1

First Friend

At the Adventurers Guild, where we left off

"Eeh?! Am I hearing this right, you want me to accompany you on a quest?!" A black haired girl asked for clarification.

"Y-Yeah, but I won't force you if you don't want to…" Mark was surprised with the girls reaction. He thought that he was utterly rejected and felt bad. But what he didn't anticipate was what she said next.

"I'll accompany you!"

"Huh? Really?! That's great!" "

The boy smiled appreciatively. "Let me introduce myself again. I'm Mark, A Spec Ops. A class job from where I am from and yeah, I'm new around here."

For some reason, the girl was delighted when the boy introduced himself. Mark thought the girl was extremely kind and helpful for her to be this happy. The girl stood up and introduced herself properly.

"My name is Yunyun! An arch wizard and master of advanced magic! She who will one day lead the Crimson Demons!" The girl said so while striking a pose.

"Oh! That's amazing!" The boy with a hint impressedness.

"Huh? You are not laughing at my name?" Yunyun was sure the boy would.

Mark gave her a confused look and said, "Why would I? It was the name given to you by your parents. You should be proud of it." the boy didn't notice that he made the girl even more happy. But real reason he didn't is because he had no friends before to talk about a name if it's funny or not

"With the introduction out of the way, can you help me find a quest we will do. You likely have more knowledge than me in these things." the boy pointed towards the quest board of the guild.

"Sure." Yunyun replied. They then walk towards the board and look for a suitable quest. A lot of the quest looks difficult for a beginner, but there is one that might be good.

Yunyun took the quest request and showed to Mark, "How about this one? It is a request to kill some goblin roaming around the forest."

"Goblins?" The boy was thinking what type of goblins are in this world. He read some things about goblin back in his world and all are different to one another.

"Oh. They are weak demon monsters that usually travel in groups. They are only the size of a human child, but are vicious and can use weapons…" Yunyun explained, which Mark nodded to. "But be warned, they are sometimes accompanied and protected by a far more powerful Rookie Killer."

'Rookie Killer?! What the hell is that?! Sounds like bad news', Mark was worried when he heard it, just the name was frightening enough. "Uhm. What's a rookie killer?"

"They are large black, feline-like monsters. They are very cunning. They usually herd and protect groups of goblins, then use them to lure newbie adventurers."

"Sounds terrifying, have you encountered one of them before?" The boy was curious about what the girl experienced.

Yunyun thought about it for a second and remembered, "Yes, it was during an emergency quest to subjugate a greater demon. We were trying to catch one to lure that demon. I used my skill "Sleep" to put it down while the others distracted it."

Mark was even more impressed with the girl. 'Wow. She was even part of a group in order to defeat a greater demon?! But I wonder why a greater demon would want a rookie killer? I guess I still have lots to learn.'

"Should we take this quest then? It may be dangerous but it's not for sure that a rookie killer may show up. If one did show, I think we can handle it ourselves." Mark suggested.

"If you like it then sure! And don't worry, I'll protect you if something bad happens." Yunyun replied. She doesn't normally do risky quests but she can't refuse of being invited wholeheartedly.

Mark was a little worried with the last thing she said. He didn't want a girl younger than her risking her life for him. But he couldn't argue with someone who knows better at these. "Let's go then."

After arranging everything for their quest, they went on their way.

At a certain Forest

As they were walking beside each other, they had small conversations and talked about themselves.

"No kidding? You're only 13? I thought you were a little older than that. You look kinda mature and all for your age." Mark said in surprise.

"I am 13! By the way, what part of me made me look mature?" Yunyun asked which made Mark flinch. He didn't want to say what part of her because that could be sexual harassment.

Mark tried his hardest not to look at her chest while he answered, "A-Ah… Y-You know, everything about you feels mature…". He was hoping he could get away with this question.

"Really? I never saw it that way." She replied. The boy felt like he dodged the bullet with this on. Yunyun continued to talk, "How about you? You do look like your average 17 years old, but your body looks like a young knight in training."

Mark was flattered with what she said. It was true, thanks to his daily training, coached by his father when he was home, his body was well built. He thought he could also join the army like his father when he grows up. But sadly that will not happen anymore.

"Well I train a lot. I wanted to be a soldier in my country just like my father… but now I can't due to some circumstances." Mark replied in a depressing tone. Yunyun felt that she had reminded him of something personal. She tried to change the topic.

"O-Oh… By the way! I didn't quite get your job class. What are Spec Ops good at? I might need to know in advance for our party to work."

The boy thought about it carefully, 'What are they good at? I mean, what aren't they good at?!' Special Operations are carried by the dedicated Special Forces that do low profile missions and achieve the advantages of speed, surprise, and violence of action against an unsuspecting target. How is he going to explain it in detail to her?

