For some reason, I found myself in a dark place. My body feels numb and I couldn’t even see my own hands nor body. I tried to move but I couldn’t feel anything. “It feels I don’t have a body”. On this pitch world of darkness, I couldn’t feel anything. “Am I dead?”. I heard that whenever you are going to die or about to die, a flash of your memories of your life will roll back. Unfortunately, this doesn’t happen to me, is it because my memories are in a mess? How about people with memory loss nor those with amnesia, will their memories come back on the verge of their death? How about me? Will I remember mine? As I ponder these thoughts, I heard a soft whisper out of nowhere:
“...hear...me..”
I tried to strain my ears to properly hear it, but yeah right, I don’t even know if I still have a body. Still, I tried to concentrate on the whisper.
“Can...hear..me..”
“Can .. you… hear me?”
The whisper is getting clearer and clearer as time pass. A feminine voice? Who are you? Of course I have no idea how to speak, it’s a shame i couldn’t reply.
“Ahh! You can hear me aren’t you?”
I am confused. From the way she speak, it seems she knows that I can hear her.. Well she is right about that. But I couldn’t speak and what I only have are these inner thoughts of mine.
“Finally!! Someone heard me!!”
I don’t have any idea what is she saying. But could it be she can hear my inner thoughts? If that’s the case let’s have an experiment. Hi young lady, your voice is lovely. Do you have a boyfriend?”
“Whaa!! I am thankful that someone heard me, but unlucky as I am, why is it a pervert is the one who heard me?”
Her voice was startled, but more importantly who is the pervert she is referring to? Is there any other people who heard her aside from me?
“No.. I don’t think so.. It seems you are the only one who heard me, and yes you are that pervert”
This bitch!! Whats with that judgemental personality? How come a gentleman like me became a pervert?
“This is the first I heard that hitting up girls on the spot is considered as gentlemanly”
This is the problem with this generation, you guys are too old fashioned.
“Please.. Help me..”
You don’t sound like you need a help from the way you speak earlier you know.
“...I was just surprised earlier. I’m sorry if I sounded rude earlier but..nevermind.. Please..I need you help?”
Blah blah.. I am too busy. I’ve been swallowed by a shit-ton of light earlier while running with my life away from a ridiculous walking cat and its merry band of smelly bears, I am too busy and exhausted just ask somebody else.
“Please...I will do anything! Just help me!!”
Eh~ Anything? Ehe..ehehehe.. hehehe...A-aanything!?~~
“Eeeekk… Ermm… Maybe.. Just a bit?”
Bye!
“Wait.. wait… Do you know me? Helping me will be on your benefit!”
Nah! Never heard, I don’t even want to hear and I am not interested. I am busy. Shoo shoo.
“Anything...I’ll do anything!!”
Earlier you said, you don’t want to?
“I only just say maybe a bit!”
Maybe a bit sounds indecisive and insincere which equivalent to no, it makes your credibility a bit sketchy. So no.. Goodluck and I’ll pray for your success.
“No.. Please..I really mean it! I will do anything!! So please help me!!”
Will you promise?
“Yes! I promise!”
Say it properly bitch!!
“..Grr.. I promise!! I will do anything promise!!”
Well it barely passed the passing mark. Something is missing.
“...Grr you.. What is missing? I already promised! I already give you my word that I will do anything!”
Hmm.. Kindly add, I will do anything I want regardless of what it is.
“How shameless!! That is too much!?”
Okay. Bye!
“Grrr.. I promise I will do anything you want regardless of what it is!”
Hmm.. It still feels lacking.. Add “ Please Lord Kavach~ “
“Sniff..sniff..”
You don’t say sniff. Okay I am out~
“I promise I will do anything you want regardless of what it is.. Please Lord Kavach!!!”
You sound angry
“I promise I will do anything you want regardless of what it is… Pleeaase Lord Kavach~~”
Good! That’s the right way to ask pleab! Fine then, I’m in. So what should I do?
“Ggggrrrr….. I promise.. I’ll strangle you when I see you..”
Hmm I see, I think I have an appointment. So..
“No no...sorry.. I am just joking. Just joking~”
You bitch, your starting to be a pain in the ass. So tell me what you want.
*(Whose fault is it!? ← Inner thoughts of the girl whispering)*
“Free me.. I am currently trapped..”
Oi, what nonsense are you talking about? If you are trapped on god knows where you are, how come you managed to talk to me?
“This is my soul, and I used my arts to reach directly to your soul..”
Ohh!! That sounds interesting. You sound like a kindergarten child for talking these soul things. Are you a fan of fantasy stories? Or maybe Sham*n K*ng series?
“No I am serious!! My soul is trapped here. And the fact we are talking on these kind of boundary is a proof that our soul is resonating!”
