by Virlyce
“You can get more experience from Prim. She tells me you’ve been spending more time with Dustin than her,” her mother said as she dipped her steak in a plate of sauce.
“You didn’t even look,” Tafel said with a frown. She wanted to stomp her feet, but she knew that’d work against her. “Dad?”
“Your mother said no,” her father said and shrugged. “There’s always other chances. Besides, there might be danger from the dragons. They’ve been causing trouble near the border.”
“But if you say yes, that means I can go right? Doesn’t Mom have to listen to you?”
“Oh, Tafel,” her father said while shaking his head. “You’re sadly mistaken. I signed away my rights when I married her. You’ll understand when you get older.” He sighed. If only his wife’s family wasn’t so influential, then maybe more things would go his way. He peeked at his wife. There was a smile on her face when she met his gaze, but her eyes were colder than ice.
***
Tafel took in a deep breath as she stood outside Dustin’s room. She pinched her cheeks and smiled before pushing the door open and skipping inside.
“What’d your parents say?” Dustin asked when he saw the intruder was the princess.
“They said I can go,” Tafel said. Her smile widened.
“Really?”
“Yeah. Dad said I needed experience and Mom agreed.”
“Huh, I guess that makes sense,” Dustin said as he lowered his head. His voice lowered. “She was an adventurer after all.”
“What?”
“Nothing,” Dustin said as he shook his head and stood up. “Alright then. Since you have their permission, we’ll head over there now. I’ll call in a favor from a teleporter I know. We have to get there before your brothers kill everything—don’t want them to get ahead of you.”
“Right now? Let me leave a letter for my parents first. I didn’t think we’d be going so soon.”
Tafel took out a piece of scrap paper and grabbed a quill. She dipped it in ink and wrote in curvy script:
‘Dear Mom,
I’m going to fight zombies to become strong enough to take away my husband’s rights in the future.
Love,
Tafel’.
***
Lindyss walked into the room that Vur was occupying in the fighters’ quarters. She threw a shiny gold object at the half-naked boy who was sleeping. It landed on his chest, waking him up. “Wear this,” she said as Vur rubbed his eyes. The object was a ring—a golden band with three rubies embedded in it.
“It doesn’t fit,” Vur said as the ring fell off his finger.
Lindyss frowned. She tore a leather strip off the bottom of Vur’s pants and threaded it through the ring. “Tie it around your neck,” she said and held the makeshift necklace towards him.
“Okay,” Vur said. He had learned how to tie knots from Lindyss when she made a belt to hold his dagger.
Lindyss nodded at the ring hanging from Vur’s neck. “Time for lessons.”
Vur’s face brightened as he sat up and nudged Snuffles until the boar woke up. Lindyss had been teaching Vur and Snuffles how to read and write in between his arena matches by drawing letters on the ground. He had already won twenty-seven matches without receiving any injuries. The managers decided to pit Vur against desert beasts, hoping to create a more balanced match, but were horrified when he ate them. The crowd loved it though, and some lamia even went to the fighters’ quarters to offer him food. After Vur learned to read and write the elvish language, which was spoken by the sentient residents in the wilderness, Lindyss began teaching him to speak snaketongue and human.
There was a faint smile on Lindyss’ lips as Vur read out the characters she wrote on the floor. He was squatting with his butt on his ankles and was using Lust to underline the characters. His dark brown hair reached just below his neck and was braided at the ends. Snuffles was sprawled out on his head, peering at the characters as well. Vur’s figure reminded her of the times she had spent learning with a certain dragon friend.
“Do you want to hear a story?” she asked Vur. He stopped reading and looked up. He nodded, and Snuffles oinked as he slid off of Vur’s head.
“This is the story of how I met your mother,” Lindyss said as she cleared her throat. She stared up at the ceiling and sighed. “It was over a thousand years ago when I had my coming-of-age ceremony with all the other elves who were born in the same decade as me. The ceremony’s held once a decade, and the adults take the adolescents into the wild to find magical beasts to imprint them. The children would be accompanied by their parents to make sure they were safe, but they had to convince the beast by themselves. It’s hard to convince a beast to imprint you because they usually only imprint when their young are born.
