Volume 2 Chapter 6: Part 1: Refusal

 

After a few more minutes of shopping, Onyx got all the supplies he needed for his adventure. It's useful. He doesn't need to carry anything anymore. 

 

All of the supplies are stashed away inside the magic bag. 

 

"See, I told you the bag is useful." Besides him, Oliver acts smug about giving him the bag. 

 

"Yeah."

 

"Look at how much you can store now compared to before. You can stock up like no tomorrow, and you'll still be fine!" Oliver keeps talking about how great the magical bag was. 

 

"Yeah." Onyx continues to say the same word. Well, it was the only thing. The expression on his face is dull and conflicted. He can't get over spending so much on one bag!

 

It's worth it. It's worth it. Onyx keeps telling himself this, hoping to take his mind off the price he paid. But that makes him remember how much he handed to Alicia.

 

Dammit! Why did I pay 9 platinum coins! Why! Just why?! Investment or not, using that many coins are enough to make his heart bleed! He can't stand it. 

 

Numerous other items he could have bought kept coming into his mind. 

 

"Heh, Heh." Dark laughter came out of his mouth. Seeing this, Oliver takes a step away from him. 

 

Let him be by himself. Nothing will go through to Onyx, even if Oliver tries to talk him out of it. But even if his mind was in the sky, Onyx could still follow him. 

 

It got to the point where the two of them arrived in front of the guild hall. 

 

"Onyx."

 

"Huh? Where are we?!" Onyx snaps out of thought and looks around, only to find they're in front of the guild building, "When did we come back?!"

 

"..." Oliver's face twitches. You really had to think so hard about that? He shakes his head, ignoring it, "I need to give you something from my office."

 

"Ahh, ok." Following Oliver into the guild building, 

 

"!" Onyx quickly grabs onto his twin swords. A chill. Why is it so cold here?! The guild hall gave off a cold aura; someone was out to kill. 

 

Oliver feels it too. Before he can ask what happened, the reason speaks out first,

 

"Guild master." A cold voice cuts in. It's none other than Madelyn. 

 

"!" Her voice causes shivers throughout Onyx and Oliver's spine. Especially for Oliver. 

 

Oh, yeah!

 

He almost forgot about her. 

 

She looks at Oliver as if he's the lowest being ever!

 

"Ahh, Madelyn. You can punish me later for playing hooky. But I need to do something." Oliver regains his composure. 

 

"Huh?" Madelyn sneered. Do what? Play hooky again?

 

"Guild master business," Oliver adds.

 

"...I understand." Madelyn's stern expression tones down. Hearing its guild master business, she stops putting up a cold face. 

 

They don't speak any further, and Onyx and Oliver walk to his office. The only thing he saw was piles of paper on Oliver's desk. What the? He remembers yesterday that there wasn't anything like there at all!

 

Just in a day, his desk was swarmed by desk work. 

 

No wonder he wanted to play hooky. Onyx can only pity Oliver as being a guild master. 

 

"Where did I put it?" Oliver doesn't realize Onyx's expression as he searches around his desk. He swipes the paper away, and then he finds it. 

 

"Oh, it's here. Onyx, catch." Oliver tosses something to him. Onyx catches it. A scroll. 

 

"Take a look at it." Onyx opens it, and his eyes turn wide. He turns to Oliver, 

 

"Is this what I think it is?"

 

"Mmhmm. I'm only giving you half of it. The other half; I won't give it to you. You are going nowhere near that part of the forest. Not right now." What Oliver gave him was a map of the forest of death. Well, half of it. 

 

The other part of the map showed a deadlier section of the Forest Of Death. And he's not planning to let Onyx go into that hell hole. 

 

"..." Onyx doesn't know what to say. He clenches the map tightly, "Oliver, thank you so much for going through with my selfish request."

 

Onyx knows what he was doing was selfish. Oliver didn't need to go through all this trouble to help him. He could have just let him go through his own device. 

 

And that would have been an impossible task for him.

 

"Don't sweat it. You're my friend's student. So as your senior, of course, I will help you in your time of need." Oliver scratches his head, "However, I have one request for you."

 

"What is it? What do you need me to do." Onyx owes Oliver too much. If he needs his help, he'll do it. 

 

"Don't die." Oliver's face turns serious as he says this. 

 

"!" Onyx's expression turns blank.

 

"As the guild master of advent city, I'm ordering one of my following adventurers not to die! Do you understand?"

 

"Understood!" Onyx screams out loud. He will not die. He won't let himself die. Not until he finishes his objective.

...

Leaving the guild hall, 

 

"Was it really alright for you to leave him like that?" After Onyx leaves, Madelyn walks into the office. 

 

"Are you going to punish me! I'm already doing my work!" Oliver looks like he's about to cry.

 

After Onyx left, Oliver got to work. He knew if he didn't, who knows what Madelyn would do to him. 

 

Madelyn's expression turns dark, "I'm not going to do anything to you. So answer my question." 

 

Oliver gives a wry smile, "How much did you hear?" He sensed someone outside the door. 

