Chapter 3:
"What a day! Unbelievable!"
"Really, it doesn't feel real at all" Sylviana replied to Dominic.
They are right, it feels like a dream, I want to see dad's face when I tell him about this, he will be proud for sure.
It was already evening time, we were sitting around a round wooden table, just us, the 5 members of the party.
A wooden cup was placed in front of each of us, each and his own alcoholic drink, well not really each, Sylviana doesn't usually drink alcohol, only on really unusual occasions... something about her being a line of princesses of the Eye of the Moon tribe, so she ordered orange juice.
"Enough talking! The drinks are here! Let's raise a toast!" exclaimed Lorine, "Yes! For the best party alive!" Dominic continued.
We picked up the wooden cups, these were long cups, long and straight as possible, simple cups, nothing too fancy, or even not fancy at all, dark brown in color and slightly worn due to previous uses. Although we asked the bar-man for something a little more festive...
But for us, it didn't matter, today is a day of celebration, and nothing will ruin our celebration.
Lorine was on my left, Dominic on my right, Sylviana and Roobers were standing in front of me, left and right respectively.
I reached out to the center of the table, and immediately all the other friends poured their cups along with mine.
I took a sip of the drink, it tasted very bitter, it's probably a low level beer, nevertheless, no complaints...
After the sip we sat down.
"So tell me Sylvi, why aren't you allowed to drink alcohol? Will it make you less pure?" A small smile appeared on Dominic's face after this sentence.
"Her name is Sylviana", replied Roobers with a half-angry face
"Yes, yes, you're right, Sylviana"
"As a princess of the Eye of the Moon tribe, it's not appropriate to be seen as a fool, it's not that it's forbidden, but only reserved for very special days" replied Sylviana as she sipped again from her wooden cup.
Dominic seemed not satisfied with the answer, he muttered something like "fool.. fool..", and turned his gaze to the others present at the bar.
Lorine looked at Sylviana, "Princess? So that means you're really special doesn't it?"
"Not really spec..." Roobers burst into Sylviana's words "Of course she is special, Sylviana is a princess! Not a simple human like us.."
It sounded like a joke, even though Roobers didn't seem like it, "Everyone is equal before the Union, no matter the tribe and no matter which family you were born to" I said, everyone knows it, it's a basic value.
"Whether you were born into a royal family or whether you were born into street life, for the Union you are just as equal as everyone else" must emphasize this.
"But it's clear that Sylviana is much more special" replied Roobers, "Are you also from the Eye of the Moon tribe? Roobers?" Lorine asked.
Roobers nodded in agreement with even a hint of pride.
"I don't think I'm that special, there are other princesses in the tribe"
"Sylviana is really humble, she is very special" Roobers continue to press the issue.
The bar man started placing several plates with a variety of foods on the table and thus interrupted the debate "Eat with appetite volunteers".
A whole roasted chicken, fried potatoes, a loaf of fresh bread, it smells so good.
We started eating, and the smell really wasn't deceiving, it was really delicious. A short while later the bar man refilled our drinking cups.
The girls didn't eat much, it just means that we boys ate more, the atmosphere was good, in the background there were talking noises from the people who filled the bar, the bar was not completely full, there were a few empty tables and still it was quite noisy, still the atmosphere was good, I think it's because of the good day we had.
After we finished eating, there was a moment of silence, until it was broken by Dominic, "something is missing here".
Does he mean something in the meal? Or maybe drinks? Or in the general atmosphere?
"What's missing Dominic?" Lorine asked.
"Fun! Fun is missing here! We shouldn't end the evening like this"
"Fun?" I asked incomprehension.
Dominic raised his half-full cup and pointed at me, "Right man, fun! The best kind..."
"What kind of fun is the best kind?" I replied.
"Zophyr, my friend, the taste of a hot woman's body, that's the fun, you know what I'm talking about..."
I feel uncomfortable, how can he talk about it like that in front of everyone, and especially without considering the girls, it's inappropriate...
"It's inappropriate, it's inappropriate to talk about it so publicly" I think that's the appropriate answer, "Come on, we're all adults here..."
I looked at the girls, Sylviana with the same expression, it doesn't seem to bother her, Lorine is looking at us strangely, maybe it actually interests her? Well, I have to make it clear.
"I think everyone should have a relationship with the one they love, unrestrained revelry is not good for the union and the tribes", I looked at Lorine again, now that I had made myself clear, she wouldn't think I am an irresponsible man.
Wait, why do I have to explain myself? Why is Lorine's opinion important? After all, it is clear that such girls cannot be trusted.
