I died…Yes, I have died…
I died without able to protect the one I loved…
I died after "they" robbed everything from me…
My Wealth…
My Happiness…
My Pride as a Man…
My Promise as a Lover…
My Duty as a Brother…
My Position as a Leader…
My Responsibility as the Eldest Son…
My Heart…
And even…My Chast.i.ty…
I have been naïve to thought that my journey will end in "Happiness"
I didn"t even know about the darkness that lurked on my back…
"The darkness" that devoured the people I loved…
…And I can only move forward, without looking back…
I forgot to remember them…
…and I refused to help them…
…I left them to die in agony and…misery…
I…am…a foolish and naïve man…
I was so fool because I trusted everything that "he" told to me…
…More than my comrades" words that actually meant to me…
I had deceived by him…until I gave him everything he wanted…
…I didn"t know that he had been aiming for my loved ones from the beginning…
…when I realized it,
It was too late…
…He had robbed everything from her…
…and even I had received my punishment in that "Eternal Black Flame"
Now…I wonder…from where and when did all this misfortune begin?
Then the man closed his eyes and tried to remember his past...
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"...-san!"
"…ru-san!" A voice can be heard.
"Haru-san!!!" A girl is shaking my head.
"What?! Is it an enemy attack?!" I wake up. Well, half-awake to be exact.
"Geez…what are you talking about…It"s already over 8 A.M.E and you are still sleeping?!"
"Uh...what? Who are you?" Then, a strong slap landed on my right cheek.
"HOW DARE YOU FORGET ABOUT YOUR OWN FIANCEE!"
When I fully opened my eyes, I realized that Ayumi is holding a knife.
"I HAVE PREPARED BREAKFAST SINCE DEAD MORNING AND IT"S ALREADY COLD RIGHT NOW. DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MUCH EFFORT I PUT FOR THIS?"
"WAAAHHHH SORRY MA"AM!!!" I jumped from my bed and headed to my bathroom.
"Ara (Oh My)…what a pleasant morning" Said a beautiful woman while she enjoys her morning tea.
Jetavien, 1st 2.482 A.E.V II
It"s a New Year, my first morning in the First Year turned into chaos… my little brother, and my sisters can"t stop laughing at me. Of course, she is sulking at me. What a complete disaster.
"BAHAHAHAHAHA WHAT HAVE YOU DONE ANIKI…?!" said Robert, my youngest little brother.
"Your silly face is even sorry, you know Ani-sama…" said Rebecca, my youngest little sister.
"Moo…Onii-sama has made Onee-sama sulking…" said Arianna, my eldest little sister.
"In a married life, this quarrel will always happen. Not only breakfast, but also troubles with woman or anything like that, fufu…." Said my mother while she looking at Ayumi and me.
"I"m deeply sorry Ayumi-san…"
"Hmph!" she is still sulking, how cute.
"All right, it"s my loss here. Is there something you want?" I asked her then sipping my tea.
"A baby…" said my eldest little sister, mimicking her voice.
"PFFFTTTTTTT—!" I spit out my tea.
"BAHAHAHA WHAT DID YOU SAY ANEUE?! BAHAHAOGRUHDSHOHOK…!"
"Robert! Do not speak when your mouth is full! Oh my…" said my mother.
"Eww…disgusting Onii-sama" said Rebecca.
"Arianna…what have you done to your Onee-sama?" said my mother and when we look at her, her face is very red like a tovamter (tomato).
"Awawa…" Yeah, she is blushing. She is covering her face with her hands. How cute.
"Though I don"t mind…." Said my mother then she is sipping her tea.
"Mother!" I shouted.
"What"s it my dear?"
"Her face is more red than usual and her eyes are spinning!" said Robert.
"Oh my…" she is gently smiling to her.
"Leaving her imagining something, I heard you and Robert wanted to join the main force to the Raklera Valley?"
"Yes mother, a monster horde has been sighted there. We would like to farm some EXP and Materials. I also intend to earn some money and trains myself there. It"ll be a nice experience for all of us." I said. My mother nodded, she warned us and gave us some advice. My motivation is to save money as much as I can as marriage savings for an independent life. I must be a proper husband for Ayumi if not; her father will hang me for sure.
