"Finally, we're officially out of Hosefelia's reach!"
I raised my arms high into the air, filled with joy that we no longer had to worry about suddenly getting kidnapped in the middle of the night and getting dragged backed in front of the king.
"Yay, clap clap."
Merlin said in a monotone voice, no doubt in an attempt to ruin my mood. Sucks to be him, cause that's not happening!
A few days after we finished conquering the C-rank dungeon near Shellbell, we finally passed the border and were on our way to a mid-sized city, Thormia, to rest for a few days, raise our rank, and hopefully hatch a carriage ride to Knigh, the capital city of the Britian Union.
Most countries are ruled by a single monarch or, in a few very rare cases, an elected representative. The Britian Union, however, is ruled by four ducal families that discuss and decide the direction of this country. The Runtals, masters of military strategy, the Tyrolls, owners of a major chuck of the country's merchants, the Sinclairs, amazing mages and orators, and finally, the Blackhardts, a family that has produced many 'Swordsaints' over the generations.
I looked into the distance, putting my hands behind my head as I walked.
"I can't believe we actually made it out of the first dungeon. Sera's ability to interfere with the coordinates really came in clutch then."
"Yeah, we probably would have gotten caught, was it not for that."
Merlin nodded and agreed with me.
I smiled lightly. Sera's knowledge about the system and the ability to slightly interfere with it were incredibly overpowered. Her insight allowed us to see the behind the scenes numbers, formulas and the ability to interfere with it gave us a significant edge over others.
"Ah, I can see the city walls."
I saw a tall stone wall in the distance. Thormia stood out like a sore thumb in the endless wheat plains, that swayed under light winds like waves in the sea.
We arrived in midafternoon and the streets were swarming with people. Adventurers that were returning from their quests, merchants bartering for wares, kids playing in the alleys and city guard on patrol.. After finding a decent inn near the center of the city, we visited the adventurer's guild. Our goal for the next few days would be to get promoted to C-rank. It'd mark us as battle-hardened and experienced adventurers and allow us to demand a higher pay from quests with unspecified rewards, though those tend to be rare. The number of quests we could do would also increase by leaps and bounds.
Our funds were nowhere near running out anytime soon as we used them sparingly. Though most of the expenses we did have went into my weapons… anyway! It was still preferable to do a few quests, collect money and raise our rank. We could now make waves across the adventurer community without the fear of Hosefelia realizing we weren't dead.
"Is it just me, or do the towns and cities here in Brit feel more alive than they did in Hosefelia?"
I said, pondering why the overall mood of the villages and towns we've passed felt a lot more welcoming and less prickly than in Hosefelia. It could very well be just because we no longer had a proverbial sword hanging above our heads all the time, but even the people's faces felt livelier. In Hosefelia, whenever a noble passed by, all the commoners would stiffen and try to act like they weren't there. Here, I already saw a small girl give a flower crown to a middle-aged noble that was browsing the wares of her parents' store and he received the it with a gentle smile and a thank you.
"Now that I think about it, you're right. The air here feels less suffocating, so to speak."
Merlin agreed with a nod.
I pointed at a three-story building at the end of the street we now found ourselves in.
"I can see the adventurer's guild now. Let's hurry and snatch at least a semi-decent quest before it's gone. We really need those guild points."
○○○
Sitting in a dark corner of the in-built pub at Thormia's adventurer guild, I slowly drank some ale with my two friends.
Gently placing the mug back on the table, I sighed.
"Haa, I hope father will be able to placate that bastard so he leaves me alone. Just thinking about the way he looked at me makes my skin crawl."
Testa, a petite girl, her blonde hair hidden under a hood, chuckled at my complaints.
"Come on, Syndra. Just who do you think your father is? I'm sure the other families will also find Zika's behavior inexcusable and use this opportunity to push the Sinclair's into a corner."
Sabrina, a girl with ashen silver hair, wearing a war priestess' outfit, nodded her head along.
"Testa is right. Zika really went too far this time. There's no way your father, of all people, won't be able to make this situation have a favorable outcome."
I smiled, my anxiety somewhat assuaged by my friends' words of reassurance.
"Yeah, I'm sure you two are right."
I raised the mug to take another sip when the guilds doors were flung open. I pulled the hood deeper over my face out of instinct, fearing they were people from the Sinclair family looking for me. Two men my age walked in. The first one had long hair tied in a low ponytail, the white color strikingly similar to mine. He had bright purple eyes and a handsome face. Strapped on his back was a polearm of some sort, but I could not tell more from this angle, and on his waist hung a singlehanded sword.
