...
"After this whole ordeal, are you now willing to be with me?"
"I am, though, still the same as before—unsure."
"Then would you like me to be sure about the things between the two of us?"
"I know you're always serious for both of us."
"Natural."
"-ly clingy."
"Hey, as if you're not doing that, unlike before."
"Hey! Don't casually bring those times."
"I mean, you didn't really put much of a resistance to my advances."
"Is there really anyone who could?"
"No."
"There."
"Signals of Hololive 3: The Legend of IRyS"
CHAPTER 3: Pertain
Ayer found himself in someone's body from somewhere. He watched as the body he was in ran towards a certain direction via the roadway in the village. He reached his destination to see a young man and a young woman fighting, the latter of whom was overpowering the former.
The young man was slowly driven into a corner until 'Ayer' cast a spell that suddenly empowered the young man. "He" watched in horror as the young man pierced his blade through the young woman. "He" cast another spell until everything turned white once more.
Ra'Khar tried to wake Ayer up after witnessing a blinding light. The boy slowly woke up and asked Ra'Khar what happened next, but Riss's grabbed his attention, calling for his help. He looked back to see Riss holding the girl's body. The boy asked what was wrong and she did not know. Nonetheless, Ayer carried the girl as they raced back to Dome City.
The boy returned to Garrel's Blacksmith, and asked the dwarf what they could do. The dwarf had no specialty in magic, so he recommended a village to the northeast where a mage by the name of "Marlin" lived. He could ask for the mages here, but they are expensive, so that was all he could do.
The boy thanked him for his help, but before they could live, the dwarf warned them that they would come across the cave that is the only path towards it. He told them that it was a den of fire demons and that they must not wander too far to not wake the sleeping Devil.
After giving the advice and layout of the cave, Ayer and company left the village and headed straight to the northeast. They managed to arrive at the said cave, and Ra'Khar took the lead this time as they entered.
So far, there are no monsters in sight and everything looks fine. They saw different paths here and there, but thanks to Garrel's words, they remained on their tracks. Eventually, they found the exit, but all of a sudden, a chilling shriek echoed in the cave as a devil appeared in front of them.
Said devil has some fire blazing around its body, thus concluding it's the Fire Devil that Garrel had mentioned. It was blocking their way, so they fought the devil after Ayer put the girl down. Riss was unable to cast powerful spells fit enough for her. She felt like most of her spells were frozen. And only Ayer and Ra'Khar could do most of the damage against the beast.
The beast proved to be too much for them, and when it seemed like everything was over, Ra'Khar told Ayer to pick up the girl, along with Riss with him, and head straight to the exit. The boy refused, but the orc insisted. However, he promised in his name that he would return to his side. After Ayer and Riss, along with the girl, Ra'Khar slammed his weapon on the ceiling near the exit, causing a breakdown and blocking the exit.
The boy watched in horror as the exit collapsed, but he continued with regret, all the while Riss supported him by his side. They continued to run by. After noticing that they were already far, they decided to rest for a bit beside the hill. While they were resting, Ayer contemplated why this was happening and hoped for the best that everyone was fine in Lowe. He was supported by Riss, who noticed what he was thinking.
The two shared a quiet moment before they were interrupted by someone. He said someone appeared to be a girl, at least the same length as Ayer. She appeared out of nowhere and immediately asked for his help. He was a bit confused, but nonetheless, he asked what, and so the strange girl immediately ducked/lied down beside the girl that Ayer was carrying before covering her face.
Moments later, a group of well-trained knights appeared before them. They looked imposing, but Ayer could tell that they did not look like the people who were searching for them. The leader of the knights stepped forward and introduced himself as "Captain Thom" and asked if he saw a girl in his sight. The boy glanced back to where the strange girl was before he lied to them and said he didn't.
For awhile, the Captain looked over at them. For awhile, Ayer thought they were exposed. Thankfully enough, the captain did not take long to order the knights to continue searching. After all of them were gone, Ayer let out a sigh of relief. Then Riss tapped the strange girl to say that they were gone.
The strange girl thanked them and was about to leave before she noticed something. As she got closer to Ayer, she began asking him what happened to the unconscious girl. This made Riss pout, but the boy did not see it because he was busy with the strange girl. He explained what happened, but midway through his explanation, the strange girl suddenly told him to stop and that she remembered something important.
She bid them farewell and immediately scrambled away in a hurry. The boy looked at Riss, and he shrugged, only to notice something was wrong. He looked down only to notice that the gauntlets that Hunder had entrusted to him were gone. He looked back to where the strange girl had gone and urged Riss to follow him. He carried the girl back, and the two made their way into the small forest.
