Casmada felt her world was torn apart as she found her daughter room empty and a letter laying on her bed. She grab it and read it, she was fuming out of anger as soon as she found out that she ran away from her responsibility.
"What will I say to Nelheid? To the village Chief!" she crumpled the letter and threw it somewhere yonder. She dropped herself on the wooden chair and put her face on her palm.
"What's the matter?" her new husband asked as he went inside Sera's bedroom.
"My daughter Sera run away! She was supposed to marry Nelheid. That young nice man" She cried.
"Calm down! We can go to the town and search over there. She might not have got away yet" He said to her, Casmada nodded.
"Will we let Nelheid knew about it?"
"We can't… We have to look for her first before we told them about it." He replied and hug her.
"Forest. How about taking this quest. It was easy and safer for us." She pointed the Quest that is pinned on the board. He nodded. 'You do always agree to me huh' she thought.
"Why don't you try pick something you like?" she faced him and their eyes met for a moment. Sera immediately turn away.
He shake his head as replied to her. She just let out a sigh and took the quest beside the first one she saw. 'Lamia huh. for copper plate.'
"Okay then. Let's try honing our skill through this." She said as she went to Hilda who handle Quest information and taking the quest approval and such.
"What can I do for you?" She greet with a lovely smile on her face.
"About this human eating Lamia. What is their current level?" She asked as she put the quest down on the table.
"Oh they do have different level and attributes. There are Lamia who cast magic and those who attack physically. Their attack was pretty painful. Their Venom can immobilized you and that is pretty hard for us to fight. For your information, we lost some adventurers in that quest." She said with a smile. Sera can't see if she was giving them a warning or she was scaring them off. Perunia who was in the other side of the table intrude in.
"level three magic caster might not get a chance to survive if she got attacked by a grown lamia. it depends to your attribute. If you can cast fire then no worries, they have a weakness toward it." She said.
"How much can we get?" Sera asked. The only thing she can wish for was a high reward for this.
"So are you interested? Well then, A Lamia can cause 3 silver due to their difficulty to kill and also they becoming a nuisance in the forest, we are getting more reports that some of them are getting strong." Hilda replied.
"Are you really going to go for this?" perunia asked them. Sera nodded automatically without second thoughts. It might be dangerous but it a worth of shot if they see what she is capable of. Afterall she isn't that tired like yesterday. Money is what they need too.
"Only three silver?" sera mumbled. Hilda smiled gracefully to her.
"Why don't you join those group of young lads? They picked the same quest to clear. The more the merrier and also there can be a high chance of survival when you are in a Party" she pointed the three dudes wearing iron chainmail beneath their clothes. They are wearing such armor that Sera can't see herself wearing.
"Thank you for the suggestion Miss. Hilda" She smiled after thanking Hilda who always smile.
Sera walk toward the three men. No one of them was a girl in a short hair. She was tall and her chest was flat as the wall. She thought she was a man too until she saw her wearing a skirt and her long slender legs that doesn't have any manly hair on it.
The girl saw her approaching, Sera smiled to her as their eyes met. Forest and Hilda was behind her and she didn't realized Hilda went with them.
"I apologized for making you all wait for hours. This two took the same quest as yours. I hope you all get along" Hilda sudden intruded that make Sera startled.
"Oh I see. A Copper plate huh? What can they do …" the man with red hair was cut off as Hilda butt in and to stop him from saying unnecessary words any further.
"You can't tell unless you try it." She said her smile didn't fade. That made her words more sarcastic to them. The red head man snorted as he look away.
"I see Hilda, I am thankful for your assistance to us." the girl said and she look at Sera a smile.
"My name is Lerida these rude man beside me is Angus and this is Gustav" She introduce herself and her friends. The man named Gustave Wave his hand to them. He was shorter than Lerida with few centimeters. With blond wavy hair and dark brown eyes underneath his bangs.
The man named Angus looked down on them. He felt annoyed that Hilda let copper plate adventurer to go with the quest. Copper plate has low chance of surviving on this kind of Quest.
"Nice to meet you! My name is Sera and this guy beside me is Forest. I can cast magic healing and also I can fight in short range." She said with a smile. She cannot let them think that the word that Angus said hit her. She might be weak but she wasn't sure about it yet. But that doesn't meant that someone like him who do not know her talk to her like they already saw her capability in fighting.
"A magic user? It was a first time meeting a magic user up close." Lerida excitedly exclaimed.
"So Forest, what is your specialty?" Lerida asked forest as her eyes wondered through him. Forest uses his telepathy to Sera again she remembered Forest can't use telepathy to others.
"Ah. My companion can't speak. I apologize for not telling you, He is good at fight in short range and sword skills." Sera spoke for him.
"We've been together since we are little so, I knew him so far. So trust us! We will do our part not to be a hindrance to anyone. I am looking forward to be working with you." Sera cheerfully added. She threw a glance to Forest who smiled a little. she just hope that everything will be alright.
"We do trust your skills, Sera." Lerida said with a smile.
"So why don't we go buy some potions so that we can go now?" Gustave interrupted to their conversation. Angus beside him was glaring at Forest like he hated him so much. It seems that Angus do have a little problem in having trust in his comrades. As the matter of fact, he wasn't into camaraderie he thinks of it as something that isn't needed for a party.
"Yah, No time for idle chitchats." Angus snorted as he looked away from forest.
