Nobody would thought that just a while ago, that room was so cheerful. Very contrast with what was happening now. The alchemists who were enjoying what they saw as a free circus, held their breath and conquered by dismay.
Alex who quickly grasped the situation, approached Horat who laid on the floor defenselessly. He crouched to check on further what was the current situation of the royal snob.
“Wait, the world will be a better place if this scumbag is out of this world...” thought Alex’s evil side. “All you have to do is nothing, and voila, one less trouble to think about,”
“No, you can’t do that,” protested Alex’s benevolent side. “Don't allow yourself stoop so low to let that slide.”
“Pfft, remember what he did to you in your previous life?!” roared the malevolent thought in Alex’s mind. “Don’t you want this asshole reap what he sowed?”
“But wait, in this life, Horat hasn’t done anything worthy of his death yet,” mumbled Alex to himself, finally gaining control back over his body and mind. “Sure, he is annoying but should the time comes, I would have more fun torturing him rather than having him kick the bucket in a pathetic way like this. He doesn’t deserve a peaceful end.”
Busy with his mind, Alex didn’t even realize Helene who was already beside him.
“Sir Hero, what should we do?” asked Helene with a trembling voice. It clearly showed from her face that she was anxious that this incident would impact the potion crafting in a negative light.
“Like what we always do, Hel! The right thing to do!” shouted Alex while rising up, scanning over the attendants in that room.
“Alright guys, open your ears wider and have a listen! This should be proven useful for your future endeavor as the pride of this land!”
Before the crowd could even respond, Alex continued his speech.
“So, I take it that you guys have been familiarizing yourselves with the potion making, and from the testimony from my cute Saintess, you guys were amazing!” continued Alex like some shady motivational speakers.
“Sir Hero, how about Sir Horat...” Helene tried to interrupt Alex’s campaign, only to be ignored by the orator.
“Now, let’s go on to the next step! What if things go wrong, for example, something like this?” asked Alex to the spectators while poking at Horat’s huge head. Luckily he was still unconscious, thus unable to retort back. “You there, the one with the funny hair!”
The appointed alchemist looked unprepared, stuttering to find any answer.
“Stay calm!” shouted that alchemist with the funny hair.
“Good one! You should practice what you preach, though!” replied Alex, inviting chuckles from the crowd. He returned back to Horat, giving him a quick examination.
“The next step is making sure the victim was still able to be saved. In this case, we’re going to check his vital signs, like pulse, heartbeat, breath, etc.”
“Afterwards, we try to wake him up, like this!” continued Alex while slapping Horat’s face numerous times. “Don’t forget to be gentle, alright?”
The crowds were like hypnotized. Nobody wished to cut in the explanation. They focused on our Hero’s charismatic yet interesting demonstration.
“Yo glasses dude, will you open up the windows on your side? Fresh air is very essential for recovery, you know? Funny hair, you do the same in another side!”
“And you, big-boobed girl, go fetch us some royal doctors or something, thank you! Hel, start showing these younglings how the best healer under the sky got the things done!”
Helene gasped to hear her name was mentioned. Same like the others, she was also helplessly absorbed in Alex’s alluring words.
“Right on!” responded Helene, channeling her pure energy to Horat. “But you may want to skip the best healer under the sky part, though. I’m still not that good enough yet.”
“Confidence, my lady! You want to focus on positive energy for our poor patient here, right?” convinced Alex, winking playfully to Helene. That gesture successfully robbed the Royal Saintess’ heart away, boosting her aura as a result. Horat’s head started to shrink bit by bit to normal.
“Sir, I’ve brought in the doctor!” the booby girl returned with a stern-looking old fellow.
“Awesome! Doc, can you take over from here? I believe the early treatments did wonders for him,” requested Alex, gesturing Helene to give space for the doctor to perform.
“Geez, this is the first time I’ve seen a cryptid creature like this,” said the doctor. “Say, where did you find it?”
“Uh doc, this is Sir Horat...” answered Helene quietly, not wanting to embarass the doctor.
“Aw shucks, you must pardon me for this poor eyesight,” giggled the doctor. “From my point of view, he’s just like a humanoid chestnut!”
