Book 4: Chapter The First Tactic of Slaying a Dragon: “Still an Adventurer Team”
Grisia! You can never escape, never…
I awoke in fright.
I hurriedly opened my eyes. However, the minute I opened them, I felt that there was something wrong, but I couldn’t say what was wrong…
Normally, after opening one’s eyes, should there only be darkness?
Then there is absolutely no difference between opening and closing one’s eyes! Since there’s no difference, why should I open my eyes? Or could it be that I… I can’t see anything?
No! I could “see” clearly; in fact, everything was becoming more and more well-defined. It was as if my surroundings were originally covered by some thick, heavy cloth, and someone was now unwrapping it layer by layer. The darkness slowly faded, and the scenes became clearer and clearer.
I “saw” myself lying on top of a bed. The bed’s wood element was very noticeable, so it should be made out of wood. My body was also covered by a thick cotton blanket. There was a chair beside the bed, and a table further away. There were four chairs around the table and some water element on top of the table… It was a pot of water.
I even knew that the water only filled a fifth of the pot.
However, I did not even need to turn around and open my eyes to “see” those items. The images automatically appeared in my mind. I tried closing my eyes and opening them again… The images in my mind didn’t change at all!
So, what on earth are eyes used for? Aren’t they used to “see?” Also, the definition of the word “see” is… I was confusing myself. Am I seeing right now? I think I am, but at the same time, I think I’m not.
Something still didn’t feel right, something even more important than whether my eyes could see or not… Someone’s coming!
I swiveled my head toward the door, but flinched suddenly. Why did I turn my head? I don’t need to turn my head to see the door!
I still felt that these things called eyes were very strange, but I immediately banished the thought to the back of my mind and focused on the person who was coming in. The person’s wind element was very high, but it was not as high as that of a mage’s… Oh! Given his appearance, he should have a profession that focuses on agility, like that of a rogue or an archer… Oh, my mistake, it should be “her” appearance.
Not to mention, “her” figure was great. Even though I really had no idea whether or not she was pretty, there was absolutely no connection between being pretty and having a great figure. As long as she had these three things: a large chest, a slim waist and long legs, it was enough to say that she had “a great figure.”
“Ah! You’re awake?” she cried in surprise the moment she walked in.
Hearing this voice, I knew she should be a rather young woman. Being able to meet a young woman with a great figure immediately after waking up really makes one excited.
“I… Yeah, I’m awake.” I struggled to get up and then nodded at her.
She hurriedly walked over and said, “Don’t get up! You were very seriously wounded… Ah! But you seem to have more or less recovered, how unbelievable! Yuna clearly said that you would need a full month to recover from your wounds before you could get up and walk about, but your injuries have healed almost completely in just three days! Yuna almost mistook you for an undead creature!”
“Yuna?” I asked in some confusion.
The girl placed whatever she was holding onto the table, and then she poured a cup of water. She walked over to the bed while explaining, “Oh, Yuna is the cleric in our squad. She went out with Igor, our warrior, to buy some stuff. We also have a druid, Woodrow. Last but not least, I am Sybil, an archer! Here, you’re thirsty right? Have a drink.”
When she said this, I really did feel that my throat and mouth were very dry. I quickly took the water and, after saying “thanks,” started gulping it down.
Sybil asked me in a curious tone, “What about you? What’s your name?”
I kept on drinking until the entire cup was empty, and only after satisfying my thirst did her words really register in my mind.
“What’s my name…”
“Hm?”
Sybil leaned even closer. I could already “see” her features clearly. Her eyes were slender and long, her facial features deeply carved, her lips slightly full. Although I couldn’t tell whether or not she was pretty, based on her ample bosom that was almost pressed up against my chest, I could definitely admit that she was a beauty!
“Are you going to tell me your name or not?” Sybil asked, puzzled.
I instantly regained my senses and swiftly replied, “My name is, my name is…”
Halfway through my answer, I fell back into silence.
Very good, now I know what was wrong…
Who am I?
Four people sat in front of me. From left to right: Igor, the warrior as robust as a mountain; Woodrow, the druid as slim as a bamboo pole; Yuna, the cleric with a bad figure; and Sybil, the archer with a great figure. Apparently, there was still a rogue named Iacchi who had yet to return.
