Chapter XLIII - Cure (part 2)

"All right, your orders are in. It will come to you shortly... Rize?"

Hod is at the front desk, and he was taking an order just now. His mother is nowhere to be seen, so it seems like I can talk to him privately.

"Hey, Hod. Can I interrupt you for a moment?"

"Umm, sure. But... what are you wearing?"

He looked at my adventurer's attire and asked, wondering why I'm wearing my adventuring clothes.

"Try and guess."

"T-Then, is your situation..."

He didn't complete his question, but I just shook my head. Immediately, he became confused.

"Huh? Then..."

I took out my magic checking tool from my space ring and handed it to him. He was shocked by the numbers, but he was more shocked when he sees its back to normal.

"Huh? Wait, I don't understand. It says you are normal, so what are you..."

"I can't use magic."

I lifted my hand and tried conjuring a fireball, but nothing happened. I changed my thoughts into healing magic, but still nothing.

Seeing nothing had happened, Hod was completely confused.

"So, what you are trying now..."

"Could actually be..."

"A suicide."

He had his judgemental look again, and I can tell he is going to talk me out of this. He definitely realized what I wanted to do, since he is a highly capable magician.

"Rize, I don't know what you are thinking, but you can't go out there alone."

He looked to the back and turned back to me.

"And my mother just had her day off. I can't just leave and close the restaurant."

"That's... why I came here, Hod. If you can't join in, then at least help me call the others, please."

Hod turned pondering for a while, but he eventually gave up. He lifted his left hand, where his space ring is put on. He then summoned the communication crystal to his palm.

"Do you have one of these?"

I remembered that I did buy one with Valey and Cony. I took out my crystal from my space ring and handed it to Hod. He touched the two together at the edges and inserted magic into both of them. Then, he returned the crystal back to me.

"What did you just do...?"

He lifted his crystal and inserted magic. The communication crystals are now active.

""Active connections, all day, all night. Try not to misuse it. Some of us had our own privacy. Okay?""

I can hear double of his voice. One coming from his mouth, another coming from my crystal.

"Does that mean..."

"Yes. You are connected to our crystals. Now, you can also talk with the others."

"What the hell are you guys doing?"

Suddenly, we can hear Cony's sound from both our crystals. Hod and I chuckled.

"Hi Cony."

"Rize? Is that you?"

"Yes. Hod just activated my communication crystal."

"Ohhh, I see. Then? How is it going with your cure?"

"I... have a slight problem, but I think I can fix it."

I looked at Hod, who doesn't seem to think the same. Cony seemed to understand, and she turned the conversation to Hod.

"Hmm. I see, I see. Hod, are you going for a mission today?"

"Maybe I'll skip today. I have my mom on a full day's rest, and I had to replace her. Maybe tomorrow."

"Oowwhhh..."

Hod looked at me and blinked one of his eyes, and I quickly realized what he meant.

"Cony, why don't you go on an adventure with Rize? She is going to take a mission now--"

"""What???"""

.

After waiting for nearly thirty minutes, the whole team finally arrived at the diner. 

Who would have thought that everyone else was actually listening in when me and Hod was talking to Cony. I thought everyone was busy or something.

They are all fully geared up. Barett had his heavy armour on, all clean and shiny. Valey had her longbow right next to her tendered to the table, along with the quiver on top of the table. Cony had her sword on her hip.

Come to think of it, her sword seemed normal. It's like my knight's adventurer sword.

Maybe we should get her a more powerful sword...?

"Okay, since this is her mission after a while, let's make this as good as we can!"

"Oi! No screaming!"

Hod shouted at Valey all the way from the front desk to our table. Valey quickly lowered her head in shame, while everyone else tried to cover their laughs.

"One more thing, guys."

They all looked at me, and I only now realized that I haven't told them about the other possibility.

"I am not certain that this will work. But right now, I can't use any magic."

I showed them how I couldn't use any magic. And after seeing it, they all turned confused, just like how Hod was earlier.

"Then... why are you..."

"My body feels okay. I can move normally just fine, and my magic energy was replenished until it was completely full. It's just... I just don't understand why I can't use magic."

The others, including Valey, also became more confused. However, they decided to give it a try anyways.

"Well, as long as you can move, I have no problem with it."

"Same."

"Same."