Come to think of it, this place is very dark. I couldn’t feel anything but I can speak to you directly. Well then, you said you are trapped. Specifically, who are you and where are you trapped? I am not a magician who will know where are you. I am an archer by the way just so you know.
“Archer? How useless!! I thought your a mage or a soul-linker like me.”
Oh right, archers are very useless indeed. Thanks for the compliment, I feel sorry for the whole mage and soul-linker or whatever it is for taking their job to resonate on your pitiful soul. And sorry for being an archer despite my talent in these kind of things. I wish you all the best!
“Sorry..sorry.. Forgive me… I am just surprised...Anyways, I am Eun..I am a soul-linker, and currently I am trapped here inside the lowest part of Payon Cave.”
Eun? Payon Cave? Ah!! Do you mean Eun the Princess? Princess Eun!!
“Yes that is right!! You finally get it now aren’t you? Helpin----”
1 million zenny!! Aside from you will do anything for me earlier, add an additional 1 million zenny!! Hahaha! I am such a lucky man!
“Wha-- How shameless can you get!?”
Hey your a princess, therefore you are rich. Since you are rich and important, your bounty should be higher and you must be generous. Aside from your body, offer me zenny too! That is a good deal! I’ll throw in a 1-day escort services for free aside from the earlier package!!
“Grrrrr… Why is it of all the people, why is it you? And what is your name?”
Your an idiot aren’t you? I already told you, I am Lord Kavach!, Kavach Icarus!! The world’s strongest, greatest, and most handsome person in whole Midgard!!
“Kavach Icarus? What a weird name”
I admit it sounds like a noble but I can’t help it. Don’t worry, once I became famous, you can take pride that you know that name.
“How frustrating… Anyways, I am trapped here inside the Payon Cave. The legendary monster, the Moonlight Flower Fox had sealed me inside her bell together with other souls. Be careful! My body is currently lying on her lair too, so you should rescue and treasure it! Once you break her bell, our soul will be freed!”
Sounds like a pain in the ass. You referring to Moonlight, that is one of the legendary monsters right? So that monster is in friends with that walking cat at the forest?
“Yes, Moonlight is one of the legendary monsters and also a very strong monster. They are not in good terms with Eddga, but unlike him, she is more wicked. Be careful with her, her power lies on soul manipulation and stimulation. She also commands the undead inside.”
Okay. So basically, what I need to do is just to beat this Moonlight freak and you will be freed right?
“Yes that’s right!”
Okay, I need a constant communication with you. How do we do that?
“Unfortunately, I can only reach you thru dreams so I can only speak to you when your sleeping. Once you are asleep, I will come at your dreams hurriedly.”
What a convenient way to annoy people. How shameless!!
“Which of us is more shameless!?”
So how do I get out of here? Can’t do anything while I am here. I don’t even know if I am still alive.
“Your still alive. You are just inside my dream boundary. Since I managed to sync with you, a dream boundary was form for us to talk.”
Aha! So you’re the one who caused all of this! I knew it, I must demand some reparations!
“Huh!? I thought this is due to your talent? That you managed to sync with me because you have a talent in soul stimulation and reach me out voluntarily after hearing me?”
I don’t have a slightest clue on what nonsense you are talking about. Have you seen an archer using that kind of complicated magic in the first place?
“That is strange. Right, you have a point. This kind of magic is impossible for an archer class. Then there must be someone out there who used soul stimulation and establish a channel between you and me.”
I don’t care. Anyways, I need to go out. Let me out now. Hurry! How slow!!.
“I apologize for delaying you. I should have a compassion to talentless people like you. So forgive me.. I will wait for you! Don’t forget….”
Hee------
My voice trails off as if cutted by someone and immediately after that, everything became brighter. Just like what happened earlier before I came here at this boundary, everything before me was engulfed in bright light as if consuming my whole consciousness.
========================================================================
As if everything that happened earlier is just a distant dream, I slowly open my eyes. The first thing I feel is a stabbing pain on several parts of my body. Unlike before that I almost couldn’t move, right now it feels i’ve been patched up. Where am I?.
I tried to move my hands slowly, a creaking pain assaulted my senses. I move my eyes and look at my body and noticed several bandages wrapped on my arms and legs. It looks like my pants has been sheared and turned to a short, exposing my bandaged legs and thighs.
“You are finally awake. You recover fast for an archer, lad.”
I slowly turn my head towards the source of the voice. I haven’t noticed it, but I am lying on a bed. Judging from the moldy surroundings, it seems I am inside an inn. I looked towards the source of voice and found a young looking man sitting on a chair nearby holding a book on his hands. The book is opened, and it seems he is reading when he suddenly talked.
“Most of your injuries are already healed. But I recommend you to rest a bit to recover your stamina. You lost a lot of blood earlier. If you stayed there a bit longer, I am sure you will end up dead.”
