Q and Cinnamon left the library and began to leave the village. As they flew out they noticed that a bunch of zombies were going in and out of houses, bringing back random items from within. “I guess she does have that right…” Q said with a pensive look. At the very least, it’s better than leaving it to the Church or even other players.
“Hmm? It seems that Clover is also leaving something for us.” Cinnamon pointed at a formation of zombies which were doing some strange dance in order to get their attention. Cinnamon floated down and some zombies stepped forward and placed some items on the ground. Then they saluted and began moving through the other houses.
The pile the zombies set on the ground consisted of random items and equipment, ranging from strange looking herbs to scrolls and books, and even some things which radiated extreme magical power. “Wow, I can’t believe she’s giving us all of this… though then again she has the highest level so it’s not like she needs equipment like this.” Q muttered as she placed the items into her inventory… or at least she tried to as Cinnamon’s arms restricted her from reaching out. Eventually the two organized the items and split them evenly, then left the village for good.
Taking one last wistful glance, Q eventually turned her head away from the village and then shook it as if to get rid of the thoughts swirling in her head. Okay Q, focus. First on the priority list: find somewhere new to go. Second: wait for Brie and Phanos to come back online and check on their status. Third: Continue the hunt for the ultimate softness… Oh wait, they’re in the wrong order. And what else… oh yeah, check the stuff Clover gave us.
(Items go here. To be updated later)
As Q looked over the items Clover gave them and pondered on what to do for the future, Cinnamon kept flying and eventually the two of them made it out of the forest. For a moment Q felt light-headed as she finally left the fog-filled forest and breathed in some fresh air. “Phew… alright Cinn, where do you think we should go next? Should we wander around? Or should we look for a town or something to go to?”
“Anywhere is fine as long as I’m with you.” Cinnamon smiled sweetly.
“Heh. Alright then, a relaxed flight through the skies it is.” Q laughed as she looked forward to where they would wind up next.
*****
“Look over there.” After half an hour of flying Q pointed at a group of adventurers up ahead who were being attacked by a large group of monsters. They were protecting a carriage, and despite them being outnumbered four to one they were holding their own very well. The only problem was… “They’re getting tired. At this rate they’ll probably be done in.”
“Shall we assist them?” Cinnamon asked.
“Sure.” Q shrugged her shoulders. If it was just a group of adventurers she didn’t really mind whether they lived or died since they would just respawn slightly weaker.
“Wonderful. I’ve been wanting to test out Glauke’s gift.”
“Oh yeah, what does his feathers do?”
“You’ll see.” Cinnamon smiled mischievously as she descended into the battlefield. The first thing she did was activate a skill which created a shimmering aura around her that caused all the monsters to focus on her. The adventurers were startled at first seeing the strange sight of Q and Cinnamon descending from the sky, but felt relief after realizing they were there to help.
While normally Cinnamon would bring out her spear to fight, her arms were occupied with Q so this time she extended her wings and flew low to the ground. She hardened her wings with a spell and began to tackle the monsters which threw them into disarray. The interesting thing was that because of the shimmering aura around her the monsters which were tackled away got right back up and began chasing her which ended up with her leading a large trail of monsters.
Once Cinnamon got all the monsters attention she abruptly turned around and landed on the ground, then extended her wings as high up to the sky as possible. Because of this Q could finally look at Cinnamon’s wings in detail, and she noticed that the primary feathers were the same color as Glaukes. The feathers then glowed and flew out of her wings. There were a total of twelve feathers in all and they moved around in the air like small daggers.
Cinnamon sent out the feathers into the group of monsters, and it turned out that they were incredibly sharp as whenever they passed by a monster it would instantly cut their skin. Adding to this was Cinnamon’s inhuman control over the feathers as they weaved freely between the monsters. Every movement made a fatal cut and disabled the monsters, if not outright killing it. In no time the monsters were completely wiped out leaving only a group of dumbfounded adventurers and a proud looking Cinnamon.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
“Damn Cinnamon! That was awesome! How hard was it to move those feathers?” Q felt genuinely impressed at the display she just witnessed.
“Thank you.” The feathers returned to Cinnamon and reinserted themselves in her wings. “If I were to describe it with human terms I would say that each feather is like moving another arm, and small movements and adjustments are like moving fingers. I think you could do it if you used your ‘ability’. Besides their strength in attacking they also provide an extra speed boost when flying. It really was a perfect gift for me.”
