B1 Chapter 8 - First Date

“I… uhm, well,” Jackson paused.

“What?” I asked with a chuckle. “Something on my face.”

“No, not that, just. I thought, I know of… well, a pretty place. If you are up for a hike, we could make it a picnic?” he finally asked.

“I’m Rumorain born and raised, we all know how to hike,” I said. Kind of a necessity, after all, most of the country was hills and valleys. That didn’t leave a lot of room for not being somewhat comfortable with a hike.

“Okay! Then, I’ll get my bags for a picnic. Shall we meet at the south gate in about thirty minutes?” he asked.

I nodded and smiled. I walked by some shops on the way. Oh, hey, I recognized a girl in one of them. She measured me this morning. I guess she didn’t work for the guild directly. I decided to stop inside.

“Good- oh hey. No way we can have your uniform done that fast,” she said.

I gave a curtsy. “Nothing like that. I just saw you and thought I would say hi. This shop is so pretty,” I added. It really was, dresses, skirts, and bodices were everywhere, all in different colors. I really wanted one. “I wish I could buy something.”

“Thank you, but why can’t you?” she asked.

“No geld,” I said.

She giggled. “You work for the guild, which is a stable job. I can open a tab for you until your first pay.”

“Really?” I asked.

She nodded.

Suddenly, the thirty minutes that I had before meeting up with Jackson felt awfully short. I wished I could try on more things, but I settled on a yellow dress. It was loose and flowy, with material that felt airy. It seemed like a good choice for the late summer heat.

The only issue was my old outfit. I didn’t have time to return to the shelter to toss it in my chest. So I could only stuff it into my bag; it was a tight fit, but that would do for now.

I decided to wait outside the gate. It wasn’t that long before I saw Jackson running, as if he was worried I would be upset if he took too long. He paused, looking at me. He changed his clothes too; this outfit was a bit nicer, with no obvious stains.

“Wow, you look pretty,” he said.

My face flushed instantly. “What?” I said, my brain not properly working. Was my heart racing? Ah! I wasn’t ready for that!

“Like really pretty, I think yellow is a good color for you,” he said.

“I, uh,” I stumbled on my words. “Thank you. You look handsome.” I could fight back! Now you blush.

Except he didn’t blush. He just smiled and grabbed my hand. “Let’s go!”

With that, we were off on our hike. We actually circled to the north side of the city, not many people would come this way because of the cliff. Two cliffs, actually, one went down by a lot, while the other cliff went up about a hundred feet. The effect made where we were look like the second step on a staircase.

We walked around the base of the taller cliff for a bit and eventually through some thick brush by it, which led to a cave. Leaves were brushing up against my skin and my new dress. I was gonna be pissed if a stray branch snagged me.

“So where are we going?” I asked.

“Just a bit further. Trust me, it is worth it. It is my secret place.”

That… sounded almost eerie, but I wasn’t scared of Jackson. Though I paused for a moment, wondering if perhaps I should have been.

I noticed light coming from the back of the cave, so it was more of a tunnel. Wait, if this cuts through the cliff, this could be a highly valuable travel route.

We emerged, and I gasped. It was so beautiful. We were in like… I didn’t know what it was called, but we were surrounded on all sides by rock walls, and where we were was like a lush green bowl. As if this cliff had been hollowed out for this sanctuary. At its center was a large lake.

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“I never reported this find because I was afraid the government would wanna develop it. I think it is much more beautiful as is,” he said, looking at the scene. “Plus, the walls are too steep to climb, so it wouldn’t be of any help to trade routes.”

“You surveyed the entire area?” I asked.

He nodded. He opened his bag and took out a blanket. “On the other side of the lake, monsters and animals live, but it is pretty quiet over here. The worst I saw were wolves or dire wolves. Hard to tell which from a distance.”

Yeah, visually they looked about the same. The thing that made dire wolves monsters was their core. Actually, it was better to say that is what made a monster. The definition of monster was anything with a core. I didn’t know a lot about cores, but I knew that if you shattered one, a monster died, regardless of how hurt they were. And creatures with cores were way more deadly. A wolf, for example, was listed as a rank two adventuring quest. So even my past self could supposedly handle one. But a dire wolf, by contrast, could be as high as rank five.

