The outskirts of Tosa were not what Trevor had been expecting. When he heard there were monsters outside of the walls, then he expected there to be mostly barren ground with signs of beasts everywhere. That was just what he assumed.

Now that he was out here for real, he found that the town was surrounded by farmland. The farmers were beginning to work the field as the weather warmed, though he could see some plants being grown even now. Trevor couldn’t tell what they were as there were fences around everyone’s properties and every fruit and vegetable was a different color than what he was used to, but it was good to see that things were working out.

“You and Wayne are out here every day, right?” Trevor asked. “What kind of monsters do you usually run into?”

“Ones on four legs, mostly,” she answered. “With big teeth and matted fur and three tails and big horns and red eyes and they’re smelly and really mean.”

“That doesn’t sound pleasant. Is that the only kind of monster around here?”

Rashie shook her head. “No, but it’s the most common. Iunno if they still come around these parts cause we haven’t seen them in a while. Maybe something happened to their dungeon.”

“Their dungeon?”

The shark girl gasped. “You don’t know about dungeons?”

“I, uh, no? Should I?”

“Every adventurer should know about dungeons!” she claimed loudly. “They're, like, the best thing ever!”

“But, Rashie, I’m not an adventurer,” he reminded her gently. “I’m, at best, a glorified messenger.”

That caused her to pause. “Even so! If you’re going to run from place to place, you should know about dungeons so you don’t get caught up in one.”

“Not getting caught up in dungeons does sound like an important skill to have,” he agreed. “How can I know if I’m in a dungeon?”

“Around here, there’s signs,” she said. “Every dungeon has a sign, because Wayne’s been making them. Lots of warnings and skulls and bones in a cross shape and whenever we find another one, he makes more. Sometimes, I get to help!”

“That Wayne sure is handy, isn’t he?”

“Yeah, but we haven’t had to make any more signs lately,” Rashie said, sounding a little sad. “They’re just not popping up like they used to.”

“Any idea why?”

“I think I’m too good at hunting,” she said. At first Trevor thought she was just being boastful, but from the tone of her voice she was completely confident in herself.

“Does hunting have something to do with dungeons?” he asked.

“Yes, if a dungeon is over-hunted, then there won’t be any more monsters coming out of it.”

“Okay, so dungeons spawn monsters.”

Rashie started nodding. “Yes, Trevor gets it. Something magical happens, a place becomes a dungeon, and monsters start appearing. If you hunt too much, then the dungeon can’t keep up, and it ends up going kaput for a very long time.”

“Which is why you’ve been coming home all sad and whatnot?” Trevor asked with a smile. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t that a good thing?”

“Maybe, but it’s just so boring,” she huffed. “Me and Wayne went and cleared out most of the dungeons so they wouldn’t start spitting out bad guys until after we got back, but we were too good. It’s just annoying. And boring. And I want to chase something.”

“Are the monsters small enough that you can chase them?”

“No, no, no, but they start running anyway,” the shark girl said, chomping her teeth and giggling maliciously. “I can be very, very scary. Not as scary as Addymanatine, but I am peak predator!”

“I believe you,” he said, though his mind was elsewhere.

Trevor became thoughtful for a second. Back when he had taken Adabelle lunch, she had mentioned his refusal to pry. At first, it was because he didn’t want to make her uncomfortable. Pointing out something wrong with one’s appearance right off the bat didn’t leave a good first impression.

Though, now that he was thinking about it, had she been trying to open up to him? She might have just wanted to thank him for the food by making conversation, and that was a topic she knew most people were interested in. Adabelle had offered the information, but rescinded it later.

Frowning to himself, he decided to sit down and have a conversation with her. She had agreed they were friends, and it was only natural to want to get to know your friends better. It was also only natural to miss your friends when you haven’t interacted with them for a while. His plans to take her food at work if she refused to make herself a lunch was spoiled now that she was on her staycation, but that wasn’t all he had.

When it’s dinner time, I’ll take her food and see if she’d like company, Trevor thought to himself.

Rashie seemed to take his silence as acceptance of her proclamation, and started humming quietly to herself as she stared at the sky.

The road twisted, turned, and split often. Signs were interspersed at random intervals, with the largest road following the river and seeming to head towards Eskretet, the capital city where Klar had set up shop. The signs pointed towards other cities and landmarks, including a destination that had a sign written in both Lucern and English. From what he could read, it was called the “Danger Zone.”

“What’s the Danger Zone?” Trevor asked Rashie, pointing towards the sign. “One of those dungeons?”

“Ummmm,” the shark girl said, uncharacteristically hesitating. “I don’t think I’m supposed to tell you.”

“Like, anyone? Or me specifically?”

“You specifically,” she answered.