"Good thing you have prepared your things, Haru, Robert. I give you my permission to go."
"Thanks Mother." She smiled.
"Be sure to bring good news to me Haru, Robert."
"Yes we will back with our achiev¬—" I said.
"No, not that my dear…" Mother cuts my sentence while Robert is sipping his tea.
"…?" Then mother motion her hands as if she is carrying something in front of her chest.
"Bppfffftttttttt—" Robert spilled his tea.
"I have great expectation from you Robert." But Robert glances away.
"Now, Arianna, Rebecca have both of you signed the form to join Wardens Army?" Mother changed the topic, leaving me confused. Robert covered half of his face with his hand in embarra.s.sment.
"Yes Mother. We have signed it and sent it back to university. We will probably attend Northlandia University again long after graduated from there."
"The Mentors will train you into very dependable and strong women. But do not hope they will spoil you."
"Will you become our Mentor there?" ask Arianna.
"If My Queen allows me, I will."
Mother is one of the Imperial Knights of Northlandia Kingdom. She is the leader of [White Pegasus] Squad and she has been serving The Queen of Northlandia Kingdom, Anne Petrovskyvia Reina since her youth. Mother is also working as a Mentor in Northlandia University, Divine Knights and Wardens Army Academy.
After we took our luggage, all of us leave the mansion. We said our goodbye to Mother and the servants. She kissed and hugged each of us with love. We ride our family horse carriage to The Capital City of Nartellia, after we have arrived at the city; we parted away with our sisters.
"Onii-sama, please be healthy and stay vigilant okay?" said Arianna and I nodded.
"Robert nii-sama, please do not flirt with other girls ok? If you do that, I"m sure Mira and Fiel nee-sama will definitely kill you."
"Hey! I have —" then Rebecca kissed Robert in the cheek and hugged him, then she did that on me and Ayumi.
In Nartellia, my sisters are going to Central District of Imperium Airallevium, where the Royal Castle located. Thanks to them, we can shorten the travel time because they dropped us in front of Northlandia Guild Office.
We entered the Guild Main Hall and as usual, it"s crowded with people who live in Northlandia, most of them are Holy Elves, then Fairies and Demi-Humans. Mother said Humans rarely live in Elven Kingdoms.
We walked in and reported to the receptionist, "[White Falcon] Party has arrived. We are ready to take a mission or quest."
"Oh Haru-san, Robert-san and Ayumi-san! Good Morning of Lichtiash-sama for all of you!"
"Lichtiash Morning for you too Anysan!" I replied to her.
"Right, your party has accepted the Guild Master"s request to join force with other adventurers. Are you ready?"
"Yes, we are ready. So, when will we go?"
"At 9 A.M.E, but you guys sure arrived early eh? Professionals do have good behaviors…"
"We are afraid if we late, other parties will be angry with us…ahahahaha…" Then she smiled.
"Tokorode (By the way), if you want to wait, you can go upstairs to second floor, wait here or go on a quest for a little exercise. Oh, I almost forgot! Your friends have been waiting for your arrival upstairs. Be sure to check them."
"I"ll be here to check the monsters that I had defeated yesterday Aniki. You can go with nee-chan there." Then we left Robert and we go upstairs to second floor.
"Oh there, there! Yahoo! Haru-san! Ayumi-san!" A girl, which is my friend, Luna is waving her hand at us.
"Lunchan, I"m sorry to keep you waiting." Said Ayumi to Luna while she sits next to her.
"Heiki-heiki (Don"t Worry). We had fun time waiting you here." Then Ayumi and Luna are chatting with each other.
"Heh, Kaichou (Leader)…you have come but you ignore me…did you forget that I"m also here?" then there are something soft pressed against my head. Oh, right…it is Ranisan"s b.o.o.bs.
"Domo (h.e.l.lo) Rania nee-san, I"m sorry I couldn"t realize you sooner…"
"You are so cruel Haru-chan, I need to change to [Human Form] from my [Demi-Human Form] so that I don"t break the floor…" then I laugh a little.
