What I see was a tall person in full crimson plated armor stand tall next to the already huge head teacher. Wait, I know that armor get up. Its the Crimson Knight! Back in the game, he was a strong side character that only appeared when the students were in danger. Dude's can kill several high ranking monster with ease, thanks to his ridiculous strength.
"Oh, its you. Then, I leave this kids in your care…." (Regor)
Wait. Did the head teach just walks away after said that? I thought he's gonna be furious after being called a Dog by this Crimson knight. But this proves that even the head teach had respect on this man. This should be easy for us. Yea…
"Thank you for accompanying our group, Ser….?"
"..." (Crimson knight)
Well, that was weird as fuck… he just pass me by and didn't even bothered to reply my kind greetings. But thats not important. With him watching our group, this day will be a piece of cake for us to go through.
"Or so I thought…"
"I already said that I don't want to leave Sara alone…! Please stop telling me to abandon my friend just to join your group, Lord Dort…!" (Elise)
Just after walking away from the stage, I noticed that Elise was shouting while the prick Dort is trying to talked some sense to her. Saraha just stood behind Elise while glaring towards Dort who seems to be ignoring her while focus his attention towards Elise. Man, that dude is really trying to get Elise, Aren't he?
"My Lady Eli, just let the outcast formed their own group… if you joined ours, I will protect you from harms way. And I know that you hated to be grouped with that Demon King…" (Dort)
Oi bastard. Stop using me as an excuse to make her fall for you, its embarrassing… hmm… they seems to be a quite the group, aren't they? Shiny armors, good weapons and not to mention the teacher and the officer seems to be their luggage boy. Thats Royalties for you. In the Prince's troupe of idiots were the Prince himself, Risia and lastly, the prick Dort. It seems they too was a group of three. Are they copying us?
"Oii…. Stop making a ruckus you prick… cant you see that the lady were uncomfortable with your wooing, prick?"
I said to the prick. Hearing my remarks, he direct his furious glare towards me with his bloodshot eyes. But I ignore his remarks and went near Elise and tried to acts like we are acquainted with each others.
"Waiting long, Dear companion…?"
"T-this is all your fault…! Stupid…" (Elise)
I know you're angry with me behaving like this, but please stop stepping my toes… though it didn't hurt that much because I'm wearing leather boots. But please stop…
"Tch! I murder you, Bastard…." (Dort)
Ohoo…? He got jealous…?
(stomp)
Egh…! Stop stomping my foot, girlish woman!
"Shouldn't your party be on your way venturing to the forest now?" (Crimson Knight)
Hearing the Crimson Knight's remarks, the Prince seems to be offended by it and tells the prick to stand down and left our group. The teacher and officer follows them hastily out of fearing being left behind. Ugh… are those two really their baggage carrier…?
"T-thanks…." (Elise)
Hou…? Did she just… nah… I'm sure I overheard that… anyway, after introducing the Crimson Knight to the two, we sally out from the fort to venture to the forest. Though Saraha had somewhat different view towards the Crimson Knight and calls him weirdo because he didn't spoken that much, I believe in his strength! He will be a good addition to our unbalance group….
......................................
How my expectation always disappoints me…
(groookkk!!)
Fuck! It almost gaining on me as I ran! No one tells me that this things were larger in real life! Fucking Orotg that looks like a overgrown warthog are chasing as right now! That Motherfucker is a size of a minibus for god sakes! And the two…
"Fuck!"
Backtrack a bit earlier while venturing in the forest, we suddenly got charged by a wild beast monster, the Orotg. Saraha who was caught off guard, was the first one to be knock out by that charging monster.
Making matters worse, Elise hid herself behind a tree in horror while the knight just stood still, looking towards me who got chased by that fucking monster!
"Help me for heaven sakes…! Don't just stand there!"
"...….." (Crimson Knight)
Mothe… ah! The hell with this!
I jumped up to the branches of the large tree that was near my vicinity. As the minibus sized Orotg slammed on the tree trunk, I readied my bow and arrow and aimed to its exposed head.
