Chapter 57 — Keira’s Grand Adventure

Keira was still a bit miffed about Ria making fun of her mother's robe and the humiliating teasing from the rabble at the guild, but shopping with her friend sounded enjoyable, even if it was unnecessary and would delay their departure.

She gave Ria a dubious glance when she saw the intended shop. It looked like a low-quality junk store. That didn’t stop the girl from pulling her along right into the surely disreputable place. The stale smell of sweat and the sight of the overweight merchant didn’t help her impression either.

"Ah, Ria. You've brought a friend to me, I see. And so early in the morning, too," the merchant greeted and clapped his hands together happily. "What can I do for you today?"

"Morning, Gerard! This is my friend… Kay," Ria introduced her, again apparently thinking it better to hide her real identity. "We're going slime hunting in the forest, and I was hoping to get a cloak to make her less… noticeable."

"Oh-hoh, slime-hunting, is it? That brings back memories," the merchant, Gerard, said with a chuckle while sizing her up with his eyes. "Don't worry, Miss Kay. We definitely have cloaks in your size. Might not be the quality you're used to, but it'll help keep the brambles, mud, and goo off your finery just fine."

What to say…? Of course, there wouldn't be anything in this shop that would be up to her standards! Though the merchant did make a good point. Mud she could deal with, but goo… she didn't even want to imagine what that was.

"Thanks, Gerard. We'll be counting on you," Ria spoke up in her place.

"Sure, sure," Gerard answered confidently then motioned for Ria to come closer. "Ah, Ria, one sec."

When Ria moved toward him, he leaned over and whispered something in Ria's ear while hiding his mouth. What was that about?!

Ria nodded sagely and took out a glowstone. "Excuse me, Kay. There's something I need to check."

Keira instinctively backed up but backed into Miela, and Ria squatted down and stuck her head underneath her robes!

"Wha-?! Ria! What are you doing?!" She couldn't believe it!

"She'll need leather pants and a belt, too, Gerard," Ria reported, standing back up.

"Right. Gotta have leather pants for slime hunting. Robes won’t keep them off your legs. Okay, this way," Gerard said and led Ria deeper into the store.

There was a shaking behind her, and Miela whispered, "I'm sorry, milady. I've failed in my duty to protect your chastity."

Wha?????! Miela was clearly laughing! What was this?! Why was she being teased so much?!

Ignoring Miela, Keira hurried after Ria and the merchant. How could she have been so careless in choosing her clothing? It was embarrassing.

"No need to worry about that. Clothing items, I stock new since adventurers often need replacement clothing," the merchant was saying to Ria as Keira approached. "This hooded rain-frock would be a good choice. She won't have to worry about it slipping open during a fight, and it's sturdy enough to provide protection against animal attacks and such as well."

"Oh! This'll be perfect," Ria said excitedly. "Kay, try this one on. Here. Put your arms in."

Ria was holding open a bundle of glistening dark brown fabric. Keira felt hot and sweaty just looking at it.

Sighing, Keira held out her arms. Ria promptly pushed her arms into the sleeves and tossed the rest over her head, tugging on the heavy garment until her head popped out the top.

“Hmm. The body length is good but the sleeves are a bit long,” the merchant evaluated. “A smaller size won’t cover her robes enough though.”

“Can we just pin the sleeves back?” Ria asked.

“Oh, yes. I have clothespins if you are fine with that,” the merchant offered. “Having a tailor make cuffs with the extra length would be a simple matter as well if a more finished result is desired.”

“I think this will work out well. What do you think, Kay?” Ria asked her.

“Do I really need something this heavy?” Keira complained. “And how am I supposed to fight if I can’t get to my wand or weapons?”

“There are certainly lighter options, Miss Kay, but this expensive oil-treated fabric is waterproof and resistant to slime acid,” the merchant told her, and reached over to pull open what looked like a pocket opening in the draping fabric. “The openings on either side can be used to access the inner pockets and gear worn underneath.”

Noticing the openings, Keira placed her hand through and felt her gear and sword. Drawing the rapier through the hole required twisting the garment around, but it was doable. The pockets on the inside were large. For such a simple garment, it was well designed.

“Wearing something not properly tailored to fit me is a little embarrassing, but I guess it’s fine,” Keira decided.

“Fret not, milady. I’ll properly stitch up the sleeves for you during lunch,” Miela offered.

“Ah, thank you, Miela. That would be a great help,” Keira accepted.

“I think it’s really nice,” Ria cheered her purchase and volunteered, “If I didn’t already have an enchanted cloak, I would buy one for myself.”

