Chapter R7: The Kind Fool and His Friends

(Ride’s POV)

 

"Oh? Have you finally gotten strong enough to be able to talk to me?" A crude enigmatic voice rang all over me.

Hmm? Where am I? I looked around but all I could see was endless white.

"Hey, you." 

Is the voice talking to me?

"Yeah you, my master, the cowardly fool," the soft but enigmatic voice grew stronger.

I searched around further, but couldn’t locate the source of the voice.

"Where the hell are you looking at you dumb boy! Behind you!" The voice called out to me in irritation.

 

I turned around and looked towards the source of the voice behind me and saw a young girl wearing short pants with a dark purple-ish and red outfit sitting crossed legged across of me. She had very long purple hair tied in high twintails and was looking at me with anger. A little hint of disgust in it.

Who are you? 

Is what I wanted to say but my voice never came out. I tried moving my chords and tried speaking normally but no voice came out.

"Ahhh, what a disappointment. It seems that you are still unable to talk to me. Ah well. Since my master, you are here anyway, you might as well listen to my woes."

She spoke to me in an indifferent voice. My master? What is she talking about?

"You are an embarrassment, my master! I never felt so humiliated ever in my life!"

I stared bewilderingly at her sudden outrage to me.

"Ahh, that dumb look on your face is soo annoying. You useless master! Have you even realised what you have done wrong?" She chided me.

I shook my head towards her question.

"You keep letting that bitch! That other weapon protect you! I couldn't do anything because you refuse to draw me out! Twice has she shown me that smug face of her. Urghh that katana! Dammit it all!"

The intensity of her voice caused me to flinch. I backed away unintentionally.

"And you! Why have you stop using me?! You even replaced me with a piece of metal! Have I not serve you well all these years?! Why have you threw me away in favour of that inferior thrash?!"

She shouted more intensely than before. I could feel a little bit of pain coming from my ears. It felt like they were going to burst.

"..."

"..."

We both stared at each other in silence after that. What is she talking about? Other weapons? Katana? Using her? Replaced? My mind had some sort of fog in it. I couldn't think straight.

"Peh, why am I even doing this. You aren't going to remember anything from this meeting anyways." She said in disappointment. "Go back to sleep you, shitty master," She waved her hand at me. My foggy mind became foggier as I fade into black.

.. ..

.. ..

.. ..

The next thing I could remember was waking up on my bed in the Inn that we booked in Cezza. I took a look outside the window from my bed and could see that it was still nighttime. I assumed it was near dawn. Still feeling drowsy, I decided to just go back to sleep. I turned my body back into my preferred sleeping pose in order to catch more sleep.

!!!

My heartbeat raced when I saw a glowing red-purplish sword next to me on the bed. It was the cursed sword! It wasn't sheathed at all, the purple and red veins glowed in front of me.

What in the?!

Why am I sleeping with an unsheathed sword in bed? Wait... Purple? 

My mind was suddenly blasted with all the memories of the encounter I had with the purple-haired young girl I had met earlier. It all suddenly made sense now. The way she called me 'my master', the way she referred to herself as being 'replaced' and me 'refusing to draw her'. That figure was, in fact, none other than the glowing eerie but somewhat cool looking sword I am staring at right now.

My entire body shivered as my body jerked upward. I quickly got out of bed and grabbed the glowing sword and sheathed it. I then quietly tiptoed out of the room with the sword to avoid waking the others up. After getting out of the room, I quickly rushed down to the lobby to find an empty and quiet place.

After a while of looking around, I sat down on a chair in the dining area of the Inn, alone in the dark with nothing but a softly lit candle as a source of light. I stared blankly at the sword in my hand. The cursed sword, now sheathed in front of me as I start to recall the whole meeting with the purple-haired girl. 

Everything... It just feels so real.

"He-hello?" I tried talking to the sword in front of me. "Can you hear me?"

No response. I mean, of course, there will be no response. It's just a sword. Still, I was a bit disappointed.

And embarrassed.

Was it all a dream? I thought about our meeting.  The girl mentioned that I won't remember a thing from the meeting and yet here I am with a vivid clear memory of the encounter. It was as if I had been having these dreams for a while now but couldn't remember a thing. Also, why was she so angry at me? 

Wait... could this perhaps be the phenomenon I keep hearing about with cursed objects? That they slowly eat into your soul and you slowly go insane over time. It starts with you hearing strange voices in your head and then you start talking to yourself and stuff...

