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Chapter 5: The Strange Day in Belsburg
Early in the morning, I enter the tavern with Thoth, and we find Jinada’s group waiting in there for us. They were sitting at the same table as yesterday, eating breakfast. When Jinada notices us, he smiles and waves at us to come over. The others had confused expressions on their faces, though.
“Um, Aria, why do you have that… thing on your back?” Morne asks me.
“Is that supposed to be a weapon?” Pyre asks. The ‘thing’ they are asking about is the object wrapped in cloth on my back.
“Don’t bother asking. Apparently it’s a ‘secret.’” Thoth says while pouting. She was in a bit of a bad mood because of the answer I gave her when she asked about it earlier.
“A secret? Well, I suppose someone like Aria would have many of them.” Evalot says.
“She has a ton of secrets, but this is the first one she’s kept from me!” Thoth cries out.
“IT must be something extremely important or amazing, if she’s actually keeping it from you.” Mira responds.
“Gah! Now I really want to know what’s inside!” She yells desperately.
“Anyway, what did you two do yesterday?” Morne asks me, ignoring Thoth.
“...touring.” I reply.
“Oh, where did you go?” He asks another question, trying to make conversation.
“...many places.” I answer. Unfortunately, holding a conversation with me was a difficult feat. For a few seconds, we just stared at each other in silence. Instantly, he gives up on trying to talk to me.
“...Thoth, how do you ever hold a conversation with her?” He turns to ask her.
“How? It’s really easy, you know? She’s a really good listener, and doesn’t interrupt me whenever I speak. She always understands me and never asks questions, so it’s always nice and easy to talk with her, you know?” Thoth answers naturally.
“No, I don’t know. It’s not easy at all.” Morne immediately replies.
“Then you have a problem in your head that needs to be fixed.”
“What was that!?” Forgetting about me, they start arguing between each other.
“If I guess what the object is, will you tell me if it’s right?” Jinada approaches me, asking about the object as well. I shake my head in response to this, because I wanted to keep it as a little surprise for Thoth later.
The reason why this object isn’t in the [Spatial Pocket] right now is because of its properties. The [Spatial Pocket] is similar to a giant bag, where everything thrown in there is just mashed in one large pile of objects. Certain items had to be disassembled before thrown in, others wrapped in cloth or put into cases and boxes. Otherwise, the items within the [Spatial Pocket] will be damaged. Due to this, I’m unable to just pull out any weapons I need during a battle; I had to prepare them beforehand. I have to set them up beforehand, and carry it around like I am now.
“I’ll stop asking about it then. On the other hand, I’m curious about what your class is. Do you mind telling me?” His eyes were sparkling as he asks this, but unfortunately, I don’t give him the answer he wants.
“...yes.” I have four different classes, and I don’t feel like explaining how I got them, nor do I want to deal with his reaction after hearing them.
“Oh, you do mind… sorry for asking then.” A saddened expression appears on his face, but it doesn’t change my answer.
Although Thoth and Morne were arguing with each other, the table was quite peaceful. During this, I order food for myself by pointing at the first thing I saw on the menu. As I ate quietly at the table, everyone else interacted with each other and created a light atmosphere.
“...Jinada, it’s time to go.” Cam suddenly speaks out. Everyone has finished eating by now, and the clock set up above the door to the tavern pointed at 9:00.
“Oh, I nearly forgot. Thanks for reminding me, Cam. Ms. Evalot, where were we supposed to meet with the others?” Standing up from the table, Jinada prepares to leave.
“We’re to gather at the [Adventurer’s Guild] today, so that we can receive some subjugation quests during our expedition.” She answers.
“You guys are going on a dungeon expedition before the dragon subjugation?” Thoth asks.
“Only a short one, about ten days. We’re going to one of the highest ranked dungeons in [Sykerion], the [Skybound Earth]. We’ll be training there with some other teams from the Royal Army.” Morne answers.
“Woah, that sounds so fun! Can we come along!?” Unexpectedly, Thoth requested for permission to go to the dungeon with them.
I can understand why though; this dungeon is known as the hardest one, and we haven’t been there yet. We were already planning on exploring a nearby dungeon, but this one might actually entertain us. It also may give me a chance to try out my little toy I’m bringing along.
“Are you sure about that? I mean, there won’t be any guarantee for your survival. It might be better for you two to remain hunting around here.” Jinada suggests.
