Out of the forest
'Maybe I should ask Celestine for help? She did rule an entire nation after all.' I thought, but that was put on hold when I felt something touch my shoulder.
My instincts kicked in and I turned my head around and calmly looked at the person, which actually happened. What didn't happen when I turned around is that I let out a girly scream nor did I trip over the dead body and fall face-first on the ground. Nor did I feel like dying from embarrassment when getting back up.
"Sorry about that. I, mph, brought the, pfft, sticks that you asked for. Where do you want me to put them?" Celestine spoke, trying to smother her smile, but she didn't succeed in doing so.
"Ah, thank you, my dear. Give me a second, I'm almost done," I replied removing the screen from my view and looking at the ground. I used Trap Hole and felt my mana being drained as a hole appeared underneath the dead body.
[MP: 440 - 240MP = 200 MP]
Within one second, it disappeared headfirst into the dark hole as I used Earth Wall a few times to cover the hole back up, leaving a rough dirt surface. "You can dump the sticks around here. I don't need them anymore."
"Eh? Y-you, don't need them? W-what about the fire?" Celestine asked with a smile on her face, her brow twitching in agitation. She spent all that time gathering the sticks and he decided to not mention to her that he didn't need them anymore?
"Not anym—,"
*Snap, Snap* (Branches being crushed)
"I, uh, I mean yeah, I do. Thank you for helping me. You can dump them anywhere. L-let's get going." I said feeling a little nervous with how annoyed Celestine looked. She dropped them and started to walk in a random direction from our current location.
'I'll wait until she's not annoyed to ask her for help. It's not like the quest is on a time limit or something. I should remember to summon a few more from the list as backup.'
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(3 Hours Later)
"...So if you pick angels side then the devils would hate you if you succeed and if you fail the angels will be neutral?" Celestine asked wanting to be clear.
"Yup, that's the sum of it." I agreed.
"Hmm..." She pondered, "Does it have to be you that does it or can it be someone else? Also, can you check what would happen if you don't accept the quest but you still do it?" She asked before ducking under a low branch.
"I just got the quest so I didn't ask yet. I was about to when someone did not scare me." I said, giving her a look and she gave me an innocent smile in return, though her eyes gave away her mirth.
I went to the main menu and went to the quest to see if there was something I missed. On a closer look, I noticed a small question mark on the bottom of the page. I pressed it and a new page opened up with a keyboard attached.
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[What is your question about the quest?]
{What would happen if I accepted the quest but someone else does it or helps me?} I typed, stepping over a small puddle and waiting for the answer.
[If someone else does it then you automatically fail the quest. It depends, if it's someone in your "party" that has the qualifications then they can "help" raise the percentage, but you will have to be the one to do it.]
{What would happen if I didn't accept it and yet I did it anyway?}
[You would only get half of the XP and one gacha ticket. No other reward or penalty.]
{What about the loyalty of all the angels and hatred of the devils? Will I get that?}
[No, since you turned down the quest, you won't receive the titles nor the consequences.]
{One last thing, why is there a possibility of failure?}
[Magic rituals are complicated things and need to be perfect. There are unknown factors to consider.]
[Accept/Decline Quest?]
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I shrugged my shoulders and pressed Decline, while telling her, "Seems that I can't get someone else to do it for me. Although, I could decline the quest, but I'll only get half the XP and one ticket if I do it."
"Well, that's not bad. At least you get something out of it." Celestine said before she suddenly stopped walking. She squinted a little before she let out a gasp of delight and pointed to the left of her, "Look master, we're finally at the forest edge!"
"Finally, we made it out of there after so many twists and turns. Now, all we need to do is find civilization and find out where we are." I sighed in relief stepping on the grass.
I looked around, hoping to see adventurers or travelers but all I saw was a well-worn trail and the grassy plains. In the far distance, I think I could see a city? It's hard to tell, but I'm hopeful that it's Axel.
I turned my head in the opposite direction and saw a small carriage heading towards us. I felt Celestine grabbing my shirt, pulling me back behind the trees.
It went past us after a minute, lifting a small amount of dust as it drove by. We stared as it headed towards the city.
After a few minutes of hiding, we went back out. As we stared at the back of the carriage, I asked Celestine, "Why didn't we ask if we can ride with them?"
Celestine gave me a look before she said two words that made sense, "Demon Bunny," before she started walking calmly back in the forest. She learned her lesson the last time she let her guard down, which reminded her, "John, can you summon another one as a backup in case we get attacked again?"
I agreed and I asked while following her, "Why are we going back into the forest?"
"It's simple, less chance of someone finding our location if the summoning causes a light show. We wouldn't want people to know what you can do after all." Celestine spoke, remembering what the demon said before.
I nodded in agreement and looked at the list. Having more teammates would be helpful. So a warrior or a rogue is my best pick. I looked at the list and narrowed it down to the final 3.
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▪︎Yomi [Warrior] (Sekirei) R
▪︎Kanae Shinjou [Rogue] (Resort Boin) N
▪︎Kalawarner [Magical Warrior] (DxD) N
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I hesitated on who to pick, all three are good choices. Yomi for her wind attacks, Kanae for her rogue abilities, and Kalawarner for aerial attacks. Though who said I could only summon one, why not all three?