Chapter 128:

Year 2: The First Conflicts - Chapter 3

The Children of Eris


After the meeting with the other leaders, Duncan had called his team together to discuss their upcoming assignment and all five tasks that they needed to complete.

Earlier in the day, Dante had handed each team member a sealed envelope, containing identical documents breaking down each task that they had to complete in detail.

For Duncan’s Team:

- Gathering: Find and gather six kilograms of iron and seven kilograms of wood. Please note that you must not violate local logging/mining laws and nature protections when gathering your materials.

- Herbology: Gather and pick ten A-grade (or higher) White Lily Flowers suitable for use in healing ointments, potions, and salves. Each one must be graded by a trained alchemist or herbologist and will not be accepted by the Adventurer’s Guild unless legitimate certification is provided.

- Extermination: A seven-metre long Giant Lizard has been spotted in the woods surrounding Macce; find it, eliminate it, and present its carcass back at the Adventurer’s Guild. Please take extra care to not simply tear the corpse apart as its materials can be used by the guild to craft various items.

- Escort: The tax collector in Macce is looking to travel to a local lord’s home to collect overdue taxes; however, the collector fears for his life and has requested an armed escort. Ensure that the tax collector makes it to the local lord’s estate and back safely; if you deem this to be impossible, please prioritise your own lives and well-being.

- Hunting: Macce is well known for its wild boar and pheasants; find and hunt a total of six game, but you must hunt at least one of each species. Once you have collected your game, please present it to a local butcher for evaluation and payment. If he deems the meat inedible, then you have failed this task.

Good luck,

Signed by Dante, Representative of the Monarchs of the Free People’s Alliance.

“…This is-”

“Hmm, on paper, it almost sounds too simple,” Feng whispered.

“And that’s what so worrying.” Stephanie put her copy on the table. “Dante said they didn’t want these assignments to be too easy for us, but they also didn’t want to make it too hard either, so they had to find some way of balancing that in order for this exercise to bear any fruit. I imagine that when we do arrive in Macce, we’ll struggle a lot more with this than we think we will.”

“I agree,” Duncan said. “For example, gathering ten flowers doesn’t sound too difficult but we don’t know how rare they are, where the best places to find them are, or if someone’s already gone and picked every single one surrounding Macce. If that’s the case, how are we meant to complete our assignments?”

“If it did come to that, we could potentially buy them from a shop or something,” Brenda offered.

“It’s not a bad idea, but Dante will reject it.”

“Why?”

“Look at the exact wording of the task,” Dao directed them. “It specifically says that we must ‘gather and pick them’ ourselves. I imagine that if we did buy them, Dante would consider that grounds to fail us on this assignment.”

Feng sighed a little. “Meaning that if someone has already picked them or intends to, then we might not be able to get any.”

“Not only that, but they have to be of an A-grade or higher.” Blake shook her head a little. “What the hell makes a White Lily Flower A-grade?”

“We can always ask around when we get to Macce.”

“We could probably do that with a fair few of these tasks, but.” Stephanie frowned. “An escort mission where we don’t know the date of departure, a monster extermination request for a very specific beast and we also have to hunt six different animals without any prior experience. In all likelihood, we’ll have plenty of time to fail these tasks again and again.”

“But we’ll get stronger every time we fail them,” Duncan said, rising from his seat, smiling at the others. “I know that this won’t be as easy as we think it will, but I think we can do this.” He then looked purposefully at Dao with a reassuring glance. “Together.”

Dao huffed and looked away.

“Does anyone have any ideas about what we should do when we get to Macce?”

“I do, Duncan.” Feng raised his hand. “The most important factor that decides the victor or loser in a battle is information. Whomever has the greatest knowledge of the coming battle can better decide its flow and outcome. First, when we arrive in the hamlet, we should immediately start gathering as much information about each of our tasks as soon as possible. If we split up into teams of two, we can do this much more efficiently and effectively.

“Then, upon returning to our accommodation for the night, we discuss everything we’ve learnt, using a local map, either bought or made ourselves, to rank our tasks in order of priority and then complete them in the order we deem best. Ideally, I would say we should aim to have everything done within two weeks, giving us plenty of time to head back to Rhodes or correct any mistakes that might arise.”

“I’d agree with all of that, except say that we shouldn’t just be thinking about what we think’s the most important to complete, but rather what’s going to be the easiest or hardest things to complete,” Stephanie added. “The escort mission is absolutely the simplest out of the bunch, but it’s also one of the riskiest ones; it’s also potentially the most time sensitive one on there, other than maybe the monster hunt.

