28 Kobold Hunt Day 1
"I'm sleepy." Complained Yami as she shuffled her feet along the dirt road. The expedition left town around 6 hours prior. Although the expedition had just started moving again after stopping for lunch, Yami was sick of walking. Contrary her usual self, Yami was the most vocal member of their group of eight about how tired her feet were. "My feet hurt. Carry me." She held out her hands to Kalin. With her normal expressionless face, she locked eyes with him without blinking.
Kalin's response caused some of the other members of the group to be caught off guard, "Even if you make that sad puppy face, Artemis said you have to walk by yourself." None of the others noticed the slightest difference between her normal expression and her current one, but apparently Kalin could distinguish between the two. Well, it would be more accurate to say that Vin and Belinda caught off guard so, at least. Elric didn't seem to care, Iola's face was covered by her cloak, and Rain had a perpetual smile on her face.
Changing her attack pattern, Yami turned her lazy eyes toward her sister's, for she knew Artemis would crack faster than Kalin. "Please, my feet will fall off." Unfortunately for Yami, her younger sister wasn't going to budge on the matter.
"No, you agreed that you'd walk the entire way. Besides, we might not get another opportunity like this quest if we butcher it. Just be good the next few days and we'll take some time off from adventuring."
Yami walked with her head down in depression. Not even ten meters later, her head popped up as if a bolt of inspiration was sent directly to her mind from heaven. "I'm older," she explained, "so I make the rules?" Somehow, while trying to come off as authoritative, her statement bold transformed into a question by the time it was finished.
"Did you say something?" Artemis responded with a glare on her face.
Upon seeing her sister's facial expression, Yami did a quick cost-benefit analysis of the situation. If she tried to argue, she would waste energy and still be walking; if she pretended that she didn't say anything, she'd still be walking, but a little less tired; if she took another approach…
Hiding behind Kali, she said in her monotonous voice, "Save me, Artemis is being mean."
As Artemis complained to Kalin how 'dirty' Yami's move was, a smile filled the face of Vin. He found their antics humorous. Chuckling, he spoke softly to Belinda, "Adorable, aren't they?" After she nodded in confirmation, he added, "Bet our kids would be cuter though."
Just as he was about to stroke her hair, Belinda deflected his hand the back of her own. "Nice try, but the answer is still no." Her face contained a smile that didn't quite match her eyes.
Chuckling in defeat, Vin continued walking with a smile on his face. This wasn't his first attempt to flirt with her, and it wasn't the first time his advances were shut down either. Full of hope, but little expectation, he seemed barely phased. Rubbing the back of his head he smiled, "Damn, it looks like I got rejected again."
Seeing him get rejected, a small smile crept on the lips of Elric. Although they both trusted each other with their lives, it doesn't mean they have to have the best relationship. Being the brooding satyr that he is, Elric didn't really like Vin's cheerful and jolly nature. It rubbed him the wrong way from time to time, especially how he always tried to get involved in everybody's personal affairs.
Kalin and Belinda both noticed the tiny smile creep to the corners of Elric's mouth. Seeing Belinda blush slightly at Elric's reaction made Kalin smile to himself. Smelling the pheromones that Belinda was secreting, it wasn't hard for his sex-demon-self to understand the situation between the three. Although, he did find Belinda's taste in men slightly surprising. Not to badmouth Elric, but even though he was the youngest in their party, he looked at least a decade older than the others.
The party continued down the dirty down-trodden road, as its members slowly getting more familiar with each other every step they took. As the white grain fields and rolling green fields moved by, the party continued to trudge along the dusty trail. By the time they were commanded to stop for the night, makeshift party had gotten friendlier and bonded with one another a bit. As the caravan had stopped at the edge of the forest for the night, the 5 different parties split into separate, but connected camps.
As the leader of their camp, Vin called everyone together. "Alright, it's time to setup camp! Everyone should start by setting up their tents. Elric and I will go gather some firewood for tonight." Making a mark in the dirt with his foot, he continued, "We'll set the campfire up here. Set up your tents surrounding it. Although we aren't sleeping inside the forest, it doesn't mean we can't get attacked. Especially with the Kobold settlement only a couple hours away." Gesturing for Elric to follow him he said, "Come on, let's collect as much wood as possible before the other camps take all the close stuff."
