Retrieving the page from her, she pushes the contraption away as she slides the book down the table to join a heap of others.
"A token of my thanks," Leaning against the back of her chair, she gently rocks it with a satisfied grin. "I'm sure it'll help in your en devours."
Reading through the text, it appears to be a recipe for a potion. One that'd grant the consumer increased stamina regeneration. An original recipe, or so it states below.
"It's a simple yet potent vial, the ingredients are plentiful and are found throughout Elden."
"I see... Thanks."
Pulling out the book Luel offered me in the past, sure enough the ingredients are mostly found in forests and appear to consist of herbs and plants. This book is more helpful than I thought.
"Is this why you wanted to see me?"
With the sheet soon disappearing, it displays that I've learnt another recipe, with the first being Rosebelle's fruit punch.
"Not quite. I actually want to call in that favour from yesterday."
Retrieving a piece of parchment, she hands it to me as I examine its contents.
"I'm sure you'd be able to fulfill it with no problems, and more importantly learn a few things on how to survive out there."
"A request for... Herbs? Herb picking?"
Seems simple enough, though I'm sure there's more to it than that. Either way... With this, the reward combined with what I have now, it'll be enough to pay off my debt.
...
"What am I doing..."
In a somewhat peaceful forest; supposedly there's been low fatality rates here that even regular dwellers could breeze through and have a picnic. Just a short distance outside the east gate of Aisengard, the area is rather quiet asides from chirps and the scurrying of small, seemingly harmless animals; birds, rabbits, squirrels... Or at least creatures that resemble them.
With basket in tow, I swing it around to build some momentum in this otherwise dull stroll.
"Still..."
Referencing the guidebook, I start picking the required herbs against the base of a tree, Rosebelle also crouches down and starts picking.
"You didn't have to come, Rosebelle..."
"Hmm? Well even if Myria Forest is relatively safe, you still need to keep an eye out. I imagined you'd be so focused on gathering that you'd forget about everything else!"
Picking various plants herself, some don't appear to be in the request so I assume they're for her personal use.
"I-I can't say that wouldn't have happened... It's just..." Averting my attention to the tree thickets above, I probably would've been pretty off guard.
"Luel gave you her original stamina recipe didn't she?" Shifting towards me, she raises her hand and offers me a rather dry plant; yellow in colour, it seems to be at the end of its life. "You'd need some of these, originally one would grind it up into a powder like consistency, but for us Hero Candidates, the process is made simple."
Sitting up against a tree, she brings up a window that displays a certain recipe before taking out a few items. A small vial, a vibrant coloured herb and a rather fragrant plant.
"Essentially, the basics is opening up the recipe you desire. You don't necessarily need to take out the ingredients, but out of habit, I take at least the container out of habit."
Relying on the Candidate system, it seems to take the labor out of crafting as the ingredients disappeared and essentially filled the vial.
"Rather handy..."
Giving my reaction in awe, she smiles as she stashes the vial away before rising back up.
"Right?~ Now that you know, it's easy to craft things but you need to learn the recipe first. Though I guess all you have now is the stamina potion."
"And the fruit punch."
"Hmm? Oh, yeah, also that! Hehe, anyways that potion will help tremendously, especially starting off. You can train a lot more before your first level up. And-"
As her sentence trails off, Rosebelle suddenly reacts to something as she ducks before pulling me down to her; essentially close enough to make me rather nervous.
"R-Rose-?"
Before I could finish, she places her hand against my mouth and signals for me to be quiet by placing her index finger against her lips. Concentrating on our surroundings, I don't quite feel anything to be alarmed about; a-asides from being this close to her...!
"...Akira, leave whatever you've gathered here, we'll come back for them if possible."
Wondering what's caught her attention, I listen despite it paining me so, though it's not like I can stuff the accumulated herbs and plants in my bag. Resting the basket against the ground, I follow Rosebelle who slowly moves across the forest floor on all fours.
Soon hearing the sound of water, we overlook a small river stream below as I notice tracks of blood against the bank as it leads towards small carcass, as a small creature sits nearby, washing their gear.
"Goblins, out here?"
Rosebelle voices her surprise as I give my own thoughts.
"Wasn't this forest supposed to be devoid of danger?"
