The Party

"Alright, it's contract day!"

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Aisha drummed her hands on the table in front of her as the four adventurers stared at the board, occasionally taking a contract and looking at it, eyes roaming over the text for a second before quickly disposing of it and going to the next. The process took a long time, but the individual time that they actually spent on the contracts was short, their eyes flitting over the tops of the pages for only a few seconds.

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Aisha tried once to study the contracts herself, but there were too many factors in the contracts that were not presented on the little pieces of paper, to determine whether or not the job would be good or not. How many monsters would they have to kill, or if they had to collect something, or how far away they were… these were things that were only learned after you talked to the client, at which point it wouldn't even be worth it to walk back to the guild and select a new one.

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It was frustrating, which made it even more frustrating that they were wasting so much time picking a contract. It was going to be shit no matter what.

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Aisha got up and walked out of the guild hall, growing bored after a full thirty minutes of waiting. She could vaguely hear a "where are you going?" coming from behind her.

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The fey girl turned a corner and stared at a building, much smaller than the hall, but also sidled up immensely close to the building, almost touching and made of the same material, clearly meant to be an extension of the larger hall. She stared warily at the large beast-man that guarded the guild entrance, his features much more animalistic than Aisha's own. An Eyu. He had the head of a crocodile, and scales covered his bare feet and arms, glimmering reflectively in the hot sun. His arms were crossed, and even though his eyes followed Aisha, he made no movement from his perch, standing stoically in front of the small guild extension.

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"You're not welcome here." He said, in his raspy voice, as Aisha stared at him.

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Aisha pulled out her silver adventurer's plate and held it out. The sun glinted off the surface, and the Eyu gave Aisha a look.

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"You're supposed to wear that on your neck." He growled.

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Aisha didn't respond, but nonetheless he stepped to the side to let her in.

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Aisha stepped into the cramped little building. It was actually pretty well kept, at least compared to the guild hall. There was a friendly looking woman at the counter, in the same uniform as Miiha, but taller and had shorter, brown hair.

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"Hi! Welcome!"

"Uh. What do you have in here?"

"Um… well, not much." She motioned in front of her.

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There were a couple amulets and gems, but other than that there wasn't anything else.

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"... Can you tell me about what you have?"

"Yeah! We have some basic elemental magicite, and sapphire, emerald, ruby, and diamond enchanted amulets."

"What do the amulets do?" Aisha asked.

"The amulets have magic that bestow attributes on the wearer. The sapphire necklace boosts magic, the emerald one boosts eyesight and hand-eye coordination, the ruby one boosts strength, and the diamond one boosts all of them, but to a lesser extent."

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Aisha looked at the price tags on the amulets. The sapphire one was by far the most expensive, at 10 gold. The ruby and emerald ones were 2 gold, while the diamond amulet was 3 gold. The magicite were a couple silvers each, but she had no use for them.

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"If I wear multiple, will the bonuses stack?"

"Uh… maybe? I think so. There was someone who came in a while ago, and he wore a green and blue amulet... or maybe it was just a regular necklace with a turquoise gemstone... I can't remember."

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The shopkeeper shrugged. Aisha threw 10 gold onto the counter.

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"You want a sapphire amulet?"

"No, I want five emerald amulets."

"...Do you really want five emerald amulets?"

"Yes."

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The shopkeeper slowly took out 5 emerald amulets from behind her, and put them into a little plastic bag. She reached over the counter and gave them to Aisha, not breaking eye contact the entire time. She watched Aisha's back as she walked out of the store.

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"Strange girl."

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They were still looking at contracts when Aisha returned to the guild hall, so she went over into town to go find the bow shop.

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Aisha stepped into the shop and was hit with the smell of cured wood. Back at the village… using a bow was the only thing that she could do. Of course, non-mana infused arrows couldn't kill anything, but she was at least not terrible at target practice. The satisfaction of not being terrible at something… She picked up and held a bow in her hand fondly.

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The brief tryst with the wolves made Aisha realize that she needed a ranged weapon. Back at the village her bow of choice was a small little shortbow…

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Just out of habit, she walked to the back of the shop, where maybe she could pull the same trick she did on the old blacksmith. She doubted it though, as you couldn't really socket gems into a bow.

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She walked into a section with a few… misshapen bows. Probably good for nothing except firewood. But also in this section… were crossbows. The fey in her village didn't use them at all, in fact, she had only seen them on the hunters she had been captured by. Why were they back here? They seemed like deadly and efficient weapons. She glanced sideways at the counter, at the clerk, a middle aged man, wearing an apron, for some reason.

