Chapter 43: Idyllic Days (I)
“You guys...” Tobias began, as he stared at his friends who were traveling with him with blatant disbelief. “Do we really have time to attend the Festival of Flowers...? We could be Dungeon Delving for all I know...”
“We already talked about this, Tobias. We just got recently promoted to Silver, remember?” Jacques said, as once again, they crossed the river. But this time, they came in prepared with knee tall, waterproof leather boots, so they didn’t have to remove their footwear. “And besides, I think it’s a good idea for a vacation right now. Think of it as our reward for reaching this far.”
“Democracy is great indeed.” Bastille commented, nodding to himself. “I, for one, agree with a vacation. That makes two votes, right? You should really learn how to relax, Tobias.”
“I don’t know about you, Toby.” Clara called out, stretching her arms idly. “But I also think a vacation is good. We’ve been Dungeon Delving nonstop for almost two months now, and aren’t you getting tired of it?”
“Honestly... not really...” Tobias sighed.
But looking at his friends’ faces... They really looked like they needed some sort of stress relief. Actually, even he needed to de-stress somehow, because if he was relaxed, then he probably would have never challenged Jacques to a duel... And on hindsight, maybe Jacques would have never provoked him at all.
Probably.
So in short... They were all stressed, and it was affecting them pretty negatively.
“Actually, on second thought, fine. I agree as well, let’s go take a vacation.” He finally relented, and it only made everyone else cheer with agreements and joy.
“Finally!” Jacques called out, clapping to himself at the notion as if it was something to celebrate. “Getting you to agree is certainly rare.”
Tobias blinked, as he stared at their party leader with annoyance and exasperation. “Part of the reason why I agreed now is because we’re literally half-way there.”
“Don’t worry about it, Tobias.” He replied once more, as he gave a small wave of dismissal to the thought. “And besides, we already agreed on this a few days ago.”
“You three agreed, not me.” Tobias frowned. “I kept saying that I didn’t want to go because we’ve been there only recently...”
“This is the power of Democracy.” Bastille commented, with a particularly proud look to himself. “We all hold equal power here, therefore, all of our votes matter.”
“Until I’m the only one who disagrees, at least.” He retorted back, and his words only made the Sorcerer chuckle to himself.
“Fair point. I still love Democracy.”
Tobias frowned at his words, and turned away as he crossed his arms over his chest. He was somewhat annoyed like that.
“It’s alright, Toby.” Clara said, giving a pat to his shoulder. He only looked at her with a betrayed expression, which made her wince slightly. “I’m sorry for not taking your side, but I kinda agree with them. And besides, don’t you want to see your family again?”
“I’ve been with my family for fifteen years straight.” Tobias huffed. “Isn’t it only natural that I’m reluctant on seeing them again when we just saw them two weeks ago?”
“Well... when you put it like that, you’re not wrong...” She admitted, then sighed. “Okay fine. I’ll admit, I just wanna see your siblings again. And Catherine told me some pretty great stuff about the Festival of Flowers – so I wanted to see it as well.”
“Yeah. Even I want to see the Festival.” Bastille chimed in, and then turned towards Jacques. “How about you?”
“I also wish to see it.” Their Leader nodded sagely. “I wish to see how these ‘flower-sewn dresses’ or however your mother described it worked.”
Tobias’ eyebrow twitched. Then he sighed deeply. “If you just wanted to see the Festival... then why are we traveling there a week too early?”
“Tobias, Tobias.” Jacques repeated, as if scolding a child. “We have to recover our energy after we travel, and we need to get along with the people there so they might find us a familiar sight by the time the Festival comes around.”
“Is that... really necessary...?”
“I’m adding my two cents... er, copper coins on this one, Tobias.” Bastille said. “But do you really think it’s a good idea to just come to the Festival unannounced, and without any prior introduction?”
He blinked. When they put it like that...
“Ah...” Tobias groaned. His friends – they were too cheeky and too good against arguments. How was a social recluse like him supposed to contend against them? So he sighed, and only timidly nodded his head. “Fine... I give up...”
And at those words, Jacques and Bastille let out understanding, yet pleased nods to each other – probably celebrating the fact that they managed to strong-arm Tobias into compliance. They’re definitely cheeky...
And then – a hand planted itself on his shoulder again, as Clara carefully smiled at him.
“Come on, Toby. It’s going to be alright, okay?” She said, her abyss-hued eyes gazing warmly on his. Then he slowly smiled back at her. She really was lovely like that... “That’s a better expression on you. Now let’s go, or else they’ll leave us behind!”
At her words, he looked towards the Sorcerer and the Swordsman and saw that they were already quite a few paces ahead of them. So with a nod, he jogged back to their positions.
Honestly... The real reason why Tobias didn’t want to return to the village on such an occasion was simply because Marcus had died after the Festival had concluded.
