Ank

We passed the day in the woman’s house, and though still a little skeptical, we accepted her treating, and we had dinner, took a bath, and went to sleep back in the room she offered us.

However, we made sure to wake up before the woman, transform the blanket she gave us in an improvised bag, fill it with food we took from the kitchen, arm ourselves with the shinny and visibly sharp knives that woman had-

“Shit”, I cursed.

“What?”

“I can’t open the drawers”, I explained, and my sister tried to help me, but the compartment didn’t move a centimeter. “It’s a shame, but we will have to make it work with rocks or something”, we decided to hurry away from the house instead of risking waking the retired adventurer up.

And so, we gathered some stones outside, and a walking stick for each. The plan was simple:

Step 1: Get away from that place.

Step 2: Find an adventurer’s guild and get stronger.

Step 3: Kill all the [Gods].

And, how would we get stronger?

It was well known that almost everything people did was rewarded with experience. From writing books, to building houses, and even sculpting. But these things would only lead people to their respective [classes]; of [Writer], [Bricklayer], and of [Sculptor]; and we didn’t want to write poems to those who decimated our village and tortured us, my sister and I wanted to slash their throats open and break their spines, we needed combat [classes]. Plus, there were things called [Titles], that could give the wildest advantages. Then, there were equipment, spells and skills books, guides, maps, consumables, and other resources; someone's strength could be greatly increased by items.

And the Adventurers Guild could offer all of this… somehow. I lived far away from any building of the Guild’s, and the rumors were wild there, but Taffy healing my sister and I, and the story she told us, were proofs that Adventurer’s Guild was the place we siblings needed to get to.

About half an hour after leaving the house, it was clear that there were no roads leading to it, surprisingly: we lost some time trying to find a path, but ultimately were forced to just take a random direction and diving into the jungle.

The wilds were dangerous, though, and as expected, it didn’t take long before our first encounter.

“Wait”, my sister lifted her hand, and we crouched down.

I approached her, and she pointed the little bird behind the bushes; about 40 centimeters tall, 1,80 meters long, and covered in yellow feathers. Over his head a green name floated:

[Species: Hesperonychus, Level: 2]

I exchanged a glance with my sister, and we nodded at the same time: it wouldn’t hurt to get some experience before reaching the Guild’s building (especially when both of us were in a hard position due to village affairs when it came to [levels] and [classes]), and that bird would be the perfect first blood.

Immediately after, we quickly got up from the bushes, and before the monster could run away, while it still was stunned in fear, we hurled our stones at it.

Only some of the rocks hit the creature, but it screamed in pain and, when it tried to run away, it showed clear signals of being slowed down.

“After it”, I said, and we both reached for our sticks and dashed towards the small creature.

In just a few couples of steps, we reached the wounded bird, and started to bash.

In the first contact of our sticks against the creature’s back, it fell down and its screams started to get stuck in its throat. Soon, the bird was coughing blood. Then, it became totally immobile, and my sister and I were breathing fast and sweating.

A noble, or a kid from the city could have thought that the scene was too brutal, but everyone that lived in the real world, small villages like ours, was used to follow their parents during hunts and fishing, and they made us give the final blow many times to get used to it.

So, when my eyes met my sister’s, we just smiled and lifted our thumbs up, satisfied with ourselves.

Until five more [Hesperonychus] showed up and encircled us, that is.

“What the fu-”, I couldn’t even curse in time, as one of the little birds came from behind me and bit my calf, bringing me down.

“Ank!”, my sister lifted her stick to attack the one biting me, but ended up suffering the same destiny, all the leg biting seemingly the hunting strategy of those little carnivores.

There was no chance to look all heroic and save Hunah, though, as a second bird jumped straight for my neck.

Unable to dodge the attack, I lifted my left hand up, and the creature bit into it instead. Gritting my teeth, filling those birds eating away my skin and flesh, and the one on my forearm even scrapping my bones, I stroke this last one with the end of the walking stick, and once he was so close, I hit right on its eye.

The wounded [Hesperonychus] fell and retreated, eye bleeding, and when a third one tried to jump on my neck again, I hit it with the walking stick midair, sending it away. Then, I suddenly felt the pressure on my calf alleviating, and saw that Hunah hat just hit the bird biting into it while she struggled with both legs locked between the teeth of two other [Hesperonychus].

Getting up, I helped her back, kicking one of the creatures, and bashing the other with my stick.

Hunah got back on her feet, and we touched our backs against one another, to avoid falling for the same trick again.

Four of the birds kept a standstill, but the one with the bloody eye must have got really pissed at me, for it jumped straight for my testicles. I shoved my improvised weapon on its open mouth, then, and our opposing forces resulted in the walking stick impaling the little carnivore from one end to another.

The attack, however, incited the rest of the band to come after us again, instead of scaring them away.

Another little feathered creature tried to bit my foot, but I, weaponless, stomped it on the neck and locked it down on the ground; at the same time, Hunah hit one of her opponents just right, so she broke its neck, and threw the corpse of the creature over its companion, making it stuck for enough time so she bashed the thing’s head open.

When Hunah finished with the two birds, the one under my feet had suffocated to death already.

We sighed in unison.

“Now I remember why becoming a warrior never crossed my mind before…”, I said.

“I just wanted an easy life~”, my sister added, and I couldn’t agree more.

“A job like food tester or something”, I said, and she nodded, smiling.

I could already imagine myself laying around, sleeping and eating all day, five days a week~

“Wait, weren’t there five creatures?”, I asked, looking around. Finding the remaining last enemy when it was already falling over us from the tree it partially climbed.

Chipping loudly, the last of our opponents alive scratched us right on our faces violently, both of us even fell down, only for the thing to attack us with even more intensity, biting too. The thing’s long claws tore off part of my nose, and one of Hunah’s ears, and its teeth chewed holes on both our cheeks, until we finally grabbed the thing, each one of us holding a clawed wing, and pulled with all our strength, tearing the limbs off, when the bird died soon after.

I quickly checked my [Health Points]:

[HP: 02/10]

And, once again in immense pain, we recollected our stuff, as well as a pair of the birds' corpses, and, defeated, we returned to the retired healer’s house.

To our surprise, she was awaiting us, once again, with tea and a smile on her face.