Stepping foot on the brown road was a relief from the snowy ground we were once on. All of us took a break on the ground. Kale looked at his leg wound with a frown, it still hadn't properly healed with the healing potion. His left leg that used to have a hole now had a gash that was quite deep still, that'll most likely need healing. I would help with that, but my inefficiency in it really wouldn't help at all. Lilith looked at Kale's wound as well, she even poked it before Kale slapped her hand out of disgust. Chris and I sat next to each other, the boy was somewhat less active than he was before, looking off into the woods and the road.
"Hey Chris…how'd you even get out here?" Lilith asked, she plopped down on the ground next to Kale. Chris looked at her for a moment, considering if he should. Kale gave him a cold look, it seemed Kale was still upset about the fact that Chris somehow managed to escape the castle, adding his explanation would surely make Kale more upset. But Chris proceeded to explain.
During the morning, it seemed that one of the maids in the kingdom had accidentally kept one of the doors unlocked that led out to the garden in the castle when cleaning, which Chris found. Before he left, he actually got a cloak to cover himself as he escaped. He ran out through the southern gate when the guards were checking on the camps outside of the gate, taking this road and going way farther than where we were right now…
"Then that big bird thing grabbed me! It swooped from the air and put me on its back." Chris ended his story with that, flapping his arms to imitate it. "CAW, CAW."
"Alright, you don't need to add that." Kale said, he scratched his head as he took it all in. He still had his cold look. "You're still in trouble, you know that. Right?"
Chris gave him an apologetic look, but Kale didn't seem to acknowledge it. His mind was in thought, figuring things out before he asked a question that has also popped in my mind.
"There were supposed to be adventurers out here…Have you seen any, Chris?" Kale looked up at him.
Chris rocked his head as he tried to remember, tapping his feet before finally answering. "The Bird thing got them!"
I looked at him confused when he said that, What'd he mean by that? Killed them? If that Owl monster had killed them, Wouldn't we have seen the bodies at some point?
"Elaborate..." Kale asked.
"Well, It was before you guys showed up.The Bird thing-"
"It's an owl, Chris…" Kale interrupted him. Finally someone said it!
Chris gave me an annoyed look before resuming. "Anyways…The OWL took me into the forest and we got found by some adventurers. It was farther out from where you guys found it and me. But when the adventurers tried to fight it, I couldn't see. But I heard what was happening. It was like…a Big VVVVOMPH noise!"
"A what? Then what happened?" Kale cocked his head when he heard that.
"Yeah, And then the big owl thing turned around, I looked around for the adventurers but I Couldn't find them!" Chris scratched his head in confusion as well. "It was weird, It was like they vanished…"
"Vanished…No, it's something else." Kale rubbed his chin in concentration as he tried to piece that part of the story. "I'll need to ask Richard about this, Maybe tera…"
"Hey Kale." Lilith nudged him, Kale looked at her. "It's gonna be sunset if we don't go now."
I looked up at the sun, it was still high in the air.
Kale sighed and struggled to get up, Lilith getting up and assisting him stand. I watched as Kale finally managed to stand up, though wobbling for a moment before quickly finding his footing. Lilith watched with worried eyes.
"Are you going to be okay, kale?" She asked.
Kale waved his hand in a dismissive fashion. "I'll be fine. Alright, break times over. Let's head back to the southern gate."
Getting up myself, I wondered how the guards would react with us bringing back the prince? Like how'd they let this boy slip out? How'd they react to some kids and a king's employee coming back with his kid?
All of us readied up again for the walk, taking the same route we did this morning. It was maybe an hour or so of walking again that we finally saw the southern gate. Still the guards were there, but there was something else. As we walked closer to the gate, it seemed like everyone froze up as we saw three figures looming near the gates. As soon as they noticed us, the one in the front immediately stormed for us.
Kale tensed up at the sudden presence of this something. It was like a raging beast, Far scarier than the owl monster we've fought.it strutted towards us. They wore a cloak, But underneath they wore a blue mage hat and blue mage outfit. Something they'd usually wear on a daily basis whenever they came by our house.
