Chapter 14: I Go Adventuring With The Hero's Party...yay?

After meeting up with Don's friends and party, we headed to the village for what Don called "quests." Little did I know, these quests involved running errands and doing chores for villagers.

Surprisingly, these guys were not just your average helpers – they were genuinely good-hearted individuals, well-known for assisting people with tasks around the village.

Our latest adventure led us to help a local farmer in his expansive field, requiring a significant amount of manpower. The best part? I got to witness magic in action. The sight of spells unfolding before my eyes was consistently thrilling, creating a warm and fuzzy feeling inside me.

Despite the magical allure, I found myself in a bit of a dilemma. While I longed to practice magic, I had committed to refraining from using it until I reach a suitable age. The anticipation of the day when I could finally embrace my magical abilities added an exciting layer to my village adventures.

As we strolled along, we encountered a noticeably younger girl with short hair, her red, teary eyes reflecting evident distress. Exhaustion etched on her face, she clutched a ragdoll tightly to her chest, accompanied by subdued sniffles and heartfelt wails.

Witnessing the plight of the little girl, Don and his companions promptly hastened towards her, wearing expressions of genuine concern. Forming a protective circle around her, they initiated heartfelt efforts to console the visibly distressed child.

It became apparent from their interactions that Don and the others were familiar with the little girl. Intrigued, I discreetly followed behind, keenly observing the unfolding situation, noting the genuine care and empathy displayed by Don and his friends as they comforted the inconsolable girl.

"Don asked the wailing girl, "Hey, what's wrong? Is it Rob again?"

"N-no, it's not..." the little girl sniffled before responding.

"Then what is it?" Trise inquired, gently wiping away the girl's tears.

"I-it's Muffin! He's gone~" the little girl exclaimed, accompanied by a heartfelt wail.

"Muffin? Who, or what is that...?"

Before I could get an answer to my question, the girl continued to wail deeply, rubbing her already swollen eyes.

"Don stepped in to console her, saying, "Shh, shh, shh. It's okay... don't cry." As I observed Don's attempts to soothe the girl, I struggled to suppress the urge to burst into laughter. A snicker escaped my lips, drawing the attention of all six, including the little girl.

Leon looked exasperated, and Trise growled. Feeling awkward, I instinctively averted their gazes, realizing the inappropriateness of my reaction in that somber moment.

They successfully calmed the girl down and inquired about the situation. It turned out that Muffin, the mentioned culprit, was her beloved dog, missing since yesterday. This wasn't the first time Muffin had ventured out on his own, but typically, he'd return before dinner on the same day. However, this time was different, and a full day had passed without any sign of him, leaving the little girl understandably upset.

"Don was the first to speak up confidently, saying, "Ho, that's it? That's no reason to worry. But if you insist, we'll find your dog and bring him back. Leave it to us." Don reassured the girl, taking on the responsibility of searching for the missing dog. The others, without objection, gave firm nods of approval behind him.

"R-really?" The girl rubbed her eyes again and sniffled, her face showing a glimmer of hope at Don's words.

"Yeah, we'll find your dog in no time at all," Kyle added optimistically.

Surveying the party's faces, I noted their innocent smiles and unanimous nods, seemingly oblivious to the world's cares.

Sighing, I resigned myself to the unexpected turn of events. 

'I guess we're going dog hunting.'

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Our search for Muffin, the lost dog, commenced swiftly. Wandering through the village, we inquired about any recent sightings, relying on Don and the others' familiarity with the dog's appearance to aid our quest. Thankfully, their detailed descriptions enabled us to identify Muffin easily.

The encouraging news was that we confirmed several sightings of Muffin from villagers. The downside, however, was that all these sightings dated back to yesterday, and the adventurous dog was no longer present in any of those locations.

Based on the little girl's account and the villagers' stories, it seemed Muffin was quite the adventurous canine. Undeterred, we ventured to the spots where Muffin had been sighted, hoping to find some clues. Unfortunately, our efforts yielded no results, leaving us with the mystery of Muffin's current whereabouts unsolved.

As we delved deeper into our search, we managed to confirm Muffin's presence in some of the previously mentioned locations. His rather unceremonious clue, though a bit smelly, didn't escape our attention. Beyond these aromatic indicators, however, our investigative efforts yielded no other hints or leads on his current whereabouts.

Despite scouring the entire village, we found ourselves at a standstill, lacking any substantial clues. Kyle's frustration surfaced as he flatly expressed, "We've been searching and searching, but have found no clues. How are we even sure Muffin is still within the village?"

Trise swiftly rebuked Kyle's complaints with a growl, urging him to continue the search. Yet, there was a lingering consideration in Kyle's skepticism. It dawned on us that Muffin might have ventured beyond the village, and the possibility of him being elsewhere became a plausible scenario. The uncertainty added a layer of complexity to our quest, leaving us pondering our next move in the hunt for the elusive Muffin.

