A woman opened the door, towering over Yori. Her smile caused slight wrinkles around her gentle brown eyes. Her black hair was neatly pulled back in a half ponytail. The woman quickly smoothed a crease out of her white apron and simple green dress.

“Hello, Yori. Looking for little Naoki, are you?”

“Yes, Mrs. Taguchi. Not that anyone other than you calls him little anymore.”

The two of them chuckled.

“He’ll always be my little boy no matter how big he gets.”

She turned her head away from him briefly and shouted, her voice echoing up the wooden stairs. A baluster was missing towards the bottom of the rail.

“Naoki! Yori’s here!”

“Thanks mom, I’m heading out, I’ll see you later. Hey Yori!”

As Yori and Mrs. Taguchi exchanged pleasantries Naoki walked out the door to join his friend. Naoki’s frame towered over Yori, similar to his mother, but to more of an extreme. He was quite massive, his muscles protruding from beneath his clothes like an adult warrior’s. His messy dark brown hair and beige shirt with a hole contrasted his mother’s pristine appearance. The burly boy made Yori look like a child in comparison despite being the same age. The young men waved to Mrs. Taguchi and headed towards Yori’s family farm.

“You know, you should really learn to ask why I’m here before saying bye to your mom one of these days.”

“Pfft, it’s spring. I’m sure your dad could use a hand on the farm. Especially with your scrawny arms.”

Naoki teased his friend about his small stature as he squeezed Yori’s bicep for emphasis.

“Plus, you know you don’t even need to ask me for help.”

“You’re lucky you added that last part, I was about to smack you upside the head with these scrawny arms.”

Yori raised his right fist and flexed, placing his left hand over his bicep. Naoki smirked at this remark and pretended to be scared. He raised his hands in front of his faced to protect himself from the imaginary onslaught, his auburn eyes glinting in amusement.

Naoki’s robust strength always astonished Yori. They had been best friends since they were small children. When Naoki was younger he was sickly and little, often relying on Yori to help him. The roles had reversed now though, causing Yori to always feel like he was taking advantage of his friend, who followed him without question. To others it was apparent how grateful Naoki was to his friend for being there for him when they were younger.

“Hey, we should stop by the market and see if there are any baked goods for sale today! Can’t work on an empty stomach, right?”

Glancing at his friend, Yori shrugged lightly and smirked.

“Sure, if you want. Although it’s not like my mom wouldn’t feed you. You just want to be eating at all times, I think.”

They veered towards the few stalls set up on the other side of town square. Houses and a couple of stores lined the square, all in desperate need of repairs.

“Yori, Naoki! Could I ask a favour of you two!”

Their gibes were interrupted by a frail voice calling to them from one of these adjacent houses. The boys turned to see one of the villagers, Mrs. Handa, standing in the doorway of her house. She extended a wrinkled hand and waved at them. The woman’s gray hair was pinned up in a white bonnet, a dark blue dress adorned her hunched posture. She took an unsure step towards them, leaning heavily on the wooden cane in her left hand. Naoki’s face lit up with delight at her request. She always had some chores for them to do in exchange for sweets. She was a lovely old lady that everyone in the village respected, but her husband had fallen quite ill. The boys knew that she had a hard time taking care of him all by herself and did anything for her. Nothing was too much of an inconvenience if it was for Mrs. Handa.

“Hello Mrs. Handa, is there something you needed help with?”

Yori inquired as they approached, jogging towards her to limit the amount she had to walk. They stopped in front of the woman as they got close, entering the shade of her longstanding house.

“Did you make any more raspberry pie, ma’am?”

“Oh Naoki, my dear boy. Always thinking with your stomach, haha. I would love to make some for when you return. I’m afraid these old bones are not treating me well this morning. I worry that I may not be able to complete the walk over to the pharmacy to pick up the medicine for my husband today. We are just about out and he can’t manage without it. Would you boys be so kind as to get it for me?”

“Yeah, of course. I know how important it is that he has his medicine.”

“Oh, thank you, you two are so kind to us. I will be sure to make you something to take home with you when you bring back the medicine.”

She handed them a coin purse, and patted Yori on the head with her left hand, following it up by patting Naoki on the upper arm.

Everyone in the village knew that Mr. Handa was not long for this world as it was. Yori was aware that without the medicine he took daily he likely would not even make it through the night. Not only was this a truth not easy to face, but the medicine had cost the Handas their life savings, adding more stress to their delicate situation. Noaki and Yori were wise enough to recognize this. Whenever they did chores for her they always brought her some food that she would make into a delicious treat and share with them. It was their way of tricking her into accepting gifts from them without feeling like a burden. Once they were out of earshot of Mrs. Handa, Naoki piped up.

“You know she can’t afford to keep buying those herbs.”

“I know, but her husband can’t live without them.”

“Well, if that useless son of hers would send her money, then she wouldn’t be in this situation. The guy’s got a blessing from the God of Light and is in the military. I’m sure he can afford lots more then his poor old mom. Maybe we should ask some of the villagers to donate even a small amount to help them out?”

“You’re not wrong, but I haven’t heard anything about him since he left for school.”

This thought made Yori think of his sister.

She’ll be leaving soon too.

“You know how it is, people with real blessings don’t really like to associate with us Villagers. Even if it’s their own parents.”

“That is a good idea, though, about the donations, but do you think that would embarrass her at all?”

“Maybe, but there might be something else we can do…”

This was all too common a story in the village of Oseford. Being a small farming town there were few jobs for people with specific skills and abilities, so when someone was born with a Blessing from a God, it meant leaving the small town to learn at an academy and getting a job utilizing their talents. This would soon be the case for Yori’s own younger sister, but he tried his best not to think about it.

The two of them started heading towards the market to purchase the herbs for Mrs. Handa when Yori suddenly stopped, a pensive look furrowing his young brow. He proposed a new plan to save the woman some money.

“I saw some of the herb Mr. Handa takes, but it’s outside the shield.”

He looked up at his friend to gauge the response to his foolish thought.

“Outside the shield? Are you crazy!? We’re just villagers, we’ll be killed. There’s a barrier for a reason, you know.”

“It’s not as if every inch of the world is covered in monsters. We’ll just be cautious and keep our eyes peeled. If we come across any danger, we’ll run back to the village. We shouldn’t have to go far; I could see them from inside the barrier.”

Yori knew it was practically suicide going outside of the barrier without a proper blessing and leveling up a few times. The shield was a type of magic generated from a monster core to create a barrier to keep monsters out. It was an invention that led humanity from the brink of destruction to the founding of it’s first country, Mothein. Naoki was right though, Mr. Handa needed those herbs but couldn’t afford it much longer, and they did grow very close to the shield.

“Ok, let’s do this, but we have to be really careful.”

“Haha, I knew your heart was bigger than your head. Follow me.”

The two scurried to the outskirts of town, keeping behind the houses to remain unseen. They jogged with caution, trying to be as quiet as possible. They knew if anyone caught them, they would be in for an earful. Hoping to avoid a confrontation with a fellow villager they looked around them often, checking their surroundings to ensure they were alone. No one was around that they could see.

Naoki and Yori peered at the shimmering, transparent wall in front of them, a part of the bubble-like barrier that wrapped around the small village of Oseford. Squinting through the barrier, Naoki pointed to a small patch of a tall, thin plant up against a tree not far from them. They would have to walk about thirty feet to get to the herb, but it was right in their sight. There were no monsters visible at the moment. It seemed as if they would actually be able to reach the herb in relative safety!

Yori looked over at his friend and lowered himself, bending his knees slightly to begin his sprint to the plant.

“Ready?”