Part 1
-DANTHE HANNES’ POV-
“Ugh what’s all this ruckus outside?!” I asked myself outloud. My mind still half awake, half asleep. On the back of my head a soft sensation, similar to a pillow yet somewhat different...warmer. I opened my tired eyes and what greeted me was the smiling face of a cute blonde haired girl with big bright green eyes.
[Even though I rejected her she’s still here...Sasha Nicols...bah, strange woman]
“What are you still doing here, Nicols?”
“Please Hannes-san, call me Sasha”
“Ugh...I already told you. You are a sweet girl and you’ve got the looks and all but...how to say it? You are not the girl I’m looking for”
“I..understand. But that doesn’t mean I’m going back off either!”
“*sigh* Stubborn woman...Anyway, what's this noise?” I said as I stood up from the soft lap pillow and walked towards the balcony.
“A duel it seems Hannes-san” Her soft voice followed me from the back of my head as she swiftly approached my shoulders. The fresh air completely woke me up and gave new life to my lungs compared to the perfume soaked air inside the room. The orange sky triumphing over the red roofs of the dorms was a sight to behold. The mixture of soft shadows and amber rays of the dying sun were painting the garden and the people as if they were in a canvas. One group of people especially piqued my interest. A crowd of about twenty to thirty students, mostly females, were gathered around as two duelants exchanged blows.
My eyes widened in excitement as I recognized both of them. A handsome looking guy with peculiar white hair and a black haired one with an unyielding look in his blue eyes. Youm Evergard and Raphael Bluescale. The first one was the heir of a newly noble appointed family from the Hadoc Kingdom, rather known for his good looks and ability in one on one fights. The other was the renowned weakest of the first years.
“Pfft, it’s the weakest against Evergad-san. No way in heaven that he could put up a good fight! It’s sad but with how it looks so far, the best he could do would be to drop out of school...he’ll make a fool out of himself in the end-year exam” Said the girl while glancing down on the circle.
“Hmm, that’s another reason why you are not the girl I look for”
“B-bu...What?”
“Silence. Just open your eyes and see for yourself who truly is this “weakest” of yours HAHAHA”
- RAPHAEL BLUESCALE’S POV-
A flash of red light flew dangerously close to my face only to disappear as soon as it touched the barrier behind me. The timing for the casting of my “lower speed boost” spell was just right. One second later and half of my face would have been burned. I dodged to the left and started running around the border of the barrier as Youm continuously fired “fireball” at me. The precision with which he was aiming them was to be praised. If I didn’t have my speed boosted I would be a rather easy target.
In the letters his father sent to mine, he said that Youm had a slightly more than average quantity of mana. But what was considered average? I knew that thanks to the training in my early years, I developed a wide and complicated mana circuit. Knowing that, my plan was to make him tire himself and waste a lot of mana so that I could win without showing much of my powers. But apparently, after a dozen missed fireballs, he caught wind of that.
His strategy changed as he started running full speed towards me.
“Earth shield” The white hair boy screamed. In response to his shout, rocks started forming around his right arm in a diamond shield shape. His plan was to attempt a shield bash, either to corner me or bait me into dodging. I played his game. Running towards him too, I focused my mana on the supposed point of impact between us, preparing a “stone pillar”.
Right before he could bash me with his shield, I let the pillar grow, shooting me up two meters high and forcing him to smash against my pillar, almost making it fall apart. I then jumped, bending my body towards the ground and pointing both hands at him.
“Fireball” I shouted and as a result, two round balls made out of fire sprung from my palms to fly in his direction. His fast reflexes made him turn his shield upwards as soon as I finished chanting. My two spells directly hit the stone shield doing virtually no damage to it’s holder but making parts of it crumble, basically rendering the shield useless. The smoke and dust caused by the shield breaking caused my opponent to lose focus making it possible for me to finish the jump and gain some distance between us.
“Nice tricks, but I wonder...did your father exaggerated in his boasting or are you simply holding back?” Said Youm as he walked towards me cleaning the remnants of his broken shield.
“I wonder. Seems like everyone has a way too high view of me...in the end, am I not just the weakest of the academy?” A shrug of my shoulders concluded the taunting response.
“Ahhh...looks like talking is not gonna work! Then how about I tear the truth out of you with brute force!-” He screamed with his wrists connected and his palms faced me “-fire burst!”