“If we get the escort and extermination requests done first, then we can relax a bit, and take our time with the others.”

“It’d also probably be worth getting rid of that lizard in case it eats boars or pheasants, or small flowers,” Brenda laughed. “That and it’d be easier to gather without being scared of a sudden monster attack.”

“…But then that means getting into a real fight almost as soon as we arrive,” Duncan reminded them.

“Sooner rather than later,” Dao Chan mumbled. “If we keep putting it off for too long, someone might end up too scared to face it when the time comes.”

“Heh, speaking for yourself, ‘Strongest Hero’?” Blake mocked.

“Blake.”

“…Sorry, Brenda.”

With a small, kind smile, Brenda rubbed the top of Blake’s head. “Don’t pat my head.”

“Sorry, sorry.”

“You’re still doing it.”

Stephanie coughed loudly. “Getting back on track. Duncan, I think it’s best for all of us to take the plunge earlier rather than later.”

“I know, I just…” He smiled bitterly. “I was a bit, scared or angry I guess, that’d I’d have to be the one to put you guys in harm’s way. I mean, ultimately, I’m the team leader and so-”

“Brother Duncan.” Feng walked over to him and clasped his hands tightly. “A leader, by nature, has to make difficult decisions. When I followed the venerable Lui Bei, I did so knowing that I might die on his order, chasing his ideals. All soldiers following their lords into battle do so not just because they believe in them, but because they trust them and their judgement.

“I think I speak for all of us when I say that we elected you to this position because you inspired us, and you represent the hope and strength of us heroes.”

“I didn’t vote.”

“Everyone except for Sister Dao then.”

“I mean, I don’t agree with everything he’s said, but.” Stephanie lightly scratched one of her slightly pink cheeks. “I think you’re a good guy, and someone I’d trust to lead us.”

“Same.”

“Well, I did too, until you just started talking about all this stuff,” Blake spat with a smile. “If our leader starts acting like this, then I think we’re doomed.”

“…Thank you, everyone.” With his resolve renewed once again, Duncan loudly proclaimed, “Everyone, get a good night’s sleep and pack your bags! At the crack of dawn, we head to Macca.”

***

Macee, a hamlet just eight miles east of the city of Rhodes, was a beautiful little place that reminded Duncan of an old English village. Thatched rooftops, buildings made of white coloured stones and blackened wooden supports, farms encased in cobblestone walls and cattle grazing in the fields.

It was a lovely, tranquil settlement that earnt admiration from not just him, but the rest of his team too.

The carriage and armed knight escort dropped them off at the tavern first and then, after making sure that they had checked in safely, the knights departed.

“We look forward to seeing you all soon, brave heroes!” Their captain declared, before riding off on his majestic steed.

Once settled, Duncan split his team into three pairs.

He and Stephanie would inquire with the Adventurer’s Guild and the local hunters about the Giant Lizard.

Dao Chen and Feng Li would ask around about any bandit sightings, as well as the location of any nearby mines or places where they could gather wood.

Finally, Brenda and Blake searched for an herbalist store to inquire about the White Lily Flowers.

After seven hours of research, the team reassembled back in the tavern and discussed everything they knew, before planning out the next few weeks in explicit detail.

It’s going to be a lot of work, but I know it’ll be worth it, Duncan told himself.

Tomorrow. He looked down at his sheathed sword and scowled. I might have to kill another human being.

Tomorrow, I could die.

But.

He steeled his resolve and smiled at his team as he talked.

A leader cannot let his team down!

***

Following the advice from the hunters, Duncan and his team set off early in the morning just before the sun rose.

From there, they carefully made their way out of the hamlet, into the Macee Woodlands and crept their way through the trees. They easily found the dirt path the hunters described and followed it, taking care to mark their exact position on the map and leave a recognisable mark on tree branches that they passed.

A double knotted piece of blue cloth that Dao had bought in the hamlet before returning to the tavern.

“Just so we don’t get lost,” she’d said, throwing them the roll of cloth before trying to leave and rest for the night.

Once they found the small river, they turned to the west and saw the obvious trail the seven metre Giant Lizard had left.

“Feng, how does it look?”

“It’s not fresh; most likely, it left the trail sometime last night.”

“Can you guess how old it is?”

“I am not that skilled in dealing with Giant Lizards, Sister Stephanie.”

