**
-Adventurer's Guild-
Tristan walked up to the counter and instantly, Melanie greeted him.
"Tristan darling! Its been a while."
Melanie grabbed and hugged Tristan from across the counter. Tristan who was caught in surprise tried to pull him self away from the old woman's grip but she was simply too strong.
"I was here a week ago Melanie." Tristan responded as he struggled to escape from Melanie's embrace.
"You are so much more handsome than your father when he was younger." Melanie released Tristan from her embrace, and looked at him up and down.
Something's different and that's when Melanie noticed the patch on his shoulder. The burning heart emblem of the Ahi clan.
"You're finally in?!"
Tristan smiled and stood proudly as he turned his shoulder towards Melanie to show the patch on it that indicated which clan he's from.
"Yep! All my hard work finally paid off."
Each and every adventurer clan has an insignia. These insignia are embroiled in the member's clothes to indicate if an adventurer is on a clan. Clan leaders wear their clan's insignia on their back, council members on their chest and regular members wear theirs on their shoulders. Adventurers that belongs to clans have benefits that are given by the Adventurer's Guild. Depending on the clan's rank in the kingdom, the adventurer's clan will receive an allowance.
"Congratulations!"
Melanie started clapping then she took out something from behind the counter.
"I want to show you this! Since you're in a clan I want you to enter to represent your clan."
Melanie place the paper that she had pulled out from behind the counter and laid it flat on the counter. Once Tristan saw the paper he grinned and grabbed Melanie and kissed her on the cheeks.
"This is a chance for me to gain prestige among my clan mates and show my skills!"
The paper on the counter that gave Tristan such as excitement is an advertisement for a tournament that will be held a month from now in the kingdom's capital. The tournament is a combat competition between adventurers who belong to any clans. All adventurers are welcome to participate and the prize for the champion is 500,000 gold coins. In addition the clan of the champion will gain high prestige through out the land which will raise the clan's status and rank at the same time.
Melanie's brow furrowed and she sighed.
"Its too bad that its very difficult for anyone to travel to the capital due to the large number of Holos that roamed between Pea town and Hau the grand city." Melanie frowned when she informed Tristan about the news of Holos movement.
"Only weak adventurer wouldn't be able to pass through those Holos and perish. But I am the son of Ray Kekona!"
Tristan turned around quickly and rushed to the exit. The news of the tournament was what he needed to prove to everyone in his clan and through out the land that he's strong. Tristan went to the market place to buy what he needed to travel to the capital. He would need rations of food for the long travel and his weapon and armors must be given a proper maintenance so that everything else is ready for fights that he'll soon encounter on the way to the capital.
**
-Pea Town-
In the cobbled stone street of the village, Theo and Karl are walking back to Rudolf's shop carrying stacks of firewood on their back. Since the cart was recently destroyed and the mare that pulled the cart was devoured by the icicle boars, they were forced to gather wood and have them be brought back to the shop by carrying the large amounts of wood on their backs.
As they both slowly walked, both of their heads drooped down and faced the stones embedded on the street. Theo and Karl have been depressed for the pass two days because their big brother never came back home from the forest.
Since he never came back both had the idea of Makani being killed by the colossal boar that came from nowhere. The image of Makani being dead on their mind saddened them. To them, It's painful to know that Makani had sacrificed his life so that they both could live.
*sniff*
Karl Dil the dwarf began to sob quietly as they continued to walk. Karl felt more of the guilt because to him the way that he had acted during that day in the forest was cowardly. He blamed himself for Makani's death.
Theo stopped and turned his head to Karl. Karl who wasn't paying attention to where he was going bumped into the Theo.
"Are you crying again?"
Long gooey snot hanging from Karl's nose looked as if its had been there for a while.
Karl's face looked depressed as ever.
"No, i'm not!" Karl responded with his eyes watery .
Theo intently stared at Karl's eyes.
"Big brother Makani wouldn't like that. I think he would want us both to do our best to become strong and fulfill our life's dream."
Then suddenly from out of nowhere Makani patted Karl on the head and looked at Theo.
"Hey guys, How are everything?"
Theo and Karl was surprised. Their faces had changed as if they had seen a ghost.
"B-b-big brother?"
Karl stuttered and the same time began to shake. Seeing Makani in front of him made him so happy that he wanted to cry some more. Theo who was also in disbelief had his jaws open and was slowly walking towards Makani.
Makani smiled at the the two and pinched both of their cheeks. Once both of them have felt the stinging sensation, their eyes began to water and charged Makani so that both could hung him.
"Whoa! Whats going on? You guys were never like this."
Theo released Makani from his grip and began to explain while Karl was still grabbing onto him. Apparently after their escape from the colossal boar, they both waited for two days and at the end of the second day they both thought that Makani had sacraficed himself in order for the both of them to escape.