My body shivered once again. I quickly touch all over my body and went into a state of meditation.

...

I don't feel any different...  Besides, I don't really feel any hostility from the girl either. Sure she was angry and screamed at me, but she genuinely looked like she was mad at me rather than actually trying to eat my soul. 

But still, I should play safe and get to a curse expert as soon as possible. I should probably break the news to the party too. I am not liking one bit the reactions that I am going to receive from them. 

Urghh.

It hasn't even been that long since I got the sword and I'm already being invaded by the soul. Just over a month and a few weeks.

'Have I not served you well all these years?!' I remembered her words to me.

"All these years..." I mumbled to myself.

I've used my trusty sword these past few years if I am not mistaken. I had to depart with it at A'bell when it ran out of durability.

Wait... My trusty sword... Could it be? I stared at the sword. Even more confused than before.

...

"Oh! You are up early Ride," 

A voice came from my back and my heart made a small jump.

I turned around in shock only to see my close friend Scorch walking up to me. "Couldn't sleep?" He asked me.

"Ah, yeah... I-uh... Had a bad dream." I replied.

"A bad dream huh? That's rare coming from you. What's it about?" Scorch sat down across from me in silence, waiting for me to tell the rest of the story.

What do I tell him?

"There was this... mean person who screamed at me in anger. She screamed so loudly that I almost went deaf. No… I think I did, in fact, went deaf," I told my story.

"..."

"..."

"That's it?" Scorch asked me further when I never said anything after that.

Should I tell him? About the cursed sword and purple hair girl in my dream? 

"Yeah, that's it. I couldn't sleep after that." I lied to Scorch as I got up from the seat. "Come on, let's grab breakfast. A bit early but I'm sure some bakeries are opening up."

I walked away from the table. Scorch just shrugged and followed right behind me. The ray of dawn soon appeared. I pushed back all the thoughts about the cursed sword at the back of my mind for now. 

I hope I'm not making a mistake.

 

* * * * *

 

It had already been several days since we returned from the cave and delivered the Kruu Leaves to the guild. The branch master himself thanked us in person when we came back alive with the leaves. He didn't ask us too many questions and simply took the Kruu Leaves and told us to come back in a few days as he would like to reward us personally. The receptionist just labelled the request as completed and didn't ask too many questions either. Neither of them asked what happened in the cave nor the events that lead up to it, which struck me as rather odd, but I didn't think much about it.

Hamza, the branch master acted fast and quickly redistributed the Kruu leaves to the sick children in Cezza. It wasn't long before the long queue in front of the apothecary started to disperse one by one. You could see the streets starting to get livelier as children started running around again. 

Although... despite retrieving all those leaves, it wasn't enough to cure everyone. You could still see some children with the purple skin here and there, but it was a minor infection. They should be able to survive until the next shipment from Luth E'll and A'bell comes in. 

"Looks like everyone is doing fine now huh," Scorch said out next to me.

"Yeah. Much better than a few days ago that's for sure," I replied to Scorch.

It was just me and Scorch walking past the town on the way to the guild house when suddenly he struck up a serious conversation with me.

"Hey Ride."

"Yeah?"

"I couldn't sleep either."

"... I see."

"It's just that... If Effinshia wasn't there with us in the cave that day we would have totally died and that gives me the chills."

"Yeah, I get what you mean. That's twice she saved our lives now."

"No... that's not what I meant."

"Hmm?" I replied back confused. Not understanding.

"It's just that... someone as strong as her could just come out of nowhere. Any quest we do, some ancient demon or some crazy strong monster could just come out and kill us in a blink of an eye. Like in that cave and in A'bell."

"..." I just kept quiet and continued to listen.

"It's one thing if we could defend ourselves, but... you saw her fight right? She was on a totally different level than us."

I thought about the moment where Effinshia fought against the two demon folk in the cave. Fast precise strikes, calculative attacks and most importantly the intensity of the battle. She was zipping around trying to hit Artemyst and Gordiron from every angle, her body moved fast and her movements unpredictable. The two demon folk couple had no other choice but to pay Effinshia their full attention.

I think I get what Scorch is trying to say now. The peak of strength is still very far away. I thought I was pretty strong before, but that fight kind of humbled me. I was nowhere near.

"I'm not really afraid of dying or anything. It's just that... I don't want to die in one hit. Like I never amounted to anything. Like my life feels invalidated," Scorch said to me in a sombre tone.

