48 The Blacksmith's Daughter

Gerard travelled for two days, navigating treacherous terrain and fending off hostile enemies. As the road passed through a forest, Gerard disposed of a pack of goblins and, later, a small group of highwaymen after his money. During the nights, Gerard would rest his head against Alder, and its leaves would extend and cover Gerard's body like a blanket.

On the third day, Gerard watched Alder while filling his water skin at a river by the main road.

The roots around Alder's hooves pierced the ground and absorbed the nutrients from the soil.

"That's still amazing." Gerard cupped his hands and drank from the river.

Gerard took the map from his pack and looked at his current location. Ahead, the road twists east and heads towards a village named Yurruf beside the ocean. A large, unnatural-looking canal led from Yurruf through to Solares. From his current location, he could see the misty caps of the northern mountain range in the distance.

He followed the map across the plains, and after another two days, he reached a large rocky area leading to a cliff face. Gerard grabbed his pack from Alder and checked to see if the jar of sunlight was still inside.

*I never thought I would need to use this myself. Stay here, Alder.* Gerard closed his eyes and caressed Alder's neck.

Alder nodded, trotted over to a nearby sapling, and stood perfectly still as its roots sunk into the ground.

Gerard took his first steps towards the mountain and looked up to see the end of the cliff. In the skies above, a large winged creature circled before landing.

*I guess that's my goal.*

Gerard crept along the rockface, hurrying from one shadow to another to avoid detection from the predators above. To a battle eagle, he might as well be a mouse to feed their young with.

Once he reached the cliff, he planned his route and began to climb. Several minutes into it, he looked down and tightened his grip.

*I hate heights.*

With a short breath, he looked back to his goal and continued to ascend. Every so often, Gerard found a ledge to rest on during his climb and continued again. The day wore on while he climbed, and the sun's heat grew cooler. At the top of the cliff, several nests holding huge white eggs surrounded him. Once he reached the top, he grabbed the jar of sunlight from his pack and crept over to the nearest nest. He slid the cap off the jar and held it against the egg. The light revealed the half-formed body of an eaglet. The two other eggs in the nest showed the same.

Upon reaching his fourth nest, he held the jar against an egg, and there was no body or veins. As he grabbed the egg, he heard the shrill screech of a bird, and an eagle landed in front of him. Gerard stowed the jar inside his back quickly. They eyed each other off for a moment, and then the eagle looked from Gerard to the egg in his hands.

*Shit.*

The battle eagles followed him, their screeches echoing through the mountains as they gave chase. Gerard ran as fast as he could, dodging obstacles and leaping over chasms. He jumped down a small chasm, and the eagles tried to peck at him through the thin gap between them. Gerard followed the chasm until it ascended again, and he stood near the cliff's edge. Just when he thought he was safe, he slipped and fell, the egg tumbling from his grasp.

*No!* Gerard reached for the egg, but it was too late.

The egg slid down a slight decline and spun around on the rocky ground unharmed. Gerard released a sigh of relief.

An eagle walked toward him, and instinctively, Gerard raised his shovel, which pierced the eagle's neck as it tried to nip him. Blood coated his shovel and slid down the handle, covering his hands.

[You have gained 16,500 experience. 24,597 experience until your Villager class reaches level 9. 33,399 experience until your Gravekeeper class reaches level 9.]

Quickly, he grabbed the egg and began to descend the cliff. Halfway between the top of the cliff and the next ledge on the way down, the screech of an eagle pierced his ears, and he looked to see it diving for him. Unable to defend himself and hold the egg simultaneously, Gerard took the brunt of the eagle's vicious attack. Its talons scratched against his chest plate, around the bulk of his mace, and tore through his clothes.

*Not even the chimera could damage my clothes!*

Gerard felt blood run down his back and let go of the cliff face. With a swift motion, as the eagle grew more distant, Gerard detached the shovel from his back and jammed it into the cliff face, slowing his descent. As he fought against gravity and cradled the egg in his free arm, the shovel carved a line into the cliff. An eagle swooped down and landed on a small ledge with a thud. The eagle pecked at Gerard and pulled his shovel loose from the cliff with its beak.

