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OriFic Brickwork

Discussion in 'Fiction' started by high_time, Jun 12, 2012.

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  1. high_time Veteran

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    Part 2-11 : The Fairy Kingdom Host Club – Part 2

    Okay then, first things first – I was definitely freaked out to find that this place is filled with cross-dressing guys; they're so cute you couldn't really differentiate them with your usual girls, no...in my eyes they were even much cuter, though I don't know why...I seem to be attracted to these Traps even more than normal girls, there must be something wrong with me.

    No...nooooo...I'm not a homosexual...I just like them because they're cute to the point I could really care less about gender. Wait, am I contradicting myself just before?

    Ah nevermind, let's just change the embarrassing topic.

    Even though the fairies who came up with this place's idea called it a Host Club, since the customers were mostly served by good-looking guys....

    "WHY AM I SURROUNDED BY THESE ADORABLE MAIDS!"

    Whoa, I suddenly found myself sitting in a luxurious seating just like in a high-class bar, with all of these beautiful maids around me; there's two on my left and right – each of them started massaging my arms and shoulder, not to mention there's another three maids in front of me; two of them sat a bit further from me, giving a seductive flirtatious look which sends shivers down my spine; making me felt warm and fuzzy inside, then the last one stood there with a somewhat embarrassed look, pouring the milk into our glasses from the pitcher

    It's Jasmine-chan by the way; how he tried his best not to spill any drop of milk to the table really brought upon a smile to my face. But what truly makes me happy was the sincere smile of satisfaction he showed me after he successfully done his job.

    Anyway, since I didn't like alcohol that much, I originally suggested that we drink milk instead in order to stay healthy, and there you have it.

    ....

    By the way, I just can't believe that all of them are guys! After I just went inside this place with Rose, these cute-looking 'girls' - hence the apostrophe, all of them just eyed me with a look that's so filled with awe and then all of them bowed in unison as I paced forth towards the main hall. Please someone give me proof that they're basically gu---

    "Hyaaannn...m-mister Kirk...please be gentle....."

    Huh? Where am I touching? I think my hands just wondered a bit since the way they massaged my shoulders were a bit ticklish and then....

    "Kuh...uhhh...I'm sorry! I didn't mean to."

    "Tee-hee...do you want to start on me first, Mist...no..I mean...Master?"

    When I finally realized where my hands were touching, it somehow made me died on the inside. Well not that much actually...

    Yeah, it manages to stray inside the skirt of one of the maids, and in the surface of this satin panties tracing against my fingers...

    I felt a really big bulge in it, which fills me up with such shock.

    Did each and every Traps over here actually had oversized ding dings? This is madness!

    "B-but...you're a guy...and I don't swing..."

    "Yes we are, it's not just me...all of us here as well...are genuine guys. Hey there folks, please raise up your skirts so he could finally understand..."

    All of the maids around me stood up and raised their skirts as were told by the one that's sitting beside me. I could clearly see that there's some kind of erroneous cylindrical object that's really large in size it would tore the underwear apart if it were actually a normal girls' underwear – but for some reason it manages to keep the ding ding in place.

    "Hey Jasmine, you haven't raised your skirt yet...he wants to see it – you know."

    "No way! That's sexual harassment...why are you guys so lewd anyway!"

    "We're already lewd guys from the start, didn't you realize it already? We all who were gathered here are basically bunch of weird perverts, anyway...go lift your skirt already!"

    The one who were still sitting beside me, and giving all of these orders seem to be the one upholding the authority in this moment.

    Jasmine's face starts to blush heavily due to embarrassment, I felt bad for him – it does look like bullying from my own perspective, seeing as he's the youngest one over here and his seniors are giving him such mean stares.

    "N-no...I c-can't..."

    Certainly he seem to be the cutest one I've ever seen so far in this place, not to mention his somewhat reserved personality really makes me want to encourage him all the time.

    But...

    "Kyaaah!" letting out a girly scream, Jasmine suddenly trips on the floor; furthermore the high heels he currently wore sure did make things troublesome to maintain his balance...

    THUD!

    He fell flat out with his legs spread, showing off everything in this broad daylight.

    And then I realized something.

    "It's...really.....huge...."

    "NOOOO! DON'T LOOK...DON'T LOOK!"

    Damn it, why did I got somehow turned on by this?

    Then I realized that I still haven't pulled my hands out from that other maid's skirt.

    Xxx​

    Sigh....

    I sure ended up in troublesome situations over and over again, it feels like the abundance of my life energy had been rapidly drained by the recurring circumstances since I ended up in this world.

    Don't ask me about what happened right after that incident, with the Trap Maids earlier, it had lingered in the part of my memory which I seriously want to forget.

    That aside, at least the food which they served in here were truly delicious; I even asked for seconds many times already until my stomach hurts alot. And here I am now, spending my time in the restroom due to myself being overly greedy whilst getting these 'free-of-charge meals', wait a minute...I haven't even asked whether they would charge me anything for trudging in their hospitality.

    Even more, the way they acted so kindly to me all of sudden...it was truly suspicious! They must had some kind of insidious ulterior motive, to offer something which I couldn't refuse no matter what!

    Yes they want to enslave me through all of these glorious moments of pleasure, but for what? I'm just an useless lazy bum with no qualities at all...so what would they...?

    Ah! They must have learned about my partner, Carla, and they were using me as a bait to lure her out. But, even if they wanted to use her...what reasons are strong enough in order to go all the way on taking me away like this?

    That's the kind of thing which I couldn't even figure out, or I might had just been overthinking things. Well yeah, let's just pretend that it's only my imagination, better not act suspicious, since I won't know what possibly happen if they suddenly acts hostile towards me.

    Speaking of which, if you're asking about Rose, we parted ways before I went to the main hall. She told me earlier that she's going to...

    "Gyaaah!"

    A rapid sound of knocking on my bathroom stall, damn it...who could it be? It totally scared the heck out of me, intruding upon my private time of serenity like this. Don't tell me they were already...since there's Fairies all around here after all, they possibly had already found out about my hidden motives!

    Uhhh...what should I do....what should I do?

    "Kirk, it's me Rose. The Godmother wants to see you right at this moment."

    Phew....

    I have never been relieved as ever while I heard her voice, so she wants to take me to the Godmother, eh? That person must be the head honcho around here, maybe I could ask one or two questions pertaining the Seeds of Knowledge while I'm at it – a person that influential should know something about it.

    That aside, Rose, why do you barge into the Men's restroom all of sudden?
     
  2. Ramasinta Tukang Iklan

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    Part 2-12 : System Abuse

    "Kirk, the Godmother wants to see you please follow me."

    "Okay."

    I decided to play along for now, seeing as I remembered that I got some few tricks up my sleeve that would come in handy even if my opponent were some hordes of fairies armed with powerful spells.

    Then as I tried to turn on the doorknob, there something which doesn't feel right.

    It seems that I had forgotten about some of the mechanics because all of them felt really boring in order to get over again, just like that cliched Quest Notificator which I kind of turned off while I'm trying to access my menu.

    "Access player menu?"

    I answered Yes when the pop-up window starts appearing in front of me, and the time suddenly had stopped while I was still tinkering with the customization of my own gear.

    Oh cool, didn't realize that I could stop time.

    Meanwhile, let's review some of the quest that I encountered along the way. It's kind of weird that I already cleared Floor 1 all of sudden, what kind of blasphemy is this?

    Okay, I'm going to open up the list of quests which made me able to clear the first floor:

    FIRST QUEST - Trial of Fairies

    Description : burn an entire fairy clothing using your lighter, mission completed

    Reward : 500 gold

    ...

    Oh yeah, that was the first time I've heard of that creepy voice and I somehow managed to turn it off by accessing the settings. And I also set the BGM volume to zero since I didn't like hearing these creepy background music in the middle of nowhere while I was strolling through the forest.

    Though, there's one other fabulous thingy I got which is about the battle modes. If you're pretty familiar with the RPG games there were two modes : Active and Wait. I personally always use the Wait configuration because when it was set to 'Active' the enemies would keep attacking even if you weren't ready to deliver your move at all, the results were pretty much disastrous from what I've heard, many adventurers had died while attempting to play it tough by enabling the 'Active' configuration.

    Moral of the story, don't be stupid and use 'Wait' at all times! You wait for as long as you like and the time will always go on forever while you're in battle mode, and your turn will always be there unless you've managed to slip by and do some battle actions. For example : setting up traps, attacking the enemies, using battle-related items such as Hyper Potion, Elixir, Antidote, Ether, and many more of these.

    Anyway here's some of the useful glitches which I could use to my convenience:

    It appears that you can even sleep for hours while you're in the battle mode to revitalize your stamina, and the monsters won't even attack you! That was a strategy suggested by Carla Sutherland, my partner, when we're being stuck in a dungeon without any secure area to rest whatsoever. And it appears that the most secure way was to rest while we're at battle mode! Furthermore, it conserves a whole lotta lot of our time by mostly cutting out the resting time - that which we could use for experience grinding instead.

    Also, attacking the monsters while you're still sleeping on your own accord won't really end your turn. The enemies HP, even though they're reduced to zero due to your bad sleeping habits, they just kind of freeze into place until all of the party members had woken up.

    Anyway, we just kind of screwed up once by switching it into 'Active' mode, because there's some monsters who held rare items, and they were smart enough not to engage the adventurers with the 'Wait' setting.

    The first monster which came to us was...that infamous...

    Red Dragon.

    Luckily, Carla and I managed to kill that monster off, mostly due to Carla's crest support ability which enables us to do high damage to Dragons regardless of their level of resistance towards our attacks. Just as expected from that girl who had the mighty Dragon King Bahamut as her default summon!

    Anyway, few days after that incident happened when we barely managed to slay the Red Dragon, it seems the battle mode options pretty much had changed; there's no 'Active' option anymore. Only 'Classic' and 'Auto', the 'Classic' setting was pretty much the same as the old 'Wait' mode, though for 'Auto'...

    I've heard of these before, it seems that mode allows the party members to quickly retaliate from a kind of attack pattern using a certain kind of algorithm that has been programmed before by the leader. It might prove very useful when someone's adventuring with large groups of people, though I heard the programming was kind of complex and there's only two of us here as a party...so we didn't use it at all.

    The 'Auto' mode uses the similar kind of 'Wait' system with taking turns, and it greatly reduces the number of casualties after it was successfully implemented.

    Yeah, I lied just before. There's no longer any Active and Wait anymore, only Classic and Auto, so there you have it.

    Xxx​

    Okay then, let's check the other quests...what kind of things made me able to clear the First Floor? There must be a some kind of trigger which would lead to the opening of this gateway.

    Floor 1 Clear Condition:

    None, just proceed through naturally and you'll eventually made it towards the second floor

    Bonus for completing Floor 1:

    Obtained skill : Meteor – Kirk Thompson, Meteor is a powerful combination attack to decimate even the most wicked of enemies. It was treated as a non-elemental attack, which occasionally causes Stun, Paralysis, and even Instant Death on occasions.

    Lifting the ban to the Summoning ability for Carla Sutherland, default summon – Bahamut is now ready for disposal.

    Truesight is now applicable for Kirk Thompson, the player with this ability can spot hidden traps, and even the sneakiest invisible enemies or many more things which would make you freak out at the first glance!

    ...

    Hold on! Isn't this a bit too much for just clearing Floor 1?

    Well, I think now's not the time...let's just check for the other details.

    ...

    Floor 1 Side Quests:

    Meeting up with Carla again – Completed

    Bonus : Partner Link System Activated, the Inventory which your partner gets will automatically be shared with yours in your Item screen.

    ...

    So that explains why there's so many Megalixirs in my inventory.

    Hmm...so what should I do in order to clear Floor 2? That's what I'm currently wondering up until now...

    ...

    Conditions on Floor 2 Completion:

    - Obtain the knowledge pertaining Seeds of Knowledge from the Fairies

    Rewards : it's a secret

    Side Quests

    (hidden)

    ...

    That's pretty vague, but that's basically what I'm going to do next, gathering some information. Though it's kind of odd how I've basically end up in the right place over and over again.

    Oh well, I think I'll just close the menu after reminiscing for quite a lot of time already.

    And so here's my last thoughts before I finally closed the menu to return back to my adventures again.
     
  4. high_time Veteran

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    Part 2-13 : A Sense of Clarity

    "Did you remember something about yesterday? It's was also the first time we met up, you know."

    "Yeah, I remembered being enveloped in complete darkness, then I turned on my lighter and..."

    "Kirk, the object you've been burning up was actually my clothes...you see, I had to quickly cast up my magic in order to create an illusion of my earlier clothes. Though that doesn't change the fact that you're practically seeing me naked...it's so embarrassing."

    You doesn't seem to be embarrassed, Rose, seeing as you talked about it so nonchalantly and such.

    Not replying to her words earlier, I continued following her down the corridors of this mansion-like place, until she suddenly stopped in front of a certain door.

    "Are you ready to see the Godmother, Kirk?"

    "..."

    I stood silent as we reached the chamber of this so-called leader of the Fairy Kingdom.

    First things first, I wonder what kind of person she was. As far as I heard, it was said by Rose that she had so many troublesome stuff which might need some serious help even from the likes of me.

    "Shall I take that as a no?"

    "...well...uh..."

    For some reason I seem to be quite reluctant on seeing this influential person, then I remembered that I at least must ask for the clues pertaining the Seeds of Knowledge before I moved on.

    "Kirk?"

    "As I hated shockingly frightening surprises, can you tell me beforehand what's the troublesome thing about the Godmother? I need some time to think about it you know, and please stop being so vague!"

    "Uhhh...you're so mean..."

    "Shut up! You're the one who brought me all the way here without my consent, that's the same way as kidnapping! Don't you know how much trouble you had-"

    ...

    Did I just hear the sound of fairies giggling?

    "Ah, they're at it again."

    "Typical lovers' quarrel, uh-huh."

    Who the hell are the lovers?

    And it seems that these fairies are currently invisible to my eyes, wait...as I just learned the 'Truesight' feat, it's should be easy enough to discern them even when they're basically hiding themselves.

    Hmm...that voice sounds somehow familiar, very familiar and before that I've gotten used to hear that voice already. So this must be...

    "Rose."

    "Uguuu...you caught me again."

    I have to admit that was a some kind of spectacular ventriloquism; how she could produce voices like that which seem to come from far away. without even moving her lips at all; it successfully distracted me for a moment.

    "Kirk, first of all, please understand that you're in a good company. Even though our ways might be questionable, we had our own reasons we couldn't really reveal to strangers."

    So, I am a stranger to you now, huh?

    "The way you say it, makes you even more suspicious, Rose."

    "Listen there! When you're distracted for a moment there, I might do things that might endanger your life, you know. Even when you slept earlier, that would be a perfect moment to..."

    So that's what you're planning to do all along. Yeah, the established connection between me and Carla for a split-second moment just some moments ago had given me a broad idea of what's going on; the Partner Link System actually weren't just some thingy where we could share our loots together in one inventory.

    At first Carla seems both surprised and happy when he heard my voice again for the first time, she said she's going to my rescue soon enough, and I'm glad that someone like her could easily venture through the tricky routes with ease – as expected from someone of the Sutherland heritage.

    "Spacing out at time like this...FOOL!"

    It was an incredibly fast swing from that which I could discern as a some kind of bladed- weapon she kept hidden all the time, aimed towards my neck in a deadly upward arc.

    I knew this was going to happen sooner or later.

    Realizing her strike beforehand, I managed to jump out of her attack range. That goes for my 'Alert' feat eh, it made me escape from countless surprise attacks either from the monsters or even the Assassins and Bounty Hunters after our head.

    "Guh...it can't be..."

    From where her strike went, it managed to form a cluster of bluish fire that stays afloat in mid-air; each of them stacked together, forming a deadly-looking firewall that made me unable to get in range to attack her.

