CHAPTER 36: QUESTING I

DAY TWO

"Isobel, I know you want to avoid doing the Kill Order, but that doesn’t mean you can–"

"Quiet, love! I’m trying to line my shot up perfectly. If I concentrate my aura on my fingers like Lyra does, I can shoot thin beams of aura through the target’s heart like a well-placed arrow. If I’m right, I can kill this Lycan with a single shot. And that. Requires. Focus."

"I just want you to know that if you mess this up, you’re doing the Kill Order again," Lyra noted in a tone that made no effort to hide her displeasure.

Following the events of yesterday’s House Quest, Isobel had used her "I have final say over the sale of the House" powers to force us into another Quest with her. Today, though, she decided that she’d be an active part of the Quest rather than an observer.

To her credit, she’d spent most of yesterday evening training. She was a quick study, picking up a few basic combat techniques from Lyra and me before spending the rest of her night reading books on Questing to better prepare for today.

Our Quest was to kill a Lycan, or a Werewolf, as well as its many Feral Wolf servants. The servants were a breeze to mow through. They weren’t as strong as the goblins, but they were significantly more cunning, preferring to wait until you were at a disadvantageous position to literally pounce on you as a group rather than bumrush like the goblins tended to do.

Which leads us to right now. We’d killed most of the Feral Wolves and were now hiding behind a boulder with eyes on the Lycan and two armored Feral Wolves flanking it. Isobel was right to say that a single, well-placed shot could dispatch the creature easily, but considering the strength gap, Lyra and I could just as easily overwhelm it and kill it in less than thirty seconds. In the time it took her to try and line up the "perfect shot", the two of us could’ve killed it by now! But it was moments like this where one learned, so we endured. Besides, if we pissed her off, out went our opportunity to buy House Greaves!

Unfortunately, Lyra didn’t see things that way. Or she did, and was starting to care less and less.

She rolled her eyes. "This is a waste of time. You’re a Sorcerer, not a Ranger."

"Be quiet! I can’t focus with you nagging in my ear."

"I’m not nagging, I’m telling you that this is dumb! You’re more than capable of killing the damn thing. Press your fingers into the damn thing’s chest and shoot it through the heart while looking it in the eye! That’s

how Sorcerers fight! Lloyd and I will take care of the flanks."

"That’s how you fight! I fight my own way!"

"And how well has that been working out for you?"

"Just fine! I just got the shot, see? Look at me!" Isobel stepped from behind the boulder, facing the Lycan and its armored attendants with her fingers outstretched like a pistol, a purple ball of aura gathered at the tip of her fingers. "Watch and learn, Lyra! This is how you–"

The Lycan, without looking in her direction, swatted the beam of purple aura away, where it collided with Lyra’s forehead. The suddenness of it all meant she had no time to react or defend against it. The attack knocked Lyra out, leaving her sprawled on the floor before she knew what hit her.

"Oh, crap," Isobel gulped.

The Lycan charged us, its two attendants rushing us with fangs bared.

***

DAY THREE

"Repeat after me," Lyra said, hands firmly planted on Isobel’s shoulders, eyes trained on the noblewoman’s. "Do. Not. Act. Independently."

Isobel tilted her head. "I’m not a child, Lyra. I don’t need to be talked down to."

"Do. Not. Act. Independently."

"I told you to stop talking down to me! Lloyd! Handle her!"

"What is holdup? I asked for battle, not dramedy novel. Pick a fighter and face me!"

Today’s Quest was different than the other two. It’d been called in by some Berserker Barbarian from the outskirts of Podros bordering on Ublar. He’d requested a single battle against "Podros’ Strongest Warrior" as a means of testing himself, with a decent reward of 50,000 gold. Despite the physical strength barrier, Isobel was the ideal candidate for a Quest like this. Rather, this was the ideal Quest for her development. She obviously wasn’t strong enough to beat someone like this in a fight, but considering the lack of mental defenses Barbarians had to illusion magic like the stuff Isobel specialized in, this was the opponent for her to beat.

"Sorry!" I shouted to the bare-chested man. "Just giving her a strategy talk. Trust me, you won’t be disappointed!"

"Mmhh," The Barbarian groaned, digging in his leather loincloth to reveal a glass bottle with blue sparkling liquid. "Is battle stimulant. Dulls emotion. Enhances brain. I don’t use because it is for cowards and weaklings." He sneered. "Perhaps little girl needs it?"

"Little girl...?" Isobel started, separating from Lyra and me.

"Goddamn it, Isobel. Stop being so easily provoked!" Lyra yelled, but it was too late.

Aura gathered around Isobel as she stepped closer to the Barbarian. More than that, though, something about Isobel felt... different. She was still Isobel, of course, but she herself seemed larger, in a sense. More present. More imposing.

"It seems you’re confusing me with another. I see no ’little girls’ on this battlefield. If you may, I’d like you to point them out," The Demon Queen ordered.

The Barbarian responded in kind, roaring as aura surged all around him. When he turned to face Isobel, his eyes were resolute. "You are correct, Sorceress. I see no little girls on this battlefield. Merely two warriors and one pretending to be one."

The Demon Queen laughed as she gathered aura in her right hand. "Is that what you see?"

"That is what it is."

"Then, perhaps when you revive, you can pay the Clerics a visit. It seems your eyes are playing tricks on you."

Isobel blasted the man with an absurd burst of aura that put that one from the Goblin Quest to shame! It exploded on impact with the Barbarian as he was slowly enveloped by a cloud of dust.

"How unfortunate," Isobel sighed, crossing her arms. "I had assumed you would–"

The man launched himself at Isobel from within the smoke, slamming his fist into her face. Isobel flew back a few feet and... didn’t get back up. She wasn’t dead, I knew, but she wasn’t conscious, either.

"That was the best that Podros had to offer? A woman who doesn’t even know to keep her guard up after a single attack?!" The Barbarian asked.

"S-she’s new to all this," I hurriedly answered, standing between him and Isobel’s unconscious form. "Let her get up, and we’ll give her a healing potion. She’ll be better in round–"

"No! I am done! I said at beginning that I wanted warrior! I said that I wanted to fight you or your wife! Not your little cousin!"

"L-Lyra’s not my wife!"

"We aren’t m-married!"

The Barbarian shook his head. "You two used me, and I do not appreciate that. Leave this place. I will not fight you or your little trainee."