The woman hummed softly, but his logic was sound, and he didn’t seem like the type that was hoping to use such items for ill purposes. She sighed but nodded. He had a point, and at the end of the day, they only made weapons, they couldn’t control where they ended up down the line after all. “Very well. Considering this is a special request, this will be a high quality item made, and the coin will reflect that.” she warned but.. Decided to go easy on him. “I will give you a discount however, if you can bring me already made daggers, then my husband would merely have to tailor them rather than making them from scratch. “

“I remember there being a quest for daggers that Ash and I haven’t touched.” Then his eyes gleamed. “Oh.. This might be my chance to get a level higher than him.” He nodded his head. “I’ll come back once I go check out the quest. If I don’t then I’ve headed off on it.”

“Very well.” She smiled. “Our shop closes at sundown though.” she reminded him gently. Most shops in town did around sunset after all.

“Alright.” Heart turned and hurried out now, running all the way back to the guild. He and Ash had seen this quest before, but as neither of them were assassin class had given up on it. Reaching the guild he moved inside and went to the request board to see what it was that it was asking for in the first place. Since it was something that had been here since he first got here then he guessed it had to be something strong.

Picking the quest off the board, he realized the quest was to pick some herbs in an area where he knew that howlers frequented often. He recognized the last name of the person who had put up the request- it was the same last name he had read on Ash when he had looked into his character book. No doubt the quest was from his mother himself, or someone in his family.

Howlers.. That could be troublesome. Heart thought about it carefully, eyeing his new sword before settling that the risk would be worth it. They were going to need these daggers after all to protect themselves outside this sleepy little town. He went over to the clerk and stamped off on it, then tucked it away as he rushed off. He would have to be very careful but the way he figured it Howlers had to be the strongest monsters closest to the village without going deeper into the forest. Having fought them before gave him the knowing of how they worked too.

Heading out of town he carried on a steady jog as he followed the path, easily taking care of a couple of smaller level monsters along the way. It wasn’t in the same spot as the other Howlers, rather these went to a path to the right leading away from the lake. Looking up toward the sun he noted it was already passed noon now and hoped that Ash wouldn’t be too worried about him. If push came to shove he was just going to have to bolt.

Coming to the area he spotted only two Howlers moving around, it was a dead end here meaning he couldn’t go further in but he wondered if that meant they could bail. Either way, they were too far into the area for him to do a surprised charge at them. Taking out his sword Heart stepped out from his hiding spot and calmly walked forward now, the Howlers spotting him after three steps and growled at him. He had faced them already, they didn’t frighten him now, and he didn’t have Ash to worry about. “Come!” Heart shouted at them and they charged, Heart waiting for the last moment for them to strike before dogging to the side, swinging his sword to cut along one of the Howlers side and take first blood from this battle. They danced around each other and Heart took his time now, studying them. The boss of this forest was a massive wolf after all, perhaps by studying the Howlers he would get a better idea of how to beat them. But for a moment he was careless, stepping on a stone that made him lose his balance and allow one of the wolves to sink its fangs into his shoulder. Heart cried out in pain but then wrapped his arm around the Howlers back and charging forward, slamming it into a tree to force it to let go and then bringing his sword down to cut along its neck to end it. The other jumped on his back and now Heart dropped his sword, reaching up to grab onto its ears and drop his body forward to throw it off. The sword impaled itself into the beasts chest, ending it, and Heart - a little blooded, came out on top. But damn, he was only a little short of leveling up. Another Howler would have done it but then again another Howler might have meant too much for him.

Moving around he picked the herbs that were on the flyer and gathered as many were in the area, standing up to begin heading back. Ah he should really see about armor now or at this rate he was going to end up going around fighting naked. He didn’t think the monsters would care but that would sure freak out any thieves they came across. He chuckled a little to himself and idly cut the head off a Lullabud as he passed. “Naked Hero.. Huhu..”

