Quest
1 – Non-blood Brothers
“Corso, Corso! Wake up,” I say as I
wake him up at night.
“What-what is it, Benedetto? What’s
going on?”
“I’ve got an important mission I’ve
got to accomplish, and we have to go now.”
“You got it.”
Corso gets his armor on and his equipment
with him in no time and heads out the barracks with me. We head out on foot to
the location of the mission.
“Benedetto, why didn’t you wake up
anyone else?” Corso says in a whisper.
“You’re the only one I need for
this mission. At least I think we can complete this together. What do you
think? I’m sorry that I didn’t ask first.”
“No, it’s fine. You can trust your
brother on this. Let’s complete this mission.”
“Thank you, brother.”
We enter the forest around us and
find the lake that has our enemy in it. There is a demon possessing the lake
here that turns the water into a three-headed serpent once people get close
enough to it. We try cutting the heads off because they appear solid enough,
but after several cuts, the head just splits into two heads. This triggers the
other heads to split so now we’re facing a six-headed serpent.
“You don’t happen to have any
tricks up your sleeves, do you?” Corso asks me.
“I do have rose prayer beads with
me. You think we can use it on the demon?”
“I think I see a core in the center
of the serpent. Let’s try using it on there.”
Corso protects me as I run for the
serpent’s core. Since it’s made of water, it’s not too hard to dive into the
creature and eventually wrap the beads on the core. I have to hold my breath
while the beads make break the core as the serpent writhes in agony. It’s like I’m
strangling it to death. The core then breaks and the water in the lake goes
back to normal. I get out of the water and rest on the grass with my brother.
“Mission accomplished,” Corso says
as we bump fists.
“I knew we could do it.”
“So now that the mission is over,
can you tell me why you chose me in particular?”
“The truth is that I didn’t know
about the demon possessing the lake. If you remember, it’s where we used to play
in when we were kids.”
“Oh, yeah that’s right. Why didn’t
you just say so to begin with?”
“I wanted it to be a surprise.
Plus, I wasn’t sure what to say.”
“Why’s that?”
“Because I’m a hero now. I didn’t
know if you still viewed me as the same brother you knew especially after I conquered
the Socia Agmina.”
Corso puts his hand on my shoulder.
“Of course you’re still my brother
and you being a hero hasn’t changed that one bit. Now, you ready to go for a
morning swim?”
“I’m ready.”
Corso and I enjoy the lake like how
we used to when we were kids. It’s a moment that makes me feel like a kid again
and lifts a heavy weight from my shoulders. I couldn’t have asked for a better
brother.
Quest
2 – A Former Flame
On the board of requests is an easy
one with decent pay. My Sparrows and I receive these job requests since I’m the
new hero and the Sparrows have proven to be effective in keeping the peace. Sometimes,
I take these requests myself with some help. This time I ask Stella to come
with me.
“What’s this request want us to do?”
“Just ordinary pests in the deep
wilderness have popped up again. It shouldn’t be much trouble.”
“Is it just going to be the two of
us?”
“Yeah. Donna is passed out drunk
because she out drank several people back at home with some of my Sparrows and
Corso.”
“Corso joined her stupid game? I’m
not sure if I should feel bad for him or not.”
“I don’t think either of them with wake
up until later today. The request shouldn’t be too hard for us to fulfill
anyway.”
“Alright. I’ll go out with you.”
“Thank you.”
Stella and I ride out to the deep
wilderness on my personal horse.
On the way to our destination, Stella
asks me, “How are things going?”
“Boring. I’ve been doing nothing
besides keeping up my public image with meetings. What about you?”
“The same except I just train my
skills to avoid getting rusty.”
“I keep forgetting to do that.”
“I can help you train after this if
you’d like. It’ll probably be our only opportunity since Donna likes keeping
you to herself.”
“That’s true. We’ll train after
this.”
“So you do admit that Donna is controlling
of you.”
I stop the horse in a clearing
where the forest isn’t too thick.
“Yeah. What about it?”
“Well, she separates you from people
who you know and only trusts you to be with the Sparrows and your family. I’m
willing to be that she’s always nice around your family is because she’s trying
to impress them and solidify her place in your family.”
“What’s wrong with that?”
“Nothing, but she keeps separating
you from me.”
“And fangirls too. I wouldn’t think
that fangirls would be more aggressive than your average bandit.”
“Benedetto!”
“What? Do you really have to bring
this up now?”
“Yes! If I said this when Donna was
around, then she’d probably beat me up.”
“Good point, but I’m sure if enough
time passes, she’ll like you.”
“How can you be sure? You’ve only
known her for a month.”
“Can we talk about this later? I
see the monster’s lair up ahead.”
“Fine.”