Ah.. That’s right, I remember now. We are fighting against that walking cat earlier and managed to escape going through that pillar of light. Wait!! More importantly!!
“Ah don’t worry, your friend is safe. In fact, she already recovered and was out to get some food. She is very worried of you. In an instant she wakes up, she immediately look for you.”
Ah.. I guess all my effort is not pointless. I managed to save her. That makes me happy, it feels like all my effort has been paid off. But honestly, I will make that damn cat pay for this someday. More importantly… While watching him, I noticed something very different from him. His aura is different and I could sense that he is more powerful than your average promoted adventurer. I heard somewhere that there are people who has an abnormally powerful presence.
“Who.. are you? By any chance are you a priest? No..a high priest?”
However I am skeptical to consider him as a high priest because I could feel from him that he is much more than that.
The high priest was visibly astonished, his eyes became sharp for a while then returns to what it used to be. He walks near me and smiles. The high priest, wears a combination of black and white priestly robes together with a cross necklace. He is a bit taller than me, maybe by 3 inches? As frustrating as it is, he is good looking with white complexion, short white hair and a bit slanted eyes. He smiled kindly with an aura of gentleness beneath him. Looking closely, his short white hair and those glasses is a bit well you could say.. Dull?
“Your thinking something rude aren’t you? You should stop that kind of behavior towards your benefactor.”
The high priest’s smile is not changing. It is bit creepy, initially you will think it as a genuine smile but the more you stare at it, the more it looks scary like someone who is pissed. Shifting my eyes to the nearby wall, I found a large staff. It is a long thin rod with a cross on top of it. The color seems to be resembled as a bronze color, it seems that is his weapon. A staff user high priest huh. He is pretty unique.
Usually, priest class uses a mace or a book together with a buckler or a shield. The reason for that is simple, toughness. A priest using a shield is a bit tough, the reason for that is because a shield can be enchanted with defense fortifying materials like a card. Weapons are technically useless for priests. You will not expect them to smack anything in the first place. However they can use an equipment that could enhance there aptitude for magic and an ideal equipment for enhancing aptitude for magic was rods and staffs. Priests who uses a long rod or staff like he have are two-handed users. They can’t use a shield for a simple reason of their weapon of choice needs two hands to carry it. There are many variants of staff and rod, but it is a pain in the ass to explain it all so I’ll summarize it with this two categories, one handed and two handed. The only difference from them is that one handed sacrifice the use of staff or rod (which is considered as a weapon) for defense by using together with a shield while the other prioritizes magical aptitude in exchange for additional defense offered by shields. In his case, he is a two handed staff user.
With such thoughts running inside my head, I shift back my eyes to him. I looked at my two palms and try to remember. I think we have escaped thanks to that light. I looked back to him and said:
“Are you the one who casted that light pillar out of nowhere? Is it not mine?”
The high priest chuckled a bit and replied:
“Hahaha. Your a funny guy. How do you expect an archer class to cast that kind of spell? It is called Warp Portal, it is an acolyte class spell that opens a portal to transfer you from one place to another. So to put it bluntly, yes I am the one who did that and saved you. But as a servant of god, you don’t need to thank me. It is my duty to serve people.”
If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
He clasped both of his hands in front of his chest like praying while smiling radiantly. Well, he said to not thank him so I will do just that.
“Okay if you say so. Then give me water, hurry!”
I waved my hands asking him to fetch me water. The high priest looks bewildered with my actions and replied coldly:
“Hey. Why are you asking me to give you a water?..”
“You said it is your duty to serve people, so I am just taking advantage of it. Go on go on.”
“I do serve the people as a “servant of god” not as your man-servant. Those two are entirely different. Shouldn’t you be praising and thanking me instead? I think you should even give me some alms too.”
So that’s how it is. This punk, masks himself as someone who is a humble servant of god but behind that is a person who just being haughty and self important piece of shit. I’ve been surrounded by weird and unique people these days. First is an idiot swords woman and this time it was a fox in a guise of a priest.
“You said you don’t need me to thank you. Come on, don’t be stingy. Serving me is the same as serving god, therefore you should praise me instead servant!”
“You fucker.. I should have left you there dying, punk.”
“Damn.. Your true personality is leaking their Mr. High Priest~. What is your name? You are being too rude you know.”
“Who the hell between us is more rude?!”
With an Ahem!, the high priest compose himself.
“My name is Eye Solin. People called me Eye Doctor. Just like you said, yes I am a high priest. A transcendent class from a priest. I am surprised that you managed to figure it out on first try, sinner.”
