29 On the Way Back

Retracing our previous path back was a lot quicker than it had been on the way there. In only thirty minutes, we found ourselves beyond the darkened part of the forest back under the bright warm rays of the sun. As we walked back, Luna had wrapped her arm around my own. To the average passerby, we looked like a happy couple strolling in the park. Now that we were in the more open part of the forest path, we could move faster. "Wanna stretch those legs a bit?" I asked Luna. "Definitely, last one there has to give the winner a massage!" Luna broke into a jog towards the town, and I took off after her.

While what we were doing was only exerting ourselves as much as jogging, we moved at around 40 kilometres per hour. Though my stats were above Luna's, her beast person racial abilities included running at an incredible speed. I would be able to outpace her if I pushed myself, but that would not be fun. And besides, her winning the bet will give me an excellent excuse to pamper her a bit.

After an hour of running, we finally burst through the tree line at the edge of the forest. Before Luna and I were rolling green hills, we could see Moero in the distance on the horizon. Now that we were out of the cover of the forest, we walked at a standard speed. We did not want to reveal my impressive stats. It took us a half-hour to cover the last leg of our journey.

Nearing the town gate we left through, we watched as six people left through the gate. It was four people I recognized and two I did not. The four-person adventurer group I had previously seen in town was guiding a smaller group of two others. These two, a teenage boy and girl, were seemingly adventurers based on the lacquered armour and weapons with which they were equipped. They had a youthful look to them, so I assumed they are new adventurers. And typically, I would be under the impression that the more experienced group had taken a couple of new members under their wing.

In this case, though, as I caught a glimpse of the predatory glint in the veteran adventurers' eyes, I realized that this is likely not to be one of those circumstances. I debated internally at that moment if I should intervene. I weighed the impact of jumping into this situation without any accompanying intel.

I finally decided that for now, I would go check in at the Guild with Kyana. First, let her know we have completed our task and inform her of what we saw. That way, I can avoid revealing my abilities, and if the Guild does need my assistance, I can be sanctioned in my actions. We checked in with the guard at the gate and proceeded back into town. It was the early evening, so families were out in the streets, enjoying a stroll or getting a late supper.

Hearing Luna's tummy growl as she caught the scent of some particularly delicious smelling fried noodle dish, I declared food as the priority. We inquired with the locals enjoying the food, and they pointed us to a small shop across the street. The shop looked to have been built into an old alleyway between the two neighbouring storefronts. They had a counter that opened straight to the sidewalk and a menu of food items posted below the counter. Luna and I debated our food choices, deciding on each of our bowls. We placed our order, and I got us each a cider from their drink menu. We took our meals and sat at the benches out front of the Adventurer's Guild to chow down. We enjoyed our meal and stole bits of each other's to try out the different flavours.

As we were nearing the end of our meal, I noticed a man in a mottled grey ninja-esque outfit dart across the rooftops into the Guildmaster's open window. No one else seemed to see him, so I guess he was moving a bit too fast and fluidly for the average person to catch. I noticed on his AR readout that the Guild employed him. He must be some sort of a scout or assassin. I will have to keep my eyes peeled to see if I can spot him at work in the future.

Now that we were done with our dinner, we headed to the counter inside. Kyana was at the left-most booth, currently finishing up with a trio of female warriors. When Kyana smiled and stamped their Guild tags, the three ladies cheered and waved Kyana goodbye.

"Welcome back. It is rare for Granny Gabella to allow guests to stay the night. You must have made a good impression." Kyana extended her arm to take the note Gabby had given us. Unfolding the letter, her eyes trailed down the paper as her eyebrows rose as she took in the contents of the letter. "The Guild always welcomes more alchemists. With this recommendation from a Master Alchemist, you won't even need to take the test for the Guild to recognize you as a registered artisan." Dang, Granny was a Master Alchemist, and she didn't even bring it up once.

"Now, let's head to the Guildmaster to report that you two now have enough CP to level up." Luna and I exchanged a surprised look over a single quest giving us enough CP to rank up as we followed after the Guild Administrator.

Kyana headed into Guildmaster Briggs' office, where she headed over to the Guildmaster's desk, whispered an explanation to him and handed him the note she still had in her hands. "Hmm, you are shaping up to surpass even the high expectations I held for you there, young one. Tell me how your quest went." I explained our journey to him as he attentively listened, occasionally asking for further explanations. When I described our fight with the goblins, he whistled softly, "Impressive. I guess we should hope none of the other guild members hit on the young miss in front of you." Briggs winked with his teasing words, getting a blush and a scowl out of me. Luna, meanwhile, took my hand in her own and lovingly squeezed it while smiling.

"Did you happen to take the ears of the goblins for kill confirmation? Fortunately, Luna had told me of the need for proof of kills for bounties and the like. She pulled from her pack the nearly dozen pairs of ears. Kyana inspected and tallied the ears before handing her notes to the Guildmaster. "You even got some archers in there and a single goblin mage. Great job, John and Luna. You are an impressive duo. Between the goblin extermination, completion of your quest and Gabby explaining how you performed the fabrication of the potions and created them all as superior quality, I will be giving you enough CP to bump you up from F to D." The Guildmaster took our tags and stamped them with the magical stamp we saw earlier. Upon receiving them back, we checked them and saw our status showed we are now D-rank official adventurers under the Guild. "D-rank gives you access to all the basic functions and benefits of Guild membership. You are required to complete at minimum one D-rank quest per month. Now tell me, John, what is the other thing you got on your mind?" Grinning at the ever perceptive nature of the Guildmaster, I explained that I had seen the two newbies with the potentially malicious group of four.

The Guildmaster stroked his chin, "Thanks for the info. Don't worry about it; I have a top-notch information-gathering department here. Rest assured, If I do need your power to help with anything, I will reach out. Now, I would like you to come to see me tomorrow afternoon. I have a personal quest for you two. It may help you on your adventure as well.

Thanking Briggs and Kyana for their care in welcoming us to the adventuring profession, we made our way back to the inn. After returning to our temporary home, we relaxed in the bath for an hour before heading to our room. Once there, I held up my end of the earlier bet. I provided my best massage to Luna. After spending the majority of an hour seriously massaging her muscles, I pulled out the potion the witch had given me. "Luna, I was given a gift that I want to use. I will be using it now. It may cause you a bit of pain. But I need you to trust me." Still lying face down, just in her panties from the massage, Luna reached her hand back and stroked my thigh. "Honey, I trust you with my life. Go ahead."

I poured the potion on the scarred area of her back. I heard her let out a gasp and the stinging pain as her body reknitted her flesh on her back. Then I splash the majority on her tail. Before my eyes, her tail regrew the missing skeletal structure, muscles, skin and fur. I could hear whimpering escape from her lips at the intense feelings currently wracking her body.

Where she had previously had just a little nubbin of a tail, there now stood a magnificently bushy tail that curled slightly upward. She looked back over her shoulder and saw the restored tail. Tears immediately started to leak from her eyes. I ran my hand across the soft spot where her scars had previously been. "I also took care of your ba-" My explanation was cut off as she flung herself into my chest, wrapping her arms around me while sobbing. "My tail, you gave me it back. You have done so much. I love you so much. I love you. Love you, love you, love you..." Luna gripped the sides of my face, holding me still while punctuating her "love you's" with planting kisses on my lips.

After several minutes of me holding her, the kisses became more and more drawn out as she wrapped her legs around me, and we proceed to be joined in making love to one another throughout the remainder of the evening.