The door outside slammed open.
"We're back!" Yelled Rosaria.
"Sorry to leave you alone, Sebas!" Continued Lily.
The door to the room opened as Lily stepped through. By this point I was fully awake and sitting up with a pillow against my back for support. Lily walked up to me and kneel at the side of the bed.
"Rosaria is making something for you to eat right now. Do you want any company? She asked.
I raised my hand and petted her head as usual. "A little company wouldn't hurt", I replied.
"You're getting better", she said as I nodded my head. "That's a relief."
I giggled before speaking. "Of course I got better. Even a dragon can't take me down, let alone some fatigue."
Lily smiled and tilted her head. "You're going to get a scolding when you are fully recovered", she said with glee and a slight undertone of rage. Perhaps a drop of malice as well…perhaps. Rosaria peeped through the doorway before entering.
"You're looking a lot better than before we left," she said gently.
"All thanks to the two of you I suspect", I commented.
"You're absolutely welcome," interrupted Lily. "You aren't easy to carry. I'm a small lady you know." She pouted as she looked away from me.
I pet her head once more, giggling yet again before speaking.
"And for that, I want to thank you both."
Rosaria bent down and placed her hands on Lily's shoulders.
"You know, Lily might have been the one to save your life." Rosaria added. "Another hour or two in the cold rain and you would have been a goner."
I looked toward Rosaria before speaking. "Thank you for aiding Lily, Rosey. I'm sure it was difficult taking care of me."
"It was no issue at all. Consider it a gift for saving me all those years ago." She smiled before heading back into the kitchen.
I say on the bed, still as a statue. I turned my head to look at Lily as she looked out the door, wiping away her remaining tears. I talked to Lily for a bit before the food was ready. Rosaria walked in and out of the kitchen to check up on Lily and me. After a while, all three of us ate together, before rosaria had to leave for her shift at the guild.
Three days passed with me resting in bed. Lily checked up on me often, worried I might fall ill once more. Rosaria stayed at our house every chance she got. By the third day, I felt as normal as I can be. My strength is still not as it was before, but it was good enough for me to go about my days again.
I got out of bed and put on my clothes. While I was fixing my hair, Lily called out from the kitchen.
"Food's ready! Come and get it while it's hot!" She yelled.
"Alright. I'm coming!" I replied.
I moved my arm up and down, relieved that the burns were mostly healed, with limited pain left. Satisfied at my recovery, I head to the kitchen.
"Good morning Sebas!" Lily said gleefully.
"Good morning Lily," I said, yawning mid sentence.
She prepared some noodles and broth into a bowl before speaking. "Still feeling sleepy?" She asked.
"Yeah. Just a little." I replied.
"Then why not just sleep some more". She said, holding the two bowls of food carefully as she walked to the table.
I laughed a bit at the suggestion. "No, I think I'm good for today. Thank you for the suggestion though." I said, preparing the table with cutleries.
"Oh yeah? What are you up to today hm?" She put down the bowls roughly on the table.
Feeling her anger exhuming from her body, I quickly retorted her righteous anger. "Relax Lily. I just plan to go out for a bit," I said. Lily looked at me with one eyebrow raised, waiting for me to continue. "Ok, I plan to take on a mission today from the guild." Lily stood there with an angry look. It appears her angry aura has now been transformed into an angry look as well.
"Sebas, you are something else!" she said, flinging her arm I to the air. "First thing you had to take on an A-Rank mission immediately without any help, causing you to almost DIE!" She looked at me for a second for confirmation that I was paying attention. "And then, you decided to train until you almost DIE! AGAIN!" Once again, she turned to me. "And now you plan on getting yourself killed again… Probably." She now stood in front of me with her hands on her hips.
"Lily," I said. "I know you are worried about me." Right as I said that, her face twisted into anger again. I quickly added to my comment. "Ok, I know you are RIGHTFULLY worried about me," her face gets relaxed. "But, I promise, I won't do anything risky this time." She pushed me away.
"Yeah? And how will I be sure of that then? Hm? HMMMM???" She poked her fingers into my chest repeatedly while pouting.
"You will have to trust me, Lily," I said, hugging her. "I promise. No more risky missions, and no more staying and fighting"
She held onto my arms and hugged me back. "You always lie to me about these things. Why do you always try and kill yourself?" Her voice has a slight hint of disappointment.
I giggled a bit. "I don't TRY to… it's just that things happen." I hear her grumble as I said it. "But no more, ok? I promise to come back without a scratch. Ok?" She looked up at me before digging her head I to my chest once more.
Taking a moment to think, she then came up with a proposition. "If you get a single scratch on your body, I won't let you go adventuring anymore. I'm going to get you a job in the market." I looked down at the top of her head, my eyes wide open.
"I don't know if I want to accept that bet." I said.
"Then you can't go." She fired back at me.