The other man had short black hair and was a bit taller and more muscular than the white-haired man, but he didn't give me the feeling of someone who fights in the front.
'Maybe a bodybuilding mage?'
I thought inwardly. While they were rare, there were a few mages obsessed with maintaining a certain amount of muscle, even if the final strength was decided by their STR stat anyway. Frankly, I didn't understand such people, but they weren't hurting anyone, so I paid them no mind.
Almost everyone in the guild turned their heads to see who walked in, but when they saw it was just two unknown newcomers, many lost interest and returned to what they were doing before. A few, however, saw these two as fresh meat to bully and extort. One such person was the 'Bear Axe' Bazra. A B-rank adventurer and an unscrupulous individual, known for bullying the weak.
As the two men walked towards the counter, their path unfortunately led them right around Bazra's table. Bazra extended his leg right in front of the white-haired man, who just looked at the outstretched leg for a few short moments and then alternated between Bazra and the leg. This made a few veins of annoyance pop on Bazra's forehead, as his brilliant prank to make the newcomer trip failed.
The white-haired man then smiled and lightly kicked Bazra's leg.
This, of course, infuriated Bazra further. He clutched his leg and in a terribly acted voice screamed out insults.
"Arg! You lowly bastard, you could have broken my leg! Do you know who I am? Huh? Do you? I hope you're prepared to pay for the treatment this will cost!"
Bazra's spit flew all over the white-haired man's clothes, but his smile only deepened. An ill foreboding started creeping its way up my body, but I pushed it down. Surely Bazra wouldn't be stupid enough to continue provoking him when he was obviously enjoying this?
In a voice dripping with venom and false sincerity, he lightly bent down and stared intently at Bazra's leg.
"Oh my! I am so terribly sorry, are you alright? Should I take a closer look and treat your ouchie?"
The white-haired man raised his knee up to his chest, the smile that felt like amusement up till now shifted into pure sadism, and he swiftly stomped down, his foot holding enormous power behind it.
CRACK!
"AAAAARGH! YOU BASTARD!"
Bazra cried out. I clearly heard the sound of a bone snapping half the room away. He grabbed the knife tied to his thigh and swung it at the white-haired man. Bazra's attack failed as the man simply grabbed Bazra by the wrist, completely overpowering him.
"Ack!"
Bazra cried out in pain again and dropped the knife he was holding, and the white-haired man squatted down and roughly took hold of the snapped leg.
"Hey, Merlin, this fucker thinks I hit his leg so hard I could've broken it. What do you think?"
Said the white-haired man, lifting the broken leg without any regard for Bazra, who was whimpering in pain at every move the man made. The black-haired men, who seemed to be called Merlin, walked closer and carefully looked over the broken leg.
"Yep, seems broken to me. You should learn how to walk all over again if you don't want to break people's legs just by bumping into them."
Merlin shook his head disapprovingly with a sigh.
"Aw, man! But that will take so much time! Oh! I have an idea!"
Said the white-haired man, flailing the broken leg around.
"You can just heal the people whose legs I accidentally break by bumping into them! A simple Heal should do the trick if they are so weak a mere bump can break their legs."
He sneered, looking down on Bazra with contempt.
"Fine, I don't really have a choice."
Merlin extended his arm and a white magic circle appeared in front of him.
"Heal."
Bazra's leg fell back into its correct position, but a mere Heal wasn't capable of repairing broken bones, just the tissue around it, so he must still be in tons of pain.
The white-haired man carefully let go of the leg, grabbed the mug Bazra was drinking from and wrapped his left arm around Bazra as he sat on the table.
"My friend, I'm sure you've now learned not to do something like this again, right?"
His smile now transformed into a kind one, as if he was comforting a child that broke one of its toys.
Bazra could only nod his head repeatedly, avoiding eye contact with the white-haired man.
"Good!"
He said and gulped down the remaining ale that was in Bazra's mug in one go. He hopped off the table and placed the mug from where he took it.
"Thanks for the drink, I'll see you around."
The two men walked to the reception booth, leaving behind a terrified Bazra and a deathly silent guild hall.
I finally took a swing of the ale, with my eyes locked on the white-haired man.
'How interesting.'
I mused, a tinge of jealousy spreading within me, wishing I could be deal with my situation in a similar manner.
Back then, I had no idea it would be this very man who'd help me to break my chains and allow me to fly free.
○○○
We were heavily scolded by the receptionist we talked to back at the guild, saying we shouldn't attack other adventurers and especially not within the guild. We were left off with only a warning because Bazra, the guy whose leg I broke, is a known troublemaker at the Thormia guild and it was only a matter of time before he picked a fight with someone he shouldn't. Lucky us.
