Everyone was an adventurer

"Let's go! Let's go on an adventure. Our very first adventure!"

The next day, after breakfast, Lilia bounced around Rhode.

"An adventure? What adventure?" Rhode looked at Lilia. "Didn't you say we were going to get some Spellbook?"

"That's right! A big spider stole my Spellbook." Lilia's voice was still cheerful. "Now we're going to steal it back. That makes it an adventure!"

What?

A big spider?

The spiders around the Hillsbrad Foothills were a meter across, and they were all extremely dangerous creatures. How could this kid not know to be scared?

Rhode hesitated.

Was it worth taking a risk like this for a Spellbook when he didn't even know what it was?

"Rhode, are you an adventurer?" Lilia suddenly asked.

"No. I'm not a warrior. I'm just a farmer." Rhode felt a pang of sorrow.

She really had to hit him where it hurt.

I used to want to be an adventurer too, until I took an arrow to the knee...

"Then I guess you're not," Lilia said. "But you don't have to be a warrior to be an adventurer. As long as you have an adventurous heart, anyone can be an adventurer."

Ah...

Those words really did strike a chord with Rhode.

How did a little kid understand things like that?

"Then are you an adventurer?" Rhode asked in return.

"I am."

"Where have you gone adventuring?"

"I'm adventuring here with you right now."

"..." Rhode was momentarily speechless, then asked, "Lilia, where did you come from?"

"I'm not telling you."

"Are you a naughty kid who ran away from home?"

"I'm not a naughty kid. I just wanted to go out and have an adventure."

"You're adventuring here with me, but what if I were a bad person?"

Lilia opened her eyes wide. "You're a good person. It's an elf's intuition."

He hadn't expected to get the good-guy stamp of approval so suddenly.

Still, Rhode felt a little embarrassed.

An adorable little girl like her had an adventurous spirit, while he, a grown man, had let reality defeat him so easily and settled for his lot.

That's right. As long as you have an adventurous heart, anyone can be an adventurer!

With that thought, Rhode couldn't help feeling reinvigorated.

Rhode asked, "Where's the spider?"

Lilia answered, "In the woods to the west. My schoolbag is there too."

"Your schoolbag?"

"That's right. It has the textbooks I use to learn magic. The spider attacked me, so I ran away and left my schoolbag behind."

Rhode understood.

They were just an elf's elementary school textbooks.

Even elementary school magic probably seemed incredibly advanced to ordinary humans.

But if, as Lilia said, he could learn magic from those textbooks, he might no longer be just an ordinary farmer.

Rhode suddenly felt his blood stirring.

He hadn't felt this way in a very long time.

This little elf was an opportunity sent to him by heaven!

He tightened his grip on his steel pitchfork and murmured, "So I really haven't forgotten my goal. I want to become stronger. I want to become a Great Magic Master..."

Lilia looked up and said, "I used to think that a lot when I was little, too."

"And then?"

"Then I skipped class and went out adventuring."

The corner of Rhode's mouth twitched.

I'm an adult. I'm different.

Yes, that must be it.

I don't want to be a farmer anymore!

"Come on, let's go!" Rhode took Lilia's little hand.

After a moment's thought, he turned back into the house, fetched a headscarf, and tied it around Lilia's head.

There. No more pointed ears. She looked like a human child now.

Walking was so slow.

The sun was rather scorching today, too.

Fortunately, the woods were just ahead.

It was a maple forest, and Rhode had never been here before.

"Rhode, let's take a break." Lilia panted, bending over with both hands braced on her knees. "I'm... I'm dying."

"You're so weak. I thought elves all had good stamina."

"I'm still a kid. You're a grown-up."

"All right, let's rest."

They walked over to a large tree ahead and sat down in its shade to rest.

Then they chatted.

"Does everyone have mana surge?" Rhode asked.

"Yes. Every one of us elves does."

"What about humans? Or dwarves and goblins?"

"None of the ones I've met had it. Except you."

Rhode nodded.

Unlike in the game, in the real world of Azeroth, mages were very rare among every race except the elves.

Even though the mage kingdom called Dalaran stood beside a large lake not too far from where Rhode lived, he had never seen a single mage.

Supposedly, some large cities had mages too, living in dedicated Mage Towers, but that was also far removed from Rhode's life.

Going by what Lilia had said, becoming a mage really did require talent.

