When the party exited the dark woods, they saw scores of people waiting for them, and their faces looked to have a dormant hope like a fuse waiting to be lit. And it did, when Jire walked out of the woods, he presented his blade, unwashed with the blood of the mossgrum, "THE MOSSGRUM HAS BEEN SLAIN!!" He yelled.
The fuse was lit, and the people's hope exploded with cheers and laughter, quickly mothers and fathers rushed to their homes and began to dance with their children in the streets, seeing this, Rapl couldn't help but smile, "Isn't that a sight for sore eyes."
While going back to a carriage, the party was being thanked and celebrated, Rapl was even given a basket full of bread, but due to his sore hands, Bok took it instead. But when they were about to reach their carriage, Jire came running towards them.
In his hands was a bag of coins, "Heroes, here, extra for your work today," he offered. Rapl was trying to become humble and not accept it, but immediately Leena took it, Rapl gave her a judging stare as they departed.
Due to exhaustion, Alex, Bok, Leena, and Rico immediately dozed off, leading Rapl and Sevi to be the only ones awake, there was an awkward air between the two, but surprisingly, Sevi was the first one to open his mouth.
"Sorry for my attitude," he remarked, his voice a bit quiet, but Rapl heard it, "I just don't trust people that much, it's something I know I need to improve on."
Rapl patted the young boy on the shoulder, "Though it may be true that you're sometimes very rude, it's not the worst thing to not trust people when you first meet them, you just need to be a bit kinder," Rapl explained, "Also, I thought you were a mage, you didn't look like one."
Sevi chuckled as Rapl said this, "I mean I do more yutro than kutha, even with movement, I just combine floating with high recoil fire attacks so I go flying."
"Yeah, but like you punch, kick, and you're up close to them," Rapl replied, leading Sevi to give him an 'are you serious' stare.
"Have you heard of a battle mage?" Sevi sassily pointed out, but realizing how rude that sounded, Sevi began to apologize again, "Sorry, it's just… force of habit."
Rapl giggled a bit with Sevi's constant changes, but then he told the boy something that he thought would help him, "Being rude, mean-spirited, or flat-out hateful is something you should always avoid, but what you just did isn't any of those, it may be annoying to some people, but that's who you are, plus, I know full well, that heart of yours hidden in your walls, its a heart of a kind boy."
Taken aback by what Rapl said, Sevi hid behind his clothes, covering his face with his shirt, "How'd you come to that conclusion," he asked, as if he also wanted to know if it was true.
Realizing this, Rapl with a calm and genuine tone, told him, "Tell me, who was it who charged immediately when Jire was running into danger? Who was it who instantly rushed to Leena when we thought she was in danger? And who was it who also made a flame pillar to protect Bok and Jire?"
Feeling embarrassed, Sevi tried to retort, "My body moved first in those moments, I could not control them."
Yet Rapl continued to smile, "Doesn't our true selves come out when we do things without thinking?" He asked, resulting in Sevi quieting down, a bit taken aback by Rapl's wisdom.
"Weren't you a sheltered kid?" Sevi asked, his face still hiding behind his shirt.
"Doesn't mean I know nothing," Rapl replied. While Rapl and Sevi continued to talk, sleeping on Bok's shoulder, Alex's mouth formed a smile.
Later, when they finally reached the tavern, there was a massive commotion inside it, but when Rapl's party entered it, everyone looked at them with a shocked reaction, "H-how?" A tavern worker asked, Rapl wondered what was happening.
It turned out, that adventurers like Rapl and his party weren't allowed to take quests like the one they just finished due to the danger of it, and the only reason why Rapl was given the quest, was because the person who assigned it to Rapl was careless and didn't check his adventurer grade, essentially sending Rapl and his party to their deaths.
But everyone was shocked at Rapl and his party accomplishing the quest, especially their first quest together as a party, "I'M SO SORRY!!" The head tavern keeper apologized, forcing the careless keeper to bow on the ground, "For compensation, we will give a fifty percent increase on the reward and a free dinner for tonight for all of you."
Rapl was initially hesitant to take the offer, but when he was about to refuse it, he felt the dagger eyes of Leena behind his back, "S-sure we'll take it thank you." Rapl and the party ate like kings that night, but they were also getting a lot of attention for their achievements.
"What is your guys' party name?" A woman asked, confidently Bok crossed his arms and smiled.
"Mossgrum killers."
"We are not naming ourselves mossgrum killers," Rapl snarled.
The mage that saved Rapl came up to him, "Hey kid, you're really trailblazing this adventurer job huh?" She asked, also observing Rapl's party getting more popular, "Say, I heard there was an elusive basilisk near the town gates, we're currently trying to get a group of parties to fight it, do you wanna join us?"
