Ahaha.. ^__^;; I love Ragna!! Here, I'm going to try to make this a long ragnarok fic, and the star is a fourteen year old girl who is currently a novice, dreaming to become an acolyte. ^^ Please tell me what you think!
With my usual weird humor and mushiness. Lmao.
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Chronicles of an Acolyte
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Hi... my name is Rumiko Izumi. But most people just call me Rumi-chan.. What you're reading right now are my thoughts. And I promise to put everything I can in here. All the thoughts I have, and I promise not to lie about anything. .....I'll try.
Anyway, I have long brown hair which is most of the time tied... French-braid style. I have deep brown eyes, and I'm quite short for my age. In other words, I'm an exact duplicate of my mother. I just turned fourteen today, and so... There's a tradition in this family that once you turn fourteen, you're supposed to pick your path as a person living in Midgard. A job as an acolyte, mage, swordie, merchant, archer or a thief.
I might try out as an acolyte.. it seems pretty cool, being able to heal people, and I would love to help, but I often see lots of people taking advantages of acolytes.
Or a mage...! But they have really skimpy clothes, and they can only afford to attack from a long range. I saw in books they're quite pathetic sometimes in place where there are a lot of aggressive creatures.
Swordies are nice.. but they're too common. Besides, I tried carrying a sword once, and it was soo heavy... Argh!
Merchants are cool too... but I have to go all the way to Alberta and pay. Also... their clothes are funny. But that's just my opinion. I see a lot in the town square, and they move so slow, with the cart and all!
Archers.. I might just try to be one! The idea of shooting arrows are just too cool... but it's really difficult, because when I traveled all the way to Payon once, the natives all had a weird accent and I had a hard time communicating..
And a thief? No way. Mother absolutely hates them. I do too. Dad was a thief... that's how he supported me as a kid, by stealing, then one day... he was promoted to an assassin, and ever since, I haven't seen him. Thieves can be so rude at times, too. I've never actually seen an assassin.. I hear they're supposed to work in shadows, and seeing one can cost you your life.
So what should it be...? I live in a small house in Izlude, and mom's already kicking me out of the house... aaah! I can't come back until I find my "path"! ...she already gave me 500 zeny. Hehehe.. that's the good part.
Rumi-chan ran out of the house, her mom screaming after her. She was giggling like mad, and she brushed of the dust from her shorts. It was time to look for her "path"... if she couldn't decide, she could always sleep over next door or sleep in an inn.
"What should I do first...?" Rumi wondered, her eyebrows arching in frustration. She was in the middle of her thoughts when she heard a loud crash from the dark alley next to her house. Her first thought was to run away, but curiosity got the better of her, and she slowly approached the said alley.
"Anyone here..?" She whispered into the air, peeking to the dark place. She couldn't see anything, but there was a queer, unknown aura that made her nervous.
She saw and heard a dark shadow moving around, and she opened her mouth to scream... this fourteen year old girl was a coward, and a weak one at that. A large glove hand clamped over her mouth and the other one pinned her against the wall. The impact of it making her both frightened and hurt.
"Kid..." A voice said. It was a man's voice, and quite soft. "Sorry... but I can't let you give my place away."
Rumi nodded, frightened.
The guy sighed and let go off her, plopping down on the floor. "I think I can trust you... see you, kid."
"Uh... are you hurt...?" Rumi inquired. She was shaking, but she could see in the dim of the light that this man's neck was roughly bandaged, and some blood was searing through.
He chuckled and massaged his injured neck. "This is nothing."
Rumi shook her head. "You should see a doctor, sir..."
"Doctors don't talk to people like me." He replied with a sigh. "I'm alright. I'm just waiting for someone here."
"Okay..." Rumi replied. "I'll... see you then. Take care, sir."
"Sure. What's your name, by the way?"
"R-Rumi, sir..."
"Okay." He replied, chuckling again. "Take care, and quit calling me sir."
"Hai. What's your name, then...?"
"I can't tell you." He said, smiling at her. His smile was visible through the small rays of afternoon sunlight which somehow found it's way to the dark alley.
Rumi giggled and ran away. When she was on a safe distance, she brushed away some stray hair from her eyes. That was a frightening experience. She was absolutely sure that guy was an assassin... who else would hide in a place in that manner?
