Location: Specials Guild
"It was still morning, and the weather was mild — neither cold nor warm.While we were eating, the Guild reception woman came up to us.She held a paper, a smile on her face.
'Hello, DiamondHearts. I'm sorry for interrupting your meal, but I have a quest for you all. You've been killing all the monsters easily lately, so the Guild decided to give you a harder challenge.'
'W-we… will take it!' Vino said, standing up quickly from the table with his mouth full of food.
'Haha, Vino, full of energy as always,' the woman said, then continued.'As I was saying, this isn't an easy quest. You need to travel to Reona Forest, which is three days from here, and kill the Jumping Spider hiding there.'
A jumping spider?.. Evin whispered to herself, looking down.
'So… do you accept this quest?'
Larkin stood from his chair, wiping his hands on his clothes.'Yeah, we'll take it! It's a good quest for us to improve,' he said, looking at me.
I nodded to him.
After we accepted, the woman explained that the prize was 10 gold coins for retrieving the red crystal from the Jumping Spider.Vino, Evin, and I left the guild, but when I looked back, I noticed Van and Larkin were still inside.
'Yo, Ario, you coming?' Vino asked.
'Ehm… yeah, yeah. Just go ahead; I'll follow.'
They nodded and left.
Let's see what these two are talking about… I stood outside the guild with the door half-open.
'Now that they're gone, tell me, Van… the shy boy… you're the one I was supposed to take out, aren't you?'
Van, still sitting in his chair, looked up at Larkin, who was standing.'What are you talking about?' he said with a nonchalant attitude.
'Hah, fine. Keep hiding it,' Larkin said, heading to leave the guild.
I need to leave before he notices me…I walked directly toward a shop to hide in.
---
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Later, we each got a pack filled with enough food for six days and prepared for the journey.We decided to meet at the city's gate.
Vino and Evin arrived first, then I came, and finally Van and Larkin.
And so, our first mission as the DiamondHearts began.
As we walked, Van was quiet as always. Vino and Evin chatted, while Larkin sharpened his knives.
So… Van is the guy with the birthstone, huh? I need to be careful…
After about four hours, we stopped next to a tree and sat beneath its shadow. We rested for a few minutes, then ate a meal. We shared food, talked a while, and continued walking.
--
-
After just two days, we finally saw Reona Forest in the distance. It hadn't taken as long as we expected — probably because we hadn't taken many breaks, and we were walking somewhat fast.During these days, we learned more about each other and shared many funny moments.
'So… should we come up with a tactic to defeat the Jumping Spider?' Evin asked.
'Yeah! I have a tactic — I'll slice it with my sword!' Vino shouted.
Larkin laughed, mocking.'You're really just muscles with no brain, aren't you, Vino? Haha…'
'What did you say?!'
'Chill, guys! I meant we need a way to defeat the spider without anyone getting injured, that's all.'
Jumping Spider… I wonder what it looks like… But anyway, I need to be the one who kills it. I want to see how much it will level me up. My current level is 7… normally in games, once you reach level 10, you get something special. I might even get a new skill… That reminds me, I still haven't used the skill Violet Eye I got…
'Hshhhh… we're finally here,' Evin whispered.
Location: Reona Forest
We immediately went quiet as soon as we entered the forest. A strange, awful smell hit our noses — it felt like it reached our brains.
We covered our mouths and continued deeper into the forest. The trees were huge — 15 to 20 meters tall — and there wasn't a sound of birds or any animals.All the animals must be afraid of the Jumping Spider…
Larkin waved to us and pointed in a direction. As we got closer, the smell of blood grew stronger. A huge blood circle was on the ground.I think Larkin can smell blood from afar… he wasn't a silencer for nothing.
'Hey guys…' Evin whispered.'This must be the blood of the animals the spider killed. If it's here, the spider shouldn't be far.'
Then a drop of blood fell on Vino's shoulder.
We all looked up.
And what we saw was not what we expected.
A huge, hairy spider with short legs and enormous, round eyes.
Before we could react, the spider jumped at us.
WATER EXPLOSION! Van shouted, holding his hand toward the spider.A massive ball of water appeared from nowhere.BOWSHHH!It burst, pushing the spider back, while it jumped and a wave of water shoved us all back.
We were soaked.
And the spider was slowly standing again.
'Van… you can use magic?!'
Evin got up slowly.'Argh, you should have warned us!'
'I… I had to, or we would have bee-'
The spider moved fast toward us, making small jumps right then left.
Hey guys, this isn't the time to chat!" Larkin shouted, swinging his arms back and then launching two knives in a blur toward the spider, which was just a few meters away
The knives pierced its legs, but the spider didn't stop-