“Boring.” I instantly reply, surprising them. It was literally the first time I’ve spoken to them, so I can understand why.
“And there you have it! Just like she said, it’s too boring. Just let us come along, please, pretty please?” Thoth puts on her puppy eyes, which caused Jinada to hesitate for a second.
“Ms. Evalot, what do you think? Should we allow them to come?” Unable to answer it, he turns to his advisor.
“Like I said, you’ll be responsible for them. You can take them along if you’d like, but prioritize their safety.”
“It’s an [S-Ranked Dungeon] we’re headed to, kids like you two might hold us back, you know?” Pyre taunts.
“Well, I’m quite confident that I can survive on my own, and Aria’s already an [S-Ranked] adventurer. But if you’re scared of dying, I’ll gladly hold your hand for you.” Even though there’s a smile on her face, Thoth replied with a rude tone of a voice. It seems like another fight is going to start.
“Yeah, walk into the field with that attitude, and you’d die in a second.”
“You got a problem with it, brat?”
“I’m the older one here, genius. Maybe you should get your eyes checked, before you go challenging the mountain instead of the dragon.”
“Maybe I should challenge you right here and now?”
“I’d gladly take that offer.”
“Then let’s go, one on one, right now!”
“Come at me then!” Just as they were about to lunge at each other, the temperature around us suddenly dropped. The source of this was the advisor of the team, Evalot, and it was able to stop Thoth and Pyre.
“Start a fight now, I’ll kill you both. Understood?” Surprisingly, both Thoth and Pyre immediately nodded their heads in response. It looks like Evalot is capable of keeping Thoth in line, which is something I’ve never seen before.
“Well then, it seems like we’re all active and ready to go. Let’s be on our way now, shall we?” As if nothing just happened, Jinada casually leaves the tavern. As everyone else went with him, I stayed behind a bit to do something they forgot. I had to pay the bill.
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“It seems like we’re the last group to arrive.” Jinada says as soon as we enter the [Guild Office]. There was a large crowd of people in the lobby, all of different classes, but their one similarity was that they had the same emblems. These people are also [Arcadian Knights]. Some of them turns to the elevator as they hear the doors open, and sees our group enter the lobby. Several different males came up to greet Jinada, but upon seeing Thoth and I, they start glaring daggers at him.
“Seriously? Two more in your harem?”
“Why are you getting all the hot chicks?!”
“Hell, they don’t even look that old! You turning into a pedophile now or something!?”
“It’s not like that, you guys. These two are just acquaintances that have special permission to partake in the expedition. I’m only with them to guarantee their safety.” He tries to explain, but it doesn’t seem to work.
“Hah! The only protection they need is from a freaking playboy like you!” One of them shouts in reply
“Can you guys shut up already? The advisors are going to hear us and give us more work for causing such a ruckus in here.” A powerful voice calls out from the crowd of knights inside the lobby.
“If that happens, I’ll beat down every single of you.” A woman forces her way out of the crowd and approaches us with a scowl on her face.. She wore light chainmail armor, and her weapon seems to be her gauntlets, seeing the condition they were in. The woman was actually quite tall, possibly as tall as my mother, which gave her an intimidating presence.
“Yes ma’am! We’ll be quiet right away!” The men immediately listens to her, and quickly went away. She must either be an important figure, or a really strong warrior to have them fear her like that. Suddenly, she turns to face us, and the scowl on her face disappears, replaced with a casual smile.
“Yo Jinada! Your group is the last to get here, just like always!” Acting as if the previous scene didn’t just occur, the woman greeted Jinada.
“It’s called being punctual, Abigail. You’re all just too excited because it’s the first expedition we’ve gone on in a while. Besides, it’s not really a race to see who gets here the fastest.” He replies with a sigh.
“Wow, nice excuse, loser. I bet you just spent too much time talking with these two beauties and forgot about the time.” With a smirk on her face, the woman named Abigail teases Jinada.
“You’d wish. One of them’s a taciturn and the other’s too hostile.” He replies with a laugh.
“...yeah, I’m going to hang out with Marilee and the others, catch you later.” Pyre says before walking away. I don’t know why, but she sounded a bit irritated as she said that, as if Abigail’s presence annoyed her somehow.