The monsters we are facing are just
simple four-legged man-beetles or at least, that’s what I call them. Experiments
from the Cuchillos can get out of hand and escape their clutches and end up in
different places to cause trouble. In some cases, other cultures cause these
mutated creatures to spawn through demonic rituals or by playing with magic
they don’t have permission to use. We find some of these man-beetles come out
to ambush us from the trees, but we’re able to shrug it off and kill the
incoming assault.
We then make our way to their nest
and cut our way through their numbers. In their sticky nest, we find the bodies
and bones of wildlife and some people. It appears that this nest is made from their
bodies. Some of the bodies that aren’t completely ripped apart appear to be
somewhat alive. They’re breathing though they don’t seem conscious. On closer
inspection, their bodies have weird egg-like things in them. The bodies are being
used as nests for their eggs in more than one way. Despite this disturbing revelation,
we press on and destroy the nest. I’ll have to get a clean-up crew here so that
this place doesn’t infect the forest.
Stella and I leave the nest once it’s
taken down.
“Now where was I.”
Here we go again.
“How can you stand the fact that
Donna is separating you from your friends? Don’t you care about us?”
“If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have asked
you to be part of my Sparrows. If I didn’t, then I wouldn’t try to be with you without
her knowing. I know that ever since I became a hero I’ve changed, but I still
care for my friends.”
“Then show me. Spar with me. Right
here.”
“What? Having your back in that
disgusting bug hive wasn’t enough-hey!”
She’s already slashing her knives
at me.
“You weren’t the best fighter back
in the day. Let’s see if you’ve improved.”
“Alright then.”
I block her attacks and evade them
then counter one of her attacks by pulling her to me with her momentum then
tripping her.
“I’ve learned a couple of tricks
from my Sparrows.”
“I don’t doubt it coming from those
ex-bandits.”
Stella continues to attack me, and I
go with the same strategy except I find different ways to trip her so she
falls.
“Are you done yet, Stella? I’m sure
you’ve lost several times because of how many times you’ve fallen on your face.
Woah!”
She almost hits my face with a
throwing knife, but I manage to deflect it in time.
“What’s your problem?!”
Stella looks like she’s about to
cry.
“Is something the matter?”
“Just…I’m just checking your reflexes.
You’re a better fighter now than you were before. You’ve definitely changed.”
“If you think that being with Donna
has made me stop caring for you, then you’re wrong. I-”
“Then why haven’t you reset time so
you can make it so we can be married instead?”
“Because it’s better this way. If I
had chosen differently, then we wouldn’t have achieved peace so quickly. I mean
can you imagine a way of taking down the Socia Agmina without Donna’s help?”
“No. God did bring you two together,
so I shouldn’t be holding onto the past. I’m sorry for thinking of myself.”
Dang it. I didn’t want to bring her
down like this. Me choosing Donna is still affecting her and it’s going to take
her a while to get over it. I’m still trying to get used to it as well.
Quest
3 – Always Together
After hearing about me going on
various dangerous missions and jobs without her, Donna has been keeping a
closer eye on me. It’s good on one hand because she’s significantly stopped her
drinking habits to keep up with me. On the other hand, I feel like she’s merged
to my side. I can hardly take a shower without her being there. The only times
I’m granted real privacy is when I need to use the bathroom. Even then, she’s
usually waiting outside for me.
Today, I’m looking at the request
board again. The request we’re going to do involves-
“No.”
Okay, then how about-
“No.”
Uhh…
“Get someone else to do it.”
“I can’t keep sending my Sparrows
out to do all the work for me. I have to do some of these myself too you know?”
“But some of these are a little too
dangerous or mundane.”
“You said you would protect me from
any danger, right?”
“That’s right.”
“Then prove it.”
Going back to my original choice, I
pick a request that involves a maze. This man apparently built a home in a cave
the wilderness that’s made out to be a maze to confuse intruders.
Unfortunately, wolves have entered the maze and he is looking for help in getting
them out. Since this looks interesting, I take this request then head out to
the location with Donna. Our carriage driver stops us a short distance away with
some Sparrows with him because I don’t want him being attacked by any wolves should
we scare them out of the maze.
When we arrive at the maze, we find
wolf tracks everywhere. There looks like there are dozens of them in the cave
and they’ve already made it their home. Blood along with the skin and pieces of
flesh from animals are found deeper in the cave. Donna and I height our guard
as we go deeper and deeper into the cave. A howling sound in front of us makes
us stand still and ready for a fight, but a running silent running sound makes
me turn my back in time to dodge a wolf that separates Donna and I. Several
other wolves come out to separate us and force us into different paths in the
maze.
I manage to kill the wolves that
came after me, but I’m lost in the maze now. It looks like the ambush wasn’t the
main tactic the wolves tried to kill us with. It’s our separation. Clever
little puppers. This is the first time in a while that I’ve been separated from
Donna for this long, but this isn’t how I wanted it especially since I don’t know
if she’s okay. Ah! These dang wolves are using the ventilation holes to ambush
me from. I have to watch every step I make or else I-! Or else these wolves
will get me.
