A Former Hero’s Journey : I just want to live peacefully!

Chapter 21

Annie Pov

She was battling with someone who was proficient with the same profession she dabbled in: Archery. But it was more like toying with him, she supposed.

“Just like cat and mouse.”

She was leagues above him but he seemed more adept in slipping away. Besides she was not that serious because her Mistress had asked her to protect the Aaron, not kill the Assassin in front of her. The end point was that she was not letting him slip from her fingers while his other partner seemed to be tangling with the dog of the Duke. Not polite way of saying but she had seen the worst of Nobles back in the days of yore. His feral grin did not seem to help the case after all despite having hidden his face with a skin type mask, one could still see- no feel his thirst for combat.

Now onwards to a new topic, it was surprising to see her Mistress showing compassion to someone else but she guessed it was the influence of her ‘new’ life. Not a bad per se as her Mistress seemed to lock her emotions away even before she had acquired her [Title], allowing that Solomon to make decisions for their ragtag band of Heroes. It helped that she was not given the ‘burden’ of making such choices this time, maybe except for one burden, which her Mistress will carry as long as she has the job given by that ghost. Maybe she was monolouging a bit too much as she swatted away an arrow aiming her thumb.

Then that assassin suddenly appeared near her, closing in. Annie quirked an eye at that.

“Thinking that I may be bad in close combat? Naïve”

She then calmly appeared in front of him, surprising him in the process, and started to fight in close combat. He punched at her solar plexus but she dodged swiftly. She countered it with a chop at his overstretched arm but he crouched, just outside of her attack radius. He then cartwheeled towards her, trying to hit her with his leg but she just stepped backwards and hit his back causing him to roll over on the ground. He swiftly steadied in the middle of the roll and just as he reached the base of the tree trunk he used it as a springboard. He swiftly took out a small knife from his ring and tried to stab her with it.

*Swish*

*Swish*

*Swish*

But she dodged it with minimal effort. Analyzing his muscle, little twitches and so on, she could predict just what move he was about to use before he even made them. One of the perks of having a core of powerful monsters made it easier for Golems to gain their watered down versions of their passive abilities. Annie had quiet the keen eyesight whereas Leticia had quite the aptitude for magic. Gabby, Lara and Anya were on point battle junkies as well. She analyzed his hand movement and stopped it from going for a swing. He was unperturbed as he let go of the knife, jumped backwards before taking out his bow and arrows.

Annie just grinned a little before taking out her own as well. Both of their hands, at the same time loaded their bows with arrows. Then flurry of arrows crashed to each other. [Skill] vs [Skill], it seemed. Then the Assassin stopped shooting. She frowned as he suddenly ran towards her from a short distance. It was an error on her part as she miscalculated the distance between them. Now in close combat her bow would be ineffective so she quickly stored it. It seemed the Assassin wanted to surprise her with the sudden change in tempo from Archery to hand-to-hand combat.

Then the Assassin angled his hand in such a way that it was in itself a makeshift knife and stabbed at her. She calmly moved slightly, missing the attack and grabbed him outstretched arms. He tried to pull his hand away in weird fashion, twisting and turning, popping his joint in weird manner. If it was someone else on his combat level, the strange way would have surely let his arm escape. Unfortunately for him, he was facing her, despite not having dabbled in CQC, her stats were way above his and so was her level.

She simply pulled him and performed a takedown by kicking his legs. As they were fighting in the tree branches, her takedown caused him to pommel towards the ground and created a crater. He simply rolled out of the crater before hiding again. She could still pinpoint his area so it was not as if he could really hide from her. But the choices he made as well as places he hid made it seem that he was an expert in guerilla warfare; blitzing the opponent. As he peered from his hiding place to look towards her last known location only to look right into her eyes, few centimeters away. He scrambled away using his stealth techniques.

