[ Chapter 15 ] Fer

The group leaves the room, walking towards the next room to register.

[ Anathea ] ¨To think you're yellow Gilden…¨

[ Hearts ] ¨No wonder we lost to you when we fought earlie-¨

Gilden flicks Hearts head.

[ Hearts ] ¨Ow! Hey!¨

Hearts made an annoyed tone when he flinched back.

[ Gilden ] ¨Don´t bring that up!¨

[ Ceres ] ¨You guys fought?¨

[ Gilden ] ¨Yes we did… when we meet… because uhh… I thought they were enemies but they weren´t.¨

[ Anathea ] ¨I have a question to ask Ragna.¨

[ Ragna ] ¨Oh, what is the question?¨

[ Anathea ] ¨Do you know of the adventurer… Fer Uni?¨

[ Ragna ] ¨Fer huh…? If I remember correctly he did register as an adventurer, but aside from that, I don´t know much about him."

They reach the next room, Ceres opens the door and takes Gilden in.

[ Ceres ] ¨You will need to fill out your information. You two can wait outside.¨

Ragna, Ceres, and Gilden go into the room.

Hearts sighs at the sight.

[ Hearts ] ¨Well… what shall we do now?”

[ Anathea ] “It shouldn’t take long, let’s just wait here.”

They both wait there for a bit. As they wait Hearts seems to fidget and become restless.

[ Hearts ] “Uhhh! I’m bored! Let’s find a job that we’ll do next. I can’t just stand here.”

[ Anathea ] “Yeah, sure. Let’s go.”

Hearts movement brightens as they walk back into the main room of the guild. They open the door, walking to the quest board.

[ Hearts ] “I wonder what mission we could do next?”

[ Anathea ] “Let's see here…”

As they turn to look at the board, they see a similar figure. It was Fer Uni standing in front of it, analyzing it.

[ Fer ] “Treants… I’ll take on that one.”

Hearts waves to Fer, her voice raising in volume.

[ Hearts ] “Hey Fer! Watcha doing?”

Fer turns over to Hearts, his face sour at Hearts. Hearts move her body with confusion.

[ Hearts ] “Geh?!?”

[ Fer [ “We’re not that close.”

Hearts flares out her arms in confusion.

[ Hearts ] “Ehh?! Nande? You fought with us?”

[ Fer ] “I did it on my own accord.”

Hearts pout at Fer, turning her face away.

[ Hearts ] “But you didn’t need to be mean! Hmph!!!”

Fer sighs, and then his tone becomes a bit softer.

[ Fer ] “Fine, sorry. What do you guys want?”

[ Anathea ] “We came to find our next mission.”

[ Fer ] ¨I´ve already found my mission. I´ll be leaving now.¨

[ Hearts ] ¨Leaving so soon? That´s no fun. Let me take a look.¨

Hearts get close to Fer, leaning close in to look at the paper showing the information of treants.

[ Fer ] ¨Hey-!¨

[ Hearts ] ¨Hmmm~? Treants huh…¨

[ Fer ] ¨Why so close…?¨

Hearts stands up right looking at Fer.

[ Hearts ] ¨Why don´t we join you?¨

[ Fer ] ¨Join me… No, I wanna do it alone.¨

Anathea chimes into the conversation.

[ Anathea ] ¨It says recommended 3 people for it to be safer. I feel like we should. It would be three in total.¨

Fer seems to get visibly annoyed a bit.

[ Fer ] ¨I already said I´m doing it alone. I don´t need help.¨

The door where Hearts and Ana came from opens again. Ceres, Ragna, and Gilden come out. Gilden darts his eyes to Fer and the two.

[ Gilden ] “Oh, he’s here.”

Ragna turns his head towards Fer.

[ Ragna ] “Oh, look who’s here.”

The three of them walk to Fer.

[ Ragna ] “What’s going on here.”

[ Fer ] “Nothing, I’m just deciding my next mission.”

Ragna looks at the paper Fer grabbed.

[ Ragna ] “Treants… then why are you two here with him.”

Ragna looks at Ana and Hearts.

[ Anathea ] “We just happened to meet him here. We also wanted to look for our next mission.”