I reached my hands towards the basket of fruits nearby and pluck one banana. I peeled it off and start eating it while listening to him. We are lucky that we had been rescued by one of the transcendent class. There are many classes in Midgard and when you said classes, they are referring to their jobs. Basically there are six classes, Swordsman, Archer, Acolyte, Merchant, Thief and Mage class and all of them have their own class guilds or organization. Just take those classes literally, swordsman is a swordsman, archer is an archer and so forth. Each of these classes branch out to their own respective class promotions which are again divided by two which are original class and alternate class. You may imagine it like this:
Acolyte -----> (Promotion) ---> Original Promotion (Priest) - Support Type
(Promotion) ---> Alternative Promotion (Monk) - Battle Type
Of course to be promoted, you need to reach a particular level and qualification. The leaders of their own different class guilds determines if the the person is qualified or not. I honestly have no idea how they do it, but they just know it. Take an example this high priest who is blabbering here. His high priest class came from the acolyte class, however he is already a transcendent, therefore it is safe to say that he already breached the pinnacle of his class. You can approach it like this:
Acolyte → Priest → (Transcendent) → High Priest
Alternative classes has their own transcendent class too. If we go to a bit detailed on this, it will take too much time. A transcendent class are on a different league than the regular promoted class. These people had achieved more than the pinnacle of what there class could offer. They are stronger both physically and spiritually. However, being a transcendent are only reserved for those who are chosen that managed to overcome the "rebirth". The rebirth is a series of trials offered by the gods to those who are worthy. If the individual was deemed worthy, the gods offers him a chance to become a transcendent. Only one in a hundred chance that someone could become a transcendent thus, becoming one was the highest honor you can get and was always given important positions to the government.
So it is a bit complicated, but what I just want to say is that, this person in front of me is a high profile person. Ability wise he is strong and experience wise he is a better. I don’t know how old he is but I heard that once you reached the pinnacle level, even your age will be reset way back on your age when you first became a novice. Convenient indeed.
“For someone who is wearing a glasses, you are not convincing to be called as Eye Doctor.”
Adjusting his glasses, Eye Doctor gave a sigh and shrugged his shoulders. The door creak open and someone entered. Looking at the door while eating my banana, I saw Yoona carrying plastic bags on both of her hands. It seems she bought a lot.
“Kavach! You’re awake! How are you? How is your injuries? You’re still hurt aren’t you? Archer class has a low constitution, so I am expecting you are still hurt.”
I reached out Eye Doctor’s hands. Startled on my sudden action, he lets me take his hand. Wondering what will I do next, I place the banana peel on top of it, forced his hand to clasp it then pushed it back.
“What do you think you are doing?”
Eye Doctor’s voice is shaking, he is clearly pissed. I could see his fist shaking, as it clasped tightly on the banana peel I just gave him.
“Throw it”
After giving him a glance, I look back to Yoona. Eye Doctor frustrated as he is, throws the junk towards the nearby bin. Looking carefully at Yoona, it seems most of her injuries are already healed. Swordsman has a high constitution or vitality, I am not surprised that she recovers faster than me.
“I am tired hearing of people saying how weak archer’s constitution are. Don’t worry I am fine.”
To show him I am fine, I tried to stand up. However, a series of pain assaulted my body. Still I endured it and stand up, ignoring the pain. Yoona quickly comes to me and tries to support me.
“Don’t bother muscle head idiot. I am fine, more importantly what time is it? We should report back to the Archer’s Guild to inform them of your quest else you will failed it.”
Yoona stop on her tracks. I can see on her eyes that she is worried. I am sure i told her that she is a muscle head idiot clearly, so why is she still giving me that worried look? I guess that’s how she is.
“I’ll...I’ll forgive you for now, since you are recovering...Uhm.. you are right. We should go back to the guild to report. But I also don’t know what time is it?..”
“What? You managed to go out and yet you don’t know what time is it?”
With an Ahem!, Eye Doctor pushes me my bag containing all the loots we have. He is now holding his staff with his hands and smiled to me sarcastically. He interjected and said:
“Give him a slack, Mr. Kavach. She is very worried about you that she immediately rush out to buy your necessities enough to ignore the time now. It is now late afternoon. Just a few hours had past since the ordeal earlier. I admit I am surprised on how fast both of you recover, considering how serious the injuries both of you have.”
Eye Doctor walk towards Yoona and pats her shoulder. He reached out to one of the plastic bags and carry it with him. Those plastic bags contains food it seems. Yoona reaches out the other plastic bag and puts it inside her bag. She takes her swords and buckler and walks near me.
“Don’t do that next time Kavach… Your too reckless.. Since you said you are fine, let’s go now.”
Ahm wait I take that back! I am really hurt, so I am not fine! It is still painful. As I tried to protest, Eye Doctor looks back to me and said:
“Hurry up brats.. We would not make it in time if we move slow. I will go with you, I have business with the Archer’s Guild anyways.”
