The Unwanted Tamer

The excursion group numbered around fifty with only about eight teachers. This did not include Fauna and Zelios, though, so they had one stone or bronze rank for roughly every five students. This eased Fauna's minds since they were originally expecting to have to worry about a group of a hundred or more with about five teachers. They still needed to focus but had a much smaller group to protect. They also had more teachers so they would have a few people that could focus on keeping the students together while they dealt with the problem.

Fauna was spread around the entire perimeter of the group. Zelios was directly in front of the mass of people, leading the way while Griff and Stephanie took positions at the front of the group along the edges. Gaia and Fergus took the back two edges making a square with the entire group within. Shadow was up with Griff, Antonio with Stephanie, Liv with Fergus and Gaia was riding on Malachite's shell. This would not only give each person a bit of assistance with defending or attacking but would also make it easier for Gaia to know when a monster was attacking.

The group was spread out enough that while Gaia could sense almost everyone, but she couldn't sense much farther than the edges of it. She could sense maybe around ten feet further from where Griff was, but a hundred behind herself. If she could get away with it, she'd have preferred to be in the middle of the entire group just so she could sense everyone and a large area around them, but that wasn't feasible. She'd just have to deal with the current situation.

The group walked at a slow pace, since all of the students were only normal rank. They wouldn't be able to keep up with the teachers or Fauna if they went at their usual pace so everyone walked at the student's pace. This meant they wouldn't get to their camp until much later in the evening than they'd initially planned. They would be walking in the dark for a bit before making camp, granted that didn't bother Gaia, it wasn't like it changed anything for her anyway. It would, however, mean Fauna needed to be on high alert since many monsters attacked under cover of darkness when there was a large group.

It made sense for any monsters to attack a large group under cover of darkness, since it would be less likely for it to be spotted before it struck. Fauna quickly relayed this to the teachers, just so they could ensure the students stayed together and didn't wander off. It was a good thing they did since a few minutes after doing so, Gaia sensed a monster sneaking up towards the group. She immediately had Malachite sprint forwards as she started making webs to bind the monster when they got close enough.

Right as they were about to reach the monster, it attacked. It was some kind of canine monster as it leaped from the brush towards the edge of the group of students. Gaia acted immediately and lashed the web forwards along with one of her vines. Specifically, the tainted flower lashed forwards and bit into the monster's shoulder while the web surprisingly wrapped around it's snout. She yanked backwards with both arms pulling the monster back and snapping its mouth shut just before it bit at the student.

It was pulled back and Malachite turned and dashed away from the group towards Fergus. When he noticed the wolf being dragged behind Gaia, he almost started laughing. He fired a few arrows into the monster, ending it quickly and they left it off the side of the path. They weren't there to collect anything and were more worried about any other possible attacks. Luckily, there weren't anymore attacks before they reached their planned camping location.

They reached the campground and they had Griff set up their tent while the others focused on patrolling the perimeter. Nothing happened in the short time it took for all of the teachers and Fauna to finish setting up their tents. The students took a while longer while the teachers began making campfires to cook. The students slowly made their way towards the campfires and got their food. Griff cooked for Fauna who took turns eating while the other three were patrolling the camp.

It was good they were patrolling since a few monsters attacked, having followed the smell of the food to the camp. Fergus and Stephanie picked a couple off before they could get close while Griff caught a couple when they snuck close enough to be seen in the firelight. Stephanie's gunshots scared everyone in camp since it wasn't something any of them had heard, while Fauna was used to it.

The rest of the evening passed with Fauna taking care of the few monsters drawn by the smell of food. Once dinner was over the students were all called to the center of the camp. They were being divided into groups for their classes during the excursion. These would be the groups they were going to be in for the majority of the trip. There would be a few times where the entire camp would go somewhere for a class together, but otherwise these groups would be it for the trip. Fauna was not divided since they would be watching the camp for the most part, unless a teacher or Zelios requested otherwise.

They were free to join if they wanted but two would need to stay and patrol the camp in shifts. Zelios would be staying in the camp as well, so he could always tell them to go help a class if he wanted, but unless that happened there would always be at least two members of Fauna on patrol at a time. They decided to split the shifts into the guys and girls for the night, Griff and Fergus would take first watch and patrol for the first four hours then wake the girls and switch. They decided this since Gaia and Stephanie were still exhausted from acting as meat shields the night before.

