Noa envied Spiderman right about now. Seriously, a set of “spidey senses” would come in handy. There had to be a spell for that, right?
Instead, he jumped after he heard the new voice, turning quickly to see a blonde peeking around the corner at him and Elvethor, clad in the full regalia of a knight. The silver armor was stunning on her, the gold accents highlighting her golden locks. Noa was quick to recognize that her ethereal beauty probably had something to do with her elven features. Is that racist of me, he thought, humming for a moment.
“Lilaaa...” Elvethor stretched out, a sheepish smile on his face. “I was just looking for you,” he said, moving around Noa towards her.
“No,” she said sternly.
“But you don’t know what I was even going to ask.”
“I’m not going to join you and the twelve year old━”
“Hey!” Noa retorted.
“━you’ve sucked into your party,” she continued, not even bothering to give Noa so much as another glance.
“Three man party bonus?” Elvethor bribed, and Noa can already see where the attempt was going to go by the unamused expression on Blondie’s face.
“You realize I have a mentor and a full party already, right?” she said.
“Yeah, maybe, but how about a couple of healers?”
“A couple? This runt━”
“Hey!” Noa huffed. He wasn’t even shorter than she was! (Nor was he taller!)
“━is also a healer?” Blondie rolled her eyes, her entire head almost going with the motion. She crossed her arms, and glowered at Elvethor. “I have a Grand Healer in my party. I don’t need a couple of menders. Scram, or I might give you a reason to rank up before the guards get here.”
“I think you’re just jealous,” Elvethor said. “I’ve acquired a party member I didn’t have to pay.”
Blondie placed a hand on the hilt of her sword, and Noa immediately jumped up. He grabbed Elvethor’s arm, and gave Blondie a sheepish smile. “Excuse us. We’ll be on our way now. No need to worry about us. Have a good night,” he said, trying to drag Elvethor away.
He didn’t budge.
Hell’s bells, man! She’s going to murder you with that look! Noa cringed.
“You should listen to the kid,” Blondie hissed, drawing her blade with an elegant whistle as it glided from its hilt. Awesome. If a little terrifying. Noa tugged on Elvethor.
“I have a friend. What do you have?” Elvethor asked. Aw, what a nice sentiment, except Noa didn’t believe it one bit. He was so being used.
“Skill,” Blondie thrusted her blade towards Elvethor, who finally allowed Noa to jerk him out of the way.
“Are you crazy!” Noa yelled. “We can’t fight someone in full plate!”
Blondie arced her sword toward Noa this time, and he yelped, scrambling out of the way. He stumbled aside, watching as the sword sliced deep into the earth where he’d been, the slightest shimmer trailing the air behind her blade, almost like a second phantom sword. At least she was going to have a hard time dislodging that thing.
She pulled it out like butter.
Damn.
“Okay, yeah, running’s a good idea!” Elvethor agreed, rushing over and pulling Noa to his feet.
Elvethor was not going nearly fast enough, as Noa quickly pulled away and out of his grasp, racing back down the incline towards the fence. Behind them, Blondie’s armor clanked like looming hot death. For a moment, the clanking stopped, and Noa looked over his shoulder to see her raising her sword high above her head. She wasn’t going to...
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
Oh yes, she was.
Her sword flew from her hands as she chucked it towards Elvethor. Noa tackled the elf to the ground, deftly dodging the thing, which flew right over the fence. “Oh hell, man, what’d you do to piss her off!” And what is it with people and chucking crap in this world!
Noa pulled Elvethor to his feet. “I left her at the altar!” Elvethor stammered after.
“You WHAT?” Noa said, and looked back at Blondie as they reached the fence. Great, she had knives. Of course she had knives! “I see why,” he said while she poised to throw one as Elvethor struggled to pull the bar free. It rattled like a maraca, but didn’t budge.
Noa pulled Elvethor down to duck just as Blondie threw a knife. It clanked against the bar above them, thankfully, knocking it free. After squirming through, Noa picked up the knife, handing it to Elvethor as he got to the other side.
“What am I supposed to do with this?” Elvethor asked.
