Chapter Four: A Breeze of Spring
I wasn't any where near used to waking up in my new house, especially with a goblin sleeping next to me, so it took me a minute to grasp my situation. After shaking off the slight feeling of disarray, I got dressed, and left the house, Hero following me.
"AHHH!" Anette let out a shrill scream when she heard me, making my back stiffen. I wasn't sure at all what she was screaming about.
"What's wrong, Anette?" I furrowed my brow, confused by the tears that were swelling in her turquoise eyes.
"I-It's a monster! Why do you have a monster following you?" She asked, panic obvious in her voice.
"Oh... This is Hero... He's my buddy," I looked down at Hero, who seemed hurt by Anette being so terrified of him. "He won't hurt you. He saved me on Whale Island."
"B-But still. You befriended it?" Anette had moved the entire time, but now, she reached into her bag, only to realize that I apparently had no mail today.
"Uhm, yeah, what's wrong with that?" I asked. I had a feeling that Anette wasn't going to speak much to me for awhile, after this. "Hero won't hurt you, or chase you, I promise."
"Nyef..." Hero dropped his knife and held out a small, green hand to Anette.
"Nuh-uh! I'm going to finish my mail route..." Anette shook her head. "Bye, Brendan."
"Nyeff!" Hero gave Anette a pleading face, that I thought was adorable.
Anette shook her head, and before I could stop her, she was gone.
"Nyehhh-heh..." Hero let out a hurt cry and covered his face.
"Hey..." I knelt next to the goblin, and put an arm around his shoulder. "I'm sorry she doesn't like you... I'm sure other people in town will..."
"Myeh?" he looked up at me, as if wanting to know if what I was saying was true.
"In fact, I know who will adore you," I stood up now, handing Hero his knife piece.
"Ny-Nyeh?" Hero seemed cheerful now, which made me smile.
I didn't know if Tabatha was angry with me or anything, but I set off for her house anyway.
Once I arrived at the St. de Coquille villa, I noticed Tabatha outside, watering the flowers that lined the Villa's walls and walkway.
"Hey, Tabatha, I want to introduce you to someone," I said, praying in the back of my head that she wouldn't bring up what had happened at the beach.
Tabatha turned, and her eyes fell on me, and then to Hero. She smiled. "Is he yours, Brendan?" She placed the watering can that she had on the ground, and walked down the hill to meet me.
"Yeah... He saved my life on Whale Island and now he stays in my house. His name is Hero," I said, smiling at Tabatha's positive reaction.
"Nyer!" Hero held out his hand to Tabatha, a smile also on his face.
"Hello, Hero, I'm Tabatha," she knelt, taking Hero's tiny hand in her own. She petted his head. "You seem very good at taming monsters. Most monsters wouldn't let people that weren't their owners this close to them."
"I didn't use the pet glove on him. He showed up at my house after I passed out. An orc archer nearly killed me, and he fought the orc off," I explained.
"Oh... You do understand that the orc was only scared, right Brendan?"
I rubbed the back of my neck. "Uhh... I guess if I think about it, I do," I said, after giving the matter some thought. The orc only attacked me because I was in its territory, and it was a wild orc.
"Well, thank you for letting me see Hero," she stood now, bowing her head. "If possible, may I come by some time and visit your barn to see if you've tamed any other monsters?"
"Sure! And if you want, you can knock on the door to my house and if Hero isn't with me, he'll let you visit him, right, Hero?"
"Myeh!" Hero hugged Tabatha's leg, and returned to my side.
My eyes trailed upward towards the sky. It was probably about the time that Rosetta's shop opened, so I needed to get going. "Uhm, you mind if Hero and I get going? I've got some business to attend to today."
"Oh, of course not. I must get back to my chores as well, before Miss Bianca awakens," Tabatha bowed. "I hope to see you and Hero around, Brendan."
"Alright. You will, I think. Bye, Tabatha," I waved and began to walk.
"Nye-Nye!" Hero also waved.
"See, some people in town aren't afraid of you..." I patted Hero's head.
He nodded, a satisfied smile on his face.
We walked through town to Materia, greeted by Eunice and Uzuki on the way. Uzuki seemed to be someone afraid of Hero, until she realized that he was tamed, and Eunice thought he was cute, saying that he looked kind of like a little baby.