But then again... Maybe he should dedicate this occasion to his death, then? At least – until he had gotten strong enough to take him back from Death...
...
Was this really the correct call? He was making leaps and bounds to progressing in strength, but at the same time, wasn’t he only placing his friends in unnecessary danger?
Because some small part of him knew that he wouldn’t be able to grow stronger without taking more risks. And to risk the lives of his friends just for his personal quest... It was a foul thought in his mind, if nothing else.
...
Maybe they were correct, after all. Maybe he does need a vacation to de-stress and calm his thoughts down. So with a sigh, he shook his head to clear his thoughts, and returned his focus back to hiking along with his friends.
***
They finally managed to reach the village at dusk – just a few minutes before the sun sank in the horizon, and just a few minutes before there was total darkness. It was a sad sight to see that there were no more fields of golden wheat, but since they already saw it two weeks ago, it wasn’t particularly disappointing.
But even if it was dusk, and even if it was relatively dark, Tobias still knew how to navigate the village to find his house.
Because Old Man Magnus’ training demanded roughly eighteen hours of his time, after all; from dawn until the moon was as its peak. So it was only natural for him to learn how to navigate around the village underneath dark conditions.
On hindsight, the early days of training was a complete nightmare of its own...
And when they finally reached Tobias’ house, he knocked twice. The door was answered by his younger sister, Erise.
For the briefest moments, her eyes stared at him, then flicked towards his party members, then she finished with a blink. And then she realized who she was looking at.
“Clara!” Erise exclaimed, as she lunged towards said girl. And with arms which were stronger than they looked, she wrapped them around the older girl. “I missed you!”
“Erise! Hey hey!” And on the other hand, Clara greeted cheerfully, as she gave a head pat towards the younger sister. “I missed you too!”
Tobias felt his eye twitch – why was she was more excited about Clara, than her own older brother...?
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“Erise, what’s the noise about...” Pierre stopped. Then he blinked, and rubbed his eyes as if he was looking at an illusion. “Tobias...? You’re back already...?”
“Well... Yeah.” Tobias said, shrugging. “Things happened, and now these guys wanna attend the Flower Festival.” He explained, gesturing towards his party.
“Well, isn’t that right?” Pierre said, and then gestured at Erise. “Well then, Erise, get out of the way and let them in our house then!”
The last time Tobias had seen his father that excited – was the time when Erise was born. It was the truest, purest joy of a father at the time.
Actually, he lied. The last time he was excited like that was when he showed Tobias the secret wine cellar for his birthday –
“Bastille! You’re still alive, you bastard?” Pierre exclaimed, and then raised his hand into a fist.
“I should be asking you that, old man! You still kicking around?” Bastille retorted back, and also raised his hand into a fist.
And with nods towards each other, they gave a fist bump to one another.
Yeah... Why was his father more excited at his son’s friends, rather than his actual son...?
“Did someone say Bastille’s here?!” Andre’s voice came from over the staircase, and with a quick peek from the top, he instantly scrambled to descend the stairs in a wild rush. “Yo! What’s up!?”
“You know, the usual. Setting monsters on fire and that kinda stuff.” Bastille replied coolly, with a shrug to complete it.
... Yeah. Even his younger brother was more excited at his older brother’s friends, rather than his actual brother. And in the few hours Bastille and Andre talked, his younger brother’s vocabulary had somehow suddenly became... disconcertingly casual.
“What is all of this ruckus about?” And finally, their mother had made herself known as well. She was descending the staircase, when she finally saw Tobias and his group of friends. “Tobias?”
He awkwardly raised his hand to wave to her. “Hello Mother, I’ve returned again.”
And as expected of a mother who had not seen her son in... two weeks, really, she rushed towards him to give him an embrace.
One could only imagine how much faster she rushed and how much tighter her embrace was the first time she saw him two weeks ago.
Tobias remembered – he heard his spine crack once or twice, but he wasn’t sure. (He wasn’t sure if it cracked once or twice, or if it even cracked at all.)
But of course, he returned it because really, some part of him really did miss his family, after all. And it was nice to be recognized by one’s family – especially after his younger siblings and father betrayed him by being more excited about his friends.
And finally, Elizabeth let go of him, and inspected him from head to toe with a critical eye. “Have you been eating fine? I can see that you have grown much thinner than the last time you were at home. Do you need to eat right now? Have you been injured recently? Do you need to rest?”
“I’m alright, Mother. Don’t worry about it.” Tobias replied, as he waved his hand to dispel her worries. “You did tell Magnus to train me, after all.”
“Of course. That is excellent then, dear son.” She said, coughing to herself then stepping back to a respectful distance between them. Then she raised her gaze, and scanned his friends. “I welcome you back to this household, Jacques, Bastille, and Clara.”
