I pushed the guild's door open slowly. Rosaria looked up from her desk as I exhaustedly limped over to her. She ran out from behind her desk.
One of the guards in the guild took a look at me and came to support me while the other stood behind me in case I fall.
"SEBAS? ARE YOU ALRIGHT?" The guard asked.
Another adventurer stood to greet me. He is my age, and he is a mythril rank. "Sebas!" He yelled. "What in the world did that to you?" He asked.
"Can you please not yell, Dorgon. My head hurts enough already" I said quietly.
"Oh. My apologies. I just didn't expect to see you in this state, like, ever!" He said.
"I'll tell you about it when I recover." I said
"Oh god! What happened?" Rosaria's voice shaken from concern and worries.
I signaled for us to head to a private meeting room. Slowly, she helped me into the room. The door shut behind us.
"They were dragons, not wyrms" I calmly said.
"What?! How can that be? Oh my goodness I'm so sorry I sent you out on that mission. I don't know how this can happen! No scout should have made that mistake in a report for an A-rank mission." She frantically tried to explain and apologized for the slip up as we sat down beside each other.
"Yeah yeah, it wasn't your fault, Rosey. Don't try to blame yourself," I said. Slowly reaching for my pouch in order to get the dragon scales and cores. The bag thumps on the table and the contents fall out. "The fire one was an alpha." Hearing it, Rosaria covered her face in shame. I gave a sigh and held onto her hand to comfort her. Tears fell from her face.
"I'm- I'm s- so so sorry, s-Sebas. I really. Really didn't kn-kn-know." She said in between her cries. "I could have. I could have. Easily killed you. I- I don't know w-w-what I would d-do if, if you didn't come back." She said, putting her head and hand on my chest.
I raise my hand to wipe away her tears. Holding her head to look at me through her tears, I reassure her. "It wasn't your fault. Besides, I'm still here aren't I?" She nods her head slowly, but still crying and wiping away her tears. "Don't worry, I'm not called the 'unnamed Demigod' for no reason." I joked. Rosaria chuckled a bit, and looked down yet again. Pulling her in, I wrapped my arms around her. "Sorry for the goblin blood" I commented.
She chuckled and hugged me back. "I have spare clothes. Don't worry." Her hug got tighter as her breathing stabilized. "Just please, if things get too dangerous, just run. Stop being so stubborn and taking on impossible challenges. You'll get yourself killed." She said, banging her head on my chest.
"If I made it back to you, it wouldn't be impossible right?"
"Don't get smart with me, Sebas." She glaring at me.
Knowing to accept my defeat, I reluctantly accepted. "Alright, I promise to run if things get too dangerous."
Rosaria seems to have calmed down. Taking a moment to wipe her tears and regain her composure before speaking once more. "So, let's get your reward then, ok?" She helped me up and we made our way back outside back to her desk. "Two ice dragons and one alpha fire dragon, and you have evidence of their defeat as well." She looked through her handbook. "Rewards for dragons are 3 gold each, and for an alpha dragon is 10 gold pieces. Add that with the original reward of 8 gold, which brings you to 24 gold pieces. With the tax, that brings us to 22 gold pieces and 8 silver pieces." She hurriedly broke out the coins and put it on the table before logging in the reward and marking the mission as completed.
I took the coins into the pouch before asking her some questions about the cores I got. "I want to sell these two dragon cores" I slid over the two ice dragon cores.
She took a look before speaking. "Current market price will give you around 44 gold pieces, 22 gold for each. If you plan to sell both, won't be market tax at 10 percent, that would fetch you 39 gold pieces and 60 silver"
Seeing the two cores have sufficient money already, I decided to keep the alpha dragon core for later use. They must be so valuable for a reason after all.
"Alright, sold!" I exclaimed.
Rosaria took out the gold pieces, and once again I hurriedly stash them into my pouch. Now with the core and the gold, it started to get quite heavy.
"What do you suspect I can do with an alpha core?" I asked.
"Well, you can sell it or use it to enchant your items. I'm sure Emerald would be absolutely smitten with the idea of working with such a rare item."
"Gotcha. Well, I'm going to head to her tomorrow. I'm a bit exhausted today." I said as I made my way out the guild.
"Sebas! Do you need me to take you home? Your walking is still off." Said Rosey starting to get out of her seat.
I waved my hand at her as I stood using my short sword as a really bad cane. "I'm perfectly fine. I could use the exercise. Besides, you have work to do. See you around Rosey!" I said, closing the door behind me as I make my way home.
On my way back to the house, I got looks from the people, some were disgusted at the smell, which was understandable. The dried blood stinks! I don't blame them for their side-eye. Some kids stared in awe at my platinum badge, and others showed respect for my service. Nonetheless, respect didn't heal my sore leg, and so I hobbled my way down the road toward my house.
When the house was in sight, I finally got scared at what Lily would say when she saw me in this state. Looking up from the ground, I see Lily look through the window, frantically running to the door. The door opened and Lily came running toward me in her bare feet. When she got closer, I could see her tears. A little closer and I could hear her crying. Without a second waste, she placed herself under my arm, bearing some of my weight on herself as we walked to the house. I can feel her body stutter from crying as she looks forward, avoiding eye contact with me. I'm sure she was mad but just didn't say it in the open out of fear of people looking.
