"Give me your ID, I don't need money."
"W-What?"
"Do as I say, I want to show you something."
"Um…"
Without much questioning, he passed his over. Thran held it in front of him, a white light appeared over his fingers. In a swift motion, he slid them across the silver lining of the Id.
"This is your status."
Thran said, in just a flicker a blue screen appeared in Lucian's retinae.
"WOAH-!"
It held his basic information, his name; age; race and a picture of his face. In addition, it held other prompts. Level, class, party and representative. A massive chasm broke in his mind, an excruciating headache threatened to appear from his shock.
"As I said, this is your-"
"Yeah- Yeah… Is there anything else…?"
Lucian interjected, waving off Thran's words. If he had let him speak more, his head would physically explode. His face physically contorted, as his question squeaked out.
"Hah… Alright, there is more, but that can wait for later. In the meantime, that request board over yonder, you can accept any request that's a whiteslip then bring it here."
Located just where his thumb navigated them, sat a giant board; a rainbow of colors tacked themselves onto it, creating the illusion of a sea. With a nod of his head, Lucian dragged an unaware Fei to it.
Once Fei was stable, he began to flip through layers of papers. Only meeting with red, blue and green sheets. Halfway he threw his hands up in the air, whilst cursing.
'There's no white requests! DAMN IT!'
Verbally he kept quiet. Conversely, he clenched his hands. Due to starting out, they could only snatch white ranked requests - the lowest there was. One point in Thran's lecture was about taking requests.
"You can only take the requests of your rank, or one below."
After a bellow of air, he went searching for the last time.
"AHA!"
He exclaimed, holding a white slip high. Fei suddenly jumped upon his exclamation. Her ears perked alongside, and her gaze became fixated on what was in his hands.
"U-Um-"
"This'll be our first request!"
Lucian turned his head without moving his body.
"W-What is it…?
"I'll tell you on our way, c'mon!"
Finally, he grabbed her hand one more time.
I don't…
She was dragged around, from submitting the request, to on the road. Her surroundings blended, became a blurry storm she trudged to.
****************************************************************
For nearly an hour, they were following a path. Their home kingdom had multiple exit gates, North, South, East, and West. Without knowing where she was going, Lucian led her, silently waiting for him to say what request they had taken.
As for their gate, they detoured out of the east gate; they were on the outskirts where farmland was abundant. Furthermore, there were ruined greenhouses being managed by hunched figures. Their features are completely invisible to the naked eye.
"U-Um… L-Lucian… Whe- Where are we going…?"
"Well, our first request!" Lucian exclaimed. He slowed his strides down, and excitedly waved the white slip in his hands. "It's not that exciting, but it's better than whatever else."
What's-
She squinted her eyes, tentatively grabbing the paper. Taking a few moments to calm her heart, she eventually read the scratches on it.
[Help needed – Rats infested me and mah wife's farm – help – needed. Will give com-sation.
Reward: 10 copper.]
An address was scratched on the back Three zero eight.
"Aha! Looks like that's the place!"
Below their feet the crunching stopped. Lucian pointed towards a wooden mailbox, flakey paint with the letters "308" painted onto it. It was just ahead, and towards their right.
"I-I see…"
Her gaze slightly lowered, whilst holding the paper out. Relief welled in her heart, it wasn't something dangerous or extreme like the stories that entered their ears.
"Ah! Right, we won't need your staff for this… " Lucian mumbled. First tapping his chin, and looking towards the sky. Quickly, shifting his gaze to her and holding out his hand. "Let me carry it for you."
"L-Lucian… I can carry it."
"Oh, c'mon… You've been carrying it for a while."
"I-I'll be fine…" Fei muttered, holding the staff closer to her chest. Even as there was no strain on her face, her arms were burning, fighting to hold it. However, looking towards him, there was a smile on his face.
"If you say so…" He replied, shrugging as he turned away. Fei's physical capabilities were subpar, even for demi-human standards. She can't keep up with humans, even him – He purposely slows down for her.
