Chapter 20: First quest

A shadowy figure is walking in the hallway of a castle. The shadowy figure is thinking over how he should respond to the challenge letter. As he was walking, a floating woman clad in white robes crossed paths with him. She had long white hair and a veil on her head.

While they were crossing paths, the veiled woman stopped and said "You won't be able to beat him." The shadowy figure stopped walking and asked the veiled woman while not looking at her "You doubt my skill?" The veiled woman said "Of course not sire. It's just that I foresee that the battle won't end the way you imagine it to end."

The shadowy figure asks "Are you saying that I should ignore this challenge?" The veiled woman says "I foresee that it is your fate to fight that man. But what I urge you to not do sire is to play with him like he was just another challenger. Treat him like your worst adversary and grant him the honor of facing the full power of the demon king. And in the final moment of the battle, grant him the same honor you granted to your father. This is my advice to you."

The shadowy figure then says "You sure have high hopes for that man. I must admit, I'm getting a little jealous." The veiled woman smiles faintly and says "Of course my eyes are only for one certain person sire."

The shadowy figure then chuckles for a moment and says "You know just what to tell me." Then he says with a serious tone "I will give him the honor to face my very best as you suggest. I hope that this isn't a goodbye, but I'll be heading out now." The veiled woman says "Yes. Good luck to you sire. May the gods watch over the grand battle between you and the hero."

The two then continued to go where they were going. The shadowy man was headed towards a certain mountain and the veiled woman went to get some rest.

The memory ends there and Lucas wakes up. He wonders to himself "I sure am getting some nostalgic dreams." He looks around and sees that Roland is already up. The boy seems to be a little excited since this is the first time he would be going to hunt some monsters together with his teacher.

It was getting cold, so Lucas had to go and buy Roland some warmer clothes to wear before they departed.

When the clothes were bought, Lucas and Roland went to the adventurer's guild to pick a target. The other adventurers were looking at Roland and judging Lucas for bringing a child to the place.

Lucas picked a quest to hunt three wild boars and went to the register to take the quest. The receptionist asked "Will that child come with you?" Lucas answered "Yes. I think he is ready to come with me. I picked an easier one for him to start with to see how well he can handle it. I will make sure he won't get too hurt." The receptionist mutters "An easier one, huh."

Then the receptionist says "While we can't register the boy as an adventurer yet, we can give him an official position as a porter for the sake of appearances. If we won't do that, then I'm afraid that I will have to report you for child endangerment." Lucas says "So being a porter is not considered dangerous according to the books. Let's do that then."

The receptionist asks "What is his name, age and race?" Lucas says "His name is Roland, he is around six years old and he is a human." Other people watching this unfold were judging Lucas even more now that they knew the age of the child. The receptionist then left for a moment to get the tag for Roland ready and after a while she came back with it and gave it to Roland.

While Roland didn't say anything, Lucas could tell that the boy felt some sort of joy for receiving the porter tag. Then the receptionist asked "Is there anything else you need?" Lucas says "No. We'll be going now." And so the two left.

The journey to the forest took about thirty minutes if you would walk it, but Lucas made both of them run all the way there and made it in eight minutes. Lucas didn't go with full speed, since he didn't want to leave Roland behind. They ran about the top speed that Roland could muster, which was somewhat impressive considering he is a six year old child.

They made it to the forest and they took a short break at the edge. Lucas gave Roland some water to drink, but as Roland was drinking, Lucas said "Don't drink too much. If your stomach is full, it will affect your blood flow. Which in turn will make your actions a little bit rougher."

Roland drank only a little to follow his master's orders. He still considered Lucas his master even after he had been told many times that Lucas was no longer his master and he was instead his teacher or mentor.

After the break, the two went to the forest to look for some wild boars. Lucas kept an eye out while going through the forest for any monsters nearby, as he wasn't as confident in Roland's ability to go against them.

With Lucas's guidance, the two found two boars together. Lucas whispered to Roland "How will you kill it?" Roland whispered "With sword." Lucas whispered "Are you that confident in your speed? They can be quite fast for a human." Roland then whispered "Confident." Lucas then taped Roland on the back and whispered "Then go get them."

Roland then charged with all the speed he could muster to kill the boars. The boars noticed Roland coming from halfway and started to run. Roland chased them down and managed to kill one of the boars.