The door closed behind us as she unbuckled my heavy armor. She struggled a bit to put it down lightly. Afterward, she helped me to my bedroom. Gently she sat me down before standing in front of me, glaring down at me.
"What happened to you, Sebas?" She said in a serious tone.
"Just some hard mission is all." I answered.
She fell silent as she sat me on the bed. She stood in front of me, waiting for me to elaborate.
After a moment, I spilled. "A mission is all. They had wrong information, and the enemy just happened to be a bit tougher than they reported."
"And you didn't decide to just run? What's wrong with you?! Why don't you CARE?!" She screamed through her palm while crying.
"I do care. It's alright, I only stayed and fought because I knew I could defeat them." A sense of guilt clearly present in my voice.
"And what if you don't survive! WHAT IF YOU DON'T MAKE IT BACK? WHAT IF I WAIT HERE FOR YOU AND YOU DON'T COME BACK?! DO YOU EVER THOUGHT ABOUT THAT?!" Her voice filled with anger and sadness in equal proportion.
A moment of silence fell in the room as her silent crying continued. I eventually took her hand and caressed it to calm her down. I gave her hand a gentle kiss.
"I know. I'm sorry I hadn't considered how you feel about my… recklessness." I said, trying to fill the silence.
There was no real reason I could say. I knew I should have just ran and gotten others. Before I could say anything else, she spoke once more.
"Why?" She asked.
"Hm?"
"Why did you stay and fight? What for?" She asked directly.
"It was a mission. It's my job." I responded.
"That's a shit response, and you know it. Why?" She asked again.
"What do you mean?"
"What's your true reason! Why did you feel the need to stay and what? Let yourself be burned to hell?" She said, running her hand roughly through my slightly burned hair.
I fell silent. My reason was selfless, yet in her eyes, it was very selfish. And I don't doubt her. I slowly took the pouch of coin and handed it to her. She swiped it out of my hand and opened it up. The gold shined in her face. As expected, her face got even more angry and sad. I sat there, hanging my head in shame.
"What? Nothing to say? Silent all of a sudden? Is it because you know your reason is so shit that you don't want to say it out loud to me?" Her voice now is more sad than anything.
"I just wanted to give yo-" and before I could finish my sentence, I felt her body pressed up against me. I fell back onto the bed with her on top of me, crying harder than before. I placed my hands on her back to gently calm her down and let her cry.
"You didn't have to do that you idiot! I'm content with how much money you made before. We were happy. And you were healthy and safe!" Her cries got harder as she spoke. She hurried her face on my shoulder. "I don't want to see you like this! You're hurt! Beyond what I have ever seen! You're limping home to me, and you expect me to be happy?"
I can't help but smile. This girl who I saved is now all of a sudden lecturing me on staying safe. I pet her head as she cried. She spoke once more.
"I just want you! Don't you understand that already? I want you safe and sound! It's all I want…" her voice mellows out in the end. "You're all I have…"
After a bit of thinking, I was reminded of that day.
"Does this remind you of anything, Lily?" I asked.
Sniffling a bit, she replied "what?"
"Remember the last time you hugged me like this and cried your eyes out?" I reminded her.
Silent for a bit, she shyly said "yeah… 8 years ago…"
"Yeah." I said petting her head. "You were so small back then. You were adorable too" I giggled.
She buried her face deeper into my shoulder.
"'Thank you for saving me, my hero', you said." I teasingly said.
She made a low grumble "stop reminding me!!!!" She commanded.
"Already so bossy eh?" I said as I pet her head
"Stop teasing me and hug me already."
"Ok princess" I replied as I wrapped my arm tightly around her.
After a while, she hurriedly got up and sat on my hip. Surprise by the sudden change of mood, I hurried and tried to get up as well, only to be met with her pushing me down once more.
"Lily, I need to change my clothes." I said, hurriedly.
Lily sat on me silently with a slight grin. "How about a little punishment for making me worry today…Sebas?"
"What do you doi-" and before I could finish, Lily placed her finger on my lip.
"Shhh. You know as much as I do…" she lowered her head to my neck. "You dream about this sort of thing."
My face blushed with embarrassment as she sat back up on top of me. Putting her hand on my neck, she slowly guided down to my chest, slowly unbuttoning my shirt as she goes. I can feel my face get red as I try to cover my embarrassment. Lily seemed to take notice of my reaction.
"To think my dear Sebas has never felt a woman's touch before." She said, leaning down to my ear. "Maybe your dear Lily should be the first," she said, giggling under her breath.
My breath got heavy. "Oh my goodness, please don't say that in that tone Lily." I mumbled.
She sat back up, spreading her hip more to let more weight onto me. She finished unbottoning my shirt, spreading my shirt open. Her eyes were staring at my body. I covered my eyes to save embarrassment. "Lily, slow down. Let's talk this over for a bit. Like, are you sure about this? What if…"
Silently filled the room. After a moment of no response, I peeped through my fingers only to be met with a broken down Lily. Her face flushed red as her eyes closed from embarrassment. I poke her face, only to have her fall onto my body once more.
"Too… sexy" she mumbled before falling asleep.
Laying down, giggling about the absurdness of the situation, I closed my eyes and took a breather while hugging Lily, petting her head as she slept.
"Maybe I should sleep too," I thought.
With Lily on top of me and my tiredness hitting me in the end, I fall into a deep sleep for the day.