Chapter 2 –
Tension rose in the middle of a vast rice field around the Prontera countryside where a young mage and a tall green rocker both stood on their guard. Keeping her eyes extremely focused on the grasshopper-like monster a few meters away, Marlene tightened her grip on her wand while the rocker was flexing its long arms. Its large head was fixed at her, watching her every move, waiting for the right time to strike. A sudden gust of warm summer breeze blowing across the yellow fields signified the start of the duel.
The rocker started to rush forward, running madly through the gold colored rice field. Meanwhile, the vegetation around Marlene was swaying wildly as the mage began reciting the incantation for her spell. The more time she spent casting the closer the monster got. The rocker had already covered more than half of the distance and she was yet to complete the incantation. However, she remained calm despite the upcoming danger and focused her mind completely, tapping her magical powers.
"Napalm Beat!!" Marlene finally shouted, releasing a massive amount of psychic energy towards the charging grasshopper. The rush of invisible energy causes the rice to sway in its wake.
PAK!!!
The rocker's decapitated head fell down from the sky a good distance away while the rest of the monster's body stood still by about a minute after its head was taken off before it toppled down to the ground dead.
"Whew! That was close!" she said in relief, wiping the sweat off her forehead.
Marlene moved closer to the rocker's corpse. She then took out a piece of paper from the pocket of her robe and examined the anatomical diagram of a rocker's body written on it very carefully. "Mmm... According to this..." she muttered, moving her head up to take a look at the corpse before glancing back at the paper. "...this leg is the one I should take." She bent down, grasping one of the rocker's legs and pulled it with all her might until it was severed from the rest of the body with a snap.
"YEY! I got my fifth grasshopper leg!" she said aloud, jumping in glee after dumping the leg on the open sack by her feet.
Shkk! Shkk!
The sudden rustling and the two green insect's antennas caught by her peripheral vision sticking out of the rice instantly send Marlene back on her guard. Immediately facing towards the direction of the hiding enemy, she began casting her spell.
"Finally I found you!" Mai cried aloud, getting back on his feet to reveal himself from the blanket of tall rice and raising his pet poring high into the air with both hands. He was wearing a Green Feeler, a headgear that looks like an overgrown pair of insect's antenna that is quite popular all over Midgard.
"Napalm Beat!!"
"Waaa!" Both Mai and his pet's eyes grew as wide as saucers when they saw the invisible psychic wave snaking through the rice. Fortunately, Mai was able to sidestep out of the way for the spell to pass them harmlessly. However, the next person to emerge from the rice steps behind the novice was not as lucky.
"Just look at what that stupid poring made me do! Making me crawl under all these rice! I'm itching all over!"
PAK!!!!
The spell hit the acolyte girl instead sending her back down the rice-covered ground.
"EMILY!!!" Mai and Marlene both shouted in alarmed. Marlene quickly raced to where her friend had fallen leaving her grasshopper legs behind and sat beside her.
Groggy-eyed, Emily watched the blurred image of Marlene and Mai worriedly calling to her before her eyes settled on the pink poring on the novice's arm.
Great Father, why was it that my life been plagued with bad luck ever since that slimy poring came, was the though the ran through Emily's head as her vision slowly turns dark and the events of three of days ago played on her mind.
Mai, Marlene and Emily were walking along Izlude's town circle with the mage cuddling Mai's pet poring in her arms. They have just step out of the Tool Shop after selling the loot that they have collected for the day's worth of hunting. They didn't get much since the items they sold weren't of high value but still they earned enough to buy themselves food for the rest of the day.
"Next time we should hunt stronger monsters so that we could get better junk that sells at a much higher price," said Emily while counting the money that they've collected from the old man with glasses.
"As long as we don't kill-steal again. I don't wanna have another painful bump on my head." Marlene said flinching at the painful memory of the shower of jelopies they got for kill stealing from another group of adventurers. She was rubbing the place on her head where she once got a huge bump.
"You kill-stealed?" Mai asked narrowing his eyes at the two in disgust.
Meanwhile, knots upon knots of nerves have appeared on Emily forehead. "GRR! Just wait 'til I get my hands on that merchant bitch! I'll give her the worst ass whipping she'll ever experience in her entire life!" She punched a nearby steel lamppost in her anger and bending it as a result, a feat that earned wide mouth gasps of awe from nearby people.