“Then, we’ll proceed as plan from here on out. Brenda, with me in the front: Stephanie and Blake in the back, Dao on the right flank and Feng on the left,” Duncan ordered. “Remember, keep an eye out for any other threats or any game if you see them. Might as well try and get through two at once.”

After twenty minutes, they found the Giant Lizard, in its nest, as it slowly roused from its sleep.

With its emerald-green scales and thin tail, the beast groggily started to climb out of its cave towards the rising sun, but Duncan’s plan involved it never stepping foot out of the cave.

“Now!”

An arrow, three feathers and a fireball flew at the beast’s face, startling it. The projectiles slammed into its face, causing it to cry out in pain as it withdrew a little bit back into the cave. Then, Brenda and Duncan moved in closer, swords drawn.

Brenda struck first, flinging fire from her blade at the beast’s eyes. It panicked and tried to dodge, but it slammed its head into the cave’s ceiling and couldn’t avoid the blow.

The flames stung it but didn’t blind it.

Duncan quickly followed up with a slash to the creature’s throat, using the Ehwaz rune to increase his attack’s speed. The blade lightly chipped away at its scales and bled, but it wasn’t a fatal wound.

Dao Chen, realising that Duncan’s quick kill strategy had failed, switched tactics to their back up plan and shot seven feathers from her cloak at the lizard. They pierced through the gap Duncan had created, causing the beast even greater agony but they hadn’t done enough damage yet.

Blake, frustrated, chanted something incomprehensible to the others and a lance made out of a black-coloured mist shot at the lizard, zooming past Duncan’s head and into the lizard’s jugular.

“How’s it still alive?!”

“Some monsters can keep fighting even when fatally wounded for several minutes,” Stephanie yelled back, firing several smaller fireballs at the lizard’s eyes. “It’s best to think of them like headless chickens that can still run around. If we want this to end-!”

Stephanie jumped several feet to the side as the lizard lunged at her, attempting to bite off a part of her stomach. It then slashed its tail at her, connecting with her side and sending her tumbling across the ground. Feng loosed another arrow at its eyes, but the lizard had learnt and shifted his head to avoid the shot.

Duncan and Brenda sliced at the creature’s legs together, severing one of its four legs. Enraged, the lizard smashed its body against theirs, knocking them onto their backs. Dao Chen stormed out of the trees, pelting the lizard with feathers, desperately trying to lure it away, but the creature was focused on the two winded prey before it.

Blake roared and chanted again, this time summoning two lances, and hit its neck again.

Still, the lizard screamed and moved.

Its jaw opened wide and moved to bite Brenda, but Duncan leapt between them, catching the monster’s teeth on his sword.

“Now, Brenda!”

Not missing a beat, Brenda leapt onto her feet, ignoring the pain in her limbs, and sliced the monster’s head off with one mighty swing.

Finally, the Giant Lizard was dead, and everyone could relax.

“Good work, everyone,” Duncan called, slowly rising onto his feet, freeing Angurvadal from the lizard’s vice-like grip. “Everyone okay?”

“We’re fine back here,” Blake answered.

“Might have a big bruise, but I’m good,” Stephanie said in a slightly strained voice.

“Do you think it’s good enough for the guild to accept?”

“Well, they said that the head isn’t all that good for materials, and we only cut off one leg, so it should be fine,” Brenda reasoned.

“Thank God we didn’t burn or char the corpse.”

“Agreed, Sister Stephanie.”

With a giggle, Stephanie asked, “So, who wants to drag a dead, big-ass lizard to Macee?”

***

After an agonising hour of a mixture of dragging and carrying, Duncan’s team successfully returned the Giant Lizard’s corpse to the local Adventurer’s Guild and received a red and silver coloured medal in exchange.

“What’s this?”

“Lord Dante instructed us to hand out these medals whenever you completed one of your tasks to a satisfactory level,” the receptionist explained. “He also said not to lose them, because you have to show every single one you’ve earned when you returned to Rhodes.”

On top of the medal, they received a cash reward for their services and took a two-hour break for lunch.

By the time they were done, it was early in the afternoon, and they went to meet the tax collector they needed to escort.

After a brief, pleasant introduction to one another, the collector led them, by horse and carriage, to the nearby lord’s manor.

“Lord and Lady Redka are most hospitable and generous people, but they struggled to pay their taxes in full for the last two months due to the number of donations they’ve been giving the refugees from the east,” he explained. “The King of Rhodes was tempted to pardon them, but the Redka’s insisted that they not be made exempt simply for doing a good deed. They swore they’d repay their taxes in full and.” The collector laughed. “It seems that they fully intend to.”

