Author Note:
Sorry for taking so looong to update the chapter, for the past month my emotion is swinging wildly between depressed and not depressed, And that made it hard for me to get motivated to write since when that happened, I just want to waste my time very fast without thinking too much. Well enough of those depressed story now let's talk about the chapter.
This chapter actually going to be longer but, seeing the last time I updated the stories quite long ago I decide to put the other part in other chapter. And this chapter is when I'm trying to put it all on third POV following the suggestion in the review, but I think I failed. Though me as a reader like it, so I'm not going to rewrite and making me update this story longer.
As for the newest review, let's see 2 of them are from the one I ask for help. And yeah it's getting into the juicer part, where everything should be connected. Many isekai I read most of the time made me not interested in them at this point and I highly doubt that I will not share the same fate as them. But I will try to avoid that as best as I can. Though I really should rewrite faster so I can reread my own stories and remembering the event that happened.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy the chapter. PM or review if you have something to say about the chapter
After investigating about the Grim reaper, Iyan goes back to the first floor of the guild. Then he walked to the quest board. When he arrived in front of the quest board, he was amazed by the number of quests posted on the board. Though he was disappointed when he looked at the board carefully.
Most of the quest currently posted on the board is about doing an odd job, Like helping construction sites, cleaning public baths, and even a test subject of new magic. The rest of the quest is not good either. It is about gathering herbs, something that Iyan was not confident enough to clear without making the receptionist getting mad at him.
He concluded that the board is now filled only with boring quests because he came to the guild late. Since no interesting quests is posted. He decided to return to the guild again later. Outside of the guild, Iyan planned what he is going to do.
"Let's see, I need to gather RP for Patchouli's requirement, so I need to do another prank around here. Then find out how to participate in the tournament. Hmm, finding out about how to participate will not take a long time, so that goes first then."
Having decided that, Iyan walked toward the coliseum. He wanted to flying there rather than walking, but since the only characters he could control now are either Rumia or Koishi. He decided not transformed into them, because they have a side effect that he doesn't need now.
On his way toward the coliseum, one of the shops building managed to get his attention. Not because of how unique it looked, but because of what they sell.
"A doll shop! And they sell a doll similar to Shanghai and Hourai! I must buy this doll with that doll, Alice requirement will be fulfilled," Then he looked at the price tag of the dolls and frowned, "500 gold coins for both of them?! urgh... if I recall correctly, I only have around 400 gold coins with me. Wait a minute, if I win the tournament, I will get 100 gold coins with that, I will have enough money to buy this doll. And I definitely will win! So wait for me, doll, I will buy you later."
With that said, Iyan walked toward the coliseum while fantasizing about his win.
In front of the coliseum, Iyan is astounded by its size. Now that he was close to it, the coliseum appeared larger than when he had seen it in the sky. Excluding the castle, this is the largest building he has seen in this world.
At one of its entrance, Iyan spotted a line of adventurer looking peoples. He doubted that line is for the magic tournament since many of them are holding a sword or wearing heavy armor. But he decided to go there since maybe someone could tell him the direction to magic tournament registration.
As to avoid conflict, Iyan approached the nearest good-looking adventurer. When Iyan asked the direction to the magic tournament, the adventurer happily told Iyan that the registration is at the west entrance of the coliseum while pointed in that direction. Iyan thanked him and walked into the direction the man pointed.
When Iyan at the west entrance, there is another line of people in front of it. This time it is filled with many people wearing a robe, so he concluded that this is the magic tournament registration. Before he could try to find info about registering as a participant, someone called him from behind.
"Hey, it isn't Iyan, here to register?"
Iyan turned around to see Mellisa grinned at him.
"Of course not. I want to get information about how to participate in this tournament. Since my friend is too lazy to find out about that."
"Then tell this to your friend, she needs to come in person since they will check whether you have magic skills or not. After all, this is the magic tournament, and they will only allow people who had magic related skills."
"So I only need to have magic-related skills to join it."
"You?"
"Ah, I mean my friend."
Mellisa looked at Iyan suspiciously.
Because of her stare, Iyan became panic and forcibly change the topic, "How about we talk about the tournament now."
"Fine, what should we talk about the tournament?" Mellisa responded.
Iyan frantically tried to think about something, "How about the tournament rule. You said that everyone could join as long as they have magic, right? So someone can abuse the rule by having a bad magic skill just to fulfilled the requirement and then relied on physical strength to win the tournament."
Mellisa sighed after hearing that statement. Her emotion now changed from suspicious about Iyan intention to irritated at him.
"My guess is right. You are a stupid person, aren't you?"
"Why you suddenly calling me stupid?!" Iyan raised his voice, offended by her remark.
