Chapter 11:

The Journey Begins (2)

MiracleBound

“Maybe we should do this quest, Oliver,” Marion said.

We were currently standing in front of the Board. You know, the magic one that’s connected to my phone thing that’s connected to my soul or something…

It’s not that complicated, shut up.

Alright, let’s see which quest she’s talking about-

“Are you pointing to a quest behind the biggest one on the Board?” I asked.

A little explanation, the bigger the quest paper is on the Board, the more challenging the quest is supposed to be. And we shouldn’t be doing any quests in the first place, so we definitely won’t be doing the hardest damn quest on the Board.

“No, it is that one,” she said. “I know that if we work together we can do it!”

There’s no way in hell we’re doing this quest, but I should probably read it before I tell her we’re turning it down.

Special Quest: Hunt Down the Beast in Preternatural Forest:

There’s reports of a monster in Preternatural Forest attacking adventurers and travelers alike. This threat is making travel between Shadow Shore and Dragons Hollow difficult, and multiple adventurers have already been taken down. Due to claims by surviving adventurers who’ve encountered this beast, we believe that this is a rogue kaiju shifter as opposed to a regular kaiju.

Jägers requested.

“Marion, are you insane?” I asked.

“Huh?”

Oops. Didn’t mean for that to slip out.

“It’s just, this quest looks dangerous, like extremely dangerous,” I said. “And my job is to keep you safe. So I was just wondering why you wanted to take on such a dangerous quest.”

“Because the quest needs to be done,” she said. “You read the thing didn’t you? Whatever monster this is is blocking the route from here to Dragons Hollow, so if it’s not taken care of we might run into it.”

“Yeah, I get that, but it running into us and us looking to fight it are two completely different things. If we’re travelling and it happens to run into us I can use my power to get us away from it without having to fight, but if we take the quest then that’s the same as promising that we’re gonna beat that thing, and I quite honestly can’t say in good faith that I’d be able to defeat this thing.”

“But if we-”

“I’m not making a promise I can’t keep,” I interrupted. “I promised to protect you so I’m going to do that no matter what. And if taking that quest is going to put you in danger that I can’t protect you from then I won’t let it happen. Please… let’s find a safer one.”

“Okay…” Marion said as her gaze turned downward. She was defeated.

I don’t know why… but for some reason it hurt to see that look on her face.

I’m not her damn parent, and I’m not exactly her friend or anything…

So why do I feel sad seeing her like this? What’s up with me lately? It’s like ever since I came to this stupid world, I can’t tell what’s going on inside myself.

Like the first time I saved Marion, I thought I knew why, but that truth spell said I was lying. What’s more, they said that the specific markings it made meant I was telling the exact opposite of the truth.

How do I not even know the truth behind my own actions? I remember reasoning that I was doing that so that she’d be indebted to me because I needed help. That is what I thought, right?

No, if I recall correctly I thought those things after initially jumping into the fray. So, what was I thinking when I actually did it?

I don’t remember.

“What about this one?” Marion asked, her voice snapping my attention back to the present.

“Hmm?” I looked at the quest she was pointing at.

Actually, this quest doesn’t seem so bad.

…

“Thanks for coming to help,” the man said. “I usually don’t get volunteers so young and spry.”

The man talking to us was a farmer the locals called Old Man Willis. He had put up a request on the board for help with a certain crop that grew ripe around this time of year.

At first I was a little surprised that a simple farming quest would be on the Board, but then Marion explained to me that the Board isn’t only for dangerous adventuring quests and the like. It could also be used by people to request help for smaller problems like this. Of course if you put a quest on the Board you’d have to offer compensation for any adventurer who took the quest.

This job would be little more than some manual labor, so I figured it was okay. And we’d make a little money on the side, which is always nice.

Wait… aren’t we stacked right now because of the cash that the king gave us? What do we need more money for?

Eh, it doesn’t matter now anyway.

“We’re always happy to help someone in need,” Marion said.

For some reason Marion seemed oddly happy to go on this quest. Considering how the last quest she wanted to do was the most dangerous thing on the Board I’m surprised that she willingly chose something so tame immediately after instead of trying another dangerous one.

“Much appreciated,” Old Man Willis said. “Now, as I explained on the quest paper, currently the cheycan root is ripe and I need to get them all out of the ground and into these wooden buckets here. As you might know cheycans are very strong and hard to pull out of the ground, you two sure you’re up for the task?”

