Chapter 29: Another player
Tetsuya looked over the moon, then his ears recorded not so quiet steps getting louder. Those were coming from behind and it was Karola running toward him. As she approached him, her blue eyes went up to look onto the moon.
"Are you trying to set some romantic mood, bathing here in the moonlight?" Karola laughed after her eyes returned to the initial target which was Tetsuya.
He was exposed to the moonlight and was certainly on the spotlight while surrounded by the dark forest. His good looks, the evil charming prince aura and those eyes that could absorb the lady's full attention.
It was a lady-killer man right here! "Am I too blinding? We can use this world to hide my aura if that's what you want." A night walk was about to happen and if Karola found Tetsuya's charm to be too blinding, then he would lead her through the forest just fine.
"You are weird, but confident. Confidence is what you need in mercenary light." It seemed like Karola was all fine with that moonlight, her blue hair blending nicely with it. She then entered the casual talk with Tetsuya.
They ventured deeper into the forest, then spotted the beast that interrupted that sweet time.
Tetsuya was the first one to show some displeasure on his face as he didn't like when people stopped mid-way. He was ready to deal with the beast, but he first glanced at Karola.
She just held her hand on the sword, seeming ready to follow him.
Her stance was confident, just like she said before.
Karola even asked more about the game master's future game, "So it will be five versus five, right? Are those beasts also part of your game?" The beast tilted its head while listening to her words.
This made Tetsuya laugh out loud as he shrugged. "It's too weak to be part of my game, but for total newbies I might catch some of these forest monsters." The beast scowled when Tetsuya called it a monster, then rushed at him.
Its charge shook the whole forest and dark leaves began to swirl around the duo. The ground did not move that heavily to cause Tetsuya to lose balance, so he just clenched his ego fist.
On the other hand, Karola unsheathed her sword. A faint moonlight managed to land on her sword through the dark forest's leaves! It was wanted action as Karola used this light to blind the beast's eyes.
She skillfully directed the light against its eyes, then charged even faster at its neck.
"Nice one." Tetsuya commented without hiding his surprise. He took a liking to such technique, thinking that his blinding light would completely destroy the beast's eyes.
Then, Karola quickly and smoothly dealt with their problem.
The beasts' head hit the ground faintly, then its whole body plummeted onto the ground.
Karola just faintly smiled, feeling that Tetsuya was somewhat impressed by her swift hunt. She wiped her sweat off forehead, then walked back to him.
"What did you exactly like right now?" She asked with a little tease.
"That moonlight going into its eyes." Tetsuya answered with a similar smile.
"Oh, that one… The old man told me that mercenaries must use everything for their advantage. Our missions are basically to do what our clients want, so this is also our way of fighting, but I might be the one paying a little too much attention to this." Karola shrugged gently, then added, "If you feel like using your own blinding light, then it won't work on beasts. It works only on women." And she ended this sentence with hearty laughter.
Of course, Tetsuya agreed with her on the spot, "Women are also formidable enemies, so it's fair to learn that. Let's prepare this beast for some snacks."
"Meat snacks? Do you know how to prepare those?" Karola genuinely asked, trying to confirm whether Tetsuya truly could do everything.
She got a positive answer, though Tetsuya was lacking some ingredients, but fire would be enough with a little salt…
"Let me help you skin this beast." Karola cut the beast's edible parts then began skinning. It was not the first time nor the last as that was an inseparable part of mercenary's lifes. Though Karola didn't skin for too long as her eyes went wide at Tetsuya's work. He perfectly skinned the beast to the point where she felt like gulping now.
It was shocking, "Since you want to join my game, I might teach you a few tips."
Karola first became another player.
[Name: Karola Lv. 32 Age: 25 Class: Mercenary(Off-tank)]
[You can pass part of your wisdom to your player through the quest.]
It was a feature that pleasantly surprised Tetsuya. He decided to give a normal quest to Karola, then both of them prepared the beast for the meal.
As it landed in a bonfire, a few minutes passed and then Yurek arrived with a big smile on his face, "I know where we can get such earth rune. It might be not a problem as long as you have some money! Simple and easy. Well, can I eat one? It smells strangely too good!"
"Go ahead." Tetsuya gave green light, then dropped a bomb, "Do you know a woman whose rune is like a red rose?"
"..." The old man paled, stopped moving completely, then his eyes trembled as he looked at Tetsuya with disbelief.
The game master guessed that the old man probably got two thoughts; A: The thought that Tetsuya was Red Rose's enemy. B: The thought that he was related to her. Both were somewhat correct if one looked from broarded view.
But Tetsuya just kept his eyes on the old man, "Just eat and calm down." Then waited for more.