RotDG Chapter 79: Aspirations

Myrla couldn’t believe what she just heard. 

It had been almost half an hour since Eli regaled the story of what happened with Sonia. It had not been a long tale— nor was it a tall tale. It was a relatively straightforward and short story, really. But despite this fact, even until now, the young girl’s head was still spinning, trying to process everything she had been told. It was insanity. It made no sense. It didn’t sound real.

And yet, Eli had spoken with a straight face— he had insisted that it was all true. There was no reason for him to lie. Myrla knew him. She knew he wasn’t the type to make such an outrageous claim for the sake of a joke. Like it was a prank.

But even if this was a prank, he would have admitted that it was one by now. After all, the only reason he would lie about all this was to see her reaction. He wouldn’t have dragged it on for so long.

Besides, Myrla had seen the two Artifacts of Death that Eli had on him with her own eyes. While she had never seen one before, and she wasn’t too familiar with the essence emanated by death magic, they looked real enough to her.

So that meant everything Eli had said was true. It had to be— and yet, he was so nonchalant about it all. Why?

She pursed her lips as she eyed her friend from behind, slowly trailing after him as they made their way through the dense forest.

“Hm, I would have thought we would’ve been far enough away from Albus we would have found at least a few monsters by now…” he said as he swept his gaze over the surrounding trees.

Myrla barely paid any attention to him as she took in a deep breath. She was trying to see things from his perspective— she understood that she came from a more sheltered environment than him. Being raised as the daughter of a baron, her environment while growing up was going to be significantly different than a commoner who grew up as an orphan.

So he had to have an entirely different worldview from her, and it was showing right now. Even still, Myrla found it incomprehensible. Perhaps she could empathize with him when he said he wanted to study the Artifacts of Death— she had always been… curious about these dangerous and forbidden weapons.

How could she not want to know of their origins? And of what power they possessed? 

But it was always just an idle curiosity, nothing that would have actually compelled her to do something beyond thinking about it. However, she could have understood it… to a certain extent… if he had just found these items on the ground and decided to take a look at them.

Knowing that they were stolen from the Church of Life though? That completely baffled Myrla. She truly was at a loss here. Of course, she was going to keep her promise.

However, she just wanted to understand why?

Was Myrla just being close minded? Perhaps that was the problem— Sonia was also completely fine with this, and she was a commoner too. This might have been the reason why Eli also didn’t think there was anything wrong with this.

Because, as commoners, they might have had to steal just to survive. Or at the very least, grew up around people who stole or committed other crimes, like it was not a big deal at all. Meanwhile, as a noble, Myrla was raised not only with strong values against any such activities, but also she grew up in a household where she could pretty much have everything she wanted.

Well, her father did not always approve of her actions. However, that didn’t mean he was ever against her, nor did that mean she wasn’t given a proper noble upbringing.

So perhaps her position on this matter came from a place of privilege. Maybe Myrla needed to get off her high horse and understand that not everyone was a baron’s daughter like her. That was the problem— she needed to be more understanding of Eli’s background.

And finally, it all clicked in her mind.

Myrla nodded to herself as she realized that the problem was her worldview. She wasn’t trying to see things from Eli’s perspective— she wasn’t trying to walk in his shoes. And if she, too, had to grow up, living in the streets, she probably would not have felt like stealing an illegal item was exactly taboo.

“Alright—” she started as she looked back up.

And Eli suddenly came to a halt, holding up a hand. She bumped into his back as she blinked. 

“Careful, do you hear that?” Eli said as his eyes flickered.

“Hear what?” Myrla frowned.

She glanced around, looking in the same direction as her friend. But she saw nothing. However, he held up a finger and hushed her.

“Shh, it’s coming.”

“What’s coming—” the young girl started.

And from the bushes nearby, a shadowed figure shot out. It was a large creature— at least six feet in length. It moved swiftly, snarling as it went straight for Myrla. She backed away as her eyes grew wide.

She saw it coming. Of course she did. Perhaps she could have even reacted in time. But as she was about to raise her shield, Eli moved quicker.

He pointed up at the figure and unleashed a spear of ice straight at it. The creature whimpered as it flew back, the attack piercing it straight through the chest. It collapsed onto the ground as Eli stepped forward, staring at what it was.

Myrla blinked a few times, watching as a physical coat of shadows melted off the creature, revealing what it was.. 

“Just a darkwolf,” Eli said as he shook his head. “Barely a Silver Rank threat. I’m surprised you didn’t notice it.”

“How could I have noticed it?” Myrla sputtered, gesturing at the dead monster. “It was using its shadow magic to hide itself from us!”

Eli shook his head as he strode forward. “Well, just do what I did, and listen better next time.”