“Yes sir!” I said. “I don’t make promises I can’t keep!”

“Good, remember to pull with both hands and don’t hurt yourself. I’m gonna go take care of the other crops, but I’ll be back to check on you two in a bit.”

As Old Man Willis left I turned to see Marion getting started on the work. I went to start in the next row over.

I bent down, grabbed the stem of the root, and tugged on it. But it wouldn’t budge.

I pulled harder. Still nothing.

“What the heck? Why’s this damn plant so tough?” I mumbled under my breath.

“Huh? Did you say something Oliver?” Marion asked.

Hopefully she didn’t hear that.

“Uh, is there some sort of trick to this?” I asked her while walking over. “The cheycans aren’t coming out when I pull them. In fact they aren’t even budging…”

“Did you try using that glowy flair of yours?” she asked.

“Wait, I thought you were unconscious when I used that against the assassin.”

“I saw you use it against my dad when you were sparring.”

“Oh yeah, you were there for that,” I said. “And that power’s called Miracle just so you know.”

“Okay, well you might want to use your flair for this,” Marion said. “The roots of a cheycan are stronger than those of a tree you know.”

What!?!

“B-but, it’s just a small vegetable, why is it stronger than a tree? Who could even eat that!?”

“The vegetable itself is actually on the soft side, have you never had… well I supposed you wouldn’t have.”

Huh?

“What do you mean by that?” I asked, starting to grow a little suspicious.

“Oh! It’s just, cheycan don’t really grow all too well in Lavaland so only the middle class and higher would have them, and you’re… not in that group of people, so to speak.

“Anyways, I’ll show you how to pull ‘em up!” Marion said. “Just watch how it’s done!”

Marion then bent down and grabbed the stem of one of the cheycans. I saw her hands turn light grey as she pulled up, and eventually the cheycan came shooting out of the ground in her hands.

“I didn’t know your hands turned grey,” I said.

“Oh yeah, whenever I activate my power, my skin turns grey and weird markings appear on it,” she explained. “I only use a little bit at a time though because the more I use it the harder it gets to control. If I just do my hands or my feet it’s fine, but even a full arm’s a little risky.”

Interesting… I guess I need to know this stuff for the future. Best to plan ahead.

“What happens if you lose control?” I asked.

“I might end up killing someone…” Marion said as a pensive look came across her face and she looked at her grey hands.

As she stared like this, I noticed that her fingernails had grown into sharp claws.

I wonder… What would happen if she lost control? Would I have to stop her? Does that fall under the for the greater good clause?

“We don’t need to worry about all that stuff right now. It’s just a hypothetical situation anyway, hopefully it won’t happen.”

Wait, did I just trigger a flag?

…

“Thanks for your help today,” Old Man Willis said. “I really appreciate it.”

“We’re glad to be of use,” Marion replied.

After toiling away, me and Marion had managed to pull up all of the cheycan roots early. After that we got to help with some of the other vegetables, and luckily they didn’t have roots as strong as trees.

Even using Miracle, it still took a lot of effort to pull those damn vegetables out of the ground. But I guess now I know that if I ever needed to uproot a tree, I could. And I’d still have enough strength for the rest of the forest as well.

Actually, I think trees are significantly heavier than cheycans are, so maybe not the whole forest. But you get my point.

I’m bitter.

“It really is our pleasure,” I said with a smile.

“This world needs more people like you two,” Old Man Willis said.

I doubt it really needs more people like me. Actually, aren’t people usually isekai’d because that world needs more people like them?

Wait- Why was I isekai’d in the first place? I don’t think Canvas actually told me why I was here, just that I had died and lost memories.

“May we meet again someday,” Old Man Willis said. “Until then, may Canvas brighten you.”

Huh?

“Canvas brighten you as well,” Marion replied.

Huh!?!

What the Hell!? Why are they talking about that pompous bi-?!

Is that a bar of soap?

I followed Marion as we began walking back towards the tavern we were staying at. This was as good a time as any to ask a possibly problematic question.

“Who’s Canvas?”

“What? You don’t know who Canvas is?”

“No, not really,” I said while shaking my head. It’s technically not a lie because I don’t really know anything about her. Aside from the fact that she annoys the shit out of me.