Gerard plummeted with debris from the cliff. He turned around in the air while holding the egg lightly with both hands until his back smashed into a ledge on the way down. His shovel fell after him and pierced the ground beside him.

He grunted before standing back up. The eagle above pushed itself off the mountain and ascended again. Two more winged shapes joined the eagle in the sky.

A rumbling shook the ground beneath Gerard, and he almost tumbled over the edge.

[You have gained 287,500 experience. You have reached Villager Level 10. 63,764 experience until your Villager class reaches level 11. 2,566 experience until your Gravekeeper class reaches level 10.]

"Holy shit! Why?"

[Answer: The structural damage caused to the cliff face resulted in the deaths of a family of trolls in a cave system below.]

"Oh... But I didn't kill them directly?"

[Answer: The trolls would not have died if not for your actions.]

"Oh..."

[You may choose a new class.]

"I choose the Quartermaster class!"

[Are you-]

"I'm sure!"

[You are now a Quartermaster.]

Gerard dropped down from the ledge and, with the egg cradled in his left arm, used the shovel in his right to slow the rest of his descent to the bottom of the cliff.

At the base of the cliff, Gerard set down his shovel and the egg and grabbed the mace from his back.

"I've been waiting for this!"

Gerard watched a battle eagle soar towards him. He breathed deeply, gripped his mace, and swung it with all of his strength as one might swing a baseball bat. Hitting the eagle in the torso, he felt bones crush beneath his strike, and the bird tumbled through the air into the cliff.

A second swooped down, and as it neared, Gerard raised his mace and brought it down to meet the eagle's head, crushing its skull across the ground.

[You have gained 33,000 experience. 55,514 experience until your Villager class reaches level 11. You have reached Gravekeeper level 10. 61,316 experience until your Gravekeeper class reaches level 11. You have reached Quartermaster level 4. 250 experience until your Quartermaster class reaches level 5.]

*I need to get out of here.*

The screeching from above grew only more fierce, and he darted towards where he had left Alder. He carefully jumped from rock to rock, watching his footing so we wouldn't slip again, and reached Alder just as an eagle landed beside him. He reached his hand out and touched his companion.

*We need to go. Now!*

Alder's roots withdrew from the ground, and Gerard jumped aboard before storing the egg in Alder's saddlebag. With a rustling that sounded like a horse's whinny, Alder sped off towards Solares. Gerard held tightly onto Alder's reins and slipped in and out of consciousness. He woke to find Alder's leaves firmly pressed against his back to stop the bleeding as they walked along the main road back to Solares.

*Alder, you...* Gerard smiled and gently petted his companion's head.

They continued for a short time until Gerard commanded Alder to stop. A corpse, covered in blood, rested against a tree by the road.

*Poor soul.*

Instead of heading back to Solares as planned, Gerard leapt off Alder and took out his shovel.

"You won't become anything else after death, I promise you." Gerard stuck the shovel in the ground and felt a sharp object slide beneath his chin.

Gerard turned slowly and saw the corpse, a young girl, breathing raggedly. Her eyes bore into him with a ferocious fire, as red as the blood on her clothes and the colour of her hair.

*Rena?* Gerard tried to hold in his tears, but one slid down his cheek.

"What are you crying for? Weren't you the one about to kill and bury me?"

"Bury, yes. Kill, no. I thought you were already dead."

Rena looked at her clothes and laughed.

"I guess, to a passerby, I probably did look dead. You're not much better, though." She gestured to his blood-soaked clothes.

"Right... Can you lower your weapon?"

"No." She looked at him sternly, and her grip on her weapon tightened, "Who are you?"

"I'm an adventurer returning to Solares from a quest to procure a Battle Eagle egg."

"Then where's this egg?"

Gerard pointed to the saddle bag on Alder. The large egg poked out of a pocket.

"You can see it from here."

"What kind of creature is that?!" Rena dropped her sword on the ground and rushed over to Alder.

"I believe it was once a plant that was then inhabited by a spirit or fairy. Even my source on monsters doesn't know what it is exactly."

"What is its name?"

"Its name is Alder."

"Alder? Strange name."

"It's the name of a tree in a faraway land. I thought it was fitting."

Rena cautiously walked up to Alder and ran her palm along its neck. Alder nuzzled Rena, and its flora glowed brightly.

