Before I knew it a week had gone by, Clover and I were exiting the dungeon and heading back home, "Man I might have enough money left over for that book I've had my eye on,"
I felt great, we arrived home had dinner and everybody was getting their status updated Clover:(LV1:•Strength:H123G200
•Endurance:G213F313
•Dexterity:G224F356
•Agility:H189G227
•Magic:I0)
"Woah, I really grew this week"! He said as his face lit up, "You are no longer dead to me, ha just kidding you never were," he said patting my head. "See what happens when you actually take time to focus on your improvement" "That training really pushed you, and to think we only added a extra person to punish you" "If this is a punishment then punish me for life" "Don't tempt me" Shakti said bursting and into the room.
"Ahhh you're supposed to knock, you realize if the roles were reversed you'd probably punch me and break my nose" Clover said smugly. "Oh well, Lord Genesha my turn"
I said, removing my shirt, "I am Genesha" "And I am waiting so let's get on with it" I said, I looked at him and he was sweating intensely. "Lord Genesha, I know you like to be a dramatic show boat but we have a curfew so we need you to speed it up"
"But, perhaps we can wait another week for I am-" "Do you want him to get killed?" she shouts, and he touched my back and felt the sensation of him updating my status. "Don't be mad at him Ms Shakti, I'm sure he is just worried I'll be disappointed with the results, dad already told me the higher the ranking the harder it'll be to raise my status so I won't be surprised if I have minimal improvement." I said,
"Uh, this shouldn't be possible" "What did I gain a new skill, tell me tell me what's going on with you Lord Genesha, you've been acting strange since last week"
"I'm sure he's just being dramatic Craiku I don't think anything happened with…holy shit"!
She yelled, she immediately covered her mouth and she seemed embarrassed about swearing around me. "Excuse my language, that was inappropriate" she said as her face slowly turned red. He placed the paper on my back, "What, what happened?" He removed it and handed it to me. Craiku:(LV1: •Strength:F356500D
•Endurance:D501588D
•Dexterity:F357534D
•Agility:E489566D
•Magic:D517598D=22112786), "Say WHAT!?" this is a new development, I mean that quite literally, holy cow that is a huge improvement. Over 500, 575 to be exact. There was no way I could have improved this much, I mean I haven't been fighting Evilus lately so I should have earned less excela. "Lord Genesha are you sure this is my status check, sure it doesn't belong to Ms Shakti or one of the other members"?
"I am Genesha and I'm perfectly capable of copying numbers on a piece of paper" he said. "Mind explaining how in the world I could have gained this much excela in a mere week Clover and I were doing the same thing and his status is lower so shouldn't he be making major jumps instead of me, nearly every basic ability is in the D rank. Isn't that kinda insane"? I asked. "Well you are a talented child"
"So is Adree and Clover, and Ms Shakti is stronger than the three of us combined" she raised her hand, "Uh actually I wouldn't say that I'm stronger than all three of-" "So I have no idea how this happened. Well not that I'm complaining but I'm just a little confused is all" I asked. "I am Genesha not all knowing"! He said turning around crossing his arms. He knows something about this and he just doesn't want to tell me. "Lord Genesha,"!
"You are a Rising Star that's why you grew so much and that's all you need to know"
"But what does that even-"
"Do not question it embrace it, you have always been down on yourself so this is a sign you were talking nonsense all this time"! He turned me around and left me in front of the mirror, "Now say it"
"Say what" "You are a Rising Star," "But I'm not a rising star I'm just Craiku"
"Wrong, I will never see you as just Craiku, you are much more than that, you are the rising star. Now say it or there will be no dessert tomorrow night" Noo Adree's Apple pie is the best. Well I might as well,
"I am the rising star" "Not like that, with more confidence than that, like I say I am Genesha"! Please kill me, "I am the rising star"!
"Again"! "I am the rising star" "One more time"! "I am the rising star!" "If anyone asks how you grew so fast what do you tell them"!? "Uh because I am the rising star"!? "Correct and if they deny that answer say it over and over again until they admit defeat and accept that answer because that is the truth and if they can't accept it it'll spell doom for us all" "Doom but why-"
"Don't ask questions just give answers and the answer to why you're so amazing is"?
"I AM THE RISING STAR"!
