A Day in the RPG World
"It's hot, Shirou."
"Atsuya stop complaining."
"I can't help it, it's hot."
"Shut up."
With the blazing heat of the desert, the twin's quarrel strained the nerves. If only Atsuya took off his scarf wouldn't complain.
Silence fell.
"It's hot."
Three veins popped at Atsuya's remark. The temptation to take extreme measures(knocking him out) was abysmal; however, none was willing to lift the dead weight.
Kidou leaned on his staff, propelling himself forward. Only one kilometer left to reach the town, he thought. If only the Barbarian class twin hadn't lost control over himself, they wouldn't be at death's door, again. Even his brother was in the same state, which was a rare sight.
"Hey, Shirou," Atsuya called. "Can't you like . . . transport us to the town or something . . . ? Or cast a spell to and make it rain?" A smart proposal coming from him. The heat had messed up his brain.
"I used the rest of my mana to transport you closer to us," he muttered.
Atsuya groaned.
With a great deal of perseverance and Atsuya's complaints, they arrived at the small town that served as their base. As the sky dyed in orange and soon in darker tones they crawled to the bank to exchange their loot for a well-deserved pay—which wasn't much.
This was the daily life of these four adventurers.
"Hi, Endou," Kidou greeted.
"Yo, guys." Endou covered his mouth and nose, either to control his laughter or repel the smell. "The bath is empty, so help yourselves," his voice muffled.
The adventurers entered the hot bath. Fighting monsters and receiving little money for the effort was exhausting.
"I can't stand this anymore!" Atsuya yelled. They didn't pay any particular attention. "I hate bein' covered in slime every single day!"
"Don't remind me Atsuya," Fubuki grumbled, at last, his voice bubbled in the water.
The conversation was going nowhere. Kidou proceeded to change the topic. "One of us needs to reach level 2 before we can buy a building for the guild. We have to consider costs, our daily wage isn't steady."
"Gouenji, you should work more!" Atsuya pointed at said person. "You have more Experience Points than us!"
"If you didn't break the formation." Gouenji countered. He clenched his fists. If Atsuya said another word fists will fly, and only magic could break them apart. His friends knew he's hot tempered; they were painfully aware of it.
"Atsuya is not the only problem." Kidou interrupted, slightly troubled. He, as usual, had to hold his Swordsman class friend with clever words, and share the blame.
Gouenji backed down begrudgingly.
The two listened to Kidou about his observations on the recent fight—Atsuya as much as his short attention span allowed.
Fubuki as the white mage and healer didn't participate much in strategy meetings. His Magic Point bar was always empty at the end of the day—thanks to a certain reckless brother of his.
With Kidou being the Wizard class tactician the four-person team was balanced.
☆☆☆
Our adventurer's hunting grounds, a godforsaken forest far from town, rarely whispered by folkspeople and adventures alike. They stumbled upon it by mere chance, following Atsuya who was running away from a hungry beast.
They either had to be desperate or out of their minds to walk three miles to reach the place. The consensus was they might be both.
"The hell is that—?!" Atsuya yelped.
His brother pulled him behind a tree and shushed him.
"Captain, what do we do?" Fubuki asked in sign language, a must-know for adventurers. "I've never seen it," Atsuya added in the same manner. His brother agreed.
If they didn't know hardly the other two, for they had grown hearing all kinds of facts about them.
Behind another tree, Kidou glanced at the unknown creature. The twins followed.
Leaves and branches obtructed the view. The creature wasn't menacing—as most monsters—it was almost... cute, Fubuki thought. With the same conclusion he once approached a baby chimera and almost lost his head.
The plant-like creature was minding it's own business, its feet hidden behind the dense bushes.
Captain Kidou signaled their sweeper, the one with more self-control.
"Take it away, outside the forest."
Gouenji nodded, then stealthily approached the creature, silent as a sniper. Being spotted at a safe distance, he lured it outside.
As soon as their friend was out of sight, Kidou and the twins moved out. While running, the former gave quick commands, while Fubuki chanted buff spells. Kidou and Atsuya were enveloped in a white glow before reaching the end of the forest.
"W-what is that?!" Atsuya yelled.
In front of them was a humanoid-like monster, as tall as a bear and as thin as a snake. It flailed its long whip-like arms around—left and right, up and down, and when arm met ground it cracked into pieces. A chunk fell near Atsuya's feet.
The small plant they had seen sat at the top of its faceless head.
"Slenderman!" Atsuya cried out.
The mythological creature adventurers mentioned to greenhorns. Though it was known far and wide, the creature was rarely seen in its full form described only as a black, thin wriggling monster.
It would fetch a good price.
"How long are you going to stand there?!" Gouenji yelled bringing the three into action.
"Gouenji come back!" Kidou was the first to act. He commanded the new formation to the twins.
Atsuya helped in his escape sending a kick to one of the snake-like arms. It woozed right beside Gouenji's ear which clicked his tongue at his near-death experience.
"Thanks, Fubuki." He nodded after healing Gouenji's minor scars and chanting the same buffs.
Gouenji branded his sword again and aided Atsuya.
On moments like this that they were grateful for each other's company. No matter how much they complained or how miserable times were, as long as they had each other's back things will work out.
No one cowered back or gave a sign of hopelessness. Each in their own way faced this legendary monster.
Kidou blinded the creature, a chance for Atsuya to smash a fist in its gut with a thunder buff, courtesy of his Barbarian class.
It was the creature's weakness, according to Gouenji. The creature let out a deafening screech, like the tires of a car, and stopped its movements.
His body gave off a yellow-white glow.
"It's healing!" Gouenji yelled.
Kidou cursed. Its HP was in the red zone, their efforts would be wasted—not to mention their stamina was critically low. They were reaching their limits.
"Let's attack at once! Hurry!" Fubuki shouted.
The fighters ran to the creature.
Gouenji jumped, his sword became enveloped in blazing fire. He slashed the sword downwards after spinning clock-wise, and screamed, "Fire Tornado!"
Atsuya spun on his own axis, giving a kick as his frozen foot on the head of the monster.
"Eternal Blizzard!"
From his rod, Kidou released a swirling dark energy. Gouenji and Atsuya stepped aside. The monster—in a daze—received a clean hit.
"Dark Tornado!"
"FUBUKI!"
His staff lit up charging white energy at one point and released his remaining MP in a humongous shot of blinding light exploding in the middle of the creature, giving an end to the long battle.
"Wolf Legend!"
The creature exploded releasing a terrible stench of rotten eggs and skunk smell that fell on the four teens—with a little blood.
"Disgusting." Atsuya murmured washing the remains with his hand. "Shirou, you okay? Guess not." He sweat dropped at his fallen twin. The fact that his strongest—and only—attack left his so vulnerable was ironic.
At least we made it, he thought.
☆☆☆
The young adventurers returned to the cheap inn. Atsuya carrying his brother on his back brought the terrible stench to the humble building.
"Ugh, Atsuya you smell." Fubuki retorted.
"You too Shirou. I think I'm going barf."
Kidou walked slower than usual. Gouenji noticed he has been looking down for the past hour and asked what his deal was.
He evaded his eyes and said in a clear voice.
"The monster didn't drop anything. We can't claim the money."
☆☆☆
"What the? What did you guys found this time?" Asked Endou.
The four shared a glance and replied at the time.
"Slenderman."