Chapter 5: A Week's Journey Starts with a Wing Flap

(This chapter was uploaded on Tuesday 25/June/2024 8:15 PM, timezone GMT+3)

('1), ('2), ('3), etc. means that there is some explaining for the thing in the chapter's footnotes.

"..." small moment of silence.

"Talking"

[Different Language Dialogue] (What language it is: Accent if necessary)

"He-" Someone was interrupted.

'Inner Dialogue'

{Skills' names, chanting, spell keys and spells' names}

(PoV)

(Flashback, including the text)

Don't shy from commenting on typos and/or inconsistencies. That and/or suggesting a modification to certain things that didn't make sense to you.

I hope you enjoy reading this chapter.

(Line Break)

(Day 7, dawn)

(3rd person PoV) 

"Henryk, are you going to tell us the details or should we be content with your safe return?" Henryk and Fey were stopped by Hestia. Henryk told her that he might be gone for over a week, but he did not tell her why. 

"Thank you for assuming I'll return safely, my lady. As for the details, I'm going out to rescue someone who might be in a dire situation" Henryk said. He kept to himself who the person in need of rescue was. 

"Then promise me, Henryk. Both you and Fey will return safe. If that person's safety comes at the cost of yours, then give them up. Know that the moment my falna was engraved onto your back, the two of you became my family members, family members I want to have precious memories with" Hestia said with her back turned to Henryk. 'His sleep-talking is concerning me. But I won't bring it up. It sounded personal' It was during their few days together in their home that she happened to hear some of the things he said in his sleep. What she heard contained something concerning his parents. 

Henryk's eyes softened somewhat after hearing her words. She said that he has the thing he missed for a long time. 

'Sorry, my lady, but I want to say this for my sadistic pleasure' "Then, you have my word. I'll give up on lady Artemis's safety if it comes at the cost of ours" 'Not that I'll, anyway. She's coming back if she was alive by the time we reach her' Henryk was not staying after saying that. He broke into a sprint, with Fey on his shoulders. 

"Wait! Henryk? HENRYK!" Hestia was shrieking for him to return. She ran to the door and opened it wide. But after a few seconds, with her hands still on the double doors, she remembered his tone and realized that he was playing with her.

'I will have to talk to that child about his sudden increase in parameters later... No... Wait! How does he know of that man-hating demon, Artemis?!' She, wide-eyed and pigtails flailing in mild alarm, thought to the privacy of her mind. She was oblivious to her mouth spitting it out for Bell's widely open ears.

(Some time during Henryk's travel to the Elsos Ruins)

"Lady goddess, why did you call lady Artemis a 'man-hating demon'?" Bell brought up the subject. It felt heavy, as if he was carrying a mountain simply by asking it.

Hestia was frozen for a few seconds, thinking of how and when he heard her mutter that. She turned to him robotically with a pale face; Hestia knew of the troubles that would follow should Artemis know what Hestia called her.

"Bell, keep this a secret. Okay? Your goddess's life might be endangered if you revealed anything related to what I accidentally muttered, okay?" Hestia was panicking. She urged Bell to keep it a secret while waving her arms around desperately, her twintails following suit.

For those wondering, Bell bought Hestia a pair of hair ornaments that looked like flowers adorned by bells. She styled her hair in twintails afterwards, her pigtails to be forever forgotten by the world.

(Back to Present) 

In 'I am Ganesha', a group of very sleep-deprived and grumpy adventurers were strewn about the floor and the walls. One of them made a last-ditch effort to reach the kitchen and make some coffee but fell at the first hurdle, her heavy steps colliding with a carpet's edge. She fell to her face on the soft carpet. It lulled her to sleep. 

As for Henryk and Fey, they were with Ganesha on the city's eastern ramparts.

"As we said, the Elsos Ruins are in the eastern corner of the continent, close to the Far East. We will await your return with good results" Ganesha, for once, did not say his name. 

"I will try my best, lord Ganesha. Then, we'll be back, hopefully soon... Hm!" Henryk said. He grunted as he fastened the last strap of the saddle to Fey's back. 

"Hehehe!" Fey was giggling quietly. She was anticipating the initial flight since early morning. 

Henryk climbed onto Fey's back and made himself comfortable on the saddle. He observed for any signs of discomfort in Fey's behavior but found none. 

"Let's fly, Fey!" Henryk excitedly shouted. 

"Let's go, papa!" Fey followed through as this was her intention from the start. 