For the pants, Keira chose the same waterproof material, and the baggy pair she chose had lacings that made getting another belt unnecessary. While Miela helped her put on the pants, Ria disappeared with the merchant somewhere, only to return with a children’s mask for the Festival of Fears. It was a plain white ghost mask with the ghost’s face carved with dimpled cheeks and a creepy grin.

“…just got these in. Gotta have something to sell during the festival to build up my future customer base,” the merchant was saying.

Ria nodded. “Yeah, smart idea. Lucky for us this will protect Kay’s face and the small air holes in the mouth and nose will let her voice out while still keeping out the slimes… hopefully.”

“Yep. Their cores are too big to fit through holes that small, so she can just wipe them off. And the leather backing should keep it comfortable to wear,” the merchant agreed and laughed. “Plus, I’ll give you a discount if you tell the other kids where you got it from.”

“You can count on us, Gerard!” Ria mock saluted, and they both laughed together.

Not only did her friend want her to wear that silly mask, she wanted her to advertise for this junk store?! Preposterous. Though… keeping goo off her face and slimes out of her mouth definitely seemed like a good idea.

"Cool idea, right Kay?" Ria asked her.

She was hot enough with the waterproof pants and frock on, and now Ria wanted to make her face sweat too? "Cool isn't quite the word I would choose."

Ria's face fell. "Oh, you don't like it… they have other designs, but I thought this one would go with the frock."

"Milady, shall I help you try it on?" Miela smoothly offered.

"Ah… yes, please."

Realistically, a plain white ghost mask was probably better than the goblin or ogre mask that Ria would probably come back with next.

Ria seemed happy that she was trying it on, so that was good. The suede leather was gentle enough against her soft skin as Miela tied the black ribbons around the back of her head, and the eye holes still gave her enough field of view, even if it was stifling as expected.

Once the mask was secure, Ria pulled the frock's hood up and grabbed Keira's hands pulling them up in front of her. "Okay, now hold your arms just like that."

What was the point of holding her arms like this?

"Haha, that's great, Ria. You have an excellent eye," the merchant praised.

"What do you think, Miela?" Ria asked, looking pleased with herself for some reason.

"Yes. I think you've achieved the desired look quite well," Miela agreed with a chuckle.

What was that about?

"Kay, now turn slowly to face Harvin, but keep your arms just like that," Ria told her.

Keira still didn't get the point of this, but she followed the instructions, and Guardsman Harvin looked a bit uncomfortable.

"Now walk toward Harvin."

Maybe they wanted to see if she could move around well enough? Keira started walking toward Guardsman Harvin.

"Hey now," Guardsman Harvin complained, worriedly stepping back to maintain his distance.

Ah-! The ghost mask! Ria made her pose like a ghost!

"Ria…," Keira complained, lowering her arms with a sigh. She had been used as a dress-up doll. This definitely wasn't what she had in mind when she thought shopping with her friend would be fun.

Ria chuckled proudly. "Hahaha, isn't it great? Like this, won't your family let you show me around the Festival of Fears?"

"Yes, I think there's a good chance her grandfather would be amused at her enthusiasm and let her go out," Miela concurred.

"Well, going in disguise like this would be safer," Harvin offered.

Her friend had surprised her again. Had she planned this from the start? Only using the idea of slime protection as a ruse to get her to go along? Her parents had never let her actually attend the festival, so she had to admit she was interested.

"I'd like that, Ria. I'll try to get my parents to let me go," Keira agreed.

Ria rushed forward and grabbed her hands excitedly. "That's great! I can't wait to get started making my costume. I've got something really fun in mind… but that'll have to wait. We'd better finish getting you outfitted. Leon will probably be done soon."

By the time they had rejoined the magic knight boy, Ria had outfitted her with a backpack to 'carry extra loot'. Why did she have to wear a pack? Isn't that what servants were for? Ria had convinced her by pointing out that the slime gel was used to make the ink for the enchanted paper, and she could hardly complain since Ria was also wearing a large pack.

The magic knight boy, Leon, seemed to approve of her festival mask and told Ria it was a good idea. That Leon thought the mask was Ria's idea at glance… Keira wondered why that was.

"Wow, look! That big sis already has a mask for the festival!" Keira heard a boy call out, and the boy and some friends came running up to her. "Big sis! That mask is really cool! Where'd you get it?"

Keira had never really interacted with the village kids before, so she was a little unsure how to respond. "The junk shop… er… the merchant over there, Gerard."

The kids eyes all lit up. "Whoa! That's great! My older brother says Gerard sells all kinds of cool things for cheap. Let's go, guys!!"

