As my eyes fluttered open, a bright light assaulted my eyes and the pain that'd been masked by adrenaline had revealed itself and assaulted all my senses.
'Urgh, I wanna die'. I thought as I covered my face with the back of my hands to protect them from the sunlight. 'Where am I anyway?'. I thought as I struggled to sit up admist the pain that coursed through my body.
'You're awake'. I heard Laura's neutral voice in my head and could tell she was really mad.
'Sorry'. I apologized as I leaned my back against a bark of a nearby tree.
'.....don't ever do that again'. After a brief moment of silence, Laura responded.
'Sure'. I answered immediately as I looked around confusedly and asked, 'Where are we?'
'Your friend left to do some hunting after feeding you some potions'. She answered.
'Aren't the potions supposed to heal you completely?'. I asked with a groan as I stretched my stiff bones.
'No, jeez those novels you read must've exaggerated their effects to an unbelievable level'. With a sigh, Laura flew out and explained.
With my head cocked to the side in confusion, I asked innocently, 'How do they work then?'.
Floating and landing on a tree, she explained "Basically, they accelerate the miotic process of your body to a high degree and supplement the mitochindria so they can cope with the sudden increase in cells"
My head went blank as I heard all the terms that I could swear were from earth, 'I knew I should've paid attention in science class'. I groaned in frustration.
"Obviously, I used terms from earth so you could understand it better, this world has a totally different explanation though". She continued with her palms under her cheek with a contemplative look on her face.
'If only I understood', with a wry smile, I said, "So basically it doesn't revert me to my prime state".
Laura nodded and said, "Your body gets used to the jump in cell number eventually, so the potion loses efficiency over time, but that takes about seventy years under constant dosage so it's not a matter of concern". Floating downwards she placed her hands on her waist with an authoritative look on her face and added, "And you'll not be getting injured to the extent of taking them more than five times a week, understand?".
"Yeah, wasn't planning to". With a drop sweat running down my cheek, I answered.
"Good, now your friend will be hear anytime soon so I need to prepare my popcorn". She continued with a serious expression.
"Popcorn?". I muttered lowly as I saw Greg in the distance carrying a massive boar on his back and his two bodyguards as they followed with the default polite expression on their faces.
"You're awake". Greg muttered as he threw the boar on the ground. "Yeah, good thing I didn't die". I answered with a wry smile.
'Please don't be a battle junkie, please don't be a battle junkie'. I pleaded desperately in my head as I stood up slowly with a pained expression.
"You need rest, we're preparing a meal to commemorate my loss". Greg said with a neutral expression as he skinned the boar with his sword alongside his guards.
"Commemorate your loss?". I muttered confusedly.
'Who the hell celebrates losing?!'. I screamed internally.
"Our young master hasn't lost in a long while, you're the first person who has defeated him– although his rank was suppressed and amidst other factors, a loss is still a loss". Winston spoke with a neutral expression as he fried the boar with a fire spell.
'I still lost though'. I thought with a sense of discomfort welling within me.
After they were done preparing the boar meat, a tree was cut down and made into a table for the feast.
'This is ridiculous'. Looking at the large pieces of meat and food arranged neatly on the table, I had no other words to say.
"Dig in.....?" . Greg wanted to mention my name but forgot to even ask me in the first place, to save him from the embarrassment, I answered, "Clark.....Clark Thompson".
"Clark, but there's no Thompson family that I know of though". He answered as he looked at me innocently.
'A noble is always a noble at the end of the day'. I chuckled dryly as I answered, "I'm an orphan".
"Oh, I apologize". He answered lowly as he took another bite of his food with hidden embarrassment.
'He's not as bad as I thought'. I thought inwardly as I took a bite of the meat that nearly melted in my mouth with a myriad of pleasant tastes.
"This is divine". I muttered with my hand placed on my lips.
"Winston is a good cook, I agree". Greg nodded with a calm expression.
We ate in silence for a while, then Greg broke the silence with a statement that nearly made me spit out the meat in my mouth, "I'll cut to the chase, join the Vandemire army".
"Wh–what?". I stuttered
'Is this what Laura was looking forward to?'. I thought inwardly as I looked at the call expression of Greg and his subordinates.
'They all agree?, why aren't they yelling 'Courting death!' like third rate characters when you need them to!'.
Placing the food calmly on the table, I thought of numerous ways to reject Greg's proposal as softly as possible.
"I truly appreciate the opportunity to be enlisted in the great Vandemire army, but I have other engagements at the moment". I answered with my head bowed slightly.
Their eyebrows raised in surprise as they heard my response, they probably hadn't expected me to reject such an opportunity.
Obviously, I had my reasons, with the tournament coming up, I couldn't afford to serve another person especially with my mission still incompleted, I also learnt a bit of politics from Miriam during my stay at the Rothschild house and I was knowledgeable enough to know the Vandemire's weren't really best friends with the Rothschild's, but they weren't especially hostile either, so a little provocation could mess up the awkward relationship they had and I'd rather not be the cause of a war.
Honestly, all these reasons are just cover ups, the truth is, I was too lazy to be yelling with troops and running to my death whilst yelling 'FOR THE VANDEMIRES!!' or something like that.
"Will you not reconsider?" Greg asked calmly.
I shook my head with a smile and took another piece of meat, 'I choose life'.