Mai swallowed aloud after seeing what the angry acolyte is capable of doing. He nervously inched closer to Marlene and whispered, "Does your friend act like that all the time?"
"Yeah. Emily's been like that ever since I first met her back at the Academy. She goes on a rampage every time she's angry. Also, her nostrils flares up making her look like a savage." Marlene answered softly so as not to let Emily hear.
Mai threw a short glance at the raging acolyte. "Yeah..." He said to Marlene and the two bursts into suppressed laughter.
"WHAT DID YOU SAY THAT I LOOK LIKE A SAVAGE!!!"
Startled, Mai and Marlene both stopped dead on their tracks and swallowed nervously thinking that Emily had overheard them.
"Mommy!"
Mai and Marlene sighed in relief when they saw that Emily had been shouting at a little boy who had pointed at her and called her a Savage, large wild boar monsters that dwell deep in the forests. Scared, the little boy ran crying into his mommy's arms.
"Master, I'm hungry!" squeaked a cute little voice catching the party's attention towards the wobbling poring in Marlene's arms.
"Wow! Your pet can speak very well!" exclaimed Marlene sounding thoroughly impressed.
"I'm glad all those lessons I gave him paid off." Mai replied. He knelt down and began searching his backpack. After a few moments of rummaging through his bag, he took out a bottle of apple juice and gave it to his pet. "Here."
"That's my favorite drink! Thanks a lot, Master! You're the best!" the poring said in gratitude.
"Apple Juice! Can I have one too?" Marlene grabbed one bottle from the novice's bag without waiting for his approval.
"Having a pet is way too troublesome and not to mention expensive. Why don't you just sell that thing off? I bet it'll fetch a good price," said Emily, eyeing the little poring that was sipping its favorite food. She got the idea after they passed by the local pet shop with all those smelly and noisy critters in cages stacked on the sidewalk in front of the store. That earned her a reproachful glare from the little poring.
"Emily that's rude!" said Marlene.
"I'm just being practical. Zenny is hard to earn nowadays." Emily retorted.
"It's my money I'm spending so nose off, okay." Mai said, standing up and wearing his backpack again. Emily crossed her arms and 'hmph'ed at the boy in response.
"But porings are cute! See!" The acolyte stepped back as Marlene extended the pink poring to her.
"Eww! Get that thing away from me! Porings house thousands of germs inside that slimy body of theirs! Also, those things like to eat garbage like chon-chons and thief bugs! I'm surprised that you're not even disgusted by those!" Emily ranted, keeping a good distance away from the novice's pet.
"It's still cute." Marlene stated firmly, still extending the poring with both hands towards the acolyte.
"What cute?!" Emily said in outrage, pointing a finger at the poring. "Look at that thing closely, Marlene! It's ugly and lifeless! I don't get it! Of all the monsters in the world, why do you have to be obsessed with porings!"
With its feeling hurt, the poring narrowed its eyes at Emily and squeaked, "Savage!"
That word caused Emily's ears to twitch. She looked down and with an evil smile on her lips she gave the poring a very intimidating look. "What did you say?" She said in a falsely sweet tone of voice.
"You're so ugly! You look just like a Savage!" the poring courageously squealed. The nearby people who heard what the poring called Emily all sniggered.
Knots of nerves started to appear again on Emily's forehead. Slowly, she raised a clenched fist threatening the poring with it. "Are you teasing me?!"
A large sweat drop appeared on Mai's forehead as he watched in disbelief the brewing hostility between the acolyte and his pet. Loud, obnoxious and violent. Is this girl really an acolyte?
Emily and the poring engaged in a grueling match of name-calling and it was evident that Emily was losing. Every time the poring called her something, her face would turn redder, the knots of nerves on Emily's forehead multiplied and gusts of air were coming out of her nostrils. In her mind, Marlene was swapping Emily's face with an image of an angry savage and she would burst in laughter. Good thing the acolyte was busy at the moment.
"I'll kiss you!" the poring said.
"You just try!" Emily threatened.
"EEEKKKKKK!!!"
Without a word, the poring jumped from Marlene's outstretched arms and into Emily's face. Emily, with her dislike for slimy creatures, tried to back away but was too late as the poring had landed on her face blocking her vision completely. She was backing blindly until she tripped and crashed into the nearby fruit stand.
After the poring had fell off her face, Emily was disgusted to see herself covered with squashed fruits and dripping with sticky fruit juices. "Look at what you've done!" She angrily said to the poring.
