Adventurers Guild Adventurer's Guild - Receptionist Desk

#EZ8 – No Rank – Gather 5 Bags of Fruits [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
#EZ9 – No Rank – Gather 5 Bags of Vegetables [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
#EZ12 – No Rank – Gather 5 Bags of Game Meat [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
#EZ15 – No Rank – Gather 5 Bags of Animal Pelts [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
#EZ28 – No Rank – Search for Missing People [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
#EZ31 – No Rank – Scout and Patrol the Surrounding [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
*enters the guild with a grim look and a beautiful half-elf walking half as step behind looking equally grim*
We are back Guidmaster... It seems that the situation was more worse in more ways than one... Anyways, here is our quest report...

Spoiler: Although, the ghost of the past still haunts the living

Spoiler: Interlude: The Forest

The soft moonlight illuminated the dark and dreary forest as the leaves danced lightly against the gentle breeze. Every now and then, a creature would jump out from the foliage before running off to who knows where. The Rainforest Vale was encased in an eerie atmosphere. The crickets have stopped singing. The owls and bats no longer flies above the treeline.

The once harmonious forest now turned dreary. The once peaceful forest was ravaged by beasts. No longer did it hold the once peaceful aura. No longer did it hold the lofty silence it once held. Instead, pressure and hostility rolled off from the forest inhabitant. Flora and fauna alike still are weary, still expecting another attack.

The forest's protectors were in disarray, thus it deems necessary to take action. The tree-dwellers were the one who suffered the most from the attack. The forest is doing what it can to support the long-eared ones however it was not enough. The damage done was too great.

For the past few weeks, intruders have stepped forth into the forest's domain. These intruders was helping its protectors thus the forest does not deem them as threats however it was prepared to retaliate if something happens.

Suddenly the forest felt something familiar enter its domain. The forest still remembers this presence. How could it not? They were the vanguard of this plane against the 'great old ones'. The forest still remembers when it was still a single sapling. The world's balance was broken by countless years of strife and madness thus weakening the barrier that protects the plane. This enabled the 'great old ones' to enter this realm. The ones fighting at the time were powerless against the abominations until 'The One Blessed by the World' appeared.

They were the ones who pushed back the monstrosities. They were the ones who restored the world's balance. They were the one who continue to protect the world from itself. They were the ones protecting the world's balance.

However something was different. It was similar to the balancer's presence yet at the same time, it was not. The forest did not know what to do. Will they be a threat? Are they the enemy? The forest did not know, so the forest did what it has done for a very long time. The forest watched the world move.

Spoiler: The Hunt

Somehow as we entered the forest, I can feel that the forest was somewhat... happy? I do not know why but we are seemed to be welcomed by the forest's presence. I didn't get the 'you-are-a-human-so-you-must-be-a-threat-and-the-forest-must-kill-you' vibe. Instead it seems very welcoming, heartwarming even.

Breaking out of my musing, me and my companion tree hopped towards our destination. I have this feeling that we will not encounter any annoyance in this forest. Even still, I continued to keep my guard up, it's never bad to be always ready.

A few minutes of continued traveling later and we arrived at our destination. What we saw was a dump. Seriously, that is probably the most descriptive word I can use to describe the situation. Building were reduced to rabbles, refugees and residents were loitering the streets, looking for something of value or something to eat. Various Adventurers were here and there doing whatever they can to help.

Moving towards the temporary Guild outpost, my party reported for duty. It was already dark when we finished our preparations and we headed out immediately. No need in wasting time. Besides, we can clearly see in the night as clear as we can see in the day.

We agreed to separate for this assignment. Four would be gathering the Fruits and Vegetables and I would be responsible for hunting. We agreed the we would meet at this place in a days time. Killing our presence, we moved out to complete our separate assignments.

A few minutes later and I found my first set of tracks. By the looks of it, a herd of deers was passing by and judging from the freshness of the tracks and the droppings beside it, I can say that this was no more than a day old.

Perfect. It seems that hunting will be an easy job. Jumped to the trees and traveling by tree hopping as I follow the tracks. A few miles later and I came across a creek where the deers were resting. I can count up to 4 stags, 6 does and 3 fauns.

Taking out 8 throwing knives, 4 in each hand, I aimed at the 4 stags and 4 does. A breath later and the said targets dropped dead with an addition on a piece of metal embedded in their foreheads. The remaining deers ran with all their might but I did not gave chase. The fauns were too small and without their parents they would die, so I left them alone.

I moved to the corpses of the deers while vigilantly watching the surrounding. Its no good if I'm ambushed by a wolf or any predator that may have set its eyes on this particular herd.

After retrieving the knives, I drained the blood from the deers. Then I proceeded to dismantle them leaving only their innards and boned which I buried under a tree. The meat surprisingly filled 3 bags worth and the pelt was only 2 and a half. I gave myself and metaphorical pat on the back for a hunt well done.

I turned invisible once more and decided to go upstream. A mile later and I came across a bear's den. Peering inside the said den, I saw one large bear and two adolescent cubs. I readied my blades as I slowly approached the sleeping bears. A few steps later and the mama bear's throat was split open with the cubs none the wiser.

Grabbing hold of the dead bear's body, I teleported back to the entrance. I drained the blood off the bear and proceeded to dismantle it. With this, the job was done. Looking at the sky, I saw the sun was just above the horizon. I still have time so I walked back liesurely towards the rendezvous point while lugging 5 bags of meat and pelts at my back.

When I arrived at sunset, Four was already there with 10 bags. We gave a nod to each other and returned to the outpost where we turned it the bags. We then find a suitable area to rest, its been a day without rest and if we want to continue our assignment with maximum efficiency then we would need to rest.

We immediately moved at daybreak. Scouting was easy for us. With our [Detection] skill any anomaly can easily be located. Jumping side by side, Four and I surveyed the surrounding keenly. It would not do if we missed something important. There were no anomalies at the first and second day of patrol. At the third day we noticed something out of place.

There were carriage marks. There were carriage coming to and fro but never on this direction. Also, these carriage marks were flanked with horse tracks, probably escorts. There seems to be nothing out of place but what caravan is going in the wrong direction? And what caravan needs mounted escorts? Almost all of the caravan hires adventurers as escorts and only a few adventurers have horses.

Me and Four decided to follow the tracks. A few miles later and we arrived at a camp. As we moved closer, we saw the insignia marked upon the carriage. It was the insignia of the Holy Empire of Man! Why was the Empire here? The answer soon became clear.

The carriage were carrying elves in shackles! They were all female of various ages and were all wearing collars of obedience. They are kidnapping elves as slaves!

No word was exchanged between me and my companion, both of us exploded into action. Four made a swarm of butterflies that exploded on contact startling the knights while I teleported behind the leader and cleaved him in half. While for was busy making people explode, I continued to teleport between the high ranking knights, plowing my blade through their unsuspecting backs.

A minute of creams later and the surroundings were quiet again. Well quiet if you ignored the sobs of the elves and the pleas of this guy at my feet.

Gripping a fistful of hair, I lifted the knight's face and moved it closer to mine. The knight, upon seeing the insignia on my cloak became hysteric.

"Y-y-y-you!!! W-w-we were s-sure t-to kill all of y-you!!!"

"What are you talking about?" I questioned the knight.

"Don't play dumb! I know the Templar Order annihilated your 'Organization'! I was there at the purge!"

Templar Order. That word brought back a flurry of memories. Bad memories.

Flashes of deaths and screams filled my vision. The mad laughter of the Templars as the cut down my family. The anguished cries of my brethren.

I tightened the grip on the knight. I was about to ask him about the event when he suddenly exploded.

"I-I'm sorry," Four said. "I was so angry that I saw red..."

"It's fine. I doubt he knows much anyways" I comforted Four, holding her closer to me as I wiped the tears streaming down her face.

We stayed like that for a few moments before remembering our original objectives.

Taking the remaining horses, we moved the carriage back to to the Ruined City.

It seems that we couldn't take a mission where nothing horrible goes wrong.

@shad12ow

 

#EZ12 – No Rank – Gather 5 Bags of Game Meat [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
#EZ16 – No Rank – Remove Rubble [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
#EZ17 – No Rank – Fix The Houses [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
#EZ18– No Rank – Fix The Wall [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
#EZ23 – No Rank – Cook in The Emergency Kitchen [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
#EZ24 – No Rank – Fix the Magic Barrier Around the Village [ 100 gold | Event Points ]

Spoiler: Prelude: Separation

I was at home preparing to head out for Oakenlake to help out with all the troubles they were having, but... There was something on mind that kept on bugging me, which kept on delaying me as well... I was running from a troublesome discussion I suppose, but I guess it's not good to keep on doing that over and over again, is there? Better get it done with...

"Niyari-chan, can we talk a bit?"

"What is it Hiinya?"

"I was thinking... I know we already talked about this before, but... Don't you think it would be a good idea if you went back to Mama's side?"

"No."

"I... Expected as much I suppose... But... I have a reason for that alright? Can you... At least me hear me out?"

"You really... Fine, go ahead nya, don't really expect to make me change my positioning though."

"Thank you!

Well... Here is the thing, after coming back from the Morian Raid, from Marisa-sama's house and... Getting weakened like that, and... I... You know... I understood how much I always end up harming myself, and you know as well as I do, how much this troubles Mama, how much she gets hurt whenever she sees me hurt...

I wanted to try easing her burden a bit."

"And you expect to do that by staying away from the one being that she knows that can look over you nya? And that will guarantee that you will at least not die due to constantly harming yourself like how you usually do nya?

This doesn't seem to be the best of your plans Hiinya."

"I know it sounds crazy and stupid, but I have a reason for that, I swear!

You see... Here is my idea... Certainly having you with me makes Mama less worried, as she knows that, as you said, at the very least I will keep alive while you're with me.

But this doesn't really stop me from getting hurt all over, unless you decided to take a more active role on protecting me, which I don't really want to, nor do I think you do... So... What do you consider that would be necessary for you to leave me alone to tend to myself?"

"I'd need to sure you wouldn't be going to get in any more trouble by yourself, that you would stop harming yourself, and that you would know how to prioritize your own survival... You don't really fit in any of those conditions nya."

"Yeah... I know... I sadly do...

And well, that's exactly what I'm going for... Essentially, you need to trust me enough to not worry about me in order to go back to Mama... So here is my idea, if you went back now, Mama would probably believe that you trust me that much... Even if you don't... Of course she would still be worried, I know that, but I think she would feel a lot better like this, because your opinion surely matters a lot for her.

So that's why I'm asking you to go back to her Niyari-chan... I don't want to keep seeing Mama in the way she currently is... She is just way too worried, constantly afraid of what is happening to me... I don't want to keep on being this kind of burden for her, I want her to be at ease again...

Please Niyari-chan, it's the only way I can think of doing this..."

"No way nya."

"But... Why?"

"Even if that would lessen Biel worries, which I'm not even sure about, it wouldn't lessen MY worries nya, I have been with you for a while, and I know firsthand how incredibly awful you are at taking care of yourself, and I worry about you nya, for yourself, and for Biel's own mental sanity as well.

How do you think I could allow you to go on your own if I don't trust you to do so!? That's plain stupid, I'd rather keep Biel a bit more worried than what we could maybe achieve by going through with your plan, than having you have your way, only to suddenly notice your life force disappearing and you becoming a corpse because I wasn't around nya."

"I... I know that... But please Niyari-chan, you're the only one I can ask to do that, you're the only one I can count on for this... I know it's selfish, I know it's worrying, I know it's dangerous... But even so, I want to do whatever I can for Mama... And this is the only thing I can do right now, to try and assure her that I'll be fine, and that she doesn't need to worry for me... It's all I can..."

"I said no nya, how do you expect me to trust you when you don't give me any proof that I can trust you?

Do tell me, how many times since we started going out together, that you were able to come back without getting near death? How many Hikari!? Do you even realize that this number is far smaller than the times you actually came after almost dying?"

"E... Even so... I..." *sobs* "I wanna be a good girl... I'm always... Always being a bad girl, always getting in trouble, always worrying my family, always hurting the people I love by hurting myself, always... Always..." *sobs* "I don't wanna, I don't wanna be like that anymore... I wanna grow, I'll be a good girl Niyari-chan, I promise... I promise I will... Hikari will be a good girl... Please... Trust me... Even if I don't give you any reason to trust me, even if I always seem to cause trouble... Please, I'll be a good girl, I swear I will...

Let me keep Mama in peace Niyari-chan..." *sobs* "I can only ask you for that..."

"... You ask me to trust you... You know, I did that, just a small while ago.

I was skeptical about it, I checked and double checked everything on it... And only because it seemed like it was really important to you, I left you alone for a while nya.

What do I come back to? A completely Mana deprived Hikari that has barely any force on her body to lift a finger, you used up all resources of your body just to keep alive... After doing just that, how do you expect me to leave you nya? I can't do that."

"I..." *sobs more*

"It's not that I don't like you, you know?" *pats* "Rather... It's because I like you that I worry this much for you nya, it's not just for Biel, but for you as well."

"Then..." *sobs* "One last time... Allow me... Just one last selfish request Niyari-chan... Let me try... Try to be a good girl again, to keep Mama... To help Mama smile... To not see her worried for me again...

I... I still remember... Her look... When she... When I... I came back to the undead raid... It was... Unbearable... The amount of worry I saw in her eyes... How much pain must I have caused her there? I... Don't want it... I just... I just want to be a good girl... To keep by her side... Without... Without being a burden... Without being... This kind of... Trouble for her...

I understand that I also worry you with this... That I'm not giving you any guarantee... That even this idea might not help Mama feel less worried as well... But I... I really want to try it Niyari-chan, I wanna be a good girl that can help Mama out, not one that just adds troubles to her..."

"Now you're just repeating yourself nya..."

"I know... I know that... But I don't have any other arguments... I already said it all... I can only... Only ask you to trust me... To allow me to try... Please... I'm begging you Niyari-chan..."

"Why are you so fixated on this idea anyway? It's not like it will make a big difference anyway, at most it will only help her a bit, why do you want to cause me to worry, and to stay unsafe again just for the sake of this nya?"

"Because... It's all I can do... At least for now, I can't really do anything else.

Maybe with time I'd be able to ease her more, just by staying safe, and slowly showing to you, me and her, that I can be a good girl, that I can take care of myself properly...

But how long... Just how long will it take me to do that? For how long... Will I have to keep on seeing Mama's worried face? For how long will I have to see, not a happy face, but a relieved face whenever I get back home? I wanna... I wanna see Mama's face full of happiness again, I want to see that she is not worrying for me anymore... Not because she won't care for me, but because she knows she doesn't need to... It's... Really important to me... Please... Niyari-chan."

"You're really... Really really hopeless, you know that?

Fine... I will go along with your plan Hikari, but promise me... Promise me that you will take care of yourself, that you won't get yourself in danger again nya. That you really will be mindful of your own self... I don't want the next time that I see you to be one that I see a corpse, alright?"

"I... Thank you Niyari-chan!!!" *hugs* "I promise! I promise I promise I promise! I will definitely be very careful and won't be getting myself in trouble! I will make sure of it! Hikari will be a good girl!"

"Okay, I will explain things properly to Biel... Hopefully your bet pays off and she ends up feeling better knowing my trust on you is enough to let you go by yourself again nya.

Stay safe, okay?"

"I will! I definitely will!"

As soon as I finished saying that, Niyari-chan left and went back to Mama's side... Well, time for me to get going! I should do my best!

Spoiler: Confusion

With that out of the way, I departed from home and went towards the guild, after taking the quests I started flying... Towards Delta Town.

Let's see... I asked Shadow and he said Game Meat means hunted meat... I guess it doesn't really matter where it was hunted, does it? Better not get it near Oakenlake then, having less people hunting on that area will make it easier for them to get it on their own after all.

After flying over the town, I quickly went into the South Sea... Huuumm... I guess this is far enough?

I started looking at the sea searching for big Mana signatures... And... There!

Using Water Magic I made a huge gush of water coming from the sea to the position I was, together with it, a Lesser Kraken came! Nice! I was hoping the signature belonged to one!

I made a big Ice Spear, on my hand and threw it with both wind and gravity magic making it go faster, it pierced the head of the Kraken, killing it instantly! Way to go!

I kept it lifted with Gravity Magic... Huuuuum... I can't really carry the whole thing like this though... I wonder what can I do to cut it in smaller pieces?

Well, I guess I'll need to take a bit of a brute force approach... I pointed my wand at the junction between one of the tentacles and the body and shouted.

"Love Sign: Master Spa-"

Wait... I can do better than this... I don't really need to use destroy it like that, do I? I'd lose to much meat on the process... Instead, how about... Yeah this can work.

I focused the Mana on my wand, trying to channel it to not flow through the whole of it like usual, but instead at only a single point on the tip of it... Yosh, let's try it like this.

"Love Sign: Focused Master Spark!"

A small focused beam came out this time, let's see... Go!

I made a downwards swing with my wand, it moved the beam together with it and made a cut on the tentacle, separating that part of it from the rest of the body... Yay, it works! It looks like a burn mark, but I guess we can just remove that part on later, for now, let's cut this into lots of smaller pieces!

