The Gems Ch. 01

The Gems Ch. 1

Time: Year 1739 Month 7

Location: Shinora in the Derigan Kingdom

The Wooden League

They made him a Healer, they actually made him a Healer. To be honest, he was actually glad he was a Healer. It wasn't because he couldn't defend himself, he just didn't like to engage in violence. Now preferably, he didn't want to be involved with the combative nature of this world. A Merchant, Chef, or even a Scholar would probably have been better than being a Healer, but he had no complaints.

He registered his name as Emerald and the government official handed him a bag of a hundred coins. He could feel the stares of other people follow him out the building, only stopping when the door closed behind him. He felt a bit more at ease with their eyes off him; the decision wasn't his to make and he certainly wouldn't have made the same decision if it was.

But that was no longer important. A hundred coins was only good enough for a month's worth of lodging and food. He needed to find a way to make money as quickly as possible before he ran out of time and money. Starting a party, or joining with one, would be highly advantageous in doing so.

"Excuse me," Emerald called to a passing group. "If you don't have a Healer, may I join your group?"

The group stopped and stared at him with the same eyes that the ones in the government building had before smirking and drawing near. Emerald grew wary immediately and backed off slowly but the group surrounded him before he even realized it.

"Hey Dugreen, this guy wants to join the group," one of them yells as he grabbed Emerald by the shoulder.

"Oh really," Dugreen grins maliciously. "He wants to leech off of us some strong working men while we put our life on the line, eh?"

"No, I didn't say that!" Emerald said quickly.

"That's what it sounded like to me," Dugreen shrugged. "What did you hear, Jaerin?"

"Oh, I heard the guy say he didn't like to get his hands dirty," the guy named Jaerin replied. "Then again, it just might be my selective hearing. Did you hear anything different, Onerion?"

"Yeah, I heard he wanted to get all the ladies while we're in the infirmary," Onerion, the guy holding Emerald, nodded.

"If you guys didn't want me to join, that's all you had to say," Emerald snapped. "You don't have to be assholes about it."

They looked at him with an irritable look as they heard what he said. They simply looked at each other before advancing towards Emerald with ill intent. Emerald gulped as he weighed his options; none of them were good without some sort of interference.

At the last second, a guard walked past and Emerald, thinking quickly, asked the guard for directions to an infirmary. The guard found it pretty weird a Healer, of all people, didn't know where the infirmary was, but Emerald smoothly explained it was his first day and the guard understood instantly. He pointed the way and Emerald thanked him before scurrying away to safety.

The infirmary was a huge building near the center of the city of Shinora. Nervously, Emerald entered the building looking for patients to heal. He could see Warriors, Rangers, and Shifters hanging out with their wounded comrades, joking about what they wanted to do once they were healed. Unfortunately, Emerald didn't have the guts to talk to them, not after what happened earlier. He needed to talk with some people on his level, people who just started like he did.

It was difficult since most of the people on his level were simply using healing potions for their recovery. Not that he didn't understand, having potions to restore your health and abilities meant a party didn't need a Healer on their team, less people to protect, and more money to divide evenly. He sighed; he was given a position that was becoming useless every day.

Giving up, Emerald walked out the infirmary and across the busy street, being pushed aside and bumped into another person. His outfit was a hand-me-down, weapon dusty and rusted, hair dirty and long, face bloody and... feminine?

"I'm sorry," he said, hoping not to be reprimanded too harshly.

"It's not your fault," the Warrior said, the voice female. "They have no regard for anyone but themselves."

"Why are you sitting on a busy street, though?" Emerald asked curiously.

"The infirmary put me out," the Warrior sighed. "I paid for a Healer to tend my wounds but he never got around to me and I never got a refund. Since that was the end of my money, the infirmary said they'd allow me in if they didn't have anymore paying customers."

"Um... if you don't mind," Emerald whispered, looking around timidly, "would you like it I healed you?"

"You're a Healer?" the Warrior inquired.

"Yeah, I just started today," Emerald replied.

"Move, degenerates!" a man yelled, pushing Emerald out his way. "Damn kids always slacking off!"

The Warrior led Emerald to an alley where they could talk privately and out of everyone's way. When they were alone, the Warrior removed his outermost outfit, proving Emerald right that the Warrior was a female. She also had her thigh wrapped in a large bandage, needing to lean against the wall to support her weight.

