Chapter 9: Quest hunting!

It took a bit, but he managed to calm his fairy friend down after reassuring her that he's not going to disappear again. He knew that realistically, there's always a chance that things could go wrong in the future that could lead to him getting kidnapped again.

But that's not what she needed right now, so he did what any good friends would and continued comforting her.

"Don't cry Sylph, It's fine now." Luka said softly.

"No I'm not…" The sniffling continues.

"There, there…" He whispered to her as he made his way out of the San Ilia Castle. Luka feels guilty that the Underground library ended up being ruined after what happened. But considering they were going to do a maintenance on it anyway, he figured that made it less bad.

Now that he's out of there, he could focus on something else that's been on his mind. That is, the old book he brought with him.

===0===

By the time he finished recounting everything to the Spirit of Wind they had already set up another camp, this one somehow more amateurish than the last due to his exhaustions.

'Man, can't belief I miss all of that.' Bemoan a disgruntled Sylph.

"Hmm."

'What happen to them then?' Asked Sylph.

The glow of the campfire illuminates the shy forest dweller as he curiously ran his fingers across the cover of "The Four Animists". Luka reminisced on what went down before he left the world in the book.

"Are you sure...?" He sends the monster a questioning look.

"I do." Page65537 answered swiftly.

"But wouldn't this be against your duty?"

"Quite the opposite, this is the best way I could think of to keep the book in safe hands."

The purplette sputters, "Why... do you have so much faith in me?"

A certain gleam appears in her eyes, "I wonder..."

Now back in the present, Luka turns his gaze to Iris - the short wooden sword that had saved him back then.

"They're still here, in this book. She said she trusted me to keep it safe."

'Oh! So, like... are they our friends now?'

He could only shake his head. "I'm not sure... but, Page 65537 said she would deal with them."

The forest dweller let out an audible sigh. Leaning against a tree with the book on his lap. They had already finished dinner, yet he still feels hungry.

After all of that, Luka finally decided to read through the whole thing. Not with wind magic translating it all into his brain, but by his own eyes.

The beginning of the book explained in detail how in this world existfour living embodiment of nature that is Wind, Earth, Water and lastly, Fire. Theyare all sentient and capable of shaping the world as we all know it. The book then went on to state that because they are all integral in maintaining nature if they are ever harmed, or worst, killed, it would result in something catastrophic happening.

When the forest dweller read that peopleof the past have tried and some even succeeding in making a contract with the four spirits for their power, for some reason, it sparked an old memory in his mind.

A hand, tenderly caressing the hair on his head.

A voice, softly lulling him to sleep.

A story, one where the hero saves the wo-

Luka blinked the tears away as dark thoughts started showing up.

A thunderous headache struck him out of nowhere, and he tries his best to calm his breathing before continuing with his reading.

...

Sylph has been strangely quiet, maybe she got bored of the book and decided to get some sleep? Either way, he begins where he last left off.

It's written that after years of being worshiped by everyone who know of them, eventually the four spirits had decided to go into seclusion. Only giving blessing to those who would occasionally seek them out. This when on for a while until most of humanities and even monster kind forgot about the existent of the four spirits.

The middle of the book describes what each spirit looks like and speculations on where they might be. It then explained to the reader that due to lack of information at the time of writing the book, that the author might be wrong about some details.

Luka personally respected the author for being brave enough to admit that he could be incorrect in some ways or another in his own book. He has read a bunch of works in the library where most of the times when the author is proven wrong and they response by either denying it or accusing the person who pointed out their shortcoming of attacking them personally.

The purplette guess that, due to how much pride they have in their works, it made them overly sensitive to criticism and such.

A little bit of humbleness here and there is a breath of fresh air.

Near the end, the author theorized that if someone had managed to acquire the power of the four spirits, they would be a warrior without equal. If someone who is so strong does exist,it would have definitely been the talk of every Kingdom. And since the author had not heard of any such person, he believed no one had yet managed to achieve such a feat.

"..."

No... that's not...

Confused, Luka wonder how old the book must've been. Because while the research and information in this is impressive, that last part is clearly wrong.

After all, everyone knows about Heinric-

"!?" His eyes widened as another splitting headache hit him.

