The most common weakness

“Ryu, are you ok?”

Elizabeth asked me with a worried look, I was very quiet, I barely touched my food because I was absorbed in my thoughts, I kept remembering the discussion I had with the guy the other day.

After I spent some time outside, I walked and found Akari leaning on the wall outside the inn, I approached him and asked.

“Why are you outside, don’t you have a room?”

“No, I cannot afford a room for me, but I have a place to stay”

“Do what you want then…”

I lean on the wall beside Akari and I remain silent for a few minutes until he broke it.

“What do you want to ask?”

“Why did you choose me? Wasn’t anyone else around that asked for the same?”

“That had your reputation, no, I tried, I met a few guys that wanted to go home but didn’t put the guys or the effort, instead they became homeless, you could said, you were one of a kind”

“Funny, I just got lucky”

“Luck huh? I could say the same for me when I found you, but the true reason why I did ask for your help was because you are indecisive, am I wrong?”

“What do you mean?”

“You are struggling to see if you want to go home or stay in here, and with that, that’s enough for me to know you would do this job no matter how much it takes you”

“Besides the threats, you did think about this a lot… How much time do you have here?”

“A few months”

“Almost the same time then… maybe you got in here before me but… alright… I’ll be the puppet of your stupid mind game… I already accepted the quest, but how should I contact you?”

Akari hung me over a piece of paper, a spell.

“I have read about this… this is a minor spell, that even people without prophecy in magic can do”

“This one is just a short communication spelled, thinking as a call of one minute, once you found the place, you will contact me with this”

“I understand…”

After that, I entered the inn and I talked with the bodyguard that was inside, he let me in and I went to my room and threw myself in the bed, and now here I am, still thinking about all that.

“Sorry, Liz, I just couldn’t get enough sleep last night…”

“Liar…”

Liz kept eating but she remained silent, Alexander didn’t know what to say and when he tried I just told him.

“Don’t bother, Alex… is ok”

Elizabeth knew me so well, she knew I was lying and I wasn’t going to tell her, and that upset her, is not that I don’t trust her, but saying things like that isn’t easy, specially when there is a possibility of going back.

When we finished eating, we went to Alexander’s house and put a map on the table.

“Alright, this is a quest of high level and a personal one, completing this one has not deadline since the instructions of the requesters are very vague, but the guild approved it so they shouldn’t send us to a mission that has nothing to search for”

The paper of the quest was different from the things Akari told me, it said

Dear adventurers, I have a request only for you, nobody wants to take this job but I am sure you will since your accomplishments have been outstanding, you take missions that someone normally wouldn’t do, so I asked in the guild for you. I need you to find the ancient obelisk, it is said to be guard in a cave in the deepest part, I already did my work so you didn’t have to struggle that much, but the road is difficult and I’m not even 100% sure that this is going to work. Good luck.

“It doesn’t say any reward, though?”

“I spoke with the guy already; he has the payment but he wants to see that we are doing the job”

“And how much is the pay” —Elizabeth asked.

“100 gold coins”

“100 GOLD COINS?!”

Both Alexander and Elizabeth yelled at me the amount and I covered my ears.

“T-That’s a lot! And what difficult is this quest”

“S rank”

“If we do this quest not only, we will be instantly rich, but we will become famous enough to people so they can know about us, thinking about all of that… the fame and the money… we would never have to struggle anymore, and we can even buy a mansion, no. A COUNTRY!”

“Relax, Alexander, first we need to know if there is a piece of land in any of the place we visited and then we can invest our money there”

I sighed and took the piece of paper.

“Don’t get too excited, this is only if we show progress and if we do find the obelisk that the requester is asking for, we would get pay an amount depending on our progress for that”

“Even if it is only that-“ —Elizabeth said.

“No, look at the map, don’t get blind by the money and fame of you two, it is common sickness but I know you two are better than that, now, Alexander, you are the one that is about navigation, is this going to be an easy path to follow or not?”

Alexander remained quiet while looking at the map and he sighed.

“No, and if we need to find any dungeons or caves is going to be difficult, this path will make us travel the entire region in search for this obelisk”

The map of the region, the kingdom of this place was just a small place, the real kingdom is in the center of this country, everything is plain or with woods, but beyond that at the surroundings there is a ton of places to visit, valleys, rivers, mountains, I never noticed since we have been only on flat surfaces with not that much change, but that was about to change now.

“The farthest we have gone is to the next kingdom, and even in there the landscapes were still flat, we are going beyond this place and the first location we need to visit is the first cave”

“It seems is down a cascade, it should be easy to spot ones we get there”

“Prepare your horses and yourselves, we should leave this place by tomorrow”

“Yes!”

Both of them agreed to the terms and I left.

“Alexander…”

“What is it, Elizabeth?”

“You don’t think Ryu is acting a bit… weird?”

“You are the one that spends the most time with him, right? If you feel that something is off you are probably right”

“Thanks, Alexander…”

Elizabeth left the place while Alexander was looking at the map.

“A trip around the region, huh?”

I was walking around the town and I heard how Elizabeth was shouting my name behind me.

“Ryu!”

I stopped and looked at Elizabeth.

“Liz…”

“Ryu…”

I stopped and while I was trying to avoid making visual contact, Elizabeth took my face and made me look at her, she smiled at me and took my hand.

“Why don’t we get something to eat?”

I nodded and we spent some time together around the commercial district, we had some sweet potatoes and sat down behind a fountain, I ate my potato in silence while Elizabeth enjoyed hers.

“Is it really something you cannot tell me?”

“Yeah… I’m sorry”

“You know you can always count on me, right? We are friends, very close friends…”

“I know, I know… is not that I want to keep it a secret, but… I cannot tell you… I’m afraid of it…”

“You know I will need to know eventually, right?”

I nodded and Elizabeth took my hand.

“When you are ready to tell me, I’ll be there, no matter what it is, I’ll be by your side”

I looked myself in the eyes of Elizabeth, I looked tired, she must be very worried, not only for my attitude but for my instant coldness, she is right, I must tell her, but not now, for now, I just smile at her and hug her while she hugged me back.

“Sorry, Elizabeth… and thank you”

“Don’t tell me this as if you were about to die… you are not…”

“No, don’t worry, is not that”

We stopped hugging and we look at the people pass while we took hands and Elizabeth rest in my shoulder, this feeling was one of the best I have in my life, and she was the most trustworthy person I knew in this place, even if we understand it, I am afraid of what she will do or tell me.

Even if it’s a small scold, or if she cries, I don’t want her to think that I want to leave her, since I love her a lot, and I want to be by her side.