[ Fer ] “Ceres?”

[ Ceres ] “What is it?”

Fer shows the paper to Ceres.

[ Fer ] “I’m taking this job alone.”

[ Ceres ] “Alone…? If that is what you wish you can. But it is recommended for another two members.”

[ Fer ] “Alone.”

[ Ceres ] “Alright… Here, let me submit the job.”

Fer hands the paper to Ceres.

[ Ragna ] “Before that!”

Ragna looks at Hearts and Ana, then looks to Fer.

[ Fer ] “What?”

[ Ragna ] “Hmm… I’m making you a deal here Fer.”

Fer looks at Ragna in confusion.

[ Fer ] “A deal...?”

[ Ragna ] “Yes, that's right. Suppose you take those two with you on this mission. I’ll give you extra earnings.”

[ Fer ] “What if I decline?”

[ Ragna ] “You are very inclined to decline.”

[ Fer ] “Then I’ll do it myse-”

[ Ragna ] “However!”

Ragna looks at Fer with a smug face slowly forming.

[ Ragna ] “I’m sure it wouldn’t look good on you to decline a deal from the guild owner… especially to someone… higher up.”

An anger vein appears on Fer´s head.

[ Fer ] ¨Oh… that´s how it is huh… fine then. I´ll accept it.¨

Fer turns to both Hearts and Fer, pointing at them.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

[ Fer ] ¨You two better not mess around!¨

[ Hearts ] ¨Don´t worry, we got this!¨

Fer walks towards the exit of the guild, Hearts following. Anathea waits behind next to rhe other three.

[ Anathea ] ¨If you don´t mind me asking… who is this… higher-up person you were talking about?¨

[ Ragna ] ¨This higher person I was talking about is someone who only relates to him.¨

[ Anathea ] ¨So… it is a person important to him… that´s why you brought it up?¨

Ragna nods at Ana.

[ Ragna ] ¨Yes, yes it was.”

[ Anathea ] “Do you know his name or who he is.”

[ Ragna ] “Almost everyone in this city knows him.”

[ Anathea ] “Who is he?”

[ Ragna ] “He’s known as the Terra’s Savant, a knight working for the king and city.”

[ Anathea ] “Oh… I had forgotten that this city had a King. What is his name?”

[ Ragna ] “The King of city Straya is Caesar Erwing.”

[ Anathea ] “So… who is this person to Fer?”

Ragna pats Ana’s head.

[ Ragna ] “Be around him enough… and you’ll learn who it is.”

Fer reaches the exit of the guild, he turns back to Ana.

[ Fer ] “You coming or what?”

Ana turns to Fer in confusion, she points at Ceres.

[ Anathea ] “She didn’t even submit it yet.”

Hearts giggles at Fer.

[ Fer ] “S- Shut Up!”

[ Hearts ] “I can’t help it.”

Ceres laughs a bit, going to the counter.

[ Ceres ] “I´ll get it done.¨

Ceres takes a stamp from the counter and stamps the paper. Ceres takes the paper and shows it to Fer, smiling at him.

[ Ceres ] ¨May you return safely!¨

Fer takes the paper rolling it up.

[ Fer ] ¨Let´s get this done already. Let´s go.¨

Fer leaves towards the exit.

[ Ceres ] ¨Safe returns!¨

Hearts follows after Fer.

[ Fer ] ¨Why such a hurry?¨

Anathea follows soon but turns around back to Gilden.

[ Anathea ] ¨What are you doing next?¨

[ Gilden ] ¨I´m not sure…¨

Gilden looks at the quest board.

[ Gilden ] ¨Save at cat… huh… that one. I´ll do that one.¨

Gilden walks to the board taking the paper off the quest board.

[ Gilden ] ¨Missing cat… return to owner, the reward is 5 bronze coins… Yeah, I´ll do this one.¨

Anathea leans to look at the paper

[ Anathea ] ¨Hmm?¨

Ana stands back up straight looking at Gilden.

[ Anathea ] ¨Starting small huh… but it works.¨

Fer reaches the exit of the guild.

[ Fer ] ¨You coming or what elf?¨

Ana walks towards Fer, her tone a bit higher.