“My parents died a little after I was born, so I went by myself. I guess I wanted to prove that I was just as good as, if not better than, everyone else by finding an imprint on my own. I wandered for three months before finding a bat that had just given birth to its young. One of its newborns was sickly, and I healed it. I used to be a white mage before I became … this,” Lindyss said as she gestured towards herself.
“Beasts with lineages are intelligent, and the bat appreciated what I did. She imprinted me, and I obtained her lineage. I stayed with her for a long time, providing her children with food and helping fend off other beasts. She gave me a home when I didn’t have one.” Lindyss smiled with her eyes shining. “But all things must end. A behemoth bear invaded the cave, and I couldn’t stop it. She entrusted her children to me and fought the bear to give us time to escape. She could’ve flown away with her offspring, but she didn’t want to abandon me,” Lindyss said, her voice lowering. “Days passed. I was living with the bats in a separate cave we found. I was so weak and angry at myself. I kept going back to the place where she died, looking for a chance to kill the bear, but I never found one. One day, when I was watching the bear, the sky turned dark and I felt my hairs stand on end. Grimmy descended and did what I couldn’t do with a single bite. I was outraged that my prey had been stolen, but at the same time I was relieved that it was over.
“Grimmy turned and looked at me with the corpse still in his mouth as I yelled at him and cried. He listened to me rant as he ate the bear and fell asleep before I even finished talking—that asshole. When he woke up, I was curled up in a ball, sitting in front of the cave while crying. He flicked my forehead and asked me if I wanted power.” Lindyss stared at her hands and fell silent.
Vur waited. When it was clear Lindyss wasn’t going to say anything else, he asked, “What about my mother?”
Lindyss snorted and rolled her eyes. “Grimmy might as well be your mother with how much you take after him.”
8
The sun shone overhead, causing the air above the sand to shimmer. The seating area of the arena was packed and filled to the brim. Outside of the arena, snakemen were clustered everywhere, trying to bribe their way inside.
“And now for the match that we’ve all been waiting for! On one side, we have the forty-nine-time winner, the hungry servant. On the other, we have the legendary rhimon! Countless numbers of contenders have participated in our arena, but less than a dozen have ever reached this stage, and none of them have ever gotten past it. That’s because of the legendary beast you see in front of you. People say one look into its eye can instantly kill the faint of heart—if you’re a coward, look away! It’s the embodiment of death itself,” the lamia from before announced. “Will the servant eat this beast too? Or will his streak finally end here?”
“Wow, he sounds scary,” Vur said to Lindyss as he sat behind his metal gate. By now, he understood snaketongue and had accused Lindyss of lying about playing games. She had just smiled at him and said she wasn’t a dragon before rubbing his head.
“Didn’t you say the manticore sounded scary too?”
“He did sound scary! Just not as scary as he was tasty though.”
“Then this should be t
he same.”
“But that’s a giant eyeball with wings. I don’t like eating eyes. They’re too squishy and slimy,” Vur said with a frown.
“Just fry it with fire first then,” Lindyss said. “I still think it’s barbaric you don’t cook your food first.”
“It’s not as tasty or chewy if you burn them,” Vur said. “Grimmy told me that’s why he never hunts with fire or magic.”
Lindyss sighed. She was about to speak, but the gate swung open, and Vur and the rhimon dashed out at the same time. The rhimon looked like a giant, yellow ball with wings, a tail, and two clawed feet. It had one eye that took up 85% of its body and a mouth below it filled with rows of shark-like teeth. It was over eight feet tall and had a wingspan of 24 feet. It flew up into the air and let out a screech that made the audience tremble and wail. There was a layer of magic that prevented Vur and the rhimon from seeing the audience members, but it did nothing to stop the sound.