Luka passes out as his body reached its limit.

...

...

...

A gust of wind blew sands on the fire, taking it out.

'It's okay... take your time, Luka.'

===0===

The forest dweller stare at the... unique food in his hand.

A grill starfish. He honestly doesn't even know what a starfish is until the nice mermaid lady explained it to him.

He wasn't interested in trying it, but considering the lady was being so kind as to tell him where he can find the town map, he would feel like a heel if he didn't at least try one. So reluctantly, the forest dweller closes his eyes and took a bite.

"..." It disturbed him that it tastes somewhat good, if not a little bland.

"Well? What do you think, young man?" Asked the mermaid, eager for a positive respond.

"Say..." His mind started working overtime, memorising all the recipe books he's read. "Miss, do you have any seasonings?"

"Huh?" That probably wasn't what she was expecting.

A small smile makes its way to his face. He figures, since she had help him, he might as well help her back.

Pulling out some from his travelling bag, he continues. "Here, maybe you could use these?"

...

...

...

Sitting atop the bell tower, Luka watches as a group of new customers surround the small food stall of the mermaid lady. They happily ate the newly made grill starfish, astounded by the rich flavours it made from every bite they took.

Luka would know, he's eating one right now.

Sure, he doesn't have any seasoning now, so his cooking is a bitrestricted. But he has more than one way of getting food. And besides, getting to look at her so happy now that more people are eating her food. It made him feels warm inside.

After a couple of days of flying, Sylph and him finally made it to Port Natalia. A port town in the Natalia region of Sentora,it is notable for mermaids being recognised as citizens here, despite the general anti-monster sentiment in the region.

He was really surprised at first, but over time the sight of monster and humans walking around each other without worries become normal to him, good even. He's glad to know that not all places hate monster kind for simply existing.

It's one thing to not like them because they committed something horrible, It's another to walked up to a monster minding their own business and declare them evil and must be rid of.

Not long after, he got called by the mermaid lady, and she told him where the town map is at. Luka knew that Sylph wanted to play around ever since they got there, so he sends the fairyout to find the town map while being badgered into buying her weird foods.

Luka understands her excitements. After all, Port Natalia is right next to the sea, the winds here are strong and very friendly, calling out to the forest dweller to play with them and have fun. His fairy friend readily except the invitation and is probably having a blast right now.

It made him realise how good it is to have his connections to the wind again after what happen in San Ilia...

The book feels heavy inhis bag.

"I'M BACK!"

Speaking of connection, Sylph's voice brought him back. Turning to her, he was greeted by a very happy, very hyper Spirit of Wind.

"You are."

She pouted (he made sure to memorise the image into his head), before saying, "Aw, C'mon! You weren't even surprised."

"I'm not."

His friend huffed at his dryresponse before turning around, "Well now I won't tell you where it is."

"Do you want some?" From his bag, held out a weirdly shaped bread he bought from the open market.

"Ooo! What's that?" She turns back, completely forgetting she was supposed to be angry with him.

"They call it a pretzel."

"Why is it shaped funny?"

"I don't know, but it's tasty."

"Give me some!"

They ate together before he flies off to the town map. It's comedically placed right next to the school building, where he was looking for it earlier. Which means the only reason he didn't find it is because the mermaid lady called out to him.

===0===

Let's see... if he is here, then that means that the way to Grand Noah is northwest from here. It's a pretty long journey, but nothing he couldn't overcome with the wind on his side.

'Hey Luka! Look at that!' Sylph pointed at something in his head.

"Hmm?"

'There's a quest board here!' She said, Luka doesn't know what that is but apparently, it's a good thing.

Sure enough, when he looks over there's an old board people used to place a bunch of paper with instructions on quests and such. He saw one that said help is needed on a workshop downtown, another asked for someone to escort them to San Ilia the coming week, there's even one where a couple need someone to help babysit their daughter while they're on a business trip for a week, the reward for doing each of them varied from one another, but they all mostly seems simple enough.

'Luka let's do that one!' She pointed at one where an old man wanted someone to take his dog on a walk. Sounds pretty fun to be honest, but he has to ask.

"Why? Sylph, we're not heroes..."