"|heed me, spirits of wind, strengthen my arrow, and pierce my target|,
I let loose the string after chanted the arrow. The arrow left the bow like a railgun projectile and hits the Orotg's forehead. A large hole had appeared where I shot my arrow earlier on its forehead. Not long after, it slowly collapsed on the ground with all fours, devoid of vitality.
I jumped down from the branch and check the monster for any sign of living. After conforming its demise, I fall to my butt and lets out a heavy sigh.
"Phew…! I killed it… my goodness I killed this thing…."
I took out the blue emblem from my item box to check my points. The '0' now was replaced by the number '10'. Welp, considering that this thing was enormous monster, the points I got surely as it should. It seems that this points collector had the same function just like back in the game. I guess this Orotg is a rank 2 monster with the double digits appeared on this blue emblem.
If I recall back in the game, small monsters like goblers (goblin) and small beasts monster were classified as rank 1, the easiest monsters to subjugate. Larger monsters like orck (orc) and beast monsters such as this orotg were classified rank 2-3, depends to their strength and will require a bit of strength to handle. And the last one are the variant monsters that classified as rank 4-5 monsters, also known as boss monster type. But since this area is consider a safe zone for the students to collect experience, I guess theres nothing to be worried about meeting those dangerous things.
(clap, clap, clap)
Huh…? Why is the Crimson Knight suddenly clapped his hands? Ah, Elise finally comes out from her hiding and desperately healing her friend who was the useless vanguard. I guess I should check her out even though she's useless, since we are in a group now. Sigh…
"How's the useless vanguard doing?"
Elise didn't reply my remarks. It seems that she's quite scared and shaking as she applied the healing spell on the useless vanguard while having tears on her eyes.
"I want to go back home… forest scary… monster scary… I want to go back to the academy…."
Yikes…! Is she, alright…? Though I felt a little pity to her, but considering that I almost got hurt thanks to her support by hiding, nope…
I direct my sight towards the to another useless character that I had given my hope earlier, the Crimson Knight. It seems that he went to the orotg carcass to check on the dead monster beast that I killed 'alone'…
"Hmm… just one hit. It seems that you hid your strength well… even I couldn't survived if I took that attack head on." (Crimson Knight)
He praised my good works as I walked towards him.
"Oh yea? No thanks to you, Ser knight… there I was thinking that I had-…"
"You seems to be misunderstood my presence here, BOY…" (Crimson Knight)
Wha…? The air around him suddenly became tensed. The heck?
"If you thinking that I'm here to help you in subjugating monsters, then you purely mistaken. I'm here to take care of things that your students cant handle. I'm not your servant, Understand?" (Crimson Knight)
His remarks shut me dead quiet. I couldn't rebuke his words. Its true that the real intention for the officers that was accompanying the students groups acts as a guide and protect the students from other dangers that the students cant handle themselves. The reason why the students had this examination is to prepared them for the future. If the students relies too much to the officers, how can they grow to become the leaders for the nation in the future.
Having no words to rebuke the Crimson Knight, I direct my attention towards the scared Elise who is desperately healing her downed friend the useless vanguard Saraha. Sure we are thrown into the wilderness to gather experience for ourselves, but the two don't had any proper training for these sorts of things. And as for me, I know only what I learned back in the game. I knew that the orotg's weakness was its soft forehead, and I just take advantages from what I learned. I never had any proper training myself.
I did the same thing with my duel with Dort, exploiting their weakness. But now that this is the reality for me, It came to me that I could loose my life If I became reckless by consider this life just like back In the game. I don't know why, but its frightening to die… I don't want that, even I had to lived my life as Reed….
"It seems you understan-… !?" (Crimson Knight)
Before he finished his sentence, he suddenly looks alerted and not long after, he dash away from my sight. Wha…? Did he just bail on our group? The hell….!?