Their discussion was done through Griff's ability so they could continue their patrols but ended at the same time the students meeting did. They continued patrolling before Zelios walked up to Gaia.

"Thanks for patrolling during all of that. I heard you guys have already taken care of a few monsters that have tried to attack right?" He asked.

"Yessir. We have. I've caught any near me and had one of the others dispose of it for me. It's not been too bad so far, I think we've fended off around ten monsters so far. Not a bad amount, none have been overly dangerous, which is nice, though." Gaia replied.

"Ten already? How many since we've set up camp?"

"Around eight, I think."

He stood there silently for a moment. "Thank you for dealing with them. I'm guessing that was what those weird explosion sounds were, earlier?"

"Yes. That would have been Stephanie. Her weapon makes those explosion sounds. I've just kinda gotten used to it honestly." Gaia replied.

"I can tell. None of you guys bat an eye at the sound. You guys seem pretty used to this kind of thing." Zelios stated.

"Yep. We were on a commission that had us helping defend the camp's walls for months. We fought off a lot of attacks during that time. We're pretty used to monsters attacking us. I'm just glad we haven't come across anything ridiculous. That's happened quite a few times already."

"What do you mean ridiculous?" He asked.

"Well, anything really strong or weird. We had to kill a monster around twice our level a few months after becoming stone rank, and we've also had to deal with a dungeon boss that leveled up when we were inside the dungeon before too. The worst part is those weren't even the worst ones. So, yeah. That kind of stuff." She replied cheerily.

"What?" He asked assuming it was a joke. When she said nothing he realized she was being serious. "You guys have really dealt with those kinds of things?"

"Yep. We even helped on two commissions to deal with bronze rank monsters. Granted we only dealt with the stone rank monsters around them, but we helped. We also helped defend Boundary when the stampede came. It's been a rollercoaster since we became hunters." Gaia replied.

"What?" He once again asked incredulously, before picking up on something and asking another question. "Wait, what's a rollercoaster?"

"Oh, right. You guys don't have those here. My point is that it's had its highs and lows or that it's been one thing after another since we became hunters."

There was silence for a while. Gaia could still sense Zelios beside her as Malachite walked around the perimeter for their patrol. The silence continued for around ten minutes before he spoke again.

"You guys have been through a lot haven't you? How long has it been since you became hunters? Also, now that I think about it, what did you mean by you caught any and took to one of your companions to dispose of?"

"You caught that, huh? Sorry. Well, the answer to your first question is yes. The second is around two years now, I think. For the final one, it's that I can't hurt anything myself. If I were to be the one to end a monster it would take a long time, whereas the others can do it much quicker. Essentially, I can't deal any direct damage to anything." She explained.

There was silence for a while once again. She could sense that he was looking at her, she guessed that his face would convey something along the lines of, you've gotta be joking right? He left around five minutes after her explanation. Then, she heard his voice when he shouted "What?" She assumed he went to one of her companions to ask some similar questions and finally understood that she was being serious. She did have to honestly admit that it was quite entertaining to hear, though.

After his outburst, Zelios stayed in his tent for the night. Gaia continued her patrol with a couple students following her, she didn't know why they were following her but just ignored them. Thankfully, it wasn't too much longer before Fergus came and let her know it was time for his watch to start. She quickly kissed him and had Malachite carry her to their tent. She crawled inside and found Stephanie already under the blankets.

The only bonds she had with her at the moment were Malachite and Antonio. Liv was with Fergus and Shadow with Griff. They would be split up like this for all of their watches, to give everyone a companion. Antonio was nearby not in his torpor yet, he quickly crawled over to Gaia and crawled up her arm. She pat him before laying down. He stayed on her shoulder while Malachite shrunk down and cuddled up to Gaia, nuzzling in by her head. Thus, the four cuddled up and fell asleep.

Gaia awoke to the sound of footsteps coming towards the tent. Her heart raced for a moment remembering a bad memory, the footsteps weren't coming from the front of the tent. This wasn't how Fergus or Griff would come back, they always made an effort to loop around to the front. She heard someone groggily walking towards the tent before shuffling away, having realized it wasn't theirs.

