The morning that came after was as peaceful as when he started.
Today he decided to not deal with the cabbages and just rest his mind from all of those stuff.
Clouds drifted in the sky with a lot of openings for the sun to shine down upon the world.
He took a deep breath, looking up as he walked for a while, no direction, just taking random turns...
You are aware you will growbored?
He ignored that thought and continued moving forward, eventually deeming that he has had enough and heading over to the guild, by now the sky has darkened to the point the sun was barely visible.
Immediately after entering the guild he saw Kazuma, Megumin and Darkness gathered around Aqua, who was face down on the table and crying. Megumin told Kazuma that he should have went a little more easier on Aqua; and Darkness... She just really likes being yelled at, apparently...
Svetislav went over to them and said: "What's up, guys? How's it goin~"
But before he could finish his sentence, Luna's voice was heard, her worried and wary - "Emergency, emergency! We need all adventurers to arm themselves immediately. Make your way to the main gate(the front gate) and prepare yourselves for battle."
While walking with the others, Svetislav thought to himself - "If i can shoot arrows with kinetic bursts, i would probably be able to shoot pebbles as bullets." - And so he, indeed, began preparing, picking up loose pebbles from the ground.
The weather above got worse and worse as they made it outside the town, before them stood a headless knight, riding on a headless horse.
"I remember when i used to be scared from the headless horseman, this dude just looks goofy."
"I am one of the Devil King's generals, and i have been stationed of late at a nearby castle. tch~ Every day, every single day, every bloody damn day, one of you maniacs comes to my home and hurls explosion spells at it, and i demand to know who it is?!" - The headless knight says, the horse screeching as it raises to it's back legs.
Svetislav looked up, and also decided to begin complaining. - "Hey, Bitch-ass!"
Every one's eyes turned to Svetislav as he stepped up. - "Why the fuck does the sky go dark every time one of you wannabe 'final bosses' shows up? Huh? First the cabbages, and now you?!"
In that moment thunder strike behind the dullahan.
"Ohh, very scary. Boom." - He clapped with his hands mockingly. "Cue the thunder. Cue the creepy horse noises. Very epic entrance, my guy. What's next, rain? Maybe a violin track?"
The general turned to look at him. - "You dare... mock me?"
"Yes. Obviously. You are standing here like some edgy poser, complaining about - what was it again? Ah yes. Someone blowing up 'your' castle day after day. Boo-hoo. Get better insurance."
Megumin came out with pride, announcing that it was her.
Svetislav turned his head to look at her for a second before refocusing on the dullahan. - "Bro, if some gremlin child nuked my house every day, i'd just move out. Like a normal person. But nooo. you gotta ride into town with your fog machine and your thunder squad."
The horse screeched once more.
"Thank you, horse!" - Svetislav threw his hands up. - "Exactly proving my point."
The dullahan didn't expect such a reaction, he didn't know how to act, murmuring under his nose: "This wasn't how it was supposed to happen."
Kazuma approached. - "Yeah, i'm starting to see why you are struggling. Kinda hard to look menacing when you are getting roasted."
"I came here to deliver a warning, not... not to be..."
"Clowned on?" - Svetislav finished his sentence for him.
"Yes! - NO!"
The horse pawed the ground, thunder rumbling in the distance, but this time it was hollow, empty of intimidation as the other adventurers tried not to laugh.
Finally, the dullahan calmed himself, his voice raising again.
"Enough! Mock me if you will, but heed my words, cease your daily explosions upon my castle, or face annihilation!"
After saying that, the general turned the horse and was about to walk away, until Megumin decided to join in. - "I cannot."
The dullahan turned back and looked at her. - "So, i take it you would continue?"
"The crimson demons need to cast explosion once a day, or they die."
...
"I won't argue with you. In seven days you will die. I sentence you to death." - The dullahan pointed his finger towards Megumin, and from it came some black energy projectile, but in the last second Darkness moved in front of her, taking the curse instead of her.
"Still edgy as fuck." - Svetislav murmured.
"Will you stop with that?" - The dullahan asked.
"Nah. Now get the fuck out." - Svetislav grabbed a pebble, balancing it on his finger, before adding a lot of rotation to it.
"What's that?"
"You don't want to test it."
Tch~ - With that he turned the horse again and left, but not yet.
Darkness began explaining the fantasies she is having... Straight up accusing the general of being perverted and how this curse is just a way to make her submit to his whims.
The dullahan was stunned, he didn't know what to do, was it panicking or simply reality, who knows?
