Argentum: Well the last chapter was just the beginning but seeing how I have some time I'll also come out with this one.
Grel'Slyfer: Indeed. Today will be fun hehehe…
Argentum: This is why you serve the same purpose as Shadow. Anyways not much to really say here. Except that we did notice a mistake with some numbers in the last chapter. And have fixed it. So please give this story a chance and review.
Grel'Slyfer: Indeed so as always we here at the Dark Guard productions own nothing but OC's and reality building concepts. Everything else belongs to their respective owners. Now without further ado…
Argentum/Grel: Here's the story!
Darkness: Are you ignoring me? Oh that's just too cruel! How will I be able to endure such treatment?
Argentum:….. Let's get to the story.
Grel'Slyfer: Yeah…
Hello= Regular talk
Hello= Thoughts
[Hello]= Radio
(Hello)= Telepathy/Mind reading
Chapter two:How i survived a blonde Or how to get rid of masochists.
It's been a few months… a few months since my death and rebirth. Since when I was in a city of ashes and blood. Since my nightmares started, both in my dreams and in the waking world… All because I should've thought things through! "AGH! Die you thing of evil!" As I lamented my time spent here I was busy stabbing a frog in the eye… but it wasn't just any frog! NO! It was the size of an elephant! It was a quest to kill five of them since they came out during this time of year. They eat livestock and even people. Unfortunately this was such a basic quest, that the senior members of the guild left guys like me to take care of it. Sure I get a thousand for each frog and even ten thousand if I do it in a timely manner.
But with me and my beginner gear and sword… it wasn't going to well. Sure I killed a couple with my bow with some skills I gained. But I ran out of mp to use them. Now I was dodging the tongs of the giant frogs while stabbing at them when I could. It was madness! But I had a quest to complete and it was my responsibility to do it! So that's what I did for the next few hours. By the end of the day I was tired and covered in frog guts. But after washing myself off and turning in the quest. I had gotten a couple levels and an extra fifteen k in cash. Deciding to be done for the day I ate a meal and went up to my now cleaned up room.
Funnily enough after the first month, I offered to clean it myself in exchange for a little more discount. Luna agreed and now it only costs me seventeen hundred. Better then before, because in this world you cannot save enough money. Sighing as I sat down I decided to count up my money. After all my expenses and weapon upgrades and other such things… I had managed to obtain one hundred and ten thousand and one hundred and ten eris. Honestly I was saving up for a house now. Speaking of equipment... I was now wearing a dark grayish blue hooded coat that ended right above my ankles. With black pants and a white shirt with a grey vest over it.
Strapped to my waist was a longsword on my left side and a quiver on my back. I had also upgraded my bow and now had a full on longbow, and as an added precaution I had a knife attached to the inside of my coat. I had to custom order most of my clothes… that's where most of my money went… that and enchantments. With my equipment I've been hunting the frogs for the last few days. Gave me quite a lot more money since I've been getting the extra ten thousand bonus. Now the next thing on my list of things to buy was a house. So yeah things have been coming along steadily. Speaking of steadily though… my eye powers… I can only have them on for three seconds.
It was progress but still nowhere near what I wanted it to be. Or more accurately needed them to be. But I digress… laying down I decided to go to bed for the night. I did so unknowing of the horrors that awaited me the next day. Or the horrors that still haunted me in my nightmares.
In the middle of the night I woke up with a start. With sweat dripping down my brow, breathing ragged. It was another nightmare. I just couldn't forget the sounds and the scenes that I had seen. They were just too horrible. Shaking my head of them I looked at my wrist. Though a bit roughed up I still had my watch. Thankfully it was solar powered so it would probably last a while longer. How long? I had no idea; I wasn't too knowledgeable on such things. But seeing how it was four in the morning I sighed. However knowing that I couldn't just wait and see I got up. Deciding to get an early start, I got up, put on my equipment, and left to go see the board.
After ordering a meal from some tired waitresses in which I tipped nicely. Because seriously they deserved it for working so early in the morning. I once again picked up the frog quest. Knowing because of the levels I gained yesterday, it would be easier then yesterday. Sighing I did what was necessary and headed out. As I did so I looked at my card. I had doubled my strength with workouts and some points. While I also had put some more into luck, because honestly… I had no idea how to increase that without doing so. My other attributes had increased nicely. Even got some basic spells, such as create water, freeze, and tinder. Also kind of self explanatory even got some sneaking skills from a kind thief named Chris.
She was kind enough to show me some skills from her class that I could use… after stealing ten grand from me. In the end I decided to let it go shocking her with my thanks despite her actions. I think I even made her feel a bit guilty. As I remembered that moment I chuckled, though as I was about to walk out of the city, an annoyance approached me. A certain blonde haired playboy annoyance.
