*THUD*
After the lady stamped the quest that Ace and Roy took, they were informed to bring some evidence to get the reward, which was five hundred Grat.
“Thank you,” Ace thanked the lady and tucked the quest paper on his waist.
“Y’know, you could've choose a better quest,” Roy commented.
“Don’t underestimate me, Roy,” Ace had a proud face. “Even without my staff, My skill remains!”
“Walt told you my name?”
“Yup!” Ace then realized he hadn't introduced himself yet. “Oh! The name's Ace Vanquer.”
“Uh-huh.”
Roy reached out his hand, offering a shake, and when Ace was about to shake his hand, Roy pulled it back just to scratch his butt.
“Let’s get going then,” Roy said.
“Did he do that on purpose…?”
In the woods, traveling together to find The Great White Serpent. While they were at it, they would face random monsters ahead. Ace dealt them with minimum damage as he was restricted to using more mana due to not having a staff.
Staff: Typically had floating Mana Crystal, increasing the Caster's mana pool to unleash more magic.
Anywho, Roy didn't do anything and watched Ace get rid of monsters.
“Are you just gonna stand there and watch?” Ace asked in annoyance.
“Yup,” Roy replied. “You do your thing, while I do my thing.”
“I should've invited someone else…” Ace's eyes twitched.
After two hours of Ace doing all the work, they finally found a large hole.
“Finally~“ Roy stretched his arms and back. He then walked toward the hole to check. “Deep.”
“Hey! You should've helped me a bit back there.”
“Relax,” Roy implied, finished stretching, and took a bottle of pyro potion to his sack.
“Whatever!” Ace grunted and turned away. Though, something bothered him. “Weird, are we forgetting something?”
Roy grabbed Pot, who was sleeping on his left shoulder.
“Hmmm, something, something…” Ace was still trying to process and finally realized. “A mark! Roy! We forgot to put a mark on the tree-”
“In you go~”
Roy dropped Pot to the hole, along with the pyro potion.
Ace hurried to the hole. “WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!”
“God’s plan.”
“THAT’S YOUR PET!” Ace yelled.
“Nah, I don't want it anyway.”
“YOU SON OF-”
*SCREEEEEEEECH!!!*
The Great White Serpent had awoken and ascended from the surface. As soon as the serpent ascended, Ace could see Pot sleeping atop the serpent's head while getting burned.
“Tsk!” Roy clicked his tongue.
Ace panicked and glanced at Roy, already tied up by a short rope on his waist. He aimed the arrow at the serpent's eye. Roy released the arrow; it disappeared in the blink of an eye.
Ace was startled and realized there was a symbol on the arrow.
“A Glyph?!”
Glyph: A small piece of paper with a symbol that enhances the user or object.
Roy got dragged by the arrow’s speed and strength, accurately hitting the serpent's eye as he landed safely at the left side of the serpent's head.
Ace blinked twice before screaming, “OI!! HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND!? YOU'LL BURN!!!“
But, he wasn't getting boiled. Roy already had a Glyph on their chest, with a symbol of fire immunity.
Ace could shoot the serpent down in one go from the head, but, due to not having his staff. He couldn't do anything.
Furthermore, the serpent kept wiggling from the pain and Pot was swept away from the snake's violent movement. Thankfully, Pot landed on a tree branch in the end. However, Roy on the other hand.
“Man, what a hassle!”
Without much time left, Roy pulled out the arrow, leaving the snake's blood stained on the arrow. Eventually, the serpent was weakened and wanted to fall on the ground. Roy took this chance to jump out. Thus, his fire immunity got worn off as he rolled over and over till he bumped his stomach on the tree.
Roy blacked out the moment he collided with the tree. Ace however, speechless with his jaw dropped.
He looked at the boy and thought, “I… Didn't even do a thing…?”
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
“Whoo~ What did I miss?” Pot showed up.
“Hm?!”
Ace hadn't noticed Pot escaped luckily.
***
“I don't think this is a good idea,” Roy implied as he looked down the cliff.
“Hush! Learning Natura Marsa is a hard task to learn, you need to be one with the mana.”
“What?”
Hono pushed Roy off the cliff, luckily, there was a rope tied on his waist. Which he got stuck in mid air in the end. Hono took a peek and saw Roy with a middle finger.
Hono shed a tear. “He grew up so fast,” he thought before going to his thoughts shouting, “YOU’RE DOING GREAT KIDDO!”
“Walang hiyang gag-”
“While you're at it, I'm going to work, toodles~”
Hono left.
