5 Encounter

Inside a wild forest within the outskirts of Car-antor, I closed my eyes as I weaved my hands in front of me. I channeled my magical energy through my hands as a crystal made from pure magic forms in the air. I launched the crystal to a boar that's minding its own business, the crystal hits the side of the boar and penetrates its heart, the boar whimpered as it let out its final breath.

Huff! Huff!

I breathed heavily as exhaustion comes to me. I laid down on the grass as I took a breather to stabilize myself. I took off the leather bottle hanging on my waist and drank the water it carries. Ahh~

I managed to calm my breathing as the feeling of exhaustion slowly fades away. I stood up and went in front of the dead boar that I have recently slain. I knelt down beside it as I touch its body with my right hand. The ring that's fitted to my index finger glows as I channeled my magical energy into it. The ring brings out a blanket of glowing magical energy that envelops the dead boar. The boar shrinks in size and is brought inside the void storage of the ring.

*Sigh*

"This is the last boar for this week." I said to myself.

It's been three weeks since I started doing this type of errands. I've been killing wild boars just to earn my keep. The task was a little bit difficult at first, but once you get to know how the boars behave, the task of killing them is a lot easier. I also get about 20 silver for every 10 boars, which is fine for me. I've earned about 140 silver coins these past three weeks, but the current money I have is only 35 silver coins. I had to pay for my daily expenses and lodging, also the debt I owed to the innkeeper two weeks ago... I've also been visiting the library that the guild master has given me permission to enter. There, I learned the basics of magic, on how to channel your magical energy to perform a magic spell, how wearing protective clothing made from steel can hinder the release of magic, and that continuous magical exhaustion can very well lead to death. I've also read certain spellbooks located inside the underground library such as the frostbolt, fireball, and arcane blast which is a force of magical energy directed in a certain direction.

I've also discovered that the Arcane Bolt that I've been using all this time is not a bolt of magical energy, but a crystal of energy instead. They should've just named it Arcane Missile... Thinking all of these things get me really stressed, but at least chatting with Mirilia wards some of it off.

I sat beside the trunk of a nearby tree as I took my rest. I gazed at the sky as I admired its blue hue and its moving clouds. Moments later, I heard the sound of clashing metal as I was preoccupied with gazing at the sky.

I swiftly stood up and ran in the direction of where the sound came from. There, I arrived inside an open area surround by trees. In the middle of the open area, I saw two towering orcs as they face a young man. The young man facing the orcs wears a fancy green medieval overcoat trimmed with gold on top of a black gambeson, he also holds a longsword with both of his hands as the tip of the sword faces the orcs.

The man brandished his longsword as he lunges forward to the first orc, the orc steps forward and swings his cleaver down to the approaching man. The man executes a side-step as he gracefully evaded the orc's cleaver. The man crouches down as he swiftly does an upward slash to the sword arm of the orc, chopping it in half. Then, the man jumps up as he executed a sideways slash directed to the orc's neck, quickly ending its life.

The remaining orc approaches the back of the man and slowly raises its ax without giving the man time to think. When I saw this, I immediately channeled magical energy to my fingertips as I formed an icy crystal aiming at the orc's shoulders. The crystal launched in front of me as it swiftly flew to the orc. The icy crystal broke into pieces as it made contact with the orc's skin, but the freezing energy inside it immediately froze the orc's shoulder, hindering it from striking down the man in front of it. The man turns around and thrusts his sword to the monster's bare chest which penetrated its heart. The orc knelt down in defeat as its death is near, the man kicked the chest of the orc as he pulls out his sword.

The man looks in my direction and smiled at me, but his smile quickly disappeared as he shouted in my direction.

"Watch out! behind you!"

A sudden pain attacked my side as I flew off from the ground. I landed heavily on the grass and my head hit a random stone lying on the ground. I was immediately attacked by a severe headache as blood spills down from my forehead. I turned my head to the side as I see two silhouettes fighting each other, one is a green silhouette which seems to be the man who warned me, the other is a big grey silhouette which looks to be holding a large hammer as it swings it to the green silhouette. 'I hope he survives' I thought to myself as my vision slowly turned dark as I lost consciousness.

------

I finally sobered up after my vision blacked out. I opened my eyes as I was greeted by the bright blue sky. I tried sitting up, but I experienced intense pain from my sides and my forehead. I noticed that my head is covered with woolen bandages as I touched my forehead. I checked my surroundings and found out that I'm laying on a patch of grass beneath the shade of a tree. I also noticed a traveler's bag near one of the trees in the area. I suddenly heard a rustling sound in one of the nearby bushes, I immediately raise my guard as I anticipate the unknown.

A man walks out from the bushes as he's holding a pile of sticks.

"Oh! You're finally awake."

I looked at the man, and I realized that it is actually the man fighting earlier. It seems like he defeated the orc, though there seem to be a few scratches on his face and a bandage to his left leg, giving away that the orc did a number to him too. The guy walks near me on where there is a pile of rocks arranged in a circular manner. He lays down the sticks in the center of the rocks and walks over to me. He crouches down as he introduced himself.

"It seems like you've recovered a bit. My name is Gellard Arathi, an adventurer, may you grace me with your name, milady?"

I stared at him as I was enamored of his appearance. He's a man with black hair, fair skin, clear blue eyes, thick bushy brows, and a handsome face with a defined nose and a sharp jawline. I was stuck in my own world as my vision only focused on him, and him only. A hand suddenly appeared on my vision and I finally snapped out from my own thoughts.

"Hello? Are you okay?"

"Ah... Y-yes I'm fine."

I blushed from embarrassment as I faced down with thoughts of his handsome face. W-wait! Why am I blushing!?

"So... What's your name?"

I look up and stared at his face as he asked my name for the second time.

"M-my name is, Noel..." I stuttered as I stated my name.

"Oh, nice to meet you!" He smiled as he greeted me.

"L-Likewise…" I tried standing up but I suddenly stumbled over as I winced at the pain attacking my waist.

"Ah! You shouldn't move around too much, that wound on your head is still fresh. Also, I don't know if you broke a rib or not so you should be careful." He looked at me with worrying eyes as he spoke those words. Ah, is this a dream?

"You should take a rest as your wounds aren't healed yet. Don't worry, I already scouted the area, and seems like we are in a relatively safe place."

"Ah, T-that's good to hear. By the way, where are we?" I asked.

"We're still on the outskirts of the town, but I carried you and brought us closer to the town so that we'll be relatively safe from monsters and beasts. If I estimate the distance, I think we are about a quarter an hour's walk from the town."

I felt safer upon hearing that we were so close to the town of Car-antor. I suddenly felt drowsy as I lay down on the grass, my eyes ever slowly shutting themselves as I protested to keep them open. My eyes eventually got the better of me and I soon fell asleep.

---End---

*Some information about the mentioned stuff in this chapter*

Orc = An Orc is a monster that is akin to a goblin. Though they are a lot taller, bulkier, stronger, and more intelligent than their cousins. (Also, the Orcs in this story are 1.5x taller and bulkier than an average Human.)

Longsword = A longsword is a type of two-handed sword that usually has a hilt as long as 16-28cm and a double-edged blade that is around 85-110cm

Gambeson= A gambeson is a padded form of jacket stuffed with scrap cloth or horse-hair, they are usually constructed using cloth materials such as linen or wool.

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