    "To be able to dodge my attack, which made so many people lost their lives, as expected from someone like Kirk Thompson. I guess it's my worst of luck that made me have to face a monster such as you."

    No, you're the monster. It made me scared as hell seeing your sinister appearance after you managed to walk past these walls of fire without a scratch at all.

    Taking a quick glance at the weapon, it looks like a nunchaku...no...the part she's holding with her hand might seem to be that of a nunchaku, but the other end...it's definitely an extremely sharp bladed weapon with the shape of a crescent moon. The weapon lit aglow just like it was made from pure energy, with strands of light instead of the chains for keeping the blades in place, meaning it might could extend itself without any limits at all, very deadly at both short range and long range.

    Guess I'm a total disadvantage for this.

    "So, you've pretty much trying to figure my attack pattern, huh? Guess that wouldn't be much of an use since...guuuuhh..."

    All of sudden, she starts to slowly lose her footing regardless of being in a flat surface, staggering about whilst desperately trying to keep her posture upright; all of it leads to no avail since she pretty much fell flat out to the ground, losing her consciousness. And with that, her weapon had gone; dissipating into thin air, leaving a trace of a bluish flame that flew up above, going through the ceiling without any problem.

    Might this actually be the 'Flame of Heaven' people seem to be talking about nowadays? If that's the case, guess I'm really...really...glad that I didn't have to battle one of the wielders as it would greatly endanger my own life.

    ...

    But wait a second, she wouldn't be losing consciousness, unless there's someone who...

    "Mister Kirk, shall we go?"

    It's Jasmine.

    "Y-you..."

    "That's right, no need to thank me. Since we're after the same goal."

    He seem to be holding a kind of a projectile weapon relatively unknown to me, which I thought might be the weapon used to render Rose unconscious.

    "What goal?"

    "I'm a secret agent from the faraway nation. My mission is to assassinate the Fairy Godmother and rob all of her treasures which in turn would greatly benefit my country, at least when they're basically low on war funds."

    Huh? Did this Trap Maid had something wrong in his head, or did he read too much Light Novels?

    "Nah, the only treasure I'm interested in is the Seeds of Knowledge, I won't really care about the others."

    "Okay, I'll let you have that treasure. Our country need all of the gold we can in order to go against Avalon, thanks a lot."

    I've got a bad feeling about this, especially when he hurriedly ran towards the door and tried to turn the knob...

    "NO, STOP!"

    But it's too late.

    As soon he turned the doorknob, it triggers a deadly explosion which blew his entire body to pieces

    It's all my fault, if I only I had stopped him earlier...

    No...I must move forward for him.

    Now that the path has been cleared out, time to restock tons of recovery items in my 'bag' section in order to use it directly in battle.

    This is going to be a tough fight, as for sure.
     
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    Part 2-14 : Stupidity

    Well then, after stocking up a few items on the bag for direct use in battle, I slowly walked towards the debris-covered floors; just beside me, who's standing a bit far away from the door, there lies Rose, who's been rendered unconscious by Jasmine earlier. I felt sorry for both of them, especially Jasmine, since he kind of...sacrificed his life in order to open up the pathway for me.

    "Ah..."

    There I noticed something that's left of him down the floor; it seems to be his weapon. Now that I look at it closely, it resembles a multi-purpose projectile shooter, meaning you can load various throwable objects like grenades, throwing knives, arrows, and many more, and it would shoot them at an incredibly fast rate. Well, it's kind of useless for me though, since it requires lot of patience and talent to be able to master this complex weapon.

    Guess I'll keep this in my inventory as a memento, may his soul rest in peace in heavens above and forever I will cherish this as a treasured item.

    'Multipurpose Launcher Obtained'

    Carla might be able to use it since she's exceptionally talented and such, though in other hand it will definitely render myself useless, and I won't really have a chance to shine on in this story! So what should I do?

    "Beeep...beep..."

    It seems to be coming from the Partner Link System, signified by the text bubble with the picture of a mobile phone popping out in front of me; this time I touched it with my fingers, and then I heard a kind of dial tone, which kind of surprised me, even more since right after that, it was...

    "Kirk, where are you right now? You got me worried sick! Ahem, I couldn't really contact you last time when you're still inside that restroom. Man, these two guys who were with me earlier was so useless, they just ran away when they saw a Green Dragon, making me have to fight and slay it myself! What a bother..."

    "H-hold it right there okay, Carla? Don't talk too fast, I can't really hear what you're saying. I'm currently undergoing a final showdown with the Fairy Godmother in order to obtain this information about Seeds of Knowledge, this will be a tough fight as for sure, please wish me..."

    Then I heard a laughing voice from her, still contacting each other through the Link System.

    "Kirk, your stupidity is like your usual huh? Anyway, I'll forgive you this time since you had obtained a very unique item. A Multi-Purpose launcher eh? Certainly it's an exotic product, but I didn't really feel like using it right away."

    "B-but, it looks kinda complex to use."

    "Hey there, if you kept relying on me to give you clues, when will you grow up to be able to become a person I can rely on? Seriously, please use that brain of yours a little. You already used a flamethrower before, right? That could work well when you tried fusing it together with that frightening lighter of yours, the rest was up to you to figure out!"

    Fusing a launcher and a lighter? That doesn't make sense at all! Am I getting so ridiculously stupid I'm unable to figure anything out?

    "H-hey...what if I kind of screwed up...and die?"

    ...

    "We've already came this far with just two of us, there's no way you will die from just something like this, really. It's alright, I believe you can survive through this."

    "Carla..."

    "You're a guy, right? And furthermore you had a big and tall posture that could carry on a tremendous weight with ease. Please have a lot more confidence in yourself, I believe you can do it..."

    "..."

    And then she hung up just like that, before I could even properly thank her.

    At this moment, I felt truly pathetic.

    She rarely ever encouraged me when I'm with her; it probably means that she's truly worried about me, huh. Then did she ever look at me as a man at all? Or just like a plain little brother that needed to be taken care of, each and every time because he can't just get anything right?

    That fact alone kinda reminds me of something about her, something that's been truly difficult for me to put into words.

    It's not about my prejudice that she's deeply affectionate to other girls, especially her own sister for the sake of pleasuring the desires of many Yuri lovers out there. How should I put it...at the outside, she looks so mature and competent, though it might be the fact that she has the tremendous lust for perfection, that ultimately her heart won't be open for things about...how to love someone else.

    And when the time finally comes, her heart would be forever sealed from the reaches of another man, and ultimately closing in the prospect of becoming a full-fledged woman through the act of baking hot cakes together with another man.

    Well you can't really write it as the act of 'that union' right? There's some young kids that had been reading this as of late, right?

    "..."

    At the second thought, I don't feel like fighting right at this moment, although I already stocked quite a bit of Megalixirs and other potions, in addition of useful items such as grenades and escape ropes.

    "Gah...I'm such an useless guy."

    Guess I'll go back to that place and go read some Romance manga until Carla finally came to my rescue. Though at a second thought, wouldn't it be filled with homosexual manga titles just to satisfy the delusional minds of young girls?

    Wait...at Rose's place just earlier...if I remembered it correctly, I think there's a Yuri manga on the desk.

    "Guess I'll go check it soon."

    And so, I finally traced back and...

    "HEY, GET BACK HERE YOU INTRUDER!"

    "Whoops..."

    Due to reflex, I went and released a random grenade from the inventory; turning my body around, facing the direction of the target, using the kinetic energy from the propulsion of my hips to propel the grenade forward.

    Then I realized one thing.

    The grenade I'm holding in before was...the Thermonuclear Grenade.

    Me and my stupidity for just randomly picking the grenades without further reading on the effects in the Help System first, in fact I just picked it up because the name sounds cool. But why did I got the feeling that this weapon might be extremely dangerous? Well I couldn't come up with a better reason, than...well I just got the feeling that it's dangerous, when it's already too late to notice.

    And so, the old hag wearing gaudy clothes in front of me, whom I presumed to be the Fairy Godmother, gazed in the expression of utter shock seeing that my 'rotten balls' would be thrown right at her face that's already rotten with tons of rip-off make-ups.

    Rather than running away, my stupidity finally realizes one brilliance about the integral meaning of 'futility'. So, rather than hightailing as far as possible, or even trying to guard my way through...all that I coudl do is just...

    "Cheese!"

    That was my last words before the grenade came off; blowing the entire place into smithereens.

    ...

    No, actually the grenade just made a loud pop sound, and that's it.

    Though the shocking atmosphere right before that already caused the Godmother to faint on the spot.

    "Oh well, guess I'll just head back to Rose's place and read some manga instead."

    And probably watch some random anime shows while I'm at it.
     
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    Part 2-15 : Bronco

    Thanks to Bahamut, three of us – me, sir Leonard, and Elrond could get past the ruins by walking straight ahead, but for some reason I felt really bad for the Minotaurs; they seem to kinda lay here motionless – are they dead?

    Nope.

    Albeit faint, I could see the miniscule movements from the chest area of these labyrinth guards. Now that they already lost their homes, would they actually go by to become a hippie instead?

    Whoa, Minotaur Hippies, that's something which you don't see everyday.

    "Oi...Carolina, whadaya spacin' out 'ere now! Pardner, ya can't just dawdle alone in 'dis venture missy, that ain't dandy."

    "It's Carla."

    Believe it or not, I'm currently talking to the same Bahamut I summoned just before. Now he's taking up the mini-dragon form that's about 140 centimeters tall, a lot shorter than me that's about 178 cm, and a lot more than Kirk, with his 190 cm build. Yes, based on his narrations, you might not believe it, but he's actually a pretty big guy.

    Sir Leonard and Elrond were really tall too, I believe sir Elrond were about 185 cm in height, and sir Leonard would be about 2 meters tall. At first, you might thought that I might be crazy, adventuring by myself with two strangers having a powerful muscular build like this, but really, I'm doing fine right now, don't worry about me.

    "So, Pardner...what will we do now? we're just standin' still right over after just crossin' about."

    "Shut the hell up, Bronco, it's not like we could fly or anything."

    This dragon was speaking in a baritone voice, along with having a frank way of speaking just like these hardy cowboys in the Wild West Movies. He had violet scales and wings that look powerful and extremely durable, with deadly sharp claws and fangs on top of that; his topaz-colored eyes glanced at me curiously as I awaited for his reply, and he flaps about gracefully in mid air, with his eyes on the same level as mine.

    Bronco was actually his nickname, and he actually preferred it to his real name, Rhayader Maverick. And it seems that my father and him were basically long-time adventuring partners, so I could somehow view Bronco as my...uncle, I guess...

    That, with the fact that me and Bronco had met up quite a lot when I was a little child, especially during the time when my father just got back from adventuring. This violet dragon seem to tag along with father quite a lot, though it kinda brings about a mysterious feel as why did he also tagged along with me too.

    Would this actually be a somewhat hidden message from father? I don't know, I just don't really know what kind of things to make out from this.

    "Errr...uhh...sorry there Missy, guess we're goin' to take some kickbacks eh? Gimme the booze "

    "Geez...you...with your abysmal alcohol tolerance like this, aren't you just trying to look cool, huh? That's so lame..."

    "But.....but..."

    From the distance, I could hear sir Leonard and Elrond laughing about at us; it seems that both of them already came to like Mr. Bronco sooner than expected. At first, they seem pretty intimidated when he first appeared as soon as the ruins were completely obliterated by the Bahamut summon.

    Well, Mr. Bronco isn't just a normal dragon, after all, he's descended from the Legendary Family of Dragon Kings, which were often refereed to as 'Bahamut'.

    By the way, there should be about three forms which a 'special' dragon could transform First, the dragon form – the form which Mr. Bronco took as he single-handedly obliterated the ruins, and then the Mini-Dragon, the form he's currently in. The third one were probably the 'humanoid' form, which enables the dragons to take on the form of a human, which kinda interests me.

    Will Mr. Bronco's human form actually turned out to be a middle-aged cowboy with a thick stubble and beard, along with having a terrible alcohol tolerance?

    "Madamoiselle Carla, what do you say about ourselves resting in here for a while? We've been walking around for hours, and the terrains around the Labyrinth Ruins were really tough for us...?

    The big person whom I refereed to as 'sir Leonard' turned towards me as he said that, and there he pointed out towards sir Elrond, who's unfolds a some kind of carpet, just like those casually used for camping...

    "Uh...any Boar Stew to eat?" that was the first words I muttered after a long while without talking to them

    Sir Leonard was quite puzzled to my inquiry. So, after looking at our surroundings for a while, he then suggested to me an alternative.

    "How about Minotaur Stew in.."

    "...no thanks, i'll just eat everything else that's currently available." upon hearing the word 'Minotaur Stew', it sparks an urge to cut his words off right before he finished it. That definitely sounds like looking for some trouble.

    I mean...well...that large beast creature, it would took forever just to dice them up and rip their meats off, and we would lose our patience due to starvation before it's even halfway done.

    "I see...guess we have no choice then."

    Hmm...although sir Leonard said that way, I could clearly smell the aroma of Boar Stew from far away.

    Although he has a horrible sense of direction, sir Elrond sure knows how to handle things in his portable kitchen that he did set up in a matter of few minutes.

    Now I finally understand why people called him the master of exploration; he has a really good drawing skills for charting the maps that I can't even be half as good of, not to mention his excellent knowledge pertaining the botanical stuff, for example, about what plants and meats were good, and what's bad, etc.

    It's a really vital aspect in adventuring.

    Beside me, Mr. Bronco flaps his wings in delight. Just like me, he truly enjoys a delicious meal, especially meats and chocolate-flavored desserts.

    ...

    ...

    ...

    "Huh?"

    I think I just heard some loud voice of wings flapping above my head, but when I tried looking up...there's nothing there. Maybe I'm just tired, which caused me to hear something that actually weren't there.

    "Phew, let's just enjoy the meal while I'm at it."

    The food should be done in a matter of minutes, but the smell of it already caused my mouth to water.

    Guess I should be patient and wait until it's finally ready.
     
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    Part 2-16 : Boar Stew

    "Say...Elrond...how long does it took for this Boar Stew to finish? I'm getting really hungry now."

    Come to think of it, it's the first time I've ever said his name directly like that, and back then we didn't even talk that much. He just sat there behind the stove, adding up various herbs atop the boiled meat which gave a kind of tasty scent...

    "About two-and-half or three hours mayb.."

    Before he's able to finish his words, my hands flew around by reflex and managed to smash his body, making himself flew some yards down the place he's sitting at.

    "DAMMIT! I can't possibly wait that long for the stew to finish."

    Damn...it looks like sir Elrond had fainted with my punch, it does seem like that elven explorer didn't have that much of constitution.

    "Oi...pardner, that was so unladylike of you to act like that. Besides, based on my knowledge the fastest duration was about 2 hours or more for it to finish...you know."

    There goes Bronco floating in mid-air, speaking some words of wisdom...though I would say that he's definitely wrong about that.

    "Well...you see, it doesn't take more than 20 minutes while Kirk and I were preparing this, let's see..."

    Before this know-it-all dragon managed to cut off any of my words, I paced towards the stove, scrutinizing the details in it.

    "Did you find something interesting? Ah, someone of the Sutherland heritage should find this to be easy enough...am I right?"

    I started to find him to be irritating, floating around and giving out sarcastic remarks like this. To be said, my father seem to be quite accustomed to this, as the annoying dragon also mocks him a lot during his adventures.

    There I decided to ignore him as my stomach was more important than his stupid insults.

    "The meat was just put in like that without being washed, did you see that some parts of the water looks kinda putrid? Yeah, that's the bacteria covering the boar meat, part of them died, but I think this won't be sterile enough with this kind of temperature."

    I just pointed that out to Bronco, who looks at me dumbfounded, even more that his sarcastic remarks were kinda off mark.

