Sidequest

“Ugh this place gives me the creeps.”

Ansel and Kaito both looked at each other, their faces tired and apathetic.

““Everything does.””

“Well? Am I wrong then?”

“You were fine when we walked with the…” Kaito snickered, continuing his sentence in short pauses “Dungeon…Party…party. Pffft”

His silent giggles grew, now openly laughing at the name. They walked in silence, excluding Kaito’s laughter, as they traveled through a cave-like area. The rocky walls lit up from the ground, a blue goo emanating light behind some of the rocks. There was no wind in the tunnel, yet a cold air filled every inch of the place. The exploding rocks they were looking for were hidden behind a goat-shaped boulder, somewhere inside the blue goo.

“How can you even laugh that much? It wasn’t that funny.”

Eira looked at Ansel, searching for a more mature perspective on the matter. He smiled warmly, still looking out into the blue.

“I’m just glad we weren’t the only ones.”

Eira thought about his words, how deep and profound they were. He was truly the older model she looked up to, the laughter now bubbling up inside her. She remembered young Talos, his eager personality when he told them their new name. Her eyes closed, a newfound peace now found.

“You're right!” Smiling she laughed, together with Kaito they filled the silence, their previous embarrassment now slightly less embarrassing.

“Oh hey look, the goat rock.”

Ansel pointed at a rock, accordingly shaped strangely. However, Kaito’s wonders grew, a slight annoyance surfacing.

“How the hell is that a goat?”

His hand reached out in the direction of the rock with his face looking at them in distraught, like he was looking at a pair of monkeys trying to open a medicine bottle.

“What are you talking about?”

The two looked at him in confusion before realizing that they’d never specified what it looked like.

“Oh crap. Sorry.” Ansel apologized, an awkward smile showing his remorse.

“Wait, so what were you looking for?” Eira questioned.

“Uhhhhhhh, I remember hearing something about horns, so that's what I was looking for.”

Kaito had actually been looking for a sheep shaped rock with horns, however he’d realized the error in his thinking the moment he first pointed at the rock. This world shared the name with another creature, one that was vastly different to the mammal it described in his old world.

The “goat” they were looking at was a two story sized rock, with a smooth snake like silhouette protruding from the wall. It had spikes on the back almost resembling wings and two boulders rested on the wavy structure acting as horns.. A blue goo dripped from its edges making the rock pop like an outline. A drop of the blue goo dripped from one of the horn-boulders, splattering on a pile of weirdly stacked smaller rocks.

Ansel walked over carefully reaching out to grab one of them. The glowing rock had a hefty weight to it, making even Ansel feel the need to put it down soon. Kaito and Eira walked over having cut their conversation short for the time being.

“Is that it?” He asked.

“Looks like it, but I honestly don’t know. Too bad we don’t have a detection spell.”

“Or do we?”

Kaito reached into the backpack he’d been carrying. It was small, only carrying essential necessities in order to not impede his fighting. He pulled out a triangle shaped crystal roughly the size of his palm.

“Is a-”

“Detector? Yes it is.”

“Where’d you even get it?”

“He stopped at this stall in the morning, wasn’t I’ll tell you that.”

Eira rolled her eyes, having helped Kaito get it before arriving at the guild.

“You still owe me.”

“Don’t worry, with this quest’s share I’ll pay you back.”

Eira turned to Ansel. He’d been wanting to learn the detection skill, but it was just too unrelated to his tank class for him to master. He’d been relying on the sole descriptions from the quests to ensure they got the right materials, sometimes having two or three times on the same quest for lack of information.

“That’ll really save us a lot of time.” He smiled, looking at Kaito like a proud father looks at their son.

“Don’t mention it, I mean it was high time we got one anyways.” Kaito patted his shoulder, reaching out his hand to Ansel.

The original plan had been to give it to Ansel as a present to congratulate him on raking up, but the plan fell through with the bad news they received that morning.

“But uhhh, I kinda can’t use it.”

Eira let out a snort, remembering Kaito trying his hardest to use it when they first got it.

“You shoulda seen him! He was clenching his entire body trying to turn it on.”

“Yea yea…”

“No like he was actually shaking. You shoulda seen the people looking at him.”

Kaito sighed.

Ansel raised the crystal in front of his left eyes, looking through its yellow transparent hue. He began to flow his mana to his fingers, making the crystal glow. Pointing his eye to the pile of blue covered rocks, the crystal began crackling into different words, shaping its minute cracks into the world’s writing system.

[Material: Geo]

[Type: Rock]

[Color: Grey]

[Name: Brack]

[Details: Combustible rock…]

[...explodes under pressure]

“Yeah this is it.” Ansel lowered his arm with the crystal. The mana stopped flowing, returning the cracked crystal back to its original clean transparent look.

“Wait, so all the rocks here are…”

“Brack, and no. Only that pile right there.” Ansle rubbed his hand lightly on the rock, “It said that they’re grey, so I’m guessing this blue goo was just camouflage.”

Wiping away the slime-like goo, the rocks bland grey appeared beneath.

“Here.”

Kaito handed Ansel a rag from his backpack. Using it to clean the rock, a greyish smooth texture revealed itself. The rocks were pressure sensitive, according to the detector, not specifying exactly how much pressure activated it.

Kaito slowly shimmied over to Eira’s side, both looking at Ansel as he cleaned the rock. A solid minute went by as the three focused on the rock. Eira and Kaito took a few steps back, keeping their eyes on the rock. Not so much as a blink was allowed. The drips of the blue glowing goo filled the cavern as Ansel worked. Ansel cleaned and cleaned, shooting a glance at the two, noticing their suspense.