"Mothe-…. Sigh…"
Seeing that he's gone, I went back to Elise who still applying healing magic to the useless vanguard. I noticed that the useless vanguard don't had any scratches on her anymore but Elise still applying healing magic while mutters in silent. I gently tap her shoulder to calm her down.
"Eeeeekkk!!!" (Elise)
Crap! She got spooked and lets out a shriek cry.
"Calm down you… cant you see that you only wasting your mana to healed her? She's only unconscious now…"
"T-t-t-t-the m-m-monster…!?" (Elise)
Seeing her terrified like that just makes me felt guilty. I pointed to the dead carcass that was at a distance from us about fifteen meters away with my index finger.
"I-i-is it d-d-dead…?" (Elise)
"If you want me to proved its demise, I wont mind gouging its heart and give it to you…"
"Wha…? Why would I want its heart!? Are you teasing me!?" (Elise)
Seeing that she's return to her usual demeanor, I lean towards the tree roots next where the laying useless vanguard to relax myself. Now that I felt it, it seems that I got quite exhausted after fighting that monster earlier.
"Glad you return to normal. Now can you let me take a break first? I was exhausted you know, fighting the monster alone while you went hiding…"
Hearing my remarks, she stayed in an awkward silence and sat down on the other side of the downed useless vanguard.
"You really strong, aren't you…." (Elise)
She mutters those with a low voice but I catches them. Wait, did she just complement me? And why is she fidgeting her fingers like that? Hmm, I had the sudden urge to teased her a bit. Theres nothing to do anyway…
"Heh…? Did the Miss beautiful had fallen for the 'bastard' me…?"
"W-w-what…!? Of course not!" (Elise)
Yea, yea… I know that looked you give to me, Elise…
"If only you are a different person… I think-…" (Elise)
"What's that?"
"N-nothing…! I didn't said a-anything…!" (Elise)
"Alright, alright… gosh your loud… but even with your loudness, I'm amazed that this useless vanguard still knocked out like this…"
I turned my gaze to the useless knocked out vanguard whom still unconscious.
"Don't talk like that to her! She's really likes you even though your a bastard that had an evil looks, bastard…!" (Elise)
Waw… she really got worked up when I talk bad about her girlfriend, did she? Eh, wait… she said something that catches my attention just now.
"Wait… did you just said that this useless-…"
"She's not useless!" (Elise)
Sheesh…. I haven't finished talking and she lashed out on me because I talk bad about her girlfriend.
"Alright…! Did you said that your girlfriend had a crush on me?"
"... she did… even though she and I were in that sort of relationship…." (Elise)
Wait…? Not only she admit that they are both a couple but also I didn't hear her wrong? No, no… thats got to be a mistake. Not the part about they were a couple though. I knew that these two had a weird relationship and this world is quite open In that matter. What I don't believe is that this useless vanguard and the one that made me go broke had a crush on me? No way…!
"Your kidding right…? Theres no way she did those stuff just because she likes me…"
Elise didn't replied my words but caressing Saraha's cheek softly.
"Every night she talks about you after we finished reading the novel that we both liked back in the Academy… I was jealous at first and tried to change her mind about you being an asshole and a bastard. But you had to give her the wyvern's heart…" (Elise)
Wha…? What is she talking about? That bitch literally threaten me to procure that wyvern's heart, you know!? And why did she spoked those words with a melancholy tone. This is getting out of hand…
"I too wanted to find my fated person, you know…?" (Elise)
Before I got to speak a word, she said those while staring towards me with teary eyes. No, please don't do that… your making me feel I'm the bad person here… please stop…
"I don't know if I ever met someone that I could depend on like I had with her… she's the only person that called her true friend, even though I'm just a commoner. I don't had anyone else that called such. Even my own mother hates me because of my strange ability…" (Elise)
I know of this… its her background story back in the game. Elise was just a commoner girl and had lived with her mother near the slum district back in the capital city. But since her ability as a healer appeared when she's on her 10th birthday, she was shun by her own mother and all of her friends stopped befriending her. It was a sad back story, fitting for the storyline in her futures to come. She admit to the Academy to escape her gloom life back home. But shouldn't she said this to the ones who she deem a potential targets? No, no… I should change the subject before the misunderstanding got piled up.