    "..and then the pieces were still on large cuts, even three hours would only suffice for the meal being three-quarters cooked, we wouldn't want that."

    Monsieur Leonard now came closer to me and Bronco who floated beside me with a curious gaze. At first, I was kind of bewildered by his huge stature, but he seem to show no ill intent, and his gaze were kind of warm and hospitable.

    After staring at the stove beneath the fire lit by these cluster of firestones Elrond had gathered, he finally opened his mouth, speaking in a refined baritone voice, a bit loud as well, it kinda surprised me a bit.

    "Now you got me curious, mademoiselle Carla. I am hungry as well, and I felt grateful that you punched that bastard Elrond, he's a total slacker and he must had some ulterior motive on slowing us down so he could rest for several hours. So, what kind of method would you suggest to cook this meal?"

    I'm just about to explain that to Bronco, but well whatever...

    "You see, Monsieur, I think we should put out the fire and change the stove first...we would need a high-pressure cooker which could withstand extremely high temperature, as the one we're currently using is just too fragile. There's some details too, like changing the water and washing the meat thrice using a filter but let's leave that for later, though I could say sir Elrond's usage of herbs was pretty commendable."

    Sir Leonard also gave me the same dumbfounded expression, I wonder if he also didn't get what I'm trying to tell him earlier?

    "As expected from the daughter of Sutherland, you sure know your stuff, heh!"

    This dragon...I really couldn't stand this attitude.

    "No, it was partly Kirk's idea too. That aside, could you mind your attitude? I don't like your tone of speaking, Bronco."

    "So what, pardner? You want a piece of me huh...I could say wh..."

    Quickly I pulled out my revolver, aiming straight at his head. At the same moment I pulled the trigger, the crest in my hand gave out a crimson light that looks apparent enough, even while being covered by my gloves.

    Then a lightning spark erupts from the gun, bursting at incredible speed towards him, who at first sight seem to be a terrifying opponent, now appears just like a normal weakling...as the crimson lightning struck him down, rendering him motionless on the ground.

    "Headshot."

    After firing a deadly shot from my revolver, I took off the glove that's covering my right hand, showing my crest to the insolent dragon who currently just laid there in his weak state.

    "Pardon me for being self-righteous, but if you can't watch your tone of speaking, I have the right to recall you back, you understand?"

    Then I went to sir Leonard, who just gave me a kind of dejected smile.

    "Err...miss Carla, isn't that...a bit too much?"

    "Nope, dragons are basically creatures who acts arrogant, not to mention being full of themselves. The masters need to discipline them once in a while or.."

    "Are you really the one to talk about those matters, mademoiselle? I'm sorry...well I don't really mean to..."

    I see...so that's what I get for abusing the power and talents that I had, which most likely would be the reason why so many people seem reluctant to adventure together with me.

    What if...in any case, I would lose my powers one day? Will I be prepared enough to face this humiliation on not being able to fight back against my oppressors? Before that, I just made a resolve..

    I want to change, even if his words kinda makes my blood boil...

    "Well, you're right. The Sutherlands were primarily known for their arrogance besides their accomplishments, but please remember this, I won't flaunt about things that I can't manage to accomplish, and even I had lots of weak points that I felt too embarrassed to tell everyone about..."

    Those clenched fists which I saw earlier was no more, it seems that he already let his guard down the moment I made this unexpected response. Good grief, it's best for me not to make any more enemies out there...

    Maybe I should apologize to them later on? Well I don't know about that.

    "I see..."

    "That aside, please help me out with some things for preparing the meal, it's too much for just one person alone. Of course, you can just refuse..."

    "Nah, it's a gentleman's duty to help a lady in need, I'll gladly help."

    I'm expecting some kind of blatant refusal though, it's fine actually if he do refuse, seeing that I could just leave them be and gobble up all the portions for myself, which definitely turns into my favor.

    ...

    "Thank you very much, Monsieur."

    I tried to say it in a way which won't really sound half-hearted, although I didn't really mean it, though it seems that my words made his face blush.

    That was quite unexpected.

    He's a good guy, but...if I were to choose someone, I'd rather make do with someone like Kirk. Even though he's a lazy bum and acts like an idiot on many occasions, I like him because he's not pretentious and hypocritical like many other guys out there.

    He doesn't rely on things such as 'what a real man should be doing' to decide upon his actions, but instead he said

    "I'm doing this just because I want to do it."

    Well, I think I'll just rely on sir Leonard for a bit, then cut off ties with him by the time I met up with Kirk again.
     
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    Floor 2 Omake : Mistes Cygnus

    Besides the Holy Sword Excalibur, the Forbidden Sword Sinclaire, and the Frightening Blade – Adamantinum Ingot Destruction Sword, or in short, AIDS – there's one more sword that's very famous for its rarity and amazing abilities which was famously known as..

    The Sword of Everything, Mistes Cygnus.

    Far different from the other legendary swords, one which were crafted through the hands of a holy angel, one who had history so corrupted and dark no one dares to have a knowing of, or one simply made because of the intense hatred towards homosexuality and fruitcakes.

    There can be more than one copy of Mistes Cygnus, and it could be forged by a mere human. Even so, they must be extremely skilled as the forging process was well-known to be extremely tricky for the untrained forgers, not to mention there only exist one peculiar metal that's applicable of forging this legendary sword.

    We might refer to it as the 'Eclectic Metal', an alloy consisting of myriad number of metals in, from the common Bronze, Steel, Chromium, Adaman, to the rare Duralumin and the unusual Octurus Iron, consisting even the small segment of Moonstone, or Lunarian Rock, and lastly, the holy metal Damascus.

    When the metal has blended in perfectly, it will gave out a glow similar to a Rainbow Prism Metal, but the difference is, when you shine upon a light towards the Eclectic Metal, the diffraction would scatter around to 365 colors, whilst Prism Metals only shows the same number of colors that's inside of a rainbow.

    So yeah, it's quite tricky.

    Mistes Cygnus, by itself, goes by the color of pure white from the hilt towards the end of the blade, and the design was kinda similar to a rapier. By appearance, this sword looks really beautiful, it gets the nickname of 'Snow White', and so the blade was famously known to be wielded by the most gorgeous female knights in history...or the cute boys who looks extremely terrific while cross-dressing...well I don't know really.

    Far different than the other legendary swords, Mistes Cygnus was famously known as the blade who could block any attack, no matter how powerful it is, it's also known as the blade who would never break nor be sealed. It's sword that cannot kill, though it serves a mission so noble to protect every innocent life that lies before it.

    Nah, for its ultimately brilliant defensive purposes, it's remarkably famous amongst dual wielders, and many other adventurers out there.

    Also, the first wielder of Mistes Cynus that made this weapon so popular was none other than our Sutherland family, and that was before our family ever had achieved the popularity that's almost seem like it's too glorified as we're actually just mere humans to go by.

    There's about three swords of it scattered across our family, and for the note, it's strange enough that the only notable wielders only seem to come out from the Sutherlands, as there's the rumors spreading about that non-Sutherland wielders instantly died upon their attempts on wielding that sword.

    Ahem, if I were to disclose about the legend of the first wielder who brought our family into its glory, it would take plenty of chapters, but let me tell you this...when swords like Excalibur and Sinclaire were able to make you into a ruler of the world, having just Mistes Cygnus alone would ensure your safety until the time you're able to rest in peace like every normal human being out there.

    That's just it, let us go back towards our own adventure.
     
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    Part 2-17 : Tale of Two Sheeps

    "So...Carla, basically after you stirred some trouble with these people, the lunch went on as usual, like there's nothing happening?"

    "Yeah, that's it, the story's quite boring to tell you in detail, to be honest."

    It was Kirk's voice, and we're communicating through the Partner Link System, contrary to my expectations, he seem to be doing pretty well, relaxing over here like there's no imminent danger.

    Yup, I'm basically recounting about the events that were happening earlier, and the details about myself fighting the Green Dragon were basically left out because the author was too lazy and uninspired in order to come up with a feasible explanation about it.

    In short, something prickly and pixelated just flashed on the dragon, and I find it to be pretty offensive, so I just shot them with my revolver. The prickly object that looks cylindrical and pixelated just kinda flew outta nowhere, and the dragon slowly vanished towards thin air just like that.

    How about sir Elrond, Leonard, and Bronco? For Bronco, he just disappeared the next moment I realized it, which sent me into panic for a few minutes, then I realized the truth after I checked the menu, which shows that Bronco had returned to the summoning roster, meaning he automatically gets called back when the certain amount of time passes since the last summoning.

    As for these two creeps, they just ran away like that...with the map still on my side, with their abilities they might survive for a decent amount of time, but their terrible sense of direction and the inability to read maps would guarantee their certain doom, I mean it.

    ...

    "Hey Kirk...speaking of which, where are you right now?

    "Me? I'm reading some manga right over here."

    "Geez...please come back soon, all of us got worried sick...well not really, but please do come back as soon as possible..."

    "Aren't you curious about what's happening right over there, come on Carla, this is the Fairy Kingdom, there ought to be..."

    "Nah, if you're talking about the Seeds of Knowledge, I'll just interrogate miss Stella instead, she seem to know a lot about it. There should be a teleporation portal somewhere, and you'll better go find it in order to get back to Avalon."

    "Roger there ma'am, but there's something amiss about the entire Fairy Kingdom...that I find it really hard to describe with words. I want to finish up some business here with the Godmother, and then she might show me the ways to the teleportation portal if things go on smoothly."

    "Okay then Kirk, just take your time, I'll be right over here as soon as I can."

    With that message, I cut off the communication device, then I start dashing away at much faster speed than my usual.

    Time is the essence, they say.

    Xxx​

    This is the tale of two sheeps adventuring with each other, with the mission of conquering the land of the divine grass. Rumors circulated amongst the cucumbers, which indicates that whoever ate the divine grass would rose to become a god, they will attain lots of knowledge that's more than enough in order for them to evolve into a higher being, an entity that would be worshiped for times to come.

    Contrary to what many others believe, it wasn't the desire to attain the ultimate power, nor the desire to become a being that would be praised on worshiped by many others. It wasn't the notion of being continually harassed by rotten cucumbers every time someone tries to take a dump naked in the open, not that either.

    It's only the desire to explore what yet to come in this world, the noble dream to reach the high recesses which this lands of living has yet to offer. They won't really wither even after being ambushed by the pack of hungry wolves, as they always call back with the spirit of Kung-Fu fighting that already been taught of them by a giant cockroach, which is commonly refereed to as Master Zai La Shi, which is universally known as the founder of the Cockroach Kung-Fu technique that could withstand the notorious nuclear radiation devices.

    The refrigeration devices won't be able to outwit the determination which every people in the cockroach tribe possess, and so, the cockroaches would become a Tai Chi master in addition being able to learn the millions of Kung Fu and Wu Shu techniques that could tame a Dragon. So, a little while later, the sheep becomes an aspiring cockroach which would enable themselves to fight the entire universe with a martial arts fighting videogame in an obsolete console that is Magna Turtle, there ain't no Mega Drive engine that's been sold to rabid sheeps without being vandalized upon a pesky mail order, sonny.

    One of the sheep was named Carla, it was a female sheep that took shape of a human being. She was pretty talented, albeit having many awkward moments when she got into various run-in's with lots of cute girls that made so many people fantasize about the potential yuri pairings.

    The other was named Kirk, a socially-awkward sheep that also took the shape of a human, while in fact, the true form is that of a gigantic toilet. He wields a toilet seat cover as his blade and shield, and using a lighter to unleash the almighty flames, similar to those of a dragon breath – a luminous flame that could burn everything on its path.

    Both of the sheeps were striving to continue on their journey in order to conquer the land of divine grasses, with Carla as the instigator, and Kirk was somehow dragged along the path by her. Along the journey, they met many powerful foes to defeat and few friends whom they could rely on. Kirk was slowly turning from the toilet into a pesky cockroach, and Carla from a cockroach into a yuri magnet.

    Alas, there awaits the final journey before both of the sheeps finally reached the Land of Divine Grasses...

    Which is called, Brickwork.

    This is the beginning of the story which would unravel their true self, a journey of self-reflection by undergoing tons of nonsensical moments.
     
    Last edited: Feb 3, 2013
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    Part 2-18 : Reunion

    Here's a resolve made by so many adventurers out there, to fight everything that lies ahead, and becoming the best there ever was, but I was the one who had made a complete opposite decision of what many others do.

    I prefer to keep my honesty and tell them what I actually think, as I am the one who refused to fight at the crucial times, becoming the one who refused to learn things even from the experience, a person rejecting the sole truth behind moving on the weary past.

    There's still the reason why I fought, regardless of my resolve not to fight; it's about my hunger for freedom, to say my honest thoughts out loud, to decide what kind of path should I walk, ultimately freed from the shackles of slavery for times to come.

    That's the reason why I trained myself to be strong, as I have grown over the plentiful of traumatic experiences regarding of the pain about being looked down upon, on not being able to fight back those who endangers my own freedom.

    ..and that's the reason why I walked back here, to this place.

    I must eventually finish everything that I've started, not to become the very best.

    I'm only doing this because I want to do it.

    Xxx​

    Here's Kirk again.

    First of all, let's start with the recap from the time I left the Mansion, back onto Rose's place to read some manga.

    By the time I headed back, it's still quite crowded with people, and I have to pretend that nothing really happens whilst moving as fast as I can, avoiding their suspicion while I paced through into Rose's place again.

    In there, this would be a safe enough place to wait until Carla finally comes, I had a really bad feeling about this at first, but then after a while, my mind starts to calm down whilst watching these anime, in addition of reading some manga and novels that's stacked about...maybe about 1 hour and half had passed since that, judging by the clock in that room.

    And that's when I got a call from Carla, there I told her that I've gotta finish my business soon, it's pretty much the reason I came back to this Mansion-like place known as the Fairy Kingdom Host Club.

    By the moment I got back here, everything was all quiet; the 'Trap' maids, Fairies, everyone around had all but gone. They're probably hiding somewhere, waiting to ambush me while I'm not looking.

    "Just as a precaution. I don't really want to use this, to be honest."

    [Stealth Bomb Activated!]

    It's one of my indispensable items which proved to be quite useful, that even Carla had given thumbs up for, the Stealth Bomb. It detects stealthy units from few miles away, even when they were equipped with Phantom Cloak, which renders themselves invulnerable and invisible like a ghost. When the detection comes, the bomb will detonate when the target comes close enough; the detonation doesn't made that much of noise, and that's what I find to be really favorable.

    The Stealth Bomb has its own downsides, such as the low damage, which made it unable to instantaneously kill off the enemies stronger than the usual grunts; though it could automatically disable their cloaking device which made it much easier to finish them off while I'm on it.

    Why am I hesitating myself to use it? Well you know...it's the last one I had left; at least I wanna save it for the next time I have to venture through the dark dungeons...but well, what's done is done; as I don't wanna lose my life right here and now, it's a gamble I must take.

    "For now, let's just move forward."

    As this place was amongst the ones I had already explored, the place should show up somewhere in my Minimap, and even if the routes were confusing, when I concentrated enough, it will be a piece of cake to get into the shortest route possible, avoiding most of the enemies as well.

    No, without Carla, it's not wise to venture on the item collections; she's a prodigy when it comes to that, just look at the item screen...seriously, she had looted so much unknown items out there, to the point I had lost count of it.

    ...

    ...

    ...

    "Weird...there's still no enemies around."

    Judging by the location the Minimap indicates, there at least should be quite a number of guards standing by...but there's none of them here. Come to think of it, have I done something to make them stand their guard against me?

    No good, I must breathe in...

    "Hufff...there...done,,"

    "Done with your business already, Kirk?"

    Suddenly, there's a voice coming from right me, which literally made me jump.

    "Phew...don't scare me like that, Carla."

