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Year 16 AL, Weight of a Promise
"Hmm-Hmm-Hmmm, Hm-Hm-Hmmm..." Luka skipped over a rock as he hummed, his purple hair flapping up and down around his head. "...Hmm-Hmm-Hmmm, Hm-Hm... Hmm-Hmm!~"
Alice's golden-eyed gaze watched Luka as he merrily capered down the stone path between Happiness Village and Iliasburg. The young Hero had been at his little song for the last couple of minutes of their traveling and thus far, showed no signs of stopping. This noise probably would've annoyed Alice normally, but at the moment, she felt oddly at peace with his light singing. However, Luka eventually proved once again to have a tendency to get distracted while traveling.
"Hmm, Hmm-... Hmm? Ooo!" He quickly stopped his skipping and left the path, drawing Alice's attention. The young Hero rushed over to a small bed of flowers sitting in the large expanse of emerald grass bordering the stone path. The flowers in question were about knee-high to the boy, their white-purple pedals swaying before him.
It was a bed of Lilac.
Luka squatted down, caressing one of the flowers with his gloved hand. He smiled, a twinkle in his pale blue eyes as he evaluated the plant life. The voice of Alice called out from behind him, "What are you doing down there?"
Her question elicited a belated response from Luka, "...I'm sorry, I just had to stop and look..." He said, turning to gaze at the Lamia. "...Lilacs are my favorite flower. They're quite beautiful." Luka pulled one of the flowers out from the ground, holding it carefully in his hands while walking back over to the main path.
Alice tilted her head at him, her long white hair cascading down the side of her face. "You stopped to look at flowers?" The Monster Lord asked, almost disbelieving in his intentions. It sounded like a joke to her, but he appeared to be completely genuine. 'This boy is getting stranger and stranger by the day.' She thought as he nodded with great enthusiasm.
"Of course!" Luka proclaimed, "One should always take time to appreciate sights like this. Besides, we're not too far from Iliasburg, so spending a little bit of time off the beaten path won't hurt." He said, holding the flower up before continuing down the path.
Alice followed, shaking her head as she went. "Maybe, but we've already taken quite a bit of detours. Are little purple flowers really important enough to stop for? The Monster Lord won't be defeated by a bouquet, you know." The young Hero shrugged his shoulders, "That's not really my point. Even if the Monster Lord's Castle is my goal, that doesn't mean I have to charge all the way there every second of every day."
Luka glanced up at her, his thoughts going backward a bit. "You know, I figured you would've been a fan of flowers, Alice, since you have some in your hair."
The Lamia pointed up to the reddish-peach-colored flowers in question, "These aren't just regular flowers." She informed him, "They are a part of me." Luka's face lit up in surprise, looking more closely at the items as they continued down the path. He gave a questioning hum before settling on accepting the fact. "Ahhh... I always wondered how they stayed there so well."
The purple-haired boy looked down at the Lilac flower in his hand, twirling it in his gloved fingers for a moment. In his mind, Luka felt an idea brewing but had a bit of hesitation in how to go about doing it until he simply decided to take a wild stab in the dark.
In a move that surprised Alice some, Luka's arm shot out and stopped her, the white-purple Lilac presented in his hand. "H-Here, if you want, you can put these up with the other flowers in your hair. I-I'd think they'd look nice there."
Alice appraised the boy's action with a curious glance, debating the offer in her head. On the face of it the gesture was innocent enough, though even still, a sudden tenseness came to her chest as she plucked the flower from his grip. The Lamia looked it over with her golden eyes, thinking about whether or not she should entertain the gesture.
Eventually, the Monster Lord made her decision. "Well, they aren't too horrid, I suppose." She brought it up to the left side of her face, the green vines sprouting from the flowers in her hair to reach out and wrap around the Lilac's stem. They locked the new flower into place right between the old ones. The act brought a small smile to Luka's face, a funny type of happiness seeming to radiate from him.
Alice noticed him somehow get an extra skip in his step as Iliasburg began to come into view. After a few silent minutes of walking, they were steadfastly approaching one of the entrance gates. Alice shifted back into her Human disguise with a huff, beginning to get tired of having to flip and flop between forms so much.