Excitedly following the leader, all of the kids ran off to Gerard's store. Keira guessed that counted as the advertising that Ria had agreed to do. It was less embarrassing than she thought it would be.

"See, I told you it was cool!" Ria gloated.

"I guess…" Whether it was ‘cool’ to kids or ‘cool’ for a noble girl to wear were two different things… maybe her friend's sensibilities were more in-line with the village children.

Ria was already skipping off toward the gates in a good mood, Ranger trotting excitedly at her side. Keira hurried to catch up.

"I hope she doesn't run off again once we get outside the gate…," Leon muttered, worriedly from beside her.

Was that a problem that happened often? Keira wondered. "What do we do if she runs off?"

Leon looked at her and shrugged. "Do our best to keep up, I guess?"

Watching Ria bounding lightly even in her bulky armor and pack… "I don't think that's possible."

"I know, right?" Leon agreed.

"Morning, kids. Heading out to play?" one of the gate guards greeted them as they approached.

"Yep! Slime hunting in the woods," Ria answered cheerfully.

"The woods, is it? Well, be careful and have fun," the guard waved them along. "Hah, Harvin, you and the maid on babysitting duty, huh?"

"Something like that," Harvin acknowledged.

Hmph. Not like she couldn't take care of herself. Keira couldn't wait until she was on her own at the academy… though her parents would probably make her take Miela with her…

Directly after exiting the west gate, Ria led them along the guard path north around the palisade.

By the time they reached where the stream passed through a grate of iron bars to flow under the wall, Keira was already overheated and tired. "Ria, I need to rest. I'm too hot in this… outfit."

"Huh? Can't you use Alteration Magic to make yourself cooler?" Ria asked surprised.

Wha-? Had she been suffering needlessly? One of the things she had prioritized early on in her magic studies was learning a spell to make her clothes cooler in order to stave off the unbearable summer heat.

"Shouldn't I save my inner energy for fighting the slimes?" Keira asked in return.

"There's no need to worry about that,” Ria told her. “The place we're headed is a place of power, so you'll be able to replenish your energy when we get there.”

Gah! She had been suffering needlessly! And now she was all sweaty, too.

Sighing, Keira took out her wand and focused on the magic, forming the meaning glyphs and control structures to cast her spell for altering the temperature of her clothing with a familiarity that came from daily practice. It cost a third of her inner energy, but almost immediately, her discomfort eased.

Plopping down in a rather unladylike fashion she rested her legs while watching Ria get out a scroll of some kind.

“Activate #47. Things Kylie will purchase.”

After Ria spoke some kind of activation keywords, energy surged outward from the scroll to cover a dome comparable in size to the village. Keira was stunned that Ria would use up such a powerful scroll just to locate some herbs to sell. Surely, they wouldn’t find enough herbs to make up for the cost of the scroll… and certainly not this close to the village. What was her friend thinking?!

“Oh? What’s this?” Ria moved over to the stream bank, got on her stomach, and reached over the edge. “Leon, hold my legs.”

“You sure that’s safe?” Leon asked worriedly as he squatted down to do as Ria had asked. Keira was wondering that very thing herself.

“Yep. Mmm… got it!” Ria declared triumphantly as she scooted back and held up what looked like a grotesque brown ridge of some kind. “Lucky! You see the size of this mushroom?!”

“What is it?” Leon asked as Ria got out a cloth and placed the mushroom on top.

“No clue. But it’s got magic energy, and the scroll says Kylie will buy it,” Ria answered happily as she reached over the edge to retrieve more of the diseased-looking fungus.

Did Ria actually find a valuable ingredient so quickly? Keira couldn’t believe it.

…But even so, wasn’t the girl worried about snakes? Using her energy-sight, Keira saw that Ria had already cast her ‘Sensing Sphere’ spell. Maybe she was confident in her ability to sense any nearby threats?

After gathering a few more, Ria tied up the cloth and placed it in her pack.

“Keira, want to help?” Ria cheerfully asked. “With your magic sight, you could easily find the visible plants while I get the hidden and underground ones.”

“Are there really that many this close to the village?” Keira asked in surprise as she motioned for Miela to help her up.

“Whether a lot or not…” Ria shrugged. “Here, take a look.”

The scroll was still putting out a surprising amount of energy, and as Ria held it out for her to see, a multitude of dark arrows shifted to maintain their directions. How could the spell keep track of so many locations?

“What kind of magic is this, Ria?” Keira asked.

Her friend puffed up with pride. “It’s mainly a divination, but also uses shadow magic to show the results. Cool, right?”