I should probably just train... She thought to herself, running out the exit of Izlude to batlle a couple of Porings. By the exit was a familiar figure of a girl her age, leaning against a pillar and munching on an apple.
"Oi!" The girl called out, waving. Her short golden hair flaring in the sunlight.
"Mint...!" Rumi exclaimed as she stopped in front of her friend and settled down to catch her breath.
"It breaks my heart to kill those porings and fabres, but I've gotta train." Mint said in frustration. She tossed Rumi a delicious looking apple.
Rumi thanked her and took a bite from the apple. "Uh huh..."
Mint was her childhood friend who lived next door. She came from Payon and was planning to uphold her family tradition and grow up to be a strong hunter.
"You ready?" Mint winked. Rumi nodded and they left the small town of Izlude to hunt some Porings.
Rumi started out by poking a small green bug, commonly known as a Fabre. The little creature scratched her ankles, but it didn't hurt that much, and after all the poking and scratching, the Fabre died.
"Are you going to stay there and poke bugs all day!?" Mint exclaimed in exasperation. "Help me kill that frog over there!"
"Hai!" Rumi replied, laughing, as she ran over to her friend and they proceeded to kill the huge frog.
Mint wiped some sweat off her forehead. "What're you planning to be, Rumi?"
Rumi shrugged. "I dunno."
Mint made a face. "Weirdo."
Her friend laughed in reply. "I'm kidding. I'm planning to be an acolyte."
"Okay..." Mint nodded. "Look, I've been training for a week, and I'm heading to Payon today with my brother. So I guess... good luck."
Rumi nodded. "See you."
Mint ran back to Izlude, and Rumi grinned to herself.
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"Yo." Mint's brother, a knight named Chent, greeted his sister as she ran home. "You ready to head to Payon?"
Mint nodded. "Yeah."
"What's wrong? You look kind of troubled." Chent commented.
"It's Rumi. I don't think she'll ever turn into something." Mint replied plainly.
"Not really..." Chent replied, scractching his neck. "I helped her out with some Rockers last week, and she did pretty well. The reason she's not that strong physically is because she's focusing more of her training on Magic."
Silence.
Rumi pointed her dagger at her brother's neck.
"Aghh...! MINT!"
"YOU TRAINED WITH ROCKERS... WITHOUT ME!?"
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Rumi was lying to her mother. A week before, Rumi's brother had already helped her fight some Rockers, and she was trained enough already. She could probably try being an acolyte anytime she wanted at this rate. It was getting dark, and so she walked all the way to Prontera. But not before giving and apple to a small poring.
As soon as she got to Prontera, she yawned and saw an inn. Which also happened to be a bar.
She ran inside, and because of her short height, she had to prop up on the stool by the bar to face the bartender and also the inn manager.
"What'll it be, missy?" The husky voice of the bartender inquired.
"Uhm.. how much is a night?"
"300 zeny." He replied.
Rumi's jaws dropped. Three hundred zeny!? That was more than half of the money she had right now.
Or so she thought...
A thief had just grabbed her pouch of zenies and started to run out the door.
"H-hey!" Rumi exclaimed, attempting to run after him, but instead, she tripped on her own two feet and stumbled into the back of a hunter.
"Ouch!" The hunter exclaimed. He grabbed her by the shoulders. "Watch it, you brat!"
Rumi whimpered in pain and peeked sideways to see the retreating thief.
"Slow down..." A guy said, his face furrowed in frustration. This guy had messy, scarlet hair and a plain white shirt.. and weirdly, a scarf. He wasn't wearing his job uniform like most of the people in the bar. "Hey, you stole from a girl again, didn't you?"
The thief laughed in nervousness and tossed Rumi's pouch behind him, before running out of the building, obviously frightened.
The red haired guy picked up at pouch and walked up to the bar. "The usual, please."
The bartender, who was under the counter at that time, stood up straight and just then noticed the Hunter who was holding Rumi by the shoulders. "Hey! No rough housing in here!"
The hunter glared at him in reply. "She didn't even apologize to me, you stupid goat!"
"Let go of her this instant!" The bartender replied in anger.
"Hey..." Scratching the back of his head, the guy with scarlet hair tilted his head in a wondering stance. "That girl looks familiar..."