Although he didn't look happy about it, Elric followed Vin as the two of them entered the trees to grab as much wood as they could. As if to demonstrate their familiarity of such situations, Rain, Belinda, and Iola each picked a spot 3 to 4-ish meters from the fire ring to set up tents. Turning to the others, Kalin turned to Yami and Artemis and said, "Let's set up out tent over here." Pointing to an area close to where Iola was setting up her own tent. As he walked over to where she was, he asked to the cloaked woman, "Do you mind if we set up our tent here?"
Iola turned to the lavender-haired demon that had just spoken to her. After a long pause that made Artemis feel uncomfortable, she nodded before continuing to set up her one-man tent. Pulling out their own from his bag, Kalin removed the tent and began the process of assembling it. With the help of the twins, he quickly finished assembling the tent. Seeing that they unsurprisingly finished first, he told the girls, "You can set up your beds wherever you want. I'm going to go see if anyone else needs help."
After hearing Artemis's words of conformation, Kalin walked over to the nearest tent. "Hi Iola, can I help you set up your tent?"
"… No… it's fine." The amazon woman paused what she was doing for the time it took her to respond. After quietly answering his question, she bent over to tie down her tent. Her posture allowed him to get a glimpse of what she was wearing underneath her cloak. As she leaned forward, his gaze was met with the sheen of armor. Composed of hundreds of small scales, the armor seemed to be made of some sort of draconic or reptilian skin.
Looking at the partially wrapped polearm laying on the ground, Kalin got a little bit curious. "So, what kind of weapon is that? It doesn't look like a spear or an axe."
Although Iola looked troubled by his question, she eventually answered with, "It's a trident."
"The one people hunt water monsters with? Wow that so cool!" Kalin said with a big smile on his face and stars in his eyes. "Does that mean you know how to hunt while swimming? My sister told me that sea monsters are super strong. Have you ever seen a sea monster before?"
Iola wasn't used to being around people that often, and still didn't know the local language that well. Even though it had been over a year since she ventured out of her home village, she wasn't used to the culture of Den or the surrounding areas yet. Growing up in an amazon village, life was a lot different from most people. For starters, there weren't any men. The village was small, with just over 30 total people living there. The chief of the village was whoever was the strongest. If there was ever a disagreement between two people, outsiders or otherwise, the dispute would be settled with a fight. There were only really three laws growing up. No men should enter the village. Whoever is stronger is right. Don't kill.
Growing up in a society that preferred to resolve conflicts through wrestling-like fighting, Iola wasn't very good at expressing herself in her native tongue, let alone one she wasn't very good at. She also wasn't used to crowds. When she first moved to Den, a city with easily tens or hundreds of millions of people, from her small village of 30, she was overwhelmed to say the least. Although she had learned how to speak from the local language from a kind receptionist at the guild, she was very conscious of her heavy accent. All these factors combined with her unfamiliarity with men caused her to become fairly shy and quiet. Much to the chagrin of her only friend, the receptionist that taught her how to speak the local language. She never opened up to others, spending the majority of her time taking hunting requests from the guild or staying in her home.
When Iola heard Kalin's rapid speaking, she quickly got overwhelmed. A little dazed, she answered subconsciously, "I have hunted them."
"Wow, you've fought sea monsters before?! What kind? A kraken? or a cetus? or was it a leviathan?" Kalin gleefully asked, seemingly unaware to the tumultuous state of mind of his speaking companion.
Stuttering, Iola answered, "N-n-nothing that great. Only demon snakes and fish." Feeling a little bit embarrassed that she couldn't fulfill the young 'girl's' expectations, a light blush filled her cheeks. The fact that she whistled the second 's' in 'snakes' didn't help either.
"Wow, you're amazing!" Contrary to her expectations, Kalin wasn't disappointed in the slightest. "Is that why your armor looks like that? Is it made out of demon scales?"
Not able to look Kalin in the eyes, she turned her head from him. Though, she still answered. "Yeah, it is snake."
"Did you kill it by yourself?" He responded.
"Y-yeah."
Slowly getting caught in the mood, Iola started to answer Kalin's questions more and more quickly. It eventually got to a point where the gap between his questions and her answers started to sound like a conversation. It wasn't until she heard a pop from the campfire that she eventually snapped out of it. Realizing that she had completely stopped working on her tent because of being distracted by the conversation. Noticing how dark it had gotten, she panicked until she noticed that her tent was finished already. Looking at Kalin he just smiled before asking, "Do you want to eat dinner together?"
The two of them sat next to the small campfire that was burning. Kalin handed Iola some food and said, "We are going to be doing the first watch tonight. I hope you are okay with that."
