Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

I came back to consciousness with a start. The sun shone brightly above me and I raised an arm to block out the rays of sunlight. How long did I sleep?

“Hey, hey. You, yes you. You’re finally awake! Jeez, I’ve been yelling next to you for quite a while now. Thought you might have needed a true love’s kiss or something to wake up.”

Apparently not enough since I’m hearing voices again. Loneliness really does horrible things to the mind. I thought I already went past the whole ‘imaginary people talking to me’ phase, color me disappointed.

I sat up and swiped at the dirt clinging to my outfit. I’ve been sleeping in the wilderness for quite a while now, but I still can’t stand the stuff that gets stuck in your clothes when you just sleep on the ground. There are bugs sometimes and those really creep me out, and of course there was that one time with the squirrel…

“Oi, pretty lookin’. Ya ignoring us or somethin’, ha? Do ya need me to knock some sense into ya empty fuckin’ brain?”

What?

I quickly turned around, and came face to face with two people. The one with the mage robes seemed to be playing with his fingers, and the one with a sword and red hair was eyeing my chest. Alright, what the fuck is going on?

“Who are you two? I would have sensed you if you guys had the intent to harm me. Just travelers or adventurers, then?” I tilted my head. “How interesting, what brings you to the middle of nowhere? There isn’t an inn nearby, there aren’t any notable beasts to slay for your party to gain fame.”

The red-haired spoke up. “Ya, obviously. We came here to find ya, stupid. Stop fucking ‘round, ya hear me? He wants ya, and he’s comin’ to get ya. There’s nothing much to it.” He laughed mid-sentence. “Kah! I normally won’t indulge this idiot’s whims, but if it's fer a woman, even I understand the motive, ya know?”

He… wants me? At my puzzling look, the mage finally spoke up. “Oi, don’t word it like that. I want her for her strength, wisdom and experience as a party member. You're making me sound like some kind of pervert who only thinks with my dick.”

The swordsman laughed again, this time even louder. “Kah! Isn’t that how it is? Plenty of mages lazin’ ‘round these days, and you had to travel for ages to this one forest for such a pretty lookin’ woman. Who the hell ya think you’re foolin’, you? Stop bein’ a runt and grow a pair.” He turned to me, extending a hand. “I’m Reid, the idiot there’s Flugel, and we got a whole fucking dragon as a teammate. That’s that, introductions fucking over, let's leave this place, ya good?”

…

Is that… how recruitments normally work? I’ve not seen a professional adventurer party for about 20 years but from my fuzzy memories I'm pretty sure that’s not how you pick up a party member. And shouldn’t the members be professional to each other? I think it was in the rule book and everything.

And, a dragon? I’m not that old in terms of a Great Spirit, but I’m still almost 1000 years old, and I’ve seen a total of 3 dragons. Those creatures are rare and elusive, and they got one of those prideful creatures to be a party member?

The mage stood up and my danger senses immediately flared up. This one’s strong. Not at his peak yet, but his aura is large. This one has got heaps of potential, my my. “Don’t mind Reid, he sucks at talking. He’s only good at charming the ladies and that’s definitely not because of his speaking skills. He got one thing right though, what I’m looking for is you. I’m supposed to be the mage of the party, but I don’t have a proper teacher and lack experience. Join us, and you won’t have to worry about food, clothing or shelter.” He smiled at me. Should I join him? I’ve been pretty bored lately.

“Is there anything I need to do as a party member if I join?”

“Of course, just teach this fool to the best of your ability, okay? I promise to be a good student, so join us already.” Hmm, he’s making this offer tempting. “After all, you’re lonely, right? You’re suppressing your mana all the time just to make yourself more approachable to critters, what a Coyote Starrk wannabe.”

I flinched back in shock. The boy sensed my suppressed mana? “No one sensed my suppressed mana before, what are you? How did you even do that?”

Reid whacked Flugel on the back of his head, and scolded, “Ya fool! You chased her all the way to this fucking place just to scare her off, you. Just give her an invite or somethin’, yea? Get this over with or she’ll run off. Ya don’t want pretty lookin’ here to leave ya high an’ dry, do ya?” He grabbed my hand and took off with Flugel chasing after the both of us. “Just come with us already, you. Let’s go out fer a drink.”