I first swinged my wand on each tentacle's junction to cut them off, then after separating them from the main body, I started swinging my wand wildly just to cut it all on smaller pieces... Well, I guess it's good for now... I guess it will seem to be somewhat weird to simply enter a village with this many parts of lesser kraken floating around me, but I suppose it can't be helped... Hopefully they don't end up viewing me as a weirdo...

To avoid being seen with all that by many people, I flew from the South Sea towards the Sea of Serpents, and from there, I flew into the Rainforest Vale and the Oakenlake Kingdom, it wasn't the most optimal path, but it worked for me.

I dropped off at the first village I saw that seemed to not be reconstructed yet and saw a lot of people giving me weird looks... I better clear this off soon...

"Uhn.. Excuse me? I'm from the Adventurer's Guild, I'm here to help, I brought some food to be cooked."

"From the guild you say... Then all those things around you are..." A man replied.

"Meat from a Lesser Kraken! I hunted one before coming here! We should cook it soon or we're going to lose it!"

"Is that even eatable...?"

"Of course it is! We even had a feast back in the guild before solely with meat of Sea Monsters! I can assure you! It can taste quite nicely!"

"Well, I suppose we need to make do with what we have, we haven't been finding anything to hunt on the last few days and have been surviving mainly on our stocks, but it's quickly running out, having something like this will definitely help."

"I... I see... I'm sorry for taking this long, I should've come earlier."

"Don't worry little miss, there are a lot of places to help out, nobody can be in all of them, I'm just glad you folks at the guild are trying this hard to help us even if we don't have a proper alliance with you."

"Okay! I'm also assigned to help out with the cooking btw, so I will help with that as well!"

"We'll be counting on you then!"

He directed me to the kitchen where I met a few other people, I brought the ingredients with me by using Gravity Magic, and put a part on the storage of the village and the rest was for going to be cooked now... Come to think of it, I was supposed to bring 5 bags of meat, but I didn't bring any bag at all, just a huge Lesser Kraken cut into pieces... I guess it is not much trouble? I hope so at least.

We started cooking it out, since there we were making food for the whole village, it took quite a while, but it was done without many issues, after we finished it, they invited me eat with them, I tried refusing, saying I brought that for them, and that I shouldn't take a part of it, but they insisted a lot, so I ended up eating together... It felt quite nice, we ate, talked, laughed... It's nice seeing some happiness among all this destruction... I hope they can maintain these smiles from now on-

"Waaaaaa!" "Kyaaaaaaaa!" "Nooooo!" "Raaaaa!"

Wha... What are those... Those voices... On my... My head? It hurts... Just what is...?

"Hey, are you alright!? What happened?"

Uhn... What? The pain was gone... And... The voices disappeared as well... What was that?

I noticed I was on the ground now... When did I even get there?

"Sorry, I just had a bit of headache, it's gone now."

"A bit of a headache... One that made you fall on the ground?"

"Yeah... Maybe it wasn't the best term, but I'm fine now... Rather, thank you very much for the meal, I greatly appreciate it.

I still have a few more tasks to help around on the village, for now, I need to help on fixing the houses, the wall and removing the rubble, so I'll get on to it, okay?"

"Are you sure you're good to go by now?"

"Yep, thanks for worrying, but I'm fine already, now, if you'll excuse me."

I left the place we were having lunch and went near the center of the village, then I crouched down, closed my eyes and focused... Focused on the earth that the village is on... I could feel it, the whole of the village, And all the rubble in it... Let's get started.

I started making Earth Magic to move the rubble around, taking it out of the way, if there was any useful material in the midst of it, then I separated it to go into the village's storehouse, the parts that were unusable or simply too easy to get more, I took out of their place and put it all on a place near me, once I finished clearing the whole village, I needed to dispose of all this useless material...

Still using Earth Magic, I started mixing it on the earth as a whole, letting it be absorbed. I made sure to spread it out well so as to not mess with the balance of nutrients on the ground of all the region, and I guess it turned out well... I guess the wall is next now?

I tried sensing it... It was a complete wreck... But I could understand the structure of it by sensing the few parts that were still in one piece, it was a wood wall, well reinforced, with diverse branches intertwined together, it used a wood that could withstand rain well and that could bend with some ease, making it quite hard to break... I guess it's not much of a hard fix?

I asked the first person I could find near me a bit more about the details on the wall, if there were any gates, where they were located, and if there was anything else I needed to know about it when reconstructing the whole of it.

There seemed to be nothing except the gates for me to worry about, which the person told me where they were located and how they worked... Alright, this info is enough to work with!

I once again crouched down, closed my eyes and focused on the surroundings, this time I focused not on the earth around me, but the living beings on it, feeling their Mana and acknowledging their existence... I used Nature Magic this time, I connected it to the wood on all the wall through the earth and started accelerating its growth, making it repair itself.

The wall was rapidly making itself anew like that, it grew more and more, until it was completely repaired, as if it was never destroyed in the first place... I made sure to make it grow differently on the gates to make sure they would still be there and... Well, I guess that's it! Wall fixed!

What is left now is to... Fix the houses and the barrier, right?

The houses were a bit more troubling than the wall since they didn't have an universal design, it varied from house to house, but as they were made out of wood as well, the basic method was the same, I just had to talk to each family of the village to ask how their house was made, once they told me the design, I tried replicating it by growing the wood on their house again... I usually ended up missing the mark, so I had to re-do the process on each house a few times... It took quite a while to get them all right, but I was able to do it before dusk.

I was feeling quite short on Mana, but I guess that's to be expected after reconstructing a whole village... Rather, I'm surprised I still have a bit of Mana to spare... At least I know that the times I ended up risking myself trying to increase my Mana pool weren't in vain... It's good to know at least that much.

So... The barrier is all that is left? Let's take a look.

I was shown where the barrier was by one of the village mages, it surrounded the whole village and was a bit after the wall, I could see that there were a lot of complex runes in it, they were surrounding the whole village and... Were in elvish, I couldn't understand a thing of what was written on there... Not to mention most were destroyed and the Mana connections in between the runes were all broken, it was completely unusable.

I asked what the runes did, and was told that they had a system of recognizing who or what could be threatening to the village and naturally repel them, while the things that were recognized as friendly were allowed to enter. When asked about how the recognition system worked, the elf told me that... It was reaaaaaaally complicated, and it would take hours for her to explain the whole of it to me.

So, instead, we decided to worry on how to fix it, I couldn't really make it anew, my knowledge of runes was horrible at best, and of elvish was basically null, on the other hand, I did know how to make a barrier, and I was converting my Chaos Energy into Mana during the whole time we were talking, so I had refreshed a fair bit of it, enough to fix the barrier at the very least.

After discussing for a while, we came up with the method of the elf constantly directing me on what I needed to do on each rune to make it go back to the original shape, the elf could've done it herself, but it would take a lot more since I could do it with Earth Magic to remake the design, instead of having to engrave it by hand all around the village.

After a few hours of that, and having to do most of the job in the night because the sun had already fallen, with the light of a torch to illuminate the runes, since I couldn't waste Mana on Fire Magic to fix them, I was finally able to fix the whole design... Now to fix the Mana in it.

I sat down right in front of it, I touched my finger on a rune and started feeling the Mana in it, I could feel the design coming into shape, but all in bits and pieces... Well time to fix that.

I started inserting my own Mana into it, as well as some Chaos Energy as well, the Mana was traveling through the whole rune and finding where it should connect to the next one, the Chaos Energy was serving as a bridge, to fix the parts that were broken into something whole again, just like I had done before to make new paths on my own Mana flow before, I was doing now to make the flow of Mana of the runes again.

I kept on pouring it, and fixing it... Took me about 1/2 an hour to go through the whole area surrounding the village... Surprising how it took a lot less to do that then it did to make the runes whole again...

During the whole process, the elf mage was by my side sensing the Mana on the runes as well, she wasn't helping, but looking over my work, it helped knowing there was another person there to warn me if I made any mistake, it was quite reassuring.

After it was all said and done, all that was left was to activate the barrier again, the elf said some words in elvish and the barrier activated again... Phew, I guess that's that?

"Thank you once again for your help, I can't believe you alone did this much for the whole village, it doesn't even seem like we were attacked by that giant turtle just a few days ago."

"No worries, we're happy to help, I'm glad the village is back to normal again... I should be get going for now, take care okay?"

"Of course, you as well, may the gods grant you their protection."

"Same for you! Bye bye!"

I took off and flew away, once I got a bit far, I sat on the branch of a tall tree and looked towards the village... It was looking good as new again... I'm glad I could do at least this much for them... I wonder if we can do that for all the villages that were attacked? There are plenty of them to fix after all... Feels like... Way too much of task, I'm unsure if we can help all them in this small timeframe-

Guh, my head... Why... Just...

"Waaaaaa!" "Cooommmeeee!" "Raaaa!" "Heeeereee!"

It's... It's stopped again... I... What should I do about this... Should I ask Mama for help? I guess I should... But... I'd only worry her again, wouldn't I? I don't wanna make Mama worried again... I just told Niyari-chan I wanted to ease her... But what should I do about this then...?

I felt some sort of... Calling? I couldn't understand it properly... But the voices were... I think they wanted me to do something... Really, just what is that... I'm afraid... But I don't wanna worry Mama even more about this...

I guess I'll just go report the quests at the guild then, I can worry about this later.

I finally noticed I was hugging the branch of the tree I had sat on before, desperately hugging it to the point of hurting my fingers... Ugh, I'll just go back.

Flying away, I used a bit of my Healing Light to fix my own fingers, good thing it wasn't anything really serious... Once I got back in the guild, I made my report and went back home.

[ The prelude is well... A prelude, it's what happened right before I went to take the quests.
Reconstructed pretty much a whole village, and gave them enough food to last for a while.
The part about the voices, the headache and anything related to it weren't included in the proper report, Hikari kept it to herself. ]

@shad12ow

 

A man clad in black approaches the desk followed by a woman dressed in leather armor. They present a bundle of quest missives along with a stack of papers labeled as "reports"

#EZ28 – No Rank – Deliver Supply to Elven Villages [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
#EZ30 – No Rank – Scout and Patrol the Surrounding [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
#EZ12 – No Rank – Gather 5 Bags of Game Meat [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
#EZ14 – No Rank – Gather 5 Bags of Animal Pelts [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
#EZ22 – No Rank – Cook in The Emergency Kitchen [ 100 gold | Event Points ]

Spoiler: I. Setting Off And Delivering Supplies

From within a tavern, a man clad in black was busily but smoothly cleaning and maintaining his revolvers on a vacant table that also had 4 rows of throwing knives and a pair of daggers that lay on top of it. This man is Elias. Right beside him was sat a woman who was curiously watching the man. She was clad in leather armor, with a quiver on her back and a bow leaning against the table. This woman is Chambui. After watching for a moment, she finally couldn’t resist and immediately asked:

“Weren’t we told not to cause any trouble? Especially you, why do you seem like you’re getting ready for a battle?”

“My mentor once told me his motto: “You’ll never know when you have to shoot someone.” Thus, I always keep it a point that I’m ready to shoot someone. Or stab someone. Or throw a knife at someone.” Nonchalantly replied Elias as he was maintaining his revolvers. “Anyway, I’m not planning on shooting anyone as soon as we touchdown. But it wouldn’t hurt to be prepared, right?”

Saying so, he immediately stood up and packed his weapons in their respective holsters and sheaths. Though Elias could easily use his item box to store them, he always preferred having them on his person; always ready to draw them whenever needed. He then grabbed Chambui’s hand to leave but surprisingly, she refused to move. As he looked back he saw that normally stern soldier seem almost like a fearful child.

“C’mon, let’s go. We still need to find that airship.”
“Uuuu… Is there really no other way?”
“Calm down. You have me to keep you company, right?”
“Uuuu… Fine! But I don’t want to be seated near the sides!”

Finally coaxing her to come along, they make their way to the Airship Port at Southern district. Truthfully, it had already been 5 days since they registered for their quest. They had already gathered supplies from the guild’s quartermaster, made and occasionally battled their way through gallant pass, and tried to sneak through the Orc Army camp which proved unsuccessful. In the end they had to turn back only to find out that the guild provided transport through airships. Elias, in his haste and enthusiasm to cook had overlooked it and Chambui, who was apparently fearful of heights and flying, deliberately chose not to mention it, thinking that they could go by land alternatively.

……………………….

Oakenlake Kingdom, Oakenlake Capital


The trip on the airship was most uneventful. Uneventful, save for Elias frightening the attendants with how he looked and sounded and Chambui seemingly petrified as she held on to the armrest of her seat.

Upon alighting from the airship, they are greeted by a grand city right beside by an even grander lake; however, all its grandeur was marred by a heavy and tense atmosphere; a clear sign that it still hasn’t recovered from the war. The duo picked a village near the outskirts of the kingdom as Chambui reasoned that those villages would most likely be the hardest for help to reach and thus needed the assistance more. Setting off, Chambui summons her loyal steed, Bataar. However, Elias soon discovered an oversight.

“Hup!”
“W-w-what are you doing?!”
“Riding with you.”
“I-I can see that but why didn’t you get a horse when we were at the capital?”
“I’m no good with mounts. Normally, I’d keep up with Bataar’s speed but it’s daytime and I can’t use my powers. So, onwards, my dear Cappy.”
“Uuuu…”

Seating himself behind Chambui with his arms around her waist, Elias then rides along enjoying Chambui’s blushing expression. Their first order of business was to deliver supplies such as constructing materials and rations to the Elven villages around the Oakenlake Kingdom. Arriving at the outskirts of the first village, they were immediately greeted by a depressing scene. All around, there were houses that were reduced to rubble; those that had still partially stood and found to be stable had been them filled to the brim with survivors while those unfortunate enough not to fit inside had to make do with tents or simply brave sleeping in the streets. There were a couple of other adventurers helping out with clearing the rubble and helping the injured but still, efforts were stretched to the utmost.

The war had left Oakenlake devastated and still unable to recover on its own. If not for the guild discovering the situation, then perhaps the kingdom would have fallen under an even deeper pit of trouble. It was a mystery why the kingdom had insisted to keep news of this under wraps as much as possible.

“I guess their so-called council was too busy with their thumbs up their asses. Don’t nobles just give you this urge to shoot them in the face? Of all the meanings of nobility, I hate theirs the most”

It was a harsh reality; though noble houses that truly helped their people existed, there were always those that put their own interests first, having encountered a lot of the latter during his travels, it was unavoidable that Elias held nobles in disdain.

“We were told not to cause any trouble. I would not like for anything chaotic to happen so please control yourself” said Chambui while giving Elias a reproachful look. However, Elias only replied back to tease her.

“Hmmmm… If I do would you give me a kiss?”
“W-what are you talking about?! We can’t do it here”
“Not even after our quest is over? What? Don’t you like me anymore?”

Under Elias’s teasing the poor girl could only concede. With a mosquito-like voice, she answered, “I do like you… we can do it after the quest… But you have to behave yourself!”

“I shall endeavor to follow my mistress’ commands.”

Seeing that he won out, Elias didn’t proceed any further with his homicidal thoughts and teasingly answered as he smoothly bowed. He was not here for killing anyway nor did he have any enmity with the nobles from Oakenlake. However, the noontime sun had once again fouled his mood. As they made their way toward the village square, they were greeted by a middle-aged elven man.

“Greetings you must be among the adventurers, I am, for better or worse the village chief. My name is-“
“I’m not here to make friends. You need supplies, we have supplies. Here. “

Elias, due to his irritable mood immediately interrupted the village chief and unceremoniously took out the supplies he needed to deliver and dropped them onto the ground. An action which earned a reproachful look from Chambui as she carefully took out her portion of supplies and arranged it on the village square.

“Errrrrmmm… I see. However in order to know my village’s benefactors, I must at least know the names of my benefactors.”
“We’re goin- Ow! Hey!”

As Elias was preparing to leave, however, his arm was grabbed and fiercely pinched by Chambui who then immediately apologized to the chief.

“Pardon my… companion’s manners. I am Chambui, and He is Elias.”
“O-oh, no. It’s no big deal. I am-“
“CHIEF! CHIEF! THIS IS BAD! Another one of the houses caved in and we’ve got 3 people wounded and 2 more dead!”

Suddenly a boy that looked to be 15-16 years old came rushing in a panic followed by a group of people carrying 3 others strewn in stretchers. The 3 had grisly appearances with their bones broken and their bodies bleeding; it wouldn’t take an expert to see that they are an inch away from death. Distraught, the chief could only watch them suffer. None of the kingdom’s healers have arrived yet and it seems that neither have any come among the adventurers. Nearby our adventuring duo watched this whole scene unfold.

“Can we do nothing to help?”
“I can help put them out of their misery?”
“…….”
“Fine; they won’t like it though.”

Elias, having gotten another reproachful look reluctantly agreed.

“Hey, if you need help with healing, I can do it.”
“Truly? Thank you, Sir Elias! Than-“
“Don’t thank me just yet. I can treat them but it’ll be a world of pain for them. Do you still want me to continue?”
“I... Yes, please! As long as they can be saved!
“Alright, I need a space that’s as dark as possible and something to numb the pain if you have any.”