In the end I kept repeating it for over an hour before he let me go. I said it so many times I just gave up on getting an explanation for my rapid growth rate and I honestly don't care anymore, which is probably what he was going for, but I just don't care. I laid down in my bed, "I am a rising star I am a rising star I am a rising star"
I muttered over and over again, "Geez was it that bad"
"He made me say it for over an hour, I knew Lord Genesha was insane but he really took the cake today."
I can't get it out of my head, it's like he's trying to hide something from me but he wants me to hide it by giving such a nonsense answer to whoever asks. "Well perhaps he was telling the truth about why you grew so much and you just don't want to believe it because you have a hard time accepting that you're special" he suggested, "I can't accept something that isn't tr-" he gave me a look,
"Ok perhaps my self esteem could use a little work but even you have to admit that over 500 points in a week is kinda crazy"
"Crazy for most people but not for you. Besides my growth is nothing to scoff at either, I grew a rank in every aspect."
He said, "But-" "Look Craiku, this is the dark age of Orairo, we shouldn't question amazing things when they happen, we should simply embrace them. To me it's surprising but I've seen you do some crazy things so not surprising in hindsight" he said putting his hat up for the night as he laid down.
"Just accept it as fact, I think you'll end up being stronger than all of us and end up saving our skins one day when it really counts, good night our rising star" he said. "Good night my friend".
Today I was taking a break from the dungeon to patrol the city of Oriaro, "Well, it's nice to take a break from the dungeon for a while. But I admit I'd rather be smashing in monster's faces" I said, "Well with how much stronger you've gotten I wanna see how you perform this time, hopefully you never have to fight at all" Shakti said,
"Highly doubtful" I said, she looked like she was gonna argue back but she refused, "I can't even disagree with that statement,"
"You and Clover look after Main Street, there's been a lot of crime here lately" we both salute,
"We got it covered"! We say at the same time, "Sis are you sure it's a good idea to leave them by themselves" "Adree we can't always be around to protect them, Craiku's been taking care of himself since before we even found him. And look how far he's already come" both of them walked away, I'm not gonna lie, it kinda hurts hearing Adree doubting us.
"Don't take it personally, she's just worried about us" "I know but it still hurts to know that" we both began patrolling the area and made sure everyone got from point A to B without being harassed by the Evilus or any other low lives. I saw a man trying to corner a woman and her child and I was about to go deal with him, "I got this one," Clover said, he walked over and he grabbed the woman's hand and he got her away from him. "Classic Clover always puts on a show", as I marveled at my friend, I suddenly felt on guard "…?!"
Something's behind me! Behind my right shoulder!
Nothing…? I'm not the kind of adventurer who can sense danger or anything, but I swear I felt the eyes of a killer on my back… Something saw me. Were they sizing me up? Whoever this is, they're not normal, and they aren't holding anything back.
There's someone on the café terrace setting up tables, two animal people standing on that corner over there, and a woman looking down from the roof of that shop… My eyes are jumping back and forth to all the people I can find. Maybe I missed someone over my other shoulder? Everything looks normal for early mornings on Main Street. There isn't even
a suspicious shadow around. Then again, I probably look pretty suspicious, standing in the center of the road with my head on a swivel. As soon as I look at
anyone, though, they get right back to work. Am I going crazy? Is the black hole in my gut playing tricks on me? My heart is pounding in my ears. I know there's definitely something around here… "Um, excuse me…" "!"
I spin around and raise my fists to defend against the source of the voice. But what I saw was anything but a threat, she was wearing a waitress outfit, carrying two crates. She has brown hair and eyes with cat ears and a tail of the same color. "Oh my goodness I'm so sorry I didn't mean to get worked up like that I thought you were a threat…oh that sounds so much worse,"
I struggled to find my words. "Uh what are you talking about, by the way do you know where the Benevolent Mistress is" Benevolent Mistress, I've heard that name before , "Uh you're wearing a uniform so you work there don't you," "I do but I can't see a thing" she said, I looked around and saw a bunch of waitresses outside. "Ah I thought I found it, hold my hand and I'll take you there, can't see with those crates blocking your view can you"
"No" "So why carry something like that" "I thought I was taller" that's a pretty dumb reason but I'll leave that one alone. I guided her to the Mistress and helped her put her crates down. Then I got a good look at her face…she's adorable.
