Below the tree. . .
"Hmm?" Woken up from the nightmare, Agwin stands his upper body up.
He felt the heat is swelling up inside his heart, rekindled and didn't dwindle down rather faintly.
"Kami-sama, Kami-sama!", Agwin is like a child calling his goddess in panic as if he's having a nightmare.
"Boss! I am here!"
"Kami-sama! Where's Kami-sama!?" Half-awake, Agwin raised Dwight's collar and asks in a repeating manner, like a lost child who lost its mother.
"B-boss! Don't kill me! please!" But then Agwin realize the position he were in. The place they were in. That he is only dreaming.
"I'm sorry, Argh!" Holding the half of his face, Agwin gritted his teeth and feel nauseated.
"Here Boss, its one of many herb that can help you relax a bit more. It seems like you still not overcome past your trauma" Dwight reached out a single bowl with green-looking mucus inside, "I made it to looks like a porridge so you can enjoy its taste too!" he prompted.
With bags under Agwin's eye while eating the porridge he gave, Dwight questioned: "What are you doing in this past few years, boss? Why do I feel like, you've become even more childish? Don't get me wrong, though" as he scratches his cheek while saying.
"I've...been in a comfort zone. And I don't feel like changing, but don't reprimand me for doing so" Agwin ate all the porridge cooked by Dwight with delight.
"Y-yes! I understand my standings!" Dwight bow his head down.
"By the way. Why? of all things. Why did you try to overcome the trauma?" Agwin queried. His anger subsided at last, remembering all of them is just a dream.
A memory.
A past.
It was then that Dwight's short story, started.
"After we separate ways where one of my eyes has been taken, I've become the part of kami-sama's familia. Using the skill I've received and realized its convenience, adding that Kami-sama's familia happens to be a hunting-type familia, I don't have much of a choice but to use Bow and Arrow. But the most traumatizing yet the most challenging part is the Horseback riding, again---"
"---Its easy to say, but hard to do so. It takes me hundreds of attempts, hundred of times of throwing up before getting used to it. So I thought you might also done the same, I'm sorry" Dwight's face has a faint of sadness yet happiness. Overcoming his own trauma is the happiest moment of his life!
"I see, this is why we are different through and through. . .anyway, lets go! I don't want Kami-sama to worry" Agwin stands back up and thanking Dwight for the wonderful meal.
"But you already found your own happiness though, thanks to that Kami-sama of yours, that, I can't argue. . .and yes, that is our difference, we are different through and through" Dwight smiled and rode back on his horse.
Agwin did the same which surprised Dwight, "If you can, I can do it too! Of course!" with faint smile, Agwin stated. But worry still filled Agwin's face. He's still afraid!
●○●○●○
"Dragon-slayer?" Queried by Agwin after explained by Dwight what is the reality of his quest, Fhurneum.
"Yes! it is the nemesis of all dragons! Not physically though but a single rub to any fresh wound coming from it is enough to make a permanent wound to any dragon-type creature! Never been heal, always fresh! And fresh as new!" So Dwight explained.
"That, I didn't know" Agwin lowers his head.
"There are many things in this world that we didn't know of, that is why we are Adventurers, although I'm a hunter right now, heheh" Dwight jested. He doesn't get it but Dwight seemed to relax a bit more ever since talking to him about his own trauma. In which, Agwin realize it too and only create a faint smile, delighted.
Arriving at the designated area, the horse was leashed in one of the trees below at the foot of the mountain they currently walking. Although not tall, it takes them an hour or two to arrive.
"The last sightings of the said monster is in this part of the area"
"When is that 'last sightings' happened? hundreds of years?" Agwin wouldn't believe Fhurneum still exists. Because if he himself is a dragon, he'll get rid of it and destroy its ecosystem. Made it extinct so he won't have any more weakness!
"Haha, you joking boss. Of course, this last month only" Dwight laughs.
"Then there's a possibility it migrated" Agwin noted
"Boss, don't be a pessimist!" Upset, Dwight complained.
As they talked, Agwin remembers it wasn't a monster he should hunt. And as if Dwight knew what was on his mind, he explained, adding the dragon-slayer thing that he almost forgot to explain.
"Fhurneum Flower is rested at the back of a monster known as Fhurosaur. Like a baby, it won't leave its back unless another Fhurneum Flower will born anew. Then the former Fhurneum Flower will then be attached to any nearby tree it abandoned until it withers, after all, the nutrients given by Fhurosaur sustained its life till decades"
"As for the Dragon-slaying attribute, it will lessen the effect the monent it left from the Fhurosaur's back" Dwight explanation ended.
"Then, the best thing to do. . .for the dragon-slaying not to decrease its effect"
"Yes, it is to hunt Fhurosaur alive! But its pollen is a big trouble!"
"Its alright, just cover your arrowhead with sleep attribute, I'll caught it"
"Okay"
Ordering, Agwin swiped an empty air and something came out of nowhere. a big transparent bottle of glass popped up!
"Whoa, I'm jealous, I don't have that ability"
"That's why I gave you some of my skills to make it fair"
"Fair my ass! Its not fair to begin with!"
"Haha, yeah right, remember we are different"
"I know, I'm sorry boss"
"Don't call me boss! just make sure to stay alive no matter what!"
"Or else it'll mix things up"
"Yes, good thing you used that brain of yours"
"Ahh! Then, you're dumb too! Because we're not different!"
As they converse, Agwin couldn't help but to form a faint smile. Maybe he should start to get close to 'them'? Remembering how he highly regarded himself compare to others. He shook his head.
"Let's have a party next time! All of us. . ." But then again, he didn't know why he said this word.
"Hehe, as long as you didn't kill us, I'm in!" Is this what it feels to have a brother? He didn't know, he never had a sibling to begin with. Agwin can't wait for it to happen. The party with all of them. He's looking forward to it.
And as they are talking. A green monster with the said Fhurneum Flower in its back--- four legged, whose few inches big in total size, slowly crawling towards the nearest bush and started to munch it.
"Is that it?"
"Yes!"
"Are you sure its a monster?"
"I don't know yet, but of course once you killed it, it drops a magic stone. . .But be careful as the Fhurneum will get destroyed too!"
"How can an alchemist use its Flower in the first place?!" Agwin complained.
"That, I don't know, I'm just a hunter and not an alchemist!"
"Tsk, right. . .make sure not to pierce its magic stone!"
In the end, its just a low level monster, they caught and put it inside the glass bottle and returned thereafter.
"I wish the process of making it won't get affected because of the sleeping syringe you used"
"Boss, don't forget we're in fantasy world! Don't be a pessimist!"
The two separate their ways after then. . .Good thing nothing happens during the process.
Its just that, Agwin realize something. . .something that he have to do sooner than later no matter what!