"Alder likes you."

"It's a good companion," Rena sighed, "Sorry about all of that..."

"Violence?"

"Yes, I'm sorry. I think I get that from my mother. I'm an adventurer as well. I went out to take care of a group of bandits, and my horse was killed during an ambush. If I may ask-"

"You can come with me."

"Really?"

"Truly. It wouldn't sit well with me to leave you here to walk back to the city."

"Thank you!"

"Are you ready?"

"Yup!" Rena grabbed her sword and sheathed it before skipping up to Alder.

Gerard assisted Rena with mounting Alder and joined her. They continued in silence, with Rena lightly gripping Gerard's waist.

"You know, you probably shouldn't trust strangers so easily."

"Well, if a creature as majestic as this allows you to ride it, I think I should also give you a chance." Rena rubbed Alder's back.

"Is that so?"

"It is. My name's Rena, by the way."

*I know that all too well...*

"I'm Gerard. A D-rank adventurer."

"D-rank?"

"What? Is that weird?"

"I feel like you could be stronger than me, and I'm a B-rank."

"B-rank?!"

"Why are you so shocked?"

*Has the timeline changed that much? Just from Jerrick still being alive?*

"You're a young girl, and I didn't expect it. Sorry."

"I take after my father a little. I don't know if it's because my mother is a smith and my father was a warrior, but I'm a blademaster. Any bladed weapon I hold becomes an extension of my body like I've been using it my whole life."

*A blademaster, huh? I guess it makes sense that you were able to kill me.*

"That's amazing. What do you mean Jerrick was a warrior? He isn't anymore?"

"I... never said my father's name." Rena jumped off Alder and pulled her weapon from her sheath.

"Right, sorry about that. I forgot to say anything. I helped Jerrick out in the ruins of Oldergrah. My name is Gerard." Gerard eased Alder's stride and carefully lowered himself to the ground.

"You're Gerard? The one who gave my father the blitz skill?"

*Like father like daughter. They can't keep their mouths shut.*

"The same one, but please keep that a secret."

"Aw, why? My father only became a paladin because of that skill."

"Ah, so he did become a paladin. Good for him."

"You're a lot younger than I pictured you to be."

"I'm twenty-two."

*In physical age, at least.*

"Wow! You're four years older than me. What's your adventurer rank?"

"The guild said that after this quest, I'll be C-rank."

"D-rank, and you can give A-rank skills to people? Nobody can do that, especially not a D-rank!"

"That's precisely why I want it kept a secret. I want to rank up through my merit, not these outlandish skills that I have."

"Skills? You have other skills like that?"

*Oh, shit.*

"I won't tell you more without a magically binding contract."

"Hmmph."

"Thanks for the company, though. It's nice to meet you."

"If you truly think so, then take a quest with me. I've got a little push around the guild being Jerrick's daughter and an B-rank adventurer, and I'm sure you won't slow me down."

"I have some things I need to do. My journey requires me to work with my partner so I can get strong enough to protect the ones I love. And the guild members already chewed me out after going for a quest with my partner who's only one rank higher, let alone someone two ranks higher and the daughter of a famous adventurer."

"Don't worry about those cranky old adventurers; they're just jealous. When you're ready, then, will you take a quest with me?"

"Of course."

"It'll be fine; we'll just tell the guild master when you're ready."

"The guild master? I haven't even met him, so how did you?"

"Having a famous father comes with a couple of perks, and the guild master is a woman, but so few people have met her, and everyone has assumed that she's a man."

"Why?"

"She doesn't like the spotlight and travels the continent seeking powerful foes to fight, so the guild staff are usually left to their own devices."

"There are definitely some eccentric staff members."

"That there are. Anyway, what's your class? I told you mine."

"You'll be disappointed."

"I doubt it."

"Villager."

"Oh? A villager? A villager?!"

"See, I told you."

"Sorry, but a villager saved my father? A villager had and gave a skill like Blitz to someone like they would a piece of bread? A villager is a D-rank adventurer? How?"

"I'm not exactly what you would call a normal human. You can ask your father more about it when you see him next."

"Or maybe during our quest, I'll squeeze all of the information out of you."

"You can try."

"I will!"