It was Tera. She most likely has been looking for us since the morning judging by her worried and angered face.
"Kale! Where have you been?!" She yelled at him, Kale flinched at her words for some reason.
I haven't even seen him flinch like that to the owl monster. Tera moved past me and everyone else and eyed Kale before looking down at his leg. "And What happened to your leg?...And why is the King's boy out here!?"
'I-Uh…We went out on a quest for some Rubees and we found him…" Kale tried to explain, but his voice was somewhat meek and quiet. It was like seeing a boy get caught by his mom.
"And you didn't tell me? I gave Kota a three day break and went to your home this morning and you and the kids weren't there! And then the guards went around looking for the King's boy, and somehow I found you all together!" Tera kept pushing on, Jabbing her finger at Kale's chest. "I was even asked about you since they had you as a possible suspect!"
"Wha- they're doing a manhunt now? Hold on, look. WE didn't steal the kid. He was just being kidnaped by an Owl monster." Kale explained. Tera gave him a dumb look.
" A Owl monster? Like from the Demon Continent?" Tera asked, Kale nodded which angered her even more. "So you brought the kids?"
"I-uh-" But Tera shut him up before he could answer, tera swung around and faced me and Lilith.
"You two. Did you both fight alongside this idiot? You know you could've died? What would your parents think if they came here and realized both of you or one of you had died?" Tera worriedly checked both of us for any signs of damage, and that was when she saw my broken left arm. "How'd this happen?! Kale! Explain!' She demanded.
Kale seemed almost scared to respond, but quickly responded in hopes of not being hurt himself. "He…Got smacked by an ogre…when I wasn't near…" He looked down in awkwardness as tera gave him a death glare before looking at me.
"My pupil…" She then crouched down and gently put her hand on my left arm, chanting a Intermediate Healing spell.
Lilith watched in dismay as tera worriedly pampered me, it seemed she wanted to say that this injury was her fault. She did run into the goblin's nest without hesitation. But then again…I kind of ran off.
"What are you doing, Kota? An ogre? You're lucky that cloak that your mother gave you managed to save you…You should've known better!" Tera lectured me.
As she was healing me, The sound of marching came from the Southern gate. It seemed the Guards who were stationed there had noticed us and Chris, Making quick haste to notify the king of the boy's whereabouts. Speaking of Chris, He seemed somewhat quieter since we had gotten here. He looked much more dismayed and sad than what he had earlier on. Perhaps he was dreading being back here? Maybe he was upset that he had to watch his rescuers be helped by their injuries? Whatever was the case, that unhappiness in his eyes caught my attention.
"Tera…It's my fault…" Lilith said in an apologetic way, She was rubbing one of her arms in nervousness. "I ran in the goblin's nest…and Kota unfortunately got the ogre's attention. I tried to help but…" Lilith looked down just like kale.
Tera gave her a lesser death glare. She seemed Angry at Lilith for a moment but it seemed her anger had softened as she sighed and looked at me. "...I'm assuming you both killed the ogre then? And that Owl monster?"
I nodded, feeling my arm slowly heal, It felt weird having my bones seemingly reconnect and heal from being broken. Tera gave out another sigh, this time in relief. Soon, My arm was healed completely again, I flexed it to see and felt no pain. Tera then stood up from her crouching, looking at lilith.
"I feel I should be more upset with you. However…you did try to rectify your mistakes by helping Kota. And I guess I can be glad you did." Lilith seemed surprised by that response from Tera. but tera paid no mind, she patted Liliths head before looking at kale.
"Uhhmm…Yeah, I should've told you I was going out is what you're going to say to me, Huh?" Kale suspected, Tera eyes furrowed and she raised her hand, almost looking as if the salp kale. Kale closed his eyes, accepting it. But nothing happened, Instead tera crouched down and gently touched his injured leg.
