cape "What is it you're looking for?"

"I'm looking for something that might be able to tell me about the various traps and such that could be found in the dungeons around here. I'm an adventurer, you see."

"An adventurer!" I exclaim "I actually signed up with the guild as a scout just the other day!" I state excitedly.

"A scout huh? Well I'm a thief so that means we actually have quite a bit in common." That seemed kind of strange to me at first.

"Interesting." I state "But before I forget I think I know what book you might be looking for." I remembered that I had seen a book about dungeons around the area of Axel, though I wasn't sure why she would want it. Most of the dungeons anywhere nearby would most likely have already been pillaged. After looking through a few shelf's of books, I found what I thought she might be looking for. The book was titled "Atlas of Dungeons and Castles surround the area of Axel: by Prof. Gilderoy Alondite" I looked back at Gilderoy, who was now sitting comfortably at his desk reading one of his books. "Here you go, I think this might be what you're looking for."

"Thank you, this is exactly what I need!" She stated thankfully. I wanted to attempt to pick her brain a little before she left though, and especially try and find out what she meant by Scouts and Thief's being similar classes.

"Um, before you go, I was wondering if I could ask you a few things about being an adventurer." Gosh, I swear, if Charisma was a stat here it would be my lowest one by far.

"What'd you have in mind?"

"Specifically just some pointers for someone who's just starting out. Like tips and tricks. Also what you meant by scouts and thief's being similar."

She looked at me for a little bit, then smiled brightly "Tell ya what. You buy me a drink, and I'll give you some pointers, deal." A bit early for a drink wasn't it? It'd be fine if I did leave of course, considering I had finished all my major work that Gilderoy had me do just moments ago.

"Sure, It's a deal!" I state cheerily "Whats your name?"

"Chris"

I walk up to the counter and get my day's wages from Gilderoy, and we head back to the guild hall. While there we spend a few minutes drinking while Chris tells me about leveling and skills. Apparently, because the scout and thief classes are so similar in style, many of the skills are shared between them, such as the steal skill.

We went over several of the skills that I could learn early on as I had some points to use starting out. Sure enough, the steal skill was one of them, however I felt like because of the particular roll I would be taking, something more suitable would be better early on. She pointed to one on my card "what about this one?" The skill she pointed out was called burst, and it could double my speed for a short time. Perfect for what I needed! I spent the points, and we headed outside so I could test it out.

We decided that the best way to test it would be to time how fast I could clear a certain distance. We didn't actually measure it out, so I don't remember the exact distance.

"Ok, I'll stand over here, and you run over there." she stated, pointing to where she wanted me to stand "Now run at me as fast as you can without using burst and we'll see how fast you can go." I ready myself, and start running when she calls out to go "12 seconds. Now go back and start again, this time using burst." When she gives the signal, I call out burst and can instantly tell a difference at my speed and feel much faster "6 seconds, Impressive!" it worked exactly as it said it would. Now if only I could go back home and challenge Usain Bolt to a foot race.

After that, we parted ways and I went to find Danny

I found him working at the blacksmith shop he told me about. At the time he was beating on a large plate of metal made out of what appeared to be bronze. He didn't notice me walk up. "Hello sir, what can I help you with?" A dwarf called out to me, getting my attention. This must be Borthul.

"Yes, I'm actually here to see my friend, Danny." Borthul Walks back to where Danny is working and tells him I'm here to see him. He walks out front and greets me.

"I'm actually just here to see what you've been up to. Being a blacksmith, your job is certainly more interesting than mine!" I state jokingly. Of course, we were adventurers, so these were only side jobs, but they put food on the table, so we weren't complaining. He explains to me that he's fashioning his armor that he'll use on quests. Apparently it'd take a few days for him to complete it, but he was getting pretty close now.

By now it was getting pretty late so I told him that I was going to head on up to the stables to get some shut eye, so he wouldn't need to try and find me when he was done. To be honest, I really just wanted to get an early start on getting to sleep because trying to get to sleep on those piles of hay was an utter nightmare in-and-of itself.


The rest of the week wasn't anything spectacular, as working in the library was not what you'd call riveting. Today, however, was a special day. Me and Danny had finally gotten to a point where we felt prepared enough to take a real quest. The plan was for me to go on ahead and scout the area, and Danny would meet up with me at the fields at the west side of Axel.