However, instead of running as far away from the acolyte as possible, the poring moved closer to Emily with a shining glow in its eyes.
"W-what?" Emily said inching backwards, unnerved at the sudden change on the poring's attitude. She failed to notice that her head had fallen and squashed a pile of freshly picked apples and now her head and face were dripping in apple extracts which, unfortunately for her, are very attractive to porings.
"EWW!!!" Emily cried in disgust as the little poring started licking her face. Both of them stopped when a large shadow loomed from above. They looked up to see the fruit merchant glaring angrily at them.
And that's the reason why we're here.
Emily's blurring vision fixed down at the large bulging sack filled with grasshopper legs near Mai's feet.
In order to pay the fruit merchant back for all the damages she told us to exterminate the rockers in these rice fields so that the farmers could work on the harvest in peace.
Emily's heavy eyelids finally closed over her tired eyes.
We won't earn anything from all these work.
"...porings are bad luck..." she muttered softly as she fell to sleep.
The blue cloudless sky became clearer and clearer as Emily slowly opened her eyes. She could still feel her head ringing after being accidentally hit by Marlene's Napalm Beat spell. She gingerly got into a sitting position, placing a hand over her still aching head and noticed that she was in a clearing in the middle of the rice fields used as a sort of picnic ground for farmers to eat their lunch.
"Are you okay Emily?" a voice which was definitely Marlene's asked.
"My head hurts like hell..." she tilted her head up but instead of seeing Marlene's face she saw a pink poring being held close to her face. It had two large green antennas sticking out from the top of its body and was smiling widely at her.
"Isn't it cute?" said Marlene's voice coming from behind the strange poring.
"AAAAAAHHHHH!!! GET THAT THING AWAY FROM ME!!!" she screamed in fright. As fast as a racing thief bug, she got to her feet and scampered towards Mai who was sitting a few steps away eating his lunch and hid behind his back. Emily's sudden rush caused him to drop the food on his lap.
"Look at what you've done!" said a very irritated Mai. He took several sheets of tissue paper and started cleaning the terrible mess on his lap.
"I had Porry wear Mai's green feeler. He looks cute in it, doesn't he?" Marlene chattered cheerfully, pulling the poring close to her and locking it in a tight embrace.
"Porry?" Emily asked regaining her composure. She moved away from Mai's back and sat on the grassy ground beside him.
"Have you forgotten? That's my pet's name." Mai stated, still wiping the food off his pants.
"What an ugly name!" Emily exclaimed.
"I like that name since it's the name master gave me." The poring interjected.
"It's better if you didn't name that poring instead of giving it something so lame. That way, we could have easily sell that thing off and make some cash." Emily said to Mai, completely ignoring the poring.
"Here's your lunch," the lady Fruit Merchant from the Izlude market said, handing Emily a plateful of rice and grilled pork chops. "I'm glad that you're fine. You've been asleep for more than three hours now and I was starting to get worried."
"It's nothing. I've been through tougher stuff back at the Academy." Emily replied before starting to eat her lunch. "Wait a minute, shouldn't you be in Izlude?"
"I had my daughter watch the store for today so that I could help my husband in harvesting the rice." The lady answered, filling a glass with fruit juice and handing it to the man with a large frame in his late forties Emily assumed to be the fruit merchant's husband.
"Isn't that a bit too much work for old folks like you?"
"Nah. We get lots of help from the neighbors," said the fruit merchant's husband waving his hand. "Besides, I don't look that old now, do I?" He followed with a mischievous wink aimed at the acolyte.
A large sweatdrop spawning over her forehead was Emily's reaction. Dirty old pervert, she thought in disgust and narrowing her eyes at the old man. Good thing Marlene was busy pampering the little poring while Mai was completely focused on removing the mess on his pants to notice or she wouldn't hear the end of it.
Unfortunately for the old man that gesture didn't escape the watchful eyes of his wife and earned him an elbow on the side hard packed with enough force that he almost spat his lunch back out. The farmer frowned at her while rubbing the aching part of his body.
"So how's the work on the rockers going?" The fruit merchant asked while throwing a sideward glare at her husband.
"Right now we have already exterminated the rockers from most part of the fields. The only place left that we haven't been to yet is the area near the foot of the hill. We'll be checking that this afternoon and hopefully finish the job by tomorrow." Mai narrated, reporting the group's progress to the client. Suddenly, he felt two hands clamping around his neck and began squeezing the air out of his throat.