'Do we have to be?' There's a weird tenderness in her voice, like she's worry he might react badly. It confuses him, but he answers her question.

"Well, no. I guess not." There wasn't any note or anything saying that only heroes could take the quest.

'So...'

"..." He look back at the quest board, noting how most of them are more or less ignored due to their low rewards.

He thinks back at how guilty he feels about making a mess in the Underground library.

...Maybe this is a way he could atone for that.

And a lot of other stuff to-

"Sure, we could do some Sylph." It's not like they're in a rush or anything. They could afford messing around for a bit.

'Yayyyyy! This is just like back then with -!'

===0===

Luka spend the next couple days taking quest no one wanted and helping out as much as he can. Eventually, the purplette thought it be a good bonding exercise between him and the resident of the book, so he would often call upon them to help out with the quests.

Most of the time It's just doing chores, he would just carry some stuff to other places, or fix someone's broken roof since he can fly. Other time he would need to put in some effort to do like finding someone's missing items because it was stolen by another person.

He gets to walk an old man's dog on the beach once, that was cool.

He gave them his name, but they wouldn't be able to recognise his face because of his hood. The rewards are pretty useful too. Now he can buy stuff he finds interesting from the market, and he even got items sometimes.

A kind old lady gave him a candy after he help her cat get down from a tree.

===0===

A farmer living nearby said that because of his fences being broken by some thugs his sheep has been getting killed by wild animals. The quest is for them to help fix the broken fences around the farm and no one had taken it due to the low reward given.

When they got there, Luka asked the pages for some helps. Page 17 was grumbling something under her breath but agree to watched over the animals with Page 257 who happily follows what he said. Maybe a little too happy with how close she would get to him sometimes, but as long as she's not harming anyone the purplette has no complain.

Page 65537 or rather, Cogita, volunteered to accompany him in fixing the fence which he gratefully accepted. With both her great precision and tentacles helping her, Luka was mesmerized by how fast she was doing their quest.

He could see no wasted movement in her motion, every actionthe most optimum in completing her tasks and he was sure with how focused she was, that she didn't even realize that all the fences around the farm are now not only fixed, but also reinforced.

"Apologies, it seems I... may have overdone it a little." said the Queen class monster to the wide eye farmer coming back to see his farm now the most protected place in the entire town.

Suffice to say,wild animals and thugs wouldn't be a problem to the man anymore.

===0===

The bearded man took off his glasses and let out an exasperated sigh.

"Honestly, son... I had no idea how you did it..." He said, still in disbelief at what just happened.

"Was it... that surprising?" The shy forest dweller asked awkwardly.

In his hand, was previously a broken music box. Now however, It's been fixed by the puplette. The reason was because It's something that not one person has managed to do for the past decades.

Every craftsman or mechanic that tried to all say the design is simply too complicated and unorthodox for them to understand how to fix it. That is until Luka walked in and uses his memory of reading about music boxes in the Underground library to fix it completely.

This floors the owner of the workshop as the music started playing, filling the whole shop with a hauntingly beautiful melody.

The man said that since Luka was the one who fixed it, he was free to take it with him. At first, he tries to refuse, but realizing how sincerer the man was, Luka decided to keep it with him.

Sylph likes it a lot, so that's good. Apparently, halve the reason it was so famous is because it used to belong to a great pirate who goes by 'Captain Selene'. Back then, when her crews were still small, she had a brutal encounter with a monster that causes her a lot of money. Having no other choices, Selene had to sell her music box so that her crew wasn't starving.

===0===

Another quest he takes on is where he must help a merchant gather all of his purchases from all across Port Natalia. It should have taken an entire day because of how many stuffs there is, but it took the purplette just under one hour with the help of the Pages.

The merchant was shocked, but extremely grateful for their help. He said that because of us he would get to the Ilias continent a lot faster than intended.

Picking up something from his cart, the merchant handed Luka a red orb that fits the palm of his hand. He doesn't recognise what type of gem it is, which is weird because he did read about jewellery back in the library. He thought it was too much just for a fetch quest but then he decided to give it to Page 65537 since he saw her staring at it.

The Queen class monster accepted it with a knowing smile.