"It's you that is going to participate in the tournament isn't it."
"What made you think that!"
"What you said earlier about abusing the rule and the time you ask about trying to get a spell at the sacred mountain is what made me think that."
"That doesn't make any sense!"
"Then let me guess what you will do next. You will get magic skills from the sage, then register yourself and try to win with your physical strength. Before you do that, I will tell you that this tournament is sponsored by the mages organization. They want to see someone get creative with their magic in this tournament. Not a crude display of someone winning relying only on their physical strength. And if you think a magician will lose in a short-range fight, then you have something else coming for you. Even if a miracle happened where you win a round with your weak body. You will be disqualified after that round. Everyone will hate your cowardice to join this tournament, not at another tournament that is related to physical strength. And you know what, I am done talked to idiot today, goodbye."
After such a tirade from Mellisa, Iyan left speechless and could only watch her as she left him. He realized that Mellisa's outburst earlier is gathered attention to him. So he decided to get away from the coliseum too.
In the sky above the forest, Iyan, as Koishi, flew around trying to find an adventurer. Though, he didn't stopped flying forward, even when he passed one or two groups of adventurers. The reason he did not bother them because he still mad at what happened earlier.
"What is wrong with her?! Why she suddenly got mad at me and concluded that I will be the one who competed. I clearly said that my 'friend' is the one who will compete at the tournament, not me. Though she is technically not wrong, can she mad at another place? I mean, everyone there looked at me like I'm the bad guy. You know what, I just going to vent this to the nearest adventurer." Iyan stopped and looked down.
This time Iyan was earnestly looking for an adventurer. He was suprised when he realized that he had traveled further away from the kingdom than intended. But since he didn't mind since he planned to scare an adventure anyway. He decided to land and turn back to activate Star's detection skill.
His detection skill picked up three different adventurers group wandering around near him. Those three groups have varied sizes. The farthest group from his current location is a five-man adventurer. Not too far from them, a solo adventurer moving behind them, and the nearest group to him is composed of three peoples. Even though they are having quite a distance between them, Iyan planned to scare them all, started from the nearest group.
Fortunately for Iyan, the nearest group doesn't move that much. This way, he quickly caught up with the group. When he reached the group, he could see that the group is consisted of what looked like a mage - if the staff indicated that – and two bodyguards.
Iyan saw that they are collecting some leaves from a plant that he didn't know. He thought about how best to scared them silly and made them spread a rumor about his prank. But before he can think about one, the mage screamed in his direction.
"Who is there!"
Iyan got surprised when the mage screamed. He did not expect to get detected before doing anything toward them. And now, since they know that someone or something is around them, Iyan decided to leave them and not risk himself being attacked by them.
His next target is the solo adventurer that kept following a group of five adventurers. It was strange to him to see that the solo adventurer kept followed them even when he was on the way to the previous group. Iyan thought that this solo adventurer must be a bodyguard to one of the adventurers in the group. Still, that will not stop Iyan to scare him.
Though it was unfortunate that the distance between him and the adventurer is quite far. Added the fact that no unlocked character can fly reliably, forced him to travel on foot toward them. Halfway on his pursuit, Iyan was gasping for air.
"If only I could control Koishi, it will be very easy to caught up with them, but this is to unlock Patchouli. I must do it!" Iyan motivated himself.
So Iyan started moving towards the group again. Before long, he realized that he had made a bad decision. It was clear to him now, that how someone who was not athletic like him could not catch up with the other groups. Yet he continued with a thought that it was a waste to give up since he had done it halfway. Another reason is that he believed he could catch up to them with how slowly they are walking. But that did not give him much of an advantage as he rested more than they did.
When he got near to the solo adventurer, his leg started to tremble.
"What?! did my leg give up? Cmon, I'm almost there!"
With that said, Iyan forced himself to continued to walk toward the adventurer. He only stopped moved when all of his body has trembled, and the air around him felt very heavy. His gut feeling told him to run away from the place as fast as possible.
Only then he realized how Star's detection skills work. What he followed may not be a human but a human-sized monster. Trusting his gut feeling, Iyan turned back and ran away as fast as possible.
While Iyan was running away, he could detect that the monster is moving very fast toward the other group. When it reached the other group, their number instantly reduced to two, and in another few seconds, the adventurer group cannot be detected by him anymore. In Iyan detection, the monster now moved toward him. It made him became more panicked.
In his panic reaction, he realized that he could turn into Koishi and fly away. So he did that and fly straight to the kingdom, abandoned his intention to scare another adventurer.
