Team "Bonding"

  “Well come on, what are you waiting for?” asked Xerica, as she grabbed Tommy’s arm and dragged him out of the Eastern gate ahead of the others.

  The Great Hero and his party seemed to be the sort who operated on a very constrained timetable, with how Artyom was recruited mere minutes after asking to join and how they were already starting out on their next quest after a single night. Artyom couldn’t help but sympathize with them. With the only way to defeat the looming threat of a Dark Lord being a drawn out mcguffin scavenger hunt, he couldn’t really blame the party for moving at such a fast pace.

  “Hey Neitra, did you get everything we need?” asked Ecole, her arms crossed as she nonchalantly turned her head and sent her green hair flying.

  “Yeah,” she replied just as coolly, despite the multitude of bags tied to her back. “I bought a new set of rations, a map of the area, and packed the camping gear.”

  Nobody responded back. The remaining ladies accompanied Tommy and Xerica out the gate, and Artyom followed suit.

  The path they followed quickly turned from paved to trampled dirt. Despite its width, even a few hours out from town the party didn’t encounter anyone else along the way. With the sun beginning to set, he doubted that would change. Artyom was enjoying the serene walk, admiring the relative seclusion and lush forest in the distance, when one of the party members spoke up.

  “Hey Artyom,” said Tommy, breaking himself out of Xerica’s grasp and Artyom out of his trance. “We never really got to talk much after the party.”

  “Yeah, I guess not,” replied Artyom, a neutral expression on his face. “So why don’t you tell me what’s up?”

  “Well, there’s not really much,” said Tommy, putting his hands behind his head while looking upwards. “We’ve found all of the key pieces, and soon we can get the Goddess’ holy sword. After that, all that’s left are the pieces of the holy armor and we can take on the Dark Lord!”

  “Mm,” Artyom nodded, the hero’s recounting of his quest meaning nothing to him. “So how long have you been at it? This adventure, I mean.”

  “Probably a year at this point. On my 18th birthday, the priests at the local church came and said I was chosen by the Goddess to lead the fight against the Dark Lord and vanquish him off for good! Since then, I’ve met everyone here who’s wanted to join me, and now there’s you.”

  “So you’re 19 then?” asked Artyom.

  “That’s right! How about you, how did you become an adventurer?”

  “Oh, uh…” Artyom hesitated. He realized he hadn’t thought of a cover story, but quickly cobbled together one as a hodgepodge of previous tales. “I’m mostly a traveller who likes to roam the countryside. I taught myself some magic and learned to live off the land and avoid trouble. I don’t want the Dark Lord to ruin the place, like he did with so many already, so I wanted to join you in stopping him.”

  Artyom mentally combed over his story for any potential holes or questionable details. He’d explored the countryside several hours down south of Brimhaven, so he knew what that was like down there. He’d also seen what destruction the Dark Lord was capable of bringing to it all. He gulped as he remembered the smoke rising over Freeacres. The dead villagers like Chey, the broken-hearted adventurers he left behind there…

  “Yeah, I know what you mean,” replied Tommy. “I grew up hearing stories of all of the awful things he’s done, burning down villages and the countryside. I’m glad to have you join us!”

  “Yeah, same here. He’d might as well be titled The Burninator at this rate,” Artyom joked, accidentally letting loose a callback to Earth culture.

  “Haha, that sounds like a hilarious title!” he replied, the reference seemingly lost on him. “But you say you avoid trouble, how did you get through Crystal Kobold Crossing then? That place was nothing but trouble for us!”

  Well, there was one hole, but Artyom had already thought of how to patch it up. “That’s exactly how I got through it, I snuck! None of the Kobolds inside noticed me when I swapped the key piece for the invitation.”

  “Huh? I thought you said you were a spellcaster, not a rogue.”

  “You know you don’t need to be a rogue to sneak, right?” asked Artyom rhetorically. “The same applies to making your own poisons.”

  “Maybe we should try that next time. Neitra usually sneaks ahead to scout out dungeons before the rest of us go in and clobber everything inside! She’s been especially helpful for the last few we’ve been in, since they were all dark caves filled with traps.”