“It is very impressive,” Keira admitted. “But shouldn’t it have run out of energy by now?”

Ria shook her head. “It’s linked to the local places of power.”

“You’re kidding,” she breathed out. There’s no way linking such a fragile material to places of power was safe… “What happens when the scroll wears out?”

Ria assured her that the fail-safe would render the magic harmless when the scroll failed or was damaged. Keira wasn’t sure she believed that, but her friend knew more about enchanting than she did. The one thing she did know was that the magic was ridiculously useful. Just by following the arrows closest to the center, the scroll led them to ingredient find after ingredient find. Even more so after they entered the forest.

No wonder Ria wanted them to wear large packs! But a horrible realization came to her. If Ria intended to actually fill up her pack with ‘loot’, how heavy would it be?!

Keira glanced back at Miela, who was carrying a lunch basket and happily following behind, and got a warm smile in response.

Ugh. And Guardsman Harvin wasn’t going to be any help either. Since they entered the forest, he had his crossbow at the ready.

Beside her, Ria was scooping some slimy beads into a vial. Probably eggs of some kind.

Keira was relieved to see Leon having as much difficulty with the trek through the woods as she was… because Ria wasn’t the slightest bit winded, still cheerfully leading them to follow the stream deeper into the forest. Is that the kind of stamina that it takes to cross the highland wilds? she wondered.

“Shouldn’t we be checking for monsters, Ria?” Leon worried.

“Hmm, thought you weren’t interested in fighting monsters this trip?” Ria replied teasingly as she corked the vial and stored it.

“I’m not,” Leon asserted and huffed, “That’s the point.”

The way Ria was chuckling, Keira was sure her friend had a mischievous grin under that crow helmet. “Ranger hasn’t noticed anything dangerous so far. But if you’re sure you want to know…”

Keira and Leon glanced at the gray dog sniffing around the base of a tree some distance away.

The evil crow mask turned toward her, and Ria’s voice intoned, “Reactivate #47. Monsters and dangerous beasts.”

Keira held her breath as she looked down at the enchanted scroll she was holding for her friend. The number of arrows reduced dramatically with the scroll now showing a moving arrow pointing to the other side of the stream and a cluster just barely in range ahead to the left.

“Hmm, these up here are probably the slimes.” Ria pointed at the cluster of arrows then pointed at the lone moving arrow. “This one is moving pretty fast, so it’s probably in the air.”

Harvin and Leon also leaned close to take a look.

In the distance, Keira thought she heard the piercing cry of a bird of prey.

“Probably a screaming roc. Won’t likely attack us unless we provoke it first,” Ria stated.

Harvin nodded his agreement with that assessment. “Yeah, they don’t usually bother our patrols unless we get too close to a nest.”

Switching the scroll back to looking for sellable items, they resumed following the stream and foraging, and after crossing a few muddy gullies, changed direction to follow a brook feeding into the stream.

Keira noticed a cluster of arrows on the scroll that looked suspiciously like the cluster of monsters they noted earlier, and they were headed right toward it.

The number of slimes attacking them seemed endless. Keira used her wand to lance another large slime with a beam of light and stomped a small one that got too close and was preparing to launch itself at her.

Leon was in front of her, stabbing and crushing them with his ridiculous wooden sword as fast as he could, but half the time, his sword would bounce off, causing him to lose his balance. If they weren’t currently being overwhelmed, it would be hilarious.

Ria was holding her own, zapping slimes five at a time with that crazy wand she had. Her magic dagger cleanly pierced the core of any that managed to get close enough to directly attack, and an occasional flare of fire discouraged the groups of small slimes from approaching her carelessly.

Suddenly, a sparkling blue slime darted out from the water, and moving faster than any slime she’d ever seen, made a series of quick hops abruptly closing the distance to Ria. It ate one of Ria’s lightning bolt’s full blast, powering through it, and launched itself onto her chest before slipping under her mask with alarming speed.

“Ria!” Keira yelled out in panic.

Her friend reeled back grasping at her throat before yanking off her mask and swallowing down the slime with tortured gulps then gasping for air.

Oh no!

Keira despaired for her friend being eaten from the inside, but before she could rush to Ria’s side, Ria doubled over and vomited out the slime in a puddle of bloody bile and half-digested breakfast. Just as the slime was quivering to attack again, a crossbow bolt speared it in place, piercing it’s semi-solid core.

“Damn Quickslime,” Guardsman Harvin cursed out.

Ranger made concerned noises from beside Ria as Keira’s injured friend fumbled with getting a healing potion into her bloody and acid-damaged mouth. Kiera stabbed another slime with her rapier and ran over to take over keeping the slimes from approaching Ria. “Leon! Help her! I’ll draw the slimes away!”

