The sun rays slowly peeked inside through the windows, and the room became slightly brighter. The morning light is warm and the wind breezed through the room, circulating the air with the fresh and cool one. The smell of morning dew and grass set foot in the room. The bird chirping from the branch of tree, as if welcoming the daylight and starting their brand-new day. The ray of light slowly moved, until it reached a certain person laying in the comfy bed. This person still had his eyes closed and roamed in his dream world.
But not for long.
The light shined slowly onto his face, then it moved to his eyelids. His fox ears twitched, his fluffy tail moved in annoyance, his white eyebrows frowned, his lovely face scrunched in distaste. Unable to ignore the light shining through his eyelids, his long eyelashes slowly fluttered, revealed what lays beneath them. Two orbs with brilliant color, golden in his right and red in his left, they gleamed under the sun light.
His half-opened eyes reflected the wooden ceiling, his mind still clouded in his semi-conscious state. He moved his arm, his hand gripping the blanket tightly, he pulled up the thin fabric over his head, hiding away from the annoying sunlight. But his feeble attempt to wander back into his dream world seem to be in fain. Because the stomping footstep drawing near to this very room didn't bode well to him. He raised both of his hands and pressed down both of his sensitive ears, shielding it from the incoming loud noise.
The door opened with a slam, and the culprit is standing by the doorway with a cherry smile on his otherwise plain face. He walked inside promptly with his destination is the sole bed in this small room. His dirty blonde hair swayed with the light breeze coming from the windows. His hair gleamed in the sunlight, making the usual dull blonde color became lighter and beautiful to look.
He stood beside the bed and stared at the person hiding behind the thin blanket. The one laying in the bed ignored him, no movement could be seen, except the fluffy tail popped out from the fabric and currently swishing in annoyance. His smile suddenly becoming wider, an idea popped into his head. He moved closer and sat down at the edge of the bed. He moved his head and placing his mouth near to what he thinks is the person ears. He whispered over the blanket.
"...Tulgan is sitting in the living room right now."
"WHAT?!!!!"
The sleepy state before immediately washed away. Shock overcame his body and he immediately sat upright, his eyes widened to the limit and his messy white hair was like a bird nest, strands of hair defied gravity stood up left and right. He stayed in this stunned state for a few seconds, before turned his head to the other person, currently chuckling and holding his laugh.
"...please stop this meaningless prank Sol." I wearily complained to him.
"Pffht! But you wouldn't wake up if I didn't do that Hiiro." He raised his arm and put his hand around his mouth, trying to hold back his laugh.
The blonde-haired man, Sol, failed to reign his chuckle, currently laughing out loud and holding his pained stomach. After two second of laughing, he received a slap from a furry tail straight to his face, stopping his laugh fully. He groaned out from pain and glared at the culprit, Hiiro, which is me, who is unconsciously adorned a smug face on my face right now.
"Ugh, what was that for!" He complained at his horrible treatment by me.
"Aah, well, sorry about that, your face look very slapable right now and I couldn't help it." I said coldly and didn't felt apologetic at all, my face back to my usual flat emotionless expression.
"You cocky little brat..., receive my ultimate attack!" He suddenly sprang upon me, and with my body just woke up from the sleepy state, I didn't manage to evade him in time.
"Wah! Wai...t.. Pfft, stop it!" I protested loudly at him.
His ultimate attack plan seemed to be tickling my body nonstop. I pushed his head away forcefully but he was obstinate in executing his attack. Our ruckus continued for a while, and our noise attracted another inhabitant in this house. We froze up when a woman voice entered our ears.
"...What are you guys doing?"
A woman stood by the doorway, she wore a simple light blue dress with a grey apron attached to her front body. Her eyebrows scrunched up, seem to be dissatisfied by what she saw in front of her. Her feet tapped in annoyance and her arms crossed in front of her chest. Her hair was styled in one long braid, placed at her front body. It was Mira, Sol older sister.
"Err, waking Hiiro up like you told me?" Sol tilted his head to the right, explained to her older sister who stood before him. Mira sighed as a response, she leave a parting words, then turned her body and walk away.
"I prepared a bucket of water beside the well. You can clean yourself up, and the breakfast is ready, come and eat it before it gets cold."
Just like that, she left and only us remains the room. Sol stopped his tickling attack and released me from his grip. I glared at him and he only shrugged his shoulder as a response. He then walked to the doorway, leaving the room to follow her sister order. I could only sigh and walked over the door, leaving the now empty room.
After I cleaned myself, I walked back to the house and stride over the dining table. Mira and Sol already seated in the chair, so i sat at one of the empty chair to join them. While we ate the hearty breakfast Mira prepared, Sol talked to me while he was biting a piece of brown bread.
"Today you are going to Tulgan’s place, right? Remember to say hello to him from me." He smirked while chewing his bread, then swallowed and raised his hand to grab another one. I glared at him quite fiercely, which he promptly ignored it by focusing his food instead.
"No need to glare at me that much, you asked me to teach you to fight, and I directed you to the right person to teach you." He raised his wooden spoon and dipped it into the orange colored soup.