Luka glanced up at the buildings beyond, noticing in particular the tall visage of the town's Temple of Ilias. He frowned, coming to a startling realization. 'I haven't prayed to the Goddess in a long time.' He shrugged off the guilt that hit him, reserving to fix that as soon as he could. After all, he did have some things he wanted to speak to Ilias about, if possible.
Putting the thought to the side, Luka again turned to his traveling partner. "So, do you want to go straight to the Sutherlands Inn, or should we make the other stops first?" Alice's head snapped to turn over to the boy, peering at him in confusion at his question. "Other stops? What other stops do you have to make?" She asked him, her voice lifting an octave as a bit of annoyance bled through.
Luka wrung his fingers around each other, suddenly becoming nervous. "W-Well... I kinda wanted to make sure those Former Bandits were doing well, you know? I'm worried about how good they're fitting in." Alice sighed, not believing that the boy would care that much about the bunch to actually check in on them.
"Oi, you really like to waste time, don't you?" She asked rhetorically. To that, Luka squirmed around a bit more before answering. "I-I just want to make sure they're happy. I know how difficult it is to fit in, and I don't want them to have that same trouble..." Alice paused at the statement, her gaze rounding on Luka as he kept his eyes facing the ground. She mulled over his words a bit, thinking over what she knew about him.
'Strange, he's so overly nice and cordial to people that one would assume he'd be the type to "fit in" easily. Yet, the way he speaks about it indicates something else...' The Lamia hummed, listing out to herself other bits and pieces the boy had said about his social life. '...Now that I think of it, he never actually mentions having any friends, does he?'
Another little bit of information to file away for the moment.
The odd pair entered Iliasburg, the sights inside being much the same as it was the last time they were there. Hustle and bustle, and all that. They walked through the marketplace, the Humans of Iliasburg all shuffling around as they made their rounds through the town square.
Luka glanced about, wondering where to begin. 'Well, Papi would probably be with the blacksmith and I for sure know where that is. Gob might be at a warehouse here, but I have no idea where that's at. And as for the other two...' Luka frowned, bringing a hand to his chin. '...By Ilias, I don't have any clue where Teeny and Vanilla would actually be.'
Luka eventually gave a small shrug, 'Well, I'm sure Papi would be able to point me in the right direction, at least. So, if I just go to the blacksmith, I should-' His thoughts were interrupted by the sudden appearance of one of the four he was looking for.
"Move, move, move!"
The purple-haired boy turned to the side, able to only catch a glimpse of the blonde-haired Goblin Girl running up to him. Before he could even utter a greeting, Luka was caught off-guard by the sheer strength of Gob as she nearly tackled him, wrapping her small arms around him aggressively. Alice grumbled a bit to herself at the display, the blue-eyed Goblin Girl's forceful nuzzling into Luka's chest drawing her ire for a second time.
Luka separated from her, looking down at the girl with a smile. "Hello, Gob, how have things been since I left?" The smaller Goblin bounced on her heels, her body seemingly brimming full of energy. "It's great! Turns out that I'm good with running around and transporting things, I just got done with a delivery!" She shifted from foot to foot, almost hopping now.
Luka nodded, placing his hands on his hips as he appraised the younger girl. "Well, I'm glad to hear that you're getting along so well. I'm proud of you, Gob." The Goblin girl's face took on a small pink blush as she quickly becoming bashful. "Ha-Ha, th-thank y-you..." Was all she could whisper out, her eyes unable to meet his gaze now.
Alice rolled her eyes at the cutesy display, feeling herself grow sick from it.
"Ehem, Luka?" The disguised Lamia said, gaining the boy's attention. "This one seems to be doing well, should we not get to the others already?" Gob shot a heated look to Alice, not seeming very happy that she had, for the second time since they'd met, taken Luka's attention away from the Goblin girl. Luka, unaware of Gob's irritation, scratched at the back of his head at Alice's reminder.
"Ah, yeah, I suppose we should." Luka replied, turning to Gob once again. "Hey, Gob. Do you know where the others are at here?" The blonde-haired Goblin perked up a bit at the boy's question. "Yeah, Papi works with the Blacksmith, Vanilla is at the Toolshop, and Teeny is the new receptionist at the Sutherlands!" Luka hummed, impressed that all of them were able to find their places so well.