"I'm the leader of this party! I should be the one saying those reports to our customer you dimwit!" Emily yelled aloud while furiously shaking the poor novice.
"B-b-but you're knocked out cold for most of the day..." Mai tried to reason out but found it difficult due to lack of breath.
"Oh. You three better be careful if you're going to wander around Rocker Hill." The farmer said causing all three to stop whatever their doing and turn at him curiously.
"What do you mean by we should be careful around Rocker Hill?" asked Emily who had loosened her grip on Mai's neck much to the novice's relief.
"Listen. Do you know that there is a very rare and aggressive type of rocker that lives on that hill?"
Mai, Emily and Marlene all shook their heads.
"It is called the vocal and is regarded as the king of rockers. This monster is very tough and strong that nothing can stand in its path." The old farmer paused for a moment and the three took the chance 'ooh' in astonishment. "Usually, this monster hides inside its nest somewhere in Rocker Hill for most of the year and only comes out during the harvest season when the strong smell of ripe rice flushes the monster out of hiding to feed."
Marlene began to shiver and tightened her embrace at the poring. "T-that sounds scary."
"You bet it is." The farmer seconded with a nod. "One thing about this monster is that it carries a Romantic Gent, an elegant, ivory-colored hat which is tied around its neck. This hat is so rare and desired that adventurers from all over Midgard comes to the hill during this time of year to hunt the monster down. However, only a few have ever laid sight on the vocal and those have ended up either crippled for life or worst dead."
After his speech, the farmer noticed Marlene continued to shiver. Mai appeared to be mildly interested and while Emily looked thoroughly excited. "Hey old man! How much do you think would that Romantic Gent fetch?" she asked.
"Around a couple million zeny I guess," he mused. "But you kids shouldn't be thinking about hunting the vocal. You aren't a match for it. Many stronger adventurers tried and ended up worse at the hands of that monster so you better stay clear of Rocker Hill if you know what's good for you." Too bad the warning came too late when the fruit merchant's husband saw a money-eyed Emily muttering romantic gent, millions and zeny to herself. She seemed to have been totally disconnected from reality in her daydreaming.
"Now don't believe such rubbish!" The fruit merchant said handing out cupcakes to everyone for dessert. "Vocals aren't real. It's all but a monster taken from some silly folktale and every one starts thinking that it exists."
"No honey. Vocals are real."
"Then I supposed baphomets are real too, eh? Like those fairytales about porings with white wings," said the fruit merchant giving a towering look over her husband. "Besides, have you actually seen one of those vocals?"
"Well... ah... no. But–"
"Exactly my point!" The old lady exclaimed with a hint of triumph. "Naturally the whole of Rocker Hill have been searched a number of times by scholars from Prontera, Al de Baran, Juno and Geffen but no vocal has been found. Of course, some people," the fruit merchant cast another sideward glance to his husband, "still believe that crack and bull story and continues to scour the forest for the monster that never really exists. But then again, crackpots are scattered all over the world."
The farmer could only lower his head in embarrassment after that last comment knowing fully who his wife was referring it to.
Later that afternoon the party was trekking down the part of rice fields near the foot of the hill forming a line as they move through the rice. Tall trees and forest bushes form a natural border marking the boundaries between the fruit merchant's property and the forest of Rocker Hill.
Emily was walking at the front a few steps ahead of Mai and Marlene, leading the way and asserting her authority as party leader. "Hey! Speed it up you two!" She ordered at the people behind her while keeping her eyes fixed forward.
"Yes master." Mai and Marlene both responded in an uncaring tone. Just then, Marlene noticed that Porry, who was sitting on Mai's head, started to wobble its slimy body making the Green Feeler shake in the air.
"Mai, why is Porry shaking? Is he sick?" Marlene worriedly asked.
"No. I think he found a rocker hiding somewhere."
"Where?" The mage asked, frantically looking from side to side in search of the said monster.
"There." Mai replied, pointing on his left towards the direction of the rice fields.
"Where? I can't find it." Marlene said rather impatiently, turning at the direction Mai indicated. A few moments later and a green rocker suddenly sprung out from a patch of golden rice a few meters away. "There! You're right! I see it!" She exclaimed jumping in glee. "Porings are so cool!"
That last remark made the poring blush although it was quite hard to notice since it was blending with the pink color of its body.