Eye Doctor opens the door and walks away. Yoona follows him and said:
“He looks kind earlier, but now.. He is different”
Exhaling a sigh. I took my bow, quiver and together with my bag, I followed suit. Another weirdo joins up huh.
========================================================================
We reached the Archer’s Guildsman just before it starts to get dark. Fortunately, we managed to arrived on time before it closes. They let us wait inside the lobby and stand their waiting while catching my breath, enduring the soaring pain from different parts of my body. After they asked me to pay the inn fees, we rushed towards here without consideration to my fragile body. How shameless! How could they asked an injured person like me to pay those fees!? I could remember what that fox faced had said, “If you are lively then it means you are fine, this level of “stroll” is nothing for you seeing how energetic are you earlier at the inn. Unfortunately Ms. Yoona is broke and you are the only one who have an enough money to pay. Consider that as thanks for saving your asses earlier okay?” Beaming with smile, Eye Doctor had said as we run in an abnormally fast pace going here. Yoona doesn’t seem to mind it, but how do you call this as “stroll”? This is not a stroll, this is running! And these bastards expect me to be fine to run?
I glanced grudgingly towards Eye Doctor which only gives a smile in return. Hearing the sound of footsteps coming from the nearby stairs, the lobby staff came down from the 2nd floor and signals us to go ahead. We went to 2nd floor and walk in front of a wooden door with a sign saying “Office of the Guild Leader”. I knock 3 times and wait for a response. After a while, we heard a deep voice telling us to enter.
Inside, sitting in the centre of the room with his cigarette on his mouth, is my old man who is currently reading the documents in front of him. Sitting at the sofa and drinking a tea is a young archer whom I am well familiar of, Chris.
“If you are at this hour, then I assume that you have managed to complete it? I am not expecting much though.”
Isolte puts down the documents he is reading and prompt us to sit. Yoona, irritated on how my old man responded step forward.
“I finished the quest! We slayed the raccoons and had found the Kitty Band. Now in accordance to our agreement, my innocence was now proven and be acknowledged to go to the cave to rescue the princess.”
“Hahaha hold on Ms. Suspect, we all know how rare is the Kitty Band is, so will you---”
Chris interjected with a mocking voice but before he finish, with a thud I instantly placed on the table my opened bag with several raccoon leaves inside. Chris just looks at the bag and shift his eyes towards me. Before, he could say something, I quickly pulled out the Kitty Band inside the bag and throw it at the table.
“Will this be enough? Just like this
idiot said, unfortunately she passed the quest. Me as her witness guarantees it.”
I said as I looked straight towards Isolte and Chris. Eye Doctor just watched us silently, still wearing his smile. Yoona nods to me and look straight to Isolte. The silence fills the room. I don’t know if it is due to shock or what, but it feels uncomfortable. With a clank, Chris placed his teacup and saucer at the table and the first one to break the silence. With a mocking voice,
“Impressive senior. I am glad that you are still alive~”
Like a flip of a switch, my mood fell down considerably and an indescribable anger rises up within me. I gave a Chris a cold stare and replied:
“What do you mean by that?...”
Yoona unbeknownst to her, looked at me and Chris. Judging from her face, it looks like she doesn’t get it. It is too early to jump to conclusions, but something is not right.
“I heard that you have been attacked by Eddga at the forest. Judging from your injuries, it seems the report was correct.”
My mind flares up and my visions starts to flicker. Everything around starts to get red but I tried my best to contain my rationality. And in low stiffening voice, I replied
“How..did you know about that? I was about to report what happened.”
“Come on senior, reports like this are normal to our guild.”
I once again tried to remember what happened before. Before our encounter with Eddga, I felt something is odd, like someone is stalking us. Aside from that, we have been attacked suddenly out of nowhere. I just realized who it was after I managed to come out of the ambush. I heard the rumors about the legendary monster roaming outside city, but from what I know, those monsters should be lurking far from the place we had. Eddga is territorial, that piece of shit only cares about its domain and will not attempt to go out of its domain unless...it has been provoked and lured it outside. Chris is suspicious. It is natural for the guild to receive this kind of report, but it is just been a day, isn’t it too fast?
“Ohh.. This is the first that I heard that we have an almost express news. Good job Chris, seems you managed to discover a breakthrough technology to instantly gather information. Even the Assassin’s Guild will be put in shame.”
Chris frowns on my words. As he was about to say something, a deep voice cuts in.
“How are your injuries Kavach? I am glad that you are fine, and also you Ms. Yoona.”
Shifting my gaze to my old man, I nod my head.
“Yes I am fi---”
“That’s right both Ms. Yoona and Mr. Kavach are fine. It is all because of me! You don’t need to thank me. It is a duty of someone from the church.”
Before I finished talking, a certain bastard suddenly forced himself in on this conversation. You punk, no one is asking!. Yoona grimaces and both Isolte and Chris shift their attention to the High Priest that is standing besides us.