"I'm glad to hear that, I'll make sure to stop by and say hello to them all..." Luka glanced at Alice, who had her arms crossed at him impatiently. "...And then we'll be taking our leave after that. I promise!" However, his words seemed to upset the Former Bandit of Earth. Gob stepped closer to him with a disheartened look. "Y-You're leaving again so soon? You can't stay for just a bit longer?"
Luka's mouth formed a thin line, a bit of guilt coming to him upon hearing her tone. "I'm sorry, I still have a long journey ahead of me, I can't stick around for long." The Goblin girl's attitude dropped even further, her face contorting in dismay. Luka's own face fell at her expression, and he bent over a bit to look her straight in the eyes. "Hey now, don't get so down about it-"
Gob cut him off, "-When will you be back!?" Luka flinched at her tone and looked away from her, having no real guess as to how long it would take him to go to Hellgondo and back, since coming back to Iliasburg wasn't something necessarily factored into his trip.
Luka solemnly shook his head, "I'm not really sure when I can be back, Gob." He said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "It may be a while, but I'll try my best to come back to visit you guys again. Hey, we could even have another picnic together or something, my treat!" Gob gave a little grin, though not all of it reached her eyes.
"O-Okay, sounds great!" She exclaimed, looking the boy up and down again. Quickly, she hugged him once more, this time letting go by herself without Alice's interference. "S-See you later, Luka!" Gob called out, dashing swiftly through the crowd in a hurry. Luka's pale blue eyes followed her, a bit conflicted by the interaction. With a small wince, he turned around to move on, though his heart felt a bit heavier now.
'I don't like how sad Gob seemed there. I didn't realize that she was that fond of me.' Luka furrowed his brows before returning his attention to the task at hand. Demeanor aside, Gob seemed to be doing nicely, so now he had to find the other three.
Luka raised his gaze to scan the nearby buildings. However, he had a bit of trouble since all the residents of Iliasburg stood a good bit taller than him. 'Well, they say that men keep growing until their twenties, I have four years still. Maybe I'll get to an average height by then!'
Unfortunately, not even Ilias herself could change that.
Alice, noticing Luka's obvious trouble as he tried to get on the tip of his toes to see. The disguised Lamia looked around, finding herself having to compensate for the boy's vertical impairment if she wanted to get them out of there quickly. Without much trouble, she found one of his stopping points. "There." She exclaimed, pointing to the Toolshop. "That's where one of your friends should be."
Luka followed her finger, seeing the general direction of the next stop. "Thanks, Alice!" He said, heading towards the small building.
After a bit of jostling, Luka found himself in front of the Toolshop, which should have Vanilla inside if Gob's information was correct. Alice remained outside as Luka pushed the door open and headed inside, seeing shelves of assorted houseware materials. 'Huh, looks like you can get a lot of different stuff here.' He thought as he looked at all the various shelves of jars and fabrics.
As he looked around the cozy store, he was greeted by a taller blonde-haired young man. The storekeeper looked him over, noticing his particular features and the sword on his back. "Ah, so you must be the purple-haired Hero I heard about. Welcome, are you looking for anything particular today?" He asked, his tone upbeat.
Luka shook his head as he replied, "No, nothing to buy. I was looking for a friend, her name is Vanilla?" The shopkeeper nodded, adjusting his green apron some as he turned to the side and lifted a hand to point over to a couple of rows of shelves. "She should be right over there, stocking some product over in those aisles." Luka gave the man a quick "Thank you" before heading over to the shelving in question, his boots clacking lightly against the wooden flooring.
The young Hero rounded one of the ends of the aisles, coming upon a curious sight. Kneeling on the ground was the blonde-haired Vampire girl, however, there was something very different about her attire.
Luka gaped at the fact that Vanilla was, in fact, not almost naked anymore.
In addition to the large black cloak the red-eyed Vampire had, she also wore a pair of tan shorts that, while they didn't fall too far down her legs, were far better than the offensively small panties she had on before. That and, underneath a green apron similar to what the shopkeeper had been wearing, the small girl wore a simple white button-up shirt.
The purple-haired boy grinned, noticing the pouting face of the Vampire as she rearranged some jars of pins and needles. He waltzed up to her, his hands behind his back. "Hello, Vanilla..." The Former Bandit of Wind looked over to him, a wicked grin coming to her face. However, the expression fell once Luka pointed out the Vampire's change of attire. "...I see that you've had a change of heart with your clothing."
