Parma Village: A village of wine, known all across the lands for its relaxation, beauty, and food. It didn't look like much at first, but maybe I'd have thought differently if I knew we'd run into the loudmouth while we were there. – From the Journal of G.G.
Entry Two
As we stumbled into the village, Leonard once again took point.
"Here we are," he smiled, glancing out into their small but gentle surroundings, "Welcome to Parma."
"Looks pretty tiny." I replied.
"Maybe, but bigger isn't always better. Would you rather we had to force our way through a crowd again?" Leonard asked me.
I shook my head in reply. I knew he was referring to Balandor, but the word crowd only served to make me remember the horde of Polkan that had chased us down back on the plains. A cold shiver ran down my back at the thought of them.
"Hey!" another voice suddenly called out from behind us, breaking my thoughts. "You're on time for once."
Leonard and I turned, coming face to face with a purple-haired girl around our age, dressed in a yellow and brown dress with long fur boots. I frowned; not recognizing her. She must have been an associate of Leonard's.
"Yulie!"
Guess I was right.
"How've you been there Leonard?" Yulie asked, opening her arms wide in greeting as she approached us. Without waiting for a reply, she turned to me. "Oh! You must be the new guy. Rapacci told me you were coming. Glad you can make it."
I nodded once. "Thanks, glad to be here, not that Leonard helped or anything."
"H-Hey!" Leonard complained, "Now why would you go and say something like that?"
"You tempt fate too much." I shrugged. It seemed like a decent answer at the time, "I can tell just being around you is going to cause me a whole bunch of problems."
"It only happened once." Leonard said, "And besides, we're both still alive, I think that's something to be pretty happy about. Don't you?"
"Sure, as long as we don't get ambushed on the way back." I agreed.
Yulie looked between us, looking confused all the while. I wasn't all that surprised. It wasn't like she knew what we were talking about after all. When it looked like we wouldn't stop for another several minutes, she raised a hand to her mouth and coughed, dragging our attention back to the task at hand.
"Right… Anyway, the wine's all set to go. Follow me."
It didn't take long for us to reach our destination. As I said before, Parma was a tiny village... It'd take no more than a few minutes to run circles around the place a good three or four times.
Yulie led us through the street, and back towards what I could only imagine was the town inn. It didn't look like much, but then, the inn wasn't why we were there in the first place.
Leonard suddenly came to an abrupt stop, staring slack-jawed at the great beast suddenly blocking our path. Given its large size and the presence of our most precious cargo latched upon its rear, I could but assume that this was the "beastwain" Rapacci was said to have rented for us.
"You must be joking." Leonard frowned, not moving from his spot as he gazed upon the lazy creature.
"Hey! Don't let his looks fool you." Yulie demanded, "He's a big old pussycat."
"I bet. Is this thing really capable of carrying the wine all the way back to Balandor for us?" I asked.
"Definitely." Yulie nodded, only to frown upon seeing my disbelief, "What? I'm serious! He may not look like much, but he can really pull his weight when he puts his mind to it! Promise!"
I folded my arms and exchanged a glance with Leonard. Somehow we just could wrap our minds around the idea. Even if it was supposed to be some great cargo carrier, the thing looked old enough to be my grand uncle! It's legs appeared worn and weak, and its face looked even more weary and uninterested. Was it really age I was seeing, or was the creature before me just trying to be lazy? More importantly, could we really rely on it…? Whatever concerns I had thought of raising were interrupted with Yulie's following words.
"Now then," Yulie spoke up, "I guess we should be getting ready to go huh? Just hang on one second, we need to track down the driver."
"Driver?" I asked.
Yulie nodded. "Raus. He said he'd be here by now… but maybe he got caught up somewhere."
"What? Is there any way we can get a move on without him?" Leonard asked, "We promised Rapacci we'd be back before the celebration started."
"You promised Rapacci huh…?" Yulie frowned, "Tough luck. Sorry, but Raus is the only one who can get this fella up and moving."
"Of course he is." I sighed, "An old beastwain, an absent driver, this really is turning into quite the day."
"No need to be such a downer," Leonard said, "this Raus guy is in Parma right? If he is, it can't take that long for us to find him."
"Yeah, I suppose you're right. At least we have that going for us. Score one for tiny villages."
"Actually, I think I have a good idea of where he might be." Yulie cut in, "You guys sit tight! I'll be back in a second!"
"Wait, Yulie!" Leonard shouted, to no avail.