As he was about to scramble away, she grabbed him by the ankle and threw him into the trees. He broke a few tree trunks before stopping. He grimaced in pain, the first time he ever did since the fight. He was pretty much like a mouse being toyed by a cat indeed. It also seemed to her that he was fairly new to this business when compared to his partner. Maybe he was not even five years in and he was already this skilled.

‘Shame, he could have been such a protégé of mine… what did I just imagine?’

She shook her random thought. Maybe teaching Mira a thing or two softened her core? This was not allowed in a place of battlefield. Random thoughts, begone. She looked at the man predatorily. Now when she thought about it, it looked like her opponent was also not invested much in the fight. His thoughts, seemingly elsewhere, which made her quirk an eye at that.

‘I feel like I should be insulted but the fact remains that neither him nor me was invested in this fight…’

Though it surprised her to know just what the endgame was for the Assassin? Why was he seemingly distracted? What was- no is their objective? Too many questions, too few answers. Until the Assassin seemingly disappeared from her sight. Her eyes widened at the sudden display of agility. She suddenly looked at the direction the Assassin had escaped, towards the Duke heir and the carriage. She jumped from tree to tree, the Assassin had quite the head start it seems. She grimaced a bit as her carelessness had proven her own undoing. She thought herself as the voice of reason among the sister maids and it was her mistake that let the Assassin get the head start.

‘But I will not let it discourage me.’

Her speed was greater than that of the Assassin and she was catching up quickly as well. After few seconds she could see the hood of the Assassin. Just as she caught sight of him, he took out his bow from his ring, storage ring. She did the same. Just then she could feel the presence of the heir and another two presences close to each other. She looked towards their direction and used her keen eyesight to look at them. Three figures appeared in her sight.

There was the boy and a man who held the girl in front of him with a knife on her neck. It became clear to her that the man had taken the girl hostage. A girl who wore white dress with her white long hair with little shade of grey that blended in with the hair. A small resemblance to the man she knew as Solomon. At least he had unruly mass of long white hair with light grey mixed in between. The Assassin then sat the top of the tree, taking aim. She tensed when she realized he was about to shoot his arrow but a frown marred her face at the direction he was shooting.

It was certainly not the Duke’s kid, but at the direction of the girl and the man, well the man mostly. It was getting interesting. Just as she was closing in, he had fired his arrow and it hit the man half a second later who was quarter of a kilometer distance away, possibly the Assassin utilized a skill so as not to let Annie interfere. He then decisively crushed something like an amulet before his figure grew blurry and he disappeared.

“A teleportation? They must have fulfilled their objectives as well……”

She looked at the slumped dead man.

“Interesting. But for what purpose? Information leakage? Well, it is not my problem for the time being.”

For now, she had fulfilled her objective and by the presence of the dog getting closer, it seemed his ward also left him. Her mistress could have gone quite a few kilometers ahead already, so it’d be better if she caught up to her. However, it’d be rude to the kid if she just left without a single word.

Aaron Pov

Aaron sighed in relief as he held unto the princess. Her body was a bit thin, maybe malnourished a bit. He saw the maid appearing right in front of him while his uncle emerged from the forest behind his back. The maid smiled and said.

“It seems my work is done here. I cannot sense them any longer so I think you are safe. I take my leave and have a safe journey.”

Aaron was about to say something, his hand outstretched.

“Wait-“

She curtsied before disappearing. His hand still outstretched before clenching in. He mumbled.

“I still do not know whose Noble House she belongs to.”

A hand grabbed his shoulder. He looked up and saw his uncle who just shrugged.

“She’s an impatient one and by one look she seem to…. hate us? Or maybe dislike us. I guess it was due to her master that got her to help us anyway. Don’t think she can help us in rescuing Harold’s daughter. Besides we have bigger things to worry about.”

Rowley looked down at the princess who had seemingly got unconscious right after a minute she had woken up. He nodded.

“Yeah, bigger things to worry about.”

He looked at the corpse.

“Much bigger things….”