The matter was dropped completely and I noticed Greg's respect for me seemed to had increased, 'He probably misunderstood my intentions for refusing, for something noble'. I thought inwardly as I finished my meal and washed my hands.
"I will be on my way now, take care of yourself noble warrior". Greg, accompanied by his guards stood up and nodded at me with neutral expressions.
"I look forward to the day we will stand as equals". Greg added before entering the forest with his silver armor like some badass main character.
"He holds me in high esteem, huh". I muttered as I lay down on the ground and covered my eyes with back of my hands.
Laura flew out of my head and lay down next to me with her head propped up by her elbows as she asked,"Isn't that a good thing?"
"It would be if the universe isn't trying to fuck with me at any given chance". I turned my head to look at her entrancing blood red eyes that could make you lose yourself and responded.
Rolling her eyes, she responded "You're overthinking it, nothing bad will happen".
"I sure hope so". I muttered, suddenly remembering something, I activated my system and Laura flew behind me and placed my head on her lap as if it was the most natural thing to do and looked at my system interface.
"Your system has updated....at this rate my guardian duties would come to an end in no time". She said lowly, with her voice laced with sadness and longing.
"Can't you stay? Even after your role is complete?". I sat up and faced her as I asked with worry apparent in my eyes.
Chuckling and holding my hands, she responded, "Others could, but I have a task much larger than this one".
My eyebrows furrowed in confusion as I listened, "A task?". I asked confusedly.
"Fufu, let's not dwell on the future let's focus on the present, let's see your system". Laura's suggested as she evaded the question with a smile.
"Mm, sure" I nodded and activated my system.
***********
Name: Clark Thompson
Rank: F
Class: Battle mage
Lvl: 5
Exp points: 30
Mp: 150/150(+51)
_________________
Strength: 25(+7)
Agility: 25(+10)
Vitality: 20(+4)
Intelligence: 30(+11)
______________
Weapon in use: Aether scythe
Weapon rank: Mythril – touched
Weapon proficiency: 78%
______________
Skill(s) in use: Masseuse lvl.4, Calculative lvl.4
Skill proficiency: 30%(Masseuse)
Skill proficiency: 67% (Calculative)
Skills possessed: Liar lvl.3, magic fingers lvl. 2, Rank nullification lvl. 3,Desperation lvl.5 (New!)
_______________
[Desperation]: Increases host's strength when chances of survival decreases (Activates automatically)
_______________
Mission: Kill 15 wyverns
Progress: (2/15)
Mission completion rate: 13.33
Remark: Laura!
______________
"I've got a lot of upgrades". I muttered with my hands on my cheek.
'Does that mean I improve by pushing my body to the limits?,well it makes sense though'.
"You didn't tell me you hunted wyverns". Laura interrupted my thoughts as she asked with a darkened expression.
Shivers ran down my spine as I smiled wryly and looked at her, "Well, I wasn't sure I wanted to tell you at the time".
"What happened?". She asked as her anger was replaced by worry almost immediately.
'So cute'. I thought as I told her my wyvern hunting experience and my wyvern therapy session, to which she blamed herself for and everything in between.
"I'm doing a terrible job aren't i?". She asked as she faced the ground with a sad expression.
I knew I had to to comfort her and tell her the truth so she wouldn't spiral out of control, so I placed my hand on her shoulder and lifted her chin to make her face me.
With a smile on my face, I said, "You're doing an amazing job, you didn't do everything for me and helped me when it counted the most, you kept me company whenever I was alone, you're the cause of my strength".
I could go on and on about how she changed my life with her presence and how much I cared for her, but the tears that had formed at the corner of her eyes stopped me.
Hugging her, I whispered lowly in her ear, "I don't know what I would do without you".
'Damn, I sound like those telenovelas now too'. With a smile on my face I hugged Laura for a while as she buried her face in my chest.
We stayed like that for a while before she moved away from the hug with a light sniffe.
With a teasing smile on her face, I asked, "Feeling better now?".
Laura nodded with a small blush on her face with her eyes never leaving the ground.
'So cuteeee'. I screamed internally as I watched the blushing Laura.
Standing up, I pulled Laura up with me and we walked back to our training grounds for me to practice some battle tactics and advance my scythe skills as she gave me pointers on things like my stance, strength control and adaptability.
We made our way back to the inn after some hours of practice and we planned on how I would hunt the wyverns the next day since she couldn't assist me in the system missions.
It was an eventful day.
As night approached, we were faced with a problem we had neglected initially due to the amount of things going on.
There was only one bed.
"I'll sleep on the ground, I have a blanket". I broke the awkward silence first.
"No, I don't need to sleep in the first place so it's all yours". Laura rejected my offer with a wave of her hands.
"How about...we just... y'know sleep together?". I asked hesitantly.
"Sleep together?". Laura muttered as a blush appeared on her face.
'Don't blush dammit!, we're not doing anything freaky!'. I screamed internally.
"S–sure". Eventually, Laura nodded meekly as she fiddled with her fingers.
'I can't take this anymore!!!'.
I jumped into the bed and faced the other side with my eyes closed, leaving enough space for Laura.
Eventually, a light figure crept into the bed hesitantly and eventually managed to fall asleep.
Slowly but surely, I entered dream land and had a very peaceful dream....but what was Greg doing in my dreams though!!