===0===

Things took an unexpected turn one day as they took a quest to help renovate a mermaid school building. Apparently, Its several decades old and they thought it's about time the school gets a proper renovation after all these years.

Since Luka and his group volunteered to help at a cheap price, they decided to have it done today after the end of class. Sylph was playing with Page 17 on the playground while the rest of them watched over, Page 257 is creepily muttering stuff about him when he thought he wasn't looking, and the forest dweller is playing an intense gameof chess against Page 65537 on the stone table they had outside the school.

Suddenly, Page 65537 stops paying attention to the board and started worriedly looking at the directions of the school. Luka went to ask her if something was wrong but immediately stood up when the wind warned him of intruders getting closer to them.

He called Sylph back and asked for Page 65537 and her juniors to check on the children and make sure everything's alright. She was apprehensive about leaving him alone, but he reassured her that he's fine with the wind on his side.

Nodding to him, her cold and calculative mask slips back on her expression, leaving him and Sylph to handle the group of men wearing matching black and red outfitsand carrying various weapons on them entering the school gate.

Pulling his hood over his head, Luka turned to appraise each of them and was relief to see that most of them are just as strong as the average human fighter.

Holding outone of his hands in front of him. The purplette let out a gust of wind to push them back. Not enough to injure them, but as a warning.

"That's enough." His words were curt.

This seems to anger some of them while the rest worriedly stare at him. Eventually a person who he assumes is their leader walks forward to berates his men.

"What are you idiots doing! Did you lose your brain halfway here or what!?" He yells out, his voice harsh and scratching.

"It's him Lazarus!" One of them points to Luka, "That freak did something earlier and pushed us back. B-boss, I think he knows magic!"

Grumbling, the man known as Lazarus turn and sneer at him, before he scoffs.

"Oh what? Another dumbass who thinks they can play hero shows up? Big fucking deal!" He finishes his hurtful words by spitting on the school's gate.

"It's maggots like you that makes me sick!" At that, his sneer turns into a scowl as he rushes at him like a wild animal. Luka pulls out Iris in a defensive stand, just as the crazed man bend low to grab a fistful of dirt and throws it at his eyes.

The wind protected his eyes as Luka slashes at the man, his eyes widened before dodging to the right, saving himself from being flung back. The forest dweller wasn't done however and uses these chances to deal with his men.

Getting into his stance, Luka focuses the wind on his foot and Sylph took the signal.

A sudden whirlwind surrounds him, knocking Lazarus back in surprise.

[Whistling blade]

Lazarus heard a faint whistle and by the time the man got up from his fall every one of his men has already been knock out.

His face became even paler than it already is, turning to Luka in the middle of sheathing Iris back in. Gritting his teeth in rage, the vile man reached for something from his back.

When he pulls out a stick of dynamite, Luka's reached a new level of panic.

"Hey jackass! You wanted to protect this school so much? GOOD LUCK!" The crazed man yells to the purplette before throwing the stick of dynamite towards the school.

As fast as he can, Luka lunges for the dynamite and with the wind, throws it as far away into the air as expecting it to explode he took cover under the stone table he had previously used.

...

After a long silence Luka realizes that he's been tricked and turns to the man to find that he's gone. Lazarus probably took his chance and ran away. The forest dweller was about to give chase before the wind warned him again.

Before Luka has any time to question what the warning is for, a giant explosion came from behind him. The loud booming sound it made echoed across Port Natalia.

Yet the silence that followed was by far the loudest for Luka.

===0===

Something was shaking her, tiny hands badgering again and again to wake her up. At first, she was about to lash out and yell at them, but then memories from what happen just a moment ago fills her head-

"Ahh!" Page 17 immediately woke up and saw that the group of students she was previously defending was all around her and crying.

Shit, she never had to deal with this before... what does she even do?

Checking herself over, she seemed fine enough to walk so she got up and ushered them out of the burning building. When they made it out, she saw the people living in Port Natalia all come to see what had happened and are desperately trying to put out the fire.

That is until a giant circle of verdantlight envelopes the whole school and... did the fire just go out instantly?

Also, she checks herself and the student over to see all of their injuries are gone.

Let's see... something out of the ordinary and strangely beneficial to everyone has just happened. Yup, this has Luka written all over it. It must be him.