Wow, somebody even worse than I am, thought Alex. He was certain that nobody could rival his performance before, making light of Horat’s life and treating it as a tool for demonstration, and plaything too. But there came this quack.
“Sir Doctor, would you mind acting like one?” interrupted Helene, voicing her concern.
“Whoops, silly me! You are correct, young lady!” said the doctor, quickly checking Horat’s pulse and opened his eyelids. “Lads, show me that youth and carry this chestnut into any bedroom available here! I shall proceed with my medical examination there.”
“Doc, do you think this chestnut will make it?” asked Alex, pretending to be concerned.
“Yup, judging from his look, he should be doing okay,” answered the mad doctor. Alex was about to rebuke it because he already knew the doctor’s poor eyesight, but he refrained to do so.
After Horat was laid on the bed, the doctor checked all the things needed to be examined and breathed a sigh of relief.
“Goodness gracious, I don’t know what caused this to happen, but one thing I know for sure, if not for that young lady’s first aid, he’s going to cross to the other side!” the quack doctor concluded his brief medical check.
“Doc, you said that he was okay, now you told us he was about to be a goner. Make up your mind, will you?” retorted Alex.
“Oh, did I then? It must be my age catching up to me, hyukhyukhyuk!”
***
The news about Horat’s incident spread far and wide. Alex and Helene was still there, idly standing by awaiting Horat’s recovery. Different from Helene, Alex didn’t do that out of benevolence. He just wanted to see the aftermath of the demon potions with his own eyes. If there’s any side effect, he was going to put it in his record.
Some of the alchemists were also there. After all, the incident took place in their own ground, so anything that took place there, they did have their fair share of responsibility. They were also feeling guilty for laughing at the chestnut human.
“Hey, why the long faces, fellas? Cheer up!” the doctor broke the gloomy atmosphere in the room. “You all will slow the recovery process with your negative aura, come on!”
Hmph, trust me, I would love it so much to dance around and celebrate the stupidity of this snob, thought Alex. But I would surely look like a petty asshole if I do that in the middle of this atmosphere, right?l
“That’s right, amigos! Some fine tunes can help brighten the mood, that’s why I’m here!”
Everybody present was surprised to hear that voice which came from the doorway. It was Salieri!
“Pipe it down, Sal! We’re visiting a sick person here!”
Apparently Salieri was not alone. Gremio was also there. In fact, the rest of the party arrived too. The news certainly have reached their ears.
“What’s with this ruckus? Behave yourselves!”
Everybody stood still to hear that voice. They recognized that majestic voice which belonged to King Romeus. Even the king himself came to find out what’s really happening.
“Urrggh...”
All of those loud noises finally woke Horat up. He rubbed his eyes and stretched his limbs, exactly like a person waking up from his slumber.
“Hey, the chestnut woke up!” yelled the doctor in joy. “Everybody was worried about you, you know?”
“Not everybody, because I sure don’t give a rat’s ass of what’s happening to him...” grunted Alex so faintly nobody heard him.
“Horat, are you okay? What happened?” asked the king while approaching the bedside. “Your father was extremely worried that he went unconscious. I visit you in his stead.”
Though feeling a little bit groggy, Horat’s devious mind grasped what was going on and being a person talented in scheming, he swiftly executed his plan.
“Your Majesty, that guy...” said Horat, acting as weakly as he could to muster up the king’s sympathy while pointing at Alex. “That guy is the one behind all of this!”
The king looked at Alex, paused a bit, and turned his gaze back to Horat. “What do you mean by that?”
“Thanks to his accursed stuff, unimaginable things started to happen to me!” yelled Horat. “His grotesque demon potions did a number to my body in a horrible way!”
Alex frowned, he didn’t remember doing anything to this bastard.
“Uh dude, you must be confused. You were already out cold when I arrived at the Alchemy Center,” argued Alex, trying to defend his innocence.
“Excuse my rudeness, sir, but weren’t you the one who experimented on your body yourself?” testified the funny hair alchemist. “I saw one of us trying to warn you about the unstability of the potion, but you decided to go on and here we are.”
“Yeah, we thought you were performing for us, so we just enjoyed the moment,”
Other alchemists one by one began to express their thought, strengthening Alex’s alibi. Finding the situation wasn’t favourable to him, Horat repressed his shame and continued barking.