The longer I stayed in Orairo the more pretty girls I saw. I never cared about girls that I wasn't friends with back home but here. Her ears twitching her tail moving, she is the definition of super duper cute. I think I'm in love. "Why are you staring at me like that," she asked me "Uh I just never seen a cat girl before so I apologize for staring but I just find you so fascinating. There aren't a lot of animal people in my village and the ones that I do know…. let's just say I don't have a good relationship with them but I don't wanna have a bad relationship with every animal person is I encounter so I could we maybe start out as friends" she got a closer look at me.
"Oooooh" she ran inside the mistress. Aw man I totally upset her with my big mouth, ugh what was I thinking talking about beast people like that. I started to walk away, "Wait wait you dropped this yesterday" she said as she surprised me, "I totally recognize you now, you're the boy who was fighting criminals, I've been looking everywhere for you to give you this back, you dropped it when you were running." She held a magic stone in her hand. "Oh yeah, thanks for giving me this" I took it and put it in my little bag. "Yes" she said, "Uh I didn't say anything"
"You said you wanted to be friends and I said yes" I froze for a moment. Talk about a delayed response!
"Oh great, when you ran back inside I thought you were upset with me, you disappeared so fast I couldn't even see you,"
she went silent, "Uh you're an adventurer right" she asked me, "Uh yeah, I'm sorta new at this"
"Yo Craiku we got trouble," Clover said, running past me. "Oh gotta go it was nice talking to you…uh by the way name is Craiku Tojo what's your's" "Anya!" "See you soon Anya"! We ran ahead and with my agility it didn't take long to catch up with Clover. "What's going on Clover"!?
"See for yourself" a group of adventurers were fighting at least 10 adventurers with malicious intentions. One of them is being choked out by a chain. It was four against 10. "No, water ball" I shot a water ball at the man's face forcing him to release the chain and the man broke free gasping for air. Clover shot three of them with his arrows which completely caught their attention.
"We're the Genesha Familia, let those people go and prepare to face justice" Clover said with a serious expression. "These guys are in the Genesha Familia, oh shit"
I ran to the man who was nearly choked to death. "O great spirits give bestow strength to those who have fallen and give them the strength to rise again-Healing" I healed him considering my magic on his neck. "Ugh thanks kid," "No problem sir, I don't mean to be condescending but I don't think this fight is your's, what happened here" "We were just on our way to the dungeon when these guys tried to rob us, we tried to fight back but, I think you know the rest" "Understood, but these guys are done for" I took my spear out, "Hey wait a minute, that's the kid who threw Jura in jail". A man said, "Jura,"? I remember that name, the first bad guy I ever defeated, "Then you must be with the Evilus, Rudra Familia right"?
Clover asked, "That's right, you caused us a lot of trouble by putting our captain behind bars, without a leader we're out here running around like chickens with their heads cut off" "By that logic wouldn't you be dead," Clover asked. "Point is that guy was pathetic but he always knew what he was doing, and you cost us plenty of money, so pay up for the last two weeks or we'll beat your head in" "No way I'm not giving you so much as a stone coin"! There were ten people in total. "Craiku we'll need to go all out to take care of them"
Clover said, "I was surrounded by five people, the leading one had a chain, two of them held knives and the last two had swords. "Now get over here so I can choke you out"
said that man throwing his chain at me, I dodged. And when I looked back the chain hit the ground with enough force to crack it. Eek he did that with a chain he pulled it back and threw it at me again. "Eek" I dodged it again, wait his chain isn't hitting me at all, I kept pairing it, then I swung my spear at it and I ended up cutting the chain in half.
"Hey my chain"! I grabbed the lower half of it and I tried throwing it around his left arm and I pulled him towards me then front kicked him in the stomach and he gasps in agony. "You little shit"! He raised his hand and unleashed a powerful punch on me aiming for the top of my head but I raised my arm for an overhead block. 'Hey I don't feel a lot of force behind his punch compared to Tanaka's' I thought, "You think you're quick on your feet kid"!?
Two of the knife users attacked me from both sides. Crap I'm cornered with no way to dodge. I spun around deflecting both knife users. "Water ball," I shot three water balls in the left one's face and he was knocked unconscious and I did a spinning hook kick to the one on the right and it sent him flying across from the field and his body twitched for a moment before he fell unconscious.
