...
Ember Pov
Winter has just arrived, the temperature has decreased significantly, and the Gods predict this year it will snow heavily. I don't know how they know, apparently, they made use of science and weather prediction skills which left everyone saying,' Just usual God stuff that nobody understands ', but as someone who knows about science and wonders, I just guessed Gods used their unfathomable experience of countless Millena's, they have literally created Tenkai, so they ought to know quite well about the weather pattern.
With that experience they should have calculated the possibility of weather. " Damn that hits the spot!", said Chad who is not so Chad as he chugged down an entire large cup of beer. " Teth you don't know what you are missing, you should try this is good stuff ", said Bosh. I calmly said," Don't go on assigning nicknames to me, I don't like it", and then chewed the chicken meat.
" Haha! Too late! From now onwards we will be calling you Teth or Tet for short! Your name is mouthful after all!", said Aika laughing as he drank a cup of beer. My eyebrows twitched and I know it was a lost cause, Amalda gave me a silent apology with a sigh, I just shrugged in defeat. " Our hunt today was quite good ", said Newton.
" Indeed, though I am worried about the weather- It's getting colder than what I expected", said Mika, and Amalda grumbled," I don't like winter it makes hunting just so harder", hearing her words Chad swiftly replied," Miss Amalda with me here! You don't need to fear anything! As long as you feel too tired or cold I am ready to carry you!"
Amalda gave him a stare much to his embarrassment and said," Thanks but I am pretty much capable of handling myself, CHAD", he looked down in defeat having another unsuccessful attempt to woo her. What's this guy is even doing? He thinks he is a Chad, but he is not, unfortunately for him the dream of wooing Amalda might be just a dream, after all from what I can see, she only has the idea of marrying another Elf to carry the pure Elven lineage.
Yeah, that's too much bullshit. I munched down the last piece of the hot bread and finished up drinking the milk," I have eaten", I said putting the wooden plates and cup into the tray and put it to the Kitchen. " Sir Ember you are sweet as always, you are the only one who puts the dirty dishes to the kitchen", said an old woman.
" Miss Naria that's just basic decency", I said, and she nodded with a smile," Indeed, unlike these ruffians who can't see that I am already too old", she snarled and some choked. " Hey granny! It's not our fault that Mister Handsome Elf is a polite boy! Not to mention it's the staff duty to take the empty dishes."
" Oh? So, you are blind to see that the only people who run this inn is an old woman in her sixties and her poor grandson?", she snickered, and said," The younger people nowadays have no sense of responsibility or sense of respect towards their elders", she shook her head. Some complained that she should hire some people, but she said she would have if they were responsible.
I sighed as I swiftly made my way out of the inn after saying a polite goodbye, as I stepped outside my feet sink gently into the snow. I took a deep breath and looked at the snowflakes falling," It's snowing", I muttered and rubbed my forearms, I am the one wearing the thinnest clothes here, and that's not because I poor, nope smart me thought it is a good idea to train my cold resistance.
' Well, it isn't as bad as I thought it would be, probably due to the fact that I am an adventurer ', I thought as I walked through the street towards my house. The lamps hung outside the houses casted a gentle glow, brightening up the streets. I walked slowly looking at the dark sky admiring the view.
I haven't seen such a scene in my past life, leave out snow, in an overpopulated country even having peace in nature was a pipe dream, at least for me. I continued walking when I saw someone lying on the snow. I quickly ran towards the person and turned around to find a familiar face. " Goddess Aschelois?", I said in shock as I looked around.
" What the heck she is doing lying here?", I muttered seeing no one around, at least in this street. I sighed and looked at face and saw the red hue on her cheeks and touched her forehead to check her temperature, I was relieved to find she didn't have a fever and then decided to try to wake up her. However, I didn't have any idea on how to do it, should I gently tap her or... Yeah, let's do that, I don't want to accidentally send her back to Heaven by slapping her.
I tapped her gently and she smiled beautifully, I looked at her deadpan and said," Stop pretending", and she opened her eyes looking at me mischievously, " Teehe, you caught me!", she said as she stood up and dusted off the snow from her clothes. I sighed and said," Now would you tell me your reasons for doing that or- I should just dump you in your familia."
" Ara, Ara so cold~ It makes me feel hotter", she said making a slightly erotic face and I grabbed her like a sack of potatoes," Fine! I lose! Now let me down!", I put her down and she grumbled," Others would die to be in the presence of beauty as me! And here you are carrying me like a sack of potatoes."
