"Aight, let's go." Elric exaggeratedly lifted his feet and started walking toward the door of the guild when he was captured by the scruff of his neck and pulled back.
"No. We have to get information first."
Saying so, Claude mercilessly dragged Elric to the bookshelves and meeting tables like a mother dragging along a tiring child.
They picked a table and forced Elric to go out and pick the books and documents on the Rammer Serpent while he checked in on the locality and terrain of the Koror Village on different maps.
There was no reason for them to start on a quest right away, they still had time.
But Claude and Elric had picked up something troublesome after living in the forest, trying to find a way out when the place they were standing at could change at any moment, for two years straight. Every waking moment, every sleeping moment, every single of their breaths were filled with desperation, and that desperation was all gone the moment they gathered all the pieces of the Lord of the Shadows' armor. They had become way too used to being desperate to enjoy a life of relaxation.
If they wanted to relax, they would have had to learn how to all over again.
And so, Elric and Claude immediately picked up a tough quest and busied themselves, their bigger goal for now to earn money. They weren't unaware of it themselves, they knew that they had become short-sighted, but it was what kept them going.
They were only ready to set off after two more hours.
The receptionist that had tended to them looked at the backs of the two new adventurers walking out of the door with a smile.
"Not bad…"
Elric and Claude coursed their way through the streets of Leunderk once more. The village of Koror was westward from the city in the same direction as the Mystic forest, and the east of the town led further into the county and the small kingdom.
Elric's feet tapped against the stone slabs. Their slight bulgings and cavings annoyed Elric a little, but it was a much smoother road than any forest or sand and dirt could make up. Step after step, he continued through the paths as the houses around them diminished in quality. From the craftfully spread plaster and paint in the more central buildings, the ones near the edges lost their color, the damp plasters fell off in hardened coverings while the wooden frames had mold growing on them.
The further they walked, the lesser the houses around. At least the road was well maintained, though Elric didn't understand why they would have to do so considering this side faced the Mystic Forest.
From the documents they had read, the Mystic Forest bordered five kingdoms and empires on its giant scale and position smack-dab in the center of the continent. It was like a single mold growing on a small part of bread, ruining the entire loaf. The Mystic Forest had been around for hundreds of years.
Just what kind of place were they abandoned at? Elric wondered. The reality of how lucky they had been dawned on him now and then, but that was a thing of the past for him now, he didn't bother much with it.
As the last edges of the houses nearby were crossed over, the roads of stone were slowly replaced with paved sand and dirt. The sights on the sides were replaced by distant yet gigantic fields. The soil on the ground below was still visible under the shades of the small sprouting leaves and stalks of trees under the wide white clouds and an even wider blue sky.
The harmonious sight that would make anyone warm earned a few words from Elric.
"I am bored."
"The heck? Already?" Claude asked. "Weren't you the one excited about it?"
"Listen now, Claude," Elric said, his feet not stopping. "I am excited, not about going on an adventure, but about having gone on an adventure."
"You want results without work?"
"Exactly."
"How shameless," Claude said. Elric knew, though. He knew he was shameless. He was an upstanding shameless person. Shame was for the people who could be bothered, he couldn't!
With the sound of Claude's sandals tapping against the ground, they got further away from the fields as well. The bright noon sun, the fresh breeze of the clearing, the rich scent of trees, moreover, the lack of noise from the townscape, all just added up and made Elric sleepy as heck.
A rattling sound rang behind them. Like lazy deers standing in front of a headlight, the two of them turned back and stared at the ox running toward them and the cart that it pulled behind. Sitting on the cart was a familiar old man, his ragged clothes fluttered in the air as he held on to his straw hat with one hand and the reins of the ox with the other.
"Aye, ain't ya the laddies from that day?" the farmer screamed as his cart came closer. Elric and Claude watched as the farmer pulled on the reins of the ox and stopped it in front of them.
Miss out on a ride? No fucking way.
"Woah pops! How have you been?" Elric asked.
"Ahaha, been good lad. Y'all kicked outta the town already?"
"No way!" Elric shook his hand and leaned closer to the farmer, his voice lowering. "I promised you, right? I'll be using that line?"
"Aye?"
"So we became adventurers."
"Ah! That's really good, lad, real good!"
Elric wrapped his hand around the farmer's shoulder and closed the distance even further. "In that case, pops, give us a ride, yeah?"
The farmer furrowed his brow and tried to make some distance, but failed against Elric's persistence. "W-where to?"
"Koror Village."
"It's in the opposite direction…"
Elric widened his eyes and smiled brightly, grabbing the farmer's hands. "You'll make such a big detour for us, pops? You're the best! The best!"
"My wife'll nag at me aga—"
"Get in the damn back, Claude. We're getting a ride."
Claude didn't say much and quietly got on the back of the cart while Elric jumped in from the front. The farmer was right there, he remembered well how Claude had made a joke out of two of the best adventurers around. Holding back his tears, the farmer whipped the ox and set off again.
The overhead sun had gone a bit further down to send its rays into Elric's eyes from a funny angle by the time they arrived at Koror. Elric was bored, so he slept for a bit on the way, and then for the rest of the journey, he produced a small droplet of water the size of his nail and tried to shape it into different things. For now, he could only do polyhedrons and not make any intricate curves with water that small, aside from a sphere.
"This is it, lads, Koror Village right in front of ya, can see it all."
The farmer announced their arrival as Elric and Claude hopped off the cart. In front of them, the stretches of the Koror village spread out wide. A single road passed through the center of the village before dividing into two at the head of a large abandoned manor.
People few and far between stepped out of the mud and wood houses with their thatched roofs to go out and work in the farms, fallows, and pastures set behind in their back yards.
On one side of the road was a house slightly larger than the rest with a large chimney peeking out of the place, while on the other side of the manor was a small mill.
A single creek ran from the trees and out into the village, cutting off the main road to the manor in two with a small wooden bridge going over it.
"Then, I'll set off, aye?" the farmer said. "My wife'll nag a lot."
"No? Why don't you take us back with you?" Elric answered. "We'll be done in a jiffy!"
"No way, lad!" the farmer screamed, his face twisted like a small child seeing its pet cat maul a live rat. In an instant, he smacked the ox and forced it to run away.
"Pops! Pops!!!" Elric didn't bother chasing after the cart, though he could have easily done so. With a smirk, he turned away from the retreating farmer and looked at the village again. They still weren't close enough since Claude had asked the farmer to take them to a high point overlooking the place first, and the farmer brought them to a ledge up a small mound near the village.
"See anything?" Elric asked.
"Nope," Claude said, not tearing his eyes away.
"Can't you scan the place?"
"With the mist? That wide a place? Not happening." In the end, Claude sighed and stretched his arms above his head. He twisted his torso and then jerked his legs as well. Taking in a deep breath, Claude stepped forward and jumped down the ledge.
"Haah, always so feisty," Elric sighed. He ran forward and followed down as well.