Reaching the town he followed the end quest to reach Ash’s home - least he thought it might be his home, it looked like the kind of place that would have seven kids. Moving around the side he found the shop opening and stepped inside, finding it full of glass vials of different colors and sizes. The one that stood out to him most was the mega-health behind the counter. That thing healed a hundred damage in one go, but it was insanely priced. “Hello?” He asked, gently hitting the bell.

At the sound of the bell, a beautiful elf woman entered from another door. One that seemed connected to her home. Even in a corner, he could see a fairy lamp- but the fairy wasn’t in it. Probably inside the home itself. “Hello~” The woman smiled softly at Heart. “Red hair.. Ah, you must be Ash’s little friend, yes?” she asked as she moved over to the counter now, putting on a clean apron.

“I finished your quest.” He told her as she noted his torn and slightly bloody clothes before looking at the counter as he pulled the herbs out.. A lot of herbs. “The flyer didn’t say how much you needed so I brought a lot. Do you still have the daggers?”

“Oh my, this is much more than I had expected, not many adventurers can go in those areas for long.” she chuckled. Usually it was passing adventurers that filled her quests after all. “Come here please.” she smiled as she pulled out the daggers from her inventory, but said “Ah, you’re really close to leveling up, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, but the smaller level one monsters don’t give as much anymore. If there had been one more howeler I would have had it, though I might have lost something too.” He said as he picked them up, turning them over. They really weren’t worth much, but for what he wanted them for they would be good enough. “I’m going to take these to the blacksmith and then go run crazy in the forest until I do. To see the look on Ash’s face when I come back a level up..” There were stars in his eyes, the same kind of stars Ash got when thinking about money.

“...Ah, I can see why you’re Ash’s friend now too.” she couldn’t help but chuckle. Shaking her head before putting the herbs into her inventory before taking one of them and moving over now to the corner. “Give me a second, I’ll give you a bonus reward, since you brought me more than I was even expecting.” she smiled softly. He watched as her hands moved like magic, The herb added to a bowl, a liquid from a vile added, then another liquid added as she stirred it all with one hand. He watched as the liquid and mashed herbs turned into a soft, baby blue color. She then moved over to him and poured the new liquid into a small vile. Not all of it, but enough to fill it. “Here, drink up.” she said as she moved to fill other small vials with the rest of the liquid.

“Fancy..” He said as he took it, sipping it softly now. “Tastes like bubblegum too.” He downed it now and felt a warmth slipping through his body as he leveled up. Plus one att and def. He grinned as he handed her back to the empty glass. “Thanks, this is just what I needed. Ah -” He blinked as he remembered. “Do you know what Witch Glow is? I can make a potion shop behind my house, but I’m not sure what that is.”

The woman blinked at the question before chuckling. “...Are you sure you want to make a potion shop? I don’t think Ash is ready for it..” she said worriedly, though he got the feeling she was just being a worried mother.

“Well, we settled that we won’t take on the boss of this area for a while so we have to work hard on getting stronger. Ash is doing his part, but his magic can be boosted the same way my spd or att can be. For him to improve it he needs to cast a lot more spells or make potions.” He told her, frowning as he crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m trying to help him get some speed too because it’ll help him out in moving around. When we faced our first Howlers he was pretty much a sitting duck while he was charging his spells. The new staff will help sure, but it is just a tool - one that if the wielder doesn’t improve as well doesn’t amount to much. I’m also going to teach him some self-defence as well, that is why I wanted the daggers, because I feel sure that we’re going to run into some bad humans out there.”

Maria smiled softly now at his detailed explanation of their plans. He could see a ‘+1’ and a relationship bar of just ‘Acquaintance’ appearing. He supposed that had to do with his relationships with other.. Less important characters. What was new now though, as that he felt another fluttering feeling. A ‘+1’ being added to a new bar, charm. And just like that, he felt that he had discovered all the important bars when relating to relationships. “You’re a little charmer, aren’t you? “ she chuckled, shaking her head now. It was basically what she had needed for reassurance that her child would be well taken care of by his teammate. “Witch’s glow is the sweat from a magic user that’s female. So I apply, and dark witches apply too. Warlocks don’t unfortunately.” she said with a faint smile of amusement.