We managed to snatch a C-rank quest worth a good amount of guild points. We were now in the village that reported attacks of barghests, quadrupedal hyena-like monsters with a bat-like head. Their front limbs had hands with opposable thumbs, so they were capable of opening doors or manipulating simple machinery. This made them very annoying to fight against in urban environments, but in open fields like those that surrounded Thormia and this village, fighting them wouldn't be much of an issue.
"How long have the raids been going on?"
I asked the village chief, an elderly man with a hunched back.
"About a week, sir adventurer."
He had to support himself with a cane, but even then, I felt like the slightest of winds could make this man go tumbling down. The thought of me looking like this in the future ran through my mind, old and decrepit.
'Dying in battle is a much preferable ending than slowly wilting away.'
I couldn't help but pity the old man and hope that I won't live long enough to end up like him. Not to say I didn't want to live long, or that I didn't want a family, but being slowly broken down by old age scared me more than getting stuck in a lightless dungeon with nothing but S-rank monsters.
"Is the direction they come from always the same?"
"Yes, they always attack from the east."
My eyes naturally moved to the eastern part of the village. A shabby gate made of only sticks, behind it the fields where people have been continuously assaulted by the barghests, and a fence made in an equally shabby manner surrounded the gate on both sides. I felt that the fence's main purpose was declaring the village's border and not protection, as even a child could easily climb over or tear down a fence this shabby and small.
"Merlin let's go check out the east fields first and plan our next course of action after scouting the area a bit."
"Agreed, depending on how many there are, we'll have to change our fighting strategy a little."
Naturally, we didn't really have to change our strategy, as barghests were mere C-rank monsters, but if something unexpected happened, like one of them being an unknown mutated variant, it was best we kept as much of our strength in reserve as possible. After the surprise the goblin knight gave us seemingly so long ago, we learned that going into a fight – swords and spells blazing, emergency plans missing – is not the correct way to tackle quests where one could lose their life at the drop of a hat.
Arriving at the fields that have been attacked, a glaring fact sprung in my mind.
"The barghests don't give a shit about the wheat."
"It'd be weirder if monsters did go after wheat."
Merlin confirmed what I surmised, though it was obvious in hindsight. Barghests were meat-loving predators. They were omnivorous, but they much preferred meat over vegetation.
The fields of wheat were mostly untouched. There were a few places where the stalks of wheat were bent, crumpled and torn, but these were all on the outskirts. Blood and torn clothing and other personal items lay strewn about in the roughed-up areas, and dragging marks clearly indicated that whatever prey the barghests caught was carried away from the fields, most likely to their nest.
"How many do you reckon we're dealing with, Sera?"
I said, bending down and trying to glean something from the footprints left by the savage beasts. Neither I nor Merlin had any experience or skills with tracking wild animals, let alone semi-intelligent monsters. Sera, on the other hand, could analyze what I saw in detail and make an educated guess about their numbers.
A pack that's neither too small nor too big. With our current abilities rivaling those of high B-rank adventurers, I think we'll be fine.
"According to the village chief, they attack before sunset."
Said Merlin.
'Smart beasts indeed.'
Attacking the villagers at dusk, when they're tired from working in the fields all day, is proof of the enemy's intelligence. Or just a hunting strategy ingrained in their instincts, not that I care. The end result is going to be their total annihilation either way.
We walked back to the village and waited for dusk to come, passing the time by chatting with the villagers. We asked about the barghests, but we didn't learn anything we didn't know already. Time quickly passed and the sky turned orange, heralding the oncoming night.
We decided it was time to slowly start patrolling and be on the lookout for any potential attacks. Merlin monitored the entire area with his [Map], giving him a bird's eye view of our surroundings. Not long after we left the village's premises, Merlin tapped me on the shoulder.
"Some red dots are starting to move in towards the village from the east, just as we predicted. There's 14 of them."
"Got it. Are there any villagers still in the fields?"
"Yes, three."
I clicked my tongue upon hearing that. We urged the village chief to order the villagers to return to the village before the sun starts setting, but I guess there will always be people who don't care about authority.
"I'm heading out first to protect the villagers. Support me with magic once you're in range."
"The usual, then. Good luck."
I broke into a sprint towards the location Merlin pointed me to. I ran like the wind, making the stalks of wheat sway when I passed through the fields. I didn't bother taking the road to my destination, it would take too much time and because the wheat in this world was nearly twice as tall as the one back on Earth, I couldn't see very far. As such, time was of the essence.
"Kyaaaaaa!"
I heard a scream not far from me. I rushed towards the place where I heard the sound, exiting the wheat maze and finding myself on a road. A young girl, no more than 10, was sitting on the ground frozen in fear, staring at a barghest that was slowly walking towards her.