Vanilla stomped, huffing angrily at his comment. "As if! I wouldn't be wearing these horrible articles if I had a choice. But apparently, if one wishes to hold a job in Iliasburg they must adhere to..." Vanilla held up her hands, her fingers flexing to pantomime quotation marks. "...Common Decency!"
She scoffed at the idea. "To think, my natural beauty must be restricted by such offensive garments!" The small Vampire pulled at her collar, an exaggerated display of discomfort. "Tell me, you can't say that this is an improvement over how I appeared before, can you!?"
Luka quickly nodded before replying, "I do, yeah. You know, some people are said to look better in uniform." To that, Vanilla's red eyes squinted, an improper gleam in her gaze. "Ohhh, are you saying I look more attractive in this?~" She said, leaning in close to him. The young Hero flinched, not having expected his words to so easily be flipped on himself. "W-Well, I can't say for certain. I just meant that some people see it that way." He answered, to which the Vampire girl grinned devilishly.
"That didn't sound like a noooo..." Vanilla snickered. Then, quickly, her laughing stopped, and her eyes widened as she thought of something. "...Ooo, you know, I have something you might be interested in. Wait here!" She said, leaving the aisle to sprint away. Luka stood still for a moment, eventually opting to look around the shelving as he patiently waited. Not more than a couple of seconds later, Vanilla came back, her arms clasped around her back as her face wore a particularly excited grin.
Luka tilted his head at her, somewhat concerned by the intense look on the Vampire's face. "Well, what is-"
"Eyes of Obedience!"
Her red eyes lit up, meeting Luka's somewhat confused gaze. Again, like last time, the boy's Holy magic leaked from the ring on his left hand and caused the incantation to reflect harmlessly off of him. Unaware of this, Vanilla presented the object she had found for the boy. In her grasp, was...
...An armor-plated jockstrap.
Vanilla's face held a perverted gaze, and the Vampire's blonde locks swished as she took a step forward. "I really, really want you to go model this for me, Luka. I think it would look very good on you..." She closed the distance, putting a hand on his shoulder as she drew close. "...Of course, you'll need to take all your clothes off to really model it properly..."
Vanilla giggled, misinterpreting Luka's look of quiet shock as him being hypnotized. "...If you follow me to the changing room, I can help you fit into it. Although, if I have my hands too full helping you, it might take a while getting it on. But we can always get you off instead~" Luka stood there, silent as the Vampire continued to chuckle away, her hand sliding down to caress his chest...
...Until he grabbed at her hand, pulling it away. "Erm, no." Luka said as lightly pushed her hand away, taking a step away after he did. "Not doing that."
Vanilla stood with an incredulous look until she finally tossed the garment over her shoulder, the item clattering on the ground. "Guess I shoulda seen that one coming." She grumbled, returning to her cart of product. "Well, nice seeing you, Luka. I wish you safe travels and all that, blah, blah, blaaah..." Luka shook his head at her behavior, "Alright Vanilla, stay out of trouble!" He exclaimed as he turned to leave, content with how the Vampire girl was doing.
Luka pulled open the shop's front door, waving goodbye to the shopkeeper before coming out to the sidewalk. He took a look around, quickly finding Alice standing outside waiting for him. She nudged her head to the side, "Come on, let's get going. I'm getting bored waiting on you." The young Hero held his hands up defensively but said nothing in reply as he headed for the blacksmith's shop, not needing help this time as he had been there before.
After just a half minute of walking, they arrived, Alice opting to stay outside once more. Upon walking into the familiar place, Luka could hear the sound of metal hitting metal.
As Luka walked further in, he heard the voice of the blacksmith yelling. "Strike when the Iron is Hot is not just some old proverb! It is the way of the blacksmith, our lifestyle! To really mold the metal, one must attack it at just the right time!" At his words, another loud clanging resounded throughout the building. Luka glanced around curiously, pacing through the place until he found a corner of the store that he had not ventured to last time.
In this corner was a fire pit, set with a chimney leading up and out of the ceiling. Right beside it was an anvil, at which the large blacksmith and Papi the Dragon Pup were standing at. The man had a hammer in one hand and a long sword in the other, held up in the air and ready to strike. Luka watched as the sparks flew, flashing in the air like fireworks. Papi jumped up and down, an excited gleam in her yellow eyes.
