Helping Richard the Merchant | Page 4

The Faerin nodded at the girl's reason, they were already knocked down anyway, so they indeed had a chance to redeem themselves... Chance that... They didn't have anymore.

As Hanno was about to try to comfort the girl, the King suddenly snapped too. 'Ah... Here we go, everyone is indeed in high spirits' At this point the Faerin wasn't even depressed about what happened anymore, he was actually slowly becoming annoyed at the situation. Specially because Richard, someone that had absolutely nothing to do with it, was probably extremely scared seeing the hell that was going on.

Seeing another death threat wasn't exactly good to him either, and even though in a normal situation he would just flip on the Yladian and fight because he was threating his comrades lives, he knew that it was predictable to this happend. After all he was threatened himself. So instead of snapping together with them, he closed his eyes and took a long and deep breath.

When he opened his eyes, the first sight he have is a kick on the Yladian's main device to spread his DNA to next generations. "O-Oi, was that really-" Hanno frowned and interrupted himself as Aurora spoke, just what the hell she just did?!

Fearing a much harsher retaliation from the King, The Faerin stepped between both the Yladian and the Human. Putting his shield between them to protect @Aurora Labyrinth from any hostile action, at the same time he stayed a little closer to @Galadion instead of closer to the girl.

Hanno was a brave hero, BUT even a hero have it's limits, he wouldn't take the risk of having the same fate as the Yladian. 'I really really really. Don't want to get kicked on my balls if I say something wrong.' A sweat drop appeared on his forehead.

"Now, you two. Stop fighting please, this won't go anywhere." He turned at @Galadion. "Your Majesty, I think you took my words in the wrong way. I'm not commanding or giving you an order, because I'm your comrade, I'm not your boss. I'm giving you a hint and a recommendation." The Faerin nodded, trying to calm down the man.

"Specially considering you are King! As much authority you may have, you need to learn to hear people's thoughts. After all, a good king will always hear out their people and do his best for his kingdom!" Hanno smiled friendly. "Yes, it does have times a king must have an Iron Fist, but if you always be Iron Fist... People will rebel against you. Like it pretty much happened right now, except in a much smaller scale."

 

Galadion turned his head and looked at the Faerin that was currently holding the makeshift bomb that he proclaimed had enough power to kill them all, a small smile spread across his face as he watched the man move it from one hand to another as if the motion was supposed to instill fear into him. "If this should end in fire, then we shall all burn together" before he turned and looked at the human female that was currently on the business end of his wand and scoffed slightly, so she was one of this kinds of people, the kind who no matter what happened would always look for the good in someone even if it wasn't there.

And then he felt it, her foot connecting with one of the most sensitive parts of the male body. A yowl of pain left his lips but it was quickly replaced with a look of murderous rage as now he had every intention of ending her life, his skills in pyromancy and hydromancy were both high enough that he could end someone as insignificant as her in a heart beat but before he was allowed to exact his revenge the shield wielding Faerin positioned himself between Galadion and the female which was probably the only thing that saved her life.

He turned his attention away from the female that he was quickly growing to hate. He listened to the Faerins words for a second before he thought about something, what had they been able to light such a rage inside of him? Normally he would have just brushed off their feelings since he really didn't care enough about any of them to care how they seen him. But this time man had the lit the fire of rage deep within him, straightening himself he took a few calming breathes. The ice spears broke and fell away as he replaced his wand inside of his sleeve, now that he had regained his composure he looked around at the entire group "I will say this once and I will say it clearly. I will do as I please, if we are attacked and I want to kill someone I do not care about how the rest of you feel about it, I am going to kill them. I am not here to please your delicate sensibilities I am here to protect Richard. None of you are my friends and I don't intend to make friends with any of you, especially you" he moved his hand and pointed at @Aurora "I will be your companion until the end of this job and then we will go our separate ways and hopefully never see one another again"

 

Letting out a relief sigh, the Faerin rested his defensive stance, putting his Shield on his back again. 'This could've ended so bad...' He blinked as his body slowly felt much more relaxed, along with some of his mind. All that conflict was pretty much enough to get rid of his low spirits. Apparently it was good that a few bad things happened sometimes.

