Rupegia Ch. 05: A Companion's Promise

-

The farms are surprisingly orderly, so there's always a sign telling their names, and a road leading to the manor, making it easy to find the house of our employers.

We find the sign for the Woodwick Ranch, then Alissa enters the trail towards the manor. It's made of packed dirt, so Alissa kicks up some dust.

The large golden plantations of something similar to wheat pass by our sides in a blur as Alissa dashes down the road. Moments like these remind me of road trips, making me feel nostalgic.

After a few minutes, we reach the manor. The plantation opens up, and I see a large blue and purple three-story house. It's timber-framed with purple beams and blue stone, which is a rather odd choice of color. The stones and the logs aren't painted, so perhaps they're found in the valley north of here.

A large grass garden surrounds the house, and I see a not-apple tree with a swing and a clothesline at the front; far behind the house, there's an enclosure where the livestock grazes; like a golden wall, the plantations surround all sides of this open field.

We make our way towards the porch, where a pale old man in simple clothes is dozing off.

He hears Alissa's footsteps, and opens his eyes, then jumps out of his cushioned chair from the odd sight of a large fox being ridden by a young boy quickly approaching.

"Oooh! Oh…? OH!" The man lets out multiple sounds as his brain processes what his eyes see. "YOU BE THE HIRED HUNTERS!?" He yells excitedly.

Why yell? We are coming, so just wait for us to get near.

Alissa slows down near the porch, then I dismount.

I clear my throat and serenely greet him, "Yes, we're the Helios fellowship."

The guild has a variety of ways of contacting people when someone accepts a request. Like magic stones, spirit messaging, telepathy, summons, and many others. Depends on the price paid.

Our employers chose a homing carrier-pigeon, so they should've gotten word of us an hour or two after we accepted their request. We could've reached this place faster than the pigeon if we came directly without searching the forest, though.

Alissa transforms back and I return her weapons.

The old man grins and laughs excitedly, "Ohohoho. How nice, a wereanimal. Impressive, too…" -His excitement suddenly fades and he clears his throat awkwardly- "Erm, anyway, you're here to spend the night, right?"

I nod and politely answer, "Yes. We were roaming the Sea of Trees, but we didn't find the Oodogloo."

He clicks his tongue. "That would be some damn luck if you found it like that, but did you find anything interesting, instead?"

"Two Young Ogres and a bunch of goblins. There might be a goblins' nest nearby because we found a squad of four that were well-armed and intelligent."

He claps his hands and scowls. "AH! The little shits made another nest! You're going to report this to the guild right?"

I twitch and almost recoil from his overly-energetic demeanor. "Yeah, but only tomorrow."

He waves his arm dismissively. "Eh, that's fine. We can find a passing traveler to send word or something." Then he goes inside the house, and a scream suddenly booms through the entire house, "OI, BELTA! THE WHACKERS ARE HERE!"

"I HEAR YE!" A female voice screams back.

I knit my eyebrows and whisper to Alissa, "Whackers?"

She obediently instructs me with her teaching tone, "Slang. Farmers always have to keep hiring hunters to kill pests that come back all the time, so they started calling it 'whacking' monsters instead of 'exterminating' them." She shrugs.

A chubby, round-faced, and well-tanned woman appears. Then we see a girl which is a mini version of the woman and a pale-faced boy coyly hiding behind the stairs.

The woman smiles brightly and greets, "Ah, welcome. You must be the Helios duo, am I right?"

"Yes, that's us." I nod respectfully.

She motions for us to come in and returns the nod. "Enter, please. I'll make you some tea and we can wait until my husband comes back. He's at the nearby farms sending word you came."

The Oodogloo might attack a random farm, so the man must be warning the other farms to come here if the monster appears tonight. They'll likely stand guard all night, waiting for it.

Belta lays out for us a simple weak tea with a little bit of sugar and some simple nice cookies. Alissa gracefully eats the snacks, showing more class than I do, and making me feel like a smelly adventurer. The tea and cookies are pretty good, though, so they're worth the awkwardness.

As we tell the woman of our small survey of the forest, a small, wide, and pale man suddenly comes in. He seems to be a man of excess. Excess black hair on his head, excess hair on his chin, excess fat in his belly, and excess muscles in his arms. I see a shortsword hanging on his waist, which should be enough to keep the usual naked goblin away, but not much else.