"Yo, Leader…I"m sorry, I didn"t realize you have arrived." A man walked in with ten other men, one of them is Robert. It seems he has finished his business with Anysan.
"Haru-kun is so unfair…you flirted with Ranisan in front of your own fiancée early in the morning…" then ten women appeared from another stairway.
"Good morning Thomas-san and Tamarsan." Then, all of them sit around me.
"Right, now let"s start the meeting…" I opened the map and explained the details of our mission to the party.
"A week ago, the Guild Master received an urgent request from Her Majesty, Queen Anne Petrovskyvia herself to eradicate the corrupted monsters and Nightgangers that still roam the Raklera Valley. Her Majesty asked The Guild to send a few top-ranked adventurer parties that operate in Northlandia."
"…and with your mother connections on the Kingdom, the Guild Master tasked us with this job?" asked Thomas.
"Hey…you are playing dirty Haru-chan…" said Rania. Well Thomas is right; the Guild Master gave us this job mainly because my mother recommended our party to the Queen.
"I bet everyone is jealous of us right now." Said Tamara and Rania nodded in agreement.
"Truthfully, I think they "pitied" us and other parties who have been tasked with this job, Tamara nee-san."
"What made you said that Robert-kun?"
"Look, we are tasked to eradicate monsters and creatures that have been rampaging the main continent for 17 Eelvariash and all of them are dangerous. Their weakest are C-ranked and all of them can corrupt anyone they touch into one of them. Don"t you think that the Guild Master wants to kill us?" said Robert.
"Bahahaha! Hoo-boy, you are right. I will be asking for plenty of money from the Guild Master if we came back alive." Said Jacob whose sits next to Thomas.
"What about the battlefield?" asked Maria.
"The geography structure you mean? There a lot high ground so Mages and Archers can easily attack the enemies, but there are only a few parts of the valley that we can use as front base during the operation. I don"t want to camp together with other parties." Said Yuna, she is one of the Mages in our party.
"So, what about supply and other things that we need to take care of?" asked Yovan one of our swordsmen.
"Me, Robert and Ayumi have prepared our own and we already bought some for our party members as well. How about you, have all of you prepared your supplies?"
"Don"t worry Kaichou (Leader), we have prepared for it long time ago." said Rania.
Everyone in our party has this mindset after a few of my comrades were gravely injured on the past when we were on quest to subjugate a Monstrous Boar Beast. We failed at that time and we must pay the compensation money. We almost went bankrupt and disbanded at that time, but thanks to Ayumi-san"s support, we could get back to our track.
"So, what about our party members, is anyone here has a trouble with your own skill or spell?"
I asked this because it is the main reason we failed the boar subjugation quest at that time. Our party members were selfish and unwilling to follow my command. They didn"t want to reveal their weakness and kept using the same spells or skills even though it was ineffective. They also tried to use long and difficult spells that wasted our times. Ayumi, Robert and I sure had a hard time because of that. After we failed the quest, I scolded all of them. Thanks to that failure now, we are able to cover each other weakness.
"You know, my Ice Attribute Magic is really bad right now. If someone wants to use Ice Attribute Magic, that person needs to master Wind, Water and Darkness Attribute Elemental Magic first to a certain level. I have grasped the expert rank for each of those elementals, but my Ice Magic still has low damage and short duration…"
"You probably need to train your Water and Wind Elemental duration as well as the status effects. Your Ice Magic has short duration because you can"t maintain the "coldness" and "water amount" on your Ice Magic. For damage, you need to enhance your Wind Elemental Damage. Among those three, Water and Darkness couldn"t do much damage except if you use High-ranked Magic for [Anti-Army] or [Anti-Fortress]." Yuna explained it to Elza.
"Mendoukusai (How Annoying…) please teach me Yunsensei." Yuna replied with a nod.
"I think my sword skill has grown dull. Yesterday I met a huge wild bear, and from the look, that bear is corrupted by [Chaos Rain]. Normally, it takes less than 15 minerval to take one down, but my sword can"t kill it with one hit. It also blocked my sword skill. I wonder what"s wrong with me…" Pedro asked Thomas.
