“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
Finally the party agreed to begin their mission. Except Helene who needed to stay at the Shrine for administration matter, and Pandora who was nowhere to be seen.“We’re incomplete without Hel and Pan, so that means we have to work hard for their share as well,” motivated Alex to his companions. “Prepare yourselves well, we don’t know what’s lurking inside the forest.”“Yeah, you guys don’t know a thing, but I do. Please stop lumping me together with you guys,” responded Stella with air of fake arrogance. She was just trying to be funny, but Gremio took it the wrong way.“Typical of the elves, their ego is as high as their pointy ears,” retorted Gremio, resorting to body shaming behavior.“Hey, what did you say, you midget? Want to have a go, huh?” reacted Stella who lost her temper after hearing Gremio’s bigoted remark.Salieri went in between the two of them and attempted to diffuse the ticking time bomb.“Come on fellas, we’re here as a team, please stop in-fighting among us. Stell