“My friends are calling…” Cam mutters with a barely audible voice before leaving as well. Although this may seem a bit rude, I didn’t think she had friends outside of this group. Mira left the group as well, walking away quietly without anyone except me noticing.
“Well, this just got a bit awkward. I’ll leave you two alone, and go hang out with the other guys.” Even Morne left, leaving only Thoth and I to remain here with Jinada and Abigail.
“Well, that’s unexpected. Sorry about scaring them off, Jinada.” Abigail apologizes.
“No, it’s fine. I don’t even know why they dislike you so much.” He replies.
So, are you going to introduce me to these adorable girls or what?” She asks him.
“Ah, yeah. This is Thoth, an [A-Ranked] adventurer, and this is Aria, an [S-Ranked] adventurer. I met them at the [Guild Building] in [Forlin], and it seems like they’ll be participating in the subjugation as well.” Jinada explains to her.
“Wait, seriously!? These two are adventurers!? Not only that, but they’re in the upper ranks!? They don’t even look 15 years old yet!” Abigail yells out in astonishment.
“That’s right. Our skill and abilities only rival one another, and we’ll become the first [God Tier] humans before any of you realize it!” Thoth boasts with full confidence. Could she be considered a human? She was the Demon Lord in her previous life, after all.
“Yeah, yeah, but right now, the both of you are only little children, so be sure to respect your seniors, okay?” Abigail responds while starting to pat our heads.
“Don’t treat me like a kid!” Thoth exclaims, swiping at her arm.
“Chance!” Unexpectedly, Abigail dodges it and swiftly gets behind Thoth. She then traps Thoth in a bear hug, causing her to let out an adorable cry.
“Eek! What are you doing!? Let go of me, pervert! Let go!” Yelling hysterically, Thoth struggles in Abigail’s arms. I was surprised to see that Thoth wasn’t able to break out of her hold. Her strength must be insanely high.
“No way, you’re so adorable!” Disregarding Thoth’s complaints, Abigail starts to cuddle her. I don’t know why, but this action is annoying me greatly.
“Um, Aria, you’re releasing a bit too much bloodlust. It’s a bit scary.” Jinada whispers to me. Before I noticed it, my fists were clenched tightly and shaking. I take a deep breath, and calm myself down. There’s no reason for me to be mad, it’s just normal skinship between girls. It’s fine. All fine.
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“I wonder if you’re ticklish… hehehe!”
“Don’t you dare! Stop it! I swear I’ll kill you!
“Let. Go.” Releasing my [Aura of the Heartless], I instantly move to the position behind Abigail and grab her shoulder tightly with an extremely tight grip. Now this woman was getting too personal with Thoth. I didn’t like that at all.
Several other knights nearby suddenly fell on their knees, and it was clear that they were now having trouble breathing. Yet, this woman was still able to remain standing without any sign of being pressured from my aura or bloodlust. In fact, she now had a smirk on her face as she turns her head to look at me. She was on a completely different level compared to the rest of these knights.
“Oh~ so that’s how it is~” She says as she turns to me. Right after, she lets go of Thoth, and I let go of her shoulder. I stop releasing my aura and bloodlust, heading to Thoth’s side immediately afterwards.
“...you okay?” I ask.
“It’s fine, no serious damage done. Except to my pride.” She responds with a glare towards the culprit, who was whistling off to the side.
“I’m sincerely sorry about what Abigail just did!” Jinada apologizes. “She’s just a bit fond of anything… cute and adorable.”
“Yeah, well I don’t want her doing that again, no matter how cute or adorable I may seem to her.” Thoth replies with a hostile tone in her voice.
“Sorry, cutie, not going to happen. In fact, I want to play with both you, and your friend together. But we’ll save that for a later date, okay?” Abigail replies playfully with a wink.
“That’s enough, Abigail. You’re not making a good first impression here.” Jinada warns.
“What a spoilsport…” She grumbles quietly.
“What was that?”
“I asked if your team was prepared for this expedition” As if the nothing just happened, she casually changes the subject. Jinada sighs to himself before answering her.
“Yeah, we need to replenish our supplies. Our team has been too busy completing minor quests and missions to get some money, because we were dead broke by the time we returned from [Haile].”
“Well, I think we’ll be given free time to roam around the building after the advisors are done discussing the agenda, so you’ll have time to buy what you need.”