    Xxx​

    "So I take it we must ask this Godmother person about the Seeds of Knowledge in order to advance onto the next floor?"

    Carla's voice sounds pretty composed this time, it's just like...she knows a lot about it already.

    "Uh..yeah, I think so. By the way, it's kind of weird for you to jump into conclusion like that? Seeing that I had provided no logical explanation about it."

    "That's fine. In fact, I've already traveled far enough to find some anomalies around here. When I tried venturing much further than the Fairy Kingdom...there's a some kind of boundary that couldn't be broken no matter what, I even tried calling out the Bahamut summon to broke it...but yeah, it yields to no avail at all."

    So in other words, you must unlock the next Floor before another new area is unlocked, huh? This is truly a bizarre world indeed.

    ...

    ...

    ...

    ...and the conversation continues on.

    We always had a lot of things to talk about, as we've already been together for quite a time.

    "Part of it was thanks to you leaving the Partner Link System online, and on top of that, you haven't explored many peculiar places, so I could narrow down the places you've been too."

    "I don't think you would find me that fast, to be honest."

    "Well, I was surprised of it myself, Kirk."

    And there goes her first smile which I saw today.

    It was such a nice occasion to meet her again, it feels like there's a guardian angel that will always be there to protect me...even though she also bullied me quite a lot of times hahaha...

    All that's left was about this one matter with her, before it's finally safe for myself to move on towards the more crucial ones.

    There I made up my mind and finally decided to tell her the truth.

    "Carla, I'm sorry..."

    "Why so?" she cocked her head in disbelief, seeing that I so suddenly bowed my head in front of her while both of us were walking in some unusually quiet place like this.

    "I had used the only last remaining Stealth Bomb on our inventory."

    Well, I don't mind being punched that hard by her...as I'm using one of her most favorable items after all. I know full well that she really hates dealing with stealth-based units because, unlike me, she had no feats in order to detect hidden and invisible enemies, in addition of unable to see that far as I did during the night.

    Though it's a part of my cowardice...to put her in such position just because I'm afraid of lusing my life...what kind of person am I...

    "That's fine."

    "What?"

    Her response was the complete opposite for what I had expected.

    "I got about 10 more of them during my way here, that forest amazingly had quite of stock on the rarest items around."

    "Ahahaha...I see..."

    Thank goodness, looks like I managed to get on her good side for now.
     
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    Part 2-19 : A Farewell Message

    Both of us paced ourselves into the front of the Godmother's Chamber.

    At first, I was taken aback; seeing that the doors that once had been blown up were already intact again...

    "Stop it, Carla! The door would explode if you do that..."

    "It won't happen."

    The one replying to me wasn't Carla...but an other voice that I'm familiar about..

    "Rose..."

    She stood there, with her silver hair let down, and her dark-grey eyes which gave out an ominous feel as I stared down in it.

    "The exploding device only detects the presence of a certain breed of homunculus, which means whoever had exploded earlier must be one. Both of you should be safe since I didn't detect any kind of homunculi energy from you guys."

    So..Jasmine was a homunculus after all...eh? I felt like something doesn't sound right.

    Hearing Rose's explanation, Carla looks up to me in a confused expression.

    "Do you know her, Kirk?"

    "Somewhat."

    She stood in front of me and Carla, hesitating to brandish her energy weapon...but eventually she forfeited the idea by dissipating it back into nothingness.

    "Even in my highest potential, it would be close to impossible to defeat both of you...so I will proclaim my surrender right here and now. Just state your wish, whether it's treasure...or else, but don't ever think of coming back here again."

    Hearing her intimidating words, Carla shows off an agitated expression, which made her to suddenly speak without much of thought.

    "I'm sorry ma'am, but we won't fall so low as to rob you of your valuables...we're just asking about the information regarding Seeds of Knowledge..."

    "...so it's you guys after all. Kirk Thompson, if only you had told me this earlier..."

    ...

    "Kirk?"

    Carla looked at me with the same confused expression as she did before.

    "Errr...you didn't seem like the person who would tell me even if I ask...so..." tried to avert my glance from Carla's intimidating gaze, I continued talking to Rose whilst ignoring the piercing look behind me.

    "I see, guess it's a misunderstanding on our parts, well then...please follow me."

    Xxx​

    Everything seems to happen too fast right after that.

    The next moment when Rose opened up the door towards the Godmother's chamber, my sight was completely enveloped in a blinding white light, and I saw so many fairies all around...with a majestic aura emanating from a throne-like place, might she be the actual 'Fairy Godmother'? That to be said, it's so unfortunate that I had not been able to witness such beauty.

    All of the entire mansion disappeared in instant right after the light finally dissipates, all that's left was just an enormous clearing with tons of people lying there motionless around the place.

    "They're not maids anymore...they came back to their usual outfit..."

    With a tone of disappointment in my voice, I took a quick glance of them, but then my opinion was somehow reversed again. At the second thought, they even look like a cute girl even while dressed in their usual male outfit...

    Uhhh...not this again...

    Anyway, I still vividly remember the message which Rose had given me the moment before she finally disappeared without a trace.

    Clutching my fingers together, I closed my eyes to recall forth the voices, the word after word of it, in which still lingers on my mind.

    Xxx​

    The entire Fairy Kingdom was supposed to be a race that had already ceased its existence since long time ago, with the diminishing amount of Celestial Energy within the land. Before our existence finally ended, we had been instructed by the Creator of this world about the information pertaining the holy artifact known as 'The Seeds of Knowledge'.

    Only by passing up the knowledge to the chosen ones, we would be able to move on...and without the supply of Celestial Energy, all of us would continuously feel the excruciating amount of pain within ourselves...

    Our Godmother was the one suffering the most, as she were the one entrusted with the information's core. And so, in our desperation, we had devised a plan to alleviate our pain by gathering human emotions, sucking down their memories, especially young human males in order to gather forth the Celestial Energy; it corrupts us to our very core, making us forgotten that our time was limited in this world.

    All of us believed that we was immortal, but that was soon proved to be ultimately wrong. We completely had forgotten that we're rapidly dying from the inside as the time keeps passing by, and our minds had gone demented since the beginning of our trial.

    So, after everything was done, and we finally managed to move on...please take each of them towards the nearest human village or town. We had done something unforgivable to them...yet we couldn't do anything more to make amends for our mistakes...

    I know this might sound selfish...but, please do us a favor in return of gaining the information pertaining the 'Seeds of Knowledge', okay?

    It's nice meeting you, Carla Sutherland and Kirk Thompson.

    I hope we still had a chance to meet again sometime

    Xxx​

    It's supposed to be around late afternoon by now, but for some reason...the sky completely darkens up, and the remainders of light that was once belonged in here...all of them soars up towards the darkened skies, just like countless starts trying to reach up to the heavens above.

    "Carla, did you know something about the 'Flame of Heaven'?"

    Both of us sat together down the clearing, looking up to the anomaly at the skies above; her eyes were pretty much mesmerized by the glittering sparks of light resembling the arrays of energy particles soaring up at incredible speeds.

    It reminds me of the magical fireworks I had seen quite often while I was a lot younger.

    "Hey..."

    "I know, you don't need to bother me twice."

    From the corner of her eyes, I could see teardrops trickling down through her cheeks, albeit faint.

    "They say that...the 'Flame of Heaven' was a weapon used by a fallen angel, and even the angels would eventually came back towards the sky...back to where they truly belong to, although they might leave painful memories behind, hurting their beloved person they had formed relationships of - It sounds really stupid."

    "Yeah, they're stupid all right."

    As I'm saying this, for the first time, I tried patting her head, that which she responded by moving her head closer to me.

    "Please don't take advantage of this situation, okay? I...I'm just tired of all of the adventuring for today, of course!"

    I heard from Carla that Stella and Misty would be creating a massive teleportation circle across this clearing, in order to transport back the townspeople.

    From an incredibly long distance away, I didn't think it was possible.

    "That's what they told me on the way, they contacted me after I got into the Fairy Kingdom through some kind of magical technologies beyond my comprehension. Well, they were the sort of person who would perform outrageous things, I suppose."

    Then a while later, an enormous teleportation circle covering the entirety of the clearing were slowly formed right below our feet.

    "Let's go." saying that, Carla pulled my hand back

    She jumped high into the sky, dragging me along just like a feather.

    Then, the next moment I soon found myself riding on something...the footing was kind of soft...was it...

    "Bronco, I'm sorry for earlier, and yeah...please take care of us."

    "Don't worry, that Arthur bastard actually had tried to cut my head once, this is nothing compared to that."

    We're currently riding on a large dragon's back onto Avalon.

    "Carla...why?"

    "Because I didn't want to end up at the wrong places just like that last time."

    "Ah...I see..."

    Guess I should shut up for now and enjoy the flight journey.

    Well, that's quite a long adventure...I guess.

    End of Floor 2​
     
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    Side Story A

    ~ The Sky Moves Sideways ~​


    Part A-1 : Turning Point

    Hunger.

    That's probably one of the few reasons why I kept on moving forward. Either it's the thirst of power, wealth, or even knowledge; but there's something even more enticing than all of these combined.

    That is, the hunger for feasting upon a wide variety of delicious meal at bay which inspires me to explore the entire world for my journey to be the ultimate gourmet ever lived. Normally I ate so much the things that came to my interest to the point my stomach hurts alot, that's probably one of the reasons why I couldn't venture on lengthy adventures until I am able to control my desires.

    Many people believed that I was born with a fragile stomach; one that aches a lot even in the slightest action of 'chewing a bit more than what my internal organs are capable to digest'. My family also regarded me as the most arrogant, foolish, and reckless member of their own very bloodline that had ever lived; before that, my grandfather was pretty much known as the most absurd adventurer ever in our family.

    He firmly believed that life is completely similar to an RPG game, and every single thing in life should be treated as it was inside an RPG game nonetheless. I don't even know what does that mean, since I didn't really understand how to operate this gaming consoles anyway. Not only that, I had a hard time reading even the simplest books. Even from a child, I was diagnosed of being dyslexic unable to even complete the primary level of education in my hometown.

    I know that I am stupid. When the other human and the elven kids went together to school during my childhood, I was mostly here in my family's adventurer guild; honing my abilities by practicing the little things that I can do every now and then. Picking up my beloved wooden club and start practicing my swings right here and there, hoping that one day I could easily decimate my enemies with some few swings from my club.

    Every morning I tried doing marathon runs across the city. Not only it is good for health, but also helps to maintain my stamina on the long run. Along with many other exercises I've done in my childhood, I finally grew up to be a young teenager with a tall and athletic stature, finally able to control my body as I pleased. Back then, I'm able to run faster and hit harder than most people in town that I know of.

    Although in my family, I'm probably the weakest one right here and now. My grandfather makes fun of me every time we tried to spar; he easily beat me head on without breaking a sweat during my teenage days. I also had my big sister who's sweet and gentle, though in fact she's an extremely strong fighter in addition of knowing so many powerful magic.

    Ever since she was a kid, she's a child prodigy who's able to study and master things easily. I wasn't able to use magic at all since I can't read, but I remember myself able to learn the other things while being taught verbally by my grandfather. For me, learning things by doing were mostly the only thing I could pursue in order to strengthen myself.

    Many years had passed since the day I made my resolve to be a man who my family could rely on, and that long awaited day finally came when there's a draft coming in by the King's Decree.

    Xxx​

    "Sis, even though I'm not cut out to be an adventurer, I will do my best as a soldier in honor of our beloved Kingdom, Avalon."

    At the time of the military draft, I was about 19 years old of age, which is about the average age of new soldiers that were drafted at that time. The youngest one were that one 15 year old lad, and that kid was really energetic and motivated; he' s also really talented as a soldier regardless of his small and girlish stature which kinda made me thought for a second, he's more suited to be a cross-dressing maid rather than a soldier.

    I barely had passed the examination because of my terrible results at the written test, as I could only read and write barely. Even though I aced all of the physical examinations, it pretty much hinders me from getting a high rank of an elite soldier because I'm pretty much a stupid person, regardless of how hard and fast I could decimate my opponents. Oh, and one more thing; it was the mercy of one commander here who gave his approval to let me in through a 'wild card' system, which is the only reason why I had passed the examination.

    Technically, I had failed the expectations of my family by resulting in a great failure with my attempt to enlist as a soldier, but then in one way or another, the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity had shown itself so blatantly in front of me.

    Entering through the 'wild card' system means that, I won't be getting the same training program as everyone else due to my lack of literary intellect, but I will instead undergo a special intensive course that would make use of the things I'm fully capable of.

    "Hey you greenhorn, from this day on, you will undertook the way of the Barbarian. I am deeply impressed at your intense aura of bloodlust when you decimated several opponents at once even in an unarmed combat during that sparring examination earlier. Regardless of you having learned no martial arts technique at all, you had showcased a rare kind of talent I haven't seen in my entire life. From tommorow on, I will personally train you to become a great warrior. Be wary that my ways might be really strict, mark my words."

    Enough of this flashback already. So yeah, I said that words to my big sis after I returned from the examination. It was pretty late back then, even though it wasn't really dark at night; you could say it's still around the evening time.

    She gave me a piercing look right at my very eyes, probably trying to figure out whether I am lying or not. Pretty much I believed that my family already had lost hope in me since I'm not really bright from the start.

    ...but I will prove them wrong.

    Even though I'm not that bright in mind, I will become the person with the brightest heart ever.

    "Ah...I see that you had passed, Regulus. Grandpa's already anticipating your return since so many hours ago."

    That was pretty much the only thing that my big sis said to me before we headed back home. Albeit faint, I could see a trace of smile in the corner of her lips. That alone had caused my entire heart to brighten, seeing as she always looked at me with such expression of pity.

    From far away, I could smell a scent of a delicious meal being cooked from inside the guild. All of the working out from the afternoon earlier sure makes me really hungry, hope that I don't eat too much like the last time and the time before that.

    "Oh, and one more thing, Regulus. There's only vegetable meals present for dinner."

    "S-seriously? You've gotta be kidding me..."

    Ah damn it, why today of all times?

    Why now on all occasions, that I must I eat up the vegetables which I truly hated ever since I was a kid?

    It's probably going to be a really long day, starting tomorrow.
     
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    Part A-2 : Embrace the Powerful Tacos

    "Hufff...hufff..."

    Never before I felt so hopeless in my entire life; the entire feelings of pride and self-esteem had all but gone within this very moment.

    Basked in the afternoon sunlight which burns my entire skin, I laid my body down the ground, almost completely motionless; my entire body aches a lot due to all of the overexertion from the training. It's just my first day but I've already been made to do things

    which would pretty much be an impossible feat.

    "FOOL! It's not time for yer rest, greenhorn. At this rate ya'll be just a dead man walking inside the battlefield, an easy target to dispose of quickly by our enemies. If ya truly wish to survive in this kind of situation, ya better have some balls, got it?"

    You can say that, coach...but...well...you're the one who had brought me to the state of near-death like this. If you keep this up any longer I'll definitely die before I could even embark upon my first battle as a soldier. I mean, this kind of exercise was just inhuman, even for someone who already trained his body on a regular basis since childhood.

    "GET UP!"

    From this blurry sight I acquired due to the mass accumulation of fatigue, I could barely see his visage...carrying a some kind of wooden club that's pretty different from mine. He quickly paced through the training arena towards me; with a pose that's just ready to swing his weapon if I didn't comply to his orders.

    I was right, he just brandished the wooden club; with a kind-of-intimidating pose, the guillotine that would etch a grim memory on my life would soon came to me as the club gets even closer to the point it would made contact with...

    "Would you please stop this childish nonsense already?" my moment of doom were somehow thwarted, as the loud voice of a middle-aged woman suddenly resounds across the training hall.

    Once more, this place were embraced by a brief silence; even the rustling sounds of leaves falling from the trees to the sound of my breathing, all of it had become completely embalmed in a state of tranquility.