Lorine joined the conversation "I think everyone should do what they want to, as long as it's all in agreement, after you grow up... not before... isn't that right?" She put a cute little smile on her face.
"Exactly!" Dominic exclaimed in agreement, he smiled back at her, tapping his fingers on the table, "You just need to know how to choose a man, an experienced man is better" Dominic smiled again.
"Are you the experienced man here?" Lorine asked, "It's obvious, Zophyr may have tried it once or twice... I've been with many women, ask them all, none of them are disappointed" replied Dominic proudly.
"Roobers is also here, maybe he has more experience" suddenly Sylviana also joined the conversation.
Roobers didn't respond, he had an idiotic smile and a lost look, as if his head wasn't with us, his body was here, but his thoughts were in another world...
Dominic burst out laughing, "He hasn't even been with anyone" Sylviana replied with a suspicious face,
"Okay, we'll find out, Roobers, with how many have you been with? It's true that you haven't been with anyone…?"
Roobers gaze turned to Dominic "What? I was with no one? When?" he replied.
"I'm talking about this thing… you know, you and a woman together"
"No, you have to be a full grown up for..." replied Roobers and was immediately interrupted by Dominic "I told you, Zophyr, how many women have you been with?"
It's inappropriate, it's really inappropriate, especially not in front of the girls "Dominic, it's not something you just talk about like that"
"So you haven't been with anyone?" Dominic's eyes widened in surprise
I looked at the half-full cup in front of me, what will they think if I don't say anything?
"One" I pointed with my finger, "Like I said, I'm the experienced man here, and what about you girls? Sylviana sure not, but Lorine… you got it.. how many have you been with?" Dominic continued.
"I'm not allowed", replied Sylviana, "as a princess after volunteering I have to marry a son of a noble family."
"How do you know I've been with a couple of men?" Lorine asked.
what? Is she that experienced?
"Don't worry, I can make you forget all other men, after you'll be with me no other man will ever be interesting for you"
"Or maybe, you're just saying and you're not that experienced" Dominic continued
Lorine turned her face away, "You can never really know anyway."
Dominic held out his hand, "There is a very easy method to know, it always works"
Lorine looked at Dominic's palm and hesitated for a moment but then placed her hand on his.
"Squeeze my hand as hard as possible"
Lorine began to shake Dominic's hand tightly, she looked really focused as if trying to prove something,
"Oh!" Lorine shouted in a soft voice, she immediately released her grip on Dominic's hand.
"Why did you do it?" Lorine asked while waving her hand. Dominic seemed to squeeze her hand so hard that it made her scream.
"An experienced woman does not shout like that...", "You are a good girl, too good".
Dominic's face changed, he looked disappointed, "Don't wait for me" he placed a bronze coin on the table, "Are you going?" I asked.
"I won't find fun here, I'm going to look for fun somewhere else"
Dominic started walking away from the table, he didn't leave the bar, but went around the tables, and started talking to people, does he know them? Is this the nature of the Iron tribe? I don't think he knows these people, how can he just go up and talk to them? Doesn't that embarrass him?
"Here we lost one, it's not a big loss after all..." Lorine said with a light chuckle.
Sylviana finished her drink, "That's his type, and yet you have to maintain normal relations with him, he's part of the party."
Sylviana pulled out a bronze coin and dragged it to the center of the table, and immediately after stood up. "I'm going back to the quarters, I'll see you tomorrow morning" she said and walked towards the exit of the bar.
There were three of us left, that's fine, it could have been very awkward if I'd only stayed with Lorine.
Roobers placed a bronze coin as well, "I will accompany you! I will not let the princess of the Eye of the Moon tribe walk alone without protection" He immediately stood up from his chair and quickly chased after Sylviana. She replied something along the lines of "no need I'm fine", yet Roobers joined her.
There are only two of us left, what to do? What to do? Sacrifice me to the dragons, this situation is very embarrassing, well, I'll finish my drink and go back to the quarters too.
Suddenly the bartender came to the table before I could even say a word, he filled our cups with drinks and collected the three coins that were on the table, "Rejoice! You are a young couple, life is still ahead of you" he said and immediately began to return to the bar.
"It's not like that! We're not a couple" I said immediately, it seemed that Lorine also wanted to say something but I got ahead of her. The barman didn't seem to pay attention to what I said, or maybe he didn't hear.
It's very embarrassing, I looked at Lorine, she gave a small smile, "They think we're a couple..." she said.
My hands start to sweat, I'm inexplicably hot, I feel my heart beating fast.
How do I get out of this situation? That she won't think I want to be her partner or anything like that.