Jackson offered me his hand to help me sit on the blanket he had laid down. I did so with a smile. He then handed me a sandwich and a tin cup with water.

I was truly happy to have come out here. Though I bet my mother would love this view too. One day I should bring her over here. But that could wait for now.

“Enjoying?” he asked as he touched my thigh.

I placed my other hand on his hand. “Yes. Very much.”

“I was worried the sandwiches wouldn’t be good. I made them myself,” he said.

I looked down at my half-eaten sandwich. It was good. “I love it. Thank you.”

I noticed rustling in the bushes nearby. Jackson let go of me and stood up.

A horn popped out, followed by the rest of the monster, a horned rabbit. Jackson drew his knife. I put my hand out. “It’s just a bunny.”

“But it’s a monster,” he said.

“He isn’t really a threat. He looks hungry,” I said as I ripped a piece off my sandwich and tossed it close by him. He came closer, sniffing and began nibbling it.

“Can’t say I have ever seen someone feed a monster before,” Jackson said as he sat beside me.

I held his hand. “Monster, animal, and even the humanoids. I think a few things unify us all. Do we not all wanna live? Do we not all feel hungry? I try to be empathetic. I can’t imagine life is easy for a horned rabbit, hunted by humanoids while being one twentieth their size. All cuz of the crystal core inside their body? I think I’d feel like I got a raw deal.”

“I never thought of it like that,” he said.

The horned rabbit crept closer to us slowly. I tore off another piece of the sandwich and tossed it gently. It backed off at the sudden movement but then investigated the food before nibbling at it again.

It eventually climbed into my lap and closed its eyes. Aw! So cute. I began slowly petting it’s fur and I could feel it purring.

“Besides the horn, it doesn’t seem that different than normal rabbits,” Jackson said.

“Right?” I added.

Suddenly, its ears pointed in the direction it came from, and its eyes went wide. A moment late,r it hopped away in a different direction.

“Guess it had enough?” he asked.

I stood up. “No, I think it is time to go.”

“Huh? But-”

The bushes rustled. A wolf came out. Frick, was it a regular wolf or a dire wolf? I know i could handle it either way, but I would rather not expose my abilities in front of Jackson.

It jumped towards me. I rolled to the side, but I noticed it kicked off the air and was on top of me. Crap, so a dire wolf.

“Alexis!” Jackson shouted as he stabbed it with his knife. He managed a good shot cuz it went limp a moment later. He rolled the bleeding beast off me. But I had blood on my dress.

“Ah man, my dress,” I said. Oh, wait, that probably wasn’t a normal reaction. Crap.

“You’re okay, right? I’m sorry! This place was too dangerous.”

“I’m okay,” I said. “Fortunately, I am good at cleaning, so I will be able to clean the dress. But more importantly, we should dress it.”

“Dress it? We should leave. I don’t want you to be in any more danger,” he said.

“The meat would go well for the shelter. Plus, the core is valuable, right?” I said. “Got a spare knife?”

He laughed. “Wow, you are more than a pretty face. Okay, I will dress it, but you rest okay?”

I smiled. “Okay, fine, but you better do a good job.”

Dressing it fully here may be a bad idea; the smell of blood may attract animals or monsters. But I wanted him to at least drain it here. Otherwise, we were just going to be leaving a trail of blood straight to wherever we did dress it.

Once it was mostly dry, he carried it with him on his back as we made our way back out of the sinkhole oasis, as I thought of it. We traveled back near the south gate. He told me he’d finish dressing it and bring it to the shelter tomorrow morning. But he handed me the core.

“Huh? You want to sell that, right?” I asked.

He shook his head. “A date with a pretty girl should end with a gift if I can manage it, right? You can sell it, of course, but I wouldn’t be against you keeping it. As a memory.”

I took the monster core and looked at Jackson. “Set the wolf down.”

He looked pale, but he did. And then I kissed him right on the lips. My first kiss. Hehe, I wonder if it was his first kiss too. I guess it didn’t matter that much.

“Wow,” he said, blushing.

“Thanks for the lovely night,” I said.