- QUARIA -
Hielgan dropped his greatsword and rushed to the old man's side, the old man wheezed as he struggled to catch his breath. The crowd's cheers had gone silent and a few women within the group cried out to the men to do something.
"Is anyone a healer?"
"I will go get Yorien!"
A few of the mortals from the crowd ran out into town to get a healer, this did not seem right to Hielgan who had not learned any healing magic, his body had a high healing element that prevented him from needing any healing abilities.
As Hielgan lamented his uselessness, he heard a familiar voice call out to him.
"Hielgan step back!"
Molina suddenly lept out of the crowd, she quickly rushed to the old man and cast her hands on him as a fiery green glow enveloped her palms.
'A healing spell, like the one she used on me?' Hielgan pondered.
The old man immediately showed signs of recovery, Hielgan sighed with relief before the crowd began to disperse with murmurs on their lips.
Later that evening, the three stood at the front of the completed Bouncing Clam. Though there was little reception, this was the encouragement they needed after a tragic attempt at advertising back in the town square.
"Old man..."
Old man Hersey raised his palm at Hielgan, he seemed to know what the lad was about to utter but he would not let him take the blame for their failure.
"It was my idea, I thought I still had it..." The old man sighed. "Maybe..."
Hielgan clutched old man Hersey's shoulder and shook his head side to side, he too had known what he was about to utter. The renovations of the Bouncing Clam had been completed and instead of focusing on a single failure, they could look toward the future.
"I didn't know you guys were so strong."
Everyone was stunned to hear the unfamiliar voice and when they turned around to look, Hielgan noticed the same boy he met in the square earlier that morning.
"It's the boy from this morning!"
"You know this boy?"
Hielgan and old man Hersey both nodded.
"The boy is quite the runner."
The boy seemed agitated for a moment, and before they could speak any further the boy lashed out and pointed his wooden sword at them.
"My name is not boy!"
"Well, what is it then?"
"It's Surien." The boy seemed to pout when he said his name, he turned his face away from the adults and waited for their remarks about it. "You might as well say it, I know you are thinking it."
The old man chuckled at Surien and then bent down to his height, with a smile on his face the old pinched the boy's cheeks.
"You don't look like a Surien to me." Surien pulled away as the old man continued to chuckle at him.
"What's wrong with his name?" Hielgan wondered.
The old man quickly whispered in Hielgan's ear and Hielgan's face seemed to contort as he tried to stop himself from laughing. Seeing how Surien seemed to shy away from them, Molina bent down to her knees and patted Surien's head.
"I think it's a lovely name." Molina then reached out her hand to him. "Hi, my name is Molina."
"Nice to meet you, ma'am."
Surien then walked up to Hielgan who had managed to contain his laughter, Hielgan turned to face Surien and the two stood motionless for a moment.
"I did it exactly as you showed me." Surien explained. "Legs parted slightly, sword arm over one shoulder..."
"With a quick efflux of mana..."
"A great blow is struck."
A simple recitation of the technique was all it took to teach a mortal, the rest came from demonstration, practice, and how well an individual could grasp a particular concept. Hielgan looked at the blunt wooden sword and noticed how it had not been damaged from the effects of the attack on it.
"So what happened?"
Surien rolled his eyes away as he explained how he had managed to topple the statue in the city square.
"I put too much mana in the sword, then I twirled around before crashing into the statue."
The group could tell Surien was honest about what had happened, and Hielgan was partly to blame as he had not watched over the boy when he attempted this technique.
"The fact that the practice sword did not break is proof enough." The old man explained. "There is a particular type of wood that can be used to combat steel and iron. Fortunately, there is a way to prove this claim."
"May I?"
Hielgan took the wooden sword from Surien and then let a large amount of his mana flow into the blunt sword, immediately he felt the stick stiffen and gain a moderate amount of weight. He could tell that this was not the average wood used to make the practice swords, this was far more valuable.
"So what is it?" Surien seemed eager to know as well.
"The average practice sword would have splintered by the amount of mana I let flow in, some would have outright snapped."
"Where did you get it boy?" Surien seemed reluctant to answer the question, so the old man decided not to pursue this any further. "Perhaps the real question outta be, why are you here?"
Surien looked up at Hielgan once more.
"I want you to teach me more."
The following day Surien came back to the Bouncing Clam to find Hielgan, to his surprise Hielgan was not there.
"Only when you make that technique your own." Old man Hersey's reported. "That's the message Hielgan told me to give you."
Surien tightened the grip on his practice sword and then walked out of the Bouncing Clam.
- RASOC -
For six days Hielgan had traveled from Quaria then Tenin a town by the river which was situated north of Quaria, from there he made his way down the river to Urrin where he spent a single night before heading to Rasoc.
'What am I doing?' Hielgan wondered.
This was not a rare prevalence, even the thirteen Holy Knights were known to make pilgrims across the sacred sights of Morland in an attempt to clear their minds. However, it seemed abrupt for Hielgan to make this challenging journey, his mind was like a battlefield and he had no clue as to what he wanted to understand about himself truly.
When he told the old man about this decision, the old man had not hesitated to support him.
Scrolls containing decade-old information about the towns across Quaria's borders were rolled across the newly furnished Bouncing Clam as the old man attempted to draw the ideal route for him to take as he traveled.