"I, Ganesha, will await news of your success!" This naive narrator takes back his words. Ganesha mentioned his name.

"Go all out during our trip and our way back" Henryk reminded Fey that they were on an urgent matter.

"Fey will!" Fey said as she did what Henryk told her to do.

As they gained altitude, Henryk pressed himself to Fey's back. He expected a sharp increase in speed, which he got. Had he not lowered his upper body, Henryk would have been thrown back and fallen to his death. 

They flew evening before Fey's stamina ran out. She began slowing down and losing altitude. After they landed, Henryk fed her a magic stone and gave her a breather. They continued like this until nightfall. 

As darkness approached, they landed by a nearby forest. It was at a time when the animals were going back to their burrows and nests. Easily spotting a few rabbits, Fey demonstrated her new development abilities and skills to hunt them one by one before they caught on. They totaled 6 rabbits. 

Henryk ate some of the trees' fruits and a bit of the rations he brought with him. He pocketed some extra fruits, in case he found no other food for the next day and the day after.

(Henryk's diary) 

Day 8: 

We continued flying almost nonstop. 

Day 9: 

Fey complained that she was mentally drained, or so her words could be interpreted. I gave in and allowed her to laze around and play for half the day. 

Day 10: 

I checked the map we had to track our progress. We made it a half of the journey. 

While checking the map, we were ambushed by 3 kobolds. 

I got the bright idea of taming one of them and telling him to remain alive until I come to find him later. He barked then walked off into the forest. He didn't receive his falna yet.

Day 11: 

We were held back as we needed to hunt for some food. After eating our fill and resting a bit to avoid indigestion, we continued on our flight. 

Day 12: 

The promise of a feast of rabbit meat seemed to be more than effective as a motivator. Fey crossed what remained of the way on this day alone. It was a third of the way, to be more accurate.

We set up a rudimentary camp at what I'd like to assume is safe distance from the ruins.

Day 13: 

We rested in the morning.

Late morning, we hunted some of the local wildlife for Fey while I gathered fruits and nuts from the trees.

We went on searching for some of the evening but returned empty-handed.

Day 14: 

We flew to check on the areas surrounding the ruins for the morning.

Starting from the afternoon, we started patrolling the forest and the areas around it.

We were lucky to have found a camp. Fey descended without warning me beforehand, resulting in an ungraceful landing.

(Line Break)

(3rd person PoV)

Henryk was trying to resist the strong wind generated by Fey's speed when Fey dove down without prior notice. 

"Pick your weapons!" Henryk heard a woman shout. 

"Lo... wer... your... wea... pons..." Henryk barely got out while reeling from the shock of the sudden landing. He slowly started leaning to the side and gracelessly fell to the ground. 

"Who are you?" The woman asked Henryk. She had her weapon, a spear, up and ready to stab him if he proved an enemy. 

'Fey, remain neutral' Henryk told Fey.

'Fey will protect papa!' Fey said with a blaze evident in her voice. She was vigilantly looking at the woman and her spear, ready to pounce at the woman.

"Henryk Williams. Are you part of lady Artemis's familia?" He asked her while ignoring his racing heart. It calmed down enough for him to act as if it was not overworking itself. 

The woman looked at him in a mix of amazement at his nonchalance and vigilance at his unannounced entrance. 

"We are. What do you want to reach with that?" She trained her spear at him more closely, eying Fey in the process. 'That monster might be a problem. What even is its species?' 

"Just tell her that a familia member of Hestia's has come to visit" Henryk said as picked himself off the ground while ignoring the spear aimed at him. "Fey, relax. You can sit if you want" At his words, Fey sat down. The dirt was not the most comforting thing to sit on for her but she accepted it for now. 

"Margaret" The woman introduced herself as she gestured for another to go and inform their goddess. 

Henryk was looking at her. She was a human with long silver hair and silver eyes. She looked young, around the age of 15. When he stood up, he noticed how short she was. She was only the height of Hestia. (AN: That, again, would be 2/3rds of an Ottar) 

"Woah!" She took a step back before stabilizing her stance. 

"I know. I'm too tall for my own good" Henryk acted his non-existent narcissism. 

"Ew! A fake narcissist!" One of the familia members was playing along, finding humor in his words. 

"I was caught quickly, huh? I actually wanted to fool someone with that" Henryk sulked as he sat down by Fey, leaning his back against one of her wings. He just sat there while Margaret lowered her spear, seeing as he did not display any threatening behavior. 

