[You have received a reward item!]
[Item: Sphere of Aegis
• An orb containing a great amount of mana which can be used to empower the wielders spell or artifact.]
[Acquisition difficulty: A-rank]
[Category: Orb]
"Renji...Reo, he killed the chief and he's coming after you for the stone! We have to get out of here now, his magic is beyond anything I've seen." She said hurriedly, unaware that Renji had already taken him down. She assumed the battle that just came to a decisive end was between him and the Drakons that pursued him.
"I know.." He said with a soft voice, facing the small sized crater that was covered by a cloud of dust.
"Huh?" Curious to what he stared at, she turned her gaze at the crater. As the dust settled down, her eyes met with the dead body of the chief's grandson.
She gasped, covering her mouth with her two hands as she stared at his corspe. The (Spiralling Wind Dragon's Blast) had done more than decapitate him, it shattered every bone in his body as well as the sword of Phantasos.
"Ren..ji.." She uttered his name softly as he walked away, she understood now why he had such a glean expression on his face.
Nevertheless it was all over, the threat had been neutralized. The culprit dealt with and the village was saved, there was one thing he still couldn't put behind him. "Why was I not able to obtain the sword? Is it because it got destroyed? The Sphere of Aegis is made out of pure mana so it can't be destroyed, does that apply for the acquisition process?"
He contemplated within his thoughts at once, attempting to uncover just exactly how the system worked.
"You killed him.." She stuttered as she was completely shocked that he had taken a life.
"I had no other choice, he was going to destroy the village and with his power taking him down without killing him was an impossible task." He lied, he couldn't tell her that the system would have killed him instead if he let Reo live.
"How many casualties?" He inquired.
"Just two, the old man and Reo. The rest of the villagers are safe." She replied, it was kind of heart breaking to her that Reo became the main threat in her quest.
They arrived at the village's gate, it was torn apart by the wind pressure created from the battles and even some houses were affected. At the end, only a minimal number of houses suffered casualties from his clash. "I guess that brings an end to the quest, nice job." He said, praising her efforts on the completion of the quest.
"Thanks." She said bluntly.
"Damn it, oh well." He sighed softly as he spoke within his thoughts. She didn't do much and she still took the credit.
"Thanks for your help, because of you I was able to keep the promise I made to the village chief just before he died." She said as she folded her arms together, she was too shy to look at Renji as she thanked him mainly because of her pride.
"Well that's a first." He chuckled, realizing it must have taken her a great deal of willpower to thank him like that.
"I'm sure if the old man was alive, he'll be as equally thankful." He added.
"Indeed he is." A familiar voice spoke from afar, upon entering the village they spotted the silhouette of a short man approaching them.
"That voice.." Hinata whispered softly.
"Hmph, well at this point I can't be anymore shocked." Renji smiled as the silhouette was revealed to be old man Tunlop.
"Chief!" Hinata exclaimed with excitement, running over to Tunlop and embraced him warmly. After all, she blamed herself for his death since he shielded her from Reo.
"Don't go around scaring people like that old man." Renji said as he approached him.
"How are you still alive? I watched you die." Hinata asked, expressing her shock. There has never been any documentation of dead people coming back to life.
"It seems the rumors about the pit are true, however we have it all wrong." Tunlop replied.
"Let me guess, those strange flowers down there is what kept you alive?" Renji speculated.
"Why yes, how did you know that?"
"If it was the river itself, Reo wouldn't be dead by now. You also didn't know how to access the temple so it must be something from the outside and the only thing there were those flowers." He added, feeling the effects of his upgraded intelligence.
"How observant of you, the gods really were on our side by sending you two." The old man spoke aloud. The death of Reo came as a blow to him, as sad as it was it was the only way to stop him.
"What will happen from here chief?"
"Rebuilding the village wouldn't be an issue anymore now that the plague is over, you have our gratitude mages. Concerning the quest rewards, our village is poor but we can-" Before he could finish, he was interrupted.
"Don't bother yourself chief, I don't need the reward. Just seeing you alive and your village safe is more than enough for me." She said rejecting his payment.
"She might be prideful and annoying on the outside, but really on the inside she has a kindred spirit." Renji thought, he liked this side of Hinata most especially.
"If that's what you want, very well. I thank you once again young mages. Your deeds shall not be forgotten." Tunlop spoke as he bowed his head in respect. From there, they went their separate ways.
Tunlop returned into his village to bring the over joyous news to his villagers and Renji and Hinata left the village. She wanted to stay and help but Renji would have left her before she had the chance to truly thank him.
"So what are you going to do from here? Are you going back to the Shogun's order?" She asked.
"I said I'm not a samurai, damn it all." He felt like crying at this point, no matter his efforts Hinata failed to listen or rather she refused to.
"Then explain how you took down all those drakons! I'm not buying that nin whatever story." She said, simply refusing to accept what she couldn't understand.
"I give up." He sighed heavily, arguing further would just increase his stress levels and he was already stressed enough.
"I don't know where I'll go from here, I guess I'll just go wherever the wind takes me." He added, all he really wanted now was some food and proper sleep.
"That settles it!" She exclaimed with excitement again.
"Settles what?"
"You're going to join the Dancing Phoenix guild!" She proclaimed, not giving him a choice in the matter.