A Salamander, but Mighty

POV: Helen

Ever since he had awakened in the temple, Luchael had always seemed elusive to her, as if he was trying to hide something... Helen had never tried to find out what was the reason for his worried expressions, after all the leporan had every right to keep his thoughts only for himself if he wanted it that way, even if of course, the fact that he had talked to her about wanting to have adventures and fight monsters didn't fit with the herb gathering quests he kept choosing.

Maybe he has a problem with exploring dungeons with me and is too polite or shy to tell me? She asked herself mentally, glancing at him. Even now the leporan seemed distracted, if not downright nervous.

Sleepy Swamp must have been in a part of its cycle comparable to the afternoon of the outside world; Helen did not use the sunstone as the pools of light that accumulated here and there on the floor shone brightly enough to ensure perfect visibility. This time too Luchael had chosen a herb gathering mission, the two of them had done so many of those quests during those four days that it would have been incredible if Luchael's level had risen even once, something she could vouch for on her own was that her EXP score had barely budged, so his shouldn't had that much more either. Helen was still stuck at the seventh level, far from reaching the next level.

“Can I ask you something?” Helen said shrugging her shoulders, “why do we keep picking herbs?”

“Uh!” Luchael winced, “a-aren't you happy that we t-take only safe quests?” He said with a hint of a smile that conveyed a sense of embarrassment.

“Yes, it's just that you will never level up this way, didn't you want to become an adventurer?” She asked without distracting herself from the surroundings, the quest they had chosen would push them deeper into the dungeon, and the further into its meanders they went, the stronger the monsters became. “We shouldn't have chosen that quest, where we're going, the monsters have an even higher level than me.”

“It's… it's true, but I had to,” Luchael, who was stroking the hilt of his rapier in a gesture that made Helen think he was trying to ward off dark thoughts or uneasiness, replied softly, “it's for the friend I was telling you about. They need me to do this mission.”

“Do they need money?” Helen asked.

“Her life depends on it,” whispered the leporan, “she is in a very delicate situation, and she won't be able to get out alive if I don't help her.”

"Her?" The girl pursed her lips before opening them into a gentle smile, “Is this someone important to you?”

"Yes!" Luchael exclaimed. The girl and the leporan's gaze met, and moments later, Luchael's cheeks turned a vivid red, “n-not in that sense! She is a friend who helped me start my career as an adventurer.”

“Is she an adventurer too?”

Luchael looked away and began playing with some strands of his long cream hair, "in a way..." he replied vaguely, for the umpteenth time, Helen was left in the situation of having to change the subject or interfere with the other people's business.

“How can she be and not be?” Helen asked curiously.

“Um… hey! Look!” The leporan exclaimed, pointing ahead of them, “here are the herbs!”

Helen snorted, it was clear that he was trying to not talk too much about his misterious friend that is and isn’t an adventurer. After gathering some more herbs, they delved deeper inside the dungeon, fighting only sometimes against some very confused fuginids and rodamuses, that appeared like they were escaping from something, or someone…

Maybe an high-level adventurer? Even if they’re driven by instinct alone, monsters are rarely suicidal. She thought to herself, or could it be that strange salmadrer?

Luchael didn't seem to notice that the monsters they were killing were on the run as he not only continued to advance further into the dungeon, but also quickened his pace. “Luchael, be careful, these monsters are running from someone they obviously have no hope of killing.”

“You s-s-say so? Uh…” There was a glimmer of hope in the leporan's pink eyes, “t-then we should keep going, but more carefully!”

That was… unusual, not only because of what Helen knew was the cautious – if not fearful – attitude of the leporans, but also because Luchael hadn't seemed particularly careless to her before that moment. Helen gripped the messer grip tightly, quickening her pace to stay in front of the suddenly fearless Leporan.

“Careful,” Helen raised her wooden shield to impede her companion's progress, just in time to let a group of three rodamuses whiz past, squeaking in panic, “maybe it would be best if we left,” she murmured softly, fearful for her own safety as well.

Luchael shook his head vigorously, “no! We have to… we have to move forward!” he said as if his very life depended on it.

"Are you crazy? There's at least a fifteenth level monster ahead if it can scare everyone away like this!”

“I… I have to go,” his firmness and courage surprised Helen, “I have a thing to do.”

Leporans are particularly gifted sprinters; Luchael ducked slightly and leaned out of the cover of Helen's shield to sprint in the same direction the small group of rodamuses had come from. The girl was worried about his survival, but she certainly couldn't abandon her adventure companion like that. She chased him inside the tunnel, closing in on certain points and catching up a few seconds later until she reached an enlargement of the dungeon large enough for two people to advance together shoulder to shoulder and nothing more.

Luchael was standing in front of her, partially covering a gruesome scene: there was a large hynarl lying on its side, the body had been pierced repeatedly and in several places with something that Helen thought was a spear, part of the body was steaming and was being consumed as if acid had been spilled on it. The monster was on its side, with its back to Luchael and Helen, something was moving at the level of the monster's belly. It was a salmadrer, and yet, it looked different than the one Helen had met in the past and left for dead.

[Salmadrer – Lv: 15]

It’s developing at an absurd speed, pensò la ragazza, this shouldn’t be possible!

“Aradra!” Luchael exclaimed, “is that really you??”

The leporan was not preparing for combat, he had not assumed any guard position and was holding his rapier at his side. What struck Helen most was that he was showing no sign of fear or hesitation, as if he didn't understand the danger they were in.

