Before Chara could explain any further the cloaked female suddenly gently tapped her staff on the ground and a light green light flowed from the crystal embedded atop the staff, flowing essence of mana congealed on the half sitting form of Alicia, a wave of energy coursed through her muscles and suddenly she could feel her fatigue and panic gone, as if nothing had happened.
"I'm terribly sorry about my companion, he is quite rough on the edges in regards women, don't take it to mind." The female called out, the knights looked on as the once cool and calm personality of Will dropping slightly as he answered.
"It was you who said the female mage was prodding us, I just took acceptable counter measures to leave the inn unscathed."
"And scare her and her girlfriend to no end, are you sure you really thought this plan through?!" Elaine waved her hands in anger.
"Calm down Elaine. As my companion said, this has been a big misunderstanding, and for that we..." Suddenly Elaine slapped Will on the arm, "Ahem, I'm sorry for this trouble." Chara looked like her head would melt in confusion.
"So let me get this straight, you are a royal..." Chara asked whilst pointing at Will, getting a simple nod in return she pointed at Elaine, "and you are?"
"Elaine Nyve, Druid of Cymbal Forest, and its guardian." She answered as she tugged on the hood, letting it drop down as her alabaster skin and clear oceanic blue eyes pierced Chara.
"And a fucking druid, what is happening Captain Redway?!" Chara couldn't take it anymore and lashed out to her superior who hadn't yet recovered from the initial shock of Will's identity.
Hearing Chara's words Redway was about to answer but Alicia instead spoke, "Will... William Marlow and Elaine Nyve, I also accept this has been a big misunderstanding, if I hadn't tried to assess you two we wouldn't have this problem from the start. For this I also am sorry."
"Excuse me asking your highness..." Captain Redway began speaking but stopped as he saw Will holding a hand up, "please just call me Will, I no longer have a kingdom to call myself a royal."
"Ahem, I understand, Will. Why are you two staying in Syben?" Captain Redway asked, not fully comprehending why a royal and a druid would travel together so far from the north.
Looking at each other Elaine nodded in assurance as Will answered, "We are currently heading towards Ruun, specifically Ave Ludum, to aid in a wound I received a while ago from one of those monsters. On the way there we saw a pack of scouts traveling a days ride from Syben and came to inform the mayor, we are currently staying since the mayor asked for assistance."
"You mean... you two are the two travelers who first met the spawn?"
"Indeed."
"The world is indeed small, we were sent here by a call for help from the mayor, and it seems we have a common goal." Captain Redway looked over towards Chara and Alicia, whispering to each other whilst looking at the female druid. "Chara, Alicia. Are you two fine with working together with Mr Marlow and Miss Nyve?"
Alicia whispered something into Chara's ear, intangible for the other standing in the alley, before answering. "Alicia is fine with it, since it was a misunderstanding, and partly it was our fault from the start."
"Perfect, we can start over as neutral people now at least, as stated before, My name is Will Marlow." He reintroduced himself as he put out his hand to shake Alicia's, but he became confused as he couldn't see any reaction from Alicia. Suddenly he could overhear the female knight and the other knight's laughing. He looked back towards Elaine in confusion but she shrugged her shoulder in confusion.
"Ahem, Sorry William but Alicia is blind, she doesn't know you are trying to shake her hand." Coughing from the laughter Chara explained. Alicia heard Chara's words and her cheeks flushed red in embarrassment, "Im so sorry Mr. Marlow, I didn't know you wanted to shake hands." She stumbled forwards in her embarrassment and stretched out her hands looking to find Will's hand, helping her Will sought out her hand and clasped it, shaking it gently.
"Greetings sir, my name is Alicia, a current affiliate of Ave Ludum and friend of the knights here." She shook his hand in return, but their silence was interrupted by the sudden voice of Elaine interrupted the group, "Ave Ludum! Will maybe she can treat you?!" Elaine's expecting eyes looked at Alicia in hope Will could be healed, I've already tried to heal him but my druidic essence can't remove the taint."
