'News travels fast, I suppose'
With another few minutes of walking, they reached the village chief's house, and Arthur bid farewell to Jason, watching him as he got swarmed by the curious locals. He suppressed a chuckle as the village chief led him into his home.
"Excuse the intrusion, village chief"
"Think nothing of it, young man. Having an Explorer in my home is quite the achievement. and please call me Matthias"
He answered with a firm nod, acquiescing to the old man's request. He readily dived into the reason he was here, Arthur didn't really plan on staying for longer necessary.
"OK Matthias, have you seen any monsters nearby? or maybe some suspicious movement in the nearby forest?"
The chief let out a hum, his gaze traveling to the ceiling of his home as he tried to recall anything related to what Arthur asked.
"Hmm, no, I've heard no word or seen anything about monsters, we already avoid the forest, so we wouldn't know if there was a monster, and so far, we've suffered no attacks."
Arthur, in turn, let out his own contemplating hum. either the monster was further up north than he thought, or he's late, and somebody already took care of it.
"I saw an abandoned village on my way here. Do you happen to know anything about that?"
"Of course, but its not monster related, the people of that village just couldn't handle the life out here and moved to the nearest city, apparently its better to starve in a city than in a village"
Arthur let out another hum. It wasn't unusual for a village people to move to cities and towns closer to the capital. After all, it took only one monster to end an entire village.
"That makes sense"
Still though it didn't sit right with him, if there was a monster nearby that needed to be taken cared of, there should have been some signs, but the villagers didn't seem tense or afraid, there no signs of attack at all.
Either its a really docile monster, which would make this whole Quest easy or it was an extremely stealthy creature which would be troublesome, he was still confident he could handle it, his first Quest would be a success, no doubt.
"Still you're awfully young for an Explorer"
"We come in all shapes and sizes"
He replied with an amused grin that displayed confidence that forced the village chief to take his word for it, but still he couldn't help but worry for the young man despite having just met him.
After a few more questions regarding the villager's history with monsters, which told Arthur nothing worth knowing about the current situation, but surprisingly it seemed the villagers were versed in keeping small monsters away and hadn't suffered any significant attacks for any of the more dangerous monsters in a few years.
Having learned this, Arthur came to the conclusion that the area must be a bit more safer, Monsters avoid large humans settlements but a small village in the middle of nowhere was perfect for them as such this must be a rare location that monsters overlooked.
'There's probably low monster activity in this area'
He couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed, if the area is generally safe, then that meant the monster for his first Quest, won't really test him, not enough for him to truly feel it.
Arthur then bid the old man farewell and traveled further north, entering another patch of dense forestry as he did, leaping from tree to tree, moving silently like a ninja.
However as his form flew through the forest, it didn't take long before his senses picked up something on his periphery, forcing him to land on a sturdy branch and turn his head, focusing on the black spot that seemed to bounce out from behind a tree.
He raised a brow.
"My first victim"
He grinned, recognizing the black rabbit. the creature had almost killed him once, and now it was time for revenge.
The creature wasn't far from him, only a few meters away. He knew its tactics, but it never got close unless you got close.
With an inhale and dropped from the tree with audible thud, had it been a normal rabbit, such a loud landing would have sent the creature running, but the black rabbit was no normal rabbit
Its black beady eyes stayed focused on him, its nose twitching slightly, sniffing the air.
The little bugger certainly thought it was getting itself a nice and huge dinner tonight, but it was wrong.
From he knows, the Black rabbit tended to go after large prey, preferring to feast on its victim for days before the smell of rot forced it to look for another meal.
Arthur stepped forward, sword on hand, and sweat on his forehead. He was far from afraid. However, a single touch of the creatures fur was enough to kill a grown man several times over, mix that with his past experiences of the creature.
a healthy dose of caution was warranted.
Another step closer and in an instant the creature leaped, its form becoming a black blur as it launched itself like a projectile.
