Chapter 24: Treasure Hunter
'The Rising...'
"Hey did you hear?"
"Hmm... Hear what?"
In a simple tavern right next to an old trail two elderly men could be seen resting down at a table.
"Something bad happened." The first one said making a sigh escape the second one.
"What happened this time in this God awful Kingdom... I swear with the many wars, monsters, and dark guilds rising up something goes and gets all damned up everyday... Ever since our King fell into that blasted coma." There were several people in the bar running back and forth and having a blast drinking, but these two men had a bit of a sour look on their faces. Off to the side a large wooden board could be seen covered in the pictures of several young looking women, with the words 'missing' written on the board.
"Apparently Phoenix Flight caused yet another problem." The first man said rolling his eyes as he rested his newspaper down. "I swear that damn Guild of theirs causes way more issues than they fix." He hissed. "Not their fault though... Things have really gone to the Dogs lately... Arthur is rolling in his grave seeing the world he made look like this... Poor Pendragons..."
"You're telling me. Why can't they be more responsible like them other guilds... I mean... Gods know our Town could use some Guild members... What with the murders and kidnaps..." He sighed pointing at the board next to him. "I mean we can't even enlist in the damn army now. Not with them damn... Wizards and Magic men running around... Those Arcane Hunters... They think they're so much better than us common folk cause 10% of the population, mostly Nobles, can use Arcane Energy. Ha... Those guys aren't so special."
"I know right..." The first elder said nodding his head as he hit the table with a small bit of frustration. "Why... I betcha, that if there was one of em Oddity Beasts in this building one of em Guild members would just stroll on in here and blast it not even caring about the people who are inside of the building."
"Nah. Not even one of them could be that dumb."
"Still. I'm glad we've never had to see one of them up close."
"Aye. Me to. Me to..."
From outside of the large inn a simple bear-horse drawn carriage slowly pulled up. Some of the people who had been walking by stopped and raised their eyebrows when they heard a noise coming from inside of the carriage. Seconds later the door was kicked down. The two bear-horses, creatures that were a mix of a bear and a horse, seemed to let out grunts at this. Apparently they knew this was going to happen...
"-and I'm telling you, that you're wrong!" A smug voice announced. Seconds later a young man stepped out of the carriage. He had messy black hair, and strange yellow eyes. He was in a new outfit now then he had been. A pair of simple black pants as well as a red tunic shirt and a large ruby red guitar on his back. Davi Hawker... His grin was far larger than a human should be able to do and it showed off his mouth which was filled with rows, upon rows, of fanged, jagged teeth all lined with sharp edges to them. Like a sharks smile... He didn't have Cath with him either instead having a strange new follower...
"And I'm telling you I'm never wrong!" A second voice hissed out as a boot flew out of the carriage and kicked Davi knocking him over. A second boy stepped out glaring down at Davi. He had messy red hair and a pair of flaming orange eyes. His skin was dark as if tanned and steam and smoke seemed to be rising out of his flesh. He wore a tight flame proof body suit that covered his from his feet all the way up to his neck. The ground him hissed and steamed as he set out and the wood was being burned up as if his flesh was hot.
This was Tori Kaen, and yes... He was also a hero of our tale... He stepped out pushing Davi further into the ground as he folded his arms.
"Will you stop it!" Davi hissed knocking Tori off of him. He glared back at him for a moment and the two looked like they were about to get into some kind of fight but the man who was drawing the carriage cleared his throat getting the two to turn to him.
He shrunk down in an unconfutable manner when he noticed that the two obviously ticked off people were now glaring at him. "You uh..." He gulped shrinking down. "You two know you gotta pay for this right."
"How much." Davi sighed opening a small brown bag with coins.
"Twenty Bells-"
"Twenty Bells!" Davi asked with wide eyes. "That's way to much. I told you we should have just walked. I'm not made of money! This is why we need jobs Tori!"
"Freaking cheapskate..." Tori sighed. Seconds later he pulled out a brown bag of his own. "Here. This is twenty five bells." He said handing the golden coins over.