It wasn't like Iola had a choice. Everybody else had already eaten and entered their separate tents. Nodding, Iola took a bite out of the compressed bread, noting to herself how dry and bland it was.
Kalin's response caused some of the other members of the group to be caught off guard, "Even if you make that sad puppy face, Artemis said you have to walk by yourself." None of the others noticed the slightest difference between her normal expression and her current one, but apparently Kalin could distinguish between the two. Well, it would be more accurate to say that Vin and Belinda caught off guard so, at least. Elric didn't seem to care, Iola's face was covered by her cloak, and Rain had a perpetual smile on her face.
Changing her attack pattern, Yami turned her lazy eyes toward her sister's, for she knew Artemis would crack faster than Kalin. "Please, my feet will fall off." Unfortunately for Yami, her younger sister wasn't going to budge on the matter.
"No, you agreed that you'd walk the entire way. Besides, we might not get another opportunity like this quest if we butcher it. Just be good the next few days and we'll take some time off from adventuring."
Yami walked with her head down in depression. Not even ten meters later, her head popped up as if a bolt of inspiration was sent directly to her mind from heaven. "I'm older," she explained, "so I make the rules?" Somehow, while trying to come off as authoritative, her statement bold transformed into a question by the time it was finished.
"Did you say something?" Artemis responded with a glare on her face.
Upon seeing her sister's facial expression, Yami did a quick cost-benefit analysis of the situation. If she tried to argue, she would waste energy and still be walking; if she pretended that she didn't say anything, she'd still be walking, but a little less tired; if she took another approach…
Hiding behind Kali, she said in her monotonous voice, "Save me, Artemis is being mean."
As Artemis complained to Kalin how 'dirty' Yami's move was, a smile filled the face of Vin. He found their antics humorous. Chuckling, he spoke softly to Belinda, "Adorable, aren't they?" After she nodded in confirmation, he added, "Bet our kids would be cuter though."
Just as he was about to stroke her hair, Belinda deflected his hand the back of her own. "Nice try, but the answer is still no." Her face contained a smile that didn't quite match her eyes.
Chuckling in defeat, Vin continued walking with a smile on his face. This wasn't his first attempt to flirt with her, and it wasn't the first time his advances were shut down either. Full of hope, but little expectation, he seemed barely phased. Rubbing the back of his head he smiled, "Damn, it looks like I got rejected again."
Seeing him get rejected, a small smile crept on the lips of Elric. Although they both trusted each other with their lives, it doesn't mean they have to have the best relationship. Being the brooding satyr that he is, Elric didn't really like Vin's cheerful and jolly nature. It rubbed him the wrong way from time to time, especially how he always tried to get involved in everybody's personal affairs.
Kalin and Belinda both noticed the tiny smile creep to the corners of Elric's mouth. Seeing Belinda blush slightly at Elric's reaction made Kalin smile to himself. Smelling the pheromones that Belinda was secreting, it wasn't hard for his sex-demon-self to understand the situation between the three. Although, he did find Belinda's taste in men slightly surprising. Not to badmouth Elric, but even though he was the youngest in their party, he looked at least a decade older than the others.
The party continued down the dirty down-trodden road, as its members slowly getting more familiar with each other every step they took. As the white grain fields and rolling green fields moved by, the party continued to trudge along the dusty trail. By the time they were commanded to stop for the night, makeshift party had gotten friendlier and bonded with one another a bit. As the caravan had stopped at the edge of the forest for the night, the 5 different parties split into separate, but connected camps.
As the leader of their camp, Vin called everyone together. "Alright, it's time to setup camp! Everyone should start by setting up their tents. Elric and I will go gather some firewood for tonight." Making a mark in the dirt with his foot, he continued, "We'll set the campfire up here. Set up your tents surrounding it. Although we aren't sleeping inside the forest, it doesn't mean we can't get attacked. Especially with the Kobold settlement only a couple hours away." Gesturing for Elric to follow him he said, "Come on, let's collect as much wood as possible before the other camps take all the close stuff."
Although he didn't look happy about it, Elric followed Vin as the two of them entered the trees to grab as much wood as they could. As if to demonstrate their familiarity of such situations, Rain, Belinda, and Iola each picked a spot 3 to 4-ish meters from the fire ring to set up tents. Turning to the others, Kalin turned to Yami and Artemis and said, "Let's set up out tent over here." Pointing to an area close to where Iola was setting up her own tent. As he walked over to where she was, he asked to the cloaked woman, "Do you mind if we set up our tent here?"