I grabbed my drinking cup "So... we'll drink in honor of... the fact that... we're not a couple?" my hand is shaking.
Self control, you have to stop the vibrations.
"Yes! We will drink for that" Lorine replied, she raised her cup and we drank together.
I took a sip of the drink, I feel less stressed now, I think it helped.
"I'm glad to be here with you" I said, on second thought maybe I shouldn't have said that,
I looked into Lorine's eyes, her red shining eyes, I smiled a little, I felt the alcohol starting to affect me strongly.
"I'm happy too, today was a big day"
"Yeah, I can't get the image of the leader of the dark predators out of my head" I replied.
"It takes a lot of courage, I didn't think you had it, you seem like a different type of person" Lorine said while kind of examining me, at least that's how it felt, maybe the alcohol is affecting her too.
I giggled a little, "Yes, I didn't think about it, my body just started moving by itself", Lorine opened her eyes a little "Got both.. this.. and that..." she muttered something.
"What? What did you say about me?", "You look like... um.. really good.. m..n" Her answer surprised me, there was a lot of noise in the background for a moment so I missed a word or two, what was she saying?
Does she say I look good? I can't remain apathetic to this, "Your eyes... the look on your eyes makes me relax and calm... just don't look at me like that during the battle, you can't be relaxed in the middle of the battle" I looked at her, maybe I talked a little too much? A big smile appeared on her face and suddenly she burst into a big laugh, I joined in the laughter, when I think about it - it's really funny, I'm not usually a funny person.
After a few seconds the laughter stopped but the smile still remained, Lorine sipped from her drinking cup again, "It's strange that you actually talked about my eyes, most of the time people are very put off by those eyes, aren't you?"
I sipped again from my drinking cup as well, I looked straight into her eyes "Not at all" I replied.
We looked at each other for a few seconds, then Lorine looked away, she looked at the bar counter, "Look at Dominic" she said as she looked at the long bar table.
Dominic was standing talking to a chubby girl, she seems to work at this bar, "there's no way she'll go with him" I don't know why I said that, that's just the feeling I had, usually my feelings are right.
We finished our drinks and left 2 more bronze coins on the table. We started going back to the quarters together, the volunteers quarters are in the same building, so it felt natural to me that we would return together, in addition to that Lorine said she doesn't remember the way, I'm happy to help of course.
We walked together and talked, the conversation was good, that's how it felt from my side.
She told me about the village where she was born, about what it's like to be a daughter of the iron tribe, the people are warm, there is a lot of joy and they see things in an optimistic way. I told about what it's like to be a member of the Light of Truth tribe, the education is strict, high standards must be met.
After a while, we found ourselves in an unfamiliar place, it seems that I don't remember the way either, I was sure that I remember the way quite well... maybe at night the places look a little different.
So we lost our way a little, I didn't mind, we retraced our steps a little and tried another way, finally we managed to reach the quarters. Although we were delayed, in the end we made it.
I really enjoyed walking with her and talking to her, the effect of the alcohol almost wore off, we advanced to the area where we are supposed to split up, there is a separation between the boys' quarters and the girls' quarters.
How do you break up with a girl properly? She needs to get the impression that I am a respectful and polite guy.
"See you tomorrow morning, Zophyr" she said simply, and just started walking towards the girls' quarters.
"Yes good night!" I answered, I watched her walk away from me and soon after I started moving towards the boys' quarters.
I think I misjudged her, she is very nice, I had a lot of fun with Lorine.
As I was moving forward, her image suddenly came to my mind, it wasn't Lorine, I remember I had a lot of fun with her too, and she was also very nice, it was Miranda, in my memory she still smiles at me broadly. I didn't want to remember her, it just happened, every time I remember her my heart pinches.
I got to the room, the door of the room is in front of me, it is a simple room, quite small but meets the basic needs, which is actually the need to sleep.
Roobers is probably already asleep, or maybe he happened to stare at the moon, it happens to him sometimes, well not sometimes, quite a lot of times... I will have to go in quietly so as not to wake Roobers, I approach the door handle carefully but suddenly I hear strange noises from the room. What is going on there? danger? Maybe someone broke into our room? We don't have too many things to steal anyway... I quickly opened the door and stood in the doorway of the room, big bouncy breasts is what jumped out at me, Dominic is having sex with a girl, she is lying with her back to the bed while he leans over her and the movement of his pelvis shakes her body hard.
"Sorry!!!" I went out and slammed the door.
I retraced my steps, sat down on a flight of stairs in the area where I split from Lorine.
Needless to say, they were both completely naked, doesn't that embarrass them? Don't they mind me watching them do it?
