Chapter 15: Red, Orange, Yellow

A month after Dust arrived in Laharre...

The footsteps of two individuals made crunching sounds as their shoes pressed down on the dry leaves that covered the ground. The dirt below could still be seen on the road, but the same could not be said for the forested terrain these two walked over. One of the individuals was a young woman, her green eyes looking down as her feet played with the leaves.

Red, orange, yellow.

These colors painted the ground in the form of dried leaves. A chilly wind blew over the two figures walking in the forest, making the girl's radiant golden hair fly up in a dazzling manner... along with her skirt. Her eyes widened in surprise, her hands hurriedly pulled on the black skirt, pushing it back down to quickly cover her important areas.

Her head quickly turned, looking at the brown-haired young man beside her, the girl's eyes narrowed suspiciously. Her face displayed vexation, her mouth opened and a beautiful voice leaked out, "...You didn't see anything," She pouted, her other hand tucking some of her golden hair behind her ears, which were pointed, a trademark of her race.

She was an elf.

The girl looked away to the side for a few moments, before she glanced back at the brown-haired young man walking beside her. Their eyes met, his brown eyes narrowing and his face twisting into an obscene expression.

His features were handsome and prince-like, but his expression right now would scare away even the most desperate of women. At this sight, the golden-haired elf's eyebrows twitched in annoyance, her shoulders trembled for a moment before she finally erupted, "Would you stop looking at me like that!? It's happened three times—"

"Four times." The boy interrupted, smiling in amusement.

"Four times already! Why does this happen to only me!? What about Layla? Why isn't she being victimized by this weather!?" She stomped her foot on the ground repeatedly, her hands gripping her staff tightly in rage.

"Layla's at the guild, the color of your underwear is safe with me," The boy said, his voice dying as he murmured, "...But white? As expected of Alicia..."

Alicia, having heard everything thought about punching her partner, but realized it would only invoke more suffering on her part, "Ugh..." she made a disgusted sound as she looked down begrudgingly. She raised her head, her face twisting into a wronged expression, "You know what, Ace? I don't even care anymore! I'm heading to the city first!!"

She sped up her pace, stomping about as she overtook the brown-haired young man. As if in response to her words and actions, the wind blew once more, this time blowing up the back of her skirt, giving her partner a clear, unobstructed view.

Ace's eyes widened his face displaying an astonished expression, "Laces!! There are laces! Ahahaha!" He suddenly began to laugh uproariously, his hand clutching his stomach as he bent over.

Alice stopped in her tracks, her skirt still flying up. Her hair covered her eyes as she looked down darkly, her mouth continuously muttered words that were carried away by the wind. Ace kept laughing, wiping away tears at the corner of his eyes as she turned around to face him, her staff pointed in his direction.

Ace, who saw this, suddenly felt danger. His eyes widened in terror as he prepared for the worst, her voice echoed out, "Greater... Fireball!!" A massive half-meter sized ball of fire formed atop her staff and flew towards Ace at a blisteringly fast speed.

"Seriously!? An E-Rank spell!? Isn't this your strongest one!?" He screamed in dismay as he jumped to the side and likewise began to mutter chants under his breath. He landed and used the force of his jump to roll further, finishing his chant just as the massive ball of fire hit the ground.

The spell was a powerful one, and Alicia could barely cast it four times with her current mana pool as an F-Rank adventurer. Greater Fireball was commonly used by E-Ranks and its power was not to be underestimated.

On collision with the ground, the ball of fire created a terrifying explosion, enveloping the area within a three-meter radius in vicious hellfire, sending rock and dust flying everywhere. Ace was nowhere to be seen, but Alicia merely gave out an angry "Hmph," and left, walking in the direction of the city.

Ace's voice rang out from within the dust, "You aren't even going to check if I'm alright!? You almost killed me!"

The dust cleared and revealed Ace in a kneeling position, his right hand grasping a wooden staff that gave off a golden light and his gray robes covered in dirt. Above him was a dome of transparent golden light, forming a shield covered in cracks.

It shouldn't be misunderstood that [Greater Fireball] was a weak spell, Ace had set up three layers of the F-Rank spell, [Golden Barrier] and the final layer barely withstood the remnants of the blast, as he wasn't even at the point of impact. This spell was a truly terrifying one.

Ace waved his staff and the barrier collapsed and faded away. He sighed as Alicia's voice rang out from far away, "As if my spell could kill the Holy Doctor's protégé. Hurry up and enter the city with me, Layla's waiting for us at the guild."