    "Lizbeth..."

    "Honey, please. I'm no longer my young self anymore for you to call me that."

    "To me, you look forever young, my dear."

    "Oh my, such sweet words won't just make do to condone your actions. Look, you practically reduced this kid into the state between life and death, and you want to do this on top of that? Guess that's why nobody wants to continue after the first day."

    ...

    Hmm...strangely enough, after lying down there for several minutes, I could feel my energy starts returning all of sudden, and my muscles doesn't really hurt that much anymore. Though I just felt like lying down for a while longer for the sake of slacking off, and it seems that there's currently an interesting conversation going; would be such a pity just to let it slide.

    "To think that anyone would fall for a blatant lie such as the wild card system. This training place didn't even had any peculiar connection with the army from the start. We'll be facing a bankrupt anytime soon as your retirement funds would be running out, and then..."

    "Nope, I will make this kid into a great barbarian hero, the one who would eventually be the pride and joy of this training facility. I can see it...this kid has talent."

    "Yet you still won't be able to get the money in order to maintain this place."

    "We could still try to go for competitions! I'm sure when we won a lot of them, the government would soon accept our proposal for a funding..."

    Sheez...this conversation eventually turns out to be boring after all. I really hate this kind of complex situations that doesn't involve things like food, drink, fighting, or even Tacos. Yes there's still the competitions but I don't feel like participating if it doesn't have a meal coupon as one of the prizes, or better yet, a grand prize.

    In short, I didn't see whether this kind of blasphemy was going to be of any benefit to me, it just feels like I've been used like a pawn all this time and it truly leaves me somewhat agitated.

    Well, off we go. This place were pretty much shaped like a small Colosseum so it doesn't have that many blind spots in order for me to sneak in. Though as I felt these stupid couple were basically engrossed in their tedious conversation, it might be a good idea on sneaking off to eat some Tacos.

    Hope that all of this training about walking while trying not to make a single noise would paid off. I still had my doubts whether the coach would eventually notice my absence or not, but yeah, at least with his wife around he wouldn't go so far to exert his spartan training on a whole new level...especially when I've already known that I had something I couid use against him in case things didn't go my way...kukuku...

    Here we go...

    ...

    ...

    ...

    I just can't believe it, they didn't even notice my presence at all until I finally reached the ent-

    "Ouch...sorry I didn't mean to..."

    Accidentally, I bumped into a figure that's wearing a light suit of armor.

    "..."

    He looks like an elven general, and he just walked by past me without even saying a single word whilst giving me a kind of icy-cold stare just before we parted ways; looks pretty fishy if you ask me. My gut tells me not to get involved with this guy any more than necessary.

    Well, just forget about him. Right now I just want to eat some Tacos.

    Xxx​

    "Let's just pretend that I didn't hear anything after I went outside."

    Well the truth is...I just kind of heard something really unpleasant and loud coming from inside the training place, which makes me even more glad that I actually left before I'm finally stuck on such inconvenience.

    That to be said, I sprinted as fast as I could towards the nearest Taco stand; never before I ran this fast, to the point it created tons of dust clouds from my feet brushing against the dirt-stained ground. It was in the middle of summer, so you could expect the ground to be filled with dust and dirt.

    Embrace the powerful tacos, and that is my swag.

    Though, even if I had said some pretty cool thing myself...

    "Why...why..."

    The Taco Stand were closed for today, and I totally forgot that today is Sunday. I felt my energy starting to drain at an incredulously high pace; it truly made me shoulders slump, though it's nowhere near the mental damage dealt due to the feelings of utter disappointment...

    "Ball!"

    Oh yeah, there's a baseball court right here across this Taco Stand, along with some buildings like the Cathedral, the Market, and also various shops and restaurants lined up quite neatly down the artistically-paved stone roads.

    I'm right here at the town square again huh?

    Since I'm currently looking for something to blow off the steams due to this disappointment earlier, guess I'll just join them for a game if they were pretty short on members.

    Then I will just go home. I didn't feel like continuing this kind of strict training for that kind of blasphemy about making me a 'great hero' or something, even more, knowing that I'll just end up being used.

    Oh well. That to be said, today sure was a pretty eventful day.
     
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    Part A-3 : Letdown

    The baseball game held in the town square was called out from my favor, there were already enough players who participated just for the fun of it. Even though I told them that I could win this game for the team who agreed to put myself in, they eventually came to turn my inquiry down just like that.

    "Sorry there Regulus, but baseball is more of a team play rather than a showcase of individual skill which represents arrogance. For this consideration I won't let yourself in." thus are the words from the captain of this one baseball team captain while they were having a short break. There were also several of his teammates coming near him, looking at me with a curious gaze, which somehow made me tad uncomfortable. Though I think it's much better as I didn't feel a single bit of resentment coming from them.

    I let out a somewhat lengthy sigh towards this empty air around me. The game of sports like this, when I could manage to win big in order to blow off some steam, it's the first time that I had been rejected while I was the one offering my generosity. Last time and time before that, it's mostly just me being asked to play in their team as an ace.

    "Well...don't take this out the wrong way chap, Captain just wants a bit of challenge this time. We may had been doing pretty poor with our lackluster performance...but yeah, we want to show them all that even mediocrity will have the chance to shine sometimes. But yeah...you definitely woouldn't understand that, would you?"

    You're wrong. There's no one who experienced a greater disappointment of being a letdown other than myself; being completely left out from the rest of my family just because I can't read. From the moment of my birth, I had suffered from a complicated abnormality which renders me unable to decipher any written words. In my mind, I only could thought of that as an abstract symbol, nothing more, nothing less.

    So how did I managed to barely answer the written test? Nope, I pretty much lied...I was completely filled with disappointment on my inability to answer even a single answer because I couldn't even understand a single word that was written down the paper. My family, they were filled with intellectuals, leaving me out alone as a complete musclehead with the great handicap of unable to learn and study things normally.

    "Hey...I just want to play baseball, it's not about winning...it's about having fun...really I want to have fun..."

    I realized that I was desperate enough to find a way of escapism from this pathetic mediocrity of myself by doing things I'm especially good at.

    The captain gave me a look of pity; for a moment I could see that he's trying to pat my head by reaching his hand out, but he then quickly resigned the offer because he's probably afraid that I might broke his arm due to my irritation. Yes, I know that he's the team's pitcher, and his hands were the most valuable asset which he needed in order to ensure a magnificent performance. Should they be permanently broken, it would mean the death of his baseball career, even if it's on the amateur levels.

    "You know, Regie." the Captain switched to a more friendly sounding nickname to lessen the tension up."The words you've said just now were completely different from the one you had said earlier. Does that mean you had changed your beliefs just to reach out towards any opportunities? Was your past saying 'I will definitely win this match' had all been a blatant lie, after all?"

    He pretty much caught me red-handed, but was all that saying to exploit my weakness...were pretty much a scheme not to let myself in? I didn't even do anything that's worthy of such mannerisms.

    "Fine, I'll be on my way then." at the second thought, I'd better not play at all rather than playing with someone who looks at me with such disdain. Better off alone rather than putting myself together with a group of people who deem me unworthy to be an equal for them.

    From far away, I could barely heard what they were muttering about.

    "Captain, with this you would certainly lose the game, you shouldn't do that. Even if we originally approved of your idea, at a second thought...it's best to let him play, he had something he wanted to fulfill in this game of baseball."

    "You know, I don't take my words back after I said them; It's a matter of credibility. If only he had kept his own words true...I would definitely let him play. We don't need a people who couldn't even keep his resolve because of a small pressure like th-"

    Before he finished talking, one of his teammates had already landed a heavy punch down his face; yeah I was kind of watching that from a distance rather than just leaving straight away.

    "I didn't know you're such a pathetic hypocrite, Captain. Before you have the right to lecture others, please prove your words by giving us lots of victory like what you promised earlier! Instead of fulfilling your promise, you just changed your motive to just...'yeah we're just playing for fun, no need to aim high'...and you still dared to lecture others, regardless of that? Yeah sure...I'm quitting this team because I'm tired of losing every time."

    Sigh.

    For goodness sake, these are just a simple game of baseball, not a championship or some sort. I'm glad that I didn't have to play with these dumbasses.

    What a letdown.

    Xxx​

    Running.

    That's pretty much the only thing left in order for me to blow off some steam. A kind of marathon run along the outskirts of Avalon. The rays of gleaming sunlight casts forth a lengthy shadow along with giving me an intense heat, though it doesn't stop me to fully enjoy myself as my irritation keeps on evaporating towards the thin air along with tons of sweat dripping from the forehead to my cheeks.

    "I saw you running around this route regularly, young man. A solitary run that's befitting for a lone wolf. One doesn't have to keep up pace with the other, as he's rightfully alone enjoying themselves in the wilderness. I once had a friend, he was a brilliant forest elf, and also the fastest scout the army ever had. No one could run faster than he does. He likes to run along this route, the same way as you do."

    It was the elven general whom I met earlier, with silver hair about the length of his shoulder; also the bloodshot crimson eyes, somewhat pale skin, and a slender stature befitting of an elf, not to mention the pointy ears which becomes the trademark of that race.

    From the appearance alone, I could presume that he belonged to the Dark Elf heritage, the most sinister and cunning of all elves. Though to be said, I don't see any ill intent coming from him, so I figure that I should just let my guard down before things started to become a misunderstanding.

    "Hello there sir, and what are you doing here by yourself, in any case? Certainly you won't just stay there in this midst of nowhere without any reason."

    "Good question, but the truth is...I'm just reminiscing about this late friend of mine. If you listened to what I said clearly, you would figure out things without having me say it explicitly."

    "Uh...yeah...okay. Also, if you could excuse me..."

    "About time you said so, well...get going then, human." the elven general looks at me with a hint of disgust, then he sent me away just like that. I wonder if I already said something that I shouldn't have?

    Come to think of it, he didn't say anything about our first accidental meeting down the training hall earlier. Maybe it's the best idea to keep my mouth shut about it, rather than intruding on the matters which was best kept private.

    Also, I didn't understand how could you possibly read between the lines at all, since I couldn't even read. At least I know one thing, that I should finish this run quickly and go home.

    Yeah, I'm hungry, and I just want to live at peace.

    That's all.
     
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    Part A-4 : Food is a Virtue

    As I ran towards the direction of my home, I managed to pass by the training hall which kept me cooped up in pain due to the overly strict training these demonic coach had given me. I stopped for a moment just before I passed by the couple of middle-aged people in front of me, which was none other than the coach and his wife themselves.

    "Err..I'm sorry for going off earlier, I didn't really mean to."

    Yeah, I figured that I just have to apologize, and my business would be done thoroughly with them. Also, even if it's hard...I have to tell him that I desire no further training from him as I felt that his ways was too strict, and he didn't strike me as a fellow who would accept compromises...

    But what just came after that was just...unexpected.

    "You don't have to go in this place anymore, in fact, you can't. Feel free to live your life and train yourself with the way you wanted." the coach sounds awfully meek compared to the time when we first met during the examination.

    That big man who had told me such a convincing lie, he currently looks so small and frail. It feels like, if I were to push him away, he would fly off in instant...

    "There."

    With a calm way of speaking to catch him off guard, I delivered the hardest punch I could muster with my right hand, and aimed it directly to his stomach. Even though he's able to reflexively block it, my punch had sent him flying up onto the training hall's interior right from the entrance. He fell down the ground with a loud thud sound; staying there motionless the whole time I was looking, which was about several seconds maybe.

    "H-how dare you!"

    This time, a swift slap comes flying to my face right from the sides. As I didn't really have a grudge to the wife, I simply dodged it by quickly jumping back from her range.

    "It's just payback, he's not my coach anymore so I could do things as I please."

    Back then when I was a lot younger, I was told by grandfather to respect those who were generous enough to take their time on teaching me to become a much better person. I felt that it was crucial, as being teached by others were the only surefire way for me to learn something, so it becomes a part of my own decree to respect anyone who I regarded as a teacher or coach, regardless of how their ways would appeal to me.

    Whether their ways of teaching might be acceptable or not, it's only a given for me to accept it and move on until our relationship as a student and teacher finally ended, and that is, after I finally learned everything which they had wished to teach me.

    Though there would be a totally different outcome if my teacher suddenly gave up on me without any peculiar reason, or when he simply refuses to teach me anything before we even accomplished something worthwhile. I just can't accept that kind of attitude, it's pretty much the betrayal of all the trust I had given to them.

    "But, why won't you please listen to what he said first? Why won't you first let him finish all of his words before you finally decided on resorting to violence?"

    "Nope, and I just felt like punching him. He deserves it."

    Sorry ma'am, but I think you should use your words carefully when speaking with a musclehead who couldn't understand what is the blasphemy called 'persuasive speech' or even every thing which is regarded as 'intelligent'.

    "You...knave...you shall pay for this! I won't forgive you..." she then tried to pull a some kind of bladed weapon from her belt buckle..

    But it was stopped right before the small blade were unsheathed by a thunderous scream coming from far away.

    "Stop it, Lizbeth...do not ever draw the Serpent Dagger. Please calm down."

    The Sandwich Lagger? Sounds interesting...

    "Okay, it seems that you're already awake, you old fart. Let me hear what you wanna say about all of this me-"

    "Oh dear, I already pulled it, I'm really sorry."

    Hmm...

    ...

    ...

    ...

    ...

    So that's the Salamich Bagger huh?

    It's so unexpected, terribly unexpected. I didn't even have a hunch why it was called the Sapient Ligger at the first place.

    Contrary to my expectations, the blade was shaped like a tampon.

    Xxx​

    "So that's what happened...well okay I didn't understand anything."

    Seriously, I didn't understand all of this complex talk filled with blasphemy, but to surmise it up, the elven general whom I met earlier down the training hall, and then the forest, he was basically being overly poetic and melancholic. I wonder if he did compose something about his dead boyfriend?

    Ah I see, that's why he wanted to send me off...so he could finally took a dump naked right alone in the forest while reminiscing about his dead boyfriend just to get a load of inspiration. That was the most poetic thing that I had ever witnessed...wait...

    What was a poem again?

    He is a forest elf and he could shot things quicker than anyone, so that made him the quickest shot. That was brilliant, I might have a talent for storywriting even though I can't write or even read. Is it possible, yeah sure it is...I know yet on the other side, I don't know. Consider it about fifty-fifty when it comes to that matter.

    "Like I said Regulus, General Hawk came here to shut this place down by the order of the Kingdom because I can't pay the damn rent."

    "Genital Hax? What a weird name for a dark elf."

    What is rent? I only know the Kingdom of Avalon. You pay rent? Is it some kind of food so you have to pay for it? What does rent taste like...judging from the old fart's reaction, it seemed to be something bitter. So people like to eat many bitter things nowadays huh, I see...so that's why rotten coconuts weren't a popular product anymore.

    "Would you please listen?"

    "I'm hungry. If my stomach is empty, I can't think. Give me some Tacos and I'll listen..."

    ...if I'm feeling like it

    The old fart just took out something from his pocket as I asked for some food.

    "Sigh...okay...here's my boxed lunch if you want. Ain't got no Tacos here lad, got no money to waste, feeling so damn poor right after I greatly injured myself during the last war. I used to be a strong general with my iron fists...but then a frightening Orc tore my entire shoulder blade...can't even raise my fist anymore, and just merely using my hands seem painful."

    Sigh...damn you old man, I just can't take a boxed lunch from a person like you.

    "Nah, I had some pocket money with me, guess I'll just eat out at the family restaurant nearby. This will be my treat, so you could reserve that boxed lunch for evening snack if you want. Besides, for a fatso like ya it's too puny to even be called lunch. You need something hearty!"

    "Hah...Regulus, I didn't think that you had this side in you."

    "Food is a virtue, old man. It's against my beliefs to take a food from the hungry and the poor."