Beforehand I went to pick up some gear to start out with. Some light armor, more appropriate clothing, that sort of thing. Danny offered to make me some armor, but I already had some legendary equipment, and while I'm sure what he could've me would have likely been leagues better than anything else around here, I preferred to start from the bottom. Excluding my swords of course.

The area around Axel was really quite scenic. Lush and green rolling hills, large areas with forests, scattered farms here and there. I wasn't here to sight see though, unfortunately. I had been watching closely for giant toads. Apparently it was their mating season, so they were supposed to be out and about and easy to find. I found that to be true, although they're weren't as many as I expected. I spotted two of them somewhat close to each other and decided that they would make for some easy targets, then I notice Danny heading towards me.

He had finally finished his armor he told me he was working on. It wasn't quite what I was expecting. He seemed to base it off the armor of a Greek spartan, just without the head decoration on top "Impressive, you look ready for battle!" I exclaim "Just like a spartan!"

"I know right!" he responded to me. He inquired why I wasn't wearing a helmet, but I simply told him I didn't want to. The scout class wasn't really meant for a lot of armor, and a helmet just felt like it would hinder my field of vision, something that I felt was important for being a scout.

When he reached the top of the hill, we spotted the two toads we would attack. They shouldn't be too hard to deal with. Almost as if it was instinctive, Danny starts explaining the plan, of course there wasn't much of a plan considering they were just toads. This didn't surprise me, however, as he had always been very good at strategy games back home. He almost always won any game we would play.

When he gives the signal we both start to run, but almost instantly stop as the sight before us took us both by surprise. The two toads which had been staring at each other had now jumped into each other, but instead of fighting each other they were...uh...moving they're bodies in a manor that suggested love making. Sure enough, slimy bubbles began to appear at the bottom of them. Danny looks back at me, just as bewildered as I was, but then begins to charge the toads. I decide that calling out my burst skill might be enough to grab their attention.

Thankfully, as we both charge, the toads separate from each other, understandably annoyed that their baby-making session had been interrupted. Now I can say for certain that I didn't know what the genitals of a giant toad looked like before this encounter. I can also say that I would much rather not know, now that I do.

Because the (apparent) female was the furthest away of the two, and I was the fastest, she was the one I was targeting. NO, not like that! When I reached the toad, I dug my swords into it's chest, and almost like it was instinctive, I began to climb up the toad, dragging my swords all the way with me through it's body. When I reached the top, I buried the swords into the toad's head, and it lifelessly slumped over. I removed the swords from the toad's head and smirked "eat your heart out Kirito." I looked down at myself and noticed that I was now completely covered in toad slime and blood.

Looking over at the toad Danny attacked, I realized that I couldn't see him and got a little worried. I then noticed a stream of blood run down the toad's stomach, which then burst into a gushing stream of blood. The toad slumped over to reveal Danny standing on the other side.

I walked over to him "We don't need to mention the fact that they were..." I started, but Danny cut me off.

"They were rivals fighting each other for a mate." I decided to go with that, and hoped it would burn the less-than-desirable image out of my head. I don't care what you may be into, Toad sex is not fun to watch.


Late that night I was rudely awoken by a sharp pain on my head. I sat up and noticed a rock laying on the pile of hay that I was using as a bed. I looked around, but didn't see anything. I then heard someone from outside "psst. Hey scout, come here. Outside the window." I peer outside and was met with a familiar, yet surprising face.

"Chris?"

"Hey how's it going."

"What are you doing here?" I looked behind me to make sure Danny was asleep. Thankfully he was.

"I came to find you. Listen, I need your help with something." Given the fact that she helped me earlier, I figured that I should at least hear her out.

"What is it, and why couldn't it have waited 'till morning?"

"Because I didn't want anyone to hear us." She then motioned to Danny "Is he asleep?"

"Yea, he is. You should be fine."

"Ok, remember that guy you worked for at the library?"

"Gilderoy? Of course, it was just this week that I worked for him."

"Well, he's taken something from a dungeon that I'd like to get my hands on. A special talisman that can instantly recover a person's stamina and magic an infinite amount of times." That was definitely something that could be useful and worth stealing.