“Well, Canvas is one of the Great Artists,” Marion said. “You know, the three beings who created Thloria.”

“So, these Great Artists are basically gods?” I asked.

“Uh, kind of,” she answered. “Nobody really knows who they are or where they came from, but we do know that they’re the ones who gave humans flairs.”

“So, they’re all powerful beings shrouded in mystery who gave humans magic and superpowers?”

“Basically,” Marion answered. “The three Great Artists are Canvas, Palette, and Figment. Canvas is the good one; Palette is the bad one; and Figment is purely neutral, never really dedicating himself to any one side.”

Canvas is the good one? How bad are the other two!? Or would the other two actually be good…?

Actually, I guess that Canvas didn’t do anything bad per say, but I really don’t like her.

“Do these Great Artists show themselves to people regularly?”

“Not really, they tend not to get involved in the affairs of us mortals unless something big is about to happen.”

Crap. I don’t want to be in the middle of some stupid world changing war or whatever.

Actually… I think I already am.

It pains me, but I think I might need to chat with Canvas again since she should know why. Although I’m not sure how I would go about doing that.

“…?”

Why do I suddenly feel… so… sleepy…?

…

\\\ Marion ///

It’s Thursday, Raytide the 17th.

Today was the start of mine and Oliver’s adventure, although we didn’t really do much.

We took a quest to help a local farmer harvest his cheycans. It was hard work, but with our combined efforts we actually managed to finish early.

After that, Oliver asked me about Canvas. Weird, but I get why he doesn’t know about all that, what with his special situation.

It’s so strange, just being around him. I can never get a firm grasp on what he’s thinking. Even if he’s talking directly to me and I can read the flow of the conversation, it never feels like we’re really communicating.

It’s like we’re in two different worlds.

It’s frustrating to be honest, but we’re stuck together now. I just hope that if I get to know him a little better, the strange feeling will go away. But for now I’ll just keep trying my best.

After telling him a bit about the Great Artists, he became pensive for a moment. I could tell something was on his mind, but it felt premature to ask about things like that. We hardly knew each other after all.

Before I had a chance to rethink my decision, Oliver fainted in the middle of the road. Was the work that hard on him? He didn’t seem exhausted earlier, but, unlike me, he’s only human. He can’t regenerate his stamina as quickly as I can.

After carrying him back to our room, I decided it couldn’t hurt to walk around the town a bit and get the lay of the land.

So, here I am, currently on the outskirts of town, looking down the road that leads to Dragons Hollow. There’s not any people around, probably because of that kaiju in the forest. But the lack of people does give me a chance to think.

I can’t help but wonder if this FuzzyCoats plan will work. It might not if the beast on this road stands in the way.

I’m pretty sure Oliver would be able to defeat whatever it is alone if he had too, he was strong enough to match Father’s blows after all, and that’s no easy feat, but he didn’t seem so sure himself. He read the quest paper once and decided there was no way it’d happen.

Oh well, no point thinking about it now.

I looked up at the orange sky, it was late evening. I should probably start heading back.

“Roy…” I mumbled under my breath. “I wonder where you are right now brother…”

“Hey, you!” a voice called out.

I turned my head and saw a man wearing a cowboy hat and some sort of battle gear. This might not be good.

“Uh, me?” I asked, hoping beyond hope that he was talking to someone else. Except, nobody else was around.

“Yes you,” he said. “You’re that demon princess, aren’t you?”

Oh stain.

“Wh-what? D-don’t be ridiculous-”

“It’s no use trying to lie, I recognize you from the bounty hunter board,” he said. “But my real question, is what someone like you’s doing all the way out here in Shadow Shore?”

“Uhh, um…”

This isn’t good. What am I supposed to do now?

“Listen,” I said as I raised my hands and took a step forward. “I think if we just-”

Bang!

A bullet shot straight past my head, only a few inches to the side. I didn’t notice before, but he’s holding a gun.

“Don’t come any closer!” he shouted. “The next shot won’t miss!”

“Wait!” I yelled. “We can talk this out!”

“If you come quietly, then I won’t have to hurt you.”

“I can’t do that, but please reconsider! You don’t have to-!”

As I was talking, I didn’t realize that I had taken another step.

“Then you leave me no choice,” he spoke in a quiet voice.

Bang!