When Iyan saw the kingdom's wall, he was going to transform back there at first. But fearing that the monster still followed him, he decided to go deeper into the kingdom and transformed back at a quiet alley near the plaza. His leg is now sore, and he immediately sits down because of his exhaustion.
"Damn it, why there is a monster like that in the forest!"
Iyan then reminisced what happened earlier.
"Then again, I panicked too much. I should have calmly turn into Koishi and see how the monster looked like, not like the monster will find me once I turn into Koishi. But I think it is safer not to test it."
Iyan then stood up and feel that his leg still feel hurt.
"For now, I better look for an inn first."
Iyan transformed back into Koishi again to suppress the pain in his leg. Then he flew towards one of the inns inside the kingdom. When he reached the inn, he is hesitant to turn back into himself because of the pain in his leg. But he needed to do it so someone can see him and he could reserved a room.
Iyan reached the receptionist counter with a pained expression. The receptionist girl got a troubled look[*] when she saw his face.
" How much for a room?" Iyan asked.
After heard Iyan request, the receptionist fixed her face and smiled at him.
"It is only 25 silver coins for a single day." the receptionist said.
Iyan took out 25 silver coins from his magic bag and gave them to the receptionist. After that, the receptionist took out a paper with a magic circle in it. Iyan looked confused when he received it.
"Oh, you must be new here. The paper is your key if you place it on the door with the same number on the back of the paper. It will unlock it."
"Ah, thank you."
Iyan walked in the direction that the receptionist pointed. When he reached the door with the same number as written on the paper, he did what the receptionist told him earlier. Sure enough, after placing the paper on the door, he could hear the door is unlocked itself. He opened the door and immediately go to bed and rest.
At night inside the bar where Iyan drunk, peoples are merrily laughing with their group as they are drinking. Inside this bar, Iyan is sitting on the chair near the bartender while having a glass of juice. He is here to get interesting information and because he was bored after woken up in the afternoon.
Unfortunately, he did not hear much useful information. But he did get a piece of useful information, and that is about reserving the inn for a longer time than the tournament since every inn will be full when it started.
When investigating this bar he activated Koishi Skill hoping to avoid getting approached by someone. Though even with activated Koishi's skill there still someone approached him.
"Yo," someone called while patted his back. "You here again?"
Iyan turned at the one who called him and saw Zen is sitting on the chair beside him.
"You sure good at hiding. I need to get this close to realizing that you there." Zen said.
"That is my natural talent." Iyan bragged.
"You are alone now, trying to get information?"
"Yes, though I don't hear anything useful at all."
"Really? I bet your information gathering is just sitting in here while hearing some drunken tale."
"Urgh."
Zen grinned when he saw Iyan flinched.
"But hey, I do hear something good for someone like you. Wanna hear it?"
Iyan nodded.
"Well, I do want to share it with you, but my throat is perched up."
"Fine, I get it. I will treat you for a drink."
"Thanks, you are so kind. Master one of your best ale!"
Hearing Zen order, the bartender poured the beverage into a large wooden glass and gave it to Zen.
"So were we again?"
"You had some good info for me."
"Oh yeah. Hey, did you know about the forbidden forest?"
"The forbidden forest?"
"So I should start from there, huh. The forbidden forest is a vast forest located northwest of this kingdom between the undead dungeon and the sacred mountain. It is a forest inhabited with many dangerous monsters."
"Hm..Hm..." Iyan said while nodded.
"This morning, a party decided to go there. Since then, no one has ever heard about them again. I believed they are dead now since when Juno and I go near the forbidden forest, we could hear a loud sound in there. With that said, the guild will probably post a quest to find them sometime later. And that's where your hiding skill could come into play. You can use it to avoid the dangerous monster and find them. But the guild probably won't trust you, so I have a channel to push you in the mission with the right price of course."
"Hey, is there an instance where a dangerous monster inside the forbidden forest gone out of the forest?"
Bewildered by an unexpected question from Iyan, Zen could only answer with"Yeah."
"Thanks for the info," Iyan rose from his chair. "Oh yeah, how much is that drink?"
"5 silver coins."
Iyan took out 5 Silver coins and placed them on the desk. Then he left Zen alone that still confused by the unexpected development.
"Hehe, how could I forget about this. If my prank doesn't work here, scaring other people with Rumia is another option that I could take. Not like that ridiculous boss will be here anyway. Though I better resolved the Inn matter first." Iyan mumbled after got out of the bar.
Not long after reserved the Inn for a month, Iyan as Rumia flew to the forbidden forest direction. Near the forbidden forest, he saw an area where many adventurers are camping not too far from each other. He stopped and decided that this place will do, then he flies toward the group that camp in the middle.