"What makes you so sure he has it?"

"Out of all the maps that I've seen, his atlas is the only one with a map that includes the chamber where the talisman was kept. Honestly I didn't even need to go check and make sure it was gone."

"Well what does any of this have to do with me?" I ask quizzically. She smirks a little.

"Remember how I told you that scouts and thieves are similar classes?" I nod to her "Well scouts have much better agility than most thieves by default, and therefore can get around more quickly, not to mention you're the only other person in town who could help me pull this off."

I would be lying if I said this didn't sound exciting, but I felt bad about Danny. I didn't really want to leave my friend out. "Can't we bring him along?" I ask.

"No, his armor makes too much noise and is too easily noticeable." She responds surprisingly brashly. She usually seemed much more cheery than what she was now.

"Ok, what do you need me to do?"

"Meet me at the front gate of Axel in about three days near midnight. We'll go over the plan then." At that she disappeared into the night.


The next day, me and Danny found ourselves searching for quests at the quest board. We were looking for a new quest to take on, as it wouldn't be long before we finished the toad quest.

Suddenly our quest searching was interrupted by a pleasant sounding female voice "Hello there!" we turned around and were greeted by one of the most pleasant smiles I think I've ever seen. The girl had long orange hair, green eyes, and, given her height, some pretty decent C cups. She was only a little shorter than I was. Needless to say, she was pretty attractive. She was wearing plain brown robes and a brown droopy wizards hat. In her hand she held a whit staff with gold trim and a gold sphere at the top "Are you the scout and arms master that put this up yesterday?" she inquired as she held up a piece of paper. Are you my soulmate? I thought to myself "My name is Autumn, what are your names?"

Yesterday, when we got back from our as-yet unfinished quest Danny decided to put up a notice that we were in need of a healer for our group. I was a little surprised that someone had taken an interest already. Danny introduced us to her, and while they talked I went to get a short drink.

From what I could see, she seemed very excited about the prospect of joining our party. Apparently she was a priest and knew quite a lot for her level. Before I barely begin to get into my drink Danny gets my attention. "Alright then, we're going on a quest!"

"We are?" Autumn and I both state in unison. I had kind of figured that he would at least want to see what she could do before we actually go on a quest.

"Yes, we're going to finish that toad quest from yesterday. We only need one kill to complete it, and I think it would be better to see what our new acquaintance can do firsthand." He confirms with a lot of confidence. I nod at him, and Autumn jumps excitedly.

I looked down at my drink I had just payed for and decided to try and finish it quickly and get my money's worth...bad idea.


Danny sent me on ahead to scout around on the east side of Axel. There appeared to be a lot more toads out today than usual. They also seemed to be mostly in tight groups, which wasn't ideal. I decided that the best course of action would be to get one of the toad's attention and have it follow me back to where I would meet Danny and Autumn.

Apparently, it wasn't easy to get a toad's attention when they were all sort of in close proximity of each other. Waving my arms, yelling at them. Eventually I just threw a rock at one, and finally got it's attention. It started bounding towards me and that was my queue.

I ran the toad back to where Autumn and Danny were. When they saw me, they also saw the toad following me. Danny got into his battle stance and autumn stepped behind him. I ran up to Danny and stood beside him, ready to attack the pursuing toad.

By now, I had gotten pretty tired from all the running around I had been doing. "I could really use some more stamina right now!" I call out to Autumn.

"Right!" Autumn exclaimed and cast "restore stamina" on me. The rush of energy felt pretty good, and I instantly felt more energized.

"Give me a damage boost!" Danny requested, and autumn cast another spell onto Danny that made him deal more damage. Probably a bit overkill for a toad, but it was a good test to see what Autumn could do I suppose. Danny charged at the toad, which had stopped and opened it's mouth to attack him. It launched it's tongue out towards him, but he dodged it and cut part of it off with his sword. When he reached the toad, he attacked it's stomach, not with his sword like I expected, but with his shield, almost like he was Captain America but without throwing it.

To my surprise, his shield turned out to be quite sharp on the sides, as he managed to cut straight through the toad's stomach, which began to bleed profusely. He was definitely making good on the term "Arms Master". I didn't know many people who could use a shield with a blade for an edge.