“Hey, can’t you be more sensitive? You are not even included at this conversation.”
I said as I look in disgust towards Eye Doctor. Still with his beaming smile, Eye Doctor continues to talk.
“Oh come on Mr. Kavach. You should know how much I took care of you~ From treating your wounds down to wrapping you up! I did all those gently with love! But Ms. Yoona helped me greatly! You should also thank her.”
I looked towards Yoona but she avoids my eyes and looks away hurriedly. Isolte nods his head and with his most sincere voice he said:
“Thank you, Mr. High Priest. I see, no wonder he is patched up well. To have a high priest like you with him, no wonder they were saved.”
Eye Doctor looks at me proudly still wearing his smile. Honestly, his smile is irritating. I want to shoot him, please..., just one in the face.
“Hey, what about my quest? This means it is completed right? Right!? Right!”
Yoona walks towards Isolte, her eyes are beaming with expectation. Isolte sighs and nods his head. He stands up and extend his hand towards Yoona, asking for a handshake.
“Yes this is fine. Congratulations. Allowed me to express my most sincerest apology. I acknowledge you as someone capable of rescuing the princess. From now on, we will provide you assistance for this endeavour.”
Yoona takes his hand and shakes it. Her face is very happy, far from her face several hours earlier that is twisted with pain. I’m glad. It feels like all my exhaustion has been extinguished seeing how happy she is. Is this what they call, satisfaction? Good for you Yoona, I will pray for your success.
“Seeing you and Kavach, it is far to believe that both of you are fatally attacked. The earlier the better, you should head out now Ms. Yoona every second counts.”
“Yes! Thank you. I will rescue the princess no matter what! I’ll swear on my name!”
Isolte gives him a warm smile while Yoona is saluting. Her face shows how confident she is, confidence that is different from arrogance. An expression beaming with pride. I can’t help but smile. Looking at her, my irritation from earlier has been vanished. Well, I guess my role is done. More importantly, something is wrong. Chris, you bastard, what are you hiding?
“Hey Kavach, you hear that!? We will now rescue the princess! Tomorrow we will start this quest! Let’s go to the market later and buy some provisions!”
Yoona quickly walk towards me and grasp my hands, she looks at me with those sparkling eyes. Her smile made me speechless for a while, I snapped back to reality and said:
“Wait! What do you mean? My work is already done!”
“What are you saying? You and I are in a party together! You are under me so it is natural for you to be with me right?”
“Since when did I became your partymate? And since when did you became the leader?”
Yoona pouts a bit and suddenly stepped on my foot. Damn it! It is very painful! Her greaves digged towards my foot and gives me a smile. You damn bitch! I am still injured! Her smile feels cold though.
“You saying something?”
She continues to drill her greaves on my foot as she asks me this repetitively.
“N..o.. No.. No, mam..”
“Good!”
She finally release her foot. I looked at her with bit teary eyes as I touched my poor little foot. Isolte looks towards the High Priest and ask:
“I am grateful to you for helping my grandson. Can I know who are you and your purpose? A high priest like you must have a business with me isn’t it?”
Both me and Yoona looked at Isolte and Eye Doctor. Chris remains silent and watch us the whole time around. Eye Doctor arranging his glasses looks back to Isolte and bows a bit.
“I am honored to meet you, Mr. Isolte Irine, guildmaster of Archer’s Guild. I am Eye Sorin, a high priest dispatched from the Prontera Church. I came here due to Payon’s request to rescue the princess and as per directive of his majesty, King Tristan of Capital City of Prontera.”
Isolte respectfully bows in response. After bowing, Isolte offers us a seat.
“A king’s representative. I am honored to meet you, have a seat. Yoona and Kavach have a seat too. Both of you are rescuing the princess so stay here and join.”
“Well, I guess i’ll keep going now. I have some things to do.”
Chris suddenly stands and walks towards the door, however as he walked passed by me, he whispered.
“Isolte set it all up..”
I reflexively looked back, only to find him shutting the door close. His footsteps are fading away bit by bit. What do you mean by that? Disturbing. Very disturbing. What does he mean? I looked towards my old man, he is currently speaking with Eye Doctor. Yoona is already at the sofa and looks at me questionly as if asking me ‘why I am still standing?’. I pushed it at the back of my mind for a while and took a seat on the sofa.
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“Tch.. Eddga is useless! That damn tiger couldn’t even kill just one human? How useless! And here I am expecting a great result! I will not allow you to ruin my plans! That damn Kavach! If not for him, if not for him!!! But, this is not over. My plans will not be ruined because of you.”