"Sol, I think Hiiro had a right to be angry to you. Since you basically thrusted him to Tulgan without explaining what he will be subject to." Mira raised her eyebrows and sipped the soup from her spoon gracefully, unlike her brother which ate his food disorderly.
"Hmph, at least Mira understood my feeling. I thought I asked you, but you threw me to that guy instead." I swallowed the food on my mouth down to my throat and complained to him.
"Well..., sorry about that, but you couldn't deny his skill, could you? Mira and I both learned from him too. Although his personality is a bit unwanted for." He put his apologetic face and gave me his usual wry smile. He seems to be finished his meals and stood up, gathered the dirty plates and spoons to wash it.
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"Even Mira?" I was a little surprised by this bit of information, I thought she was a mage type. I turned my head to Mira and stared at her. She was slim and didn't look like the type to meet the opponent head strong. Mira finished her meals too and wiped her mouth clean with a piece of cloth.
"Although not for long, I indeed was under sir Tulgan guidance for a while. As a healer, stamina is important and being able to defend yourself when everybody counting on you is critical." She smiled at me and stood up from her chair.
"And thus, The Berserk Cleric born to this world. The story about a Cleric clobbering a group of runaway criminals to a pulp with a measly healer staff has been spread wide among the commoner and adventurer. I heard that even the noble had taken interest to this incident!" Sol walked back to us and sat to the chair, he talked nonchalantly, unbeknownst the catastrophe that will befall to him a second later, while I was steadily walking away to the door, knowing what will happen next and I wouldn't like to be part of it..
"Oh? Since when your hobby is gossiping, Sol? If you are that curious about the story, why don't I teach you personally, like how I defeated those criminals?" Mira smiled sweetly, but her aura around her is a different story. Sol finally noticed his mistake and alarmed. Beads of cold sweat rolled down from his forehead and he was desperately trying to calm his raging sister.
"W... Wait! I just accidently heard it from the town folks! I swear I didn't talk about you with everyone else! Trust me! You are my beautiful sister and wouldn't dare to gossip about you! I mean I will punch those guys who will talk bad about you!" Sol voice trembled and his body quivered. He keeps shaking his head and looked around him. When his scared eyes meet mine, I could feel that he was pleading help from me.
Right now, I'm already stood in front of the door. To his desperate call of help, I only answered with a smile and a thumb up. Which means good luck to him. I turned my body and opened the door, I swiftly made my way outside. Before I closed the door fully, I could glimpse the terrified Sol and the figure of wrathful Mira walking closer to her little brother.
The door closed with a thud and a sigh full of relieve came out from my mouth. I raised my head and the suns greeted me, one was deep red and one was orange in color, the slightly smaller one was in deep blue. They form a triangle and I squinted my eyes because of the light. This otherworldly sight was still foreign for me, even I already seen this scenery for nearly a half month, I still couldn't use to it.
I walked over the grassy land and down from the hills. I did find it strange that the Nierheart siblings lived far away from the populated area, when I asked them they only smiled and said that it was the decision of their father who already passed away. That’s how I found out that they weren't born here.
I arrived at the checkpoint, it was a small gate with a tower post for observation purpose. I strode past the gate which was guarded by one guard. I nodded to him, and he replied my nod. He continued to stare at the never-changing forest beyond the small hill. I walked past the market district and continue my way to the guild districts. This place was divided by four sections, the market area, the guild area, the residence area, and the school area. The street people slowly dwindled in number until became scarce. One can know this is the guild district by looking at the buildings around this place.
I stood in front of a sturdy looking building, which was the only one fully made of stone in this place. A board with a symbol etched on it was placed in front of door. It was a bird spreading its wing with sword behind it. It's the adventure guild. Below the board, a wooden plank hanged with word 'Closed' displayed on it. I opened the door and stepped inside. All eyes were focused on me immediately. I ignored the stare and walked inside, when I thought everything will proceed without problem, a person appeared before me.
I raised my head to look at the one blocking my way. It was a human, a huge sized bald human. He had a broadsword hanging from his hips and a terrible burn scar decorated his left cheeks. He looked down on me raised his eyebrows and snorted.
"Kid, the adventure guild is closed for today. You can come back tomorrow.” He politely suggested me despite his fierce appearance. But I stood unmoving, since my objective is related to the adventure guild today.
"I'm not here to post a request. I am here to join the extermination of the Lesser Nightmare monster." I explained to him calmly. The guild instantly became silent, then burst into laugh and jest.
Well, this is the normal reaction
If a kid said he want to join the extermination of a B class monster, of course people would laugh at it. What can a weak pale brat do in front of a terrifying monster that even the veteran would afraid of? Most of them will think like this, but my decision to join the fight have its own reason. The laugh continued for a while, before a loud noise instantly silenced the room.
Everybody turned his head toward the source of the noise. An orc stood before of a broken table. He was two meters in height with scar decorated all over his body, he had a short black hair and two tusks protruded from his lower mouth. He wore a black body armor with a spiky gauntlet around his deep green colored hands. His whole appearance is quite terrifying. His snout huffed in annoyance and his two beady eyes glared at me.
