Straf walks past the crowd of people debating and arguing about what destroyed the streetlights. Cycelia catches up, pocketing the copper plate with care as if it was a precious treasure.

「Straf, I think it's a bad idea…」

「What is?」

「The troll hunt. I have never seen one, but they're huge and incredibly strong.」

「I figured they'd be, but if you never seen one, how come you know about them?」

「Everyone knows about them! There's countless stories about them! Even the peasants know!」

「Huh. So they have a glaring weak spot or something, right? Weaker during the day?」

He asks as he looks at the sky turning orange, the sun is making its way down towards the horizon. Cycelia runs out in front of him and starts walking backwards, careful not to bump into anything.

「No! They're even resistant to magic! And they regenerate wounds quickly!」

「Sounds like they're real pain to deal with.」

「Exactly! Which is why-」

「Which is why I'm gonna do it!」

「...Huh?」

Cycelia is stunned and stops as Straf walks past her. She puts the shocked disbelief she just experienced under control and runs to catch up beside him.

「You mean you're not scared? Seasoned adventurers with a lot of experience under their belt passed up on that quest, you heard her say that! What makes you different?!」

Straf looks at Cycelia with a smug smirk and calm eyes.

「I'm willing to give it a try.」

Ba-dump. Ba-dump. Ba-dump.

Cycelia once again falls behind as she places her open hand on her chest, trying to calm her heart.

《I mean, how could I turn down a quest for a thing that could actually fight back, without having to hold back? Not to mention, that ought to be a lot of XP and some ridiculous loot!》

Cycelia scrambles to not be left behind as Straf heads for the gate. She struggles to find another argument, convinced by Straf's apparent bravery for the sake of the townspeople.

…

Meanwhile, elsewhere, far from the pastiche town…

A short-haired, bespectacled young man pants heavily as he forces himself to walk forward, supporting himself on his staff. He stops to catch his breath, lifts his head and calls out to his party ahead of him.

「Greaves! Alicia! Ha…. Are you sure we're even going the right way?!」

「I know where I'm going Will!」

「But-」

Fatigued, he swallows his dry throat. He points behind himself, almost falling over from exhaustion.

「I'm fairly sure the lake is the other way! Alicia, tell him something! My legs hurt…」

「I'm just here to make sure both of you are okay, ahehe…」

The young woman in white robes refuses to take a side in the argument, remaining a neutral party. She holds her silver wand closely and smiles gently as she waves her hand a little at both Will and Greaves, letting both know she's merely tagging along…

「Will, you've been complaining the whole way here!」

「But… What if you can't pull it out anyway? Then we've come here for nothing… And I'm tired!」

「Tsk…」

The young boy ahead of them both clicks his tongue, his wide red scarf flaps in the wind. He turns halfway on his heel and points at Will.

「Will! If you don't have what it takes, then take Alicia and go back to town! I'm going to keep looking!」

「Ah, I can't exactly just leave you here alone either, Greaves…」

Alicia chimes in quietly.

「But Greaves…What if you're just not the chosen hero? What if-」

Greaves pulls out the copper plate hanging off his neck from beneath his shirt, he holds it up high as he shows it to Will from a distance. Alicia smiles again and looks to the side, as if politely rolling her eyes…

「Will! Do you see this?! If you're giving up that quick, what are you wearing one of those for?!」

Will sighs as he finally has caught his breath. He straightens out and walks towards the rest of his group, his wooden stave clanking on the rock beneath them.

「Do you remember, Will?! Remember what we promised ourselves?!」

「Here we go again… You do this every time, Greaves…」

「That's because you need a reminder every time things get a little tough! You promised you'll be the brain of the party, I promised I'll be the muscle, and Alicia promised none us will die when we become an adventurer party!」

He lets go of his adventurer identificator and throws his arm out to the side with energy, his scarf flapping about.

「If I'm not the chosen hero, that's fine! I'm going to make myself one! I'm not going to give up because of one setback, or two, or a hundred!」

His large mass of orange hair jiggles as he shouts with almost theatrical melodrama and a clenched fist. The tired mage sighs as he walks up with one final clank of his staff.

「Damn it Greaves… If I didn't know you from since we were kids, I'd think you are just saying that and leave… But if I leave you alone, you're just going to get yourself into some trouble because you're an actual, real dumbass.」

「Yeah! That's why we need the brain of the party.」

「Can you at least have more consideration for me and Alicia? Trekking up here couldn't have been easy for her either.」

They both look at the woman standing off to the side, she visibly becomes uncomfortable with the attention turned towards her. She once again holds her palm up, smiling.

「Aha ha ha….Don't mind me…」

Suddenly, Greaves notices something with the corner of his vision…

「Ah!」

He points at it in wide-eyed shock.

「Aaahhh!!」

Will shouts in fear and looks over his shoulder… Alicia's attention also turns to where Greaves is pointing…

「Huh?! Enemy?!」

「No!」

Greaves shouts as he keeps pointing behind Will.

「...I'm not seeing it Greaves, are you trying to make fun of me?」

Will manages to calm down, he asks as he's looking around in the general direction of where Greaves is pointing, adjusting his glasses and squinting.

「Sword!」

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Greaves shouts again and runs to where he was pointing. Alicia and Will exchange confused glances, then follow.

A large sword juts out of the hard rock ground, hilt-up. At a glance, it appears as if it slashed a horrible gash in the rock before getting stuck.

「This must be it!」

He declares with tangible excitement in his voice. Will stops nearby and looks all around them.

「…Are you sure? There's no lake around here. And it's not sticking out of a rock…」

「Tsk. The lake is close enough, and it's stuck in rock! That's good enough for me! It must be the legendary sword! Well, do you want to give it a go Will?」

He rolls his eyes then sighs deeply. Finally, he walks up to Greaves and hands him his staff.