“Speaking of which, will we be taking any quests for this expedition?” Thoth says.
“That’s right. Ms. Evalot will give Jinada a list of quests that the advisors selected, and then he’ll enter the quest room to receive them. The both of you aren’t in his party, so you’ll have to accept them separately.” Abigail says.
“Huh? Why would it matter whether I’m in his party or not?” Thoth asks.
“...are you sure you graduated from an [Adventurer’s School]? Do you not know the most basic of knowledge about the [Party System]? Did you like, completely ace the physical part and completely failed the written one?” Nice wild guess.
“Woah! How did you know!?” As soon as she heard Thoth’s answer, Abigail immediately covered her face in her palm, clearly showing her disappointment.
“Can’t be helped then, looks like I’ll have to explain it. If a party is formed between three or more adventurers, any quests the party leader receives can be shared with the rest of the party. So if you’re part of Jinada’s party, then any quests that Jinada receives will also be given to you.” She explains diligently.
“Oh~ I get it now! That’s so convenient!” I sigh to myself, wondering if this extreme airhead truly was the demon lord I fought before.
“Okay! Aria, we’ll make a party between-!”
“No.” I cut her words off immediately, declining Thoth before she even finishes.
“Instant rejection!?” She says with a shocked face.
“Of course you fool, parties can only be formed with at least three people.” Abigail tells her.
“In that case, Jinada, add Aria and I to your-”
“Nope.” Doing the same thing I did, Jinada cut her words off before she even finishes.
“Instant rejection again!?” Again, a shocked expression appears on her face. She must’ve been extremely surprised that she was turned down so quickly twice in a row.
“Because the experience gain will start reducing if we add you.” Jinada quickly adds.
“Huh? Why’s that?” Face, meet palm.
“I’ll go ahead and explain it this time.” Jinada says, before Abigail could start another fight.
“Thoth, a party can only allow five adventurers together while maintaining the normal experience rate. When a sixth person joins, the rate drops by starting to divide the experience by the number of adventurers in total within the party. For example, a party of six would have the experience divided by six for every adventurer. A party of nine would split it by nine, do you get it?” He explains.
“...are you kidding me? What kind of stupid system is that? That sounds so dumb that I would love to beat down the creator of this thing.” Thoth says, voicing her thoughts.
“How about you try asking the [System]? It’ll probably give you the answer.” Abigail suggests randomly. Obviously, this was a joke. I don’t even think Thoth is dumb enough to believe that.
“There’s a way to talk to the [System]!?” I take it back. She is dumb enough.
“Yeah, all you do is look at the sky and yell at it.” Silence filled the air between us upon hearing her answer.
“I’m lazy, not stupid. You think I’m actually going to try that!?” Thank god she had common sense at the very least.
“Sorry, I couldn’t resist. But you should try anyway.” Abigail chuckles as she says this.
“So Aria, did this girl sleep through every lesson or what? She seems really gullible.” Jinada asks.
“...probably.” I answered.
“Hey! Only half the time!” It seems like Thoth overheard us, and replies with a serious answer.
“You shouldn’t be doing it at all!” Abigail retorts.
“What, you expect me to listen to old people talking about unnecessary things for an hour straight?” Crossing her arms, Thoth states something dumb as if it was completely natural.
“Yes. That’s exactly what you’re supposed to be doing. It’s the job of a student.”
“I’m glad I graduated. That sounds like a terrible job to have.”
“You can’t say that when you didn’t even do it properly.” They continue throw lines back and forth at each other, completely forgetting about Jinada and I.
“Looks like they’re getting along fine, huh, Aria?” Jinada says to me.
“...yeah.” I agreed.
“Well, isn’t this a surprising scene. You two seem to be getting along well, Thoth, Abigail.” Suddenly, Ms. Evalot appears without anyone realizing it, but no one showed any signs of surprise.
“Of course we’d get along! We’re pretty alike, in my opinion.” She says while rubbing Thoth’s head.
“No, we’re nothing alike, and I said stop treating me like a kid!”
“Well, you’re a kid in my eyes until you prove me wrong!”
“Ms. Evalot, I assume you and the other advisors have the expedition completely planned out?” Jinada asks her, while the other two start bickering between each other again.