    Believe it or not, after sympathizing with this man's lack of eating. I started to intently listen to his life story, and found myself being easily moved to tears on many things he had to do in order to survive in this world.

    ...

    I don't know if he's actually lying or not, seeing as he could tell a convincing lie to me some moments before. Well, even if he actually lied, at least I could listen to a nice yet moving story.

    Though all of this serene moment had all changed by the time I heard several footsteps coming into the training hall when both of us spoke together. An ominous presence emanates from behind my back, I know that this person was pretty far away from me...but his presence alone was so intimidating...

    "Y-you are..."

    It was the elven general, and this time he was accompanied by several knights from the Kingdom's army.

    "Well...if it isn't the human, I could say that I am filled with disdain upon meeting such creature of low intellect. The same goes to you, Ramirez. You should go back to your daughter's family in the slums. Your filthy presence is truly incorrigible."

    What the hell was this elf talking about?

    I don't know but things will start to get heated up right over here...damn it..

    First and foremost, I think I left out my precious Club right around here. Without that weapon, I pretty much won't stand a chance against these guys.

    "Regulus."

    "What now old man?"

    "Your beloved club, I believe you called it by the name of Nostradamus."

    Damn it old man, when you said that 'magic word' while handing the club to me, you obviously didn't know what will happen. You see, 'Nostradamus' isn't the name of the weapon. When you yell it's true name, it will turn into something even more wicked, like a toilet seat cover or many other stupid things you won't understand.

    "No, it's name wasn't Nostradamus, you old geezer."

    The club gets filled to the brim with energy, if I weren't able to release it soon, the club would soon turn itself into a Minotaur in order to wreak havoc on every nearby enemies out there. Armors won't help, the monster would utilize explosive attacks from a long range.

    "What is it then..."

    "Nothing!"

    Aw crap...I finally said its true name, now the people who gathered around here was going to be killed by its power. I saw many soldiers gathering right at the entrance, ready to punish those who decided to fight the authorities, and it's currently me who they deem as an offender.

    Noooo...please don't...

    "Too late."

    The club gives off a light so blinding; it formed a gigantic light pillar which stretched itself right to the heavens above.

    "General Hawk...that's bad, he's going to summon the Flame of Heaven..we will die if we stay here...please run!"

    You can say that, but for a moment I saw the general fainted while standing up, by the moment my club emits this powerful light. Guess this dark elf was just all talk, huh?

    All that's well and ends well; the soldiers deliberately ran with their tails between their legs as they were basically afraid of lamps as they do while being faced by angry tampons.

    By the way, there's one thing I really hate about this power, despite of it being really flashy and cool to look at.

    "Let's go home dear! Tee-hee..."

    "Gosh, not you again."

    When the true name is called, it would summon a Minotaur girl that's already been with me for a really long time now...you could say she's like a childhood friend to me. If you're asking, she looks just like a human with a pair of formidable looking horns on her head.

    Yeah, I lied just before, when you said 'Nostradamus' it does nothing. The club just naturally reacts to my energy when I touched it while I'm not wearing an energy sealing glove, and when it gets outta control...you could unleash a powerful shockwave and it would create a massive explosion upon impact with any objects, no matter if it's real or ethereal like ghosts.

    "Who is this cute Minotaur girl...Regulus?"

    "My childhood friend...yeah..."

    The most annoying thing about her was...she would just stay here for a few days before turning back and I couldn't even use that club which has tons of cool moves because it's currently taking form as her.

    Well, at least she's a terrific cook and her body was pretty well endowed too.

    "Regi-chan...what are you looking at?"

    "Nothing. If you would please excuse us, old man."

    So yeah, this time I went home for real, as I were continuously nagged by this girl on the way. But really, her actions and demeanor were just too cute for me to even get irritated at her.

    Well, guess being with her again wasn't so bad after all.
     
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    Part A-5 : Way of Life – Part 1

    From when I was born, I'm having quite a difficulty to understand written words, though I could somehow get them when people taught me verbally. My grandpa said, that there's one part in my brain that's kinda defunct since I was born, and that part was the certain thingy with the task of comprehending the written words.

    That's pretty much why I couldn't read.

    When I was little, the doctors told me...they could perform a brain surgery in order to fix that defunct part. It wasn't a foolproof method, just a inquiry made upon a mere hunch, that it will have a chance of myself to finally be able to read things.

    But, there's a dire risk to take. As the defunct part was located kind of deep within the Neocortex, and it might possibly damage the nearby brain area that concerns my reflexes, such as the ability to move my body at will, as freely as possible – I might lost that ability for my entire life, whilst gaining nothing out of it.

    At that time I didn't understand at all, on how the doctors at Avalon couldn't give me a surefire way to fix my brain. When my parents were basically opted to take the risk on performing the brain surgery, it was my grandfather who greatly oppose the idea.

    I still remember the words of that time...

    "Do you understand the implication of your actions? You would sacrifice the only happiness this children has, just to retain this feelings of arrogance! Just because he wasn't born with an able mind, that does not mean you have the right to treat him like he's a garbage, or even some useless property."

    "I for myself, firmly believed that the greatness of a man would not be determined by the depth of his intelligence or wisdom, but merely the kindness of his heart and the power of his personality. You disappoint me, my child, you only wished to raise your children just to make them a property to appease your ego and grant you the appreciation you did not deserve at all. Like this boy's elder sister for example, you already ruined her life, and what's more, her entire humanity!"

    "Begone, as I will hereby banish you from this guild! Both of you had been testing my patience thus far, but this is enough, I shall tolerate no further insolence. Leave, and don't ever show your face again, I won't hesitate to raise my hand even if you're actually my own child."

    To grandfather, it was a really big crime to rob someone off their very dreams and passion which kept them alive and smiling happily. My parents just left after that, and I, who had only a vague recollection of them, beside the utmostly painful moments of them screaming at me and grounding me all day – for the first time in my life, I felt so relieved.

    Grandpa brought forth a new light of hope that's so immensely bright. From that point on, he pretty much had became the person whom I truly respect. He said to me one very important thing.

    "Not be able to read would be nothing compared not being able to experience what the goodness of what this life could give you. You had this precious thing that nobody else has, I won't tell you what it is....that's up to you to find it out by yourself. Remember to treasure what you deem to be the most important, and I assure you, in the future you shall grow up to be a great man. I have high expectations of you, Regulus."

    Things that I deem to be most important, huh?

    Would it be about my fondness for tacos? Yup, that would be a part of my swag.

    Still, even if you had put such high expectations for me, grandpa...in the end I ultimately became an useless young man instead of a great man that would be your pride and joy.

    My greatest feat would be running around naked in the forest whilst thinking about taking a dump in the open, or even staring at the ceiling lamp for all day long and shutting my whole brain of this certain thoughts about that damn tree who would make even the bravest soldiers peed from their metallic swords.

    It's that tree which was shaped like a toilet....well nevermind.

    Xxx​

    "Well it seems that I went overboard with the government soldiers....there goes me acting out without thinking...sigh..."

    "That's so like you, Regulus. Ahahahaha..."

    "Hey, don't laugh! You..."

    "Umm...sorry. It's just that, I haven't been unable to get out for a while now. So you could say that...I miss you so much."

    "I-it's only been three days! H-how could you say something so embarrassing just like that...there you, the townspeople were going to have some weird ideas about us..."

    "Like I care about that. It's you fault for acting so distant around me, hmph!"

    Her name is Celia, she's a Minotaur girl that's been sealed in my keepsake club since I first got them from grandpa while I was still a kid. She's been with me for so many years now, you could say that she already had become just like a childhood friend to me.

    At a glance, she looks like a really beautiful girl with a kind of muscular and well-endowed physique that's so appealing to the eyes. What I really like the most about her was that pair of horns in the side of her head, which made her look really adorable, along with her tied-back ponytail hair that stretches down to her waist.

    Her hair was of a mild purplish color and her eyes gave out an exotic gleam of gold, that which I could stare with for long without getting bored. She wore a hunter jacket made of a Dragon hide, kinda dark brownish in color, that perfectly complements her white lustrous skin.

    Though her appearance kinda made me feel weird, about that black tank-top that covers her chest to the upper part of her stomach, revealing her bare skin from the stomach to the upper hip, the cloth also further accentuates the shape of her nicely developed chest. From hip downwards, there's also the short pants made from a great quality leather which stretches down to her knee, making the remainder of her shapely legs fully visible. On her feet, there's a pair of lightweight leather boots that looks very durable and convenient for running.

    Errr...at the second thought, what's strange...uhh...well...

    Forgive me, my eyes kept on fixated to her chest....

    "Hey, Regulus...are you thinking of something perverted again?"

    "GYAAAAAAH! No...no...no...really....I do not."

    "That's okay, it's not like I would condemn you for that, ehehe.....well, since our guild was already close by, I'm going to cook some lunch for you since you haven't eaten anything yet, okay?"

    Normally I would just be overjoyed when she wants to cook something for me, she's a terrific cook after all. But then, I kinda felt guilty for thinking such things about her...so I just nod at her.

    She took my hand and we once again ran together back to the guild, just like the last time and the time before that; we seem to get along really well.

    Still, there's one things which kinda made me felt somewhat resigned every time I met her. There's a fairly limited time in which she could stay in this world, and every time I developed a feeling of affection towards her, she would disappear all of sudden...turning back into my club.

    I couldn't describe how much hurt did I felt at that time, when you had someone who were basically so close, but she could only be with you for a very limited amount of time.

    She's too good for me.

    So close, but at the same time, so far out of reach.
     
    Last edited: Mar 9, 2013
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    Part A-6 : Way of Life – Part 2

    The clashing sounds of two blunt weapons echoed across the guild's backyard; it was the usual place for my training, usually with me and myself alone trying to practice my hard-hitting skills on the straw dummy over there. Even though on the outside, it looks exactly like your ordinary training dummy, it had been magically enchanted by my elder sister, so it could take a lot more of punch whilst compared to a normal one.

    My sister's enchantment spells were amongst the most powerful ones in Avalon, and many people truly look up to her. But grandpa told me not to be jealous just because my sis had something that I don't, rather, I should cherish the things that I currently have right now.

    If it's just my ordinary day, I'll either be out practicing alone, or even sparring with my grandfather on certain occasions. But as he's too tough of an opponent, I couldn't really learn anything from sparring with him as I quickly got my butt kicked, even when I tried using my full capabilities on that old man.

    Because most of the time I relied my practice on hitting straw dummies, I've been getting difficulties whilst hitting moving targets, or even targets that could fought back, so I'm also strongly lacking in my defensive techniques to retaliate against the opponent's attack. That begins when I was still a little boy, when grandpa noticed my problem of not having a sparring partner that could match up with my current abilities.

    It's quite a long story, but think of it as the moment when I first received the club which I've been using up until now. The kind of club that would grew in size and destructive power, proportional to the user's strength.

    I don't really know how exactly does the weapon work, but I first saw it as a really big weapon with an extremely strong aura when its held by grandfather. After he had said something about bestowing the weapon to me, the club had greatly shrunk in size to the point it looks quite easy even for the little me to use.

    I've rarely let others use it, but when they do so, the size just remained as it was, and it only grew by as I used it over time for training and many other things which would yield an increase in my battle abilities. Kinda weird seeing some inanimate object like a club growing just like a living being.

    Well whatever...

    One day, after about half a year since I received the club, I went out for the usual training at the guild's backyard. Just when I started using it to hit the straw dummies again, the club suddenly gave out a blinding light which soon enough envelops me inside.

    To make long story short, that's how I first met Celia.

    Xxx​

    "Haaaa!"

    I vertically swung my wooden sword onto my opponent using all of my might, keeping my knees bent almost perpendicularly with my feet firmly planted to the ground. My sparring partner skillfully managed to parry the attack by carefully shifting her body position to the side; resembling an incredulously smooth turning motion like those of a dancer, then before my weapon managed to reach the area above ground just about her waist, she quickly launched a rapid thrusting attack towards my torso area – that which made me reflexively jumped sideways before striking her blade back whilst turning my body.

    To be honest, she almost got me there. As a warrior, she's really skilled and talented, enough to give me lots of hard time when we practice, and it seems she went easy on me a lot just to let me catch on to her bit by bit.

    The loud sound of wooden blades colliding together as my sword collides with hers suddenly brought me back from my thoughts. I can't really seem to concentrate when I was sparring with her, one reason probably was because she's really cute...

    "Regulus! Don't space out while we're in the middle of training!"

    With that one yell which really startled me, she struck my wooden sword using an upward arc of strike, with both of her hands on the sword perfectly aiming for the center point when the grip on my sword's hilt was somehow lessened. It happened so suddenly, and the next moment, I found the sword in my left arm flying upwards to the sky; twirling and rotating beautifully beneath the evening sun, before it fell down towards the ground again.

    When the sword finally lands, it perfectly struck the meadowy grounds in a completely vertical pose; deeply stuck in the earth below. I was fascinated enough by that spectacle, to the point I didn't realize that she's currently pointing the wooden sword at my neck.

    "Seriously, if you were facing an opponent in the actual battle, you're probably dead by now. Why can't you be serious every time we're doing some sparring?"

    "Err...uhhh...that's because...I'm facing such a beautiful girl that it really distracts me, so yeah...you got the picture...ahahahaha..."

    Hearing my words just then, Celia haphazardly pulled the wooden sword from my neck. Well, even though it's only a wooden sword, seeing her brandish it towards me felt truly menacing. For a moment, her face was filled with cherry-red color, and she lowered her head down, kinda looks afraid to meet my gaze.

    Realizing her acting like this, I also turned my head away from her...I can't just stand this kind of cuteness...it would made my heart melt, if I were to stare at her any longer.

    "H-hey." with her irresistible voice, she made me turn around to face her once again "Flattery won't get you anywhere, y-you know...as I'm not cute at all, so..." even though she said that, the way she's twiddling her fingers around in addition of trying her best to keep her gaze from me...

    Uh-oh, things started to get awkward.

    "Celia, I didn't mean to...I just...kinda carried away..."

    "Regulus, you seem to be thinking of me in a different way other than a partner, or even childhood friends on top of that. You've been a good friend to me for such a long time, and I could feel free to show my cheerful and playful side to you...but seeing that you finally started to look at me like this, guess that means we're already on that age after all."

    "Nah, recently you've just been appearing less and less...you could say, I began to miss you. Seeing that I'm actually just a lonely guy without any friends, and you're basically the only girl who would talk to me without any kind of restraints, it made me truly happy. Even my sister keeps up her distance from me all the time...and that makes me sad."

    Pardon me from acting a bit indifferent when you first appeared, in my utmost honesty, I actually just want to run away from the truth engraved in my heart. Because I didn't want to get hurt by our separation, I tried my best to pretend that we're basically strangers. Though when you showed me that smile and adorable attitude, it truly broke the cover which I set for myself.

    "...I'm sorry."

    "What?"

    It's not like I actually confessed my feelings to her, but hearing these words coming out from her mouth, it truly made something inside my heart to crack open.

    "I was originally meant to be your sparring partner, a sealed humanoid from a Magnataur race, an evolved form of Minotaur with much higher extent of intellectual prowess, being highly versatile at combat spells as well as deception and subterfuge without abandoning the great strength, agility, and dexterity our ancestors had. As I was basically born with the purpose of being the master of battles, I don't really understand what you're talking about...sorry..."

    "...though if you want me to appear more often, please don't distance your feelings away from me ever again...okay? I don't know why but it hurts...when I think that you might hate me, Regulus.."

    Seeing her starting to slump her shoulders with a dejected expression, I hurriedly ran towards her and embraced this girl with every pent up feelings I've ever had during this years.

    Then as I started to gently pat her head, I said this to her.

    "When did I ever said that I hate you?"

    ...

    ...

    "That time when we first met, you were basically naked at that time and because I said something about things being small, you got angry right after and told me that you really hate me and do not wish to meet me again."

