Chapter 10: questers
Chapter 10: questers
The bell rang announcing the end of the afternoon period and the school week altogether, Bai had stopped shooting his two students, while Yunan and Leol were tasked with gathering the balls strewn all across hall number 5, that or they get pelted till the bell rang, although they were wobbling around on the verge of collapse, there was no damage done to them, it's just that rubber balls tend to cause more pain than bruising, all show and no substance. once Yunan and Leol finished their task they wobbled their way into the baths and got to soak in for a few hours.
One of the mysteries of life is childhood, no matter how serious and adult like a 10 year old is, all you need to do is get them to play a game and they would return to being the silly creatures tasked with spreading joy in this earth, and they do have a peticularly infectious joy when they are happy, and today Bai had experienced that mystery first hand.
Some might say that laughter is contagious on itself, yet it is more appropriate to say that the one who is laughing is the one whom is contagious, it is their act that is infecting others. today Bai had a great time teaching, and had decided that as long as it works he will make games out of his lessons, that will stimulate his student to be more active and might accelerate his growth.
While Yunan and Leol were enjoying dinner and chatting about what to do in their first weekend, Bai has made his way to a group of 5 men and women that sat around a fire discussing a plan, this group was the party Bai had joined back in his adventuring days, the party was made of different races, the only humans were bai and leader.
As bai got closer he heard snippets of their conversation, it seems Leader is recruiting them to help teach his own student, going all out all the time is both a good and a bad habit the Leader has. as soon as Bai said "hello" the blaming began from the party members, how come he only asked Leader for help and left them out of it. in the middle of the cacophony of questions and shouts and curses came the playful tone of Leader "you seem to be in a good mood" although Bai might lie to anyone in the universe, gods and demons included, he never found it in him to lie to Leader." i had fun today" Bai's answer brought silence to the party, according to legend spread between the guild's personal, teaching was more arduous than slaying monsters.
"Here is the plan, there are 10 nests surrounding us and if we clean them up, there will be no more monster zones around this city, and we can all relax and be done with our teaching duty, so i sent application for the guild to let the whole party co-teach a student, since the boy is a perfect all rounder, the guild would surely accept, and we can start by monday, therefore this quest of monster cleaning must be finished by monday morning, we do it in one go, rest while going from nest to nest, let the clean up duty to the other groups, we rest one hour after each nest, and there is a bonus if we finish it before sunset on sunday, got it?"
Although no one flat out rejected they still complained each in their own capacity, the elf lady exclaimed her skin would suffer if she worked that hard, the orc berserker was complaining about not having enough time to hone his axes, the dwarf was apologising to his beard for all the dirt and blood that will stain it, and will stay there for two full days, and the lykan said something about not being able to prepare for the full moon feast, while Bai was lamenting his sleeping time.
The party was made of two women and four men, both females were magicians, one was Leader who was an all rounder, she was originally trained as a priestess and a healer, but after entering the dungeon of tartarus she became a supporting mage giving buffs and shooting the occasional damaging spell when she had extra mana to spare between healing and buffing, or shooting her crossbow when she is feeling adventurous. her name is mary, she prefers to be called Leader though. the other female is a beautiful battle mage elf, rightly named Fae, her magic is a most destructive area damage, she can cause a rain of hellfire or ice spears, and cover a whole area under her wrath, her mood is related to how her skin looks, one blemish and her destruction reach a whole new level.
As for the other men we know the human Bai, he basically runs around doing what needs to be done, healing smaller wounds, casting buffs, dispatching a monster that slipped the front line, rain in arrows or flanking the enemy. the dwarf is named Balin, he was a shield bearer, blocks the incoming enemies and pushes them away from his friends, his hammer acts as a very effective deterrent to those monsters aiming to kill his teammates, he doubles as a blacksmith and enchanter, keeping the gear of the party in a good shape.
The orcish berserker is named Dustan, he cares only about his double edged axes and chopping monsters with them, although he likes to run into the heart of a monster group and chop to his heart's content, the dwarf Balin his partner keeps him in check by threatening not to repair the axes, Dustan has a monstrous recovery, and works at his best when protecting someone.
Last but not least is the lykan or werewolf, a half-beast race, his name is Lucian, a ranger, in charge of archery and scouting, he takes care of the rear and is a master of both bows and daggers, his job mostly falls on finding the way and keep the rear safe during a battle, his sniping shots are most welcomed in any party.
Since no one had any objection Leader released a green flare into the sky, it was meant for the supporting troops, it meant that a party is starting a cleansing and sweepers are needed to take care of the stragglers and escaping monsters, with that the group stood up and lucian took the lead towards the nearest nest, leaving behind leads for the supporting troops on the way.
Soon the night grew alive and noisy. from the city one could see a spot in the jungle brightened by magical fire while the howling of beast drifted through the usually silent night painting a cruel and magnificent scene of bravery and suffering. when the earliest supporting troop made it to the first nest they found a snoring orc hugging his axes, a dwarf sleeping on his shield while holding two intimidating hammers, an elf humming a relaxing tone, a priestess carving a beast, a lyckan watching far into the night sitting on high tree branch and a human male making tea.
This party did not look like they just bulldozed a whole nest barely letting a single monster escape, the relaxed atmosphere was more intense than your average camping session it was the calm before the storm. About an hour had passed when the supporters were done cleaning, the orc and dwarf woke up and were tearing into the beast prepared by the priestess, the lyckan had also descended from the tree and was eating elegantly, while the elf was wolfing the meat as if it would disappear the next moment.
Then they all stood up at the same time, again the lykan took the lead and the others followed behind, when the supporters started following they heard the lykan shout at them " follow us after half an hour, rest and enjoy the leftover food and tea, you will need it" and with that the party went off into the night.