Without mana, one lacked the basic prerequisite for casting spells and could never become a mage.

Fortunately, he actually had it.

He would have to wait until they found the Spellbook and try learning from it.

Rhode wanted to ask more questions, but suddenly, a child's intermittent sobs came from deep in the woods.

The crying sounded as though someone had covered the child's mouth. It was faint and indistinct.

"Let's take a look!"

With his steel pitchfork in one hand and Lilia's hand in the other, Rhode rushed into the woods.

Before long, the crying became a little clearer.

Only after entering the maple forest did he discover how dark it was inside. Little light reached the ground, which was covered with rotting leaves that gave off a strange, rank stench.

At the base of a large tree lay several white, web-covered bundles, rather like cocoons. One kept rocking as though someone inside was struggling.

The crying came from that web-covered bundle.

"We have to save him!" Lilia said, then ran to the white cocoon and tried to pry it open with her hands.

But the thing seemed very tough. A little girl simply didn't have the strength to open it.

"Move aside. Let me." Rhode carefully extended his steel pitchfork, trying to pierce the threads of the white cocoon with its sharp tines.

Just then, he suddenly felt a soul-chilling cold.

Something also seemed to drip down onto his head.

Rhode jerked his head up.

He sucked in a sharp breath.

A spider hung upside down from the tree trunk!

A big spider!

No, this was even larger than any spider Rhode had seen before. It had to count as a Giant Spider.

Rhode regretted not asking Lilia for details. He had never imagined the spider would be this big!

He couldn't tell how tall it was from here, but its body was broad and enormous. Including the span of its jointed legs on either side, it had to be over two meters across.

And it was ugly.

No, disgusting was the better word.

Its head was covered with tiny red compound eyes, probably a hundred or so. Anyone with trypophobia would likely faint at the sight.

Even more terrifying, it had a pair of long, black scythes.

They extended from either side of its mouth, raised high, their tips wickedly sharp.

There were also armored barbs at those tips. It was easy to imagine the horrific wounds the spider could inflict if it raised those barbs and attacked with its scythe-like limbs.

This creature was clearly built to hunt and kill.

It waved its front legs, apparently intending to pull Rhode straight into an "embrace."

It was too late to run now.

Besides, Lilia was still here. He couldn't possibly run.

What kind of adventurer would that make me? What kind of man?

Here goes!

Rhode gripped his steel pitchfork tightly and thrust with all his strength at the joint of the spider's front leg.

As a basic rule of biology, most creatures had relatively vulnerable joints.

Even a spider this big was no exception.

And after several years as a farmer, Rhode had considerable strength in his arms.

The pitchfork drove hard into the Giant Spider's front-leg joint, sending green fluid flying.

Then the monster let out a startled, furious hiss. The black scythes on either side of its mouth became two dark blurs as they swept down.

It seemed to be angry.

They were too fast. Rhode had no chance to dodge before the long scythes clamped around him, leaving him unable to move.

Fortunately, the spider didn't seem to intend to attack Rhode directly with them, only to grab him, so he wasn't hurt.

At the same time, however, the Giant Spider opened its huge mouth, and a long mouthpart slowly extended.

Was it going to swallow Rhode whole?!

I'm done for.

Looks like adventuring really isn't for me. I'd have been better off staying a quiet farmer.

Goodbye, Southshore.

Goodbye, Azeroth.

Goodbye, my dream.

Rhode closed his eyes.

Bang!

Rhode heard a sound.

Why hasn't it eaten me yet?

He opened his eyes.

The fine hairs around the Giant Spider's eyes seemed to have caught fire, glowing with tiny sparks. The long scythes holding Rhode involuntarily loosened as well.

Not far away, Lilia was making spellcasting gestures toward the spider.

Did you cast Fireball?

My chance!

Rhode gripped the steel pitchfork with both hands and, using every ounce of strength he had, drove it viciously into the Giant Spider's mouth.

The spider cried out again, this time in what sounded like a scream of agony.

Most animals feared fire, and the Giant Spider was no different.

Now its mouth was badly wounded and the area around its eyes was ablaze. With little desire to keep fighting, the spider twitched the silk trailing from its rear, shot up into the canopy at tremendous speed, and vanished.

Rhode let out a breath of relief.

He really had narrowly escaped death.

He had only lost a steel pitchfork.

Such a good pitchfork, too. It was worth dozens of copper coins.