With only one of my required three quests done, and half a day wasted on Emerald's distraction, I made my way to the adventurer's guild, only to find it closed for the night.
"Are you kidding me?!" It took all my willpower to not kick the door in frustration. "I come all the way out here, and you're closed?!"
"Yelling at an empty building isn't gonna do you any favours, you know." Emerald sighs, her clothes still covered in patches of snow. "Let's just rest for the night. We've still got the rest of the week."
"You realize this is entirely your fault," I tell her.
"If we didn't help out-"
"I'd be one step further away from going back to being a NEET." I finish the thought for her.
"It's an adventurer's duty to help out people in need," Emerald argues.
"All I'm interested in is getting paid, alright?" I rebuke. "That's all anyone's interested in. All that altruistic hero stuff only exists in kid's stories."
"That's..." Emerald hangs her head before it snaps back to face me. "That's not true! I'm proof that heroes exist in the real world!"
"Ah, p-please don't fight!" Claire begins to panic, and I notice a few people are staring at us from the surrounding streets. "I mean... sure Emerald tricked us into doing an unofficial quest, but-"
"I didn't trick anyone!" Emerald shouts, causing Claire to flinch back. "I never said it was an official quest, we- I just wanted to do the right thing."
"I'm perfectly happy doing the right thing, so long as I get paid for it," I say. "I wouldn't have even considered becoming an adventurer if I didn't want to help people."
"Then why do you care so much about money?" Emerald scowls at me, though in all honesty, I'm just glad I pulled aggro away from Claire. "If we hadn't stopped those guys, they'd have stolen those supplies!"
A couple of murmurs come from the crowd that's formed to watch our argument, the voices overlap too much to get a clear idea of what anyone's saying, but I, of course, overhear the word 'Unique' being thrown around quite a bit. It seems like Emerald and Claire are taking heed of what's being said as well, as they're looking at me to disperse the crowd. Of course, why would I expect anyone else to put some effort in? "Okay, you've had your fun, guys." I say, trying to keep them all amicable while still shooing them away. "I get that there's not much to do around here, but I'd like to talk with my party members without an audience if you don't mind."
An old man makes his way to the front of the crowd, his eyes glinting with respect, "Are you really the ones who stopped those ruffians from stealing all the orphanage's donations?"
Seriously, that's what they were doing? Sheesh, those guys were even bigger scumbags than I thought. Wasn't there supposed to be honour among thieves?
"Wait, how do you already know about that?" Emerald presses.
"One of the carers from the Orphanage, Sophia, was trapped in the warehouse when they arrived. Why, when she told everyone that a huge blizzard came out of nowhere and took care of them, nobody believed her."
"Um, I, uh... how do it put this..." Claire begins, but I know exactly what she wants to say since I'm wondering the exact same thing.
"Is she offering a reward for helping her?" I ask, completely shamelessly.
"I-" The old man is, for some reason, caught off guard by my perfectly reasonable expectation. "She didn't mention anything, but-"
"Got it, you said she was with the guards, right?" I smile as I head in that direction, the crowd dispersing as I approach.
"Wait, Darius!" Emerald calls after me, jogging to catch up, "Don't think we're done talking!"
I'd left Emerald outside, and asked Claire to keep watch so she didn't waltz in and start spouting unnecessary attacks on my character, and wouldn't you know, things were actually going smoothly for once. Sophia listened to my story intently, though she was more concerned with how exactly I'd come to know about the thieves than my actual involvement.
"Well, one of my party members told me what was happening, and there was no way I'd let some no-good thieves steal from anyone, let alone some poor kids who lost their parents." I tell her. "She kept telling me that it wasn't an official quest, and to wait until the morning when somebody noticed and started hiring people to look for the stuff, but the thought of those kids going even one night without those supplies made my blood boil."
"Well, I have to say, I had you all wrong, Mr Crowley." Sophia admits. "I'd expected you to be... I don't know, a little stuck up."
"Me? Nah, I'm still getting used to the fact I even have a Unique Ability. Outside of quests, it barely even registers." I give a shrug. "Honestly, it's a shame I didn't know you were trapped inside, did you get out okay?"
"Pardon me for saying, but your friend was the one who rescued me." Sophia says.
"Emerald?" I ask, but she'd seemed none the wiser about anyone being trapped in the storehouse than I was.