[ Anathea ] ¨Coming!¨

As Ana goes towards Fer, she turns and waves to the three.

[ Anathea ] ¨Later!¨

Anathea jogs over to Fer and Hearts.

[ Fer ] ¨Let´s get this done with.¨

[ Hearts ] ¨Why need to rush? We can take our time.¨

[ Fer ] ¨I want to get it done quick.¨

Fer opens the door leaving the guild with Fer and Hearts following around. They walk towards the city gates of Straya.

[ Anathea ] ¨Hey Fer?¨

[ Fer ] ¨What?¨

[ Anathea ] ¨Where are we going exactly?¨

[ Fer ] ¨We´re hunting treants, from the information given. The location is Terr Swamp. It´s located West of Straya. Head towards the lands of Thuafin, the country of the dwarfs, and the town of Garn.¨

[ Hearts ] ¨Terr swamp huh.. That´s pretty far.¨

[ Anathea ] ¨How long will it take to reach there?¨

[ Fer ] ¨On foot… it would be a around a 2-day walk.¨

[ Anathea ] ¨Two days!?¨ In her mind, ¨I won´t get my money before I return.¨

[ Hearts ] ¨I say it´s fine on foot, we could get to know each other.¨

[ Fer ] ¨Doesn´t matter to me. As long as we get the job done.¨

They reach the city gates and walk out of the city, walking with the path toward the West, following the plain path toward forests and mountains.

[ Fer ] ¨Let´s keep our pace high, I want to reach there quicker.¨

Fer walks fast along the path, leaving Hearts and Ana following behind.

[ Hearts ] ¨Geez… what with him. He´s so staid.¨

Hearts slump her body, leaning her arms forward in boredom.

{ Hearts ] ¨Bor! Ing!¨

[ Anathea ] ¨Let´s just go catch up with him.¨

[ Hearts ] ¨Fine.¨

The group travels further toward their destination, walking through forest terrains. As night strikes the three of them set up a camp to rest the night, They all sit there near a made fire, in silence as the moon is prominent above them. Hearts decides to break the silence.

[ Hearts ] ¨Augh! This is so boring! Why aren´t we talking!?¨

[ Fer ] ¨What´s there to talk about?¨

[ Hearts ] ¨I don't know! But we can´t stay like this if we´re teammates.¨

[ Fer ] ¨I didn´t want to join you guys, I only did it because he made a deal with me.¨

[ Hearts ] ¨Well that´s harsh… still, it´s better if we get to know each other.¨

[ Fer ] ¨It´s not like we´re gonna be teammates after this anyways.¨

Hearts start to get visibly annoyed at Fer´s perception.

[ Hearts ] ¨That doesn´t make it so we don´t!¨

Anathea chimes in a soft voice and attitude.

[ Anathea ] ¨Say Fer… would you mind telling us about yourself? I´m sure it won´t cause any harm right? Even a little, we´ll be able to get along better.¨

[ Fer ] ¨I don´t want to.¨

Anathea makes a small frown at Fer.

[ Anathea ] ¨That´s fine… even if you don´t let me tell you about myself.¨

Anathea fixes her sitting position.

[ Anathea ] ¨I´m staring from the beginning; My name is Anathea Choju, I am an Elf from the elven land of Kathin. I came over to the human country to build better bonds and relationships due to an elf not making any major contact in a long time.¨

Fer stays silent from Ana´s response.

[ Hearts ] ¨Okay, how about mine? I am Hearts Blue, I was an orphan who was taken by my caretaker, who I call Grandpa. But his name is Donny Lee. He taught me martial arts and was the one who guided who I am.¨

Fer stays silent, not answering or talking to either of them.

[ Hearts ] ¨No answer huh…?¨

[ Anathea ] ¨It´s getting pretty late now.¨

Hearts looked at the sky.

[ Hearts ] ¨Yeah, we should probably get some shut-eye.¨

Anathea and Hearts go to their tent about to enter.

[ Fer ] ¨I don´t have a father…¨

Hearts and Ana turn back to Fer.

