Two rings are too much

We came back to the guild.

"Oh, I see you came back with someone new, hmm? You're quite popular aren't you?"

The older sister from the quest window smirked.

"Too bad they seem to be more interested in this plushie than in him."

Younger sister came from behind me and stood next to her sister.

"What are you talking about? I'm sure there is someone who feels something towards him."

She smiled and looked at the girls.

I turned back to see if someone was looking this way but none of them was.

"Anyway, good luck."

"Yeah, good luck."

And both of them went behind the curtain of the quest window.

We just got back from this weird, but simple quest, so I already took the next one for us. It actually is more of an 'event' than quest but whatever.

I approached the girls.

"Should we go?"

"Sure."

They answered.

And soon we were on the way.

"How can there not be a single unoccupied carriage in the whole town?"

We were searching for a carry to the place we are headed to. We split into two 'teams', one with me, Maria and Lia, and second with Rio, Lucy and Pin.

We searched for a good half an hour. It was a waste of time considering how far we could have walked, but we believed we could find something.

Not today.

"It's a very long way. More than two good hours of walking. If you don't want to go for that long, we can still cancel this at the guild."

"I'm okay with going."

Rio said and looked at other girls.

"Me too."

"And me."

"I can go, and Pin says so too."

I looked at them and smiled.

"Let's go then!"

More than two hours.

We just started walking. Girls seem to have fun. Like usually they're running around and playing.

I don't know details on what they're exactly doing. Now that I think of it, I've never joined them while they were playing.

But what I meant to say is, they're playing now, but eventually exhaustion is gonna kick in. And then there are two things. As long as I think that other girls are gonna make it just fine, I'm not really sure if Lucy will endure all that distance. And second, when they stop playing things may get a little awkward.

I mean, I've never been on a two hour long walk. We will eventually run out of topics or something like that right?

After some walking we saw the forest ahead. The path looked like it was splitting it in two.

I don't like this scenery, it seems kinda scary to me.

As I recall it's a romcom harem story. But instead of rom or com I keep getting scared or rejected. I don't get it.

"Boo."

Rio jumped on me from the bush.

"WHAT THE F*CK!?"

I felt like my soul was about to leave my body.

Girls started laughing.

They laugh, but I'm fighting for my life here.

After I calmed down a bit a quick thought crossed my mind. "It's not that bad even if it isn't some peak romance. Their laugh is enough."

We continued on our road.

Suddenly Lucy asked:

"What is 'fawk' ?"

We just crossed a quick, shocked look with Rio, Maria and Lia.

"It's a bad word, don't bother yourself with…"

Rio started.

"Y-you know… Lucy… It's when…"

Lia interrupted. Her face was read to the ears.

"When man and woman… really love each other…"

"What the heck!? Stop!"

I screamed.

Lia stopped and started inhaling and exhaling loudly and slowly became less red.

I looked at others.

Rio stood here in disbelief.

Maria was covering her face in hands.

Even Pin turned around and tried to hide his face in his hands but his arms are too short compared to the size of his head, which made him look like he was holding his cheeks.

Lucy was looking around at our faces and asked:

"What?"

Rio came closer to her and got on her knees.

"As I said. It's just a bad word, don't bother yourself with it, okay?"

Rio laughed a lot about it after.

This forest doesn't belong to big ones.

Around ten minutes of walking and we were nearly out.

We saw the end of it close. But it took longer than any of us would expect.

Suddenly we were standing in front of a giant bear. It had two gold rings on his neck.

It was probably my scream which led it to us, but we're gonna skip that topic.

These bears spawn in nearly all kinds of forests. Blue forest is one of the exceptions.

They're usually targeted by high level adventurers, because they guarantee good loot. They have a lot of health but their attacks are mostly slow ones so you're able to win just by taking your time if you have enough space to dodge.

Well we don't really have that much place.

The specific thing about them is that they are unable to leave the forest they have spawned in. And another specific thing is when they're killed, they respawn with a golden ring on their neck. It boosts their abilities a little, but also makes their loot more valuable.

After you kill one with a golden ring, they usually don't respawn. Although sometimes they do, with two rings. Even stronger and more valuable. There were records of ones with three rings, but there are only 5 documented encounters in the last 1000 years.

There is no sign of anyone being there for quite some time. It's possible that they left after killing one ringed version of it. They say it happens that people leave two-rings because they didn't know they exist, or couldn't find them.

And there we are. Standing in front of this beast.

It hit me that I didn't do any training at all. Again.

Do girls know how to? I looked at them. They look scared. Only Pin has this courageous look on his plush face. Still I doubt he stands a chance against it.

I decided to go for a brave, but not very considered move.

I stepped up to it. As if I wanted to protect girls behind me. Well, I actually did want to.

Just now I realised how big it is. I looked up. It was around five meters tall. But it's just a blind guess.

Saliva dripped from his mouth right in front of my face.

I drew my sword. I completely forgot I even had it. It's gonna be my first time using it.

What am I even doing? I don't stand a chance against this thing.

Still, I looked the beast dead in the eyes. I was ready to fight it right now and there.

Next chapter tommorow (01.08).