Vur fell to his knees and plugged his ears with his fingers. He gritted his teeth and circulated mana through his body, loosening his tense limbs. The rhimon’s screech ended, and it dove towards Vur with its claws outstretched. Vur raised his hand and cast aero towards one of its wings. A torrent of wind engulfed it, causing the rhimon to spiral to the ground. It crashed onto its back, and Vur dashed forward while unsheathing his dagger. He wanted to stab it in its weakest spot—its eye—but he didn’t want to be caught off guard in the air if he jumped. Instead, he stabbed its next most vulnerable spot.
Its butthole.
The rhimon let out a miserable shriek, and its legs thrashed as it felt pain in a place it never felt pain before.
Lindyss fell off the bench and landed on her face. Snuffles oinked at her. “I’m okay,” she said as she sat up. “But I really have to rename that dagger.”
The rhimon struggled to climb to its feet as it flapped its wings, but Vur was relentless in his pursuit. He repeatedly stabbed Lust into the rhimon’s newfound weakness before it could take flight. Tears the size of basketballs sprang from the rhimon’s eye as it shrieked while spreading its wings. Its eye glowed with a black light, and a roulette wheel appeared in the air above its body with an image of Vur’s and its faces on it. The wheel spun, and Vur stopped his assault to watch it with a furrowed brow. The wheel rattled before the arrow above it landed on the image of Vur’s face.
Vur’s hairs stood on end as a shadow descended behind him from above. It was a black-robed figure, without a face, holding a scythe over Vur’s head. Vur’s body collapsed onto the ground, but his view didn’t change. He could see the back of his own head, and he saw an ethereal figure of himself standing over his material body. The scythe in the figure’s hand swung down and rent his spirit in two. Vur’s misty body dispersed as his vision went black.
The figure cackled as it rose into the air, turning into a wispy, undiscernible strand. The audience fell silent as they took in the scene. The rhimon panted as it glared at Vur’s body. It flapped its wings as it leaped forward, ready to tear his corpse to pieces.
The lamia announcer broke the silence. “The rhimon used its riskiest skill, roulette, and it seems like the heavens were in its favor. It’s a pity, but—. Wait! What’s this!?”
A red light engulfed Vur’s body before fading away. His body twitched as he groaned and propped himself up. The ring he wore as a necklace had one less ruby on it. Vur looked at it before turning his head towards Lindyss who gave him a smile and pointed at the rhimon.
The rhimon’s yellow body turned as white as a sheet as it claw froze in midair. It let out a wail and flew back into the gate it came from, pulling the metal shut with its claws. It curled up into a ball and covered its eye with its wings.
“I-it seems like the rhimon has surrendered. The winner is the servant! History has been made today, folks—the first contender to reach fifty wins has been crowned!”
***
Tafel stared at her hands with tears in her eyes. Her mother and father were standing over her while Dustin looked in from the doorway. The demon princess’ escapade lasted all of an afternoon before Prim discovered her note and reported it to the demon lord. Tafel’s mother immediately sent a time mage to teleport her daughter back to the capital.
“Do you know how much trouble you’re in, young lady?” Tafel’s mother asked. Her arms were crossed over her chest, and her eyes were narrowed into tiny slits.
“I’m sorry,” Tafel said and sniffed. She pursed her lips and clenched her hands, wrinkling her dress.
“You deliberately ignored us, and you lied to Dustin,” her father said. “That wasn’t a very nice thing to do. Your mother was worried sick about you.”
Tafel remained as silent as a board.
“No more magic training for you,” her mother said and glared at Dustin. “Ever.”
“But—”
“No buts. You brought this upon yourself.”
Dustin frowned. “Isn’t that too much? It was my fault too for not verifying her words.”
“There’s no need for Tafel to learn magic,” her mother said. “There are things more valuable for her, like politics and etiquette. As for you, Dustin, you should know me well enough to not have let her go.”
“Mina…,” Dustin said. Tafel’s mother let out a hmph and brushed past Dustin as she left the room. Tafel’s father sighed and walked after her with a crease in his brow.
“It’s not fair,” Tafel mumbled as her tears dropped to her hands. “Why does she always treat me like this?” She stamped her feet as she brushed her eyes with the back of her hands, trying to hold back her short breaths, but she couldn’t. Her body shook as she hyperventilated, giving off sporadic sobbing sounds.