As we continued our fruitless search within the village, a realization sparked in my mind. "Wait, didn't we confirm a sighting of Muffin along the village walls from one of the villagers?" I silently pondered.

Leon echoed my unspoken thoughts, siding with Kyle's earlier skepticism. "No, Kyle might be right. Muffin might no longer be in the village, so how about we go check the walls. We might find something there," Leon suggested, aligning perfectly with my own contemplation.

"Okay then, let's check it out," I agreed, and as a group, we made our way to the village's wall.

Upon reaching the wall that separated most of the forest from the village, we encountered a sturdy structure made of stones and reinforced with mud. It was tall, but not towering, just tall enough to serve its purpose. Scaling the edges of the wall, we began our search, hoping to find any traces of Muffin, possibly in the form of paw prints.

"Hm? Sniff-sniff." A pungent odor wafted past my nose, nearly causing me to double over. The others also detected the unpleasant smell, and Trise was the first to vocalize her reaction. "Jeez! What is that smell?!" The unexpected scent added a new dimension to our quest, prompting us to investigate further along the village walls.

"Hey, guys. Come check this out!" Leon who was a little away from the group, called out to us and we immediately made our way to him.

 "You found something? What is it?"

Don let out a gasp at the sight.

 "wh-what is that? Wait, is that poo?" Kyle added with an arm hanging over his nose. 

"You called us...to check out dog crap? How relevant, Leon. How relevant." Kyle rolled his eye and said.

"Of course not, If only you would take a better look, you'll see what I mean." Leon quickly bites back and gestured towards the turd lying around the ground.

I leaned in closer and observed the brownish shapeless warped... something. And then I realized.

Oh! I see what Leon means. So that's why he called us here?

The shape of the poo was on the odd side, and the color says it has been here for a while. If you tilt your head a little to the side, the poo looked like a flamingo standing on one leg, tilt your head to the other side, and it looks like a hopping rabbit.

It would have been really cool, if only it wasn't dog crap.

"Come on, Kyle. Don't you get it? If you tilt your head a little to the side, it looks like some bird. And when you tilt your head to the other side, it looks like a rabbit!" Don spoke up first smacking Kyle in the back of his head.

"That's obviously why he called us here. But Leon, I don't mean to pry, but don't you think having an interest in oddly shaped poo is a bit weird?" He added.

"That's not it, you idiot!" Leon snapped, "Take a really good look at this, what_ do_ you_ notice?"

"Oh! Now I see it. You're right. It does look like a bird and a rabbit?" Kyle finally noticed and said.

"No, that still isn't it!" Leon snapped again, "Fine! I get the poo has a peculiar shape, but look, there are tracks leading out of it!"

"Hm?" Listening to his words, we all leaned in closer, just enough that we could still manage to bear the stench.

Leon was right. There were tracks leading from the oddly shaped poo. They were tracks of dog paw prints. A sigh of co.fort left my lips.

Good thing it wasn't the odd shape poo. That was really disturbing.

"Leon is right! There really are dog prints leading from the poo!" kyle said. "Oh! Yeah, that's true. But still, so?"

"Yeah, so?"

Damn! These guys are idiots.

 Leon let out a long groan and said, "So if we follow these prints to where they lead, we find Muffin or get an idea of his whereabouts." Leon explains to the blockheads.

"Oh! Right, that's true!" Kyle said.

"As expected of Leon. Don, Kyle. You two could learn a few from Leon." Trise said.

"S-shut-up!"x2 both Don and Kyle rebuked.

As the kids bickered, I caught a glance of Lia looking my way. She quickly averts my eyes and looks away.

...

We followed the paw tracks to where they ked but was however cut off by the wall. Underneath a certain area, therr was dug up dirt. 

I guess the dog really did leave the village.

"Okay! Let's get over to the other side and save Muffin!" Don declares. 

Ah! It's amazing how he decided that Muffin's indeel shit already.

"Even if you say that, how do we get to the other side?" Kyle voices out what we were all probably thinking.

"Couldn't we just boost each other over the wall?" the most obvious suggestion ipped right out of my mouth and the gazes of the five all fell on me again.

It was however different this time around.

It all said, 'oh right',

"Hmph-hmph-hmph. As expected of Reo. What a brilliant idea! you know, Trise. You could learn a thing or two from Reo." Don said mockingly with an equal sneer before getting a choke hold from Trise. 

 His complexion visibly turned a pale blue as the oxygen found it hard to circulate.

It took a while, but we talked Trise out of releasing Don and after receiving him from the brink of oxygen deprivation, we got ourselves over the wall. And into the forest.

***

I decided to change the release schedule a little and opted for 7 chapters a week in the end. This can also change eventually, depending on the circumstances and reactions towards this book.

As for the preliminary stone goals, the reactions have been slow. 

Remember to add to collections and vote. Also noticed we don't have a rating yet, so hopefully let's fix that.