Initially, the chief hesitated after hearing Elias’s warning but then decided to continue anyway. After all, what is pain compared to being able to live? Thus they arranged to have the three injured moved to a cottage that was still securely standing that had all its windows shut tight. Elias then shut himself inside not allowing anyone in.

Inside the cottage, Elias worked quickly as he ground the herbs given to him by the chief with his mortar and pestle and mixed it with a little water until the herbs turned into a somewhat pasty substance which he fed to the 3 victims. After a few moments he approached the patients one by one, placing his hand on their chest and injecting a strand of dark planar energy into their bodies and stimulating their body’s healing rate.

Though the three ingested numbing medicine, they still couldn’t help but scream out so loud that they were heard from outside the cottage. The nature of dark planar energy is extremely tyrannical as even the Eldritch themselves have to face immeasurable pain as they slowly grow to utilize it.

A half hour later, Elias slowly walked out of the cottage to find that a small crowd had gathered with the chief right in front. The expressions on their faces showed a mix of curiosity, fear, and anxiousness. Approaching the crowd and seeing their expressions, Elias simply reported his success with nary a care for their thoughts. After showing that the 3 are in no danger of losing their lives, Elias and Chambui bid farewell to them and continued onto the next village.

Along the way, Chambui couldn’t help but be bested by her curiosity as to what transpired inside the cottage as she too had been left to wait outside despite her insistence to be in there to watch.


“What happened in there?”
“What you wanted me to do. Heal them.”
“Why did… they scream so much?”
“It’s the way my magic works. I just hope they don’t get stupid and have the 3 healed again when a healer comes.”
“Why not?”
“Because they’ll die when a mana-based spell is cast on them. Well, for the next 3 days at least.”
“What?!”
“It was you who insisted that I help in healing them. Don’t worry, I think they’ll be fine”
“Are you sure? I don’t want us getting in trouble especially after we were already warned.”
“Positive. All their injuries are healed. However, they’ll be feeling a bit sluggish for about 3 days which the villagers would just think them as exhausted. Well, they are, mentally; especially after going through that all pain…”

Stopping there, Elias turned silent and gazed at the horizon seemingly remembering a painful memory as gloomy aura washed over him for a moment. Chambui, sensing the change in Elias’ mood no longer questioned any further and just proceeded to steer Bataar toward the next town. Fortunately, the rest of the way continued without any other setbacks and they finished all their deliveries by the late afternoon. They then headed back to the capital to get some rest. Night was approaching and they thus had to prepare to patrol the area.

Spoiler: II. Forest Fire

Night falls upon the land of Oakenlake Kingdom, due to the crisis, all of the few remaining inns have already been booked to capacity thus, leaving the various adventurers to camp out in the wilderness. Needless to say, there are those that chose to join-up their campsites in order to make things secure as well as mingle with their peers and the locals of Oakenlake, forming small “towns” of tents. Within these little towns, noise of banter, music, laughter, and various other activities could be heard, forming a strangely cozy atmosphere; a stark contrast to the gloom around that hung over Oakenlake days ago. In one of these little tent towns sat a man clad in black, leisurely smoking his pipe through the slits of his mask. This man is Elias. Right beside him was a woman clad in leather armor that was taking inventory of her arrows and checking her bow. This woman is Chambui.

Having finished their deliveries, they sought to setup camp and rest as they wait for nightfall to scout and patrol the area. Elias chose two reasons to pick the nighttime to scout. Firstly, his powers do not work when under intense light though he possessed his tempered body and training, he very much preferred to be in peak condition when undertaking a task which he feels he would encounter danger. Secondly, around sunset when he could once again use his magic, he overheard a few adventurers discussing something that piqued his interest.
……………

“What rotten luck. We searched all day but never found anyone. That village in the northeast is practically a ghost town!”
“<sigh> Yeah. Whoever said that finding missing people was an easy quest was nothing but a worthless fibber.”
“D-don’t y-y-you th-think i-i-i-it was strange though? M-m-m-most of the o-o-ones m-m-m-missing w-w-were w-w-women and ch-ch-children.”
“Bah. They’ve musta just moved to other villages. Ya think too much.”


……………

It really didn’t take much thought that something was amiss. Intuition, though far from conclusive being conclusive had its reasons, especially when one has faced a lot of danger in his travels. Thus, without a second thought, Elias then moved to convince Chambui to choose and patrol that area.

Arriving at the village, it truly looked deserted. There were only a scant few lamps and a single campfire around and only a handful of villagers and 3 adventurers that remained. As they approached, they were immediately met with gazes of curiosity and some even showed vigilance.

“Halt! Who goes there!?” asked one of the adventurers with his sword at the ready. He was a young man around 17-18 clad in reinforced leather armor and wielded a buckler and a short sword; behind him was a female Halfling who wore light leather armor and wielded a shortbow and a young woman wearing a military outfit while wielding a musket along with a pair of pistols on her waist. Elias’ sudden appearance coupled with his look and aura immediately put them on the edge. Knowing that diplomacy was never Elias’ strong suit, Chambui immediately steeped between Elias and the adventurer party to try and diffuse the tense atmosphere.

“Everyone, please stay calm. We’re from the guild too. I am Chambui and this man is Elias we are also adventurers from the guild.”
“How do we know you’re from the Guild?”
“… Can I shoot him now? I can, can’t I?”
“Stop… There’s no need to be so alarmed. Here are our quest missives. We’re here to scout and patrol the area.”

Showing the quest missives and pacifying Elias’ urge to shoot the young adventurer, Chambui was finally able to diffuse the tense atmosphere. Strangely enough, it seemed as if Elias’ intuition had touched upon something. Most of the villagers left were men, mostly able bodied. Upon further inquiry, the duo found out that most of the men in the village were survivors of the war who, upon returning, found that a large number of villagers have gone missing and some even disappeared the past week. While they have reported such disappearances to the watch, the kingdom’s current crisis has worn their personnel thin. After probing for further details, Elias and Chambui set off to patrol the area and perhaps be able to find any clues to the disappearances.


“Looks like my gut sense wasn’t off. <sigh> and here I was thinking we’d get an evening stroll.”
“Stroll?”
“Well, wouldn’t it be nice? The night sky… the moonlight… the bloodstain on the ground…. Hmmm… That last part wasn’t so romantic…”
“Bloodstain?!”
“Sorry, shouldn’t have mentioned that. Ruined the mood, huh?”
“No. I mean, BLOODSTAIN!”
“Hmmm? Yeah. What about it?
“Don’t you think it’s strange?!”
“Now that you mention it… there’s also patches of grass that seemed to have been stepped on… particularly by a group of around 4 or 5 people. They seemed to be carrying something heavy by the looks of it.”
“And they don’t look strange to you? And how can you even tell all that?”
“Tracking. Learned it when I was a kid. Though I’d say that there’s a chance they were just from people hauling off some unimportant object, my guts and your facial expression tells me that we should go check it out… Hmmmm…”
“There’s nothing to think about! Let’s go!”
“<sigh> always so serious when she’s on a quest. Oh, well. That’s cute too.”

After about a quarter kilometer of tracking the duo came across a body that lay flat on the ground. He was an elf around his 30’s but he was in terrible shape. He was bleeding profusely from his mouth, nose, and ears while multiple places on his body showed injuries that were caused by a heavy impact from a blunt weapon; especially his spine, which was bent around an unnatural angle. It should be noted, however, that the man still drew breath.

“Ambush. Collapsed lung, multiple fractures around his body, broken spine, and it seems his brain is bleeding from the inside. Gotta admit, this guy’s a tough one to still be alive.”
“Don’t just watch. We have to help him!”
“Can’t. He’s gonna die.”
“What do you mean?! Didn’t you help those three people at the village?!”
“I did. But those three were ordinary people; this man has a strong concentration of mana within him… A mage, huh? He’ll most likely explode if I do try to heal him with my magic.”
“So… do we just watch him as he dies?”

Elias merely stayed silent at that question and came closer to the dying elf. Though breathing, it was obvious he was close to drawing his last. However, upon looking closer, his eyes seemed to be resolutely fixed in a certain direction. Noticing that, Elias immediately followed his gaze and saw that more tracks could be found. Turning back to the elf, he merely stayed silent for a while, bowed his head and put his revolver to the elf’s forehead.

BANG!

The sound of a gunshot echoed through the forest.

“Let’s go.”
“... Why?”
“He pointed us to the right direction; I spared him from suffering for a few more moments. It was a fair transaction...” Saying that, Elias proceeded to follow the trail but not before mumbling something under his breath. "You’ll never know when you have to shoot someone, huh?"

The scene of the dying Elf caused a bitter memory to resurface for Elias. A memory which he'd rather forget.

Following the trail for a few more minutes while firing off a shot into the sky, Elias immediately stopped. He then pointed to a clearing about 20 meters away. Though there was no campfire, Elias could detect that there were people in there by amplifying his senses. The Eldritch arts could let him amplify his senses further and lets him detect things from within 100 feet around him.

“How good are you at staying hidden?”
“I can sneak up on enemies that aren't too alert. I'm not an expert at stealth, but I can hold my own.”
“Hmmm… Can you hide in those bushes by that tree over there? The one on the east side of the clearing.”
“But I can’t see as well in the dark.”
“Don’t worry, they’ve most likely got light stones or a light spell and are using some sort of concealment.”
“You can see them?”
“No, I can’t. But I don’t smell anything burning but I can hear their movements. Depending on how much light they’ve got, that could affect my powers. So I’ll first take down the concealment, raise hell in the camp and you flank them from behind.”
“How are you sure it’ll go as planned?”
“I don’t. But at least I know who to kill and who not to.”

Saying so, Elias disappeared in a puff of pitch-black smoke. It was an occurrence that often spooked people but for those around Elias, it was a common sight. Remembering Elias’ words, Chambui slowly made her way to the bushes that Elias pointed out and hid there while her lance was laid on the ground beside her. Her eyes we fixed onto the clearing that was but faintly illuminated by the moonlight that shone between the trees.

Within the camp, 7 men were patrolling while 4 more were standing in front of a tent that had group of people huddled inside. They had heard the faint echo of the gunshot that Elias fired earlier and immediately went on guard. From within the concealment field, they could see their immediate surroundings while remaining undetected themselves however from within the concealment field, a man suddenly appeared in a puff of pitch-black smoke and immediately, time seemed to slow as a series of events quickly played out.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

Four shots, four kills

“NOW!”

Elias shouting out the signal as he holsters his revolvers and readies to engage in melee

“KILL HIM!”

The remaining 7 men taking notice of their fallen comrades and prepare

“RAAAAAAARRRRGH!”

Chambui giving a battlecry as she charges with her lance

And the concealment getting taken down as the illusionist fell to the ground with a hole in his forehead and an even bigger one at the back.

In truth, Elias had deliberately let them hear that gunshot that he fired every now and then in the forest. While following their trail, he noticed that he didn't sniff out any trace of oil that one would commonly use for a torch or lamp; he also remembered that one of the villagers mentioned that a child had disappeared just when he was distracted for a moment. Those two facts combined told him that there was a possibility of an illusionist within their group and thus, he subtly alerted them to see who the group would guard. His plan clearly worked as a man in front of the tent was immediately surrounded by three others.

All that was left now was to get rid of the remaining seven…

Elias immediately threw a throwing knife at each of the men flanking his sides, one pierced at the throat the other one, however was able to block. Elias then stepped forward and leaned to the side, catching the wrist and elbow of man who lunged at him with a sword. He then proceeded to snap the man’s wrist and threw him to directly meet the razor-sharp tip of Chambui’s oncoming lance.

Five

Elias then drew his daggers and held them in a reverse grip as Chambui stored away her lance and changed to a scimitar. The man who was able to block the throwing knife then followed with a swipe aimed at Elias’ neck; however Elias was able to duck under it, move to the side, and thrust his dagger into the man’s flank while also giving a fierce kick to the side of the knee, dislocating it. Finally, the coup de grace came with Chambui slicing off the man’s head cleanly with her scimitar by gathering momentum with a graceful spin.

Four

Chambui then immediately parried the incoming club and rushed forward hammering the pommel of her saber into his throat and smooth drew her saber back into an arc toward the man's leg, cutting off before driving the blade straight into his heart.

Three

On the other side, Elias was nimbly dodging his foe's spear thrusts. Thinking that Elias was being kept at bay, his opponent's confidence grew and immediately and unleashed a straight thrust into Elias' chest. Elias, however once again nimble leaned to the side, immediately catching the handle of the spear between the blades of his twin daggers and snapping it off. Once that was done, he leapt towards the bandit and plunged his daggers into the bandit's head

Two

After a clean execution with her saber, Chambui immediately jumped back to dodge an incoming hook puch aimed at her midsection however she was not given much reprieve as the bandit was at her toes. She immediately stored her saber and grabbed the man's arm as he threw another hook. Swiftly shifting her weight and posture, she then proceeded to throw the man overhead. The unfortunate bandit, however, did not get a chance to recover as Chambui immediately lunged at him while wielding her saber. Combining her strength and momentum, she was able to cleanly bisect the bandit right in the middle.

One

All that was left among the bandits was one. Seeing as his peers all lay dead, apparently being made short work of by the two adventurers in front of him, he immediately turned and fled. Immediately covering 20 meters.


"Care to do the honors?"
"Leave it to me."

Saying so, Chambui kept her saber and brought out her bow

50 meters

She then knocked an arrow and took aim

70 meters

Taking a deep breath, she then drew back the bowstring, slowly and calmly letting out the air in her lungs, relaxing her muscles

90 meters

TWANG!

Chambui released the bowstring, sending the arrow flying through the air and piercing straight through the last bandit's throat.

"<whistle> That's my girl."
"Thank you."

With the final bandit dispatched, they then moved to the tent where Elias sensed a group of people huddling together earlier. Though they had dispatched all 11 of the bandits, Elias and Chambui still kept vigilant by having their daggers and saber drawn respectively. Within the tent were 3 elven women and 5 children. Knowing that he might frighten the victims and perhaps worsen their trauma, Elias left the task of setting the victims free to Chambui while he proceeded to loot the bandit's corpses.

After looting and setting all the victims free, Elias and Chambui set off to guide the victims back to town. Though they were visibly shaken, at least they were alive and well. Since they had to travel in larger numbers as well as reduce their speed in order for the elves to be able to keep up, it had been almost dawn when they returned to the village.

After returning to the village, recounting the events (which was again done by Chambui as people were weary of Elias. Of course, she left out the detail about shooting the dying elf), and finally separating themselves to the awestruck locals, Elias spread out all the loot he had gathered. From the 4 that immediately fell, Elias was able to loot a steel bearded axe, a targe, 2 poleaxes, 2 staves, a silver dagger, a mage robe with a low-level enchantment, and 3 iron half-plate armors, and a magic pouch used to store items. From the other 7 were 3 swords, an iron axe, an iron cudgel, a pair of spiked gauntlets, and 7 sets of leather armor (some of which are damaged). It was quite a large haul, especially from the first 4 that fell under Elias' revolvers.

"<sigh> Just once, I'd like a quest where I just do whatever's written on the missive. Somehow, all quests I take end up making me do one thing that leads to another."
"At least we ended up stopping a slaver ring."
"Not entirely, my dear Cappy. Not entirely. Take a look at these."

Saying so, Elias took out a stack of documents from the magic pouch and presented them to Chambui. Within it were letters regarding their plans to take advantage of Oakenlake's crisis and capture more elves, maps on which route they take, and the schedule of when the "shipment" of slaves should set off. It was evident that the slave ring ran deeper than expected.

"And there's still the issue of the villagers who were already shipped away. Not that we can do anything about it right now. Well, for the moment, we've stopped their operations. At least until their head finds out that his guys are all dead."
"Agreed. For now, let us focus on the current crisis and just report this to the guild."
"No. For now, let us sleep. I'm bushed."
"Wa-"
"Good night."
"Uuuu... Good night"

Spoiler: III & IV. Getting their game on

After a few embarassing things happened in the morning, we now are ready to hunt in order to get the meat and pelts for our quest. I decided to not use Bataar for the hunt because forests and horses just don't fit together.

Together with Elias I leave the village we stayed in, when he suddenly comments on this moring.

"I didn't think you would be that hard to wake up." I blush, remembering what happened this morning.

"It's just because yesterday was exhausting..." is my response, and I whisper the other part of the reason silently to myself. "Also, I felt safe with you around..."

And even though I was only whispering it, he once again somehow heard something."Hm? What did you cay, Cappy?"

"N-nothing, I was just talking to myself, saying that we need to hurry and gather the required meat and pelts." I hope this excuse will work...

"Of course, Cappy, of course." Is his response in his teasing tone, that actually doesn't sound that bad...