"Okay. Okay, you two are so excited. Angus you should stop glaring and menacing to other people that will give us a problem in the future." Lerida told him. He rolled his eyes in annoyance.
"I'm born with this eyes so don't tell me what to do. What do you want me to do close my eyes?" he replied sarcastically as he went out.
Lerida sigh as she put her hands in akimbo. "well if you can just talk nicely that would be better?"
"Well, let's go and hunt some Lamias" Sera exclaimed. Lerida nodded to her.
"Gustave follow Angus out there, also buy us some potions meet with us on the east gate." Lerida commanded he nodded as he went on to his way
"You two didn't joined any party right?" Lerida asked her.
"Yes, we aren't in any party yet. We have our own goal here so it's better not to go in to party or form a party." Sera replied to her.
"maybe we will be going with only the two of us."
"I see. Too bad, I want to ask both of you to join us. It seems that you two already had a plan" Lerida sighs as she is disappointed to recruit a new member for them.
Casmada was still worried about how things went. She was unconsciously biting her fingernails as she thought about it. Nelheid was too perfect for her. If ever Seraphine did not run away, they can have a easy peaceful life. A stable finance for the family. Sera can live in the capital surrounded by the citadel that defend the kingdom. And yet she run away from the goon future life.
"Good morning, Mrs. Viltrand." The man on her thoughts interrupted her. She stopped biting her nails and hide her hands on her back.
"OH, Good morning Mr. Weistreid. You are too early to visit" She said hiding her nervousness with her sweet smile. Her heart was about to jump out of her chest.
'What should I do? It seems that Theo didn't found her yet'
"It seems that you were in a deep thought" He said as he enter their house. His eyes were searching for her. He didn't saw her in their home this night.
"Do you want to have a tea?" She asked as she stand behind him she smiled in nervousness.
"I just want to take a glimpse at your daughter before I go to the capital. I am going to be put in to the one of the fortress in the west. The war right now is going Hectic."
Caasmada just nodded.
"So where is she?" He turn around and look at her in the eyes. She felt being petrified as she saw his pair brown eyes looking directly in her eyes.
"I apologized for wasting your time going here just to see her. She went to the town with Theo. She insisted on coming with him. I can't say no to my lovely daughter" she said as she look away. She did not stumbled on her words yet her eyes cannot stare at his eyes any longer.
"I see. Maybe I should just go to the town and meet them right away"
His words struck her like a lighting.
'Wait. What now? What should I do?' She was about to bite her finger again, she stopped and look at him.
"Isn't that the capital were asking for your aid? What if they were expecting you any sooner?" She hysterically stopped her from going out of their wooden house. Nelheid did stopped and remember the main keyword in the letter.
"I will ask my daughter Sera to go to the capital as soon as she is ready for a long journey." Casmada continued that made Nelheid tur his head to her and his face lighten from the words she casted.
"Well then, Please tell her that I will await for her in the Capital" He smiled before going out. Casmada put her clenched fist on her chest as she felt her knees weakened by the force casted by Nelheid.
The only thing she can think of right now is what to do next?
They strolled on the thick forest in the east of the town on the Base of Mt. Akina. Forest and Sera silently followed the three that guides them. The leader of the group, Lerida was on the front.
"As I told you, Lamias can charm you. So forest you should cast anti-charm magic or use the potion I gave." Sera whispered to him. He nodded to her. Sera was holding the hilt of her sword.
"Something approaching us" Gustave warned as Lerida halted. She sensed the enemies too.
"This might be a goblin or something" Gustave told them again.
Lerida unsheathed her sword. She closed her eyes and let her sense of hearing take her body. As the ruffling sound on her right was heard. She took a leap swinging her sword from lower left to the right. The blood sprayed on her iron chest plate.
"Whoa! That was awesome" Sera can't hide her amusement to herself. Angus glared at her making her cover her mouth.
"Sorry" she mouthed, Angus paid no heed at her apologies. She look at Forest. 'What is his problem?" She whispered Forest just moved his shoulders up and down as respond.
After the one goblin another goblin came. They hold staff and mace. There are four of them came to their sight.
Lerida finished the four with just her. All of them just watch how easily murdered the poor goblins.
"We are getting closer in the Lake. We should ready ourselves. Lamias are tricky one. The weakest of them was easy enough to kill using magic, the stronger can nullify magic so beware of it" Lerida shouted
They went on deeper. The first lamia they encountered was not yet fully grown they did took care of it easily. Lerida who was too far stronger than the four went just in and killed the lamia and unskinned and put it on the pouch she had.
"Lerida, you should let us do the work too. You must've exhausted." Sera told her as she saw her tried to catch her breath. Lerida look at her and wipe the sweat on her forehead.
"I'm fine. Don't worry" she replied to her. She wipes the blood on the blade of her sword and put it back on the sheath.
Sera watch her walk away from her and went to her comrades.
"Forest. Are you okay?" She asked as she turn her attention to him. He nodded as she just scratched her head.
"Don't worry if you can do something to yourself, I will protect you. This is the quest I picked for myself to begin with" She said.
"I am also worried that, having your skills sealed you might be vulnerable to any attacks. That means you are like a normal dude with no talents, skills or abilities at all."
Sera crossed her arms beneath her chest looking at the space between Lerida and her. 'Can I be like that in the future?" She thought. Forest just silently stand behind her like he is her guardian.