After she sent the kids to the people outside, she went on the other side of the school to findher fellow page monster being fussed over by the forest dweller. Although rather than reassuring him she's fine (She should, with the whole magic circle thing), Page 257 was instead content with having her favorite human beoverly worried for her.

"T-Tell me where it hurts! I thought that it would heal everyone..."

The monster started fidgeting in place, her face getting redder. "Well~ I-if you must know, I still have an injury on my-"

"What are you doing?" Her voice cut in the conversation.

"A-Ah! You're here too, what a relief! Ha ha..." Turning away from her stare, Page 257 was quick to hide what she just tried to do.

Page 17 turns to Luka, he looks fine, if not a little worn out. She figures he must be very distraught over what has happened considering the type of person he is. He approached her in the same vein as he did with Page 257.

"Your worry is unnecessary; we monsters are a lot tougher than humans." Her words seem to be confusing him, tilting his head, he replies.

"Well, yeah... I'm glad that you are. But I'm still going to worry about you guys..."

"...Why?"

He considers her question for a second, before answering.

"I don't know, I just feel that way."

Before she could respond, another presence joins them. It's her senior, Cogita.

...Huh, that's odd.

Usually, she would call her seniors by their number of pages. She wonders why she decided to use her other name this time...

===0===

When Cogita and the others reunite, she was glad that everyone made it out of that ordeal with only some injuries. The large contributor to that is the Queen class monster herself. By extending her tentacles all around the school building, she was able to shield the students from the explosion that she theorizes was going to happen.

After departing with her group, Cogita saw some people wearing matching outfits carrying a suspicious looking bag with them. Apprehending them was easy, what really distresses her was the sticks of dynamite that was in the bags.

Her mind optimize the best course of actions and she decided the best thing she could do is the most obvious one. The explosion can't harm anyone if they're covered in layers of tentacles as hard as titanium.

And she did just that.

It was unfortunate that she couldn't protect all of them but knowing her juniors is out there put her mind at ease. Her thought wasproved correct as the news came in later. It stated that 'The mermaid school was targeted by the infamous terrorist organization known as Ilias Kreuz who were known to attack with explosives. However, due to the heroic action of unknown individuals, the number of casualties is zero.'

She later saw Luka reading the news on the quest boardand he looks relief to know they're actions lead to a better outcome than what could have been. Though it confuses her when he frowns at them being mentioned as 'heroic' in the news.

"Is something wrong?" She asked, leaning down to him in concern.

He turns to her, his eyes hidden by his green hood.

"No. Everything's fine." He lies to her.

Cogita doesn't need her hundred years of experience or supreme levels of intellect to know that. But for now, she would wait until the time is right to pursue this new mystery.

The forest dweller is someone she was glad to have met, he gave her a near endless source of stimuli her brain could chew on.

It also made her feel wonderful to be called his friend.

===0===

The purplette tried to help with restoring the burned school building. Key word being 'tried' because as soon as he said that the pages shared a look with each other and proceed to drag him to an inn. He was about to refuse before yawning out loud, realising they were right to do so.

Even the wind told him to take it easy the next day, so he decided to only takes quest with small amount of physical labour.

The quest he ended up taking was about a young man named Eugene in need of guidance in his love life. At first, he wasn't going to take it considering he has zero experience in dating, but with the insistence of Sylph and the pages to not exert himself, he figures he might as well try.

After all, if he failed the quest all he has to do is put it back on the board and leave it to someone else. So, with that in mind, he went to the place near the entrance of the beach area to meet this person.

The young man has bright yellow hair and a simple brown farmer outfit. When he sees Luka approaching, he called out to him.

"Hey! Are you here to take the quest I put?" Eugene's voice is close to Luka's but slightly lower, when the forest dweller nodded, a look of apprehension shows on his face as he then asked.

"Well, if you are... then I need you to show me proof that you can help me!"

"W-what?"

"Obviously, I'm not gonna take advice from someone who doesn't know what they're talking about!" He's not wrong about that, which is why Luka was worry.

How is he supposed to convinced him when he actually has no idea about it himself!?

"Uh..." Luka pulled out "The Four Animists" out of his bag.