Some minutes later we reach the rainforest and begin prowling the underbrush, silent, so that we don't startle the animals. A dozen minutes later, I notice a deer and signal Elias that I will shoot it. His guns are quite loud, so other animals and enemies might hear them. I sneak closer until I reach a distance of about 200 meters. Nock my arrow, take aim, and shoot! The arrow flies, unnoticed by the target, and pierces through it's neck. The deer soon collapses from bloodloss and the wound without even crying. I carefully move closer and store it in my item box, then proceed to search for more prey with Elias.

The hunt is pretty uneventful, causing me to slowly relax. Although not all hits were as good as the first one, they all died in the end. Very soon we've hunted almost enough for the quest, our hunted targets including boars, rabbits, deers and other edible animals, and I am now aiming at a deer, the last one we will need for our quests, according to Elias estimates. It seems like he has more knowledge about this than I do.

I once again shoot the deer and watch it fall, then move towards it to store it in the item box, when I suddenly trip over a root and can't help to let out a cry. "Wa!"

But before I hit the ground, two strong hands grasp me and pull me up. I feel safe.

Elias voice breaks me out of my stupor. "Are you alright?"

"Ah, y-yes! Thank you." Embarrassed I hurry, this time carefully, and store the deer in my item box, then return to Elias, still blushing. "W-we have everything we need, so let's return to butcher and skin the game."

"Yes, let's do that. I wonder what I should sing this time?"

"You sing while doing it?"

"What about it?"

"L-let's do it a distance away from the village..."

"It?" Hearing him state it in his usual teasing tone makes me flustered.

"The skinning and butchering!" I almost shout while pouting.

"Of course, of course." He almost sounds like he is laughing...

Soon, we find a good place and I take the game out of my item box and Elias begins to skin and butcher it. And he really is singing something I don't quite understand. He seperates the skin, the tendons, eyes, bones and innards from the meat required for the quest, singing faster, slower, high and low... it really was the right decision to do this outside of the village. But he doesn't sound bad...

I pull myself together and guard the area while Elias is working, and half succeeding in preventing myself from enjoying his song.

An uncertain amount of time later, he stops singing and approaches me. "I finished. Let's return to the village, Cappy."

Spoiler: V. Enjoy the meal, my deer.

After taking apart the wild game they hunted, Elias and Chambui returned to the village and prepared to escort the villagers out. It was a move that Elias and Chambui agreed upon (with Chambui once again talking with the villagers due to Elias’ lack of skill in diplomacy) due to their previous encounter with bandits working for a slaver ring. Since the threat of the slaver ring hasn’t been fully eradicated, it was a better option to move to a larger, more populated town for security.

With the three other adventurers taking to the front while Elias and Chambui taking the rear guard. The trip went smoothly as not to many wild animals hunted during the daytime and news of the bandit party getting wiped out hasn’t reached their superiors either.

It had been past noon when the villagers arrived and were quite tired. Traveling as a group, though assured some safety with numbers, also made the trip significantly longer as everyone had to keep pace with the slower members in order for them to keep up. Upon making sure that the villagers that came with them were properly accommodated, Elias and Chambui made their way to the Emergency Kitchen in the village.

The kitchen was quite large and was crewed with 8 people though right now the atmosphere in the kitchen was quite relaxed as lunch was already served. The two were approached by a big, brusque centaur.

“Yes? How may I help you?”
“Greetings, we are here to-“
“Are you in charge here?”

Chambui, who was formally returning the greeting, was abruptly cut-off by Elias who seemed to be impatient.

“Why yes, I am. My name is-“
“IS THIS WHAT YOU CALL A KITCHEN?!”
“… Pardon?”
“This isn’t a kitchen! It’s a dump! A pigsty!”
“Now, I think we’re being too hasty-“
“HASTY MY ASS! LOOK OVER THERE! YOU’RE JUST LETTING THOSE ORGANS ROT?! AND SO NEAR THE PLACE WHERE YOU PREPARE THE FOOD?! AND WHO IN THE NINE HELLS TOLD YOU TO STORE AWAY KITCHENWARE THAT HASN’T BEEN WIPED DRY?! DON’T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON YOUR KITCHEN COUNTER!”
“Elias, I think we need to-“
“Cappy, there are some things I can let slip… but never this abomination that this oaf calls a kitchen!”

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Being passionate about culinary pursuits, Elias was indeed set ablaze with anger at the state of the kitchen. Running out of patience, he immediately took out his revolver and fired 3 shots into the ground.

“Listen up! For the rest of the day, I’m taking control of this kitchen! You bunch or flea-bitten, imbecilic oafs better follow my orders to the letter if you don’t want me serving your ass to the villagers for dinner. Do I make myself clear?!”
“”… yes…””
“DO! I! MAKE! MYSELF! CLEAR?!”
“YES!”

And thus, intimidated, or rather, terrified by the murderous aura Elias was emitting, the kitchen crew could only agree.

Starting off, he ordered that the crew immediately clean up the kitchen counters, wash the used kitchenware once again and wipe them dry and properly dispose of the waste materials from the ingredients. Following that, he examined the menu they were to serve for dinner. Though it was just early in the afternoon, he knew that he had to immediately start working as some dishes he had in mind required some time to prepare.

“You’re serving Bread and Venison stew?”
“Yes. We still have 2 deers delivered to us for today’s use.”
“2 deers? 2 WHOLE deers?”
“Y-yes.”
“You waste of a man! You don’t deserve to be cooking! Get me those deer carcasses! NOW!
“R-right away.”

Now Elias knew why he had seen so much organs going to waste. As it turns out, the crew only cared about the meat and discarded the rest. Normally, when cooking in a restaurant or tavern, this would be excusable depending on the chef’s discretion. But right now, people were hungry. And not stretching the animal’s use as far as food goes was inexcusable for Elias.

Immediately, 2 deer corpses were brought right in front of him. They were still fresh as if they were just hunted a moment ago. Things like item boxes and other storage objects really works wonders with preserving the freshness of normally perishable ingredients. Working immediately, Elias smoothly dismantled and deboned the two corpses, expertly separating the bones, blood, organs, fat and meat; it was imperative that he cleanly deboned and bled the meat thoroughly to reduce the deer’s gamey flavor. Working first with the stew, Elias immediately separated cuts from the upper front leg, neck, and shoulder and immediately had them boiled along with some of the deer’s smaller bones to form the stock. Next, he had Chambui, cut up some vegetables, carefully demonstrating how they had to be cut before leaving her to her work.

“This is Wife Training 101. I’ll leave the vegetables to you, ok?”
“W-wife… I-I mean… Y-yes! Leave it to me!”
“Thanks, wifey!”

Turning to leave a blushing Chambui, Elias then grabbed the deer’s larger bones and cut them in half, exposing the marrow. Immediately he instructed one of the crew to roast them in an oven as he grabbed the deer’s intestines to clean them and had another kitchen crewman mix and prepare the blood according to his instructions.

“The vegetables are done.”
“That’s my girl. Now help me with these organs and tendons. I need them sliced into small pieces.”
“Y-yes. Lungs… heart, liver, and tendons? What do you plan to do with these?”
“You’ll see soon enough.”

Elias then tasked Chambui to have the deer lungs, heart, and liver sliced into small pieces and marinated into three separate blends. Chambui, though an amateur at cooking, didn’t have her training as a warrior for nothing. She was exceptionally skilled at handling a knife, smoothly slicing through the organs and tendons.

Leaving Chambui to work on the organs, he went back to the blood he had a crewman cook. After Elias was satisfied with the blood mixture, he then stuffed it into the intestines he had cleaned earlier and tied them in links before instructing the crewman how long to poach, cool, and smoke them.

Finishing with the blood sausages, he then checked the bone marrow that he had told to be roasted. Seeing as they were perfectly tender and cooled, he then proceeded to mix it with butter, salt, finely chopped parsley, lemon juice, and dried rosemary, asking another crewman to thoroughly mix it until all the ingredients blended together. This was a creation he had thought of as he had once experimented on bone marrow – marrow butter.

With the marrow butter as good as done and the blood sausages on its final stages, Elias then checked the stew. The meat that he had selected earlier was among the animal’s toughest parts but this was in Elias’ calculation. He had deliberately selected these parts as, though tough and slow cooking, these parts were among the tastiest as this is where the blood circulated the fastest and where the muscles were more developed. Seeing as the water was now turning a light shade of brown, Elias then removed the bones and started seasoning the stock and resumed to let the mixture simmer, slowly letting the heat do its work in blending the flavors together.

Elias then checked the deer fat he took apart and cooled. Contrary to what most people believed, deer had two kinds of fat: The lacy fat around the entrails called caul fat were the ones edible while the ones around the kidneys and gut cavities called suet were only of use soap and candle makers. Taking the caul fat he took a small amount and mixed it into a pan as he sautéed onions and garlic then mixed in the lungs he had marinated earlier. A quick fry later and the lungs were ready; A simple dish with just the flavors of the fat, onions, and garlic seasoning the lungs. It was to be eaten with a sweet and spicy vinegar blend that Elias had concocted.

Next, Elias moved to the liver he had soaked in buttermilk as he began cooking a dish mostly misunderstood by a lot of people – liver and onions. Smoothly sautéing the onion rings, Elias began working on the liver. The buttermilk played a large role in 2 aspects – softening the liver and getting rid of its metallic taste. Carefully, Elias fried it until the outsides were browned but the inside was still pink and tender – part of why people disdained liver was its hard, dirt-like texture when overcooked. To counter this, Elias worked on having the liver done just right; like slices of meat with a melt-in-your mouth sensation.

Finally, working with the stew once again, Elias added on the leaner meat cuts, and the rest of the vegetables needed as everything culminated into a grand feast made from stretching the use of 2 deers.

Blood Sausage, Marrow Butter, Sautéed deer lungs with sweet and spicy vinegar dip, Venison Liver and Onions, and finally, Venison stew. A dinner that should have just been bread and stew was immediately turned into a feast that featured 5 dishes.

After the villagers had their fill and learned who prepared all of it, their views on the black leather-clad gunslinger had drastically changed. Though they were still quite nervous around Elias, looks that once showed just fear and apprehension now was mixed with awe and a tinge of respect.

Especially the crew that manned the emergency kitchen; their once fearful looks were now filled with reluctant respect. The centaur who was initially in charge even courageously asked Elias to be his teacher and was only pacified after Elias left him with a recipe or two of the dishes he made today.

In a place not too far away from the village…

“Why didn’t you want us to eat with the villagers.”
“Hush, my dear Cappy. Of course, I reserved the best stuff for us.”

Atop a tree stump which Elias used as a picnic table lay the dishes Elias had prepared for the villagers earlier except there were two additional dishes that were alongside them.

“Grilled deer heart with peppers and Tendon hotpot.”
“Isn’t unfair that only we get to eat these two dishes?”
“Nah. Look at it this way. The heart and tendons aren’t enough to serve to everyone. That’s why I saved them for us. Besides, those oafs at the kitchen would have thrown them away anyway.”
“Fair enough.”
“Now, hush, my dear. Let’s just enjoy this fine meal under the moonlit sky.”

Quick Summary
I. Had to heal 3 villagers who were involved in an accident
II. Encountered bandits who were part of a slaver ring. Gained 1 steel bearded axe, 1 targe, 2 poleaxes, 2 staves, 1 silver dagger, 1 mage robe with a low-level enchantment, 3 iron half-plate armors, a magic pouch used to store items (only reduces items weight and has limited storage space), 3 iron swords, 1 iron axe, 1 iron cudgel, 1 pair of spiked gauntlets, and 7 sets of leather armor (some of which are damaged)
III & IV. Nothing out of the ordinary. Elias sang opera songs while skinning and deboning wild game
V. Was able to make more dishes from the deer that was provided to the kitchen

Party with @Chambui

@brasca123

 

#EZ28 – No Rank – Deliver Supply to Elven Villages [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
#EZ30 – No Rank – Scout and Patrol the Surrounding [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
#EZ12 – No Rank – Gather 5 Bags of Game Meat [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
#EZ14 – No Rank – Gather 5 Bags of Animal Pelts [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
#EZ22 – No Rank – Cook in The Emergency Kitchen [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
===================================================================
Welcome back Elias-kun, Cham-chan. ( @Chambui )

Let's see here... So... You not only delivered the supplies, but also helped on healing the people, did a patrol, saved people from slave traders, but also helped the cooks in making the food and using better ingredients than most...?

That's quite amazing actually, you truly surprised me with all that Elias-kun, I guess Cham-chan is being a good influence on you!

Your rewards will be of 500G and 210 Event Points, take care now, good luck on your future quests as well!

 

#EZ1 – No Rank – Gather 10 Oak Logs [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
#EZ2 – No Rank – Gather 10 Pine Logs [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
#EZ3 – No Rank – Gather 20 Large Stone [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
#EZ4 – No Rank – Gather 10 Bags of Grass [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
#EZ5 – No Rank – Gather 10 Bags of Gravel [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
#EZ6 – No Rank – Gather 10 Bags of Sand [ 100 gold | Event Points ]

Spoiler: Gathering nya!

Doing the quests to help out the elves was nice nya, I wanted to help more if I could nya!

I decided to take some more quests then nya, a lot of gathering quests seem to be easy nya, so I went with that nya!

Since I lived in Delta Town, gathering the sand was really easy nya, I just took 10 bags, filled it with the sand of the desert, and then I put it all on my item box nya! Super easy nya!

Then I needed to get the gravel and the large stones nya, I wanted to take them into the gallant mines nya, but I was met with a staff member that wasn't nice at all nya, he said he couldn't bring me there because the airships were already full of service just taking people to the rainforest nya! It's not fun like this nya!

So instead, I took the teleporter to frontier village nya, then I went to the desert mine nya, I could get some stones there nya, and it wasn't that far nya!

There was a lot of gravel spread on the ground nya, it wasn't hard to get it and put on a bag nya, but it was really boring nya! Took quite a while to get all that nya! But I filled the 10 bags and put them unto my item box anyway nya.

Once I finished that, I started searching for large stones nya, since it was a mine, it was full of stones nya! I just had to know how large they need to be nya... Half my size should work nya? Let's go with that nya!

It was a lot quicker to get the stones nya, no need to worry about getting lots of small stuff nya! Just hit the wall a few times with my claws until it had some part of it separated, then put it on my item box nya, only a few minutes and I was done nya!

I think this is all I can get on the mine nya, so I went back to frontier village nya, then I got to aeternus, and then an airship to the rainforest nya, as I got there, I went after the grass nya, grass was also everywhere nya! I could get it super easily nya! Why did the guild ask for something that was everywhere nya? Maybe they didn't have time to get it, but still needed it nya? So mysterious nya...

After gathering for a while, I also finished the 10 bags of grass nya! Time to get some logs nya!

The guild asked for oak and pine logs nya... What is the difference between them nya? I don't really know nya!

I asked a guild staff that seemed to be busy with taking care of some paperwork nya.

"Nya nya, what's the difference between a pine tree and an oak tree nya?"

"Oaks have spirally arranged leaves, with lobate margins while Pine trees are evergreen, coniferous resinous trees."

"... What nya?"

"I just explained it to you, go bother someone else, I'm busy here!"

"But you didn't talk in my language nya! I didn't understand a single thing you said nya!"

"What? Of course I did! I told you exactly what I wanted!"

"Then why wasn't I able to understand anything nya!?"

*sighs* "Look, the pine tree is the pointy and tall one, the oak tree is the one with branches spread all over, alright? Now shoo! I'm busy!"

"Oh, alright nya! Thank you nya!"

Now I know what to look for nya! He was rude, but at least got the job done nya!

There were a lot of trees like that along the forest nya... I think any will do nya? Let's get on to it nya!

I made an ice sword and started cutting through the tree logs nya, it didn't take long for them to start falling nya! After making the first fall, I stored it into my item box and went for the next one nya, cutting 10 of each tree was done in no time nya, I stored them all on my item box and carried the logs towards the nearest elven village nya.

"Nya! I brought gravel, stones, logs, sand and herbs nya!"

"... Who?"

"Nya!? I meant I'm from the guild nya! Delivering things from a quest nya!"

"Oh, good, please leave them here on the gate, we'll take them to the places we need."

"Okay nya!"

I took all of it from my item box nya! I'm quite proud in how quick I was nya!

"Huumm, let's see... The sand and the gravel looks fine... Why did you take so many different kinds of grasses though...? I suppose we can find some use to it anyway... The big stones are broken quite poorly though, I'm unsure on how well they'll hold... We'll probably waste a good part of them... And... Was it on purpose that you took 10 different species of oak trees and pine trees? You do know that they all have different compositions and it's quite hard to use different types of trees on the same construction... Maybe we can spread your batch on different works so as to make them more useful, but you should've just taken them all with the same type you know? It's a lot easier for us..."

"Nya!? I didn't do well nya!? It's the fault of the staff nya! He didn't direct me properly to the trees nya!"

"You shouldn't go blaming others for your lack of knowledge you know? Most people do know what are each kind of tree and that it's better to take the same kind when gathering... You were the one lacking common sense."

"Not fair nya..."

"Well, you still did your job, so here is your certificate of completion, just try to do things more carefully next time, okay?"

"Ryokai! I'll do my best nya!"

I left quickly to go back to the guild nya! I hope I get some nice rewards nya!