The blacksmith caught a glimpse of the boy in the corner of his eye and put his hammer to the side to wave in greeting. "Ah, it's the Hero! Come to check up on this one's progress? She's been a great help to me, so far." The older man's words made Papi turn, her already wide eyes somehow growing larger upon seeing the purple-haired boy.
The Dragon Pup ran up to him with loud steps, her scaly feet clattering against the wood floor before she came to a stop right in front of him. "Hiya, Luka!" She exclaimed, her bright white fangs flashing in the wide grin she gave. Luka smiled back, "Hello, Papi. How have you been?" He asked her, to which the small Dragon Pup giddily shuffled about, making her purple ponytail flail around.
"It's been great! Turns out I really like forging metal!" She said, before her face calmed down some and settled into a more pensive look. "So, are you going to hang around here for a while?" Luka shook his head, a bit of regret in his tone as he answered. "No, I just wanted to visit and check in on you four real quick. I've already seen Gob and Vanilla, so after you and Teeny I'm going on my way."
"Aww," Papi whined out, disappointment evident on her face. However, it didn't last long, as her grin came back full force while her large eyebrows furrowed playfully. "Well, that's alright. As long as you promise not to keep away for too long!" Luka chuckled at the girl's energy, raising his hands up in mock defense. "Okay, okay, I promise I'll be back someday. Just don't expect it to be too soon."
Papi flashed her teeth in a wide smile, before running back to the blacksmith. Luka noticed that the man had an odd look in his eyes as he watched the Dragon Pup return, leaning down to whisper something to her. She nodded enthusiastically, taking the sword and hammer in her hands before she started banging away at the weapon.
The blacksmith removed his gloves, placing them on a nearby worktable before approaching the boy, conflict swimming in his dark eyes. "Hey, can you give me a second, kid?" He asked.
Luka slowly nodded his head up and down as the man approached, "Um, sure. What do you need?" The large man glanced back at Papi, seeming to find her sufficiently distracted for the moment before turning back to the much shorter boy. He frowned, running a hand through his thinning hair for a moment in thought. "It's not so much something I need, but more of something you probably should think about."
Luka shuffled a bit, somewhat taken off-guard by the somber tone the man's voice seemed to have taken. The blacksmith continued, "Look, I don't mean to offend or make you feel bad, I swear. But I got a piece of advice for you..."
He sighed some, looking as if he had to force his gaze to meet Luka's "...Considering your status as a Hero, you may not want to go around promising people that you'll be coming back. And you should especially not promise that to girls." He stressed the last part specifically, causing Luka to take a pause in thought.
The man continued, a certain sadness coming to his eyes that bothered the boy. "Again, nothing against you, but I've been doing this blacksmith job for a long time. Most of my life, in fact. Which is something I take pride in. I've had a lot of Heroes come through and buy my wares and say to people that they'll be back to this fine town once they've gone and slain the Monster Lord. You wanna know how many of them I've seen come back?" He stopped, letting the question hang in the air.
Luka felt the weight of his words drop down on him, his pale blue eyes looking up uncertainly at the taller man. The blacksmith lowered his look to the ground, his head shaking slowly. "Not a damn one of them." His pained words came out hushed, causing the boy to flinch some. The man met his gaze again, a frown on his face. "I've seen all sorts come through. Tall and short, young and old, from all walks of life. But the one thing they have in common, is that they never return."
Luka hesitated at the man's words, gazing over to Papi to watch her happily smash the sword into place with her hammer. Then, he thought back to Gob, who had seemed especially upset at his departure. 'I shouldn't have promised them I'd be back then?' He asked himself, the thought bringing regret to the forefront of his mind.
The blacksmith noticed his look, raising a hand to him. "Now, I'm not saying to start feeling bad about it. Who knows, I could be wrong, and you'll be the first to actually come back. But someone in your position shouldn't promise things that you might not be able to deliver on. You understand?"
The purple-haired boy's gaze had fallen to the floor, his spirit having become forlorn. The blacksmith scratched at the back of his head, feeling as though he'd gotten his point across a bit too effectively. He almost made to backpedal a bit on his statement, but Luka beat him to the punch. "Yeah, I-I guess you are right about that. Thank you, sir. I'll, u-uh, be taking my leave now I-I think." He said, turning away from the man and heading for the door.