She gave up easily, and I chuckled," So tell me Goddess Aschelois your motive behind this", I asked, and she pouted," You are an hot Elf and I am beautiful Goddess, shouldn't be there be forbidden romance between us?!", she said justly as if it was a law made by heavens, and I looked at her deadpan," I have no interest in you", I bluntly said and she made an expression as if she had been stabbed.
" Damn it! My forbidden romance story ended before it began!", she said with a pitiful expression, and I carried her to her Familia house. Reaching the place, I looked at the huge wooden building, it was semi-made of stone here and there, but that was a pretty top-notch considering this is just a big town, short of being considered a city.
I looked at the two adventurers guarding the door," Wait? Why are you carrying our Goddess like that?!", a guard yelled pointing his spear at me. I sighed wanting to throw their Goddess at their face, when," Hey stop! I am not in mood for a cliche face slap! This rejected Goddess needs some alone time and has no patience for drama", she said, and broke from my grip and then she bashed both their heads.
" Hmph! You gotta pull your game guards A and B and stop acting like extras, if you act like that you will put my name into shame", she lectured them, and both just nodded not knowing what they did wrong meanwhile I found the situation hilarious. " Tell me Goddess, was that your real motive?", I asked again, and she turned back to me," Of course! I had been reading so many romance stories and I liked that one about Elf Noble and a common human girl one, so I thought why not try it out?", she replied.
"Seriously?", I said with a grunt and her face fell," My forbidden romance story ended before it even began! *Sniff* *Sniff* Mister handsome Elf don't worry we shall marry in our next life", she said with moist eyes, and I quickly made me exit hearing that,' Damnit! Why these Gods are so weird? ', I thought wondering if these Gods had been otakus in their past life.
...
Finally making my escape from the weird Goddess the next day I went hunting to the forest alone, the party had decided to take a break because of the worsening weather condition, however I decided to train and hunt monsters, thought careful to not venture deep as it would be foolish and suicidal.
I crouched and slowly walked through the place; the trees were covered with snow making it difficult to travel through them. I quickly found a bunch of Kobolds and then slowly taking an advantageous position I attacked them, with a slash I disembowelled the nearest one, the others roared and attacked me but easily dodging them I slashed through them and in a few seconds, I had killed the last one.
" They are really no longer a challenge huh", I muttered as I looked at the dead corpses, I killed around nine kobolds in ten seconds with ease. I sighed and taking out my dragger I was about to take out their magic stones when I heard a roar. I quickly put my dragger back and moved back while taking my sword out. The bushes rustled as I looked a dozen of Orcs.
' They are so many! ', I thought and then grinned. I started chanting my magic while running away, I needed to make sure I am not surrounded by them. Once I was in the clear I looked at the Orcs back running towards me, and released my magic on them. The blue flames caused a blur in the air as they struck the Orcs, in one strike seven were dead and others left heavily wounded.
I charged in, my speed accelerating as I gripped my sword tightly and with a swift strike beheaded and Orc, before stabbing another in its head. I slashed another one which was approaching me, killing it by breaking it's magic stone, then moving sideward I dodged the attack of an Orc and swiftly sliced it's arm off, and then stabbed through the back of it's throat.
I looked around and focused on my hearing, there were no sounds of Orcs or steps, all were dead. I breathed in relief and looked at the dead Orcs, I quickly got their magic stones including kobolds and even got three drop items. I then walked for a bit before encountering a pack of Hellhounds. ' This is going to be tough ', I thought as I swiftly climbed up a tree.
Hellhounds weren't no joke, for me they were tougher than to deal with Minotaurs. Thankfully I have my bow and some arrows strapped on the back. I quickly counted the number of Hellhounds. ' Five ', I have to deal with five of them. I took out my bow, despite looking simple it was my royal bow capable of dealing damage from level 4 so possibility of it breaking was low.
My arrows were fine as well so taking my position firmly I nocked three arrows at once, pulled the bowstring and aimed at the Hellhounds, they were barking and growling well aware of my presence however they were unable to pinpoint me. I waited patiently for any three of them to come under my aim, and when they did, I released the bowstring.