Giving a sight, I proceeded to pet her head.
"Don't think petting my head will change my mind. I'm not that easy." Her voice returned to sounding bossy.
I sigh before speaking. "Alright then. I accept your bet. I will get a job at the market if I come back with so much as a scratch." Upon hearing that, Lily looked up with a smile.
"Ok" she said. "But please, come back safe ok? And come back early. As early as you can."
I looked at her pleading eyes. "Say you promise!" She demanded.
"Ok ok, I promise." I said with a smile as I pet her head.
She smiled and hugged me tighter. "Good," she added.
She then let go of me, and we sat down for the meal. After a bit, we finished eating. I put on my cleaned armor and grabbed the weapon that almost killed me.
I turned towards her. "Thanks for cleaning my armor for me, Lily", I said.
"It's no problem. You can rely on me for those tasks. Just get home safe, and I will clean your armor forever if you want." She said while washing the bowls.
"Rest a bit after you are finished ok? I'll try my best to come back early."
She looked at me and paused her task. "Alright. Please, take care of yourself out there." She added.
"I will." And with that, I headed out the house and walked towards the guild. Walking through the village, the sound of people advertising their goods was a fine addition to my day. I never realized how much I missed seeing the people of the town and their chaos. However, I do not have time to enjoy the atmosphere. I needed to get to the guild to see if Emerald could make something new for me. I looked at the weapon on its leather strap. A slight bit of fear pierce my mind, reminding me of what happened on that rainy day.
"What in the world are you?" I mumbled.
I opened the door to the guild. My eyes met with Rosaria's smiling face. She left the protection of her front desk and ran to give me a hug.
"It's good to see you up and moving again, Sebas," she said.
"It's good to see you as well, Rosey." I raised my arm to hug her back.
"It's good to see you back up. We missed seeing your face," said one of the guards.
"Yeah, I was pretty lazy for the last two days," I joked.
"That's not very good, Sebas," the guard responded.
"Oh please, he was on the brink of death while he was training," clarified Rosaria, breaking my joke completely to pieces.
"All the more reason to be joyous at your recovery, sir," another guard said.
"Sir? Am I that old?" I said while touching my face, feeling for facial hair.
"No sir. You might not remember me, but I fought under your command during the Battle of Yor 6 years ago," he clarified as he lifted his helmet.
The face of a young man with a small scar on his face met my eye. I vaguely remember him.
"I'm sorry, but was I the one who gave you that scar?" I asked.
"Yes sir. But it was really my fault for charging into your fight. Though, I'm glad you remembered me." His face looked happy that I remembered him.
"Still, I do apologize."
"It's really alright sir. I'm glad you are still just as powerful as you were back then." He said. "Ms. Rosaria told us about your recent fight with the 3 dragons. Even demigod ranks would struggle against an alpha dragon, and here you are, killing an alpha as well as two other." His eyes gleamed as he spoke. "It is truly an accomplishment no one would scoff at."
"It's really not all that glorious. I looked like I went through hell and back after that fight. I'm not as strong as you might think." I retorted.
"Even so sir, you successfully earned the title 'ArchDragon' among the guild. No matter how you look after that fight, the result still stands, and your strength is self-evident." He straightened himself up before speaking again. "Ehem… I guess I just really admire you, sir."
"Alright Constio, that's enough of you gushing over Sebas," Rosaria interrupted. "I'm sure you will get the chance to go on missions with him again sometime sooner or later."
Constio laughed a bit and scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "Of course Madam. And I hope so. But enough of me speaking. I'm sure you have official business." Constio walked away back to his post along with the other guard.
Rosaria rolled her eyes and smiled. "He was gushing over you for the whole morning when i told him of your mischief."
"Mischief? I thought the people call what I did 'bravery'" I retort.
"No, they call it dumb and reckless", she said, popping my bubble again. "So what brings you here today, Sebas?"
"I'm looking for a good simple mission to get back into the flow of things," I said.
"Soooo an easy mission then?" She asked.
After a pause, I replied, "yes".
"Lily forcing you to take an easy mission?" She asked as she giggled.
"… yeahhhh…." I said, sounding defeated.
"Well, you should listen to her. She's just worried for your health."
"Don't worry, I am well aware. But still, I would have loved to get some actual missions."
"Well too bad. Besides, easy missions are still missions," she said.
We head to her work desk to look at some missions available. Rosaria looked through her scrolls for some missions she thinks Lily would approve of.
"Ah, here's one", she said.
"Surprise me," I joked.
"A delivery mission. Since you want to get something harder, and Lily wanted something easier, how about a longer walk? The road doesn't have many enemies, some wolves at best. As for the distance, it will be in the next village over."
She turned the scroll for me to look at as she spoke about the details of the location.
"Head east from here and you should get there without issue. Just follow the road. There will be a town hall in that village as well. Your task is to just give a scroll to the guild master."
