3 Chapter 2: The Cygnus
Shimizu Sachiko was the name of that novice girl, she lives in Olivet hills where the healer class resides. She was a simple girl with an innocent scarlet eyes, ivory skin, short black hair with brow-skimming strands over her forehead. She stayed in a room with her friend Vivienne Arcus who belongs to the hunter's clan in Holmegard Town. She looks lovely with her perfect body curve however, she has a boyish personality. She often tied her azure hair without combing it properly.
"Vivienne, come over and have some cygnus soup", Sachiko said, preparing the bowl of utensils for breakfast.
"Ugh, I hate that name, didn't I told you to call me Ven?"
"Oh! I forgot anyway please calm down and grab a plate"
Ven went to the tiny wooden table and carefully sat on the dining chair. She looked over the bowl of soup as if she was searching something on her meal.
"Sachi, I thought it's a cygnus soup but where's the meat?", Ven asked anxiously.
Sachi almost blurted out a laugh upon seeing her disappointed reaction.
"Well, cygnus soup originated from my place, it's a type of consumables that will take effect only for adventurers like us, it is made up of holy water from the pond where the swans settle", Sachi explained briefly.
"What?! This is just a water? how did this became a soup if it's just water?", Ven replied.
Sachi burst into tears while holding in her laugh for so long.
"Wow, you're really happy teasing me?", Ven said, sniffing the soup.
"Anyhow it smelled nice and I'm really hungry, I needed to see what this water taste like", she added, sipping the spoon.
As the soup enters her mouth, it left a refreshing taste in her tongue as if there was an invisible meat dancing within the corners of her throat. Her eyes grew larger out of perplexity after the unexplainable sensation of satisfaction towards the plain water that she reputed earlier to have an undesirable flavor. The tenderness and warmth of the soup flowed all over her muscles and provided an incredible boost both mentally and physically.
"Sachi, I suddenly feel that I'm all fired up, so this soup would actually provide us a buff?", Ven asked.
"That's what I'm trying to tell you earlier but you're only concerned with the meat you wanted to eat", Sachi replied, chuckling.
"The water I used for that broth is holy, those swans are the reincarnation of our elders, they say they're immortal and that they maintain the purity of the pond, the buff effect will lift up all our stats for a day", she added.
"Gosh, I almost forgot that you came from a holy clan, I'm so lucky to have you as my friend", Ven said, finishing the bowl.
After having their breakfast, they went to the training grounds, together with the other adventurers to meet their new instructor, Cadros Aiba.
Cadros Aiba is a monk and the headmaster of the fighter class. He looks stunning as he wore a desert vest and trousers that slightly showed his muscular abdomen. His outfit matches his copper eyes and black braided hair. His hands were equipped with leather gloves while he was standing on the ground with his bare feet.
The fighter class is divided into three jobs: the monk, the ninja and the assassin. The monks have no weapons except for the gloves they equip and accessories for additional defense and power. They solely depend on their arms and legs for a unique fighting style. The ninjas can use dual swords while assassins can use daggers and katars. Those jobs can also use the power of earth, fire and shadow respectively.
The training grounds was one hundred meters away from the palace. It was a huge plain field where different training apparatus were installed.
"The first thing you need to learn is not the offense nor defense but the survival mechanism of a typical adventurer which is to carry your comrades in times of danger", Cadros said.
The adventurers began to talk about each other's opinions regarding the training today. Noise eventually filled up the atmosphere.
"Silence! Lift this heavy sackbags in your back and try to think that they are your friends, run over the field as fast as you can as if a monster was heading in your way", he added.
The adventurers carried the sackbags and started to run around. There are some that had a hard time, often falling on the ground while some already got an aching shoulder.
"Focus your mind so it will feel lighter!", Cadros yelled.
After an hour, everyone was sweaty and tired except Sachi and Ven.
"Sachi, your soup is amazing, I feel like I can do this all day without wearing out myself", Ven said.
"I'm glad that you finally liked it!", Sachi replied happily.
Meanwhile, Bridget was suspicious about the two. She was glancing at them from afar in hope to discover their secret.
"Goodness! This sackbag is so heavy, how in the world that those two can still go on?!", she exclaimed.
The next morning, Sachi and Ven had trouble in waking up.
"Aww, my leg hurts!", Ven said, lifting herself out of her bed. She headed slowly to the dining and living area to search for her friend. "Sachi? Sachiko?", she called.
There was no response, so she decided to bust into Sachi's room. To her surprise, she found Sachi doze off on the floor while fixing her novice clothes. Ven ran towards her to aid.
"Sachi! Wake up, what happened?", Ven said, lifting her to her bed.
"Gosh, your soup definitely had an exhausting effect", Ven uttered, checking her pulse.
Ven held the right arm of Sachi to feel her condition. Suddenly, she saw her arms fading right in front of her very own eyes.
"What is this?! Am I imagining things? argghhh! my head hurts", Ven mumbled.
She immediately went out to get some medicine but when she returned, Sachi was nowhere to be found. She ran outside to search for her friend.
Meanwhile, in a strange dungeon from a mysterious place, there's an unusual person in a black hood who seemed to be conducting a bizarre ritual. A weird piece of paper was on the ground with a star shape and unfamiliar characters written thinly using a red ink. The eerie person struck a sharp knife in the paper and suddenly screamed for pain.
Back to the palace, Ven returned to the room and found Sachi brewing something in the kitchen.
"Goodness! Where did you go after fainting like that?", Ven asked.
"I just farmed some ingredients for buff consumables in preparation for our training tomorrow, I'm not yet a priestess and this is all I can do for now", Sachi replied.
Ven eyed her dubiously while remembering the mysterious scenario of her arms fading a while ago.
"Are you really okay?", Ven asked skeptically.
"I'm okay, I just need a little rest", Sachi replied.
"Are you a doppelganger?!", Ven exclaimed.
"What are you talking about? Maybe your eyes were so exhausted, come here—", Sachi replied, giving Ven a hug.
"I'm real, take this white berries, it will remove your exhaustion instantly and any negative effects", Sachi added.
In the meantime at the Holy Pavillon in Olivet Hills, the servants, priests and bishops gathered for the passing away of their elder archbishop Maia. She reincarnated into a beautiful swan and flew over the holy pond. They throw Gypsophila petals to bless the parting of their dearest elder.
Back to the palace, in the adventurers' quarters.
"Woah! Look! snow-like petals are falling from the sky", Ven gasped.
Sachi went outside and raise her right hand in the air to catch the flowers in her palm.
"These are Gypsophila flowers, that means someone reincarnated into a Swan", Sachi said.
