Shoutout to my new patron:
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You are a legend!
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(General POV)
"That was an impressive fight you two." Finn said as he finally reached us. "And it would seem that Lyze has the upper hand over you in terms of combat."
Ais held her fingers together and shuffled her feet.
"I've been training a lot captain. But I don't understand why I'm not improving."
"That's actually pretty simple." Finn said as he folded his arms slightly. "You treat every fight like a battle with a monster. Monsters think and operate very differently from people. Now ordinarily, this would actually overwhelm a normal person, but somebody like Lyze here who is trained very well in the sword arts can overcome that."
Ais nodded, a little downcast. Finn smiled at her.
"Don't get upset over it though. You adapt as you fight more. With time an patience, you will sort through that hurdle and become a powerful adventurer no doubt. I have complete faith in you, the both of you."
"Thank you captain." Lyze said. "Now is there something particular you wanted to speak to us about?"
"Yes there is." Finn unfolded his arms and held out the slip of paper. "I want you two to go out and buy these necessities for us. I also want you Lyze to go to the guild and exchange your monster loot for Valis. When you've done that, go to Babel and kit yourself out with proper equipment." Finn then gestured over his shoulder. "And while you're there, I want you to also drop off some of our equipment at the Hephaestus smithies for servicing."
Behind the Pallum came two figures pushing a cart that was loaded with weapons that were above the normal grade of quality. They were both instantly recognizable as they drew closer to the three.
"Are Raul and Aki coming with us too?" Lyze asked.
"Yes they are. With all four of you working together, I believe the job will be done faster."
"So we're are just doing your groceries and errands. Is that it?"
Finn smiled at them a little cheekily.
"Become qualified enough to join the executive group and you won't have to do little grunt work and small tasks such as this. We've all been through it at some point."
"What's the requirement to join the executive group?" Lyze asked, although he kind of knew the answer.
"You have to become a first class adventurer." Ais answered for Finn. "So about level five."
"That's it huh?" Lyze said, a little absentmindedly. Finn shook his head in disapproval.
"Try not to speak of it as a light thing Lyze. Reaching level five is no easy task. Look at how long it took me."
"I wasn't trying to sound conceited captain. I was just a little stumped at how simple it sounded."
Finn lifted one hand and shrugged.
"Well of course it's not that simple. It also depends on how you behave in the dungeon, your approach to certain scenarios, not to mention you must carry a certain maturity as well. Just being powerful is not reason enough to join the executives."
Finn put both hands on his hips as he nodded at them.
"I'm sure you two will manage it though. Work hard and you'll get there before you know it. Just remember not to get large heads over it."
"Yes Captain." They both replied as the other two rookie finally managed to pull the large cart over to them. Well more so Raul as he was puffing with redness in his cheeks. Aki however did not seem all too winded.
But judging by the mischievous look in her eye, Lyze assumed that it was not due to any greater strength of hers but rather a disproportion on her end of the work which pushed most effort onto Raul.
He kind of felt bad.
"Hey you two. Ready to go?" Finn asked.
"Yes sir." Raul exhaustedly replied while Aki just nodded.
"Then off with the lot of you. I want you back before nightfall." Finn said as he stepped away from them.
"Hey Lyze." Raul said. "Mind helping us out here?" He gestured over to the cart.
Lyze shook his head with a devious smile.
"Nope."
"EH! Why?!" Raul exclaimed in shock. Lyze cocked his head and widened the grin further.
"Prerogative of a the higher levelled. We get to foist off the hard work onto the lower levels."
"That's not fair!" Aki pouted.
"You are the last person that should be complaining." Lyze snapped at her. "Besides, just ask the captain."
The two level ones looked at Finn desperately. He shrugged his shoulders with a sigh, clearly in favour of Lyze's argument. They both collapsed over the large handle, groaning.
"By the way Aki." Lyze said, his tone a lot more serious. The cat-girl snapped to attention immediately.
"Yes Lyze!" she squeaked.
"You had better pull your weight properly when dragging the cart. Or else I'll set fire to your tail again." Lyze threatened as he held up a finger and a small flame flickered to life.
Aki jumped backwards, flailing her arms around in front of her while shrieking quietly in fear and frantically nodding. Raul just shivered and closed his legs tightly.
Turned out, the cat-girl was quite a prankster and had tried to spook him by putting a slug under Lyze's bedsheet after they'd got home last night from the Hostess. Luckily, he'd detected it squirming around under the blanket with 'Thread'.