I’m being carried like a sack of potatoes. Please, have some mercy! He's going way too fast!

“Can I even refuse this offer?” I barely choked out.

“Kah! Of course not, pretty lookin’. You’re stuck with us now!”

“At least carry me properly!”

____________________________________________________________________________

It was quiet in the inn when I woke up, the morning rays of sunlight filtering in through the shuttered windows. Loud snores can be heard right next to me and I laughed a bit. Flugel always snored when he slept, and he always looked so tired when he just woke up. It’s kind of mean for me to laugh at a friend like that but a drowsy Flugel is a hilarious sight.

I got dressed quickly, throwing on my usual black dress. We planned to stock up on supplies before leaving this town and with Flugel like… that, I probably will have to carry most of the food, water and essential items this time.

I passed by the innkeeper and he bowed to me before scurrying away. Weird, maybe it's because our adventuring party has gotten more famous? More and more people do seem to recognize us on sight these days. Don’t know if that's a good thing or bad thing. We could get some sway and favors if we need it because of the fame, but if we got too famous some people might get a few nasty ideas. Then again, not a lot of people out there can even take on one member of Flugel’s party so we should be fine even if we get targeted.

“What’s yer making that face for, you. And where’s that waste of a man?” Reid appeared next to me, with a scantily clothed woman dangling on his left arm. “Gah, you don’t look tired at all! So he didn’t do nothin’, then. It’s the first time the idiot slept in the same room as ya, and he fucking blew his chance.” He- what? Reid shooed the woman away, and she left while giggling softly. “With strength like that and all he’s doin’ is bein’ a useless follower, kah! What a waste. He’s not even behavin’ like a man. Should have found his resolve ages ago, hmm.”

“I don’t think we… are in that kind of relationship? We are friends and nothing else!” Oh no, I’m blushing. Why am I blushing? Please stop blushing! “Please stop saying stuff like that, what will the others think? There will be so many misunderstandings spread about us now that we’re kind of well-known if we keep this up.”

He barked out a loud laugh. “Kah! Just friends. Look at yer red face, pretty lookin’. Do ya even believe what ya just said, you? Plus, ya the only one trying to deny this whole thing going on. I can’t be standin’ this much sexual tension, so just fuck and get over both of ya pinin’ phase, won’t ya? I was gonna let you figure this whole thing out on your own, but ya slept in the same room together and still didn’t do nothin’. Got to give the both of ya a shove, no?” He looked around while I was just standing there, processing what he just said. “Speaking of the follower, where’s Flugel? He didn’t ditch ya and go fer another girl, did he? Nah, he’s too righteous to do that. Still sleepin’, then?”

He marched towards our room immediately, and I hurried after him. What is he even doing? Shouldn’t we be replenishing our supplies? He threw open the door to our room and yelled out, “Ya idiot, yer making a girl wait for ya. What do you have goin’ fer ya to have all the girls bending over for yer lazy ass, you. What about yer plans for the 1-year anniversary of this party, huh?”

As Flugel woke up with a start, I covered my face because of my mortification. That yell was loud and everyone in the inn probably heard it. Everyone’s gonna talk about Flugel having some girl now, fuck! I… really don’t want to deal with the aftermath of this whole thing. At least Volcanica isn’t here to watch everything unfold, so there’s that.

Wait, what 1-year anniversary?

Chapter Text

Our party has been accepting some difficult missions as of late, and we’ve been finishing most of them efficiently. I’ve never been so rich before. With all the resources we gathered and connections we forged, we could probably buy a small city and just live a cozy life forever. But sadly, that luxury can’t be afforded, since the evils of the world are still out there, unchecked. There’s only so many competent and active parties of adventurers, so the guild needs everyone they can get, no matter how green or talentless. Since countries don't normally care about thugs, roadmen and bandits not in their borders, it’s up to the adventurer's guild to handle requests for caravan escorts, or other missions that require fighters.

