A Salamander, but Mighty

POV: Luchael

The leporan didn't want to waste time going to the Adventurers' Guild, but Helen really didn't want to let him go even for an instant: together they headed to the building that had already begun to be familiar to Luchael. Once we arrived in front of the entrance, the leporan took care of the necessary education to open the door also for the temporary adventure companion, and as soon as the door was opened, he folded his long hare ears back in reaction to the loud noise of chatter coming from within.

It's even louder than the day I first came here, Luchael thought, if it weren't for the fact that I'm in a hurry, I would have waited until the evening as usual.

"What's up?" Helen asked curiously, seeing as Luchael had stopped right in the middle of the door.

“N-nothing, just that there are a lot of people and I wasn't mentally prepared,” he said, gaining courage and entering the room.

The main hall of the Adventurers' Guild was quite large and functioned somewhat like an tavern, with tables and seats where adventurers could sit, eat, get to know each other, and form new groups to go adventuring. Luchael and Helen didn't need to sit down or even go and talk to the attendants at the counter, they simply had to go to the questboard and choose the adventure they wanted to do.

Luchael had already thought of everything: he would use his class to motivate the selection of a mission of collecting herbs and mushrooms from the labyrinth that would take a long time to explore the place thoroughly, looking for his lost friend. The quest board was a large wooden table on which up to fifty scrolls the size of an A5 sheet of paper could be posted, the quest board was never full, but part of the quests it offered were escort missions for some merchant or perhaps the transport of valuables from one city to another.

Now, let's see what I could choose... Luchael thought, bringing a hand to his chin to massage it thoughtfully.

“How about a quest like this one?” Helen offered, smiling cheerfully at him and pressing the index finger of her right hand on a scroll that required killing and recovering the spore sac of five fuginid.

"I don't know..." Luchalel pursed his lips, the fuginid were small monsters with a similar appearance to purple mushrooms but with legs to walk and a serrated mouth to take powerful bites. They weren't very strong, the problem was rather that he had no idea how easily they could find them at a time when the dungeon had not been almost completely cleared of other adventurers. “Maybe this one is better.”

The leporan showed her a mission that consisted of recovering some herbs that judging by the reward must have either been heavily guarded or required a lot of time and exploration to recover... if the case had been the latter, it would have been perfect to hide his true mission to Helen.

“Mm… right! You are a [Herbalist]! Who knows what concoctions you could make!” She laughed, “I could become your client if you decided to stay here in Stanbroodge for some time!”

“...I actually don't want to start any business like [Herbalist], making potions is useful and certainly profitable, but the adventure side is missing,” Luchael said shrugging, “so? Is this okay with you?"

“It's fine with me, I'm here to help you, not to carry out some specific quest,” she replied, clasping her hands behind her back, only partially hindered by the round shield she had secured to her back, “I can quite understand what you mean, for example, I am a [Butcher], but I practice my work only as part of the temple duties.”

“I figured, after all, you don't really look like a [Butcher],” he pointed out, retrieving the scroll from the questboard, “with your chainmail, sword and shield, you look like a complete adventuress!”

“Thanks,” Helen giggled, “I hope one day to level up enough to get the Second Awakening!”

Together, Leporan and human went to the counter where one of the attendants of the Adventurers' Guild was busy receiving confirmations of the quest accepted by other adventurers, so, Luchael and Helan had to get in line and wait as if they were waiting in front of the blacksmith to receive their equipment repaired.

“Do you plan to achieve a combat-oriented Second Awakening by dedicating yourself to adventuring?” Luchael asked, after all, it was the same thing he hoped for, although the Second Awakening did not have precise mechanics to the point that many, even among the nobles, could live their entire lives without obtaining it.

Helen nodded, “I was lucky to get [Butcher] from my father, as it allows me to apply class benefits to this messer, but if I could manage to unlock something more combat-oriented…”

Luchael could only nod, it had gone badly for him since he didn't have great hopes on either his father's or his mother's side, he wanted to become a [Hunter] like his grandfather, with that he would have had greater hopes of becoming a successful adventurer, but things had gone like this, and the deities did not grant class changes to the mortal who whimpered the loudest.

“What about you? How do you juggle your class with your desire to become an adventurer?” She asked, looking from him to the row in front of them. They had just advanced one place.

“Well…” He pressed a finger to the hilt of his rapier, “I can't apply any of my class abilities to my weapon, so I try to maximize my ability to inflict serious wounds using the traits characteristic of my race.”

“The speed of running?” Helen asked teasingly, teasing him.

Luchael pouted.

“Come on, I was joking!” She exclaimed, giving him a light pat on the shoulders, “come on, explain to me, I promise that this was the first and last joke!”