"Is he the one? The one who claimed to be a member of my friend's familia?" Artemis showed up. She found it imperative to confirm this information as soon as possible. If what he said was true, then that means Hestia finally descended to the lower realm. And if he was lying? She would shoot him with one of her arrows and leave him to deal with it. 

"I am Henryk Williams, lady Hestia's second child" He bowed with the etiquette of a noble. 

"So, you were telling the truth about Hestia, child... Come with me" Artemis invited Henryk to sit by the campfire at the center of the camp. 

"Can Fey join us?" Henryk asked. 

Artemis looked at Fey, admiring her beauty and calculating her potential had she been a normal eagle. 'Alas, this one is clearly a monster' 

"I think this one is too big for the area around the campfire. We have tents around it, as you can see" Artemis pointed out. 

"Simple" Henryk did not need to tell Fey anything. She shrunk down to a housecat's size and stood on one of his shoulders. 

Artemis, along with her familia members, assumed it was the result of a skill of his or an ability of the monster bird. Regardless, they did not pry and moved on to sit by the campfire. 

"What brought you here, child? Orario is far away, and the travel must have been long" Artemis took the lead in this conversation. Her familia members went on with their daily activities while keeping an eye on Henryk as they passed by. 

"I came to ask you something" Henryk opened with asking for her permission. He could ask away and act like nothing was wrong. Still, he wanted to be polite with his lady's friend, and, if the boy touched the arrow, a potential bride of the resident rabbit. 

"Ask away" She allowed him with a smile. She was analyzing his appearance. And what made her smile is her newfound respect for him. A member of Hestia's familia, and a person who is respectful of others, she liked that about him as a person. She noticed his bow and arrow, his sheathed knife and the empty sheath of the other knife. She also glimpsed some of the scars that were visible around the forearm.

Noticing her gaze, Henryk noticed his own situation and pulled his sleeves further to cover his scars.

To the side, a blue-haired half-elf was looking at their exchange, squealing in excitement like a little girl who found a treasure. 

"Are you progressing through an investigation to the Elsos Ruins?" Henryk said, putting the entire camp to a stop. Fey was sitting on his lap, getting all the grooming she asked for. He fed her some jerky to snack on. 

"Yes, we are. I expected you to have known that to find us here. Why did you ask?" Artemis called it before he said how he found them. 

"That's the problem. The Elsos Ruins seal an ancient monster that actively targets deities and could absorb and make use of their arcanum..." Henryk's face became more serious, more strained. "... via eating the deity directly. Within a certain range, the monster will use an appendage of its, a long tentacle-like appendage, to grab you and drag you inside, where you'll be eaten" Henryk's words forced a grim air around the camp. Fey, however, blissfully ignored it as she continued to snack on her jerky. "And to make matters worse, it needs an adventurer that's at least level 6 to have a chance at the thing" 

"That is... really bad. Words cannot describe how bad this is. With that knowledge, we now know what we were supposed to investigate. We thank you for that knowledge" Artemis said as she stood up. "Gather your equipment and prepare to depart!" She announced to everyone in earshot. 

"That was easy..." Henryk was disappointed. He prepared many ways to try and convince them to abort the quest. But how were his efforts rewarded? Getting wasted. 

"Not so much when you consider our ability to tell lies from truth" Artemis commented. She gave him a polite bow. "I personally thank you for telling me so I can avoid my familia members' deaths. I do not want to see that happening"

"Please, raise your head. It makes me flustered with what you're known for" Henryk said hurriedly.

Artemis raised herself with a small smile on her face. "Is Hestia alright?" She asked in a soft manner. Her relationship with Hestia was apparent. Her friend was a close one.

"She's doing fine. The first child, Bell, is with her right now. A bright teen, new to his adventures" 'I hope he's alive after his time in the dungeon. I hope that he especially survives that minotaur encounter' Henryk dreaded Bell's situation. He was a capable child. But his interactions with Henryk may cause a butterfly effect stronger than what Bell could handle. 

"The way to Orario is a month away, right?" Artemis asked. She was looking west. As she did not descend in Orario, nor visited it once, she did not know the exact time it would take from here to there.

"If alone, and going on horseback, then yes. It took us around 3 days flying with Fey, that's if she didn't stop for anything but sleep and eating then resumed flight immediately" Henryk said. He enjoyed the site of Fey biting into her jerky. She was laid on her back, holding the jerky with her talons and waging a war against the jerky for every tiny bite of hers. 