I can't imagine anyone being able to comfortably enjoy a picnic with such creatures roaming about. Though I wonder... What entitles creatures or monsters to explode into ethereal shards?
"If it's alone, I should be able to take it, but we have no clue how many are nearby."
Despite the creature appearing relatively weak, she seems to be playing it safe.
"Well if it's too much trouble, I'll go fetch my items and head back to Luel's."
Despite wanting to work a bit harder, I wouldn't like to fight a possible horde of them and end up like that carcass.
"Mm, though it may not be that easy. They're fairly weak on their own, but the problem lies in their numbers. When there's one, there's usually a pack not too-"
Grabbing her shield, she holds it out in front as it deflects a small projectile.
"Hm, hm, they caught on rather quickly."
Not even in the least bit afraid, she stands up as the goblin we've been spying on cries out before sprinting towards us. Closing the distance rather quickly. Swinging its cutlass at an arc, it lunges towards us before Rosebelle bats it aside with a crashing force of her shield as the goblin somersaults a couple of times before becoming ethereal shards.
I more or less stare in awe as she ducks before a bolt flies overhead and sinks into a tree trunk.
"Let's go, Akira, before more show up."
"R-Right."
Using the shrubbery for cover, we relocate to grab my basket and depart from the forest.
Or at least, that's what I'd like.
"R-Rosebelle..."
Whispering to her, we lay against the ground and peek out from a bush. Several goblins pass, thanks to the commotion earlier, it's obvious they'd be on the alert.
"Akira, if it were up to you, what would you do?"
"M-Me?"
Trying to assess the situation, my mind tells me to escape, however, it's probably easier said than done. Seeing how Rosebelle mentioned they'd be dangerous in hordes, chances are there's numerous others scattered and patrolling, waiting for a signal to converge.
"We can't simply run, can we?"
"Hmm, we could, if you had a shield it'd be much more manageable if you don't want to be filled with bolts, and goblins can be very quick, nimble little things."
I wouldn't doubt being outrun by one of them.
"I guess, we could lay low and try to move around then possibly take out the ranged goblins?"
"Bi-bong.~ In this kind of situation, it's best to know how many you're dealing with. Even if you do see one pass, sometimes it's wise to them go. You have to think where they might be, in the trees, bushes, sometimes even underground. You should never let your guard down until you know you're 100% in the clear."
"R-Right... I'll follow you."
...
With my body pumping adrenaline, the humidity of the forest starts to take a toll on me as trying to breathe normally was difficult enough. At any second, a bolt may fly and hit me square on the head, just thinking about that is enough to paralyze me in fear.
Despite most of the goblins being small in size, some vary in height and muscle mass. Not to mention how disturbing their grunts sound.
Passing by numerous patrols, in some instance it may have been better to take them out; however the problem lies in them being in pairs, and I boasting no confidence in delivering a one hit fatal strike.
Regardless of Rosebelle's words of reassurance; that it's better to not try than to regret it. At times like this, it's better to play it safe. If it were Rosebelle on her own, I can see her taking various paths to clear the forest of these goblins.
Moments later into our reconnaissance, a cry soon reaches our ears as I too almost follow suite. Readying myself for any contingency as I slowly stand, Rosebelle motions for me to stand down as I lower myself near her while she scours our surroundings.
"It's not us... Someone else has alerted them."
Footsteps march down the paths as a large number of goblins pass by as we hide in a bush with our heads down.
"We're safe..?"
"For now at least."
As the commotion stops, we step out as the forest becomes quiet yet again, but somehow, it still feels rather eerie as Rosebelle looks to the direction in which they all headed.
"...Akira, you-"
Before she could finish I step towards the way they headed and look back to her.
"We're going to check it out, right?"
Following my lead, we move at a moderate pace.
"If they need it, we'll join the fray. But don't just go charging in, there's more to a battle than engaging in close quarters."
"If they need it? Shouldn't we help regardless?"
Sounds of battle echoes as a putrid stench fills the air.
"If there's a possible chance they're Hero Candidates, most don't entertain the thought of a strangers support; especially for requests. Experience is divided between the amount of candidates who've dealt damage to the target; more damage equals more exp to the dealer."
"I see..."
I suppose that explains why I'm just on the verge of level two; I barely did a thing to the griffons.
"I'll go into depth later, so don't do anything stupid, or use that skill. And remember to protect your head."
