/////

Amelia smiled brightly and followed after.

'I can bear with it for one quest. I just have to be careful not to show too much. It shouldn't be too hard,' He thought.

He will come to regret this thought.

/////

I ran

I dodged

I swerved

I slid

I did everything to evade, counter and parry all that fell on me and the idiot that got me into this mess..

I was a happy man once.

Now I'm here running from a group of Astral projected Mammoths wearing Enchanted Armours, led by a giant mammoth spirit suffering from PTSD!!!!

"How did I jinx myself so hard that I stumbled onto this bullshit!!!" I raged

"DIEEEEEEE CADMEAN!!!!"

"OH SHUT THE HELL UP!" I screamed back.

Let's go back a day.

///// A Day Ago /////

I and Amelia sauntered out of the Mercenary Guild together after registering for an A-rank quest as a party.

I re-read the quest on the notice paper I held.

The quest read.

[There has been an influx of Dark Beasts wandering around the Broscour mangrove area, Camberg for reasons not yet known. This has caused a call for concern from the neighboring provinces.

Head out to Broscour, Reduce the number of Dark Beasts, Store them in the storage ring given to you by the guild and report back.

A minimum of 30 Dark Beasts must be killed and reported before a week, ends to count as a successful quest.

Reward: Money received from the sale of Dark Beasts, 3 Gold coins minimum, 3500 Merit Point.

Note; More Beasts can be reported in for extra rewards]

"An influx of Dark Beasts, I wonder why that may be?" I muttered, thinking of how off the quest was

"Who knows," Amelia chimed in, "The behavior of Dark Beasts has not been something that we can accurately determine."

"Sometimes they behave like humans, other times like basic animals, but they can still act like savage ruthless beasts."

"At this point, Dark Beasts are not just beasts anymore. They have become something more."

'They do seem like they're growing….. no. Evolving.' I thought

"Either way, our job is not to figure that out"

"Right," I answered, glancing at the sheet once more before keeping it into his pocket.

Our conversation helped reduce the off feeling I had, but we soon had to split off.

She went on to board a carriage waiting for her, whilst I headed back to the Motel I stayed in

The plan was to gear up and meet at the east gate the next day and from there we move into Broscour Forest.

Broscour was a forest area east of Aemplefort, Camberg in the mangrove biome located within the forest, just before a wide coastal wetland.

///// The Next Day /////

I and Amelia roamed through the mangrove area. We maneuvered the forest normally as opposed to my preferred way. I figured she wasn't as proficient as me in that area, so it would only slow me down.

Soon we encountered a Dark Beast, A cross between a reindeer and a deer. It looked harmless, even cute but.

It was a Dark Beast.

With my next blink, Amelia was upon It. She drew her sword, swiftly beheaded the unsuspecting beast, and retracted her sword into its sheath.

This occurred in about 5 to 9 seconds,

After that, she stored the beast in the storage guild given by the Guild, then turned to me. Her stoic face glinted something weird in it.

Like she wanted acknowledgment.

"You're faster than before," I remarked

"Thanks, I've been training" She answered back with a bright smile, a contrast to the before stoicness.

'Weird.'

"Let's go," I say, getting around that subject with her

"Since it's only two of us, You'll deal with 15 Dark Beasts while I deal with the other 15. Is that alright?"

Amelia nodded and caught up with my steps as we headed deeper into the mangrove.

///// Few Hours Later/////

"Kiiiiirrr!!!"

"Huff"

"Huff"

"Huff"

"Tired already?"

"A little."

"Then we should start going back. You are already done with your quota of work, that's more than enough for our first day."

"Huff, let's rest here for a while." She suggested.

"Ok, Come down. I'll set up a tent."

"Ok"

Amelia retracted her sword from the back of the Dark Beast and came off it. With her help, we set up the tent that I thankfully packed.

Together we sat in the tent, in the middle of a forest, alone.

A growing young man like me couldn't help but blush at this thought, it also didn't help that Amelia's actions had worked up a sweat,

So each time she took a deep breath her chest rose in response, Her sweat dampened the shirt beneath her lean armor which then made it hug her figure more than it should.

It took me a lot of my will to look away before I get caught doing something inappropriate like this.

"So" She began suddenly, which made me almost jump, "How have things been going with you lately. We have not talked in a while"

"W-well, I've been busy with completing the guilds requirement. So I haven't been up too much."

"Yeah, same for me." She chuckled.

"So…. How about Taudar", I asked, genuinely curious about what happened to the now dubbed bi**h boy.

Amelia rested on her laps and dabbled with her toes, "Well, he's been fine mostly. The clan is disappointed in him for not participating in the Stampede event."

"I thought he was injured, that's why he didn't participate," I asked.

"Well, he was, for a day or two. Aemplefort healers do wonders. He should have been up and running after that."

"So why didn't he participate?"

Amelia shrugged and replied, "I don't know. He just didn't."

"Mmh Ok."

After that conversation we stayed silent, occasionally coming up with topics that kept us going.

We went a bit too deep into this little world we made with each other, that we did not realize it was now noon and a strong downpour had started.

We could move through the downpour, but It would be disadvantageous. So I suggested something else

"We could sleep here," I suggested to her.

She raised an eyebrow at me "Together?" She asked

"Which other way is there," I replied sarcastically.

She stared at me for a while then glanced outside to the downpour, "Fine"

"Good."

So it was decided, I brought out a blanket from my rucksack which we both shared and she created an ice barrier around us.

I fell into an alert asleep a while after.

Minutes passed and I could feel the downpour get stronger and the temperature falls lower.

Authority of Flames and Authority of Nature gave me a lot of resistance to a low temperature so I was alright

I glanced to my side, and Amelia was relatively fine from the way she looked. She only shivered slightly

'She must have some kind of ice or cold resistance, but it's probably not something too strong' I deduced.

'Might as well help a little.'

I turned over to her side, wrapped my hand around her waist, and pulled her into my embrace. I let my firecore warm up my body, and I could feel her relax in my embrace.

A few moments later, her breath became soft as she fell into a deep sleep.

I also was tempted into a deep sleep, but I held on. Someone had to be alert among us.

And that's how the day ended, with me sleeping with a beautiful lady in my arms, isolated and alone.

Like I said

I was once a happy man

/////

Author's Note.

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Thank you, everyone, T.H.S.S has finally clocked 1,000,000 views (~‾▿‾)~, ～(´ε｀ )

Y'all are the best.

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