“HOY! Wait-”
*CRUNCH!!*
The rope suddenly got cut off due to a random Squart, munching on the rope then flew away.
Unexpectedly, someone caught Roy on the ground in their arms. Roy glanced at the creature with its tongue out.
***
Roy opened his and got up in a sitting position. He looked around, only to see that he was still in the forest and it was still daylight.
“You're awake!” Ace and Pot appeared, carrying sticks. “We gathered some sticks for a camp tonight.”
“What? We're not going back?”
“We’re… Lost.” Ace scratched the back of his head.
Earlier after defeating the serpent, Ace carried Roy and Pot to go back. But it seemed he forgot the way back.
Roy sighed deeply and got up on his feet. Out of nowhere, Roy began climbing from a tall tree.
“He just wasted his time collecting those sticks,” Roy sighed.
“Be careful!”
In a mere second, Roy was nowhere to be found after climbing through the bushy leaves.
“Wish I could climb too…“
The bush on Ace's left side quivered.
“Hm?”
Stepping that aside, Roy reached the top, checking around to find the town. Without further ado, he spotted the town.
“NO!!! ”
Ace's scream echoed and Roy immediately hopped down at the branches until he made it to the ground. But, Ace's arm was bleeding from a huge cut, and Pot was shredded into pieces. Which recovered instantly, back in its original shape.
“Whoa, you good?”
“YA THINK?!” Ace shouted and groaned in pain but at the same time whimpered. “My books… My precious books…”
“Where's your stuff?”
“WILL YOU QUIT ASKING AND HELP ME ALREADY!”
“Aight~” Roy grabbed Ace's cloak.
“What are you doi-”
He ripped a piece of his cloak.
“MY CLOAK!!”
Ace was already hurt after his book got stolen and now his clothes? Poor Ace.
“Why Roy? Whyyyy?” Ace's voice cracked with tears in his eyes.
Roy shrugged as he tied up his arm, preventing blood loss. “There! Tight as a rope.”
“You’d better pay for the cloak once we get back!”
“Yeah, yeah.”
“This cloak costs a Hundred Grat!”
“Uh-huh,” Roy was scratching his ear.
In the end, they got out of the forest and went back to the town. At the tavern, Roy handed the serpent's blood and received the reward.
“Cong-” the lady yawned. “Rats… Here's your reward.”
A one hundred fifty Grat was received. But then, Ace realized something.
“Ugh!” He facepalmed himself.
“What?”
“I forgot to carve the serpent's scale…”
Roy lifted the arrow, filled with blood.
“Oh, you really did-” the lady yawned again. “Kill it…”
Rather than asking for proof, the lady gave the reward first before the evidence.
“Thanks but I needed the scale for my staff.”
“Okay,” Roy said and patted Ace's shoulder. “Welp, better get going no-”
Ace grabbed his shoulder and made a cash sign in front of Roy.
Roy sighed and gave the hundred grat, which leaves him fifty grat. He walked past Ace and Pot bid farewell.
“Jerk,” Ace mumbled under his breath.
After both of them went separate ways on their journey, the glistening moon rose, along with the sparkling stars.
Roy and Pot had been walking for three hours straight with some rest sometimes, but they still hadn't found a single shelter to sleep in.
“I wanna eat,” Pot said.
“We just ate five minutes ago and you're hungry again!?” Roy said. “How are you always hungry?”
“What’s hungry?”
“...”
Roy zipped his mouth and Pot kept yapping till Roy lost it, forcefully throwing Pot inside his sack.
“Bedtime already?” Pot said and yawned.
Suddenly, Roy fell backward, disrupting his balance as his sack got heavy out of nowhere. Yet, he regained his balance thanks to his quick reflex. He turned around and saw his sack had the shape of a Pot.
“What the!?” Roy took out the Pot and saw Pot sleeping inside the Pot. He scratched his head and thought of wanting to break the Pot, however, he couldn't do it and carried the Pot instead.
Meanwhile, a shelter was spotted and Roy heard some growl from a distance as he ran inside the shelter hastily.
“Oh my!” The lady was startled by the sudden visitor.
The shelter was actually an Inn for travellers. But, more importantly, Roy already fixed his gaze on somebody the moment he stepped inside.
“Are you a traveller, sir?”
Roy ignored her and ambled toward a person who was sleeping with a handkerchief on its face, covering its appearance. With a black scarf, red shirt long sleeved that was rolled up, black pants, and a pair of boots.
Roy grabbed the person's shoulder.