They traversed through the forest and managed to catch up with the strange girl who noticed their arrival. Unfortunately, the strange girl managed to climb through the walls, effectively going up a small plateau. The strange girl simply told them to give up chasing after the gauntlets and left the forest. But Ayer and Riss knew how important those were, and so they turned around to look the other way. They managed to walk around and find their way up, but the strange girl was nowhere to be found. Thankfully, they saw her heading west and so they continued.
They got to the position where they saw the strange girl. The said girl was fighting a bear. But upon seeing Ayer and others, the strange girl suddenly pulled out a scroll, and she vanished into thin air. The young boy immediately gave the unconscious girl into Riss's hands as he focused his attention on the bear, who was now focusing on them after the first prey left.
Conveniently, the damage done by the strange girl was high, as Ayer dealt with the bear with ease, but the running was slowly wearing him down, especially since he was carrying the unconscious girl with him. This time, however, Riss decided to carry her to ease his burden. Because she is unable to cast a stronger spell, she will instead carry the girl for him, which Ayer was grateful for.
They continued on the path to where they thought the strange girl had walked, since they could not be sure if the said girl really walked down the path they were on. But fortunately enough, they saw the strange girl again. This time, she was talking to the three people who were harassing a passing peddler. Judging by the situation, it couldn't be any worse.
As the situation between the strange girl and the men turned heated, Ayer suddenly slipped forward, trying to peek closer, ending up exposing their position to the others. The strange girl suddenly asked for their help as she was suddenly attacked by the men.
For a moment, Ayer had no choice as he helped the strange girl battle against the men. Eventually, the men fled after getting beaten up by the two kids. This made Ayer lie down to rest for a moment. The strange girl tried to sneak her way out, but he called her out. However, he was tired and the strange girl did not seem like she was tired as she escaped from them.
When Ayer tried to stand up, he almost collapsed. Thankfully, the peddler gave him and Riss a small set of energy potions for them to continue. They thanked the peddler as he left the place. The two kids drank one energy potion each. They felt their fatigue slowly fade away as they felt new again. They then followed the path where the strange girl had run.
It took awhile, but they managed to find her. This time, she was fighting three wolves, and one of them was a leader. The strange girl immediately noticed them and pulled out a scroll. He was too late, however, as the strange girl vanished.
He was about to prepare himself again to fight the wolves when the leader suddenly lunged into the air. What the leader had jumped out was the strange girl who immediately fought back. She asked Ayer for help again, but the boy refused. This time, she promised she would return their gauntlets. Finally getting what he wanted, he decided to help her. In any case, he would really help her if things turned bad even without the said promise.
The strange girl fought the leader while Ayer fought the other two wolves. In the end, the two won and they defeated the wolves. Well, in Ayer's case, the wolves ended up running away from him after the leader was killed. The strange girl thanked Ayer, but he did not need it and demanded to give him the gauntlets.
Unfortunately, she told him that she lied and attacked him suddenly. Fortunately, he blocked it, but he was still injured, which enraged Riss, who hurled small pebbles at the strange girl. The strange girl laughed at her attack as she lazily blocked it, but she found that those pebbles were sharp, so she immediately dodged it. She noticed how strong Riss's glare was at her and felt shivers down her spine.
But, this does not deter the strange girl who charged at Riss to attack her, but this time, Ayer made a small barrier in front of her. He pushed the strange girl away and he, with Riss, fought the strange girl. The boy thought that they might have no chance since he saw how strong the strange girl was, judging by when he found her fighting the bear before. But he and Riss have an advantage. Thanks to the peddler's energy potions, they can keep going.
The strange girl started to run out of stamina while Ayer and Riss kept on attacking her and defending their position. She asked why they were still going and the boy did not answer her. He demanded she give the gauntlets back seriously or else he would let Riss deal with her thoroughly.
Finally, the strange girl gave up. She raised her hands high and kicked the gauntlets back to Ayer, who grabbed them back. The strange girl asked why he was so persistent about such items anyway, and Ayer told her that many lives had already been lost from these gauntlets. He was holding them for those people who protected him.
The strange girl apologized to him for taking it away from him. Though he was willing to forgive her, it wasn't the case for Riss, who was tired from all that chasing. The strange girl introduced herself as "Ghevanna" and told them that she was a treasure hunter. said Ayer did not believe it considering what happened.
Ghevanna tried to ask him to forget about it as she asked where they were going. The boy told her that they were going to a village where a mage by the name of Marlin lived. This got Ghevanna's attention, who told him that she could lead the way for them since she knows the said mage, but Ayer does not buy it.