"May I?" Alicia asked with an outstretched hand, agreeing to her question Will took of his traveling coat, folding it hastily he in one fell swoop took of his woolen shirt. Gasps erupted from the knights as they took a look at Will's upper body, His upper body filled with old scars and injuries, his right shoulder wrapped in bandages but they could clearly see underneath black tendrils slowly pulsating across his right pectoral muscle and stretching across his shoulder down on his tricep and shoulder blade.
"What in the gods name happened to you William?" Chara exclaimed in horror seeing all the scars on his body. Elaine simply nodding in Chara's words, her reaction similar to hers the first time she saw them.
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"Eight years protecting my people from those monsters, a small price to pay for safety." Will simply responded whilst removing the bandage.
Alicia meanwhile channeled her mana into the jade colored shard, the mana sense spell activating as her vision became the familiar starlit sky as she could see the familiar cores of Chara and Captain Redway behind her, as well as the five other knights beside Captain Redway along with the whirlpool of mana at Elaine. Alicia slowly went forwards as she gently pressed her two palms on Will's wound, clearly feeling the old scars rippling on his skin. Focusing her mana sense on the wound she could clearly see the onyx colored mana chaotically amassing at the wounds entry point. "Hmm. It seems you were stabbed by some sort of weapon, maybe perhaps a sword, dagger or even a claw." Both Will and Elaine nodded in agreement hearing Alicia's assessment. Suddenly the group saw bright white light emitting from Alicia's palms, the essence of opal color flowing from her hands towards the wound, Will could feel a warm touch enveloping the wound as they could see the black tendrils slowly reverting back towards the entry point. After around three minutes of active casting the wound was finally closed, as if nothing had ever been there.
Removing her hand from Will's shoulder Alicia began stumbling in place, seeing her Chara rushed forwards and helped her sit down, catching her breath Elaine suddenly spoke. "Thank you so much miss Alicia! We can head towards Salamish now and meet up with our allies."
Touching and slowly moving his arm up and down his arm to see if their any remnant pain, but it was if there was no pain from the beginning. "Thank you so much Alicia, you have been a life saver!"
"If you want, I can remove all those scars on your body, just have to catch my breath for a moment."
"No worries, these scars are reminders of life lost due to my choices." Will simply answered, stroking a scar reaching from his lower side up to his lower back, recalling all those who lost their life the last eight years.
"Ahem, I don't want to interrupt this talk, but its pretty weird we are standing in a dark lit alley talking with each other, should we head to a tavern?" Captain Redway proposed, the group looked at each other before nodding in agreement. "Alright old man, but you have to pay for the first round." Chara proclaimed as she gave a smug grin towards the captain.
"OLD MAN?! Im only forty..." Redway muttered to himself as he led the group towards one of the open taverns.
Four hours later the five knights had left and Will, Elaine, Chara, Alicia and Captain Redway were sitting at one table, a large heap of empty shot glasses and mugs of ale strewn all across the floor and table.
"Hick... You are really pretty Elaine." Captain Redway drunkly complimented Elaine.
"Well thank you Captain Redway."
"It seems like little mage here have gone to sleep." Will spoke, gently, swishing the liquor in his tankard. Chara's cheeks were bright red, her alcohol tolerance at its limit as she could feel the alcohol taking its toll on her body. "Old man, we need to get Alicia back."
"Alright Chara, lets go. Thank you Will and Elaine. and once again sorry for the earlier misconduct." Captain Redway spoke, his body swaying a bit from the alcohol. Helping Chara up Reginald carried Alicia in a princess carry as they bid farewell to Elaine and Will.
"Seem like a joyous bunch." Elaine chuckled.
"Indeed, we need to visit Magnus tomorrow to ask him to forge a new blade for me, it seems like I can participate in the coming battle after all."
"I'm glad we met that girl called Alicia, she was able to fully remove the taint on your shoulder."