Rowley looked at him curiously.

“About what.”

Aaron did not speak as he was looking intently at the corpse, reminiscing their little chat. Aaron then looked at Rowley and said.

“Destinations have changed. We are going to the capital, not to Elcot fief. We need to escort the princess safely to the Royal Palace before arranging a meeting with father.”

Rowley looked surprised as he asked.

“What brought this on?”

Aaron just sighed.

“I…. have heard some disturbing news from the mouth of the cultist. If he is right, then we may have battle that could decide the fate of our kingdom.”

Rowley widened his eye in alarm. Then Aaron stood up and carried Nina in a bridal style. He could see the horses and the carriage of the Elcot house with a Brand looking at them. Aaron already felt guilty about scaring his little sister but he marched onwards.

 “Let’s go Rowley jii-sama. I will tell you on the way.”

Kimiko Pov

After 10 minutes or so, Kimiko heard a knocking on the door. Mira stood up and opened the door. Annie came inside and she nodded.

“As you have instructed, Mistress, the lord is safe and healthy. No need to worry about not fulfilling his end of the deal.”

Kimiko nodded as she looked at the changing surroundings outside. Her right hand supporting her chin and the elbow on the carriage’s window pane with her right leg on top of her left leg as she looked dazedly outside, enjoying the ever-changing tranquility of the forest. She sighed, wondering how long will this tranquility last before fate throws another curveball at her. Then she dreamt of the purplish landscape, a place she knew, they all knew.

The place of her coronation, the place where she had made a vow. She saw it all replaying in her head, the events that led them to this place. The ‘truth’ that was revealed. One by one, all seven soul equipment flashed through her mind. She was only missing the seventh. Then darkness, then a big eye opened, the same eye she saw through the little crevices opened by the Demon King that day in the [Staircase that reached the Heaven] or whatever it’s damn name was. She lost her comrades there but then another transition took place. The darkness cracked and light poured in and she saw the world burn. She knew why she was being shown this dream. It was warning her.

Then she woke up when someone shook her awake. Her eyes wide open to see a worried expression of Mira. Kimiko calmed down as she felt the worried look from her maids as well. This was the second time she has got a warning again. It was from ‘that’ place as well. She sighed and asked.

“How long was I out?”

“About 6 hours, but you seemed fine so we did not bother to wake you up.”

Annie replied as Kimiko nodded. No wonder it was almost dark outside.

“When will we reach the Adventurer City?”

Annie replied.

“Claire said we will have sight of it soon and given how busy the road has become, I am inclined to believe it.”

Kimiko looked outside to see the road has turned wide as well as was paved with smooth white limestone. Many carriages and people seemed to come and go. Different kinds of Adventurers seemed to be moving as well. There were some vendors on the way. She had not seen this much human activity since she had arrived here. She nodded and then she could see a wall slowly rising as they got closer and closer to their destination.

Now she could see wall rising almost 40-meter-tall and atop it was cannons and other watchtowers. It was built using white and blue colored walls and seemed to be enchanted with some crazy enchantments as well. Considering it was built by one of the founders of Adventurer Guild it could be said that it was fortified strongly. The guards here seemed to be well trained and equipped as well. It seems the inspection is done strictly but with free pass into the city. After checking out their carriage, which happened very quickly, and finding nothing they were allowed to enter the place.

To call it big was an understatement, it was massive. More than 10 times bigger than Aron, if her Map was correct. Rows and rows of buildings were constructed using slabs and bricks and woods as well. Different kinds of building could be seen. But it was not taller than 4 storied. The roads were paved with smooth stones. Drains could be seen the side of the road as well as proper lamp post that produced a glow in the evening. And of course there were people. Many different kinds of people could be seen. This included the varieties of people ranging from normal humans, demi-humans like kitsune, wolf-tribe, cat-tribe people as well as small people like dwarves.

