This Hero is Too Curious! - 89 This Hero Finds His Party!

A few seconds after we had nestled within the bushes, we saw a squad of hobgoblins run towards our previous location. It seems they were drawn by the sound of the explosion earlier. Their shocked expressions when they saw the corpses of their fallen comrades made me experience a morbid thought.

Are these creatures capable of developing complex relationships? Are these monsters like cows in which they can develop best friends? Do they form loving relationships, perhaps even mate? Man, I have got to study whatever Tael was looking into last night.

Jaq prodded me on my shoulder as he motioned back, indicating that we needed to quietly sneak away. I turned as slowly as possible as to not make any noise and began to softly step away from where we were down to a lower area of the hill.

After ensuring that the coast was clear, Jaq and I slowly stepped out of our shrubbery as we walked as fast as our crouching bodies could towards the next camouflaged spot we could access. We repeated this process 4 times before we judged that we were finally far enough to relax a bit.

“Phew…” Jaq let out. He released the tension from his shoulders as he did this. His breath became a clear fog due to the cold around us.

It was only now that I had the time to realize just how cold it was on top of this mountain. It’s freezing, actually. I’m wearing my armor and tunic, but it’s still rather chilly. The fact that Jaq is wearing less than me, including the fact that his jacket doesn’t even have sleeves on it, makes me surprised that he’s fine. Actually, I have a lot of questions for him, but before I could ask him my questions he turned to me to ask his.

“Okay Kevin, I need you to-”

“It’s Kenji.” I stared straight into his eyes and gave my deadpan response.

“K-Kenji. I need you to tell me where your wizard friend is. That’s the only way we’ll be able to accurately link up. This place doesn’t have any distinguishing landmarks other than the camp itself so we need to find somewhere to link up. I don’t have any method of signal making that wouldn’t have us get found instantly, so I’m expecting you to have a trick up your sleeve.”

“Hmmph.” I smiled deviously. While I appreciate how he taught me how to use styles, I still don’t appreciate how he was acting in front of everyone else, so a chance to one up him is a good feeling. “It just so happens I can cast Mind Connection, so I can contact my wizard friend whenever I want!”

“Mind Connection.” I muttered. Unlike normal spells, my status screen appeared in front of me, but it wasn’t exactly my status screen. It was still a triangular prism, but instead of my stats and levels it read out names. I could see the names of people I had interacted with in depth on this list. Biar and Ania were listed, as well as my party members. Even Jaq was on here.

I looked over the screen until I found who I was looking for. I pushed down on Tael’s name and the screen disappeared. In my mind I could feel an instant connection between myself and Tael, I can even hear his thoughts now.

u003c…So then I’ll be like “Oh hey Kenji, I was just guiding this whole group!” and he’ll be like “Wow Tael, you really are a leader, in fact you’re way better than me! Here’s a thousand juns.” and I’ll be like-u003e

u003cHaving fun?u003e

u003cAh. How much of that did you hear? I didn’t even notice you connect because of how uh… much I was thinking. Anyways, what do you need?u003e

u003cWell, as for what I heard, it was enough. As for what I need, I need to know where you guys are. Is everything alright on your end?u003e

u003cOh yeah, we’re doing just fine. This Kilin guy brought snacks so we’re eating them.u003e

u003cSo… are you on your way to me or…?u003e

u003cOh. Nah we’re just sorta sitting here waiting. Erana and Kany are worried for you, but everyone else is relaxed.u003e

u003cThen where are you? Actually I’ll just send a pulse… however I do that.u003e

I looked within my mind and felt for that strange sensation that magic seems to be linked to. It didn’t take me more than a moment to find that strange string that connected Tael to myself. I pulled it and could tell where Tael was from me. Judging by the sensation, he’s around 200 meters from where I currently am.

u003cSo did you just… decide to wait for us or was it a group vote?u003e

u003cWell! Everyone else was worried when you didn’t show up, so then I cast my first mind connection and we found where you two were. From there we decided to just wait for you to get here.u003e

u003cI fought 3 hobgoblins by myself in an effort to get to you you know.u003e

u003cW-Well, we can hash out the details later. As for right now, we’re waiting for you. Yuna is listening for enemies and so is the loli so we’ll be fine here for right now. I’m gonna end the transmission now!u003e

I could feel a sensation that could best be described as a snip of a string occur within my mind as my link to Tael ceased.

