[[ finally made it to the fourth place in monster hunter stories 3.]]
"Oh, good," she said. "You're finally awake." The damp cave floor had a chalky smell. I blinked up at her, then at the low stone ceiling, then back at her again. She had Gray fur and a green Frog hood cape thing with a little wooden sword at her hip. "Im sorry Im just not used to being dropped into a new reality," I muttered.
"Falling on your back and being sent here, I guess I can let it pass this time." She stepped aside and offered me a paw. "Come on. We should move before something decides this cave is perfect for them." Her paw was warmer than I expected, and when she tried to help me stand, I nearly folded right back down because my legs were different, plus our height difference didnt really help. My balance sat wrong, at least wrong to what I was used to before. Everything below my hips felt like just off. I grabbed the cave wall on reflex, and the stone left a wet mossy feeling across my palm as I pushed myself up.
The Palico watched me without much pity. "Better?"
"No."
"That just means you will have to pay attention." That almost made me laugh. I pushed myself upright more carefully and got my first proper look at her now that I wasn't half-dead or on the ground. Gray fur, not fluffy but neat. Big blue eyes, she wasn't that tall, well, I didnt really have anything to compare her to size-wise yet.
"You've got a name?" I asked. She put one paw on her chest and gave a small bow. "Tama."
"Tama," I repeated. "Yes. Try not to forget it while we're still in the same cave." She tipped her head. "What are you calling yourself?" My name from before sat somewhere far away, not gone exactly, but blurred, so I couldn't remember. The cave mouth ahead of us leaked a thin gray light over the floor. I stood there for a second too long, then it came to me. "Veyra," I said. Tama's ears twitched once. "That was fast. Sure, you don't want to think it over?"
I shrugged as I couldn't really think of anything better. Besides, why would I even choose a common name like Mare or Lucy? Those names didnt feel right to me. She gave me a short nod. "Veyra, then. Try walking, Veyra."
That sounded so normal, it helped more than it should have with the unease I was feeling. The first few steps were awful. My feet wanted one thing, my hips wanted another, and the cave floor had enough loose gravel on it to make every shift of weight feel weird. I clipped my shoulder on the wall and hissed, then tried to correct, but ended up overcorrecting and almost stepped on Tama. She moved aside at the last moment with the kind of patience people reserve for drunks and children.
"Shorter steps," she said. "Your legs extend more than you think they do." I nodded and tried again. The strange thing was that my body kept fixing little pieces on its own. My knees bent differently from a human's would have. My ankles felt springy in a way I was never used to before. By the time I reached the cave mouth, I was still walking awkwardly, but no longer actively losing a fight to basic movement. The fresh air outside carried a green smell.
The view stopped me in my tracks. The cave opened onto a slope of a hill, and below it, the land ran out, trees and grassland up to the city wall. I could see the beginning of a distant road that bent toward a city. Even from here, Babel rose over everything else. My heart gave one hard thump at the sight of it, and I stood a little straighter without meaning to, which made me suddenly aware of how tall I actually was when my legs were fully extended.
Tama came up beside me and squinted into the light. "You can stare later. We need to get moving and get valis." I dragged my eyes away from the tower. "Valis." I sounded confused, which caused her to give me a look of pity. "The money here," she said. "You'll need it before sunset unless you plan on sleeping in a ditch."
"I wasn't planning on that."
"Excellent. Then we're already making progress." The hillside around us was rough but not empty. Clumps of grass pushed up between trees. Low shrubs with dusty leaves clung to the slope. And mixed in with it was something wrong and familiar all at once. My gaze snagged on a patch of bright green leaves a little downhill, and the little jolt in my chest. "Those are herbs," I said. Tama gave me a sidelong look. "Good. That saves time."
I went down the slope more carefully than I thought I could, half sliding over loose dirt, half learning how much my new legs could take. By the time I crouched beside the patch, I already knew I was right. The leaves were broad, healthy, with that game-familiar shape that had lived in my brain for years. When I brushed a thumb across one, it left a bitter green smell of mint that made my tongue think of medicine before I ever tasted anything.