“Peasants, nobody asked for your opinion! If not because of that fake hero’s blasphemous ingredients, I wouldn’t be harmed!”
“You got balls to strut around and poison the pure mind of Holy Saintess. Knowing that she was the person in charge of potion making, you smuggled your suspicious items to corrupt the potions!” Horat was still not satisfied blurting out his anger. “Oh, I know it. You want to sully the name of the Shrine by inserting your unholy knowledge of black arts, don’t you?”
Hearing their leader got accused senselessly like that, the party members joined the heated debate.
“Rasheed has enough of Horat’s blabbering. Horat is better asleep like before,” suggested Rasheed.
“Oh, I can help with that,” Pandora followed Rasheed’s statement. “By force, if I must.”
“Friendly reminder, mouthy guys are not popular with the ladies,” stated Stella, glaring at Horat from head to toe. “Well, that explains a lot about your condition.”
Being cornered like that didn’t even make Horat flinched. He howled even more instead.
“Rich words coming from sub-humans like you! Stop talking like we’re equal!”
Helene who felt the danger of things if allowed to escalate further, decided to mediate the situation.
“Everybody, please behave yourself in front of the king!” yelled Helene. “With all due respect, Sir Horat, I was not under any influence of anyone. While it’s true that the choice of ingredients is peculiar, but the effectiveness isn’t something to be sneezed at!”
“I could vouch for that, it saved my skin couple of times back in our battlefield with the demon horde,” testified Gremio. The other party members nodded in approval.
“Ahem!” King Romeus cleared his throat, requesting the crowds to respect his authority. “I will not tolerate this barbaric behavior any longer! I come here to visit a sick person, not to watch this unsightly drama!”
“We will discuss this deeper after Horat got enough rest!” commanded the king. “Alex, I demand a detailed explanation by that time! Hereby, I dismiss everybody!”
The crowds quietly left the room, with no exception for Alex. He pondered hard, trying to convince the king about the benefits of demon potion.
“See, I told you to let that crybaby die back then!” expressed Alex’s evil side.
“Hate to break it to you, but I just couldn’t counter his opinion,” replied Alex’s good side. You know it’s a really ugly situation when even angels sided with the devils.
“Well, what’s done is done,” said Alex, calming his mind. “I wouldn’t be able to call myself a hero if I let little things like this bother me, would I?”
Alex and Helene looked at each other and couldn’t help but to feel anxious. The doctor’s bizarre laugh didn’t help as well.
That morning, Assembly Hall was packed with more people than usual. And it’s not just any ordinary-looking persons gathered there. Clearly there were individuals of status attending the event. Even representatives from neighboring countries didn’t want to miss any recent development regarding the hottest event in town. Yes, everybody came there for witnessing the progress of Alchemic Incident. That’s how the public called the latest uproar which starred Horat as the main cast. Although Alex didn’t feel he took any participating role, but nevertheless he was summoned there in front of the king, as a defendant.“Silence!” shouted Nelson to the audience. “We are about to begin the investigation, so nobody speaks unless allowed to!”“Yesterday, Horat was minding his own business, patrolling around the Royal Alchemy Center. His sense of justice brought him there, although it was not his job to do so. That’s when he decided to have a closer look at the potion-crafting activities, since ther
“Your Holiness, have you heard the news?” asked the cardinal to the Shrine Master. “It seems the whole kingdom is on frenzy over the appearance of potions potent enough to heal even the worst of wounds.”The Shrine Master looked at his subordinate with a charismatic gaze, without any answer out of his mouth.“Summon Helene at once, she would have a lot of explaining to do,” decreed the Shrine Master with a deep voice.The cardinal bowed solemnly at the Shrine Master’s words and dispatched a messenger to inform Helene to quickly answer the Shrine Master’s call.Not long afterwards, Helene was already there, without any idea why she was summoned in the first place.“O Royal Saintess, I believe you know the reason why I want you here?” asked the Shrine Master.“Your Holiness, I’m afraid I have no clue at all,” replied Helene. “If you would be so kind as to enlighten me regarding that matter,”“I heard that you were involved in those so-called demonic potions,” said the Shrine Master. “Wh
