Aias: from a world of kaijus to a world of fantasy and magic

Leaving the adventurer guild building, we walk through town to the south gate, and the mood, no, atmosphere, was, how do I put it, dead quiet between us.

No one was really talking to each other, because Aria was next to me, humming merrily, completely oblivious of the hostile glares I was getting, which were stabbing into my back.

Sighing inwardly, I questioned why I was even doing this in the first place. I slowed my pace and drifted to the back of the group, hoping to put some distance between myself and Aria, since things were starting to feel a little too uncomfortable with their glares.

However, as I slowed my pace, Aria did the same, matching my steps and starting a conversation.

She began by asking about why I was here, to which I lied, saying that I was traveling from place to place, doing what I found was interesting. And after telling her that, where I mainly tell her about places I've been, mainly about the ones I've been throughout the kingdom before I ran away, and a bit about Acton, like dungeon diving, our conversation changed to mundane things, like the things I like and dislike, or the weather getting colder, etc.

As we talked, I could hear a group subtly clicking their tongues in the bustling and noisy street we were walking through, followed by sensing malice coming my way from them.

Huh… they didn't seem afraid of fighting me after I beat the living—I mean, fought them off. They looked energetic—no, motivated—as if they wanted a rematch with me, as if their pride was hurt, most especially Isaac and Serell.

"Blake, you seem to be smiling. Did you see something?"

Looking at Aria, who pointed that out, I glanced at a window to see my reflection on the glass and saw that I was smiling slightly.

"Oh, nothing."

Blushing in reaction to my smile, which I was staring directly at her, I saw Edwen look back, and I heard his teeth grind as he looked at us.

"Philip, what's wrong?"

Asking Edwen what's wrong, my brother, Eric, asks that, and Edwen responds.

"Nothing, let's hurry and finish this quest."

Speeding up, we eventually reached the gate and exited town. We went straight to the edge of a forest, where we saw a well-traveled forest trail.

Following the trail, we passed one or two other parties along the way before it finally came to an end. At that point, Serell told us to split into pairs and fan out to search for the Iron Tusk Hogs.

However, as he explained all that and that he was going with Aria, all of them, besides me and Aria, immediately objected.

They argued till Aria raised her voice to tell them to stop arguing and told them that she would be going with me. However, all of them immediately objected all at once to her suggestion.

With that, a new round of arguing began, and for the next 30 minutes or so, I watched them argue about the most idiotic thing ever: who would pair up with Aria, on the sidelines.

They negotiated, threw insults at one another, held votes only to demand recounts a second later, shifted sides as quickly as the changing wind, lied to one another, offered promises they had no intention of keeping, bargained terms, and so on.

All the while, they hide their real expression, so none of them can get a good read on each other, but my observant gaze could tell their thoughts and emotions relatively easily.

Honestly, watching all of them, with Aria stepping in to mediate from time to time, I'm… I don't really know whether to be impressed or worry for the future of the kingdom, even though that is not even my concern anymore.

This honestly reminded me of that one time I visited parliament with my bastard of a father on several occasions, where I read the thoughts of most of the people there, including a bit from the king.

Most of them had selfish motives, but all of them fought and schemed against each other, trying to gain the slightest bit of an advantage for even more of the tiniest bit of influence and power amongst each other.

It was like a den of snakes, where everyone there was either circling each other for the slightest opening, striking at a moment's notice when a weakness presented itself, or retreating to lick their wounds if they fell prey to someone else's schemes or their own schemes backfiring on them, all in a tangled mess of ambition and deceit.

They are really giving their all into it for fighting to pair up with Aria, similar to, no, not as dumb as the people I saw in parliament.

However, like parliament, eventually the weak will fall. Isaac, the muscle of the group, was the first to fall, followed by my idiot of a brother, leaving Serell, the smart one, and Edwen, a prince.

Continuing to argue, it seemed like it was going nowhere, which it did. So, realizing that, Aria spoke up in the midst of their arguing.