"He didn't actually introduce himself-"
"He?" I ask. "Both my party members are women."
"Oh?" Sophia tilts her head, clearly confused. "I'm certain he said his party was dealing with the thieves."
"Well, I can say for certain that my party were the only ones there." I couldn't believe what I was hearing, I didn't doubt Sophia for a second, but that meant there was somebody out there pretending to be in my party. "What did this guy look like?"
"He was so handsome..." Sophia says dreamily. That doesn't help me. "His hair was like freshly fallen snow,and his hands were so gentle."
Okay, I get it, he's a real dreamboat, but why would he go around telling people he was in my party? Just for attention? Why not come to us to join if he was so desperate as to lie about it?
"Well, I'm just glad nobody got seriously hurt." I say, I made a big deal about getting paid, but now all I'm really bothered about is finding this impostor. A handsome, white haired knight isn't much to go on, but I'm sure if I ask around town, we'll find him quick enough.
"Oh, before you go." Sophia takes out a small coin purse and starts fishing around in it, producing three pieces of silver. "I wouldn't feel right offering him money but not you. You said there were two other people in your party, yes?"
"That's right." I say, offering my hand. "Thank you very much, Miss Sophia." She seems rather taken aback by the fact I'm accepting her offer, but it'd be too awkward to take it back now, and I leave the Guard barracks as one happy adventurer.
"But why the heck would he tell her he was with us?" Emerald asks over breakfast the next day. I'd left the barracks to find that she and Claire had already headed home for the night, and waited until we were all together to break the news.
"Who knows. My name holds some weight around here, y'know." I wouldn't call that a boast, considering I hated that fact, but it still felt scummy to bring it up. "Maybe he just wanted that extra attention?"
"He might want to join us," Claire suggested. "Maybe he's too nervous to actually ask you?"
"As interesting as all this is, don't we have more important matters? I remember somebody trying to break the door down last night trying to squeeze in some last-minute quests." Emerald drawls.
"Ah, you're right!" I cry, standing up and heading over to the notice board.
'All quests have already been accepted'
"Wh..." I stare at the board, completely aghast. "What the hell!? It's still morning!"
"Ah, please calm down, Ser Crowley!" The guild attendant waves me over. "It just so happens that I was about to post a new quest."
"Oh, thank the gods, I guess not many quests'd get posted overnight, huh?" I scratch the back of my head. "Guess I sort of overreacted, sorry."
"We actually had quite a few early-morning quests today, but a handsome young knight took them all on himself."
The mention of this knight sets the hair on the back of my neck on edge, especially since it seems the attendant's swooning over him as well, just how good looking can this guy be anyway? "Hey, this knight... he didn't happen to have pure white hair, did he?"
"As a matter of fact, he did. Are you a friend of his?"
"No, but he seems to be telling people I am. Where did the quests he accepted take him?"
"All over, I'm afraid, but one of them is in Altri forest, same as this one. Perhaps Evadorre will smile on you and you'll cross paths."
If just looking at this dude is enough to turn fairly professional women like Sophia and this Guild Attendant into swooning idiots, I doubt it'd be good luck to run into him mid-quest.
Then again, bad luck seems to be my thing, so I've no doubt our paths will cross.
The Altri forest, located just outside of Larit, forms a natural border between our town and the regional capital city, Inesrov. A lot of rookie merchants take a shortcut through the forest, saving them about a day's worth of travel, but due to the monsters that inhabit the forest, those who do so inevitably end up having to pay Adventurers to act as bodyguards.
Not that I had any issue with that, in fact, I hope there's an economic boom that leads to more hapless idiots taking up merchantry and wasting their money lining my pockets.
Due to the... less than predictable nature of my Unique Ability, I'm stuck using regular, unfused magic, and while it still packs a punch thanks to my high stats, it leaves Emerald as the main damage dealer for this quest, which is nice considering her meagre contributions to the last two quests.
Our client was a young elf, though that meant he could be as old as fifty, who'd recently taken up his father's role as the chief liaison between two potion stores in Inesrov and Larit, and while he seemed to be of a nervous disposition, he was beaten in that regard by Claire, who hadn't said a word since our group met up with him.