He doesn't want to make small talk, so we immediately discuss the simple plan for the night. We'll stand guard near the livestock and sleep in turns. The other farms have a bell alarm system, so when the monster is sighted, they'll sound the alarm. The monster will run from the alarm, but since we have a tracker, we can follow its trail.

Then we continue our tale of the expedition until dusk comes. The woman lends her bathtub to us, and we're very thankful for that since bucket baths are quite awful, then she invites us for dinner, and we fill our bellies with a simple but tasty meal. After that, we leave the house to stand guard.

-

I look up into the night sky and get stunned at the sight. I see a giant moon with a storm of colors raging all over its surface. Each blotch of color is in constant movement, changing every few seconds to another random color. They create waves and crash against each other, causing ripples upon ripples, like a lake's surface under the rain.

Then I notice seven smaller moons, each a different color of the rainbow, orbiting the bigger moon at a visible speed. They seem to make a full turn every minute, which is blindingly fast for a celestial body.

Are they even actual moons?

"Hm? What is it, Master?" Alissa curiously whispers.

Just what the fuck is this? Why a rainbow? Why is the moon… moons so different from the sun? I slept two days under the night sky and didn't even notice this? Oh, yeah, it was cloudy…

"I'm just wondering why is the sun so simple and the moons so colorful," I casually lie.

She laughs girlishly. "What kind of thoughts are you having? The sun is the same as the moons, but he gives us light instead of life."

I blink repeatedly in surprise and look at her. "Wait, what? Remember, I'm very ignorant about things."

Her ears go flat and her posture shrinks shyly. "Oh, I'm sorry, Master." -She quickly recomposes herself and assumes her teaching tone again- "Well, scholars have found that the sun looks the same as the moons. The God of the Sun gives us light to work during the day, but with that, we can't see him properly. The Goddess of the Moons gives us a blessing that replenishes our life, increasing our HP and MP recovery during the night. This is why we sleep when she's watching over us: it's so our recovery is even greater."

Well, at least it ain't just some boring old rock.

I look back at the moon and imagine what an acid trip would be to land there. "But why does the moon look like this storm of color, and why are these seven smaller moons orbiting it?"

"That is the Goddess' avatar in our realm. We don't know exactly why it looks like this, and it's said that we can't really understand something that is above our existence. I think I heard that the smaller moons and colors are said to represent 'aspects' of the god. What 'aspects' are, I don't know, so you should ask a priest." She shrugs.

I'll need some time to process this, so I motion for us to keep moving.

The livestock grazing area covers a large corner of the backyard, and we set up camp as far as we can from it so Alissa doesn't suffer from the smell. Her nose is quite sensitive.

I tell her that I'll switch [Blessing Magic] for [Summoning Magic], then I put ten points in it.

The spells of this magic school give me a ball of light that I can throw to summon things, so it kind of feels like I'm using pocket monsters. If I put a little more "effort" in summoning when I press the "cast" button inside my mind, I can instantly call a summon in a small radius around me.

I press the [Summon Dog] spell in my mind, then force a German Shepherd to appear beside me, and Alissa coos in wonder and claps.

With that, half of my MP is consumed and my max MP is reduced by one fourth. This is quite an improvement in comparison to the bird I summoned for the first time.

I keep the dog's hearing sense, and tell it to patrol the farms in search of the Oodogloo's scent, which is ammonia. If it finds the monster, then it should bark for a while to warn me and the farms, and also chase after it if it runs away.

I take the first watch and put down an hourglass. It'll mark one hour, and once I turn it three times, I'll switch with Alissa. It's kinda sad to see her sleep alone, but it'll be even sadder when it's my turn.

My watch goes without a problem, and I practice my [Mana Control] while staring at the moons, then I wake up Alissa and switch with her.

This tent is cold, not physically, but it makes my heart feel cold. I just want to sleep hugging my cute fox.

-

I wake up to the sound of angry barking. Through my dog's eyes, I can see it staring intensely at some weird, black humanoid outline frozen in fear. The dog's vision is monochrome and poor, but there's no mistaking it, that's the Oodogloo.

