With Doppel surprisingly speaking for the first time, a clap of thunder resounded as the spear I gave him struck Nakros' back.
"Argh!" [Nakros]
Immense power pushed him, causing him to fling past me as I let him go.
("Oh he went far.") [Solace]
Nakros went flying so high that for a second I lost him. It was only until he caught himself and descended back down to my level that Doppel and I could see the damage done.
"That was very impressive. Almost genius in fact." [Nakros]
Doppel gripped the spear, already about to strike again.
"Hold on." [Nakros]
He raised a hand in surrender.
"The spar is over. I am satisfied with the results." [Nakros]
"Already?" [Solace]
Nakros raised a brow.
"What do you mean by "already"? Do you want to continue?" [Nakros]
I shook my head.
"Nope!" [Solace]
Fighting stronger opponents isn't really my favorite thing to do. Sadly, it looks like I'm fated to do so.
"Alright, Doppel. I guess that's it. Thanks for the help." [Solace]
Doppel gave me a nod before vanishing, allowing the spear I made to drop down into the canyon.
"...Are you not going to pick that up?" [Nakros]
"Do I need to?" [Solace]
I didn't know littering was a thing here too.
"No, not really. I was just curious about something." [Nakros]
"About what?" [Solace]
"Nothing of much importance. Anyway, let's get your reward shall we?" [Nakros]
I had almost forgotten about that. If I remembered correctly, I could ask any kind of favor from Nakros.
"What favor do you ask of me? Or would you rather I make a piece of equipment for you?" [Nakros]
"Before that, I want to know something." [Solace]
"Ask away." [Nakros]
"How did you start copying my moves?" [Solace]
I was really curious about how Nakros immediately was able to use |Revolving Shell Arts| and |Explosion Arts| from one look. I know I experienced the same thing with |Wind Edge| and |Ashen Arrow| when Fina used it, but I like to think I'm special.
"You're not the only disciple to use those cursed gauntlets of yours." [Nakros]
That made so much sense.
"You had these too?" [Solace]
I brandished my Vermillion Eclipse.
"I did once. Then I returned it because I didn't need it anymore." [Nakros]
"Really? What about the other disciples?" [Solace]
"Same for them as well. …Except for the second one. He was never that good at fighting." [Nakros]
"And they returned it too?" [Solace]
Nakros gave me a certain look like I was dumb even to ask.
"Of course. Why do you think it's in your hands now?" [Nakros]
"What was their reasoning?" [Solace]
"Master never thought the second disciple was strong enough to use it. The third disciple is just wary of superstitions." [Nakros]
("Superstitions?") [Solace]
I had to reach deep into my memory to remember that there's a reason why these gauntlets were cursed. It's not the possession thing. It's the fact that whoever possesses it won't meet a good ending.
"Now, we've gone a little bit too off track. About that favor. What would you like?" [Nakros]
"Right, I was just wondering if you could have a chat with the hero in my party." [Solace]
Nakros blinked with confusion.
"Pardon?" [Nakros]
"I want you to have a strategic meeting or something with him. I do have to take the demon lord's heart y'know?" [Solace]
"When did you need to take a demon lord's heart?" [Nakros]
"Ah… Don't worry about it." [Solace]
Nakros chuckled at my reply.
"You're a very humorous junior, I'll give you that." [Nakros]
"So? Can you do me that favor?" [Solace]
Nakros nodded.
"It doesn't even count as one, but sure. I'll do it." [Nakros]
It kind of felt like a bit of a waste. Well, there's nothing I can do about it now.
"Let him know I'll meet him tomorrow in the evening." [Nakros]
"Got it." [Solace]
"Oh, and before I forget-" [Nakros]
He took out a blue rock from his own |Item Box|, crushing it into powder before tossing it on me.
"Wh-What are you-" [Solace]
"Fixing your armor." [Nakros]
The somewhat torn edges of my cloak and the rips from my earlier battles seemed to have just… vanished. It looks like that powder magically mended my clothes to perfection.
"Well then, I'm off. Be sure to wash up." [Nakros]
So he said as he flew off. His words did end up making me take a look at myself though.
("...Wow, I'm dusty.") [Solace]
Even if Nakros had repaired my clothing, it did nothing about the dirt from me getting thrown into the canyon walls. I casted |Cleanse| on myself to clean myself and took a moment to observe the canyon before leaving.