Joining the fray, the goblins have surrounded a caravan, with only two fending them off, they're clearly outnumbered.
Drawing her sword and readying her shield, Rosebelle shouts at the top of her lungs.
"Sign!"
As her legs move ever so slightly, a man calls out in desperation.
"Red! Red!"
Rosebelle dashes in as answer after telling me to take out the preoccupied goblins on the high ground.
With no time to think, I focus on whatever's in front of me; if what I think is true, then they'd have their targets on the other two, plus Rosebelle who's already in the thick of the battle.
Not having all the time in the world, I approach one atop of the cliff side as I manage to catch it during its reload sequence; an opportune time to strike. Though, with a minor delay in my swing, it detects it a split second before collision as it intercepts the attack with its crossbow.
Deflecting my strike as a high pitch screech follows after, it draws its knife by its hip and lunges forward. Merely an inch from my waist as I twist my body with a spin to combine the swing delay into the momentum as the axe sinks into its back.
Unlike the encounters I've had before, the attacked surely pierced deep enough only to be stopped by a hard surface.
Continuing its attacks in distress, it's difficult to fight a smaller, nimble opponent when I have to count the fact my attacks have a slight delay to them.
Suffering from minor yet painful wounds, my HP drops almost below 60%, a thought crosses my mind.
There's no reason to rely on using my axe all the time.
Putting my sudden realisation to the test, I change my form as the goblin slows down a tad bit as though to read my movement.
Trying to recall the lessons I've learnt all those years ago, I step in with a kick which knocks him back as I once again repeat the previous axe swing.
As the goblin bursts into ethereal shards, the crossbow's the only thing that remains as I rush to pick it up; however a painful shock emits as it drops with a thud before popping up a text window.
"Warning, weapon tainted."
Voicing my thoughts of disbelief aloud, it'd appear that for some reason, I'm unable to use it.
...
As the fight draws on, with little luck, I manage to take out three of the six ranged goblins as the others cleared up the rest. Resulting in my first level up, the small status gained still felt exciting, as my VIT raised further than the others. Not only that, but also coming up with a small solution to the swing delay, while I can't rely on it all the time, it helps tremendously as I approach the others.
Being down to 40% HP with no potions left, all I want to do now is to get into a safe zone.
"Hey, thanks, and good work."
A rather sturdy man accompanied by a slim lady rest back to back against the frontal seat of a caravan as they pant for air. Armed with weapons of their own, a poleaxe and a dagger respectively, it seems they're Hero Candidates as well as they both chug restoration vials before offering me one.
"Y-Yeah, thanks. You two were amazing."
Consuming the potion, Rosebelle stands, leaning against the caravan for support with a slight increased breathing pace, though she recovers momentarily.
"Sorry to have dragged you into our mess, and you too, you're The Golden Rule, aren't you?"
As the man speaks, he refers to Rosebelle by a strange title as she laughs just a bit before standing before them.
"You must've mistaken me for someone else, my name's Rosebelle, and he's Akira."
"I'm Walter and she's Beatrice," Gesturing to the lady, she greets with a bow as she seems rather shocked by the turns of events. "We're part of the Aurelia Caravan Company, we were just on our way to Aisengard for a trade deal when we were ambushed by goblins."
"Aurelia?" Rosebelle looks questioningly to him as she looks back towards the cargo. "You'd think a big company such as them would have enough coin to hire some protection. Losing cargo would be very detrimental to their business."
"Hahaha, yeah about that..." Scratching the back of his head, he looks to Beatrice, but as the moment their eyes meet, she turns away as though to ignore him as she folds her arms.
"That's my bad, you see, generally speaking, we're the ones who decide whether or not to hire some able men," Taking a hefty pouch from inside the caravan, he passes it from one hand to another as the coins inside clash. "We get a sum for starting off, make the deal and keep whatever is left. Coin is basically a life source to us."
Looking at a singular spot for awhile as though in deep thought, he places the pouch beside him, as he then lowers his head with his hands placed against his knees. "Thank you for your help, but if possible... Could you we rely on you just a little longer? If you could escort us to Aisengard, we'll make it worth your while."
"Well, about that"
Rosebelle crosses her arms as the side of her lips tug up into a smirk.
Comments (0)
See all