A day of light, or rather, the brightness of it, can cause problems for my eyesight. The rays that penetrate my fragile eyes seem brief, and I've gotten somewhat used to it. But I've always disliked the sunrise.
"Seriously, how'd this happen?" I wondered, reflecting on the promotion I somehow achieved. As I donned my adventurer gear — handed out after a long process of gruesome paperwork at the guild — it still didn't feel real.
Weak. That's how I classify myself. And as horrible as things already were, nothing could compare to this "luck ability" that had randomly appeared on my arm while I was completing my very first quest.
"Cheer up, Vel. It's not that bad." Ariel spoke up from behind me, her voice causing a screech that was terrible to men — seriously, they should add that to some kind of warning label.
"You scared me!" I took a few steps back and turned toward the brown hair woman, "I thought you were already waiting for me at the guild. Why are you here?"
"You're late," she replied calmly, completely ignoring my reaction. "As your trustworthy guild attendant, I figured it was best to wake you up and get you ready for your first S-Ranked quest."
"No need to—" I began, only to be cut off by a nudge on the head.
"And who manages your finances, hmm?" Ariel asked, giving me a dangerous look.
"...You do," I muttered with a sour expression.
"Exactly. Off we go then." Without further discussion, she grabbed my hand and dragged me toward the guild, which I secretly found kind of nice.
Now, this would normally be where something clichéd happens. And of course, it did.
"Kyah!" Ariel tripped suddenly, knocking me down in the process.
"Not again!" I yelled as we fell.
And yes, just like in every cliché, something always comes next. In this case, it was Ariel delivering one thousand punches in under a millisecond. It was... gut-wrenching.
"I only touched your breasts! It's not that bad, is it?" I asked while healing myself from the assault.
"It might not be for you, but it is for me! Now, how will I ever get married?" she cried, though I couldn't help but notice those were clearly fake tears.
I rolled my eyes. Enough with the clichés already.
When we finally arrived at the guild, another "unfortunate" event awaited me. Was this luck, or just pure misfortune? Either way, it wasn't catastrophic, but I absolutely loathed the feeling of superiority.
"It's him!" one of the guild members shouted, pointing in my direction.
"It is!" another chimed in.
"It's Velvet Goon Kaiser, our savior!" Cheers erupted throughout the guild hall.
"Great," I sighed, resigning myself to this new reality where my life had somehow spiraled into chaos.
Being famous — such bad luck. Yet, oddly, it didn't feel entirely terrible. Which, for someone like me, was saying a lot, given that my luck ability was clearly my greatest downfall.
"Why couldn't I just be a knight in shining armor?" I collapsed to the ground, dramatically depressed.
"Don't be that way, Velvet. Here, let me help you up." Ariel patted me on the back — hard — before pulling me to my feet by my armpits and hand.
"Give me a quest already," I groaned.
With a sly smile, she pulled out a quest and waved it in front of my face. "Well, if you have nothing better to do, how about this one? It's in a territory notorious for slimes."
I narrowed my eyes at her. "It's not going to be easy, is it?"
"I don't know," she said, her devious smile growing wider.
With a heavy sigh, I accepted the quest. Little did I know just how wrong I was about this being a simple task.
Hours later...
"These slimes," I panted, trying to fend off the onslaught, "No one said anything about them being magic slimes!"
Luck — by definition, it's supposed to be a benefit. But this "ability," this so-called "blessing" from the gods, has done nothing but harm my reputation and my life. I mean, how else could I explain a passive skill that only brings chaos?
"What is this?" I muttered, picking up a strange item a particularly troublesome slime had dropped.
The object glowed dimly before flashing brightly, then disintegrating into particles. The particles swirled in the air, slowly taking shape until they formed... a person. A female elf, to be exact.
"Are you the one they call Velvet?" she asked, her expression as rigid as stone.
"Uh... yes?" I responded hesitantly. "How do you know me?"
Her face almost seemed to frown, but instead, she gave a cryptic answer. "How would you react if I told you I gave you that luck ability?"
I froze, my body mimicking her statue-like stillness. An elf, trapped in an item dropped by a slime, suddenly appears to tell me she's the reason my peaceful days were ripped away from me? Unbelievable.
"So it was you!" I shouted, charging at her in a fit of rage, only to be stopped mid-dash by an invisible force that knocked me flat on my back.
"Wait!" she said, holding up a hand. "Before you try to attack me, let's go someplace where I can explain this properly."
In the blink of an eye, we were teleported to some kind of magical sanctuary.
"Wow, this is... weird," I blurted out.
"Don't call my sanctuary weird!" she pouted, before lightly karate chopping my head.
"Just kidding! But seriously, who are you?" I asked, unconsciously putting a finger to my lips — an old habit when I'm genuinely curious.
"I am a goddess of this world!" she declared proudly.
I smirked. "So you're not a useless goddess?"
Whack! Another hit, this time a little harder.
"Sorry!" I cried, squeezing out some fake tears.
Luck, as it turns out, can either be a blessing or a curse. But in my case, with this goddess involved, it seems like I'm in for a wild ride.