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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
Half A Hero 38
“Make sure you slash the head cleanly.” Ghwyr reminded himself as he went through the attacking jackalopes. “One… two… three… oh damn it.” He clicked his tongue as he slices one in half.He knew he wouldn’t get paid if he presented the jackalope hide and horns as damaged. He needed to be quick and precise about it. But these jackalopes proved to be too difficult for him to kill properly. The horned and furious rabbits were too quick for him aside from the fact that its horns proved to be very sharp. He learned that when a jackalope grazed his face with it.If he made the wrong footing it would’ve took out his eye luckily, he was quick enough to dodge it at the last second. The herd was beginning to thin out. Many of the jackalopes had already been taken down by him. However, the more their numbers decreased, they became more aggressive and insanely fast.Ghwyr was able to shield himself from another potential vital wound. The jackalope bounced off his shield. Just before it could land
Half A Hero 39
Ghwyr woke up early the following morning and immediately went to the Guild Hall to ask about the request from the King’s Reserve. After confirming with the administrator, he immediately went to the place just as the sun rose from the horizon.Tuttel was already awake when he came to his tent. The man had been fixing some traps and was happy to see him comeback. He gave him a new location to hunt and told him that the population was twice as much as the last. However, he only needed to hunt 15 of it.“Your yesterday’s catch was good, but I couldn’t risk you ending a whole species because of me.” The lanky man said while scowling again. “Do fifteen today… and fifteen only. The guards might fine us we go beyond that.” He explained.Ghwyr nodded and apologized to him. However, Tuttel simply brushed it off and told him to move forward from the mistake. Before he left to hunt, the lanky man gave him a fresh pair of knives for the hunt.“One is for legs, and this hooked one is for the horns
Half A Hero 40
Tuttel was carried out of the reserve still yelling about some monsters coming to get him. The remaining soldiers just shook their heads and gossiped about how the man might’ve smoked too much dream moss that caused the entire incident.“I heard you could get delusions if you smoke too much of that thing.” The younger guard said while carrying one of the dogs’ carcasses into the sack. “Poor hound, this is! You collaterals of your masters insanity.” He added.Ghwyr was left there standing by the tent. Still not sure what to do at that point. Should he leave? It was clearly obvious he wasn’t going to get paid that day, especially after what happened. Annoyed, he took a deep breath and was about to go inside the tent when the older guard blocked him with his spear.“And where do you think you’re going?” The older guard asked.“I’m just going to put this bounty inside.” Ghwyr explained.“Seems like so.” The guard said. “Unfortunately, I can’t let you do that. Besides you’re not even paid
Half A Hero 41
Few months have passed after that incident with the mysterious monster and still Ghwyr was the talk of the guild, although for the wrong reasons. Most of it stems from the gossip that the monster was a sort of forest spirit that he angered while hunting the jackalopes. While most of the knowledgeable people on Jackalopes would find it ridiculous and something to scoff about, the rest of the adventurers weren’t as well-read or as forgiving compared to some.Ghwyr had since moved on from that incident. He even got a bonus from the guild for fighting the monster, but unfortunately no one could tell what it truly was. Jackalope bucks weren’t supposed to look like that! They might be gigantic in size, but they were never humanoid in appearance. This gave the throne a reason to investigate on the matter and close the King’s Reserve for the public’s safety as well.During the short amount of time, Ghwyr had already garnered a lot of experience and coins from taking some other jobs. Most of w
Half A Hero 42
The Bracken Delta was a town located at the mouth of the Bracken River, a major river that met the fresh water from the mountain springs with the saltwater from the Torren Sea. It was supposed to be a thriving fishing village before the first lords of the town developed it into a powerful port for Evalom.In a way, it had some similarities with Bottom-trodden, mainly because of the huge body of water located in the town. However, the comparison ended there. Unlike the filthy and poverty-ridden Bottom-trodden, the town of Bracken Delta was thriving with its massive port where most of the travelling merchants and fishing ships were.It also held one of the strongest weapons of the Evalom kingdom, the Evalom Navy which was located at the other side of town, a massive military port that could subdue any threats coming from the sea, whether it was of human or supernatural causes.He got there as early as he could. Ghwyr wanted to finish the bounty request as early as he could, so he could
Half A Hero 43
“Where are the rats?!” Ghwyr looked around and saw a massively empty room.Ghwyr and the rat exterminator was standing on a wooden floor elevated from the ground where the rats had supposedly nested. They descended into the creaking stairs while carefully looking around in case a giant rat might pop out of nowhere.Their flickering torch wasn’t enough to light up the massive room. It only illuminated a few feet from them, so it was possible that something might be lurking in the dark somewhere. However, the boy seemed to be unfazed by the darkness. He navigated the huge space well unafraid of the giant critters that might’ve been hiding below.“M-m-must be… hiding… s-s-somewhere.” The boy replied hesitantly.Ghwyr turned to the boy, raising an eyebrow. “I thought you’re a rat catch—well, an expert on this matter?!” He asked.“I-I-I- am so s-s-s-orry! S-s-sorry…” The boy profusely apologized. “I…I… had me map here… we could locate them… also had me bait and poisons…” He took it out of
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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