The girl had already made it halfway down the street by the time he'd finished his shout, and clearly she had no intention to turn back.
"Yeesh, I knew she could move, but wow."
I turned to Leonard expectantly, "So she does that a lot then, run away I mean?"
"Well… it happens every once in a while." Leonard shook his head, "That's not important. I know Yulie told us to wait here, but it'd probably be faster if we jumped in to help look too. She may not look it, but Yulie's not exactly the greatest when it comes to finding people. I wouldn't be surprised if she winds up back here empty-handed in the next few… oh, there she is."
Just as Leonard had said, Yulie was walking back, with no Raus in sight. I didn't know which to find more surprising: the fact she was walking back only after leaving several seconds ago, or that Leonard had actually said something right for once.
"Back so soon?" he asked, raising his eyebrow coyly at the girl.
Yulie's face flushed as she rejoined us, and she quickly turned her head to the side to hide her embarrassment.
"S-Shut up. I just- He wasn't where I thought he was okay?"
"It's fine." Leonard laughed, "Like I was telling Gill here, it'd probably be better if we split up to look for him anyway. What do you say?"
"That's fine with me." I said.
"It's… agreeable." Yulie ground out, slowly. From the looks she was giving us, I could tell that Raus was really gonna be in for it once Yulie got her hands on him.
"Great, then I'll take the area back here. Yulie, you just came from down the street, so how about you check out the Guild over there? As for you Gill-"
"I'll check the stores down there." I said, pointing back the way Yulie came. "She only looked in the one place after all, so it'd make sense to double back and make sure."
Leonard nodded his agreement, "Good idea. We'll meet back here in five. Is everyone alright with that?"
We all nodded.
"Good, then let's find Raus!"
I let Yulie and Leonard disappear into their own areas before moving toward mine. Look for Raus… with the luck we've been having I wouldn't have been surprised if he had somehow ended up halfway to Albana before we got here. I sighed, entering the first store on my right and taking a solid glance around.
From the looks of the place, I had appeared to be in an armory of sorts. Luckily, it didn't appear to be that large, nor were there numerous amounts of people inside. In fact, there were only two.
"Welcome!" the large, burly man behind the counter exclaimed cheerfully, "Welcome to Ortegus' Swords, first-rate suppliers of steel, weaponry, and all beast-hunting needs! May I help you find anything?"
"Not unless anyone here goes by the name of Raus." I muttered, rather rudely in fact.
Luckily, the man seemed to take it in stride.
"Sorry, but I haven't seen Raus come in here all day." He chuckled, "What's the matter? He in some kind of trouble?"
"Not the kind you're thinking of," I shrugged, "I'm from Rapacci Wines. He's supposed to drive the Beastwain out front back to Balandor, but since he's not around…"
"Ah… I think I understand. If that's the case, you may want to check the old horse ranch out front. He likes to sleep down there when he's not running some kind of errand. Odds are he probably overslept."
Overslept huh? I suppose I could let it slide if that was the case. I myself knew the feeling after all.
"The horse ranch huh…? Thanks for the help." I nodded politely and turned to leave.
"Ah… hang on one moment."
I paused mid-stride, turning my head back ever so slightly to regard the man.
"Yeah?"
"You wouldn't leave without buying something after all that help now would you?" he asked, rubbing his hands together greedily.
Damn. I should have known something was fishy. Still, the man had a point. Who knew how long I would have been searching if it hadn't been for his tip. I glanced inside my pouch, checking for the amount of spare gold I had laying around.
It was five minutes later that I left, 140 gold poorer, and with a shield I didn't need. Oh well, maybe I could pawn it off to Leonard or something? He owed me anyway, after getting me into that mess with the Polkan.
Tucking the Shield away behind my Greatsword, I followed the road down to the front of the village and turned right, the same way the armory owner said led to the ranch. True to his word, several horses immediately came into view, along with the unmistakable presence of a small, rabbit-eared man sleeping against a tree stump.
Raus.
"Ah ha! Raus, you oaf!" Yulie's voice suddenly snapped out from behind me, a firm karate chop smashing into the man's head.
The hell? Where'd she come from? And she brought Leonard too! Don't tell me, they were sitting back and letting me do all the work?!
"Ohh, dear me… Did I doze off again?" Raus asked suddenly, his voice far more high-pitched than I was expecting. Actually, now that I could actually see his face, he looked much younger than what I was expecting too. I suppose his oversleeping wasn't a far stretch then.
Yulie grimaced, grabbing Raus by the scruff of his neck and glaring at him angrily.