("We really did a number on this place.") [Solace]
There were numerous signs of destruction left in our wake. Walls that looked to be broken by a powerful blunt force, and burns from my |Crescent Slash|. Once I finished admiring my and Nakros' work, one question settled in.
("Where the hell am I?") [Solace]
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
It took me a while to generalize where I was. From what I saw around me, I found that I was kind of in between the first hero's tomb and the forest leading to Lithik. The only reason why I've never seen this place was because it was quite a distance away.
("This is going to suck.") [Solace]
Thanks to my new ability to fly in human form, it was actually much easier to travel. I bypassed the entire forest, the city's front gate, and managed to discreetly arrive at the Adventurer's Guild by morning. There, I was greeted by Wilharrow already having breakfast downstairs.
"Hm? You're awake?" [Wilharrow]
Is what he said with a mouthful of bread.
"That's what I want to say." [Solace]
The time for Ashtal compared to Earth would be around 6 am. The entire first floor of the Adventurer's Guild was almost empty, with the exceptions of a few veteran adventurers and the staff members.
("He must be one of those early risers I guess.") [Solace]
Wilharrow swallowed before motioning me over.
"Come. Sit." [Wilharrow]
I joined him at one of the many dining tables in the Adventurer's Guild. I kind of wanted to go get my own meal as well, but Wilharrow's meal wasn't something that whet my appetite.
"Is that literally just bread?" [Solace]
"No? It's bread with milk." [Wilharrow]
That was disgusting.
"No meat?" [Solace]
"It's the way of the temple." [Wilharrow]
"No sauce?" [Solace]
"It's the way of the temple." [Wilharrow]
I asked a few other things, but he only gave the same reply. It was like he got brainwashed.
"Did you eat already?" [Wilharrow]
I stared at his… meal. …If you can even call it that.
"Yeah… I ate with my senior disciple." [Solace]
Wilharrow's eyes brightened up.
"Did you arrange a meeting for us?" [Wilharrow]
"Yeah. Nakros said he'll meet you in the evening." [Solace]
"In the evening? Why?" [Wilharrow]
I didn't tell him it was most likely because Nakros probably wanted to sleep. I mean, we did fight pretty late at night.
"Not sure." [Solace]
"How will we contact each other?" [Wilharrow]
"Also not sure." [Solace]
That one was true.
"He'll probably just appear out of nowhere again. Don't sweat it." [Solace]
"Don't… sweat it?" [Wilharrow]
"It means don't worry." [Solace]
"Yes, but what does it have to do with sweat?" [Wilharrow]
I then spent the next five minutes explaining it to this guy.
"Do you understand it now?" [Solace]
"Can we go back to the one where you compared it to "when pigs fly"? I want to make sure I get it." [Wilharrow]
"Oh my gods." [Solace]
This one took even longer. Actually, it was so long that Fina woke up and came downstairs.
"What are you two doing?" [Fina]
"Suffering." [Solace]
"Suffering? How?" [Wilharrow]
"It was a joke. Or more like sarcasm." [Solace]
"Ah… I see. Haha, that was very funny." [Wilharrow]
I sometimes hate this guy. I'm going to cut out the parts where eventually everyone wakes up and comes down since we didn't really do anything special. Basically, we hung out until Nakros showed up.
"Hey." [Nakros]
"Hi." [Solace]
"Haven't seen you in a while." [Nakros]
"Definitely." [Solace]
Listen here guys. In case you're like Wilharrow, this is a joke. Get it? We're saying we haven't seen each other in a while even though we literally met last night. It's funny because we're lying and we both know.
"So, you guys wanted to see me?" [Nakros]
Around this time, we just finished grocery shopping and just met up at the Adventurer's Guild. Apparently Nakros is kind of well known so we were given a wide berth.
"It was more like I wanted to speak with you." [Wilharrow]
"Interesting." [Nakros]
His eyes wandered to our environment, meeting eyes directly to whoever was looking our way. Lowkey kind of psychopathic or something. I could never just stare at random people, especially if they're looking right back.
"How about we take this to a more discreet location?" [Nakros]
"To the hole?" [Solace]
"To the hole." [Nakros]