"Well... that just means we have to train harder right?" I said to Scorch optimistically.

"Huh?"

"I mean the answer is simple right? We just need to grow stronger. Strong enough that even the strongest of people can't kill us in one hit!"

Scorch just stared at me dumbfounded. Did I say something wrong? It wasn't long before Scorch burst out in laughter.

"Man, I forget how simple you can be at times."

"What's that supposed to mean, I was being serious here"

"Let's try our best then," Scorch held out his fist towards me. 

 "You got it," I smiled in response and we fist-bumped.

 

* * * * *

 

Scorch and I arrived at the guild house and just sat down at a table somewhere talking to each about random things when suddenly I heard a voice came up from behind me.

"Ah! You guys should have said something if you were going to the guild house. We were looking for you all over the Inn you know," Lanarya came up before sitting down next to me.

"Ah, sorry about that. We woke up early and got an early breakfast." I turned around to see Kranis and Tyle also behind her.

I nodded to both of them and we all sat down at the table. We all just sat down there in a relaxed and quiet manner when suddenly Kranis spoke up

"So? What's the plan?" Kranis asked all of us.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Our next location. I don't know if you noticed but this place doesn't have many requests. Not the good ones anyway." Kranis replied.

Oh... right.

"We can't really leave unless we get the reward from the branch master though," Tyle spoke up.

"We could always plan out our next move first," Kranis replied.

"True I guess,” Tyle responded.

"If that's the case, then how about Luth E'll?" Lanarya gave out her suggestion. "It's just north of Cezza and is a pretty big city in its own right."

"Luth E'll huh? Doesn't sound like a bad idea." Scorch gave his consent to the suggestion.

I gave mine too. It's always nice to see another big city after all.

"It's alright with me." Tyle gave his opinion too.

"Then it's decided then. So do we walk there or..."

"No." Tyle cuts off Kranis with a sharp no. "I'm not walking there, it's like a month of walking."

"Not exactly. If we walk fast enough we could reach Luth E'll in one or two weeks" I jokingly said to Tyle.

Tyle just rolled his eyes at me and said: "We are taking the carriage there and that's final.''

"We should probably look for an escort quest then. If we are lucky we could snag a trip to Luth E'll and get paid at the same time," Kranis said to us.

We continued to discuss our plans when a handsome receptionist came up next to us. 

"I'm sorry if I am disturbing you or anything, but I would like to inform that the Guild Master is ready to see you to discuss the rewards for the private request." He gave a polite bow before signalling us to follow him.

All of us just nodded and followed him into a very lit room. Just like the last time. The branch guild master, Hamza, could be seen just sitting on one of the couches, drinking from a cup of tea.

"Ah! Great! Please please, sit down! Today is a wonderful day!"

We obliged and each of us sat down at our preferred seat of choice. The handsome receptionist refilled the guild master's cup of tea before leaving the room. Leaving us in private.

"Now now, no need to be so tense. I'm sure you all know why I called you here of course?" Hamza asked us in that happy merchant-ish tone of his.

"You are going to give us our rewards and ask us what happened in the cave right?" Kranis responded to the guild master.

"Yes yes! Very perceptive of you. Let's just get this out of the way shall we?" Hamza said as he brought out a piece of paper from his pockets and placed it on the table. "You can claim it from any guild branch. Provided they have the money of course."

Kranis went over and picked up the slip of paper. His eyes shot wide open when he saw the contents.

"That's... An awful a lot amount of money right here," he said with a hint of surprise.

"I did mention that your rewards will be well worth the trouble, didn't I? I may not look like it but I am a man of my words," Hamza said to us.

Well, you don't sound too convincing with the way you talk. How much money did we receive from the request anyways? I gave an eye signal to Kranis to which Kranis simply signalled back to me 'Later'.

A bit disappointed, I turned my attention back to the guild master. As I was doing that I caught a glimpse of Lanarya staring very intently towards me and Kranis. I turned my attention to her only for her to notice me and she started staring elsewhere.

Wonder what is that all about?

"Now that that’s out of the way. I would like to bring your attention to the matter of the cave down south. I was too preoccupied with trying to distribute the leaves so I didn't ask before. But now after everything has calmed down. What exactly was in that cave that resulted in so many dead?" Hamza asked us. Clarity in his voice and very serious pair of eyes stared at us.