The old man had not failed to emphasize how loyal to Quaria the mortals in these towns were, and this was evident to him when he met the expert lumbermen of Tenin, they could make anything from wood that they collected from the forest of Tearl.
Hielgan held took a sip of his water, the scent of fish on his hand reminded him of the freshwater delicacies that were abundant in Urin, the fishermen there would sometimes fish near Sarst-Gov and capture rare species of aquatic life.
'All these mortals had managed to thrive and focus on a particular craft, they did not second guess themselves...'
Hielgan wondered what these people leaned on that gave them so much comfort, even the people in Quaria were just as jubilant.
'The King perhaps?'
Hielgan trekked over the last berm that concealed the town of Rasoc, and before him, he saw the large gate and buildings that encompassed the land across the coastline.
The cold sea breeze flowed through the city and abashed the populous, Hielgan saw the various races of mortals and half-mortals that walked through the streets of Rasoc.
Suddenly a large figure loomed over him and Hielgan quickly reached for his greatsword, but before he could draw his large blade, the figure passed beside him.
"You think they will take my offer?"
"They will, few mortals can acquire the ingredients of that elixir."
Standing at nearly ten feet, with a body as large as a boulder, the two orcs walked past Hielgan as they casually discussed their business affairs with an average-sized mortal who struggled to keep up with the large half-mortals.
'An orc?' Hielgan was stunned. 'I thought they were savages?'
The mortal texts describe Orges as a scarce and aggressive species of half-mortals, they were known to build villages in the rocky mountains of Sarst-Gov, and from their villages, the orcs would occasionally descend and attack other tribes of mortals and half-mortals in Morland.
Oddly this was a peculiar bunch to Hielgan, these orcs seemed more dignified than the regular nobility, even the garbs they were dressed in had precious gemstones sewn into them, and the cloth appeared exquisite.
Hielgan continued to walk through the town, he was looking for an Inn that had an Adventurers Guild reception so that he could register the job he had taken in Urrin.
After looking around a while, Hielgan finally found the right Inn, a few mortals were scattered around the tables and bar. Hielgan saw the Adventurers Guild reception next to the bar and made his way to it.
Unfortunately, when he walked over to the reception he did not find anyone there, but he quickly spotted a waitress nearby.
'Maybe she will know.'
Witnessing the waitresses in action, Hielgan walked over to her and noticed that she was a half-mortal, her most standing out feature was the long slender ears that curved backward together with her dark brown hair.
'She's a...'
"So what will it be for you sir?" The waitress interrupted Hielgan's thoughts as she asked for his order.
"I am not ordering anything." Hielgan responded, which made the waitress look at him with an annoyed glance.
"The reception, I came to register a job I got in Urrin." Hielgan said while unrolling the scroll he had in his hands.
After examining the job request, the waitress told Hielgan to sit down and wait for the Adventurers Guild receptionist.
He wondered if the wait would take too long, the waitress had appeared troubled enough that he was not ordering anything, sadly Hielgan recalled he only had six bronze coins left in his pouch.
Hielgan watched as the town's varieties came in and out of the inn, however, there was one cloaked mortal that had come in and sat close to his table as he waited.
After a while, four guards dressed in full plate steel armor walked into the inn, a pair of the guards stood at the door while the other pair made their way to the waitress. The waitress whispered to the guards and then quickly made her way behind the bar, the guards walked over to Hielgan's table and took a stern look at him.
"No, not it." One of the guards mumbled.
"You there, take the cloak off."
The guard ordered the mortal that was sitting on a table behind Hielgan, but the mortal did not comply with the guards. One of the guards then nodded to the pair on the door and the two slowly made their way towards the mortal.
'Smells like trouble.'
Hielgan had placed his greatsword and the wrapped Grimvyern on the floor, he wanted to reach out and push them closer, but he was afraid of startling the guards.
"What's a filthy creature like you doing out here?!" One of the guards yanked the cloak off the mortal, short and pointy ears like that of a feline wiggled on the half mortal's head.
Hielgan was stunned by the unveiling, but he was troubled at how the guards were treating the half-mortal.
"I said talk!" The other guards yanked the half mortal's head and then slammed it on the table.
"Enough!"
Hielgan roared and immediately got up from his seat, the guards hesitated and in that instance, the half-mortal grabbed the arm of the guard that was holding him down and then twisted it furiously, then he yanked the guard's head and bit down hard on his throat.
"The fiend!"
The guards exclaimed, but before they could react the half-mortal clutched their faces with his clawed fingers and then pushed their heads downwards, slamming them to the floor.
The last guard quickly reached for his sword, however, the half-mortal nimbly veered in a circular fashion around the table and closed the distance between them.
The half-mortal grabbed the guard's sword hand and slammed the blade back into its sheath with a bloody grin on his face.
"Die!"
Before five clawed fingers could rip the guard's throat open, Hielgan felt his body move and his hand quickly reached out and grasped the half-mortal's arm.
"No more killing!"
Stunned, the half-mortal receded his arm but could not get Hielgan's grip loose. So he quickly flipped forward and then stomped on Hielgan and the guard's faces sending them falling backward.
With his arm free, the half-mortal nimbly jumped across the tables and made his way out of the inn.
"Get him!"
"Wait... What?" Hielgan appeared confused, but he quickly got to his feet, plucked his greatsword, and then chased after the half-mortal.