"Hahaha! Is that why of you acted so strange?"
Makani laughed.
"Let's go back to the shop brother!"
Makani furrowed his brow and began thinking. While he deep in thoughts about whether going back or not, Theo interrupted him.
"Don't worry big brother! Master and the seniors apprentices aren't home, they left to the capital to do a job."
After hearing what Theo has said Makani had a feeling of reconsidering about his plan. But it felt kind of sketchy that only the two of them are caring for the shop so he decided to inquire some thing before deciding to go back to the shop even if it's temporary.
"Who else is with you to take care of the shop?" Asked Makani.
"Only us. Master didn't leave us to take care of the shop, he only left us the forge and the stable. Before he left master locked up the shop and instructed us to keep the forge ablaze."
Makani's face began to look concerned after hearing Theo's answer.
"Who has been feeding both of you all these times?"
Theo and Karl looked down on the ground and began weeping. Theo looked up trying not to cry while Karl couldn't lift his head up to Makani.
"Big brother, we haven't eaten anything at all for days. Master said that we have to pay back the cost of the cart and mare with our life."
Theo began bawling in front of Makani. Makani hugged his little brothers to comfort them. He knows all too well the life of living harshly. Even though they are not of blood, Makani considers Theo and Karl his family.
"Let's go eat."
Theo and Karl stopped crying for a moment when they heard what Makani had said. But they both knew that Makani was in the same situation.
"But we don't have any coins big brother, how are we going to eat?"
"Don't worry about that just make sure you can eat as much as possible." Makani grinned at them.
**
-Behind Rudolf's shop-
Makani, Theo and Karl arrived at the location of Rudolf's forge which is behind his shop.
"You two get some knives."
Makani instructed the two. Instantly Theo and Karl went to search for what their big brother has requested for.
Makani took out one of the Icicle boar's body that he stored in his DS ring right after defeating them. When Theo and Karl returned with the knives that Makani requested, they became frightened when they saw the Icicle boar's lifeless body in front of them.
Karl who had been traumatized by the sight of the Icicle boar began shaking and hid behind Theo.
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"Haha. Don't worry it's already dead. Now quick give me one of the knives so that we can eat."
Theo handed one of the sharp knives to Makani. Once Makani received the knife, he began cutting by starting on the Icicle boar's soft belly. As careful as he could Makani tried his best to preserve the entirety of the Icicle boar's thick blue hide.
The upper part of the Icicle boar's body is very durable when used as a material for creating clothes or armors. Some merchant class adventurers would pay lots of gold coins for the baby blue colored hide due to it being a popular color among noble women.
Makani chops off two of the Icicle boar's large skinned hind legs and hanged it above the forge to cook.
While Makani waits for the meat to be cooked, he began harvesting the various parts of the Holos.
As the meat slowly cooked, Theo watched as he began salivating. Karl watched Makani in amazement. Seeing someone harvest parts of a Holos made him want to try it. Karl became curious and asked Makani where he learned all these skills.
"Big brother, where did you learn all these skills?" Karl asked out of curiousity.
"I learned it from the Adventurer's academy." Makani continued his work while he answered Karl.
"I've always wanted to go to the adventurer's academy but my family is too poor to enroll and fund me." Karl frowned and continued.
"That's the reason why I try my best to endure everything here because once I become a blacksmith I would be able to help my parents and my six brothers and sisters."
Karl sat down on the ground and stayed quiet. Theo who was listening to their conversation joined in.
"I also wanted to go the adventurer's academy, but just like Karl, my parents couldn't afford it. My parents decided to send me to become master Rudolf's apprentice to become a blacksmith. But i think they just wanted to rid of me because I eat too much."
*GRBRGDFGBBDD!*
A loud sound could be heard coming from Theo's belly.
"I'm sorry." Theo held his stomach as he rubbed his stomach.
Makani walked over to the meat that are hanging above the forge and used his knife to cut a piece of the meat to check if the meat has already cooked. He then turned to the two and grinned.
"Let's eat!"
Makani put on the leather glove that his master uses for forging and grabbed the cooked hind leg of the Icicle boars one at a time and placed it on a large metal plate that Theo and Karl cleaned.
The delicious smell of the roasted meat filled the air making their mouth water. Once Makani has placed it on the large metal place, they began devouring the roasted meat.
"Its so delicious! I've never eaten anything like this!"
Theo commented with a mouthful of the roasted meat in his mouth. Karl who's right beside Theo didn't say anything and continued to stuff himself with the boar's delicious meat.
Makani paused and began thinking. He felt pity towards the both of them. He never knew how lucky he was to have been enrolled in the academy. All he knew that time was that he lived there and was taken care of until he was qualified as an adventurer.
