This Hero is Too Curious! - 86 This Hero and the Other Party!

…I hate awkward silences. Maybe I should say something to-

“Bullshit!” Jaq shouted out. A vein on his meaty forehead was bulging out. His dark hair was only able to slightly obscure the changes his face had made. “Everyone knows that a mulaplix needs a party of at least 6 level 8’s to effectively kill. This is ignoring the fact that there hasn’t been a mulaplix near Ruks in over 3 years.” He crossed his arms and scoffed at us.

Oh. He doesn’t believe that we actually did what we claimed. What should I-

“Well buddy, that’s exactly what we did.” Kany stepped forward. A smug smile stretched far across her youthful face. An obvious air of superiority permeated the area around her as she tried to make herself seem as tall as possible.

“W-Well look… Even if they didn’t it doesn’t-” The dwarven soldier began before being quickly interrupted by the woman in the martial arts gi.

“Perhaps it was a mulaplix in its adolescence? Seed pods fly around this time of year. It’s entirely possible that they found a pod that was taking root.” She held onto Jaq’s jacket as she said this. I cannot tell if she is doing this to get his attention or hold him back.

“If that were the case why would she boast about that?” Ron interjected. He stepped between Jaq and Kany in order to put some space between them.

“Listen this isn’t important what’s important is the Demon king’s-” The dwarven soldier began again, but he was, obviously, stopped once more.

“PEOPLE LIE ALL THE TIME!” Jaq roared. I couldn’t tell if this room had wind blow through it or if that was simply the displacement of air pressure from Jaq’s shout. “WHY SHOULD I BELIEVE SOME UPSTARTS?”

“SHUT YER YAPS!” The soldier finally raised his voice. It was only now that we all turned to notice him. He was standing on top of the table to meet us at eye level. “I DON’T CARE IF THEY KILLED THE EMPEROR FOR CRYING OUT LOUD. ALL THAT MATTERS IS THEY’RE LEVEL 12 AND CAN HELP. NOW CAN YOU SHUT YOUR DAMN MOUTH OR DO I GOTTA SEND YOU BACK HOME?”

Jaq scowled, but slowly shrunk back down, acceding to the dwarf. Kany and Erana slowly stepped away from me as well. Ron and the woman also stepped behind Jaq to take their places.

“Okay! Now… Do you have any questions-” He began, but then sped up his speech and looked us all over. “THAT PERTAINS TO THE MISSION ITSELF, OR CAN I SEND YOU OFF?” He rested his gaze towards me, as if by instinct.

“There’s a location that you will need to get to. Once you’re there you will see a marking on a nearby stone. As soon as you’re ready you just need to place your hand upon the marking and you’ll be teleported back. It’s imperative that you all are close to the marking before you teleport, otherwise you will be left out there.” He slowly hopped down from the table. I could feel the collective blood pressure of everyone in the room lower as the tension dropped.

“Do you have any intel on the monster we need to take down or the information we need to get?”

“The monster… You’ll know it when you see it. As for the information, it’s a letter. It will still be sealed and will probably be in the leader’s tent, so I recommend just checking there. The letter is more important than the monster, so if you literally cannot kill it then just get the letter at any cost. Other than that, you don’t need to do anything. You can kill other monsters if you so wish, but that’s at your discretion.”

“So stealth is optional for this mission…” I quietly whispered to myself. In my experience, this means we will try to hide for a little bit, but will quickly devolve into killing everything in sight due to being spotted by a single enemy. Of course, since this is real life, things may be different.

“Anything else?”

“Yes.” The man covered in belts finally spoke up. Despite wearing the oddest outfit out of anyone in the room, he was barely noticeable. Looking at him made me feel like I was staring at a reflection in water. “You mentioned earlier that we are allowed to use styles. What about styles that cause massive area damage? Are those allowed, or are we to limit them to small scale abilities first?”

“When it comes to styles, you can use anything that will keep yourself or someone else alive. Obviously we ask that you don’t immediately start to cause havoc, but you can certainly do what you wish regarding fighting for your life. At your discretion is the best way to put it.” The soldier finished. He began to walk towards a wall where two of the other dwarves that were in the room began to draw a doorway out of chalk.

I couldn’t take it anymore. I spoke up loudly so that I would assuredly be heard.

“What is a style?”

Kany, Erana, and Tael seemed to share my confusion, but everyone else looked us for a moment before they all burst out laughing.

“Ahahaha! He says he killed a mulaplix but doesn’t know what a style is? Oh jeez. Oh. Look, just open up the gateway. We’re heading out!” Jaq was holding his side. He motioned his party towards the doorway as it began to glow white. Tael, Kany, and Erana began to step towards the gateway as well, but I simply stood in bewilderment. It seems Jaq took notice of this.

“What’s that, scared now? Come on hero boy, you can’t expect us to actually believe you? You’re level 12 now. We don’t play games about this anymore. Let’s go.” He motioned to his party as they began to jump through the doorway.

“H-Hey! Wait, I’m genuinely wondering what they are! We have no idea!” I shouted out as I ran up to Jaq. Kany, Erana, and Tael were waiting at the doorway for me to proceed. All of Jaq’s party had already left by this point.

“Listen kid, I was nice earlier, but you need to stop it. Acting foolish around here is gonna get you killed one day like THAT!” he shouted as he flung his hand to his side. It seems that he didn’t notice that Tael was there as he knocked Tael into Kany and Erana as well. This sent them through the portal.

“H-Hey! Guys!” I shouted out as I slipped past Jaq. He quickly reached out his hand and grabbed at my clothes to stop me.

“Don’t ignore me, kid.” He pushed his face very close to mine. I don’t have time for this.

“Quit calling me kid.” I said as I activated my power. Ability Boost: Strength!

I pulled both Jaq and myself through the portal. We can work out our differences later. Right now I don’t want to leave my friends out there without me. It just doesn’t feel right.

I could feel a strange floating sensation for a moment as everything around me went white. After a moment, I could see the cloudy skies. I could feel the chill in the air. There was snow on the ground. The crumble of rocks under our feet made it evident that we had just moved places.

“Oh great. You brought us through. I underestimated you!” Jaq shoved me off and gave a slight smile as he looked around. I decided to leave our quarrel for another time as I looked around to investigate our surroundings.

“Uh-oh…” We both let out in unison.

“Um… You wouldn’t happen to know where exactly we are, do you?” Jaq turned to me and asked.

“Well, I’d wager somewhere on the hill. There’s only one question that really matters right now though…”

“Yeah… Where are our comrades?”

Only the sound of the wind around us answered our question. The chill in the air made my breath clearly visible. Unfortunately, I don’t have time to collect my thoughts since I can hear the sound of what seems to be enemies nearby.

“Heh… Well, I came here to kill monsters, so this works out either way!” Jaq cracked his knuckles as he began to step forward.

I can only see this going badly. I hope that Kany, Erana, and Tael are nearby, or else this is going to go very poorly.