Seasons come, and seasons go, and I was just getting into the 'plateau phase' of my leveling. Generally, adventurers reach level 6 within the first 3 months of their careers, assuming they last that long, but it takes about a year total to make level 10 and several more to make level 20 and be recognized as a veteran. Most parties leave around that time, seeking bigger payouts and greater fame than killing toads or kobolds can get them.

That was far in the future of course, right now more than a single toad at a time was still a challenge, never mind demon slaying. That day, I was having breakfast in the guild hall by myself when a pair of newcomers walked in, a weedy looking obviously Japanese guy and a blue haired absolute stunner. Intrigued, I watched them make their way to the counter and start a conversation with Luna. Something tickled the back of my mind, not the guy, there were a million just like him, but the girl next to him. I've always had problems communicating with beautiful women, or even just pretty ones. Rin would pout at me for saying it, but one of the reasons I could relax with her was she had an average girl next door look that didn't switch my brain off.

This 'girl' was definitely doing that, but not in the same way my angel did. Once, back when I was still a wannabe delinquent and not a confirmed NEET, I was out one night and ran into some real ones. Yakuza type real ones. That same sense of danger, of something that could end you as easily as scooping up the oatmeal in my bowl and with just as little remorse, was coming from that girl and I had no idea why.

Smart money was to make sure I never found out.

As if thinking of the divine summoned her to me, Chris picked that moment to breeze through the doors. If I hadn't been watching her so closely, I'd never have noticed the brief hitch in her confident stride, or the way her eyes snapped onto the newcomers for a second before pretending nothing happened. She saw me next, and waved a little hello, and then took her usual table in the corner. Grabbing up my oatmeal, I moved over to join her.

"Oh. Um, good morning, Subaru?" she greeted hesitantly as I sat down across from her. "What's the…"

"You noticed her too, right?" I cut her off. A lot more sharply than I ever was with her normally, but for some reason she just smiled a bit wryly and shrugged agreement.

"Monks ARE technically part of the priest class I guess, I'm impressed you noticed. I can't say what she is, but she's something for sure" she murmured back, glancing over to where the newcomers were now screened off by the small crowd formed around them talking excitedly. "The guy with her looks like you though, know him?'

"Nope, probably from the same place though." I shook my head. I still had no idea what brought me here, and seeing another Japanese just waltz in for the first time since I showed up almost made me want to go get some answers. Almost. Maybe if I could catch him alone…

"So," Chris interrupted my train of thought, "I was actually on my way to find Taylor or Rin. My sources tell me there's a hunt quest out near the border with Count Vorkosigan's domain that's about to go up on the board. There's good money in it, but it needs a wizard and a couple of people with the Sense Foe skill. Nobody in their party has it though, so I'm looking for a second of that too. Any idea where they are?"

I shook my head. "Haven't seen them yet. I paid Dust off so they've been taking quests a bit outside my level range, they might still be out of town on the latest one."

She frowned cutely in thought, "He's been hitting me up for cash again recently, that would be why. Damn, I really do need a wizard, and Rin is one of the better ones in town even without counting her party."

"I suppose you could always get the Illusive Girl." I joked, "I can vouch to her knowing her job at least."

Chris tilted her head in confusion, so I explained. "A few of us have seen her out on quests around the town, but nobody's ever seen her face or even talked to her. Just one minute you're in a sticky situation, the next 'POOF' your problems go up in smoke and she scampers off. She's probably saved at least five or six of us noobs over the last few weeks."

"Oh! You mean Yunyun!" Chris smiled brightly and my brain took a quick vacation. "That's perfect, I thought she was still out in Arcanretia. Thanks, Subaru!" With that, she got up and trotted out the door, capelet streaming behind her.

"A Union of what?" I wondered. Then slapped my forehead and cursed myself for a moron. "I didn't tell her I have the Warn skill, that's probably close enough!" I moaned. A chance to finally go on a quest with my idol and I blow it. This morning already sucked, and it was barely past sunrise.

I'll never admit it to her, but I probably do owe Darkness a favor for mentioning my skill list to Chris at some point. Somehow, she already knew I had Warn and later that morning she tracked me down with the armored disappointment in tow. Along with another of my traumas, and that's when I decided this probably wasn't going to be my day.

"H-Hello, I'm Yunyun. Archwizard of the Crimson Demon clan!" she stuttered out, almost shouting the last bit and about ready to hide behind the other two girls. Now that I could see more than just her eyes she was fairly cute for an eldritch engine of destruction, wearing a set of classic wizard's robes, a bronze hair ornament holding back her brunette bangs, and ribbons creating a pair of low tails in front. Her ruby eye glow wasn't nearly as obvious in daylight either, so I could almost pretend she was just a normal girl my age. That could vaporize me with a word.

"I'm Subaru, a Monk class level 6." I dusted off my half-forgotten manners and returned with my best bow, deciding that politeness was probably my best bet to stay intact. "Thank you for joining us on our mission, Miss Yunyun. So, you're the one that's been helping the parties around Axel lately? I owe you big, those toads the other day might've gotten me without you!" I reached into my coin pouch and handed over the reward for two toads to her. "It's not much, but it's only fair you get the reward for the two you got off my back."

She flushed and fidgeted out a tiny answer I didn't quite catch, but Chris smoothly took over the conversation, so I decided not to worry about it too much. At least she didn't seem angry about how little I could spare for saving me.

"Right, now that we're all here there's a wagon train heading our way leaving soon. Subaru, if you want to grab your gear and meet us at the east gate in an hour we'll get on our way!"

I did just that, and before long we were rattling our way down the rutted cart track that led out to Ehrenfest, the river town with a schumil problem we were bound for.