Though the Faerin didn't want the Healer and the Yladian to be in bad terms, that would probably be for the best... At least for now. Maybe they would be in a slightly better terms later on, because their small journey was a little far from ending.

Hanno looked at the scared Richard, giving an apologetic expression. "I'm really sorry for that, Richard. I will try to be more careful next time." After giving his apologize, he looked at @Daedalus with a concerned expression, trying to check if the small man was hurt somewhere, but luckily it seemed it wasn't the case.

"Uh, you should be a little more careful too, threatening people like that isn't good, you should throw this thing away though, before it causes an accident... But well, I need to admire your courage. " He nodded.

Turning to @Aurora Labyrinth, he gave her a weak smile. "You sure have guts, don't you?" Hanno asked while wiping the remains of blood that were on his forehead. "We should go before more bandits come up, but first... Are you alright?" The Faerin asked, staring at the girl's eyes.

 

Galadion tilted his head back and looked up through the trees to the skies up above, the light provided by the sun was slowly beginning to wane and the shadows began to lengthen making the forest look dark and ominous. While he didn't fear the night life of the forest he was all but sure that Richard, their cowardly employer was probably ready to jump out of his skin at the tiniest noise or a movement in the darkness. Turning his head he looked back at his travelling companions, fatigue was slowly started to set in for everyone after a full days travel and a small fight with bandits.

Galadion was a Yladian, a forest elf so right now on this job in this setting he had superiority. He was more suited for travelling in this kind of environment, it was almost as if the plants spoke to him telling him where to step and where not to, letting him hear things that normally couldn't be heard and see things that couldn't normally be seen. Turning his head he allowed his silvery optics to peer into the darkness before turning his head back to look at his companions "I will take the first watch tonight, everyone get some sleep"

Without waiting for any answers from anyone he walked over to the nearest tree and jumped up grabbing hold of the lowest branch before pulling himself up onto it. Step by step he made his up into the tree high enough that he could keep watch on everything going on below him but still sit on a branch that he wasn't afraid was going to break under his weight.

 

"See, I knew you'd see sense."

Smiling smugly as @Galadion and @Aurora Labyrinth backed down respectively, Daedalus nodded in approval, the shadow over him lifting as the spears over his head disappeared. Hearing Richard and @Hanno Futaba's voice their very obvious worry and concern as he kept rolling the supposedly extremely destructive core back and forth in his hands, Daedalus grinned guiltily and gestured for them to close in.

"Ehe, sorry about the scare...I was lying about the firebomb thing...just needed everyone to sit down and shut up, you know? It is very fragile though, that part was actually true. And I agree, let's go! My appetite is waning from the smell."

Humming nonchalantly again, Daedalus gathered up the rags he was wrapping the core up with earlier and padded it up nice and securely, then stuffed it back into his backpack. He laid back against his luggage as the wagon began rolling away again, then closed his eyes and sank into a deep nap, the soothing tune of the elderly merchant and the sounds of the forest cooperatively lulling him to sleep.

As night fell and the wagon came to a rumbling stop, Daedalus opens one inquisitive eye and observes their surroundings, yawning and stretching as he dragged his backpack off the wagon. After helping everyone set up camp and build up a fire, Daedalus was just about to bring up the topic of night-watches when the Yladian king showed some fitting kingly initiative and took up the first watch, perching himself on a branch like some furtive, oversized bird of prey.

Shrugging his shoulders and chuckling to himself, Daedalus claimed one of the tents and pushed his backpack in, setting up his bedroll and all. Stepping back out of the tent, his stomach chose a very fitting moment to rumble hungrily. Clicking his tongue in light annoyance, the tinkerer plopped down, cross-legged, next to the campfire, and prodded at the logs with a long stick.

"Okay everyone, if you're good with it, I'll take last watch! Everyone else can hop in inbetween if they want. For now though...who's hungry? I say we all get some grub to eat. Who's with me?"

Raising his stick melodramatically, Daedalus grinned expectantly, waiting for everyone's opinion on dinner.

 

She watched as Hanno had calm down the mad man, who later on pointed at her, telling he wouldn't want to be friends with her. 'As if I want to be friends with someone like you ' She thought but didn't say it, not wanting to argue with a dense male anymore.