After they left the Shrine, Alex and Helene parted ways because Helene already made an appointment with the girls for a shopping session together. Our Hero walked in a slow pace, with his previous arguments with the Shrine Master in mind.Actually he already knew one of the factors behind the lack of healers around the Nousant Kingdom. It was no other than the insufficient pure mana energy which scattered around. That was also why many people with magic aptitudes opted to follow the path of offensive abilities, because the mana used for that could easily be extracted from the nature around them. For example, the fire mages could utilize sun rays for their spells, meanwhile plant-based spellcasters depended on mana from the trees. The healers, thanks to their non-elemental magic, found nothing to back up their capabilities, making them have no options left but to rely on their innate aura.In his first journey, he almost found a solution for that. It came in the form of a plot of land
It was just another broad daylight when Alex led his party to continue their journey. No matter how steep the mountains they climb, how harsh the valleys they pass through, how fast the rivers flow to wade through, as the time went by, they keep going through."For God damn sake ..." swore Gremio as his short legs stumbled upon the pebbles and slippery moss.Alex didn't take a second to turn his head and yelled, "Rasheed!"As per usual, the tallest lad of the party rolled his eyes and then went forward to the rescue. Without hesitation let alone asking for permission, he lifted Gremio, released him from his struggle, and carried him away by the shoulder."Are ... you ... an ... effing ... losing ... your ... mind?!" cried the dwarf while punching his fists on Rasheed's head with every word he said.Alex was the one who finally reached the peak with the more stable surface, and looked down in annoyance. "Yeah, that's how you do it, Sir Gremio! Keep losing your energy like there is no t
After the dwarves finished their work, Lucius, Opa Dwarf entertained the heroes led by Alex for a meal. They even took out their best stock of alcohol and slaughtered the livestock that had fled into the forest, due to the goblin attack earlier. The dwarfs also brought several jars full of gold honey that they collected at the hives of the mountain range.After the meal, they all went into the living room to drink. The dwarf king gave a bottle of ale to each of the adventurers. Even Gremio was there.‘This seems like a nice family gathering. I should get closer to them,’ thought Alex.He walked to Lucius and the dwarves, sat down in front of the fireplace, and sipped a sip of the strong liquor that the dwarves offered him.Lucius noticed his guest sitting among them and raised an eyebrow slightly. He smiled and then gestured for Alex to sit closer.Alex approached Lucius and sat right next to him and grinned as he felt the fireplace heat radiating in his side.Seeing the leader sittin
Salieri finally asked the leader, "My music show is over, don't you want to go back to the village?"Alex nodded his head and immediately replied, "Okay, let's go back together!"The two men then led the children outside to walk back to the village. When they arrived, the children hugged both Salieri and Alex, thanking him for their songs while asking Salieri to sing more of his songs next time."You are a good musician, my friend!" said a cheerful little girl.When they arrived at the village again, Alex found from a distance, Gremio still looked gloomy. He also drank alone. As soon as Alex arrived, ya gaped at how many bottles were around the feet of his friend who was sitting gloomily. "Damn it, Man... how many bottles have you finished? How come you're not sober? I just finished a hangover trip. The alcohol kicks hard!" Alex exclaimed as he lightly punched Gremio's upper arm. The short man just snorted and replied arrogantly, "A drink like this would never get me drunk. This is j
After the departure of Alex, Gremio and the heroes party, the remaining dwarven folk were left on the village square staring at the place where they disappeared from sight with puzzled expressions.Somehow, the atmosphere of the entire village was changed by what happened during the last few hours.But Alex took no notice to turn his head back. Instead, he kept on looking forward and walking. Soon, they arrived near the entrance of the valley. At first, nobody uttered any word, even they were still curious of why they would enter the valley."Let's go!" said Gremio as he walked toward the road at the east part of the valley.The others followed after him, eventhough Salieri and Rasheed still had no idea of what they were roaming about.As they reached the valley entrance, Alex said, "Alright, everyone, I will let Gremio to explain our ongoing mission."Everyone nodded their heads silently, even they didn't understand a thing that Alex was saying.Gremio didn't seem to expect get Alex
