We walked into the tavern, half of the eyes shifted on us. They scanned us head to toe.
The noise quieted just a little bit. Just enough to tense me up.
A few vile eyes lingered on me, undressing me with their gaze.
I gripped both my hands to calm myself down. My body tensed up a lot.
The stench of this tavern only aided in corrupting my senses further.
My steps almost froze, but Krys didn't stop his pace. His body exuded so much confidence, all the eyes shifted to only him.
The noise quieted even further, as if the room was taken over by his figure.
I secretly took a deep breath before following along. If I had come alone, I would not take another step.
Krys sparked up a conversation with the reception lady who stood on the other side of the bar.
She wore an old barmaid gown which was just a little revealing. I could see the practiced fake smile on her face.
Krys silently looked at me. He waited for me to speak on our behalf.
"We want to register." I said what I practiced.
"Sure." She replied without any change in her expression or tone.
It took us an hour to complete the registration process and get an Adventurer's Id.
During that time most people got bored from looking at us. They got back to whatever they were doing.
Soon the noise got back to how it was moments before.
Some people still glanced at us once in a while but didn't approach.
I took the Id in my hands. It was a small marble slate with a brown exterior. It was no bigger than my hands.
On it were my details and a thumb print. This was my new identification.
Krys took one look at his Id and kept it in his sword's sheath. This was a gift from one of the villager's.
I didn't have anything to store it in, so I put it in my pocket for now.
After that we looked at the quest board next to the bar. Krys selected an extermination quest for us.
'The population of horned-rabbits is on the rise. One copper for each of their hides.'
The receptionist said, "They are small and quick, they are just annoying creatures that populate very quickly."
"They eat up anything from grass to dead bodies. Recently they have been stealing a lot of crops at night."
Krys asked her in confusion, "I have never heard of these things before."
"They are not native to this place. We don't know how they got here but their population has been increasing for the last 3 years."
"The guild has issued a long term quest to exterminate these non-native species."
Krys asked the receptionist, "I see, so where do we hunt them?"
xxx
(In the forest near the town.)
Krys and I focused on another horned-rabbit. Its body was completely black and it had red eyes.
As the guild said, there were too many of them. We had seen only a handful of real rabbits but the horned rabbits were like weed.
I took the long and thick tree branch that Krys sharpened and aimed it towards the rabbit.
With the taught structure, I threw the spear and it landed… one feet away from the rabbit.
The rabbit turned towards me and looked me in the face. It shook its head and walked away.
I saw Krys hold his laughter in the corner of my vision.
He picked up the stick and checked it for damage.
"Why are we doing this?"
Krys replied without looking at me, "The farmers are troubled. A hero needs to help the people."
I couldn't manage a reply to that. I just dropped to the ground tired.
"We have caught 6 of them, it's enough for dinner. Let's run around the forest for stamina training."
"Noooooo. I want to fight. Teach me to fight."
He looked at me awkwardly.
"Pick up the stick." he said as he threw it towards me.
"Now throw it at me."
I looked at him in confusion.
He could get hurt if I did that. But on second thought, he would be fine.
It took me 3 seconds to rise up and throw the stick with all my strength left. I had aimed it at his feet.
He just moved his left leg and twisted his body slightly. The stick didn't even touch him as it dug into the soil.
He picked it up and turned towards me. He spoke in a calm voice, "My turn."
My body jolted in shock. I felt extreme fear. There was no hesitation in his voice.
"Wha-"
*Swoop*
Before my sentence finished, the stick flew by a hair's distance away from my cheek.
I froze in horror. He quietly walked until he was behind me and picked up the stick again.
"When you are being hunted by something stronger… you run."
His expression didn't change as he slowly walked towards me.
He stopped inches away from my face. I could feel his breath.
He smiled slightly and said one word.
"Run."
And I did just that.