Ch 11-12

Numerous days have passed, and my level had risen to nearly 30.

After splitting with Naofumi, my party and I headed to Lafan village, where we booked a room at the inn, and spent every waking moment in the dungeons. Slash after slash, shot after shot, the number of creatures decreased drastically. The amount of level ups was absolutely insane. Did legendary heroes have faster experience gain than normal people?

I waved goodbye to the innkeeper of this town, and we began our brief journey back to Castle Town. I forgot to check the Adventurer's Guild for quests, while I suggested that same idea to Naofumi based on what I'd heard from people on the streets. Maybe it would give me a cool quest, like something out of RuneScape.

As night fell, we entered the capital exhausted and out of breath. We were jumped by bandits along the way, and Rojeel and Welst did a good job holding them off while I sniped their leader from afar. The rest of them scurried, and we collected what they'd dropped. We gave some of it to the unfortunate poor we saw along the road.

We booked an inn to spend the night, and we would to go the guild at the break of dawn.

As the sun rose, we started our journey towards the Guild. As we walked into the door, a lavish and comfortable interior met our eyes. There were bulletin boards on each of the walls, with quests littered about.

Since time was of the essence, I skipped all of that and walked directly to what appeared to be the boss.

"Good Morning," I said. "Would you have any strenuous quests that would be befitting of a legendary hero? One that is high risk and high reward?"

"Yes," He replied. "As a matter of fact, I had just received one just now. Would you like to take a look?"

I followed the man into a room filled with papers. He grabbed one of the larger sheets from the top.

"Here it is."

I picked up the sheet and began reading through it. It contained information about a corrupt kingdom in the north that had been in civil strife for many years and was undergoing a massive famine. My goal was to remove the corrupt king and save the country. It also paid handsomely too, a full 50 gold, or the equivalent of 5000 silver. Which was many times more than what I had on me.

"I'll accept it." I spoke. "How long do I have to complete it?"

"You will have at most one month to complete this particular quest. The nation is in turmoil, and only you can save it."

I accepted the quest, gathered my party, and walked out of the Guild hall. We returned to the inn to pick up the filolial incubator and prepare for the journey north.

Just as I put my hands on the incubator, I heard a crack coming from the egg. It seemed like it was hatching, and I could see the filolial's beak popping out.

Suddenly, the eggshell burst into small fragments as what appeared to be a purple Final Fantasy chocobo emerged and immediately jumped onto my head, chirping cute sounds as it made itself a new home in my hair.

"Aww, how cute!" Eda remarked.

"It must think that you're it's mother." Rojeel helpfully added.

"This is imprinting, huh?" I commented. "Now, this might slightly delay our plans."

"Let's go out and gain some experience points." Welst said. "That might level it up faster."

We then proceeded to spend three whole days killing monsters while the adorable filolial sat on top of my head. We had to spend a decent amount of money buying food for it, as it grew from the sized of a steamed bun to a fully fledged ostrich in such a small amount of time. All this time spent leveling up the filolial had led me to only gain one level, and the rest of my party to gain none.

After being thoroughly exhausted from three days' worth of work, I hit the hay and dozed off, finally happy that we had a faster mode of transportation.

But when I woke up and headed to the stable where I last left my filolial, what appeared absolutely shocked me.

What looked like a fat, round chicken stood before me. This was no longer an ostrich or chocobo, it was a totally different species. But, although it looked awfully ridiculous, it's purple feathers and tall stature made it look awfully majestic and menacing. I had to come up with a name for it.

Purple…

What other words meant purple…?

Fuchsia? No, Welst told me this was a boy.

Magenta? Wouldn't work.

What about Indigo? That was a boy's name.

Indigo would do.

I slowly approached the towering beast and stroked his neck gently. He clucked in joy and lightly stomped his feet. I picked up a slice of raw meat from the ground that I had left earlier and threw it to him. He instantly gobbled it up. From what I heard, filolials should be hungrier, but this one ate surprisingly little for his size. That would save us a lot of money.

The rest of my party also walked in, obviously shocked at the sudden transformation.

Welst, the most knowledgeable of the bunch, walked up to me and explained: "From what I have heard, that is what is called a filolial king. That usually only happens when a vassal hero or a legendary hero such as yourself has a filolial in their party, and it levels up sufficiently to undergo a final transformation."

Sweet! Now I had a super rare chocobo on my side! Now the journey north could truly commence, after that small detour. At least I got something out of the delay.

!

