Immediately after I woke up, I was greeted by a new sight. Apparently, the two siblings that I named had some kind of physical change to them. The cute female spider now had a fully humanoid body and her brother looked identical to her save for a few differences.
The main difference being that Claire, while a lot smaller than she was in her half humanoid half spider form, was still noticeably taller than Yuta.
Yuta was a Short cute boy with an appearance that was nearly too cute to comfortably consider him as boy, and like his sister he had pretty reddish burgundy hair and small lilac purple horns protruding from his head.
He had ruby coloured eyes and the markings under his eyes looked like two sharp marks. One on each side. Unlike his sister, his skin seemed to be a very pale bluish colour(his sister having a pale almost white-ish grey colour). Claire also has light pink eyes, unlike her brother yuta.
These slight differences are what keep them from being identical, however, I found out that they really were twins. Apparently they were born on the same day and at the same time along with over 100 other siblings but they are the last ones remaining after they ate most of their siblings. The rest were killed off by other monsters.
" That aside, I'm curious. Did you go shopping? "
I noticed that the twins were wearing clothes. Nothing fancy, just form fitting cropped shirts, Claire's being white and Yuta's being dark blue, almost grey. Claire had a small pink ribbon on hers which matched the cute lilac purple bows holding up both of her curly pigtails. The both of them wore matching black bottoms. Claire wore cute black shorts with long cute white cat socks and black ankle high combat style boots. Yuta wore a nice purple choker with black knee-high shorts and long white socks that reached his calves. He wore black loafer-style shoes.
' Even the way they dress is similar. Are all twins like that? It's… kinda cute, '
" Nope. We made these clothes! "
Yuta responded smugly while posing and twirling around to show off his new clothes.
" Yes.. We were able to create clothes for ourselves with our threads. After you named us, a few of our skills changed and one of the changes allowed us to manipulate our threads more conveniently. "
" Yup~ Before we could only really use our threads to hang from our hang and trap our prey but now we can use our threads to make clothes, hunt, and maybe a lot of other cool things now~ I can't wait to see all the things we can catch– "
"I've got the gist of it, thanks. "
I cut Yuta off curtly. Landing a good punch squarely on top of his head. Right in the middle of it. He stopped talking and clutched his head in his hands and between his knees. This made Claire and Eos chuckle a bit so despite his whining it seemed that I definitely made the right call. As things are now, Yuta was clearly more obsessed with the more gruesome side of things between the two.
Which may have been hard to guess considering that it was Claire who seemed so eager to attack when we met and Yuta was the one who stopped her.
However, after spending the entire day talking to the two of them I came to know that the one who did most of the ' hunting' was actually her younger brother Yuta who has been by far the most wild and fierce one since birth.
"Actually, the one who killed and ate first was Yuta! He devoured our mother only moments after being born. "
Claire spoke about something so gruesome as if it were a fond memory… Apparently, spiders, or at least these types, have to struggle to survive from the literal moment they are born. Their mother had started eating her children the moment they came out and only the really fast, smart, and/or strong ones even made it away. However, if not for yuta eating their mother they would have all died.
Though, even after getting away from one threat, they immediately continued to run into many other threats. Not just from other monsters trying to eat them but from eachother as well. Maybe due to hunger or stress or some other factor, the siblings began eating eachother. In order to survive, Yuta ate many of his siblings, and reluctantly, so did claire. After a while, Claire, who was born bigger than a portion of her siblings, decided to stay with and protect yuta.
" Despite how he seems.. He's actually the smallest and weakest of all of our siblings. Health-wise at the very least. He struggled the hardest to survive but he's always the closest to dying. If I didn't protect him, he would surely have died, even if he seems crazy and strong he wouldn't have been able to be that way for long. Not alone."
She spoke fondly, a hint of enduringness and something else in her voice.
' I get it.. They're alone. They've spent their entire lives since being born doing nothing but hiding and fighting to survive. '
Looking at the two of them made me feel something in my chest, something I don't think I've felt for a long time.
' More than anything, I wish to protect what they have. So that they never lose it. '
We finished our conversation and ended up leaving to grab breakfast.
After eating, I got Claire, Yuta, and even Eos registered as Adventures to work beside me as my party members. Now the team consists of A mage (Eos), An Assassin (Claire), A 'Tank' (Yuta), and A magic Swordsman(Myself). After coming together as a party we decided to spend the next month doing all the quests we could find from F to even one low B rank mission.
F being the lowest, we mostly had to do things like defeating slimes and collecting herbs or finding missing pets or small children.
Our ' hardest' quest was the B Rank, and it was a mission to get rid of a Lich. An undead creature that uses necromancy to create and control dead monsters causing them to become undead.
Just the presence of an undead causes the soul to become corrupt and can also cause many other problems. The issue was fairly easy for us to handle but the guild didn't need to know that.
By the end of the month, and the start of a new month, we had all made a bit of a name for ourselves but not nearly enough.
Right now, we were only just starting to be known in the guild as the " Suspiciously Successful " newbie party that just arrived out of nowhere.. from time to time we'd hear people saying things like "maybe they're lying about who they are and are actually seasoned adventurers from another nation" or " I think they're somehow faking their mission success and stealing someone else's credit, I mean come on how could they defeat a Lich and they haven't even been here for that long. They don't seem that strong either."
Honestly, Despite those few petty comments, what was most upsetting was the fact that the person I am waiting for hasn't even arrived yet and I don't know when they will appear.
Sigh
" Hm~ I wouldn't worry so much if I were you Sir Vaelis. Why not just look for this mystery person on your own?"
Yuta spoke while holding his head in his hands as he rested his elbows on the table. His face displayed a bored expression on it. I could tell, everyone else felt the same even if they didn't say anything but that only made me sigh more.
