Chapter 81: Two Steps Forward

Belle: “And here we are; one Jade coin. Congratulation on a job well done”

Belle handed Nathan his reward for completing the quest. He stared at the dark green coin, it was larger than any of the other coins he seen so far. He noticed a couple of people had gathered around him as if they’ve never seen a jade coin before and were eyeing it like vultures, but the one eyeing it the most was Ash, drooling a bit from staring at it.

Ash: “So what are we getting?...I was thinking maybe a castle.”

Anais: “Why would we do that?”

Ash: “So we can stop mooching off Ramol, since you refuse to stay at the inns.”

Nathan: “Well as soon as the inn acquires indoor plumbing, I’ll gladly stay there.”

Nathan tucked the coin out of sight; to those watching, it looked as though he stuck it in his pouch, but instead placed it in his inventory.

Nathan: “I didn’t do this for the money remember. Belle…my rank…please tell me I can rank-up?

Belle looked over at her screen with Nathan leaning over the counter in anticipation. She stared at the screen for a moment, before looking at Nathan with a difficult expression. She fixated on him which seemed like for moments, Nathan getting the impression something was wrong, started to frown.

Nathan: “It’s not enough?”

Belle: “……Huh, not enough, oh right…yes…the rank-up; yes there is no problem, you can rank-up at any time.”

Nathan: “Yessssss!”

Nathan pumped his arms, absolutely ecstatic after hearing the news. He jumped around for bit, before finally being forced to settle down by Iris.

Belle: “Congratulations to you.”

Nathan: “Thank you Belle. For a second there you had me worried.”

Belle: “Huh?”

Nathan: “You know, you blanked out for a sec, scared the crap out of me.”

Belle: “Ah that, no it was because-”

From behind Nathan, Anais and Iris shook their heads, telling Belle not to speak. She had become fixated on Nathan, his tail wagging and even his ears were flipping back ‘n’ forth, as he watched Belle in anticipation. It was incredibly adorable and cute, she couldn’t look away and only snapped out of it when he spoke.

Belle: “I was feeling a bit under the weather.”

Nathan: “Really?”

Nathan scanned her and couldn’t find any abnormalities, if he did, he would cure it for her.

Nathan: “Oh, but your status says your fine.”

Belle: “Oh w-well.”

Nathan looked at her fidgeting trying to come up with a plausible excuse and then came to a realization.

Nathan: “Ah I see must be that time of the month.”

Belle: “………………..Time of the month?”

Anais: “What are you talking about?”

Nathan: “Ugh, nothing, never mind.”

Nathan decided it would be better not to continue any further, it was understandable that they weren’t familiar with the saying. No need to bring up sensitive female topics.

Nathan: “So anyway, back to the rank-up, how do we do it, do I have to fight someone? Quickly bring them out.”

Nathan smacked his fists together, ready to quickly take-down whoever they sent out.

Belle: “No, no, actually, the rank-up trials are usually retrieval quests. I would usually assign one, however the Master wants to assign your rank-up trial himself.”

Nathan: “Matthew does?”

Anais: “Sounds suspicious.”

Belle: “I assure you not so much. It’s just well. It’s about your performance on your first quest.”

Nathan let out a weird noise; his first quest was a colossal failure for the simple reason was that he could not bring himself to murder plushie-bunny. In his mind it was equivalent to kicking a puppy or slapping a kitten. Who could possibly do that with joy in their heart? At least know one he knew from Earth.

Nathan: “……..Oh, well there were extraneous circumstances that would not allow me to move in that situation.”

Anais: “Like what?...you seemed pretty capable fighting all day today.”

Ash: “He must have just been feeling a little under the weather, that day.”

Nathan silently thanked Ash, he himself just smiling and understanding. Ash was the only one who understood his plight with the ‘Bun-Bun Devils’

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Belle: “Master Nathan?”

Nathan: “Well, what is the problem, I completed all the other quest I had afterwards, didn’t I?”

Belle: “I’m sorry, but if you need anything else you would have to talk about it with Master Matthew.”

Nathan: “Fine, is he in his office?”

Belle: “He is, but he’s in a meeting right now, could I ask you to wait until it has concluded?”

Nathan: “Yeah sure.”

Nathan sighed again, he really hoped he could get whatever needed to be done by today, the dungeon had officially opened, and it didn’t look like he would be able to make it just yet. Nathan left the counter and headed off to the lounge with everyone following behind him, completely unaware of the looks he was getting from Belle. What he said about the ‘time of the month’ had her lost in thought, but she quickly shook her head in defiance.

Belle: “(No, there no way a man knows about something like that.)”

_ _

Ash: “Well, since we have some time, how about we go shopping?”

Nathan: “Shopping?”

Ash: “You’re going in the dungeon, then after that you’ll be mostly traveling, right? “You will need provisions.

Nathan: “We don’t need anything like that?”

Ash: “What are you saying? You’ll need cooking and camping supplies, everyday essentials, not to mention all the monsters you will come across.”

Nathan: “Oh right you don’t know...”

Ash: “Know what?”