  Artyom nodded along.

  “It’s too bad that it’s been nothing but caves for a while. Why couldn’t it be a beach? At least I’d get to look at all of the girls in some sweet bikinis!”

  Artyom stopped shaking his head and looked at the Great Hero for a moment, waiting for him to start laughing and reveal it was all a joke. What he got was a confused look from Tommy at the sudden stall in the conversation.

  “Haha, yeah,” replied Artyom, trying his best to hide his awkwardness. “Oh boy,” he thought to himself. “The fate of your goddamn country is at stake and you’re this horny? Seriously, start laughing. Tell me I’ve been had. Bring out the hidden cameras right now and tell me I’ve been Juiced, please!”

  Regrettably, the only one laughing was the universe itself at Artyom’s misfortune of having to play babysitter. He tried to push the feelings of awkwardness back as he remembered that this was a fairytale World, and for many younger Earthers, their experiences in such innocent realities really were nothing but wish fulfillment. Maybe he should be thankful that he could meet someone who wasn’t being smeckledorfed like he was?

  “Uh, who knows? Maybe next time?” added Artyom, not wanting to alienate his lead so early on.

  “Um, Tommy?” began Lensa, as she drew herself over to the hero and hugged his arm with both of hers, slowly dragging him to the front of the group. “Did you really get a vision from the Goddess about this place?”

  “I sure did! Last night after the party, right when I’d normally level up, she showed up in my head and told me to head in this direction towards the mountains, and that we can get the full key once we’re there.”

  “Wow, that’s so cool!” gushed Lensa adorably. “Don’t you think so too, Daisy?”

  “Yeah, I guess,” she began while looking away from the two, her face in a drawn out pout. “But that’s just because he’s the chosen one. He’s supposed to get these visions, so it’s not like it’s special or anything.”

  Lensa looked slightly dejected at Daisy’s response, her eyes and head drooping slightly. “What about you Ecole?”

  “Huh?” she asked, snapped out of her own daydreams.

  “Don’t you think it’s cool that Tommy got a vision from the Goddess?”

  “Yeah, sure. Whatever,” replied Ecole, more interested in getting her mind back to whatever it was doing before. But not before sneaking a cool smile at Tommy.

  Lensa’s face dropped even further at that into a childish pout.

  “Well I think it’s really impressive,” replied Xerica suddenly, with a warm smile on her face. “There’s a reason why he was chosen as the Great Hero!”

  Lensa smiled back, assuaged at the kind response. “Yeah!” she replied exuberantly.

  Artyom, towards the back of the group right in front of Neitra, felt the overly saccharine conversation was starting to rub him the wrong way. He’d been part of innocent team dialogue before, and he enjoyed it then. But something about this felt off. He swore he was watching some kind live action rendition of a harem anime, with a protagonist who acted as an audience-proxy being fawned over by a gaggle of inhumanly attractive women. Still, Tommy looked sincerely happy throughout the whole thing, so should Artyom really be upset? Maybe his feelings extended from how he wished he could’ve experienced the same instead of what really did happen. That was why he fought, so he could give these kids from Earth a chance at a nicer life like this.

  As Artyom sank deeper into retrospection, the other ladies except Xerica let their paces fall, as they approached the two laggers. Daisy in particular slowed to a snail's pace until she was next to Neitra at the rear of the group, and struck up a conversation of sorts.

  “What are you doing so far back?” she asked, in little more than a whisper quiet enough so that the hero couldn’t hear. “Can’t you keep up with the rest of us? Even that new guy is further ahead than you!”

  Artyom turned his attention to the two behind him when his existence was brought up.

  “I’m carrying all of the team’s gear,” she replied matter-of-factly. “It’s pretty heavy, you know.”

  “Yeah, keep making excuses,” said Daisy, a sneer on her face. “We know you’re just weak and keeping the rest of us back, on the road and on missions.”