“Thank you for having us here.” And as expected, their resident noble had the manners to match that of his mother’s. With his right hand held over his chest, and him bent down to his knee, his bow was nothing but elegant and refined.
“Please, it has been nothing but our pleasure to have all of you in our home.” She said, gesturing with her hand that he was allowed to stand up from his gesture of respect. Then she stared him – or his remaining right eye rather, and then let out subtle nod of concern.
Yeah... If her stiff, formal way of speaking didn’t make it obvious enough, then her refined, elegant mannerisms definitely gave it away. Elizabeth – his mother, had been definitely a noblewoman at some point.
And while she never stated it directly... She didn’t bother to hide it, either. Tobias only realized that when he saw her interact with Jacques – another noble... or something.
“What’s going on...?” And finally, from the top of the stairs, their loveliest, gentlest, eldest sister had made herself known. Catherine’s steps were light and careful – almost as if she only recently woke up, and when she finally made it to the bottom, she squinted her eyes and blinked repeatedly. “Tobias...?”
“Good thing you don’t have a basket filled with vegetables this time.” Tobias commented, grinning back to her, and at his own subtle joke.
But in exchange, she just pouted at his subtle jab towards her. “That’s mean.”
“I’m just kidding.” He replied, raising his hands in surrender. “Anyways, I guess it’s time for you to give me a hug?”
“Hmm...” She hummed for a few seconds, as if contemplating the thought. Then she sighed, and frowned, while stepping closer to him. “If you’re offering, then I’ll accept.”
On hindsight, if he had a copper coin for every girl around his age who was willing to hug him – he’d have two copper coins. Which isn’t a lot, but it did feel pretty nice.
And with that, everyone had settled to the first floor of the house. Tobias knew that their house was bigger than the average village house, but looking at everyone in the main room, it looked rather crowded and filled.
After all, they were nine people.
So everyone dispersed, for lack of better term.
Andre, Bastille, and Pierre moved towards the dining room, most likely to chat with the Sorcerer about his latest escapades.
Tobias pouted – how come he wasn’t invited there?
Elizabeth and Jacques had moved to sit on the wooden sofa of their main room, and started talking all polite and proper and posh and whatnot. Tobias decided to not listen in on their discussion, because it was making him... agitated.
They literally spent so much time exchanging pleasantries, when his mother’s point was to simply ask what happened to Jacques’ eye, and Jacques returned back pleasantries, and told her what happened to it in a language that was far too flowery.
Like, seriously. Just talk normally or something. There’s no need to treat the conversation like a strategic board game where the slightest misspoken word could get them decapitated, or something.
Then again... nobility was weird. They might actually get decapitated if they did misspeak a single word.
And now... that just left him with Catherine, Clara, and Erise. Catherine naturally stuck with him – because they shared the closest bond, after all. As for Clara and Erise... Tobias could tell that Clara wanted to stick with them, and by extension, Erise as well.
“Actually... Sister Catherine...” Clara nervously began, as she fidgeted in place. “Can I talk to you privately...?”
Sister Catherine...? Were they already that close with each other? No, more importantly, that made her sound like she belonged to some Clergy out there.
“Of course.” She nodded back, and then turned towards Tobias. “Would you be alright?”
He nodded in turn, flashing them a thumbs up. “I’ll be fine, don’t worry about me.”
“Mhm, I see...” Catherine said, nodding to him. Then she turned towards Erise, and gave her a soft head pat. “Don’t cause any trouble for Tobias, alright?”
“Mhm... Alright.” Erise nodded back, letting out a small grin. Then she turned towards Tobias, and gave him a wide grin. It seemed like she lost a teeth recently – but that only added to her childish charm. “Hi hi, big brother Toby. I missed you, you know?”
While Tobias could tell that Erise wanted to stay with his twin sister and Clara, it seemed like she wasn’t entirely opposed to the idea of hanging out a bit with him, after all.
So he grinned back, and ruffled her hair. “Didn’t expect to hear that from you. I missed you too, Erise.”
Somehow, that made him feel better.
***
It was midnight when everyone had decided to finally sleep. Discussions and arrangements have been made on where they were supposed to sleep.
Clara and Erise were to share a bed, and both of them were absolutely delighted at the thought of sleeping over like that.
Bastille and Jacques idly agreed to sleep on the couches... But then, Elizabeth convinced (forced) them to take up Tobias’ and Andre’s bed.
So now, that meant that both of them were kicked out of their own beds, and were now sleeping on blanketed couches with pillows.
Well, to be fair, Tobias had been sleeping on top of trees back while he was still traveling around. So it wasn’t as if the arrangement was particularly bad for him. Andre on the other hand might find the arrangement uncomfortable – never mind, he was already fast asleep somehow.