I waited patiently pondering the matter, until suddenly a chubby girl walked by me quickly, she came from the direction of the boys' quarters... wait, I saw her at the bar, is she the one who talked to Dominic at the bar? Only now she's dressed... so does that mean they're now a couple?
A few seconds later Dominic appeared, dressed of course.
He noticed me and approached me.
I can't look him in the face, it's really embarrassing, he'll probably be really angry... but it's his fault... he could have said something to me about it, or maybe temporarily locked the room...
"Zophyr my friend, life is good... better than ever" he said as he sat down next to me.
I looked at him in surprise "I thought you would be angry... it doesn't bother you that I saw.. that I came in and you.. I mean you and your girlfriend" I think I didn't speak so clearly, that's how it turned out.
"Girlfriend? I don't have any girlfriend"
"But.. you were together.. it's appropriate that you should be together now" I replied.
Dominic smiled a little, "Look, it's not like that in the world of the adults, I want something from her, and she wants something from me, in the end we're both satisfied" "You don't need to add anything more than that, it's perfect how it is" he added.
It's strange, it's so unclear, how does the woman or the man know what each wants from the other? Maybe it's part of the Iron tribe culture, they don't like to use the term couple apparently.
"I think I understand, the members of the Iron tribe don't need to be partners, everything is understandable to them"
"What? No... never mind, let's go back to the room" replied Dominic incomprehension.
We started going back to our room, "By the way, do you know where Roobers went?" "I kicked him out of the room when I arrived, he didn't resist... he'll be back, don't worry"
We entered the room, the room had 3 narrow beds, standing in parallel lines, the room is quite small, there is room for a small wooden closet and 3 beds at a small distance from each other.
The beds are not as comfortable as at home, but they are much better than the ground and grass in the field.
I lay down on the bed, "Miranda..." I whispered, again she came to my mind.
I got over her, I need to get her out of my head, so I did, I closed my eyes and fell asleep.
We reached the Great Forest, after walking for almost half a day, we reached the area where we were with Inzdel.
Well not exactly the same area, because I'm really not sure we know how to get back there, but close enough.
We were still outside the forest, looking at the trees in front of us.
We were just the five members of the party, Dominic, Roobers, Sylviana, Lorine and… me.
I looked at my teammates, I am the leader, I will give the opening signal for our first mission alone.
"We need to be more careful this time, Inzdel isn't here to protect us, and as we agreed, Dominic and I are at the front, Roobers is covering Sylviana and Lorine is covering all of us" When I said her name she looked at me and nodded affirmatively.
"Yes, it's important that we be careful, even Inzdel and her teammates told us that..." added Roobers.
"They just want the mission bonus…" Lorine replied, "Bonus? Which bonus?" asked Roobers.
"It's a well-known fact, a mentoring party gets a big bonus if all the members of the party it mentored survived up to a period of 3 months," Sylviana explained.
Dominic's eyes widened in surprise, "How big a bonus is that?"
"10 silver coins to the best of my memory"
"Wow! I want to mentor a group too, 10 silver..? From the sale of the teeth of the leader of the dark predators we got 2 silver coins, and they just have to wait 3 months without doing anything... to get 10?" Dominic resented.
Sylviana adjusted her glasses and said "For the deposit of the Tunka in the hands of the Union we only received 5 bronze coins, I think that if we tried to sell it we could have received more".
"That's true, but Inzdel said it was important to entrust loot to the Union, something about it helping us move up the ranks quickly" it's what I remember from her explanation before we parted ways yesterday.
I started walking towards the forest "We didn't came here to complain" I said, and with that we ended the conversation.
We moved a little further in, there is still daylight and you can easily see the way out of the forest, this is our limit for now.
After a while we came across Holbars, 4 more precisely, walking around a bush with red fruits, I think it's called a raspberry, maybe a strawberry? Not sure…
The Holbars were rat-like with light gray fur, they were larger than normal mice, their tails were long and thick, the pupils of their eyes were black, their four legs were firm and strong, somewhat reminiscent of the limbs of lizards, at the end of each of their fingers they had sharp nails, at first glance It looks like thick, short blades.
They noticed us a little before we noticed them, and without thinking twice they went on the attack.
The four Holbars quickly rushed towards Dominic, he was already ready, he swung his sword in the air and as soon as one of the Holbars approached he hit him hard, Dominic hit his back and penetrated through the Holbar's body which caused him to die on the spot.
"Don't hurt their tails, it's the most important part of them!" Sylviana exclaimed.
Another Holbar approached Dominic's legs, leapt and cut the calf of his left leg, Dominic bled from his leg and lost a little stability but remained standing.