"Take the leaves," Tama said from behind me. "Not the stems." I glanced back. "You know these?" She nodded. "I know enough not to waste our time." Fair, I guess, as I pinched off the leaves one by one, careful not to tear the whole plant up by the root. It felt ridiculous to be this excited over gathering, but I couldn't help myself. My first actual Monster Hunter herb in a different world, and I was crouched on a hillside outside Orario, plucking it. I piled the leaves in my hand, looked at them for half a second, and thought about storing them. As I had a hunter system, so I should have some form of storage, right?
The pull happened instantly. The herbs vanished from my fingers as they had dropped into an invisible container. At the same time, a faint menu unfolded in front of me with item icons, quantities, and a second panel dimmed for now but very much there. The little sound that came out of me sounded stupid to my own ears. Tama looked up at the empty air where I was staring. "You have it, then."
"Oh, that is so broken," I whispered. "The system?" She asked, confused. "The storage. The menu. The fact that it just works." I glanced at her, grinning before I could stop myself. She folded her arms. "You were blessed by a goddess. Fairness was already never considered."
I laughed for real that time. Then I looked back at the menu before it disappeared. Herb x3. Storage capacity unknown, with crafting likely available once I get everything I need to. My fingers twitched to start poking at options right away, but Tama was already moving again. "We need more than three leaves," she said. She was right, so we worked our way along the slope and into the edge of a thin woodland. I recognized more than I expected. Blue Mushrooms tucked under a fallen trunk, their caps the exact deep color I had remembered from the games. A cluster of Nitroshrooms in a darker patch of earth that smelled faintly like spent matches. Honey dribbling from a split comb high in a hollow tree, thick and golden and slow enough that we could scrape it from the bark without sticking our hands into the hive itself. Once or twice, Tama pointed something out before I did, not that I minded its always better to have help.
"You really did spend too much time with those games," she said after I spotted the second mushroom patch. "That feels rude coming from a talking Palico." She smiled. "Mm. Keep picking." The blue mushrooms were bigger than I expected. Their skin had that damp, rubbery feel to it, and when I twisted them free, they gave with a tiny pop. I stored them as I went, watching the count climb. Herb x5. Blue Mushroom x4. Honey x2. Nitroshroom x3. Every new item made the crafting panel a little brighter, with more things I could make. By the time we found another herb patch and a third bit of honey, I was walking better, like fully to the point it seemed like I always had legs like these.
There were still moments where a stone rolled under my foot and my body reacted faster than my brain, or where I straightened too much and felt absurdly tall all over again, but the worst of the awkwardness had gone. I stopped fighting myself and started to relax. My stride lengthened, and my balance stopped feeling off. Once, crossing a shallow dip full of fern and loose rock, I caught myself on one foot and sprang lightly to the other side before panic fucked me over. The movement felt so natural. Tama looked back at me from a log. "See?"
"You're a little too smug, you know that." Her grin widened. "You'll get used to that, too." The woods thickened a little. Somewhere farther off, the sound of something small moving through brush reached my ears. I crouched by another patch of herbs and reached out, but stopped when Tama's tail went still. She lifted her chin toward the breeze. "Don't move yet," she said quietly. I stayed exactly where I was. The wind touched the side of my face, cool, and a second later, the smell reached me. It was gross and somehow sour. I looked at Tama without speaking. "Goblins," she whispered. "Upwind."
My stomach tightened at those words. I didnt even have a way to defend myself. I eased my hand back from the herbs and shifted my weight slowly, trying not to rustle the brush too much. "How many?" I whispered. Tama sniffed again, nose wrinkling. "At least three. Maybe four. They haven't noticed us."
That was all I needed. We backed away from the patch, slow and careful at first, then angled sideways through the trees instead of down the scent line. Tama took the lead, choosing spots where the ground was less covered with anything that could make a noise to give us away. Pausing when the wind shifted, moving again when it was safe. I followed her and kept my breathing shallow. Once, far off through the brush, I heard a laugh that didn't sound human. We did not go back for the herbs. The detour cost us time, but it was better to be safe than sorry right now. Eventually, the smell of goblin filth thinned out behind us, replaced by crushed grass and the warmer scent of sun on bark.
