章 5: Lap Pillow and A New Member
It's been two months since we formed our party. We took wild beasts subjugation quests together at least once every three days and any other quests in between. Even with all those wild beasts, I only leveled up once. As I thought, monsters are better for leveling. On top of being dangerous, you can't easily find monsters far from Mount Xyth. That's why monster subjugation quests require travelling near Mount Xyth and it's located at a kingdom far from here.
Aelee should've saved enough money for an inn lodging but, why is it that she still wanted to sleep at the same bed?
I said that but, I'm not complaining.
Not even a little bit.
*****
Today we took a subjugation quest. The request is fanged-molebit extermination, a rank Gold-III quest. We could've taken a rank Gold-I subjugation quest but, I'm still too weak for the wild beasts—not to mentions monsters—on that rank.
The request came from a nearby village at the south of Luminus town. Apparently, one morning, they woke with their crops destroyed. The same thing happened to other villager's crops on the next two days. This made the Village Chief extremely worried that this might affect their livelihoods if this goes on, so he decided to put up a request at Luminus' adventurer guild.
Right now, we're fighting far from the village. The Village Chief told us the direction where the fanged-molebit always fled after eating their crops, so we intercepted them.
"Greo! Below you!"
Following Aelee's warning, I hastily leaped backward. This causes the wild fanged-molebit that emerged underground to miss its claw attack. Fanged-molebit is wild beast that has a combination of a mole and rabbit with long and sharp fangs. Their size and appearance is that of a normal rabbit but, its forelegs were replaced with mole's claw.
Wild beasts are those creatures that has a combined appearance of an animal to animal, plant to plant, or plant to animal. Not just their appearance, this includes their characteristics too. Just like animals and plants, wild beasts have edible parts and parts that could be sold as a material. If a wild beast is detected to possess a magic crystal—replacing their heart—they will be considered a monster. Monsters has different mana flow compared to wild beasts and animals after all.
"These guys are fast!" I grumbled.
On top of being nimble, they can dig holes and attack us from underground. We've been at it since an hour ago. And since I can keep up with their movements above ground, I made Aelee go to a higher ground located behind my back to track their movements below ground. After all, every mage and higher mage class can detect mana. It's not like other classes can't, it's just that mage's mana detection has higher accuracy.
"On your left! It's aiming for your head!" Aelee alerted.
Just because I can keep up with their movements doesn't mean that I can hit them. But—"Gotcha!" With Aelee's word, I turned to my left and met the fanged-molebit's eyes. Its face showed a surprised expression, I then immediately took the opportunity to slash its neck. Blood gushed out of its neck and its lifeless body hit the ground. "Three left…" I'm getting used to their attack pattern now.
The remaining three fanged-molebits stood in front me, baring their fangs, looking enraged. They all look ready to jump on me. Without giving them a chance to attack, Aelee casted her light spell —"Blinding Light!"— above my head, carefully so that she won't accidentally blind me. Even though I wasn't looking at it directly, I was still forced to squint my eyes due to its sheer brightness.
When the light disappeared, I followed up with my tier one earth spell—"Earth Bullet!"—to finish them off. One the of the three fanged-molebits was able to avoid my spell and quickly burrowed itself underground, while the other two who were hit on their head shrieked in agony until their bodies dropped.
Her magic buff is really something. At best, I would just knock them out and not outright pierce their heads.
"Greo! Get out of that place! Quick!"
"Wha—!?"
The ground below my feet violently shook. I tried to escape but it was futile, the fanged-molebit dragged me underground.
Damn! How can a small wild beast have this much strength?
The fanged-molebit is desperately dragging me down to the tunnel it made. Seeing how it's too desperate to care about my movements, I thrust my dagger onto its head twice. The fanged-molebit stopped moving and let go of both of my feet.
For a small creature, he sure made a wide tunnel.
At the end of the tunnel is a small cavern, it looks like it's about to collapse. I guess it was trying to take me there.
"Greo! Are you hurt?" Aelee asked, anxiously.