Without thinking about it too much, Rapl agreed, "Sure, we can," he remarked, leading the mage girl to tap him on the shoulder.
"Thanks kid." As Rapl turned to his party, he told his group about it, and Leena's eyes grew in disbelief.
"A BASILISK!?" She shouted, resulting in the adventurers around them to get more excited.
"YOU GUYS ARE GOING TO HELP OUT WITH THE BASILISK!?" They asked with happiness in their eyes, seeing it, Rapl couldn't go back now.
"YEAH WE ARE!!" He confidently shouted. But when everyone began to filter out of the tavern and the sun was beginning to set, Rapl was cornered by Leena in the boy's apartment room.
"WHAT WAS THAT!?!" She yelled, Bok and Sevi were just eating bread as they watched Rapl being told off, "Do you even know what a basilisk can do? THEIR POISON IS LITERALLY USED TO DISPOSE TRASH!! ONE HIT AND WE'RE DEAD!!" She yelled.
"I-I'm sorry I didn't know," Rapl pitifully apologized, trying to block Leena's furious pillow hits, but Bok grabbed Leena's pillow, preventing Rapl from getting hit.
"We should be fine Leena," Bok told her, "If we beat that mossgrum, we can beat anything."
Sevi also entered the discussion, "We did pretty well for that mossgrum hunt, whatever this basilisk is, I know we can figure it out," he added, fist-bumping Bok.
"Oh yeah? Bok put Sevi on your shoulders," Leena instructed, leading Bok to squat down and Sevi got on top of him, and when Bok stood up, Sevi could touch the top of the ceiling.
"Your point?" Bok asked.
"You know a snake right? Yeah, add two more feet on top of Sevi and that's the width of a basilisk, not even counting its hundred feet length, basilisks are not known as hill flatteners for nothing." Bok and Sevi were awestruck at knowing this, so when Bok put Sevi back on the ground, they grabbed their pillow.
"YOU KILLED US!!!!" And charged at Rapl, beating him up with soft wool. But after a few minutes of Rapl being softly demolished, Alex came barging into the room.
"GUYS LOOK!!" She shouted as Rico came inside the room, "Turn around boy." And as the salamander did what he was told, everyone saw a shell behind its back.
"Wuh?" Everyone was shocked at this, "Is that just a pattern?" Bok asked, but to prove him wrong, Alex lightly knocked at the skull, letting out a noise like that of a hard object.
Quickly Sevi rushed to Rico, trying to find out how he managed to grow a shell, "Weird, is it a type of mutation?" Sevi asked himself, still observing Rico, "Say Rapl? You found Rico where?"
"Just outside the walls, ten minutes away from here," Rapl replied, coming close to Rico as well, "I did hear from my mother that Skirian salamanders are highly adaptable, but not to this degree," Rapl explained, grabbing some bread and giving it to Rico. But then he noticed something, "Sevi look."
The young man looked at what Rapl was seeing, and in Rico's mouth he saw something very particular, it was a shard, "Could you spit it out boy?" From Rico's mouth, they saw a shattered fragment of the mossgrum's shell, but it was being corroded by Rico's venom.
"Is this where he gets it from?" Leena asked as she put the shard back in Rico's mouth, "Maybe… Rico's body changes depending on what he eats?" After saying this, the group hypothesized about what they could do about this, they planned to give Rico high-grade monster parts so that he could adapt to it.
After they were finished, Rapl noticed how late it was getting, the girls and Rico went to their apartment as the boys got tucked in, "What a day huh?" Rapl asked the two, but he could already hear Sevi snoring.
But Bok was still awake, "Yeah, indeed it was," he replied, but immediately he heard Rapl start to snore, "He really left me hanging." Bok shrugged as he also entered into a deep slumber.
The next morning came, and due to their increased rewards, the party decided to take a day off adventuring, finding it a good opportunity for Rapl to expand on his magic knowledge, Sevi took Rapl to the magic shop for an examination.
"Alex and I went here when we first arrived in Dartine, they're just going to extract some blood from you and research the mana particles inside," Sevi explained, arriving at the establishment, he opened the door, "Morning," he called out, two people turned to him, they were the workers of the shop.
"Oh, it's Sevi," a man called, he had a warm smile as he greeted him, but then he noticed Rapl, "Oh hey, are you a friend of Sevi's?" He asked.
"Uhh yeah." Rapl and Sevi walked through the trinkets, wands, grimoires, staffs, and potions, Rapl was taken back a bit, but when they finally reached the counter, a woman with blonde hair waited for them there, she met eyes with Sevi with a teasing look.