"No weapons," I said. "No heroics." Tama glanced up at me. "Good. Keep that mindset." We found the last ingredients in a patch of ground near a narrow trickle of water. More herbs, more blue mushrooms, and one last cluster of Nitroshrooms. The trickle itself had tiny silver fish in it that did not belong in this world. I stood staring at the fish long enough for one of them to vanish under a stone with a flick that rippled the surface.
Tama noticed where I was looking and said nothing. When I finally checked the totals in my storage, we had enough. Herb x18. Blue Mushroom x28. Honey x14. Nitroshroom x4. The crafting panel was no longer dim. Recipes had filled in beneath the item list with clean little icons. Potion, Mega Potion, and Energy Drink. The first combine felt almost too easy. I selected Potion and watched one Herb and one Blue Mushroom vanish from storage. For a second, there was a soft little chime, and then a green bottle appeared in a new slot below.
"Where did the bottle come from?" I asked. Tama shrugged. "Same place your menu came from, probably." I shrugged and made another. And another. Five Potions first. Then I converted three more Potions with Honey into Mega Potions, the icons shifting to a larger, brighter green vial. Last came the Energy Drinks, four yellow bottles made from Nitroshrooms and Honey, the liquid inside the icon just a touch cloudy, kinda looked like lemonade.
Potion x5. Mega Potion x3. Energy Drink x4. I looked at the finished list and let out a laugh. The rest I could save just in case I needed to make other things. "Cheat ability," I said. Tama's whiskers twitched. "Useful ability." I closed the menu, I pulled one Potion into my hand, and uncorked it just enough to smell it. Minty smell with a hint of freshness. I corked it before I decided to give one a drink and waste it.
"Keep at least some," Tama said. "I know." We both looked toward the light slanting through the trees. It had changed while we were gathering. Later now. Not dusk yet, but well past the point where wandering around seemed dumb, considering I was still unarmed. I checked the angle of the sun through the branches. "Let's focus on getting to the city now," I said. "Now you sound like a person who wants to live until tomorrow." I tucked the thought away with the potions. The plan became simple after that. Reach the road. Reach the gate. Don't advertise too much. Sell enough to get inside and find a bed. Anything else could wait.
The road turned out to be easier to find than I expected. Trampled grass here, wheel ruts there, a line where brush stopped growing because people had worn the trails for years. By the time we stepped out of the trees, I could see travelers in the middle distance heading the same direction we were. Carts. Walkers. A pair of adventurers with spears strapped to their backs. With nobody paying much attention to us yet.
With my height, face, and hair, I could probably pass for an elf. Tama walked beside me instead of hiding. Tama drew more attention than I did. People kept trying to place her and failing at least thats what it looked like to me. One child pointed and asked if she was a tiny cat-person. A man carrying sacks muttered something about a spirit beast. Nobody sounded certain.
We were getting closer to the city walls, and I finally asked the question that had been sitting in the back of my throat. "How much do we need?"
"For what?" Tama asked. "To get in. To eat. To sleep under a roof." She thought for a second. "We could probably gather enough for the day, but Likely will need to get more each day to at least make it by." She glanced toward the gate. "You might have to pay a small road levy. You'll definitely need money for a room. More, if you want to avoid the kind of place where unsavory people are."
The traffic thickened near the gate, which helped as it meant more people, which gave me more chances to sell my things. It also meant more eyes, more guards. I watched the line ahead for a few minutes from the side of the road and tried to get a sense of how things moved. A few traders paid coins at a small checkpoint table before being waved onward. Travelers on foot were quicker. Adventurers came and went with less trouble than anyone else. The gate itself was wide enough to allow cart's in side by side. And right outside it, stood people willing to buy and sell almost anything.
A woman in a travel-stained cloak had a folding table set up with bandages, salves, and cheap-looking tonics. Another man farther down had dried meat, rope, and secondhand boots. A pair of adventurers leaned against a post, drinking from clay cups while they waited for someone. If I were going to get rid of a few potions without walking into a proper shop and getting questioned to death, this was probably the place.