There were even some recluse races like Sea-men tribe. The night world was lighted up, dazzling the whole place. Kimiko looked from the glass with eyes twinkling at the truly wonderful sight. It was not only her but even Mira was entranced as she started looking from one window to another. Only few heads turned to look at them due to the maids who were guarding the carriage but not much as Kimiko had expected. She looked out to Claire who was talking to a wolf beast-man. The man pointed his finger to a direction while Claire bowed her head down. The beast-man just seemed to be embarrassed as he waved his one hand while his other hand was behind his head.

Kimiko just nodded to herself. After all the Golems were one of a kind. They were crafted with similar beautiful face but with different hair color and hair-style. Each accented a different type of beauty. Claire had long straight blond hair with caring attitude. Annie had short shoulder length black hair with serious attitude. Gabby had long wavy blue hair with laidback attitude, who only looks on as a spectator if she finds something funny. Anya had short pink hair with bun. She is the polite one. Leticia had a long green tied-back hair with very shy demeanor. And at last was Lara, their mischievous golem had short wavy red hair. Each of them are different and distinct from one another.

The oldest was Leticia, followed by Claire and Annie, after that the others were created at the same time. But enough of that as Kimiko could see that Claire was approaching the carriage. She knocked.

“Yes, Claire?”

“I have asked for the nearest most comfortable and luxurious inn near here. Should we spend the night in this area?”

“That….. was fast.”

Claire looked surprised.

“I…. apologize Mistress, I thought maybe you wanted to check in faster so that we can explore this city. Is that bad?”

Kimiko thought for a while.

“Maybe I’d like that. Thank you for your thoughtfulness, Claire. I wanted to see how Arthur has managed this city.”

Claire smiled.

“Of course, the nearest inn is just 5 blocks away. Its name is supposed to be ‘Hotel Paradis’. Many bigshot has commented on it’s fine service as well. We can check-in fast if we hurry.”

Kimiko nodded as the carriage started to move. After a minute or two they reached a luxurious looking place. There was a big building made from polished rocks. Once they entered the building, inside there was a very big compound with different types of accommodations ranging from flat, to villas to even tree houses. Many people seemed to be present in the lobby. Her group did get quite the stare but were also dismissed casually. But it seems it was the first time for Mira as she was looking here and there, her tail swinging. Claire got the permission of Kimiko and got the highest level room that money could buy, it was 1000 gold per day. After all Claire said that they want the best possible service to Kimiko as well as to serve her.

It seems that the Adventurer City was the famous destination for many nobles as well as rich people. So this hotel, along with others, was made with the idea of serving high-class people. After reaching it with the help of the attendant who gave them their key. It was like a thin plastic card with 5 golden star in it. The attendant spoke.

“Swipe the card, to enter. Be sure not to lose the card, otherwise you will pay the fine as well as be blacklisted on our network. So please enjoy your stay.”

By saying that he left. Claire just swiped and opened the large double door for her.

It was an entire floor worth of space and was situated near the roof. It was equipped with a king sized very soft bed that let your body sink in complete bliss. Besides were few comfortable chairs with racks of books on the wall as well. It had its own mini kitchen filled with necessary items that your servant could make. They also had a balcony with a white marbled table and a comfortable chair to enjoy the view of the morning and the evening time of Adventurer city.

After they had freshened up, the maids wore normal kinds of dresses. Annie asked.

“Mistress, when we will visit Arthur?”

Kimiko wondered.

‘How’d we visit him? He may be too busy as well as have many appointments. So the ideal time would be early morning or late evening. But then again, will they even allow us to visit?’

“Either early morning or evening.”

Annie nodded before her glasses shined as she used her fingers to ‘adjust’ her glasses.

“How about early in the morning, we give him a surprise visit? Spy type.”

It seems that the whole entourage of maid seemed to listening the conversation as flurry of answers came about.

“Yes!”

“It would be wonderful!”

“Ano… is that necessary?”

