It has been three days since Selene has been on her first journey as an adventurer, and enough to say, it wasn’t what she was expecting. There were many different quests for starters liker her on the quest board, from the likes of cleaning houses, to mending streets, and exterminating rats; but like any other young spirited adventurer, those dull requests wouldn’t suffice for Selene. Luckily, when she was pushing and squeezing through the horde of adventurers feasting off the quest board, all with the same intent as her, her hand struck gold and managed to pluck out a wonderful quest for herself.

                                                             WANTED!

  REPEATING BANDITS ATTACK ON VILLAGES SOUTHEAST OF MOORWICK!

            LAST KNOWN ATTACK HAPPENED IN THE VILLAGE “LAFRAS”.

                    SUSPECTS - RANGING FROM 12-13 GROWN MEN

                                        REWARD - 100 SILVER COINS

                                                     DEAD OR ALIVE

Selene thought the quest was perfect for her first, but the adventurer guild thought different, as they wouldn’t allow a rookie like her to embark on the very first quest by herself, thus for her first ever quest, she was forced to form a party with three other adventurers to apprehend lowly criminals that have been terrorizing villages just miles away from the capital, Rivenden.

The hateful heat of Moorwick’s summer and the dangerous, monster-and-bandit-infested routeway to Lafras were all more troublesome than she had anticipated. She limped along the poorly-built road of Moorwick’s outback, as her body sweated and tired out, with her longsword that was recently forged for her just for the occasion, hanged on her waist, and her large leather back filled with excess provisions and unneeded items ported on her back only weighting her down, all while wearing thin red garments, cladded over with white light armor, showered by roadway dusts on her small and slim body. Her clear blue-ocean eyes reflected the fair sky, a unique color shared amongst her lineage, her hair however was of golden color, silky and fair, reaching down her shoulder, complimenting itself to the sunlight. She received her beautiful golden locks after her mother, while her siblings got their curly brown mane from their father.

As Selene basked in the sun, scorching her skin beneath her blazing steel armor, a voice of reason spurted out “Let’s take a break for now, guys.” Wilken, a member and the swordsman of the party spoke out on behalf of the party. He was only a year older than Selene, but in he gave off a far more confident and carefree aura than she was. He was tall, had a lean built, and ruby-like eyes with slick brown hair. Selene hasn’t thought much about boys throughout her life unlike her elder sister, but she could tell that Wilken’s face was on the handsome side. The dashing boy, without even awaiting a response from his comrades, immediately dashed off the side of the road and into the beautiful green field, where he slid then lay beneath a great apple tree, bearing golden fruits. He carefreely tossed over his sword to the grass and took off his sweaty leather armor. “C’mon guys. We’ll be to Lafras in no time. Let’s take a break before we do.” gestured the boy as if he was the leader.

Selene stood still as she glanced over to the two other members and waited for them to act. The other female of the party, Amelia, wasted no time to decide as she hastily frolicked over to him while screeching Coming!, giggling and panting like a dog in heat, and waving her luscious rose-colored hair under her purple pointed hat, all while jiggling her busty assets as she ran, which made Selene a tad bit self-conscious. The witch miraculously made an unthinkable leapt across the field, despite her constrained-robe, and into Wilken’s arms, and he even more miraculously somehow managed to catch her despite of all her voluptuous womanly gains, or so Selene thought. It’s all right. Your time will come… eventually. Selene gazed down, patting her chests while consoling herself.

The two then wasted no time to engage in their day-to-day acts that would get them labeled as exhibitionists if more people were there to see, or so that’s what the pure, innocent Selene thought. She immediately diverged her eyes away from them and blocked out all the weird, pain-like noises that Amelia was making. As she turned to the side, with her face as red as a tomato and her maiden heart pumping like a bull, her eyes fell onto the last member of the party, Noyl.

He was the last member to be accepted in the party, and even though he desperately begged to join the party, he lost all of his enthusiasm once he was actually in. Same, huh?. laughed Selene. Being the oldest in the party, Noyl was tall and seemed to have a rather strong built, he also had dark-tanned skin and faint scars all over his arms and most likely his entire body too, but Selene couldn’t be sure of most her thoughts since Noyl covered his entire face under a rugged hood and his body in a dirty, old and torn cloak, excluding his arms. The only thing he had on since the start was a thin rod wrapped in tattered white cloth, spanning half his height, that he used as a weapon though showed little effectiveness from what Selene had seen, and the other is a small in length but rather thick book that he would spend all of his time reading no matter the occasions or situations. Despite being the oldest, he received little respect from Wilken and littler care from Amelia, thus he was forced by Wilken to carry everyone’s bag and handle all the basic necessities, yet he never once complained or moaned about it.

“You know, you don’t have to carry them if you don’t want to right?” being the only one that didn’t force him to carry her bag, Selene advised Noyl but he was too captivated to his book that he completely ignored her. Ticked off that the man she’s helping her, she unexpectedly yanked the book from Noyl’s hands “Listen when other people are talking to you!” shouted Selene as she juggled the book up and down on her palm. The book had an orange cover with a drawing of man with unusually dark spiky hair, holding a bright blue ball between his palms. Selene had never seen such book in her life, the only thoughts that crossed her mind were that it’s either a spell book or some inconspicuous, lecherous novel.

Finally returned to reality, Noyl lifted up his chin and stared down at Selene. For the first time since they all departed together, Selene could actually see Noyl’s face clearly from underneath his hood. He had coarse lips, and his eyes were brown, caramel-like, their gazes were strong and willful, showing little hostility but Selene couldn’t help but feel overwhelm.