"Oh good point. You could say that they are very good at doing difficult tasks with accuracy and precision. Their primary weapon is these things called guns." Mark showed his Five Seven pistol to her and continued explaining, "These are range weapons that are great at any distance depending on the gun."

Yunyun verified the gun and thought that she had never seen such a weapon. Still she was impressed with his description of his class. "That sounds reassuring. But that means that both of us are ranged types. Won't we be in trouble if the enemy comes in too close to us?"

"Don't worry, I trained myself in Close-Quarter-Combat. I doubt some goblins can overpower me." Mark reassured Yunyun, which she nodded back.

After a few minutes of walking, they arrived at the said location where the goblins commonly been spotted. At first sight there was nothing around, but the two felt like they were being watched.

Mark was worried about the situation they were in. He brought out his laptop to check his surroundings from above. As soon as he opened it he was shocked with what he saw, lots of red rectangular boxes around them. The mage girl was curious what the boy just brought out and why'd he look so anxious.

"Yunyun. I detect multiple enemies around us, at least a hundred. Don't know if there are goblins or not." Mark informed.

"A-A hundred?! This is bad. If those are goblins then this is really bad." Yunyun replied. They then found out their enemies when they revealed themselves out of the bushes in front of them. It was goblins.

The goblins shouted a battlecry before charging at the two. Mark hid back his laptop and drew his pistol. Yunyun then used a spell to stop the charge.

"Blade of Wind!" A gust of blade like winds came soaring to the goblins and killed a lot of them at once. Another batch of goblins came out from behind them. Mark reacted to this and shot them.

Bang! Bang!…

Mark aimed at their head and continued to fire. Most of his shots hit their intended spot, but some were at the chest. But nonetheless it killed them in one shot. The sound the gun made was heard throughout the forest.

"Cool!" Yunyun was impressed by his skills. But her attention was directed back in front of them due to more goblins with armor charging.

"Why you… Lightning!" A stream of electricity came out of Yunyun's staff and hit the goblins, instantly killing them. Mark admired the beauty of his partner whe cast spells. He felt lucky he had her by his side.

They easily defeated the goblins as they kept storming through. Mark was almost out of pistol ammo and Yunyun low on mana, but they seemed to defeat them all.

"That was easy. I don't know why you were worried earlier." Mark commented as he loaded his last clip.

"No, It wasn't the goblin I was worried about. It was the…" Yunyun didn't finish what she was about to say as her worries were soon answered.

A rookie killer came out of the bushes in front of them. What made it worse is that three more came out of the back. Before they could do anything, the rookie killer at the front immediately rushed Mark. It bit the boy's arms as he used it as a shield.

"Mark!" Yunyun shouted in fear. She had no more mana to cast stronger spells. But instead of seeing the boy in pain, he was smiling as he brought out a different weapon. He aimed it at the attackers head.

"Got you!"

Bang!

The rookie killer's head was blown off to bits, which shocked Yunyun and the other three rookie killers. Mark did a spinning cock with the shotgun he used. As he removed his hands from the jaws of the dead beast, he saw that there were no bite marks or wounds. There is however damage to his body armor.

'I see, this armor reacts just like in the game. It receives all the taken damage to the user until it is destroyed. So it's like a barrier of some sort.' He thought as he verified the armor. Yunyun came to him closer and looked for any injury, which was none.

"Eh?! How are you unharmed?!" Yunyun asked, but the boy didn't give her one as he aimed at the remaining rookie killer.

"Yunyun, can you still use magic?" The boy asked as he was reached for something.

"A-Ah Yes! But I can only do one more and there might be a chance that they would evade it."

"I see. Tell you what, close your eyes for a moment and when I say "Go!", you fire at the rookie killer at the right. Clear?" Mark explained. Yunyun was hesitant at first but she felt like she could trust her partner on this one.

Yunyun did what he said and closed her eyes. Mark then threw something at the beast and shouted "Flashbang" before throwing a grenade at them. The beast howled in pain as they were blinded by the flash.

"Go!"

Yunyun opened her eyes and chanted the spell at the blinded beast.

"Fireball!" The rookie killer was set ablaze. The remaining two's vision was cleared and tried to attack again but suddenly something exploded below the rookie killer at the left.

Feeling that the last beast was in danger. It thought of running away while it still can. But luck was not by its side. Mark fired a shot at it, not enough to kill it but was enough to stun it. He fired more rounds as he walked closer to it.

Bang! (chkchk) Bang! (chkchk) Bang!

The last round in the chamber finished the rookie killer off. It didn't have a chance at a hail of buckshots being rained upon it. After staring at his kill, he looked at his partner and saw her with a baffled look. She must have been confused on what just happened.

"Looks like I have a lot of explaining to do."

Back in the Town of Axel

The two adventurers were walking towards the guild hall after finishing their quest. Mark explained to his partner everything that had happened at the forest. At first he thought that she would be confused, but she understood it very well.