Judging only by their professions, this is a rather good squad… My mind automatically jumped to this conclusion. It seems that although I have lost my memories, I haven’t lost my general knowledge!
“You’ve lost your memories? That’s hard to believe,” Woodrow mumbled to himself and then sunk into his own thoughts once again.
“That’s right! It really is hard to believe.” Sybil immediately interrupted and said, “When he had been seriously hurt, I had already felt that it was unbelievable! How could that have happened?”
Yuna nodded her head.
“That’s right, that’s right,” Igor said in complete agreement.
“Please, please hold on a minute.” I was slightly confused, so I asked, “Why should it be so unbelievable for me to get injured? All humans can get hurt, right… Hm? That should be correct, right?”
I wasn’t really confident about this. I couldn’t even remember my name, so it was really hard to determine whether the “general knowledge” in my head was authentic or not.
The four people in front of me turned around to look at me and said in unison, “It’s unbelievable because you’re very strong!”
“I’m very strong?” I reflexively asked, “Am I a warrior?”
“No, you’re a cleric,” Yuna immediately rebuked my guess.
Cleric?
I am a cleric, but I am very strong? Then why is my general knowledge telling me that the profession of a cleric is known for being weak? It seems that my general knowledge is not too reliable after all.
Yuna thought for a bit before saying, “It’s not you who’s strong, although it is true that you are a powerful cleric. The people we’re referring to as strong are actually your companions.”
My companions… Puzzled, I asked, “Aren’t you my companions?”
Sybil rolled her eyes and said, “If we were your companions, why would I ask for your name?”
That’s true.
I absentmindedly touched the hair that fell onto my chest and asked, very puzzled, “All of you know that I am a cleric, and you also know that my companions are strong, but you don’t know my name? Do you actually know me or not?”
Hearing this, the four of them glanced at each other. Finally, Woodrow, who had been deep in thought, answered, “We don’t know you personally, but we were once saved by you and your companions, so we have met you before. At that time, we saw you using holy light, so we know that you are a cleric. We also saw your companions fight. Although there were only three people in your squad, you guys were very powerful.”
Companions? I was not surprised to hear that I had companions. In fact, when I heard the word “companions,” quite a few silhouettes automatically surfaced in my mind, and the number of silhouettes was even higher than what Woodrow had mentioned. Therefore, although I couldn’t remember the true appearances of the silhouettes, I knew that I definitely had companions, and they weren’t few in number either.
After realizing this fact, I felt much more relieved, but I couldn’t help asking in curiosity, “What sort of people were my companions?”
“There was a holy knight, and also, also…”
Woodrow stopped speaking. I noticed that he had furrowed his brows… This probably indicated that he was very “hesitant.” Why was he hesitating? Could it be that my companion’s identity was too difficult to speak of?
Igor suddenly leaned close to me and said softly, “He was a dark elf.”
“A dark elf?” I was somewhat at a loss. If my general knowledge was not wrong, dark elves should be a race that had dark skin, white hair, and a reputation that was not too good. However, I couldn’t recall anything more detailed than that.
At this, Yuna hurriedly said, “Maybe you and that holy knight had captured that dark elf.”
“That’s right, that’s right!” Igor backed her up, “A holy knight and a cleric would definitely not go around with a dark elf for no reason. After all, it is a creature of darkness! Everyone knows that the people of the Church of the God of Light detest creatures of darkness the most.”
“Church of the God of Light? Am I someone from the Church of the God of Light?”
I mumbled the phrase “Church of the God of Light.” The more I said it the more I believed it was possible, because the phrases “Church of the God of Light” and “holy knight” both sounded very familiar.
Yuna nodded her head and explained, “Your holy light is very strong. Only a cleric of the God of Light could have such strong holy light, so you definitely are not a cleric of any other Church. You can only be a cleric of the God of Light. We have no idea why you are here though.”
“Here?” I asked, puzzled. “Where is here?”
Sybil interrupted, “This is the Kingdom of Kissinger. It is the territory of the Cathedral of the Shadow God! The Church of the God of Light which is situated in the Kingdom of Forgotten Sound is rather far away from here. We would need to head north for five days before we could enter the boundary of the Kingdom of Forgotten Sound!”