 

"I heard most of it." The door muffled their voices. But she heard more than enough to get the picture, "So why did you allow him to go deeper into the Forest Of Death."

 

"He's more than capable of going deeper in. The only thing that's stopping him is inexperience." Onyx is way too green. But that doesn't mean he didn't have the strength to fight the monsters in the deeper region. 

 

Heck, the guy went across the forest just to get here!

 

"What if he doesn't come back?" Madelyn frowns. How can you be so calm when you're sending one of your adventures off to die. 

 

"Don't you have faith in the boy?"

 

Madelyn shakes her head, "I do have faith in him. But it's too dangerous." Onyx showed off he's more than capable of dealing with monsters way above his rank. 

 

However, this doesn't change how Onyx is going into something dangerous. 

 

"Then would you have gone with him?" Oliver looks at Madelyn seriously. 

 

"!" Madelyn freezes. Her face got stunned and locked. If anybody else had seen her face, they would have been surprised. Oliver continues, 

 

"I'm serious. If you come back and-"

 

"Stop!" Madelyn screams out, "Please. Just stop." She can't control her breath as she breathes raggedly. It was as if her heart was about to burst from her chest any second. 

 

"Sorry." Realizing he took it too far, Oliver apologizes, "But-"

 

"Please don't say anything else about it anymore, Guildmaster." Madelyn's face turns terrible. I don't want to remember. 

 

She can't. 

 

She won't. 

 

Never again. 

 

She doesn't say anything else as she runs out of the guild office without looking back. 

 

"..." Oliver's face turns dark. I know you can do it. He can only look at her with regret and hope for her. 

...

"Gus! I'm back! Is my armor fixed?!" Onyx walks into the shop. Charles greets him,

 

"Welcome back, Onyx." "Kid! Stop yelling in my store! Don't you know how to wait!" Charles greets him. Hearing his shout, Gus comes out from the back with a scowl. 

 

He rubs his ears as he says this. 

 

"My bad. Just got too excited." Onyx cups his mouth, trying not to make a sound at all. Or not; there are only muffles.

 

"Stop being so childish. Here!" Gus quips and then tosses the bag toward Onyx, "I've buffered out all the dents on your armor. And I cleaned off the scratch marks as well. Try it out first. I had to take off the straps. If it's too loose, I'll adjust it."

 

"Understood." Onyx takes the armor out of the bag. Wow! That's the first word that came into his mind. He looks at his armor with sparkling eyes. 

 

It looks just like the first time he got it. Wearing it again, Onyx moves around a bit. 

 

"The guards need to be tightened. And the legs need to be loosened." Gus nods as he takes back the armor to adjust the straps. He adds, 

 

"You need to take care of your armor better. Try not to get dents and scratches on it. The dents can be buffered out. But the scratches are a whole different matter." For dents, he used a hammer to buff them out. 

 

But scratches were a different matter. Gus had to shave down the armor a bit to make it disappear. 

 

That meant the armor had to be weakened. 

 

"I'll keep this in mind then." Even if Gus didn't say anything, Onyx knows he has to be careful.

 

"Good. Also, check out your sword too." Gus hands him his sword as well. 

 

Onyx takes his sword out. 

 

"No matter how many times I look at it, it's a good sword." Gus praises. Those are the only words he can say. As he sharpened the sword, he was mesmerized by how it looked.

 

The clean and sharp feel it has was captivating. 

 

"Thanks." Onyx sheathes back the sword. 

 

I'm ready now. 

 

He got his armor and sword back. And he's loaded with potions as well. It's time for him to go now. 

 

"Kid." 

 

"Hmm? What is it?" Onyx notices the frown on Gus's expression. 

 

"Don't die." Gus doesn't say anything else as he walks back and starts working on his other work. 

 

"Thanks." Onyx doesn't say anything else as he walks out of the store. 

 

It was night. But he was going to do it either way. Onyx dashes towards the gates. There, the captain of the guard notices him. 

 

"Oh, you're going out again?" It's only been a few days since Onyx left for his quest. So he was surprised to see him go out again. 

 

"Mmhmm."

 

"Do you need a cart again?" Remembering how much Onyx had brought, he was going to need it. 

 

"It's ok." Onyx shakes his head, "I'm not going to be carrying that much with me anyways." He has the bag. What's more, 

 

I'm going to be out for a long time. Onyx will be hunting for at least 2 weeks. As he walks, he realizes this. He needs some leeway to get back to the city. 

 

"I see. Then good luck with your adventure. And safe travels." Onyx nods and quickly dashes off. Seeing him dash off like that, the other guards look in shock. And the guard captain just shakes his head. 

 

Damn, that kid's quick. 

 

Onyx doesn't realize what they are thinking about him. His priority is to get to the Forest Of Death as soon as possible.

 

"Gyahhh!" And then he hears a monster's scream. A goblin stands in front of his way. 

 

"Get out of my way." Onyx continues to charge forward. And in an instant, 

 

THUD

 

What drops to the ground is its head. Onyx doesn't stop to pick up the crystal. He needs to go deeper. 

 

Nobody was going to stop him.