A huge wave of hot red fire menacingly approached me as it’s range dangerously widened.
“Shit! Stone wall!”
Following my words, a wall made of stone about two meters high was created right in front of me just in time to cut the flames. “Fire burst” is the improved version of the early practitioner tier spell “flamer”, a spell that continuously throws flames out of one’s hand. It’s improved version is able to heighten the hotness of the flames, the range and power of the flames themselves, but of course it comes at a higher mana price. Nonetheless a destructive spell worth of being called a borderline advanced tier spell.
After not more than two seconds, cracks on the walls started appearing. Dodging was impossible though. Walls of flames were both at my right and my left, reaching all the way to the barrier’s borders.
“Water wave-deep rain!”
A pillar of water appeared from my up facing hand and divided itself in heavy drops of rain the size of a human head all around the field. As the drop fell, the flames partially subdued due to both the drops hitting the flames and it’s caster.
“Water wide-shield” I casted with a low voice. A rectangular shield made of flowing water, resembling a waterfall, covered the entire size of my person. Hiding behind it I was able to slip through the weakened flames. Youm was distracted and too focused on dodging the still falling water drops to notice me escaping his spell. It was now my turn to go into the offensive.
I dashed towards him from his left side, slightly increasing the quantity of mana consumed by the “lower speed boost” turning it into a borderline “medium speed boost”. Soon, before he could notice my presence, I was right under his left arm with my fist ready to sprung, his ribcage was the target.
Once again, his good reflexes made him drop the spell in time only to shield himself with his bare arms. As my knuckles hit his right forearm, moved in order to protect his ribcage, a painful expression appeared on Youm’s face. The damage was way less than what it was supposed to be if I hit my target, yet it was no damage to scoff off. His arm was probably pulsating with pain or being numb but could still be used in battle.
He jumped backwards as I continued my pursuit, throwing punches only for a couple of them to hit him, the rest were either dodged or parried.
“Fire dome-” The running opponent said. A sphere of fire covered him. A barrier type spell, rarely used due to the high temperature inside it. Knowing that I wouldn’t be able to penetrate it with just punches I slightly backed off, right in time before an unknown second phase of the “fire dome” took place “-burst!”
The dome, as fast as it was created, exploded outwards generating a fiery shockwave all around it. Little red embers hit my bare skin and clothes, slightly burning and tearing what was on their way.
As soon as I saw the shape of my enemy behind the embers, I once again went on the offensive, this time from a distance. Our places switched. If during the beginning of our duel he was staying still and shooting spells, I was now the one doing it. A barrage of “stone bullet” started flying towards my running opponent. Unlike me, Youm wasn’t using any boost, rather he was using a practitioner tier technique from the North Sword style: flash stride. By lowering his center of gravity and widening his steps, the ones who use this technique are able to gain a boost in speed and faster reflexes in case dodging is needed.
The “stone bullet” that I was firing were just normal ones. I couldn’t risk being seen manipulating spells. Because of that, my bullets were slower than usual and were all dodged, except for one that scratched his outer thigh.
“Wind schyte”
Three small scythes of wind generated from my palms and hit their target. This time it was the ground. I had to change my tactics, keep on barragin him with slow spells was doing no good. I had to create an opening for me to attack, that’s where the scythes came in handy. I purposely aimed them to the ground in front of him, still making it look like I missed. Because the wind dispersed upon hitting the ground, a sudden cloud of dust covered Youm's field of vision. To amplify the effect I casted the spell “gust” right where the dust formed. In a couple of seconds the majority of the field was covered by a brownish cloak of dust where supposedly neither of us could see the other. Silence suddenly fell.
I hid myself using my mana and a bit of natural one, in the extreme case where even Youm was able to sense others’ mana. Unlike me, he seemed unable to hide himself.
[Got you!]
I casted a “stone pillar” around five meters in front of him, making it as big and loud as possible. I knew that, because of his reflexes, he would react to it. As I expected, he rapidly shooted three consecutive “fireball” that cleared the dust in a corridor-like shape, only to unfortunately hit a solid pillar. It was too late when he realized that he’d been fooled and turned around. I was already there, waiting for him to show me his chest.
“Gale palm!” I shouted as I placed my left palm right on his breastbone.
As wind blew out of my palm, he was launched backwards many meters on his back, even making a couple of rolls in hopes to end in a favorable position to stand up.