"O... Oh thank you Sir." The man said before quickly getting his horses to run off not wanting to be around these two anymore. No one blamed him.
Davi sighed sitting back up. "Now that, that's been taken care of can we get back to how wrong you are!"
"Oh my God I'm not wrong!"
Everyone just kind of stared at the two not really knowing what was going on as they marched past the group and headed into the inn still yelling about who was right or wrong. Their shouting very quickly got several people to glance over at them, as the two made their way over to the bar and both got seated.
"Uh.. I'm gonna have to ask you two to leave." The bar tender said staring down at them.
"Why?" Davi asked raising an eyebrow. "We just got here?"
"For one... You're both being extremely loud... And also... I don't think either of you are old enough to be in here."
"See he's totally one." Tori said rolling his eyes.
"I don't see how him wanting us out proves anything." Davi sighed.
"And I'm telling you my senses are never wrong!"
"That's bull you've been wrong plenty of times."
"Have not."
"You were wrong the other day!"
"No I wasn't."
"Yes you were."
"No."
"Yes."
"No!"
"Yes!"
"N-"
"Okay look." The bartender said hitting the table and breaking up another fight before it started. "I need you two to leave or I will be calling the town guards."
Tori sighed and reached to his elbow. "Look I'll prove it." He stood up slowly pushing the bench back. Then he pulled at the black suit pulling the glove off and showing his arm underneath which was a black skeletal like limb which ignited with flames shocking everyone in the tavern.
"Arcane Energy!" The bar tender said with wide eyes backing up as fear shined on his face.
Tori gave a sinister grin swiping his arm out as the bartenders eyes went wide and his entire head was sliced clean off being sent high into the air and crashing down on a table nearby.
Loud screams erupted out when they saw the head and the now headless bartender who fell over. Seconds later though before anyone could even react the head suddenly sprouted large tentacles.
"T... That's an Oddity Beast!" A Man cried out. "Monsters that aren't like normal humans... How did one get into the city! Arcane Hunters are supposed to deal with them!"
"With this damn war going on they must have slipped up!" A Woman cried out.
"Damn you two! So you two are Arcane Hunters! Members of one of the ten Guilds, who hunt monsters like me, and enter dungeons seeking great loot right! You're kind are all freaks powered up with Arcane Energy allowing you to use magic!" The head roared firing forward.
"Did... Did the talking severed head call us a freak?" Tori frowned.
The head let out a roar as it opened its massive mouth a large black needle jutted out. "I'll kill everyone in here and feast on your souls-"
In a flash Davi slammed his left leg down onto the head slamming it into the ground and causing it to burst into a puddle of white goop. Seconds later the body also burst. "Huh... Sorry Tori you were right. It was a shapeshifter Monster after all."
***
"You say two kids did this!" A guard asked standing in the tavern. Down below in front of his feet the melted body of the Oddity Beast rested.
"T... That's right." A man nodded. "Two kids. Both boys... I think one was a Demihuman cause his teeth were all jagged and fang like... And the other one must have been a flame mage, though I don't remember him saying a spell so I'm not sure how he did his magic-"
"A boy with fangs, and a flame wizard who can use fire magic without saying a spells name, you say..." The Guard stopped for a moment a small frown covering his face. "I see..."
"D... Do you know them?"
"I've only heard rumor's. Never seen them." The Guard said. "Rumor has always been that ever since a few months ago two people have been going across our Kingdom of Avalon... My guess is they're heading to Oleander City... The Capital where the Guild Entrance Exam is. There, those rare few born with Arcane Energy, Wizards, Witches, and Magic Knights, alike can take their test and attempt to get into one of the ten great Guilds... And with our King, King La Fay in his coma the Guilds have grown in power. The three top Guilds, Shinning Sentinels, Mourning Stars, and Umbra Mortis, are in charge of the Kingdom now... But tales of those two aren't uncommon. By no means are they renowned Heroes but word gets around fast when you have a strange pair like that go from place to place killing Oddity Beasts... Normally Oddity Beasts are powerful magical animals. Hell Hounds, Drakes, massive snakes. Those sort of guys, only Arcane Hunters are strong enough to take them on."
