Chapter 7
"Make this quick or there might be more!" called out Aloe as she swooped down on one giant wolf spider as Lamy beseeched her goddess for more blessings.
This didn't exactly happen. Instead, the problem was the paralytic poison that the spiders use. And when they came at the party en masse, the ones in front got the brunt of it. Lamy and Nene were the first two to collapse under the spider venom. It didn't help that the giant spiders in the trees started shooting globs of webbing at the surviving members.
"Argh," yelped Polka as her legs got entangled by the webbing.
Feeling that her burst arrow wouldn't do well in this situation, Botan leaped into the fray, clawing and scratching the giant wolf spiders. Aloe continued to swoop down from the air, her dive bombing becoming very effective against them. Two of the giant wolf spiders were taken out, the other two moved on to attack the fighter and the monk. Then, one of the giant spiders in the tree dropped to the ground and started crawling over to them, while the other continued trying to hit the flying succubus with its webbing.
"Gah! Go away!" the monk shouted as she punched the spider biting her into the water. The fighter roared as she tried killing off the last giant wolf spider with the succubus' help. While the other spider dropped down to skitter over, the first one to drop down joined in the fight and attacked her.
Polka squirmed as she tried to get out of the webbing but failed. Meanwhile, Botan finished off the giant wolf spider and tried taking on the giant spider that attacked her, but it sank its fangs into her neck and paralyzed her as well.
"Botan!" shouted the monk as she punched the other giant spider in the face, smashing past the carapace and through the top of its head. As it writhed for a few seconds before collapsing, she renewed her attempts to escape the webbing.
"Watch out, Polka," shouted Aloe as she did another dive by.
The monk listened and twisted out of the way from the giant spider's fangs. Luckily, that twist was the needed leverage for her to rip herself away from the webs and in her renewed fervor, slammed a flurry of blows on its face. They traded blows while Aloe kept up clawing its back and abdomen sections. They went on for several bouts, with very few punches landing as it kept twisting around and splitting its attention between trying to web down the succubus and biting her, Eventually, after a grueling slog, Aloe landed the final blow as she got in between its legs and dug deep enough for her claws to perforate something important. As she flew to the sky, it thrashed around for a moment before flipping on its back and dying.
Polka let out a sigh of relief as she fell on her back, the soft ground minorly cushioning her drop. Meanwhile, the succubus checked on the others and was relieved to find that they were still alive, albeit with shallow breaths.
"Ha... that was too much!" the monk groaned out loud, "I wanna get out of the swamp already! No more crocs! No more spiders! Argh!"
"Quiet down and help me carry them," the succubus hissed at her, "You want to attract more spiders?"
She carried the toad's legs and Nene while the monk carried Lamy and Botan, over their shoulders. This slowed them down quite a bit, as Aloe was not used to this, and the cleric's and fighter's armor were quite heavy. It was now twilight and it was getting very hard to see. They did eventually find the path, thanks to the succubus, but they still had a ways to go before reaching the tavern. It was then they noticed a strange ethereal glow appearing in the middle of the path.
"Oh, for crying out loud, why am I not surprised?" groaned Aloe.
"...Ah. Is it a ghost or something?" asked Polka, a shiver going down her spine.
"Well, I would expect a lot of careless people dying here," the former muttered as they got closer.
The ghost had long, beautiful hair and would have looked quite beautiful when she was alive. Her clothes were ragged and torn, a large chunk of her side missing as if bitten by a crocodile. She noticed the party and floated over. Her solid white orbs in her eye sockets looked them over and pointed to the side of the path. The two conscious party members looked at each other in confusion.
"Urm, are you asking for help?" asked the monk.
The ghost opened her mouth and a very faint, whispery voice came out, Barely anything could be made out except, "...help..."
The two looked at each other again. Aloe shrugged. Polka decided to see what the ghost needed help with and carefully placed Botan and Lamy on the ground before heading in the direction pointed out by the ghost. She then floated over a point in the swamp and looked at the monk. She made a face but still waded out to the ghost. She was a little surprised when her foot bumped into something. Reaching down with both hands, she was a little horrified to feel a skeleton down in the muck. She looked up and noticed the ghost nodding. Continuing to feel around, she felt something metal around the hand bones. Taking it off the finger bone, she pulled it out and under the green strands of plant matter, she could see a silver band gleaming under the ghost's glow.
"Is this yours?" she asked softly, looking at the ghost in the eyes. She got a nod.
"...return...it...Martin..."
