100. story time part 2

"Gab?" asked Enota as she saw tears rolling down Gab's cheeks. "You don't have to continue with your explanation," she told him, but the latter merely used the handkerchief he got earlier from Enota.

"It's ok. These memories make me tired. But I think I've got the strength to continue with my storytelling, hehehe," Gab assured her before continuing.

"On that fateful day, some of the hunters joined the mercenaries and were preparing for the upcoming fight. My oldest brother and I wanted to join the fight…" before Gab could continue, he got cut off by Enota, who immediately asked: "Wait, did you really think you guys could be anywhere useful in such a fight against a dragon?!"

Gab chuckled painfully before admitting: "I admit we were naive, thinking that we could be useful. But let's be honest. Who doesn't want to join such a fight? How often can one participate in killing a dragon?"

"Nobody with a sane mind would agree on joining such a fight. Dragons get hunted by the greatest and strongest of mage squads or armies filled to the brink with intermediate mages. Well, if it were a Wyvern, it would make sense to use a group of mercenaries. But still, kids such as you two wouldn't have a place there. Anyway, continue with your narration, my dear narrator.~" commented the princess before becoming silent again.

Gab nodded before continuing: "Well, you are right. But at the time, we thought that they were making fun of our ages since we got rejected. Luz, my oldest brother, hated being turned down and took all of us siblings on a hunting trip. It was the first time that we hunted together, but unfortunally it was also our last one as of now."

"Well, hopefully, it wasn't your last hunting trip with your siblings. And did my favorite general catch something, and if yes, what?"

Gab chuckled as he watched Enota play with her shoulder-length hair.

"Well, we, or rather Luz, caught a rabbit. It's kind of ironic that his stubbornness saved our lives indirectly. I remember it clear as day. Sitting there and grilling a rabbit, a giant dragon roared loudly, burning all the mercenaries to ash before destroying the village. I remember the smell… the smell of burned flesh… as… as the agonizing screams… filled the air…"

With each sentence, it felt increasingly difficult for him to continue.

The bone-chilling screams of the villagers as the black dragon sat his village in flames echoed through his head.

Enota, who saw how Gab's breathing became more and more sporadic, whispered to him: "Gab, let's end it for today. You can tell me the story at a later time. Right now… you'll sooner or later break down from it."

Gab, who cried waterfalls by now, merely clutched his hand as tight as possible. The words, "It's so ... so embarrassing," left his lips as he wiped away his tears.

Enota chuckled at his words, trying to remain serious. "Gab… Trust me, it isn't embarrassing to cry. Some people may find it emasculating, but I'm not one of them. Well, if you cried frequently, I might think the same thing. But crying once in a while is ok. You're just being true to yourself," reassured Enota Gab, who was still wiping away his tears.

But now, an ugly smile filled his face. Gab felt a sense of shame for crying more than once on a single day. Especially in front of others.

"Let's…Let's move on," muttered Gab after his crying stopped. His eyes were still red, and it felt for him as if a bolder was partially lifted from his chest, even though he only told Enota half of the story.

'That guy literally left me hanging at the middle of the story. Normally I would strangle such a person, but well, he would sooner or later break completely down before finishing his story,' though Enota as she packed her stuff.

Gab, on the other hand, reached for his backpack, which fell into the blood pool during the fight.

"Well, there goes my ration," sighed Gab, as he saw his food drenched in the blue blood of goblins.

Hearing his words, the princess commented: "Well, it seems like I have to share some of my high-quality rations with you. I'll milk you for all the pennies you're worth outside of the dungeon."

Gab gulped at his words before saying: "Well, I'll definitely pay back my debts to you before we leave this godforsaken world."

But as he threw his rations towards his cats, something else fell out of his backpack before bouncing a few times on the ground.

"Well, what do we have here?" muttered Gab as he picked it up.

What he saw brought a smile to his face because it was something he had completely forgotten over the weeks that passed since he got it. It was a compass. More specifically, it was the compass he got from Luke. On the day Odebus took over Alex's body (the former group leader), he promised to fulfill the wishes of everyone.

Luke wished for a compass that would lead him towards his siblings. Odebus granted his wish and gave Luke a compass, enshrined in bones with a thin bone needle. Even though it looked very fragile, it was pretty durable and still had no scratch on it. The only thing one had to do was drop a droplet of blood onto the needle. After that, the bone needle on the compass would show the direction of where the nearest person related to the droplet of blood was.

Luke originally planned on giving it back to Odebus. But the latter rejected it and told him: "I the great Odebust don't need it and I won't take gifts back. You might as well give it to someone to whom it could be useful or throw it into one of the rivers if you don't want it anymore."

That's how it ended up in Gab's hands.

"I almost forgot about its existence, hehehehe," muttered Gab to himself, and a chuckle left his mouth.

"Is anything funny at your side?" asked Enota, looking over his shoulder.

"No, not really," answered Gab hastily, but Enota immediately snatched something from his backpack while commenting: "What do we have here?"

She held a mana crystall in her hands as she stared at it. It shone in the light of the moon slightly yellow-whitish.

"You can have that one. I've got a lot of them," sighed Gab.

But Enota didn't take her eyes off it and merely commented: "Sweet, but I don't need it. If you ever plan on selling it, take me with you since you would probably get swindled to selling it for a tenth of the price."

"Well, I think I'll rather sell it to you later on after leaving the dungeon for some favors," replied Gab, amused.

"Well, you should know that these mana crystals mean nothing for me since I can get a lot of them easily as long as I show my emblem. Also, a favor from me can be pretty pricy. Are you sure you can afford it, my dear general?~"