"Victim number one spotted!"
I swung my aura covered sword at the barghest.
"Wyon?"
It reacted to my shout and turned its head to look at me, but by then my sword was already millimeters from its skull. With a 'swoosh,' my blade cleaved the barghest's bat-like head in two, ending its life. The body slumped to the ground like a puppet whose strings were cut.
"Are you unhurt?"
I turned to the young girl.
"Y-yes, I'm fine. B-but Theo and May! I was separated from Theo and May! Please, save my friends!"
The girl's fright quickly turned into worry after realizing that she wasn't a few seconds away from death anymore.
"That's the plan, don't you worry. Where are these friends of yours?"
"U-um, we got separated at the intersection up ahead…"
"Got it. My friend should be here in a bit, so just stay put. I'll go and save your friends now."
I patted the girl on the head and ran off to the intersection. The fields were built in a grid-like pattern, allowing you to see from one intersection to the other. Though, if you walked, it would take you a good half-an hour before you covered the distance.
I didn't have that problem, though, thanks to my ridiculous stats.
It didn't take me even 20 seconds to get to the intersection from the place where I found the girl, covering nearly 800 meters in that time. When I arrived, I saw a barghest sniffing around, trying to find something to prey on. It noticed me and raised its head, like hyena's do. Before the beast could do anything, however, I already drove my glaive's edge into its mouth, killing it.
A stone's throw distance behind it, a pack of barghests were encircling what I can only assume were the girl's friends. I created a foothold in the air with Floating Board and leapt from it. I soared above the hyenas and saw as a young boy shoved a girl down the ground to save her from a pouncing barghest. His plan worked, but instead of the girl's neck, the barghest was now clutching the boy's forearm in its mouth. If it decides to push down and clamp its mouth, that boy is going to lose his arm instantly.
"Spectral Lance!"
Not that I was going to let the monster do that in the first place.
My glaive flew through the air and pierced the beast's neck, releasing the grip it had on the boy as it slumped lifeless to the ground. I landed between the pack of beasts and the two kids. A bead of cold sweat ran down my back. Protecting two kids while fighting in such a numerical disadvantage is going to be tough. I wasn't worried about getting hurt, no, if I was alone here, I wouldn't have much of a problem dealing with only 11 of them. The problem was making sure the monsters didn't get to the kids.
"Wrrrhooon."
The barghest closest to me snarled and lashed out. I slashed at the front limb it lashed out with, but thanks to its intelligence, it knew that sharp things hurt. It retreated its limb before my sword could wound it and jumped back. I had no intention of following it and putting the kids in danger. Once Merlin gets his slow ass over here, we'll be able to eradicate them in a pincer move, but for now, my priority was protecting the two children behind me.
"Hey there, that was a brave act you did, but leave the hero stuff to me now and just try to somehow stop the bleeding, aye? I promise I won't let 'em touch you."
I said without taking my eyes off the barghests around us.
"U-uh, sure, thank you!"
"Thank you!"
The kids replied, though the boy was having a hard time stifling his sobs. No wonder, having your arm nearly bitten off must hurt like a bitch.
"Whroon!"
Another barghest tried to pounce on me. I sliced it in half with my aura covered sword mid-pounce, drenching me in blood.
'Ugh, getting a blood shower was not on my to-do list today.'
For the next few minutes, I continued fighting the barghests off and keeping the kids safe, somehow managing to end two more barghests. One of the barghests I killed managed to give my side a slight gash in its last act of desperation, but it was so shallow it didn't affect me when I moved.
I've got to say, protecting someone while 10 or so hungry monsters try to eat you and the people you're protecting is harder than it sounds like.
Just then, an explosion erupted amidst the barghests further from me, killing three of them in one go. The other barghests turned their heads to look at what caused such a loud sound, apparently forgetting about me.
'Reinforcements are here.'
I smiled lightly and quickly unleashed a martial art at the two closest to me, decapitating them with sheer brute force instead of a beautifully mastered technique.
"Wroooooon!"
Now that their numbers were reduced to three, I felt much more confident in killing them off quickly. I ran into their midst and slashed at a barghest, but it narrowly escaped the edge of my blade. A different one prepared to pounce at me, but its thought process was interrupted by the chunk of ice that pierced its brain, a courtesy of Merlin's magic.
I dodged to the side and a barghest landed on the place I stood a moment ago. As thanks for taking my spot, I gave the barghest a taste of my blade, free of charge. I sliced through the beast's neck artery, sealing its fate, and a veritable waterfall of blood gushed out of the wound.