"Alright, alright, that's enough, you two. There's no way for you to settle this between yourselves, so why don't we let someone else decide?"

Also, seeing that the argument was no longer going anywhere, they both asked who would decide, looking expectantly at Aria, herself, each confident she would choose them over the other.

Suddenly, she turned around and pointed her finger at me, and I'm getting the feeling that I'm not going to like it.

"Why don't we let Blake decide?

Haaaah… Why me?

Trying not to show it on my expressionless face, it took only a split second for me to decide, and it was Edwen.

Even though he doesn't know that I know who he is, he was still a prince at the end of the day, and I'm already getting the suspicion that I'm going to encounter them in the future after they get back home. It's better to get on his good side since he is a prince and all, compared to the son of an archmage.

Trying my best not to smack my forehead with a headache coming in, I respond.

"Ugh… Edwen, I guess."

Making it seem like I said it noncommittally, as if I chose him at random, with my expressionless and flat tone.

"Wait. Hold on a moment!!! Why did you choose him so fast? Think it over; I should pair up with Aria, not him."

Smirking over my decision, Edwen looked victorious and smugly responded.

"Leave it, Serell. He already made his decision and thinks I'm the best suited to pair up with Aria. Isn't that right, Blake?"

Turning to me to get an answer, I said. "Umm… okay, I don't really care too much who goes with Aria. We've already wasted too much time arguing about it; let's just finish the quest already."

After deciding who would go with Aria and who would go with each other, which was way shorter than with Aria, we set off with our pair.

Thankfully, I was paired up with Isaac while my brother was with Serell, since I just chose Edwen over him, and Serell, the brains of the party, and Isaac, the muscles, don't really get along that often if they were to be left alone.

Heading out in the direction set for us, I took out my short sword and began marking the trees we passed by so we wouldn't get lost.

We didn't talk as we made our way through the forest, leaving an awkward atmosphere between us. This is honestly a good thing that it remains silent between us because the less I talk to him, the better.

Eventually, after walking some more, he suddenly stopped, causing me to also stop.

I held my short sword ready for anything till Isaac turned around and pointed his sword at me.

Immediately on guard, I waited for him to speak, because why the heck is he pointing a sword at me?

"Blake, I challenge you to a duel."

I was stunned for a bit, hearing him say something I completely didn't expect. And then… I… I smiled once the meaning fully settled into my mind.

So, he wants a rematch for the last time we fought. How foolhardy of him, though; it does make some interesting entertainment.

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"Why? You know you're going to lose anyway. What is less than a week's worth of training going to do?"

"What? How did you know that?"

Shocked by my statement, he seemed really surprised that I knew, which was kind of obvious because of the way he pointed his sword at me. It seemed ever so less awkward compared to the first time we had fought, as if he had been preparing for this fight.

Not responding but only snickering with a smile on my face, the shock wore off, and he gritted his teeth before admitting,

"It's not much, but my pride won't allow me to falter with such an obstacle."

"Oh, an obstacle am I? Heh… heh heh heh."

Giggling to myself, Isaac was certainly interesting. I believe he is the first person in this world to willingly want a rematch with me after I beat the hell out of him last time.

The tension between us was thick, filled with my sudden amusement at fighting him and his defiant and determined desire to fight me.

I waited for him to make the first move because at least I could do that much to give him an advantage to make it more fun for me, since I'm presuming we aren't using magic with this duel, just our swords.

Just as Isaac took a step forward, ready to make his move, I heard the pounding of hooves on the ground behind me.

Instead of looking away, as Isaac did when he noticed something charging straight at us, I kept my eyes locked on him.

Only at the very last moment, and when Isaac's eyes widened in horror because of the fact that I wasn't looking back, I dodged, keeping my gaze locked on him while also spotting what had just attacked me in my peripheral vision.

A massive hog, black with red stripes, came barreling toward me at nearly a blinding speed, its iron-colored tusks glinting, seemingly all too ready to impale me.

