Rangers Endgame

Yakeru and Kazeki's groups stopped by an elixir vendor, the sight of all the various elixirs on display flooding Kenji's head with bad memories. It wasn't that long ago that he was purchasing enhancement elixirs. Though now they were here for health elixirs.

"Thank you for your business and come again!"

The group pocketed their vials before making their way down the busy street.

"Can't believe you guys run missions without health elixirs or even a healer," Kazeki mentioned.

Kenji scratched the back of his head and chuckled. Now that he thought about it, it did seem silly not to bring health elixirs since none of them were healers.

"I guess we didn't really think about that, to be honest."

They'd only used health elixirs once before, though their quality wasn't the greatest. Perhaps they relied on Fuyumi for so long that it didn't even occur to them that they'd need such a thing.

"Still," Aoi chimed in. "It's dangerous not to be prepared. You guys should be more careful."

Her soft yet worried tone made it clear she was genuine.

"I, for one, am impressed that you three have managed to slay monsters without the aid of elixirs," Kateshi remarked with a grin.

'Who said that was the case?' Kenji corrected in his head, shamefully glancing to the side.

Aoi lightly slapped Kateshi's arm.

"Please don't say anything that might encourage them!"

"Of course, my apologies."

Pleased with his response they resumed their walk until the sound of hoofs clopping from behind them grew louder. Kazeki stuck his thumb out to hail the carriage as it came to a gradual stop beside them. Something Yakeru or Fuyumi hadn't considered during their early days as rangers was transportation. This was mainly due to the capital's transport service being expensive. However, now that they've saved enough from their profitable occupation, they could afford to spend their gold on it.

"Come on, we'll hitch a ride," Kazeki suggested. According to the mission sheet, the dungeon was located near the outskirts of the inner rim.

Kobolds thrived in dark, underground environments, only coming out of hiding at night to hunt. On rare occasions, they'd attack small human settlements. Due to this, it was safe to assume there wouldn't be any towns nearby for miles.

Kazeki flashed the sheet to the coachman and explained where they were headed. The coachman cupped his chin in thought for a brief moment before snapping his fingers.

"I know a place." the coachman said, gesturing them to hop aboard.

𝘊𝘭𝘰𝘱. 𝘊𝘭𝘰𝘱. 𝘊𝘭𝘰𝘱.

Hours had passed since they'd left the big city, the coachman directing the horses along a stone road. Six-legged creatures snacked on the grass while bathing in sunlight as they passed by.

The six rangers relaxed in the carriage chatting about their experiences. Of course, Fuyumi wanted no part in it as she saw such small talk as trivial. Luckily, Kazeki and his group didn't seem to take it personally. In fact, according to their stories, they've met a few socially inept people during previous adventures so this was no different.

"Seriously?! You guys fought Scorpio knights?!" Yakeru gasped.

"Well, I wouldn't say 𝘸𝘦 did." Aoi corrected.

Scorpio knights were four-armed humanoid-type monsters that possessed numerous abilities including a reinforced exoskeleton, superhuman strength, and a scorpion-like tail. In terms of physical strength, they were comparable to steel-quilled bears and their armor was just as durable. What set them apart were their tails.

If a person were to so much as get pricked by its stinger, their life would meet an excruciating end in just under an hour. Because of this, any rangers planning on hunting these monsters are highly advised to take antidotes with them.

Even then, their armor consisted of small flexible plating that allowed for more agile movement, making these creatures slippery in combat. Combine all of these factors and you'd have the recipe for a monster capable of giving even experienced rangers a run for their money.

"Yeah, this big ape took care of all the heavy lifting for us. All we had to do was make sure he didn't croak." Kazeki winked, prodding Kateshi with an elbow making him sheepishly scratch the back of his head.

"Come now, if it were not for your support and Miss Aoi's healing, things would have been much worse."

"Oh, but that's still impressive, though," Kenji said.

Fuyumi was strong in the sense that she was extremely agile. Coupling that with her natural talent for combat made for a dangerous combination. But both Yakeru and Kenji knew her limits. But knowing they had someone strong enough to contend with several Scorpio knights simultaneously to pick up the slack put their minds at ease.

'Wait.' Yakeru had to do a double take.

A small detail in what Kateshi had just said flew right over his head, not registering until now. He snapped his head toward Aoi wearing a surprised look in response.

"You're a healer?!"

"W-Why yes," she flinched, her eyes going wide in realization. "Oh my! I'm sorry. I must not have mentioned that during our introductions."

She gave a slight apologetic bow. This wasn't as big a deal to them as it was to her. The fact that she was apologizing for it made Yakeru feel bad for making her feel the need to. It was more of the fact that healers weren't very abundant anymore.

Back in the earlier days, inexperienced rangers were more abundant which made more room for error when on missions. This led to healers being in such high demand to compensate. However, throughout generations, rangers have only gotten stronger, so much so that healers grew more obsolete.

The logic here was if you could become strong enough to deal with monsters quickly, there wouldn't be a need for healers in the first place. Unfortunately, most rangers nowadays have adopted this mindset.

Luckily, people like Aoi are wise enough to understand that anything could unfold during a mission. This was why it was best to have a safety net of sorts.

"No, it's fine," Yakeru shook his head apologetically. "It's just that we don't usually see many healers."

"Wait, but if you're a healer, why'd we get health elixirs?" Kenji questioned.

Healers were undoubtedly more valuable than health elixirs. Sure, they could use health elixirs but they were a one-and-done use only. Healers on the other hand could heal several times over before eventually burning out. Of course, it'd also depend on the severity of their injury.

"Don't worry," Kazeki answered. "When we first formed our party, she used to force us to buy them."

"Why of course. Although you'd have a decent understanding of the kind of mission you accept, there's still room for unpredictability." Aoi doubled down.

Kenji thought for a moment, their past experiences proving her point.

"I see. If something were to happen we'd still have our health elixirs."

She smiled softly in Kenji's direction, pleased to see that he was so understanding.

This caught Fuyumi's attention as she glanced at Aoi. Although she wasn't too thrilled to have three others accompany them on this mission, there was some good that could come out of it. If this Aoi girl was as good of a healer as her party boasted, she was more valuable than she'd imagined. Although she didn't feel the need to have one on this mission, even she could acknowledge that it'd be good to have one in their back pocket. There was also an A-rank in their party and if he's as strong as their stories suggested, it'd only benefit them. However, actions speak louder than words so she'd see soon enough.

They continued making small talk with one another with Fuyumi being the exception. Watching the scenery go by through the tarp was more interesting to her. As the fabric gently flapped in the wind, she perked up slightly to a sight in the distance that she hadn't seen before.

"We're here." She finally spoke.

Kazeki stopped mid-sentence as he was just in the middle of another story as his group looked at her. She was so quiet for the entirety of the ride that they'd forgotten she was there for a moment.

They all peeked out from the back one at a time to get a good look at their destination. Close by was a majestic mountain, standing as a testament to nature's raw power. What set this particular mountain apart from others were the massive deep gashes cutting through its rocky surface, resembling a giant claw mark.

"Truly a sight to behold," Kateshi exclaimed.

"You said it." Kazeki agreed.

As they neared the mountain, small structures nestled within one of the gashes began to take shape—a human settlement from the looks of it. They were still too far away to make out any details but based on the coachman's description of where they were headed, this had to be the place.

'So that must be Yama Village.' Yakeru concluded.