"Armor that prevents you from taking damage, a metal rod that acts like the skill "Flash" and a round metal thing that explodes. I mean those are cool! And these "guns" you called, I didn't know you craft magical items." Yunyun said as she was inspecting the empty five seven that Mark lended.

She was about to look at the barrel when Mark stopped him, "Don't do that, even if it has no ammo it's still bad practice. And except for the armor, they are not magical. Though these are made by magic, science is more at work here."

"I see… But still, you haven't told me how you knew how many enemies were there earlier." The girl was a little suspicious of the boy, but not by doubting her trust. She felt like the boy was hiding something.

"Oh that. Haha I'll tell you some other day. But for now, let's turn in the quest. We're here." Mark pointed at the guild. Yunyun was surprised that they were while.

Mark was looking at the sky and thinking, 'To be honest, I don't know either. I don't see any Predator Drones in the sky or any form of aircraft. May they're invisible? Or perhaps only appear when I use it? I may observe it carefully next time.'

"Huh? I didn't even notice it. I must have been having fun talking to you…" Yunyun said with a slight blush.

"Hmm? You said something?" Mark said as he stopped looking at the sky and back to her.

"N-No… I said we should turn in the quest now." The girl then went ahead inside the guild, leaving Mark.

'Sorry… I heard that.' Mark thought as he was embarrassed to say anything with what she said. He then followed her and entered the guild too. They went straight for the receptionist to let them notify the finished quest.

The cards can store the enemies they killed. After verifying it, it was confirmed that they accomplished the task. Yunyun vanquished most of the goblins and killed a rookie killer. But when they saw Mark's card they were shocked to see that he killed three rookie killers and some goblins. A feat that no newbie could have done.

"Oh my! Killing three rookie killers on your first day! It is unheard of!" The receptionist shouted and some of the adventurers around heard it. They got up from their seat and approached him. The crowds started to cheer and gave their praise.

"Nice work boy!"

"You did good today newbie."

"Killing a rookie killer as a rookie?! And three of them?!"

"Someone like may be able to defeat the Demon King one day."

As the crowd continued, Mark noticed that Yunyun was smiling at him but knew that full well she was forcing it. He walked toward her and spoke to the crowd.

"I couldn't have done it alone! It was thanks to this girl, Yunyun, a skilled arch-wizard, that I was able to do it!" He said so as he grabbed her hands and raised it up. Startling the girl.

The crown again said some remarks.

"Oh! The "solo hunting super rookie arch wizard"! He was even able to party up with her." an adventurer stated.

"That's amazing! She's known to no doubt hate associating with people. I guess she recognizes him as a worthy partner." another adventurer cheered.

This continued on, making Yunyun pout out of embarrassment on what the people thought of her. Mark felt like he did something he shouldn't. After a few minutes the crowd dispersed and continued what they were doing before.

Mark and Yunyun were sitting at a far off table with food already placed. They said not a world after the event. Yunyun was still a little bit sad from earlier. So Mark decided to apologize.

"Uhm… Yunyun. I'm sorry if I pointed you out earlier. I didn't know that you hated being around people."

"No! That isn't true! That was just a rumor that spread. I don't even know where they got that misunderstanding." Yunyun protested.

"I-I see. Then why did you fake a smile earlier? I know that smile, that was a smile of someone feeling sad but didn't want anyone to know." Mark replied.

Yunyun was fidgeting for a moment before saying anything. "You see. I was happy for you to have been recognized in the guild. You can party up with other people now. It's just… I felt sad thinking of you leaving me now…" She said with a pouting face, which Mark thought that was the most adorable thing he saw.

"I-Is that so. You know, I was kinda hoping that we could go on a quest again tomorrow…" Mark was looking away and continued what he was saying in a soft tone, "I like talking to you too…"

"Ah! So you did hear me earlier!" Yunyun said as pointed at Mark. She then got closer to him and looked him in the eyes. It glowed bright red which surprised the boy. "And did you mean what you said?! You want to go adventuring again tomorrow!"

Mark stared at her eyes for a couple of seconds, making Yunyun realize that she was doing what scares people again.

"I'm sorry! My eyes must have been unpleasant to you." Yunyun pulled back to her original seating position.

"Why? I always thought your eyes quite alluring." Mark said naturally. It took him a few seconds to make him realize that he sounded like he was making a pass on her. He never had anyone close his age to talk to, much more a girl. The boy wished that Yunyun wasn't creeped out with what he said.

"A-Anyways. I still need to find a place to stay."

"I can help you with that. There is an open room next to where I am renting. It is just close here. I'll show you if you want." The girl happily suggested.

"Ooh! That would be great. Thanks for everything, Yunyun." The boy thanked before talking a bit in his food.

Before Yunyun joined him at eating, her thoughts were still occupied with what the boy said to her.

'He thinks my eyes are alluring…'