"I'm fine, just a bit of scratches from getting dragged. I'll get up there quick."
My robe also got tattered with all that dragging.
It took me some time but I managed to crawl my way up. After I got out of the hole, I asked Aelee to buff my magic again.
"Are the any other wild beasts below?"
"Ah, no. There was a small cavern below that is about to collapse just from small movements down there. That last fanged-molebit was probably trying to bury both of us."
"I see. So you'll make it collapse yourself?"
"Yeah." I confirmed, "It's to avoid future accidents. It's pretty small so the effect up here should be shallow."
"But, shouldn't we notify the Village Chief first?"
Ah—I forgot about that.
"You're right. I'm sorry Aelee, can you get the Village Chief for me?"
"I don't mind. But before that…" Noticing how tired I am, she reached out both of her hands towards me and casted—"Soothing Heal!"
Her spell healed the scratches and relieved most of my fatigue. I wonder what tier this spell is? True to its name, it's a very soothing spell. It's as if I just laid down on a fluffy bed. I might just fall asleep anytime now.
"Thanks."
She smiled, "You're welcome." Ah, a second heal. "I'll return with the Village Chief with me."
Aelee made her way back to Glow village.
I'm really thankful that she's my party member. If I were alone, I wouldn't be able to take quests like this. Hopefully, I'll have more… party members… like my father…
*****
"…O. Greo."
A soft voice woke me up.
"Good morning."
When I opened my eyes, I can see Aelee's sweet smile along with the clouds and the blue sky at the background.
"Hey Aelee…"
"What is it?"
"This soft sensation on my head. Is this perhaps…"
"Yes. It's a lap pillow."
"I knew it… But well, let me stay here for a little bit more."
It feels too comfortable to stand up right now.
"I don't mind but, the Village Chief is already here."
As soon as she said that, an old man clears his throat.
Ah—
I quickly stood up and apologized to the Village Chief. "I'm so sorry I made you wait."
He also has two persons on his sides.
"No need for apologies. I just got here myself. Miss Aelee went to my house and told me to come here after thirty minutes."
"Oh…?" I turned to Aelee and she just met my eyes with a mischievous smile.
She casted that spell on purpose…
"More importantly." The Village chief continued, "Is something the matter?"
"Ah yes. Actually, there's a small cavern right there. I'm planning to make it collapse now so that it wouldn't get any victims in the future."
"What!? Please do so, Mister Greo."
"Alright. If you have some people who can block the vicinity to avoid people from getting caught up while we are working, that would be helpful."
"I understand. Marco, ask the free villagers to get here quick."
A man with a beautifully decorated spear answered, "On it!"
*****
"Everyone! Please avoid getting too close, alright?" After warning everyone, I went at the entrance of the tunnel and started casting a spell. With Aelee's buff, this should work.
First—"Stone Bullet!"—Since the tunnel that the fanged-molebit made was diagonal, the stone bullet smoothly went down.
I closely observe the stone bullet until it reaches inside the cavern and then—"Scatter!"—made the stone scatter all over the cavern, hitting the ground, walls, and ceiling.
Although they already knew what's happening, the loud rumbling of the ground startled everyone.
This would've been easy if there are terriars nearby since they can freely manipulate earth.
A few minutes later, the ground calmed down. The smoke dispersed and revealed a broken-down land, it at least has a depth of two meters.
"Village Chief. It's done." I called out.
"Thank you, Mister Greo. The village will take it from here."
"I understand. Well then. With this, the quest is officially complete right?"
"Yes. Here's the proof of completion." The village chief handed me a letter. "And please accept these fruits." He added.
"Can I really take this?" I asked.
"Yes, do not worry. Our vegetables may have been ravaged but, we still have plenty of fruits that we can share."
"If that's the case, we'll gladly take it."
After thanking the Village Chief, we returned to Luminus town.
*****
"I've confirmed the completion of your quest. Here's your reward of 50,000 oires."
"Thank you, Miss Bel."
