The parchment felt heavier than it should have.
Akari stared at the quest details as Layla finished explaining.
"Bandit activity," Layla said quietly. "A small farming village just outside the kingdom's outer patrol range. No major casualties yet, but it's escalating."
Akari nodded slowly.
"How often?" she asked.
Layla hesitated. "…Almost every night."
That settled it.
"I'll take it," Akari said.
Layla exhaled in relief. "Good. The Guild Master personally approved this assignment."
Akari blinked. "He did?"
Layla smiled. "Fast-track perks."
The village of Brindleford was quiet when Akari arrived.
Too quiet.
Wooden homes sat close together, fields half-tended, shutters reinforced with planks and iron nails. People watched her from behind doors, suspicion and hope mixing in their eyes.
The village elder, a tired man with deep lines etched into his face, bowed deeply.
"You came alone?" he asked.
"Yes," Akari replied gently. "But I'm here to help."
He studied her slim frame and paused.
"…We'll prepare a room."
That night, Akari walked through the village.
She listened.
Broken fences. Burn marks on barns. Children who didn't wander far from home.
Bandits didn't just steal, they tormented.
Akari clenched her fists.
I won't let this continue.
By the second night, Akari had a plan.
She didn't patrol openly.
Instead, she positioned herself on the edge of the village, perched atop a barn roof, senses stretched wide. Her swords rested at her sides, wrapped in cloth.
The air was still.
Too still.
Then, Footsteps.
Whispers.
Shadows slipped between trees at the edge of the fields.
Akari's breath steadied.
This is it.
She felt it then, a faint tightening in her chest. Her divine power responding to danger.
Calm, she told herself.
Figures crept closer.
Five.
No, six.
Bandits.
A torch flared to life.
Another followed.
A laugh broke the silence.
"Same as always," one of them muttered. "Take the food, scare the locals, leave."
Akari rose silently from the roof.
The wind shifted.
One of the bandits froze.
"Did you hear that?"
Akari stepped forward, dress fluttering as she landed in the road.
"You won't be taking anything tonight," she said.
Steel rang as her twin swords slid free.
The bandits stared.
"…A kid?"
Akari lifted her blades, stance steady.
"Leave now," she said. "And don't come back."
For a moment, the night held its breath.
Then a bandit laughed.
"Get her."
They charged.
And Akari stepped forward to meet them.