Standing in a bedroom far too small for the three people in it, staring at the heroine’s hand, I felt the sudden urge to laugh. In fact, I was laughing. No. Giggling! It was a manic, panicked sound that bubbled up from deep within my being, clawing its way up my throat and forcing its way past my lips. It was a sound of horrified amusement. Of all the people who could have answered this village’s call, of all the adventurer’s across all the world – who would have thought that the heroine herself would appear? I’d hoped to spend this entire life without seeing her, yet there she was,…

The rain kept up for another half hour. The townsfolk spent the entirety of that time trying to dissuade me from my course of action, shouting such things as “A young lady like you shouldn’t be putting herself on the line!” and “Let the real adventurer’s handle it!” Among them, however, was a surprising ally. “If she says she can do it, she can do it,” Lissera told the crowd. She hardly looked convinced herself, continuously throwing glances my way, but she nevertheless managed to deliver the line in a firm voice before turning to me. “But are you sure you don’t want to wait until morning? They’re more active…

My flight to the ocean was exhilarating at first. I flew as fast as I could, using magic to shield myself from the wind as I shot through the skies. I’m not actually sure what my top speeds were. I think it’s safe to say that I failed to break the sound barrier since there was no sonic boom, but the landscape did turn somewhat blurry beneath me. That was saying something, too, considering how sharp my eyesight seemed to be. When I slowed down over a forest, I could see the individual leaves on the trees, despite being easily fifty feet above them. Unfortunately, my enthusiasm didn’t last, and…