Lucas went and said to Roland "Congrats. It's your first kill. How do you feel?" Roland said "Conflicted." Lucas says "You have been learning words from the principal, haven't you. Why do you feel conflicted? Is it because you thought you could kill both of them?" Roland nodded and Lucas went to pat him on the head with a little roughness. Then Lucas said "Remember, it doesn't matter if you can kill your opponent now. All that matters is that you may find a way to defeat them another day. There is also the lesson on the fact that if you let prey escape, it can mean less food on the table. But if you still manage to bring home one, that is still more than nothing."

Roland looks a bit confused and Lucas decides to clarify "What I'm trying to say with these is that as long as you survive, there will be another day to fight. Also be proud of what you can do and not wallow in what you couldn't do." Lucas then pauses for a moment and then mutters "Well, if your aim is to save lives and you aren't able to save any any, then you're kind of fucked." Lucas then realizes that he said that out loud and says "But just do your best when needed and rest when you don't need to give it your all. Let's get moving and fill our quota."

Roland then puts the boar in his spatial storage, which is impressive considering how young he is. After he is done with that, the two continue their hunt.

After walking in the woods for a while, the two find a boar that is by itself. Lucas then taps Roland on the back and whispers "You're up." Roland approaches this more diligently and tries to get behind the boar's blindspot while not making any sounds. He manages to get quite close to it, but the boar then notices Roland and starts its attack at him. Roland dodges the attack and quickly kills it.

Lucas then was going to come from the bushes, until he noticed he was focusing too hard on Roland's actions that he forgot to keep a lookout for any dangerous things in the forest. And by some twisted fate, a demonized boar came charging at Roland. Lucas was going to go and assist Roland, but then he thought "Wouldn't this be a good challenge for him?" and let the boar attack Roland.

Roland could barely dodge the attack and as soon as he was about to recover, another attack came from the boar. Roland had no choice but to block it, and with that, he was sent flying towards a tree.

When he hit the tree, he could feel that he broke some of his bones, but he couldn't rest, since the boar was charging right at him with incredible speed. In pain, Roland managed to dodge and he got his first hit on the boar. It was tougher than the other boars, so Roland could now fully believe that this was no regular boar.

The demonized boar then quickly turned around and charged at Roland yet again. This time Roland wasn't going to dodge. He was attempting to counter the attack. Lucas saw Roland's determination and he couldn't help but smile while saying "That's it. Face death right at its door and attack it."

Roland put all he got on that counter and managed to pull a move that killed the demonized boar in one strike. During the process however, Roland broke his arm and was about to pass out.

Lucas then came and caught Roland before he fell. Lucas said to Roland "Good. Very good. You start to show signs of becoming Ronan. Now sleep." Roland passed out and Lucas started to heal him right then and there.

It took a couple of hours before Roland would wake up again. When Roland heard Lucas say "So you finally woke up" Roland couldn't help but utter "Sorry" to Lucas. Lucas says "Don't be. You did something that you normally couldn't do. I still don't know what makes you… well, it doesn't matter. All that matters is that you survived. Demonized beings are usually five times as powerful as their regular counterparts so you took quite a gamble there when you did a counter."

Roland then stood up and Lucas asked "You ready to leave already?" Roland nodded and put the two boars to his spatial storage. Lucas then also stood up and gave Roland a little bonk on the head. Then Lucas said "You impress me kid, but try to consider when you take the gamble. There was the option to flee back then. Now let's go back to the city.

The two then go back to the adventurers guild to finish up the quest. They decided to walk the journey back, as Lucas saw that Roland was about to run out of stamina.

When they got back, Roland gave the three boars to the adventurers guild. While at it, Lucas mentioned to the receptionist "One of these boars was demonized, but I absorbed it demonic energy so that it won't affect others. If you hear more about demonized beasts, then contact me and I'll put it under investigation." The receptionist says "I see. We have people for that, but thanks for the offer. We will consider it. Here, 3 silver."

Lucas took the silver and gave it all to Roland, who was puzzled for a moment. Lucas says "I have about 20 gold saved up, so that would be around 2000 silver. You were the one who fought those boars, so you have the full right to be paid as such. Again, I'm not your master anymore, which means that the phrase "What's yours is mine" doesn't apply."

Roland then looked at the silver in that pouch and he gave a small smile to Lucas as he said "Thank you… teacher."