"Take her, then." The hunter yelled, grabbing Rumi by the collar and pushed her furiously at the guy. The guy's eyes widened for a while and he panicked, but he caught Rumi's small form in his arms.
"Oww..." Rumi whimpered, shaking her head.
The scarlet haired guy pushed her gently away from his chest by placing his hands on his shoulders and examined her face; Then he looked at the rough hunter. "That's no way to treat a lady!"
The hunter shrugged in reply and walked out the door. People who were in the bar then went back to their business, implementing that things like this happened everyday.
"You okay?" The guy asked as Rumi settled down on a stool beside him. Rumi nodded.
"Thank you..." She muttered.
"Mm." He replied as he took a sip from the drink the bartender handed to him.
A priest walked up to them. "Excuse me.."
"May I help you?" The bartender asked.
"Has anyone of you seen an assassin around
here...? Wounded by the neck, and that's all the information we know."
"No." The bartender replied, Kira scratched the back of his head again in frustration and replied with a no.
"Why...?" Rumi asked, blinking.
"He's a wanted criminal. Said to be seen around this place, Prontera, or Izlude."
"What did he do?" Rumi asked out of curiousity.
"He and his guildsmen attacked the King of Prontera, they all escaped, but one of them was slashed by a Midguard Knight by the neck... and that is the only clue."
"Oh my..." Rumi whispered.
The assassin she met earlier.. was that evil?
"No." Rumi replied plainly. "No, I haven't seen him."
The assassin she met earlier... wasn't evil to her.
The priest thanked them and walked away.
"Kira." The bartender inquired.
"Don't say my name out loud..." The scarlet haired guy glared at the bartender.
The bartender shrugged. "The pouch, Kira... this lady owns it."
"Oh." Kira replied, as he dug into his pocket and tossed it to Rumi who caught it in her hands.
"What's your name, missy?" The bartender asked. "A kid novice like you shouldn't be out in a place like this at this time."
Rumi chuckled nervously. "Rumi.. my name is Rumi."
Kira sputtered on his drink and stared at Rumi with large eyes.
"Yes...?" Rumi asked, her face red with embarrassment. "Why are you staring at me...?"
"Love at first sight, maybe." The bartender laughed. Rumi blushed even more and Kira growled at the old man.
"The... the room, sir." Rumi asked the bartender.
He smiled in reply and pointed up the stairs. "Room Five... any friend of Kira is welcome to stay here for free."
"How come I don't get to stay for free, then..." Kira mumbled.
Rumi laughed and thanked the bartender before running up to find Room Five.
Those guys were really nice... Rumi thought to herself, as she plopped down on the bed.
But that other guy.. the one who wasn't in a job uniform, he sounds really familiar... could it be--? Uhm, no way, that's impossible.
She was startled to hear someone knock on her door. "Come in..." She called out.
The door opened, and Kira entered with a sheepish smile as he closed the door behind him. "Hey."
"H-hey..." Rumi replied, sitting up on her bed.
"I just wanted to thank you." Kira replied, as he looked at the floor.
"What did I...?"
He laughed and plopped down on the bed beside her without permission. With most girls, they would have gotten angry, but Rumi just stared at him with curiousity.
He tugged at his scarf and pointed at the bandage on his neck. "Get it now?"
Rumi gasped and edged away from him upon realizing what the situation was. "You-- you were the one from this morning-- who attacked--"
"I guess it's alright to be afraid." Kira replied with a wink. "You have a reason."
"N-no..." Rumi huffed. "I-I'm sorry.. I shouldn't have been frightened..."
She nervously reached out with her hand and tugged his scarf off and carefully peeled the bandages off.
Kira blinked. "What's up?"
"I... I don't like the way the bandages are put on."
"Okay." Kira laughed. "I didn't have any red herbs and no acolytes or priests to ask too."
Rumi chuckled and grabbed some spare bandages from her pocket, and carefully placed them on his neck.
Kira laughed. "You planning to be an acolyte?"
Rumi nodded. "Uh huh..."
"Okay. Wake me up in the morning or something, and I'll help you out."
"T-thanks..."
He ruffled her hair before leaving the room.
Rumi smiled to herself and ducked under the blanket to get some sleep.
To Be Continued...