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Half A Hero 30
“Alright!” Rhylls clapped his hands after picking the ten men. “Line up boys, we’re going to do a gauntlet!” He smiled as he turned to Ghwyr, trying to see if he understood what that meant.Obviously, Ghwyr knew nothing about what it meant. He looked back at Rhylls, forehead creased as he tried to get a meaning of what the other halfling meant. He was too preoccupied to even think about what it meant. All he was thinking at that time was how to survive the entire ordeal.As the other halfling explained to him the rules, his mind roamed elsewhere. After seeing Rhylls chosen men, all he could think about was how to evade their attacks and defeat them without getting too injured. The men Rhylls chose were huge and seemingly powerful men, he doubted that he could last a fight with them upfront.As he looked at Rhylls again, all he could see was his moving lips, he couldn’t hear anything from him or somehow the world was eerily silent. He could only hear his heart thumping violently in his
Half A Hero 31
Ghwyr sat on the floor, bloodied, battered and out of breath. He had finished ninth of the ten opponents, but it wasn’t with ease. His hands trembled from the fatigue along with his knees. He was barely standing when he knocked out the last opponent. His vision partially blocked by the big welt below his right brow. Now he fears if he could still do one more. Using the club, Ghwyr put his weight on it and stood up proudly while masking his despair and fatigue to everyone.It would’ve been easier for him fighting off these men if the bracelet of Salidas had worked. Unfortunately for him, the bracelet only rolled low numbers and not once did it glowed to give him a power up. It seemed like Lady Salidas turned her back on him, but he quickly rebuked himself for thinking such blasphemous thought. He focused himself on the fight instead.The circle was silent, but their eyes tell a different story. Ghwyr could see their elation and excitement for the battle as if they wanted to challenge h
Half A Hero 32
“Why are you crying, little Ghwyr?” His uncle ran up to him as he tumbled to the ground.Ghwyr pointed at the children laughing at him from the hill above them.“Did they push you?” His uncle asked.“T-t-they… t-t-told… me… I… I couldn’t be… a… h-h-hero.” Ghwyr sniffled. “I… I… p-p-pushed… one… and they pushed me… back…” He sobbed.“Now, now... Ghwyr.” His uncle tried comforting him. “If you want to become a hero, then you don’t have to listen to them. Don’t let their fickle words destroy your great dream.” He patted his back.“B-b-but…” Ghwyr’s mouth twitched as tears rolled down his cheeks.“No buts, young halfling.” His uncle smiled. “Cheer up, Ghwyr! Crying won’t fulfill your dreams, but your hands can!” He said.“But my hands are too small.” He sniffled once again. “I… can’t do anything… with small hands! They told me, I need to have big hands to hold a sword!” He wailed.“Hush now.” His uncle calmly said. “It doesn’t really matter if you have small or big hands at the end of the
Half A Hero 33
Ghwyr woke up early that morning. His head was no longer pounding from that terrible headache he experienced last night, and his eyesight seemed to have gone back to normal and his swelling right eye was completely gone. He could now see properly without any haze or blur.He moved slowly touched the right side of his body. It was still aching a little but not as much as the day before. Ghwyr sat down on the bed and stared at the wall for a moment. How was he able to heal that fast as he did? It was when he recalled the amulet, Frejr had given to him.He touched the trinket and mumbled a prayer to Dian Ceto before doing the same thing to his bracelet. He profusely thanked Lady Salidas for her divine intervention. He would’ve met his devastating end if it weren’t for her.After saying his prayers, he stood up slowly out of bed, wore his shirt hanged at the chair where Rhylls sat, and looked for his armor, but it wasn’t there. He realized his armor was gone including that beautiful one h
Half A Hero 34
“Wear it proud, Ghwyr Lightfoot.” Paryghor said his parting words and waved his goodbye as he took him to the square where the cart was waiting for him. “If it gets ruined, come back here… I shall repair it for yah.. ‘course yah gotta pay for it.” He chuckled.“I will indeed, sir Paryghor.” Ghwyr smiled and offered his hand for a handshake. “Until we meet again.” He smiled.The dwarf grabbed his forearm and yanked him closer to the dwarf. “Don’t die ‘til then.” He grinned. “Now, off yah go… the cartman here is a lil’ impatient.” He nodded at the cartman.Ghwyr rode the fully seated cart. He sat at the corner of the seat, the only vacant one at that time and waited for the cartman to go. He turned back to Paryghor waving happily. The dwarf was already far from him when the cart began to move. He waved some more until the dwarf faded into the crowd.“Finally, I thought you’d be waving forever!” A familiar voice cracked from the passengers.Ghwyr turned towards the voice and saw a hooded
Half A Hero 35
Ghwyr lined to the same guild administrator with the Jackalope bounty on his hand. He was lucky enough to see the Jackalope bounty still available and it was the only remaining bounty in the board that was bronze ranked.Nobody bothered to get it maybe because of how risky it was, but how risky could horned rabbits be? He has hunted rabbits before and even if they may have been aggressive creatures, they were still too small and fluffy to be likened to a savage beast. He knew he could easily get them with a trap or two.“Good morning, Sir.” Ghwyr greeted with a smile. “I would like to reapply for the bounty again.” He said.The man was stoic and didn’t even greet him back. “I thought nobody would take this bounty. So, it had to be you again, hmmm…” He took the jackalope bounty while adjusting his monocle.“Well, I think I was just lucky.” He smiled while thumping his fist to his chest. “Do you think I could get this bounty now?” He subtly wanted to brag his armor to the guild administ
Half A Hero 36
“From the way you responded earlier, I could tell you’re ignorant about Jackalopes.” The lanky man bluntly said.“I never knew them. I haven’t seen them.” Ghwyr answered. “We don’t have those kinds of creatures back from where I am from.” He explained.The man stopped walking and turned back to him. “Then I hope you don’t die.” He said before walking towards a small tent just a few feet away from the woods.Ghwyr scratched his head in annoyance. He hated how the man treats him like a fool jumping into an unknown situation. Firstly, he was no fool. He was confident that he could take those Jackalopes easy. He may have not seen or experienced hunting them, but he was confident that it would be a quick hunt for him. Secondly, he had his weapons ready in case worse comes to worse. And lastly, he could fight, that alone was a great factor to self-confidence.They stopped in front of the tent as the lanky man signaled. He gestured to Ghwyr for him to wait outside, as he entered the tent. Gh
Half A Hero 37
The day was getting longer and still there was no sign of the horned rabbits. Ghwyr has been hiding on the bush for more than a few hours and it was getting frustrating. It didn’t help that the previously beautiful forest he praised just a few minutes ago was now slowly turning against him.The humidity of the forest was making him sweat constantly and the constant buzzing of the bugs around him was getting into his nerves. Despite all that, he tried his best to remain as calm as he possibly could. He took some sips of water from his waterskin to cool him down as he waited.His stomach was already complaining to him as the hours passed, but he remained completely still. He didn’t want to miss his first encounter with the famed rabbit. But as he sweated profusely, it was becoming clearer that the Jackalope wasn’t there to be found.Annoyed at the possible wrong information the man had gave him, he slowly crept away from the bush and made his way back to the stream where quenched his th