๐๐ถ๐บ๐๐ฟ๐ฎ ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ล
*DING* *DONG* *DING* *DONG* *DING* *DONG* *DING* *DONG* *DING* *DONG* *DING* *DONG* *DING*
I woke up in the afternoon as the bell tower rang in the distance, as I sat up, my felt body better than ever then my gaze stops at the pile in our room.
Various items like grappling hooks and water skins were there as well as multiple potions and rations placed on the table.
"*Yawwwn* I wish, I could sleep more."
I stretched my body and then took my katana next to the table. My katana had a long blade and an unusually long handle and the pommel had a hole in it that had a string with a single charm attached to it.
During the fight with the phoenix, though the mysterious voice made my weapon resistant to its fire and able to slash that black substance, it didn't make it unbreakable.
After the battle, I discovered that my katana had multiple chips and cracks in it so I bought a new weapon from a proper swordsmith this time and that is what I got. I take multiple practice swings even incorporating multiple kicks and swift movement.
I sheathed my katana and put it on my waist before leaving the room. When I looked over the lobby, I saw Alice, Astoria, and Freya talking to each other.
'She's adjusting well.' As I thought that, it seems Alice noticed my gaze as she looked at me, in response, I waved my hand and went down the stairs.
I silently sat down on the far side of the table as I listens to them.
Whenever I look at them talking, I was reminded of a scene during my group project discussion.
Deep in my heart, I know how important they are to me but I chose to ignore such feelings and shook my head to clear my thoughts.
I passed the time like that, listening to other people and staying silent myself while ignoring the gazes of the people who are questioning why I wasn't saying anything.
After an hour or two, The three called me.
"By the way, Himura, do you have anything you need to do for tomorrow?"
"Nothing."
"Oh, well if that's the case then we can leave in the morning then!"
"Alright," I responded shortly.
'Guess they have nothing planned either.'
"I'll be go.ing out for a b.it" I said brokenly to them.
"Kay," Astoria responded, waving her hand as I leave.
It seems that conversation triggered something within me as I left the adventurers guild.
As I was walking around aimlessly, I continued to lecture myself.
'Why didn't I talk more?'
'I couldn't even answer her properly!"
'And I'm even running away just to escape the awkwardness!' I thought self-deprecatingly.
I clicked my tongue as I head to the top of the walls near the front gate. Looking around there wasn't even a single guard patrolling the walls.
As I watch the sunset, I found myself humming a particularly calming tune but I seem to remember something from it.
'Ah...that was the music my grandmother always hummed to make me fall asleep when I was a kid.'
I remembered my grandmother's death and the fact that I didn't even mourn her death.
'I...'
"So I was..." I turned my head and saw two guards talking to each other on my left which interrupted my thoughts and I quickly left.
As I leave the wall, I've already forgotten what I was thinking about earlier and decided to explore the city a little bit more.
This was my last day in Bellken so I wanted to finish exploring it all before leaving and going to Kliyer, the city of creation which were the nearest city to Bellken.
Kliyer is a city in the west of Bellken and was home to many great artificers, people who combine magic with technology which is the reason they are one of the most technologically advanced cities. The city was on the continent of Tiru which is owned by the goddess of creation, Dlutris.
Those who believed Dlutris as their god, believed that she created mana herself and because of such belief, the church of Hu and Dlutris was never on good terms with each other, but then again, all the religions have never found peace with each other in the first place.
After three or so hours, I headed back to the adventurers guild. When I entered the guild, many adventurers were already drinking including Alice, Astoria, and Freya. Since I wasn't in the mood for alcohol, I decided to head upstairs to our room and passed the time drawing.
I drew the burning figure that I fought, this time its body was more defined, and behind it was the phoenix with its wings raised menacingly.
After finishing the front view of him, I then drew the same character but in a side view before drawing the final piece, this time in a pose.
As I was inking the final details, Astoria entered the room drunkenly. "Hic, goood ight, Himura."
"Good night." I briefly responded.
Astoria takes off her armor leaving only her shirt and short pants to be visible before jumping into the bed and falling asleep.
I, of course, remained calm since this was a daily occurrence and because I didn't know how to react to it.
After finishing the inking, I took off my jacket and also headed to bed.
Astoria in her drunken state hugs me, in response, I wanted to get out of the hug but chose not to.
'I guess hugs aren't a bad feeling. Now that I think about it, this is the first hug I've had in years.' I thought to myself as I eventually fell asleep more peacefully than usual.
*****
๐๐๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฎ ๐๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ป๐ต๐ผ๐ฟ๐ป
I woke up shortly after the bell tower rung for 7:00 AM. After a second I immediately realized that I was hugging Himura.
I tried taking my arms off him as gently as I could for his sake but when I looked over, Himura was holding my arm preventing my arms from moving.