An interrogation of Raul who was an immediate suspect revealed that it was Aki that'd done although he wouldn't spill the name immediately. Lyze quickly established the fact that he did not appreciate pranks and stuffed the slug down Raul's underwear before giving him a sharp wedgie. The experience had traumatised the poor boy.
Lyze then found the culprit lurking a little bit up the corridor to see the results of her prank but was not fast enough to escape him. He'd slung a fireball right at her and to her credit, she'd managed to evade it most as the magical attack only scrapped the end of her tail.
The trouble was that the tail had ignited into flames and she'd run around the manor with the tail leaving streams of fire in the air that luckily did not burn anything else. She'd finally managed to put it out by bursting into the baths and throwing herself into Riveria's tub just as she was using it.
Needless to say, the high elfess was infuriated but was too wrapped up in the embarrassment and confusion of it all to address anything and Lyze was far gone asleep by that time. A healing spell had grown back the fur but Aki also learned that pranking the blind boy was not a good idea.
"Let's go. Hurry up." Lyze barked and the two pulled the cart along as he and Ais stood by, allowing them to pass an be ahead. Ais nodded at him before turning and heading after them. Just as Lyze was about to start walking as well though, his sleeve was tugged on by Finn.
"Huh, what is Finn?" Lyze asked, puzzled. Finn pulled him and made him bend down a little so that the Pallum could whisper.
"Listen Lyze, it's pretty obvious that out of the four of you, you're the strongest. Correct?"
"Uhm, yes I suppose that's true. Why?"
"Because as a result of that, I'm charging you with these particular instructions. You're aware of Evilus running around right?"
"Yes I am."
Finn leaned closer.
"Well the chances of it happening are low but they have been lately targeting lower levelled adventurers just to nip away at the larger Familias. Now like I said, the chances of a confrontation are low but should it happen, I want you to run. Leave the goods behind and high tail it out of there."
Lyze looked at him concerned.
"But what if we can't?"
"Then I want you to be responsible and try and fight them off. There are not that many members of that group who move around in the streets beyond level three at best so you should be able to clean them off the slate. But in case there is too high of an opponent and you can't escape, I want you Lyze to hold them off while the others run to get us. We'll try and help as quick as we can."
Lyze stared at him, a little surprised. Finn sighed in understanding.
"I know it seems like I'm disregarding your life Lyze, but as the stronger adventurers, it is our responsibility to hold of any threats so our weaker members can escape with their lives. Just like an older sibling would do for their younger ones. Except replace siblings with Familia members and age with power levels."
"I'm surprised you're so confident in me especially."
"You slew a Goliath which is something that Ais definitely can't do. But remember, fighting must be the last resort. I'd rather have you escape safe and sound first. Understand?"
"Yes Captain. I will do as you say." Lyze straightened and looked down at the Pallum. "They are orders after all."
"Good." Finn nodded in approval before looking up at him inquisitively. "Huh? Did you grow taller by any chance?"
"What do you mean?"
Finn placed his chin in his thumb and index finger, observing him up and down.
"I don't know, you just seem to have grown a couple of inches. Your arms also seem more defined as well."
Lyze paid more attention and realized that Finn appeared to be right. He thought that he'd only imagined his clothes being a little tighter than usual. And flexing his arm did reveal that his bicep looked a little bigger than normal.
"In one night though? That's strange." He commented. Finn stared at him silently.
'I wonder if it has anything to do with the level up. The Falna does seem to act strangely with him after.' Was the Pallum's thought process.
"Doesn't matter. Run along, your friends are leaving you behind." Finn gestured to the others that had already made it out of the gates at this point.
"Yeah sure. See you later Captain." Lyze waved back as he jogged off towards them.
"Be back soon." Finn smiled as he watched the children go off. It took him back to his younger days with Riveria and Gareth during a time when they were rookies. The arguments and pranks they used to involve themselves with was reminiscent of the dynamics between those four despite that fact they all just barely knew each other.
The Loki Familia captain stared up at the sky as he breathed in deeply, hoping that all four of them would live up to the expectations placed on them. Needless to say that they were lofty, but such was burden of the talented. He only hoped that it would serve as motivation for them to push themselves and pull their Familia along to greater heights.
In these dark times, it would be in the best interest of the entire city, and perhaps to an extent, the world. Evil had no limits, and Evilus was not any different.
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