"Protégé my ass... says the top student of this city's Magic Institute..." Ace muttered dejectedly as he brushed away the dirt on his robes, his pace speeding up as he caught up to the golden-haired elf.

-\o/-

The city was bustling and filled with activity as always, and it was no different for the Adventurer's Guild. Heads and monster materials were turned in and rewards were exchanged. Bounties were taken down as targets were slain and more would take its place.

Leaning against the wall near the guild's entrance was a young girl. Her height was a bit below average and her auburn hair was cut short, fer coppery eyes continuously scanned the surroundings, her feet tapping against the ground impatiently.

On her back hung a large tower shield and a simple longsword, her armor was a mix between metal and leather, her shoulder pads had a thin layer of metal covered by leather and under her leather chest piece was a set of chainmail. The metal boots an her feet jingled as she thumped it against the wooden floor. Her armor had the benefit of being able to withstand hits without sacrificing much mobility.

Her lightly armored arms were crossed in front of her chest and her entire person was dripping with restlessness. Finally, her eyes caught sight of two individuals that entered the guild. One was am annoyed elf and the other was a smiling young man.

She sighed and her face displayed a slight smile as she approached the two. The elf took notice of her and similarly smiled, waving in her direction, "Hey Layla! Over here!" She said.

Layla arrived and exchanged greetings with Ace and Alicia. They had just finished a job and Layla had gone ahead of them to turn in their earnings while the two of them took care of some business in a village a few days away. Layla opened her bag and took out a pouch filled to the brim with coins.

"The over-sized turtles we hunted down gave us quite a bit, this should be seventy silver, Alicia." She said as she gave all of their earnings to the elf, who was entrusted with their funds.

Alicia nodded, they were getting closer to being able to afford another Rank 3 Magic Item. These items were much better than the 'Lesser Magic Items' that most novice adventurers used, and were referred to as 'Ranked Magic Items'. Ranked items went up until rank 10, and naturally, the higher the rank, the better.

"We're getting closer! If we get another Rank 3 Magic Item, we could probably take on E-Rank requests and increase all of our ranks!" Layla cheerfully spoke, her eyes sparkling like a child who was given a new toy.

"I wonder what I should pick, a new spell book is good, but my staff is getting old too..." Ace said. His hand cupped his chin in a thoughtful manner and his eyes narrowed in contemplation.

"Your healing spells are good as-is, a good staff could probably amplify your spells to make them more useful." Alicia's voice reached his ears, making Ace nod in agreement.

"We should hurry up and pick out a new request then, I want to have my vengeance on that stupid vampire..." Layla spoke with anger in her voice, thinking back to how she was chased around by a large pack of giant bats on their last rank-up attempt.

The three of them proceeded to plan out their next move, but a commotion suddenly sprang up in the guild. Many people flocked around one of the request boards.

Seeing the chaos, the trio also decided to see what all the fuss was about. The entire request board was taken up by a single large piece of paper, it said:

Undead Subjugation:

By the request of the mayor, the adventurer's guild is asked to help the city guards in clearing out the Darkwoods nearby. The local undead have suddenly begun to increase in number and are wreaking havoc around the area, completely wiping out one of the nearby villages. Twenty groups are needed, and each group will have five individuals randomly assigned to it. Any participants will of course, be rewarded by the city in the form of gold and other rewards depending on contribution. Upon having your name listed in the Adventurer's Guild's roster, you will be given an advance payment of one gold. The subjugation will take place three days from now.

Secure the lives of nearby innocents by participating on this task. Remember that the Goddess Luna has never left a good deed unrewarded.

Restrictions: Only F-Ranks and above may participate.

The three of them considered the benefits and decided on taking this task. Although they'd have to be cautious of the stronger undead, and maybe even a necromancer, the overall danger shouldn't be that high. If they participated, this request's reward should be enough to buy them a Rank 3 Magic Item, making things much easier for them.

They hurriedly had their names listed in the roster before all the slots were taken and decided to take an early break today to prepare for the difficult one a dew days later.

As they left the guild, an adventurer dressed in a blue jacket under leather armor had his name listed on the roster too. He nodded contentedly and left, the two bundles of cloth on his back attracting no small amount of attention.

None of these adventurers knew about the horrors that they'd be experiencing three days later.

Chapter End.

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Author's Note:

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