"Alissa! The dog!" I exclaim.

She's in front of the tent, maintaining my sword, and she immediately stores the oil in her [Item Box], then hands me our weapons and turns into a fox.

In a hurry, I sheath my sword, strap on my shield, store the tent and sleeping bag on my "Items," grab her equipment, and mount her.

"To the Jolly Ranch!" I command, and she darts forward.

Even though Alissa can see well in the moonlight, I can't, so I add one point to [Light Magic] and cast [Spirit Light]. A small, light-blue, glowing ball appears above my head and illuminates the whole field with eerie colored light.

This color really makes me feel like it's a "spirit" light.

A minute later, Alissa casts her own [Spirit Light], but hers is white, and it reduces the spooky air caused by mine.

The dog stops barking, and I start to hear the bells being rung from the farmhouses.

I cut the hearing sense, then I turn on the olfact, and I immediately sense the ammonia.

Suddenly, the shape turns away and runs into the plantation. The dog gives chase but keeps its distance.

I take my melee skills off and put them on [Blessing Magic], then I cast [Swift Foot] on Alissa, and she speeds up a lot. We fly through the dirt roads between the plantations as she runs with the wind.

She shakes so much that it becomes rather uncomfortable for me, but the trip only lasts a few minutes, and we reach our destination.

The bells all around the neighboring farms quickly reach full blast, creating a painfully loud cacophony.

Like a fellowship bond, I know at all times the direction and distance my summoned dog is, so I guide Alissa into the plantation.

"I got his scent!" She suddenly announces.

It's a bad idea to fight it in the middle of the plantation, so we slow down and wait until it enters another open field.

I switch my points back into combat mode. I also won't be able to use the spear this time, not unless I want the Oodogloo to use a tentacle to steal it from my hands and use it against me.

After a minute of painfully running through the middle of the plantation, we enter another backyard. We can see another manor to the side and a dark humanoid figure awkwardly running away with the dog chasing a few meters away.

I dismiss the summon and see it instantly turn into a cloud of smoke that completely disappears in a few seconds, then I cast [Lightning Bolt] at the Oodogloo and hit its back.

The figure falls, then Alissa slows down and keeps her distance.

Not yet.

The figure gets up and starts to run away. I cast [Lightning Bolt] again, now with the full power of level three [Mana Control]. The figure falls again, but it doesn't get up, and its shape starts to melt.

"Now!" I give the signal.

Alissa stops and I dismount, then put her equipment on the ground.

As she shifts back to humanoid, I unsheathe my sword and jog towards the enemy.

I hear a commotion near the manor, but I ignore it. They won't help us because they could get in the way, so they just leave it to the "pros." The farmhands can deal with the occasional naked goblin, but this monster is way above their level.

I cast [Lightning Bolt] again to provoke it, then the now unidentified black mass comes in our direction.

"OOOOO...duh… GLOOOOO!" It lets out a long and dull scream.

This sound is what gave it its name. This ridiculous slime who wishes to be human tries to imitate our vocal cords, but it can only let out this silly sound. It runs away whenever it sees an enemy, but can it be enraged if provoked repeatedly, then it loses its human form and attacks with the bones it has inside.

The slime reaches our Lights, and we see its transparent gooey mass sliding forward at a frightening speed. An amalgamation of human bones floats inside it, constantly moving in a wild storm, reflecting the slime's mood.

An arrow sinks into the slime with a watery "thunk" sound.

I cast [Lightning Bolt] again and it convulses wildly, stopping its advance for a second. Another two arrows enter it, and the slime starts losing liquid like a leaky water balloon.

A tentacle shoots out like a bullet, and I block it with my shield, then my shield resonates loudly. Its attacks are tough like a hammer strike.

I counter with a slash but it whiffs, the slime is just too fast.

I dodge a few smaller and slower tentacles, then a third and a fourth arrow creates more places for it to leak.

I see a thick tentacle is forming, telegraphing a massive attack. I grit my teeth and charge [Lightning Bolt].

The next moment, a huge tentacle flies towards me, and I release my Bolt. The shield resonates again and I stumble backward as my shoulder flares with pain.

I steady my feet, then I jump forward and chop without even looking.