"You know, being a noble is a pain…"
Hearing my remarks, her eyes widen In surprise. I should continue…
"You heard me right. I hate being a noble… its a pain in the ass! If I can, I want to run away from this life and became just a normal person and opens a shop or something like that."
"Y-you really mean that…?" (Elise)
"Of course…!"
It seems that she's getting into my story, Its the truth though. If only I'm not Reed, I could take Sei with me away and lived a happy and subtle life with her for the rest of my life. But its not like I can do those things when I'm Reed…
"I too was thinking about opening a shop after I graduate!" (Elise)
Eh? Why did she suddenly seems quite happy like that?
"Yea! To open a shop with the person that I loved… and maybe a couple of children if I-…" (Elise)
She suddenly stop speaking and closed her mouth. Did she just slipped her deepest desires to me? That was quite refreshing to hear…
"F-forget what I said…! I-its just a slip of mind…"
Sure it is… but still. She kinda cute, flustering like that. No wonder she was voted the most popular character back in the game. Not only that she had a beautiful and cute face, she's pure as well…! Now I had the urge for the need to protect her. She's really an unfair character…!
(crash!)
Huh? A loud sounds suddenly heard from a distance from where we are resting. And its coming towards, fast.
"W-w-whats that noise… its sounds like its heading towards this direction…." (Elise)
She shudders while spoken those words. A strong uneasy feeling envelops my mind as I readied my bow and arrow. Trouble is coming…
(crash! Drags!)
The cause of that loud noises finally came forth to our sight. Elise trembles with the sight of the thing thats had multiple sharp claw like legs and a size about five meters wide and twenty meters in length. Fuck!
(screechhh!!!)
"I'm guessing, a Lotrad… this is bad."
Lotrad, a giant insect monster that looks like an overgrown centipede. But aren't this one a bit larger than it should be? From what I see back in the game, that thing only a sized about an adult person size. But man, that motherfucker is big. Its like watching a horror movie starring bugs. Not to mention its big razor sharp teeth that spilling its venom from its large mouth that could gulp an adult person's head in one bite.
"T-t-that large insect…!? W-w-what should w-we do…!? W-where are the knight earlier…!? A-are we going to die…!?" (Elise)
I can understand Elise's anxiousness. That think isn't your normal lotord's monster. Its color also differs from the ones I met back in the game. It usually had a brown shell and it doesn't had any antennas on them. But this one is blue green colored shells and those antennas looks like a long flexible katana blade. I had a bad feeling about this…
"Elise… I'll be needing your help if we want to lives… Elise…?"
Not hearing her reply, I took a glance towards her and found that she's in a terrible state. Her whole body is shuddering while her mouth is gaping intangible words and her face is plastered with terror. Sigh… I guess I have to handle this myself, again. Fuck!
"Elise!"
"Eeekkk…!!!" (Elise)
She replied my shout with a shriek. Good, it seems that I managed to take her attention. If she's useless here, I better chased her away along with that useless vanguard. I don't want to loose my concentration with protecting these two.
"Take Saraha and run… drag her if you must…"
I said this while direct my eyesight towards the strange looking large lotord that haven't move from its place from earlier. I guess it too is observing us right now.
"Wha…? I uh… bu-…" (Elise)
What is she dong…!? This is getting irritating…
"I said, TAKE SARAHA AND RUN, YOU DUMB GIRL!! DON'T LET ME REPEAT MYSELF!!"
"Eeeekkkk!!!" (Elise)
(drag!)
Phew… I said some harsh words to her, but at least she's moving her ass away. While I'm still starring to the strange lotord, it suddenly makes a movement and tried to charge towards where Elise is dragging Saraha. Shit!