She looked down at the ring, sadness and pity welling up in her heart. "Alright. I can help with this," she answered the ghost. In response, she received a smile coupled with a peaceful look before the ghost faded away.
Nodding while successfully holding back her tears, she waded back to the path. To her surprise, she found out that the spider venom had run its course and the party was no longer paralyzed.
"No more swamp missions please," pleaded Lamy, looking quite miserable, "I can still feel them walking over me."
"Okay..." conceded Nene as she grabbed her aching head.
"Grr," growled Botan as she punched the ground, "That was pitiful." She then bowed to them and declared, "I am sorry for my disappointing skills. I swear to become better than this."
"Erm, please get up. There's no need for this," replied Aloe as she pulled the lion girl to her feet, "It's spider venom. You can exactly fight something natural like that."
"Hng, I still wish I could have protected you all better," the fighter admitted.
"Well, you're still alive. We're still alive," said the bard assuringly, "As long as we are still alive, we can always improve and do better. Then, we can show the world what we can really do."
This stunned the fighter for a moment. Then she smiled, "That's true. Thanks, Nene."
"Yeah, that was a good speech," agreed the succubus. The cleric nodded in agreement.
"Yup. Now, let's get out of this swamp! I want a bath!" exclaimed the monk.
As they made their way out of the swamp, Polka informed them about her experience with the ghost. After discussing where to find this Martin character, they arrived at the tavern. The owner somewhat complained about the smell but he told them that there was a woodcutter that sometimes visits the tavern to drink. He lived right next to the east gate of the capital so they couldn't miss it. Thanking him, they made their way back to the city. Thankfully, their torches and the tinderbox didn't get wet, so they made good use of one. With the combined efforts, they made their way back and decided to split up.
Polka and Lamy ended up in front of the woodcutter's door. Knocking several times, a bearded man opened up and drawled, "What'd ya want? Gods… ya stink..."
"Erm, we found this in the swamp earlier..." said Polka as she held out her hand with the silver band.
The man stared at it for a moment before his eyes widened in recognition. "How'd ya find this?" he asked in a hushed tone, carefully picking it up and staring at it intently.
"Er… you might not believe us, but your wife showed us..." she muttered in reply.
The man blinked as he stared at her. The two began to feel uncomfortable when he suddenly hugged them, "Thank you. One day, she went out picking mushrooms as usual and never came back. Now I know. Thank you. Thank you."
The monk didn't know what else to do except return the hug. Soon, he released his hold and said, "Please, wait here." He turned to go inside and they could hear him rummaging for something. After a while, he came back with a small sphere of thick glass and handed it to her, "Here, she may not make use of this anymore. I think… and hope... you can put this to better use than having it collect dust in my home."
"Hmm, what does it do?" asked Lamy, breaking her silence.
"Say 'shine' and then 'float' to make it work," he informed them, then he explained with pride, "My wife used to be a cartographer before she settled down. She helped to map out the entire eastern farmlands, you know? Knew every single nook and cranny." Then, his eyes looked forlorn and he said, "Well, thank you for this. Goodbye." And he closed the door.
The two walked away from the house without a word and headed back to the guild house.
"That was a nice thing you did," stated Lamy, "You helped to give him closure when he could not find any."
"Yeah. I'm glad to have helped," Polka replied with a grin.
Meeting up with the others, they took turns taking their baths before going across the road to have a grand dinner at Robel's. Filled and happy, they turned in for the night, knowing they survived to wake up to another day.
Today, they found themselves at the school. Artia had come to find them and asked them to see her teacher, Rushia. They decided to split up again; Botan and Polka retrieving the stuffed head while the others met with the teacher. Thus, the remaining three found themselves outside her class. The door was then opened and several students in robes filed out of the class. As the last one stepped away, they leaned in to peek through the doorway.
"Ah, you're here. Please enter!"
Now it was their turn to file in.
"Hello again. The lion girl isn't with you today?" the pink-haired wizard asked as she sat down at her table and crossed her legs.
"Ah, she went to get her trophy today with Polka," explained Nene.
"And what of your new friend?" she asked.
Aloe curtsied and said, "My name is Aloe Mano. I only recently joined. Please take care of me."
"I see… well, back to business. I would like to hire your team to retrieve some things," she requested as she picked up a large piece of paper and handed it to them, "The instructions are here as well as a small map of the place."
The bard took it and read through it at a glance. "Hmm, west of the city?" she murmured.
"I used to live there," she added, surprising everyone, "I had to leave many books behind. I want you and your team to retrieve them."