The Witches of Sin are also proving to be a bit of a bother. They aren’t world-ending threats like some people are insinuating, but there are some exceptionally troublesome ones like the Witch of Gluttony. She’s been active for a while and produced so many Mabeasts out of thin air, which is one of the major reasons why the adventurer's guild is currently short on staff. The Witch of Lust also already made multiple countries wage war against each other, so she’s got to go.

The most dangerous one out of them has got to be the Witch of Wrath, however. Due to the wars caused by the Witch of Lust, the Witch of Wrath has been healing everyone injured because of it. That includes soldiers no matter which side and unlucky civilians that didn’t evacuate on time and were stuck in the middle of a battlefield. That’s all well and good, until magicians did some research on the unexplainable deaths and injuries of countless people and finally figured out that for every person she saved, a random person in the world would die. This alarmed everyone since countries not at war were still hugely affected by it, and kings and leaders all banded together to issue a bounty on her head.

And because of their frankly unfair and ridiculous strength, no one has actually caught or killed any of the Witches of Sin yet. There have been attempts, many, in fact. But none of them succeeded. The only slightly positive encounter with one of the Witches was with the Witch of Pride. She’s been acting as judge, jury and executioner for people she deemed to be guilty for so long, and was only beaten back by Reid and myself a few days ago. Flugel and Volcanica stayed and helped evacuate everyone nearby since we fought her while she was massacring an entire city. Pretty horrible memories, that one. We didn’t even manage to capture her, just made her retreat.

Apparently that’s good enough for everyone, as we’ve practically been worshiped as Gods everywhere we go now. So many gifts piled at our feet and in Reid’s case, those gifts being beautiful women. He’s been basking in all the glory and fame, while Flugel and Volcanica just carried on like nothing special happened. The two of them paired up and accepted a mission request all the way from Lugunica, and are probably flying there right now, leaving me alone with Reid to help with the rebuilding efforts.

Well, I’m the only one making crude houses for the homeless and displaced with my earth magic since a large part of the city has been decimated by our battle with the Witch of Pride.  Reid’s just enjoying himself, so good for him. Since the inn we were staying in was decimated, a rich merchant was kind enough to lend one of his many houses to me and Reid for our temporary stay. We slept in separate rooms, and I heard a lot of giggles, grunts and loud moans coming from his room when I woke up in the morning. I’m fine with what he does during his own free time, but I worry for the state of the merchant’s house when we get back. Reid doesn’t seem like the kind of person to take care of the dirtied bedsheets, so…

Let’s just say that Reid and his beautiful companions may be more than satisfied by their nighttime activities, but the merchant certainly won’t be.

Ah, no matter. I’ll just focus on what I can do for now. I’ve been forming clay and dirt into temporary shelters for quite a while now, and I’ve barely expended any mana. I suppose a major reason for that is because the building materials are already present and I’m not creating them out of thin air or wasting effort in drawing them from the ground. Maybe I should keep a pouch of clay with me for various purposes from now on, hmm.

A few more minutes passed, and I finally finished shaping a large home. It’s not very sturdy but it will have to do until actual houses are reconstructed in the near future. There’s a nearby city that exports bricks and wood, and the traders will flock to this place sooner or later as soon as news of the failed attack by the Witch of Pride spreads.

I walked towards one of the city’s surviving administrators. He’s taking notes on my progress so I have to report back to him from time to time. I usually don’t like dealing with authority figures, but this one’s nice enough.

“Sir, I’ve finished making the houses in this district, should I move on to the next one?”

“Ah, please do.” He jolted a few words down, and continued, “By the way, you don’t need to call me sir. Just call me Kazuma, it’s a bit embarrassing to have the savior of this city talk to me with honorifics, you know.”

See? Surprisingly agreeable and competent. With all the nepotism and bribery running rampant these days, honest and hardworking officials like Kazuma are truly a dying breed.

____________________________________________________________________________

I stared at the person who asked for my presence. Turns out there is someone who wishes to join our party. Must be pretty important or powerful to have enough influence to get the major himself to request me to drop everything I was doing to see the guy.