I nodded my head as though as I had understood. “Kissinger” sounded very unfamiliar, so I shouldn’t be local, right? The “Cathedral of the Shadow God” also sounded fairly unfamiliar. In comparison, the Church of the God of Light still sounded more pleasing to my ears.
I looked toward Yuna and asked, “Then Yuna, are you a cleric of the Cathedral of the Shadow God?”
“Of course not, I’m a warpriest.” Yuna crossly replied, “If I were a shadowpriest, then we wouldn’t have needed your help that first time.”
What does that mean?
I fell silent, but I didn’t really want to ask again. Even if Yuna replied, my questions would only increase in number. Not to mention, I actually did not care about what sort of cleric Yuna was.
The only thing I want to know is who the heck am I?
Even just knowing my name would be good enough!
Grisia, you can never escape, never…
I was momentarily stunned. When I initially awoke in fright, I had clearly heard this sentence. The “Grisia” at the start of the sentence sounded like a name… Is that my name?
At this moment, Yuna apologized, “I’m sorry, I forgot that you don’t remember anything. I shouldn’t have spoken to you in such a tone.”
“That’s alright.”
I returned to my senses after hearing Yuna’s words. I looked at them and said, “Since I have companions, then everything’s alright. After all, they will eventually come and find me, right?”
The four of them glanced at each other. Yuna replied in an even more apologetic tone, “I don’t think so. Ten days have already passed yet no one has come looking for you.”
“Ten days?” I was startled. Then, I looked toward the archer and asked, “Sybil, didn’t you say that my wounds were healed in three days’ time?”
“That’s right!” Sybil shrugged her shoulders and said, “But after your wounds healed, you slept for another seven days! We had no idea what to do! You weren’t waking up, and we couldn’t just leave you here. However, most of our money had already been used up for your medical bills, so if we don’t go on missions, we really will be in trouble…”
“Sybil!” Yuna interrupted, stopping her from saying anything else.
However, Sybil wasn’t willing to stop and she impulsively yelled back, “We have no choice but to tell him! If we explain our situation clearly, he can help us out with missions! Or else, if we keep on going the way we are now, we really will starve to death!”
“Sybil!” Woodrow called out in a low voice with a scolding tone, and only then did Sybil stop talking. After that, he turned to me and apologized, “Please don’t take offense over what Sybil said. Saving you is definitely something we should have done. Before, if not for you and your companions, we would have already turned into rotten bones in that cave.”
“That’s right, so don’t worry a single bit about what Sybil said, she was just exaggerating,” Yuna said while casting an admonishing glance at Sybil. The latter not-too-willingly lowered her head.
“Grisia.”
“What?” The four of them were stunned.
I started explaining, “You can call me Grisia. I think it’s my name… Probably!”
Everyone nodded their heads. Sybil even mumbled my name and then grumbled in an undertone over how hard it was to pronounce.
After that, I continued speaking, “Since you said that I saved you before, and now you have saved me, let’s call it even. We don’t owe each other anything anymore.”
As I said this, everyone nodded their heads. Igor yelled out loud, “Great! Grisia, I really like straight-forward people like you!”
I smiled and said, “As for your suggestion that I help you out in your missions, I’m not against it, but I want to split the reward money. If I only cast Moderate Heal, then one-tenth of the reward money is enough. If I use Advanced Heal, then I want two tenths, and if I need to perform more holy spells, then add another tenth to that for a total of three tenths.”
“…”
Sybil couldn’t help shouting, “Are you really a cleric of the God of Light? I heard that they were very altruistic people.”
I shrugged my shoulders and said, “Who knows? I currently have amnesia and cannot recall anything. For all I know, I might even be a shadowpriest. Not to mention, you reminded me that I am currently in the situation of having no memories and no way of finding my companions, so I have to earn my keep. Since I have to earn money, earning a little more is always better than earning a little less, right?”
Hearing this, the three people in the squad immediately glared at their archer all at the same time. Sybil’s change of expression was… Yup, she wants to cry but no tears are coming out.
After being glared at, Sybil complained while feeling greatly grieved, “You aren’t as elegant as you appear at all!”
My appearance? I asked curiously, “What do I look like?”
At this, Sybil suddenly leaned into my face and said seriously, “You have shining blond hair, azure eyes, and even your skin is very fair and smooth to the touch…”
Very fair? What does she mean by fair… Wait a minute! Smooth to the touch? I immediately said, “Hold on! How would you know my skin is smooth to the touch? Could you have touched me before?”