It didn't take us long to put the remaining barghest to permanent sleep. I asked Merlin to use Heal on the boy to fix his arm. While the boy was getting fixed up, I retrieved my glaive from the barghest corpse and cleaned it from blood.
After fastening the glaive on my back, I turned to the kids.
"Alright, let's get you back to the village now, shall we?"
The barghests had no useful parts that the guild would buy from us, and because this wasn't a repeatable extermination quest, proof of our kills wasn't necessary. The villagers will use the barghests for food and maybe create some shoddy clothing from their hide. As such, we left the retrieval of their corpses to the villagers, can't be assed hauling off 14 oversized dog monsters, no thank you.
We returned to the village where the chief was waiting with the girl I rescued first.
"May! Theo!"
"Letosa!"
The girls hugged, while the boy, Theo, watched from the side with guilt written over his face. My guess is it was his idea to stay out even after the new curfew, which then put not just him but even the girls in danger.
The village chief walked up to us, his trusty wooden cane helping him keep balance.
"Sir Astoshan, Sir Merlin, thank you so much for saving my granddaughter and her friends."
He bowed his head lightly. I bet he would try to bow deeper if his back allowed it, but this is the best he could muster now.
"Please raise your head, chief. We merely carried out the request."
"That's right, chief, you shouldn't be too thankful to this guy. He's really bad at taking compliments."
Merlin strode up next to me, grinning. I repaid his verbal jab with a physical jab of my elbow right into his side.
"Ack."
He clutched his side and keeled over from the pain. Satisfied, I turned my attention back to the village chief.
"Well, the barghests have been dealt with. We killed 14 of them, so I think they shouldn't be bothering the villagers anymore."
"Thank you, truly, thank you."
The chief clasped my hand and profusely thanked me. I just stood there awkwardly, unsure of what to do. Unfortunately, Merlin was right on the money about me being bad with compliments. While I was trying to rack my brain with how to react, a woman's voice sounded from within the village.
"Theo, there you are, you little runt! I've been looking for you over the entire village!"
"B-big sis Sabrina!"
"Ah, Ms. Blaire, welcome! Welcome! What brings you here today?"
The village chief let go of my hand and turned to face the woman. She had ashen silver hair and wore what I can only describe as an amalgamation of armor and priestess' robes. Her eyes were a pale silver color, just like her hair. On her left arm hung a basket covered with simple cloth, hiding the contents within.
"Hello, chief. I've brough some fruits for Theo and the other kids and to check up on them, per Mother's request."
Said the woman with a smile. She then looked at us with slight suspicion in her eyes. The village chief noticed this and quickly introduced us.
"Ah, these are adventurers that have helped us get rid of the barghests that have been terrorizing our village."
Her eyes shot wide open at the mention of barghests.
"Why didn't you tell me? My party could have easily taken care of that problem for you for free!"
The village chief smiled and shook his head.
"We cannot rely on you and your friends for every little thing. You won't be staying in Thormia for much longer, no?"
"That's…"
She looked down embarrased.
Adventurers naturally move about, trying to scoop up the next big quest and gather experience to get stronger. There are adventurers that stay in one place permanently, but those are far and few between.
"It's better if we learn to be independent now than let it bite us in the back later. Hahahah!
The village chief patted her on the shoulder and walked back into the village. The girl I saved first, Letosa, and May ran after him. Theo tried to do the same, but Sabrina caught him by the scruff of the neck.
"Is that blood on your arm?"
"U-um…"
She bent down to his level and examined the arm the barghest bit before. I decided to give the little guy a hand and speak up for him, because I felt like this woman would beat him into an inch away from death if she didn't like his answer.
"One of the barghests bit his arm when he was protecting one of the girls, May I believe is her name. Merlin already healed him, though, so not even scars should remain."
Sabrina sighed deeply and stood up.
"Thank you for taking care of Theo and fixing the mess he caused."
"The mess he caused?"
I repeated back, confused.
I mean, sure, I did have an inkling it was his idea, but how did she come to that conclusion so quickly?
Seeing my confused expression, Sabrina elaborated.
"Theo used to a be a renowned troublemaker back at the orphanage before May's family adopted him. Ignoring curfew and staying out late is something he's done more times than I care to remember."
Ah, so the kid's an orphan and miss adventurer here is somehow connected to said orphanage.
"Ah. Yeah, I can see how you'd expect him to be the one behind it then. Well, our job here is done, so I think it's about time we head back to Thormia."
"Alright. Once again, thank you for saving Theo, May and Letosa. If it weren't for you, I'm afraid his idiocy would have gotten them all killed. Ah, I'm sure you've already noticed, but my name is Sabrina. Sabrina Blaire."