As they sat around waiting Nathan explained to Ash, what he could do with his plants. From fighting to eating, to shelters, he could grow all of those things. Ena and Anais were the only two who needed to eat; Nathan didn’t want to cook for them every night, so he already planned to by a book of recipes and have Anais eat it. That way she could make meals for the two of them if they needed to.

Nathan: “Wait I never asked, Ash are you planning to come with us?”

Ash: “Hmm, probably not, do you want me to come with you?”

Nathan: “Not if it’s an inconvenience to you, actually I wanna to know if you could stick around to protect Ramol and Kyr. I have Ena doing it now, but she won’t be once we leave.”

Right now, Nathan had Ena stay close to Ramol as he went about his day. However, the reason their leaving is to help her return home. If everything goes right with his rank-up, within the next few days, they would be departing for a long while.

Ash: “Well, I don’t actually mind it, plus it gives me a place to crash instead of spending my money on inns all the time.

Nathan: “Thanks, I send you money for your help.”

Ash: “Send money…how are you gonna do that?”

Nathan: “Oh yeah, I’m gonna being buying all of us a ‘Braiv’.”

Everyone: “WHAT!?”

Nathan covered his ears just in time, they all simultaneously screamed at him.

Nathan: “Guys, I was always planning on buying it, I’m just gonna wait until we had enough money and we have it.”

Ash: “But, all of us, that’s-”

Ash started counted out in his head, Anais looked at him with pity.

Anais: “It’s forty-thousand Rydt, fifty thousand if you’re including Ena.”

Nathan: “I am.”

Ash: “That’s half the money gone.”

Nathan: “Ash, its the most essential thing I need. I don’t plan on settling down no time soon and I plan on taking quests as I travel. It would be a pain if I have to return to town every single time I finish a quest. This way we can finish the quest and keep moving, it’s not like I plan to avoid towns altogether, but don’t you think it’s a bit tedious to have to visit everyone, just to see if they have a guild where I could except quests or collect rewards?”

Ash: “That sounds reasonable.”

Nathan: “Plus, I’d, really like to lower my fame.”

Ash understood that all too well, after today there could be a lot of crap coming his way. It would be best to get the hell out of dodge.

Ash: “Well, we wouldn’t have to go through all that, if someone didn’t take so long.”

A vein appeared on Anais’s forehead.

Anais: “It’s not my fault you ass! It was because of this stupid map. Not to mention that jerk who attacked me.”

Nathan: “You got attacked; did you turn back into your Therian form when I told you not too?”

Anais: “No, while looking for the estate, I accidently knocked some crates on top of me.”

Ash: “Damn, you win the bet.”

Ash sucked his teeth and tossed Nathan a few coins, prompting several more veins to appear on Anais face.

Anais: “Anyway, when I came-to, your ability that I borrowed, told me someone was aiming at me. So, I immediately attacked them; then escaped.”

Nathan: “In your ‘mouse’ form?”

Anais: “Yup, but after I escaped, no sooner had I caught my breath, he appeared behind me. Even though I had changed into my Therian from at this point, he still was able to track me.”

Ash: “So you did transform back?”

Anais: “Not until after the fact, the problem was he was able to find me, even though with Shadow Sneak, I was able to make it pretty far from there.”

Nathan: “That doesn’t sound good, he tracked you, but he didn’t go after the emblem?”

Iris: “Perhaps he was unaware she had it.”

Nathan: “Yeah, but she was always around me while we went around town. I’m sure by now, except Iris, everyone who’s been hanging around me, has been followed and reached-out to.”

They couldn’t deny that, almost every time, that when they went off on their own, someone stopped them to enquire about Nathan. Rather it was merchants trying to cut in on Ramol’s profit or someone wanting to scout Nathan out for their party, they had all been constantly harassed.

Nathan: “So this might be our last time sitting here, I plan on leaving as soon as I’m done with Matthew. Once I get my fill of the Dungeon, we’ll continue north and get away from this city.”

Anais: “Yeah, there was no real conclusion to that fight since it ended early. He’ll probably try again after he recovers.”

Nathan: “Which is another reason why I want to leave.”

Ash: “Speaking of that fight, since when could you use magic, poison no less?”

Nathan: “Oh, it happened while I was fighting Gideon and his gang, I met some conditions and acquired it.”

Ash: “So it not a spell?”

Nathan: “No, it’s something called ‘Bane’, from what I got so far, that I can generate a variety of poisons, ‘Venom Burst’ is how I generate it offensively. Besides that, I can make it come out of my skin like sweat; so I can pass it by touch. There are a few other ways, but they don’t seem useful since I can’t control it.”

Ash: “So you can just make any poison you want?”

Nathan: “I’m a bit thirsty, must be from all that running around earlier. Iris, would you mind asking Belle to bring us a pitcher of water please ?”

Iris: “Ah, yes, one moment please.”

Iris soared away to the receptionist desk, leaving Ash a bit confused.

Ash: “That felt less like you needing water and more like you were trying to get rid of her.”

Anais: “That’s because he was, he doesn’t want her to know how he obtains the poisons he can generate.”

Ash: “How does he obtain them?”

Ash looked back 'n' forth between the two, Anais uncrossed her arms and nudged at Nathan to speak.

Nathan: “Well the conditions aren't very conventional. Just don't freak out."