It was an iron-tusk hog attacking me, which I jumped back a bit to dodge. Missing me, it did not stop, and I heard a loud thud as it hit a tree instead, causing the somewhat large tree to shake and some of its yellowing leaves to fall.

With its tusks now lodged in the tree, it let out a furious snort and violently ripped itself free after several attempts, splintering the tree trunk in all directions.

An Iron Tusk Hog, other than what Serell told me, but remembering the monster encyclopedia book I read a while back, it tends to do that, charging at whatever it sees. Be it prey, predator, or rival, it attacks whatever it sees since it has tusks that are as hard as iron, which is what it gets its name from.

Back to looking at the iron tusk hog, it aggressively tears up the ground with its hooves and squeals loudly, all in preparation to charge at us.

Without saying a word to me, Isaac then faced the hog. It charged at him, which Isaac reacted to by side-stepping to the side and cleanly thrusting his sword into the side of its neck, dispatching it quickly.

When the hog fell to the ground and there was no movement coming from it, Isaac turned to look at me for a good while, making the air around us a bit awkward, kind of killing the mood between us.

What? Is he expecting me to praise him? I mean, his swordsmanship somewhat improved compared to the last time I fought him, but is that really something to be proud of? I don't really know what he wants from me, but a marginal improvement is better than no improvement, I guess.

Huh… thinking about that and the sudden intrusion in our duel, a realization hit me now that I wasn't really in a fighting mood too much… that it might be a bad idea if I beat the heck out of him, causing my smile to drop and my face to return to my usual expressionless self.

Seeing my non-reactive response and my mood to fight him already faded as I internally sighed to myself that I didn't cause another incident, his expression began to twist into the start of a frown, though he stopped himself quickly, thinking that I didn't notice.

Not getting the reaction he thought I would make, he took a moment to gather himself and ask.

"Are we going to fight now?"

"No. Don't we have to complete a quest first?"

"Oh yeah, right. Maybe another time?"

"Yeah."

Realizing that, Isaac put away his sword and began walking, a bit awkward that our duel was postponed.

Why is he walking off like that? Does he not know we have to do something first?

"Heh, aren't you supposed to cut the right ear of the hog off?"

Turning back to respond, "Why, what for?"

"So you can turn it in to complete your quest at the reception counter."

Isn't that obvious?

Trying to hide his expression, like he didn't realize that at first, he thought he hid it well, but I caught on to his sudden change in expression and had a guess at his thoughts.

"Yeah, I… was about to do that. I was just making sure that there aren't any more hogs around us."

Saying that, I decided to hold my tongue and not correct him that we wouldn't be seeing one close by since iron tusk hogs are extremely territorial, especially as they start coming down here from the mountains to fatten up for the winter.

So, approaching the dead iron tusk hog with my short sword, I proceed to cut off its right ear, followed by cutting out both its tusks and putting them in a pouch for safekeeping.

After that was done, we proceeded to walk through the forest again, searching for iron tusk hogs, while not talking to each other, which was for the best. And after around 5 hours of walking through the forest and killing 7 more iron tusk hogs in total, I sense the mana of a familiar person, followed by their voice.

Surprised by it, I looked around to see where Serell was, but his voice was everywhere, all around us. However, as I look at Isaac, who seems unfazed by it and was talking to Serell like it was normal, though he wasn't there, I soon realize something.

"Hey, Isaac, is that one of Serell's spells?"

However, answering me was not Isaac but Serell, and his voice said.

"Yes, it's quite an advanced spell that only wind attribute users can use."

"Really? At this far a distance?"

"Yes, though—"

He proceeded to boast about his skill with the spell, explaining how the spell he was using can't go this far, but he had found a workaround. By using his mana nature as a conjurer, he left a trace of his mana on a party member, essentially placing a marker that let him determine the general direction and distance of everyone's location. However, from what he said, it must take immense focus to pull off.

So after hearing his ranting, Serell is calling everyone to regroup after counting the total number of iron tusk hogs we've killed.

In total, we've killed 23 hogs, 3 more than what they originally planned on hunting, with my brother and Serell making up most of the kills, while Aria and Edwen have the least.