"You stupid drunk, did you forget to clean and sharpen your sword? Your sword is covered with blood, sand and corrosion from Spider"s Venom already. Of course, you have grown dull because your shoulder is a bit dislocated. Do you remember that a bear smacked your right shoulder long time ago?" said Rania.
"Let me fix your shoulder for you!" said Rania while pulling Pedro"s shoulder.
"Itetetetetetete…!!! (It Hurts…It Hurts…!!!) Ranisan, please stop…!" then everyone laughed at Pedro.
"Aniki, I think we have forgotten something…" Robert asked me.
"…Hmm…I don"t think we have forgotten ab—"
"…FATHER!" we looked at each other and run downstairs.
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We ran as quickly as possible to Litherger Merchant District, east of Adventurer Guild. From afar, we saw a glimpse of a young man that has been waiting for something.
"Father! I"m sorry that we forgot about you!" I talked while catching my breath.
"Haru-chan, Robert-chan…you two are so meaniee…"
"Gomenasai (I"m sorry) Father, we are discussing something with our friends and we forgot you have waited here and with our carriage."
"Heiki-heiki (Don"t Worry), your amazing father has prepared everything for his beloved sons!"
My father whose full name is Alexander Azilvanir von Alexandria is a hero of the [First Rain of Chaos] War. He was bestowed the t.i.tle "Hero" from Queen Anne even though he isn"t a full-fledged swordsman or knight, he is a merchant by trade. During the war, he brought thousands of [Savior"s Tears] Potion to the army encampment and successfully saved the lives of thousand, or even hundred thousand people there. He also received a n.o.bility as a [Duke] from Queen Anne for his dedication and loyalty towards the kingdom for thousands of years.
Normally, a merchant with high influence has a n.o.bility rank of [Baron] or [Viscount] in the kingdom, but since he saved the lives of Kings and Queens from Sylph, Ignish and Holy Elf, they decided to bestow him the rank of [Duke]. After the [First Rain of Chaos] ended, father temporary retired from the Wardens Army and chose to manage his land and business. Of course, he still kept his promise to marry mother after the war ended.
Father himself can"t be called as "Father" because he is very young! Yes indeed! He is like our older brother and even sometimes like our little brother! He is always calling us "Haru-chan" or "Robert-chan" in front of other people so easily! Sometimes, he even used "cute and sweet" tone when talking with his children or even the Queen herself.
On daily life, "he is a very doting parent". One time, I wanted to get rid of him (because he was always rubbing his cheek on me) by saying that my head is hurt. A few moments after that, he brought all doctors, healers and pharmacists from the entire kingdom to mansion. He even brought Royal Family Pharmacist without the Queen"s permission. I remember it became quite chaotic at that time, mother was very angry and beat him into pulp.
I still remember the ruckus he created on my official engagement with Ayumi. He jumped on me and rubbed his cheek on me. It gets worse when he started crying like a baby while saying:
"Waaa!!! Haru-chan! Don"t leave your beloved father behind! You said you wanted to take mother from me! You said you wanted to marry Otou-chan!" Ayumi"s parents, The Queen and The Prime Minister looked me with bewildered expression while the other guests looking me while giggling.
"FATHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!" I screamed with all my might at that time.
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"Haru-chan, Robert-chan…let Father accompany you in this quest!"
"No." we instantly replied.
"Aww…" he sulks, and now he shows his cute sulking expression. I often wonder whether this man is my father or my little brother.
We escorted father back to his office and said our goodbye to him. Then, we went back to guild office. When we reached the office, everyone is still preparing their own carriages and necessities.
"Kaichou, where did you go? You left your beloved fiancée there. How cruel." asked Rania to me.
"I picked our carriages from my father and escorted him back to his office. After that, I picked our necessities in the market. That"s all."
"EVERYONE WHO ARE PART OF THE SUBJUGATION QUEST PLEASE COMES TO TRAINING GROUND!"
(Oh, that"s Anysan"s voice) After hearing that, we walk together to the training ground.
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"Hey…it"s the [White Falcon Party]…" Many people are looking and talking about us.
"You mean THE [White Falcon Party] rumored as one of the strongest parties in Northlandia?"
"Of course! Did you know each party members are ranked?"