She was thankful it was just someone, who in their drowsiness, went to the wrong tent. She'd already had one problem before and it made her a bit paranoid when they camped, especially when they were with other people. With the situation having been resolved, she tried to go back to sleep, but couldn't. Her mind was alert hearing every little thing and not letting her relax. After a few minutes of this, she got up knowing she wouldn't be able to sleep for the rest of the night.

She shimmied her way out from the blankets trying not to wake up Stephanie and succeeding. She was worried for a moment, but Stephanie turned over and let her finish getting out from the blanket. Antonio was still on her shoulder so she plucked him and set him down somewhere safe, but noticeable. Malachite, however, was held in her arm snoozing softly. She let him sleep as she extricated herself from the tent.

When she was outside, she stepped forward trying to find the logs they'd used for chairs. She took a few more steps forward and found them by slamming her foot into one. It stung a bit, but not nearly as much as it would have before becoming stone rank. It was the difference between stubbing your toe and running into something. This was a weird situation where her defensive barrier didn't work. It seemed to only occur when something happened accidentally, or by her own actions. It made her wonder what the specific conditions for the barrier activating were, but she had no way to test it.

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Either way, she sat on the log enjoying the heat from the fire and petting Malachite while he snoozed in her arms. It was summertime so it was already pretty warm, but something about the heat from a campfire was calming. She guessed it was the memories from sitting by a campfire during camping trips with family and friends but wasn't sure if that was the only reason. She sat there in the calming heat of the campfire for a while, she wasn't sure how long, but was brought from her memories by the sound of footsteps. Then, the sound of a familiar comforting voice.

"Gaia? Why are you up? Is everything alright?" Fergus asked as he moved a little quicker towards her before sitting down beside her.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Someone mistook our tent for theirs and walked up to it before realizing. I awoke to the sound of the steps and it made me think about what happened with the Sword's Edge person. So, yeah, I can't go back to sleep." She said as she curled up a little at the memory. He took her hand noticing this.

"It's alright. Everything's fine. Something like that won't ever happen again. We wouldn't let it." He reassured her while squeezing her hand.

"Thanks."

There was silence for a bit after that. Fergus sat with her for a couple minutes before speaking again.

"I'd love to sit for a while longer, but I need to get back to patrolling. Do you want to join me for my patrol or will you be alright?"

"I think I'll be fine. I'll stay here until my brain calms back down. Then I'll see about trying to sleep some more. Stay safe, okay?"

"Will attempt. You never know what'll happen after all." He replied before kissing her and heading back to patrol.

She sat by the fire for a time. She wasn't sure how much time passed, but eventually her brain calmed down. She went back to their tent and crawled back under the blanket. Around five minutes later, she was asleep.

She was awoken by Griff sometime later. He'd been the first one back from patrol and woke the pair up. It was their turn to patrol, so they got up and listened to Griff as he let them know what had happened on his patrols. This turned out to be a whole lot of nothing. He'd only come across two monsters that fled immediately when he'd seen them. He had relayed that the students would get up to use the bathroom and they'd need him to be nearby to feel safe. Thus, they'd pestered him until he stayed close to protect them. He'd eventually given up and told any that he'd patrol nearby while they did what they needed.

By the time Griff had finished his report, Fergus had returned. Stephanie walked off towards the direction Griff had come from, so Gaia guessed she'd be patrolling that half of the camp. Fergus reported what had happened for him as well. It was almost identical to Griff's report, but there had only been one monster and fewer students pestering him. Gaia smiled at him and hugged him before hopping on Malachite. They moved in the direction Fergus had come from and began their patrol.

They were slowly moving along the perimeter of the camp, thanks to Malachite being the guide. Had it been Gaia, she'd probably be running into things since none of the tents and very few items people had were magical. She couldn't sense a majority of the camping equipment so if there was a tent without someone inside, she could very well accidentally walk into it.

They moved at a relatively slow pace, letting Gaia monitor a large area. Her aura reached out a distance that was somewhere around a hundred feet. It was probably slightly higher than that, but not by too much. She could sense a wide area at a time though, even through darkness making her the best suited for this duty. The time passed with the pair patrolling and having to slow while a student went off to relieve themselves.

She luckily didn't need to stop and wait for them thanks to her aura. She could continue patrolling and still sense the area around the students, but slowed down their pace just to be safe. She only sensed a single monster by the time she felt the sun's rays on her skin. It had fled the moment they'd moved closer to it. She continued her patrol since it included breakfast.