"Alright, we're almost at the home stretch," Emerald notes, pumping her fists as she leads us towards the exit. For somebody who's as new to this as I am, she seems to know the layout of the forest better than any of the rest of us. "I'd say five more minutes before we're out of the woods."
"Don't let your guard down just because we're almost finished," I warn.
"C'mon, there are no difficult monsters this close to the exit, we'll be fine." Emerald smiles, spinning on her heel to face me. Why do I get the feeling she's just inviting any misfortune that might prove her wrong?
Eh, I'm probably just being paranoid. Like she said, all the tougher monsters make their nests farther into the forest, where there's less sunlight.
"Watch out!"
You know what? I'm trusting my gut from now on, no matter how irrational it may seem. Emerald jumps out of the way just in time to avoid being crushed by a huge club, and a guttural roar fills the forest, sending the wildlife scrambling in every direction.
"Is that..." Emerald gasps. While the club thankfully wasn't in its hand, it was definitely mad at whoever disarmed it, and even from the back, it was clearly an Ogre. Looking around, it had a few goblin henchmen at its side too, and whoever had earned its ire was clearly in a bad state.
"We've gotta go!" I grab the merchant's hand and make a dash for the exit, but Emerald, predictably, stops me.
"We can't just run away, whoever's fighting that thing needs help!""
"I'm sure they can handle-"
With perfect timing, I'm cut off by a person flying through the air and landing right beside me. While their thick, pure white armour looks to have absorbed most of the blow, their helmet bounces off their head, revealing a shock of pure white hair.
"Ah!" I let out a cry of recognition. "I had a feeling I'd run into you!"
The youth lets out a groan as he looks over at me. "Oh." He murmurs. "You're that Unique, right?"
"Claire, can you heal him?" Emerald urges as the Ogre and its squad of goblins approach us.
"Oh, uh, y-yes!" Claire looks between me, Emerald, the white-haired knight, and the merchant, before beginning to cast. "Mercia, matron of life and mother to all, please heal this poor child's aching wounds, and grant them the power to continue fighting to protect those in need. Heal!"A calm glow of light surrounds the knight, who hastily pulls himself to his feet.
"You've my thanks, kind healer." He nods in appreciation. "Now, allow me to repay your kindness." He takes up his sword and enters a fighting stance. "Miss, if you would please allow me to take point. It would go against my code to hide behind anoth- I mean, a woman such as yourself."
What the heck was that?
"Oh, sure." Emerald nods. "After you."
The handsome knight (yeah, even I've got to admit, I see what those girls meant.) rushes forwards and points his sword directly at the Ogre. "Fiendish creature, you'll not harm any more people while I draw breath!"
Actually, there's some quality about his voice I can't quite place. It's got an almost breathy quality like he's trying to make his voice sound deeper than it actually is. Is he just self-conscious around girls? There's no need, buddy, they're falling for you either way.
The Ogre lets out a roar, and its cronies rush the knight, but his sword swings are precise and elegant, cutting whole swathes of them in half with each motion. The few that get past him are knocked away by Emerald and Claire... is just cowering behind the elf merchant. She does realise we're supposed to be the ones protecting him, right? Regardless, it doesn't take long before it's just us (by which I obviously mean Emerald and the Mysterious Handsome Knight) versus the lone Ogre. But that's not to say we're in the clear just yet, Ogres are B-Rank Monsters, and at least three of our group are complete novices. We'll be lucky if we get out with only a single casualty, and luck is hardly my strong suit.
"How did an Ogre even get here?" Emerald is the first to ask this obvious question. This place is hardly more than a hands-on training ground for rookies like us, the idea of a mid-rank monster just wandering in here, let alone making its nest fairly close to the entrance, is terrifying.
The M.H.K (Mysterious Handsome Knight) lets out a battle cry as he dashes forwards towards the disarmed Ogre, which roars in retaliation and charges forwards.
"Claire, can you buff him in any way?" Emerald asks, casting a worried glance over to the seriously outmatched warrior.
"Um, I, uh..." Claire is clearly in such a panic that whether she knows any support spells other than heal is irrelevant, but I have faith in M.H.K, mostly just in the hope I won't have to get involved. Those hopes are dashed as he goes flying through the air yet again, this time hitting the ground with enough force to break his chest-plate, splitting the armour completely in half.