“Didn’t you say you were a fighter before?” Noa said, pushing Elvethor to run, only to yank him to the left as two guards popped out behind a tree near the hedges where they’d hidden earlier. They... looked kind of cute charging along with their bobbing spears when compared to Blondie the Barbarian behind them.
“Yeah, with spells to enhance my physical prowess. I don’t have those anymore! I had to declass to become a healer!”
“Why did I follow you out here!” Noa whined, and looked behind them again. Blondie was gaining on them, having passed the guards. “I just have to outrun you, right?” He asked as he pushed himself harder, creating distance between him and Elvethor. Not so Thor, now was he? Well, neither was Noa’s panting.
He took a sharp turn to his right as guards in the opposite direction charged with more cute spears━they even had ribbons on them. Glancing back, poor heaving Elvethor was somehow managing to keep up. Yes! They were gaining distance from Blondie the━
Elvethor cried out, his eyes going wide, and Noa screeched to a stop as Elvethor fell forward. He leaped to catch the elf far too late, who faceplanted into the dry grass, the knife in his back a gruesome sight. If the adrenaline pumping through Noa’s body wasn’t already screaming for him to run, it sure was now.
He was a coward, but he wasn’t a dirtbag. Okay, healing. Healing. He could cast mend, right? Just...
He pulled the knife out, Elvethor yelling foreign curses━mostly consisting of “curse you”. At least he wasn’t dying, but oh crap, that was a lot of blood, gushing like Niagra Falls. Perhaps not quite as dramatic as that, but still, it was more than he thought a level 1 [lesser mend] could handle, but now that the knife was out, he didn’t get a choice. Instead of using [Lesser examination] beforehand, he pulled out a strand of aether, and pressed it into the wound, first wanting to staunch the blood flow. The aether took, and the blood crusted over, but that was the extent of his spell.
System [Lesser Mend] level 1 → 2.
Noa looked up at their pursuers, and... Blondie the Barbarian was stopped directly in front of them. Her arms were crossed, and she regarded him with the glower she’d given Elvethor earlier. Great, hated by pure association, he thought. Behind her were the four knights, spears poised, though they waited, probably for a command.
Looking down at Elvethor, who clenched his fists around wads of dry grass, Noa sighed. “This is your fault,” he said, “at least to some degree.”
“Shut up and heal,” Elvethor said through clenched teeth.
Right. Pulling out another strand of aether, Noa felt an immediate dullness to his senses, almost like the world around him dimmed. Colors didn’t feel as vibrant, literally. They looked the same, and yet the yellow of the dry grass was boring, as were Blondie’s gold locks and accenting on her armor. The silver felt less majestic, and the stars in the sky were cold.
Noa found himself slightly more sluggish with his aether. It resisted when he pulled it towards the wound, trying to escape his grasp and shoot back into his chest. It did once, and for a moment, the world was more alive until he ripped it right back out. Frowning, he forced the discontent aether baby back where he wanted it, and attempted to lace the wound up. It was a success, and the wound closed, but didn’t actually heal. Without actual stitches or another mending, it would certainly reopen.
System [Lesser Mend] level 2 → 3.
The leveling should have been a joyous occasion, but instead, Noa gulped. The enemy was patiently waiting for him to either succeed or fail, and something told him that he was probably going to do a little bit of both, and then the bad stuff was going to happen regardless. He was already an indentured servant, was slavery a thing in this world? He really hoped he didn’t have to find out.
Noa pulled another... he tried again. Again. Nothing.
“Damn,” he said, realizing why the world was less alive now. “Out of aether.”
Elvethor groaned, and kicked a restless foot. “Curse you, newb,” he said.
“How was I supposed to know I can only cast four spells! Dude, how do I recover aether?” Noa asked, and Elvethor punched a weak fist at Noa’s knee. “Yeah, yeah, ‘curse me’,” he rolled his eyes, then looked up at Blondie.
She grinned, sinister under the crescent moon’s light. “Take them,” she said.
“As in prisoners, right?” Noa asked, and the moment he moved to stand, a spear flew directly towards him.