There doesn’t seem to be an effective
method of flushing these wolves out. The only one I can think of is a fire, but
I can’t start a fire to smoke them out because of the many holes that would
vent it out. There isn’t much in here that can be lit up nor anything that can
spread the fire to the entire maze. I’ll have to complete this mission by
killing one wolf at a time. Wait. I remember hearing that wolves usually have a
head wolf. If I kill it, the wolves might disperse from this area. The only
problem is finding it. It’ll probably be in the deeper part of the cave waiting
for its underlings to bring it its food.
I carve my way through the maze
while hitting several deadly dead ends that are the feeding areas of these
wolves. My armor ends up getting scratched and bitten to shreds, however, I’m
still fine. I’m still concerned about Donna. The sounds of wolves fighting,
dying, and screaming is echoed through the cave, but I can’t tell if it’s her
or my imagination. Eventually, I find a large white wolf eating a larger brown
bear at one dead end. Since there are a few crossing paths between us, I slowly
make my way towards the wolf who seems to have noticed me. It stops eating and
turns to me while just staring at me.
The wolves then spring a basic
ambush but five bigger than normal wolves are the ones who attack. They ambush
me from different directions one after the other. I manage to kill them all
while suffering only a few flesh wounds. The white wolf then charges towards
me. I throw my throwing knives at it that it dodges my attacks. The next throwing
knife cuts its legs, which allows me to throw one into its head. It doesn’t
kill it, but it does allow me to stab it through the head with my knives. With
that done, the wolves shouldn’t attack me. Theoretically speaking of course.
With the white wolf’s dead body
dragging behind me, I don’t encounter any more wolves until I stumble onto
Donna who is still fighting them. The wolves turn around then run away as I approach
them.
“Benedetto!”
“You see? I can take care of
myself.”
“I knew you could. I just don’t
want any girls who are attracted to you to be around you.”
“Of course, but I need my space
every now and then. Us being married doesn’t mean you need to be glued by my side
all the time. Our marriage makes us be together in a way than you can’t imagine.”
“Oh, that’s right. Alright. I’ll
give you your space.”
“Thank-”
“As long as you aren’t in danger by
any other girls.”
“Right…”
Now that the wolves have left the man’s
home, he can return to it. I leave the alpha’s body at the front entrance as a repellent
to any future predators despite Donna’s want to use it to make a coat. She’ll
have to find another animal’s body to use as clothing. Donna does give me some
space…after I recover from my minor injuries.
Quest
4 – Secrets in Plain Sight
Donna’s birthday party was today
and since she isn’t pregnant and there’s someone to care for the kids, she had
a drinking competition with the Sparrows. Stella and Corso joined in and didn’t
manage to beat her though Corso did last the longest to my surprise. Since my
most trusted guards are out cold, for the time being, I decide to fulfill a
request by myself. This one I got personally in the mail. The family I got this
from says that their vacation home in the mountains of Fedele territory has
been taken over by some people that seemed to be bandits of some kind and they
don’t think they can negotiate with them, so they need me to get rid of them in
whatever way I find best. This should be easy.
I take a few Sparrows with me as a
backup just in case things get hairy and head out to the vacation home. Seeing
as how the bandits that Donna commanded could change, I’m going to take a
chance and talk to these supposed bandits. Before I make it to the door, the
bandits come out though they don’t have their weapons drawn. They appear to be
more like people who live in the wild than bandits, but I can see how the
family could mistake them for bandits.
One of them says, “We don’t want
any trouble, hero. We think that the people who own this home have something we
treasure. We’ve seen them carry it with them and have tried to negotiate a deal
to get it back, however, the only way we could get them to take us seriously is
by taking the house while they were gone. We know that it wasn’t the best choice,
but we didn’t know what else to do.”
“Have you searched the house yet to
find what you were looking for?”
“We have, but we’ve come up with
nothing. That’s why we’re staying in the house and keeping the owners out of it
until they agree to show us where it is. What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to help you find what
you’re looking for. You’re blessed that I have a soft spot for people who were
called bandits. I’ll have my Sparrows aid us in the search.”
“Thank you so much for
understanding.”
My Sparrows and I enter the vacation
home and begin to search it for secret rooms. This place looks plain, which is good
if you want to hide something. The stereotypical thing to do is have a hidden switch
or object to hide a room. While feeling around a bookshelf, I find an almost
invisible sticky substance on the black shelves in the kitchen. I feel around
the back of the bookshelf until I feel something behind it. I then pull the
bookshelf away to find a hidden cellar.
“I found it!” I call out to my
Sparrows and the others.
“How did you find this?”
