Capítulo 24: Chapter 24 *Extra*
"What do you think? Should we go?"
"The hoard of a dragon? What are we waiting for? Let's go!" Medb said excitedly.
"Phew alright let's prepare." Max said with a sigh of relief.
Maybe the artifact could grant his wish of returning home.
——<>——
Max got out of the Hunters Guild and walked towards the square where an old statue stood tall through the ages.
Bravil was an old city. It was built around 300 years before the current time, and if you asked a resident which architecture was the oldest thing in the city, they would all point to that statue.
The Lucky Old Lady
It was the statue of an old woman with a hunched back, smiling upon those around her.
Nobody exactly knew who she was, but there were many legends about the Lucky Old Lady.
It was said that she was born the illegitimate daughter of a prostitute in Bravil, certainly an inauspicious beginning to a lucky life. She was teased by the other children, who forever asked her who her father was. Every day, she would run back to her little shack in tears from their cruelty.
One day, a priest of The Paragon came to Bravil to do charitable work. He saw the weeping little girl, and when asked, she told him the cause of her misery: she didn't know who her father was.
"You have kind eyes and a mouth that tells no lies," replied the priest after a moment, smiling. "You are clearly a child of The Paragon, the God of Craftsmanship, Protection, and Well-Earned Luck."
The priest's thoughtful words changed the girl forever. Whenever she was asked who her father was, she would cheerfully reply, "I am a child of Well-Earned Luck."
She grew up to be a barmaid, it was said, kind and generous to her customers, frequently allowing them to pay when they were able to. On a particularly rainy night, she gave shelter to a young man dressed in rags, who not only had no money to pay, but was belligerent and rude to her as she fed him and gave him a room. The next morning, he left without so much as a thank you. Her friends and family admonished her, saying that she had to be careful, he might have even been dangerous.
A week later, a royal carriage arrived in Bravil, with an Imperial prince within. Though he was scarcely recognizable, it was the same young man the Lady had helped. He apologized profusely for his appearance and behavior, explaining that he had been kidnapped and cursed by a band of witches, and it wasn't until later he had returned to his senses. The lady was showered with riches, which she, of course, generously shared with all the people of Bravil, where she lived to a content old age.
No one knows when the statue to her was erected in the town square, or who the artist was, but it has stood there for thousands of years. To this day, visitors and Bravillians alike go to the Lucky Old Lady to ask for her to bless them with luck in their lives.
She had an unlucky beginning, and unlucky life stuck at the bottom, but with a single spark, her life changed instantly. A Well-Earned Luck indeed.
Before Max heard of this story behind the Lucky Old Lady, he tried praying to the Goddess of Benevolence, Order and Luck, Rhongomyniad. But he didn't feel any different than before.
After he heard the story, he symphatized with The Paragon. 'Well-Earned Luck? You mean you were so unlucky but wanted a piece of Luck in your authority?' He thought, and started favoring The Paragon instead of Rhongomyniad.
Every day, he would come to this statue of the Lucky Old Lady and pray for the moment for his luck to shine.
He didn't get any results yet, but he believed that the middle line in 'E' was getting shorter and the top and bottom lines were starting to curve as if it was about to turn into 'D'.
But it could all be his imagination of course.
He stood before the statue and closed his eyes. "Here I am once again, hoping you would bless me with luck. But this time, it is not for a stupid reason like finally finding coins that weren't covered in shit or hoping that Tadrose would trip and fall to her death… okay the last one was a little overboard, you can forget about it. No, please forget about it. She would probably haunt me after death- Okay that explanation was unnecessary so let's forget it all happened and let's get back to the matter at hand." He took a deep breath.
"Please give me your blessing. Please just this one time. All I want is a one shot. One shot at getting a chance to go back home." His voice started wavering towards the end. "I…I want to go home." He added with a whisper and opened his eyes.
Seeing that nothing had changed, saying that he wasn't disappointed would be a lie. But he somewhat expected it.
So, he threw all his hopes of getting lucky once and for all from his mind.
He didn't need to be lucky. He would earn what he would get with his both hands.
"Just like what they say; if you want the job done, you have to do it yourself." He said with determination and turned around to walk away.
After walking for a few more steps, he stopped. "Wait…Doesn't that make it a Well-Earned Luck too?" He murmured.
And, as if he was enlightened, 'Wow! That bastard's good. Literally anything can be a Well-Earned Luck!' He exclaimed inwardly. He didn't dare to curse a god out in the open as he didn't know what they would do so he made do with just cursing The Paragon in his thoughts.
"Damnit. And it was such a cool scene too!" He grieved on his knees.
"What are you doing?" Medb, who came to check up on Max, approached from behind.
"Nothing… nothing at all." He said and slowly got up, then started walking away towards the smithy.
~~~~~~~~-~~~~~~~~~~~~
An extra as promised~
Keep the stones coming!
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SplendidPuma
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