She could tell the teachers and students had begun to cook. She smelled the aromas of the cooking food. There were eggs, bacon, sausage, and bread toasting along with a multitude of other foods being cooked. The aromas all swirled together in a tantalizing way making her hungry. She continued her patrol as her stomach rumbled, she chose to eat some jerky to tide herself over. It wasn't the most flavorful thing, especially considering what she was smelling, but it would curb her hunger until she could eat.

She didn't sense anymore monsters before she was relieved by Fergus. They immediately dashed towards their campsite, Malachite speeding his way between people and items as he went. When she arrived, she smelled eggs and potatoes waiting. She sat down and ate with gusto, Malachite eating some fruits that had been prepared for him. The jerky had been just enough to last until now; she scarfed down the food hungrily. After finishing it, she realized there was some toast on a plate beside her, she ate that too before standing.

This was when she realized Stephanie was beside her. She nearly jumped, she'd been so absorbed with the food that she hadn't noticed Stephanie approaching, let alone sitting next to her. Gaia was about to speak but heard Zelios speak from nearby.

"How'd the patrols go last night?"

"They went alright. Not many monsters approached, and they ran off when seen or we got close to them." Stephanie replied.

"We also had to stop for a lot of students." Griff added as he got close.

"Ah, sorry, but it sounds like it wasn't too bad right?"

"It wasn't." Gaia stated.

"Great! Now, I know you guys have made yourselves breakfast, but you are welcome to the meals we make as well. You're welcome to anything we make. I also wanted to let you guys know the schedule today." Zelios stated.

With this statement, he went on to tell them about the schedule. They weren't required to join the classes but were welcome to and would get some extra pay if they did. There wouldn't be any classes until the afternoon, since they wouldn't be reaching the destination for their excursion camp until about noon. After setting up camp there, the classes would begin. There would be four classes throughout the afternoon and evening.

These classes would include an alchemy class, a monster hunting class, a tracking class and finally a foraging class. The Alchemy class would be focused on gathering and identifying magical herbs. The monster hunting class was to let the students hunt some normal rank monsters to level up. The tracking class was to show them ways to track monsters or figure out what kind of monsters were in the area. The foraging class would be focused on finding and identifying any edible or poisonous plants or creatures. This class would help the students by letting them know what they could eat if they ran out of provisions or what they could use to poison a monster.

The classes all seemed important and useful. Luckily, they seemed to be scheduled to happen in pairs. When two went out, the other two would be in camp and when they returned the next two would leave. This would let Fauna go with all the classes and keep the necessary two patrolling the camp at all times. Now, they just needed to decide who went with what class. They discussed what ones they wanted to join and eventually came to an agreement.

Stephanie would go with the foraging class since she wanted to know what new materials were around here. She could work with materials other than metal, after all. She just usually didn't due to not knowing much about them. Griff would go with the tracking class since he wanted to figure out what kind of monsters were native to the area. Fergus would go with the monster hunting class since he was the fastest and could attack from range if something went wrong. Gaia would be going with the alchemy class. She wanted to know if it was possible for her to sense the magical herbs, and if she could, whether she could differentiate between them based on it. She also just wanted to find out what kind of new plants she could discover and if she could possibly grow some in a garden. That was of course if she could get some seeds or put them in a pot for transport.

With this decided, they relaxed as they patrolled for the short time before the camp was packed up. They began moving towards the next camp around an hour after the sunrise. They moved slightly faster today and Fauna only had to deal with a few monsters before they reached their campsite. It wasn't a large clearing but had a small stream running through it so they wouldn't need to worry about water. It also wasn't on the road, so they'd moved through the forest for an hour or so before reaching it. It seemed used so Gaia guessed they used the area regularly for similar excursions.

Once they arrived, the group set up camp which only took around an hour. Fauna's tent was set up on the perimeter again, since they needed to be able to switch patrols without much difficulty and without waking everyone. It was also more convenient for Gaia since she wouldn't need to try and get around people's belongings that were strewn across the ground. She'd done that a few times before and it normally ended with her tripping on someone's stuff, multiple times.