"What's the scroll about?" I asked.
"Trade information between us and them." Rosaria looked over the information on her task board. "Apparently they wanted more hides from Direwolf. Since our forests are filled with wolves, and with more wolves comes more direwolves, they decided to establish trade with us. But that aside, it isn't too important. Nothing I would worry about." She turned back to me. "So will you accept the mission? It will only be a three hour trip, four hours at most."
"Yeah, sure. Not like I have many options if I want to please the mighty Lily." I said sarcastically as I put the scroll into my pouch. "Oh, I wanted to ask if Em is working today," I said, remembering what I said about needing a new weapon.
"No. She's currently on a mining trip to get more materials." Rosaria looked at the task board again. "If you would like to wait, she should be back in an hour or so if you want to talk to her about something urgent though."
"That's alright. I might as well finish this mission and then see her afterward," I decided. "Well, I'm going to get going now. Thanks for your help, Rosey." I turned away and walked out of the guild.
"It's my pleasure to be of assistance to you. Stay safe and try not to push yourself too hard, Sebas", she said from behind her desk before talking to another adventurer.
As I walked out, Constio spoke. "Take care, sir", he said as he saluted.
"You as well, soldier." I said before I closed the door behind me.
After walking for a bit, my body felt refreshed. Staying in bed for the last three days made my feet miss the dirty ground. Looking up from the ground, I saw a signpost along the road. "Entering: Forge Town" along with a makeshift map below it. According to the map, I will pass their outer forest before I enter their town. Keeping my pace, I kept walking on the road as Rosaria instructed.
After a while of walking, I hear some sounds around the forest. Trees falling in the distance. Ignoring my strong instinct to go and explore, I powered forward, not allowing myself to dive into danger yet again. Only a few steps further until I begin to hear the sound of roars. It was loud, similar to that of the dragon, maybe louder. The sound of a tree falling over became the sound of many trees falling over, creaking and thumping on the ground. The sound of the creature gets louder and louder. Heeding the warnings, I started to run to get to the town faster and out of the forest. I wasn't going to work in a market.
The sound of the chaos gets closer and closer as I hasten my pace. I grabbed my pouch and put it in front of me to keep the content in, and I broke into an all out sprint. Not long after, the sound caught up with me. The roar was ear shattering now as I covered my ears. In front of me fell the creature. An arch wyvern, something that was not native to this forest. It was large, even larger than the Alpha dragon. I fell back upon witnessing the sight of such monstrosity. Its wings were cut, slashed, and punctured, preventing it from flying away. Not wanting to push my luck, I decided to run the opposite direction, back toward my village. Just as I got up from the ground and turned, a girl appeared, blocking my path home.
She wore what looked to be some high grade armor. Gold streaks ran along the edge of her white, solver-like armor. A large crest of a dragon on her breastplate. Her bright red hair extruded from her helmet as the wind caused it to sway side to side along with her short red cape. Her armor clanked as she stepped toward me. I tripped when I tried to step away from her. On one side was a high class monster, and the other is a formidable warrior with an aura I can't describe. Her eyes looked down on me. I swallowed my fear, and spoke.
"I come in pea-" and before I could finish, she rushed toward me at great speed, even in that heavy looking armor. I ducked to avoid her sudden rush. *WOOSH* the sound of her rushing by me, followed by a *ROARRRR* cry by the wyvern. I looked behind me, only to see her shoving her clawed gloves into the wyvern's body, causing great pain as she violently ripped her hand out, leaving a large gash on its body. She stood still, looking at the panting and bleeding wyvern.
She took a few steps back and raised her hand into the air, palm opened. Within a second, a spear with a tip of silver appeared into her hand as she clasped her hand shut around the weapon. Runes from her armor glowed as she activated flight, slowly ascending into the air as her cape and hair swayed in the wind. Readying her spear in her right hand with its tip facing the wyvern, she slowly raised her left hand, pointing to the wyvern's head.
Red lights gathered at the spear's tip as a ticking noise echoed through the area, same as that of my weapon. After a few seconds, the tip of the spear transformed into 3 prongs, all glowing with a red aura, before it released a cloud of mist, covering her whole body. As soon as it did, a red beam shot toward the wyvern's head, causing its head to explode, as blood and bits of it splatter everywhere. I closed my eyes and blocked my head to avoid the wyvern's bits from getting on my face. Looking back at the scene, the spear stayed, settling itself into the ground where the wyvern's head was. The ticking begins again as the spear transforms back into that of a common iron spear.
The girl floated toward her spear and pulled it out of the ground. She calmly walked to the Wyvern's stomach and shoved her hand into its heart, pulling out a core with her bare hands. She turned to me and began her walk to me with her spear. Her armor clanking with every step she takes. The clanking gets quicker and louder as I closed my eyes, wishing for the best.