“I was feeling my hand around the
shelves for a hidden switch of some kind and instead found some kind of sticky
substance.”
“We didn’t think to do that. We
couldn’t even see this substance on these shelves.”
“Is it related to what you’re
looking for?”
“No, not at all.”
That’s worrying. There’s more of the
same sticky substance as I go into the dark cellar. My Sparrows light the
torches as we go into the cellar to find wine. Maybe this is what this
substance is from? There are some bottles that are broken on the floor near the
substance.
“There it is! We finally found it!”
One of the bandits picks up a
statue from one of the tables. It happens to have the same substance that’s all
over the place, so I ask them if it had it on it before and they deny it.
“There has to be more to it than
this. I don’t think spilled and dried wine is supposed to feel like this,” I
say aloud.
After feeling my way around the
shelves of wine, I find a handle on one then pull it to reveal a secret room. Once
it’s lit up, we find the lower halves of bodies along with other dead bodies
with various items. It doesn’t smell despite how disgusting everything looks.
One of the bandits picks up something.
“What is it? Something else you were
missing?”
“No, but…it can’t be.”
“What is it?”
“It’s a piece of treasure. A ring
from a previous culture that I found with a friend. These rings were simple
things made for kids to remind them of the immortal part of friendship. I have
a similar ring on right now and this looks like one I gave to a friend long ago,
but it wasn’t found on him when the forest scouts found him half-eaten by a
bear.”
“So, it looks like these people kill
people who live in the wilderness along with bandits and take their stuff. We’ll
have to arrest them and bring them in for questioning.”
“We can’t thank you enough hero for
helping us. Now we know where our missing people have gone.”
Once the family is arrested, they
argue about the killing of bandits and that they didn’t know that the people they
killed in the wilderness are just people who live there. The judge rules that
the family is guilty of the slaughter of dozens of people. He also reminds people
to not take the law into their own hands unless they are attacked or have the
proper authority. The family is sent to jail for life while the house is scrubbed,
and the remains of their victims are given a proper burial. The substance we
found is an expensive one found in the underground market used to cover evidence
of murder by hiding the smell of blood and making the spilled texture of it
feel like different forms of spilled drink or food. I’m glad I didn’t judge the
forest dwellers by what others told me. It’s never good to judge people by their
appearance or by what others tell you after all.
Quest
5 – A Request from Beyond
I get lucky enough to go on another
mission alone as Donna, Stella, and Corso are out doing a request that requires
them a couple other Sparrows. The request I got came in my personal mail like
last time. It’s a request from a man who wants me to chop down some trees that
are possessed by demons. Apparently, some demon worshippers don’t like him and made
demons possess some small trees to go after him. This should be interesting fighting
demonically possessed trees.
Once I arrive at the location, I cautiously
watch all the trees around me. I don’t come across any demon trees until I get
near the man’s help. The demon trees can’t help but sway their branches, unlike
the other small trees that don’t. Since they haven’t noticed me, I throw my throwing
knives at them. These trees aren’t made of bark-like normal trees and are instead
made of thick dry skin. In order to kill these trees, that uses its many branches
like sharp swords, I have to cut them in half or else they won’t die. Scratch
that, I just figured out that I have to cut them through the center where their
wooden heart is. Ah! This was a fun, but quick mission.
I go into the man’s house and say, “Hello?
The demon trees will bother you no more!” No response. “Hello? Anyone home?”
The letter did tell me to stop in and
tell the man when I succeeded. There’s nothing about the house that seems
strange or off. Maybe this was a trap? With my swords out, I check every room
in the house while calling out every now and then. I then search the house
looking explicitly for traps and hidden rooms but find none. Do I have the
wrong house that also happens to have demon trees outside of it? I take out the
note and begin to read through it until it burns up into nothing.
For some reason, it starts to get
hot in the house. A bright light beams through the skylight in the house. This
appears to be where the heat is coming from, so I ready myself for a fight only
for a normal-looking man who is covered in flames to descend from the light
with the help of an angel.
“Who are you?” I ask the man.
“You have nothing to fear for I am
just a meek soul from Purgatory who wants you to remind the world to pray for
the dead. Since the end of the world is upon you, many will die as they try to
survive, therefore, many of the faithful will need prayers in their final
cleansing.”
“You couldn’t just tell a mystic
this? Why me?”
“You are the newest hero and if you
give the world the message, they will listen and follow. There is one last
thing that I must tell you. Thank you for your prayers. They have lessened the
time I and the other souls in Purgatory. We will be praying for you in Heaven.”
The man then ascends with the help
of his angel as the feeling in the house cools down. Did that really happen? I
guess it did since I can’t really explain it, so I do what the suffering soul
requests, which everyone accepts without question. My word really must have a
high authority now. Now I have to hope they’ll continue to do what I say until
the end of the world.
No comments:
Post a Comment