Furrowing her brows, Myrla just watched her friend continue onward.

“What is that supposed to mean?” she asked.

But he didn’t answer.

***

I had studied up on most of the monsters that inhabited this forest. I knew that the most dangerous of them all were darkwolves, stalker mushrooms, and crysbats. In general, they were all Silver Ranks— but a few of them could have reached the next Rank and become Gold.

For example, an alpha darkwolf was a Gold Rank threat, and so was a giant stalker mushroom. A swarm of crysbats could also be considered a Gold rank threat— but that was a classification made by the Adventurer’s Guild Bestiary. At the end of the day, it was just a bunch of Silver Rank threats clustered together, and that designation was for adventurers to not get themselves killed.

Anyway, this just meant that I had known what to expect from the monsters in the area. They were weak enough that I thought that this would have been a pretty relaxing day out for both Myrla and I.

Or at least, that was what I thought. Unfortunately…

“Wait, wait, wait, where did that mushroom come from—”

Again.

“Bats? In the afternoon? I thought they were nocturnal animals…”

And again.

“But I thought it was just a cute bunny!”

And again and again, Myrla somehow almost got herself killed by the monsters in the forest. Well, she would’ve actually been fine, since the enchantments on the armor she wore pretty much made her invulnerable to anything that wasn’t at least a Platinum Rank threat.

But the way she carried herself was so incredibly reckless, I was genuinely surprised. Whether it was trying to pat a horned rabbit because she thought it was a normal animal, or ignoring the crysbats flying overhead because she thought they were just ordinary birds.

That was not to mention that she didn’t notice the group of stalker mushrooms that were following us, even though I had purposefully let them get as close as possible, hoping that she would react to them eventually.

But she just didn’t— she was just oblivious to it all.

The thing was… it wasn’t that she froze up when faced with a monster or anything. She had already proven herself to be quite capable when she had fought that mawdrith alongside me. In fact, that had impressed me, even though she was obviously protected by her armor.

She just had no survival instincts at all.

“You know, I never realized just how lacking you are in real-world combat experiences,” I said as I rolled my eyes, walking away from the young girl as she panted and leaned against a tree.

Her brows snapped together and she glared up at me. “Hey! I’m just not used to— eek!”

She squealed and jumped back as I hurled the dead horned rabbit back her way. I just chuckled, and she hurriedly gave chase to me.

“That wasn’t very nice!” the young girl harrumphed.

And I shook my head at her. “Well, you’ll just have to get used to seeing dead things. So I’m helping you.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” She crossed her arms indignantly. 

“I mean, aren’t you going to become an Inquisitor?” I said simply as I raised a brow. 

But Myrla just scoffed in response. “What? No, I have no intention of becoming an Inquisitor.”

“You don’t?” I gave her a dubious look. “But don’t most [Paladins] choose to become an Inquisitor?”

She just nodded and huffed. “They do— and that’s exactly why I don’t want to become an Inquisitor.”

“Why not?” I asked as I tilted my head back, all the while continuing to lead her through the forest. “Kai is pretty cool, isn’t he? Don’t you want to become like him?”

“Absolutely not!” Myrla grumbled as she folded her arms and trailed after me. “That would make my father finally proud of me, and I’m not doing all this to earn his validation.”

I cocked my head back at her. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“That means that my father will try to take credit for all the hard work I’ve put in myself when he never supported me,” the young girl said as she raised her head. “And I don’t want him doing that, so I have a different goal.”

“And what is your goal?” I asked her curiously.

She smirked at me as she came to a sudden halt. Pointing a finger to the sky, she spoke declaratively, her voice echoing all around us. 

“My goal is to become the next Headmaster of the Holy Academy!”

“Huh.” 

I stared at her in surprise when I heard that. After all, being the Headmaster of the Holy Academy was… a rather boring job, from what I heard about it. 

It was not a prestigious job that came with a lot of glory like being an Inquisitor was, nor did it give you any real power like becoming a Templar did. As the Headmaster of the Holy Academy, you spent all your time carrying out administrative duties, which was utterly dull.

In fact, I heard that Headmaster Kaelen Angelus was an Emerald Rank adventurer before he retired to his current job. It was meant to be more of a… retirement kind of job, which offered plenty of benefits in exchange for its tedious nature.

But Myrla ignored this as she beamed at me, folding her arms across her chest. 

“I know, it’s quite a pretty impressive goal, isn’t it?” she said.

“It is surprising. But I wouldn’t exactly call it impressive.” I shrugged at her, before continuing forward.

Myrla scoffed as she followed after me. “Hmph, you’re just jealous because you probably have a much more generic dream.”

Oh, trust me, I most definitely don’t, I thought in response as I chuckled.