"Let me take care of that," Emerald offered.

"I just said I don't have any money," the Warrior said, eyeing him suspiciously.

"That's fine," Emerald replied. "I'm doing it for the experience anyway."

"Don't get any weird ideas now, understand?" she glared.

Slowly, she pulled the bandage wrappings off, then pulled her pants down, gritting in pain all the way. Her wound was scabbing over, a long black streak against her leg. Emerald placed his hands on her leg with little pressure, summoning the mana in his body to move through his hands.

"Heal," he said with uncertainty.

Nothing happened immediately, but Emerald did feel some of his mana deplete. As he watched in anticipation, the Warrior suddenly grimaced as her leg twitched. To his joy, a part of the scab fell off, revealing new skin underneath.

"I actually did it!" Emerald gasped.

"Thanks, now if you don't mind, I'd like to get dressed," the Warrior said.

Agreeing, Emerald stood near the entry of the alley, watching people continue on with their lives and wondering if any of them had a relative or friend he could heal.

"Thanks for healing my leg," the Warrior remarked once she was fully dressed. "It almost feels like I've never been hurt."

"Did the rest of the scab come off?" he asked.

"No, but it shouldn't be long before it does," she answered. "Thanks again."

"I'm glad I could help," Emerald said.

"So what are you going to do now?" she asked.

"I was thinking about going to the farmlands," Emerald suggested. "I'm sure there's someone out there who need healing."

"Would you mind if I tagged along?" the Warrior asked. "We could start a group together."

"Are you sure?" Emerald questioned her. "I can't fight to save my life."

"And most people wouldn't want a female Warrior on their team," she answered. "Those that do obviously have perverse schemes up their sleeve."

"But you'd be doing all the fighting," Emerald told her.

"And you'd be doing all the healing," she said. "You said you needed the experience, right?"

"Yeah," Emerald agreed. "I sure do. By the way, my name is Emerald."

"I'm Diamond," she introduced herself.

The two of them walked back to the building for new class graduates but went to a different hall. In there, they signed up to become a group and learned the skill of teleportation, a fast traveling skill prohibited from use during conflict. The city of Shinora was already marked in their maps as a fast traveling destination, one of many cities in the Derigan Kingdom.

All the while, Emerald could feel the stares again, passing through the building allowed more and more people to whisper behind his back. Diamond most likely wasn't aware of it, not that he'd bring it to her attention, they just needed to leave before things took a turn for the worst.

"Alright, we're all set," Diamond said.

Emerald did his best to ignore the stares of other people. At the moment, he had accomplished his first goal and was grateful for it.

"So, where to first?" Diamond asked.

"I think we should head to the Post Office," Emerald advised. "They'll have quests for new graduates like us."

Diamond agreed and they set off together. It took them over an hour to locate the Post Office. As it was a governmental building, they were required to show their identification badges before they could proceed inside. There were multiple quest boards erected around the room, most of them filled to the rim with requests. Plenty of other new graduates were checking out the boards, finding a few that they believed they could handle. Once they chose the quests they wanted, the graduates went to the front desk to get them stamped for approval.

Seeing how the process worked, Diamond and Emerald went their separate ways to find some quests they felt they could do. For Diamond, it was pretty much easy to make a choice and she found hers in no time at all. Emerald, on the other hand, only found one quest after checking almost all the boards and not finding something he could do. But still, they convened and took the quests they chose and got them stamped for approval before excitedly leaving to make a name for themselves.

"So what did you get?" Diamond inquired.

"A mayor has requested a Healer to heal the majority of his town," Emerald replied. "It sounds like they ate meat that wasn't fully cooked during a festival and most of the population fell ill. You?"

"Honestly, all the good ones were taken," she sighed. "Instead, I got a bunch of quests to take out roaming Bandits around the area."

"Well, we best get to it then," Emerald snickered. "We wouldn't want to keep the Bandits waiting."

The duo chose to take the long way to the mayor's town, choosing to go through the plains near the forest to catch the eyes of possible Bandits roaming around. As a result, they realized a squad of three Bandits was following them and stood their ground against their foes.

"Ooh, check out that pretty lady, fellas," one of the Bandits grinned. "I want a wife like that."

"I agree, she's wasted on the guy behind her," another said.