Drool was flowing out of his mouth as he wobbled to stand up.His face and clothes covered in brown dust and teared in many places, especially a large hole in his shirt right where I cast the spell. I thought about finishing the duel right there, but the look in his eyes told me it was a bad idea. Youm had one last trick up his sleeve and I had the feeling that he wouldn’t have gone down without using it.
“Fuck you’re good! But can you withstand this?!”
As he delivered his words with a proud look, a huge quantity of mana started gathering around his arms. “A big one’s coming” I thought. Knowing that his favorite element was fire, I gave in to the excitement and impulsively challenged myself to beat his favoured element with my own.
I started gathering mana on my left hand. I had no plan regarding the spell I simply charged fully guided by instinct. As more and more mana gathered on my hand, a dark blue sphere started growing and glowing. I didn’t know what kind of spell it was but my instinct told me it was related to a storm. The dark blue colors were way too similar to the storm clouds one’s to just gloss it over.
One meter and my hand would meet his. My blood was rushing through my head, muffling my ears as all sounds around me faded in the distance. My muscles were tense and ready to spring, my heart was pumping fueled by the adrenaline and my own mana was trembling with excitement. Only then I noticed that my excitement made me blind to the truth in front of me.
The mana in Youm’s arm had completely disappeared. I could hear no sound but by the movements of his lips I could understand what he was saying:
“I yield”
I stopped on my tracks, with my feet rising a thick dust and the now fading sphere stood just about ten centimeters from hitting his chest. A dumbfounded look on my face expressed both my perplexity for his actions and the loss of excitement.
Laughing, Youm fell ass first on the ground. His legs were trembling and little trails of blood were falling where I hit him. I couldn’t understand the situation so, fully perplexed, I stood right in front of him, immobile.
“The duel has ended!-” Proclaimed the deep and loud voice of the headmaster “- the winner is Raphael Bluescale!”
At his words, chaos rose through the crowd. It was mostly divided into two factions. Those who loudly cheered, thanking me for the exciting duel and shouting my name. And those who looked dumbfounded and incredulous at the results.
Amongst the cheers and laughs, one stood out more than the rest. A loud and enthusiastic laugh came from up a balcony somewhere behind me but as I turned around, the source of that laugh was nowhere to be found.
Part 2
“So? What’s the meaning of this?” I asked with my hand stretched towards the still sitting Youm.
“What do you mean? I lost, easy as that. Shouldn’t you be happier to have bested me? You know, I was pretty popular last year haha!”
“That’s not what I’m saying and you know it!”
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
“Do I?” Said Youm with a mischievous smile as he took a peek at the crowd shouting my name.
“That last spell...You gathered that huge quantity of mana only to let it go at the last second. What were you thinking!?”
“Oh my, you noticed that I did it on purpose? As expected of you Raphael-san. It seems like I chose a good rival. As for the reason, just take a look around you. Isn’t being cheered better than being shun?”
“That is none of your concern! I don’t care if people love me or hate me! The only reason I came here is to improve myself, not to have others licking my boots and praising my name!”
“I understand but sooner or later you’d be forced to show those abilities of yours. An example would be this end-year event. With you not collecting points to reach the minimum required to pass the year you’d be forced to aim to be placed on top of the event. Plus it would be a shame if my rival was considered by the whole academy weaker than me, isn’t it?”
“...grrr fuck you and your twisted logic...I’m out!” I shouted full of anger.
Stomping my feet with an expression full of annoyance I approached the waiting headmaster. In his face a satisfied smirk displayed his clear amusement. WIthout a word he stretched his hands. In one was the bluish wand stolen from the adventurer and in the other was the suit wrapped in a soft paper-like cloth. I took my prizes from his hands and made a slight bow as a sign of respect.
“Are you not happy with your win?” Asked the headmaster, trying to control his smirk.
“Why bother asking a question if you already know the answer?” I replied scornfully.
I didn’t wait for a reply. I had no intention of making any kind of conversation at the moment. I turned around and walked towards the entrance of the dorm where Lucas was waiting for me.
“Will you show me other duels as interesting as this...Bluescale-kun?” Said the sly old man high enough for only me to hear. A compliment from the headmaster...anyone would have been elated to hear it. Yet there was something else behind those words. A challenge.