Do we tell him the truth? I looked towards Tyle which he just responded with a nod. Looks like Tyle wanted to tell him everything. I took a quick look to Scorch and Kranis and through subtle body language, I saw that they too agreed to tell the truth. I turned back to look at Hamza, wanting to answer him but my eyes caught upon Lanarya who was staring at us guys very intently. I looked upon Lanarya only for her to nod to me energetically and moving her body weirdly before giving me a thumbs up.

What is she doing? Is she trying to tell me something?

"There was a pair of lesser supremes—Ak'hims, living in the cave. They regarded the place as their home." Tyle answered Hamza in my place when he saw that I was preoccupied with Lanarya.

"A pair of demonkin folks you say?" 

.. ..

.. ..

.. ..

"I see, I see. So you're telling me that you slipped passed them while this unknown swordswoman kept them busy and gathered the herbs?"

'Yeah, pretty much." Tyle said.

"Where are the two now? Artemyst and Gordiron you say? Lesser supremes."

"Not sure, we left the cave in a hurry and we never actually went back. They are probably still at the cave I guess," Tyle continued.

"This seems... pretty hard to believe" Hamza gave us a weird stare. "But if what you are saying is true then I will need to call in help from the main city to investigate the cave further"

Hamza then went into deep thought. 

"Anything else you want to ask?" Tyle asked the guild master.

"This woman that fought with them, did you catch her name or anything?"

"None at all, other than how she looks we didn't make any contact with her," Tyle said to Hamza.

We decided to keep Effinshia's true identity a secret from Hamza. Days beforehand before we turned in the quest, Kranis told us to not reveal her identity. He simply mentioned to us that it's best to lay low when dealing with someone strong. Something about strong people having strong enemies and that we should be careful to not get entangled in her mess. Kranis also mention something about common courtesy. Although I don't really understand what he meant by that, I decided to follow his advice. As a rogue, he is more knowledgeable about this stuff than I am.

"I see, that's unfortunate then. I guess that is all. You may lea- ah wait, before you all go. I wonder if I may ask what are your plans at the moment? Cezza could use a high-ranking party you see."

"Luth E'll, we'll be travelling to Luth E'll next," Kranis answered the guild master.

"I see, I see. That's unfortunate as well for Cezza, but I may have a proposition for you all." Hamza said to us. His mouth curled like one of a cunning snake.

 

* * * * *

 

During the night, after gathering our provisions for the trip to Luth E'll, the party "Providence' gathered in the room that we booked at the Inn. Four guys, one girl, and a table full of money on it.

We have gotten pretty rich lately, all things considering. The rewards from the raid in A'bell was high as well, but this... The amount that Hamza gave to us... It's a pretty awful amount alright.

"I don't feel so good taking this money. Miss Effinshia did most of the work..." Lanarya said with a dejected tone. Her shoulders slumped downwards.

"Yeah... this does make us look like the bad guys... We took credit for everything when all we did was just walked down to a cave and grab some leaves," Scorch added.

"Maybe we should give back the money?" Lanarya suggested.

"Hell no. We are keeping this money." Kranis objected harshly.

"But!"

"Look I don't feel like I deserve the money too, but it's not like we were at zero risks either."

"Then half the money then!"

"I'm not going to return the money to the guild Lana." Kranis stayed his ground on the matter. A firm voice.

"Forget about that, there is no way we can hold this much money with us. What are we going to carry around a sack of gold to Luth E'll? " Tyle said his opinion on the matter. "Why did you even exchange it so fast for anyways?" Tyle points at Kranis. "You could have waited until we reached Luth E'll before we do it, you know?"

"I can't help it alright! I just wanted to feel what it's like to be rich for once okay!" Kranis defended himself.

"Filthy Rich," Scorch said sarcastically.

"Shut up." 

"I'm with Lanarya here, I don't really feel like taking this money," I said my piece. "She saved my life." I gave the party a short pause. "Twice. I can't take this."

I stared at Kranis. He just let out a sigh before looking solemnly at the table full of money on it.

"Alright... how about this? We take half of it and I keep the other half till we meet Effinshia again. Then I'll give it to her face to face." Kranis said to us.

"I'm fine with that!" Lanarya exclaimed happily.

"Lanarya, you do know that there is probably a chance that we won't ever meet her again right?" Scorch said.

"His fingers are crossed by the way," Tyle said to us as he eyed the back of Kranis's Hands.

I just gave a blank stare at Kranis. Lanarya followed after me and gave Kranis a deadpan stare as well.

How on earth did I ever entrust this guy with all my money?