“…Ah!”
Sybil first widened her eyes, and only after blanking out for some time did she return to her senses and hurriedly explain, “Only when I was changing your medication did I touch you by accident. Also, I had to touch you when I helped you change your clothes. I definitely had to touch you while bathing you, and I had to touch you when I helped you turn your body. Furthermore…”
Furthermore? Why don’t you just list the times when you did not touch me, wouldn’t that be faster?
Dammit! I actually feel as if I have been bullied by this woman and taken advantage of, how could I have let this happen? I can take anything, except for being taken advantage of!
I immediately told Sybil, “Then to be fair, you should let me touch you.”
“Okay…”
Sybil was half-way through agreeing before Yuna yelled, “Sybil, what are you saying?”
Sybil immediately changed her reply and said, “No! I was saying, no, it’s not okay, you pervert!”
What a shame… I regretted it immensely. I should have demanded her to take responsibility when no one was around. Looking at her reaction, she obviously wanted me to touch her as well!
Seeing her squad’s utterly disbelieving looks, Sybil lowered her head and mumbled, “It’s his fault for being so handsome. He made me agree to it unknowingly.”
Yuna reminded her, “Think of the holy knight in his squad, then you won’t feel that he’s that handsome.”
At this, Sybil suddenly looked up at the ceiling. Although there was nothing up there, her entire face was filled with, with… A nicer way of saying it would be “longing,” but a more apt description for the expression would be “starry-eyed infatuation.”
After a while, she lowered her head and looked at me, nodding and agreeing, “That’s true, you’re not actually that handsome after all!”
…I suddenly didn’t want to rejoin my holy knight companion anymore.
“That’s right! That holy knight was very gallant.” This wasn’t said by Sybil, but Yuna. She was completely unlike her calm self from earlier. With abnormal excitement, she continued, “He was handsome and strong, and looked very gentle and considerate. What’s more, the way he talked was so mature. He was so nice that he didn’t take any credit for saving us, even apologizing to us for snatching our monster. Not only that, he wanted to give us the loot! Last but not least, he reminded us to hurry up and leave that dangerous place… Oh! He really is too amazing!”
This time, Yuna was the one to fall into a state of longing, or starry-eyed infatuation.
“He was also very elegant! Really elegant.” Sybil stared at me and then purposely shook her head, saying, “Not like you, you only have an elegant appearance.”
Hearing this, I angrily said, “Who knows, maybe only his appearance is mature and elegant, but actually he’s an arrogant and stubborn guy!”
“Impossible!” Yuna, Sybil and even Igor opposed me in unison.
I was rendered speechless. If even Igor, a guy, agreed, then could it be that my holy knight companion was not just a pretty face, but was also handsome, mature, elegant, and a good person through and through like what they said?
I really can’t believe that there is someone like that in the world!
At this, Woodrow belatedly said, “Although now that I think about it, that holy knight really seemed too good to be true.”
I immediately felt a miraculous comradeship with Woodrow.
“Hey! What sort of expression is that?” Sybil said crossly, “The person we’re talking about is your companion! You couldn’t be wishing that your companion is not a good guy but rather a bad guy, could you?”
I thought about it. That’s true as well. If my companion is a nice person, he would be easier to bully… Wait a minute! What sort of thought was that? I actually wanted to bully someone else? Could it be that… I’m the one who’s not a good person?
I couldn’t help muttering, “That could be true. If not, why would I keep on thinking of money, beauties, breasts and not wanting to be taken advantage of?”
“What?” Sybil asked with a curious expression.
“Nothing, I suddenly felt a bit worried.” I raised my head and looked at the squad before me and said cautiously, “How would I know whether you’re good people or not?”
“What did you say?!”
Sybil immediately said furiously, “Of course we’re good guys! If not, why would we have saved you, and why would we have been unable to go out on missions because you weren’t waking up?! If we were bad guys, we would have just left you to die!”
“That’s true.”
I let out a brilliant smile. The smile’s effect was definitely not bad. Even Sybil, who had earlier stated that I only had an elegant appearance, and Yuna both descended into a starry-eyed infatuated state and could only stare at me.