"Darius, can't you do something?" Emerald pleads. Actually, thinking about this rationally, if taking out the Ogre was M.H.K's quest, and we can get some of the credit for stopping it, won't that be the three quests done?
"Alright, stay back." I say, holding my open palms up to the Ogre. "The two primordial forces that existed before all else. Light and dark, creation and destruction, may your combined forces open the path towards the future! Shadows Cast!" Two balls of light and darkness appear before me and twirl around each other before merging into one. The combined orb then fires out a beam of energy that pierces straight through the Ogre's torso, leaving white and black lines spreading over its body. The creature tries charging at me in a last-ditch effort to take me down with it, but as soon as the shades have completely covered its body, it begins to dissolve into the air. As soon as it's completely gone, I feel a tingle of energy that I assume is my body's way of telling me that I've finally gained a level.
"Incredible." The M.H.K says, completely in awe. "I was fighting that beast for the best part of an hour, but you... in one attack." I mean, I'm sure you wore it down, Mr Knight, but there's no way I'm letting that on.
"Well, all's well that ends well; I guess." I say, before turning to the merchant, who is now hiding behind Emerald. Claire's still cowering behind him, in case anyone was wondering. "I'm sure you've had more than enough exhilaration for one day, right? I know I have." I look at the M.H.K once more. "By the way, I never caught your... name." Now that the excitement's over I get a chance to properly look at them, and with their chest-plate shattered into tiny pieces, it's painfully obvious that this handsome fellow is... well, let's just say that only one of those words still feels like an appropriate description.
"I-" The handsome (lady) knight splutters, realizing that the jig is up. "My name is Aura."
"Okay, Aura." I sigh. "May I ask why you tried taking on an Ogre on your own when you clearly couldn't handle it?"
"The quest I took only mentioned the goblins." She tells me. "There was no mention of them being led by an Ogre."
Yeah, that makes sense.
Wait a second. Oh, you've got to be kidding me! "So the Ogre had nothing to do with that quest?"
"No, why?"
"So, since you were the one who killed all the goblins, you completed the quest without our help?"
"I suppose, technically, but I'd be dead if it weren't for you. I owe you my life, good sir."
I didn't know whether to scream or cry. So I ended up doing both.
"Come on, Darius, we've still got one less quest to beat." Emerald tries to cheer me up as we head back to the Guild. With the elf merchant brought to the potion store completely unharmed, at least physically, we'd successfully cleared the quest, and got cash in hand as thanks. On any other day, I'd be more than happy with that, but after learning I'd fought off an Ogre for nothing, it seemed like a hollow victory.
"Is he always like this?" I heard Aura whisper to Claire behind us. Not only are we not getting any credit for helping her, but that damn merchant told his boss that the four of us escorted him back, meaning she ended up getting a cut when she only contributed for the final stretch and didn't even do anything other than get thrown around.
"He really doesn't like wasting effort." Claire admits.
"Saving somebody's life is a waste to him?" Aura looks at me with a mix of disgust and pity. Don't you judge me, O Brave Knight of the Crossed Dress, don't you realise that you're going to disappoint a lot of innocent maidens walking around with *those* out for all to see.
"It's not like I don't think you're worth the effort." I attempt a little damage control. "I'm just a little annoyed that I've still got to do another quest to meet my quota."
"Is that all?" Aura asks. "I still have a couple of outstanding quests, if you'd all like to accompany me."
"For real?" Emerald asks, excited. "We'd be happy to, right Darius?"
"Yeah, that'd be a big help." I say.
"Alright then, just let me get my armour fixed up and we can head out."
"General Vaxyll, we've detected yet another spike in magical energy." A man dressed from head to toe in black armour gives his report. "This one was in the Altri Forest."
"Again?" Vaxyll muses. This was the third time in only two days. The second had rendered those ethered Guards completely useless, and if the Ogre in the forest had been defeated in the same way, then it won't be long before all of the work that had been put into disrupting the Inesrov region would be rendered for naught. The Fell King had put Vaxyll in charge of this operation, and it had been going perfectly until now. What could have changed? "Find whoever is causing these anomalies, and do whatever needs to be done to put a stop to them."
"Yes, Sir!" The knight gives a salute, before heading out of the general's chambers. If anyone could do all this in such a short time, there was only one possibility. Another of those accursed Uniques had taken up adventuring.