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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
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- Half A Hero
63
Ghwyr was dropped off at the western point of the dungeon which was a barren hill very far from the main city. The sun was already setting at the horizon the moment they arrived there. During their long and windy trip, they had passed about five towns that he wasn’t familiar. He didn’t even think that there were towns and villages located in such a remote place as this.He looked around the barren land and saw nothing but dead trees and dry boulders lying on the ground untouched by man. From his position, he could see a small visage of the sea below. The peaceful blue sea was a great contrast to the brown and lifeless color of the hill he was standing on.He shook his head and tried to get that thought out of his head. There were some more pressing matters he needed to attend to; for one, it was already dusk, and he needed to make camp immediately.He looked at the sun setting at the horizon and without skipping a beat, he began to make camp. He made a simple tent out of dried branch
- Half A Hero
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The following morning was just like any other morning in the capital. The cold breeze and the chirping birds were all the ordinary things that he usually heard every morning. But nothing was ordinary that day. Today was the day of their test, the Dungeon Crawl. Ghwyr woke up early and readied his kit, checking everything was there and making sure that he didn’t leave a thing. One missing item could be a matter of life and death. After checking the bag for the third time, he donned his armor, and checked his weapons. When everything was set and done, he went down to the bar and ordered a hearty breakfast before waving his goodbye to Mama Berta. “Will yah be gone for a while?” The barkeeper asked. “It’s a dungeon crawl, Mama Berta and my first time at it. I am not certain how many days that would take us to finish.” He answered while taking a deep breath. “Why’re yah sounding like yah gon’ die?” The barkeeper sighed and shook her head. “Tip from me… make sure yah finish the crawl be
- Half A Hero
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Chills ran down his spine as he thought about what just happened. The sweet old lady, Baba Sheby could be one powerful opponent if you get to her bad side. Now he realized why so many adventurers called her witch.He shook his head and went around the market, trying to kill the last few hours and get himself entertained to relax himself from all the studying he did. Good thing the market wasn’t short of mouth-watering stalls for him to splurge a little bit of his budget on.There were stalls for grilled meats, of all kinds, exotic cuisines from all over the kingdom lined up on one street. He wondered around for a few minutes, checking up the stalls just to know which ones to buy from. After a couple of rounds, he set his eyes on the fried squid stall and the weird yet queued upon green noodles from the Zimazo region.He first went to the fried squid section and ate the butterflied and battered fried squid. It was skewered in a thin wooden stick to easily grip the food while he walked
- Half A Hero
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“Hmmm… pretty interesting my dear halfling.” The old woman smiled and sipped her tea.Ghwyr nodded enthusiastically at her. “Oh, I still have more…” He said as he picked the stories he could share in his head.He still has a lot of things he could’ve told her, like those other adventurers that were treating him differently and often shunning him. However, he didn’t want the old woman to worry more than she already was.He noticed how worried she was as he continued to speak about his adventures. He told her how he got his new armor and weapons, and how he learned a new style in combat which he was proud the most. Baba Sheby nodded and smiled at his stories, but her eyes had a hint of gloom in them. He ended his story with the current situation he was at, the Dungeon Crawl.“You fearless little one.” She shook her head. “I have always worried about you ever since you told me what you wanted to be. Not everyone could achieve their dreams in your profession, and I have always prayed to m
- Half A Hero
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The petite old woman waddled towards her small round table at the middle of the room, near her cozy and colorful fireplace. The place hasn’t changed for years. There were still those dried herbs and flowers the old woman hung by the counter of her kitchen which he could visibly see from the living room. The furniture all over her house were still the same red lumber, elegantly carved into beautiful set pieces of chairs and tables with mystical animals in the base of each furniture.Baba Sheby pointed him to his seat. Ghwyr thanked the old lady and sat on the chair with a carved unicorn on the base. It was his favorite seat and even without him telling that to her, Baba Sheby seemed to know that it was.While the old woman was preparing her tea, Ghwyr peeped at the counter at the corner of the room. Behind the beautiful furniture carved with a serpents and ivy vines wrapping on its edges was a simple, yet huge shelf filled with items from potions, dried herbs, spices, peculiar trinkets
- Half A Hero
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Ghwyr sighed as the one-eyed swordsman stormed out of the room. He turned to the other adventurers who looked stunned at what just happened. Their eyes were staring at the empty doorway before going back to the board with all the diagrams drawn there.“W-what now?” The adventurer with an upturned nose asked.Ghwyr stood up while shaking his head, astounded at their cluelessness to the situation. “We better get studying.” He said while glancing at them. “Or else we die inside that damned dungeon.” He walked out and left the other adventurers mumbling and throwing insults at him like little children having a fit.He wasn’t sure how did they became adventurers. They may not be seasoned like the higher ranks, but they should at least know a thing or two about being tact and insightful towards certain situations. Now, they were left with no one to teach them or explain things from the mini book. Ghwyr highly doubted that Heffer would even return tomorrow, knowing the moody nature of their
- Half A Hero
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After a quick breakfast of toasted bread, goat butter, and soft cheese, Ghwyr went up the stairs and into his room where he donned his armor and sling his blade on his side, ready for the day ahead! He locked his room and headed for the Guild Hall with just half an hour to spare.He arrived at the bustling guildhall with adventurers lining up early in the administration desks just before they opened. In their hands were parchments from the bounties they pulled out of the board.Curious, Ghwyr went to the board and was shocked to see the board riddled with a lot of requests. Parchments upon parchments were nailed into the board and he saw a lot of adventurers claiming some of the bounty request, but the board wasn’t thinning.He looked at some of the most recent request and found out that most of them were party related. He turned to the adventurers on the queue and realized most of them were not at a party. He checked at the party bounty requests and noticed the hefty rewards in store
- Half A Hero
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Three days had passed, and everyone already had a good hang of the ability they were taught. The armor-searing spell wasn’t as taxing as they thought it would be (until you have to incorporate it with some other spells and moving attacks). Although using it in actual combat might be a little tricky than they thought it might.Not all armors were created equal, and some had high-level enchantments more than others. In fact, not all opponents were built equally! Heffer was very keen on letting them understand about it before they could brag about the silly spells he taught them. After mastering the armor-searing spell, a few days back, Ghwyr and the remaining students of the terror swordsman were taught a few more spells in their arsenal. The firebolt spell for their additional attack, the stoneskin spell for additional defense, and lastly, the enhancement spell for well… enhancing their attributes like their speed, agility, and strength while on battle.It didn’t take them long to rea
- Half A Hero
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Another week has passed, and their numbers dwindled even further. After Heffer showed them the dance and the steps that came along with it, five more adventurers dropped out from the program to continue adventuring. The nine students were now down to four.As Ghwyr recalled, he noted one of them arguing with Heffer that the lessons he had taught them up until that point were enough to help them survive attackers and bandits. They didn’t need to know more of it since; they were burning their coins already and they were getting broker by the day they stalled from adventuring.Heffer didn’t argue with them. In fact, he didn’t say a word. He simply allowed them to take their leave and wished them luck with their adventure. However, before they left, the swordsman made them promised something.“Don’t ever show your face in this class again, nor teach this skill to anyone, or else I will kill you.” Heffer threatened. “I have eyes and ears everywhere. If I see you brag about being taught by
