Two guards in light, adventurer-like gear lounged near the town gate, clearly bored out of their minds. One leaned on his spear, talking as if conversation alone kept him alive.
"Listen dude, I'm telling you that she was totally into me." Declared the guard with a faint scar on his cheek.
The other guard, a wolf beastman, stared at him as if he was insane. "You mean the woman who sprinted away before you even said hello?"
The guard with a scar glared back. "She was just shy!"
"Whatever helps you sleep at night man."
The scarred guard started to yell in frustration as the beastman covered his ears looking off towards the side trying his best to ignore him, until a figure in the distance slowly approaching them caught his eye.
The beastman uncovered his ears despite the yelling continuing on, leaning in to get a better look at the figure. "Hey dude… shut up for a second and look." He commanded.
The scarred guard crossed his arms in refusal. "Don't try to change the subject! I wasn't–!"
Cutting him off the wolf beastman grabbed his head and turned it towards the direction the figure was approaching.
"...Okay? I see them, but what should I be looking for?" The scarred guard asked, annoyed.
The beastman just groaned, as he pushed him aside and quickly dashed to the figure. "Hey Sir! Are you okay?"
The figure was Rivel—blood drenched, cuts open in more places than not, and carrying his shredded jacket like a sagging bag of treasurer.
"What do you think?" Rivel asked sarcastically.
"R-right stupid question." The beastman stammered. "Here let me help you." He said, putting Rivel's arm carefully around his neck.
The scarred guard finally made his way over to taking in Rivel's appearance, wincing for him. "God, you look like you've seen hell."
Rivel didn't feel like responding back, and just let out a tiny snicker.
"Don't just stand there gawking, make yourself useful and grab that… bag." The beastman barked at the scarred guard.
Deciding it's not time to argue, the guard picked up Rivel's jacket-bag and threw his other arm around his neck. "Where are we even taking him?"
"The Adventurers Guild. They don't charge for healing wounded adventurers," The beastman stated. "You are an adventurer right?" He asked, glancing down at Rivel, as they started to walk slowly into town.
Rivel nodded.
"Adventurer guild it is then."
__________________________
The Adventurers Guild was noisy as usual with adventurers chatting, drinking, or celebrating their recent victories.
Erna stood at the receptionist counter, waiting patiently for the next adventurer to approach her while she filed paperwork.
It's too calm today… That means usually something stupid is about to happen.
She glanced over at Rivel's pouch of coins that sat neatly next to her, glaring at it as if it had just moved.
He should be doing that quest right about now… should be an easy quest for any F-ranker.
"What are you thinking about so hard?" A voice boomed out.
Erna's ears twitched as she turned around to face a tall woman with green skin. Her hair that casased down her back was an unruly forest-green mane, and her bandages arms liked thick enough to crack stone. Her clothes were a mix of robes and bandages giving her a barbaric look.
Enra frowned, "Adalhide, what did I say about speaking so loud?" She questioned, in a cold tone.
Adalhide grinned with her two tusks sticking out for all to see. "Calm down ice queen. I just wanted to check on you." She replied.
Erna's cold expression didn't leave her face. "In other words you came looking for a sparing partner."
Adalhide laughed, shifting her head away. "Whatever do ya mean? Can't a friend come check up on the ones they care about?" She asked with a scoff.
Erna raised a brow.
"..."
"..."
Adalhide started to sweat under Erna's glare, until she cracked slamming her hands down onto the counter causing everyone to come to an abrupt pause.
"F-Fine! I want you to come spar with me! It's been forever!" Adalhide blurted out.
Erna narrowed her eyes. "Stop yelling."
"S-sorry" Adalhide Murmred.
Erna let out a small sigh. "Why don't you ask the guild leader? I'm sure he's itching for a fight."
Adalhide groaned like a child who wasn't getting their way. "But I always fight the guild leader and after a while it gets boring. I need someone new to fight!"
"Then why don't you help train an adventurer?"
Adalhide looked over to the tables which were filled with tons of adventures now empty and barren leaving only behind trails of dust.