'Cute' Artemis mentally noted, not knowing that Henryk had the same thought, something the half-elf noticed. 

"Now that the situation isn't as tense anymore, may I play a mind game with you?" Henryk asked Artemis. 

"What is it?" Artemis was curious. She wanted to know the source of Henryk's confidence when it comes to something affected by her ability to detect lies. 

"The sky isn't blue. It's transparent" Henryk smiled deviously while pointing at the sky. 

"..." Artemis's small smile froze. She looked at him for any signs of lies. She found none. She looked at the sky intently, as if her sharp stare could pierce the clouds if there were any. She saw blue. She rubbed her eyes. She looked at the sky again. She saw blue again. She looked back at Henryk and smiled at him and tilted her head slightly. "Explain?" Her voice conveyed her confusion. 

"The sky itself has no color. The blue color you see in the sky is the color of the air, after sunlight hits it. Isn't that simple?" Henryk over-simplified the explanation. 

"How is that simple?! Huh?!" A member of Artemis's familia screamed at him. 

"No, it is not simple" Artemis said. She was stunned there for a moment. For her eyes to see something and her ability to refute its truth, she was at a fork in the road. She even almost doubted her ability to tell lies for a moment. 

"Anyway, we'll return to our own camp" Henryk said as he put Fey back on her feet. He prepared the saddle that fell off her when she miniaturized. 

"Tell Hestia that we are coming to visit her soon" Artemis said. When Fey flapped her wings, some of Artemis's hair was moved to the side. She brushed it back behind her ear, which Henryk saw. 

'Goddesses are dangerous creatures. I should tighten the reigns over my heart when talking to them. Well, aside from our short lady' Henryk thought as he lowered himself to avoid the winds. 'Such a loss, man. I wanted to try holding onto the arrow for a moment. It would've been definitive proof against Norman's words. He always said that I'm innocent when I'm clearly not' 

"Lady Artemis, he was such a good candidate" The half-elf came and stood beside her goddess. 

"A candidate for what?" Artemis's question was a clear dismissal as she was walking away from the scene. 

"We just talked about how good falling in love is a few days ago!" The half-elf whined. 

"I don't know what you are talking about, Lante" Artemis entered her tent to pack her things. She then helped the rest of the familia, with Lante following her and trying to break that wall again.

(End of Chapter)

Name: Taurus 

Familia: Henryk's Familia 

Species: Minotaur 

Variant: Bloody Menace 

Level: 2 

STR: I0 --> H142

END: I0 --> I75

DEX: I0 --> I98

AGI: I0 

MAG: I0 

Glorious Gore I

Magic: 

None. 

Skills: 

Thysía Dýnami (Strength of Sacrifice)

Effusio (Absorption): (The guy was left unmonitored for a short time, around a week, and look where we are right now. The skill is already snowballing hard)

> Ligerfang:

- Steady Vision

- Intimidation Roar

- Flexibility

- Retractable Claws

> Minotaur (Yes, Taurus is not above cannibalism):

- Hardened Hide

- Intimidation Roar

- Dense Muscles

- Sharp Horns

- Sturdy Horns

> Bad Bat:

- Echolocation

- Bat Arm-Wings

- Conical Long Ears

- Sharp Fangs

- Disturbing Voice

> Crystal Mantis:

- Crystal Armor

- Sickle Arm-Blades

- Enhanced Reaction Speed

- Mantis Wings

> Wyvern:

- Fire Breath

- Draconic Arm-Wings

- Sharp Teeth

- Powerful Tail

- Scales

> Battle Boar:

- Charge

- Hardened Tusks

> Lizardman:

- Powerful Tail

- Long Tail

- Flexible Tail

- Scales

> Mad Beetle:

- Chitin Exoskeleton

- Beetle Wings

> Dark Fungus:

- Poisonous Spore Breath

> Gun Libellula:

- Dragonfly Wings

- Abdominal Projectiles

- Chitin Exoskeleton

(Line Break)

I honestly did not expect to finish editing this chapter until tomorrow. But here we are, with the chapter ready and out.

I did introduce Henryk to Artemis and her familia. They started as just acquaintances. They may or may not end up as friends.

As for Henryk wanting to hold the Arrow of Orion, that does not happen here since he did not even display the desire nor did he request it. It would have been suspicious if he mentioned it.

...

What? You want to know why what Norman said was so relevant? Well, Norman took every opportunity to comment on it. The excessive teasing using the same subject over and over bothered Henryk.

Have a nice time, ladies and gentlemen.