I ignored those words and speeded up my steps. As I walked away from the middle, the crowd surrounding us started to make a passage for me and Lucas to go through. I could spot Sora in the midst of that but as our eyes met she suddenly dropped her head down. I didn’t know for what reason she did that but little did it matter at that time.
In only a couple of hours from the end of our duel, rumors started to spread around. I could hear boys and girls in the gardens under the dorm talking about the duel. “The weakest beated a second year” was the most common phrase going around that evening.
To get over the frustration I stuffed myself with food as I listened to Lucas rant about how easy it would have been for him to beat me if he had a sword.
Part 3
As always, the atmosphere inside the guild was warm and charming. Adventurers discussing, playing cards and eating. The usual bard was nowhere to be seen. He wasn’t that much talented but his music alway soothed the night’s mood. It had been exactly a week ever since the duel with Youm.
The usual peaceful lunch in the cafeteria became the site of a unilateral cold war. Even though I was happy that Youm was finally back at school, I couldn’t forgive him for tricking me into exposing myself. My lunches suddenly became much faster and silent. The one who seemed to suffer the most was Sora, who kept trying to make peace between me and Youm. From what Lucas told me, she thought of herself as responsible for this situation. She was the one who sent Youm letters about me and my situation, leading to him coming up with the idea of tricking me.
That saturday night me and Lucas decided to eat out at the guild’s tavern, to get rid of some of that pent up stress. Furthermore we had just finished a quest so it was time for us to get our pay, two birds with one stone.
“Should we have a look at some other quests?” Asked Lucas as soon as we got our money from Claire.
“If there’s one fast enough for tomorrow I guess we could”
The pieces of paper qitht he quests written on them fixed on the board were many. There were extermination of goblins near the villages on the east, requests for goods such as medicinal plants, valuable fishes and animals, escort quests and various easy requests to do in the city.
“Uhh this one’s brand new!-” Said Lucas after five mintes of searching through the papers “- Ha! It’s even coming from our school! What do you think Raph?”
“Mhh first of all let’s sit...My stomach's been screaming at me for the past hour!...Sorry miss, could we please order?”
“Yes sir, coming right up!” Said the cute wolf-girl serving some tables. It was very common to see beastmen around the city, yet I couldn’t restrain myself from admiring their interesting features. Her stiff brown ears and fluffy tail...I could never get tired of seeing them wagging as she skilfully walked around the tables serving the clients.
“Soo what would you like to order today?”
“Mhh I’ll take a steak menu with water, you Lucas?”
“Same for me too”
“Ok, two steak menus with water. As for the meat today we have beef and pork for the usual price or you could try some Seabull meat, but that’ll cost you extra”
“Beef for me” I said.
“I’ll pick pork then” Continued Lucas.
“Perfect, then the total is 24 copper coins please...thank you, I’ll be right back!”
It didn’t take much for the food to be ready. The guild’s tavern didn’t shine for the food’s quality but simply because it was fast, practical and relatively cheap.
“So, about the quest Raph?”
“Let me see...mhh an escort mission. Objective: the Blackened hills, it’s not that far, three hours by horse. We just have to be the guards for this Astar, and the pay’s not even bad. How do you feel about it, should we take it?”
“Yeah, it’s easy money...though there’s something troubling me. As soon as we left the counter, this bearded man put up the request and left...it sounds, mmh, shady?”
“If you don’t wanna do it that’s fine, we’ll just look for another quest”
“No no no, let’s take it..just, remember to keep your guard high”
“Haha yessir!”
As we leisurely talked about this and that, the tavern started to fill up all it’s tables and people from every age and race started to party and drink rather loudly. In a moment, when me and my brother were immersed in our conversation, the whole tavern started to shout the same word “story!”. In the middle of those shouting adventurers, sitting on a makeshift stage, was an old man with silver grey hair, prominent cheekbones and wrinkled skin.
“So be it! A story it is!” Said the old man with a charming yet husky voice. The wide sleeves of his long black gown waved like wings as he moved his arms to silence the rowdy crowd.
“A story from the Heroes would be very well accepted, but many of you already know much of them. Instead, I’ll tell all of you brave adventurers the story of a beast. One that’s still clouded in mystery to this day.-” Murmurs from the crowd showed their excitement, just like kids waiting for a bedtime story, all the adventurers were waiting for the old man to speak his words.