[ This is technically after my party quest nya, doing it now however nya!
Not much else to comment nya, things were quite straightforward nya... A bit unused to doing things like this nya, but here it is nya! ]

@shad12ow

 

I forgot to mention it @BarelyEnoughToReachTheApex and @Chambui.

You both get 210 Event points, but the 500G is to be split between the 2 of you, sorry for not being clear on it.

 

#EZ3 – No Rank – Gather 20 Large Stone [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
#EZ5 – No Rank – Gather 10 Bags of Gravel [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
#EZ6 – No Rank – Gather 10 Bags of Sand [ 100 gold | Event Points ]

I love the city

Spoiler: My first quest REPORT

On my way to the Guild, for some reason I was collecting some rocks, so I left my all of my pebbles and went to find some sand and large stones.

I borrowed the map of the Adv. World and I started walking back to my stone house in the Verdant forest, I started collected the remaining bags of pebbles/gravel. I then remembered that there was a quest for grass, so I started to weed a "parth" to my home.

When I arrived at my home, I found out it was destroyed and the large stones were now scattered all over the ground. I thought that monsters may have destroyed it, so I looked around to check if there were any nearby. I checked the map and I found out that there was a or village near by. I then armed myself with my stick and hid in the ruins of my shattered home to ambush any monsters that may come back. I waited and waited, but they were cautious and never came.

I then fell asleep took a strategic break and when I came to, I was left lying on the ground with a stone as a pillow and a cloak as a blanket.
I then saw a small bunny who was eating a piece of paper *Growl* I was hungry, so i went up and tried to capture the bunny, but the bunny was too fast. I gave up and tried to eat the paper it left behind. It was right after I put it in my mouth that I saw some words, I hastly took out the paper and I could barley make out the blurred words "hey thanks for this pile of stones, I really needed these for a quest. You seemed cold, so I left one of my failed works. No need to thank me, Cya - " the note was ripped where the person wrote his name.
Hungry and with no success, I gave up the quest for the 20 stones.

With my newfound stone pillow and blanket, I decided to travel to to the edge of the Sand Desert.
When I went to get 10 bags of sand, I saw a shining lady further in the desert, I couldn't stop as I ran deeper in the desert. I became lost and the beautiful lady was gone. Daytime was excruciating and at night it was freezing, hunger was comming for me, so I used half of my grass and made grass poridge. Days passed as I forgot my objective.

I finally found it, Adventurers city. I ran for the entrance and kissed the ground.
I went to the reception desk and called for @brasca123 .
"Excuse me, I completed the quests
#EZ5: Gather 10 Bags of Gravel [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
#EZ6: Gather 10 Bags of Sand [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
I also collected 20 bags of grass, but I didn't register for the quest, what do I do with it? and where can I get a home? "

 

#EZ3 – No Rank – Gather 20 Large Stone [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
#EZ5 – No Rank – Gather 10 Bags of Gravel [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
#EZ6 – No Rank – Gather 10 Bags of Sand [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
===========================================================
Welcome back Kazu-kun!

Seems like you couldn't finish the one to get the large stones then? That's a bit of a pity... At least you could finish the other 2 though.

As for a home? You could try buying a house when you have more money, but for now, you could use the inn right in front of the guild, it's affiliated with us, and allows adventurers to have free lodging, so it's a good place for you to live until you can afford a place of your own.

For your reward you'll get 200G and 50 Event Points, take care now!

(( Now for some notes not by Hikari, but by me... First things first, remember to adhere to the format, tag the receptionist at the end of your post, not in the middle of it like you did just on this one.

You can tag people in the middle of your report if you want, but make sure to put the tag for the receptionist at the very end, okay?

Also, there is also the fact that you called me brasca123 on your report... You don't really know any brasca123, you know Hikari, so it breaks a bit of the immersion if you mention me like that, so I advise to refer to me by my character's name while you're making reports.

Lastly, it was probably a misconception due to how old is the one map that is not messed up, but the Adventurer's City was burnt to the ground, the current headquarters of the guild is in the Floating City of Aeternus, which floats right above the ruins of the Adventurer's City. To reach it, you can use the teleport gates on the Frontier Village, Desert Village or Delta Town, or you can use one of the guild's airships... Or fly/teleport by yourself if you know how to.

That's pretty much all, only a few small issues, but nothing really troublesome, looking forward to your future reports, good luck! Hope you had fun writing it! I had fun reading it for sure! ))

 

#EZ8 - No Rank - Gather 5 Bags of Fruits [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
#EZ7 - No Rank - Gather 20 Iron Ore [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
#EZ12 - No Rank - Gather 5 Bags of Game Meat [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
#EZ14 - No Rank - Gather 5 Bags of Animal Pelts [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
#EZ20 - No Rank - Process The Ore [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
#EZ21 - No Rank - Process The Pelts [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
===========================================================
"Welcome back, Razer. I see that you have done some nice works there. And apparently your card skill is getting better and better. Wonderful! Here is 600 G and 190 Event Points. Take care now~!"

 

#EZ8 – No Rank – Gather 5 Bags of Fruits [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
#EZ9 – No Rank – Gather 5 Bags of Vegetables [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
#EZ12 – No Rank – Gather 5 Bags of Game Meat [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
#EZ15 – No Rank – Gather 5 Bags of Animal Pelts [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
#EZ28 – No Rank – Search for Missing People [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
#EZ31 – No Rank – Scout and Patrol the Surrounding [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
================================================================
"...Slaver, eh?....hmm...that is to be expected. It seems that new of the elven kingdom weakening has spread faster than we expected. This is....not a good news for any of us. Well, I thank you for the information and also for dealing with them. It could have been great if you could at least left one of them alive. I could extract information from them, whether they want it or not. But, alas, that is not the case. Here is 600 G and 165 Event Points. Take care now. And cheer up, if possible."

 

@brasca123
#EZ12 – No Rank – Gather 5 Bags of Game Meat [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
#EZ16 – No Rank – Remove Rubble [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
#EZ17 – No Rank – Fix The Houses [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
#EZ18– No Rank – Fix The Wall [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
#EZ23 – No Rank – Cook in The Emergency Kitchen [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
#EZ24 – No Rank – Fix the Magic Barrier Around the Village [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
======================================================================
"Well....I see that you hunted some lesser kraken? Uhm....I'm just worried that it might not go well for the elves that rarely eat seafood before. Might need to make some medicine just in case. And apart from that, I think all is in order. Excellent! Here is 600 G and 195 Event Points. Take care now~!"

 

#EZ26 – No Rank – Provide Medical and Healing Service [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
#EZ27 – No Rank – Provide Trauma and Counseling Service [ 100 gold | Event Points ]

Spoiler: Trauma Center

I'm sick of it. Everyday they confine me in the research facility and conduct experiment on me. It would be fine if they decided to dissect me or modify my body, but they do nothing but making me doing some moderate training while wearing photon sensors. Ugh. So I sneak out today instead.

The guild is lending a hand in the reconstruction of Oakenlake Kingdom, I can see almost no one in the guild hall. Let's check the Quest Board if I can help in anything.

Gather... gather... fix... deliver... Oh, this "Crowd Control" looks good, just imagining a mountain of monsters attack me from every direction gives me shiver. But I'll refrain from doing it, since I'll surely emit photon signature and expose my whereabout if I ever participate in a battle. What else...

- How about "Provide Trauma and Counseling Service"? (Izuna)
- I'm curious about it to...o........ (Takako)
- .................. (Izuna)
- ..................Since when have you been there? (Takako)
- Since you shouted "I want to go out to play" and disappeared. Veru seems mad because you use her place as a transfer station for duty escape instead of a proper library. (Izuna)
- Eh, from the start? Wait, you don't really want to drag me back do you? (Takako)

I take up battle stance. I'm sorry Izuna, but I'm sick of staying indoor already, I won't yell this time. E-even when I have to l-listen to a t-three hour long sermon, I won't y-y-yell.

- I'm thinking of letting you of the hook today. (Izuna)
- I-I'm not scared of y-your t-threat.... Wait, really? (Takako)
- Yeah, they overdid a little this time in locking you up. But be sure to go back once finish. (Izuna)

O-oh, look like I'm safe for the time being.

- Let's take "Provide Medical and Healing Service" while we are at it. (Izuna)

Am I a servant or a master?


*********************************


The place we go to is bustling with people. Adventurers proficient with healing magic, elves received injuries during the raid a while ago, and other staffs of the guild. This looks tedious, so let's start by dividing up our roles.

- Izuna, you go help heal people. I will be at the counseling service. (Takako)
- I can't use healing magic. Since I want to understand more about human, I plan to just accompany you for today. (Izuna)
- No worry. Tada, check out my newest toy, Handheal Scissors. (Takako)

What I present to Izuna is a special pair of twin daggers. One has the trait of healing injuries instead of damaging upon hitting, though it can't recover lost limbs or organs. The other one can dispel poison and remove harmful bacteria, though it can't do anything against viruses. This is the prototype I had to go through a lot of trouble to ask for production, however it is incomparable to photon technique at range and ease of use. On the other hand, it can be use anytime by anyone, but of course with lower efficiency if the user is not a photon user.

- You can stab people with these daggers and they will be healed. No worry about additional wounds since the blades are pure photon and it will disperse upon interacting with human body. (Takako)
- These are... daggers? But they are as long as my leg... (Izuna)
- Don't sweat the small details. (Takako)
- IT'S NOT SMALL AT ALL! *sigh* When did you even have time to make this... I got it, I just have to stab people right? (Izuna)

After sending Izuna to the help medic team, I head to the counseling room. On the way I meet with several guild staff.

- Don't do anything unnecessary okay? (Staff A)
- I want to postpone my current job to monitor you... (Staff B)
- Please for the sake of god, don't traumatize anyone. (Staff C)

That's rude. Am I that unreliable? Look at my record, I have over 90.00% success rate on questing you know. Even I work hard you know.

I sit down on the chair inside my assigned room and call for the waiting people.

- Please come in. (Takako)

The first person is a female elf. Huh, she looks familiar?

- Oh, it's you. Thanks for the help the other day. Well, to tell you the truth, I found out that my shameful scene of getting caught and toyed with by the vine monsters is recorded and spread and I don't know what to do.... Are you okay? You are sweating like crazy. (Female Elf)
- D-Don't worry, I-I'm just tired since I-I've been walking since t-this morning. (Takako)

Oh shit! She is one of those featured in the holographic recorders I've sold during the raid. What do I do, what to do.... Luckily she doesn't suspect me.

- On the topic of your problem, I will say that you are not the only one. (Takako)
- And how does that help? (Female Elf)
- You sympathize with each other? Or gather people to protest? (Takako)
- ............. (Female Elf)
- Anyway, here's some of them. No, it's absolutely no way I have these because I am the perpetrator, I just got a hold of these when moving around. (Takako)

I show her several holographic recorders. Of course I leave out the one with her as center since that would be inconsiderate.

- So, do you know anyone amongst them? (Takako)

I turn off the devices and ask the elf.

- Ah, aah, aaaaah, wait, I haven't finished watching yet! (Female Elf)
- O...kay? But first, you should wipe out your drool. (Takako)
- Can I have them? No, you can keep the female one, I need those with male for... err... research, right. I think I met some of them before and I need to rewatch to be sure. (Female Elf)

I have all the records saved in my main computer at home, so I guess it's no problem?

- Thank you very much! With this, I am sure to have a good night sleep. (Female Elf)

I have a feeling there's something wrong, but well, it's more or less resolved, so I won't concern anymore.

- Next please. (Takako)

The one entered is an old male elf.

- The monster rampage destroyed my works! Everyone of them! I lost everything damn it! What am I supposed to do from now on? (Old Elf)
- Calm down old man. Here, have a drink. (Takako)
- What kind of drink is this? Oooh, somehow I feel my strength increase and now I'm totally motivated to draw something. (Old Man)
- It's just an emergency energy drink. So, what happened? (Takako)

The old elf puts down the cup on the table and tells his story. Basically he is a painter, and he found his home ravaged by the monsters when returning from evacuation. And since he couldn't bring his works in time, they were left there for the monsters to shred. Having lost his lifetime collection, he is now in rage and distress at the same time.

- I can't bring back your stuff. So how about starting anew? (Takako)
- Hah? Do you how difficult to encounter a single unforgettable moment and capture them in a painting? (Old Elf)
- I know. I totally understand. Even though I've never drawn before, I've seen artist working on their por.... manga. That's why I will help you. (Takako)

I take out a bracelet and put it on my arm. Then I press a button to project an interface into the air.

- This is... well, you could say it's a magic item. It can be used to record a scene, like this. (Takako)
- You say it's a magic item, but I can't feel any magic from it. Oho, I see, so I can capture a scene and view it later. And it seems to be easier to use than our magic item with similar function. (Old Elf)
- That's not all. You can also edit the pictures you took by adding color filters, erasing noise or fixing brightness, like this, this.... and this. (Takako)
- Oho, quite an unusual item you have there. (Old Elf)
- You can even draw on it, like this. (Takako)
- Hahaha, your drawing sucks! (Old Elf)
- Shut up old man, I know. And by pressing this button you can print out the picture on a surface. (Takako)

I explain the functions of the mini-computer in the form of a bracelet to the elf, then give it to him, with the reason that this is quite common at the place where I come from. He seems quite please with the mini-computer and ask me if I ever need anything from him.

- Send nudes. (Takako)
- Pardon? (Old Elf)
- When you think of art, it has to be nude pic right? (Takako)
- How did you end up wit.... (Old Elf)
- In the first place, we are born naked, so why should we wear clothes? We can't resist the cold in the winter, but what about the summer when it's better to wear nothing at all? What are we hiding by covering ourselves? Is it shame? Shame is just a fancy word the one who first thought of clothes introduced so his creation is appreciated.
- I don't... (Old Elf)
- Do you know there's a need of guards at the entrance to a city? Because weapons can be hidden under clothes. We are intelligent beings, a conflict should be solved by talking, not by killing others. But why wearing clothes, that promote hidden weapons, is commonplace? Why can people be naked and be frank to each other like when they were small?
- That doesn't mak... (Old Elf)
- Right now I can prove to you that I have no problem of going naked, since it's my raison d'être. Do you know what's the most pure? A maiden? No, a naked maiden. Because that shows who she really is, no additional form of decoration is needed when addressing purity. (Takako)

I spend the next 30 minutes trying to lead the old man into the way of the nude. Then the following 30 minutes is spent on the wonder of life and how life is made, also known as s**ual int***ourse.

- So, do you get it? (Takako)
- ...haa...haaa...nude...woman...is...the...best...must...portray...them... (Old Elf)
- It seems you finally aware of the truth of the world. Now go, stay true to your heart and burn your passion to life. (Takako)

I have a feeling I've done the right thing, so I'm in a good mood right now.

The last counseling takes quite a long time, so it seems the queue outside has already taken care of by other staff members. The last one for today is a young male elf.

- I-I exceeded my capability in the incident and now I can't use magic anymore. I feel so useless. (Male Elf)
- Follow me. (Takako)

I lead the young elf to the practice area nearby. For some reasons, people hurriedly leave when they see my face. Am I a monster or what?

- See me here. Can you feel any magic from me? (Takako)
- I can't feel magic in general anymore. (Male Elf)
- Then I will tell you, I can't even use a bit of magic. (Takako)
- Is that so? (Male Elf)
- But with training, I can do this. (Takako)

I lightly kick a training dummy. The result, it disappears over the sky.

- As you can see, magic is not the answer for everything. (Takako)
- I heard from Izuna that you are exceptional even among your people. (Random Adventurer A)
- .......... (Male Elf)
- ..........That doesn't look like a good example. Oh right, elves are also good at archery right? You can practice them. (Takako)

I use <Warp> to summon one of the bows in my collection. Then I shoot an arrow toward a goal in front. The arrow easily penetrates through the wooden board, then continues with several trees in the forest behind.

- Elves can do much better than that, right? (Takako)
- That penetrating power is monstrous even with elven magic you know. (Random Adventurer B)
- ........... (Male Elf)
- ...........How about becoming a scout? You can use your race natural reflex to perform reconnaissance. (Takako)
- Hey, is it true that you can monitor half the planet with ease? (Random Adventurer C)
- ........... (Male Elf)
- ........... (Takako)
- ...........um, did I say something unnecessary? (Random Adventurer C)

The young elf looks up to the sky, then speaks up with a resolved looks.

- You don't need to say anything more. I know what I'm going to do. Thank you very much. (Male Elf)

O...kay? It seems he found the answer, so I don't need to delve more.


*********************************


- So, how is it on your end? (Takako)
- Even though the appearance of the "daggers" is questionable, they are good at their jobs. However, occasionally I had to stab multiple times on people with heavy injuries. Some tried to runaway despite blood dripping for unknown reason, so I have to pin them down and stab them from behind. Their scream is unbearable. (Izuna)
- That's weird, I don't remember it causes much pain. Maybe they are happy because the wounds heal quick? (Takako)
- And how about you? (Izuna)
- Guehuehue, of course I did everything perfect. They even thanked me you know. (Takako)
- I'm a bit worried. But it seems okay somewhat. (Izuna)
- Trust in your master more please. (Takako)
- By the way, I heard some disturbing rumors today. (Izuna)
- What are those? (Takako)
- Just gossiping between adventurers. Female elves looking strangely at males elves, a peeping tom near the public bath area, a group of magician suddenly becoming shut-in... (Izuna)
- Uwaaa, that's absurd. They should just ask for help from us adventurers. (Takako)

And thus the fruitful day of me and Izuna ends without any accident.

