So Chiyo… what were you considering for your job?" the old man asked while she hesitated. He saw her struggling and decided to help out, "Can you just describe your ideal job, and maybe then we can narrow it down?"
"Well… I want to have a warrior class." She said and then paused to let him speak.
He gave her a tooth grin, "Ah, I see. I don't do the personality tests but you seem more like the subordinate type. Like an acolyte or a merchant." That was about the last thing she wanted to hear.
"Well I'm determined to be a warrior. Does that narrow anything down?" she said looking a little annoyed now.
"That means a swordsman, archer, or a thief."
"Not a thief, my parents would kick me out."
"That leaves you with the archer or swordsman choice. Then again, you could become a mage."
Something about the mage appealed to her, but she shook her head and said an archer sounded pretty cool. The old man explained what an archer's purpose was and how useful they could be. After his lecture she felt more drawn to the swordsman, yet again she was lectured.
Another novice stepped in and she was forced to go speak with Hanson (A/N: I think that's his name).
"So… have you decided on a class yet?" Chiyo shook her head, "Well you can do our personality test and we can see what class suits you best?" She hesitated and then accepted. The test dragged on until finally she finished. "Your kind hearted and very brave. Your class is…" her eyes shimmered, "…an acolyte."
Chiyo slammed her forehead down onto the desk. "I'm guessing that's a no." Hanson asked rhetorically.
"That's a hell no! I'll take the archer!" she said without thinking and before she could change her mind she found herself standing at the gate to Payon.
"So you're saying I can't become an archer yet?"
"Exactly. You have three job levels to go before you can become an archer. In addition to that you have to collect 25 points worth of trunks from Willow monsters."
Chiyo cursed under her breath before turning to leave. As soon as she stepped out of the guild she could have sworn a ray of light from heaven shown down upon a brunette merchant.
"Buy your Archer test! We've got solid trunks, barren trunks, fine grained trunks, and swim trunks! Come and get it!" the merchant turned towards her with a smile, "Oh hello there. Wanna cheat on your test? Or are you one of those novices that does every 'with honor'!" she puffed her chest out and made a stupid face that got a giggle out of Chiyo.
"How much?" the novice asked, pulled out her pouch of zeny. She'd felt bad about it, but she sold some of the trinkets her neighbors gave her, she got fairly good prices on some of them.
"Dirt cheap. Three zeny a trunk." She tossed a fine-grained trunk at Chiyo, "but since you laughed at my joke I'll give ya a discount!"
"She's probably the first and last person." A third voice piped up.
Up until now Chiyo hadn't noticed the archer sitting next to the merchant. She had pinkish hair and a slender build. A silvery crossbow lay at her side, ready to fire at a moment's notice. Chiyo couldn't see the girl's eye color though, wrapped over her eyes was a folded piece of linen, tied in the back like a blindfold.
It slipped out before she could stop herself, "What's up with your eyes?" then she gasped and covered her mouth, dropping the trunk.
Both girls hesitated before answering, "Sukuraji is training by eliminating the use of her eyes. She needs all the extra training she can get before her hunter test."
After that Chiyo decided it was best not to ask questions. "I'll take fifteen of the fine grained trunks please." The merchant forgot to give her the discount that was promised.
Defeating the monsters in the field did her little to no good. Almost all the monsters were porings and willows, both of them terribly weak monsters. She been battling them for almost three hours and gained a single job level.
That's how she ended up at Payon Cave. An eerie place where merchants sold their potions but didn't dare to go inside. Once you were inside there was only one way out. Though she didn't know what kind of monsters lurked inside there were rumors of the dead coming back to life and attacking the humans out of envy.
"Yeah right, dead people." Chiyo headed inside the cave, it was eerie yes but not the point of creepy. Torches line the narrow hallways that opened up into room that were lit a glow by the torches. As she sat down next to the big torch inside the first chamber she began to study the people.
Everyone here seemed to travel in groups of two or more and if they didn't they stuck near the few acolytes sitting against the wall. A handful of brave people walked down another narrow hallway leading south.
For a while it was quiet in the cave, almost peaceful, but the peace was interrupted when a bat like creature swung down from the ceiling and went directly for a thief that sat nearby. The thief didn't seem worried at all, he stood up, whipped out his dagger and sliced right through the creature.
These things must really suck. Chiyo thought as she stood up and headed down the south path like the other group did. It was a short trip since the small hallway opened up into a larger room; there she saw the group from earlier all gathered around something. A couple other people ran over to see what happened.
"What happened?" an archer asked, pointing towards whatever it was that was so fascinating.
"I don't know." A priestess replied, tears streaming down her face, "I turned my back for one second so I could heal my friend."
"It came out of no where." A swordsman said, "I ran over to help her but it was too late."
"She tried to take it by herself. I told her to use her potions but she said when we entered the cave she shouldn't waste them." A forth person, a mage said.
"We didn't mean for this to happen." The priestess said again, "She asked for help and we helped her but I didn't know…" she turned and sobbed on the swordsman's shoulder.
Chiyo forced her way into the crowd, managing to get a glimpse of a novice. A dead novice. A little bit of green liquid dripped from her mouth, from it's smell Chiyo could tell it was… "Poison?" she said out loud.
The mage looked down at her an nodded, "Zombies use poison to slow down attacks, if they get it in your mouth. Otherwise it just burns. Since Jenni was such a low level she didn't know to avoid it. She didn't have a green herb and she died almost instantly." That was a little more information than she needed.
The swordsman shooed the crowd away, picking up the novice piggyback style and left the cave. The priestess and mage followed soon after. The crowd dispersed and left the girl to her thoughts. That was when Chiyo realized, she was all alone. That other girl had a fighting chance since there was a priestess with her to cure and heal. But Chiyo was flying solo, she didn't have a 'snowball's chance in hell'.
Almost on cue the sound of footsteps came from down another south hallway.
Plip. Plop. Plip. Plop.
"Oh good, I'm not alone. I hope it's an acolyte, maybe I can follow them out of the cave." She muttered walking towards the sound.
"Hey! Over here!" she waved as the silhouetted figured approached, but it wasn't the acolyte she expected.
The creature breathed heavily, as if just breathing itself caused it pain. That same green venom dripped from its open mouth revealing the yellow of its teeth. Its skin was rotted and flabby, almost to the point where it would fall off. The creature only paused for a moment before it spotted her, how it saw her she didn't know, because it didn't have eyes.
Chiyo could only stand there in fear; just looking at the zombie gave you the willies! Her hand shook as she reached for her main gauche, but by then the zombie was charging at her, venom gathering in its open mouth. She had just enough to let out a scream as it came in range of her.
It happened in an instant, a leather-gloved hand reached around her head, covering her mouth. Then it yanked her back, she landed on her back with an 'oof!' but as she opened her eyes again she gasped. The zombie lay dead, slain by the person she least expected.
A/N: Okay, so yeah I screwed up the POV in the first chapter. The first POV change where Chiyo was talking about herself and then to when she was leaving home was on purpose. And I pre-wrote the chapter before deciding to change some of the POV for effect, so I imagine it's a little screwy. Thanks for pointing that out Eheheh… Anyways thanks for all the reviews!
Who is Chiyo's mysterious savior? Even if she's slipped out of Death's clutches this time will she be as lucky the next time… And just what IS Valiant? Find out in the next Chapter: Bravery comes with a Blindfold!