“- It is a story that goes back hundreds of years, not much later after the Heroes took the seats of Heaven. The world had just achieved peace after the long fought war, soldiers were treating their wounds, families were reuniting and kings were shaking hands between them. Changes were brought on those lands with the new rulers of the sky, some good some bad one might say, but it is not the role of us mortals to judge the work of the Gods. One of those changes came under the form of beasts. Beware, I’m not talking of the boar or the bear...I’m talking about monsters with the power to flatten a mountain and drain a lake, monsters hidden by the old Gods that broke free as the chance rose and others who were created by the Gods themselves. One of those monsters is the one this story focuses on...the Leviathan!-” The old man’s blue eyes glared at the people around him. His expression heavy with suspense.
“- Legends says it started roaming those lands right after the ascension of the Heroes and acted as the will of the Gods. The same legends that praise its might also hide a different meaning: fear. If the sun turns black and night falls during the day, hide and pray the Gods to spare you, for the Leviathan is upon your heads!”
“But what does it look like, gramps, this Leviathan?”
“Mhhh...it’s appearance is uncertain. Some describe it as a huge serpent, others as a dragon but the most common description is that of an enormous whale, the size of a small city, with eagle-like wings carrying a huge grey castle on it’s back. That castle is said to be the future residence of the Gods for when they’ll grace us with their presence once again.
As for why one should hide and pray is to be connected with the Leviathan’s title: the Gods’ Wrath. It’s only goal is to carry the will of the Gods, be it either to vanquish evil or reshape the lands, the Leviathan does so without asking. Because of this destructive nature of his many adventurers and kingdoms tried to end it. They all failed. Not one man has ever come back after facing the Wrath. Be it for glory, for self-satisfaction or for money, many valiant lives were claimed by that flying beat...and not a trace of their bodies were found.
To this day, the Leviathan is still roaming the skies above us, free to rain the Gods’ judgement upon the lands as he sees fit. May those words be of a warning for you all, lads who so eagerly stake their lives for fame and gold. There are beings far above our understanding, legendary beats of a past now forgotten, who are only remembered through the words of us elders. You’d do well to think twice before angering one. That is if you value your life!”
A cold silence fell through the tavern. Only the sound of clothes moving and mugs hitting the wooden tables could be heard. Yet this silence only lasted mere seconds. Suddenly there were people laughing saying how crazy the old man was, others who simply got back to their business and those who got pissed off and left the place. Before I could even realize it, the old man was nowhere to be seen.
Part 4
“Are you sure this is the place Lucas?”
“Well, the quest paper says so. Let’s at least try and see if there really is someone”
Following the direction given us by the quest, we went to a specific zone of the academy, in the far back, far away from everything else. In this zone students could spend points to rent one of the rooms in this huge dark grey building. Three floors of pure solid dark grey bricks, as if it was built to withstand criminals. The windows were scarce and the garden outside the building looked as if no one tended to it for years. We had no idea what people used these rooms for so we asked around before going in. Turns out it was literally everything. From storage rooms to laboratories, from their pet rooms to some kind of love nest...people were using those rooms for whatever purpose they had in mind and apparently no one would say anything about it. That is if you kept paying.
“Where are we supposed to go?” I asked reluctant.
“Room N.17, ground floor”
“Ughh let’s just get to it..the faster we do this the better”
Just as I expected, the inside of this grey building was not much better than the outside. If not for doors and windows one would think it was an empty labyrinth. The corridors made no sense at all, with some of them only lasting a couple of meters while others went all around the floor. It felt like some rooms were only wide enough to fit a single bed while others seemed as big as a dorm room. Then, in the far corner of the floor, we finally found room N.17. A black door was in front of us, supposedly made out of reinforced wood, for some reason different from the other doors which were just plain brown wooden doors. I knocked heavy enough for it to make a deep and loud sound. Noises of things breaking and falling came from inside the room. Instinctively, me and Lucas prepared for the worst; he with his hand on the hilt of the sword and me with mana gathered on my hands.
“One *cough* moment please. I’ll *cough* come right away!” Shouted a slow and hoarse voice as if the person speaking had just smoked a whole pack of cigarettes in one go.
There was another round of stumbling noises and things thrown, this time spiced up by the voice cursing for not finding something. When the noises finally ceased, the doorknock started turning, accompanied by the sound of locks being opened. Only then the face of the man who we would escort appeared.
“Ohh...greetings *cough*. I’m sorry for the delay but *cough* I couldn't find my pants!”