Valey made the other two agree, and I'm glad the team is such an understanding team. Even though I've only been a member for a short while, they've already considered me as a part of the team fully. I'm glad.

After bidding farewell with Hod, we are well on our way. We headed straight to the Office to pick a good mission for this jumpstarting.

When we entered, there didn't seem to be a lot of people in here. Just some adventurers eating and lining up on the receptionist desk. Seeing how eerie it was, I became widely confused.

"Huh...? Where did all the people go?"

"The new arena. Remember?"

Barett pointed outside, towards the northwest, where the arena is at. Immediately, I was reminded of the story they told me only a few days ago.

"Oh... Right."

We walked to the mission board and picked a proper mission. Since this is my first mission in a while and I can't use any magic, we picked a simple mission.

A Green ranked mission to hunt a group of mutant mantis.

I have read about these mantises before. They move solely on pure physical strength, since they don't have any magic. This means fighting them is similar to fighting an excellent close quarter combatant, which can be dangerous depending on their levels. This should prove quite of a test for me, who hadn't fought anything in two weeks.

However, it can also be the perfect jumpstart, because close quarter combat is my specialty. Fighting a capable opponent like the mutant mantises should be perfect.

We picked the paper and headed to the receptionist desk. And seeing me coming, the lady at the desk opened her eyes widely.

"Eh? Rize?"

Keila is on the desk, luckily. If Klane is around... I might have to do a lot of talking.

"Hey Keila. Is Klane... around?"

"No, unfortunately now is her break time."

"Oh... I see."

Thank god.

"And I said 'Unfortunate' isn't for you, but for her. Why are you here, Rize?"

Keila angrily asked while folding her arms, and I realized Klane must've told her what she should do if I were to appear. And as expected, Keila is doing exactly what Klane asked to do.

However, this isn't Keila's specialty. She doesn't nag like Klane does. I can get around her just fine.

"I'm feeling better, Keila. My magic energy is fine. I had many important people helping me out, and I was able to solve it."

"W-What!? How is that... I don't believe you. It's an incurable disease--"

"Then, take a look for yourself."

I said while taking out my magic checking tool, and I let Keila take a look. Aside from Klane and Jrake, she was one of the few people who knew about my abnormal magic growth, so it's fine if she knows.

But, even though she knows about it, she still hasn't seen my magic points in more than a month.

"W-What!?!?"

"My magic is completely fine now, Keila. However, I need to try it out. To see if my body is genuinely alright, and whether or not I can fight."

Keila can't really argue with me. After seeing what she saw, she had to admit that my condition isn't like before.

"Ugh... Klane will kill me if I let you, though."

"If it makes you feel more confident, I have my team with me."

I moved my body and presented my teammates to her. Valey waves her hand and Barett nodded at her, as if making sure that they will protect me. Cony is also there.

Keila just put her palm on her head, as if getting ready for Klane's outburst. She took a glance at the mission paper in front of her and realized the mission wasn't exactly that bad.

"Ugh... Fine! Go!"

She took the paper from the table and threw the mission scroll. Valey catched it quickly, and I laughed seeing Keila gave in to the pressure.

"Thanks, Keila! Wish me luck!"

"Wish me luck as well... If Klane finds out, she will kill me."

"If she kills you, then what will she do to me?"

"She will torture you, that's for sure."

Hearing that, I only laugh in amazement and worry. However, that's something I can deal with some time in the future.

We turned around and headed to the door. But right when my team and I are about to leave, another team walked in from the door.

That's when I saw him.

The bright red hair.

He and his team walked into the Office as we walked out. I didn't turn around to look at him, but my third eye can see that he did. 

"What is it, Jonus?"

His female teammate, a lady with swords on her hips, asked him. However, the red haired guy only shook his head.

"Nothing. Let's just get the rewards."

He turned around and continued walking to the receptionist. Meanwhile, my team and I already started walking outside.

"What is it, Rize?"

Next to me, Cony realized that I was quite silent. Everyone else was chatting, talking to each other and making jokes about other things. However, I was all silent, with a wide grin on my face and sweat rolling down my head.

When I walked past him, I caught a glimpse of his pressure and aura. Such a thing was detectable when you're up close, and I caught it just barely as I walked past him.

That guy... he's fucking strong.