With their base camp set up, the group prepared lunch. The teachers called that lunch was ready around ten minutes after preparations begun. Gaia didn't know what they'd prepared, but guessed it was something ready-made like sandwiches. She ended up being correct. They had a long table set up for everyone to grab some bread and go along what she guessed was a buffet line of meats, condiments and other additions. She could smell some cheeses and veggies, but didn't know what kinds. She didn't go up to the table, she wouldn't be able to tell where anything was anyway, so Stephanie helped her by making a few extras as she went through.

Stephanie got a few dirty looks for taking so much, but she ignored them. The looks quickly changed when they saw her hand a couple to Gaia, who'd been sitting nearby and not approaching the table. Gaia ignored the gazes on her as she happily ate the offered food. She could have gotten in line, but she didn't want to have to ask what everything was, so Stephanie really helped her. She'd also gone ahead and gotten some food for Malachite. He was munching on the fruits Stephanie had grabbed for him as she went through the line. With their food eaten, the pair of girls moved towards the perimeter of the camp to switch with the guys. They thanked the girls as they moved towards the table of food.

As Gaia patrolled, she tried to find any monsters in her aura but found none. This lasted the entire time she patrolled before the teachers called for the first two classes to gather. The first two scheduled were the Alchemy and Tracking classes. This meant Gaia and Griff would be the first two to leave camp. Fergus found Gaia and relieved her from patrol duty as she moved towards the two gathering groups.

The two groups consisted of two teachers and around twelve or thirteen students each. Griff approached with Gaia before checking which group was which. They split up and Gaia went with the alchemy class while Griff went with the other. The teachers for Gaia's group were Valerie and Gordon, they led the students as the two classes split up. Gaia's group went one direction and Griff's group went the other. Gaia followed her group out if the camp and into the forest for a short while. They didn't go far and only walked for around fifteen minutes, just long enough to be in the forest and somewhere undisturbed by the camp.

Gaia was on high alert as they'd walked, but she hadn't sensed any monsters yet, which felt odd. She could usually sense a few monsters even if they were afraid and fled but hadn't sensed any since setting up camp. She was more worried now, since they were in a much smaller group and split off from the camp. She could tell the students were nervous as they kept fidgeting or pacing in small circles. This made her focus on their surroundings, she didn't want the students to be worried about any attacks after all.

The teachers ignored the students nervousness and began the class. They started by describing the types of herbs they were looking for. They were looking for magical herbs but there were many different kinds of them. The class this time focused on searching for any herbs they'd already talked about during the classes in the city. Gaia didn't know what they were, but the teachers told her about a couple they'd discussed.

The two herbs were called Mana Leaf and Bloodgrass. Mana Leaf was used for a variety of potions and Bloodgrass for magical bandages. The magical bandages helped staunch the flow of blood without needing a tourniquet and would speed up the recovery process. They were also much cheaper than a healing potion and could be made by beginner alchemists while potions required a much higher level in the class. The Mana Leaf was mainly used for potions but was also used for many other alchemical recipes.

Gaia didn't search for the plants and instead focused on the class's surroundings. She was there to participate in the class but was also supposed to protect the students. That was her first priority, and she was going to focus on it until someone found an herb. She was mainly there to see if she could sense them, so if someone found one, she could check if it came up in her senses. While she focused on her senses, someone found a bit of Bloodgrass and brought it to the teacher.

Gaia had to focus on her senses when the teacher confirmed that it was the herb. At first, she couldn't sense anything, but when she focused, she could barely sense some mana in the herb. It was so faint that she would miss it if she wasn't focusing on it. Around half an hour later someone found a Mana Leaf and she noticed the same thing. It seemed like she could sense magical herbs, she'd just need to focus and actively try to find them. With this knowledge, she focused on her surroundings and found an herb after about twenty minutes. She grabbed it and showed it to the teachers who told her it was Bloodgrass. She was ecstatic at the confirmation and was about to try looking for more when the teachers called everyone back together. It was apparently time for them to return to the camp, so Gaia focused on their surroundings again.

They made it back to the camp without issues and the next two classes were called to gather. Thus, Gaia returned to her patrol duty for the night. Fergus and Stephanie returned a couple hours later, and they returned to their planned patrols. Their patrols were uneventful for the rest of the evening and soon it was time for bed. Gaia laid down for the night and was asleep within minutes.