So now, Tobias was left to his thoughts once more.
He stared at the dark ceiling, where he could barely make out the gray, stone ceiling, he idly noted that even if it was dark, it wasn’t that dark yet. No darkness is too dark compared to the Abyss – or so he says.
He really had one thought in mind right now; now what?
This idyllic adventuring life, where he’s even allowed to take a vacation back at his home village... This wasn’t how he expected things to turn out, really.
He expected to be an independent and solo adventurer, and carry out his own quest by himself. That sight; was rather lonely, now that he thought about it.
Recalling back... Why did he even accept Jacques’ invitation?
At face value; what he said back then was really correct. He simply had nothing better to do in the meantime, and the monotony of finding missing pets, bringing them back, rinsing and repeating ad infinitum was simply too... boring.
Well, to be fair, he was planning on complete on some combat-type quests at some point once the mundane, helpful quests were gone. But then, that was thrown out of the window entirely because he was made into an official party member before that point.
To be precise, it was exactly right after they finished that wolf hunting quest.
And since he didn’t really have any reason to turn them down, he reluctantly agreed at the time. Which turned out to be a good decision, after all. Because having a party with him meant that they could try their hand at clearing Magical Dungeons.
Magical Dungeons, huh... Tobias idly remembered their first one. Everything went downhill so quickly, it wasn’t even funny. If Bastille wasn’t an excellent Sorcerer whose flames grew hotter than the sun during a summertime afternoon, then melting off that Stone Knight’s armor would have been an impossible task.
... Now that he thought about it, wasn’t that Dungeon Boss too hard for a Tier 2 Dungeon...?
Like if Bastille was an ordinary Sorcerer, then he wouldn’t have been able to strip off its armor and make it vulnerable against their attacks, right?
On hindsight... maybe it was supposed to be one of those fabled ‘Puzzle Bosses’ where it’s hard to beat directly, but there’s a certain gimmick or trick needed to make it much easier. The only problem was finding out the said gimmick to make it easier.
It really felt like they were supposed to do something different, though... If he were more observant and didn’t immediately rush in like that, they probably would have analyzed the surroundings to find a way to beat it as intended maybe...?
Well, it was pointless to think about it anymore. They already beat it, even if it was through pure, unrelenting firepower from their Sorcerer.
The other Tier 2 Dungeons... He didn’t really have anything noteworthy to talk about them. They were all the standard get teleported elsewhere, carefully progress through the rooms and eliminate enemies kind of deal because they didn’t want him to step on another alarm trap and get swarmed, then they find the boss rooms and kill them.
... It was really that simple, really.
All that changed from each dungeon were their enemies. One time, they fought against goblins or something. Another, they were fighting against large insectoid creatures, whose chitin exoskeleton was much more durable than anticipated. His blade only quickly wore itself out trying to scratch the armor.
So he gripped his longsword by its blade, and used its guard like a warhammer. That solved it quickly enough, because no matter how well-armored those insectoids were, their exoskeleton wasn’t suited to defending against concentrated, precise strikes.
And that was before they were simply scorched to death by their Sorcerer. Because even if those insectoids were massive, they still shared the same weakness against fire.
There was another time they fought against Orcs. Now that... was real challenge, if nothing else. Orcs really were good at head-on combat, and even Tobias had to figure out how to use his superior maneuverability in order to exploit their large sizes.
He briefly remembered almost getting clobbered to death by three Orcs surrounding him, but he somehow managed to pull through. He remembered receiving glancing blows, but somehow, his instincts told him to dodge everything else, and even those strikes which glanced against his arms didn’t do anything to impede his fighting strength.
The Orc King which served as the Dungeon Boss was also strong – but with the power of Bastille’s Sorcery and Clara’s well-aimed shots, it was a simple affair, really.
Yeah... That was a decently difficult Magical Dungeon.
But then... The question still remains; now what? Was he supposed to stay with his friends and clear Magical Dungeons for the rest of their lives?
No. With how hard they were working, and with the knowledge that Jacques is apparently a Noble from somewhere (seriously, why was he even allowed to be an Adventurer?) and the fact that Bastille was only waiting to turn seventeen to become eligible for a Magical Academy only meant that at some point, they would all probably retire and disband to live their lives, right?
Ah. Well, whatever. It was too complicated for Tobias to think about right now. So with a sigh to himself, he finally closed his eyes, and tried to sleep as best as he could.
And a few minutes later, he would be taken into the Abyss once more. It was important to note right now that unless Clara was in close proximity to him and they both sleep at the same time, then she doesn’t get dragged into the Abyss.
So it wasn’t as if they always met in the Abyss every time they slept. Only if the said condition was fulfilled. Because really, it wasn’t a good habit to drag her there all the time, especially if he didn’t need to talk to her in particular.