After thanking the villager for the metal alastair followed the path down the hill to the center of the village were the church and a rather strange tree with a massive vine wrapped around it. alastair sees his friend gemma standing under the tree with her dog sandy staring angrily up at a vibrant red headscarf stuck just beyond her reach. alastair shook his head with a knowing smirk as he walked up to her casually. "you know one of these days i'm going to leave my house and not find you with your headscarf stuck in that tree." he says playfully teasing the girl.
She turns and pouts at alastair "oh would you shut up and help me already." alastair chuckled at the blondes adorable attitude before he reaches up casually and plucks the head scarf from the lower branch it was stuck on before handing it to her. emma ties the headscarf over her forehead firmly before looking at alastair with a grin. "right , since that's taken care of we aught to head over to the tor for the ceremony , race you there." she said before running towards the south of the village while laughing.
Alastair chuckled before chasing the girl to the south half heartedly since he knew that if he got serious he would overtake her almost immediately since unlike him she didn't train her body. soon the two arrive before a rope bridge across a small gap leading to the entrance of the path up the tor where majority of the villagers are waiting happily. emma is panting heavily out of breath while alastair didn't even break a sweat at the light jog. "*ha* i forget *ha* that you *ha* train so bloody much!" exclaimed emma angrily when she sees how relaxed alastair is.
Alastair shrugs "i tried to get you to train as well but you said it was unladylike to do so it's not my fault you're out of shape and i'm not." he says calmly. "did you just call me fat?" emma asked accusingly. alastair shakes his head vigorously with his hands raised "no no no i would never!" he denies her accusation vehemently since he remembered the last time he accidentally let slip she was gaining weight and ended up beaten black and blue somehow , the girl could be terrifying if provoked correctly he discovered the hard way.
The village chief spoke up from the middle of the group of villagers watching this little event unfold with knowing smiles. "today these to children will climb the tor that has stood over cobblestone for time immemorial and when they arrive at the bottom again they shall be adults." he said grandly before speaking again "let us see them off while wishing them a safe journey on the path to adulthood." he finished before stepping aside leaving the path to the tor completely free of obstructions.
Both alastair and emma bow to the group of villagers respectfully before walking across the rope bridge and onto the narrow path to the tor that while not cramped only has about six feet on either side before sheer cliffs or mountainous walls that lead straight to the tor. walking a bit further down the path the two see a stone monument on the left side of the path only three feet from the mountainous walls. alastair grins when he sees the monument as he jogs behind it to find a standard red chest sitting securely on the ground that he checks only to find it locked.
For most people this would dissuade them from messing with the strange chest further but alastair knew that there was a person who had scattered these chest all over the world in odd locations as a challenge and a reward for adventurers. alastair put a bit of mana into his bag and retrieved his lockpicks before carefully moving the tumblers of the locking mechanism into alignment with a satisfying click before opening the chest to claim his prize. inside alastair found fifty gold coins and a congratulations written on the inside of the lid.
Alastair stored away the gold before closing the chest which locked by itself before returning to emma who waited patiently. "what did this one have in it?" she asked curiously since she had seen him open a different chest only to get a seed of life that gave him a tiny bit more vitality. "nothing as good as before , only fifty gold coins." alastair said with a shrug. emma nodded before the sound of sandy barking drew their attention causing them to look at what she alerted to only to see three blue things like quivering drops of water with eyes and a mouth bouncing towards them.
"eek! monsters!" emma screamed before hiding behind alastair who drew his tin sword with a serious expression. two years ago a slime much like these had gotten close to the village and he saw the guards kill it with extreme prejudice. when he asked them why since it looked harmless they told him that the only harmless monster was the one that didn't attack at all and that even the weakest monsters like slimes could kill if they hit you enough and alastair took this advice very seriously.
In this situation alastair was protecting emma so he charged at the slimes with sandy and struck one of them with his sword at full force splitting it and the ground under it in half before blocking a second slime with the flat of his blade. the force of the slimes attack definitely packed a small punch proving the guards words correct as alastair repelled the offending slime as sandy grabbed the last slime with her teeth and shook it violently causing it to burst. alastair quickly ended the second slime and started to leave his adrenaline high when a sound echoed through his head.