The new guy was a mystery to Misha. He didn’t seem to be a bad person but there was something in his eyes that was ticking him off. He told himself to not make any rash decisions and to continue his observation.
It’s important to not judge a person by the first impression. Also, it’s not like he would be with them for long.
Once they were set for the night with the same setup as always, they gathered around the campfire. Misha and Viviane were on a stool while Limel was sitting cross-legged on the grass with his bag between his legs.
Passing around their meals consisting of dried fruit and jerky, the knight took the opportunity to make a plan for the next days with Limel ‘’As you can see, we only have one tent for the time being. You have a choice, you can take the right side of it or you can sleep outside of it. I assure you there is no problem either way.’’
Limel was looking at him with confusion ‘’Is that your meal??’’ he said while looking down at the contents in his hand.
Exchanging a glance with Viviane, He nodded ‘’yes. We choose to not have a lot of fresh food to save space in our luggage.’’He lied. ‘’it’s also easier to take out for eating.’’ In truth, Misha was sick of the jerky but he was ashamed to say that no one in the royal family has any kind of cooking skills.
Before when he was living with the other knight he heard of a healing-division that was capable of burning water. Judging by the look Viviane gave him the first night he didn’t want to test his luck.
‘’oh, ok then’’ Misha had to concentrate to hear the ‘’that will have to change’’ murmured after. ‘’I have no problem sleeping outside’’ he said next with a bright smile looking at the knight.
Shaking his head a little to clear his thoughts, the prince explained while they were eating the path they would have to take. They were only two nights away from their destination. After that, they will help him book an inn to stay at and then they will part ways.
‘’Do you not want to help me find my party?’’ he said looking sad. He begins to trace a shape in the grass with his finger ‘’It's cool, I understand. No one wants to be with me…you're not the only one…’’
‘’that’s not true!’’ Viviane was quick to say. leaning toward Limel with her hand in a placating motion ‘’It’s just that we didn’t think you wanted our help!’’ Misha had a hunch that she was panicking a bit.
He intervened ‘’If you want our help, has knight, it’s our duty to be here.’’ Is he imagining Limel pouting?
In a second he was back to being happy ‘’I would really appreciate the help! we could even go shopping together!’’ he said the last part looking at Viviane with stars in his eyes.
She glanced at Misha before saying ‘’yeah, I guess?’’ not sure this was part of their duty.
‘’Great!’’ suddenly he was standing, bag in one hand ‘’I’m going to sleep over there’’ pointing to a tree ‘’Good luck with planning’’ he said with a smile. They didn’t have time to react before he was next to the tree setting up his blanket.
The prince Looked at the sky ‘’I think he has a point. Let’s go to sleep.’’ it will be good to be alone, he has some letters to write and the hero's journal to fill up.
they called it at night, sparring a last glance at the blond-haired man leaning against a tree.
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In no time they were in the city. Surprisingly the journey was smooth. The addition of Limel in the party was really easy. bringing a new energy to the group.
Little by little they let down their guard, finally trusting that even if he was a bit weird, he didn’t want any harm.
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It’s got to the point that Viviane told him she would be sad when they parted ways. He couldn't help but agree with her.
For convenience, they booked two rooms at the same inn. The plan was to first get rest and then ask the adventurer guild for Limel’s party.
So the following day they asked the receptionist about the four-man team that went missing.
‘’This party did check in yesterday. I cannot tell you more due to our privacy policy.’’ she was looking at her guild book ‘’We will need Mr. Limel's adventurer card to update his information’’
puzzled, the blond man gave it to the receptionist only to have his statue has an party member removed ‘’Wait, I don’t understand?’’ he asked. She was looking at him with pity ‘’ the group asked for your removal, good luck finding a new party.’’ And just like that the conversation went to an end.
They found themselves back at the inn around a table, Limel crestfallen between them. Misha was having a silent conversation with Viviane on how to comfort the young man. There was no way he was not being abandoned. First, he woke up alone with only his bag and now he was kicked out of his party.
When Viviane was getting ready to talk, Limel shook his head ‘’No! They were surely forced to let go of me, there is no other explanation. We need to find them! they are probably in danger’’ he gasped. ’’You will help me right?’’ he said toward her.
‘’I…yes.’’ she closed her eyes for a second before continuing ‘’You are right, let’s look around the city for them, maybe do the shopping you promised me?’’ It was clear to Misha that she wanted to distract Limel from his quest, not accepting his reasoning.
‘’You want to shop with me?’’ he said mouth agape, not believing she was enjoying his company.
Misha agrees with her tactic ‘’Yes, let's eat something and then we can go.’’
And just like that he was back to his happy-go-lucky personality. They spend the day going around different shops, Limel insisting that they buy different fresh products. When Viviane confessed their lack of cooking skills he told them it didn’t matter. He will teach them easy recipes.
He dragged her to a pre-made clothes shop, insisting that she try different styles, and convinced Misha to enter a quill shop and buy an ergonomic one to write his journal with. He got them all braided bracelets made by an artisan on the street. a yellow and white one for him, a blue and white one for Misha, and a black and white one for Viviane. he told them that they should always wear it, never to take them off with a serious face. They went to a few other shops, making sure to see the entire city.
After that they went to rest at a pub, exhausted. Correction: Misha and the mage were exhausted, and Limel was still bouncing in his chair. The pub was fairly full with a lot of customers already deep in their alcohol.
The blond-haired man excused himself to go to the restroom leaving him with Viviane to order something to eat.
After some time Misha was worried, Limel was still not back. He went to look for him only to see him next to a table talking to four men. He looked fine but Misha wanted to hear the conversation so he subtly approached them without being seen.
‘’Caleb! Jake! Marc! Chris! I was so worried! What happened? Who forced you to leave me behind? I can help you fight them off!’’ Limel said enthusiastically.
The men looked at each other before starting to laugh loudly. One of them got a hold of himself before addressing Limel ‘’Don’t you understand? We don’t want you in our party! We got an offer to join an A-class adventurer but she didn't need a little guy like you’’ he said while looking at him up and down ‘’We only kept you to make our meals honestly’’ he said while taking a sip of his beer.
seeing the rapidly decomposing face of Limel, Misha decided to drag him back to their table. The men were still laughing behind them.
Now sitting down with an arm around the young man, he could see the tears starting to form in his eyes. ‘’I… we were together for 2 years…I trusted them with my life..what do I do now?’’ he was still not crying but was very near.
Viviane had no idea what just happened, only coming closer to rub Limel back in comfort.
At that moment the prince made a split decision, certain he would not regret it later. He took back his arm to sit properly toward the blond man.
‘’Are you able to defend yourself in the face of monsters?’’ He asked him. You could see that Limel did not understand where he was coming from but he still replied ‘’yeah, I’m pretty good at close-range combat, I’m able to throw daggers too…even if my party stopped me from participating…’’
Misha locked eyes with his healing-knight ‘’Let me re-introduce myself: My name is Misha Mattel, prince of this country and newly appointed Hero.’’ Limel had his eyes wide open, he seemed surprised, at least he wasn’t on the verge of crying anymore.
‘’I want to formally invite you into the Hero's Party, making you the third companion of the 28th campaign.’’ quickly the surprise made way to excitement. He was looking at Misha like he was a Christmas present, a smile taking over his face.
‘’Will it be fun?’’ Without meaning to, Misha thought he looked a bit crazy.