"Astoshan Vikra."
"Merlin Wisteria."
After introducing ourselves, Sabrina gave us a light bow and dragged Theo off somewhere by the ear. With the force she pulled him, I was surprised his ear didn't get torn off then and there. We heard shouts and sobs of apology from the alley where Sabrina dragged Theo, but we pretended like we didn't hear them. That woman doesn't fuck around. Scary.
We said our goodbyes to the village chief, received his signature that the quest had been successfully finished and returned to our lodging in Thormia. It was quite late by the time we got back, though, and the kitchen at our lodging was closed for the day now. As such, we decided to try our luck in the city. Maybe some stall or quirky restaurant would still be open, with a bit of luck.
The shops and vendors that were still open were exactly the types you'd expect at this late hour. The shady types. Those selling very obviously used weapons, 'powerful ancient artifacts,' slaves, questionable concoctions and so on.
After about twenty minutes of wandering, we finally ran into a vendor that sold food that didn't look like it came straight out of the gutter.
Instead, it looked like it came from a bad sci-fi horror movie.
"What the hell is this?"
I said, walking up to the vendor.
Merlin nudged me in the side lightly.
"You really plan on eating that? You? The guy that's extremely picky with food?"
"I'm more intrigued than anything. It looks strikingly similar to a x*nomorph egg."
Granted, this one was way smaller, about the size of a fist. It had a black shell with what I think is an opening on the top.
"Welcome, dear customer. This is a dragopez fly egg. I guarantee its taste is first-class. Once you get over how, er, uninviting it looks, you'll be hooked on the taste!"
The merchant pushed one of the dragopez fly eggs towards me.
"Here, try one. It's one the house."
He had a friendly smile, and I didn't sense even a hint of malice or greed. Begrudgingly, I closed my eyes and bit into the egg.
"The fuck?"
I opened my eyes in surprise. After staring at the egg for a few seconds, I hungrily devoured the rest with gusto.
"Give me two more."
"Here you are, dear customer!"
Merlin looked at me baffled and confused. I gave him one of the eggs I just bought. He bit into it and had the exact same reaction as I did.
The egg tasted like a tasty blend of cheese and milk. I have no clue how that combination managed to be this tasty, but it is.
Merlin also bought another egg. Just two of them left us sufficiently satiated. Despite being only the size of a fist, I felt as if I had eaten a whole steak, so the two eggs were more than enough for dinner.
We strolled through the streets for a while longer, checking out the weird and definitely-not-fake trinkets the vendors were trying to forcibly sell us. We didn't let them, of course. The situation might've been different if Merlin noticed an item worth buying with his [Analyze], but so far, all of the items have been a total bust.
"Ah, right, we forgot to stop by the adventurer guild to turn in our request confirmation."
I said to Merlin.
"Right, we didn't do that, did we. I think I just spotted some interesting finds at the vendor's stall, though. Do you mind if I stay here and see if there's anything usable?"
I wasn't sure whether he genuinely found something interesting or just didn't want to come along to the adventurer guild, but I didn't care either way.
"Sure, have fun. I'll see you at the inn, then."
We both had a key for our room, so it didn't matter who returned first.
I turned around and soon arrived at the adventurer guild. The doors suddenly opened and a man flew out of them, hitting a wall on the other side of the street.
"Ga-h!"
The man yelped out in pain and promptly fell to the ground, clutching at his chest, gasping for air.
"If you EVER try to touch me again, I promise you, being short of breath by hitting the wall too hard will be the LEAST of your concerns. I've rejected your advances time and time again and yet you still don't seem to understand that I am NOT interested in having ANY kind of fun with the likes of you."
The voice of a woman, soothingly soft yet oppressive, came from the guild. I turned to the voice and saw an angel standing in the doors leading to the guild. Her silver white hair glistened in a purplish hue under the influence of the moons Erma and Irma. Her blue eyes stared at the man that was gasping for air with disgust. She wore armor befitting a female knight, hidden beneath a black robe. A sword hung at her waist, showing anyone that tried to carelessly touch this flower that she had thorns.
"You- you bitch! Do you know who I am?! Huh?!"
The man, having recovered somewhat, glared daggers at the woman. Now that I got a closer look at him, I think he was one of the dumb-looking bastards sitting with Bazra when I broke his leg. Peas of a pond flock together, huh.
"I promise you will regret this, you whore!"
He groggily managed to stand upright and left the place as fast as his wounded body let him while spouting typical small-time villain quotes. It made me chuckle a little.
A short girl with blonde hair tied in a bun appeared from inside the guild.