A voice of frustration resounded the whole room. The whole room is a solitary place, a dark and lonely place. In the middle of this room stands a youth bellowing and frustratingly kicking and punching anything inside. Several chairs fly and several tables are smashed. The room is in a complete mess. The door creaks open and a man came inside the room. The bellowing youth turn his head towards this man.
“....What are you doing here? If you are worried about the plan, don't worry, it is going well. We just have some discrepancy.”
The man puffing up a smoke from his cigarette walks closer towards the youth. The man is in an average stature with a hair flowing down to neck, the youth on other hand is much smaller. The room’s darkness hides their features. A smell of cigarette smoke fills the room and with a deep voice, the man said:
“..You seemed to be pretty frustrated. Don’t worry, that swords woman will not be a hindrance. She is not worth of the trouble.”
The man said cooly, in contrast with him the youth had spoke irritatingly:
“Not worth the trouble? Are you saying that we must let a discrepancy like her to run around?”
“You are taking too much effort. Remember, our goal is different. As long as the princess was secured and be transported, then there is nothing to worry about. Those people can’t do anything about it anyways.”
“How long will the transport begun? We should hurry, an annoying person had came.”
“Damn.. I’ll do some preparation for transport as soon as possible. That dispatch from Prontera is a serious trouble. Just bid some time”
The man ponder for a while and took out something from his pocket, several strips of paper with different characters written within it. The youth look curiously at the strips of paper on his hands.
“Here take it. Use these.”
“What are these?”
The youth take the strips of paper from the hands of the man. The man turns his back and start walking towards the door.
“They are called amulets. It lets you summon an undead if you use it properly. I just drop by to give those to you.”
The man continues to walk towards the door until he is gone. The youth looked at the amulets for a while and an evil grin forms on his face.
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It is already dark outside and we’re still here inside my old man’s office. Damn, both of them sure take their sweet time. Me and Yoona are silently listening for the whole time. Yoona doesn’t get anything on what they are talking about. It’s no surprise, even I have no idea what they are talking about. I am drinking my tea while watching them.
“I see so that’s how it is. I believed I told you everything I know. Take this scrolls. It is the map of the cave. It should give you some help. Since your a high priest, I assume you don’t need much provisions aside from food isn’t it?”
Isolte placed a scroll on the table and slides it towards Eye Doctor. Eye Doctor on other hand, takes the scroll, opens it and read the contents.
“This is helpful. Thank you. No nothing much, just a food and water is fine. I do have several blue gemstones here so it would be fine.”
Blue Gemstones are magic catalyst required in some magic. They are palm-sized blue gems that contains mana within it. They are a common commodity that is being sold at Geffen the magic city. I don’t know much about acolyte class but I saw most of them buying these gemstones from the merchants. I am bored, very bored. The two of them still continue to chatter, and here I am thinking that this should be a collaborative discussion. Suddenly, I felt something breathing on my ear. A chill runs up on my spine as I feel the sensation. As I about to turned around to see what it is, I heard a sweet whisper.
“Hey Kavach.. Why is he being treated very well? We have the both same quest, why is it he is the only one being treated kindly?”
“You are a fugitive while he is an official envoy. He is useful and high profile while you is just a plebeian. That should explain it all.”
“Tch… How unfair! We must be treated equally!’
I ignore Yoona’s continuous grumbling as I watched my old man and Eye Doctor. I can’t help but think on what had Chris told me earlier. “Isolte set it all up”. What does he mean? The attack from Eddga earlier is unnatural come to think of it. Does it mean my old man set us all up to be killed by Eddga? That’s nonsense, why would he do that? Something is not right. Even the sudden disappearance of the princess is also weird. The reports coming from our sources maybe uniform but it couldn’t shake off the fact that there is something sketchy. Like something is not right. I remember, Eun had talked to me on my dreams. Shall I tell them about it? Hmmm… Maybe I’ll just keep this for myself for a while. My instincts tells me that it will be very troublesome if I said it suddenly. I better first confirm my uneasiness before anything else.
I looked beside me and saw Yoona’s grumpy face. She clearly wants to join the conversation but couldn’t find a right timing. Poor girl, if you want to join them just don’t hesitate and just speak. After a while, the two of them stand-up and shook hands.
“Well then Mr. Isolte, thank you for the information and patronage. We will go ahead. Ah by the way, I will go with this two here.”
“It is an honor to meet a high priest. Thank you. Yes if you are fine with them, you are free to make use of them.”
Hey, since when did I became a disposable man-servant? I stand up to protest but as I about to say something, Yoona slammed the table as she stand up.
“Ridiculous! I will not allow it! I will be the leader of this party! And what’s with this impartial treatment huh!?”
We all look towards Yoona in astonishment. We clearly see from her face and stature how pissed off is she. But, way to go muscle head! Go and give them a piece of your mind! I will cheer for you! I am also pissed since earlier for treating us like an audience here. Go and be our voice!