Iola turned to the lavender-haired demon that had just spoken to her. After a long pause that made Artemis feel uncomfortable, she nodded before continuing to set up her one-man tent. Pulling out their own from his bag, Kalin removed the tent and began the process of assembling it. With the help of the twins, he quickly finished assembling the tent. Seeing that they unsurprisingly finished first, he told the girls, "You can set up your beds wherever you want. I'm going to go see if anyone else needs help."
After hearing Artemis's words of conformation, Kalin walked over to the nearest tent. "Hi Iola, can I help you set up your tent?"
"… No… it's fine." The amazon woman paused what she was doing for the time it took her to respond. After quietly answering his question, she bent over to tie down her tent. Her posture allowed him to get a glimpse of what she was wearing underneath her cloak. As she leaned forward, his gaze was met with the sheen of armor. Composed of hundreds of small scales, the armor seemed to be made of some sort of draconic or reptilian skin.
Looking at the partially wrapped polearm laying on the ground, Kalin got a little bit curious. "So, what kind of weapon is that? It doesn't look like a spear or an axe."
Although Iola looked troubled by his question, she eventually answered with, "It's a trident."
"The one people hunt water monsters with? Wow that so cool!" Kalin said with a big smile on his face and stars in his eyes. "Does that mean you know how to hunt while swimming? My sister told me that sea monsters are super strong. Have you ever seen a sea monster before?"
Iola wasn't used to being around people that often, and still didn't know the local language that well. Even though it had been over a year since she ventured out of her home village, she wasn't used to the culture of Den or the surrounding areas yet. Growing up in an amazon village, life was a lot different from most people. For starters, there weren't any men. The village was small, with just over 30 total people living there. The chief of the village was whoever was the strongest. If there was ever a disagreement between two people, outsiders or otherwise, the dispute would be settled with a fight. There were only really three laws growing up. No men should enter the village. Whoever is stronger is right. Don't kill.
Growing up in a society that preferred to resolve conflicts through wrestling-like fighting, Iola wasn't very good at expressing herself in her native tongue, let alone one she wasn't very good at. She also wasn't used to crowds. When she first moved to Den, a city with easily tens or hundreds of millions of people, from her small village of 30, she was overwhelmed to say the least. Although she had learned how to speak from the local language from a kind receptionist at the guild, she was very conscious of her heavy accent. All these factors combined with her unfamiliarity with men caused her to become fairly shy and quiet. Much to the chagrin of her only friend, the receptionist that taught her how to speak the local language. She never opened up to others, spending the majority of her time taking hunting requests from the guild or staying in her home.
When Iola heard Kalin's rapid speaking, she quickly got overwhelmed. A little dazed, she answered subconsciously, "I have hunted them."
"Wow, you've fought sea monsters before?! What kind? A kraken? or a cetus? or was it a leviathan?" Kalin gleefully asked, seemingly unaware to the tumultuous state of mind of his speaking companion.
Stuttering, Iola answered, "N-n-nothing that great. Only demon snakes and fish." Feeling a little bit embarrassed that she couldn't fulfill the young 'girl's' expectations, a light blush filled her cheeks. The fact that she whistled the second 's' in 'snakes' didn't help either.
"Wow, you're amazing!" Contrary to her expectations, Kalin wasn't disappointed in the slightest. "Is that why your armor looks like that? Is it made out of demon scales?"
Not able to look Kalin in the eyes, she turned her head from him. Though, she still answered. "Yeah, it is snake."
"Did you kill it by yourself?" He responded.
"Y-yeah."
Slowly getting caught in the mood, Iola started to answer Kalin's questions more and more quickly. It eventually got to a point where the gap between his questions and her answers started to sound like a conversation. It wasn't until she heard a pop from the campfire that she eventually snapped out of it. Realizing that she had completely stopped working on her tent because of being distracted by the conversation. Noticing how dark it had gotten, she panicked until she noticed that her tent was finished already. Looking at Kalin he just smiled before asking, "Do you want to eat dinner together?"
The two of them sat next to the small campfire that was burning. Kalin handed Iola some food and said, "We are going to be doing the first watch tonight. I hope you are okay with that."
It wasn't like Iola had a choice. Everybody else had already eaten and entered their separate tents. Nodding, Iola took a bite out of the compressed bread, noting to herself how dry and bland it was.
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