My sword sinks into the huge, convulsing tentacle and splits it in two, then a large amount of liquid and a variety of human bones drop from the wound.

It uses a mass of bones like a sledgehammer, while the small, pointy ones are used as piercing weapons. Fortunately, the small tentacles aren't as powerful as the large one.

Grievously wounded, the slime tries to run. It's leaking water from everywhere, and Alissa continues free-firing, increasing the number of holes.

I cast a short [Lightning Bolt], stunning it again, and I take the opportunity to attack.

I slash open an even bigger wound than the one before, then its whole body wriggles in panic, and an uncountable number of little tentacles appear on the surface of the slime.

I dive backward and the tentacles absolutely fill the area where I just was.

I immediately get up and start retreating, keeping my distance from it.

The slime tries to chase, but it has lost too much water, and its surface has become wrinkly, greatly reducing its speed.

For the next half minute, it tries a desperate last effort to hurt me, but it has trouble moving due to the number of arrows poking out of its entire body.

The tentacles lose power and speed, then the slime finally stops moving.

Everything becomes completely silent as the bells stop ringing, then I see seven heads peeking out of the windows of the manor.

"Fuck yeah! It's dead!" I cheer and throw my arms up.

Alissa laughs girlishly, then I hear cheering from the manor.

-

We collect the bones and the remaining slime skin, then we give a short greeting to the family inside the manor, and the man of the house gives me a bottle of wine as thanks for dealing with this pesky monster. I don't drink, but Alissa whispers for me to accept it, so I try to do it graciously.

Then we leave and return to the manor of our contractor. Belta is ecstatic, and her husband gives me a painful pat on the back then laughs with a booming voice. Alissa squirms from seeing my pain but says nothing this time.

They let us stay the night in the guest room, which has two single beds, but we can't stand to sleep separately anymore, so we crowd on a single one. It's a little hot and cramped, but we manage to fit in.

"Honestly, I don't see any problem with our teamwork. We do well together," I comment.

"Aside from you being in the front," Alissa responds worriedly. "I can see you struggling to defend against the monsters' attacks. No shield-bearer should struggle so much."

I awkwardly massage my neck."Well… I'd already decided to train my body and skills more. With this reward, we can spend a good time training without worrying about hunting monsters. Also, I'll level up soon, and that should help a lot."

Alissa pouts and retorts. "Still, I don't think I'll ever be comfortable with you in the front line. Your talent is magic, so you shouldn't need to spend so much time training melee." She lazily traces her finger on my chest as she talks.

I smile warmly at her. "Your concern makes me happy, but my real advantage is versatility. We just have to hold on and be careful for a while longer," I reassure her and kiss her nose.

"A while longer…" She repeats, then she kisses my lips lightly.

After some light kissing, she breaks it and turns her face away.

"What is it?" I ask.

"Hm…" She pouts again, and I see her tail is swaying.

She stays silent for a few seconds, then she moves down, below the covers. I feel my pants going down, then something warm and wet wraps around my dick.

She's really good at this, so I don't last long again.

-

Intermission 1 - Alissa

-

Now I'm sure that Master is someone special. He's a kind and calm, but a completely different person in bed; he has the knowledge and curiosity of a child, but the wisdom of someone much older; he has mercy and compassion for monsters, but the resolve to keep fighting. Those aren't things you find among the common man, but those are things that must be protected.

Master is alone, that much I'm sure, but I'll do what I can to fill that hole. I'm already happy enough that he depends on me in battle and in bed, but I'll show him I can do much more. Even though I know he's letting out his lust on me, I'm content with being able to help with this. Once the lust subsides, his heart will be ready for a deeper bond with mine.

He tries to look collected and composed, but I know he's anxious about something, and he has no one to confide on, so I can only try my best to lower his burdens. He doesn't trust me enough to tell me his secrets, but I'll support him regardless until he opens up one day.

I thought that my endurance training would be wasted living such a lavish lifestyle, but now I know it's merely going to be used in a different way than what I'd imagined. His mind is fragile and precious, his will is so strong he's bound to hurt himself, and his code of honor will soon have him face the wicked, which will leave a wound on his soul. All I wish for is the ability to support him through whatever destiny the Gods have for him. I'll stay by his side, no matter what.