Walking back with the marks I made on the trees we've passed by, Isaac and I made it back to the forest trail, at the end, where we split into pairs to go hunting.

Meeting up with my brother and Serell, we then waited for Aria and Edwen, who seemed to be taking their time getting back, especially so when I overheard Serell shouting into thin air at the other end of the communication spell.

Eventually, after twenty minutes of waiting, they finally showed up. We began walking back to town as Serell chastised Edwen solely for being late instead of both Edwen and Aria. Granted, Edwen seems to be in lala land, in too much of a good mood from spending some alone time with Aria that he didn't actually care or maybe even register what Serell was babbling about.

Back at the gate, I presented my adventurer guild tags to the guards and told everyone.

"Okay, I'll be leaving now. You can turn in the Iron Tusk Hog quest without me. I have to get going, but it's been fun hunting with you all."

Saying that, Aria asked.

"Are we going to meet again tomorrow?"

"Yeah, I can spare some time."

"Same time tomorrow?"

"Yeah, same time tomorrow."

Handing over the tusks and ears to Aria, I waved goodbye to them and headed straight to my inn because that's where Clare and Emma were waiting for me.

When I came back to the inn and up to my room, I knocked on the door to tell them that it was me and opened it with my key.

The first to greet me was Clare, asking how the quest with Aria, my brother Edwen, Serell, and Isaac was, to which I told her that it went relatively fine.

Following Clare was Emma, who asked for the specifics, like anything to look out for. I just told them that Isaac wanted to duel me and that they didn't really mention anything about me for the time being, since today they were just looking to make some money instead of finding me, so maybe tomorrow or a few days from now they would tell me because, keeping it to myself, it feels like that's how their story would go or something like that.

Once I was done explaining everything in detail, followed by a bit of speculating on their next moves, Emma left our room and headed back to the adventurer guild.

So seeing Emma leave, I sat on the chair by the window and took off my gear, a bit tired from today's hunt.

"Lady Rita, may I prepare a bath for you?"

"Yes, that sounds really good right about now."

Leaving to prepare a bath, I thought to myself that playing along and hiding from the very people looking for me was really exhausting. I still have about a week left of having to deal with them; I just have to endure it for now.

Even still, the thought of encountering them again is something I didn't want, but it is likely in the future. However, it shouldn't be too much trouble once my family falls completely; I should be free from it all for the most part.

Thinking all that, why am I getting the feeling that there will be a massive pain for me to deal with tomorrow?

I looked out the window until Clare said the bath was ready. After a long soak and dinner downstairs, we went back to our room and went to bed. Then, waking up the next morning, we went to the adventurer's guild separately after doing our normal morning routine.

However, just as I stepped through the main entrance and was about to head to the same room we'd used yesterday to wait for Aria to show up, Emma was by the door. Nothing out of the ordinary, but this time, there was an open letter in her hands.

"Blake, I've got a letter for you."

"A letter, from who?"

Suspicion fills my mind as Emma hands it over to me.

"I open it; it's from Athrun. What are you planning to do, and do you know what it is about?"

Opening up the letter, I read it. Summarizing it, Athrun said that he was here in Farsbarow for some reason, but he didn't give me the reason why. He told me he is waiting for me where Kinwall's shop used to be, and to come see him.

So, after reading it, I answered.

"No, I don't know, but I'll go and meet with him. Don't send anyone with me. I want to make this private, plus Athrun would notice."

"Really?

"Yes, I have to go now."

Taking my leave, I stepped out of the adventurer's guild, wondering what Athrun could possibly want to talk to me about. But before I could dwell on it, I ran into Aria near the entrance. Not a second later, as I stepped outside.

"Good morning. Blake, how—"

Cutting her off as I walked right past her, I said. "Sorry, something came up. I'm afraid I can't talk to you right now."

Surprised and concerned by what she'd heard, she hurried after me, asking where I was going and if she could be of help of any kind. I shut her down immediately, telling her I couldn't say, only that it was a private matter.