"..."
A few seconds later, he held his palm out. Fingers flipping back and forth, an invisible sign was placed above, saying place here. Fei did so, looking away from his smug expression.
"..."
Without uttering another word, she placed it in his hand. Eyebrows furrowed, lips curling into a frown, she took a few steps forward. She crossed her arms, as she turned her back to him.
'Should've said so in the first place…' He thought, internally giggling to himself. Staring at the back of her head, her snow white hair fell down her back; additionally, it was a mess, much like his own. However, the sight of it fluttering in the cool wind created a smile on his face.
"Cute."
A singular word caused her ears to flutter, and the fur on her tail to stand up.
'Even cuter.' Lucian hid his thoughts, whilst turning to their request. 'Is this the actual place…?'
In the distance was a small home, the windows were snapped shut and covered by sheets. Conversely, smoke bellowed out the chimney on its roof; people were home. To his disbelief, the lawn was a complete mess.
There was an obvious trail leading to the porch. Yet, it was covered by grass that lapped at his stomach. It brought a question to his mind, how can they find rats scurrying around in this mess? A singular blade of grass would be easy, but the tall grass spanned for yards.
"This… should be the place… right?" Lucian's voice shook, as he turned around to see Fei. Her hands were squeezing tight, resulting in the paper balling. "This should be an easy… request, right?"
"Right…?"
With one single step that hammered against the ground, Fei's body jolted. She whipped around, her face entirely red.
"W-W-W-What? What- What happened?!" She stammered. Once red, her face turned pale again upon seeing Lucian's fear-filled look. His shoulders were slumped, contrarily his eyes were completely wide, and a grimace was on his mouth.
"This should've… been an easy request…"
He pointed towards their request with his thumb.
"Take a look…" Lucian collapsed to his knees, keeling over. He struck the ground, cursing under his breath. 'Shouldn't this have been a higher ranking request?! THAT MAKES SENSE WHY IT WAS COVERED!!'
Dirt and minerals shot up in the air as his fist collided with the ground. For minutes, he repeatedly struck the ground, cursing his decisions. Finally, his fiftieth strike pounded into the ground, every ounce of anger was released into the ground.
"Well… Hopefully it's in the field in the back."
Sitting up, he patted his clothes off. With Fei's staff in one hand, he pushed himself up off the ground. "C'mon, they could have rats in the back… hopefully."
He said to her, whispering "hopefully," unknowingly jinxing their entire ordeal.
"B-But what, what if…" Fei stammered, falling silent upon his soulless gaze. If he wanted to, he would shake his head, disapproving her words.
"We still have to do it."
Upon cancelling their first request, it would leave a bad reputation on their records. Plus, Lucian needed the copper, no matter where it came from. Otherwise, he didn't entertain that thought, feeling a massive shiver go down his spine.
"A-Alright."
They fell silent, side by side. Their destination in front of them, a massive swamp if it had water and trees. Hesitantly, Lucian took the first step, his shoe sinking into the soft ground. One, two…a horrendous stench began to simmer in his nostrils.
Akin to rotten flesh that sat in the summer's heat for a week. This nasal piercing smell slapped him in the face suddenly.
"Cover your nos-"
'Way ahead of me, huh.' Lucian realized, his hand closing his nose. Fei covered her nose with her shirt. 'I cannot imagine how it smells to her.'
As they trudged through the muddy landscape, his mind wandered. Soon, ceasing all clockwork when he felt something tough hit his shoe.
"We're already here."
One step on the porch, there were two rocking chairs right of the door. Lucian ducked under a hanging flower pot that hung in his way.
"Now.. Urk! Yeah… yeah not a good idea.." Lucian gagged, pinching his nose even tighter. The stench grew heavier, nearly knocking him unconscious just from its aroma. Furthermore, his legs began to feel like jello, taking heavy stops towards the front door.
Their perilous journey came to an end, he propped Fei's staff on the wall. He brought his shoulders up, relaxed them, then brought his knuckle up to the door.