Dustin walked up to her and patted her head. “I taught you all the basics of magic. You can still practice even if I can’t teach you. Work hard and you’ll be strong enough to do what you want one day.” He took off his necklace and clipped it over Tafel’s neck. “This should help you when you practice. Return it to me when you become proud of your strength.”
Tafel grasped the blue jeweled necklace and looked up at Dustin with tears in her eyes. He smiled at her and turned around to leave the room. He closed the door behind him, but he could still hear her sobs as he walked away. He arrived at the guestroom in the castle where the demon lord and his wife were shouting at each other. Dustin cleared his throat and knocked on the door, causing their argument to cease. “Tafel has so much talent in magic,” Dustin said. “It’d be a shame if she stopped.”
“See?” the demon lord asked and glared at Mina. “We have to make her as strong as possible. Cutting her magic lessons won’t achieve anything.”
Mina ignored her husband and said to Dustin, “How I raise my children is none of your concern.”
Dustin’s chest tightened. “Tafel became my concern when I was entrusted to teach her.”
“And now she is no longer your pupil. You don’t have to worry about her affairs any longer.”
Dustin opened his mouth to speak, but stopped when Mina raised her hand. “Thank you for teaching her, but you should leave now,” she said. “Of course, the request will be counted as fulfilled and you can retrieve your reward at the guild.”
Dustin gritted his teeth and nodded. “Then I bid you farewell,” he said. He bowed before turning to leave.
The demon lord turned to his wife after Dustin left and asked, “Did Dustin do something?” There was a mischievous glint in his eyes, and his lips had a slight smirk on them.
“Have Prim take care of Tafel,” Mina said as her expression darkened. “I need to lie down for a bit.”
***
The Red Blade Adventurers stopped in front of a small wooden cabin on a cliff overlooking the ocean. The sun was setting, casting a red hue over the sky and sea. They had traveled for weeks after reporting the zombie outbreak and turning in their Fountain of Youth mission.
“This is the place,” Aran said. He strode up the porch steps and knocked on the do
or. A crash resounded in the cabin and smoke billowed out of a window. Footsteps approached the door, and the hinges creaked as the door swung open. A human wearing a blue conical hat and striped, pink boxers opened the door. He had no hair anywhere on his body, and the outlines of his bones could be seen against his skin. There were dark bags underneath his eyes, and his face was smudged with ash. Aran stared at the man with his mouth open. The man stared back for a second before he closed the door.
“W-wait,” Aran said. “We’re adventurers seeking passage into Fuselage.”
The door stopped just before it shut. The door opened, and the man smiled, revealing a mouth of missing and blackened teeth. “Why didn’t you say so earlier?” the man asked. “How many of you this time? Six? Ah, there are even two women.” He grinned at Sophie and Claire. “Not many of those where you’re going.”
Sophie shivered. “Are you Charon?”
“Indeed. Never liked that nickname. My old name was a lot better,” the man said as he sighed. “Do you know the rules?”
“We completed the fifteen SSS-ranked missions,” Aran said and nodded.
“Not those rules. If you didn’t do that, you wouldn’t be here,” Charon said and shook his head while clicking his tongue. “Youngsters these days, not so bright. Once you go to Fuselage, you can’t come back unless you do five missions there. And if you want to go back to Fuselage, then it’s another 15 missions here.”
The Red Blade Adventurers exchanged glances with each other before nodding.
“Is that all?” Aran asked.
“Just one more thing,” Charon said and smiled as he stuck out his hand. His fingernails were an inch long and yellow. “Give me all the gold you have—you won’t be needing it over there.”
The Red Blade Adventurers frowned, but removed their leather pouches and handed them over. “So that’s why you’re called Charon,” Claire muttered.
“Good, good. Now stand there in that circle of stones,” Charon said, ignoring Claire’s comment. The adventurers did as asked, and Charon clapped his hands together once. A ring of light emerged from the stones and engulfed the group. When it faded, the adventurers were gone.
