Half an hour has passed since the two laid rest by the tree. With renewed vigor, Saki moved away from Abigail, feeling her body free of fatigue as she moved, her arms no longer sore. A sigh escaped her lips as she felt refreshed.
Not too long now, Saki stands up, causing Abigail to look up and ask. "Are you rested? We have all the time we need to rest" Saki looks down on her and nods. "I'm feeling much better now, Abby... I reckon we need to get out of this part of the forest. You said we've ventured too far, hence the ranked monsters". Abigail could hear the calm in Saki's voice, a clear sign that she had already rested well. "Shall we then?"
Abigail stood up carefully, dusting off her clothes as she did. "Indeed, we've ventured too far. The sun is about to set, and I'm sure you have gained a lot from this day" She said as she analyzed Saki's stats. Before they entered the forest, Abigail checked her stats to see how far she would reach in a single day. It exceeded her expectations. Abigail was very surprised about this and made her believe in her abilities even more.
"Let's go" Saki returned to the direction of the river and then gasped. Abigail quickly followed her gaze and saw lines of slimes coming from the river approaching them. "Not good... All of them are D-rank!" She warned. "Let's run that way!" Saki points to the other direction of the river and plans to cross there. "Come on!" She gestured for Abigail to follow as she ran.
As they were running, multiple slimes materialized from the ground in their direction, causing the two to stop in their tracks. "What's going on?! Just what is this place?!" She darted at Abigail, who seemed to be just as perplexed as she was. "I... I don't know, but I feel like we shouldn't be here" Abigail replied as the scene of the slimes forming from the ground up replayed in her mind.
"Alright! No choice! Let's go further and lure them out!" Saki runs towards their intended direction, deeper into the forest. Abigail reluctantly followed her behind. As they run deeper into the forest, more and more slimes form up from the ground and fast. They could see the slimes forming from the corner of their eyes as they ran.
They ran for what seems like forever. More and more slimes form from the ground around them. There were so many slimes that some of them almost hit Saki and Abigail as they fled. Eventually, they saw a large cave entrance up ahead. The sight caused Saki to have mixed feelings. The cave could be a den of monsters, or it is a mere cave where they can hide from the onslaught of slimes.
"Hey, you see that? Up ahead! A cave!" She points her finger toward the cave opening. When Abigail ran to her side, she could only see a large abyss ahead. The cave opening was big and empty. From their distance, there was nothing they could see inside the cave opening, a total pitch black.
"I'm feeling a great disturbance in that cave" Abigail said between her breaths. Saki glanced over at her as they ran. "Really? What sort of disturbance?" She asked. Abigail couldn't even let out a reply. The mana, the immense strength, was incomprehensible to her, and they were slowly entering its radius. "Hey! What disturbance are you talking about?!" Saki insisted and Abigail forced herself to speak.
"Something powerful is in that cave!" She briefly replied. Saki's eyes widened and looked up ahead as they were about to approach the cave. After just a few seconds of running, they eventually stopped before the huge entrance. Even when standing close to it, they couldn't see inside. And before they could say anything about the cave, slimes formed from the ground to prevent their escape. The two quickly turned around to see the slimes already guarding them.
"Damn!" Saki pulled out her sword in a hurry and maintained her gaze toward the slimes. As they stood guard, a woman's voice came from deep inside the cave. Although it sounded like it came from the cave, they sensed the voice as if they were being whispered upon. "What are the humans doing here? Deep in this forest..."
Her words sent a chill towards the two. They were momentarily disoriented as soon as the voice spoke. "Leave this place immediately" The woman's demand was clear and no other means, her words were an unspoken threat. As the two think of something, the slimes hop in to close their distance. It was then Abigail couldn't think of anything else and brought out her green orb.
"Nowhere to run! We're gonna teleport back to safety!" She yelled as she raised the orb in the skies. Saki watched the orb glow in white and a bright light envelops their surrounding, ultimately blinding them. And the moment the light dissipated, they were back in Shigure, standing in front of the forest.