'For what it's worth, I hope you do come back...' The man thought, watching the boy exit the shop. '...Or at the very least, not end up as just another statistic.' He turned away, watching Papi strike at the sword, a rascally smirk on her face.
Luka stepped out onto the sidewalk, all previous merriment and joyfulness seemingly sucked right out of him now. The young boy automatically began moving in the direction of the Sutherlands, not hearing as Alice gave some sort of remark to him. Instead, he kept walking, his mind lost in thought.
'That really puts things into perspective. I really shouldn't be telling people that I'll be coming to visit when I'm finished with my quest. Well, if I finish it, that is.' It wasn't an idea he tried to dwell on, but his own mortality was something Luka was really starting to contemplate. But suddenly, he was taken from the negative thoughts by a rough hand on his shoulder.
Luka flinched, becoming turned around by the gloved hand of Alice who was looking down at him with some annoyance. "Hey, you better not be ignoring me on purpose!" She said, causing him to sheepishly wring his hands together. "E-Eh, sorry Alice. I just had my mind elsewhere." He answered truthfully.
Alice tilted her head to the side, the white-purple Lilac in her hair flowing alongside the other flowers as her white hair waved around. "Yeah, that's what I was trying to talk to you about. You came out of there looking like someone just kicked your puppy."
Luka bit his lip, sending a small pang of pain through it. 'Not sure if I really wanna talk about that right now, if at all.' He thought, trying to figure out a way to dissuade her from asking about the incident further. Eventually, he decided to shrug it off, hoping his friend would simply allow him to drop it.
"Oh, i-it's n-nothing..." Luka said, cursing himself mentally at his pronounced stuttering. "...L-Let's just, erm, get to the Sutherlands quick. I don't want to waste too much time."
Alice peered down at him for a while, noticing that his words weren't matching how he had been carrying himself. He was the one who had been talking about taking time to stop and appreciate things just minutes before, after all. However, the Monster Lord didn't move to question him, for now. Instead, she just gave him a quick reply of, "Alright, lead the way."
Luka turned around, again heading for the town's most pronounced landmark. The large white building quickly came into sight, the late-morning sun causing the facade to glimmer splendidly. The duo quickly came through the front doors, being immediately greeted by the Sutherland's Innkeeper.
"Ah, the young Hero and his traveling partner..." She said with a wink. "...Were you able to resolve the issue with Happiness Village?" Luka raised an eyebrow at the older woman's cadence when referring to Alice but ignored it to answer her question by opening his bag and revealing a jar of Honey.
The woman's eyes glittered, a large smile coming to her face. "Wonderful!" She exclaimed, "This will help out so much!" Alice stepped up, an expectant look in her eyes. "Sooooo, about that Ama-Ama Dango I was promised?" The Innkeeper gave a wide smile, nodding vigorously.
"Oh yes, we'll get started right away. It shouldn't take too long. Let me just take this..." The Innkeeper grabbed the jar of Honey from Luka's hand, retreating down a hallway to go get the Dango prepared. As the Innkeeper left, the fourth figure in the room finally let herself be known. Teeny, who had been watching the interaction from behind the receptionist desk, gave a tiny wave to the two.
"Hello, Luka." She greeted, her emerald eyes shining warmly at Luka in particular. Luka responded with a light smile, walking up to the front desk.
The purple-haired boy noticed that she was still wearing his Father's red cape, the garment snuggled up like a scarf around her neck. "Hi, Teeny. How have you been?" The small Lamia's face brightened at his question, "I've been good, I actually really like doing this. It isn't so hard..." She paused, her face scrunching up some. "...Except when we get weirdos coming in here."
Luka tilted his head at her, "Weirdos?"
Teeny glanced down at the desk, opening up what appeared to be a catalog of the hotel's guests. "Well, these two strange women came in last night. One of them in particular was awfully odd, what was her name?" The Tiny Lamia scanned through the list of names, a pensive look in her gaze before she found it. "Aha, there she is..." She read the name out loud. "...Cupi."
Luka's heart nearly stopped, his body twitching violently at the name, an icy wave of a nearly forgotten memory washing over him. "C-C-Cupi!?" He choked out, eliciting the curious gazes of both Teeny and Alice. The cape-wearing Lamia peered at him closely, "Luka, do you know this woman?" The purple-haired boy's breathing inadvertently quickened.