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"Why don't the crossbows sell?"

"It's considered unhonorable to use them. You don't have to aim them like a bow, and it takes a lot of strength to pull them back. It's considered a brute's weapon, for people who can't aim and can't use magic."

"Can't use magic?"

"Well, you let go of the bolt when you load it, so you can't use magic arrows. But they have enough power to punch through flesh without enhancements."

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The clerk shrugged.

"As long as you can punch a hole through a sheet of metal, I don't see any reason to complain about honor."

"...Can I test one?"

"Sure! Just take one, and we can go out into the range."

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"Uh, are you sure you want that one?"

"Yeah? Why?"

"Uh, nothing. You might have trouble drawing back the string."

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Aisha lugged around the large crossbow she had picked out, about half her size. The salesman thought that she would trouble lifting it, but surprisingly she was able to rest it on her shoulder and walk around unimpaired. It looked almost comically large on her small body. They left the shop and went into a long, fenced off field, where a few straw dummies sat at varying distances. Aisha placed the front of the crossbow onto the sand, placing her foot on the bow, and took a hold of the string.

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(There's no way that little girl is going to draw back that huge string. Those things are almost ten times harder to pull back than a bow string!)

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Aisha pulled on the string and instantly released it, surprised by the resistance. She flicked the bow string with her index finger, which didn't budge, like a solid beam of steel.

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She grabbed the string and pulled it all the way back, the massive limbs of the crossbow stretching back and creaking from years of disuse. Her arms tensed, her small but extremely powerful muscles bulging. The salesman stared at her, mouth agape, as she notched a massive steel bolt into the crossbow. Aisha lifted up the crossbow with two hands, tilting her head and aiming at one of the further straw dummies.

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The crossbow released with a massive crack. Birds and small animals fled as the sound echoed through the town. The bolt shot clean through the straw dummy, straw flying everywhere. Even the wooden post holding it up was destroyed, wood splintering and splinters flying, hitting the other straw dummies.

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"I'll take it."

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Aisha returned to the guild hall, crossbow slung over her shoulder.

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"You're late." Said Elza.

"You've been picking out contracts for two entire hours now." Replied Aisha.

"It's important to make sure the contracts you get are good." Rumbled Jorral.

"Not going to be happening staring at two words on a paper." Aisha muttered.

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Calen entered the room, laughed, and was about to slap Aisha on the back, but stopped when he saw the massive crossbow on her shoulder.

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"Damn! That's a big crossbow! Can you pull that thing back?"

"Yes."

"Hahaha! Well, don't hurt yourself!"

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Aisha decided to tune out for the rest of the job picking process. She vaguely recognized the four members of the party activating their contracts. She hefted her heavy bag of bolts at her side as she followed them, wherever they were going.

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Aisha let loose her crossbow, the bolt smashing through the boar's skull. The accuracy amulet on her neck glinted green in the sun, as she jumped down from the tree branch, landing with a heavy thump on the ground and kicking up dirt. She tore the bolt from the boar's head, inspecting it from damage, still covered in blood. It was still straight, so she wiped it off on the side of the pig and put it back into her pouch. She tossed the boar onto a pile.

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*Clap*

Aisha turned to Thassiel, who stopped, staring abashedly at the dirt at her little clap. Elza smiled at Aisha.

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"That was a good shot."

"Why aren't you two helping?"

"Well, little Thassy over here is no use for these kinds of hunting missions."

"And you?"

"I'm no good either. My magic is too loud. I would scare away all the boars."

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Aisha stared at the two girls in the party.

(Good contract my ass.)

She could vaguely hear the sound of a boar's squeal in the distance, and an annoying laugh. She sat down, on a nearby log.

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"Aren't you going to kill more?" Asked Thassiel.

"I already have 5. We have to get 15. My share is done."

"Well then, what are you going to do with all that free time?" Elza asked. "Jorral and Calen are nowhere near done. Calen just got his first one."

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Aisha just laid back on her log and closed her eyes, putting her crossbow and bolt bag away and folding her hands behind her head. She had a few seconds of relaxation before her ears twitched, hearing whispering, and then shuffling.

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"Hey!" Aisha yelled, as she felt two warm bodies cuddling up to her, pulling her off the log and onto the soft grass.

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She found herself sandwiched between the busty and mature Elza, and the petite and dainty Thassiel. Her head was forced into Elza's cleavage, and she could feel Thassiel's head resting on her chest, her light blonde hair tickling her chin.

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"What are you doing?" She asked lazily.

"We're just showing you how glad we are to have you in the group!" Said Thassiel.