“I’m sorry. But of course, you will be the leader! I have no desire to be the leader. A servant of god is not meant to be a leader but rather be a beacon of hope towards god!”
“Isn’t it beacon and being a leader is just the same?” I asked.
“Beacon or bacon, I don’t care. Eye Doctor, you will be under me! Together with Kavach, we will have a 3-man party! A squad!”
“Isn’t a squad should be more than 3?” I said with a bored expression.
“Of course Ms. Yoona! I am yours to command my leader. Eventhough I am the most important person here, I will follow you my leader. Please lead us the way and make this a success!”
“Wooohh!! My opinion of you has changed! I never knew you are an excellent follower! Hahahaha! Don’t worry! I Yoona, will lead the way! Now follow me!”
One self proclaimed leader and one self proclaimed VIP. They are a perfect combination indeed. These habit of the weaklings is really unsightly. Well, this will be interesting. But more importantly:
“I don’t mind that Yoona will be the leader and Eye Doctor be the self proclaimed VIP, but as for the reward it would be 70-15-15 whereas 70% of the reward amount would be mine while the remaining 30% will be split by the two of you.”
Yoona suddenly protests towards me and in a loud voice
“That can’t be! Why are you taking the 70%? Should it be split equally among us?”
“Stupid Yoona, it is obvious that 70% should be mine. Among the people here, I am the smartest anyways. Even if you lead the way, I am sure you will still rely on my intelligence.”
“Ha?! Who needs you anyways?”
“You do.”
*clap* clap* *clap*
“Okay children, let’s stop this argument and let’s go ahead. Let me be, this benevolent high priest of yours take care of everything. Both of you are free to rely on me! Hahaha!”
“Shut up bastard”
“Shut up shit”
Both Yoona and I respond at the same time. Isolte goes back to his seat and watch as amusingly. Eye Doctor walks towards the door and looks back to us:
“Let’s go children~”
Yoona follows suit while I remain standing. Eye Doctor and Yoona both looks back towards me questioningly. I waved my hands to them as if shooing them away and said:
“Go ahead. I’ll follow you. There is something I need to do for a while”
Eye Doctor nods his head in understanding and replied:
“Okay then. Come to the inn we previously went, we will check-in again using your name~
“Bastard, use your own damn name. Aren’t you a VIP?”
“Ms. Yoona, let’s buy some provisions on our way. We need it tomorrow~”
And just like that, the two of them went outside, leaving me and my old man alone in the room. Well then, I faced my old man who is sitting on his chair, his elbows on the table. He started the conversation and in a serious voice, he asked:
“I have a general guess on what do you want to ask, Kavach.”
“That makes it easier old man. Do you know that we will be attacked by Eddga at that place and set us up?”
“And if I did?”
“Why would you do something like that? Do you want us to be dead old man?.......Even me?”
Silence..There is only silence….The old man stares at me and sighs. He pulls out a cigarette on his table, lights it up and puffs a smoke. He rotated his chair and face the window besides him.
“Kavach… We all know that Eddga is roaming around the forest. Even if they are just plain rumors for now, generally speaking, we all know where its specific lair is.”
Speechless..That is the only thing I can do. I am speechless. It is true, all of us know about it. It may not be confirmed but we all know it. I also know roughly where is its lair that’s why I am being cautious. But…
“Kavach, you are a talented archer. Not a single monster at the forest can injure you like that. The fact that you and that swords woman with you are injured that bad, then it only means you have been attacked by something that is powerful. And the only thing that I could think of would be Eddga, the Tiger King of the Forest itself.”
“Is that how you found out about us and how we got almost killed?”
“Yes. Aside from that, the inn you are staying also reported your status. We are shocked at first but after we heard that a high priest is with you, it is a relief. That high priest, he may have a strange personality but you owe him your life. Besides, that high priest is on an entirely different level, be careful.”
“What do you mean by “be careful” old man?”
“Anyone dispatched from the capital city of Prontera only brings trouble. They are a troublesome bunch. But let me cut straight to the point, I am not the one who plan an assassination towards the both of you. If I do so, Eddga is not necessary for me to finish off both of you. Involving Eddga, only a fool will do it.”
Speechless...I am speechless again. Like a knife, my old man sliced all my suspicions towards him. However, is he saying the truth? I admit, if he truly is the one behind it, then he doesn’t need to use Eddga and can just ask an assassin to finish us off. Besides, I couldn’t imagine him killing even me. But, what is this uneasiness I am feeling? Why Chris told me that?
“Kavach..I don’t know what made you think that way but... “
Old man turn his face towards me and with a glare he said:
“Just how far could you see? Is your Vulture’s Eye is nothing but a sham?”
Author’s Note: *Vulture’s Eye = Archer’s skill that determines his range of shooting based on his sight.