“I apologize if I’ve angered you-” said Noyl in a somber tone “-but I have no use for your noble words. If you are going to act high and mighty now, mind using it on those two rabbits over there.” He pointed towards the apple tree where all sorts of actions and sounds are being made. “Now, if you don’t mind. I would love it if you’d return my book so I can spare myself from wasting any more breath on this conversation.” Noyl offered a gentle smile after he ended his sentence

Selene was left utterly dumbstruck, no one has ever dared spoken to her like that, and this tattered adventurer just casually ran his mouth all over the place, and finished it off with a smug grin “How dare you talk to ME in that tone?!” an irritated Selene puffed out her cheeks like a fully-pumped balloon “If you don’t start acting like a proper member of the team, I’m gonna… I’m gonna…” She stumbled on her own words when she realized she barely knew who he was let alone how to threaten him. Noyl stood still with a bratty smirk, crossing his arms and held his chin up high as if he’s completely won the argument. As Selene cheeks started to enlarge and redden, she remembered that she still had his book in her palm. “…I’m gonna burn this book!” proclaimed Selene, though her heart ached in result of using such a faint-hearted trick

The once cool and composed Noyl instantly dropped his character when he heard that, as he sweated and nervously bowed to Selene “No! Anything but that, please!” his entire body shivered, and his face turned blue just like a lost puppy to which Selene found kind of cute “I was just kidding! Let’s not do anything rash now!” he whimpered profusely while pressing his hands together and begged Selene to calm down.

“Oh…” Selene returned Noyl with the same snarky smirk that he’d given her, as if an inner-sadistic side of her has been awoken “So this book is precious to you, huh? Then it would be a shame if it were to…” With the book hanging from her fingers on one hand, she twirled the index finger on her left until a small red magic ring was formulate on the tip of her finger and from it, a feeble ember sparked out “…Get burned to ashes!” She mindlessly screamed out as she brought the flame towards the book but just a faint moment, as it was a hair away from the hardcover, a violent gust stormed pass Selene’s torso. It was so rapid, Selene didn’t even have time to process what was happening or what it was when it happened, and before she knew it the book has somehow vanished from her grasp. Her legs and face were frozen stiff, she instantly lifted her head and instinctively looked around for Noyl, and there he stood behind her, with the book firmly in his hand, his clothes all wrinkled as if it just got hit by a hurricane, his hood blown off, now properly revealing his face along his messy dark hair that stretched half-way down his neck and front.

She squinted and rubbed her eyes and shook her head, not wanting to believe that a foulmouthed, half-baked adventurer in torn clothing, wielding a glorified stick, was able to outpace her. “What sort of sorcery did you use? I didn’t see any magic ring nor heard a chant.” she hastily condemned him

“What are you talking about? The wind blew the book off your hand. I just simply picked it off the ground.” Noyl calmly answered as he opened up his book and meticulously searched for the page he was reading.

“Don’t play coy with me! I know you did something!” Selene heatedly shouted but it would seem her puffed up cheeks and reddened face served less as a threat and more as an adorable reward for Noyl’s eyes.

“That’s enough out of you for today, little cub.” said Noyl, though his eyes never left the pages. “Now c’mon. You best not left your companions waiting.” He scruffily putted his hood back on, then lightly nodded his head towards where the two lovebirds were, and to which Selene was reluctant to comply, not because she was absolutely livid at Noyl, but because of Wilken and Amelia violent chicken-choking session that’s giving her unadulterated maiden mind all sorts of indecent thoughts and images.

Selene held both her hands up high and covered her face as she turned towards the apple tree, the bashful heat emitting from her cheeks were roasting her palms and the sun was not helping. She took a slight peak through the crevices between her fingers, and immediately let out a sigh of relief as she saw that the two have finally stopped and had their clothes back on.

“C’mon, Selene! These golden apples are really nice!” Wilken called out to Selene as he panted profusely between sentences, with his clothes and hair all tattered and glosses of lipsticks all over his neck.

I bet those apples are nice… Noyl quietly sniggered but then stopped instantly after being caught by Selene’s beastlike glare “Yeah coming!” Selene responded but with little to no vigor. She began to leisurely saunter towards the tree as Noyl tiptoed behind her, all while reading and carrying everyone’s bags, though they didn’t seem to bother him much. As they arrived, Selene was left in complete disbelief, her mouth were left gaping and her eyes reduced to dots as she saw the ground littered with apple seeds and cores while Wilken dished on the few remaining fruits, as Amelia leaned against his shoulder and dozed off without a care in the world. There’s barely any apples left. This sly son of a bitch. She looked up the tree to confirm.

“Don’t worry, Selene. I saved two for you.” smiled Wilken while his mouth was still chewing as he tossed Selene the apples.

Selene let out a small sigh of relief as she caught the apples Well maybe he’s not so bad. thought Selene as she sat down beneath the shade and lay down all of her equipment. It felt like heaven once everything was off, Selene even quietly groaned as if a boulder had just left her back. She then took her apple and carefully cleaned it with the handkerchief she always had hanging over her bag. This was the first time she has ever tried a golden apple, but from what she heard was that an indescribable nectar flowed within the fruit, as a gift from God for all the hard-working farmers to fill their guts and quench their thirst under the summer sun. Her gazes were completely captivated on the shining fruit, she could hardly wait any longer as she hadn’t even had breakfast. Abandoning all formality, she took the biggest bite that her small and thin lips could handle. As her teeth penetrated through the golden skin and into the fruit, a brand-new sensation clouded Selene’s mind. That one bite alone changed her entire mood, as she chewed on the chunk, rich syrup flowed out, engulfing her mouth in a sea of sweetness. With every passing bites, she quivered and kicked her feet up and down just like a child at a dinner table.