  “Well that was a total 180,” thought Artyom, his attention fully glued to the textbook bullying going on a few feet behind him. He eyed the other ladies who were in hearing range to see what their response to this might be. To his surprise, they didn’t react at all. The other two in hearing distance had placid expressions on their faces, even Lensa! For such a sensitive girl, she didn’t seem particularly bothered with all of the shit Daisy was spewing from her mouth. What kind of team was this?

  Artyom let himself fall back to the two and held out his hand towards Neitra. “Let me help you out, I’m travelling pretty light myself so it’s not much trouble.”

  Neitra looked at him surprised, a light smile beginning to form on her face as she handed over one of the bags on her back.

  “What do you look so happy for?” said Daisy, interrupting the moment. “If anything, accepting his help just shows how lazy you are!”

  A sentiment made up of some kind of primal frustration took hold of Artyom, wresting control of his tongue. He didn’t mind though, this was all on purpose. He’d heard enough. Artyom cocked his head towards Daisy at an angle, putting a wicked scowl on his face that depicted a combination of aloof and absolutely pissed. “And why are you talking like you’re so high and mighty? I don’t see you carrying anything.”

  Daisy was shocked at the sudden rebuttal, the disbelief plastered over her face. She picked up her pace in a huff and walked back over to find comfort with the Great Hero. It could’ve been a light pulse of Aura of Fear that caught her tongue.

  “Thanks,” said Neitra even more quietly in a hardened voice. “But that wasn’t necessary.”

  “What, stopping her from bullying you?” asked Artyom.

  “Yeah. Right now all that matters is helping the hero out, and making everyone fight won’t be productive of that,” she replied in a calculated manner.

  Artyom lifted his eyebrows at the response. “Well, letting them walk over you is also counterproductive to the team. What are they even trying to accomplish, acting like a bunch of childish brats?”

  “Don’t worry, I’m mature enough to not let it bother me.” Her voice began to crack.

  “We all like to think that, but the truth is, it still digs into you. Don’t be afraid to show it, it’s only human. It doesn’t make you the weaker person. Besides, it looks to me like you’re the one who keeps this party running! You make sure all of the supplies are stocked so they don’t get lost or starve, you scout out all of the dungeons and disable traps, you pretty much make the rest of the job easy for them!”

  Neitra slowly nodded, letting a single sniffle escape. “Thanks,” she whispered.

  The party continued onwards silently, nobody really daring to say a thing now that Artyom had shown his fangs. The sun continued to set as they entered the forest, the sky now a mix of yellow and orange. Once they were further in, the frontrunners of the procession turned around and declared that it was time to make camp.

  “We’re still a few hours out from the mountain cave, according to Tommy’s vision,” explained Xerica. “We have an hour of daylight left, so let’s stop for the night and get there tomorrow.”

  The others seemed to be relieved that their walk was done for the day, especially Neitra. She set her bags down in the middle of the dirt clearing they stopped at, Artyom following her lead with the ones he helped carry.

  Like some kind of well-oiled machine, the group started getting ready for the night. Daisy took out a machete from the bags and began chopping dried branches off of the surrounding trees, while Ecole began pitching tents. After collecting the logs into a pile and surrounding them with a ring of rocks, Xerica cast a simple fire spell to ignite them and start a campfire. Lensa fished out various rations by this point and began to heat them up over the fire, either on large sticks whittled by Daisy or in a thin, metal pan. Neitra went to look for a stream to collect water from. Throughout the process, Tommy chatted everyone up, checking in with how they were doing and offering words of encouragement.

  With this entire process being alien to Artyom, he mostly stood around as he watched the others. After several minutes, right after Neitra returned, Artyom declared he would scout out the surrounding forest to make sure everything was safe. The others paid him little mind and passively accepted his offer.

  Artyom headed out into the forest, making sure he didn’t wander far from the rest of the party. His decision to stand up to Daisy was definitely rash and Artyom wanted to beat himself up over taking such a risk, but he couldn’t. Maybe the innocence of this World was rubbing off on him again? He just hoped that whatever event would snap him back to reality didn’t hurt too much this time.