Volume 2 Chapter 2: Part 1: Advent City

"We're almost there, guys! Just a little more, and we'll be at the front gates." Stewart shouts, an expression of relief on his face. The group is out of the forest.

"Thank goodness we're out of there!" Barrett roars out in happiness.

Is this guy really injured? How is he able to scream so loud? Onyx stares at the bear-like man with surprise and wonder.

Isn't his ribs broken? Remember what Lucia told him; it's surprising to see him not spitting blood.

Well, not yet.

"Gahh!" The moment Onyx thought of this, Barrett spits out blood!

"Barrett, I know you're happy but don't scream so loud. Sheesh." Stewart shakes his head. This isn't the first time he spat out blood.

As they continued their journey, Barrett woke up from his sleep. That lightened the group's burden a lot. Stewart didn't need to drag him any further.

And with him and Etta awake, the group's formation got better. Somewhat.

Onyx still acted as the group's vanguard. But he didn't mind as it was a simple task for him.

The rest acted as support. However, Barrett couldn't move around properly, and his spitting out blood became a common occurrence.

"Relax. I'm fit as a-ughh." Barrett was going to say he's fine and fit as a fiddle. But more blood gushes out from his mouth when he tries to force it. Stewart sighs,

"Lucia, watch him and stop him from making any weird movement."

"On it."

Stewart doesn't want any more pauses as they continue onward. Seeing they're almost at the front gates, Stewart thanks Onyx once again, "Onyx, thank you so much for saving all of us."

It's something he kept repeating throughout the journey.

"You don't need to keep saying it, Stewart. As I said, anybody would do the same thing if they were in my shoes."

But Etta shakes her head, "No. What you did is something no other adventurer will do." Once she woke up, Lucia told her everything that had happened, and she was surprised by his actions.

What kind of adventurer would sacrifice his life to save five strangers near death's door?

"Adventurers will not save others like that unless they have a reason to. So as the vice-captain, I thank you for saving us." Etta bows her head,

"Yeah, thanks for saving us! I'll treat you to a drink once we get patched up." Unlike the formal Stewart and Etta, Barrett is more relaxed about it as he smacks Onyx's back.

"Alright then. We've arrived." As the group walked towards the gate, they were stopped by the guards.

"Halt! I will need to see- Oh, Stewart! It's you! What happened to you guys?! You look like a wreck!" The guards are wary at first. But when the guards notice it's Stewart, that wariness turns into surprise as he realizes his party is worse for wear.

"Sorry about this, but we're in a hurry. We'll pay the entrance toll later. One of my comrades is injured, and we need to get her treated." May was still unconscious, and the wound was still deadly even after Onyx treated it.

"Understood. But who is that with you?" The guard doesn't mind them passing through. But then he notices the hooded figure.

"He's the person who saved us. Don't worry about him. He'll be signing up at the adventuring guild later. I'll vouch for him."

"Alright then." The guard doesn't say anything else and lets them pass. When this happens, they quickly rush in,

"It seems you guys are very famous," Onyx says. Seeing how easy it was for him to get in without problems shows their influence in the city.

Stewart makes an embarrassed expression, "We aren't that popular at all."

"Tch." But the rest of his party made noise at him.

It seems that's not the case. Onyx chuckles when he sees that.

Ignoring them, Stewart decides,

"We'll split up for now. Etta, go to the herb shop and get some potions to heal all of us. The rest of us will go back to the base." The group nods, and Etta separates from them.

"Isn't that the Scarlet Lynx?"

"Don't they look messed up?"

"Probably failed their quest?"

"Nah. Didn't you know one of their members got poisoned?"

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As they ran, they could hear people talking about them. But they don't have any time to worry about them as they continue forward. Finally, they arrived at a building. It's bigger than the one beside it. And there's a cat logo on the front.

"This is our home," Stewart says as they walk in, "Muriel, we're back!"

Hearing his shout, a woman comes out of one of the rooms. She wore priest equipment and had weariness in her eyes. But that weariness is overshadowed by her worry,

"What happened to you guys?!" Muriel screams out in horror.