Seeing this, I smiled, satisfied. “You really are all good people, that’s great, hehehe……”
“Why do I suddenly have a bad feeling?”
Woodrow mumbled to himself, but was interrupted when Igor hit him on the shoulders, hard. Igor laughed and said, “Woodrow, you worry too much! Weren’t you the one who always said that we should look for a cleric of the God of Light? Now we have a super powerful cleric with us, isn’t that just nice?”
Hearing Woodrow and Igor’s conversation, I turned around and smiled at Woodrow to calm him down. I didn’t think that he would flinch instead and motion for everyone else to keep quiet before tiptoeing to stand before me. Then, raising his left hand, he waved it before my eyes slowly…
I caught his hand and asked, bewildered, “What are you doing?”
Woodrow kept quiet for a while before stammering, “I only felt that something was off, your eyes…”
“My eyes?”
“No, it’s nothing. I must be thinking too much.” Woodrow mumbled, “I keep on feeling that you’re not really looking at me.”
“I am looking at you.” I really was looking at Woodrow, and not only at the tiny movements of his facial muscles, but even at the blood flowing in his body and the regular beating of his heart. I could see them all clearly.
“I must have been thinking too much.”
After that, Woodrow didn’t bring up the issue about my eyes again, and only discussed with me an even more pressing problem – how to split up the reward.
He haggled, “There’s no need for holy spells. Yuna is a warpriest, so her holy spells will definitely be more powerful than yours. Your only useful area would be in healing spells, so two tenths is too much. Our squad splits the reward by first taking away two tenths as squad fees and then splitting the rest evenly amongst the rest of the squad.”
“The squad has six people; after taking away two tenths and dividing the rest equally amongst six people, that’s… Not even one and a half tenths!”
How can that be! I immediately rebuked him, “Two-tenths is not a lot! I remember that the clerics of the God of Light rarely leave the Church to go adventuring, so they’re in great demand!”
“… Have you really lost your memories?”
“If you don’t want it, then forget it!”
“Alright, alright! Two-tenths then, two-tenths.” Woodrow looked slightly vexed, but he immediately perked up and haggled again, “However, you must perform the holy spell ‘Light Shield’ as well!”
Light Shield? Do I know how to cast that? I thought about it for a while. These words sound familiar, so I’ll assume that I know it! After all, even if I really don’t know it, Woodrow and the rest won’t go as far as chasing me off, would they?
“Okay…”
Halfway through my reply, I saw that there was someone outside the door and asked, “Your rogue Iacchi, does he have a ponytail?”
“Yes, have you remembered?!” Woodrow asked in surprise.
Before I could answer, the guy standing outside the door yelled out “Woodrow” and then kicked the door open.
“Woodrow! Great news, there’s a big mission in the city… Eh? He’s up already?”
The person who had walked in had long hair, which was tied in a high ponytail at the back of his head. He was slim and short, probably only up to my shoulders in height. He was even shorter than Sybil, and was about Yuna’s height, but his voice was the exact opposite of his size. It was as loud and clear as if someone were striking a gong by my ears.
This should be the squad’s rogue Iacchi!
After Iacchi noticed that I was awake, he wasn’t as hurried anymore. He calmed down and muttered, “Oh! You’re awake? That’s great. Now we can finally get out of this city and start completing missions! However, this news that I worked so hard to come by will be wasted…”
“What happened?” Woodrow asked again.
Iacchi shrugged his shoulders and said, “There’s a big mission in the city that we can do without even leaving the city. The amount of reward money is quite large, so I was planning to hurry and tell everyone.”
I quickly asked, “A large reward? What sort of mission is it?”
Iacchi blinked and then stared at me with a strange expression before turning around to look at the rest of the squad.
Woodrow gave a cough and then introduced, “This is our new teammate Grisia. He is a cleric of the God of Light and he will be with us until his companions come and look for him.”
Hearing this, Iacchi gave an “oh” and simply told me “welcome” before he started explaining the contents of the mission in excitement. “You know about the unicorn that has come to the city, right?”
Everyone nodded their heads. Only I asked, puzzled, “A unicorn?”
“Oh, that’s right. You were sleeping, so you don’t know about this.” Sybil cut in and said, “A few days ago, a squad in the city captured a unicorn! After they sent the unicorn to the Adventurers’ Guild, they immediately turned from nobodies into super famous people!”