She looked at the short male who talked to her and felt bittersweet about the comment of having guts. " If only my guts could save people. All it does is get others in trouble " while maybe would think she was talking about the incident that took place, she actually said those words as she thought back to her real world self. 'Stop thinking about that. You aren't hazel right now' She reminded herself before offering the male a smile so he did not worry. "Thank you for worrying Mr Futaba. I'm fine, especially after the heal of yours." She answered before going and sitting beside the merchant. Throughout the whole trip the girl remained silent, watching as the scenery kept changing, until finally, it became dark.

After Richard called it for a camping, Aurora got down and let out a tiny yawn. Never did she use magic as much as she had done today, add to that the long travel and you got yourself a half sleepy girl.

"Wow, Mr Daedalus. Your mastery is really amazing." She said as brought her hands closer to the flames to enjoy the warmth. Just then, the young male suggested they have dinner.

"Oh. I know how to cook a bit. I can make something using what we have but it won't really be that great feast" she laughed nervously before going to get the raw ingredients they had brought on their journey.

 

The Faerin frowned at the girl's words, considering his guts were pretty much what have placed them in that situation to being with. But instead of letting it drag him down, he just shook it off, smiling at Aurora. "You are welcome!" Hanno gave a thumb up before going back to Richard's wagon.

"It's fine, just be careful next time. I don't want you to get hurt." Hanno nodded at the tinker man.

When the wagon finally stopped, the Faerin hopped out and began helping to set the camp up, adjusting and helping out anyone with the tents. After they were done, Hanno looked at the Yladian jumping at the tree, claiming to be the first one to keep a guard watch. The Faerin nodded. "Well, I will rest a bit while Ghast will stay alert along with you." The Faerin pointed at the Shield. "After you are done with your watch, call me so we can switch!"

After claiming his watch, Daedalus asked if anyone wanted food. Heck, asking if Hanno wanted food was like asking if a monkey wanted bananas. He was almost preparing himself to give a grandchef presentation of food, until Aurora offered to cook, making the Faerin calm down giving a chill smile. 'I can't go overboard cooking with someone else, hehe.' He thought to himself. "I will help you out! Don't get me wrong, but I will show you guys my gastronomy degree isn't to be taken lightly!" Hanno grinned as he grabbed a few stuff to start the cooking.

When the cooking duo started, the Faerin calmly followed his partner's pace, taking his time to prepare what would be a tomato soup with meatballs drowned in it. 'I've never casually cooked with someone else... It's fun.' A small thought came to Hanno, making him smile warmly.

Finishing cooking, Hanno handed three bottles of Dr. Keplers, a refreshing drink that was made by a certain friend, to @Aurora Labyrinth. "Can you please serve Daedalus and Richard? I will give food to the king over there." He pointed at the tree. "Also Aurora, you can drop the 'mister'. Just call me by my name." The Faerin said smiling, before walking up to the tree.

As he reached the tree, he climbed it carefully. Finally getting to the top, he sitted beside @Galadion handing him a bowl and a bottle of Dr. Kepler. "It's not royal food, but we did our best to cook it, your Majesty!" Hanno smiled softly, looking the Yladian. "Are you feeling better?" After all, it was a very harsh day.

 

Galadion sat there perched in his tree, his silvery eyes peering out into the darkness looking for any sign of danger that might creep up on them. He didn't think that after the display he had left behind that any other bandits would be foolish enough to attack them again, at least he hoped not cause if they did then he would do what needed to be done and further increase the distasteful opinion his companions seemed to have of him. He really didn't care what they thought of him in truth, none of them were a Yladian so they would never be one of his subjects.

Sitting there a small sigh came from his lips as he shook his head ever so slightly, perhaps he was getting a little to in depth with the portrayal of his character something that he was known to do from time to time. "Nal kair kalipar tasarak kair!", the words of power echoed softly around the tree tops as the mana was gathered and released, once again the illusionary Yladian soldiers shimmered into life outside of the campground. The illusion that he had just cast allowed him to see from the eyes of each of these soldiers, increasing his field of vision able now to watch ever direction of the camp from his tree.