"This is where you were hiding?! I told you not to be late!"
He kicked her in the wrist, his small body giving him a unique advantage against the woman before scrambling behind Leonard for safety. It might have been funny, if we weren't running behind schedule as it was.
"Please don't be mad Miss Yulie!" Raus pleaded, "I am so sorry!"
"I guess we can cut the guy some slack." Leonard sighed, "He didn't mean any harm after all. And… it's not like I've never overslept before either."
"Tch," Yulie frowned, folding her arms angrily, "You're both slackers!"
"Regardless, he's here now." I decided to speak, "Which means he can get that ol' brute up and moving."
"Yeah… I guess you're right."
Yulie's assurances that she wouldn't attack didn't serve to make Raus shiver any less. He continued to hide behind Leonard all the way back up to the Beastwain, and somehow, it was sunset before we finally got a move on.
The beastwain yawned lazily, its fluffy jaws snapping wide as Raus sat on the edge of the cart eagerly.
"There!" Yulie sighed in relief, "Now you're all set."
"You know… when you said that all the wine was packed and ready to go when we arrived… I was hoping you meant more than just one box." I spoke freely, my eye twitching ever so slightly at the time we'd spent dawdling around.
"Yeah, that time spent packing really put us behind." Leonard agreed, "It's already starting to get dark! We need to haul cask if we're going to get back on time. And we will get back on time. Don't forget, my life's on the line here!"
"Okay Leonard," Yulie said with a smile, obviously holding something back, "Like I mentioned before, Raus here will be driving the beastwain."
The small rabbit-man looked down at us with a giggle, the reins to the beast held firmly in his hands.
"Er… Hello. Happy to assist, Chief!" he paused for a moment, "By the way, if I happen to doze off… again... kindly wake me up before this beastie remembers I forgot to feed it breakfast and turns me into a late lunch!"
I folded my arms. "If you fall asleep again, you'd deserve to be a late lunch… but I suppose we can help out. Without you this thing wouldn't move after all."
Leonard subtly elbowed me in the ribs before giving Raus a wry smile.
"Uh… right. We'll do that."
"He's kind of weird, but he gets the job done." Yulie sighed, "Anyway, off we go!"
"We? You're coming too?" Leonard asked loudly.
With how loud he said it, you'd think he didn't want her tagging along or something. Apparently Yulie must've thought the same thing, because when she turned back around to face us again, it was with a solid frown.
"Well, yeah! I wouldn't miss this party for the world! What? You don't want the extra help?!"
"Well…" Leonard shrugged.
I rolled my eyes. "Come on Leonard, you're better off not arguing about something she's going to do anyway."
"Listen to the new guy." Yulie agreed, "Now come on, we're late enough as it is."
Leonard groaned.
"Great. Now I have to hear her complain too."
"It won't be that bad." I assured him, "Besides, she has a point. We could use the extra help, if you get us surrounded by Polkan again with that fate-tempting mouth of yours." I began to walk past him, tossing the shield to him rather roughly as I passed. "Oh, and Leonard, you owe me 140 guilder for that shield. The least you could do, considering what happened earlier."
"What?"
"You don't want to tell Rapacci the reason we were late getting back was because you couldn't defend against a Kibble do you?" Another groan gave me my response. "Thought so."
-WKC-
Never let it be said that I enjoy the plains of Balastor.
We'd only just started the trip back when we were accosted by Polkan, again. Luckily, with Yulie's welcome addition to the Winery team, we were able to hold our own against the massive crowd. Armed with her tiny dagger, something I did not foresee her having, Yulie had smashed her way through the crowd, giving us a clear path to attack.
Leonard had watched the entire scene in shock. I guess he wasn't expecting Yulie to be such a good fighter, though even I had expected her to be a bit more… ranged.
During our brief distraction a Polkan had managed to sneak up on me, and yet again, I found myself bearing a mighty bruise to the legs.
Ouch.
Still, it could have been worse. At least the tiny monstrosities had yet to attack my nether regions. That's something I don't think I'd be able to recover from.
"Behind you!" Leonard suddenly shouted, and I swung my blade in response to his words.
I felt the blade dig deep into one of the critters, and soon followed up with a horizontal slash to the right, hacking deep into the Kibble's face.
It fell back defeated, leaving me to annihilate yet another of its brethren eager for revenge.