"Oh no you don't!"
I dash to the side and pull my arrow that I readied since earlier towards the strange lotord's head, aiming at its many eyes, I think.
(bang!)
The arrow exploded on its head, making the strange lotord's stops in its tracks to chased Elise who dragged Saraha, now vanished to the tree lines.
(screetch!!!)
"You like that? I had several more, ready and waiting, if you you wanted to chased them again…"
Though it did hit its head, it seems that the enchanted arrow I shot earlier did only a small amount of damaged to that thing.
(screetch!!!)
Oh, it seem quite to be angry by my attack, and now turns its attention towards me. Readied my arrow, I once again aimed to its head while it mindlessly charge towards me. Don't you looked down on my marksmanship you blastard monster! Even though I only had archery practice back in the mall near my apartment, I'm proud of my skills.
(swoosh!)
(miss)
Wha…!? It dodges my arrow and-…
(slash!)
Fuck! I got cut on my shoulder with its antenna while I dodges to the sides. Shit! Its painful than I imagine it would be! Screw this! Why the fuck did I tried to face this thing myself!? Just what did got into me today!? I've always been a coward and hates these sorts of things like trying to be a hero. I'm not some novel or manga protagonist! I just want a normal life and make love with the girls I liked! Fuck this!
(screetch!!!)
"Stop screaming you fucking overgrown insect!"
I run as fast as I can to get myself to a higher ground for a vantage point while pressing my wounded shoulder. The fucking thing still chased me around as I tried to pick the perfect branch to do something like I did with the orotg earlier. Though the pain on my shoulder still stings like hell, I manages to moved it around and draw the bowstring. Good, that branch looks perfect!
(jump!)
(crash!)
I found a large tree thats had a perfect branch that I could used. I quickly jumped up on its branch while the mindless monster crashed to its trunk like. Glad that blastard thing is a dumb creature.
"|heed me oh great spirit of wind and fire, enchant my arrow with your rage, and pierce my target|, Before I could finished my spell, the lotord suddenly turn its head away from me and direct its attention elsewhere. Just why did it suddenl… oh no…. "You dumb bitch… why the fuck did you come back here!?" Elise… why did she suddenly appeared from nowhere…!? I thought I told her to run away….!!! (screecth!!!) its… fuck! The lotord's charge towards Elise who seems to be trying to chant a spell, but she froze as the blastered monster charged towards her. Stupid! Fuck! " (ringing!) Gah!!! My head!! I used a level 4 spell out of the blue and teleported next to the frozen and bewildered stupid girl Elise and push her aside-….. (crash!) "Argghhhh!!!!" Fuckkkk!!! My sides! My fucking sides!! It hurts like hell!!! Thanks to the stupid girl, this blastered monster manages to bit my right side!!! Fuck, IT FUCKING HURTS!!! "You wanted to eat me that badly…? Then, I'LL DRAG YOU TO HELL WITH ME, YOU FUCKING MONSTER!!!" I muster all my strength to move my arms as I unsheathed the dagger from my left wrist, as my right side are now inside the blastered monster's mouth. But since you this closed to me, might as well stab your fucking ugly face!!! (stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab!...…..) (screetch!!!) Hahahahahahahahahhaahahhahhaahha...…!!!!! Feeling pain….!? Fuck you!! Fuck you!! Fuuuuck yooouuuuuu!!!!! (slips) Ugh… my arms started to numb… my eyesight is getting blurry as well… though I can only see green and red colors, right now… that fucking monster still had its razor teeth buried in my flesh…. I could feel my skins were blistering as the venom from its disgusting mouth pours inside my flesh and blood… "....(muffled)…." I heard someones talking… but I didn't heard it clearly…. I felt as my life is fleeting from my body… my senses in numbing as I think of all of this… just why did I saved her…? Why did I suddenly acts like a hero…? This is stupid… I'm really such a fool… I don't want to die! I don't… want to… die…. I d… on..t… w….a….. ....................................….