I entered Materia to be greeted by Rosetta, who had a warm smile on her face. I talked to her of ordering the clothing that I needed, and she gladly did so, leaving me with on five hundred gold. She told me about the shipping box, which made me happy, because now, when I needed money, I could fish or go find some stuff in the dungeons. And when fall came, I could also plant some crops and ship them, if I had the money for the seeds.
As soon as I walked out of Materia, I bumped into Mist.
"Ah! Sorry," I shook my head.
"It's okay. Hello, Brendan and Hero," Mist smiled. "I was looking for you, Brendan."
"Really? What's going on?" I asked, arching a brow at her.
"There are a lot of weeds in front of my house... They really need to be cut down." Mist avoided eye contact, and I knew what she wanted me to say.
"I'll cut them down for you, Mist," I sighed. That was an excellent way to spend the day. A sickle in my hand, chopping down weeds for my next-door neighbor.
"Thank you, Brendan. You're a nice person," she smiled brightly now.
I let out a sigh, and after saying bye to Mist, I headed for her house.
Hero stopped back at our house when we passed it, and so I went to the field in front of Mist's house to work alone.
It took at least a few hours for me to manage to chop down all of the weeds, because the sun had moved a great bit during the time that I was working. Mist stood and watched, watering her flowers. I didn't feel self-conscience, oddly enough. I knew Mist wasn't watching me because she was attracted to me or anything, she was watching because of something else, maybe she liked watching people work or something.
"Hello, Hero," I heard her say, right as I had finished my work and was staring at a stairway that I had found. I looked up, wiping sweat from my forehead, to see Hero running towards me.
He noticed the stairs, and pulled out his knife. "Nehee-hee!" he grinned broadly, a slightly distorted grin.
"Mist, did you know about these stairs?" I asked.
"Oh, those lead to the Green Ruins, a dungeon where it is always Spring! You could grow turnips there," Mist explained.
"Would it be safe for me to check it out?" I asked.
"I think you're strong enough to handle the monsters. If not, just use the Return spell, and you'll be back at the exit," Mist was smiling as she spoke, and I thought it was kind of cute. I figured that in a few weeks or so, Mist would be like a little sister to me.
"How do I use the Return spell?" I asked. I had a feeling that I had used it before, but I just wanted to make sure.
"Just think about the exit as much as you can, and it will eventually kick in."
"Okay, thanks," I smiled, taking out my sword.
"Go get 'em, Brendan and Hero!"
The temperature of the Green Ruins was at least a few degrees cooler than that of Trampoli right now. It felt nice, since I had been working for the past few hours.
I noticed some small fields that needed cleaning, but I ignored them. Instead, I ran up the stairs, and ran straight into a cluster of vines and leaves, blocking the doorway. Beyond there, I saw a red squirrel trying to throw acorns at me.
I slashed through the vines, and was hit by three acorns. The squirrel squeaked and ran backwards.
"Nye-hee!" Hero charged, and slashed through the squirrel, and I hit it with my blade, and it was gone.
"The portal!" I nodded towards the portal, and Hero and I attacked it before another squirrel could come out. I could remember that the squirrels were called Chitters or Furpies, but I didn't remember which was which.
One direction was blocked by a giant cluster of rocks, so I went the other way, slashing through some more vines.
This time, when I entered the room, I was attacked by huge, red, ants. They spat some kind of nasty, green, moist gas at me, and when the gas landed on my skin, a burning sensation occurred, and my skin turned a bit pink. It wasn't anything to worry about, though, and with two swings of my sword, the ant closest to me was dead.
I glanced at Hero to see that the ant he was attacking was also dead, and the portal was gone. "Great job!" I grinned, and Hero nodded proudly.
I noticed more fields, and some crates sitting on the floor. With one hit of my sword, the crates broke, and out came some yellow colored grass, and a root of some sort. Not interested in the items, I continued on, down a path, to where I had two options; I could go up some stairs, or I could break down some vines, where there were some plant-like monsters, who attempted to shoot orbs at me. The plants interested me, but I thought that it would be safer to head up the stairs.
I found myself in a large room, with a couple of squirrels and some ants in it. It wasn't that much of a fight, but once the room was clean, I noticed that Hero was panting, and he had little wounds all over his arms, and a bleeding scratch on his face.
I knelt next to him. "Are you okay, little guy?" I asked. "You can go ahead and head home if you want to, ya know..."