As he sat there Galadion heard a soft scuffling causing him to look down and see one of his Faerin companions climbing up the tree to bring him supper. A soft chuckle escaped his lips as he took the food and nodded his head slightly "Yes I have calmed down, thank you", he sat there eating for a moment before he looked up at the skies above and sighed slightly "I apologize for my earlier outburst, it wasn't very kingly of me. I am not entirely sure what came over me."

Shaking his head ever so slightly Galadion turned his head and looked at his Faerin companion and chuckled slightly "Thank you for the food, you should get some sleep until it is your watch"

 

Aurora turned to Hanno as he offered to help her cook. She smiled and nodded at him as the two began cooking. She was used to cooking with her roommate so one would think that cooking with the Faerin wasn't going to be all that special to her but they would be wrong to assume that. She enjoyed cooking with the male who not only knew his way around the kitchen but was calming to be around with. In her eyes, Hanno was the most dependable among everyone. 'If it weren't for him, that man would have surely killed me' she thought as she sliced the fish and took out its guts only to stuff spices inside them.

Before she realized it, they were done. As she turned to look at Hanno, he gave her three bottles of some sort of drink and asked her to give the meal to the tinkerer @Daedalus and merchant.

She nodded and left to give the merchant first and then to the young man. "Here you go Mr Daedalus" she handed the meal to him and smiled before sitting down next to him. "I'm sorry I caused that commotion. If I had not, he wouldn't have done anything and we would have probably covered more land" She apologized as she stared at the red curry which only reminded her of the dead bodies. Aurora closed her eyes and turned her face so she would look at the young man. "You are quite a unique man aren't you? I have never heard of someone using a bomb threat to make two people stop fighting. If I would have read this in a novel, I would have surely laughed" She let out a small chuckle.

 

The Faerin smiled warmly. 'He's just a hot headed one, eh?' He thought, turning to his bowl of tomato soup with meatballs and fish. Taking a first bite of the fish first, his ears perked up. 'Tasty! And it really went well with my tomato soup!' Hanno nodded and ate all the food of his bowl, slurping the remains of the soup after being finished, then opened the bottle of Dr. Kepler and drank it in one turn.

"Aaah~ This thing is awesome!" He chuckled at himself, turning to @Galadion. "Don't worry about it, everyone was pretty much in high spirits back there anyway." The Faerin grinned. "Also, I didn't have the opportunity to say good job for you, you guys really did well defending the wagon. So good job!"

Hanno stood up on the branch. "I'm not sure what's with your king thing, but if you ever need some shield to go through some trouble..." He turned to look at the King. "...Feel free to call me! I'm not Yladian, but I have pointy ears too. Though they aren't as handsome as yours." The Faerin squeezed the tip of his own ear for emphasis, before jumping out of the tree, landing on the ground.

He looked at Daedalus and Aurora talking, smiling at the sight. 'Both of them didn't retreat from the confrontation of the King, these two sure have a spirit that can't be striked down so easily.' Hanno turned away, walking at his Shield, crouching down in front of it while pulling out a piece of cloth and rubbing it on the Shield, to clean some dirt that was on it.

"Thanks for your work today, Ghast." The Faerin smiled, and the Shield stared at him with a lively expression. "We sure made some new friends today, didn't we?" Hanno asked, and the Shield nodded with a tentacle.

"Now I will need to rest a bit, keep an eye on the surroundings for me?" He asked, and Ghast stared at him with an confident look. "Thanks!" Hanno turned around, sitting and resting his back and his head on the Shield, while opening his hands.

KIBOU

A mini-pet sphere of fire emerged out of Hanno's hand, leaning close to the Faerin while putting out a comfortable warmth. "Good night, everyone." He said, closing his eyes.

The Shield curled it's tentacles around Hanno, covering and protecting him. It's eyes looked down at the Faerin's face for a few moments, until suddenly it stared intently at the surroundings with it's widen open eyes.

Hanno sleep, taking the second turn on the night watch.