"Hey Sevi, are you going to do an examination today?" She asked, "Make sure not to cry too much alright?" Sevi's face turned red when she said this, he hid his face under his shirt.
"N-no, it's for m-my friend," he stumbled as Rapl walked up, staring at Sevi with a judging look, "Y-you'll understand idiot."
Rapl and the woman talked, with Sevi only talking when Rapl didn't know what to say, but finally, after they finished and Rapl paid, the woman opened a door behind the shop, "Grandma, Sevi brought his friend for an examination," the woman called out, and after a few seconds, a woman getting up there in age stepped out, a gentle smile on her face.
"Come Sevi and Sevi's friend," she called as the two followed her, they made their way into a room filled with glass cups of various sizes, knives on the walls, scrolls on shelves, and a desk and a bed. Rapl could smell the scent of magic and blood in the room, it was a strong fragrance. But when Sevi entered the room, Rapl saw him flinch, "Haha, don't worry Sevi dear, I won't do anything."
Rapl wondered what this meant, "Are you just scared of examinations?" He asked Sevi, resulting in the old woman to laugh.
"Oh dear, little Sevi over here hates examinations, so little Alex typically tricks him by asking him to come with her for her exam, only for him to be the one dragged into this room," the woman teased as she led Rapl to sit on the bed, she got a small knife and a glass as big as a finger, "Just this much blood dear."
Rapl pulled his sleeves back as the woman made a small incision in his shoulder, pressing it tightly so that blood could be released and put into the glass, while this was happening Rapl turned to Sevi, "That's it?" He asked.
"I don't like blood okay," Sevi exclaimed, trying to defend himself, after there was enough blood in the glass, the woman used a healing spell on Rapl, fixing the wound.
"Just eat a lot today to make up for the lost blood," she instructed as she put the knife in a barrel full of bloody knives, and went to the desk.
Rapl, still not getting this examination, asked the woman, "So~ What's this for?" The woman was a bit shocked about him not knowing, but while putting the glass on a station, she kindly explained.
"Mana particles are in one's blood, we get blood to see how dense someone's mana is, resulting in their mana pool, but also observing one's mana tells us a lot about their potential," she remarked as she pulled out a grimoire, she started to chant a spell, and Rapl could see his blood start to glow.
A blue hue took over the room, turning to Sevi, Rapl could see that his face was in disbelief, "W-what," he mouthed.
The woman's face was in awe at what she was seeing, "Your potential," she said, "It rivals that of our country's mightiest champions." Both Rapl and Sevi were in awe at what she said, still staring at the glass, the woman began, "Although your mana pool right now is low, it can be expanded. You could also learn just about every element with wind being the closest currently. You're also an immediate C3 in magic arts, not counting your gift."
Rapl, being bombarded by information, decided to give his thoughts some words, "Wha??"
Intrigued with Rapl, the woman decided to ask him an important question, "Say dear? May I ask who your parents are?"
At this question, Rapl uttered, "My father, Kenjiro Tsukumo, and my mother, Irene Taulus." The woman's eyes grew in shock.
"Kenjiro the wisp and royal guard Irene?" The woman asked, although this was the first time Rapl had heard their nicknames, he nodded. From stories from his parents, he knew that his father had a gift that made him duplicate himself, and his mother had a special Kendrian shield hung up, given by the past queen of Kendro.
Sevi didn't know any of this, "Who were they? They sounded important," he asked Rapl, his eyes glistening with curiosity again.
But the woman interjected, "Champions of the great war, I don't know that much about Kenjiro, but Irene was one out of the fifty royal guards of Queen Rekeo, one of the strongest ones as well," she explained. Rapl always knew how powerful his mother was.
But her strength was something Rapl wanted to always know, "How powerful was mother and father? I heard they fought… the Lich." The room's atmosphere darkened with what Rapl said.
"Your mother and father were strong yes," she began, "But compared to the might of the higher tier champions, they couldn't hold a candle." Rapl's eyes widened at this revelation, "The great war was a war that shook Zeroth to its very core, where the… Lich, and his two terrible Grand Generals led the Empire of Zan and brought Zeroth to its knees."
Rapl and Sevi's hands began to shake at just the mention of his title, "What ha-happened in th-that war?" Rapl asked. The woman took a deep breath as she stared deep into Rapl's eyes.
"Do you really want to know?" She warned. Rapl was never told what happened in the war, his parents would always become silent every time he brought it out. He turned to Sevi, and as they locked eyes, they both nodded to each other as they turned and nodded at the woman, "Alright then, let me tell you about the great war, or what we used to call it, the Darkest Days of Zeroth."