Tama looked up at me. "Pick who you want to try first." I snorted despite myself and walked toward the woman with the medicine table. She gave me one look that took in my clothes, my face, and Tama, then said, "If you're begging, try farther down."
"I'm selling," I said, and set a Potion on the edge of her table. She picked up the bottle, held it to the light, and turned it once. The glass clicked softly against one of her rings. Then she pulled the cork, sniffed, and raised one brow. "Green."
"That's the color, yes," I said while rolling my eyes. "What's this?" she asked. "A healing potion," I said. "A new kind." That got me a strange look. Tama stood beside my leg with her little wooden sword at her hip, and I could feel people glancing at her out of the corner of their eyes. One man slowed down so much he almost got clipped by a cart. The woman pinched the bottle between two fingers and raised it to eye level. "Healing potions are red. And yours is green."
"Yes." She pulled the cork anyway and gave it the smallest sniff possible. Then she put it back down without tasting it. "I don't buy mystery brews from girls on the road," she said. "No label. No guild mark. No maker's seal. Green. Take your things elsewhere."
I picked the bottle back up and moved on before I embarrassed myself by arguing. Tama padded beside me in silence for a few steps, letting me stew in it. The crowd near the gate thickened and thinned in waves, carts rolling up, travelers filing in, adventurers hanging around like they had all the time in the world. The sun had dropped just enough to turn that I could tell evening was coming. "That could have gone worse," Tama said.
"How?"
"She could've called a guard." I let out a breath through my nose. "That's comforting." We kept walking until I spotted a small group of adventurers off to the side of the road near one of the posts by the gate. Not lounging exactly, but not in a hurry either. A stocky man with a scar down his jaw. A woman with a short spear leaning against her shoulder. And an elf woman with long pale hair tied back out of her face. She was the first one to notice us. Or, more specifically, she noticed me, then Tama. Her eyes lingered on my face, then drifted to my hair, then to the bit of ear peeking out from under it. The look she gave me changed just a little. Not recognition. Assumption.
"A high elf this far from home?" she said, one brow lifting. "And selling potions outside the gate?" It seemed she had been watching me far longer then I had expected, or thought. "Something like that," I said. The stocky man looked down at Tama. "What in the hells is that?" Tama crossed her arms. "Rude." That actually made the spearwoman snort. The man blinked. "It talks."
"Obviously," Tama said. The elf woman had not stopped looking at me. Not in a hostile way. More like she was trying to place what kind of Elf I was. "You have potions?" I held up one of the green bottles and tried to keep my voice steady. "Yeah. A new type. Never-before-seen, if you want the dramatic version. Healing potion. And I've got a drink too that'll help you feel more awake and give you more energy."
The stocky man barked out a laugh at that. "And I suppose it grows wings too." I gave him a slightly annoyed look. "I didn't say that." The spearwoman pushed off the post and came a little closer. Her eyes went right to the bottle. "Why's it green?"
"Because iBecause where Im from thats how it is." That got all three of them looking at me properly. The elf woman held out her hand. "May I?" I passed her the bottle. She uncorked it, took a careful sniff, and frowned. The smell of herbs drifted up between us, sharp and minty, and it stood out against the road stink of horse sweat. She did not drink it. Instead she tipped the bottle slightly and let one drop touch the back of her wrist, then rubbed it over a tiny scrape I hadn't noticed before.
The skin closed while we watched. The stocky man's grin fell off his face. The spearwoman straightened a little. "Well i'll be it actually heals." The elf woman recorked it slowly. "Interesting." I took the chance while I had it. "I've also got stronger ones," I said, pulling out one of the Mega Potions from within my shirt. "And this." I held up an Energy Drink. "Helps with fatigue. Makes you feel more awake. More energy. Good if you're tired, dragged out, or trying not to fall asleep on your feet."