 

The night was slowly dragging on, after the excitement with the bandits nothing more really seemed to be happening which made things boring. A small yawn escaped Galadions mouth as he sat up at his post in the tree, it seemed like the fatigue of the day was slowly catching up with him as well as he slowly began to feel sleep reaching for him. Shaking his head ever so slightly to try and keep himself awake he yawned once more before sighing slightly.

After what felt like an eternity Galadion's watch had finally come to an end. He quickly descended from the tree as his illusion magic spell ended and the soldiers vanished away into the wind. Now that his watch had ended Galadion made his way back over to the tree that he had posted watch in and leaned back against it closing his eyes, it was someone else watch now and Galadion relaxed enough and went to sleep.

 

Sitting down at the fire, watching his companions strike up conversation and cook up a storm, Daedalus chuckled more to himself than anyone else, marveling at the camaraderie that adventuring could create. Shaking his head modestly as @Aurora Labyrinth complimented him, Daedalus was about to say something in return when his brow creased, as if he'd remembered something urgent.

"You know what, hold that thought. You ain't seen nothin' yet."

Quick as a flash, Daedalus dashed back into his tent. Some loud rattling and clinking could be heard before he ducked back out, arms laden with an assortment of cogs, bolts, springs and other jumbled mechanical doodads.

"You thought you've seen impressive? Wrong! Just give me a minute..."

Plopping his gear down with a clank, Daedalus knelt down beside the junk and started working away at cobbling something together as dinner was prepared by @Hanno Futaba and Aurora.

"Eh, you two keep cooking. I'll be done later..."

Within minutes, Daedalus was engrossed entirely in his work, only looking up to grin appreciatively at Aurora when she handed him his dinner. When Aurora sat down next to him and struck up conversation, he set aside his creation, swirling his soup around a little before responding.

"Naw, I'm the one who should be sorry here. I was the one who theoretically almost incinerated everyone...just strung a little tight for my first quest, was all." He chased a meatball around the edge of the bowl with the tip of his spoon as he listened, smiling, to Aurora complimenting him. "Aw, shucks. If I'd known bomb threats made you this popular, I would have made a few actual bombs to play around with! Heh."

Setting the soup aside to cool, he would pick up his project and keep adding little bits and pieces on, sipping at his 'Doctor Kepler' once in a while. It tasted suspiciously similar to a drink he was rather partial to in real life; a strange coincidence, but he wasn't complaining.

As twenty or so minutes passed, his drink emptied, his soup gradually made its way into his stomach and the creation grew from the size of a fist to the size of a melon, now boasting a shiny brass exterior and a ticking clock face.

"Done! This prototype'll get me up when it's last watch; it'll poke me till I get up, in a few hours time. Hehe, watch...Anyway, I'll turn in too! Nighto!"

Gathering up his tools, Daedalus made his way back to his tent, glancing at @Galadion in his tree, then crammed his junk into his backpack again. Sighing exhaustedly, he'd slip into his bedroll and sleep like a rock until his watch was called for.

 

Aurora nodded as she took a bite from the fish. "I can understand. I'm a bit nervous as well. Luckily, other than that argument, things have been running smoothly"
The blonde girl remained silent as she repeated his words in her head before letting out a gasp. "You mean to say you were bluffing?!" She asked in surprised. Aurora let out a sigh of relief. "You should be more careful. What if your bluff was caught? You'd be dead meat then" she said before letting out a nervous laugh. She knew the thing she did was risky as well but hey, at least she would get to say she kicked a king. Not many get to have such an accomplishment.

The girl turned around and looked at the forest, to check whether any intruders were coming. She had also planned to take the first shift. Not only because she didn't trust the Yladian to not kill her in her slumber, but also because she was getting sleepy. She knew she wouldn't have been able to take any other shift. The girl jumped in surprise as the tinkerer proclaimed his invention complete.

"That is a wonderful machine indeed. Goodnight Mr Daedalus, have a wonderful rest" She bid him goodnight and spent her shift in complete silence. Occasionally, she would glance up at Galadion to see whether he was awake or asleep. While he stayed on the tree, she remained on the ground, making sure the fire did not die out. When Hanno woke up for his shift, the girl let out a large yawn. Too sleepy to even speak, the girl curled up on the log she was sitting on and dozed off to sleep.

Aurora went to sleep