He paused, furrowing his brow as he thought it over. “Is it… because it has to do with your Power and Wayne still wants me to be surprised by it?”

Trevor felt Rashie vigorously shake her head. “Nope, it doesn’t have to do with my Power. Nope, nope, nope.”

“So it has to do with either Jackson or Adabelle, and I’m leaning towards the latter” he mused.

When her grip on his hair tightened when he said Adabelle’s name, he figured that was the right answer. Rashie was not very good at hiding things, not that he would say that.

Everything he had learned about Adabelle frankly might have scared him if he hadn't met her beforehand. According to Thimbleden, she could casually knock down buildings and change the weather. The self-proclaimed peak predator called her scary. His curiosity was starting to outstrip his politeness.

“We need to change paths now!” the shark girl commanded, pointing towards the river.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

“What? Why?” Trevor asked as he started listing in that direction.

“Because I’m trying to distract you, because Wayne says if you wanna know then you need to ask her,” Rashie stated. “And because the river’s the fastest way to get to the tree cutter guys.”

Trevor chuckled. “If we go through the water, then we’re going to get all wet.”

“You don’t even have a beard, so you can’t use that excuse on me,” she huffed.

“No, I don’t mind the water, but won’t it be uncomfortable being wet in leather armor?”

Rashie shook her head again. “No, it’s made of terug- tregu- tegru-” she made a little disappointed noise. “It’s magic, okay! Comfy all the time, except after bedtime.”

“Why is it not comfy after bedtime?”

“Because it’s armor, Trevor. You don’t wear it to bed,” the shark girl stated as if it were obvious.

“Yep, you’ve got me there, Rashie,” Trevor admitted. She paused for a moment, and the young man felt her go very still. “You want to go anyway?”

“Yeah, I wanna go swimming,” she said before falling backwards. Her tail struck him in the back, but when he turned to confirm if she was alright he saw that she had landed on her feet. The shark girl patted him on the arm. “You’ll be okay, and I’ll see you there, okay? I’ll come and check up on you, too, so that you’re not scared.”

Trevor looked around. There was nothing but farms and wooded areas with no monsters in sight. This road followed the river fairly closely, so there wasn’t any issues if something were to come up. Every so often there’d be guards, too, though they were few and far between.

“Sure, Rashie, go ahead and- and she’s already gone,” Trevor said to himself as he watched the shark girl run towards the water.

Rashie jumped, gaining a frankly impressive amount of air, and cannonballed directly into the center of the river. When she didn’t come up right away, he frowned, but he then noticed her swimming further upstream. Despite the current, she gained speed and was soon around the nearest bend.

“That little shark sure can swim,” Trevor muttered to himself as he continued down the road.

Even alone, the walk was relaxing and peaceful. The breeze was nice and, despite the sun being hidden behind the darkening clouds, he was warm thanks to the constant walking. It was enjoyable, and his nervous fears about becoming monster food had been alleviated when Rashie mentioned how great she and Wayne were at clearing the area of dungeons.

As Trevor was coming up with different variations of the monsters Rashie described in his head, and often imagining them to be very big and running from a fearless, tiny shark girl. His daydreams were interrupted by the sound of axes on trees.

He saw a team of lumberjacks walking over a sturdy stone bridge in order to toss a log into the center of the river. Rashie was hiding underneath the bridge, giggling, which caused the workers to pause before shrugging and walking back. All but one, at least.

“Trevor!” Gad called, motioning for the young man to hurry towards him.

"Mr. Gad! I was hoping to see you out here," he said, greeting the man with a bow after stepping onto the bridge.

“What brings you all the way out here?”

“I’m here with Rashie to deliver the foreman’s new axe,” Trevor explained. “Last I saw her she was under the bridge, but who knows where she could be by now.”

“Not under the bridge,” the shark girl said from under the bridge. “She could be anywhere by now.”

“Oh, well, I guess she won’t be able to complete the quest then,” Trevor said, dramatically sighing.

Rashie’s head popped over the side of the bridge and she started pulling herself up. “Nuh uh! I’m here! I’m going to complete the quest!”

Trevor smirked, and Gad bowed at Rashie. “Shark,” he greeted.

“Shark!” Rashie said with a big grin and an exaggerated bow before running towards the sound of work. “Let’s go find Mr. Big Guy!”

“Shark?” Trevor asked Gad as he began following his fellow Summoned.

Gad chuckled and shrugged. “It’s how we all greet her. She comes around here often when she’s hunting monsters,” he explained. “It’s right on the river, and apparently she can’t help herself sometimes. Sometimes she stops to help, saying that it’s fun to cut down trees, or to drop off fish that she catches in the river. Little shark girl’s a right menace, but she’s harmless. Well, to us.”