Saki gasped as she darted around, surprised to see them in a different place just within a second. "Wow..." She could only mutter that word as she absorbed the situation. Abigail lowered her orb and put it back on her virtual inventory. As Saki watched Abigail take the orb away, she leaned closer to her and whispered. "Hey, so what was that? The slimes and that cave?" Her voice was filled with curiosity and concern. Abigail shook her head and replied. "No idea, but there was an abnormal mass of power in there. It was a mistake going into that part of the forest"
Saki slightly flinched at her words and mutters. "S-sorry" Abigail looked at her with an empathetic smile. "It's okay. None of us knew what was in there. If I knew that something was going on in there, I wouldn't ask you to carry me over that river" She giggled as she mentioned their time at the river. Saki could only scoff in amusement. "So I guess we're even. I still hate you for putting me into that river though" Abigail remarked.
Saki scoffs once again. "...Can't cross a river like a human" She muttered loud enough to intentionally let Abigail hear her. "I'm gonna pretend I didn't hear that..." Abigail replied and faced her. "Also, aren't you going to be grateful for getting us out there?" She said with a small smile. Saki raised a brow on her, and before she could speak, Abigail spoke first. "Ah, ah, ah! I can see your brow rising again! Stop with your attitude and be grateful for once" She laughs, causing Saki to chuckle.
"Fine, fine, I guess I owe you this time" Saki let it slide and just went along with her as a token of gratitude. Abigail giggles. "There! It's not as sincere as a direct 'thank you, my good friend Abby' but knowing you, it's best that I take it than argue further with you" She said in a very amused tone. "You know me too well" Saki crossed her arms with a smile.
"Well... I should head home. Today was very eventful, and hopefully, it was even more for you" Abigail waves as she walks away. "Oh, and tomorrow, how about we ask the village chief first thing in the morning about the cave we saw? It would be fun" She stops to say that before finally facing up ahead, leaving Saki with a new excitement.
Just like Abigail, Saki returned to her home and her parents immediately started to have dinner with her. After finishing their meal, they remained on the table and began to ask Saki about her day.
"Saki... I can't believe you're a village militia now" Her father speaks with surprise in his words. Saki blushed as she replied. "Y-yeah... Abigail helped me kill some slimes in the forest... I even got a new skill! Have you seen it yet?!" After her flustered reply is an enthusiastic question. "Slime-splitting Slash" Her father reads the skill's name with a smile.
"For a normal villager to have a battle skill before being an official adventurer... You could say you're already starting to become one" He said to Saki, causing her to blush again. "You could say that... But all I could fight was unranked monsters, well, slimes, to be specific... We've encountered D-rank slimes and they're durable and regenerate any damage I could deal" She said with half-excitement.
Her father nodded and said. "Yes. I'm sure your friend Abigail already explained it. D-rank monsters are meant for adventurers. They are literally the first monsters beginning adventurers would face. Unranked monsters are too weak for adventurers, that's why they're unranked in the first place. They could only cause uproar in any settlement with barely any harm and damage" He paused before continuing.
"And village militia... If you want to formalize your rank and officially begin your job as the village's first militia, you can talk to the village chief... Is what I would say, but I know you won't settle down into anything other than adventurer". He let out a subtle chuckle. Saki got annoyed a bit at his teasing. "Well, in your case, being a village militia is one step ahead towards adventuring. It's good that you were able to get some experience in battle before becoming an official adventurer. Most of the beginning adventurers would start learning at their first travel" He nods.
Saki grinned and said in a passionate voice. "So I had a jumpstart, huh?" Her father smiles and nods. "That seems so" He replied, causing Saki to chuckle proudly. Her mother watched her with a big smile and began to rub her head, feeling adoration and pride on her daughter.
The day would end with Saki's excitement towards the next day and her future.