“Wow. Well I don’t think any other human would be able to use it like you do...” Q trailed off as the adventurers they just saved began to approach the two.
“Thank you for the assistance.” A male halfling with lavish clothing stepped forward to meet the two. For a moment his face was twisted in confusion upon seeing Q in Cinnamon’s arms, but he quickly put on a business face. “We were in a really bad spot there. If you hadn’t come by our journey might have been delayed by a few more days.” He smiled in derision, revealing a small gold-plated tooth.
“Please don’t mind.” Cinnamon put on her polite facade. “It’s the least we can do as fellow adventurers.”
“Ooooh! What an angel!” One adventurer in a black cloak said.
“Yeah, literally an angel.” An adventurer wearing a multitude of belts added.
“She’s so pretty... a goddess from the heavens?” A muscly adventurer muttered.
“Hehe. Seems like you have some fans now Cinn.” Q grinned.
“Yes… how troublesome…” Cinnamon muttered in a low voice.
“Ca- can I have your name?” The adventurer who called her a goddess asked.
“Cinturi.”
“...?” Q looked up at Cinnamon who gave out a fake name. When Cinnamon responded with a wink, Q nodded in understanding. “Hey, the name’s Qwerty. Nice to meet ya.”
“Yes, nice to meet you too. Um, is there any reason that Cinturi is holding you like that?” The muscly adventurer asked.
“Not really. She just enjoys this.” Q shrugged.
“Yes. Could I hear your names as well?” Cinnamon asked.
“Oh how rude of us! To think we forgot to introduce ourselves.” The halfling spoke. “I am Glaide, currently a travelling merchant. The one in the black cloak is Cyne, and the one wearing the belts is his brother Lyne. The big muscly man is Horke.”
“I-I’m Horke! Level 40 Barbarian!” He stuck out a hand for Cinnamon to shake, but she splendidly ignored it.
...His name sounds like someone barfing. Q thought. It suits him though. Hmm, those other two look like some sort of assassin-type class. I wonder why a merchant has escorts like these though. Shouldn’t the party be a bit more balanced? As Q continued to ponder about their situation she completely forgot to listen to Glaide who was talking about something.
“... so in essence, I’d like to hire you two as additional escorts up until we reach the capital city Hales. If you would just sign this contract here…” Glaide brought out a paper which looked normal at first, but when Q looked at it with [Mana Perception] she noticed that it was filled with mana.
“No thanks.” Q spoke up. “We don’t really need money right now, and we’re more like free-spirits so we’d rather not get bound by anything.”
“I see… that’s quite unfortunate.” Glaide smiled and put away the paper, but Q didn’t miss the slight hint of annoyance on his face. “Still, would you like to travel with us anyway? Seeing as we’re travelling to Hales and all.”
“Hmm…” Q looked up into Cinnamon’s eyes and they held a silent conversation. Glaide seems sleazy, but should we follow them anyway?
I think it would still be beneficial to follow them. Even I don’t know how to get to the capital from here, so we get some free directions.
“Alright, we’ll join you.” Q said.
“Wonderful! It’s a pleasure to be travelling with such lovely ladies.” Glaide extended his hand to Q, but in response to that Cinnamon stuck out her wing to lightly push it to the side.
“We will be travelling together, but you mind your business and we’ll mind ours.” Cinnamon said with a huff.
“O-of course.” Glaide’s face was a little cramped, but he retracted his arm and returned to his carriage. Cyne and Lyne also went back, leaving Horke to stare at Cinnamon until she pushed him lightly with her wing.
Glaide got the carriage moving and Q and Cinnamon began to fly alongside it at a leisurely speed. While they flew, Q got a message.
Yo.
Yeah. Was it that gross propaganda video? Because let me tell you, whoever uploaded that was full of it.
Hah! Yeah that’s probably my friend. Looks like she finally uploaded her video.
Cinn and I are travelling with a merchant heading for Hales.
Oh, I didn’t tell you? Cinn’s playing with me.
Heh, sorry.
Q continued to happily chat with Zeilan for a few minutes after that. Apparently noticing this, Cinnamon pouted and began to squeeze Q’s body a little tighter. Glaide drove the carriage, while Cyne and Lyne kept an eye out for any monsters. Horke continued to stare at Cinnamon with hearts in his eyes. Thus, they slowly made their way to the capital city of Hales.