The monster stopped keeping its head stuck inside the hynarl's bowels and raised it to look at them: it was spattered with blood everywhere, with a piece of intestine still protruding from its mouth. Around it there were shreds of meat and under one paw it was holding a bone that the girl assumed was a rib. Its golden eyes, like those of a drakafyr or some other large reptilian monstrosity, fell on both adventurers.

The salmadrer wagged its fat tail like it was some sort of canogh, predatory eyes locked on the leporan. Did it understand that he's the weakest? Helen wondered mentally, “Luchael! We have to leave! Now!"

“Don't attack her!” Replied Luchael, “she doesn't want to attack us!”

“Have you gone nuts?” Helen replied. “It's a monster! A creature made of instinct and hunger! It's not a she!”

The monster hissed and sighed, tapping its front paws nervously, as if it understood what Helen was saying. It jumped forward over the body of the monster it was feeding on and, very carefully and trying to keep its distance from the human, began to approach Luchael.

“Aradra! I'm so glad I found you, I knew you couldn't be dead!” The leporan exclaimed, resting his knees on the ground and opening his backpack to take out some handkerchief, "gods, you're all dirty... come here, let me clean you up a bit, I can't possibly put you in my backpack while you're dirty like this."

Helen remained speechless and with her mouth open: she wanted to tell her adventure companion not to behave like this, that he was putting his life at risk... instead, the salmadrer remained motionless and calm, ready to be cleaned up and to suffer Luchael's loving care, no traces of the typical ferocity of a wild monster in its behavior.

Could it really be Nightmare Tyrant? She couldn't help but wonder. That monster is anomalous, it can't be a simple coincidence.

“That monster is Nightmare Tyrant,” Helen declared. The girl didn't know what to do, alone she wouldn't have had much chance of stopping that threat to the world without being killed before succeeding, and worse still: her adventure companion seemed subjugated to it, perhaps it had access to some mental control ability that didn't belong to its type of monster? It was the ultimate evil after all...

“Helen, I need you to listen to me. This is not Nightmare Tyrant, this is Aradra. I was the one who brought her into this dungeon,” Luchael said, “she's my adventure companion, we did all the herb gathering quests to find her and get her out of here.”

“It's a monster, not a she. Wake up, Luchael! Nightmare Tyrant is playing with your mind!” The girl declared, pointing to the salmadrer, “it will attack you as soon as you stop being useful to it!”

Luchael finished cleaning up Aradra and sighed. It was difficult for Helen to maintain the idea that Luchael was mind-controlled as when he looked up at her, the cheerfulness seemed genuine and unmanipulated, “remember I asked you to listen to me when I would have asked you? The time is now: please leave Aradra alone. I'll put her in my backpack and you'll never see her again."

Helen was torn: she had no hope of winning, but neither could she leave Nightmare Tyrant free to leave, grow and return stronger than before to threaten everything that is good in the world... she was a loyal servant of the God of Heroes, dammit! "I... I..." she tightened her grip on the hilt of his messer, a few seconds later, she relaxed it again, “you will have to kill me to prevent me from reporting to the city and letting it be known that you are protecting Nightmare Tyrant.”

Luchael held Aradra close to protect her, which was pretty funny considering she was at least three times his level. “Okay, then give us a day before we let this be known, tomorrow Aradra and I will leave Stanbroodge and then you can tell everyone what you want.”

“But if you have nothing but a small change! How do you plan to buy food and get to the next city?”

Aradra pushed against Luchael's chest to get him to stop hugging her; once the leporan loosened its grip, she took a step – a human step in distance – back and made some noises towards both of them as if she wanted to warn them of something, after which, she began to transform: her body began to change causing disturbing sounds while muscles and bones adapted to support a more human physiognomy. A wild, ancient-looking green dress covered Aradra's squat little body, and she explored with her short-fingered hands until she found a pocket.

"Watch out!" Helen shouted as she stepped forward and brought the messer back into a guard position.

But Aradra had no bad intentions, in the palms of her hands there was a human fist of gold Leuns, which she promptly handed over to the leporan.

“These… these are at least twenty gold Leuns! Where did you find them??” Luchael asked, as if that was the thing that surprised him and not the fact that Aradra had become a bipedal creature right in front of his eyes. “See, Helen? It seems that there is enough money to have a safe and peaceful trip..."

She seemed to have gone crazy: a wild monster was walking around with golden Leuns and only she found it absurd or as a sign of something much bigger and worse to come? “…tomorrow at noon I will reveal that you brought Nightmare Tyrant out of Sleepy Swamp, you will have to leave the city walls at dawn,” she murmured, bowing her head and closing her eyes, certain that she would regret her choice.

With her eyes closed, Helen heard the rustle of light fabric and the sound of footsteps. When she opened them again, the salmadrer was in front of her, one arm raised upwards and a gold Leun clutched between three fingers.

Helen bent down slightly, just enough to take the coin that was being offered to her. She studied her carefully before grumbling quite audibly, "next time we see each other, we'll be enemies... you too, Luchael," she said, placing the coin in one of the pouches strapped to her belt, "know that probably the adventurers' guild will cancel your registration as an adventurer after knowing you helped a wild monster escape.”

Luchael smiled at her, “I don't need the adventurers guild to become a great adventurer, Aradra and I will find another path.”

“You and Aradra,” Helen shook her head a few times, “let's go. Put the monster in your backpack and let's finish this adventure before I change my mind.”

"Thank you. I'm sorry I wasn't honest with you,” Luchael said, bowing his head.

“Me too,” Helen cut short, “me too.”