I stood behind Dominic and as soon as the Holbar passed under him I hit him with my hammer, the Holbar took the hit and seemed to stop galloping forward while he continued to try and move forward, I immediately hit him again and that finished the job. I looked at the Holbar I killed, I was waiting for this feeling, like I had with the leader of the dark predators... but it didn't come, I kept looking at him and no emotion came to me, is that right?
Dominic swung his sword again and another Holbar approached his leg, he immediately stuck his great sword inside the Holbar's body.
Seeing the last Holbar that he was left alone, he turned his direction backwards and started to run, suddenly an arrow was shot in front of him which made him stop a little and slow down his speed.
"Don't let him get away!" Sylviana shouted, Lorine immediately shot another arrow and this time it stuck in the head of the Holbar, the arrow that hit him killed him.
"There it is!" Lorine exclaimed happily, her face looks shining when she's happy, it makes me happy too… Of course, I'm also happy when every other member of the party is happy…
"Zophyr! Help?" cried Dominic while trying not to step on his left foot, I advanced towards him immediately.
I placed the hammer and shield on the ground, then I placed both hands on the calf of Dominic's left leg, I began to concentrate on it, glowing golden points of light came out of my hands, they covered the place of injury and immediately disintegrated and disappeared, the bleeding stopped and Dominic was back on his feet.
I picked up the hammer and the shield, I looked at the shield, I practiced using the shield as well and until now I had no use for it, it is indeed a shield made of wood but still provides protection.
"Hmmm… that was easy" Lorine said, Dominic looked like he was about to say something, it's sure to be something to boost his ego…
"It's obvious, I'm here so everything seems easy", sacrifice me to the dragons, I knew that's what he would say.
"The Holbars are among the weakest creatures in existence, so don't be surprised that the battle with them is easy" Sylviana explained.
We separated the tails from the Holbars, 4 tails in total, it seems like a reasonable loot doesn't it?
"So how much can we make from these tails?" I asked
"Maybe 2 bronze coins" answered Silvia, "is that all?" Dominic resented, "There are not many uses for these tails, they are mainly used to make the strings of the bows thanks to their elasticity."
We continued to move forward, from time to time I looked back to make sure we were staying close to the exit from the forest.
We encountered several types of buildings, or rather their ruins, we saw several white stone columns with a cylindrical shape broken in half and arranged in a row with spaces, what kind of structure is this supposed to create?
Sylviana explained that not much is known about the Great Forest, for example these buildings, they have been here for a very long time - hundreds or maybe thousands of years, from what we know they were not made by humans, the goblins do not know how to build such buildings and even if they do they have no need for such buildings, the orcs still don't master building in stone, they mainly deal with building in wood or forging metals, and the dragons are very far from here, and they don't tend to leave their home. So we have no idea who built these structures, and many volunteers came across similar structures.
The further you go into the Great Forest, the more powerful and dangerous the creatures are, "They say that all the answers are in the center of the great forest, but to date no one has been able to reach the center and stay alive," Sylviana added.
We continued to move forward, after a while we heard talking noises.
I signaled to the rest of the group to be quiet, we approached slowly and quietly towards the source of the voices.
"si zee ti no-Hee" one of them said,
"no-Hee so Soo fho" the other responded to him.
There were three of them in total, they were talked about them a lot in training, they are the bitterest enemy of humans.
These were the goblins, their color is light green, they are dressed in thick cloth that is probably made from a large animal, the thickness of the cloth serves as a kind of thin armor for their upper body, their body structure is similar to that of humans, their ears are pointed and longer, they are shorter than humans, about the height of a human child aged 9- 10, they are obviously wider and more muscular than a human child. The lenses of their eyes are bright yellow and the pupils are black, their noses are big, long and pointed and they have almost no hairs, you can see very few black hairs on their heads and eyebrows, their faces... how to say it? Ugly.. They are completely ugly, uglier than any human in existence. Just looking at them is terrifying, their teeth are all pointed like a kind of sharp fangs.
The three were standing next to another white cylindrical structure, one was leaning on it and the other two were standing next to him, the cylindrical column was about 3 or 4 times the height of the goblins.
Two of the goblins held a short sword, and the third, which was fatter and broader, held a large tree club.
They didn't notice us, we were hiding behind bushes near the place.
I looked at my teammates, they prepared and guided us for this moment, 3 goblins is a small amount, this is our opportunity.
My right hand was shaking a little, it's probably from stress, I'll be fine.. we'll be fine.
Our party is special.
"forward!" I shouted and immediately my party members and I came out of hiding and stood in front of the goblins.