"Well look who it is! My kouhai in this harsh world." Looking up I saw a familiar trio. It was Misturugi Kyouya and… actually I have no idea who the two scantily clad girls were. In fact I doubt anyone really did. But that's besides the point… the actual point was that Kyouya was someone who was reincarnated before I was. Only instead of my ability which will one day let me rule the world. He chose the powerful cursed sword gram as his blessing. The guy figured out what I was as soon as he saw my watch.
With a sigh I decided to be cordial and greet him. "Good morning Kyouya… guessing you just got back from a quest?" Being the rather self centered man that he was. Kyouya gave me a thumbs up while flashing his teeth.
"Indeed I did! As expected from my Kouhai! You're intuition is striking! For I have just slayed a manticore! It was giant of a beast… but even still with gram I cut it down to size with just one swing of my mighty weapon!" I just nodded as his entourage clapped and heaped praises onto him. As he was being praised puffing his pride up further I said goodbye while he was distracted and left. They didn't even notice.
What is with this world? I swear everyone is insane. Sighing I went out and did my quest, and like I predicted it was rather easy. Though it did take me a couple hours since like always was being cautious. However unlike last time I didn't get a level up. Which I didn't expect to get anyways. But I did get my fifteen grand. Then I paid for the next day and got another meal. By this time it was twelve. I was tired but I tried to keep to the same sleep schedule so I didn't want to just go asleep. So with a shake of my head I went to the quest board to find something else to do. Looking at them there wasn't really anything I wanted to try.
Eventually after a few minutes of looking I found something. A quest behind another quest to slay a griffon. Taking it I examined it. "An old direwolf is causing trouble for local trappers in the forest. Kill it for twenty five thousand." It was a good price and seemed simple enough. However what worried me was the level thirty recommendation. Being only level twenty one… I felt that I was at a disadvantage. So with a sigh I was about to put it back when a woman spoke up behind me.
"I saw that quest before but didn't want to pick it up myself." Turning around I saw a rather lovely long haired blonde woman in white and yellow armor. Though she wore a full black outfit underneath it all. She even had light blue eyes like I did. Though she gave off a… unsettling feeling especially when she clapped her hands together. "I know! Let's team up together! I'm with my crusader class to take the damage, and your ranger to deal it. We could win no problem… just don't kill it too quickly." Now while I wasn't too surprised about her knowing my class. Pretty much everyone in the guild did nowadays. I was worried about the way she asked me not to kill the wolf quickly. But deciding to give her the benefit of the doubt seeing how the crusader class was supposed to be akin to a paladin. I naively accepted.
"Sure the pay is good enough for us both after all." I then smiled and held my hand out to her. "Michael Smith, a pleasure to meet you ma'am." For some reason she seemed a bit off put from my words but smiled and shook my hand either way.
"It is good to meet you as well. You can call me darkness." She then looked at me slyly. "You're not planning anything untoward me are you?" I was about to deny the claim when she did something that quite frankly… worried me. "Because if you did! I wouldn't go down easily! I'd put up such a fight that you'd have to tie me up and gag me!" I was again about to say something when she spoke up again hugging her body weirdly. "Oh I'd have to fully rely on my faith with Eris Sama! For such torment would bring me down low!" Oh yeah Eris was also the name of a goddess people worshiped here.
Looking at her strangely I backed up a bit. "Uh… no… that won't be necessary." She immediately became disappointed.
"Oh… I see… well you never know. You're a man and have certain… "urges" I'm sure there's a possibility of you giving into them." My eye only twitched and I even saw some other adventurers looking at me in pity. As if they knew what I was going through. I couldn't help but curse them in my head while glaring at them. Unfortunately Darkness took this the wrong way. "Oh would you look at the gaze! You're just ravishing my body with it aren't you?" I turned back to her and gave Darkness my blandest stare and my deadest voice.
"No… now let's go accept the quest." She looked at me in shock as I moved passed her and over to Luna.
She didn't stay quiet for long though. "EHH?!" I could only smirk as I talked to Luna and got the quest registered. "Hey wait for me!" As darkness rushed after me I paused by door. "Amazing just barely together and I'm being treated like dirt! You're such a scoundrel!" She sounded actually excited by this and my eye twitched. I could tell this was going to be a very… very… very long quest.
We are we are Line breaks!
It didn't take too long to make it to the gate that led outside the town. But the whole time I was regretting accepting Darkness' offer of teaming up. I mean there were moments where she was genuinely nice. But she was a literal masochist! And seemed to be turned on every time I ended up ignoring her perversions! I had no idea what to do! It was the first time I've dealt with, let alone met someone like her! The entire thing was pure insanity. Something which I was starting to notice was the norm in this world. Almost everyone had some little quirk that drove me crazy.