Currently Makani is fifteen years of age, Theo and Karl are both ten years old. The normal age for a person to attend the adventurer's academy would be around their age but since their family lacked the resources for them to attend the academy, both Theo and Karl were sent to Rudolf's the blacksmith to become his apprentice.
After eating Makani continued to harvest parts of the Icicle boar. Theo and Karl was still eating the remaining meat that's on the metal plate.
Makani pulled out the horns that protruded out of the Icicle boar's mouth. The horns of the Icicle boar surprised Makani due to it being made from a metal called adamantite.
Adamantite is very valuable due to it being one of the hardest to find on the ground and very few Holos would grow them out of their bodies. The properties of adamantite is that its very light, hard and durable. Its a very good material but the problem is that this metal is so durable that forging it is really difficult.
Makani remembered reading something about it from a he had bought earlier. He read from [Crafting Weapon book] that most master blacksmith would take a year to forge something out of adamantite since it so hard to mold. After remembering what he had read, Makani became discouraged and decided to store the horns inside his DS ring.
Moments after harvesting all the other parts that are of value Makani stored the rest of the Icicle boar's meat and at the same time Theo and Karl had finished eating all the meat on the metal plate.
*BURRRRP!*
The sound of Theo belching echoed the area.
"Are you two alright?"
Both Theo and Karl nodded in agreement. While they were both eating, Makani was thinking of sending the two to the academy to study since both were willing. But he needed to ask them if they wanted to first before making such decisions.
"Do you two want to attend the Adventurer's academy?"
Theo and Karl looked at each other. The gave their attention back to Makani.
"But big brother how will we be able to afford it?"
"Don't worry about that. If you willing I can send both of you to study there. Then when you have finished you can help me." Makani grinned at them.
Theo and Karl accepted Makani's proposal and right after making the decision, they packed up all their belongings then left the horrible place where they suffered. The three of them walked to the Adventurer's academy and met with Aslak. Makani spoke with Aslak concerning about enrolling Theo and Karl into the academy. He also gave Aslak the 400 gold coins, which is more than enough for Aslak to retire and live a relaxing life.
Aslak agreed to take care of Theo and Karl while they both attended the academy. Makani said his temporary farewells to his two little brothers and before he left, Makani handed Theo a bag of 200 gold coins. The coins is for them to live on and since it will be a while until they both graduate. The amount gold would be enough for the four years that they will be attending the academy.
**
-South Gate of Pea Town-
Makani walked out of the south gate. After buying the necessary things he needed for his journey to the capital, he was ready to travel. The location of the grand city is located directly south of Pea town. Between the grand city of Hau and Pea town are dangerous Holos and the harsh environment of the kingdom of Akau so traveling prepared will give Makani a high chance of not dying on his journey.
Makani began walking and behind him is Pohaku following nearby. The humanoid creature called Onion Golem has been summoned again by Makani. This time Pohaku was summoned using the large yellow gemstone that the old lady had given him.
During his first summon, Pohaku body was engulfed in flames. But this time it looked much different. Instead of its body being engulfed in flame, its body gave off sparks of electricity. Its hands which was red before are now yellow and its eyes which was yellow are now red. Everything else of its features remained the same.
Makani continued to walk and as he walked, he noticed a small group has been following him ever since he left the town. At first Makani thought that this small group is also traveling and trying to reach the grand city of Hau but as he walked to different directions, the small group was still on his trail. As Makani reaches an area far far away from the town and in front of him is a wall made out of solid rock, the small group began to surround him.
"Kekeke! We've got you now." One of the people from the small group chuckled.
Makani grinned and took out his brand new crossbow and two quivers of bolts from his DS ring.
"Po don't attack them yet. Let me take of this." Makani ordered Pohaku and the Onion Golem saluted and stood at attention.
The harsh freezing cold wind blew all over them. As Makani stood there counting the people that surrounded him.
"Hand everything you have over!" Demanded a female elf.
"All I have are my weapon, quiver and my companion here." Makani smiled.
"Don't lie to us! We've been observing you around the market and you've been buying many things everywhere! Now throw all of your things on the ground or we'll have to take it all from you."
Pohaku's eyes changed when it heard its master being threatened. It began to look like its about to charge the female elf. Makani noticed this and immediately commanded Pohaku.
"Po stay!"
Po instantly saluted and stood at attention.
"Come and get them. But don't blame me if you get hurt." Makani smiled at the female elf.
"Ha! Don't spout such nonsense there are seven of us and only one of you and your summoned being!"
Makani stayed silent and just smiled as he loaded his cross bow.
"Fine! If you insist then we'll take everything from you when you corpse had froze over! Attack!" The female elf ordered he companions to charge in to attack Makani.
The female elf stood still while the rest of her companions lunged towards Makani.
**