*Swoosh* *Swoosh* *Swoosh*
With a swoosh sound, they struck the hellhounds. One of the arrows successfully pierced one's eyes, instantly killing it, while another struck other's head, making it howl in pain. Unfortunately, the third one just grazed the skin of the third Hellhound. I quickly nocked another arrow and aimed at the fourth one and hit in its eyes killing it instantly.
"Groowlll!!", a burst of fire hurled towards me, without any wait I jumped off the tree dodging the attack, the attention of remaining hellhounds was on me. Three of them remained, one of which heavily injured while other two almost at their peak condition. I started running away while beginning my chant," O'Flames of Legends!...", and barely dodged the two hurling fire bursts from their mouths.
I ran towards a tree and jumped on in its trunk, then doing a black flip, I pierced the head of the hellhound killing it," Zingg...", I tried to pull my sword when a ball of fire hurled toward me, and I was forced to abandon it, I quickly grabbed my short wand and," Cremation!!", a burst of blue flames released from the tip, hurled towards them.
Two fire bursts were released from their mouth, however my magic overpowered it and then struck them, they howled in pain before turning into cinders. I breathed heavily and seeing that they died I quickly ran towards the corpse of the hellhound, and pulled my sword and then quickly climbed the tree, I breathed heavily, tension filling me as I watched for more monsters.
' None ', there were no monsters nearby, I quickly drank a potion from the tube, finding one broken. I sighed and looked at the dead hellhounds,' My magic is powerful enough to kill them, that's a relief ', I had just used more than a little mana in my usual attacks. I was totally exhausted, not only physically but mentally.
I pulled out my chain clock and looked that it was still noon. ' I am in periphery yet there are so many strong monsters, this is not good. This is a sign of a... Monster horde! ', my eyes narrowed, in this age monsters still escape from dungeon, thus monster hordes are plenty. They aren't as terrifying one might think, but only if you manage to defend in all fronts, if somehow a few of them manage to break through barricade it will be a disaster for lower-level adventurers and the town.
I gripped the hilt of my sword, and drank some water, dropping down the tree I collected the magic stones before engaging in a battle again. This time I found around nineteen Killer Ants however I managed to kill them with ease, then I was attacked by a group of Orcs with dozens of kobolds and a few goblins, again I manged to slay them. My magic proved more useful than I thought, I used tactics, depleting all my arrows by the afternoon.
...
3rd Pov
Ember quickly departed from the forest once his clock hit 4'o clock. He was tired and had wounds at several places that had just began healing. He wasn't seriously injured but completely drained out, he had killed more than hundreds of monsters just today alone, solo. He encountered many monsters far stronger than what someone with his parameters could take, if not for his magic and archery he might have died.
But in the end only a grin remained on his face, as he looked at the bag filled with goodies. He had put off his bag on a tree located very near the periphery so that he can take all of his magic stones. He quickly went to his house taking a silent route, and on reaching his house. He dumped the magic stones in his small cellar.
...
Ember Pov
I had built the cellar myself, and it was filled with thousands of magic stones, and several drop items which I planned to sell a lot later on. After resting for a bit, I took plentiful of magic stones and went to guild. Once I entered the guild, I found the atmosphere of the place to be tense. " Mr. Tithonus are you again here to sell Magic stones?", Disha asked me, and I unloaded the magic stones on the counter along with the drop items.
" Damn! As expected of Blue Hell!", someone exclaimed while Disha seemed shocked, the magic stones while in a large number where only of Level 1 monsters, not the stronger ones for obvious reasons. " Haha, surprising as always", Disha chuckled still unable to accept this as normality. Before she could start counting, I said," Disha while hunting today I encountered... plenty of strong monsters and I was just at periphery."
" Yes, we have been reported this by several adventurer parties who went on hunting today, all of them returned quickly and some of the adventurers were heavily injured and one died", Disha sighed in sadness, " Undoubtedly it is the sign of a Monster horde incoming", I said, and she nodded. " Well, I guess we can expect excellent Magic support from the blue hell", she said as she began counting the magic stones and drop items.
Whatever the case might be, it would seem that this monster horde is going to be bigger and far more disastrous than previous one. I sighed and decided to do a plenty of preparation and practise, thankfully I had enough potions in my house. " Sir Tithonus, here is your 96,500 valis", Disha said breaking me out of the stupor.
I could feel the greedy eyes of a few adventurers looking at my valis. I took the valis and departed from the guild ready to do my preparations.
To be continued...
(A/N: Give me the powerstones!)