「Fine… This is stupid, here goes nothing.」

「I'm getting kind of nervous, I'm going to be so mad if you manage to pull it out!」

Will adjusts his glasses one last time, then grabs onto the sword's hilt with both hands… He starts pulling and straining, using his entire body to try and get the sword out.

「Hnnnngh! Hrrrrrrgh! Hggh- Ahh… I can't… It's just not possible.」

「Huhuhuehehehe! Of course, small fry! Impossible for you!」

Greaves hands Will his staff back, he pants and wipes sweat off his forehead, despite barely doing anything…

「Um, could I give it a try?」

Alicia asks Greaves meekly from behind his shoulder. Greaves jumps away a little from her, surprised to see her face this close to his.

「Aaa- Ah, yeah. Go ahead. Maybe you'll actually get it!」

「Ah, no way…」

She says quietly as she hands Greaves her wand and walks up to the sword.

「Hmpff. Hngghygh… Hnnnmmhmn-」

Suddenly, Alicia's eyes widen as she feels the sword move just a tiny, little bit.

「Ah… I thought it moved?」

「Wha- Uh… Are you sure?」

Greaves asks nervously as the robed young woman looks at him, unsure what to do next.

「Well, uh, maybe give it another good tug? Maybe it's you who's the chosen hero, who knows… He he… He…」

Greaves chuckles nervously as he encourages Alicia. She tightens her grip and starts pulling upward again, grunting loudly…

「Hhhmpfff! Hnyyyagh! Hnnnngh-」

Finally, she grows too tired to continue, she takes a few breaths then sighs deeply.

「As I thought… I can't.」

She says as she retrieves her wand from Greaves.

「Well, I think you did pretty well!」

He claps his hands together and rubs them as he walks up to the sword. He looks down at the hilt with a focused gaze as Will and Alicia watch him.

「Okay, we're going on an adventure together…」

He grabs the hilt, and starts pulling up…

「Hnnghhhh! I'm taking you with me! Hhhhnnnnnnnnngh! Whether you like it or not!」

He grunts, pulls, shifts his body around, pulls some more… Alicia starts walking around as she waits, something catches her eye as it lays tucked away between a few small rocks…

「Hm?」

She walks up and picks it up. Orange liquid just slightly thicker than water, in a cylindrical glass container. Its top is secured with a metal lid.

「Will, I think I found a potion. What is it doing here?」

Will walks up behind Alicia as Greaves is still grunting away and yanking at the sword, getting louder and louder.

「No clue, maybe someone brought it here forgot to take it back to town? Let's identify it later.」

Greaves is leaning over the sword, panting heavily and sweating. Alicia and Will walk up back to him.

「Greaves, are you done? It's not the end of the world. We can still be just normal adventurers-」

「Not yet!」

Greaves's growl interrupts Will's defeatism.

「But-」

「I said not yet! Why did you get the impression that I'm giving up?! When did I say that I did?!」

Greaves readjusts his grip on the sword and shifts his stance…

「I told you didn't I?! A hundred setbacks, a thousand setbacks…」

He clenches his teeth and starts pulling with his entire body.

「Hrrrrrrrghhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaghh!! Juuuuusssst try aaannnd ssstop meee!! Hnnnngggrrhhhhhh!!」

「Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!」

「Huuuunnnghrghrghhhhhhhhhhhh!! Hyyyyyyyyyyyyyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaraaaaaaaargggh!!」

Will sighs as Greaves keeps shouting louder and louder each attempt.

「This guy…」

「Hyyyyyyyyyyyyyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa…」

Even Alicia gingerly walks to Greaves's side with a concerned face.

「Greaves, maybe it's time to stop. You did your best, but you're going to hurt yourself at this rate.」

「...aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa...」

「Greaves, seriously. I'm not going to laugh at you or anything. It was worth a try.」

Will walks to Greaves's other side as he keeps letting out the longest shout they've ever heard in their lives. Both Will and Alicia look at each other with concern, glancing at Greaves as he keeps pulling.

The sword flies out the slashed ground with momentum as Greaves suddenly loses his balance, and slashes the air behind him.

「What?!」 「What?!」

Both Will and Alicia exclaim in unison.

「-aaaaaaah!」

「Aaaaaaaaaaaaaa!」

Will screams like a girl as he narrowly dodges the blade. He yelps again and points at the cut it had just made in the rock he was standing on.

「Eek! Greaves! You almost killed me! My adventure barely started and you almost ended it!」

「Greaves! You did it! You pulled it out!」

Both Greaves and Alicia can't believe their eyes as they look at the now-free sword. It glitters in the sun's dying light as it is setting slowly.

「Yeah. I can't believe Greaves actually did it. I would have never believed he was actually-」

「Idiot!」

Greaves shouts as he sits on the ground, having lost his balance from setting the sword free. He gets up and pats his behind from dust.

「I said so didn't I? If I'm not the chosen hero, I'll make myself one!」

He says as he wipes his dry nose using the top half of his index finger, with a smug and satisfied smile. Will takes a good look at the sword in its entirety.

「…Is it just me or the hilt looks like a carrot, just a little bit?」

「Now that you mention it…」

Alicia rubs her chin and nods, Greaves rolls his eyes.

「Who cares how it looks like? It's the legendary heroic sword! You've seen how sharp it is!」

「Well, in any case, can we go home now? It's already almost dark. I'm tired…」

「Alright, alright! We've got what we came here for! Stop whining already, Will! Let's go.」

They turn back towards the trail down to the city. Greaves places the blade on his shoulder gently.

「Ow! Damn! This thing is sharp...」

He winces as it leaves a shallow cut…