Suddenly, arrows came from out of nowhere and embedded themselves on the rocker's body instantly killing it. Seconds later and they saw a hunter emerged after hiding within the rice and went to check the rocker's carcass.
"Oh. I guess our work will be getting a lot easier." Mai commented.
"Hey! Did you get it!" A new voice echoed loudly in the field announcing the arrival of a male wizard while his knight companion ordered her pecopeco to run to where the hunter was.
"Yes! But it's just an ordinary rocker!" The hunter replied. He pulled a grasshopper's leg and gave it to the knight.
The knight took a few glances at the leg before throwing it away after finding the item to be of no apparent interest. "Where could the vocal be?" she asked.
Porry's poring instincts told him to pick the loot up so the slimy creature hopped down from Mai's head only to be caught by the novice in midair. "You're not going to cause me again the trouble of trying to find you under all of that itchy rice," said Mai eyeing his pet with an annoyed look upon his face. The poring tried to wiggle his way out but the boy's grip was simply too tight.
"Let's look over there." The wizard who has just reached the other two suggested and the party left on their way.
"Damn it. We've got competition." Emily cursed. She quickly turned heel and rounded up her teammates. "Listen up! We're going to have to move faster if we want to catch the vocal first!"
Mai turned at the acolyte in disbelief. "Don't be silly! You seriously believe that vocal crap is real?"
"Idiot! If a party of adventurers that strong is looking for the vocal then that means its real!" She yelled aloud pointing towards the direction the second classers disappeared into for emphasis.
"But Emily you heard what the fruit merchant's husband said! If the vocal can cripple knights for life then in less than ten seconds we'll be dead meat for sure once we face that thing! It's very risky!" Marlene exclaimed. She was shivering at the thought of fighting such a strong and frightening monster.
"That's to be expected then. You'll always find huge risks in things where the payback is great. It's just the way things are."Emily answered simply with a shrug. "The sooner we find the vocal, the sooner we can get our hands on that multi-million zeny Romantic Gent!" My dream of making it rich is finally going to come true! Yes!
Mai wanted to argue but after seeing the manic glint on Emily's eyes he knew that no amount of reasoning would ever dissuade the girl. All he could do was heave a sigh. "Fine. Let's just get this over with."
"Alright! Let's go!" The acolyte yelled enthusiastically, raising a fist high into the air before continuing her march forward. Mai waited for his pet to jump back on his head before he and a very reluctant Marlene resumed following their party's apparent leader.
"I don't like this at all..." Marlene whined.
"Hey Boss Diana, you better be sure you're information is correct. This will be one big waste of time and effort if it isn't." the thief called out. He together with a merchant girl he was calling 'boss' and another male swordsman were dashing in a very quick pace in their way through the woods.
"Relax. Since when has my information ever been wrong?" replied the merchant girl named Diana who was running at the front leading the party.
"This is great! We're going to be raking a fortune for sure." said the swordsman.
"Hehehe. If I were you, I'd start planning on what to do with my share of the money we'll be earning." Diana suggested, counting the chicks even before the eggs hatches. She continued to lead the team forward, keeping their pace until they reached the part of the forest road that was covered with tall bushes and low lying leaves and branches from the trees.
"You two! Keep your eyes and ears peeled! The vocal could be hiding here somewhere!" Emily reminded bossily from several paces up front.
"Yes master!" Mai and Marlene both said in unison.
Diana emerged out of the bushes and saw that they have finally reached the rice fields beyond the forest of Rocker Hill but that view lasted for only a second before a figure came out of nowhere and...
PAK!!!
Heads ringing after the collision, Emily ended up sitting with her butt painfully on the ground while Diana was down on all fours. "Ouch..." the both of them groaned.
"Emily!" Marlene exclaimed worriedly, moving in a rush next to her friend.
"Are you okay?" Mai asked standing behind the acolyte with his pet poring still on his head.
"Boss?" asked the thief seeing their leader in an awkward position after emerging from the bushes with the swordsman.
"Hey boss, why are you in such an indecent pose? Hold that while I go get my camera." The swordsman followed with a joke.
With their eyes finally returning to focus, the two girls turned their heads up and saw each other face to face together with the other's respective party mates standing behind in the background. Surprised, both girls jumped unto their feet, pointed at each other and asked in a perfectly synchronized chain of movements, "YOU AGAIN?!!"