Leon didn’t waste time acknowledging and darted over to Ria, tossing his sword to the ground as he helped the reeling girl take out a shallow wooden box.

Dragging her focus back to the slimes drawn in by her magic energy, Keira shot beams of light and stabbed with a determined ferocity.

Guardsman Harvin was soon by her side helping hold the line. “Perhaps we should withdraw for now?”

“Activate #41!” Leon called out.

Keira dared another glance back. The powerful scroll activated, and its binding constructs focused the generated spell effect on Ria, rapidly targeting locations within her friend’s body. The magic was unlike anything she had seen before. The rapid precision was awe-inspiring.

“Milady!” Harvin warned.

Tearing her gaze away, she reacted with her rapier just in time to slice a leaping slime in half, splattering herself with its acidic goo. As the goo slid off the rain frock, Keira could only thank Ria for her foresight in convincing her to buy the heavy clothing. She stabbed a few more slimes that approached too close.

To Keira’s horror, more slimes began glooping and plopping out of the small pond, drawn out by the magic from the active scroll. Some of the slimes were drawn toward her, but the majority bobbed and blobbed inexorably toward Ria like a slow moving doom.

“I should’ve brought a devastator,” Ria croaked and climbed back unsteadily to her feet, launching a lightning arc at a slime that Ranger was holding at bay by pressing it down with his paw. Poor Ranger had learned the hard way that biting bags of acid wasn’t particularly helpful and seemed frustrated that he couldn’t do more to help. Ria worked her jaw and spat blood onto the ground. “I’ve had enough. I’m boiling these guys and their pond too. Leon, my quill.”

Knight-boy gave Ria a worried look before quickly digging out Ria’s phoenix feather. He then nervously took his distance as Ria began gathering dangerous amounts of unconstrained fire energy.

Ah-! “Harvin, we’re withdrawing!”

There was no time for giving consideration to orderly retreat. Keira ran for the trees where Miela was watching their struggles from. Whatever wild magic her friend was doing, if she lost control—or even if she didn’t—the whole wooded hollow might be turned to ash.

Harvin was right on her heels not needing any further encouragement.

The quill suddenly burst into intense flames and with a motion of her hand, Ria sent streams of fire at the approaching slimes, charring some and igniting others. The temperature of the air rose noticeably even from where Keira was watching from behind a tree.

Once satisfied that the slimes were no longer moving, her friend shaped the flames into a vortex of fire above the pond, intensifying until bubbles began to roil the surface of the water. The terrifying display of raw power continued until her friend’s energy ran out.

Keira had never seen anything like that before. The inefficiency was horrific, but the effect was undeniable. To be able to control that amount of chaotic fire energy through will alone… such was unimaginable. Could royal bloodline mages from the Vesali family do that?

“Ugh. That was tiring.” Ria slumped to her knees then seemed to realize what she had done as she looked around at the remaining burnt globs of slime and smoldering grass, pebbles, and dried mud lining the pond’s shore. “Ah!!! The ingredients!! I’m a total idiot!!!!”

A sigh escaped from Keira at the ridiculousness.

“Hey, Ria, you okay?” Leon asked tentatively as he unturtled from behind his shield.

“Yeah… thanks to your help with the scroll, Leon. Deactivate #41. Ah, that was so scary…”

A blooping sound came from the pond, followed by more bloops. Until the surface of the water was covered by unmoving slimes, bobbing about.

Suddenly, Ria began to laugh. A chuckle, then evil guffaws, followed by full-throated cackling. “Leon, Keira! We did it! Help me gather the dead slimes!”

“Good thing you got it out. Quickslimes are mage-killers. The magic energy draws 'em. Thank the gods they are rare,” Harvin was saying as they sat around a campfire eating the sandwiches that Miela had prepared.

“I thought I was gonna die for sure! I did the only thing I could think of to keep it out of my lungs—just lucky my stomach rebelled violently enough!”

Leon blanched at the memory but soldiered on, “The packs are full, and we more than met the quota for the slime-hunting job, do we head back now?”

Ria glanced at Keira. “I was thinking to meditate by the pond to improve my attunement with water energy…”

Keira shrugged. She needed to replenish her own energy as well. “I think an hour more would be fine.”

A glance at Miela, who was stitching cuffs into Keira’s rain-frock as promised, confirmed that was fine, though Miela still used the opportunity to tease her, “Don’t forget you need to allow time for your written report, milady.”

Resisting the urge to reward Miela by groaning, Keira just nodded.