Before she knew it, a week had passed.

She and Kaori continued to train with Keiko, taking an hour out of every day to walk into the woods and look for fights. This time, however, they made a point out of avoiding anything that looked too perilous. Due to this, their progress was slightly lessened, but they still leveled up. And, this morning, Ash finally accomplished the goal she’d set.

“Any second now… probably…” Ash thought as she cut a log of wood in half, and her Strength went up.

Finally! She thought as she let her weapon transform back into a cube.

“Yeah, I’m done.” She called out as Kaori and Keiko stood up behind her.

“So…” Keiko started.

“Well, yeah,” Ash told her. “No reason to stall, right?”

It was just about time to head out for the mission.

Currently, Ash’s stats looked like this:

Level 9

MP: 80/80

—

STR: 10

DEX: 10

CON: 10

INT: 8

WIS: 8

L: 100

Through a combination of training and leveling, she’d gotten her stats to this point. It had taken many frustrating hours, but it was worth it in the end. She needed to be ready to complete this task. Kaori had done the same, though to a slightly lesser extent. Her own stats were:

Level 13

MP: 50/50

—

STR: 14

DEX: 14

CON: 11

INT: 5

WIS: 5

L: 100

It made Ash happy to know that she’d lowered the gap between them somewhat, though she still doubted she could win a fight against the blonde Savior. At least, without her Demon Form. She walked up to Kaori and Keiko and put her hands on her hips.

“Let’s tell Satsuhiro.” She stated and the two nodded.

They went into the man’s home and found him with his family gathered in the living room. Ash stood in front of him.

“Done?” He asked.

“Yeah.” She replied. “I should be ready. And, well, Kaori’s been ready for a while.”

“Then, it’s time to head out.” He took the letter they’d received and passed it to her. “I’ll be going with you, just to make sure you get there in one piece. Once you’re there though, I’ll come back. You’ll be on your own. You need to know what it feels like to only have yourselves to rely on, not that the feeling is completely alien to you.”

“Gotcha.” Ash nodded. “So, where was it again?” She asked as she held the paper up.

“To the west. Not too far.” Satsuhiro indicated. “Take your time, get something to drink, eat up, pack whatever you want, and whenever you’re ready, we’ll head out.”

“Alright.”

With that being said, Kaori and Ash prepared for the trip. Metsumi offered them some tea and prepared some travel food for them. Satsuhiro gave Ash a list of Light spells she could seek to make some progress learning on the way, during breaks. As far as the spells she’d received before were concerned, she did manage to learn them. Lumina’s Presence was a slower, but longer-term version of the basic one Satsuhiro had given her, while Perish had a shorter range, but was slightly more effective. Essentially, they were better versions of the basic spells, though still slightly different. She was now making progress on three spells, Lumina’s Spirit, Decimating Touch, and Barrier, though she doubted those would be finished before she got to the ruins.

A small feeling of anxiety bubbled up in Ash’s heart. This was it. This was, to put it casually, her first day on the job.

When the preparations were done, Ash wore that unreliable-looking iron armor, while Kaori wore her golden Savior armor and the two stood outside the house, waiting for Satsuhiro. Keiko walked up to the two of them.

“Stay safe,” she said. “Remember, defense wins fights. Don’t forget the fundamentals. Try to out-skill your opponents, not overpower them.”

“Yeah.” Ash nodded. “We’ll be alright.” She tried to reassure Keiko, who clearly looked worried.

“It’ll be fine!” Kaori said as she walked up and hugged Keiko. Then, she looked back at Ash and cocked her head. “Come on, join in!”

“Uh, that’s not…” But, as Kaori’s eyes held a hidden pressure, Ash found herself sighing and walking up. “Fine.”

Trying to control both her nerves and her lust, she wrapped her arms around them.

“AW!” Metsumi said, pointing at them, “so cute!”

And Ash instantly backed away.

Satsuhiro walked out, moving past Metsumi and his daughter who were behind him. He looked back at them.

“Don’t open up for anyone. You hear anything at night, you hide.”

“Yeah, we’re good, Satsu.” The large woman walked up and pressed a kiss at his lips. “We know the drill. Don’t we, sweetie?” She asked Opah and the little girl nodded.

“Good.” Satsuhiro nodded back. “Then, we’re off.”

And so, as Keiko went with Metsumi and Opah back into the house, the three of them walked west, toward the line of distant trees.

Ash looked at Satsuhiro and asked:

“So… What do you mean they should hide if they hear something at night?” Ash asked. “Metsumi looks pretty huge. Couldn’t she deal with a random animal or something?”

“There are far more dangerous things in this part of the world than animals, Ash. Mostly just two though.” Satsuhiro asked without taking his eyes off the trees ahead. “Bandits and demons.”