"Hey…you're not mad?" Kale questioned.
"Oh I'm mad…Just can't leave someone injured like this…Then i'll slap you…" Tera said without looking at him, chanting and casting another healing spell. "Perhaps I let my anger explode moments ago, but did you guys do well out there?" She asked.
"We got like ten goblin ears and an ogre ear." Kale awkwardly said, sighing in relief as his wound was being healed. I could see the wound wrapping and coiling around as it covered the gash.
"Hmm…I see. Well, at least you three didn't get killed. As for the other boy…" Tera took a look at the boy. "What was he doing out there?"
Chris averted his eyes from her, almost acting as if she hadn't asked that. He kept it that act up before he finally succumbed to her death stare she was giving him moments later.
Coughing, Chris finally answered. "I…escaped the castle! Bored of the lackluster nothingness that resides in there!"
"…Brat…" Tera bluntly said. That almost made Chris choke on air when she said that. "You know how much trouble you caused in the kingdom for your antics?"
Chris tried to fire back, but stopped and thought for a moment and just kept his mouth shut.
Tera finally finished healing Kale's leg, standing up and letting him check. Kale poked at his former wound before jumping to see if there was any pain.
"No pain at all! Than-." Kale couldn't finish his sentence as a hand swung across his face. Tera gave him a mighty slap.
"That's for not telling me where you were going! And for almost killing three kids!" Tera angrily said, she rubbed her hand as kale rubbed his face. "If I was there, maybe you three wouldn't have been as injured as you were. And Kota would've actually learned how to properly do magic on the field, instead of learning out of instinct." Tera continued.
I haven't seen Tera this angry before, usually I'm used to her flirtatious or positive mood. Sometimes she'd be upset at school when one of us messed up in class, but never yelled at us. Maybe us being gone for so long had her worried since she apparently wasn't told that we were gone. Maybe she doesn't even trust kale enough with us two to be going out. It seemed to be the latter as Tera continued to lecture kale about us.
"If I was there, it would've been an easy in and out job! But you just had to go out and do it on your own! Tsk, you haven't changed at all since Ithryll…"Tera finally stopped her lecture. Looking away from Kale, Kale looked at her with widened eyes, not sure of what to say.
It's abundantly clear that Kale had no idea of how to say anything back to her at this moment, she was making some pretty good points about having just us three go out there. Especially without proper training at all, I couldn't even heal us. Kale swallowed hard and tried to speak.
"I…sorry to have not told you. I thought I could've handled it by myself…Forgive me, Tera…"
Him saying that immediately had Tera look at him. Blinking for a moment before letting out a sigh. I could've sworn I saw a quick smile before she snorted at him.
"That's all I needed to hear. Next time, bring me. And make sure it isn't a job that doesn't hurt the kids."
Kale sighed and nodded. "I'll…make sure I do."
Suddenly, the sound of marching feets rumbled from the southern Gate. About maybe Ten guards came out the gate, a man in between them all. He was hastily looking around before spotting us.
"There!" I heard him say as the guards marched in towards us.
"oh…Fathers here…" Chris said in arrembljng voice. He looked down to the ground as the marching grew closer. Was Chris afraid of his dad?
Kale quickly rehabilitated himself, standing straight up and looking onward. Tera just stood and watched as the guards stopped in front of us. Soon they parted in the middle, leaving one man in the middle walking out.
The brown haired man walked out slowly, looking at chris. This must be King Lucian. He stood quite tall, though having a large belly. His brown beard had a bit of grey to it. He quickly ran to Chris, yelling. "Chris! What are you doing out here? Are you insane?!" His eyes widened in anger as he stood in front of the boy.
Chris flinched at him, still looking down at the ground. King Lucian looked at him in dismay before slapping the boy, a hard slap that sent Chris to the floor. "Are you listening to me? Why are you out here?" King Lucian then looked at kale. "And what are you doing with my boy?"