Svetislav walked to the dullahan, before speaking with sympathy. - "Man, i feel sorry for you. Just walk away, don't even look back, just get away from here."
"Did you actually mean everything you said? Because, unlike them, you seem quite reasonable." - The dullahan asked as the horse began walking.
"Nah, i just had pent up anger. No biggie, right?"
"I will forgive it this time." - The dullahan said.
Svetislav looked at his fleeting silhouette, while Darkness was crying out for Kazuma to let her go, probably because he is restraining her for going after the dullahan.
With that Svetislav walked back to his friends, - "Anyways, job's done." - Svetislav gave a thumbs up.
Kazuma nodded and returned the gesture.
Aqua dispelled the curse with ease.
With that, crisis averted for now.
The time of peace has come once more.
The sky immediately began clearing out.
Svetislav didn't return to farming - he wasn't ready yet.
After this whole roast battle, Chris emerged from the crowds as they walked away. She, of course, immediately teased him. - "That was quite the speech."
"Someone had to say it, i hate it when they block the sun."
"You called a Devil King's general 'bitch-ass', that's not exactly standard adventurer etiquette."
"Overrated."
"You also seemed to be enjoying it quite a lot."
"Yep. On an unrelated note: wanna go on a date?"
"What?"
"What?"
She laughed whole-heartedly, before saying: "Well that's one way to ask a lady... Sure."
And so right after the dullahan retreated, Svetislav and Chris went around town, eating some food, talking about random topics, and occasionally showing parts of their character, pieces which you don't find with words. For her it was when a child got hurt, she went to the kid and helped her out.
In that moment he saw something in her, he couldn't quite explain this feeling, this deep respect for this woman. The date was at it's finality as they sat on a bench overlooking the river.
"Today was wonderful... And i really do like you, but i don't feel ready for this... I just don't think i'm ready for a relationship."
"I understand." - Svetislav said, he wasn't pleased, nor displeased by what she said, it was up to her, after all.
And so they departed once more, whoever to wherever - Svetislav to the inn, because he had already ate; and Chris in an alley way, vanishing in her own mysterious ways.
The days that followed were pretty uneventful, he occasionally met Chris here and there, and they did talk, but now there was something lingering between them - a connection.
In the seventh day, Luna once more called every adventurer at the main gate, especially Kazuma's party.
The dullahan had returned, but this time he was uninterrupted, because Svetislav sat back with the pebbles.
While the general complained once more, Svetislav took a pebbled in his hand, and converted mana into rotational kinetic energy, the pebble began speeding immensely fast. Also the spot that pebble rotated on was burnt from the friction.
After this he shot to the pebble, by giving it more kinetic energy, but this time in a straight direction, the pebble flew far and wide. And so with that done, he got further away from the group and took a more practical position to perhaps snipe the dullahan.
Kazuma was scolding Megumin. She tried to explain herself very terribly, the language is really bad. In short her reason, is that she was addicted to blowing large stuff.
Kazuma realized that she can't move after explosion so he looked at Aqua, who tried to 'act natural'. Immediately he scolded her too. She explained that because of the dullahan there are no easy quests and that she wanted to get back for it.
"I am Verdia and you will hear me out. Your fiery taunts offend me, but there is something else. None of you have yet come to seek retribution for your ally's death. In life, i strove to be an upstanding knight. In my opinion, that crusader was an ideal knight, she used her body to shield her ally from my dead curse and to abandon her is~" - Suddenly he stopped as he spot Darkness walking forward from the crowd. - "How... How are you still alive?!"
Aqua immediately began laughing at his confusion, mocking him for how easy it was to dispel the curse, and how he has probably been sitting all week, waiting for them to come.
"I'm warning - stop your taunts or i will destroy every living thing in this town."
"Not after i get through with you."
"Do you really think the magic of a novice~"
"Turn Undead!" - Aqua cast her skill, killing the horse, leaving Verdia screaming and rolling.
As the dust cleared Verdia stood, slightly hunched over. - "You there... Are you not a novice. I-I thought only low level adventurers lived here." - Verdia's voice was slightly shaky.
Aqua was confused, because her spell didn't kill him.
He retook his footing, his voice going back to it's normal. - "No matter. My minions always fight the ravel for me." - The general made waved his hand to the side as a circle of dark energy formed on the ground beneath him. - "Go forth, my undead knights, and show this lot a glimpse of hell."
Kazuma pointed at that. - "See, your spell did work. It freaked him out so much he needs backup."
"They are not backup! In battle, you don't fight the boss first - you fight the minions first."
"Yeah, whatever. Sacred Turn Undead."
