“Hmm… … … …” Eliot muttered under his breath in the dim, humid caverns. He felt like he had just been swallowed by an angry dragon, but instead of finding utter doom in the beast’s stomach, he found a chest full of glittering gems.

He was a bit out of breath. And his voice still had the adolescent squeak of a lad in his early teen years. And because of how tired he was, it sounded even more high-pitched.

“This is…. good, I guess? But what the hell am I supposed to do now?” Eliot continued speaking to himself with a tired voice, tinged with both elation and worry. A strange combination of emotions, and Eliot seemed confused as to which emotion he should stress more.

In contrast with the dim caverns, there was a section on the walls glowing with neon light. Looking closely, it was a mouth to a smaller chamber. A cavern within a cavern, if you will.

Eliot has been standing at the mouth of the inner chamber for quite a while now, and an orb of ethereal green light was floating beside him. A look of glee and distress could be seen on his face. As if he was trying to make sense of what he was witnessing.

“Humph! Master! You should stop talking to yourself! I know the baddies all left but you are still embarrassing me!” Another voice sounded. But this one was female, high pitched, silvery, disembodied.

“What if another ghost eavesdrops on you and spreads a rumour that my master is bananas?! It’s humiliating! Social Suicide!”, the female voice continued teasingly.

“Argh, shut up Sugarette. Just… Be quiet for a few seconds.”, Eliot, who was woken from his stupor said helplessly. He then looked at the floating green orb of, now less ethereal, light and said,

“And what if a ghost hears me. You’re not one. And in fact, you don’t even like ghosts.”, Knowing he couldn’t ignore her any longer he humored her with a reply.

“That’s beside the point! Master, you should still stop talking to yourself! Even though you have me, your cute, beautiful, charming, ‘mature’ fairy guide Ahea=Sucrevana!”, her true identity finally revealed, the fairy-like being complained to the young man. As if she was angry at whatever wonder Eliot was looking at because it stole his attention away from her even for a second.

Fed up with her antics, the young man rubbed his temple to abate his growing headache.

“You’re not a fairy either, you’re a… you know what, just shut up for a few seconds. I need to figure out what I’m supposed to do now.”, Eliot said.

“Just harvest them all. I don’t see what’s the problem.”, Sugarette suggested.

“The problem is, if someone catches me with all these high-grade plants, I’ll be the next unfortunate soul to go missing!”, Eliot rebuked.

“Then leave them. If they’re so much trouble, I don’t see why you need to risk your life for a few berries and shrooms.”, bored with just standing there and thinking, a task which for Sugarette was as daunting as slaying a mighty ogre with just a toothpick when the ogre was in full plate armor and the toothpick was made of cotton, she urged her master to quickly do something, anything.

“… … You know why.”, Eliot said weakly. The young man sighed helplessly. His companion was right. He had just stumbled upon a motherlode of treasure, but was unsure if the treasure was valuable enough for him to risk his life.

In front of the young man opened a small semi-circular chamber, very humid but not quite as dark as the rest of the caverns. Growing along the walls and on the floors were an assortment of grade 3 and 4 magical plants ranging from small herbs with black spotted berries and creepy looking purple glowing mushrooms.

This, was the problem.

While for the truly rich and powerful, grade 3 or 4 magical plants might not mean anything, it was a fate changing fortuitous encounter for Eliot.

For 15 years, no even before that, from when he was transported to this world, he had been living a life of utter mediocrity. 15 years of this life, 25 of his past. 40 long years of nothing but going along with the flow. Even when he tried to go against his grey destiny, destiny always forcefully dragged him along. Like an overly attached lover who was also a control freak.

But now, he had a chance. Now, he had a choice. The grey curtains of his life had slowly, but surely been ripped away small pieces at a time by his annoying, yet caring companion.

It would be risky.

Immensely risky.

This world was not like his past world, not like Earth.

Here, street rats no older that 6 would cripple each other for a loaf of rotten bread.

Here, gangs of unregulated superhumans roamed the streets eyeing any piece of valuables they could find. And if they could get away with it, they robbed.

The young man himself was someone of the lowest rung of society. No one would care if he suddenly disappeared (Of course, not counting Sugarette).

And a treasure trove of grade 3 and 4 magical plants was more than enough reason for angry mobs of ruffians to go after his head.

He knew there were safer options than trying to hoard all of it by himself. He could give the location away to the local adventurer’s guild headquarters. As sketchy as many of the low ranked adventurers might seem, the guild itself tried to operate as honestly as possible. He was sure they would do everything to preserve his anonymity. That way he would get at least 10% of the total if he was lucky.

He could just turn a blind eye and continue to adventure with his companion. Just staying with her would make his destiny more colourful than ever before.

However,

“Geez, master. I get it. So impatient~ You know you won’t get any girls if you are always so jittery.”

“I’m sorry.”, the young man kept his head down.

He had made his decision. The safe route was a slow route, at least for him. For the first time in his life, both past and present, the young man had resolved to take a risk. Both for him, and his companion.

“But that’s okay~ Because master, you have me! Even if other girls don’t like you, I always will!”, the fairy like creature chided happily while fluttering around his head.

“And if the baddies come back to take away what’s ours, I’ll beat them black and blue! You can count on me, right?”

The young man smiled as his companion tried to cheer him up.

He knew, because if he messed up, he would doom them both.

But that’s okay. Even though she was annoying and sometimes even dumb, as long as they were together, he believed, no, he knew they would be able to overcome any challenge.

Now wasn’t the time to be gloomy, or to be hesitating. The chance was here, all he had to do was grasp it.

That’s why,

“Yeah. I’ll leave my back to you. We’ll make this work, Sugarette. I promise! And after, we’ll go get your divinity back.”

This was their story.

Of a world crossed young man, Eliot Wyon, and his impish little companion, the fallen goddess of the land forgotten by time, Ahea=Sucrenava.

And how they made a place for themselves as the weak, in a world where only the strong matter.

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“Then again Sugarette, you can’t touch anything. So how are you going to beat up the bad guys? Maybe you really are a ghost. Ahahaha!”

“Wha- Shut up! Stupid master! You ruined the mood!!”