[ Fer ] ¨I was raised by my single mother and have an older brother. We are five years apart. My mother… worked most of the day to get enough money for us. So, it was mostly just my brother and I together. That´s a bit about myself.¨

[ Anathea ] In her mind ¨Brother…? Is that the person Ragna means?¨

Hearts smiles and puffs her shoulder at Fer.

[ Hearts ] ¨See! What it that hard?¨

[ Fer ] ¨You know what wasn´t hard?¨

[ Hearts ] ¨What?¨

Fer points at Hearts.

[ Fer ] ¨Walking past a lizard.¨

Hearts jump in shock and make a horror-struck face.

[ Hearts ] ¨Geh!!?¨

Flashback to a couple of hours ago, Fer and Anathea were in front of Hearts. They were walking when suddenly an iguana walked onto the road, between them. Hearts jump with horror and screaming.

[ Hearts ] ¨GYAHHHHHHH! IT¨S A LIZARD! I HATE LIZARDS!¨

Hearts start to tear up and back away from the iguana. The iguana just stood there, between them.

[ Fer ] ¨Just walk past it, it won´t hurt you. Iguanas aren´t hostile to what I know.¨

Hearts stood there, taking the information. With a loud burst, Heart's voice became high and deafening. She was shaking her head and hands no.

[ Hearts ] ¨YADA!¨

(Author´s Note: Japanese for ¨No¨ or ¨No Way¨)

[ Hearts ] ¨Yada, Yada, Yada, Yada, Yada, Yada, Yada!!!!!!!¨

(Author´s Note: I like adding Japanese words if you didn´t know.)

[ Anathea ] ¨Calm down Hearts. Just walk past it… it won´t hurt you or anything!¨

[ Hearts ] ¨No Way! I´m not doing that! Look at it! It´s just staring at me!¨

[ Fer ] ¨Just… walk over here. It won´t hurt you. It´s only staring at you because it thinks you´re a predator to it.¨

[ Hearts ] ¨It won´t… right?¨

[ Fer ] ¨Yes.¨

Hearts begin to walk slowly from the side of the iguana, her eyes filled with tiny tears. The iguana slowly turned to Hearts as she was to the side.

[ Hearts ] ¨Heh…?¨

The iguana stood there for a moment, then it slowly began to move and jump at Hearts.

[ Hearts ] ¨EYAHHHHHHHH!!!¨

Back to the present, Hearts was tearing up looking away from Fer from the memory. Anathea was laughing in the back.

[ Hearts ] ¨That was terrifying! I hate lizards! I can´t stand how they look or move!¨

Fer begins to laugh a bit.

[ Fer ] ¨Why are you so scared of lizards anyway?¨

[ Hearts ] ¨When I was maybe around 7, I was playing around outside when I spotted a tiny lizard. I crouched next to it to see what it was, then when I was poking it. It jumped on my face! I can´t stand lizards!¨

Fer and Ana both laugh as Hearts has a dejected face.

[ Anathea ] ¨Lizards aren´t that bad Hearts. Besides they aren´t hostile.¨

Fer turns to Anathea.

[ Fer ] ¨You´re making seem like you´re better?

[ Anathea ] ¨Huh?¨

Fer makes a smug face at Ana.

[ Fer ] ¨You couldn´t even handle a spider on your arm.¨

Anathea´s eye turns blank as she recalls the memory of a couple of hours ago when they were walking through a forest. As they walked through the forest, Anathea was behind Hearts when a tiny spider jumped on Anathea´s arm. Anathea looked at her arm and saw the spider, causing her body to go rigid as she stopped moving.

[ Anathea ] ¨Guys…¨

Hearts and Fer turned around at Ana. Anathea held her arm out to the side like she was keeping it away from her. Anathea pointed at the spider as tiny tears began to form in her eyes.

[ Anathea ] ¨Please… get this… thing away from me…¨

Fer looks at Ana with a frivolous face

[ Fer ] ¨Hah..? Look at how tiny it is, just flick it off.¨

Anathea shakes her head from side to side multiple times.

[ Anathea ] ¨I can´t move much… please… I don´t wanna be left alone with this thing. I hate spiders.¨

[ Hearts ] ¨Ana… it´s so small, just blow it off or something.¨

[ Anathea ] ¨I´lll try…¨

Anathea began to shake her arm up and down fast multiple times, keeping her eyes closed. After she stopped, and slowly began opening her eyes.