Salieri nodded in agreement and walked with Alex as the two heroes started running back to the palace.Alex and his companions were walking back through the woods when they heard footsteps coming closer. They hid behind the bushes, hoping they won't be seen.Soon, the source of the footsteps became clear: it belonged to a unicorn who was galloping through the field.When she passed the bushes, they saw she moved forward with her tail wagging, they could hear her purring. She was clearly happy and enjoying herself."Whoa! That' s a beautiful animal! What is she called?" whispered Salieri."She's named Freya. Her favorite color is red and she loves to roam around and eat anything," explained Gremio."Do unicorns eat plants?" asked Rasheed.Gremio thought for a few seconds, before replying, "Yes actually they do. So... Freya eats all kinds of vegetation. Freya seems to be quite intelligent, maybe even smarter than most horses or cows.""How can a Freya make a human sick? Is it the same w
As the group anxiously waiting by the side of the poisonous river, Mephisto’s conditions turns to worse. Helene and Merith are doing their hardest to treat Mephisto but to no avail. The bedridden bird can only hacks and coughs despite their best effort, signaling that the treatment from Helene and Marion didn’t work as expected.“Kween...” Chirp Mephisto weakly.“Meppy! Meppy! Stay with me, okay? Don’t leave me yet.” Stella cries as she hugs Mephisto.As they argued, a giant shadow suddenly emerged out of river with a splash and lands in their vicinity. It was Marion that jumped out of water. On his side, he is holding a creature with a weird body shape, resembling an eel with whiskers and a bloated stomach.“Here is the Lele fish!” Marion shows everybody his catch. The fish can only helplessly squirms on Marion’s grasp.“That’s... You sure ‘that’ is a fish?” Question Salieri.“That no animal. That monster.” Rasheed readies his w
“You’re not doing much of a help, Helene! You know what? You’re a useless saintess!”Stella’s angered words were still spinning inside the saintess thoughts. Her pride was hurt seeing that she couldn’t heal Mephisto and Stella was disappointed in her. Despite the harsh truth, Helene decided to try again after several unsuccessful attempts.“Helene, don’t go too hard on yourself,” Pandora reminded her.“I don’t,” replied the saintess quickly, her hands still busy pressing Mephisto’s weakening body with all of her might. “I just have to … heal Mephisto and prove that I’m a worthy member of this time.”“We are all valuable and worthy, no one is superior to others,” responded Alex, “take it slow, Helene. Don’t rush.”Seeing Helene’s work in vain, Pandora decided to leave the scene and inspect the waterfall. As she peered from above, her eyes caught something long and dark wiggling underneath. The witch sharpened her sight and noticed that it
Every hero party member was now relieved after being trapped inside the maze-like, magic forest. As Alex looked up at the darkened sky and the sun was already on the western horizon, he realized they'd spent hours figuring out the escape."Gosh, how long have we been there?" he said with surprise.“Ah, finalmente!” Salieri exclaimed, plopping himself to the grassy ground and stretching his feet. “My legs are sore from walking for days and I can feel my feet blistering.”“Just man up and don’t exaggerate, you limp man” Germio replied, as always being grumpy. “We’ve been there only for a few hours.”As the rest of the group rested and gained some energy, Stella looked around and examined the new surrounding. All the elf girl saw was just an expanse of green meadow, but her keen hearing sensed something more. She quickly took a turn to the opposite side of the sun, following the stone path. It was slightly slippery from the moss that grew on almost e
They have been walking for around an hour now and yet they could not find any sign of exit. The party began to feel tired.“Sir Alex. Everyone is tired. Should we take a break?” Helene looked worried. She could feel Pandoran and the merfolks began to catch their breath.“Just a little more. Resting in the forest and got lost might be a bad idea. We need to find the exit soon.” Alex demanded the team to keep walking more because as far as he could remember, there was a forest that could trap them for days. Alex’s memory was quiet blurry at that time but one thing for sure that when he decided to take a rest in a certain forest, on the next day they were trapped for more than one day.The others nodded in agreement because they believed in Alex’s decision. So, they tried their best to continue walking while following the hero.More minutes have passed and they were still wandering around the foggy forest. Not only Pandora and the merfolks, the other coul