A pillar of light formed where the dullahan is, he was left smoking and rolling while screaming in pain.
Svetislav saw an opportunity, but now with the army that stood between Verdia and the town, he knew it's best for him to simply stay in position and wait to shoot. He held the pebble without spinning it, to reduce damaging his skin further.
The general was on one knee, holding his head up to look at them. - "Enough games... Slaughter them. Slaughter then all!"
The undead army began running towards them, but then they realized... The army is chasing only Aqua, who immediately ran for her life. Yelling stuff of the sort that she is goddess and that life isn't supposed to be so hard for a goddess. Aqua looped around and towards the adventurers who immediately ran, except for Darkness who seemed to be waiting for something...
Svetislav sat in position, seeing that there is no reason to run. Kazuma had a plan, so he grabbed Aqua's hand and ran towards the dullahan, running to the sides at the last second, before calling Magumin to cast her explosion. She too was in euphoria, as she killed the undead knights.
Verdia, though, wasn't dead. He laughed like a villain. - "Very amusing. I did not think my underlings can be slain so easily. Alright, my turn." - Darkness ran forward and took her stance, which was more of being a meat shield...
"I shall attend to each one of you, personally."
A few other adventurers hyped themselves up, saying stuff of the sort that their number 1 is coming. The dullahan tossed his head up, as an eye appeared in the sky, right above the head.
Svetislav immediately took the chance and shot one of the pebbles. The helmet got a dent and Verdia's head was sent flying slightly back.
The adventurers had a window to hit him.
Svetislav felt the urge to shoot another. So he began running, placing the pebble between his fingers and shooting towards the head again. Another clean shot. But his fingers were in a terrible shape, his skin peeling off, some parts burnt, others straight up naked of skin.
No matter, he ran towards the head, but then the dullahan's body dashed away, and after a second or two, he picked his head back up.
"Very interesting. You seem to know what you are doing." - The dullahan didn't hesitate to go for Svetislav, but Darkness stepped in at the last second, blocking the attack with her sword. - "Get away from here."
Svetislav tried one last trick, to steal the dullahan's blade by, converting it into information, but it didn't work, so he fled, and ran towards Aqua. "Aqua, heal me!" - he then showed what he has caused to his fingers. She immediately healed him.
Svetislav grabbed a few more pebbles, before taking a moderate in distance position.
If he had a window of opportunity to shoot the dullahan straight between the gaps in his armor.
And that opportunity came, because Darkness was talking about her fantasies again, catching the dullahan off guard.
Laid low and steadied his heart beat, hand, breathing, before shooting a pebble, that would pass right between Darkness's waist and arm, and into the gaps.
"AW!" - Verdia exclaimed as his helmet chimed from the hit.
Svetislav didn't say anything, but it did annoy the dullahan greatly, who immediately attacked Darkness, because he didn't want to be a steady target.
Kazuma cast Create Water towards the dullahan, but he dodged, so the only one wet here was Darkness, who seemed to be pretty beat up.
"Everyone, his weakness is WATER!"
Svetislav didn't have enough mana to make a substantial amount water, by the feeling, he could tell that he has enough for one last shot, before collapsing.
That's when he spot Kazuma provoke Aqua into casting Sacred Create Water. As she did that the clouds gathered.
The dullahan tried to run, but Darkness latched onto his leg.
Suddenly a immensely large amount of water, began pouring out of magic circle that appeared in the sky, it was so strong in fact, it became a flood, or a tsunami.
Svetislav looked at this took a deep breath and crossed himself, praying that he survives this, just as the water hit him.
All the adventurers were swept away by the monstrous current, and Svetislav fell victim, as his hit something hard with his left leg.
After the flood cleared out, he stood up, limping, but he needed to finish this battle. He refused to stand down.
"Woman are you insane?!" - Verdia said,
Aqua ignored him and called Kazuma to do his thing.
Svetislav was still limping in the distance, but not that far away... He could get one last clear shot for the head if the dullahan throws it.
And that's what he did.
Svetislav pulled the pebble out and immediately spun it, before lunching, this one felt special...
As Kazuma was saying Steal, Svetislav's bullet reached first, entering from the neck up into the brain, no special spell happened, no last words... Verdia's body collapsed.
Kazuma stole, something that no longer had an owner, a dead head.
Svetislav fell on one knee, breathing heavily from exhaustion.
Kazuma played soccer with a dead head, no sound, no nothing coming from Verdia's mouth.
Then after enough of that Aqua prepared another Sacred Turn Undead, Kazuma tossing the already dead head in it. A pebble falls as the head faded.