Adalhide pointed at the empty tables. "Well, that answers that."
Erna rubbed her temple.
Some adventurers they are.
Adalhide leaned in, staring at Erna with puppy dog eyes.
Erna exhaled, but just as she was about to respond, the doors to the guild burst open.
"We need a healer!" The scarred guard shouted, with Rivel's arm still around his neck.
"This guy was badly hurt." The beastman spoke up.
Enra's ears perked as she ran over, realizing it was Rivel they were carrying.
"What happened?" She asked demanding answers, dropping her icy tone from earlier.
"We're not sure we only found him like this when he was approaching the town." The beastman responded.
"He was carrying this." The scarred guard added, handing over Rivel's jacket-bag full of mini slime cores.
Erna looked inside, eyes widening in shock at the sheer amount of cores inside the bag.
How could someone have so many cores? These are meant to be rare.
She turned around to face Adalhide, who was watching in curiosity. "Adalhide can you have someone appraise these? Something seems off about them." Erna asked hurriedly.
Adalhide didn't question her and nodded as she took the jacket of cores away towards the back.
Erna then turned back to the two guards, "Follow me." She instructed.
She led them upstairs to a room that looked rather cozy. A bed sat just against the wall with a window just right above it, giving a great view of the town. A few plants sat on a desk in the corner in a vase blooming with life.
"Place him down carefully."
The men both nodded in unison as they placed Rivel down carefully flat on his back on the bed.
"Thanks." Erna said, as the men both walked out.
Then her focus shifted back towards Rivel who stared at the ceiling with a scowl on his face.
For a moment they both stayed silent, until Erna decided to speak up.
"...Did you–"
"No, I did not lose to slimes." He said it before she even finished breathing in.
"..."
"..."
"It doesn't look that way." She said bluntly.
"Normally you're meant to support the injured. Not break them down even more than they already are."
"I'll keep that in mind, but for now can you tell me what happened?"
Rivel finally turned to face her, annoyed and frustrated. "Shouldn't I be asking you that? You told me that those things were rare! Next thing I know, I'm facing off against a horde of them."
"...So you lost to a horde of mini slimes." She responded in a voice of pity.
"NO! I actually won! I know you saw the cores in the bag!" Rivel shouted hoarsely.
"Then why are you so beat up?" She asked, tilting her head to the side.
Rivel fell into silence.
Erna continued to stare at him waiting for an answer.
"Before I answer… tell me, is it normal for a mini slime to be able to take an entire chunk out of a tree?"
Erna looked at him full of concern.
"Stop looking at me as if I'm on my death bed," Rivel urged. "I'm being serious, those things were chipping trees like it was no problem!"
Erna pressed a hand over her mouth, shoulders shaking with a sound she tried—and failed-to smother.
Rivel eyes narrowed. "A-are… Are you laughing?"
"Sorry, It's just funny to see you get so angry" She claimed, clearing up her voice. "Don't worry, I believe you."
Rivel stared at her suspiciously. "Really?"
She nodded. "We actually had a problem like this before in the past. It was a year ago, a report surfaced about certain monsters suddenly becoming stronger beyond their usual capabilities. Among those monsters, mini slimes were one of them. I was actually the one who was sent out to discover if this report was true or not."
"And was it?"
She nodded. "Some kind of dark magic created the demonic cult that changed the essence of the monsters."
"So it wasn't that I was actually weak?"
"Fortunately for you, no." She replied, shaking her head.
Rivel just groaned in happiness as he looked back up at the ceiling.
Erna looked towards the door frowning. "You should rest, and I'll go fetch you a healer if we can find one. Using potions at this point wouldn't prove useful for your case at this stage."
Rivel didn't respond back.
As Erna turned around Rivel was already out cold.
She stared at him for a few seconds longer before silently shutting the door behind her, mumbling a few words to herself.
"Seems like I missed a few."
Once the door shut behind her an imp revealed itself from outside the window peeking inside. It glanced at Rivel's beaten form and its eyes widened in shock before flying away in a rush. "I've got to tell Queen Velmira immediately!"