“They’re over there.” I pointed to where Tael had been. Judging by the sun, it’s probably north, but I can’t tell precisely because of this mist.

“Uh… any reason for the lack of enthusiasm? The style didn’t drain you that much did it?”

“Oh, actually, I have a lot of questions about styles!” I stepped towards Jaq as he quickly backed away from me.

“W-What what what? What is it man? Calm down!” His eyes were darting from place to place, looking for an escape route.

“Well, tell me more about styles! It felt like a new state of being when I used it. How do I know how to do a style? Are they written about in some places? You mentioned some styles make people strong enough to take on armies, is that supposed to be a metaphor or is that real? Can regular monsters know styles? Why are they called styles anyways? What about-”

“OKAY OKAY! Calm down! Good lord!” He had shoved a hand in my face to stop me. His massive paw covered my entire face from top to bottom, covering my vision and ability to speak.

“Look, let’s walk and talk, okay? I get that you want to know more.” He said as he stood up and began to walk in the direction I had pointed prior. I turned to follow him and began to ask my questions once more.

“Well, as for your first question, you just sort of figure out how to do them. It’s a leap of faith. Think of it like mixing potions together to get a new, stronger potion. It’s the same principle.” He looked to the sky as he said this. It’s obvious that he’s never had to explain it before, so he’s going off the cuff.

“Uh huh, what about the thing where it makes people super strong?” I looked at him with glistening eyes This is like a whole new world of information that has just been opened up to me, so I want to learn every possible thing I can about it before I start trying it out further.

“Oh, well there was the emperor’s bodyguard about 50 years ago. He had this one style that was insane. I heard he only used it once though and it killed him, but when he was using it he was able to stop the entire army of the demon king from taking the capital.”

Immediately I deflated. Though that power is insane, the cost of your life for it is far too much.

“Well… did they resurrect him or something?”

“Resurrect? What, you mean like a fairy tale? No. This actually happened. I’m not telling you some tall tale about a super style or something.”

“So… resurrection magic doesn’t exist here…?”

“If it did then a lot of problems would be solved. Honestly, how do you not know that? You must be greener around the gills than I first thought.” Jaq gave me a quick glance that indicated that I was obviously asking a weird question.

“Sorry. I just uh… heard a story like that before.”

“Whatever. Um… Monsters typically do not know styles, but some of the highest ranking ones, the ones that have their own sentience can sometimes have them. I’ve heard that the hell guardians have them and they’re all beyond insane, but other than that I have no idea. It’s not like I’m super knowledgeable myself. I’m only level 16 after all.”

“Well, what about how the style killed that guy and how my style made me feel a bit tired after I used it?”

“Every style has its detriments along with its positives. Only the top tier of styles, otherwise known as heroic styles, have no detriments to them, but those are the realm of myth really. I don’t know anyone that can actually do one.”

“Well… how do you activate a style? Is there any way you can actually know that they’re available to you?”

“They’re a leap of faith. You just need to fulfill the prerequisites and take action to make them reality.”

“What if you only fulfill some of the prerequisites?”

“Sometimes they’ll still work, but they’ll be incomplete styles which are way more dangerous. You can take a part of the power of that style, but it can cripple you or hurt you in a way you can’t even imagine. Obviously they could outright kill you, too.”

“How many prerequisites do I need to fulfill before I can activate a style, even if it’s incomplete?”

“Uh, usually about 50%. Of course, if you fulfill the most important condition then you may be able to do it with less. While I’m on the topic, some conditions are really specific. Some say things like ‘be born at night’ or ‘currently be drunk.’ It’s pretty crazy how in depth these things get.”

“HEY! THERE THEY ARE!” The familiar voice of a short, blonde girl shouted out as I saw my party sitting down and relaxing while munching on some tart like treat.