"Ey, Svetislav, are you alright?" - Kazuma yelled.
"Yeah, just a bit tired. I will join yall later." - Though he believed that Darkness would be able to carry him, his pride didn't allow that.
They left.
The clouds cleared once more, the sun shinning through...
Svetislav laid on the moist ground, probably going to ruin his clothes and hair, but whatever...
After about five minutes of laying there foot were stepping on wet mud.
Chris' head pocked in view. - "Heya!"
"Hi."
"Are you alright? You collapsed and then laid down. Doesn't seem like you don't need help."
"I would rather not be carried by a woman... I always imagined myself as the one carrying."
"You should learn to accept help sometime." - She said.
Svetislav didn't say anything, instead he thought for a second - not how to reply, but about finishing the conversion cycle, making it Perfect Conversion.
In theory, if he transforms a heated... Actually, everything has some other types of energy, except physical. Like everything has thermal energy, and when he transforms said something, where does that energy go?
"Hey" - In his mind he muffled her voice.
He raised his hand towards the sun, wanting to convert the heat that it gave him.
"Hey! Are you alright?"
"Yeah." - He pulled out his adventurer's card, he has went up a few levels from killing the dullahan. In the skill section of the card he saw Imperfect Conversion -> Perfect Conversion (No skill points required)
He immediately, confirmed it... The feeling of euphoria following close after.
"Isn't everything so beautiful, so bountiful." - As the sun shone on him, he converted the heat, and just the heat it gave him into mana.
He slowly stood up.
"Did you seriously create a new skill just to avoid getting my help? You are so stubborn."
"My mother used to be stubborn, guess i have inherited this... Nothing personal, dear."
He looked her in the eyes with genuine peace, a gentle smile painted over his face.
From his astral storage he pulled out the cane that the tailor girl gave him as a bonus.
He converted all the mud in his boots, all the dirt in his hair, all the junk in his clothes, as he stood up. His leg though, it was still hurt.
"You can accompany me though." - He said, welcoming her with his hand reaching forward.
"You romantic." - She laughed taking his hand, just to stand up.
"That's one way to describe me, hopeful romantic."
With that they walked into town, splitting after just a few minutes of comfortable silence.
He went to take a shower, after which he returned to the guild to eat with friends, then back to the inn to rest. He never asked Aqua to heal him, he didn't mind having meaning to use the cane. In fact, he though of it as more aesthetically pleasing.
Kazuma did comment that he is like an old person, but Svetislav didn't mind that.
The next day rolled by, and Svetislav went on his usual walk, today he didn't do any farming either, and Luna asked when he will provide again, he disclosed that he will take a break for a while more.
The first to come were Aqua, who immediately got drunk, Megumin and then Darkness. Finally Kazuma came.
"Oh, Kazuma, at last you are here. Perfect, i have a special reward set aside just for you and your party." - Luna came to him.
"Thank you, but why is it just for us?"
Svetislav hadn't received a reward.
"You beat a general of the Devil King's army. Buddy, i could tell that you had all that potential bubbling inside you." - The adventure with the red rooster hairline.
More adventurers began cheering for Kazuma.
"Ahem. In recognition of Kazuma and his party's achievement, i award them three hundred million eris."
"I object." - Svetislav raised his hand, before standing up from the table right next to the front door.
He limped forward before taking a firm position. - "I dealt the final blow. And i am not a member of his part."
"Then the reward goes to you."
"Not so fast. I shall agree to split the reward for now."
Luna went to Svetislav and showed that Aqua's flood caused damage worth more than three hundred and forty million eris. "Oh... that's not good."
"You traitor!" - Aqua called him, but Svetislav didn't bother. He straight up went to Kazuma. - "Because of your debt you might be unable to feed yourselves... I will take responsibilities, to feed you guys, till you pay off that debt. But do not exploit my kindness, you will not make me buy for others, nor you will make me buy stuff that will not benefit you. And besides... I am close to a break through, i can feel it. I didn't necessarily steal the kill, but i will consider that i have, so you will gain one hundred and fifty million eris, once i'm ready to return it to you. Do you agree?"
"No, don't, that's our reward, i killed him."
"The dullahan died by my bullet, after the hit the body fell down. Does that sound like alive to you?"
Svetislav reached out for a hand shake. Kazuma shook his hand, not like there was a choice here, it's either Svetislav getting the full reward, or them splitting for now and gaining the other half in the future.
And so, Kazuma's party gained nothing ,except a big debt, and Svetislav got one hundred and fifty mithril coins, which are worth one hundred and fifty million eris.