"This was a rather unpleasant way to end the evening."
"Sorry I let it go this far, Testa."
"It's alright. I know you were just trying to avoid brining unnecessary attention to yourself."
"Let's just go back to the inn. I'm mentally exhausted from that idiot approaching me all day."
They left the adventurer guild and walked away. I quickly finished my business in the adventurer guild by turning in the quest completion confirmation signed by the village chief and receiving the reward.
I walked out of the guild and looked up at the sky. The triplet moons, the red Erma, silver Irma and blue-green Atraias hung high up, overlooking the night life of Miqta. Stars glittered like crystals on a cave ceiling. Through the center of the night sky ran a line of thickly concentrated stars, shadowed by purplish and dark clouds, nebulae. The people in this world called it 'The Celestial Throne,' believing that the gods came from there. In most cases, anyway. I had no clue if we were still in the Milky Way, or the same universe for that matter, so I decided to just go with the flow and internally call this galaxy The Celestial Throne.
Sounds a lot better than The Milky Way anyway if you ask me.
I took a deep breath, fully relishing the smog-free air. No damn air pollution, blocking me from viewing the stars and the galaxy during the night. No copy and pasted residential blocks, no cars honking or speeding by.
Thanks to magic, the society was weirdly advanced despite being technologically in the Middle Ages.
'I'm glad we got summoned here. It finally feels like home.'
I didn't hate the place I used to live in, not at all. A normal house with a working bath, electricity, drinkable tap water, internet, heating and so on. But for some reason, I didn't care if I stayed there or in a different place, it was just a place for me to take shelter. I've always felt… homesick for a place that didn't exist.
Yet now I find myself in the place that didn't exist.
'Heh. Ironic.'
I started heading back to the inn when I spotted a familiar duo walking a few meters ahead of me.
It was the two women that caused a ruckus at the guild by throwing a person at a wall.
'Didn't they leave much longer before me, though?'
I couldn't understand how I managed to catch up to them when I left the guild at least five minutes after them, but oh well. Guess one of the shady vendors wouldn't bug off and stalled them.
I walked and walked and then walked some more, but the duo always made the same turns I needed to make to get back to my inn.
'I'm starting to get a bad feeling about this.'
I thought about taking a detour and taking a different route to my inn but decided against it. I'd get lost right away as I had no map of this city. Pushing my worries aside, I continued walking through the streets, taking the exact same directions
"Hey, you."
The white-haired girl turned around and glared at me angrily.
'Ah, fuck.'
I tried playing dumb and hesitantly pointed at myself.
"Hm? Me?"
"Yes. You. Why do you keep on following us? Are you another one of Bazra's goons? Or were you sent by Zika? Whichever is true, don't expect to wake up with all your limbs intact tomorrow."
"Whoa!"
She lunged at me with her right fist, aiming straight for my face. I tiled my head to the side, subconsciously managing to dodge her attack. She kicked at my stomach as a follow up attack and I blocked by crossing by forearms in front of me.
"Guh!"
'Strong?!'
Her kicked held ridiculous amounts of power behind it. That's definitely going to leave a nasty bruise if Merlin doesn't heal me later.
She continued to attack me and while I merely kept on dodging. And is the short blondie really eating popcorn right now?! Where'd she even pull that out from?!
"Calm down! Whoa! Caaaalm. Down. I'm not one of Bazra's guys, I literally broke his leg this morning! I haven't a clue who this Zika guy twat or what's-his-name is! And I'm not following you, either! I'm just trying to get back to my room!"
I pointed at the inn that was literally like five meters away from us now, hoping she'd finally realize I was not going after her.
A familiar voice came from the window of said inn and Sabrina waved at us.
"Hey, Syndra, I reaaaally don't think that guy is with either Bazra or Zika. What's up, Astoshan? Enjoying a little dance with our cute leader?"
She had the same shit eating grin Merlin had whenever something amusing happened at the expense of others. I think I saw their images overlapping for an instant, but that must have been just my imagination. Also, where's the refined way of speaking from when we were in the village?!
The woman stopped swinging her fists at me and turned to Sabrina with surprise.
"Eh? Sabrina? You know him? And don't call me cute!"
"I wouldn't say I know him, but he and his buddy saved Theo, May and Letosa earlier today. I ran into them when I visited the village."
"So, I almost hit someone completely unrelated to Zika? And now that I look at you, you really are the person that stomped on Bazra's leg earlier."
The short blondie, still stuffing her face with popcorn, nodded. Sabrina also nodded while wearing an extremely amused smile.
The white-haired woman's face quickly turned red.
"I'M TERRIBLY SORRY FOR ATTACKING YOU!"