Foolish. Unlike last time, we had managed to separate them rather nicely. Leonard had spoken the truth after all. While it was true that they were a force to be reckoned with while traveling en masse, alone they were… pathetic, for lack of a better term. Another single sweep of my blade and the being fell over dead.
Silence reigned several moments afterward, and for once, I felt at peace among the plains.
"Whew. That takes care of them." Leonard said in relief, "I never would have thought they'd sit out here waiting for us."
"Well, now they'll know to regret it." I said, kicking one of the broken Polkan clubs to the side. "They never should have tried to stop us from getting back on time."
"You're a pretty violent person aren't you?" Leonard couldn't help but ask.
"Isn't everyone?"'
"No." Leonard answered immediately, only to pause a second later, "Well, maybe." He shook his head. "Anyway, it's safe now Raus, bring her on down."
"G-Good." The rabbit-man squeaked from behind us, guiding the beastwain down through the path back to Balandor. "I was worried for a second there. It's a good thing Miss Yulie was there to help!"
"Yeah," Leonard admitted begrudgingly, "I never expected her to lash out like that… and with a dagger no less. Good job, Yulie."
"Thanks Leonard," the purple-haired berserker smiled, "now let's keep moving. I want to make it back in time for the party!"
"Yeah, yeah… take a number." Leonard sighed.
"They have those here?" I asked curiously.
"What?" Leonard stared at me incredulously, "No, I meant-" he sighed, "Just forget it."
"You tell me to do that a lot."
"That's because you make me think harder than I need to."
"Yeah," Yulie smirked, "you have to be gentle with Leonard. Really, it's a miracle he can do anything by himself at all."
"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?!" Leonard asked.
"Well, you have to admit you walked right into that one." I told him, "I mean come on. "You make me think harder than I need to"? Who says that, really?"
Leonard frowned, opening as if to say something more on the subject but then... he just stopped. For a moment I thought Yulie and I had actually upset him, but it didn't take long to realize that wasn't the case. Leonard's eyes were narrowed, and it almost looked as if he was actually concentrating on something.
"Wait. Something's wrong."
"What? Oh come on Leonard. We were just fooling around." Yulie sighed.
"No. It's not that," Leonard said again, his eyes narrowing dangerously, "It's just… don't you hear that?"
Raus blinked down at the three of us strangely. "What's the matter Chief?"
"Sssh!"
He reeled back in surprise, but the three of us were already scouring the area. Leonard said he heard something… but what? I glanced to the trees in front of us. I stared at the mountains in the far distance, but I didn't hear, or see, anything! A sudden flock of birds flying from the trees broke my thoughts.
"What-?" And then I heard it. It was not unlike the Polkan ambush Leonard and I faced on our way to Parma. It was a rumble. Not a soft, gentle rumble like those of the Polkan and Kibble before it, but a loud, rough rampage that shook the very earth itself. I could feel the dirt shake beneath me. I could see the grass shiver and quake in fear.
Leonard and Yulie moved back, drawing their weapons in sync as they moved to guard the beastwain. I too, stumbled backward, drawing the Greatsword in preparation for battle.
The rumble grew louder, and louder, the sensation of fear bubbling in my chest until I was sure that it would burst. Just what was it that we were about to face?
I didn't have to wait long for my answer.
Its hand appeared first. Large and ugly, it curled around one of the rock faces in front of us, breaking and splintering the very stone and digging its nails in deep. Leonard's eyes widened in surprise, and instantly he took several steps back with the rest of us.
He knew what it was, and by the looks of things, so did Raus and Yulie.
I knew I should have looked up what monsters were often encountered around Balandor before we left. Despite the tension flowing about the area, I made a mental note to buy a beast compendium when we were back in Balandor. If we made it back to Balandor.
My thoughts immediately ceased as the thing came into full view.
A giant, the size of three beastwains combined, stumbled onto the scene. Its body was of a thick green color, riddled with muscle as hard as stone and a face as fierce as a devil. It gazed upon us quietly for several seconds, its large, brutal club gripped softly in its left hand as it stroked its flowing orange beard curiously.
It was a Sylvan Savage, more commonly known as a Troll.
"Dammit!" Leonard cursed, steadying his grip, "It must have smelled the wine!"
"Oh no!" Raus shivered, "What do we do Chief?!"
You? Nothing. You could barely control the beastwain earlier, what do you think you could do facing that thing? Nope. It wasn't anything personal, but Raus, at the very least, would have to stay behind.
Leonard seemed to have the same idea, because he swung his arm out to motion Raus back before he spoke to Yulie and I.
"Simple. We fight!"