Well, he certainly looks unique enough. He strapped a gigantic inkbrush on His back, and His clothes all have some ink spots here and there. Is he an artist or some kind of writer? If so, why did the major want him to meet me?

“Heya, hero.” He leaned forward. “I know you’re busy and all, but do you and the rest mind if I tag along your adventure?”

I raised an eyebrow. “Can you fight well? Well enough that you won’t be a burden?” He shook his head, still confident despite everything. “Then pray tell, why should we accept someone who’s just going to slow us down?”

“Now, I wouldn’t say that. I have a divine protection for running, so I won’t slow you down because of my poor stamina or anything. I’m also great at running away from fights, so there’s that.”  I tried to question him further, but he cut me off. “Now, I know what you’re gonna say. Oh, how can someone like you contribute to our cause of world peace or some shit? Now, to answer that question.” He grabbed his large inkbrush, somehow shrunk it down and started bringing out a small book and a bottle of ink. His brush dipped in the bottle, then pressed into the first blank page and I gasped.

He’s only using normal ink, but his delicate brushes left the blank page covered in different colors. The ink spiraled from there and he kept drawing on the same page, too absorbed in his craft to pay attention to anything else.

The mayor’s twitching in excitement. Seems like he found someone interesting this time, huh?

Images and vague shapes formed on the page, and I can’t help but widen my eyes in shock. The ink took a while to dry and the whole page is finally visible. A lonely spirit, asleep, surrounded by nothing except trees and the wildlife. It seems to be too realistic to just be something out of an exceptional artist’s imagination, so how…

“There you go, hero. It’s not just some original artwork, it's the real deal.” He stored the notebook away and stood up. “I’ve been blessed by a total of 3 divine protections. One’s for running, one’s for true sight and one’s for drawing. They aren't not the most powerful or useful divine protections out there, not even close, but it suits me greatly. I have a dream, you know? I’ll create the greatest story that will ever exist. I’ll document your feats and add in stuff here and there, and all you need to do is share your supplies with me from time to time.” He held out his hand for me to shake. “Deal, or no deal?”

I shook his hand, and both him and the mayor looked overjoyed.  “Well, welcome, I suppose. You’re an interesting one, writer. You’ll have to convince Flugel, Reid and Volcanica for this to be official though.”

“Ah, I'm sure I’ll manage.” He looks very assured of his success. “My name is Brian, by the way. Thank you for having me, I’ll be in your care.”

Chapter Text

Currently, Angelica’s scared shitless.

She’s a seasoned adventurer, and has joined countless raids into bandit camps and defended small towns and villages from bandit raids, so she does have a lot of combat experience. But this?

Looking at the woman in front of her, Angelica knows that she’s completely out of her depth. She’s confident she can take on a dozen or so bandits on a good day since she spent years studying magic, but facing this woman…

She’s completely petrified. The aura around the woman just screams bad news, and she would have ran away ages ago if her legs could just fucking listen to her, damnit!

As a ranger, she can sense the level of skill her enemy’s at. She was one of the few who survived an encounter with a dragon, and at that moment facing that monstrosity all she felt was fear. The power coming from it was so unbelievably high that it wasn’t possible to overcome it. All she could do was run away. It was a miracle in itself that she managed to even leave with everything intact, some of her comrades escaped the ordeal missing an arm. None of them were missing a leg, since the ones with leg injuries didn’t manage to get away in the end.

Her original party ended up going their separate ways after half the members died and the other half ended up maimed. Her leader just left her in charge of the remaining 2 guys. It’s bullshit, complete bullshit. What friend literally leaves control of a crumbling party to another friend? It’s just setting her up for failure, which is why she’s facing a literal witch right now with the rest of her party members doing whatever they do. Honestly, fuck that guy.

Well, maybe it’s a good thing her friends aren’t with her right now. They won’t make much of a difference. Her pals are strong, but they stand no chance against this enemy even together.

Heh. Maybe this time, she’ll get to leave the party in another person’s hands instead of getting saddled with the responsibility. Wouldn’t that be a treat?