The cart turned out to be carrying bundles of cloth for shipment downriver to the capital, so it wasn't as bad a ride as it might've been in a wagon that had never heard of shock absorbers.

"I'm impressed, Chris." Darkness agreed. "This is the most comfortable ride out to a quest area I think I've had."

"No reason not to travel in style when you can," the thief replied airily. "We're acting as security for the shipment in exchange for the ride, so do keep an eye out though."

That wouldn't be hard of course, between her Sense Foe detecting anything hostile and my Warn telling me if anything had detected our presence in turn we should be pretty well set.

"I'm surprised you had any word of a schumil Great Horde forming. The last culling was only a few years ago." Darkness continued, "We shouldn't have trouble for years yet."

"How many are we expecting?" Yunyun added softly, but without the stutter I expected. Maybe the prospect of some carnage calmed her down?

"They weren't sure on either count I'm afraid. The quest notice is only for a scout report plus a per kill bonus, but the local manor reported only a handful of fields eaten out so far, so probably a few dozen. Fifty at most." She shrugged. "We'll have to play it by ear. That's why I wanted a person with scout skills in each group." She turned to me and continued. "You've probably never seen one Subaru, but schumils are about a meter long, furry, and blue. They're not particularly dangerous in small groups, but they're also one of the few monsters that use magic at all, so you need to be a little careful with them. They have a short-range stun attack so it's best to take care of them at a distance, you'll know it's coming when their eye color changes. I think our plan should be for Darkness and me to herd them into Yunyun, while you screen her against any that get past her magic."

I nodded, that made sense. With Darkness' Decoy skill dragging them in and Chris setting some traps, we should be able to get a good kill zone going.

"Also, since they tend to be active towards evening and after dark, I'd suggest checking your gear one last time and trying to nap on the rest of the way. We'll be busy once we get there about sunset."

There wasn't much else to say without more to go on, and she was a lot more experienced than any of us, so we let the topic drop. The rest of the afternoon we spent doing whatever prep work on our gear we needed and chatting here and there. Since I had the least gear of anybody it didn't take me any time at all, and so I stretched out and started drowsing on a cloth roll before long.

We arrived outside Ehrenfest that evening. We soon found a decent sized clearing in the woods from a lightning strike causing a burn off, about 50 meters wide in a rough oval, the split charred husks of the unlucky trees still visible as we set up. Chris went to work on a few simple crowd control traps, something she called a 'Wiz Special' that involved several suspicious looking bottles rigged to drop by tripwire around the edges of the clearing on three sides. Given the amount of padding the box they'd been in used, I decided on the spot to be anywhere else while she did that, no matter how much I'd like to admire the sunset lighting her face.

Instead, Yunyun and I found a nice sturdy tree so she could cast down into the clearing and be up where the hopefully non climbing schumils wouldn't be able to get to her, but low enough down to jump for it if she had to. I took a station in the very lowest branches of the tree a couple meters below her, after spreading some leaf litter around our nests to hopefully hide us better from below.

After that, Chris and Darkness went out to prowl, and the two of us settled in to wait it out.

"Hey, S-subaru?" I heard a timid voice ask after they left.

"Eh?"

"S-subaru?" Yunyun said again, just above a whisper. "Thank you for coming along, even though you hate me."

That, to say the least, took me aback. I couldn't remember even talking to her outside the one time, and that for a couple sentences before I fled in terror. Still, she was waiting for me to reply, and since after spending most of a day with her I was leaning towards 'shy and may have a speech impediment' rather than 'speechless with fury and/or scorn' to explain her silence and stuttering I figured the truth was probably safe.

"I never hated you. Scared to death of you because you looked ready to murder me over ruining your card game and trying to join your party, maybe." But maybe not that much truth, you idiot.

Before I could take it back, I felt a shiver in the branches above me like she'd flinched at my answer.

"I-I-I would n-never!" she started sputtering. "I was just so ha…ha" she trailed off, mumbling something.

"But! Chris asked me to, and I've been trying to get her to go somewhere with me for weeks. I'm not about to let a chance like that go by!" I shrugged flippantly even though she couldn't see me. That didn't seem to go over any better.

"Oh…." There was a soft sound, maybe a sigh, and she was quiet for a while.

I'd been planning to follow up that I'd still pick her over Darkness since she hadn't nearly gotten me killed, but decided I'd dug my grave deep enough for one conversation.

It might've been an hour later that Chris and Darkness' fishing expedition came back with results. Warn was still quiet, but I could hear movement coming from the north, directly away from town. With us on the west side of the clearing to keep the sun out of our eyes, Yunyun should be able to make the most of the last light.

First, and laughing maniacally, was Darkness at a dead run. She'd shed her armor before she left since she needed speed more than protection, and her black bodysuit blended into the shadows with her bright blond hair streaming behind her like a disembodied comet as she vaulted a shrubbery and rocketed into the clearing, skidding to a stop about 2/3 of the way across.

Screaming like a madwoman, she turned and bellowed "COME ON THEN! HAVE A GO IF YOU THINK YOU'RE MAN ENOUGH! TAKE YOUR BEST SHOT YOU CUPCAKES!"

"She's got talent as a town crier if adventuring falls through for her" a voice wryly commented next to my ear, and I almost fell out of my perch. Whipping around, I found Chris grinning like a kid at Christmas about half a meter away, with me none the wiser.

"Wha...how? When?!"

"If I'd been a snake, I'd have bitten you…" she taunted. "Just a minute ago. Darkness makes a hell of a distraction, but don't you fall for it too, dummy." she flicked my forehead hard enough to leave a red mark. "Look sharp, the show's about to start."