"Ah… I see," mused Nene, "Alright, sure. We'll do it. Although… why didn't you put this through the guild?"
"Hmm, I rather ask for help from people I've met face to face," she admitted as she shrugged, "Perhaps if you give me a good impression, I might consider sending my future requests to the guild."
"And what about Artia?" pressed on the bard.
"She still studies here. Very hardworking girl," she praised, "However, that leaves her very little time to do other things, like go out and experience the world. Perhaps in time, she would, but for now, leave her be. She will do it when she feels she's ready. Perhaps you can coax her out of her shell."
"Alright… do you need the books immediately?" Nene asked.
"Hmm… no, not really. You can do it if you should find the time," she stated, "I do hope it will be done by the end of the year though."
"Okay. Thank you for the request. We will get it done as soon as we are able," promised the bard before leaving the class.
"Well, I certainly hope so," she replied as they left the room. "I certainly hope so," she repeated again as her thoughts went back to a certain iron flask back in her house.
"Wow, it looks amazing," Nene exclaimed as the team met back at the guild house. The lion head looked majestically over its new domain; the side room.
"Hi, hi, isn't it?" asked Botan rhetorically, grinning from ear to ear, "Too bad we didn't get that owlbear head. Oh well, maybe we'd get something else."
"BOTAN!"
A short figure leaped onto the lion girl, causing her to fall flat on the floor. "RISU!" she yelled.
"Hi, hi," giggled the squirrel girl as she leaped off. Turning to address the rest of the party, she introduced herself jovially, "Hello, I am Risu the dream druid. You must be Botan's friends." Suddenly, a hand pulls her by the ear.
"Risu, are you pranking people again?" asked a purple-haired girl with faintly-glowing eyes. She wore a black and white costume dress. If one looks a little more closely, you could see a galaxy of stars in her hair.
"Eeh, no, no, no, Moona. I am not. Let go please!" she pleaded, getting all teary-eyed.
The glamour bard sighed and released her hold, the squirrel girl rubbing her sore ear. "Sorry for that. This over-excitable child is hard to control sometimes."
"...it's fine," groaned the archer as she picked herself up.
"Mmm, let us do a request together," she suggested suddenly, "As compensation."
The party looked at each other for a moment. Then, Nene asked, "What do you have in mind?"
"Ah… alright, seems easy enough," mused Nene.
The request in question was a hunt for a pack of saber-toothed tigers spotted in the forest. They had to travel to a village south of the capital and meet the village leader there. So now, they found themselves walking down the road to Solena, the village that sent out the request. It was a calm, peaceful, late morning. They hired a cart and reached the village with very little trouble. Then, while Nene went to meet with the village head, Lamy spent time chanting and waving her hands over Risu, Moona, and Polka.
"There. Hopefully, the goddess' blessing protects you," she stated as she finished.
"I believe with you and Risu, we will surely survive whatever obstacle gets in our way," the aasimar bard replied confidently.
"I'll be sure not to let you down," the half-snow elf answered with a smile.
"Alright, everyone, let's go!" called out Nene as she approached, "The head said the pack was sighted east from here. The lead hunter of the village was also there and he mentioned that there were four sets of prints."
"Hmm, I think we can take on four," mused Botan, who then smirked, "Ah, another chance for a trophy."
"I think you're the only one who is set on trophies," snarked Polka with a matching smirk.
"They represent our crowning achievements. Of course I'm set on them," defended the lion girl.
"Okay, enough arguing. Let's go hunt some saber-tooths," urged on the lore bard, "...or do you call them saber-teeth?"
"Pretty sure it's saber-tooths," replied the glamour bard as they followed after her, Aloe popping into the Ethereal Plane first.
The moment the party stepped into the forest, Risu took point and led them through the forest.
AN: Hello, readers. Welcome to the next chapter. The party takes care of the spiders... and Polka helps a ghost. And honestly, this was the first time that I was worried I have to re-run the simulation as there was too much paralysis going around, even with Aloe around. Then, Rushia asks them to help her out a little. It will be a familiar place. And now, two more members of the adventurers guild.
Risu Ayunda
Squirrel Kemonomimi
Circle of the Dream Druid
A very tricky and cheeky druid who likes cute things.
Moona Hoshinova
Protector Aasimar
College of Glamour Bard
Risu's close friend. At times serious, but hides a kind-hearted side that loves her friends all the same... even if they are very mischievous.
with an m16: you may have guessed more than you know...
And thus, we go hunting for saber-tooth tigers. Time for more trophies and strange bedfellows. Thank you for reading and have a good day, dear readers.