The stocky man reached for the yellow bottle before the elf woman could stop him. "You trusting idiot," she said. "If I keel over, you'll know not to buy one." He siad with a laugh. "That is not the point." His team member said. He uncorked it and took a small sip. I watched him very carefully, I wasnt sure if the potions would work for the people of this world. Then his eyes sharpened a little. "Huh," he said. The spearwoman gave him a look. "Useful?" He rolled one shoulder, then the other. "Yeah. Actually." The elf woman's gaze dropped to the bottles in my hands, then back to me. "How many do you have?"
"Five regular potions. Three Mega potions. Four Energy drinks." Tama's tail flicked once beside me. The spearwoman crouched down a little to look at Tama again, still puzzled. "What are you, exactly?"
"Busy," Tama said. That earned a laugh from the stocky man, and just like that the tightness in the conversation eased a little. The elf woman tilted her head. "These are your own craft?"
"Yeah." I said a little sheepishly. "No workshop?"
"No, havent really considered joining one." She looked at the green potion again. "And you expect people to buy them?"
"Truthfully if I wasnt in need of Valis I wouldnt want to sell them." That got the smallest twitch out of her mouth. Then she said, "How much?" I had no clue what a fair price was for something nobody had seen before. If I priced too low, I would get robbed. Too high, and they'd laugh in my face. "One thousand for a Mega Potion, two regular Potions, and one of the energy drinks," I said.
The stocky man laughed immediately. The spearwoman looked at me like I had just made a joke. The elf woman didn't laugh. She just studied me for a long second, and somehow that was worse. "You truly don't know what things cost," she said. Heat climbed up my neck. She sighed through her nose and handed the green bottle back. "If these were known goods, if people trusted them, and if you were selling somewhere more respectable than the roadside, maybe you could aim high. Maybe. But you're not. You're an unknown girl standing outside the gate with green potions and a talking creature no one can name."
"Palico," Tama said. The spearwoman glanced down. "A what?"
"Palico, thats what I am" Tama corrected. They had a look like that explained absolutely nothing to any of them. The elf woman went on like Tama hadn't spoken. "You're asking us to pay for the risk as well as the item."
"Then make me an offer," I said. The stocky man folded his arms. "You don't bargain like an elf." I just looked at him. The elf woman answered before he could keep going. "Seven hundred for one Mega, two regular, and one drink." I opened my mouth to say something, but she held up a hand. "Its the best your going to get out here." The spearwoman nodded once. "She's right."
I looked at the gate, then at the people filing through and at the sky, which was sliding farther toward evening than I liked. We needed inside, we needed food. and a place to stay. And I did not have the luxury of pretending I didn't. "Fine," I said. "Deal." The stocky man Laughed a hardy laugh as the elf counted out the coins into my hand herself. Warm from being in her pouch. Heavier than I expected, Then she tucked the bottles away into her bag with more care than she'd shown at the start. The spearwoman pointed at Tama with two fingers. "Still don't know what she is."
"I'm right here," Tama said.
"I know." she said while rubbing the back of her head. That got another snort out of the stocky man. A few people nearby had clearly been listening in, because once the first sale actually happened, things got easier. A young adventurer with a split lip bought one regular Potion after I pointed out the bruise swelling under his eye and told him he could either keep the bruese or tryone of my potions. He did, and when the swelling went down, his friend bought another on the spot. A cart guard bought one of the drinks because he said anything that kept him awake on night watch was worth trying while his coworker was eyeing me carefully. He uncorked it right there, drank, and then looked at me with a lot more respect than he'd had thirty seconds ago.
One older adventurer wanted to know if my "weird little cat" was some kind of spirit familiar. Tama stared at him until he got uncomfortable and walked away. By the time I finally stepped out of the crowd and counted what I had for at least today hopefully, 1,680 valis should be enough right? Tama hopped up onto the low stone edging beside the wall while I counted the coins a second time just to make sure. "Well?" Tama asked. "We're not dying today." I said trying to lighten the mood. "We've got enough to get in, eat something, and find a room. At least for a day."