"I... I see... Those two really weren't in Guilds."
"If they didn't have a Crest on them then they weren't in a Guild. Free Lancers are a things such as Thieves and assassins... But as I said I'd imagine they're heading to join a Guild. After all it's far easier to find Quests and get paid... But if those two are who I think and they were really here..." The man drew his sword and sliced at the floor board splitting it open.
Everyone was shocked when they found a hidden cellar filled with several girls all tied up and covered in a thick yellow slime.
"Looks like we've found the missing people." The guard hummed.
The man backed away from the hole staring with wide eyes. "J... Just who the hell were those two!"
***
An Unknown Amount Of Time Later...
A large ruby red train could be seen moving down the metal tracks in the Nation of Avalon.
"Man!" Davi complained resting back in the seat of the train. "This adventure has gone nowhere so far! Nearly six months have passed and we haven't made any progress." He sighed his fanged teeth grinding together as he gave a smile. He seemed to always have a smile on his face.
"I know..." Tori sighed. "We haven't found a single Enforcer stone." He muttered his face forming into a small scowl. "I knew it would be easy..."
"This is just crazy." Davi said rolling his eyes. "The again I guess it is our fault." He sighed. "Avalon is so big. I guess we shouldn't have expected to make any progress that fast huh."
"Um excuse me." A voice said making Davi and Tori both turn. In front of them they saw what looked like a weird deer man. He looked almost like a deer but stood on two legs which were shaped more human like, but still covered in brown fur, same with his two arms which had human like hands but black finger nails and brown fur. He had a pair of large antlers on his head, and he wore a simple pair of pants, and a cloak on his shoulder. The cloak was a dark red and had an orange bird on the front of it. The bird looked almost like an eagle but instead of feathers had flames.
"Whoa!" Davi said with wide eyes. "A deer man? We don't got people like you back on Wasteland Island. The only weird animal person I met on Wasteland was a reverse Werewolf-"
Tori roughly elbowed Davi in the side making him hiss out at him. "Yes?" He asked the deer man. "Can I help you with something. Oh and sorry about my friends weird behavior. Him and I aren't from Avalon and where we come we don't see many of you guys."
The Deer Man let out a small chuckle and nodded his head. "I'm Tallest Tree. I'm a Non Human as you've likely guessed. Here in Avalon there are many races though of course it is dominated by mostly humans. Unlike Demihumans which are half humans, and half something else, we Non Humans are our own species."
"Right." Davi nodded. "My Sister told me about you guys. Said that you all came from another world."
"I noticed your fanged teeth. You're a Demihuman are you not? Half human half something else." Tallest Tree asked.
Davi gave a half shrug. "Honestly I don't know. Never saw my dad or my mom. Though my half sister is full human."
"I see... I couldn't help but over hear something... You two are looking for stones?" Tallest Tree asked.
"Yeah." Davi nodded. "They're called Enforcer Stones." He said reaching up to his guitar.
"I get it. I think I can help."
"Really?" The two teens asked with wide eyes.
"Yes." The deer man set across from them sliding into the chair. "You see... Here in Avalon there are many groups known as Hunters... One of these is a thing called a Treasure Hunter. Treasure Hunters specialize in searching for treasure by entering old ruins. If this... Enforcer Stone is rare then perhaps you could check in with a Treasure Hunter. Even if he doesn't have it, or know where to get one, chances are he'll give you an input on somewhere else you can look."
"We don't really know any Treasure Hunters..." Tori sighed.
"I thought so. Luckily... I do." Tallest Tree reached into his pocket pulling out a small blank paper. He also pulled out an inkpen and began to write across it putting something down which he then handed to Davi who took it. "Head to Daffodil City and look for Sam Roch. He's a friend of mine. He's one of those Treasure Hunters I told you about. If anyone would know about it, it's him."
Davi looked down at the note and gave a small smile showing his fanged and jagged teeth. "Alright! We got a lead! Way to go Deer Bro!"
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