When they’d arrived, they were greeted in person by the Redka’s themselves who offered them food and drink, but Duncan and his team politely declined, saying that they didn’t have the time.

With a happy smile, Lord Redka handed over the money and thanked the Summoned Heroes for their continuing hard work.

Unfortunately, the return journey to Macee was not as peaceful as they’d hoped it’d be.

Two crossbow bolts flew out of the treeline, piercing the tax collector’s arm.

“Bandits!”

Duncan’s team leapt out of the carriage and found themselves surrounded on all sides by twenty men, not including the two marksmen in the forest.

“Those were warning shots,” the bandit leader arrogantly told them. “Hand over the money or-”

An arrow pierced the bandit’s eye.

Time slowed as the bandit leader gradually fell, face first, onto the dirt.

By the time the bandits had processed what had happened, Feng had killed another man.

Dao Chen quickly joined in.

Feathers fell like arrows into the chests of four bandits who hadn’t been paying much attention, as she leapt up onto the roof of the carriage, looking for more targets to slay.

In a panic, Blake roared and started chanting, her lance piercing two men through the stomach and pinning them against a tree.

Her breathing rapid and a panic attack close approaching, tears fell from Blake’s eyes as she let out a bone-chilling scream and curled up into a ball, covering her ears with her hands.

Brenda swung her sword and engaged three bandits in combat, but her strikes were light, her hesitation holding her back. She disarmed one, punched another in his temple and kicked the third in his stomach, hoping that would knock the will to fight out of them.

Sadly, the bandits were too determined to stop now.

They would either avenge their comrades and get the loot or die trying.

Brenda blocked a heavy axe’s blow, a blow that was filled with the intention of killing her, but she couldn’t bring herself to push them back. Instead, she tried to find a way of ending it without bloodshed.

She engulfed the Sword of Surtr in fire, scaring the bandit, as the flame quickly leapt onto the man’s cloak. He panicked and withdrew, discarding his cloak, as his comrades engaged Brenda.

Brenda parried the first man and then sliced subconsciously at the second, just as she’d been trained to, and disembowelled the assailant.

Despite the sadness she felt, the adrenaline and fear inside of her made Brenda push through her pain and kill the second bandit. The third, whom she’d set on fire, threw down his weapon and tried to flee, but Feng Li landed an arrow in the back of his skull.

Duncan, who had been psyching himself up all day to act when the moment came, had a similar problem to Brenda.

He didn’t want to kill people, of course he didn’t.

Before becoming one of Harmonia’s chosen heroes, Duncan had never even considered a time when he’d have to kill someone.

Duncan tried to knock them out or disarm them, but he was holding back, scared that he might accidentally kill them.

You have to do this! He told himself, parrying a bandit’s mace. If you don’t start getting used to this awful feeling, then you won’t be able to do it when you need to!

Come on, Duncan!

He blocked another blow and grimaced, grinding his teeth together.

If you don’t kill them, they could kill you!

Come on!

Finally, with a great, booming roar, Duncan disarmed one of the bandits and stabbed the man through his heart, instantly killing him.

By the time the battle ended, Duncan had killed three people, Blake and Brenda had dispatched two each, Feng Li had killed eight and Dao Chen had killed six, including the two marksmen in the woods.

Stephanie had only killed one.

She had burnt him to death with a fireball.

In games, you don’t see or smell the burning flesh, she thought, as she watched the bandit die an agonising death before her eyes.

She had been so caught in the death of this one bandit that she hadn’t even realised the battle was over, until Dao Chen shook her shoulder and told her.

After tending to the tax collector’s wounds and after Dao and Feng had both looted the corpses for any valuables, they climbed back into the carriage and departed.

It was a much longer, much quieter journey home, broken up by only a single conversation ten minutes later.

“Feng.”

“Yes, Sister Dao?”

“…Thanks.”

Feng Li feigned ignorance and smiled. “For what?”

Annoyed, Dao clicked her tongue and folded her arms. “…For earlier. If you hadn’t killed that guy with the throwing knife, I’d be dead.”

With a big smile, Feng Li said, “You are most welcome.”

I…didn’t even see that, Duncan thought as he observed his team.

Feng and Dao were the same as always, Blake was weeping quietly into the miserable looking Brenda’s arms, while Stephanie stared down at her hands blankly.

If I wasn’t the leader, I’d probably look like that too. But it’s like what everyone said the other day, if the leader doesn’t set a good example, how can his team have faith or trust in him?

…Is it bad that I hope that this gets easier?