“Okay…” He wrinkled his nose, “we leporans are good at footwork, especially when it comes to making quick and precise lunging attacks. We therefore have a natural talent for all thrusting weapons, such as spears, rapiers or pikes.”

The two advanced one more place, just one more adventurer and then it would be their turn to be served.

“How come you didn't choose a pike or spear in this case? You could use the strength of both hands and hit from a greater and safer distance..."

Luchael blushed, “style choice.”

Helen giggled, “it suits you!”

“It was the melee weapon that my grandfather used, although in reality he rarely used it. He preferred the bow,” he said as he moved further forward to finally come face to face with the attendant.

The human waited to speak again and ask more questions, she let Luchael hand over the scroll and receive confirmation that the quest had been added among those accepted. Once outside again, illuminated by an uncertain sun, partially hidden behind changing clouds, the girl resumed talking.

“Do you care a lot about your grandfather?”

The leporan nodded, “he was the bravest and strongest of all the leporans I have ever known,” he replied softly, “I want to become like him.”

“I'm sure he was very strong, like my dad!” Helen smiled and winked, “even though he has never been an adventurer, my parents are happy with their life away from the dangers of dungeons and the wild.”

Too bad Luchael wasn't listening to her; he had turned his head away, he seemed to be looking towards a side street ignored by most people.

“Luchael?”

“Huh?” He turned his head towards her, his eyelashes fluttering, “Could you precede me to the dungeon? There is… one thing I should do,” and then hastily added, “on my own.”

“But…” the human began to protest.

“Please,” Luchael softened his tone and folded his ears behind his head, it seemed like the girl was more sensitive that way than to intimidation.

Sure enough, Helen's eyes shone as if a small, defenseless puppy had just tried to give her a paw, “t-that's okay! But don't take too long, or I'll come looking for you!”

She reminds me so much of my older sister, Luchael thought with a dejected sigh, "ok, I'll see you soon then!"

Luchael waved a hand towards her and then walked towards the alley from which it came... something, a sensation that he couldn't describe but that seemed to be trying to call him with the lightness of a spring breeze. The leporan followed that sensation as if it were somehow hypnotized by it, arriving at a remote clearing where the only possible observers would have been one or two people who could have passed in front of the windows of the houses overlooking the clearing.

Once there, the leporan seemed to wake up from that sort of trance, raising his ears again and stiffening his back.

“Nice to meet you, Luchael.”

Something truly, truly bizarre appeared in front of him: a ball of white light that the leporan could have sworn wasn't illuminating anything around it; if the leporan had not been born in a world full of ancient powers and magic whose effects he had never seen with his own eyes, he would have thought he was delirating

“I… have the impression of having already met you, even if I don't remember where or how.”

The ball of light made the sound of a sweet, feminine laugh, “let's say yes, but now is not the time to talk about it. My name is Velen, and I'm here to help you retrieve your salmadrer friend from the dungeon.”

“The guardian spirit of Velenaria!!” Luchael exclaimed bowing his head respectfully, “How may I serve you? I am at your disposal!"

“I need you to retrieve Ta… Aradra from the Sleepy Swamp dungeon. To do so, the gods have granted me permission to gift you with a powerful miracle,” Velen said, using a tone that to the leporan sounded almost like what he imagined a deity would have.

“Yes, oh mighty Velen, I thank you for your divine intercession.”

“Unsheath your rapier and offer it to me,” all of a sudden, the guardian spirit's voice became more hasty, as if his was a timed assignment, or something unofficial and therefore needed to be completed quickly.

The leporan agreed by unsheathing the weapon and offering it to the guardian spirit with the hilt facing her and holding the weapon with his hands on the blade, he knelt down, making it even more chivalrous. Velen did something that Luchael didn't understand, but his rapier glowed with blue light for a few moments before returning to being – at least visually – the exact same rapier it always was.

However, there was a sensation that Luchael was feeling coming from the rapier, the sensation that it had truly become a blessed weapon.

“This weapon will now make your hand steadier and the wounds you inflict will be deeper,” declared the guardian spirit.

“Thank you,” Luchael whispered, retrieving his rapier and returning it to its sheath, “can I ask you something? I would like to know what Aradra's true nature is..."

Velen remained silent for almost five seconds before giving him an answer, “I'm sure she will change this world,” was the guardian spirit's only cryptic response.

He was careful enough not to dare ask the divine creature anything else, he simply nodded.

“You may go, Luchael,” said the guardian spirit, “please hurry and save her.”

The luminous orb disappeared into thin air leaving Luchael dumbfounded. The meeting with Velen had not answered the many questions he had about Aradra, and so, for the umpteenth time, the leporan decided to leave them accompanied by a question mark.

With this new boon, Luchael felt he was on the right path: thanks to the support of a guardian spirit, finding Aradra would be a walk in the park!

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