"I'm not interested in low lives like you," Diamond glared, using her mana to summon her rusted sword.

They used their mana to arm themselves as well, one holding a weapon, one holding magical energy, and one becoming a hybrid. The Bandit Swordsman charged with malice, sword raised and bringing it down towards Diamond. She partied the blow and kneed him in the gut. The Bandit Shifter attacked from her flank, tackling her and they rolled around on the ground vying for the upper hand.

With his two comrades dealing with the girl, the Bandit Mage was focused on Emerald, toying with him to keep the Healer from aiding his partner. Emerald couldn't do anything but evade and believe in Diamond to emerge victorious in her fight.

Diamond has managed to wrestle her way free of the Bandit Shifter and cut deep into his back, separating his spine. Yet, as she had been distracted, the Bandit Swordsman moved right behind her to cut her sword hand clean off. She screamed in surprise and dropped to her knees, clutching the stump of her wrist to mitigate the pain only to make it worse. She needed Emerald. Where was he?

A second later, Emerald hit the dirt and rolled her way, stopping just short of her face.

"Emerald?" She clenched in agony, her hand not wanting to be forgotten.

"Hey, you okay?" he groaned. "I-I'm not."

"I got my hand cut off," she replied.

"I guess that means we lost," Emerald coughed. "Damn, I landed so hard, I can barely move."

"I can still move," she said.

"Really?" Emerald asked, eyes wide. "Can you crawl my way?"

"I'll try," Diamond grunted.

She looked back at the Bandits, who were busying themselves with going through the adventurers' bags, and scrambled closer to Emerald so that he could reach her.

"Heal," Emerald said with emphasis.

Before their very eyes, Diamond's hand grew back, brand new skin, muscles, and bone. Some of her other wounds were also repaired and almost nonexistent. As she turned to thank her Healer, she saw him passed out and breathing very shallow.

The Bandits Swordsman and Mage were still digging through their belongings, not paying attention to their adversary being healed and picking up her sword. Stalking closer, Diamond leapt the last feet and plunged the sword in the Bandit Mage's back, eliciting a horrified howl as he arched his back.

The Bandit Swordsman jumped away and unsheathed his weapons as Diamond wrenched her sword out of the dead Mage's back. Now on even ground, it was a war of attrition as the two fighters clashed with fury. The Bandit Swordsman was finding himself defending more so than normal as Diamond whisked her sword through the air, finding indefensible areas to cut and gash.

However, he wasn't going to let this newbie girl carve him like a sculpture and attempted to stab her through the chest. In response, Diamond sidestepped the lunge and grabbed his arm, cutting it off as he did her hand. In one fluid motion, she spun around and used the Bandit's sword to his head off.

And this is what I'll be doing for eternity? Diamond thought as she trembled before the fresh corpse. I need to get better before I end up like him. Emerald groaned as he came to and she rushed over to him.

"Did you... did you get them?" he asked.

"Yeah, both of them," she said. "I caught them by surprise."

"Uh, a-a-awesome," Emerald stammered. He turned on his side as he said, "I'm just going to rest here for a few minutes."

"Well, do you need anything?" Diamond asked, moving to sit in front of him. "If it's nothing too strenuous, I should be able to do it."

"N-nothing comes to mind currently," Emerald replied as he rolled to his other side. "Actually, it would be nice if we had a camp set up."

"It would be nice, but I think it'd attract more Bandits," Diamond added with caution. "With you defenseless and me setting up the camp, they'd get the jump on us without a problem." She moved around his body stealthily and sat near his head, confused as to why he wouldn't face her. Emerald, not being fully recovered, simply looked at her and irritation covered his face. "Perhaps it would be better if I was to protect you instead of being distracted with setting up a camp."

"Hmph, alright," Emerald grumbled. "Honestly, I think you'd distract more Bandits more than a camp."

"What's that supposed to mean?" she frowned.

"Your outfit," he sighed, "it's falling apart."

Diamond looked down at herself in alarm. Her shirt had been cut across her abdomen and showed her handful of a bosom, her pants were scraped all over and tearing at the seams, and her undergarments were were in full view to whoever looked, front and back.

"Shit!" Diamond exclaimed, covering her body with her hands. "Why didn't you say anything earlier?"