Alex and his party continued their journey to explore Tiryag continent after they had enough rest. They came deeper into the forest until they reached the area where fog started to appear. The fog was not so thick and they could see the road in sight. They might arrived in a new area and new enemies might appear anytime soon.“Hmm, this forest give me a chill.”Pandora commented. It seemed like she could sense something.“What is it, Pan? Do you sense any enemy?” Alex asked. He was leading the team by walking in front line.“I’m not sure. I just feel like something is bothering me.” Pandora still could not clearly stated what she felt once she came into this foggy forest. She tried to find out herself.As they kept on walking further, they could hear a sound like a giggle.“Hey, elf girl. What are you giggling about?” Germio looked at Stella suspecting her for being the one who giggled. The sound was indeed like a little girl and it fit he
It took almost a day until Alex and his party arrived in Tiryag continent. The ship was anchored near a beach that looked gloomy with eerie atmosphere. There was no sign of lives as far as they tried to search around it. However, they could feel uneasiness when they tried to see the forest right in front of them. Soon after that, they decided to explore the continent by going forward to that forest hoping that they could find some clues about how to locate the Demon King.The large group were walking peacefully without encountering something dangerous at that moment. But soon, they might find themselves surrounded with uncertain dangers and challenges ahead.“Rasheed, are you alright?” Alex asked after reading the expression of that big fella that turned discouraged. Despite of Rasheed’s big body, that expression did not really suit him. Moreover, Alex could remember something about his past life when he stepped into Tiryag along with his hero party. He believed th
“Avast ye, ye filthy camper! ‘Twas so cowardly of you to launch a sneak attack like that!” cursed Jillaab. He aimed his remark at the ocean, suspecting that the assault just now came from down there.That statement resulted in a twin pillars of water forming from the seemingly calm waves. And from within those pillars, two blue shadows appeared and landed on board.“Shiver me timbers! ‘Tis the Wow Warriors!” exclaimed Balastar, finding it hard to see two humanoid fishes walking towards him with two legs. “I thought it was just a myth!”“Wow Warriors?” asked Pandora. It was clearly merfolks that they saw in front of them. “Is that how you guys call merfolks?”“Young lass, we have no idea what this merfolk yer’ talking about, but the Wow Warriors we’re referring to is a stuff of legend, used to be told as a nighttime scary stories!” replied Jillaab, equally in awe with his comrade.“Aye, that be true, matey! Many a sailor have told tales of their terrifying encounters with the Wow Warri
It had been less than an hour since the ship departed the port, but the debate had been going nonstop. The main topic was caused by Alex’s rash decision to recruit the two pirates who appeared out of nowhere.“Al, have you lost your mind?” protested Pandora. “We don’t know about these two dirty guys and you just casually invited them aboard? On top of that, you entrusted them with the wheel!”“Not to mention that sinister-looking parrot, Alex!” Stella took on Pandora’s side. “This ship is too small for two birds. Mephy should be the only one on board!”Alex, on the other hand, didn’t directly entertain their banter. Instead, he just stood there, allowing each of his crews to vent their dissatisfaction. Meanwhile Jillaab and Balastar were having a god round of the ship, amazed by the beauty they laid their eyes upon."Ahoy there! Ye lot be blessed enough to sail the virgin ocean on this beauty, yet ye still find time to argue? Ye should be grateful for this adventure and enjoy the jour
“What’s wrong, Alex?” asked the King. “Where did all of your previous enthusiasm go?”“Your Majesty, I would love to do as just what you told me. But steering the ship is something out of my realm of capabilities.” Alex chose his words carefully not to displease the King. “I’ve been looking around for a while, but never did once I saw someone tending the ship.”Frown appeared in King Romeus’ forehead. “Didn’t you subdue the pirates before here in this very place? I thought you were no stranger to command a ship?”“Yeah, but that time a good person came to my aid,” argued Alex, his eyes were scanning the surrounding and by a pure stroke of luck, he locked his view on his aforementioned lifesaver. “Speak of the devil, that was the man!”Hamith, being pointed out by Alex, smiled and waved at his old companion, approaching him lightly. “Sir Hero, I have heard that there would be a grand farewell of the heroes here on the port, so I made my way here. And boy am I honored to know that you s