“Ara ara, it’d be… nice.”

“How about a showdown? It’s been so long, he may be leaps and bounds above us in strength. Let’s check his strength out?”

Then heated debate took place among the maids except for Mira. It seemed except Leticia everyone seemed to be onboard with the idea. Kimiko just shrugged before changing her attire. After all she had a city to visit.

The Next Day

In the bustling Adventurer city, a carriage passed garnering the attention of many people. As it passed many people whistled and clapped as they parted ways for the carriage to go. The carriage stopped in front of a big white colored cathedral.

The carriage opened up to reveal a man wearing navy blue long coat and black pants with formal white T-shirt and a red tie. He has a messy silver hair with beep blue eyes. He was just over 6 feet tall. His face made the hearts of many young girls’ swoon over. Even the married and the virtuous women were no exceptions. A bishounen through and through. His name is Arthur, just Arthur nothing more. His name was known throughout the world. He is one of the founders of Adventurer Guild and is the Guild master of Adventurer city. A beautiful slender blonde woman with emerald eyes accompanied him just as he came out. Her name was Alma, the assistant of Arthur and she was not human. She was an elf, denoted by her long ears. She wore a formal clothes that hugged her graceful body and wore glasses.

“Alma, what is the schedule for today?”

Arthur asked just as he entered the biggest building of Adventurer city, the Grand Adventurer Hall. It looked like a cathedral and was just as big as a small castle. It was situated at the center of the city and was the biggest and tallest structure of the city. Many roads connected through the place that lead to various parts of the city. Many, many adventurers seemed to filter in and out but they left a large girth to avoid the man with respect. Alma replied in a no-nonsense voice.

“Today, a meeting is scheduled 2 hours later with the other hall members to discuss the matters of growing number of [Monster Tide] and harassment near the settlements near the sea. It is expected to last 2 hours. Half an hour later, the treasurer would like to meet you for the budget planning with other council members. It is expected to last 1.5 hours. Just then the king of Posat has requested your audience to a meeting which you have accepted. You are expected to be gone for the rest of the day. Paperwork are piling of so I suggest you to quickly complete some before the meeting. I will complete the rest.”

Arthur just gave a grateful smile. They walked across the hall to the staircase towards the 1^st floor.

“Thanks for the save. Can’t wonder why the King wants an audience?”

Alma just sighed as walked up more staircase towards the 3^rd staircase.

“You know it as well as I that it concerns what the [Cult] is up to. His daughter was kidnapped while going secretly to her friend’s birthday party. There is information leakage within the palace and with growing tension with the southern country. They want your ‘expertise’.”

Arthur sighed climbing more staircase towards the 5^th staircase.

“Don’t they know that I am supposed to be ‘neutral’. I will seriously compromise my position unless there is really good reason to intervene. They need hard evidence that the [Cult] is trying to do something so that I can involve myself. Otherwise my hands are tied.”

Alma shrugged as they kept on walking towards the 6^th staircase.

“They are in their last leg. Many people are going to the festival happening in the capital city within few days, too many for good inspections. There was news that the Temple is sending their delegates who are expected to arrive this afternoon in secret. Maybe they want all of you to attend the meeting?”

Arthur just walked more staircase before stopping at the 8^th floor. Alma just covered her ears.

“By the way….. THERE’S TOO MANY STAIRS!”

“You don’t need to shout.”

“But it makes me feel good. Just what was I thinking when I decided to build this place? And why is my office near the top?”

"*sigh* It was your design so how would we know?"

Then at last they reached the door to his office. He smiled at her.

“Thank you for accompanying me. You may go Alma.”