We will still need to sell the materials we got from fanged-molebit at merchant guild after this. Mostly pelt but there are also claws, fangs, and its meat.
"But still, even though there's only two of you, you guys never failed on your quests so far. I'm amazed."
"Is it strange?" Asked Aelee.
Miss Bel smiled at her question and answered, "That's not it. It's just that there aren't many parties at your rank that are as capable as Greo's."
"Is that so…?"
"Hahaha. Aelee is the amazing one, actually. Her healing and buffs are more than helpful. She really helped me a lot."
"Geez, no need to be so humble Greo." Miss Bel disagreed. "Everyone knows how crazy your training was before you became an adventurer. I'd say that both of you are amazing."
"Mmm, mmm." Aelee nodded along.
"I guess that's true… Tha—."
A loud sound of the door being slammed open cut my words. Everyone inside the guild, including us, looked at the entrance to see who was the culprit.
There stood a little girl who has black horns with violet stripes on the side, wearing a tilted dark-purple round crystal crown above her head, a frilly black dress, and a jet-black cape. She's definitely a demon. She's probably around 130 cm.
"You there! Summoner boy who can barely sleep at night!" The little girl pointed her fingers at me.
How did she know that!?
Everyone in the Guild looked at my direction without hesitation. Some were shocked and some had a confused look.
"Uh… Did I do something?" I asked, confused.
She made her way at Miss Bel's desk where we are currently standing and said, "Let me join your party."
"Come again?"
"I said, let me join your party. You have one now, right?"
"Um, may I ask your age?"
Her eyebrows suddenly twitched. Did I ask something I shouldn't have?
Aelee then whispered to my ears, "Greo. It's rude to ask a lady's age you know?" Oh, I didn't know that. "By the way, I'm one hundred twenty-three."
Say what!?
"You bastard! Don't you normally ask the name first!? Just so you know, I'm older than everyone here."
Doesn't look like it. Is what I wanted to say but, considering that she's a demon, it might be true.
"Putting your age aside. Why do you want to join our party? We just started you know?"
"It's because you're for me."
Everyone at the guild was shocked. With the exception of Aelee, they're all looking at me suspiciously.
"Hah!?"
"Wait, no. That came out wrong. I already have a husband of my own and I don't plan on adding another one."
"W-What do you mean then?"
"What I mean to say is, you're the one who can help me. That's why I need you to be stronger. Is what your father told me to tell you."
"My father did?"
"Yeah. If you don't believe me, want me to say his name?"
Oh?
I made a serious expression and urged her to go on. "Then, please."
"******"
So she really knows my father. But just to confirm… "Miss Bel, did you hear that?"
"N-No… I wasn't able to make out what she said."
"I see. Thank you."
"How's that? Do you believe me now?"
I loosened up my face and nodded.
My father is… A bit of a cautious man after all. He made a spell to protect us. To be specific, it's a spell that made people, that he doesn't trust, unable to hear nor speak his name. He was a famous adventurer back in the day after all and a powerful one at that. He's also the reason why I aspired to be an adventurer. I aim to be as strong as him someday. Or maybe stronger if I can.
Along with fame and friends, comes with people who will hate you for one reason or another.
That being said, I still need to ask Aelee.
"Aelee, what do you think?"
"Isn't it fine? Who knows that despite her size, she might actually be powerful?"
"What do you mean 'despite her size'!?" The demon girl protested.
"I see. Well, then. Glad to have you onboard… uh…"
"Zelentriya. A level forty-five Archmage."
Everyone went silent at her introduction.
"…huh?"
If what she said is true, she's the highest-level adventurer in this town right now. Like I said before, leveling became harder after the appearance of the terrestrialization virus.
Currently, the highest level this town—or rather, this kingdom—has is level thirty-eight. It's none other than the king himself. On top of being wise, he's also a strong Paladin. One of the advanced classes of Tank. Other than protecting their allies, they can also wide varieties of light healing magic.
Just who is this demon girl…?
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