Ch 6: Luckiest Unlucky Person

"Hey kid, go and get me ice cream. Red Berry flavor one's." The owner ordered the kid who helps him run his shop.

"Hey owner, don't send the kid. You want to test it so you should be the one who goes." Berg got anxious when the owner tried to send a kid.

"Is that all? Done. Do you think I will be scared? I am going to get you that ice cream and make you eat your words."The owner looked at him rolling his eyes, clearly dissatisfied. He thought Berg was scaring him for fun.

Berg shook his head at the owner's current behavior. But he can understand the owner's feelings.

Without paying attention to what he said, the owner moved on valiantly. He dragged his slightly overweight body through the crowd. Berg was very afraid and nervous when he was walking toward the ice cream stall.

When the owner crossed one-third of the distance between Berg and the ice cream stall, he came across a bird shop. The bird shop was there and to reach the ice cream stall, the owner had to pass by it. He greeted the owner of the bird shop. He seems to be in a very good mood. For him, this is a very ordinary stroll in the market.

But then out of nowhere, An adult Heqrow started attacking him. This raging, but extremely common creature is an average size flock bird. They have thick, feather-covered skin, which is usually either light purple, dark grey, or a combination of these colors equipped with a small rounded head with a strong conical beak, elongated and pointed, with a slightly curved end towards the bottom. They have long noses, as a result, their sense of smell is slightly stronger. It has not only a long tail but also strong wings, and longer legs.

Heqrow gathers in large communal roosts numbering between 200 and tens of thousands of individuals during nonbreeding months, particularly in the winter. These gatherings tend to happen near large food sources such as garbage dumps and markets.

They make sounds ranging from fairly low pitched to extremely high pitched and have an extremely limited range of sounds they make to indicate discoveries, and dangers and otherwise communicate with each other.

These creatures are quite intrusive and they'll fiercely defend their territory. They mate once every three months and they mate with a select few partners throughout life. Which, with their unfortunately short lifespans, is very convenient.

The owner was shocked by the sudden aggressive behavior of the bird. It's rumored that Heqrows attack and harass people who have been blessed by the god of bad luck and tragedy. However, the owner thinks that this is just bullshit made up by lazy people.

Somehow the owner got rid of the heqrow with a little help from other people. But now he looked like a beggar with holes and tears scattered all over his clothes.

'Fuck, don't tell me I've to walk looking like this?' the owner thought, angrily. But after venting his frustration internally, he turned around and kept going again.

He reached the ice cream stall and bought an ice cream while the seller gave him strange looks. The owner was embarrassed to make even eye contact yet he had never felt so joyful.

He raised the ice cream in his hand and showed Berg. Berg saw him from afar and turned serious.

After buying, the owner began to return, and when he came halfway, he heard people rush out from the street to his left. It looks like a stampede.

People were asking for aid while screaming, moaning, or groaning. Some of them looked injured even.

The owner was stunned momentarily. Then his walking turned stiff. He turned his head in disbelief and checked.

"Oh god! Shit! Why are they running like this?"

The owner got drowned in the sea of people within seconds. He was trying his best to get away from the crowd but he couldn't. He got pushed around and bump into people here and there. Like this, he suffered from physical pain. But among all this, he kept protecting the ice cream like a knight.

Nevertheless, this situation didn't last long as a stray arrow flew over from who knows where and hit the owner in the back of his right shoulder. The owner was fleeing towards a relatively safe area when the arrow hit him.

It was only then that the owner realized that he had underestimated Berg's unique circumstances. Berg also saw the owner getting injured by an arrow. He wanted to help him but his face showed that he was struggling with something internally.

Tears welled up and ran down the cheek of the owner as he yelled in pain and agony yet his right hand grasped the ice cream tightly in his palm not letting it go. Maybe the cold feeling in his palm helped him reduce the searing pain in his back but nobody can tell why the owner did not let go of the ice cream.

Berg felt very guilty watching the owner suffer like this. He has always blamed himself when bad things happen to others. This is also the reason why he likes keeping to himself. But he steeled his heart and didn't go to help the owner. Berg was really heartless in this case.

"Sorry owner, I can't help you when my help will only worsen it." Berg mumbled, lowering his head in shame. He didn't know what to do and his mind blanks outs.

"Berg! Berg! Berg! Damn it! Wake up."

Berg was trembling and his mind was blank when the owner shouted his name, and his mind returned to reality.

"Look! Look, Bastard! I have brought your favorite ice cream. HAHAHA!" the owner laughed but his face was very pale and his back remains bloodsoaked. He pushed the ice cream into Berg's palm and smiled.

"Eat it now or it will melt quickly."

Berg hesitated.

"Eat, I want to see you eat and prove you wrong." the owner emphasized in a weak voice.

Berg decided to eat. The ice cream was covered in a thin layer of rubber. He unwrapped the layer. Just as he was going to take a bite of the ice cream, something fell on the ice cream from above dumbfounding both of them.

They saw the thing on ice cream and both of them lifted up their heads slowly.

"HA-HA, HA HA, HAHA HAHAHA" the owner laughed self-deprecatingly.

"I admit defeat, Berg. You are truly the luckiest unlucky person." Saying this he fainted on the spot and Berg kept looking at the bird circling over his head.

.....

On the other hand, Berg's mentor, Ali, also came out to enjoy the festival. His eyes calmly surveyed the people. They were composed of different species, humans, Imps, and even some beast folk.

'Ah! I survived alone for almost forty years now. Time really passes without noticing. ' thought Ali as he remembered his youth.

Once upon a time he also was a young man full of vigor and passion. He was a prideful genius alchemist. He did many things that were impossible for his peers then.

For present Edea, chaos and anxiety are the main themes of the day. Basically, Everyone in every field of life is trying to find a way to climb up the hierarchy. This is the last method and choice of survival.

Power is necessary to control the chaos and keep anxiety in check. Ali had a small contribution in this aspect. Many people don't know what Ali has done to this continent. He gave people a choice that even the gods didn't.

He watched kids whooshing away carrying colorful balloons that their parents bought for them. He felt peaceful. At that moment, a kid let go of his balloon and started crying. Ali used his magic and captured the balloon that was flying out. He came with the balloons and the kid seeing that became happy immediately.

But as he was about to return the balloons, the balloons burst out loudly. Anyway, he also got drenched in a strange liquid that was inside the balloons. The liquid was a little dense, like mucus.

Somewhere in his head, alarm bells were ringing. He noticed this mucus was dangerous. It was a sticky mucus and it was going inside his skin rather fast. The kid also ran away when the balloon exploded.

Subconsciously, he looked behind and shifted his gaze up a bit by bit.

"Come out both of you, I can feel your ill intent from miles away," Ali said narrowing his eyes.

There was silence for a moment before which the sound of someone walking behind him was heard, turning around he was met with two nimble-footed women that had a tattoo resembling a talon. It is almost hidden just above the left side of her left eyebrow. One had blackish blonde hair while the other had deep grey hair, looking at both of them for a moment Ali spoke again,

"What do you want with this old man, ladies?"

"Why don't we escort you, grandpa?" asked the grey-haired woman, smiling. But the smile didn't hide her ill intentions at all.

A cold sneer formed on Ali's lips as his gaze turned colder.

"What if I refuse?"