A dark look crossed Gad’s face, and Trevor arched an eyebrow. “There sounds like there’s more to that last bit.”

The dwarf nodded. “Yeah. Saw her fight monsters once. There’s a reason why we call her shark. After Wayne explained what sharks were, at least. We don’t have them here.”

Trevor found himself nodding along as he watched Rashie run up to the foreman. She circled him for a few moments before stopping, looking back at the young man, and waving at him to hurry up.

“Go on, then,” Gad said. “Laric’s a bit disgruntled, but hearing you have his axe will brighten his day. So long as the rain holds off, at least.”

“Rashie seems convinced it’s going to rain in a couple of hours.”

“Well, that’s a bit disheartening on account of the Firesap,” Gad sighed, waving towards a small pyramid of dark pink logs. “You might be able to do something about it, if you’re willing. Just talk to the boss about it.”

“Yeah, I’m happy to help,” Trevor said before bowing again to Gad. “If I don’t see you later, tell Froil and Dag hello.”

“Will do, kid, will do.”

Once Gad left to get back to work, Trevor jogged up to where Rashie and Laric were. He recognized the orc as the one who was behind everyone else in the logger’s procession every morning. His tusky grin was nowhere to be seen, and he looked absurdly huge next to the small girl pointing at him.

“Shark says you’ve got something for me?” he asked, his voice not as deep as Trevor would have thought.

“Finish the quest!” Rashie said, waving her finger at Laric. “Finish the quest!”

“I will, Rashie, calm down,” Trevor said with a chuckle before bowing to the orc. “Trevor Anderson, sir. And yes, I have a delivery.”

“Laric,” the orc introduced, bowing back. Then he crossed his arms and waited.

Trevor wasn’t sure if the foreman meant to be intimidating or if he was just upset, but it didn’t matter. He raised his hands and retrieved the axe from his inventory. The metal gleamed, reflecting Laric’s face back at him, and the orc lit up.

“Ohhhh, that is nice,” he said, taking the axe and admiring it.

[[Quest complete! You made your first out-of-town delivery!

Now that Laric has his special axe made for him specifically, he can start cutting down the Firesap trees again.

Well, perhaps not now as Firesap logs - you know, the ones over there? - are famously susceptible to getting waterlogged and losing out on all their magical properties. Since it’s going to rain soon, it sure is terrible that they’re going to lose all that product. Sure is a shame. Oh well, what can anyone do about it? If only Laric had emergency Quest Giver rights. If only.

One gold piece and a weird fish necklace have been added to your inventory!

Level Up! You have gained one (1) stat point. It has been added to your bank, which has three (3) stat points left.

Notice! You may learn a new Skill! Just let me know when you want to get on that and we’ll make it happen.]]

“Quest complete!” Rashie yelled, raising her hands in the air.

Trevor read through the notice, ignoring the part about the weird fish necklace, and looked at Laric. “Is there something wrong with the Firesap logs?”

The happy look on Laric’s face disappeared as he grumbled and turned to look at the stack of pink wood. “Yeah, we’re going to lose them in this storm,” he said. “Those gremlins really shook us up. We cut those trees before they destroyed my last axe and planned to move them when things were still cold out, but you already know about the wagon issue. I've had groups taking them on their shoulders, but it's slow going and we've got to hit our goals, so I can't spare everyone.”

"KPIs are the worst."

"What?"

“Nevermind. Are they susceptible to getting waterlogged because they’re logs and not part of the tree anymore?” Trevor asked, which got him a nod from Laric. That was problematic. “You can’t tie them up in a tarp or something?”

Laric shook his head. “After it rains, there’s going to be enough humidity in the air to ruin them regardless. Might as well let the weather take them at that point. Ruin as in they won’t be great for magical items, not that they’ll melt or something. The mill on the other side of town has the magic required to keep them dry.”

“Could the workers here take them?”

“I already have two groups making the trip, and these leftovers are the ones that might have problems. It would take us the better part of the day to get the rest there, anyway, and we don’t have that much time. We’ve already taken the majority of the logs, these are just what's left,” Laric claimed. “We weren’t expecting the rain to come so soon, honestly, and we were caught with our pants down. These ones have been written off.”

Trevor frowned and stared at the logs. It sounded like the cold snap and erratic weather had thrown them for a loop. He wasn’t one to start pointing fingers when something went wrong, however, and he turned back to Laric with a smile.

“The Quest Master was making sly remarks about emergency Quest Giver powers,” Trevor said. “I think we may be able to save these last logs, if you want the help.”

Laric looked at him in confusion before Trevor retrieved his magical backpack from his inventory for that +1 stat boost to Capacity.