"Oh, really? I had no idea!"
"I know-I know! Can"t you imagine it? Normally, one or two people in a party are the high-ranker member while the others only acted as complementary. It"s very hard to raise every member in the party into High-Rank Adventurer. I"m sure their leader is a hard worker."
"Inaaa, watashi mo hoshii (How Lucky, I"m so Jealous), some of my party members are just bunch of freeloaders and slackers. Oh my…Our party"s leader always has a hard time forcing them to raise their rank."
We often hear this sort of conversation every time we partic.i.p.ate in large-scale or dangerous quest. I catch a glimpse of Ranisan and Thomas-san giggling and chuckling. I also saw Robert"s "annoyed" expression.
[Heveinoirre Falconia] or [White Falcon] is our party name. Right now, we are one of the strongest adventurer parties in Northlandia, or even in the entire Holy Elf Kingdoms. At the beginning of our party creation, we were only a group of herb collectors. At that time, our party only consists of Robert, Rebecca, Roderick, Charlotte, Ayumi, Arianna, Gary, Elessa, Thomas, Rania, Anya, Yuna and me. We faced many problems together as party and became stronger little by little, as our influence grows so does our party members. We always keep a good track in our party, we never take an impossible quest if one or two of our party members were still weak.
Except that one time, we took a quest to subjugate demonic boar and we screwed up because our selfishness. After that, we learned something important from our failure. We learned that cooperation between party members is very important, so we started covering each other"s weakness. They also starting to trust and follow the leader"s orders. We have been using that tactic since then and now we have grown into a large and dependable party.
On our journey, we have met with many talented and experienced adventurers. We have been recruiting many members. As the leader of the party, I never neglected my party members, if they have a problem, I will help them as best as I can. I adopted this policy to other party members to build our trust and deepen our friendship with each other. Thankfully, most of them followed my advice even though a few of them are still competing with each other. But honestly, I don"t mind a good compet.i.tion since it can make them grow stronger. I also told them "Please don"t let jealously blind you and respect your fellow adventurers because it"ll cost you everything and it won"t bring anything good."
"A week ago, our Guild Master, Pallero Thiserus received a direct order from Her Majesty, Anne Petrovskyvia Reina to eradicate the remaining Nightgangers and Blood Monsters in Raklera Valley. Those creatures have destroyed many villages around the forest and killed dozens of villagers. We have received reports that a few villagers have transformed into one of "them" and a few of these creatures have been spotted near the lake."
"This is bad, if they have reached the lake. They can poison other villages and turn them into their ranks."
"I agree, Robert."
"All parties will cooperate with each other and hunt the targets, as well as eradicating the targets that have been mentioned before. All partic.i.p.ating party is allowed to take any part of Raklera Valley as their base of operation until the mission is over. The people from the Guilds will act as last resort, we have prepared the [Savior"s Tears] Potion and without further delay, PLEASE BE SAFE AND RETURN TO YOUR OWN CARRIAGES NOW!"
"YES SIR!"
"ALL ADVENTURERS WHO ARE PART OF THE RESERVE UNIT PLEASE RETURN TO GUILD CARRIAGES NOW!" The Guild Leader and Anysan disbanded the gathering.
We proceeded to our carriages. Our party members who have [Knight] Cla.s.s will drive the horses and carriages, Rogues will act as forward scouts, Warriors will be the vanguard and the Mages will take care of the tired horses and managing the supplies.
"How"s your horse Robert?"
"I think Albec is in good condition." Albec licked Robert"s cheek. "Oh s.h.i.t." he said.
"Leader, we are ready to go." One of my party members, Jack came to me riding his horse.
"WHITE FALCON, IS EVERONE READY? IF YOU NEED TO DO SOMETHING, NOW"S YOUR LAST CHANCE!" I used [Loud Voice] Magic so my voice can be heard by everyone. A few moment later, I received a reply that everything is packed and we are ready to go.
"WHITE FALCON DEPARTS!" at my command, we started marching following the advance party. At the gate, I showed my [Guild Card] and [Mission Paper] to the guards to authorize our departure. Then, we leave Northlandia from Northern Gate.