The fear of an absurdly strong foe’s still here, but for a different reason. She could sense the power dragons wield because she could still imagine it. This woman, however, doesn’t even display a hint of aura to her. Even weak farm animals have auras. When she relies on just her senses, there’s a small, empty hole where the woman’s supposed to be.

She’s not sure why, but if she had to guess, it’s probably because the woman’s so strong, she can’t even comprehend it. It’s not a level of strength humans can aspire to reach. She’s standing in front of a being so great, yet so cruel, completely helpless. Dragon slayers exist and have existed before, and humans can theoretically get strong enough to fall a dragon, but no one ever heard of a successful Witch of Sin slayer.

Until a few days ago, that is. She doubts that the Great Sage and his companions can save her in time, but at least she can rest easy knowing that the city behind her won’t be reduced to rubble. It’s unfortunate, but it is what it is.

“Oh my, you aren’t running. Very admirable.” The woman raised a hand to her mouth and yawned. She isn’t even being taken seriously. It’s to be expected, but it still hurts a bit knowing that. “So, I’ve heard that someone defeated my adorable Typhon. When I saw her, bruised and hurt, asking for my help for revenge, I just couldn’t say no, I do hope you understand. Bullying a child’s not very nice, so tell whoever fought her to come over and face me this time. I’ll spare you if you do that, how about it?”

She gripped her dual knives even harder when she heard the witch’s words. Bullying a child? Sure, the demon disguised as a little girl does seem harmless and kind at first glance, but everyone knows that deep inside, the witches are all demons. Every single one of them. The Witch of Pride especially. She’s been the reason entire cities got wiped off maps. She’s a genocidal maniac, and deserves whatever beating she gets.

“You’re just an adventurer, and some call you mercenaries. It’s a fitting name, since everyone in this profession cares about helping themselves the most.” The witch wore an amused expression, all the while taking out a bar of gold and throwing it at her feet. “Some may call adventurers greedy and disloyal for their actions, but there’s no shame in wanting what’s best for yourself. So take the gold and do what you know you should do.”

The witch looks at her smugly while she picks the gold up. Her face really pisses Angelica off, and she just throws the bar of gold straight back to its original owner.

The witch looks surprised for once. What, did this humble adventurer exceed your prior expectations? Too bad, so sad.

“I may be a slave to my desires, but even someone like me knows not to repay kindness with treachery.” She readied her stance, and finally stopped her hands from shaking. “Don’t look down on me, witch. You’ll regret it.”

It’s a shame to die so young, but at least her life ends on a high note, and she can go out defiantly till the end. She has been spending her whole life fighting for someone else, it’s nice to fight for her own goals, just this once. This time, fighting to protect instead of harm.

When you say it that way, it doesn't sound so bad, huh? It’s definitely a much better death than what adventurers usually get. So many of them were eaten as food or dead in some unknown and remote area, not even left with a corpse. Hopefully, there’s enough left of her for a burial, and if there isn’t, at least she’d be remembered for her deeds.

“Is that so? What a bother. Fighting tires me out so I don’t normally do this, but I guess I’ll kill you first and punish the ones who made my Typhon cry.” The witch sluggishly raised a hand and aimed it at her. Oh well, that’s that.

Angelica feels it in her heart, this is where her journey ends. And yet, and yet-

A sword parries the attack aimed at her throat, and she is suddenly blasted away by a strong gust of wind. Looking at the backs of her saviors, she can’t help but be relieved. So relieved, in fact, she might even cry. She really doesn’t want to do so in front of her heroes, so she’ll try her best to hold it in. You can do it, Angelica! They say first impressions are the most important part of meeting someone new, and bawling probably doesn’t count as a positive first impression.

The spirit faced her and said, “You did well, adventurer. You don’t see such a strong resolve every day. We’ll take it from here, so please place your faith in us.”

Ah, she’s crying after all. Well, she figures that if anyone deserves to cry unabashedly right now, it’s probably her. Her pride can go die in a ditch for all she cares.