The Eastern Forest was about a two-hour walk from the town of Rivlet. I thought that if a carriage passed by, I might be able to get a ride, but unfortunately, none of them did, and exactly two hours later, we arrived in the East Forest.
　We made our way into the dense forest, watching our surroundings. Suddenly, the sound of birdsong and the presence of small animals shaking the trees in the forest freaked me out at first, but then I noticed a strange sensation in my heart.
　Somehow... but I could recognize the atmosphere around me. Where are the creatures and what kind of emotions do they have for us? I know this. I don't know what this feeling is. It's a sixth sense, I guess you could call it. Maybe this is one of the gifts God gave me.
　As I was thinking about this, I felt two aggressive emotions from the front of my right hand. Obvious hostility.

'Watch out. There's something out there.''

　They immediately stopped at my words. As it is, I point to the depths of the forest with my gaze and the two of them shifted into a fighting stance. As if to anticipate their movements, a black shadow jumped out of the forest and attacked us.

''Huh!''

　He twisted his body in a hurry to avoid it. It's okay. I could see movement. Gray body hair and black horns extending from the forehead. It's about the size of a large dog, but its ferocity is not comparable to that of a dog. So this is the unicorn wolf?
　As I was confronting the one that jumped out at me, I saw the second one jumping at Else from another direction.
　Else faced that one attacking him head-on, and slammed a full-body blow into the wolf's nose. Taking a decent bite out of Gauntlet's fist, the unicorn wolf fell to the ground as it was, and eventually stopped moving. A true blow to the ground.
　As I was admiring Else's fight, the wolf in front of me took aim at the opening and rushed in, baring its fangs again.
　I calmly read the wolf's movement and draw my sword from my waist to match it. A flash of lightning as we pass each other. At that moment, the wolf's head flies through the air and rolls off the ground with great force.
　The sensation of killing a creature for the first time fills me with some sense of guilt and disgust. But before I could dwell on it, four new wolves appeared in a pack, two of them coming towards me.

'Come fire, red flying debris, Ignisfire.

　At the same time I heard the voice, one of the wolves that attacked me was suddenly engulfed in flames and turned into a fireman. It seems that Linse, who was backing up, covered me with fire magic. Sheesh! I missed my chance to see magic for the first time in this world!　Genuenuenu.
　While ducking the remaining one as before, I slashed at it with my sword. The fallen wolf immediately stopped moving.
　When I turned my gaze towards Else, I ate a spinning kick to the belly of the wolf that pounced on me and blew it away. Beside it, the last one was being burned by the flames again. Ugh, I missed the magic again....

''It's all taken care of. Your request was to take out five of them, but you killed one more.

　While saying that, Else gunned down the gauntlet. So, six of them in all, two of each, were killed. I think it was a good job for the first time in battle. Oh, so I'm the only first time.
　Now, to prove that we defeated them, we need to bring back the horns of the wolves. I'll cut off six of their horns and put them in my pouch. All I have to do is deliver this to the guild, and my request is complete, mission accomplished.
　When we left the forest, I felt the tension I was carrying on my back disappear at once. I feel like I've been freed from a sense of suffocation. I guess I'll have to get used to this kind of thing.
　On the way home, I was lucky enough to get a ride in a carriage as it passed by. Lucky me.
　When I got back to the town much faster than I could walk, I stopped at the guild on my way to complete the request and give the receptionist the five unicorn wolf horns to the lady at the reception desk. I decided to keep the remaining one for today's memorial.

''Yes, I did indeed receive five unicorn wolf horns. Now, please hand in your guild card.''

　We held out our cards, and the receptionist pressed something that looked like a stamp on them. There was a mark like a magic circle for a moment, but it disappeared soon after. I heard later that the stamp is stamped differently depending on the rank of the request. The information of the stamp stamped card is stored in the card, and when it is accumulated to a certain extent, the rank rises and the color of the card changes.
　By the way, we are black, the beginner rank. I heard that the ranks go up from black, purple, green, blue, red, silver and gold.

Then here are the 18 copper coins for the reward. This completes the request. Thank you for your hard work.

　When we received our reward from the lady at the reception, we divided it into six pieces each. We had earned the money for three days' accommodation. I have a feeling we'll be able to get by in this world.

We're going to have a light meal somewhere to celebrate the success of our first request.

　As we left the guild, Else said something like that. It was still a bit early for dinner, but after thinking about it, I was skipping lunch. That might be good. Plus, I had a few things I wanted to ask for, so it was just as well.
　We decided to go into one of the coffee shops in town.
　I ordered a hot sandwich and milk, Else ordered a meat pie and orange juice, and Linse ordered a pancake and tea, and when the waiter stepped back, I started the conversation.

'Listen, I need to ask you two a favor,'
Please?
Yes, I need to learn to read and write. It's a real pain in the ass if you can't read. It's going to be very difficult for me to get on with it.
Oh, sure. It's not like I don't know what I'm asking for.

　Mmmm, Else nods. At the same time, Linse is nodding in agreement. I knew they were twins around here.

You can ask Lindsay to teach you how to do that. It's a good idea to ask Linse to teach you, because she's smart and she's very good at teaching.
No...not that...but... If it's okay with me...
Thank you. You're very helpful.

　Okay, I've managed to find a way to read and write now. Now all I have to do is study. I'm glad I found a good teacher. ... oh.

Linse, you're right. I was wondering if you could teach me some magic as well. I've always wanted to try it.
"What?

　I hummed. These kids. What?　Is that so strange?