"Why? Are you… Embarrassed?" Teased Elza.

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Elza and Thassiel squeezed the girl tighter. Aisha opened her mouth… but the feeling of having two girls hugging her was really nice. It made her think… what would it feel like to have three girls? Or four girls? Would it even be possible?

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The thought of a full king sized bed full of busty, squishy, cuddly women filled Aisha's mind. She started to leak a little bit out of her mouth, but she quickly banished the thought from her mind. For now she would be content to snuggle with the two girls next to her right now.

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It was full mid-day when Calen and Jorral returned with ten pigs between the both of them. Beams of sunlight shone through the gaps in the leaves in the trees above the three girls, and a nice breeze flitted through the forest. Thassiel was fast asleep, and Aisha had closed her eyes and relaxed into the little cuddle pile. Elza, smiling, and still had her arms wrapped around the two smaller girls.

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The two men of the group stumbled into the clearing, sweaty and covered in dirt and scrapes. They looked at the sleeping cuddle pile. Elza noticed and raised a finger to her lips, motioning them to be silent.

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"Good contract my ass." Muttered Jorral. "How the hell are we supposed to kill boars with a sword and an axe?"

"Hey." Calen said sheepishly, rubbing his neck. "Look man, I thought it would be like the sheep herder."

"That was the worst contract I have ever done in my life."

"Psh." Calen smiled. "Wasnt that baaad."

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"Kill yourself."

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Elza rolled her eyes and shook Thassiel gently to wake her up. Said girl got up, removing her head from Aisha's firm chest, and rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

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"Did you have a good nap, Thassy?" Elza asked.

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Thassiel's cheeks tinted red, and she got up, accidentally making eye contact with Aisha's deep, red eyes, who stared at her with her usual blank look.

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"L-lets go to the next contract." She stammered.

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Turns out, the next contract was just as "good" as the last.

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"Why the hell do you keep picking contracts with fast creatures??" Yelled Elza, a wave of magic missing it's target. Her voice was hardly audible over the sound of torrents of rushing water.

"Look, this time, I honestly thought rats wouldn't be this fast. At least Jorral can use his bow." Said Calen.

"If the animal is small and furry, 90 percent of the time it's going to be fast." Replied Jorral, his face sour with dissapointment, as he pulled back the string of his massive bow, an arrow materializing in the notch of the string.

"Ten percent is good odds!"

"No, it's not."

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Aisha once again sat on a stone ledge, her pile of rat corpses next to her. She had lost a couple of bolts to the waterway, but they were actually quite cheap, being unenchanted metal. She would just buy more later. She seemed to have the best matchup against these weird contracts that Calen chose, her agility and sharp senses best for picking off these small monsters and creatures.

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It disgusted her. Was that all she was good for? Bullying weaker, smaller, more pitiful creatures?

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She stared at the rushing waters beneath her feet, and pulled her legs up to rest on the ledge. Calen and Jorral were drenched in water, and Elza, despite her best efforts, was forced to take off her casting robes and put on a pair of spare boots, standing ankle deep in rushing water. Thassiel sat next to Aisha, leaning against her. While her dress and legs were slightly wet, she was mostly dry, mostly because Jorral had carried her above the waters the entire way.

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"You're not useful very often, are you." Aisha deadpanned.

"I'm useful when they need to block things!"

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Calen grunted in frustration as he swung his sword at a rat, missing and splashing himself with water. Aisha was almost tempted to start copying his laugh.

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"Come on sharpshooter, why don't you help us? You kill these things ten times faster than us!"

"I would, but..."

"But what?"

"I don't want to."

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Thassiel giggled, and laid her head on Aisha's muscled shoulders.

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"Well, at least she's fitting in well." Muttered Calen under his breath.

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Calen looked at Aisha. Despite her indifference… She was everything he had hoped for. Somehow, even without magic, she had been able to outperform them in all of these jobs. Even her lack of mana seemed to be of no hindrance. She easily dodged all attacks, even with that huge crossbow, and she dealt with enemies easily. He didn't know how she did it!

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They had been adventuring for five years now… and ever since that gold contract, where they almost lost their lives… they had been so scared that they had never taken another one. But Calen wanted more than that. He didn't want to lose his childhood friends… but at the same time, killing rats wasn't enough for him. He wanted to become an emerald adventurer, like the one that had saved them on that fateful contract.

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Only 2 more contracts to go.

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(With her… maybe we'll get to platinum.)

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He smiled, sticking his sword into the side of a rat. He had been forced to do the contract without any magic, as he had spent all his mana missing spells.