"H-hey, wake up..." I said with my playful and confident nature breaking a little each second. Thankfully Himura was an early riser so he woke up a minute after I called him.
He takes his hand away from my arms without him even noticing that he was grabbing it. I took his arms off without him noticing it, when Himura got up from the bed, he saw me putting my armor on before facing him.
"Morning," I said with a smile, as my playful and confident face returned.
"...Morning." After greeting me briefly, he grabs his jacket and starts putting it on.
I stretched my body but stopped briefly because of my scar tearing for a bit but after a while, the pain goes away.
"I'll get the carriage."
I left the room, leaving Himura who was preparing his equipment.
*****
๐๐ถ๐บ๐๐ฟ๐ฎ ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ล
After putting my two packs and katana in my waist, I left the room as well and looked over the lobby.
Alice and Freya were eating their breakfast and I joined them as well.
"Good morning, Himura."
"Morning." The two greeted him.
"Good morning," I respond.
I decided to order my breakfast while waiting for Astoria and after 10-15 minutes or so, Alice went out of the guild but soon came back.
"She's here, take the equipment and put it on the back." I looked at the back of the carriage and saw four sleeping bags stacked with each other next to our bags.
Freya asked us to take 5 health potions, 3 iron-skin potions, 1 obsidian potion, and a filled waterskin. She then gave Alice three small crystals before heading to the front.
Astoria and Freya were in the front while Alice and I were in the back.
"Are you all ready?" Astoria asks.
Alice and I responded with a nod and Freya says her agreement.
"Alright then, our journey to Kliyer begins!" She said loudly before making the horses move slowly.
An hour into our journey, the road was surrounded by trees and the sun was briefly shining on us. I felt the fresh breeze on my skin as I was drawing. Alice was napping next to me, using my shoulder as a pillow,
Astoria and Freya were conversing with each other while looking out for bandits and monsters.
'This...this is nice.' I thought to myself as I smell the fresh breeze however it was interrupted when Astoria stops the carriage.
When I looked over there were 15 or so bandits in front. Freya and Astoria look at me as I was closing his sketchbook and waking up Alice.
"Let's jus.t get this over wit.h, not like they ha.ve somet.hing we want." I said brokenly with an annoyed face.
My pride as an artist was showing when I was interrupted during my drawing session.
Alice summons two steel-toe eagles and Astoria, Freya and I get out of the carriage.
The men looked at women with lustful eyes which for some reason ticked me off but I didn't let it show.
The steel toe eagles dashed to them and Astoria followed, her bow ready then Freya and I followed her shortly.
The steel toe eagle takes one of the bandit's eyes before the other eagle grabs his throat and pulls the skin out, killing one of them.
Astoria jumps in the middle of the fray before shooting 2 of them while swiftly dodging. Freya supported Astoria by stabbing and punching the ones trying to attack her while defending herself as well.
I was getting attacked by three men but I dodged all of them before retaliating by slashing horizontally killing one of them.
I stayed calm knowing that I technically just committed murder.
The other stayed alert and I waited for their attack. After a moment, the two tried to slash at me with their crude swords and in response, I dashed backward but was stopped by a tree forcing me to block one of the attacks.
The other bandit was preparing a stab in my side. I positioned my weapon to meet with the sword in my side and after a well-timed block, the sword hit the tree instead, I positioned it again so that I was able to do an upward diagonal slash at the bandit that forced the one in front of me to block.
The slash connected to the throat of the bandit on my side, killing him. The last bandit didn't waste time as he tried to slash me which I dodged by dashing behind him before kicking him which made him face plant into the dirt road then I briefly stabbed the back of his neck.
When he looked at his party members, it seems they didn't have any problems in their fight.
I wiped my katana with a cloth while Astoria was dragging the body to the side of the road, Alice was doing something with her eagles and Freya was praying.
My heart was beating fast from the battle. I immediately knew that this was a high that people get when they killed someone for the first time.
After a brief check-up, we head back to the carriage and continue our journey. When I looked around, none of my party members were guilty of what they'd done.
When I asked Astoria, apparently this was a normal occurrence for travelers and crimes like these were allowed when they are not inside a city of its vicinity.
The outside was apparently a lawless place and that's why many people chose to stay in one city for the rest of their lives.
I looked up at the ceiling of the carriage after her explanation.
'This is really a fantasy world huh? It felt like yesterday was the day I was killed and now I'm a traveler.' I put such a thought in the back of my head as I continued drawing.
*****
Afterword:
Hi, this is Grenje. I just wanted to thank the people who are reading my novel, It means a lot to me to see someone actually reading it ( Especially for an amateur like me ).
Sorry for the lack of uploads lately, currently I am sick so it will take some time to upload the next chapter but then again I kinda just upload whenever I want.
Many loves to you all and please continue reading my novels.