The mage dropped his jaw in disbelief. He expected Michael to be blown into pieces. The fireball had seemed to have a completely direct hit yet Michael wasn't even fazed.
Stefan cheered from the side as if Michael surviving a fireball was some sort of achievement to him.
Michael pointed his sword. "You want this scroll, you're going to have to take it from us!"
The wizard's eyes widened. "Who the hell is that kid?!"
Stefan charged alongside Mave. "Your worst nightmare!"
They engaged in a fight against the other two swordsmen of the party. Michael didn't know how to fight against a mage but they seemed defenseless without a sword. Ellis drew his shortbow again and fired arrows at the mage, just for them to be bounced right off an invisible barrier. It was some sort of spell that defended him. If it was a spell, Michael was that prime factor of breaking that.
Michael swung his sword across, shattering the barrier like it was some cheap glass.
The mage couldn't be in more disbelief. He had just seen the same child walk through his fireball and now break a magical shield without casting any sort of spell. The mage thrusted his arms, summoning a sudden burst of wind and blowing Michael away.
Ellis fired another arrow into the mage's shoulder, now free from his barrier.
He chanted another spell despite grunting from the pain. It was another fireball, aimed directly at the same child that should have died.
Michael didn't move, staring at the fireball coming straight for him. He slashed his sword through the spell again.
The mage watched his sword continue to glow through the cloud of thick smoke. He quickly casted another magical barrier in defense as Michael dashed towards him.
Michael slashed his sword across, shattering his barrier a second time, and inflicted a cut across the mage's arm.
Ellis fired an arrow again, dropping him onto the ground. He rushed over and tied him with a rope as Michael tried to hold him down. It wasn't a pretty process, hearing the man shout insults that Michael wouldn't like to understand. Though the sight was already humiliating enough since Michael and Ellis weren't even as tall compared to the man.
Ellis glanced over to Michael, studying him like he was something strange.
"What do we do now?" Michael loudly asked over the shouting mage. "Is he a criminal now for attacking us?"
"Even if there was some written rule for that," Ellis said. "They wouldn't care. As long as the quest is finished, that's all that mattered today."
"Not bad." Stefan said behind them. "Mages are supposed to be the toughest to fight against, especially if you know nothing about mana."
Michael turned around. Stefan and Mave had already finished their fight as Stefan dragged the two unconscious bodies along the ground. He threw them against a wall and helped Michael drag the crazy mage across. They had to watch their fingers as he tried to bite them if they came too close.
Stefan smacked the other two awake. Apart from the bruises on their face, they weren't severely injured like Michael had imagined. He thought Stefan would be more reckless and kill someone because they had threatened him. Turns out some adventurers, despite their unhealthy hobbies, had some sense of morality.
After a little bit of arguing back and forth, they had come to a common conclusion. Stefan's party had obviously won the fight and deserved the scroll to themselves. Even if they tried to plead and apologize for their sudden attack, there wasn't any way to share the reward or consider any third-party help for the quest. Mave stripped them away of their gear and tossed it down the same hole where the mana beasts were waiting for anybody to come back. Michael thought she was cruel for that but he remembered they tried to actively kill them just for some stupid scroll.
It was just them battling against the idea of leaving them here in the uncharted or dropping them into some remote town. Either way, they would fail their quest and possibly have their adventuring license revoked because of it.
Stefan scratched his head as if thinking took a toll on his brain.
"We don't have time for this," Mave looked down on them. "They can take care of themselves."
The man with the messy hair scowled. "You bitch—"
Mave kicked him across the face, setting an example if anyone else wanted to speak out of line.
"Who gave you the quest?" Ellis asked them. "Was it Vince? Yosef?"
"Vince," the man answered, spitting away blood. "What does it matter to you anyway?"
"I could talk to him, spare you from losing your license as an adventurer. I know you're only doing this because you had no other choice."
The man stared down, letting the words cut through his hard skin.
"Either way," Mave folded her arms. "You mess with us again, we're going to just leave you two for dead."
Stefan sighed. "Yeah, what she said. Maybe next time you can try asking nicely and we would have teamed up."
The man silently scoffed. "Nobody wants to team up with Stefan Jaegen."
Ellis tossed his dagger in front of them, giving them a chance to free themselves before it turned night in the uncharted. It was already weird enough to watch them squirm around with their legs and arms tied trying to reach for the knife.
Stefan shook Michael's shoulder. "Kid, you coming? Or are you trying to get a laugh out of them?"
Michael turned and followed them back through the uncharted. They were attacked twice by the same party that aimed to steal their scroll. The first time was unexpected and Stefan's party had to fight mana beasts and the opposing adventurers at the same time, seeing how they returned home completely defeated. It was the brand idea for Michael to be that leverage in the quest, venturing into the mana beasts nest to have hands-free and search for the scroll as they defended him. Ellis probably knew that they were going to get attacked again but he didn't expect them to actually win. Michael thought he should have some pride as him tagging along ended up being helpful after all. He wasn't a chore-boy at the house tending to their needs. Because of him, they ended up completing the quest.
***
It must have been in the evening as they started riding back into the town before. Michael couldn't stop thinking about the party that tried to kill them but he hoped they managed to escape the uncharted before dark.
Mave rested on the wagon, using the backpack as a substitute pillow. Stefan was on the brink of falling asleep though they were lucky enough Ellis knew how to control the reins of the horses. It looked like all that physical work and the subtle trotting of the horses made anyone drowsy.
You're sad, the voice said, you're sad about the people that wanted to kill you for the thought of money.
Michael forgot he was holding onto the handle of his sword. But she was right, he was feeling sad about them. He was afraid of taking another life of a human being. Even after hearing what Mave defined it as a rule of self-defense, Michael would never imagine himself having to kill another person. Leaving those three men tied in the uncharted was basically a death sentence right there. He doubted they had the cognitive skills like Ellis to remember how to find their way back nor the strength to even fight against a mana beast. They were a cheap party, aiming to steal the scroll through a sudden ambush. But they failed because their mage, who was supposed to serve as the main offense, had been easily defeated by some child with an unknown power. Michael wasn't saying it was unfair but he didn't want to be the reason why they had died.
No matter how bad they must have seemed, the guild gave them the same quest with the same consequences as Stefan's party. It was an impossible quest and having to reap the reward from another party was their only way of survival.
If it had gone their way, the voice said, you would have been killed. Do you really think you should feel sorry for them?
She was right. Maybe Michael was just overthinking too much. They wanted to retrieve that scroll by any means, even if it meant killing Stefan's party. Adventuring wasn't some line of work to be worried about the other person. If Michael wanted to be a nice person, then he would have already lost the fight that never began.