I walked out of the Melromarc castle, after absorbing some dragon hourglass sand into my bow. According to the help menu, the hourglass sand would allow me to set fast travel points anywhere in the world, and I could teleport there whenever I wanted. The bow would shoot out a portal when I wanted it to, and I could set up to three fast travel points before having to overwrite one of them.

Now, the only thing to do was to search for a carriage for Indigo. Apparently, filolials loved to draw carriages, and would even get upset if they didn't.

As I scoured the streets, I found exactly what I was looking for, a nice carriage parked in one of the small alleyways. It was ridiculously luxurious, with plush seating, steel rims, and even a nice lacquer table and a separate storing area. The harnesses were made from some sort of leather, and the canopy was made of an unfamiliar wood. It didn't look durable, but it would take too long to commission a custom one, and filolial carriages weren't exactly in high demand.

I knocked on the door of the large house that was next to the carriage.

An old lady, dressed in a flamboyant pink dress, opened the door.

"Hello, what do you need!"

"I am the bow hero, and I would like to purchase your filolial carriage parked outside. I will pay whatever price necessary, and time is of the essence."

"Oh, you're the noble hero of the bow." She spoke reverently. "Since you're here to save the world, you can have it for 50 silver. My last filolial just died of a disease, and I don't have a new one to draw it."

"Thank you, kind lady. We will never forget your generosity."

I handed 50 silver to the old lady and proceeded to strap Indigo to the carriage. We loaded the back of the carriage with the heavy items we were carrying, and I sat on the very front and held the reins.

"Indigo! Off we go!"

With a sudden jolt, the carriage almost toppled over as we swung around the alleyway and onto the main road. We accidentally ran over a few stray animals and knocked over a stand or two, but pretty soon we were out of the city and onto the cobblestone path leading towards Lerno village. Somewhere along the way, it was said that there were these monsters called Sky Blue Wings that provided massive experience gain, and I was looking to be around level 40 before the wave of calamity struck. We had plenty of camping gear and supplies packed, because we would be out in the wilderness for the next week or so.

As we approached the fields between Castle Town and Lerno, I saw a troubling sight. A gang of bandits encircled another wagon, with spears pointed at it from all angles.

"I'll tell you once again. Hand over all your money, or you'll get it."

Those words were enough for me to act.

With the twang of my bowstring, the bandit that was threatening the wagon fell dead. I jumped out of our carriage and dashed towards the enemy. While I was at it, I pulled back my bow and simultaneously fired a couple more times. Three more bandits lay dead.

The other bandits ran for the hills. I shot arrows in their general direction to scare them off.

"Thank you so much!" A young girl cried.

"No problem." I replied. "I am the bow hero, Satoshi Sera. Now that you are safe, I will be on my way."

Without further ado, I hopped back onto the carriage and motioned for Indigo to continue. A moment later, and we were back on the road.

As I looked back, I saw the girl and her family wave at us in gratitude. I felt happy that I had done a good deed.

Soon, night fell. We set up the tents and I began to boil a stew. I wasn't the best cook, but I was good enough. Usually, it was my mom that cooked everything anyways.

"Yum. This is delicious!"

"Thanks, Satoshi! Your cooking is the best!"

I didn't really think my stew would be that good, but I was happy they enjoyed it. I also threw a big chunk of meat at Indigo. He devoured it in an instant, and then sat down on the floor and began sleeping.

As I walked by to pat Indigo, like any good pet owner would do after a long day of travel, my hands sank into his feathers.

Wow, it was soft.

Soon, my entire arm, and half my torso was sunk into his fluff. It was thick and soft, not really what I expected of a giant chicken. It felt like the coziest mattress I had ever felt.

"Hey!" I yelled. "Welst, Rojeel, Eda. Come here! You've got to feel Indigo's feathers!"

Soon enough, four grown adults were all leaning on the giant bird, and we all promptly fell asleep. Rojeel should have been guarding the camp in case of bandits, but hopefully none would disturb us.

And so, a tiresome day ended.

Twang. Twang. Twang.

Three arrows left my bow in quick succession and pierced three of the monsters known as "Sky Blue Wings." Rojeel was desperately trying to take one down by himself, while Welst and Eda were helping him out. Even indigo, which I didn't know had any combat abilities, was jumping high into the air and drop kicking one out of the sky.

It had been another week or so of grinding, and we had already risen another 14 levels. Days of barely any sleep, with only one trip down to the village to grab some food, and we were ready for some action. Really, how hard could the waves be? We were clearly over-leveled, and usually early bosses in RPGs really weren't that hard. Only one more day of killing Sky Blue Wings, and we would be returning to the Capital. Might as well get some rest before the big fight.