She moved away now and looked up at her shelves, there was a bunch of potions, it was hard to believe she knew what each of them were without labels but she didn’t hesitate as she reached out to pick a small vile. This one was even smaller than the experience bottle he had just taken, and the liquid a sparkling pink. “Here. You’ll have to see to the wood and coin yourself though.” she smiled.

He accepted it and nodded. “There should be some Woodlings around that I can slay for it. But first the blacksmith before they close.” He smiled up at her. “Thanks for this. This is really going to help us out when the time comes.” He waved and headed off now, running across town in order to get to the blacksmith. Reaching it he caught his breath and remembered he hadn’t healed his wounds just yet, but the wasn’t bleeding anymore so he didn’t worry.

Coming inside the smiled a the shop keep and placed the daggers on the counter. “Will these do?”

The woman blinked at the sight of him and said “...Yes, but you should heal soon.” She took the daggers now and said “Please come back in a day for it to be done, and you can make your payment then once my husband completes it.” She gave him a sympathetic look for his state of being, but otherwise said nothing else.

Heart nodded and grinned at her. “I’ll be alright.” He said, trying to assure her before leaving. Well, that took care of his tasks at least. He figured by this point Ash should have found some books so he headed back to the library in order to see how he was doing. And to show off a bit. Coming inside he found Ash waiting for him by a desk near the counter and trotted over, grabbing his shoulder when he drew near to tell him that he had returned. “So what’d you find?”

“Oh I found so many, I mean maybe they’re not all important but-” though he paused now and blinked at Heart. Feeling him stronger as he looked both confused and pouting a little. “You leveled up? How? We still were a bit away from a level up..” he said as he poked his cheek almost accusingly.

Heart grinned at him. “I went and did a quest for your mother. Nice woman. But, more importantly, I got Witch Glow. Once we get the wood from some Woodlings we’ll be able to build the shop in the back.” He told him, settling to leave the daggers until tomorrow. “Alright, let me see what you have.” He turned to the books now. The book about the monsters of the forest and the cookbook for when they were on the road was a given, so now he turned to see what else Ash had picked out.

“Traitor.” Ash pouted cutely before humming and looking at the books. “I chose a book on monsters, turning them into pets. Apparently they have specific things they like, so that one is more a guide. Oh- and this one is a guide on how to raise them, apparently they can leave you if you abuse them or they don’t form a strong enough bond with you.” he rummaged through some of the books he had been flipping through before grinning. “Oh I found out that they can take humanoid forms too, the really rare ones.. And supposedly they can talk to you and everything too. “ He said, beginning to babble about a few others. Other than a spell book that he pointed out, Heart felt that.. The others could wait.

He picked up the spell book and set it aside. “Those are nice and all, but we haven’t gotten to that point. So we’ll just take these three and later on we’ll return for those.” He picked them up and headed to the front desk, paying for them. Though he was a bit surprised when they just disappeared.

“They’ll reappear at your home.” The woman said with a smile. “Certain items you buy don’t go into your inventory but go right to your home, to avoid taking up space. Food doesn’t because food can be used to restore health.”

“That’s really useful.” Heart noted and it made sense to him anyway. “Alright Ash, let’s explore the town a bit more until it is time for Woodlings to come out.” He grinned at the other.

Ash smiled and nodded. “Alright, we can go explore the other side of town. Maybe there’s other shops or something.” He moved to put the left behind books back, and regained his side in front of the Library. “So you met my mom?” he asked now curiously. “What did she say?”

“She was pretty nice, worried about you.” Heart told him. “She also said something about understanding why we were friends but I didn’t catch what she meant by that. But I assured her that we’re going to train hard to become stronger before we did anything crazy.”