"Better then I expected." She nodded. I tucked the coins away and headed for the checkpoint. The guard at the table looked bored. He took the entry fee without much interest, then his eyes moved to Tama and stayed there a second longer. "What is that?" he asked. Tama put both paws on her hips. "A paying guest if all goes well." The guard stared at her, then at me. I gave the smallest shrug I could manage. "She's with me." He looked like he wanted to ask more and decided his shift wasn't being paid enough for it. "No trouble inside the walls."
"I literally just got here," I said. "That's usually when trouble starts." Then we were through. Noise first. Wheels over stone. Vendors yelling. Metal clanking somewhere deeper in. People everywhere, moving with the kind of rhythm only cities had. Then smell of Oil, Sweat and cooked meat hit my nose as well as the smell of bread. A sweet fried smell that hit so hard it made my stomach twist. The street was wider than I expected and somehow felt tighter anyway with all the bodies moving through it. Tama looked around without any of my awe. "Don't stop in the middle."
Right, we moved with the crowd. I kept close to the side. People glanced at me, sure. A merchant carrying a crate slowed down and muttered, "What is that thing?" to nobody in particular. A pair of adventurers coming the other way both turned to look at her, then at me, then back at her. No one seemed to have an answer, and honestly, that worked for me. It was getting late, though, and my stomach had gone from hungry to annoyed.
We stopped at a food stall because the smell made me drool. Meat skewers over a charcoal pit, smoke curling up into the evening air. The man running it looked like he'd been standing over that fire all day. I paid for two and handed one to Tama. The first bite nearly burned my tongue, but it was so good, juicy if not a little plain but still good. Tama ate more neatly than I did. She held her skewer with both paws and took small bites. I was halfway through mine before I realized I hadn't really stopped moving all day except to gather and sell. "Room," I said after I swallowed. Tama licked a bit of sauce off her paw. "Room."
We werent aiming for a famous tavern. I wanted something cheap enough, but safe enongh for a new wander to Orario. It still took a while. The first place we checked was too expensive. The second had a man at the desk who looked at Tama and asked if I was trying to bring a pet upstairs. "I'm not a pet." Tama said annoyed as her tail stood on end. That conversation did not improve after that. By the time we found a narrow inn tucked between a cooper's shop and a place selling lamp oil, the sky had turned dark with the light of the stars and moon showing up. The sign out front had once had a moon painted on it, though most of it had chipped away. Inside, the common room was small and smelled faintly of onion broth and wet wool.
The woman behind the counter took one look at me, then at Tama, then back at me. "One room?" she asked. "Yeah." I agreed as I finally realised how tired I truly was. She hesitated, before she named the price. I winced, but not enough to leave, then paid before she could change her mind. The key she slid across the counter had a little chip missing from the top.
"No fighting," she said. "No breaking things. Theres water in the hall if you get thirsty at night."
"We can manage that," I said. Tama looked up at me. "Probably." The room was small, but it was a room. One bed. One chair that like it would break if anything heavy touched it. A small window that opened just enough to let in cool air and the distant smell of bread from somewhere down the street. I shut the door behind us and just stood there for a second, letting the day finally catch up to me. Tama jumped onto the bed. "We made it," I said. "We did." She smiled. I sat down beside the bed and exhaled. My legs ached.
I moved to check the little washing bin, the water was cold. I grabbed the rang that was with it, giving it a sniff, it smelled clean enough. So i soaked it and used it to clean my face, then my hands, then the back of my neck. Tama had already claimed the better end of the bed and was cleaning one paw. I checked my storage one last time and counted what I had left.
Potion x1. Mega Potion x2. Energy Drink x2. Herb x10. Blue Mushroom x20. Honey x7. And 1,160 valis left. I set the damp rag aside and sat on the edge of the mattress for a second, listening to the city outside. Someone laughed in the street below. The room smelled faintly of old wool and clean water. I huffed a quiet laugh and lay back. The mattress was thin, and one lump in it pressed into my shoulder blade just enough to be annoying. Still better than the ground. Even better than the woods. I pulled the blanket up, stared at the ceiling for a moment, and let out a slow breath. As I grabbed the candle near the bed and blew it off. I closed my eyes. And sometime between one breath and the next, I fell asleep.