Kale looked straight, responding quickly. "King Lucian, we found him in the forest when I was…training my Apprentice and her friend in doing a quest…"
King Lucian snorted, grabbing Chris by his collar. Chris feebly let it happen. King Lucian plopped him to his feet. "What were you doing in the forest, Chris? You aren't supposed to be out there. Answer me."
"N-no sir!" Chris immediately responded.
Jesus,I didn't expect King Lucian to be this aggressive. I looked at Lilith, who watched with disappointed eyes. It seemed she didn't like the king's tone as well.
King Lucian sighed, irritation and disappointment sputtered out of him as he yanked Chris's arm. He pointed at one of the guards, "call the manhunt off, we found him. I'll need to speak to Chris in the castle." Chris tried to pull away from him, but to no avail.
Before King Lucian was about to walk off with Chris though, Kale stopped him. "King Lucian, there is something else that needs to be taken care of."
"And what is that?" He said, glancing back.
"Well, Chris was technically being kidnapped."
"By whom?" King Lucian turned around, letting go of Chris's hand. "A thief? Someone from this camp over here?l
"No…a monster From the demon continent." Kale said.
King Lucian's eyes widened, he picked at his beard for a moment before speaking. "Hmph…from the demon continent. More of a reason to exclude them from our business here. Alright, tell the guards of this beast location. Surely you've killed it?"
"Yes, with the assistance of these two." Kale pointed at me and Lilith. King Lucian eyed us for a moment and then at Chris.
"Thank you for rescuing my Boy, I'll give him a long lecture about this at our castle. Good work on killing the monster too, what are your names, children?"
"Erm…I'm Kota, and this is Lilith." I answered for both of us. King Lucian gave us a meager smile before reverting back to his angered frown.
"Ah, I'll keep that in mind. Now, We'll be off. Come on, chris. That's enough of your foolery for today." King Lucian grabbed hold of Chris again, dragging him. " Kale, tell the guards what you found and where it is. Today is your free day and I don't plan on having you waste it anymore."
Kale nodded. "Thank you, king Lucian."
Tera quietly snorted. "Kissing the king's ass..."
Tera didn't seem fond of him, her whole facial expression when he arrived just oozed with disgust and disinterest.
As King Lucian walked away with the group of Guards, I saw Chris look back at us. He waved at us with his free hand, to which I returned back to him. Three guards stayed back, an order that King Lucian quietly made. Soon they disappear past the southern gates, leaving just me and everyone else.
Kale let out a sigh, walking to the guards. As he was speaking with the guards, Tera got beside me and Lilith.
"Are you two doing well?" She asked, she eyed my left arm.
"I'm fine, my left arm is good as new!" I wiggled my left arm to show.
"And you?" Tera looked at Lilith. Lilith examined herself, surprisingly she didn't get any damage at all from her fight with the owl.
"I'm fine." She meekly responded. Tera only smiled at the response.
"Good, now how about I join you guys on the walk to the bounty hall? I would love to see you two get your rewards." Tera patted both of our heads.
As she walked onwards, I had a moment of thoughts. Why didn't the King recognize me? I thought Tera had referred me to him and that was why I was accepted? And right now, it seemed he just saw me as another kid.
Remembering what Tera said some time ago, I held her hand for a moment. That caught her off guard for a moment. "What is it? Don't want me coming?"
"No…it's just about the King." I scratched my head in a awkwardness. "I thought he'd…Notice the kid he was interested in."
Tera also seemed caught off by that too, maybe she had remembered her conversation with the king. She pondered for a moment before giving me a explanation. "He's most likely worried about his son than the kid he's never seen before. Think about it, I've only referred you. That's what kept them interested in you. But he's never seen you. This is probably the first time you two met each other in person."
Yeah, she was right. I don't recall seeing the principal or the king during my time in the university. They were most likely busy with other things.
"I'm sure at some point, Lucian…urgh, hate saying his name. King Lucian will come visit and check on you now that he knows your the boy I referred." She went on. "Now come on, let's wait for kale to finish and head to the hall."