Stewart gave her a short response, "We got caught into some trouble. Muriel, can you cast your healing magic on us? Especially May, she got caught in a sneak attack."

"Where's Etta?"

"She went to get us some potions. So just focus on May." Muriel nods and starts chanting. Water bubbles begin to form around the girl. As the bubbles hit her wounds, it heals the injured spot.

Stewart looks towards May. The wound on her shoulder slowly closes up. Seeing this, he sighs in relief. But then he asks her,

"How is Reynold's condition?" Muriel shakes her head,

"His condition is stable at the moment. But it's only now. Yesterday, he was convulsing from the pain. And the corrosion isn't stopping either."

"..." Stewart and the rest make a dark expression.

"Did you guys get the plant?"

"Here. Use it and heal Reynold." Stewart quickly hands her the riverlily lotus. A sigh of relief forms on Muriel's face as she takes it.

"Thank goodness. Barrett, bring May into her room to rest. We'll go to Reynold." Muriel doesn't say anymore as she quickly rushes upstairs, with the rest following behind.

When they enter the room, Onyx sees a man resting in bed. His face is pale as a sheet of paper. And he's sweating dark liquid.

But all of this doesn't compare to what's going on with his arm. A shade of purple covered it. And they can see the poison slowly crawling up to his shoulders.

"It's gotten bigger." On the side, Lucia mutters with a pale expression. It was only a stain on his forearm when they saw it.

"The second day, the poison starts to invade his arm more. But you don't have to worry, Lucia." They have the flower now. Muriel places the flower onto the poison.

It was a magical sight to behold. Like instincts, the flower quickly sucks up all the poison on Reynold's hand.

The complexion on Reynold's face starts to regain color as well. But that isn't all as Reynold began to wake up,

"I'm hungry." Those are the first words that came out of his mouth.

"Reynold!" The rest shout out in shock and happiness hearing him say something. They quickly tackle and hug him.

"Hey, get off of me! And why do you guys look like you got into a tornado? Wait! Don't tell me you guys went on a quest behind my back?!

How could you guys?! How can you leave your handsome and cool ace behind!"

"..." The rest went silent when they heard that. They slowly back away from him. Those tears they shed a few seconds ago are nowhere to be found.

Hearing Reynold talks about himself more, everybody could see Lucia's fist-shaking like mad. She became the voice of all.

"This idiot!!!!" She slams her hands right into Reynold's cheek.

"Mguaaahhh!" Reynold's head went down into the bed. But that isn't the end. She slams down onto his face, turning his face into his pancake.

"Sorry, you have to see him like that. He usually isn't... he's always like that." Stewart shakes his head. He can't lie about it.

Reynold is straightforward. But he's too much of a fool.

"It's ok. But are you sure you shouldn't stop that?" Onyx points at Lucia, continuing to beat Reynold like a mad man.

"He'll be fine. Don't worry about it. This is a usual occurrence for us." That's why none of the team members did anything to stop it.

...

"Oh! So you're the one who saved me. Thanks, man." Reynold shouts out.

"Thank you so much for saving me in the forest too." May was awake as well. She's still bandaged up. But with Muriel's healing and the potions Etta got back, she felt a lot better.

"You don't have to thank me."

"Alright then!" Reynold ain't going to say no to that. He asks Muriel, "Isn't there more food?" He's been out for so long that he could eat a horse.

Muriel was going to say no, but Reynold started to sniff around,

"What's that sweet smell?" His nose is that of a bloodhound as he stares at Onyx's duffle bag,

"Oh, I do have some jerky and fruit on me."

"Gimme!" Onyx doesn't mind as he hands the jerky and fruit to him. And Reynold starts scarfing it down like he's been starved for days,

Well, he did.

"So good." "Mind your manners, you fool!" Stewart shakes his head. To think we risk our lives for this kid! But more importantly, he felt embarrassed that Onyx had to look at them like this.