Panic rose in his throat, keeping him from even attempting to answer. He remembered it clearly; The pink-hearted pupil, the lewd woman's voice, her suggestive words.
And then everything that happened after. Trying to wake his Mother, going to buy groceries, and then the teal-haired Monster... attempting to rape him...
...No, that day didn't happen. It was a dream. He was sure of it! That's why he blacked out, that was the dream ending. It was just a strange, awful nightmare. A terrible nightmare that didn't actually happen. There was no Monster and there was no Cupi. There couldn't have been. It just didn't make sense.
'Calm down, Luka.' He thought. 'You're just getting worked up over stupid childhood nightmares.'
Luka gave Teeny a strained smile, "Uhh, no, no, I don't know anyone named Cupi. It seemed familiar, but I was wrong. Haha..." His empty chuckle was meant to calm the air, but it only grew more tense as Teeny stared at him worryingly. Alice, standing a little way behind the boy, also didn't look convinced by his words.
The young Hero cleared his throat, looking back to the small Lamia as he attempted to continue past the subject. "...A-Anyways, I-I just wanted to make sure that you and the others were doing good here in Iliasburg before I left."
"Are... Are you coming back?" Teeny's voice was quiet, her tone showing her downheartedness.
Luka fought the sigh that threatened to escape, the question putting him on the spot. "Well, Teeny, I..." He clenched and unclenched a fist in thought, remembering what the blacksmith had said about promising things he couldn't guarantee. "...I'll try my best, okay?" He settled on the non-answer, though it tasted sour on his tongue to say it that way.
The Former Bandit of Water failed to catch the emptiness of his words, smiling as if he had promised to stay there forever. "O-Okay, just try to come back soon." She said, a small blush coming to her cheeks.
Luka felt like he was going to throw up, guilt very suddenly wracking his body. He fought through it, willing himself to look natural as his body internally went haywire at the thought of these four girls waiting for someone who would never return.
But something gave way...
The eight-year old Luka ran to his Father, his white nightwear flapping behind him as if a heavy wind was blowing through Ilias Village. Luka nearly knocked Marcellus over as he tackled him from behind. The young boy latched tightly onto the purple-haired man's leg, trying his best to keep him from leaving.
"L-Luka!" He heard his Father stutter out, surprise evident in his voice. Luka gazed up, tears already threatening to spill as he gazed up to his Father, Marcellus. The sky behind the man's shocked face was dark, as it was very early in the morning.
"What are you doing up, son?" Luka's Father asked, worry evident in his tone. "You should be asleep right now!" Luka glanced up to him, tears already threatening to fall.
"I-I don't w-want you l-leaving again!" The little boy exclaimed, his small fingers latching onto his Father's pant leg. The man frowned, placing a hand on his son's head. "Luka, we already talked about this, remember? This trip will be my last, I made sure of it. After that, I'll be around the house a lot more than I have been."
Luka clung to him all the same. "I-I know, b-but..." The boy's breathing was erratic, a horrible sense of panic settling in him. "...I-I-I just, I-I..." He quickly became a stuttering mess, unable to articulate any of the thoughts running through his mind. The worry, the loneliness, the misery. All of it he felt at the idea of his Father leaving again, but he couldn't put the feelings into words.
"Hey there..." Marcellus whispered. Luka let go of his Father's legs as the taller man knelt down to come down at Luka's level. "...You trust me, don't you son?" The purple-haired boy nodded quickly, no hesitation to answering the question.
His Father placed a hand on his shoulder, "Then know that I'll be back home as soon as I can, son. I promise."
Luka nodded again, before wrapping another hug around his Father's larger form. Marcellus hugged him back. The coldness of the air tickled at Luka's face, but he remained clung to his Father. Deep down, he hoped that if he held on long and tight enough...
...Maybe his Father would change his mind...
...Maybe his Father would never leave and they'd be a happy family always and forever.
Marcellus let go, inadvertently spurring Luka to release his hug as well. "Alright Luka, you need to go back inside now." The purple-haired boy stared up to his Father as he rose, his face still wet from his crying. Marcellus reached down with a gloved hand and wiped away the wetness from his cheeks before taking his hand and leading him back to the house.
Suddenly, Luka became aware of the fact that at some point, Teeny had started hugging him. He looked down, his vision blurry from the tears he had started to shred. The young Hero rubbed at his eyes furiously before seeing the small Lamia gazing up at him in a panic.
