Author's Note: So I've had a few people already bring up that the gender bender tag is useless or misleading, considering I killed her off in 300 words. And that's fair, but I plan to do more later on in the genre. That being said, it will probably take a bit to get there. So just keep following, or don't. I'm not a cop.
Chapter 6: Starting Over
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Gale opens his eyes to see a young woman looking down on him. Her face filled with worry as she looks down. She had blue eyes, short brown hair that goes to her chin, a fair complexion, and a small mouth.
Gale internally sighs, "Why is this world so cruel. I'm sick of dying."
The woman opens her mouth, "Hey are you going to get up or just lay there?"
"What?" Gale responds.
"I said, are you going to get up or just lay there? We don't have time to babysit you, you know." The girl furrows her eyebrows.
Stunned, Gale looks around, and notices that he's still in his 16-year-old body. He also notices 4 other people standing around him, 3 males and 1 female. All wearing various equipment denoting their jobs and classes.
"Ah sorry, I just....what happened?" He responds while slowly sitting up.
"Well you fainted. That horde of goblin riders came up to you, and when they arrived you just crumpled." The girl is trying to hold back from laughing, "The hobgoblin was so surprised he didn't know what to do, and luckily that gave us the opportunity to attack."
Gale's face grows hot, he hears the snickers coming from some of the adventurers and again looks more carefully at his surroundings.
Carnage. Beasts and goblins were strown about, with stalagmites erupting from the ground here and there protruding from the bodies of multiple monsters. Patches of charred earth and blackened bodies litter the battlefield. Arms, legs, heads, torsos, random body parts are all around.
It was evident from what took place that this party was powerful. Gale commences to examine the party more closer. The female over him is wearing white robes and has a staff in her right hand, a priestess or light mage no doubt. The other female short spiky red hair, yellow eyes, and a dark complexion. She has on tan-colored shorts over white tights with a leather jerkin over a white blouse. A rapier by her side, she stands with her arms crossed, one eyebrow raised as if evaluating him.
Of the three males, one has on a light leather armour, consisting of riveted plates of steel or iron around the chest and stomach. He also has tough leather pants and boots and a gigantic sword on his back. He has dark brown almost black straight hair that goes to his shoulder, dark brown/black eyes and a slightly tanned face. He stands off to the side keeping an eye on the surroundings.
The next male is wearing a dark green robe with a wooden staff at his side. He has a bored expression on his face, he looks youthful, Gale's age or a bit older. He has a wide-brimmed hat that comes to a point, but the point is at a 90 degree angle facing behind him due to a bend in his hat. He has bright green eyes, with light brown, short curly hair. He leans on his staff with both hands, looking disinterested in what's going on around him.
The last male is dress in black scaly armour, that seems to have been taken from some draconic beast. His helmet is in his arms, with a shield of the same material as his full body armour on his back. Between the shield and his back is the hilt of a sword. The man is handsome, with close-cropped blond hair and steel-blue eyes. He has a sharp impressive face.
The handsome man speaks, "Well we're off now, good luck."
"Wait" Gale shouts, as the party gets ready to leave, "Take me with you!"
"You don't even know where we're going, idiot." The woman with the spiky red hair says with contempt.
"Uhh...I'm trying to go to Austeria to join the adventure's guild." Gale tries to salvage the situation.
"Hmmmm...well we're going in the same direction, so it shouldn't be a big deal for you to come along, my name is Seth, the priestess is Holly, our fencer is Ruby, the warrior is Cal, and the summoner is Will." Each member of the party nods their heads when their name is called. "We'll be leaving immediately it should only take us 10 days to get to the city."
"My name is Gale, and I give my sincerest thanks for rescuing me."
Without another word, Seth dawns his helmet and turns to the west. Following his lead, the res of the party settles their equipment and starts off.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
"Hey hold on, can I take that hobgoblin's sword before we head out, it'll only take a second." Gale asks.
Nobody responds as they continue walking. Quickly, Gale runs over to the body of the hobgoblin and takes his longsword, scabbard and belt. Fastening the sword to his back he hastens over to the party to continue his journey.
5 days later.
"I've never been attacked this many times while going down this road." Ruby exclaims
The entire party is breathing hard after another encounter. While the party was powerful and capable of taking on many monsters. The frequency of attacks was something that they were not prepared for.
"Based off our current speed we won't make it to Austeria for another 8 days." Seth replies.
"I just don't get it, monsters usually stay from roads, and especially from adventurer parties." Ruby continues.
"Bah, don't worry about it. Just think of it as more experience. Besides at least we got to see what the kid was worth. I assumed he would just piss himself and pass out again." The warrior Cal laughs.
Gale is standing to the side wiping off his longsword with a piece of bloody cloth. Looking up he smiles and shrugs his shoulders. "I thought I was gonna die that time, this is a bit different." He laughs.
The party nods, they had seen how he handled himself in battle now and treated him much better than that first day. The way he calmly handled his opponents and the way he swung his sword spoke about much experience and training. The party had loosened up to him, thinking he wasn't just a fainting pile of flesh, but at least now a decent shield made of meat.
"Oh crap," Gale ponders, "It's me. I'm the one that is somehow attracting these monsters. I knew it wasn't normal to be attacked that much when I left my village."
Gale maintains his calm facade, while on the inside he worries that the party will blame him and leave him behind. At this point he knows that if they leave and if he has to travel by himself he will surely die.
"Well let's slow down." Seth proclaims, "We'll make our new target to get there in 12 days and plan that the current attack rate of our party maintains what it is now. This way we'll at least get there safely and not get burnt out and make mistakes in battle. Also we could use the experience, so let's look at this as a blessing."
And so for 11 days the party continues to fight, rest and walk. A slow methodical journey that produced many monster cores as valuable experience. In the middle of the 11th day on the horizon they see the towers of the city of Austeria.
"Finally.." The party says all at once before looking at each and laughing.
"We should make it there by tomorrow morning. We'll continue on today until the sun is about to go down and then we'll rest up until tomorrow." Seth instructs.
"Finally...finally...finally!" Gale mentally yells in excitement, "I'm almost there, I'm so close I can feel it. Just one more day. One more day!"
The following morning the party makes their way to the gates.
"At least this close to the city we didn't have to worry about monsters as much as before." Will says.
"True, but it was good to be cautious anyway." Seth replies.
"I can't wait to turn this quest in." Ruby says, "I'll be an A class adventurer at last."
The party closes in on the gate to see an armoured guards standing by. The five seasoned adventurers pull out a card from seemingly nowhere, and present it to the guard.
"You five, let's see....B class adventurer's huh. Alright you five are good to go in. You there, the one with no A.S. card, that'll be 1 silver to enter."
Reaching in his pouch, Gale pulls out a silver piece that he had looted from a monster earlier. Taking the silver piece the guard nods and lets the party through.
"The city of Austeria..." Gale breathes out his eyes filled with excitement and wonder.
The city was extravagant. Huge buildings every, overflowing with shops and restaurants and inns, and you name it. Towards the center of the city was a huge square building with the mark of a sword overlaid on a shield. Nearby was a gigantic cathedral, and in the middle the outline of towers coming from a gigantic castle could be seen.
"Woah." Gale manages to say.
"Haha, welcome to Austeria Gale. We're headed to the guild right now so just follow us mmmk?" Holly winks.
"Thanks." Gale blushes.
With that the party zig zags through the crowded streets on the way to the square building.