Danny looked back and became visibly annoyed by something. "Is it supposed to to stay connected to both of us?" he asked Autumn. I looked back and now noticed a green magical line that was connected to me, and a red one that made a connection with Danny, both of which lead back to her staff.

"Well you see, this staff is a family heirloom, and while it lowers the power of any buffs or heals I provide, it can be applied to multiple party members at once."

"Well, better than nothing I suppose." He said, annoyed. I didn't really understand what his problem was. I thought that was a pretty good skill for us to utilize.

Suddenly Danny's eyes widened "Behind you!" he yelled. Autumn and I turned around and saw a giant toad bounding towards us, almost within striking distance. I got into an attack stance, but before I could attack I noticed Autumn chanting something. A blue magic circle had appeared between her and the toad. "Light Beam!" she yelled, but instead of a cool magic laser, the magic circle made a loud cracking sound and burst into soot and smoke, covering Autumn from head to toe. I was just about to ask her what happened when the toad shot out it's tongue and grabbed her.

Autumn screamed as the toad pulled her into it's mouth. Her legs were now sticking out of it's mouth, and the connections between us and her staff had been broken. I immediately activated my "boost" skill and ran towards the toad, lunging at it, and burying my swords into it's stomach. Blood spewed from it's stomach as it slumped over, dead.

Danny and I dragged Autumn out of the toad's mouth. She looked bewildered at the fact that she almost became frog food, but jumped up with a grateful smile on her face. "Thanks guys, you really saved me there!" she exclaimed. Me and Danny were both distracted by the fact that her robes were now almost falling off her, and she was completely covered in slime. She noticed our odd stares and giggled innocently "guess I got pretty messy huh?" Oh god...my heart.

I shook my head rapidly, trying to focus "Are you ok Autumn?" We started on our way back to Axel to get cleaned up.

"Don't worry, I'm fine, nothing a little water won't fix." As we walked through Axel, I became uncomfortable at all the dirty looks we were getting. Two men with a girl covered in slime didn't exactly look like something innocent apparently. Shame on them though, they're the ones judging without knowing anything. We reached the bath houses where me and Danny waited on her to get cleaned up. Afterwards, we treated her to dinner.


At the guild hall, we all ordered our food and started eating and talking. "Autumn, when the toad attacked you earlier, you created a spell, but all it did was cover you in soot, what was that?" Danny asked.

"Oh that?" Autumn started "Well, I'm not really good when it comes to complicated spells. They tend to literally blow up in my face. I can really only do the basic spells well." I didn't know what Danny was thinking, ti be honest. Personally, I liked Autumn. I also didn't see any reason not for her to be in our party. She was still new and learning, but I was sure she would be able to improve.

After we ate Danny turned in the toad quest, and we parted ways with Autumn. We had agreed to meet her at the guild in the morning. We got to the stables and laid down on our straw bed and discussed our new companion "I'm not sure about her." Danny said.

"Why not? I think she'd fit right in with us." I respond.

"Well, the fact that she can't do complicated spells bugs me. We may need her to be able to do that in the near future."

"Well you heard what she said, she's still learning. She'll get there soon enough."

"And who's going to help her? Neither of us use magic or know how to use it properly." He did make a good point, annoyingly.

"Well, we still need a healer, regardless. Of course, you are the leader, so whatever you say goes."

"Well, I'm not going to say she can't join. You're right about one thing, we need a healer." And with that we both decided to get some shut-eye.


Author's notes:

Hoped you all enjoyed this new chapter. I wanted to make an effort to add in a few different aspects in this one as opposed to the previous chapter. My goal was really more dialogue, so I think I achieved that.

As for the rating, I know it may not feel like it needs an M rating right now, but I do expect to achieve that later on. I also felt like it was good to have that there because "Blessings of God on these Poor Fools" has an M rating, and I felt like because it's best to read them both, it'd be a good idea to keep the rating the same.

As for the story, I do intend to add in chapters that aren't almost straight copies from the other story. It's really meant to be both a side story and a second perspective, adding in little details here and there.

Anyways, please leave a review if you enjoyed, and constructive criticism is appreciated. Thanks for reading.