Guehuehue our performance is perfect don't you think so @brasca123 ?

 

#EZ1 – No Rank – Gather 10 Oak Logs [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
#EZ2 – No Rank – Gather 10 Pine Logs [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
#EZ3 – No Rank – Gather 20 Large Stone [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
#EZ4 – No Rank – Gather 10 Bags of Grass [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
#EZ5 – No Rank – Gather 10 Bags of Gravel [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
#EZ6 – No Rank – Gather 10 Bags of Sand [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
============================================================
"So....10 different species of each tree? What?.....Well, you didn't know that. I guess you still did collect enough, but.....ah, what the heck. I'll just go with it. The other stuff is not as bad, but I think they are fine with me. So here is 550 G and 155 Event Points. I just deducted 50 G due to the different species. Nothing much. Well, take care now~!"

 

#EZ26 – No Rank – Provide Medical and Healing Service [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
#EZ27 – No Rank – Provide Trauma and Counseling Service [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
==================================================================
Welcome back Izuna-chan!

Seems like your healing has gone well? You didn't have the best of tools available at your disposition, but somehow you could still do a good job, thank you for the hard work!

Your reward will be of 150G and 70 Event Points!

... Why so much gold when you did only one quest? Consider it a bonus because you always do a good job in keeping your master in check, I know it's hard for you to control her, but I know you try very hard, I think you deserve it.

Take care now, alright Izuna-chan! Make sure to keep Takako-chan on line okay? She can be more trouble than she is worth most of the time after all.

 

After so many years, after the Adventurer's City was burnt to the ground, I just realized that although I didn't take the quest #EZ4 – No Rank – Gather 10 Bags of Grass [ 100 gold | Event Points ] what do I do with 20 bags of grass?!?

"If I snag the quest would I be able to complete it?" I ask Hikari-san

@brasca123

 

#EZ16 – No Rank – Remove Rubble [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
#EZ17 – No Rank – Fix The Houses [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
#EZ18– No Rank – Fix The Wall [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
#EZ20 – No Rank – Process The Wood [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
#EZ25 – No Rank – Create Medicinal Potions [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
#EZ26 – No Rank – Provide Medical and Healing Service [ 100 gold | Event Points ]

Spoiler: Another Moment in Helping the Elves

At one part of the village, a pair of people and a big mechanical spider stood there. In front of them is a big pile of rubble. Broken stone, split apart wood, and other sign of destruction littered the place. Then a heavy sigh came from the man. There was no trace left of the happy humming man that came into the village moments ago.

“This is….just too much.” He shook his head after saying that. It was clear on his face that he was far from pleased after looking at the scene in front of him. “If only we can defeat it sooner…,” mumbled Shadow as he curled his hand into a fist while trembling.

“…”

Fafina who was standing near him could only look at him in silence. The reason for that is because she partly agrees with what he said. If only they could defeat the monster known as Morian, the rampaging monsters would not break the barrier. If they could defeat it faster, the rampaging monster would not destroy the walls and the houses of the village. If they could do that faster, there would not be a lot of life lost. She knows that very well. She also knows very well that they all have done their best to defeat it much faster. But that is just the extent of their ability.

“Fafina.”

“Y-Yes?”

Due to the sudden call from him, she unconsciously stuttered her response. But it seemed like Shadow ignored that.

“Can you do me a favor and accompany me to meet with the foreman in charge of the wall and houses in this area? I need to discuss something with them.”

“….Sure, I can do that. But….why do you need me to accompany you? I m-mean, with your role as the Guildmaster you can be just fine by yourself.”

“…..Really, Fafina? Did you forget that I ride this guy here?” said Shadow as he tapped Arkley exoskeleton which produced a loud ‘tink’ sound. “I need someone that can….defuse the situation.”

“…..I don’t think they will act that bad…”



“ARGH!!! It’s the Wiya’khiy!”

“A B-B-Beelee!? Why is something like that here?!”

“C-Call the adventurer! The monsters have broken through the defenses!!!”

“Hide the woman! Protect the children!!!”

“Mommy!!!”

The moment Shadow and Fafina came to the tent not far from their previous location, a riot ensued, just as Shadow predicted. He could only sigh and let out a groan while Fafina who were with him were busy trying to calm down the surrounding people. And to make matter worse, there was not a single guild staff there, making Fafina have to work harder.

It took her a few minutes to finally calm them down and that was only after Shadow lent her his guild card to show his identity. With that, the elves there started to calm down, but they still stare at him with eyes of fear and worried.

“….You were saying?” asked Shadow as Fafina came back to stand near him again with a few people behind her while the mage herself looked quite tired and out of breath.

“….I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. I have….experienced it before when going to the Desert Elf tribe.”

“Desert Elf tribe? There are elves that live in the desert?”

“There are. Well, that is a story for another day. Let me talk with them first. Who is the one in charge of the reconstruction job here?”

“I a-am, Sir.”

A tall middle-aged looking elf raised his hand and then walked forward.

“I will introduce myself again. I am Shadow, an adventurer from The Adventurer Guild. I am also the Guildmaster of said organization. This big guy behind me is Arkley, my mechanical spider golem. Arkley, greet him.”

“It is nice to meet you,” said Arkley with his usual mechanical tone, “I am Arkley, Master Shadow’s humble spider, Sir.” He ended his greeting with his trademark mandible tapping.

“O-Ou!”

“Well then, since everyone is busy, can I trouble you to give me the project plan for the wall and the houses near the wall? I will work on that.”

“B-By yourself?” the foreman elf asked with widened eyes. The few people behind him also have the same reaction as him.

“Not exactly by myself. I have one of these,” said Shadow as he pulled out a small mechanical spider. The spider waved its front leg toward the elves, making them took a step back. “They’re harmless. And I control every single one of them. They will help me with the construction.”

“….Hmm…..I don’t believe you. I m-m-mean, I apologize for that, but I have the responsibilities to make sure it goes like our plan. So….may I send two of my guys to go with you?”

“…If that will not make you undermanned, I don’t have any objection. Ah, and I will be using these logs.”

Shadow snapped his finger and Arkley pulled out the two enhanced logs they harvested from the forest. The two made an impact sound as they hit the ground.

“B-Blessed Tree!?”

“What?”

All of a sudden, a loud shout came from the direction of the gathered elves. Everyone looked at the source of the shout and found out that it was from an old looking elf. Although his face really shown his age, his figure still looks strong enough as the young elves. He then moved forward to touch the enhanced pine and oak logs and touched them with trembling hands.

“T-To think…that I can see another piece of a Blessed Tree….oh goddess, I thank you for this opportunity…,” said the old elf while shedding tears.

“W-Wait, old man. What are you saying?”

Then the old man told the other of a story when he was young. He saw a big tree being hauled into the capital. It was so big it had to be hauled by a lot of animals. Everyone that saw that kneeled down and shed tears while repeatedly saying thanks to the goddess for her creating a tree filled with a lot of nature’s mana. The tree was then cut down to a few pieces after a series of ritual. The pieces are used to build some shrine and also to make some holy artifact.

Hearing that, Shadow and Fafina couldn’t help but showed a wry smile when the other elves showed a variety of expression. Feeling that if he doesn’t explain what really happen there will be trouble, the two of them explain what really happened and also the real identity of the tree. Hearing that, the old elf looked disappointed, but he is also a bit relieved that another blessed tree is not cut down irresponsibly.

Then suddenly the elven foreman had an idea. He then asked some of the oak and pine trees to make some protective figure to ward off the monster and other harm from entering the village and the houses. Due to the high amount of nature mana inside it, the finished product will give stronger effect compared when using normal wood. Shadow agreed to that idea and they split the logs into five parts. They will use one part to make small protective charms and figures and use the remaining four to be a part of the wall frame. To make that, Shadow has already carved several protective magic words into part of the logs. The other elves will make the charm and the figures.

When Shadow and Fafina got back to their previous site, Arkley released the spiders and they started picking up and cleaning up the rubble away. The job that would take quite some time was finished by them in a matter of minutes, which made the two elves laborer looked with a gaping mouth.

Ignoring their reaction, Shadow opened the blueprint he got from the foreman and started instructing the spiders to process the logs. He even pulled out several normal logs, stone, gravel, and other material he got from the foreman. The spiders worked at a very fast pace and started reconstructing part of the wall. Shadow also asked the two still shocked elves to help him pointing out several things that were not clear for him.

The work was progressing nicely. Even Fafina was helping them with something from time to time, seemingly conquered her fear of the spider. Until suddenly a loud sound of impact resounded on the air. The four of them were startled and they all ran toward the source of the sound.

To their horror, a disaster has happened. A part of the already broken wall crumbled and it buried some of the workers. Although no one has been killed, a few have been injured terribly. The remaining workers scattered to help them and wanted to bring them to the healer tents.

“Wait!” said Shadow with a loud voice. “They are unstable. Moving them will endanger them.”

“But they need to be treated! And there is no healer here!” shouted one of the elves with a clear feeling of worry.

“I’ll do it. You there! Bring some water! I’ll take care of them!”

“E-Eh? B-But we mig-“

“QUICKLY! Or they might die!”

Hearing that last part of his shout, they all followed his order. Shadow then instructed them to put them on top of wooden board that has been cleaned as best as they can. He then pulled out several healing potions and also some medical equipment. After laying them out one by one, everyone can see that they are about 5 of them. One has broken arms, one broke her legs, one was cut so bad that he is on the verge of bleeding to death, and the other two were punctured by some nails, although not as bad as the third one.

“Fafina, do you know any healing spell?”

“I-I do, but I don’t think I can heal them…”

“Don’t worry. All you have to do is just keep putting healing spell for them to keep them alive. I’ll deal with the rest. Everyone! Please give us some room!”

And with that, the field operation on the 5 unfortunate victims started. The standard procedure he did was cleaning their wound before determining what the victim needed.

For the first and second ones, he made the patient unconscious with some sleeping potion before opening the wound and then quickly rearranged the broken bones. After that, he sewed the wounds and then poured some high regeneration potion onto the wound, closing it up quickly.

For the third one, he cleaned the wounds even more thoroughly and then sewed the wounds right away before pouring some high regeneration potion. He also gave the patient some stamina and rejuvenation potion to increase the blood production rate to avoid the patient losing out too much blood.

As for the two last ones, he put them to sleep and then pulled out every single nail and broken debris that have entered their wound, one by one assisted by his spiders. At the end, he also ministered the same potion.

After a while, the operations were done and they are all stabilized. Just to make sure, he makes some potion by borrowing the kitchen and using a mix of the available ingredients and his own ingredients. He distributed them to the other laborer in case they see someone gets hurt badly. The one he gave was the sleeping potion, painkiller, and also rejuvenation potion.

The other elves resumed their work after that. There were a few more small accidents, but with the help of the potion, they can be brought to the healer tents without any risk of them dying from their injuries.

At the end of the day, the only one part of the wall that has been finished was the one Shadow was in charge of. That was due to the spiders that have worked tremendously fast and also with some magic assistance from Fafina and guidance from the two elven laborers. It was only a few more small jobs and they can call it a day.

“Hey, Shadow.”

“Hmm? What is it?”

Shadow who were supervising the finalization of the spiders’ task responded to Fafina.

“Why do you want to help us more? I mean…you already defeated Morian. Isn’t that enough?”

“….Seeing the scenery of this village, I can’t really say I’ve helped enough. And besides, if I see someone in need of help, I will help them. And…..”

“…And?”

“…..I don’t want to feel any regret of being too late to help someone again….”

“…Is that so?”

A somber atmosphere enveloped them for a while. Fafina then purposely let out a cough to break that atmosphere.

“W-Well then, I think we should call it day, shall we?”

“….Sure, why not.”

“…….you’re a mysterious guy…..,” said Fafina with a low voice.

“Hmm? What is it?”

“No, there’s nothing. Let’s go back for now.”

“…Very well then.”

@brasca123

 

Party: @Lady Luck @Bielt @Totally Not A Clone @iampsyx
#EZ10 – No Rank – Gather 5 Bags of Wild Berries [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
#EZ11 – No Rank – Gather 5 Bags Aromatic Herb [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
#EZ12 – No Rank – Gather 5 Bags of Game Meat [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
#EZ13 – No Rank – Gather 5 Bags Healing Herb [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
#EZ14 – No Rank – Gather 5 Bags Moonlight Herb [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
#EZ14 – No Rank – Gather 5 Bags of Animal Pelts [ 100 gold | Event Points ]

@shad12ow

Spoiler: Part 1 - The Beginning

[Lucy (LadyLuck)]

Spoiler: Lucy's Intro to the Adventurer's Guild

I've always wanted to be an adventurer~ The fame and glory for subjugating strong monsters, how the kings bow down to them for their problems, how they're hailed as heros!
Tho... I'm just a simple man~ *floats, turns mid air and falls*
Ahhh~~~~ I wanna be able to fly sooonnnnnnnn~!!!

Dusting off the dust on my hair, I entered the Adventurer's Guild Head Quarter! A guy, I think, welcomed me into the guild and directed me to a bunch of tables where he asked me stuffs about my skill and equipment. Can't remember what I answered, hmmm, well, that's not important~! The important part is this! The place was empty because of a supposed "raid"! It was on the wall they had, a huge paper talking about an urgent quest! Too bad I don't think I can help out much tho, for now I'll just look at the more simple quests~ May be one day~~

Seeing me confused, a little girl approached me. Man, was I surprised to know she's a staff member! I guess even the Adventurer's Guild uses children huh. Hikari, her name, wrote a bunch of stuffs on her paper as I told her the quests I'm taking.

The little receptionist missus also gave me a map showing where the gallant mines are. I briefly took note of where i'm going and put it in my shiny new item box~~~~~!!!!! Such generous folks <3 Well for now, time to go to the tavern and see if the adventurers are a rich bunch~~

[Ajeya (iampsyx)]
While eating the plate of pancakes, Ajeya silently observed the adventurers making a ruckus inside the tavern. Her first attempt at joining a party had been a bust --- it was her mistake for not sizing up the human properly and failing to notice his (or was it her?) injuries. Indeed, she had been too hasty. This time, she needed to be more careful in picking out a target.

The mood of the tavern suddenly shifted as idle chatter ceased and people began discussing seriously upon the arrival of new people. After listening intently, Ajeya learned the gist of the matter: a previously allied kingdom badly needed help for reconstruction, and the Guild was handing out new quests. Oakenlake Kingdom. Recalling her previous research about nearby cities and places, this was a place inhabited by creatures called elves.

Speaking of which, a short creature that was flitting about in the room, suspiciously getting close to unwary people before casually gliding away, was approaching her general direction. Ajeya finished off her food and continued sitting in her chair, adopting a casual, lazy posture as if she was busy listening to the babble around her and not paying attention to anything else. After a few moments she could feel the light weight on her side slowly disappearing, and she suddenly turned around and met the little elf's eyes. "Do you need something with my pouch?"

[Lucy (LadyLuck)]
i was admiring the missus' hair as i tried to blow a casual breeze on her bag~ when she turned and met my eyes. Oh oops~
"Hm~? Your pouch~?" I look casually at the pouch I sadly couldn't touch~
"It's a nice one~ seems too nice for an adventurer~ *hovers closer* hey hey~ are you also a new adventurer~?"

[Ajeya (iampsyx)]
Was it? The pouch was given to her by the old lady back in the village, but honestly Ajeya did not know whether it looked 'too nice' for an adventurer or not. She should look into it later. For now...

"Yes, I am a new adventurer. How did you know?"

[Lucy (LadyLuck)]
"You're too elegant for a veteran! >w<"
*faintly jump around her and sit in front of her*
"I'm also new, let's adventure together~! Travelling with a pretty missus like you sounds nice~!"

[Ajeya (iampsyx)]
Too...elegant? It took Ajeya a lot of willpower to maintain her poker face, and from the back of her head she could almost imagine Bija choking on his fancy tea if he were ever to hear that. It seems like all those etiquette lessons were not in vain, after all. She certainly did not expect that having her pouch nearly stolen (the little elf playing innocent would not change that) would result in her successfully gaining a party mate.

"It would be my pleasure to join you in your adventure. My name is Ajeya."

[Lucy (Lady Luck)]
"I'm Lucy~! The staff told me to do this mining quest" the free spirited elf said as he started reaching for his bag.

[Alice (Totally Not A Clone)]
I had just arrived from Delta Town nya, seems like the guild had issued a special quest nya, I went to the tavern to see what it was about nya.

Once I got there, I saw a girl and an elf talking nya, they seem new nya! I don't really know what is this quest all about nya, so I think it would be nice to get into a party to make my time easier nya?