Unicorn? This word sounded unfamiliar. My questions really were only increasing in number. I asked right away, “First, tell me, what is a unicorn?”
“How could you not know?”
Iacchi jumped up in surprise and even shouted out in his gong-like voice. The sound was so loud that I immediately felt a ringing in my ears, and I even felt a slight pain in my head… How can the rest of them stand this noise?
I turned my head around and looked. All of them had a normal look on their faces and were not panicking like me. They really were part of Iacchi’s squad… They had all used both of their hands to cover their ears.
Woodrow lowered his hands and said calmly, “Grisia has lost his memories.”
“Ah?” Iacchi looked like he had just stepped on dragon dung.
Woodrow turned to me and explained, “A unicorn is a rarely seen magical beast. Its appearance is like that of a small white horse, just that in the middle of its head, it has a white horn. That horn is the medium the unicorn uses to perform magic. Apparently its lightning magic is very strong.”
Magic? I hesitated. Although I can’t say what magic is, it sounds as familiar to me as Light Shield, so maybe I know it too?
When I told everyone this possibility, they laughed.
Sybil’s laughter was especially loud, “That’s impossible. You’re a cleric, not a mage.”
Is that so? I was still a bit doubtful. Do I really not know any magic? But “magic” sounds very familiar to me.
“Stop laughing at him, he’s lost his memories! All of you are so impolite.”
Yuna was the only one who didn’t laugh. She even scolded the rest of them. Because of that, my opinion of her vastly improved. Maybe the shortcoming of not having a good figure was not that important after all.
She very gently explained to me, “We have never seen a unicorn before either. We’ve only heard a few rumors. Whether or not unicorns really know lightning magic is not something we know either.”
Iacchi scrambled to say, “Also, everyone knows… No! It’s just rumors, rumors! Yuna, stop glaring at me! That’s what people say after all! A unicorn is only willing to approach pure, unsullied female virgins.”
It likes virgins? That’s so like me… No! No, the unicorn is really such a perverted animal, no wonder that it was caught!
At this, Iacchi, as well as all the other guys in the squad, glanced at the only two squad members who could possibly be “female virgins.”
Sybil immediately said crossly, “Don’t bother looking at me! Do you people honestly believe I am one?”
Everyone…including me, immediately shook our heads, and then glanced at the other person, Yuna.
Yuna immediately blushed, lowered her head and then shook her head slightly.
Even Yuna isn’t one!
After I got over my shock, I noticed that all of the other guys’ jaws had dropped open in shock too, and they looked even more surprised than I did. Especially Igor, his facial expression looked as if the world had ended before his eyes… It seemed that he was somewhat interested in Yuna. No! He wasn’t just somewhat interested—he was super interested because even the rims of his eyes had reddened.
However, the rest of his teammates seemed to have already known that Igor was interested in Yuna. Except for me, no one else was surprised over Igor’s uncharacteristic depression. Even Yuna didn’t look the least bit surprised. Only I walked up and patted Igor on the shoulder out of sympathy. He gratefully looked at me and almost flung himself onto me to cry bitterly… Luckily I dodged him quickly!
Off to the side, Iacchi sighed despairingly, “Ah! That’s too bad, after the unicorn escaped yesterday night, the Adventurers’ Guild offered five hundred gold ducats as a reward!”
I started, rushed forward in large strides, caught Iacchi’s collar and yelled, “What did you say?!”
Iacchi jumped in shock and stammered, “That’s, that’s too bad…”
“The next line!”
He continued saying, “The unicorn escaped yesterday night!”
He flinched. It wasn’t until I lifted his entire body and let both of his feet dangle off the floor did he return to his senses and say quickly, “The reward for recapturing the unicorn is five hundred gold ducats!”
Five hundred gold ducats!
I put Iacchi down and started calculating immediately. Two tenths of five hundred gold ducats is… one hundred gold ducats! As long as I can capture that damned perverted horse, then I can gain one hundred gold ducats!
I immediately roared at everyone, “Okay! We’re taking this mission!”
Everyone stared at me with their mouths wide open. After quite some time, Woodrow cautiously said, “But, but we don’t have any virgins…”
I sneered and slowly dragged out each word, “No? Then why don’t we just go and capture one?”