I'm a warrior Physicist! Why am I dealing with this? Sighing I rubbed the bridge of my nose. This world will drive me insane I just know it. As I was thinking that Darkness was staring at me as if she expected me to do something to her. It was quite unsettling… So using whatever charisma I had. I decided to get her to stop. "Hey Darkness…" She quickly snapped at attention… with some excitement. "Could you try and control your urges? We're out on the job and if you don't you might end up getting killed." She actually seemed scandalized by what I said.
"I have no idea what you're talking about! I'm a crusader I would never do something to tarnish such a title! It is my sacred duty to protect the innocent! Even if I have to let my own body be ravished by filthy men and monsters to do so!" She blushed heavily at the end there… and I doubted it was because she said all that in one breath. So taking a deep breath I once again decided to ignore her… which she took off with as usual. "Oh ignoring me again! How cruel… it's only a matter of time now before you tie me down an-" Yeah I decided to tune her out at that point. Instead I decided that practicing with my eyes was the better use of my time. This went on for quite a while, but thankfully we did eventually make it to the forest.
Once there I stopped and turned to Darkness. "Alright then we're here now. Now… while I know we should've have talked about this before… but what exactly can you do?" She quickly gave me a response.
"Well… I'll admit that my offense is lacking. But my defense is the highest out there! I can take anything thrown at me. Even if you were to throw me out as live bait I'd let them come!" She seemed a bit too excited about the live bait thing.
So I quickly shut her down. "No we're not using you as bait." The crusader seemed quite disappointed by that. "Instead we'll lure it out into the open. I'll attack from the rear with my bow and you attack it with your sword from the front. Got that?" She slightly mollified by being the one in front so nodded.
"Don't worry you can count on me to take all of this creatures slobbering attacks." I decided to just take what I could get at that point. So with a shake of my head I got out my map, and headed to where the direwolf was last sighted. It was a bit of a trek and along the way we encountered some other monsters. It was then that I noticed a huge flaw in Darkness' fighting style… She literally couldn't hit anything! I first noticed this when we were attacked by some goblins. Now compared to the gigantic frogs I've been fighting these were a piece of cake. They were just numerous. Now if I remember correctly there were about thirteen. However as I slashed at them with my sword… Darkness tried to do the same.
Only to miss every time she swung at something! In fact she was doing more damage to the forest! Eventually she was dog piled by six of the goblins. But after what she spouted out from her mouth… even the goblins looked uncomfortable. Those fighting me also looked shocked, and I gave them a pitying look… then killed them all. But to me that was a mercy killing. Though it seemed to disappoint Darkness, thankfully she recoiled at my absolutely disappointed look.
"So… when you said your offensive skills were lacking… you meant completely nonexistent right?" At my tone she looked away rubbing the back of her head. All the while laughing sheepishly, it made me want to smack her. But knowing the crusader it would only excite her.
Her answer to my question didn't help my mood either. "Hehe… maybe?" I didn't even dignify her with any words. Instead I left to go find the wolf. "Hey! Don't just ignore me! Say something!" I continued to not say anything. Knowing that if I did… I might say something I regret. Unfortunately in this case that meant a number of things I'd rather not get into. Especially with the masochistic crusader. But after all this… oh boy! I was planning a tongue lashing! I mean seriously?! She looked to be a few years older than me! And she was doing things like this?! I swear this world was driving me insane.
Well basically that was the next three hours of my life as I tried to track the wolf. Darkness being attacked by random things, and I killing them all cause I was the only one with any offensive ability. It sucked… I mean sure I got another level up, and thanks to being with Darkness I was able to get her iron skin skill. Just basically made my natural defense higher. A good thing for me in all honesty… but by the time we found the wolf I was exhausted. Still I was here to do a job and I was going to do it gosh darn it! So with a voice full of annoyance and exhaustion, I turned to Darkness with my decision.
"Guess what?" She blinked at me at my tone of voice as I spoke to her. "You get to fulfill your wish of being live bait." And with what strength I had I pushed her towards the wolf.
"WAH! This is too sudden!" I didn't really care, because as she stumbled into the little clearing the wolf was in. She looked it in the eye. "Uh… nice dog?" And it attacked drooling left over blood from its most recent kill on her. Snapping its enormous jaws at her. "Oh my! How ferocious! And to have my party member sacrifice me like this!" My face was one of pure disappointment as I got out my bow and started shooting at it. I managed to get a few hits in before it jumped off Darkness snarling in pain. "No! I wasn't finish… I mean I won't let you run away that easily you filthy beast!"
Yeah I had no idea who she was trying to fool. So I ignored her and climbed the nearest tree. Then using some ranger skills I picked up. Jumped from tree to tree, all the while shooting at the now bloodied wolf. Unfortunately while I was being productive Darkness flailed her sword around. Unfortunately that's when an accident happened. As she was swinging she missed the direwolf and hit a very particular branch… the one I was on.