The next day came, groans of pain could be heard across the upper floor of the drunken pig, Exiting several rooms were Captain Redway, Chara, Alicia and the five knights from the night before, leaving together to eat breakfast together.
"Good morning Captain Redway." Alicia greeted while holding her pounding head with her hand.
"Good morning as well Alicia, Did you sleep well?" He asked with a mocking grin, understanding her hangover.
"How can you treat a man's injury but not cure a simple hangover?" The irritated voice of Chara could be heard beside the group.
"No matter, every battle have their downside." Redway explained. As the headed downstairs they could see Will and Elaine already seated, not seeming to have any hangover whatsoever.
"How are you two fine?!" Chara shouted in anger.
Will simply pointed to Elaine, "I have a druid as a friend, her magic is centered around nature. I just asked her to dispel the alcohol in my body and I became fine in minutes." Elaine waved in greeting but she was met by several expecting eyes, rolling her eyes and chuckling she tapped her staff on the floor and held out her left hand, several strands of emerald green essence flowed from her staff and entered the group, instantly feeling better the group seated themselves beside the duo as they talked about the battle ahead.
"If what you are saying is true, we need to create either a diversion or separate several group of monsters from the main group." Redway asked after hearing Will's proposition.
"Indeed, I have been fighting these monsters for the last eight years, They are strong in a group, but if we limit their mass and numbers we might be able to minimize our losses."
"This plan is a daring one, but I like it. I will head towards Mayor Harris and inform him of our proposal, do you need anything before the battle?"
"Elaine will traverse the outside and look for healing plants, she used nearly all in her storage during the pass week. I will be heading towards a blacksmith near here to get a new sword."
"A new sword? It looked like the one you are carrying is good enough?" Chara interjected, interested in their conversation due to her interest in swords and other melee weapons.
"This one is fine, but my other blade is in need of repair due to a prior battle."
"Can I join you, I need to set new leather to my handle." Chara asked.
"Of course you can, the blacksmith in question is an ally to Elaine and I and will be joining us in the battle ahead." Will responded.
Leaving the inn Captain Redway left two knights to help Elaine while he and the lieutenants headed towards Mayor Harris residence. Alicia, Chara and Will meanwhile headed towards the familiar blacksmith shop.
"Don't be alarmed by Magnus, he is really kind but his appearance can be shocking." Will warned.
"What do you mean shocking?" Chara asked, not fully understanding Will's words. "I mean, you are a royal and your friend is a gods damn fabled druid."
But suddenly she could hear large banging from a closed door at the edge of the town, as they got closer the banging became louder and louder, Chara's heart beat faster as they stood before a large wooden door. Will reached out a hand to stop Chara and Alicia as he walked up to the door and banged the door with a closed fist. The loud metallic banging sound suddenly stopped as they could hear large foot steps from inside. Chara unknowingly held her grip on the blade and tightened it around the handle. But her shock came when the wooden door opened and the tallest she had ever seen appeared from the dark room.
"Will! How are you mate? Didn't think you would come back until the tide had arrived." Magnus welcomed his companion, surprised by his sudden visit.
"You know Magnus, you have one of my swords, and I need another one for the battle. By the way, these are two new allies, Chara and Alicia." Will introduced the two ladies standing a few meters away from the door.
"Well, good day to you ladies, my name is Magnus and this is my humble store, please join me inside." Magnus welcomed them inside, his mood bright and joyous.
Alicia could sense that Chara was stressed and she asked, "Why are you so stressed Chara, is Magnus' appearance that weird?"
"You don't understand, I have never seen such a large man before, he is at least two heads taller than me, even in plate armor."
"Thats quite incredible." Alicia held her hand over her mouth, shocked by Chara's explanation.
"Well ladies, are you staying out here or are you joining us for tea?" The voice of Magnus called out to them.
"See, he seem like a nice man, don't stress over these things." Alicia laughed at her companion as she clasped Chara's hand and dragged her towards the shop.