Hero shook his head, and puffed out his chest. "Nyep!" he patted his chest with one hand, the other hand still holding his knife.
"Alright then, onward!" I grinned. I felt somewhat tired myself, but I felt that the dungeon was where I belonged, and I was having too much fun to leave now.
We continued our trek until we came to a staircase. "Should we proceed?" I asked Hero, arching a brow.
Hero nodded, and before I could even think about stopping him, he took off down the stairs, and I followed, sprinting behind him.
We were greeted first by some vines and another Chitter, which gave us minimal problems. Before I could turn around to look at what else we were up against, a horrible stinging, burning pain shot through my arm and to the rest of my body.
I let out a gasp of pain, and gagged. It burned horribly, and I could feel my energy quickly depleting.
"NYAR!" I heard Hero let out a cry of pain, and turned my head to see him fall to the ground, twitching slightly.
"Hero?" I staggered towards him, the pain worsening by the second. My ears were filled with a loud buzzing noise, and I looked to see a giant, brownish-gray hornet, readying a stinger to fire again. "That must've been what got us..." I mumbled. "We're outta here." I grabbed Hero, closed my eyes, and used Return magic just as a stinger was about to hit my shoulder.
I found myself holding Hero at the entrance, and with terrible pain, I ran up the stairs, and out of the dungeon, wanting out as fast as I could.
I fell to the ground when I reached the top of the stairs, gasping and panting. The pain was excruciating, and I could feel a cold sweat forming at my brow.
"Brendan?" I heard a familiar voice, though I couldn't quite grasp who it was.
"Brendan!" I felt hands on my arms, and with some effort from the person, I was pulled into a sitting position, finding myself staring into Tabatha's eyes.
"Tabatha, what happened to that farmer and his monster?" Bianca folded her arms across her chest, and I thought I could see an impatient look on her face.
Tabatha was now sitting Hero up into sitting position, only to have him fall backwards.
"Pain... Hornet got us," I mumbled, and then let out a groan as the pain in my arm worsened, as if to shove my failure in my face.
"Oh, that's what's wrong," Tabatha grabbed my arm with one hand, and then yanked a giant stinger out of my arms.
"OW!" I snapped, not meaning for my voice to sound as harsh as it did.
"I am sorry," Tabatha frowned at me.
Hero let out a cry of pain when Tabatha snatched another stinger out of his shoulder.
"There... Do either of you feel any better?" she asked, looking first at me, and then Hero, who was finally able to sit up.
"Yeah... I bit better... Still sick," I sighed.
"Hm..." Tabatha grabbed my arm once more, and gently rolled up the sleeve. There was a round wound that was pouring blood, and surrounded by a black ring of dying flesh. "You are badly poisoned, I think... We need to get you and Hero to Lara."
"No... Just take us home, I'm sure we can sleep it off," I said, shaking my head. I was hurt, and nauseated, I really didn't feel like dealing with Lara.
"Are- Are you sure?" Tabatha asked, her eyes wide.
"Just do what they say so we can get home," Bianca sighed, the tone of her voice making it obvious that she was agitated.
"I'm sorry Miss Bianca, ma'am, but I must make sure that this man and this monster are okay, or I will feel terrble," Tabatha said, her voice more stern than apologetic. "Now, I will help you stand up, Brendan, and I will carry Hero. Is that alright?" Tabatha asked, standing now.
"Alright..." I began to push myself up, and Tabatha grabbed my arm that wasn't hurt, and pulled me to my feet. I slouched over, but I was able to stand.
Tabatha knelt, picked Hero up in one arm, and then put the other arm around me. "Okay, can you walk?"
I began to walk slowly, putting as little weight on Tabatha as possible. I noticed now that it was only sunset, but I would probably be asleep as soon as I got to my house.
I smiled when I saw the small shack of a house, and we stopped in front of the door.
"Please stand for one second, Brendan," Tabatha said. She let me go, and opened the door. She helped me to the bed, where I collapsed on my stomach.
"Where do I put Hero?" Tabatha asked now.
With effort, I moved over against the wall, and patted the space beside me. "He sleeps with me..." I mumbled.
"Okay..." Tabatha gently laid Hero down beside me, and then said, "Brendan... I will be right back with some supplies to bandage you up."
I nodded, but I never did get to see her come back, because I was asleep in less than a minute after she said this.