So as my eyes widened the branch fell and me with it. As I hit the ground I landed on my back, having had no time to redirect myself. Unfortunately my stats weren't high enough for that yet. As I groaned in pain the wolf saw this and jumped at me. Seeing this I got out my dagger as it bit down on my forearm crushing my bones.
"ARGH!" I yelled in pain making Darkness' eyes widen.
"Michael!" She ran up to me and the wolf and grabbed the seven hundred pound dog. Picking it up and tossing it into a tree. Seeing this I used my unbroken arm and picked up my dagger. I then tossed it at our foe, and thankfully luck was on our side as it buried itself into its skull. With a whimper it fell to its side… dead. I sighed before standing up with a groan. Holding my badly injured arm. "Are you alright?! Your arm looks super messed up!" I gave her a look of pain. "Yeah… stupid question…" So we spent the next half hour bandaging my arm and making a sling for it. After that I led the way out of the forest.
I didn't say a word to her the entire time. But to her credit she did seem a bit ashamed for her part in this. Eventually we made it outside the forest and were walking on a small dirt road back to Axel. The name of the town I was currently stationed in. Eventually I had enough of the silence and sighed before addressing her.
"So… Darkness… have you learned anything today?" She seemed to pout and turn to the side. I'll admit… that made me actually mad. "This is serious! I literally could've died thanks to you!" This time Darkness flinched at that. "Listen… get some actual offensive skills because next time… well those you've partied with might not get off with a broken arm! It's either your stupid disgusting fetish or the lives you've been entrusted with. I suggest you choose carefully." She was silent for the rest of the trip in. As I went up to Luna for our reward, she seemed to fret over me a bit. Having never seen me get injured before, and being one of the youngest there.
Around me I could feel the stares of jealousy. It was… unnerving… Thankfully I wasn't attacked and I gave Darkness her half of the reward. Though she seemed rather dejected. I guess no one had ever truly told her the things I did. I felt slightly bad so I decided to be a little nice.
"Darkness… look…" She looked at me. "While I may have been a bit harsh thanks to the pain I was in. Truth is you need to get your priorities straight. When you team up with someone… you're not only entrusting your life to them. But they are entrusting theirs to you. Just think on this alright?" She nodded and I patted her shoulder. "Alright I see you later. Got to go get my arm and equipment fixed up." She nodded and went off to do… I have no idea but I hope she was reflecting. As for me… I spent a lot of money fixing my arm and equipment. Even spent a bit to buy up some arrows.
Now with losing more money then what I gained from the quest, I sighed as I lay down on my bed. Today sucked… the only gain I got was two levels for my troubles. Shaking my head I decided to just go to sleep. Once again I was plagued by nightmares. Only this time there was a certain arrow filled and bloody wolf in them. When I woke up I felt exhausted. As such I decided to take it easy for the day. But I needed to go and pay for the next day on my room so I got up. But this time as I left the only weapon I took was my sword. As I arrived I went up to Luna and did my usual thing, only this time I didn't take any quests.
Luna smiled at this. "Tired from yesterday?" I could only nod as she giggled a bit. "Well just relax then, can't have one of our best up and coming adventurers die from exhaustion." She then said something surprising. "Here order a meal; it'll be on the house." I smiled and thanked her profusely before sitting down, and doing as she suggested. As my meal came Darkness sat at my table.
"Greetings again, it is good to see your armed healed… but about yesterday… I thought about what you said." I nodded motioning for her to continue. "And though I won't give up my… habits… I will at least learn some offensive skills." I quickly realized that would be the best I get and nodded.
After taking a drink of water I responded. "That's good enough. But I think for now our little party is over for the moment." She deflated a bit but nodded her head in understanding. "Look… it's not just about me getting hurt. No I'll be honest and say your fetish bothers me… quite a bit." She scratched her cheek sheepishly at this point. Seemingly used to what I just said. But I did decide to throw her a bone. "But… if you ever really need me. I'll help you out okay?" She actually smiled at that and nodded.
"Okay I'll hold you to it." We both laughed a bit and then starting talking normally to each other. Though every now and then Darkness would throw in something… bothersome. I was able to deal with it, because deep down… I knew she wasn't actually a bad person. No she just had bad habits… okay make that really bad habits. But with this new day in this world… I had made another friend. A masochistic friend by a friend nonetheless.
We are we are Line breaks!
Argentum: Alright another chapter done with. Now I'll admit the quest rewards are something that confuses me. So bare with me as we go through the story.
Grel'Slyfer: Indeed but note it won't truly affect the story all that much.
Argentum: That we will promise. Though we are also trying to show the difference between being smart with money. And then having an Aqua who would get you into debt.
Grel'Slyfer: Well we find it funny at least. Anyways nothing much else to say.
Argentum: Yep so let's end this. Darkness take it away.
Darkness: Sure! This has been a Dark Guard production now signing off!
Everyone: Goodbye!