“Bandits?”

“Some people live out in the wilderness.” Satsuhiro pointed out. “They prey on people exactly like my family, who live alone and would be noticed by no one if they went missing. And, when it comes to the demons, well…” He shrugged. “They’re unpredictable. About a decade ago, they made it a hobby to attack people heading from one city to another. Then, they started setting up camps and strongholds. Their behavior seems to change every couple of years. It’s not unthinkable that they’d attack my home if they found it.” He said as they reached the woods.

There was a reason Ash didn’t ask about the demons. She knew quite well that they liked to look for people to attack. It was how she was made, after all.

“Ash,” Kaori walked up to her and whispered, “Look!” She pointed at a few glowing flowers. They almost looked like little colorful clouds growing next to a bush. Those things don’t even look real.

“Don’t touch those.” Satsuhiro let them know. “They’re toxic. I’ll have to let you know about these sorts of things, I guess.” He nodded to himself. “Where to find food, what you can and can’t eat.”

He did just that.

As the small group began their short trip, Satsuhiro would highlight different plants and trees, pointing out fruits and vegetables they could eat. Ash barely understood. She’d lived her whole life surrounded by nothing but stone. She wondered if Kaori was getting any of this. Satsuhiro seemed to know all of it by heart though, which was impressive to her.

They moved through so much colorful land that Ash felt like she was in a strange dream. The ground rose and fell in little hills, the trees ranged from giant and sprawling to being barely bigger than her own body. There was so much variety that she wondered if Magia had made all of this by just throwing different ideas into the world recklessly.

Oh, right. She thought. The goddess had indicated that she would need to visit some sort of old church. What are the chances that the place is near where I’m headed? Unless… Ash thought about it. Unless that’s why she told me about it to begin with. She is a literal goddess after all. She wondered. Sometimes, she could still faintly remember the feelings of her lips on her own, and it gave her a strange sensation.

One that she could only compare to the feelings given to her by Kaori and Keiko.

That’s all just way too complicated for me. She sighed, thinking to herself. If only this were as simple as ‘hey, slash that, kill that and you’re done’. But, no. There are all these… Emotions mixed in. It was easier when I could go through life hating everything around me. But now, with Keiko and Kaori who… I don’t know, like me? Tolerate me? It’s so much weirder.

It didn’t take too long, even though they walked fairly slowly.

On occasion, Satsuhiro would tell them to stop to take a breather, and the two younger Saviors would eat some of what Metsumi had prepared for them. On one such break, Kaori had told her:

“It’s really cool, isn’t it?”

“What is?” Ash asked as she bit down on some bread.

“Being out here. It’s different from the forest we went to when we trained. This is… I don’t know, livelier?” Kaori giggled. “It feels cool. It feels like we’re actually in Nova, you know?”

“I guess.” Ash shrugged and Kaori reached over and lightly pushed her.

“You’re just not enough of a romantic yet.”

Ash sighed.

“… This kind of thing is new to me.” She stated. “I never really cared about, like, how pretty anything was. All I ever cared about was finding food to put in my stomach. I…” She sighed and crossed her legs. “I don’t really know how to enjoy the sights or whatever.”

“… Maybe since we’re running around together now, I can teach you.” Kaori suggested with a strangely light tone and Kaori shrugged.

“Maybe.”

After a few more sequences like that, walking, stopping, walking, and stopping again, they eventually reached a point where the ground changed one last time. From dirt and leaves it transitioned into the kind of stone Ash was used to, only it led to a strange-looking town of sorts that was nothing like Jade.

It was hard for Ash to comprehend what she was looking at. The buildings were sharp and thin, there were layers of mold over what she saw and broken-down carriages lined the street. The way this looks makes Jade feel like heaven.

“This is it.” Satsuhiro indicated. “This is about as far as I’ll take you.”

“So, where’s the building we’re looking for?”

“That one.” He pointed far to the distance where there was one structure so large they could see it from where they stood.

Ash’s lips parted on their own as she held back a gasp.

That’s the one. She thought, recalling the image Magia had shown her in her dream.

“Remember what you’ve learned, what Keiko’s taught you, what your fight against the Nightmare at Jade taught you,” Satsuhiro told them. “Pick your battles. You don’t have to kill every single thing you come across. You’re here for the Nightmare, and that’s it.”

“Yeah…” Ash was a tad distracted due to the realization she’d made.

“We’ll be okay,” Kaori assured Satsuhiro and the man nodded.

“Then, it’s time for me to go.” He said but hesitated to turn and walk away. Then, he placed his hands on Ash and Kaori’s upper backs, patting them. “You’re doing good. Both of you. Just wanted to let you know. Alright, good luck.”

With those words, he left.

Ash and Kaori were left alone, with only their mission in front of them.