I Reject Quests

Ten days later.

Standing outside his temporary residence, Imada watched as the usually chaotic village turned strangely quiet. Today was the day the beast tide was supposed to attack the village. Prior to these days, he along with the others followed the regime given to them by the magician. He understood what the magician meant by the answer 'yes or no'. 

Following the regime, he didn't get stronger if POW was taken into consideration but if he was told to fight himself from Ten days ago, he could defeat him with 70% certainty. Not only him, but the others have also produced more or less the same results. All of this contributed to the regime which consisted of different tasks that increased versatility, strength exertion and several other factors.

"There he is," Imada muttered under his breath as he watched Koshikawa approaching him. "Any news?"

Koshikawa nodded with a grave face. "The beast tide has arrived. It is coming to the east. Koyami and the others who were in the north are now moving towards the east. Our prediction was off. Let's go."

Imada frowned, then started running towards  "What about him… er, the magician?"

"He is scouting other areas. He says that he would help us in case we were to face difficulties but for now, he doesn't want to take any chances." Koshikawa replied.

Imada nodded, understanding what the magician tried to say. Beast tides don't always come at once, nor do they always come together. Sometimes, they get deviated from their fellow mates. 'At least that's what he said.'

***

"Prepare the arrows!" 

Sakai commanded, then got down from the tree he was standing upon to engage in a physical fight with the nearest beast. The beast looked like a bear, except that it had huge fangs.

"Take this!!"

Sakai struck down the axe in his hand towards the neck of the beast. If it was him from ten days ago, he would have fled upon seeing the beast at the first sight but now, he had the guts to even take a fight with it. 'The regime was really useful.'

The sharp axe successfully penetrated the tough skin of the beast but it wasn't enough to give lethal damage to the beast. The axe however was stuck on the neck.

Sakai was satisfied. Not bothering to take back the axe, he backed off.

The beast grunted and tried to pounce upon him when a barrage of arrows came down at its body.

The beast struggled with all its might but within a few seconds, it fell.

"One down." Standing on a tree, Koyami wiped off the sweat from his forehead while holding a bow.

"Don't be careless. I can see another one coming." Standing above him, Aya carefully surveyed the area around her.

"Are there beasts coming in pairs?" The normally annoying Asuka also had a serious expression.

"Nope," Aya said. In case the beasts were coming in pairs, they had to take extra precautions. "Oh! Imada and Koshikawa are also here."

"For real? This would make it much easier." Koyami smiled.

"No. That's not the right way to think. Remember that there is no need to hurry." Sakai cautiously reminded him.

"Yeah, yeah."

Sakai raised his hand. "Alright, Prepare the arrows. This time, I don't need to engage in a one-on-one fight with a beast." The only reason he had engaged in a fight with the beast he previously fought was that the beast was extremely close to them due to the fact they had arrived a few seconds ago. They didn't have enough time to prepare and shoot. So Sakai had to step up.

Now that everyone has the time to prepare, he didn't need to step up.

Picking the axe that was still stuck on the beast's neck, he climbed one of the trees. 

"Here!" Asuka tossed him a bow and a set of arrows.

While Sakai was preparing to shoot, Imada and Koshikawa had already arrived. 

"Don't stand there for long! Get on one of the trees!" Aya shouted towards the newcomers.

Imada and Koshikawa looked at each other and climbed a tree each. "What's the situation?" Imada asked as his eyes swept across the area. 

"Good. We managed to defeat a beast. Another one is coming. Be ready." Sakai was the one to answer.

Imada nodded, then prepared his arrows.

*Swish*

*Swish*

*Swish*

*Swish*

The moment the beast came near them, it got bombarded with arrows.

"Ha! Got 'em!" Koyami laughed.

The others also had smiles on their faces. This boosted their confidence by a lot.

"Don't relax. A pair is coming!" Aya warned.

"Asuka, Koshikawa, Koyami. Target the left! We will target the right!"

"Roger that!"

*Swish*

*Swish*

…

..

Just like that, the beasts were down one after another. Most of them came alone and some came in pairs. The group had dealt with them with ease. However, panic started when three beasts came at once. To deal with it, Imada, Koshikawa and Sakai had to get down from the tree and engage in a physical fight with them.

In the beginning, they were attacking the beasts stiffly. Later, they got more comfortable and found that the beasts weren't as strong as they thought they were.

"It turns out that the beasts really have a POW lower than 7," Koshikawa said while remembering the words of the witch. When asked about how strong they were, she said that any of them could defeat a single beast. The person with the lowest POW was Koyami which was seven. Naturally, they felt the probability of the beasts being weaker than Koyami was very slim and didn't take any chances.

"Yeah. We were worried about nothing." Sakai sighed, then turned to Aya. "How many more? The amount of arrows we currently have is just enough to shoot down three beasts. Should I leave right now?"

Aya didn't immediately answer. She was quiet for a while, then she opened her mouth. "There's no more."

"No more coming right now or…?" Imada had an expectant look on his face. The others also turned to Aya without a word.

Aya gave a sweet smile. "From here, I can't see any of the beasts. It is reasonable to conclude that the beast tide has ended."

"Huh… that's good. That's good…" Imada had so many words but he could bring out these words.

The others were the same.

Suddenly, Koshikawa laughed. "What's with you guys? We did it!"

"Wait, let's not get happy too early. Where is the magician?" Aya asked.

"He should be near the village," Imada said while looking in a certain direction. "We should go and take a look."

The others nodded.

***

The magician looked at the corpses on the hut. His black suit was bloodied as his hands tightly gripped the neck of a beast. The beast struggled and whimpered but eventually, its eyes fell. The magician, however, still didn't let go of the neck.

His face was resolute.

The playful friendly magician was long gone.

During the beast tide incident, he had planned for every single scenario but one. He neglected one scenario, therefore, leading to the downfall of the entire plan. No remedies could be made anymore. 

It's over.