When Page 257 came out and started to excitedly talk to him, the young man's jaw hit the floor. He looks at Luka like he's the greatest person alive. The forest dweller blushes, he was about to ask his friends for help, but he guess the unintended impression works too.

Was it bad he's lying to this person if it's to help them?

The young man gets on his knees and starts bowing to Luka when Page 17 came out next.

"Master! Please show me your ways!"

"Oh boy..."

...

...

...

Eugene spoke up after they enters the beach, no other human is there because It's usually the time undomesticated monster girls would shows up.

"Master Luka!"

"Please don't call me that..."

'Master Luka!'

'Not helping, Sylph!'

The young man straighten. "The truth is, master Luka. I've always wanted to date a monster girl... but I have no idea how to! Please teach me how, I really wanted a monster girlfriend like you!"

Ignoring that last part, the forest dweller thinks that Eugene's brave for willing to admits his feelings out loud like that, but it still doesn't help his case. How is he going to help this guy?

After several encounter with monster girls, all of which ended with the troubled man almost dying and Luka having to put them all to sleep. Despite the odds however, he never gave up. He keeps trying his best to find his perfect monster girlfriend throughout the whole day. In a strange way, despite his perverted dream, Luka respected the young man.

Right as he was about to call it a day due to the sun setting, Luka heard the young man gasped in shock. Turning to him, the purplette witness the man staring at something near the end of the beach, his eyes were glimmering in awe.

There's a crab girl admiring the sunset. The way her face, framed in long scarlet hairis illuminated by the golden rays of the setting sun make for a beautifulsight.

She eventually notices them staring and wave at frantically turns to Luka, his tone desperate. "What do I do, Master Luka?!"

"What comes to mind when you look at her?" The forest dweller asks him back.

"That she's gorgeous, and that I want her to use her hands and-"

"If that's trulyhow you feel." Luka cuts him off before he could ruin the moment. "Why don't you let her know?"

Back when they try this with the other monster girls, Luka saw that he only says what he thought he should, never what he really thinks (there's also the fact they all try to kill him). Now, the purplette wanted him to be honest.

"I understand... thank you, Master Luka."

Luka watches as Eugene walks to the crab girl, his face held high and determination in his eye. He was in nervouswhen the man started saying something to her, the crab girl's eyes widened in shock. Luka held his breath when she went silence, wishing the man all the luck he could.

Aswell of pride hit himwhen they both smile and hugged each other, Luka watches as laughter fills the air and their talk become more and more animated. Luka feels really happy for them, basking in each other's presence while the sun rest for the day.

Unfortunately for the shy forest dweller, they weren't done yet, as the crab girl lock the young man in a heated kiss. Flustered, Luka smile and shook his head, he was aboutto leave them to it when he sees him say something to her and-

"I'll dedicate this one to you Master Luka! Thank you so much!"

"Oh." Luka walks away from the scene, trying his best to ignore any moaning sound as his walk turn into a jog and then a sprint.

...

...

...

The next morning, the purplette went to see how the young man is doing and went to check on them. When he got there, he saw them laying on top of each other in the middle of the beach.

It was everywhere. Luka wonders how the man is still alive after all of that.

Tenderly, he asked. "Are you alright?"

"Master Luka..." Eugene replies, his body frail and weakened after what happens the previous day. "I did it. Just like you..." His voice was barely audible, but he manages to say that before passing out.

"..."

Luka decided to never take a quest like these ever again.

END OF CHAPTER


Author's note: Here's some slice of life chapter after what happens in the last one. A little bit of questing there, Luka helping people out, we get to see some repressed trauma, some terrorist tried to kill a bunch of students, Luka helps a guy get the ultimate male fantasy. You know, the average slice of life experience.

I originally wanted to have a more dramatic ending than this but decided to keep it light-hearted to fit the chapter's tone. For some reason, this ended up being slightly longer than the previous chapter even though the last one felt longer.

Halfway writing this chapter I realised that Luka still has the book and decided to make the pages into actual characters in this fic.

What is the meaning of Cogita?

Definitions: consider, reflect on, ponder. imagine, picture.

Yes, the guy's name, Eugene, is a reference to Mr. Krab from SpongeBob.