    Uh, things started to get awkward again; she totally ruined the mood, in addition of recalling these embarrassing past moments that I wished to forget.
     
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    Part A-7 : Way of Life – Part 3

    That backyard from long ago was the same as always; the damp meadows which glistens about in the morning sunlight, whether or not there's the monsoon rain which rained in the early brink of dawn. I usually practiced by taking off my sandals, letting the bare of my feet getting caressed and massaged by the gentleness of nature.

    I was told by my grandfather that by practicing quite a lot whilst standing on the pebble grounds down the backyard would greatly improve the blood circulation, which in turn would make me stronger at a faster rate. And yeah, I think there's another reason. My sandals won't be able to keep up after it were being used strenuously due to the intensity of my runs, which was kinda fast, violent, and destructive – that's what some of the friends I made way back on the sports games told me.

    So, after I finally got somewhat heartbroken upon seeing about five pairs of my beloved sandals got torn apart because of me overexerting it, I decided to stay barefoot until grandfather gave me a dragon-hide boots as a present – that was when I was about fifteen years old; the boots looks kinda old at first, being filled with dust in addition of its texture that was somewhat fading in color, but the visage of it were quite majestic with the insignia of Avalon's kingdom crest etched on the surface area.

    Grandpa said it was a memento from a legendary elven scout', a forest elf that's able to run faster than anyone else. Unfortunately, as far as anyone could run so fast without being caught, he ultimately died in the battlefield in order to protect his best friend and superior – who actually were pretty weak in physique, and that person couldn't run that fast to escape his life. He shielded one shot that was directed to his best friend, with his own body.

    The shot managed to pierce through his heart, and even though he's in the brink of death, it's very impressive how he were able to run away with his friend all the way towards the nearest allied base in spite of his own grave condition. Even though he died an honorable death, ultimately saving one's life whilst sacrificing himself, it was pretty certain that no man of his talents ever emerged, even so many years after his death.

    "Regulus, I was very impressed with how you managed to run so fast. So I figured...if you could somehow take his place..."

    "No gramps, absolutely not. For me, it's the same as stomping upon my utmost respect for the brave hero. Tell them to send it into a museum instead, no one should wore the legendary shoes any other than the hero himself. As he's already deceased, let no one ever use it again..."

    I was pretty much absorbed in my very emotions while I said that, which was way beyond my expectations that I could somehow form such bold words.

    Xxx​

    Celia smiled in a childish way after making me remember all of these embarrassing childhood moments. She distanced herself quite playfully after breaking out from my embrace, just like she's trying to tease me, and whilst putting both of her hands behind her back, she cutely turned her head sideways before finally opening her mouth...

    "I haven't asked you yet, but how's the lunch I cooked earlier?"

    To tell you the truth, it was really delicious. But I couldn't bring myself to say it right away, as I was fixating my gaze towards the suggestive motion of her pinkish lips. She formed an 'eeeh?' voice after noticing me holding out my reply for quite some moments.

    It sounds like she's a bit upset by my slow reaction...

    "I-it...was delicious..." I kinda stuttered my words, with the kind of awkwardness I just felt due to myself being so overly self-conscious after saying some bold things to her earlier.

    Uh-oh, she might be starting to think that her cooking was bad, because of my hesitant reply...what should I do?

    "Regi-chan, do you still think of me as a childhood friend anymore?"

    She reverted back to calling me with the nickname she used on me since we're kids. I personally thought that she kind of distanced herself from me by calling me Regulus, and it appears that both of us were feeling the same way about the inability to be with one another for a prolonged time, that which made us both fell apart by each passing moments.

    What do I think about her?

    "I don't know."

    That's the only reply which I could muster right now. It might seem half-assed and indecisive, not to mention pathetic, but still...that's what my honest thoughts told me.

    "Hey...what would you say if I were to disappear tomorrow? Not like the usual...but you see...it's kind of hard to put it."

    "Please don't say that."

    "But Regi-chan, that's what my honest thoughts told me. There should be no secrets between us. I have no true way to tell, but I will presume that you were saying the truth thay you don't know what to think of me..."

    "...or do you just prefer for me to say that I would be with you forever even though the reality might actually be the complete opposite of it? Just remember it, the way of life and the way we wanted life to be might be completely different, or even polar opposites."

    "Celia, why do you say this? I haven't even said anything yet...mmppph..."

    Before I finished my words, she pressed her entire palm down the surface of my mouth to the extent no words could come out of it, only some muffling voices that weren't understandable.

    "Say nothing more. The real me lives right here, inside your heart...I know everything. The club was just a medium of manifestation for me to become a material entity."

    "I don't understand this, Celia. Please don't talk about all these complicated matters."

    "Of course you won't understand. It's because of the curse which were etched to your brain, which renders your inability to read, along with comprehending things your true self would be able to accomplish. Rest assured, that nothing of it was your fault Regi-chan...after all, you were just a victim to your selfish parents."

    "What, are you talking about?"

    "Oh my...guess I just talked to much, now please just forget what I said earlier..."

    I won't disappear, in fact I will be with you forever
    It's just that, the real me that has with you for so long
    You have been ignoring it all this time
    The object of affection that you longed for so much
    Was actually my own shadow

    That's not really your fault
    Humans were made to appreciate
    What's in front of their eyes
    Rather than what's within
    By the time my shadow completely disappears

    Look to what's inside you
    You'll definitely find me here
    And forever we will never be separated

    Xxx​

    "W-what's going on?"

    I jumped off my bed as soon as I heard the final words that were said by a girl named Celia. That was quite the lengthy dream I had after witnessing such the multitude of events happening yesterday.

    Come to think of it, the days in this world seem to went on for so long, to the point so many chapters could be written about it just for the events that were all happening within a single day.

    I looked at the wall-clock in the room I resided in; it's exactly twelve o' clock. The gleaming rays of sunlight slightly permeates the room with its luminosity, that which ultimately reminds me...I must have been sleeping for about more than 12 hours. Since I remembered about going to bed at 8 PM...and...

    "Ah good morning, Kirk. It's not exactly morning but I'm glad that you're finally awake at least..."

    It was Stella, the young guildmaster that was also an refined, elegant woman, although her tendency for lusting over boys' love could be pretty much overboard. She eyes me with a slight grin on her face, which somehow indicates that I'm missing something, but I couldn't really figure out what it is.

    "Err...good afternoon then? If I may ask, why are you looking at me like that, miss Stella?"

    She cocked her head sideways whilst raising one of her eyebrows. "Well, for a person that could sleep for three days straight after returning from a journey, you were pretty peaceful."

    Wait...what?

    "Three days?"

    "Yeah, and until now Carla were helping us out within the guild after the absence of these two buffons; Leonard and Elrond. I personally didn't like the sound of their names being called together, but beside the point, she was very helpful, and she could accomplish things much more effectively than both of these people combined..."

    "..she should be outside for now, but I'll go after her to inform of your condition, she'll be overjoyed. Meanwhile, the leftovers for lunch were down below. There's a lot of the Potato Soup that you loved very much, Kirk. There's also plenty of rice inside the rice cooker, so please don't worry and just help yourself."

    Finishing up her explanations, she bade me farewell before heading downstairs, leaving me completely dumbfounded about what's going on.

    So I just slept for three days, huh...

    Wait, how was that even possible?

    "Burrrrrrpppppp..."

    Gah, I guess my stomach needs attention first. So, after spending few minutes pondering about what's truly happening out there, I quickly went downstairs to grab some grub.

    Ah, the scent of coffee, for some reason it truly feels nostalgic.

    Guess I also have some too.

    End of Side Story A​
     
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    Floor 3

    ~ The Melodies of Adventure ~​


    Part 3-1 : On the Errand – Part 1

    Outskirts of Avalon down the clearing near the city's entrance, a good place to be practicing my target shooting. I held out my crimson revolver out firmly, pointing out towards the fast moving targets that ran along in a zig-zag motion which made it kinda difficult to shot. One thing I noticed about this gun was about its high recoil which made me unable to keep my shoulders fixated at one position naturally, making me having to use my strength in order to hold back the gun in place.

    This made me unable to shot more than three consecutive times on a short time-delay. when things got more than that, the pressure might be too much on my hands and shoulders. But now, I felt like I could soon shot four at a time. Well, since the ammo cylinder could only held about six at once, I guess I could only have the maximum number of consecutive shots at that number, even if theoretically speaking, I could keep going on without suffering much of an injury.

    Though I guess...I might have been piling out quite a number of problems that needs to be done firsthand.

    "Here I come."

    The sly dark goblins came rushing forward on swarms of numbers. They were basically fast and deadly creatures which I attracted down with a kind of mechanism which attract monsters. I got Stella watching behind in case things got outta hand, but I'll try my best to make do for what I could now.

    Before the goblins managed to surround me in all directions, they all had gathered in front of me, with the kind of arc in which they formed together, that was proven to be quite beneficial to me. They basically had fallen into my trap by figuring that it was by my own foolery that I had backed down towards a dead end, a giant stony wall, kind of racked down. Must be the shambles of an abandoned outpost in the middle of nowhere.

    But that's not the important thing to worry about right now, I must finish what I had started.

    "Take this, Scatter Shot!"

    Shouting out some cliched lines out right off the bat, I startled the goblins which made them to slow down a bit before they managed to come very close in order to land their dangerous melee attack. In a split-second of the moment, I completely focused my mind on filling the magical energy down the revolver, which made in shine in a crimson red color, just like that of a blood. But the attack wasn't that of the scatter shot, which actually needs no energy buildup at all.

    The revolver was fully charged in no time, letting out a blinking red light, a bit more shiny and bright than the usual aura, appearing to be on the brink of explosion. As the goblins managed to march nearer and nearer until they filled my entire sight, I swung the revolver sideways in a counter-clockwise arc from the right towards my left, then an energy curve having that of a reddish color was formed. Without wasting every single second...

    I pulled the trigger to my gun after placing it on the midpoint of the formed curve.

    "Come forth, Gungunir!"

    The charged energy curve expanded as far as my eyes went, spanning through the entire horizontal area which the goblins were standing at. Forming an inverted V shape, the curve soars through the entire swarm of goblins which, contrary to my expectations, were starting to flee by the time they witnessed the crimson aura coming out from my weapon.

    Spewing bolts of violent red lightning across many directions, damaging the nearby enemies which were inside its attack range – the energy curve also cuts through the entire goblin flesh all the way, splattering loads of purple-colored blood across the ground, drenching it with loads of putrid stench which made my head spin. The gushing of blood which pours down all the way through like a fountain; that was one of the horrible things which my hand has done for so many times, yet I could never still be truly used to it.

    I couldn't bear to describe all of this morbidity that were going by what my one attack did to the swarms of goblins, as there's not just mere blood that were splattered, but also things that were inside their body. Not only that, but the look on their eyes when they were just killed, for a mere thing such as the practice routine in order for me to get stronger...

    I wonder how much of these creatures had my ancestors killed? I heard from my father that our Sutherland family were responsible for making many of the once powerful species became forced to hide themselves...just how on earth did they..

    "DIE...HUMAN!"

    "Eeeekk!"

    It all happened so fast. There was a lone goblin down my feet that were just ready to swing its poisonous scythe down my feet. Fortunately, I managed to dodge at the last minute by jumping sideways towards the ground, throwing my body away with full strength, onto the extent it was light as a feather.

    Upon the contact with the ground, I rolled my body down, heads first, before getting back on my feet in a crouched position, then I fired down a blind shot whilst turning my body to face the attacker, in case the shot missed, I could reflexively parry the attack with the revolver as long as I keep my guard up and I knew where the goblin was staring at.

    To my surprise the shot hit the goblin straight in the head. It was a completely a point-blank critical hit headshot. The tremendous power of the shot caused the head to explode into millions of pieces; spreading out across the ground, in addition of tons of blood pouring down violently throughout the just blood, there was also the remainder of what used to be the insides of a brain, now it was completely wrecked in shambles.

    Xxx​

    "Good work Carla, your performance pretty much describes my given nickname to you 'The Sutherland's Angel of Death'."

    Stella just came out from one of the trees hidden down the clearing, clapping her hands out, she then gave me a double thumbs up and a bright smile. The brownish ponytail hair of hers were blown elegantly by the breezy wind of night, with the pale moonlight shining down her lustrous skin, making my gaze completely fixated by her pinkish lips, which seems to be a bit wet from her saliva.

    Noticing my gaze at her, she started to seductively licking her lips in a swiveling motion, that which made me turn my head in a hurry, a motion so obvious that the most dense of people could tell that I'm really embarrassed My heart starts beating so fast, even though it was caused by another girl...no...I mustn't start thinking about weird things.

    "A...angel of Death my ass, I nearly got killed because of you telling me to go onto this errand! D-don't tell me you had been hoarding loads of illegal missions again?"

    She let out a feminine-sounding chuckle when she seems to be figuring out that I'm trying to change the topic to hide my embarrassment I don't know what kind of ulterior motive she had, but she seems to be staring at me with a kind of weird eyes; that sight which seems to be tempting me.

    "No big deal, as long the kingdom officials turned their blind eye towards it. I already bribed many of them, you see. We also were kinda short of money so I figured out that taking multiple errands from the black market won't be a big deal. Well at least we could drive this evil cretins out and restore the order, two birds in one stone."

    "You're so evil.."

    But that remark wasn't exactly directed to her doings, that could be clearly indicated by my somewhat muffled tone of speaking. Not my usual up to the point, direct sounding tone of speech. It becomes much more clearer that she had attempted to seduce me at some given moments, that which kind of disturbs me, but...it's not like I hate her for doing so.

    I just had known of this side of hers after Misty had told me during the dinner, on the day when I just went back from the Fairy Kingdom. But I didn't really expect that the gentle woman who had been like a perfect big sister to me, would actually think like the boss of a criminal organization.

    And...she clearly seems to be turned on by other girls...especially if the person of her interest accomplished many things which greatly impressed her. That means my actions just now had put me into her crossfire which might ignite some kind of Forbidden Flag that would lead into serious trouble if I'm not careful enough.

    "It's nothing compared to what lots of other guilds do, we just paid the favor to the forest elves that wished to expand their territory by killing the majority of the dark goblins. In addition of that...there's also...ah okay, explain it Misty."

    "Osu! Ah, sorry to intrude, please excuse me...Onee-chan."

    With Stella's call, Misty started walking towards the heap of goblin corpses scattered throughout the clearing. Seeing a girl as cute as her in midst of this morbidity were actually kind of disturbing, especially the way she walks so nonchalantly as it was the normal thing for her to be in this kind of situation. That was kind of unexpected, why her, on all people, be in this place all of sudden? She seem to be a rather clingy type, the one who people most likely protect while in this kind of situation.

    On a second thought, why did I agreed on this errand anyway?

    Well I have no clue in the slightest, so to say, or that I kind of forgot on what terms did I agreed on, because I seem to be packing up quite the heat in the recent battle which made me completely forgotten about it.

    But well, guess I'll just hear what she has to say next.
     
    Last edited: May 7, 2013
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    Part 3-2 : On the Errand – Part 2

    Father told me, that there's much more to this life than what could be learned from the books alone. Indeed reading is very important in order for me to garner lots of knowledge in this vast, ever-expanding world, but he told me that, what truly matters is about thinking for yourself, not letting the written words guide your entire life. No matter what kind of pain or adversary which might come across, he told me to face it with a smile.

    Don't wallow in regret and depression over the wasted years of time, about the inability to do anything of significance. Being proud of your accomplishments were pretty much nothing, when you compare it towards the ability to be proud of all the shortcomings and many other things which lead you into lots of shame and guilt. By accepting the ugly parts of yourself, the true road of greatness will be opened.