“Yes. We’ll be hunting for a majority of the time to fulfill four different quests we’ve received, and then gather natural resources generated in the dungeon for two others. Here’re the list of quests we’ve selected, bring Aria and Thoth with you to the [Main Room].” Ms. Evalot says to him while handing him a small sheet of paper.
“Understood. Abigail, stop fooling around with Thoth, I’m going to bring her and Aria to the [Main Room] to accept some quests.” Jinada immediately says to her.
“Aww, but it was getting fun.” She complains.
“I swear, I’ll freaking pay you back for this one day.” Thoth threatens.
“Heh, maybe in a year or two, you’ll give me a decent challenge, right?” Abigail replies with a taunting smile. “Well, you three go get your quests. I need to go help resupply some of our gems and materials before setting off.”
“Okay then, Abigail. See you in a few hours at the gate.”
“Ah, just before I go, I need to do one thing!” With high speed, she suddenly appears in front of Thoth. Caught off guard, Thoth wasn’t able to react and before any of us knew it, Abigail planted a light kiss on her cheek before dashing back.
“A little parting gift for you! I’ll give you one too some other day, Aria. See you all later~!” In an instant, she bursts out the doors of the [Guild Office] and disappears into the crowd.
“...this freaking bi–”
“I’ll kill her.” I say aloud, surprising everyone.
“Um… Aria, you don’t have to be so mad for me. I’m the one who’s supposed to get angry, ya know?” Thoth says to me.
“I’ll slaughter her.”
“It became even more brutal!?”
“Her bloodlust is making it hard to breathe again…” Jinada comments.
“I’ll mutilate her.”
“She made it even worse!?”
“Aria, I can’t breathe… please… calm down!”
“Aria, you can calm down now, you don’t have to be so mad, you know? It kinda makes me a bit happy that you care, but I think this is a bit too much.” Thoth speaks to me, trying to calm me down, and it worked. Upon hearing her voice, I started taking deep breaths and tried to contain the bloodlust I was releasing, before I completely returned to normal.
“Hah… hah… thank you for calming her, Thoth…” Jinada says while wheezing. Every knight inside the [Guild Office] were also gasping for breath, but the advisors were able to remain standing under the pressure. Some of them were astonished at what they just witnessed, their expressions showing it clearly.
“It seems like I have some explaining to do. Jinada, go take Thoth and Aria to the pylon room and receive the quests. I’ll need you to go resupply our gem stock as well, we’ll meet at the entrance when the expedition starts.” Ms. Evalot orders.
“Understood. Aria, Thoth, let’s get going.” He says, and immediately heads to the [Main Room] with us following close behind.
“That was some serious bloodlust though, Aria. I didn’t expect you to get so angry for me. Heck, I didn’t even know you could express your emotions that much.” Thoth says.
“...sorry for that…” I apologize.
“What’re you apologizing for? It makes me happy that you broke your expressionless behaviour for me.” She gives me a bright smile as she says this. Although she’s a complete airhead and an idiot, Thoth was really kind.
“...damn.” Jinada suddenly mutters.
“Hm? Is there a problem?” Thoth asks.
“Thoth… I’m sorry about this…” He says with a grave expression on his face.
“Wait, what? What’s going on, is there something wrong?” Confused about Jinada’s words, Thoth’s voice now held a tone of worry.
“Thoth… five out of six of the quests on this list… is limited only to [S-Rank].”
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Hello, Yubi here. I’m guessing that most of you are like: “WHERE DID YOU GO FOR TWO MONTHS?! ASDKFJEWOIAJF” because I did disappear for a long time. I sincerely apologize about that, but the fact was that I was hospitalized for quite a while, and couldn’t get back to writing until recently.
Although there isn’t really anything I can do to make up for lost time on the story, I’ll just continue writing like normal and posting like normal, but I really am sorry for just leaving the story hanging like this. Let’s hope I can get this back on track, and keep updating this fiction of mine, and hopefully have no bad incidents happening to me.
I’d like to thank you guys for reading though, and yeah. I hope you continue enjoying to read this fiction of mine. :)
P.S. Side Story for the ‘Summoned Hero’ will be coming up next. I apologize to those who wanted to continue reading from this last scene.
P.P.S. As usual, I'll take any criticism, so be sure to leave productive comments. I'd appreciate it. Thanks!
P.P.P.S. Sorry for no action descriptive battle scene, next chapter though! ;)