Iyan slowly descend while encased in Rumia darkness ball. After touching the ground, he is doing a T-pose and removing the darkness. What Iyan saw after that, is three wary adventurers prepared to attack him at any moment.
"Uwah, my entrance is more successful than I thought. Well, time for some Rumia's line." Iyan thought.
Iyan cleared his throat then said, "Hey! Are you a human that I can eat?"
Just like he expected, they became tense after he said that.
"I'm sorry little girl, but we're not a human that you can eat. Our meat is not tasty, and it will be too tough for you to chew it." said the adventurer near the campfire.
"Eh? The five human that came into my place is very delicious," Iyan said while smiling. "Well, I bet you will taste the same. So please die and let me eat you!"
Iyan then lunged toward the adventurer near the campfire and punched him as hard as he can. The adventurer managed to block Iyan attack with his sword, but it managed to push him back.
"WOW! Even though you are just a little girl, your punch is strong."
"Ehehehe, thank you."
"But you have to be aware of your surroundings when you are in battle."
"Huh?!"
The other adventurer with the spear is now very close to Iyan.
"Die, Spear rush!"
In quick succession, he thrust his spear toward Iyan. His aim is Iyan's stomach hoping to make a hole in it. He continued thrusting his spear until his skill duration ended, then he jumped back. The spear user clicked his mouth when he saw the result of his skill.
"You hit her with all your strength, right. Why the hell did she laughing when you hit her?" His friend beside him said.
"It probably because I hold back a little bit since she looked like a little girl than a monster."
"That tickles, please don't do that again," Iyan said after she stopped laughing, "Since you have your turn, now it is my turn again."
*BOOOOM*
The sound of something exploded in the sky could be heard. Iyan looked up at the sky and saw a firework.
"That explosion means a lot of adventurers will come. So what are you going to do, little girl." The man who blocked Iyan's attack said.
"So a lot more food will come then."
"You really are a monster."
The wary three adventurers keep their vision of Iyan and pointed all their weapons at him. After seeing the result of their friend's attack, none of them attacked Iyan anymore.
"Hey! Why are you are not doing anything?" One of them said.
"Hmm, If I fight you too much, the other food will get scared and run away. So I am waiting for them to arrive before killing you."
"Tch! You looked down on us, Just because we can not do anything to you."
All of them stood still until they heard someone running toward them on both sides. Shortly after that, they could see the one running toward them. On the west side, three adventurers come out, while on the east side, four adventurers. The situation made the group that Iyan attacked relaxed. With this, they were sure that the monster could be beaten.
Unfortunately for the group, shortly after their reinforcement showed up, the area around them became dark. In the next moment, the sound of something crashed into a tree could be heard.
"Who got hit?! Shit, I can't see anything! Can someone use light magic?" Someone said.
"I can, but it useless I can't still see anything even when I use it." Another person said.
"Hey! What is happening inside of this? Someone still alive?" Another person said at a different side of the first two groups of adventurers.
The inside of the darkness is now chaotic. The group who saw someone blown away go inside into the darkness carefully. While those who don't know what happen tried to move around and bumped into another person. Those who can use light magic try to use it to light the surroundings. But it only made them confused because they fail to do so. Inside this confusion, one person is in delight.
"Yes! Yes! Be more confused and fear me!"Iyan said in excitement.
"Whose idiot said that?"
"It probably the monster."
"Tch! If I can see that monster! I will beat it up."
"If that the monster, could I cut it? I could guess where it is by its sound."
"Hey! Don't you dare to draw your weapon! You could hit one of us!"
Iyan was amused by the adventurers bickering with one another. Because of that, he decided to stay in place for a little more than he initially wanted. Only when his mana is dangerously low that he fly away while keeping his darkness around.
In the morning at the adventurer guild building, some people speaking about the incident that happened last night. One particular group is talking about the incident the most. That group is the first group to encounter the monster.
"That little girl punch is strong. My sword cracked after defended her punch."
"My spear share the same fate too."
"It was fortunate for us to be alive when we encountered her. The five-person party that she referred to is having a B-rank adventurer in it and until now no news about them."
"I do grateful for that, but now, we need money to cover our weapon expense."
Sit on one of the guild's chairs, one person is delighted to hear their conversation.
"My plan is a huge success. Everyone now is talking about Rumia. My RP is enough to fulfill Patchouli's condition because of that. Now, I just need to find that sage and get the 'abandonment food' magic from him." Iyan thought.
With that thought, he planned to go to the sacred mountain, after having enough hearing people about Rumia.
[*] : The emotion in here not feel right, at first I want to put flustered but when I looked it up the meaning seem different than what I want (what i want is this : confused?). So what do you think the right emotion here?