Dao and Feng can do it without batting an eye, so maybe one day I could too, but…do I want to?

***

Ever since Duncan had started spending his nights with Dame Chelsea, he found himself unable to sleep until the early hours of the morning.

Midnight, to him, was a time of peace, tranquillity and reflection and tonight was no different.

After the team had safely returned the tax collector to the guild, they were handed another medal and bid a good day.

No one, however, was in the mood to celebrate.

They ate a sombre dinner together before retiring to their respective rooms.

Duncan, however, couldn’t relax in his bedroom and so had decided to wander around the hamlet, looking for a quiet place to rest.

He ended up settling on a small hill overlooking the chapel and its graveyard.

“Mind if I join you?”

Duncan glanced over his shoulder and found Stephanie. With a small smile, he said, “By all means.”

“Thanks.”

She sat down right beside him, leaving less than two inches between their bodies.

“…How is everyone doing?”

“What you’d expect,” Stephanie muttered. “Blake’s sleeping with Brenda tonight, but Dao Chen and Feng Li are fine. If anything, they’re too fine.”

“Well, I imagine they’ve…done this before.”

“…Does that scare you?”

“A little, but.” Duncan gently shut his eyes and lay back onto the grass. “It’s a little reassuring.”

“Why?”

“Because it means that one day, we won’t feel this shit. One day, on a day where it’s the difference between life and death, and the deaths of those we love, we won’t hesitate.”

“I think it might be easier for you than me to get used to it.”

Duncan opened his eyes and saw Stephanie curled into a ball, lying beside him, staring into his eyes.

“…Are you okay?”

She smiled weakly and shook her head, a few tears forming in the corners of her eyes. “I wish I could lie about this, but it hurts so much, Duncan.” Her hand grasped her heart. “I burnt someone to death today and I’ll probably have to do it again and again, but I can’t get it out of my head. His screams, the smell, the blackened corpse…whenever I close my eyes, I see him there and I’m scared it’ll drive me insane.”

Gently, Duncan rested his hand on her head and lightly stroked it. “It’s okay, Stephanie.”

“How do you-?”

“Because.” He smiled warmly. “I’m your leader, and I promise that it’ll be okay.”

Her cheeks turned a light shade of pink as she smiled bashfully, nuzzling her head against the palm of his hand. “…Thank you, Duncan. I think, that made it a bit…easier for me.”

“…Then, I’m glad.”

“Hey, Duncan?”

“What?”

“Why aren’t you…I mean, I don’t mean to be mean, but…why aren’t you crying?”

Duncan took a deep breath and sat back up, lightly patting her head as he did. “Because I keep telling myself why I’m doing this. I’m doing this to stop the Demon Emperor, to save Aangapea and rescue Dame Chelsea. She told me that she’d wait for me, and I plan on saving her, no matter how long it takes.” His left hand curled into a fist. “I’m not strong enough to do that right now, so I need to get stronger and quickly. I hate the idea of killing people and it’s a sin I’ll always bear, but it’s one I have to hold. Do you have anything like that, Stephanie?”

With a quiet giggle, she sat up and said, “I thought we all agreed not to pry into each other’s pasts?”

“W-well, I mean, yeah, but-”

“I know; you got swept up in the moment. Honestly, I never really had much motivation to do anything but study and get good grades. Hell, I didn’t even have a career or course I wanted to do in particular, but I just enjoyed learning. So, I thought maybe I’d want to be a researcher or something, but I could never get passionate about it like I thought I could.

“When I died, I remember thinking ‘Oh, so it was all for nothing’ before Harmonia appeared before me.” Stephanie laughed awkwardly and then hugged her knees. “Honestly, I don’t know what I want to do with my life, but maybe this whole hero thing isn’t a bad life after all.”

“Yeah, and you could always start learning more and researching loads of things in Aangapea too, like you have been for Blake’s rings,” Duncan suggested.

“…I guess.” She smiled. “That’s quite fun.”

“Right? So, maybe it’s just finding something that you consider worth fighting for and using that to power through all those horrible, muddy feelings we’ve got right now. I mean, it helps soften the blow at least, but…”

“It doesn’t erase it,” Stephanie said, carrying on after Duncan trailed off. “If it was that easy, then it wouldn’t be a problem I guess.”

“You could always try researching ways of-”

Stephanie stood up, stretched her arms high above her head. “I think I’ve already found one way of doing it.”

“Really? What is it?”

With a shy smile, she turned around and whispered, “It’s a secret.”

T.K. 月狐
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