"You are late." He snorted and walked toward me.
"Err, I think I made in on time?" My head tilted in confusion, I was sure I am not late. I think I even come sooner than I expected! He walked past the bald guy and stopped when he was in front of the door.
"Let's go." With only this short word, he pushed the door open and walked out from this room. I followed behind him, leaving the adventurer inside with a stupid expression plastered on their face.
"W...Wait!" A shout coming out from the bald guy before, he burst out from the adventure guild and called, stopping both of us to turn our head at him. He ran toward our direction and stopped when he reached us. He opened his mouth and complained.
"Tulgan, are you sure about this? Taking a brat with us? We are going to face a nightmare, It was a lesser one, but it still going to be dangerous. We aren't going to protect a helpless kid when we are fighting." The bald man spoke to the orc, Tulgan, specifically about me. It seems he doesn't want me in this expedition.
The other adventurer started to pour out from the building, totaling to six people including the bald guy, most of them are human race, with a dwarf and an elf mingled within them. All of them share the same feeling as the bald guy. I can only raise my head to Tulgan, wandering how he will handle this troublesome situation.
“He can protect himself so just leave him be, the monster ain’t going to wait for us.” Tulgan snorted and walked away, ignored the bald man completely.
I raised my eyebrows, that’s one way to handle it. I turned my head and stared at the bald guy, he clicked in annoyance and glared at me, then immediately followed behind Tulgan without complaining, the adventurers followed too. It seems they were quite afraid of Tulgan and decided to respect his decision. Well, Tulgan is this town guards’ commander after all, he can kick them out if they made any trouble, he had that much authority over them.
Our expedition of exterminating the monster started. We walked till the infamous Forbidden Forest, which I learned the name two days before. The forest had been divided into two parts, the normal, less dangerous one and the monster infested area. Right now, we are moving to the dangerous one, which was apparently the place where Sol found me.
The Nierheart siblings house located near the normal forest one. There was a barrier formed around the forest to prevent anything dangerous beings to be wandering out. But mostly it was to prevent the small beast like foxes and wolves. Monsters, they rarely wander outside of their habitat, they prefer to stay at their own Mana rich environment.
Everybody readied their own weapon and entered the forest alerts. They were looking at their surrounding warily, ready to deal with any incoming enemies. In right hand gripped a small knife. Tulgan gave it to me when we are on the way to the forest. The blade gleamed under the sunlight, and my mouth unconsciously smiled. When I am at this forest for the first time, I only had my body and my clothes. Now I had a proper weapon instead a broken piece of ceramic.
We are walking deeper as time goes, when we walked past a certain point, I could feel the atmosphere changed, the trees are clustered together closely, the leaf became denser, leaving little light entering this part of forest. I could sense the Mana around here is denser than before. My ears twitched, I can hear a rustling sound seven meters in front of us. I immediately alarmed them about my discoveries.
"Incoming enemies!" I squinted my eyes and stared at the bushes in front of me. I raised my knife to my chest level, preparing for the incoming enemies. Everybody stopped and I can see that they were doubting my word, but prepared themselves anyway, better safe than sorry I guess.
Not for a few minutes, a pack of wolves appeared upon us, it was Aqua wolf, a D rank monster. Five of them circling around us, ready to attack in any given opportunity and weakness we displayed. Of course, we didn't give them that opportunity, Tulgan Immediately sprang upon a surprised Aqua wolf, the beast didn't able to react on time and received the full brunt of Tulgan punch. The spikes on the gauntlet sank into the wolf body and the punch sent the beast flying. I could hear a crunching sound before the wolf body hit the nearby tree and fell down lifelessly.
It's a one hit kill.
The nearby adventurer also moved in action, they worked together, each of them moved in synch, covering each other weakness and blind spots. Looking at their movement, I can see that they had been a party for a very long time. But I don't have the time to observe the other right now, because an Aqua wolf have locked it sight with me as its prey. He sprang onto me with his sharp teeth bared.
Even with the incoming attack, my mind was calm. The moment the wolf was only five inches before me, I side stepped with minimal movement and immediately slashed my knife at its neck from up to down with thundering speed. The wolf body brushed pass me before fell to the ground. The beast head was completely severed clean from its body and rolled at the ground before it came into a standstill.
With a flick, the blood clinging to the blade fell to the ground, a faint red glow could be seen at my blade before its subsided. I stared at the corpse for a second before I raised my head and looked at my surrounding. The fight was over and the pack of wolves had been completely decimated. One of the adventurer got a bite at his left arm, except him, all of the member is free from injury. It was an easy fight.
It was a whole difference from before. Before I was struggling just to stay alive, now I could end it in just a minute. I stared at the knife I was holding in my hand. Willing a bit of Mana inside of me, I let it flow into the blade, imagine what I wanted, the Mana gave the blade a red sheen to it. This spell is what make me able to slice the wolf neck cleanly into two. I let a smile forming into my face.
Magic sure is convenient.