She bowed in a perfect 90-degree angle. Her apology was maybe a little too loud because she straight up shouted it. It wasn't hard-sleeping hours yet, but I bet more than a few folks trying to go to sleep early got annoyed by that.
"Er, apology accepted? I'm not hurt in the first place (because I dodged all your attacks), so all's good by me."
What? If this was a guy that did the exact same thing, he'd already have his head planted in the ground? I'm letting her of the hook just because she's pretty? Of course, I am. If evil, why hot? Not that she's actually evil, just had a bad day.
'Okay, weird thought process, stop!'
"Still, I did unjustly attack you. I'd like to make it up to you somehow, no, I must make it up to you."
She said with an apologetic look.
While I and the white-haired girl, Syndra I believe was what Sabrina called her, chatted, Sabrina came down and met us in front of the inn.
"Why not take him on a date then? He's not bad looking, so who knows. If you two click, maybe you'd finally find yourself someone worthy of you? Hm?"
Sabrina nudged Syndra with a teasing grin. She was a little flushed in the face and her eyes were slightly hazy.
'Is she drunk?'
"Sabrina?!"
Syndra went beet red once again. She turned to her companion and glared at her in shock. Sabrina was seriously starting to remind me of Merlin, hard. Wanting to lend Syndra a helping hand and save her from a Merlin-type of person, I spoke up.
"I don't know about a whole date, but I think a simple meal would more than suffice."
Sabrina's eyes went wide at my sudden proposition. Syndra turned back to me, staring at me nervously.
"If that is fine with you, then I have no problem at all inviting you to a meal."
"By all means. I'd be more than glad to accept that offer."
Syndra hung her head down meekly, her face redder than a tomato. Realizing I just agreed to a semi-date with a girl as beautiful as her, I felt heat coming to my cheeks. I bet I was slightly blushing as well.
"Oi, Testa, is it just me or did the air suddenly became unbearably sweet?"
"Yep. The heated corn now tastes way too sugary."
Guess they call popcorn here 'heated corn.'
"You two! Seriously…"
Syndra turned even shyer from her friends' teasing. I was also starting to feel super shy, as it had been a good while since I spoke to a girl while planning something together. With a cough, I called attention back to me.
"Ehem. As much as I'd like to continue chatting with you girls, I'm somewhat mentally exhausted from fighting barghests while protecting civilians, so I'd like to go hit the hay. My room is on the seconds floor, room 211. If you want to talk tomorrow, just knock."
"Ah."
"Hahaha."
"Nn?"
Syndra gasped, Sabrina laughed and the blondie, Testa, cocked her head to the side.
"Now ain't that one hell of a coincidence. We're staying in room 210."
Said Sabrina. And she's definitely drunk. She reminds of Merlin when he's sloshed, so if their personalities really are similar, I bet she loves shoving alcohol down her stomach as well.
"…It appears fate truly works in mysterious ways. Well, thank you for the… colorful evening, ladies. Let's talk some more tomorrow. Oh, and the name's Astoshan, unless you didn't catch it."
"I'd be happy to. I'm Syndra, by the way. You already know Sabrina and the short blonde one is Testa."
Syndra gave me a beautiful smile akin to a flower raised specifically for its peerless beauty.
Thump.
'Did my heart just skip a beat?! MY heart?! Huh?!'
That has happened exactly zero (0) times before in my life.
"Alright, see you tomorrow champ."
Sabrina smacked me on the back, still wearing that teasing grin.
"Goodnight."
Testa gave me a polite bow and hurried after her friends inside the inn. Guess she's a woman of few words.
"Um, guess I'll see you around? Goodnight, Astoshan."
Syndra hurried after her friends.
I watched them walk inside the inn. I stood there for a few short seconds, recollecting the entire exchange from now.
'Haah. I wonder when would be a nice time to go on that meal with Syndra? Though, I shouldn't hold my hopes high. We won't be staying around here for much longer. Once we reach C-rank, back on the road to Knigh we go.'
As I was lost in my musings, I heard a voice from beside me.
"I leave you alone for a bit and you've got yet more women around you?"
"Whoa, what the fuck?!"
Normally, I'm not a person that gets scared even if you jumpscare me, but I really, really did not expect to be brought back to reality in such a sudden way, which made me jump really hard.
"That really scared you? Ahahahaha!"
"Ah, it's just you, Merlin."
My good friend was the one that scared the ever-living shit out of me by pure accident.
"I'd like to say it's not like that, but it seems I've already secured a meal with one of them."
Merlin looked at me in disbelief.
"Seriously?"
He asked.
"Seriously."
I replied.