"We'll rest here for today. How about we go to the adventuring guild tomorrow?" Onyx nods. He didn't mind going there tomorrow. Then Stewart turns to Lucia,

"Lucia, can you go out and buy some meat? We'll be having a feast today!" Today's a great day. All of them came back alive. Of course, they have to splurge a little.

"Understood." As Lucia is about to leave, Onyx suggests,

"I'll go with you. I'll help you carry it."

"You don't have to." How could they let their savior carry their things? But Onyx shakes his head, "I want to check out this city." He plans to stay here for the foreseeable future. Of course, he would need to check it out.

"Oh." Stewart smiles, "If you want to check out the city, then Lucia is the perfect person to take you around. She knows most of the stores around."

...

"Over there, we have a bakery. It sells the best fresh bread. We always have the bakery send bread to our base for breakfast." Lucia says. She points out the shops her party would go to.

And whenever she does, Onyx will have an awed face. Seeing it, Lucia chuckles. Is this really a middle-aged man? The difference is too transparent. He was so attentive and serious when he fought with the blood kongs. But now, he looks like a 5-year-old child looking at something new for the first time in his life.

"Oh, what kind of shop is that?" Onyx points at one of them. He notices it's pretty old compared to the other ones around it.

"Oh, that one sells magic potions and magical items. Don't let appearances deceive you. That place makes more money than our party doing a month's worth of quests."

Onyx's face turns wide when he hears that. Before he can say how a sweet aroma fills his nose. He knows that smell from anywhere.

"Meat!" "What-" Surprised by his sudden shout, Lucia doesn't see Onyx in his sight anymore. He disappeared from his position.

"How much are those skewers?" Onyx reappeared in front of a skewer stall.

The smell coming from the stall is just too divine. If Onyx wasn't outside, he would've been drooling a pond full of water.

Onyx had eaten nothing but dried-up jerky and fruit for the last week. That isn't enough!

He needs meat!

"Oh, you have a good eye, pal. One skewer costs 2 copper coins."

"I'll take all the ones you cooked." Onyx doesn't need to hear anything else as he takes a gold coin.

"Customer, that's too much! I don't have enough change for you." A gold coin. The owner made a pale expression when he saw that.

"Then keep the change. I'll come here whenever I have time. Is that fine?" Hearing this, the stall owner nods,

"Sure, I don't mind." After saying that, he hands Onyx a bag full of skewers. Taking it, Onyx makes the brightest expression possible.

"Can you eat all of that?" Seeing the large bag, Lucia looks at him strangely.

"Of course. Finally, I got some good!" Onyx takes one skewer out, and the moment he bites into it, the juices burst into his mouth! It's nothing compared to the dried-up jerky he has.

It's nothing like a worn-out tire. It was juicy and tender like a marshmallow.

"So good." As Onyx chews on it, he goes into his own world. The taste was something he couldn't believe.

Is it really that good? Lucia stares at Onyx. From how he was eating, it was like he was eating a king's banquet. What's more, other people are looking at him as a weirdo.

But he can't help it. Eating the jerky for so long made him forget the taste of anything else. But he quickly snaps out of his funk. Where are my manners? He takes out another skewer and hands it to her,

"Here, try it."

"Ahh, thank you." Lucia takes it and bites into it as well, "It's delicious." The sweet and savory taste of meat fills her mouth. As Lucia eats it, she doesn't notice the people behind her.

One person bumped her, and she was about to fall down,

"Watch out." Lucia's head smacks right into something instead of hitting the ground. It's Onyx's chest.

"You alright?" Lucia looks up to see Onyx. Despite his hood still being on, she can see the handsome smile revealing under.

It's enchanting.

"Yeah. I'm fiwe." Her words slurred as she said this. Her face blushes in embarrassment, realizing what she said.

"That's good. Let's go and get the rest. Stewart and the rest must be hungry now." Hearing his words, Lucia nods. But that doesn't stop her heart from beating rapidly. But she can't say anything about it as they continue to shop.

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