Better go after them nya! If I'm quick I might be able to make a party with them nya! I haven't really partied before nya, I think it will be fun nya!

I approached them both quickly nya!

"Are you two in a party nya? Can I join nya? I wanted to make the special quests with someone nya!"

[Lucy (Lady Luck)]
A very enthusiastic person suddenly approached us
"Special quest??" *leans closer to te girl* "what~?"

[Alice (Totally Not A Clone)]
"Nya! A special quest nya! It's really special nya! Want to take it together nya!?"

[Lucy (Lady Luck)]
"i'm with the missus tho, so I'll do what the missus wants >w<"

[Ajeya (iampsyx)]
The more, the merrier, I guess. From the faint magical aura she could feel from the two, they certainly wouldn't be as useless as Ajeya in a fight. They would do.

"Do you mean the new quests for the reconstruction of the Oakenlake Kingdom? I would be delighted if you would join us."

[Lucy (LadyLuck)]
"hmm~~~? Whats that whats that~?"

[Alice (Totally Not A Clone)]
"It's a... Quest to... Reconstruct the Oakenlake Kingdom nya! Let's do our best together nya! Oh, and I'm Alice nya, nice to meet you two nya!"

[Lucy (LadyLuck)]
"Oh! I'm Lucy~~"

[Ajeya (iampsyx)]
"Pardon my rudeness. I am Ajeya, and it is my pleasure to meet you."

With the introductions finished, an awkward atmosphere settled in as it seemed like nobody knew what to say next. Ajeya decided to start their quest right away. "Shall we head over to the Guild and register our party?"

[Alice (Totally Not A Clone)]
Let's go nya! *skips together with them*

[Lucy (LadyLuck)]
I trot along my new teammate as we check out the quest we'll register for
Partying with strangerrrss~~~? Soooooo adventureeerrrrr >w< one is a pretty lady while the other is a cute girl, I'm living the lifeeeee~~~!!! *hovers and trots too far and reaches the quest board first*
"Ah."

[Alice (Totally Not A Clone)]
"What happened nya?" *Alice gets closer to Lucy*

[Lucy (LadyLuck)]
Oakenlake..... is an elven village huh..
The quests should have good rewards, being an emergency and all~ But i really don't want to go to an elven village... Maybe just the gathering quest? The forest seems to be far enough~!
*looks at alice a bit wryly*
"Errr can we just do the quests at the forest?"

[Alice (Totally Not A Clone)]
"The quests at the forest nya? I don't mind it nya.

*turns towards Ajeya* "What about you..."

[Ajeya (iampsyx)]
"Do you mean the gathering quests? I do not mind."

[Biel (Bielt)]
Walking into a room behind the counter, Shadow and Biel talk...
Biel: "so~…Is this why you called me~?"
Biel said tilting her head.
Shadow: "Hahaha~!No, I called you here to ask about one thing"
Biel tilted her head to the right side, with an expression that said she had no idea what Shadow wanted to ask of her.
Shadow: "Hahaha~! Missy, we are having a shortage of personnel to deal with what is happening, so I want you to help guiding and to evaluating the new recruits."
Biel: "Ah~~ But can't you do it with your spiders~?"
Shadow: "…oi…It's not like all of them can talk.... well, at least for now they can’t...In the future? Who knows?"
Biel: "eehh~but... I wanted to... eat Eun's tempura... today....."
Shadow: "err...But won't she help us too?... I mean on the cooking part?"
Biel: "ohhh! That is right~! If I help I can still eat her food~ >w< so~ who do I need to help~?"
Shadow: "Hey! Don't go doing all the work! You just need to evaluate them! Evaluate, you got me? And also bring me a bit of Eun's food, would you?"
Biel frowned Biel: " never~ *giggles* "

Walking out of the room Biel see Alice and two new faces at the receptionist desk.
(Ohh~ I should join them~ ^^)

Biel approach the group with a kind smile.
Biel: "good morning Alice~
And good morning you two~ "

"Are you perhaps planning to take some quests~?"

[Ajeya (iampsyx)]
A woman who seemed to be the beast-kin girl's acquaintance walked over to them with a smile. Ajeya could feel that she was strong. Nodding her head, she replied: "Yes, we are."

[Biel (Bielt)]
Biel: "Hmm~
Miss~ and young elf~
Are new adventurers right~?

I was asked to help and guide the new recruits~
So if you don't mind~
Could I join you~?"

*Kind smile intensifies*

[Ajeya (iampsyx)]
"I do not mind," Ajeya answered, before turning towards the other two. "What do you think?"

[Alice (Totally Not A Clone)]
"Going on a party with Biel nya? I don't mind nya! It will be fun nya!

[Lucy (LadyLuck)]
"You're the staff member that recommended me the mining quest! Yea sure! Going on an adventure with 3 girls~? Im the luckiest guy~~~! That's why my name is lucky~! >w<"

[Biel (Bielt)]
"Not that lucky though

I am married~
But it's nice to meet you all~
I am the Priestess Biel~"
^^

[Lucy (LadyLuck)]
"awwshucks~ spending time with a lady as yourself is still nice tho ~! So, Lady Biel~~ lead the way~~~!"

[Biel (Bielt)]
"Hahaha~ thank you~
Taking with you all is also nice~ ^^

Well let me see~
Hmm~

The quests are on oaklake~?"

*Take a peek at the quests*
"Okay~ do you all are prepared already~?"
*Tilt head*

[Lucy (LadyLuck)]
*hovers* "aye~~~~!!"

[Alice (Totally Not A Clone)]
"I'm ready to go nya!" \o/

[Ajeya (iampsyx)]
In the end, they decided to do 6 Gathering Quests.

#EZ10 – No Rank – Gather 5 Bags of Wild Berries [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
#EZ11 – No Rank – Gather 5 Bags Aromatic Herb [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
#EZ12 – No Rank – Gather 5 Bags of Game Meat [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
#EZ13 – No Rank – Gather 5 Bags Healing Herb [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
#EZ14 – No Rank – Gather 5 Bags Moonlight Herb [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
#EZ14 – No Rank – Gather 5 Bags of Animal Pelts [ 100 gold | Event Points ]

Truth to be told Ajeya was expecting much more for her first quest as an adventurer --- perhaps not subjugating a group of hostile races or defeating a high-ranked monster, but certainly not a mission as easy and mundane as gathering food and herbs...if it were even something that can be called a mission. Isn't this just a chore? Swallowing down a sigh, Ajeya followed her party as they left the Floating City of Aeternus.

[Biel (Bielt)]
While talking with the group Biel distribute some bags for them to collect the materials...

Looking at the happy Lucy and Alice and the slightly dejected Ajeya, Biel thinks:
(Hmm Aya is looking a bit down...
...Flying is never fail to make people's mood bright, so maybe we should fly a bit~)

"Well since we are all prepared let us go~"

Smiling Biel use her chaos magic to remove gravity around all of them, creating a spherical field in which everything was floating.

[Alice (Totally Not A Clone)]
"Nya!? We're floating nya!? How is that happening nya!?"

[Biel (Bielt)]
Giggling Biel say:
"Teeheehee~
I hope you all enjoy this~"

Biel then teleport everyone high on the sky above the the forest...

The scenery of the sea of trees and the blue sky meeting on the horizon.
The gentle sunrays of the illuminating the dense forest and the few white clouds that float adrift of the soft wind... near them...

[Alice(Totally Not A Clone)]
"Nya!? How did we get here nya!? We were in the guild just a second ago nya!"

[Lucy (LadyLuck)]
"FLYYYYIIINNNNNGGGGGGGGGG omgomgomgsoexcited!
Oh. This isn't wind magic, Lady Biel~! What magic is this~?"

[Biel (Bielt)]
Seeing the excitiment in their eyes Biel can't help herself from giggling

"Hahaha~
It's gravity magic~ lucy-kun~
*Giggles*

And we arrived here through teleportation~

Hehehe~
I wanted to surprise you~
And show you this beautiful scenery~"

Biel say while looking tenderly to the trio~

[Lucy (LadyLuck)]
*^*
Flllyyyiiinnnngggggggggggg
Soexcitedsoexcitedsoexcited
*looks over to the missus (ajeya)*
*takes her hand and twirls*

[Ajeya (iampsyx)]
The woman who introduced herself as Biel, a staff member in the Guild, could apparently use gravity magic as well as teleportation, which Ajeya found really convenient. In just a matter of seconds they were already hovering above the Rainforest Vale, and from the distance she could see the extent of the destruction of the Oakenlake Kingdom.

Ajeya did not mind flying at all, and found it quite pleasant at times, although she never went out of her way to ride her favorite flying mount to the sky just for the sake of it. However, there was a difference between flying on your own and having your body held meters away from the ground in the control of another person, your life and death a simple matter of someone else's fancy. She knew she was weak, yes, and she thought she had already accepted it, but it seemed like there was still a part of her who would never, ever, submit to it. She could feel it deep inside her --- a crazed monster bound in chains, seething with rage and fury.

Her inner turmoil was not revealed by any change in her countenance. She kept on the calm and collected expression in her face even as the excited elf took her hand to twirl together. Afterwards, when Ajeya recovered from the dizzy spell, she surveyed the forest down below and focused on the task at hand.

"Should we hunt for game first, or collect the herbs and berries?"

[Alice (Totally Not A Clone)]
"A game nya? Are we going to play cards or something nya? Why do we need to hunt for a game nya?" *tilts head*

[Ajeya (iampsyx)]
"I meant game as in animals to be hunted."

[Alice (Totally Not A Clone)]
"Animals are games nya?

I didn't know that nya! Ajeya is smart nya!

Maybe the herbs and berries first nya? Carrying animal meat for a long time would smell badly nya! Let's leave it for last nya!"

[Biel (Bielt)]
biel look at Ajya... and make a slightly dejected face.... maybe... she don't like flying?....

"hmm~
I agree~

we can lend in a good place and gather these things first...."

"hmm~ First I think we have to descend right~?
hmm~ that clearing near the River looks nice~ "

Biel teleport all of them to a small clearing near, in which they could clearly hear the sound of water

[Lucy (LadyLuck)]
"Let's go to the river!" *leaps to the direction of water*

[Biel (Bielt)]
"Hmm~?
wah~! wait Lucy!"

Biel make a gesture towards a passing bird, sending a bit of her conscious to possess the bird while she run after Lucy

[Ajeya (iampsyx)]
All of a sudden, the elf ran off towards the sounds of the river with the mage going after him. Ajeya was about to follow when she caught sight of some deers snacking on a large bush of berries some distance away in the opposite direction. She turned towards the other remaining party member. "Should we go hunt those deers?"

[Alice (Totally Not A Clone)]
Lucy and Biel suddenly ran off nya? Where are they going nya? Should we go after nya?

"Should we go hunt those deers?"

"Deers nya? Where nya?"

I turned towards Ajenya and she pointed towards them nya, she is so perceptive nya! I hadn't noticed them at all nya!

"Sure nya! Let's take them down nya!"

I was about to start running after them nya, but Ajenya stopped me nya, I wonder why nya?

Spoiler: Part 2 - Lucy & Biel

[Lucy]
"Lady biiieeelllllllll what do I doooooo" *desperately holds on to the shaking tree branch, as the tree is being rammed repeatedly by a boar about twice my size*

[Biel]
Sitting calmly under a tree while "mysteriously being Ignored by the boars Biel look at Lucy.

"Lucy-chan~
you can use Air magic right~?
which spells you are used too~?"

[Lucy]
*look at lady biel while upside down, i tried remembering what i wrote when i signed up* "etooooo i can do a small tornado"
"Oh, and this" *takes out fan from pocket and hand my arm down, while trying not to get the feathers ruined by the boar * *made a fanning motion towards the tree and pushed by wind, the boar rammed the tree, making the tree fall, taking lucy down with it*

D:

[Biel]
"etto~!"
Biel teleport beside Lucy and catch him in her arms while floating above the Boar

"here~ don't worry~ I am here~"

[Lucy]
\o/
*flips self back to ground using wind magic* "so, so, so, I just put them in the item box now?"

[Biel]
"yes~
for now lets just place it there~"

Biel smile at Lucy
"Do you want me to teach you something nice~?"

[Biel]
"what? what is it~?"
"you know how to use Air Hammer right~?"
"yes~~"
"want me to teach you a useful magic against things like that boar~?"
=3

Biel say with a amused smile

Lucy: *shining eyes* "yesh yesh teach meeee~!!!"

"hmm~okay~ "
Biel wave her hand and make one of the Boars that was affected by her Mind magic come near

"see that boar~?
what you need to do here~

is almost like a simple cast of Air hammer~
but instead of imagining a big hammer hitting the boar~

you need to think its smaller~
don't change the quantity of mana~
just imagine the hammer getting smaller at the end~ Compressing its power~ in a smaller form~"

[Lucy]
"eeeeeehhh" *awkwardly move around the fan in hand* "eeerrggh" *about to make a huge swinging motion but ended up not* "uuuuh" *short swing*
a wind force hits downward, the side of the boar, making it not really squished but not really thrown away, tho there is a small indentation on the ground and the board looks like its in pain
"I don't understaaanddd~!!!!"
*swings fan down normally and kills boar*

[Biel]
"Hmm~
It basically this way look~"

Biel use her use her chaos energy to infect the air around her since she can't use Mana...

She then form a [air Hammer] and the compress it's in a small form of about just the area of 3 fingers

She then shot it again a boar, when the [compressed air Hammer] hit the boar's Head, its skull shatter, and it's first vertebra is smashed by the strength of the impact

[Lucy (LadyLuck)]
*shivers*
"Ah wait the pelt! D:"

[Biel (Bielt)]
"See that is the way you should do~"
*Tilt head*
"The pelt?...."

[Lucy (LadyLuck)]
*tilts head following Biel*
"the quest~?"
"But you magic feels different!"

[Biel (Bielt)]
Ohh right~
Teeheehee~
I got myself too interested In teaching~
>W<

[Lucy (LadyLuck)]
"ah well~~" *sucks a normally dead boar and an exploded boar and the fallen tree to the item box*

[Biel (Bielt)]
"Well my magic isn't made with mana~
In fact I can't use mana~
So I had to adapte it a bit to show you~
How to make this magic~
The principle is the same as the air Hammer~
You just need to compress it like I did~"

[Lucy (LadyLuck)]
"oooo~~~~~" hmmmm *tries it to a tree and half of its width exploded*
O.O
"OOOOOOooooooo~~~!!!!" *jumps up and down*
[air hammer (1/10) > (2/10) can do condensed air hammer]

[Biel (Bielt)]
"Hehehe~
You learn fast Lucy~
It's fun teaching you~ ^^

But we need to finish these quests~"

[Lucy (LadyLuck)]
"Mmmkaayy~~~!! We're searching for herbs is it?" *giddily puts the fallen tree in the item box*
*looks around* *fans around* 'hmm~~ hm~~" *trots over to the right~*

[Biel (Bielt)]
"Hmm~
Yes~ do you know where it is~?"
*Tilt head while following*

[Lucy (LadyLuck)]
"Ayeee~~~~ there is some aromatic smells here~~~~ trust the wind~"

[Biel (Bielt)]
"Ohh~
Hehehe~
It's kind of amazing how you can find it like that~"

[Lucy (LadyLuck)]
"Ehehe" *scratch nose and leaps slightly faster to where the herbs are*
*twirls upon arrival* "there there, can you see it~?" *points to a small plant growing out of a crevice on top of a large boulder*

[Biel (Bielt)]
Smiling Biel look at the boulder

"Ohh~!
There are some good quantity~!
You are amazing Lucy~ "

Biel float until where Lucy is

[Lucy (LadyLuck)]
"Hehe~ you need to just gently nudge and scoop it up, those this one is an easy to pick one~" *hovers to the top of the boulder and crouches down beside the herb, slowly nudging some loose*
*hums*
*places them and fill the bags one by one, enough for 2 filled ones*
*looks at biel*

"Ohh you are good at it~"
Lady Biel descended near the herbs and start to pick the herbs beside me~

[Biel (Bielt)]
After filling the 5 bags with herb, Lucy hover to the top of the boulder, and made a circular motion with his fan, gathering the air and generating a gentle breeze...

With his eyes closed he frowned a bit, and then looked at Biel

"Can't smell the moonlight herbs or the healing herbs, they might be too far from here~~~!!! *frowns* do you know any place that's shaded from the sun? A cliff or a cave?"

Biel meet his gaze and smile

"don't worry I know where they grow~
I can teleport us there~"

Biel extended her hand to Lucy

[Lucy (LadyLuck)]
Omg the pretty (but married) (but pretty) lady gave me her hand >///<
*reaches hand and grabs tight*

Zap!
Suddenly I'm at a lush forest, dim from the canopy, and what sounds like water. Whoaaa another new place~! "Let's go to the~~" wait wait, quest, quest, moonlight herbs~ *looks around slowly* "there! There!" *points to an olg log* *swiftly goes through the trees and branches, flowing like the wind* *peeks inside the log* "muuu~~~ not here" *looks around again* "mmmmmm" *swiftly goes somewhere else and checks under the shadows of a jutting root* "oh, lady biel~ come and look~"

[Biel (Bielt)]
Biel teleported the two of them to the side of the moonlight lake and goes to the place Lucy indicated.
"Hmm what is it lucy-chan~?"