"You can't feel the wind blowing?" he snapped. "I'm not going to point out the obvious and get called a pervert for looking."

"Ugh, I'm going to have to get this repaired," she groaned. "I don't have the money for that."

"Fine," Emerald said as he stood up, "I'm feeling a bit better now so I'll set up camp, you look out for Bandits."

In an hour, he had their camp ready. Afterwards, Emerald healed Diamond of her wounds and had recovered from his mana depletion. After being healed, Diamond changed out of her tattered outfit and into something more presentable, then went looking for supper. She returned with a few hares to see Emerald working on her tattered outfit.

"Do you know how to sow?" she asked.

"A little," Emerald said. "It won't look no where as good as before, but it'll still keep you warm."

"It's better than nothing," Diamond shrugged. "I saw some more Bandits far out while I was hunting. I couldn't tell if they were heading in our direction though."

"If we cook those hares, they'll definitely head our way," Emerald replied. His stomach growled right after and he said, "However, they might find us dead if we don't."

"I'm way ahead of you," Diamond replied, making a fire.

She skinned and put two of the hares over the fire, spit roasting the small creatures and letting the juices drop into the fire. The fire sizzled with each drop, making Emerald salivate with impatience. Once they were done, they feasted on the hares greedily and put out the fire, hoping that none of the Bandits around were coming their way.

Unfortunately, they heard a twig snap. The two jumped to their feet as a Bandit Shifter raced up to them and lashed at Diamond. She stepped out of reach as Emerald threw his weight into the Bandit and they fell to the ground. Diamond shifted focus from Emerald to the other Bandits coming her way. They were both Mages, one fire and one earth, and they were both throwing projectiles at her.

Diamond leaped and rolled out of the way, hearing blasts from the fire impacts and smashing from the earth hitting the ground. She summoned her weapon and charged at the Mages, narrowly avoiding their hazardous projectiles. The Earth Mage raised his arms and a large wall grew out of the ground separating them from Diamond. Diamond stopped a few from the wall and quickly scrambled back as the wall began to fall her way.

She jumped the rest of the feet to safety as the wall hit the ground. However, she was hit with a fireball blowing her a good five extra feet back. The fire was extremely painful on her skin as it burnt her outfit and she wrenched the remains off, now only in her undergarments. That's the second one today, she thought angrily. I'm stripping these guys naked for their clothes.

Facing the Mages, Diamond drew closer to them, deflecting the earth projectiles and dodging the ones made of fire. They taunted her as they attacked from a safe distance, backing off if she got too close. Suddenly, they heard Emerald yelling in alarm as he was holding onto the Bandit Shifter, riding him and trying to steer him towards the other Bandits. The Mages attacked their own comrade, forcing Emerald to jump off and roll out the way as his ride bowled into his teammates.

As they stood up unbalanced, Diamond landed in the center of them and cut the Bandit Fire Mage down in one clean strike. The Shifter jumped on her back but she pulled him off and dealt a swift kick to his face. The Bandit Earth Mage shot more projectiles at her but she rolled to the side and ran up to cut him down as well. Like before, an earth wall rose up out the ground, but this time, Diamond stuck her sword in the wall and rode the wall up into the air. With the high ground, she jumped down and brought her down in the recently vacant position where the Earth Mage stood moments before.

He pulled a pair of clubs from the ground and swung them around, trying to push Diamond back. Instead, Diamond jumped in his personal space and drove her elbow into his gut. They fell down hard but Diamond managed to raise her sword and stuck it in the Bandit's chest. In her anger, she twisted the sword, drawing out a cry of pain from the Bandit before he went silent.

Diamond was about to take a quick rest, but she heard Emerald yell again and removed her sword from the dead body. Racing around the wall, she saw Bandit Shifter trying to buck the Healer off his back. Sneaking up on them, Diamond swiftly cut the Shifter's legs and, once Emerald rolled out the way, sliced the Bandit's head off. As she stood over the corpse, all of her energy began to evaporate as the burns began to torment her again.

"E-Emerald," she muttered as she stumbled his way.

"Hold up, now!" Emerald said as he scrambled to his feet. Her legs crumbled beneath her but Emerald caught her head before it hit the ground. She was barely breathing, burnt in various parts of her exposed skin, with bruises and scratches dotting her back. "I got you, I got you."