Tale of Death

The merchantman guffawed at the question, waving her off with his hand as he spoke in an irritated tone.

"You think you could afford this sword? Ha, don't make me laugh ya brat, get out of here before i make ya leave you're scaring off real customers!"

Although Shi hated the man's words and attitude, he wasn't wrong. She knew she was not able to buy that sword even if he told her the price, but, she wanted to hope, hope that maybe it would motivate her to work harder. Now, all it did was make her sad at the thought. Holding back her emotions, her anger, and her sadness, she fled back to her house. It was simply a wasted trip.

It didn't take her all that long to finally reach her home, and while she called it home, to anyone else it was but an old wooden shack, maybe even less, run down and located in the worse part of the village, to the back near the forest. Nonetheless, it was the place she had her memories, it was her home.

Walking in, she was greeted by the usual silence, her mother's sweet tone absent once more, as she toiled away at work all day. She has never once told her where she worked, she only knew that she left early in the morning and returned late at noon, tired, yet somehow putting food on the table for them to survive.

Shi retreated to her bedroom, a small room at the corner of the house which she had made into her little palace. Bursting into the room, she plopped herself down on the small hay bed, it was a lot more comfortable than it sound, at least it wasn't the ground.

She was still somewhat depressed about the incident early, just thinking back about it made her emotions flare up, but what could she do aside from lay on her bed, foot hung over the edge, with her eyes peering up at the ceiling. Thoughts were flowing through her mind, things she thought often about, the harshness of reality and the injustice of luck.

She didn't have to be born into this life, she could have been a noble in one of those rich cities, have servants at her beck and call, tending to her daily needs. Her mother, her sweet, sweet mother, could have been able to rest every day, eating whatever she wished, and dressed in clothing that made her beauty shine.

They could have been gifted for greatness, fated, and willed by the Gods toward a grand goal, but that was not the case, God showed no interest in their lives.

They were nearly homeless, and barely scraping by daily to make a living. If not 'broke', then surely 'badly bent' could have described their situation. In the end, Shi was stuck with this life, hoping only to make her mother proud, to bring her the solace she needed to end her misery in the unending slog of poverty.

Sure enough, she recalled the thick page of parchment she'd brought home with her that she picked up from the ground just outside the guildhall. Pulling it out from the crease in her rags that she called a pocket, she unrolled the thick paper only to read it aloud. "Goblin... war-lord, to the... s-s-south. Re...ward... five hun-dred... copper... pie--... pee... puh..." she struggled, "pieces! Five hundred copper pieces!"

She smiled with glee at the prospect of so much money but knew her strength was lacking. She wasn't a grown adult, and her skills in magic were utterly non-existent, let alone knowing anything about it. Slowly her smile faded.

After a long time of thinking, she decided it might be best to apply for a low-level quest for safety, but also earn money at the same time, the only reason she hadn't done this yet, was the age requirement of 16 years old, which she recently reached, and, not to worry her poor mother to death.

She quickly got up from the bed and then got dressed in some basic hunting clothes -- gifts left behind by a father she no longer remembers. It wasn't anything expensive, or even good, it was just dark-colored clothing that allowed her to blend into the dark better, made from some cheap leather so as to not get cut easily. It barely fit her due to clearly being made for a male.

Once finished, she walked downstairs into the kitchen to grab a basic cooking knife, her weapon of choice for her fine adventure today, her only weapon in fact. With her armor ready, and her mighty weapon in hand, she exited the home and left to the guildhall in a nervous teeter, but she would never admit that.

It took her around half an hour, but she had finally arrived at the guildhall, she didn't walk in right away, but instead, stopped by the door with her nerves like weights to her feet. She stood there for a while, rehearsing a speech of encouragement to herself, it helped somewhat because she finally found the courage to step into the hall.

The creak of the door could have made a pin drop as she entered.

Shi made her way over to the quest board, feeling eyes like daggers peering into her from all directions. Her nerves dropped like a cannonball, and all movement slowed from the tension of the carving glances by that many people. Cold sweat began to run down her face in buckets.

Shi hated this, she hated going out in crowded places, she barely ever went to the town square, and she always walked around the town at dawn when it was empty, let alone coming to the guildhall, a place always crowded.

She hated the feeling of people judging her, the gazes that struck into her back, it felt like time stops, with everyone focused on her. It made her sick to the stomach, and physically tense up, she hated that she couldn't control this. She usually just avoided crowded places, so the irony of her current predicament did not go unnoticed.

She snapped out of it upon hearing the clanking of mugs, which was when she decided to finally look around the room rather than keeping her head down. She stared puzzledly at the tables in the hall, her head moving ever-so-slightly so as to not alert any of the denizens. Doing this, she noticed none of them even looking at her anymore, and relief washed over her instantly. Her tense body releasing its grips.

She resumed her walk to the quest board of the guild that was plastered near the counter of the place. Upon reaching it she examined the paper mess that was supposed to be the quest board, browsing for the easiest quest she could find, or one she could compete at her level. For a moment it seemed hopeless. not only because she could barely read some of the words, but also because most were taken. But with a bit more searching, she found one to kill a few green slimes: the weakest ranking of monsters, and the green slime was the weakest of even those.

Shi had heard stories of some of the monsters on the board, the common ones near the town at least. The ranks rose from the plain F of the slimes and other ignoble fauna to the silky signature C's of the Karkinos, and a multi-headed snake. Near the middle laid a single, emboldened B of a nest of Wakos found in the lake. And there, in the epicenter of the board, was the real deal. An A-ranked monster, in all its glory. Its crimson letter stained the middle of the board, the quest marker urging all guilds local and foreign beware. It would take a few, if not several, high-ranking adventurer outfits to even find it, let alone kill it.

The mighty phoenix.

As Shi gazed upon the sheer variety of opportunities, the bounty on the green slimes filled her niche. The girl knew her limits. And, by a happy chance, the small cove of the marsh they could be found in was a regular place to visit for Shi. It was shallow in the Wailing Woods, hardly further than a mile beyond the town borders. She snatched the piece of paper, heart pumping as she ran through the door to the hall and toward the spot on the map.