“BAH!”

“[ICE WALL]!”

Eira plunged her sword into the ground, instantly creating a thick wall of ice between Ansel and herself, concurrently also protecting Kaito who was just off to the side and also a step behind her.

Silence followed the spell, pressing down against the cavern. The drips of goo echoing through the place. A clicking sound began to bounce against the walls, growing louder and louder as the two hiding behind the ice peeked from its protection. Ansel was giggling, hunched over, clutching the rock like a baby. He looked up to the sight of two heads stacked on each other, peeking out from the corner of the wall and let his laughter free. A hearty laugh emanates through the tunnel behind them, Kaito and Eira’s eyes growing unfocused, his stunt making them want to honestly throw one of the exploding rocks at him.

“Real funny dude.”

Kaito walked toward him, snatching the rock from him and shoving it in his backpack. The three began cleaning the rest of the rocks, using their clothes and the rag that Kaito had brought with him; Eira and Kaito wanting to be done with the quest and complete their daily training.

They arrived at the gate they’d entered from, the double doors menacingly looking down on them. Ansel pushed it open with the help of his reinforcement magic, his glowing clothes shiny a blue light against the dark metal door. A sliver of light shot out from the other side as it opened, the entrance to the dungeon being on the other side.

“Can you imagine if I went in alone?”

“You’d for sure be done for,” Eira looked at him half playing and half serious. “No mana, no destination.”

Kaito felt a sweatdrop flow down his face, a nervous haha escaping his mouth at the thought of him becoming a world renowned adventurer.

Walking through the door and up the stairs of the entrance, they met a low sun shining its light on the unprotected slums of Kamar. The afternoon had come and gone, evening now reaching its peak and nightfall fast approaching from the west.

They delivered the goods to a small shack in the slums. The man was a friend of the quest giver, paying them, for each Brack they brought to him, a good hefty sum being their payout for the day. Usually the guild would pay the adventurers and file the quest as completed, but the request had a special cash payment, making it all the more fishy. However, the money was paid and the job was done, all that was left was to file the quest as completed at the guild the next day.

The Spineful party entered the first wall, showing their Guild Identification Cards and walking down the main street. The sun was now falling behind the roofs, the shadows of buildings growing taller as pubs began to open and street stands began packing up. The three walked together, ready to hit the hay as soon as they got home.

“Oh hey! Heyyyyy!”

A distant voice called behind them, a familiar voice.

The three turned around to the cheerful voice. Meki waved at them as she ran over.

“Oh Meki.”

“Hey, how goes it?”

“Good good, just finished a quest.”

Ansel smiled warmly, his eyes focusing on the girl slowing her pace to a stop in front of them.

“Oh that’s fun. I just finished my deliveries too.”

Kaito’s eyes opened wide, she’d been working since the morning until now. The sun was starting to set and she was still out on deliveries.

That’s a crazy work day.

“I’m about to eat lunch. Would ya’ll like to join me? My treat.”

Ansel thought of the offer, looking over at Kaito and Eira who he knew were both hungry. He was about to give Meki an answer when he saw a man covered in a white cloak out in the distance, leaving through the entrance they’d entered from. He’d seen a peculiar symbol on his back, one that shouldn’t have been in the city.

“Ah sorry Meki, we actually have someone waiting for us back home.”

“Oh…I see, no worries, take care then.”

She started her jog once more, pulling ahead of them while waving goodbye.

“I think he likes her,” Kaito said to Eira, leaning over secretly.

“I was about to say the same thing.”

“I can hear y’know.”

Ansel looked at them with an unamused face before turning back to see the young girl now gone. He thought back on what he’d seen just moments ago, the white cloak in the distance. He had his doubts, but there was no way to be sure.

The door to their home was unlocked, a quietness filled the room as if it was the air itself. Loud snoring sounded through the living room, the Spineful Party finding their fourth member on the couch with a plate of food in hand, tipping toward him. The young boy wore a green uniform suit with black pants and shoes, the dress code for the Elven Academy of Magic. His blonde curls rested on his copper arm as his slanted body leaned on the armrest. They boy had gotten home and made himself a small lunch in hopes of eating with the rest of his family. He fell asleep reading one of Eira’s grimoires about magic. The day had been rough with hand to hand combat training and a magical duel between one of his friends. His eyes began to pry open as the six legs sounded against the creaking floor.

“Mmmmmm…mmoh…hey guys.”

Talos rubbed his cold brown arm against his face with the plate in his other hand now leveling in his legs.

“So? Ansel how’d it go?”

“Oh…yeah,” Ansel’s emotions resurfaced trying to give him an answer. He was the one that had believed Ansel would pass no problem, essentially claiming to know that he would pass. Ansel took a moment to swallow before replying.

“I failed, I’m sorry.”

“Awww really??!! Man that sucks!! They must’ve made a mistake.”

“No they didn’t. I…just wasn’t strong enough”

—--

Adventurers stared at him left and right, hostility emanating from them. The guild receptionist counter had been destroyed with some files now scattered around the floor. He left the guild in a rage, having traveled all this way just to be stopped by a non-confidentiality agreement.

He stomped down the main street before turning right into a dark alley. His anger was imminent, looking for someone to push his buttons so he could respond and let loose. Turning rights and lefts behind the buildings led him to the entrance of the slums. Figuring that there he would find someone that pissed him off and wanted to fight, he left the city of Kamar in search of a punching bag.