All it needed was simple contact to fell its foes. Despite its small size, the black rabbit was not to be taken lightly.
Arthur was ready firm grip on the sword and never allow for it to get too close. A flash of crackling electricity ran through the blade as he swung, with the swiftness of a veteran swordsman.
With a silent shink! the beast was bisected with relative ease.
the two halves of its body flying past Arthur and splattering on the trees behind him.
"Don't play with me!"
He let out a hearty cheer, feeling the satisfaction of having gotten his get back on the black menace that had embarrassed him years prior.
With a renewed excitement, he made his way further into the forest, now more eager to fell an actual monster instead of some rabbit.
His excitement was quick to lead him to clearing, or to be more accurate, the trees were broken and felled, creating an open space. There wasn't much gras, just dirt and bushes.
There was a mound of trees and bushes, surrounding, what looked to be a big hole in the ground.
From a glance, the hole was deep and dark, with an ominous miasma leaking out. No doubt this was the monsters den
He couldn't peer any deeper from his distance as he wasn't close enough to make out anything within the hole.
Young Arthur felt his body shiver, his eyes narrowing as he gripped his sword tightly and swallowed a gulp of saliva. A small bubbling of excitement made itself known to his chest.
He had found his prize, no doubt.
He crouched and picked up a rock and threw it into the hole. A light probe to see how deep the hole went and if the creature was inside, It would be foolish to simply walk into a monster den, that was nothing but a death wish.
The rock flew into the cave, disappearing into the darkness before the distinct sound of a rock splashing on water reached his ears.
From that, his education as an apprentice came to him, as well as the information he had gleaned from reading the first two volumes of the Monster encyclopedia.
A monster that lives in a deep hole in the ground, filled with water. it's entrance surrounded by shrubbery of trees and bushes.
"The salamander "
The words came to him easily. From what he knows, the trees and shrubs were meant as defense against the winds so the water would remain still, and that meant…
"Throwing that rock was a bad move"
His words were proven true as the sloshing of water reached his ears, and with caution, he leapt back.
Salamander varied greatly when it came to species and types, just as there were ones that lived in the forest. There were ones that lived in the desert or snow ridden mountains.
They also equally were just as various in terms of abilities. The color of its skin determines how one should approach them when it comes to combat.
He watched as the reptilian creature peeked its green and slimy head from its hole, its eyes working separately, as they darted here and there locating its prey.
Its color was green and Arthur let out a sigh of relief, this meant the monster had no poison or special abilities that would prove troublesome, instead it was just a giant lizard the size of a car.
Aside from its ability to blend in well with the background of the forest, it shouldn't be troublesome, as long as he keeps his eyes peeled and senses sharp.
The Salamander's eyes finally locked on to his form and began to fully climb out its hole, its body rising and stepping over the trees and bushes.
Sickly green and slimy substance clung to its body like a second skin. Arthur swallowed, not out of fear, but the sight of the stretching slime that dripped to the ground had made him swallow instinctively.
He watched as the beast sized him up, and he was doing the same, having noted that its eyes didn't move in sync.
'Distracting it won't work'
He surmised, however its not like he planned to do something like that to begin with.
The beast stood on it hind legs, its height reaching almost five meters, the fingers on its free legs wiggled as it let out a screaming squeal, much like a pig but lacking the rough snort that accompanied a pig's cry.
It was a warning, a threatening stance that told its foe to flee, a measly attempt to intimidate and make itself appear more fearsome than it actually is.
Unfortunately for the beast, Arthur was unmoved, and a giant lizard was not a threat to him. Instead, he moved himself, his body launching itself at the creatures with almost no caution whatsoever.
This was it. For three years, he had watched his master slay beast after beast, with the ease of a butcher cutting apart limbs of a whole lamb. For three years, he had been denied his fantasy, no more.
.....
A/N: I don't plan for this to be a long flashback, just one of two more chapters, it will be over.
Thank you for reading.
comment