"No way he just took out two of our clan members in mere seconds, ugh you're gonna pay for that"! These guys are not so tough, I barely used my magic and they're all losing, did I make progress. The sword users started attacking me with their blades and I used my own flow technique that I inherited from my dad to block and redirect their strikes. They both tried to attack in unison but I instinctively raised my hand creating a fireball and it makes a cloud of smoke upon exploding. Now's my chance, I leap into the air pointing out my foot for a flying sidekick and kick him across the field in solar plexus. Then I spun my spear as I jumped into the for an overhead strike but he tried blocking with his sword which ended up cracking and breaking in half and I struck him across the chest and blood went flying. "Gah"
"Don't pick on the defenseless"! I yelled before unleashing a powerful uppercut which knocked him out.
Then I looked at the chain user whose expression was full of fear. "Look man let's talk about this"
"You should have talked about this earlier when those adventurers were minding their own business" I yelled, "You were talking about how you wanted me to hand over my money so I wouldn't get hurt right, I didn't give you anything so why am I not hurt yet" he throws a knife at me and I reflected it with my spear. "No way, how are you doing this"
"I am a rising star" I flipped over and raised my heel and knocked him out with a flying sidekick.
- Neutral Narrator
Clover didn't take long to defeat his opponents and in the end they were laying down unconscious on the ground. He shot the weapons out of each of their hands and they bleed from his arrows and while they were in pain he swiftly used hand to hand combat techniques to knock them out.
"Sorry Craiku I'm borrowing your signature move, a powerful judo slam"! He slammed the last one into the ground. "Nice one buddy, but you gotta shift your hips around his center of gravity to get the full range of motion going" he said.
"Eh it's my first time" they give a high five to each other. "Incredible, I didn't even get a scratch on me," Craiku said, "Let's tie them up so we can have them arrested when we go home." They took out some rope and began tying them up. "Did you see those boys just now" "They totally destroyed those thugs" "The one in the hat is crazy enough but the other one is a kid and he effortlessly beat them."
People started talking about them and Craiku grew embarrassed hearing people talk about him. "Yes yes we are very outstanding, me and my friend here do not tolerate injustice." Clover said with a confident look on his face, "Nor we back down from a challenge. We'll always stand up and fight when there's injustice" with a slight fist bump they both pose triumphantly.
The people who were watching the events playing out started to admire the boys at work. Walking away from a fight against the Evilus unscathed is no small feat. "People are these pathetic thugs people we should be afraid of, are we really running away from people who can't even beat up a little kid" Craiku asked, "These are the villains that spread terror and destruction throughout all of Orairo, this is the type of person who you want to die to, those who can't protect themselves should steer clear without showing fear, but those who can fight remember something, if a little kid like me can beat them up then anyone who has falna and can pick up a sword can stand up to these low lives" Craiku said.
"You know he kinda has a point" an Amazon girl said, "But these guys are freaking scary, sure it's just Rudra Familia today but some days it's a lot worse than them"
"Worse than Rudra Familia,"? He said confused, "There's that one my dad fought but if you're scared all the time how are we ever gonna be rid of these guys" Craiku asked in frustration.
"You won't"! Said another voice. Craiku's face tensed up as he was frozen stiff. Clover noticed the difference in his expression and grew concerned.
"Craiku, are you okay, Craiku"?
I haven't heard that voice in over a month.
Suddenly purple fireballs were flying across the street and buildings upon buildings were set on fire.
"Water arrows" he said as he put out the fires as quickly as he could. But they were difficult to extinguish.
"Purple fire, how is that even possible?" Clover asked.
"Ha ha ha ha ha ha, CRAAAAAIKUUUUUU, come on over and play"! Said a creepy voice from above, and out from the flames that now started rapidly consuming the area a shadowy wolf woman emerged with a smile on her face.
"No way, it can't be you, I got away from you, you're not supposed to be here, and more importantly you're not supposed to be destroying everything!"
"Hehehehe, funny that you say that despite the fact you're not supposed to be here either…little brother…pack your bags and come with me, today's your last day in Orairo, resist and it'll be their last day in this world…delusional magician"