[Lucy (LadyLuck)]
Biel sees moss glowing dimly and some cricket like things crawling on it
"Isn't it beautiful? Hehe this is moonlight herbs~ too bad it's useful for potions and such, so people keep harvesting it, but this is what it looks like in the wild~"
"Wah~ It sure is beautiful~"
"hmm~ well, let's pick them up~! The crickets will try to attack you but they're weak~ better to just stuff the whole thing into a bag~" *reach out hand to ask for bag*

[Biel (Bielt)]
"Yes~"
After Flying until the herbs Biel start to collect them inside the bags
While leisurely collecting the herbs, and observing the other group through the possessed Bird

"Hmm~
Is this enough?"

[Lucy (LadyLuck)]
"mmmmm we only got 3 bags ah well~ we need to look for another of this kind of place then~~~" *hovers to try and see far* "oh~" *hops on branches to a rock* "here, here, check underneath~~~"
Lady Biel flew over to where I am and looked under the rocks, quickly taking out her bags to start harvesting. I hovered over to where she is and help harvest the last bag of the moonlight herbs.

[Biel (Bielt)]
After confirming that all the begs were filled with moonlight herb, Biel look at at Lucy smiling and say
"It look like we are done here~
And they are almost done there~
So it's better if we go meet them~"

Biel touch Lucy's shoulder and teleport both to where Ajeya is.

Spoiler: Part 2 - Ajeya & Alice

[Ajeya]
Taking care not to disturb the herd, Ajeya studied their surroundings for a while. This body was lithe and light, and though it could not compare to her synchronization with her original body, it was more than adequate for sneaking around. After getting a general overview of the lay of the land that could not be properly represented by a 2-dimensional map, they were finally able to hammer out their plan: Alice would attack from the south while Ajeya would climb a tree in the north and wait for them. Since a startled herd would escape as a group to either the north or the south, Ajeya was convinced that she would be able to jump on one of them and get an early kill. It was a reckless plan, but it was common knowledge in Visvaya that what made Trija Sinhāsana truly dangerous was not her abilities or her army --- it was her insanity.

[Alice (Totally Not A Clone)]
Ajenya started trying to develop a plan nya... But it was so confusing nya, she wanted to do a lot of complicated stuff nya... What was she even talking about nya?

In the end she seemed to give up on the complicated stuff and went on with something simple nya, I attacked from one side and she ambushed from the other nya! With this we could kill a good amount nya!

I agreed nya! It seems easy enough nya!

After waiting some time after she left, I ran after the deers nya! I made some icicles and started throwing them towards the deers nya! They all started running nya! And in Ajenya's direction nya! It's working nya!

[Ajeya (iampsyx)]
She was not aware of the maniacal gleam in her eye as she picked out a tree by instinct. The actual climbing presented more of a challenge, but soon afterwards she was already crouching on a branch when she heard them coming. They were fast but so was she --- pouncing on a large buck, her hands snaked tightly around its neck as they streaked across the trees. Before the deer could even notice her riding on its back, Ajeya had already grabbed her knife and stabbed its throat.

Standing up from the dead animal, Ajeya absent-mindledly wiped the bloody knife with her clothes and looked ahead at the tell-tale tracks the fleeing herd made. She placed the carcass in her item box and followed the trail.

The beast-kin girl had successfully hunted 2 deer by the time Ajeya caught up. She was going to suggest that they look for the elf and the mage while gathering the other required materials when the two suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

[Alice (Totally Not A Clone)]
I kept on running and throwing icicles at them nya, but they kept on avoiding them nya!

"So annoying nya! Die already nya!"

After I shouted one of them fell on the ground and I could pierce it nya! Does my shout has super powers nya? I can make them trip with a super shout nya? This is so cheaty nya!

"Die die die die die die nya!!!"

I shouted more and threw more icicles, another one fell and I hit it nya! This is awesome nya! It's a super shout nya!

After killing the second one, the others ran even faster and left me behind nya... I thing Ajenya will be able to get some other kills nya? Then I guess I won't pursue nya, might as well take the meat from the two that I killed nya.

Took a bit for me to get them both nya, just as I finished, Ajenya appeared nya, and she seemed full of blood nya? What happened nya?

I was about to ask her when Lucy and Biel appeared all of a sudden nya! Where did they come from nya!?

Spoiler: Part 3 - Reunion

[Ajeya (iampsyx)]
After meeting up with the rest of the group, only the healing herbs-gathering quest was left. They proceeded towards the spring where the elf said the herbs grew.

[Alice (Totally Not A Clone)]
We arrived at the spring nya! It was quite close nya! Now we only need to get the herbs nya!

"Where are the herbs nya? Just around the spring nya? I can't see any from here nya..."

[Lucy (Lady Luck)]
lucy its here somewhereeee~~!!! Im sureeeee

[Ajeya (iampsyx)]
Ajeya suggested that everyone split up and look around the spring.

[Lucy (Lady Luck)]
the team splits up, to cover the whole area of the spring.
Alixe shouted excitedly "here nya! Here here!" And the party gathered there.
"Ooh this is what it looks like~?" Biel?
"Oohh nice find alicee" lucy?
"Hehe nyaa"
They harvested the patch of blue green, some of which extended in the spring actually. And after 5 bags full they returned back to the guild

 

#EZ16 – No Rank – Remove Rubble [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
#EZ17 – No Rank – Fix The Houses [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
#EZ18– No Rank – Fix The Wall [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
#EZ20 – No Rank – Process The Wood [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
#EZ25 – No Rank – Create Medicinal Potions [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
#EZ26 – No Rank – Provide Medical and Healing Service [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
=======================================================================
Welcome back Shadow!

This time you took proper measures to deal with them being scared off and didn't cause anymore trouble as well! Great! This is what I call an exemplary guildmaster! \(^^)/

Your reward will be of 600G and 180 Event Points, take care now!

 

@Lady Luck @Bielt @Totally Not A Clone @iampsyx
#EZ10 – No Rank – Gather 5 Bags of Wild Berries [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
#EZ11 – No Rank – Gather 5 Bags Aromatic Herb [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
#EZ12 – No Rank – Gather 5 Bags of Game Meat [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
#EZ13 – No Rank – Gather 5 Bags Healing Herb [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
#EZ14 – No Rank – Gather 5 Bags Moonlight Herb [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
#EZ14 – No Rank – Gather 5 Bags of Animal Pelts [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
=====================================================================
"Ho, I see, I see. You have done well. And the quality of the goods are very nice. I thank you for your hard work. And thank you, Biel, for mentoring them. We might need to do similar things in the future. That way we can nurture new adventurer much better. Here is your reward, 600 G and 170 Event Points. Please divide the gold between all of you. Take care now~! I will need to make the other member deliver this stuff quickly."

 

#EZ11 – No Rank – Gather 5 Bags Aromatic Herb [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
#EZ12 – No Rank – Gather 5 Bags of Game Meat [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
#EZ15 – No Rank – Gather 5 Bags of Animal Pelts [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
#EZ16 – No Rank – Remove Rubble [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
#EZ23 – No Rank – Cook in The Emergency Kitchen [ 100 gold | Event Points ]
#EZ29 – No Rank – Deliver Supply to Elven Villages [ 100 gold | Event Points ]

Spoiler: Arrival and Delivery

The Oakenlake Kingdom is having trouble. That is bad….very bad. The moment that statement entered my mind, the image of the burnt and destroyed villages floated inside my head. Broken houses, cracked ground, corpses after corpses littered the area. It was….nightmare. I remembered that it took me a few days after the raid until I am finally able to sleep at night without having that dream haunting me over and over again. Even after that, I still felt my hand trembling the moment I was reminded of that.

But maybe, just maybe, I can cure that nightmare of mine by helping them? Does that make sense? I….don’t really know. All that I know is that I should do all I can to help those poor villagers.

With that in mind, I was inside one of the airships that are heading toward one of the villages. I don’t know the village name. All I know is that I will help that village. And the first on my list is to deliver some supply to that village. I pulled out a sheet of paper listing all of the stuff they asked. Grain, wood, stone, nails, medicine, potions, etc

“…So long!? This is like the inside of an entire store!?” I couldn’t help but shout that. Thankfully, I’m in one of the private room. That way, I wouldn’t be considered crazy by another member of the Guild. Coming back to the list of supply, I guess it was understandable. They did receive such terrible attacks due to that raid. And from what I heard, some monsters have been attacking them too even before the raid started. Their wall has been destroyed and even normal wild animal has started to become a menace for them. With that situation, they have their hand full with protecting themselves that they are unable to gather enough food or any material needed to rebuild their village. That is….so sad and horrible.

I felt a sudden vibration and then heard an announcement that the airship has landed. I quickly checked my baggage and then walked to board off the airship. The moment I step onto the area of the village, my breath got caught in my throat. The scene of the village is….much worse than I anticipated. The houses and other buildings have been reduced to rubble. Their wall barely stands due to the immense damage it has received. ….Oh, grandmother in heaven, this is….horrible.

“N-No, focus, Elyn. Focus!” I slapped my own cheek to make myself awake from my own grief. They needed me. No, they needed us, the Guild, to help them stand on their own feet once again. And with that, I marched myself toward the tent that acted as the Guild temporary post.

The guild staff there asked me the list of good I’m delivering. After I gave her the list, she asked me to follow an elf to the temporary store ground. At that place, I pulled out the stuff one by one as he checked the item on the list one by one too. Sure enough, there were a lot of them, making me spend quite some time in there. After that, he gave his gratitude for delivering the supply, in which I only nodded. Why did I only nod back then? Because if I open my mouth, I might cry. I know that the supply I delivered was a lot, but….I don’t think it will last for long. To keep my composure, I quickly go back to the guild staff to report that and move onto my next task.

Spoiler: Rubble Removal Job

My next task is to remove rubble. I know everyone will say that it is an impossible job for the weak me. But I can at least try to levitate the rubble one by one with my spell. And I have stocked up on a lot of mana potion to help me replenished my mana pool….or at least that’s what I was thinking.

“…This is too much….”

Yes, the amount of rubble is just too much. And since using levitation spell on several objects at the same time will tire me out quickly, I stick to just the larger piece. Unfortunately, the amount of small rubble is just much more than that. After finishing the larger piece, the other adventurer took over to remove the smaller one piece by piece.

To be honest, I was frustrated at that. I know that I can just go back and reported that I’ve finished helping with the rubble, but…that doesn’t feel right. And with that, I racked my mind for some solution. If only they are glued together into one big piece I can….oh…..

I quickly ran (or floated, since I’m still using my levitation spell on myself) to the supply tent and grabbed a bucket. I filled them with water and then floated back to the site full of rubble. Some of the workers there looked at me with confusion, but I ignored them. I need to try something. After picking a place where there is no one working on, I splashed the whole content of the bucket onto the rubble. That action of mine earned me more confused look….And I could swear some of them were gaze full of pity….B-But I pressed on!

“Freezing wind that knows no bound, assist me and stop them in their ground”

Magic circles appeared under the wet pieces of debris. I then put some more mana into it, making the circle expanded until they cover the whole debris. The moment the circle has covered sufficient area, I released my mana.

“Freezing Wind!”

The circle glowed and then cold chilling wind hit the debris. When the debris was hit by that wind, they got frozen instantly.

“Now to try this….”

I then concentrate my mana to levitate the debris that has been frozen together into one large chunk of ice. Slowly…slowly…slowly….I did it! The frozen debris lifted and I could move them easily. Since they are bound together, I can just concentrate on the ice as the focus of my levitation spell and then move them together. I can’t believe it works!

Suddenly a sudden cheer came behind me. I looked back and noticed that I was gathering some spectator. Although a bit embarrassed, I quickly asked them to get some water and then splash them onto the remaining debris. They nodded and did what I asked them to do.

A few minutes later, I was trying my best to lift a huge chunk of frozen debris while the other worker helped me by lifting the debris manually. Slowly but surely, the chunk moved and then finally we have removed the majority of the debris. There are still some small pieces that didn’t get frozen, but it can be taken care of easily. After that huge task, I was on my knees and panting for breath. My mana pool was depleted. Even after I drink the potion, it will still take some time to recover. I then moved over to the resting area to recuperate before moving onto my next job. This will be a long day for me.

Spoiler: Gathering, Hunting, and Cooking

I was disappointed that it took me quite a long while to recover. Due to that, I rushed out of the village to finish my remaining job right away. Thankfully, the sky is still far from darkening. I then looked around the forest near the vicinity of the village. They said a lot of aromatic herbs could be gathered there. And since the forest have been restored after that raid, the rate of them blooming has been great lately. In the forest, I need to finish two jobs at the same time. Collecting aromatic herb and also hunting some animal. You might say that I am not suited to hunting some animal. But I have to say, I’m getting…accustomed? You know, that last quest slaying kobolds have helped me tremendously. And at the moment, I am not alone.

“….Time to use this again.”

A small smile appeared on my face as I pulled out my sharp dagger. Yes, you heard that right. My dagger. I know that I said that I wouldn’t use my dagger again, but lately I have this urge to use it much more than I first expected. Of course, I’m not going to use it to hurt other. And because of that, this hunting mission is good for me. Oh, and there is another thing I want to try.

I pulled out my ice grimoire and once again pour mana into it to pull out the spell. But instead of pointing the spell at any enemy, I reroute the magic circle’s mana into the blade. It was difficult, but I have tried this several time before in my spare time. The result is quite good. Now to finish the whole thing, I put a certain keyword to the usual finishing chant I did. With that, the blade of the dagger glowed slightly. Not only that, I could feel that the mana around the blade was swirling slightly. I guess that is good for now.

With the dagger on my right hand, I searched for the aromatic herb. Just as the information stated, they are abundant. I only look for a while and I can fill up a bag already. I also avoid picking the young one since they said it will not be that good. Oh, I also avoid picking a lot of them in the same place as to avoid making one part of the forest devoid of that plant.

Suddenly, I heard a rustling sound around me when I was filling my second bag. I looked to the source of the sound and find a boar looking at me. It seems that it was attracted by the aromatic herb inside the bag. It let out a snort and then prepared itself to ram me. If it was the time before the raid, I would just burn the boar. But things are different after that time, especially after my time dealing with those kobolds. It might not be wrong to say that I have become conceited, but I think this boar is far from the level of those kobolds.

And with that in mind, I floated there with my body lowered slightly as if challenging the wild animal. It snorted once more and then started running toward me. I dodge it by floating to the side, but it seemed that the force of its charge managed to make me unbalanced a bit. To make matter worse, it stopped and turned toward me in one swift motion before rushing toward me. Seeing that I will not be able to dodge it again, I brandished the dagger and then made a slash toward the boar.

“Release! Freezing Wind!”

The moment I said that the air that the blade touched turned into cold air. It flew straight into the boar’s body. The moment it hit it, part of the boar started to turn into ice. That was enough to make the poor animal lost its balance and then it crashed next to me, letting out a painful cry. I guess it was both confused and in pain as the ice started spreading to its back. I then decided to quickly end its misery by stabbing its neck. Blood sprouted a bit as it trembled a bit. Second after that, it stopped making any noise while twitching its head. When I pulled out the blade, its whole body has frozen solid. Well, that just made it easier for me to put it inside a bag. I think I’ll ask the hunter in the village to help me skin them and process them into meat and pelt. I hope I can do it with this dagger of mine. And…yes, I think I need to be more careful. One wrong move and I will definitely get hurt. That thought made shiver even more as my eyes fell onto the pair of sharp tusk on the boar’s mouth…..I need to be more careful. Being arrogant will only kill myself. A balance of fear and courage is needed, eh?

I got back not long after that when I have gathered enough aromatic herb and hunted enough animal. To be honest, I was pleasantly surprised to see so many animals approached me when collecting those herbs. Of course, I kept using the same tactic. Freezing them from afar and then stabbed them with the dagger. The method of putting magic into the blade really is good as it will not scare them by creating a magic circle around them or on my hand. I think I will study this method more in the future.

After reaching the village, I look for a hunter that can help me process the animals. I found one. A female elf that has a rather cold expression when looking at me the first time. I think her name was…Llorva? I think that was her name. She was surprised to see someone that looks weak and fragile like me able to hunt so many animals in such a short time. She even said that I was telling lies. Her expression when I showed her my catch is really amusing. But I guess that is understandable. I never hunted anything before and I don’t even know how to skin them properly. In the end, the two of us worked together in processing the carcass. I hung them with the help of my levitation spell while Llorva drains the blood into a bowl. She said it can be used for later. Then she also showed me how to skin them. It was hard at first, especially when I have to skin the area that has a lot of fat or near joint and such. But after a few try, I can do them quite easily. Of course, my result is far inferior compared to Llorva’s. As thanks, I give her a few of them to her. Even with that, I still have a more than what I need to collect.

@brasca123
Hikari, I'm back. Hehehe....
((I managed to finish it on time! Yay me!))