"L-Luka, wh-what's wrong? Y-You just froze, a-and started crying..." Teeny trailed off, not knowing what else to say.
The purple-haired boy shook, not even sure how to answer. He looked around, before seeing Alice standing off to the side. Her gaze met his, an unsettled look in her eyes. Evidently, this episode of his even managed to disturb his usually aloof friend. Luka felt himself turning red, embarrassment now flooding his system.
Luka looked down to Teeny, grabbing her shoulders to both reassure her and to get her off of him. "It-It's a-alright, Teeny." He said, though the small Lamia looked unconvinced whilst begrudgingly letting go of him.
"I-I just, um..." He wracked his mind for an explanation until he realized that he quite literally didn't have one. "...I just need to... I-I need to get some air!" Luka turned to Alice who, to her credit, actually appeared a bit concerned. "Y-You can have the Dango without me, Alice. I-I'm not very hungry right now." He turned on his heel, briskly shoving his way out the door and into the street outside.
Luka left them behind, his mind stewing over the first and last time his Father ever broke a promise to him.
Meanwhile, the two bewildered Lamias he left behind stood still in the lobby of the Sutherlands, neither of them quite sure as to what had just occurred. Teeny appeared worried, nervously wringing on the faded red cape around her neck. Alice, for her part, was debating on whether chasing after Luka would be a good idea or not.
On one hand, it would be a bit unbecoming for the Monster Lord to run around after a boy just because he was upset. But on the other hand, he seemed to be seriously disturbed by something.
CRASH
"O-Okay, sorry for the wait, Heroes, the Dango is ready!" The Sutherland's Innkeeper declared as she burst back through the doors she had disappeared into minutes prior. The disheveled woman held a plate in hand, which had on it six sticks of somewhat hastily made looking Ama-Ama Dango. The older woman looked around, noticing Luka's absence.
"Oh, where did they boy go?" She asked, to which Alice quickly gave an excuse. "He went to the bathroom." The Innkeeper gave a quick nod of understanding while Teeny peered at Alice in confusion at her lie.
"Ah, well, when nature calls you go." She said, before a thought came to her mind. "...So, since he's gone, I figured I'd ask..." She gave Alice a coy look, "...Did those stretches help you two at all?"
Actually got this chapter done pretty quick. A bit uneventful, as my original intent hadn't been to reserve a whole chapter for going back through Iliasburg but, I really wanted to have Luka interact with the Four Bandits one more time. I kinda have a soft spot for them I'll be honest. That, and I needed to add a bit more conflict with Luka here, as he's forced to really think about what type of responsibility he has as a Hero and how important it really is.
Next chapter will see the return of Ilias in the fold, and we'll actually start going to Enrika. Soon, Luka is to meet his Aunt, which will have some interesting complications of its own. If you've been wondering why she's been on the outs in this story as of late, you'll find out why real soon.
Proud Parent: Well with the sheer scope I'm working at here, this was never going to be a short fanfic. I'm just trying to craft something truly unique.
Guest: Writing for the Heinrich and Alicetroemeria parts will be one of my favorite parts to write I think. There's a lot I want to expand on with them in this fanfic. As for the Angels under Wormiel and Ranael, you pretty well hit it on the head. They're just chaotic, corrupted creatures who have very warped and twisted minds. Of course, it all started with the Cherub Wormiel herself, which is something I'll expand upon as we go on.
Nighthunter531: Yup, she'll be much more clingy. Pretty well expect her to try and keep Luka's attention off of other Monsters throughout this fanfiction, with varying success.
Chronotimeguard: Yeah, I almost feel bad that I had to cut things so short between her and Luka since she is honestly one of the more pleasant characters to work with, but we couldn't stay in Happiness Village forever. But their paths will cross again, though when we get there things may be a bit more complicated.
As for Luka and Alice, you can pretty well expect that their intimacy in the Harpy's Village won't be the last. Though I figured that's a given. Can't have all that emotional conflict and on-again off-again sexual tension without giving some sort of payoff, after all.
And I'm glad you mentioned the pheromone thing, because while I haven't explicitly mentioned it, it is most definitely in full effect. That's why I keep putting emphasis on floral smells. Because, in a way, it's kinda like an On switch for Luka.