Chapter 14: Considering Companions
"What is this?"
Serie asked, tilting her head and making the white hood covering it sway. The headwear was indeed a bit strange, with a thin layer of white cloth hanging down from the front, partially obscuring her vision, though she could still make out the path ahead.
"An essential piece of gear for swampy rainforests," Rhodes explained. "I didn't have any gauze, so I had to make do with this cloth."
Expecting the dwarves to be able to weave gauze as thin as a cicada's wing was a bit of a stretch. Fortunately, Rhodes had managed to get a few bolts of cloth from them before he left. With a bit of trimming, he had fashioned a simple hood to keep the insects away.
"It obstructs my vision too much."
Serie took off the hood, only to put it right back on. The moment she had removed it, a swarm of tiny flying insects had descended upon her.
Witnessing this, Rhodes couldn't help but remark, "As expected, no matter where you are, swamps are always a breeding ground for insects."
He couldn't believe it. He had come all the way to a Western fantasy world, and he still couldn't escape the clutches of these tiny creatures. Back when they were camping in the open, the insects hadn't been too numerous, and he had always kept a fire going, so it had been tolerable. But now, in this humid swamp, the number of insects had multiplied tenfold.
"Annoying creatures," Serie muttered. She considered casting a spell to kill them all, but ultimately decided against it. There were simply too many; she would just be wasting her mana.
"Perhaps I can create an insect-repelling spell later on," Rhodes mused. "I wonder if there are any plants with insect-repelling properties? Speaking of which, didn't you have insects in the Great Elven Forest?"
Serie shook her head. "The Great Elven Forest is protected by an ancient power. Such weak creatures cannot even get close."
Rhodes was surprised. He hadn't expected such a thing. "Then do you know of any plants with similar properties? If we see any, we could gather some."
Serie didn't answer his question. She just gave him a look that clearly said, are you an idiot?
She was an elf who hadn't left the Great Elven Forest for hundreds of years. All her knowledge of the outside world came from other elves. She had never even seen an insect before. How would she know anything about insect-repelling plants?
Rhodes quickly realized his mistake, scratching his head in embarrassment. He had forgotten that the little Grand Master before him was something of a homebody elf. He quickly changed the subject. "By the way, about that dwarven holy relic Amuro mentioned... have you really made up your mind?"
A few days prior, they had heard about the holy relic from the dwarf, Amuro. Serie had suddenly interjected, asking about its whereabouts. After Rhodes had pestered her about it, she finally told him the truth. It turned out the relic was closely related to their destination, the Godfall Land. The reason the stone slab was red was because it had been stained by the blood of a god. When the god fell, its blood had seeped into the ground, and the stone slab that had absorbed the most blood had become a holy relic, possessing an unimaginable amount of mana. It was with this power that the demons had been able to open a teleportation magic circle and destroy the Dwarven Kingdom in a single night.
And so, Serie's list of destinations had grown by one: to find the lost Dwarven Kingdom and obtain the holy relic within.
"Yes. I believe it would be better to go to the ruins of the Dwarven Kingdom first."
"Is it dangerous there?"
To be honest, Rhodes didn't think the dwarven ruins would be a walk in the park either. There might not be a treasure-hoarding dragon, but he suspected there would be a great number of magical beasts.
Serie's words confirmed his suspicions.
"Dangerous?" She gave a light laugh, raising her hand as if to brush her hair back, only to touch her hood and drop her hand again. "Of course, it's dangerous. That place has been occupied by the Demon race for hundreds of years."
Well, there it is. He just hoped the leader of the demons there wasn't named Azog.
"What a predicament!" Rhodes shook his head helplessly. "Just the two of us, trying to storm their lair... I don't think that's very realistic."
Serie knew this as well. She thought for a moment and said, "Perhaps we can find some help."
Ever since they had started their adventure together, she had been considering this. In this world, adventurers almost always operated in teams. Even her own elven people, when venturing out, preferred to do so in small groups. Only a race like the Sky-Winged Tribe, who could fly, dared to adventure alone; after all, most magical beasts couldn't fly, so their chances of being attacked were much lower.
Furthermore, she and Rhodes were both mages. If they encountered a magical beast that excelled at closing distances, it would be troublesome. A single misstep could lead to disaster.
"I think that dwarf, Somme, is a good candidate. After all, he was able to break your defensive magic."
"He's too green. He can't be more than fifty years old. He has too little combat experience. He's too fragile to be on the front lines."
Serie's words made Rhodes break out in a cold sweat. If a fifty-year-old was considered 'green,' then what did that make him, at a little over twenty? But who could argue with her? She had the life experience to back it up. The elves of this world were truly top-tier, even when compared to elves from other fantasy worlds. With their near-infinite lifespans, they could show all those elves with mere thousand-year lifespans what a 'real' elf was.
"So our side quest now is to find some companions, is it?" Rhodes teased. He didn't mind the idea, whether it was traveling with just Serie or adventuring with a full party. Maybe he could find a dwarf and a priest to be his companions, and then he could call themselves the Hero's Party. And the first of its kind, at that. Full marks for prestige.
The first thing he would do then is have the dwarf forge him a sword that would never be eroded by time. Then he would weld it into a stone and carve the words, "He who pulls this sword from the stone shall be the Hero." He would let future generations know that it wasn't a sword that made a hero. It wasn't that the person chosen by the Hero's Sword was the hero, but rather that the sword chosen by the hero became the Hero's Sword.
If the people of the future could understand this, perhaps they would also place their own swords beside his. And so on, through the generations, until it became a place filled with the swords of heroes. And one day, a certain blue-haired boy would place his own sword there as well.
Rhodes suddenly found himself wanting to see that scene. But could he? Would he ever see it?
Serie's voice broke through his reverie. "You could say that. What were you spacing out about?"
"Nothing," Rhodes said quickly, shaking himself back to the present. "Speaking of which, what kind of companions do you think would be suitable?"
"Someone who can withstand a demon's attack for at least three minutes."
"That's a strict requirement!" Rhodes's eyes widened in mock exaggeration. "Does that mean we have to find a Sky-Winged warrior?" The physically strongest races in this world were the Sky-Winged Tribe and the dwarves. The former could not only fly but also use divine arts, making them a perfect fit for Serie's requirements.
"The Sky-Winged Tribe is too arrogant," Serie sniffed. "The way that Leah looked at you last time... it was as if she were looking at a talking squirrel."