[ Anathea ] ¨Is it… gone-?¨

The spider was gone from her arm. Anathea felt a pressure release from her chest.

[ Anathea ] ¨Oh thank the blessing of Kathin it´s gone-¨

The spider slowly lowered itself in front of Anathea´s face, hanging from its web dangling from Ana´s hat.

[ Anathea ] ¨YAHHHHHH!!!!!!¨

Anathea throws her hat to the floor as she backs up. Fer face palms at the sight. Anathea sees the spider slowly crawl back onto her hat. Ana puts her hands together like she´s praying.

[ Anathea ] ¨I pray you well my oh well hat, we must separate now. I hope you don´t miss me.¨

Fer and Hearts take in the sight.

[ Fer ] ¨Is she serious…?¨

Fer walks over to Ana´s hat on the ground, he squats down and looks at the spider. He extends his arm and flicks the spider away.

[ Fer ] ¨Was it that hard?¨

Anathea looks at Fer, grabbing her hat.

[ Anathea ] ¨T-thank you Fer… I didn´t want to leave my hat… Let me dust my hat off.

Anathea walks toward the side.

[ Fer ] ¨You´re walking to more spiders.¨

Anathea turned as she stood right in front of a spider web with a giant spider in the middle. Anathea just stood there, she slowly began to fall like a rock. When she landed she was pale and had a tiny ghost coming from her mouth.

[ Fer and Hearts ] ¨Did she just knocked out?

Back ot the present, Anathea was hiding her face with her hat from Fer.

[ Anathea ] ¨It was scary… I don´t like spiders…¨

[ Hearts ] ¨Oh yeah, you´re not any better!¨

Flashback, As they were walking up a hill in a forest. Fer led the two.

[ Fer ] ¨This way-.¨

Fer´s foot hit a tree root.

[ Fer ] ¨Ah.¨

Fer´s body fell to the ground like a wood plank. Back to the present, Fer crosses his arms.

[ Fer ] ¨I had to look at you guys, I had an excuse.¨

[ Hearts ] ¨But how you fell was so funny.¨

Fer starts to get slightly annoyed.

[ Fer ] ¨S- shut up. I couldn´t stop that from happening.¨

Hearts continue to tease Fer.

[ Hearts ] ¨It was so funny!¨

Fer snaps quietly, as he slowly begins to make a figure with his wood Will. Fer points over to nothing.

[ Fer ] ¨Hey Hearts, look over there.¨

Hearts turn to where he pointed.

[ Hearts ] ¨Huh?¨

Fer then put the figure he made on Heart's shoulders, the wood figurine he made was a lizard. Hearts turn screaming and jumping away.

[ Hearts ] ¨EYAH!¨

Fer sits down laughing at what he did, and Ana chuckles also.

[ Fer ] ¨Hahaha, that was funny.¨

Hearts points to Hearts with a pouty face.

[ Hearts ] ¨You´re so mean!¨

Anathea finishes chuckling, then turns to Fer.

[ Anathea ] ¨See Fer? We had a good laugh when we started talking, I´m sure we got to know each other better. Was it so bad sharing?¨

[ Fer ] ¨I guess you´re right… maybe this wasn´t so bad after all.¨

Fer looks at the moon.

[ Fer ] ¨We guys should get to bed. We need energy for the hunting, we are almost at the location.¨

Anathea nods at Fer.

[ Anathea ] ¨Yeah.¨

Anathea goes into her tent, puts her staff down next, laying down to sleep.

[ Fer ] ¨You too Hearts, I´ll watch for a while.¨

Hearts scratches her then nods.

[ Hearts ] ¨Alright.¨

Hearts head towards her tent, going in.

[ Hearts ] ¨Make sure to get some sleep too Fer.¨

Fer nods.

[ Fer ] ¨Don´t worry, I will.¨

Hearts closes her tent.

[ Hearts ] ¨Goodnight Fer.¨

[ Fer ] ¨Night.¨

Fer looks at the moon and then at the fire, slowly smiling.

[ Fer ] ¨I guess they aren´t so bad.¨