“Oh well, no problem I guess...Are you perhaps Astar-san?”
“Mh? Oh yes yes,my name, you are right. I go by the *cough* name of Legis Jackal Astar. But do I know you?”
The man in front of us was clearly older than us, about sixteen or seventeen, yet he wasn’t much taller than me. He was rather skinny with a poor complexion that almost looked pale, as if he wasn’t used to leaving his room. He had a beautiful shade of deep green hair that fell straight onto his face, the majority of them hidden by a black and blue flabby bucket hat. Under his green bangs were a pair of dazed light green eyes, the white of them couldn’t even be seen, it became mostly red with capillaries, under them a pair of bright red bags made him look like he didn't get an ounce of sleep in days. To complete the look on his face, he wore a wild goatee on his chin.
His clothes were not much better. A long white lab coat with various patches of different colours gave him the classical look of a mad scientist. Under it he wore a shabby black turtleneck shirt and a pair of baggy brown pants...he had no shoes.
“We are here for the escort quest-” I said as I showed the paper from the guild “- I’m Raphael Bluescale and he’s my brother Lucas”
“Raphael...Raphael...Ahhh! *cough* You are that “weakest” guy who beat Evergard….oh wait *cough* maybe I’ve been offensive...forgive me”
“No offense taken...so about the quest?”
“Yes?” He asked perplexed.
“Do you intend to tell us the details or is it going to be a surprise?” I asked. My tone of voice let out some of my annoyance for the guy who clearly looked out of his mind right now.
“Oh yes yes, the quest, right...I didn’t expect anyone to actually pick it up so I didn’t clean my lab so..please excuse my chaos” The gestures of his hands implied an invitation for us to enter.
The room was way more chaotic than I could ever think, not even in my wildest dream I could have thought of ever seeing something like that. The room itself was wide enough to fit two long metallic tables in the middle of the room with about one meter dividing them. On top of them were vials, ampoules, cauldrons and pots full of liquids of various different colours exhaling fumes of that same colour, creating a cloud of a deep red colour that stayed in place as the roof of the room. Broken glasses, stains, clothes and cloths were scattered all around the floor like they would in the room of a messy kid. On the walls were wardrobes and shelves full of glass bottles, rocks, strange plants and even some monster parts such as goblin ears, teeth, and furs. The only sources of light were a dirty window in the back of the room and a dim candle lantern. Only after looking at the situation his room was in I came to a realization.
[This guy’s not out of his mind….he’s just high as a damn bird!]
“Do you want some tea?” He asked as he messily searched through some shelves.
“No thanks, I’m fine”
“Yeah, I’m good too, thanks”
“Oh, what a shame...I just finished brewing some from some herbs I found in the nearby forest-”
[I wonder what kind of herbs did this guy found...wait first of all, are drugs really a thing in this world too?]
“- About the quest, what would you like to know?”
“Informations that are not written on the sheet-” Lucas answered “- for example for what reason are we escorting you? What are you looking for in the “Blackened hills”? Are you going to provide the horses?”
“Ohh it’s that. I thought you were going to ask me about the money! Mhh, yes I will provide the horse but I only have two rented so you’ll have to ride together. I have to go to the “Blackened hills” because only there I can find the purest “black earth stones” in the zone. Buying them is way too expensive and I don’t have that much. Lastly, I need to be escorted because I really can’t fight...While I know some attack spells, I have literally zero talent for fights. I specialize in utility magic. Does that sufficiently explain?”
“Yes, I think we can accept those conditions. About the pay...you wrote on the paper that the pay will be “adequate”...what does that mean? Numerically speaking”
“I thought only one adventurer would be accompanying me so I only thought about giving him one silver coin...but if you are two I don’t know if that will suffice”
“It certainly will, don't worry!” Said Lucas with the usual face he makes when he is about to get paid.
“Ohhh awesome! I’m glad I could hire kind people like you...even though I am worried about your abilities...you are one year behind me so-”
“Don’t worry about our abilities-” Interrupted him Lucas with a wide smile on his face “- we are way more capable than we look!”
“Suppose I’ll trust your words. The guild wouldn’t have permitted you to accept this quest if it wasn’t out of your league….then, should we depart?”
“Like, right now?” Me and Lucas asked perplexed.
“Yes..I can’t wait to have my hands on that stone HAHAHA!”