Alma just looked at him weirdly before nodding and going off to her work station. After that he just closed the door and looked the interior. Looking straight he could see a full window instead of a wall. The window let him see the one side of the Adventurer city. Just front of it was his cozy desk with mountains of paperwork. He looked at it wearily before looking around. He wasn’t much of an interior decorator so he just had the essential. A clock to tell time, a world map of Vesperia, showing both geographical region as well as political map. At one side of the room was whole shelves of books found in his journey throughout the world. Then there was a portrait of his creator, Solomon as well as his lover K-

He just closed his eyes. Then suddenly shifted his body to one side, missing a hand that just tried to pierce him.

‘Took them long enough.’

He thought. He had sensed these intruders when he had reached two floors beneath them. That was why he had sent his assistant elsewhere. The intruders managing to infiltrate till this place spoke volume of their power.

‘Maybe the [Cult]? But no, fighting me is the least thing they want.’

He thought as he dodged another strike to his chest. There were 5 intruders, each one fighting against him. Two were good, the other two were so-so but the last one made him frown. She, judging by their physical appearance they were all girls, was practically just flailing around. Judging by their ridiculous attire of ninja clothing they seemed to have no sense of fashion as well. Just when he was about to strike that weird last girl, she just holed up, both of her hands covering protectively her head, in the middle of the fight wailing,

“WAAH!! I DON’T WANT TO FIGHT GUMMY-CHAN!”

The fight stopped in an instant. His eyes twitched so did everyone else’s. There was only one person who called him that.

“Leticia-onee-sama?”

The girl in question just nodded, sniffing with big tear drops falling. He did not know how as Golems, well could not but it is Leticia he was talking about. She suddenly jumped into his bosom.

“Waaah! Gummy-chan remembers me! I don’t want to fight but these baddies made me.”

The other masked people just sighed. He looked to the others, his eyes widening as they pulled off their ridiculous masks to show who they were.

“Anya, Claire, Annie, Gabby and Leticia,….. then that means-“

The chair which was facing the window turned towards him to show a figure who was once beside his master’s side. The same black colored long hair. The same blue eyes. The same facial structure. No doubt it was none other than-

He suddenly kneeled.

“Mistress…. This servant doesn’t know what to feel except-“

He looked at her with clear loyalty.

“your wish is my command.”

Somewhere else

There was a big wooden ship with mast, currently sailing towards a destination. There were many people on the deck, each fulfilling a role that was bestowed to them by the captain. The spotter on top of the mast looked ahead and shouted down.

“Land ahoy!!”

The captain said.

“YOU HEARD MATES! READY TO LAND. WE ARE AT THE PORT OF POSAT! READY THE ANCHOR!”

While the captain was giving the orders, two figures emerged out from inside the deck. The first, a boy teenager, stretched his arms and legs.

“Land finally after 2 weeks of staying inside this ship!”

The other, a teenager girl, chided him.

“Don’t be such a slouch. It was a wonderful ride. We were able to see many marine wildlife. In fact, we may also have seen-”

The first one huffed.

“Don’t go all scientific on me. I can’t handle another of your lectures.”

Then a third emerged out.

“We are here for a mission. We also need to know why the teleportation didn’t work from the Temple’s side. Isn’t that right Ryuu?”

A fourth individual emerged out. A handsome black haired boy who was wearing an armor. If Kimiko had seen him then she would have realized that it was her childhood friends along with her friends from school. He just looked towards the harbor with determination. He spoke.

“This is our first mission after training for months. The oracle has divined that something WILL happen to this capital. We are here to prevent that or keep the casualty to the minimum.”

The others nodded. The first boy spoke.

“Yeah yeah we know. But wouldn’t it be for the best if they had picked someone professional instead of amateurs like us.”  

Ryuu nodded, thankful for the fact that his teammate knew the situation.

“They must have, only they are hidden. I think they are doing this as a test for us. Or maybe to parade the existence of Heroes by doing something crazy like saving the kingdom on our first quest. There are many reasons.”

The others sighed.

“Then let’s go investigate. The king should have been informed of our presence. They may send us an escort.”

Their quest had only just started.

Edited: 27-Nov-2020 Grammar Improvement