However, the treasure-hunting-or-stealing girl pleaded with him that it wouldn't be bad and she was really honest this time around in the name of her role. Ayer looked at Riss before agreeing. Basically, at this point, they needed a guide and in this forest they do not know where they are. And so they accepted Ghevanna's help.
They followed her down the road, and they got out of the forest faster than what Ayer expected. They eventually arrived at a small but cemented village. They were about to enter the village when a guard stopped them. The boy was about to talk to the guard when Ghevanna told him to leave this to her. She stood in front of the guard and asked him to let her whisper. She said something to the guard that Ayer could not hear, and suddenly the guard turned into a panic and hurriedly welcomed them inside.
Ghevanna winked at Ayer, who simply raised an eyebrow, definitely suspicious. They entered the village and the boy saw a passerby. He was about to ask the passerby before Ghevanna pulled him back. She told him that the people would not tell him where Mage Marlin was, especially not to a stranger who had just entered the village.
But she told him that she knew a way to meet the mage, and so she urged them to follow her. They walked past the fountain and headed straight to the west gate. They exited the gate and turned a corner. Ghevanna made several odd movements before they heard a soft, humming sound. Suddenly, a portal appeared in front of them. Ghevanna then urged them to go inside where the mage was, and she went straight ahead.
Ayer had no choice but to enter the portal with Riss, who was still carrying the unconscious girl. They suddenly found themselves in a room with several magical potions. They found Ghevanna talking to a mage who introduced himself to the kids as Marlin. The boy finally found the person he was looking for and asked the mage for help to find out what was wrong with the girl that Riss was carrying.
They laid her on the bed, and the mage examined her with spells. After a few minutes, he told the boy what happened and Ayer explained it. The Mage Marlin had discovered many things when it came to magic, but this was his first time seeing a person whose consciousness was nowhere in the body yet still alive. Ayer asked the mage what he meant by that, and the mage told him that somewhere in the girl's mind, she must be there and her body was sleeping. And if this keeps on, her body will really register itself as being dead.
Riss could not accept it. Considering that the girl saved her from petrification, she asked if there was a cure. Fortunately enough, he knew a way, but he needed to be sure if it would work. He asked them to collect a magic stone from a fire golem near the cave to the north.
He got the objective and was about to leave with Riss, but Ghevanna asked him if he could join him. He hesitated, but nonetheless, he accepted her before heading out to the portal outside, leaving the unconscious girl behind.
The boy asked Ghevanna where the cave was, and she guided them there. Eventually, they found the cave, but they also found a horn nearby, along with a skeleton. Ghevanna noticed it and decided to blow it up. It let out a roar in the air, and suddenly, heavy footsteps were closing in around them.
In Ayer, Riss and Ghevanna found themselves surrounded by a few ogres. One of them approached Ayer, who asked him if he needed help. Apparently, the said horn was made to call the ogres for help and it was given after they helped the ogres. Tragically, that skeleton by the side must be the original owner and he was not able to blow the horn in time. The boy decided to take this great help and asked the ogre to help him take a magic stone from a fire golem.
The ogre agreed to help the boy. Then three ogres lead the way for the three kids to continue in the cave. The way towards their destination was, in fact, kind of boring as the ogres slaughtered any monsters that got too close to them, leaving them with no action.
Eventually, they found a fire golem near the end of a turning hallway. The three ogres then started fighting the said golem, but it stood equal against them, and with magical fire, the ogres were pushed back. This time, Ayer decided to help the ogres and cast his spell on the fire golem, which proved effective when he cast a snow spell—in which he noticed that it was much more powerful than it originally was.
In the end, they managed to defeat the fire golem. Then Ayer thanked the three ogres for their help, as the said ogres then left the area. He and Riss were rummaging through the ruins of the fire golem, looking for a small magical stone when Ghevanna passed them and continued down the corridor. He asked Ghevanna to wait as he swiftly started to look faster. Riss managed to find it and the two followed Ghevanna down the hallway.
They found Ghevanna at the end, who called her out, but then she turned on them and told them to be quiet. She was peeking around the corner, and so did they. They discovered a woman dressed in purple who appeared to be a sorceress and a man dressed in grey armor fighting, and the sorceress demanded an answer from the man about his refusal to leave the organization known as Burning Order.
Ghevanna was shocked to hear the organization as she listened closely. The man clad in grey armor had won against the sorceress, who was knocked off the side. The man was going to leave and was heading straight to their position where he would pass by. Thankfully though, Ghevanna pulled out an invisibility spell that she used back in the forest where they chased after her.
The spell worked and they turned invisible. The man then turned around and walked past them. The kids were about to sigh in relief when the man suddenly stopped and glanced back. Ayer swore that his gaze landed on them and he started to fear for the worst.
