[Outskirts of Slivershade]
I yawned awakening from my slumber a few hours later, it seemed my wounds were almost healed but I could still feel the pain from Nageyama's fist. It really was a ghastly technique but it wasn't enough to kill me hehehe.
Rubbing my eyes gently with my hands my vision became clear little by little, I was met by the eye piercing gaze of Chrollos who appeared to have been watching over me since for some time.
"What the!?"
I was startled by his immediate appearance in my eyes, let's be honest if you had a sexually unstable man as your sensei wouldn't you be a bit wary of your surroundings whenever your asleep?
"You should be used to this by now Xavier, your complains are getting tiring."
Growing up under this maniac's roof, surprise entries and unexpected appearances wasn't something I'd say can shock me anymore. In a way it trained me to spend less time processing the immediate occurrence and just handle it the moment it felt like a threat.
His teaching methods were bogus and suicidal but it was worth it at the end, to gain something of value you must surrender something of value that corresponds to it, no pain no gain. This is an unavoidable task no one could escape.
Groaning slightly, I sat up on the bed stretching my hands a bit. I don't know why Chrollos wanted to see me but judging by his facial expression it was something important.
"You said you wanted to have a lil chat with me, what's on your mind?"
I knew Chrollos better than anyone, so I'd know if something was truly bothering him.
"Xavier, it seems our worries is far from over."
"Huh, what are you talking about?"
Chrollos stood up from he sat placing his hands behind his back, he only gets like this when he was about to activate lecture mode, My teeth grinned against each other in bitterness. If you were me you'd rather take two more of Nageyama's punches than to sit through an hour of this man's lectures.
"Tendon Seis."
That was unexpected, I knew he only entered lecture mode when he got serious, but it was usually about him preaching random stuffs I'm sure I'd never remember.
"They are after the Heaven's Paradice."
Old news I couldn't care less about.
"I know, but I don't see how it concerns me anymore. Helena booted me cause she thought I was incapable."
"It does concern you, the heaven's paradice is not something any man should possess. If you took my history teachings more seriously like Rachel did you'd know this."
He really expects me to take history seriously? that's was something that I wasn't compatible with honestly speaking, I always slept off at page two of the book.
"Well it doesn't matter if I wanted do something about it, she already got Crimson Heart running her errands for her so she's in capable hands, can you believe she called me weak?"
Chrollos wasn't surprised, my productivity over the months reduced at a stupendous rate.
"You are weak Xavier, the way you are right now, acting and taking damage, why would you do that? You think you a reptile that regenerates easily? You could have died!"
"I did it to figure out Tendon's objective but after what Helena did I'm pretty sure my aid won't be necessary."
"It will."
His lectures were already getting tiring, not to mention that he was persistent.
"And why?"
"Because you a member of the Crimson Heart guild."
That's what slipped my memory all this while, yes I am a member of Crimson Heart. The most notorious guild in the Silvershade kingdom.
"Helping your comrades, fighting for what's right now matter what anyone says or thinks, sacrificing yourself to help other people. That's what it means to be a member of the Crimson Heart guild, now end this charade and go help your friends. They'll need all the help they can get."
I chuckled softly, I had almost forgotten. His lectures might be a hassle and always majorly boring but, his encouragement speeches always lit a flame of perseverance in me. I stood up to my feet, put on my cloak and sheathed my sword behind my waist.
"Hehehe damn you old timer, now you've got me motivated."
I couldn't deny my true nature, protecting my comrades was my biggest goal, that's why I became stronger and I won't ever let them down. Highly fueled by motivation I dashed out of the room swiftly, Chrollos let out a sigh of disappointment before sitting down on the bed facing the door.
Moments later I walked back into the room and met Chrollos gazing upon me with his legs and arms crossed.
"Did you forget something?"
How could I have forgotten something so crucial.
"Yeah, I think I left the tap running a bit, we gotta conserve water. I mean the river ain't giving this days so.."
"You go do that."
Chrollos shaked his head slowly as I entered into the bathroom, I came out moments later scratching the back of my head.
"Anything else?"
"Yeah...which way is to the heaven's paradice?"
He shaked his head again sighing softly in a bit of frustration.
"Deep within the forest of Aethercrest, hidden within a box in the middle of the hidden temple is Solarius greatest treasure. Now go."
Confirming Solarius greatest treasure was the heaven's paradice, I set out towards Aethercrest. My only hope is I make it in time to prevent any complications.
[Aethercrest]
Aethercrest was more or less hundreds of kilometers away from Silvershade. It was a neighbouring town which populace was made up of mages and non mages, however unlike the Silvershade kingdom only 20% of their population were mages, the remaining 80% was not.
Rachel, Helena and Cedric arrived in Aethercrest after 2 hours of travelling by carriage, the view was magnificent and their waters were clear. It was a great place for sightseeing.
"Alright we travel by foot from here on."
Rachel informed them, the forest of Aethercrest was not someplace for horses to be in.
"It's been rumoured that magical beasts roams the deep end of the forest, some say it was bullshit, the others assumed it was a way of scaring foreigners in order to prevent them from exploiting their forest resources. Either way they are just rumors, so there's nothing to be scared o-"
Rachel paused as her eyes met with the trembling body of Helena, even from where they stood they could see the insanely tall trees from the forest so Rachel's story wasn't helpful at all.
"You big baby, don't worry as long as I'm here nothing's touching you."
Cedric assured her in the weirdest way possible.