    The Sutherlands were one family with tons of distinguished accomplishments, yet the accomplishments would prove nothing to the family members themselves. It only served to bolster their arrogance and elitism tendencies. There serves one truth that, while in the outside we were very distinguished as the famliy of renowned adventurers, on the inside we're just a group with the worst kind of people imaginable.

    I have no doubts to say, that the accomplishments I made thus far really serves as a momentary lapse of life that's truly meaningful to me. But I began to understand, that sitting on the past accomplishments will only heighten my arrogance in addition of making my eyes completely blindfolded by the reassurements that...I could do anything, that nothing in this world could possibly made me falter.

    It was all wrong. I am nothing but a weak person by nature, the one who finds herself overly comfortable in the company of others. You could say my emotions were somehow unstable, and I oftentimes deeply craved for companionship. To make me feel good with these slender body with...

    No, I must not think of something dirty again.

    To be honest, I still thought of myself as an idiot, I'm no better than Kirk in this matter since both me and him were basically a bunch of clueless adventurers which happened to be overly lucky.

    Oh well, let's go back to the story.

    Xxx​

    A pale moonlight shone thereupon the clearing; illuminating the kind of morbid scenery that's unfolded before my sight. In midst of the corpses, there stood a green haired girl with a small stature, wearing a witch hat and outfit. Her innocent looking smile gave out a truly eerie feeling about how nonchalantly she acts in this kind of situation.

    On a side note, I think I just remembered about things that I had forgotten in the previous chapter.

    I waved towards Stella, who kind of averted her gaze from me to stare intently on the adorable witch girl. She turned towards me with a puzzled look, before I finally opened my mouth to break this moment of silence.

    "Hey Stella, I think you agreed on letting me in a very important secret that would prove beneficial to my adventures. That's the reason why I helped you out doing the dirty work."

    "Oho? Ahahaha, it's basically nothing much. I'll just teach you Alchemy. Normally I would just teach you the basics but because you agreed on helping me out, I will give you an 'extra' next time...fufufu.."

    S-Stella...please don't stare at me like that...

    "You're weird." that's the kind of way I took it, as she seductively licked her lips again whilst talking to me.

    "You don't like it?" this time she said to me in a kind of disappointed tone that also seems playful. She's such a bully, that was shown perfectly by the way she keeps on teasing me.

    "N-no...it's just...weird...seeing as we're both girls and..."

    "Ah I see, so you actually looked at the other girls that way, ohohohoho...that's kind of moe by the way." saying these, she delightfully approached me, then reaching her slender hands to pat my head, also using it to play around with my short, red hair. Her touch felt so warm and gentle, just like a touch from the big sister to her troublesome little sister...

    "T-that's not it...Stella."

    For a moment, I kind of felt disappointed about her not looking at me in such a way from what I originally expected. Oh no...why am I thinking of such things?

    "Everybody has their kind of preferences, you know? It's not my right to judge someone because of how they loved things."

    "N-n-no...no...no...I'm not like that really! W-w-what are you talking about?"

    Stella pulled her hands from my head then she started to stroke my cheeks. By each passing moments I could feel my face getting hotter and hotter, along with my escalating heartbeat down the minute.

    "You know Carla, my preference is actually more on the straight one, but if you try to seduce me...I won't really mind if we take things further..."

    "HEY, STOP SAYING THESE WEIRD THINGS!"

    The shock because of me suddenly yelling out at her, caused her hands to suddenly pull out from my cheeks. For a moment, I felt a cold night wind blowing across it, that which made all the warmth of her touch somewhat dissipated.

    "Carla..."

    "Ummm...I'm sorry..." when she looked at me like that, which shows a mixture of concern and longing, these words of guilt just flew right down my mouth. But instead of her reaching out her hand towards me again...

    Streams of blood came pouring out of her noise, and she fell flat on her back with that.

    "Guuuaaaah...m-moe..." she then began muttering some things I couldn't really understand, what is moe? Did she said that unknown word because she hated me?

    "Ah Onee-chan, Stellrin said the word 'moe' because she found your reaction to be adorable..ehehe..."

    "Please don't read my mind!"

    Misty, who had been intently watching this silly conversation, ultimately joined in when the moment was spot-on.

    "...err...but...it's kind of disturbing to see both of you flirting romantically in midst of this goblin corpses, Onee-chan."

    "You're the last person I wanna hear that from."

    Thanks to her words, the warm atmosphere just before gets completely ruined.

    Xxx​

    "So...Misty, what kind of things you wanted to talk about? Sorry for interrupting your moments for a while because of that silly conversation."

    "Umm..don't worry 'bout it Onee-chan, it's kind of...ehehehe...stimulating and fun."

    Yes, I knew from the start that this cute girl actually swings that way. Right from our first meeting she was already there to assault my lips mercilessly.

    "I see..."

    Letting the past issues aside, I stared intently at her down the midst of this corpse field. We have to talk whilst shouting out because our distance were far apart; it kinda makes me uncomfortable.

    "Hey Misty, could you please come closer here instead? I don't like standing near these corpses, you know!"

    "Ah okay. I'm just about done with my observation anyhow."

    The girl that was standing in the middle of a morbid scenery was no longer there. Now she's standing beside me with her usual clingy behavior, that which invokes my sisterly instincts to embrace her.

    "Onee-chan...I just want to tell you that...I'm actually a Necromancer."

    "W-what?"

    That comes to quite a shock for me, I knew that she had the makings of a powerful summoner by that crest on her left hand, but I don't think that a person as cute as her could be involved in such eerie things like Necromancy.

    "I know it would be quite of a shock but please hear me out. We got this quest that yields quite a sum of fortune. There's one of our wealthy dark elf client who wished to attain his hands on a powerful Bone Dragon, and yeah...ummm...I could summon that dragon with my mastery of spells, using the heap of corpses right over there as a tribute in order to greatly conserve my magical powers."

    "...normally you could tame the summoned creature right after, but that wasn't the case with the dragons, they were basically proud creatures that were hard enough to be tamed even if they were the ones you personally summoned. So yeah, could you give me a hand on taming it?"

    Taming dragons, huh? Certainly it's been the specialty of my heritage as the Sutherlands were previously known as the family of dragon riders, although many decided to abandon the ways as raising dragons were really expensive, especially when you compare it to the efficiency you got when you travel by car or even aeroplanes anyway.

    At least, being a dragon rider will only be beneficial if you've been adventuring through lots of rough unexplored terrains that couldn't be reached by any normal means of transportation, and you actually adventured through these lands a lot. That perfectly describes the nature of my father, who often traveled to such weird places that couldn't be reached by aeroplanes, cars, and many things else.

    Then you might ask, why both of you traveled with a horse and behemoth when you could just buy a car? You know...

    Both me and Kirk were too lazy to get a driving license, and there's really a lot of rules that were put in place when you were travelling through cities by cities. When you're just an ordinary merchant, you could just get things done by just driving a car, but for us adventurers, we would need something that's not being overly bound by rules and regulations. Also, cars had a very limited ability to venture down the harsh terrains. That's the main reasoning why we choose to travel on horseback instead.

    Travelling through aeroplanes were also a big no, as the officials would pretty much confiscate all of the weapons and equipments we had.

    Well, back to the current topic. When you ask me to tame dragons, I don't really have a clue but...

    "I'll try to do my best, although I basically have no idea on how to tame them."

    "Yay! I know that I could count on you, Onee-chan."

    A bone dragon, huh? That was pretty strange, normally one would rather get the usual one instead of the dead ones.

    That to be said, I'm interested on how she gonna summon that creature with her necromancy abilities.
     
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    Part 3-3 : On the Errand – Part 3

    "Here I come!" she brandished a magical scepter in which she materialized from within the thin air. Then she opened the palm of her left hand; that which the dragon crest was engraved, towards the sky. A shiny green light emanates from the crest, and at the same time it resonates with the ones on my right hand; the disturbance of power was very strong; it made me filled with nauseating feelings in addition of the escalating headache by each and every minute.

    Violent tremors bellowed the ground; enough to make me lose my footing down the grassy terrain. The shiny green light soars up into the beautiful starry skies, with an escalating arc towards the heavens above; forming a pillar of light which soon disappears to nothingness in the night – aside from the white dots of stars and the pale moonlight which shone upon us all who stood there in this very moment.

    As if being rebounded by the moon itself, the greenish light bounced back from the skies in a swift downward motion befalling us all. The light poured down on all directions in a strand-like shape, pouring down like the waters from a fountain. It soon envelops the entire area, condensing itself into a wide circular portal which encloses all of the clearing.

    "The imagery of you summoning the portal and whatnot were cool, but at the same time if feels pointless, Misty. You definitely will be killed before you even managed to summon a creature, please think pragmatically. "

    "Uguuu...and yet I thought that I could impress you, Onee-chan."

    "Don't act silly like an anime character, and please drop the 'Onee-chan' already, it made you sound like a weaboo. Just call me Carla or something, you know. Even though it's actually moe, this isn't the right time to be fooling around."

    For some unfathomable reason I got somehow irritated by the happenings during the previous parts. Ah right, it seems that I truly had done so many embarrassing things right down the gutter, and upon remembering it, the feelings of anguish keeps on escalating throughout my entire thoughts.

    "Ah...well then C-Carla...umm...I will begin the summoning."

    Seriously, if this were an anime they might blow off the entire budget down the inefficient flashy portal summoning scene. On a second thought, why I got irritated so abruptly during the start of this part? I don't understand it at all.

    "Right, now please don't dilly-dally any longer. I want to quickly return in order to have my delicious boar stew ready."

    Thinking about the silly special effects, it seems that I, without even realizing, kinda act stupid by yelling out my special attack's name. The first one were meant as a distraction, but the second one? That was definitely unnecessary.

    Misty nodded a few times to my call, then she began muttering an incantation. Upon saying these, she gets enveloped in a green light whilst standing right in the portal's center point.

    "Vengeful spirits of the dead, please heed my call. With these corpses as a fruitful tribute, I declare upon thee a new body from within these decomposing flesh. A view of morbidity that's unbeknownst to any other humans, that which were undoubtedly and undisputedly your taste. I have been longing for the assistance of you from the ethereal depths of doom, and from your very spirit of despair shall be..."

    "THAT'S TOO LONG!"

    I went up to snatch the scepter from her hands and pierced it down the portal. The annoying flashy effect goes by again, this greenish light which enveloped both of us. For a moment there I thought that I'm actually drowning in a sea of energy which suffocates me to the very most; just like being held in a secluded room with a severe lack of oxygen, but then I managed to pull my revolver. Pulling the trigger a few times, I laid about four consecutive shots to the sky, fully charged with my magical powers.

    For a moment I could see that Misty was desperately gasping for breath, that which left me deep in despair and worry that she won't make it if things dragged on any longer. Whilst for myself, I nearly suffocated but in the end thank goodness that I could hold my breath for quite decent periods of time.

    Also, why did I suddenly decided to cut-off the words of this girl right before she managed to finish her summoning? I did not know for sure, but it seems that something in depths of my heart were speaking to me, that which leads into the change of heart from my previous self.

    The crimson blast beam that collided with the green light soon neutralized everything that was enveloping us. From the skies up above, came forth the bone dragon flying; its appearance was both majestic and overwhelming, with the size about the same as Bronco in his full-dragon form. Within the bone body structure of the peculiar creature, emanates an insidious black aura like those of a burning black flame. Strangely enough, I felt no single presence of evil from this dragon.

    Soon after, the dragon descended upon the skies with both of his legs bent forward; possibly to reduce the overall impact down the fragile bone body right upon its landing. By the time both of the legs came contact with the ground, violent gusts of wind came blowing by, that which also originated from the rigorous flapping of the wings; with structure that's toughly built; looking extremely durable even though it was entirely made from bones without any skin nor muscle.

    Within each second passing, the bone dragon approached me; both eyes glinting from the bone-skull head, giving out a yellowish radiance of color. When both of us were close enough, the dragon lowered its head to the level in which I could gently stroke his head.

    "There...there..." as I reached out my hand to pat its head, the dragon suddenly let out a thunderous growl that was overwhelmed with the tone of apparent joy.

    "I understand. You wish to be free, aren't you? Ah, one more thing, that girl is my friend, please don't hurt her again."

    Misty laid there unconscious down the ground, right after I made the suffocating envelopment of light completely cleared out. She still seem to be breathing, albeit faint , my guess was that her life won't be in danger anymore, though just before I could felt like this fragile life could be completely shattered right at any moment.

    People might think that I am nuts by talking to a dragon like this, but I want to make sure that, even dragons deserved its own freedom, and while I looked into the eyes of this resurrected creature; it becomes clear that I wanna at least let it free.

    I began to understand that, the dragons could not be tamed, as it was basically sentient, with the intelligence and wisdom that far surpassing most humans. It merely choose its own master, one who were deemed the most worthy of its own servitude and power.

    "Now, please go."

    With a complete understanding of my words, the dragon solemnly flew into the night skies, disappearing as quickly as he came by. From far away, I could hear the growling sounds with an energetically playful tune which filled me up with happiness on the inside. Then I looked upon the ground to see that all of the corpses of the goblins were cleared out in the aftermath of this summoning...

    So that's basically how it goes, huh...

    "Carla! What in the world are you thinking? It was our big chance to be exceptionally rich from the offer of our generous customer." this time Stella suddenly went into me with the tone filled with agitation, her refined manner from before had all but gone, right now she's just an upset young woman with all of her patience being sucked out into the gutter.

    "All that I had ever agreed on was only about clearing the goblins out, not about taming the dragons, and I only had agreed on it because it's for the sake and goodness of the forest elves. Their people had done me lots of favor during my adventures for seeking the Seeds of Knowledge, and that is the way I'm going to repay them."

    I had forgotten all about it during the heat of the moment, but then after I got some time to clear my head, my usual clarity returns again. In addition of that, I also remembered one very important thing, that which made me instinctively snatch the scepter from Misty; letting the summoned dragon go on top of that.

    "Yes, you did said that...but still..."

    "Stella, I just realized it from a short while ago. Isn't it weird that someone actually wanted a bone dragon instead a living one? Besides, just as you remember, that the trading of the dragons were illegal and strictfully forbidden by the law. To be a dragon rider, one must first and foremostly became a rightful master to it through the display of a personality and character befitting for such bestowment of power. The dragon simply choose its own master, not the other way."

    "What?"

    "I suggest you stop taking quests in the black market. That one quest was simply quite an obvious trap, when it were seen through one's informed eyes such as yourself, but money could possibly blind even the wisest of person, should one managed to let its corruption to spread upon themselves."

    "Carla...I guess you're right, I've been kind of obsessed with money lately, that I had completely forgotten how to look things in a view of clarity."

    She seem to be quite disappointed on hearing about the truth, with her shoulders slumped, dejected expression, along with lots of sighing that came forth from her seductive pinkish lips.

    "Glad you understand. Someone definitely tried to set off this guild into the path of court martial by doing so, if we did happen to return with the bone dragon at hand, in any case. By the way, why were you stressing so much about the money for? Your guild at the least seem to be quite a decent place to stay, not to mention a bit on the lavish side too."

    "The money was for the vacation house, we've been working so hard and even the most passionate adventurers needed to take a hike sometime."

    What...vacation house? I suddenly regret having her to ask that.

    Uguuuu...I want that bone dragon back again. To hell with the authorities, I just want that vacation house, damn it!

    "Gyuuuuuuuhh...Onee-chan..."

    Ah, it seems that both of us had completely forgotten about her, who had worked so hard to summon such magnificent creature – only to be let go soon after. That was a wasted effort really. On a second thought, I'm actually glad that we didn't really have to mingle around with the authorities of Avalon as we've pretty much had released the dragon who wanted to be free rather than to serve a master.

    But as for now, let's just focus on going back to the guild in order to hold the victory supper; commemorating our accomplishments for today.
     
    Last edited: Mar 24, 2013
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