' It makes sense why they'd think that. I'd also simply visit the hero too if possible but… Not only do I not know where he is right now, but there's also the fact that he's not exactly the type that trusts others easily.
He's stubborn and a little more than a bit prideful at times. If some random adventurer (Me) were to somehow find him and try to get him to follow me, he'd probably be intent on fighting me even if it meant dying and I'd much rather not have to kill the one I'm trying to win over. '
AN: Hi hi~ It's been a while. This isn't gonna be a very long note this time, I just wanted to let you readers know that starting from here on I might be changing a few things regarding my writing style and such. It might not be noticeable right away since I'm still experimenting to see what works and feels the most comfortable to me but I just wanted to give you a heads up since you'll be reading my writing. Anyways~ The main point of my writing is to tell you that for the remainder of this chapter and for the first bit of the next chapter (and probably the entire next chapter, I haven't decided yet..) the POV will not be in Vaelis' perspective but will be kinda a mix of the world's perspective and just other people around him. This is part of the reason why I'm gonna try changing my writing style a bit since Ik it's a bit hard to tell who's pov we're reading from at times…. That's why, when the pov isn't from just anyone in particular I'll be using — — — — — to signal it and when it's from someone else's pov it will be something like – – – [ Name] – – –. I ask for your understanding going forward, thank you :>
– – – – – – –
Vaelis couldn't help but sigh deeply and hold his head down against his hand. In response to his tired, gloomy mood the others simply exchanged glances and shrugged.
The group sat in a corner of the guild at a table near the missionboard. Having cleared many missions, the group had succeeded in gaining a reputation.
Unbeknownst to them, their fame was beginning to spread far past the guild. Word of a mysterious group of adventurers had begun to reach the capital.
The young man that Vaelis had his mind on, also heard of the group, naturally. Here's what he heard, he heard a story of a beautiful man who joined the adventurers guild with flowing long hair as soft and as pretty as polished jade and eyes that resembled the tranquil clear morning skies and pale skin that was as smooth and clear as a porcelain doll.
He also heard many other stories like how that same adventurer turned out to be really strong and even about him suddenly bringing 3 others as strange and as strong as him to the guild and formed a party together. He grew curious about the mysterious adventurer and his new party. He had already decided that his goal would be to become an adventurer.
~~ 3 years ago ~~
"Please Katoru, don't hate them… they don't understand anything and are simply afraid. I know it's cruel and you have every right to be angry and afraid…"
He grimaced as he held his head with one hand, his other hand balled into a fist so tight that his knuckles turned white.
' No… these memories again… '
" Please use your powers to protect those that you hold dear to you.. Don't push everyone away. "
The boy named Katoru shook his head and hit his fist against the brick wall of a small house so hard that his hand began throbbing but he ignored it.
"Stop! I don't— "
The pain that Katoru felt in his head was sharp and intense. The memories that he had suppressed began flooding his mind and the pain that followed got more and more intense until he fainted with a loud thud on the ground.
" U-ugh…"
As he slept, he tossed and turned and groaned in pain, both mental and emotional as he dreamed of his past that he had blocked out.
" Oh no… poor boy, he's having such horrible nightmares. "
Unbeknownst to Katoru, when he had collapsed, a young girl had found his unconscious body lying down on the side of her house and after alerting her grandmother and father, they brought the boy inside and nursed him throughout three whole nights.
" Ah, you're finally awake! Thank goodness, we were worried sick. "
An elderly man said as he smiled warmly at the boy, as he watched him slowly sit up from the bed.
"I wouldn't get up if I were you dear—"
The older woman sitting next to the old man speaks up but before she gets to finish her sentence the boy had already begun sitting up, wincing in pain as he grabbed his throbbing head. He has no choice but to lay back down and listen to the two elderly people speak.
Sigh
"When we found you, you had broken out into a cold sweat and had a really bad fever. We were really worried. "
The older woman spoke as she rubbed the boy's forehead gently and then sat back down next to the man and held his hand. Her eyes were soft and her gaze was kind as she looked at the boy. A gaze that he wasn't used to and felt uncomfortable with.
" We haven't the slightest idea as to how long you were out there or how you came to be in that state but… we are so happy that you're okay now. "
She smiled kindly at him and he spoke, his voice coming out gravely and hoarse.
"Why did you save me? Who are you? What do you wan—"
He spoke coldly while glaring at the two older people but before he got to finish his barrage of questions, a girl standing in the doorway holding a tray of food spoke loudly while glaring at him.
"Hey! You really have no manners huh? Instead of being rude to the people who saved your life, how about saying thank you or telling your name. Gosh, did sleeping outside make you an idiot or something?"
She walked into the room and sat the food down with it making a light thud. She stopped in front of the elderly couple and stared down at the boy in bed with her hands on her hips, glaring back at him.
' W-what..? Just who is this loud child..? '
He thought, in shock after being scolded for the first time. The girl was a lot smaller than him and yet she scolded him as if she were his parent.
" Come now Sakura, that's enough. Don't bother the boy, he must be confused and on edge. "
The elderly man spoke with the woman beside him nodding in agreement as she gently pulled the girl aside and smiled at the boy.
" That's right.. though, we are quite curious, do you have a name, boy? "
The elderly woman spoke and after a few moments of silence with the boy exchanging glances with the three people in front of him. After a while he sighed deeply and nodded.
" Katoru… I don't have a family name. "
He looked reluctant and uncomfortable but despite not looking at the three people they could tell that the boy had lowered his guard even if just slightly. This made all of them happy.
" I'm Sakura, Sakura Yamaguchi and this is my grandma Sasada and grandpa yuki. Nice to meet you big brother Katoru! "
The girl smiled wildly while pointing towards herself with a proud thumbs up with one hand and a hand on her hip with the other.
Her medium shoulder length pumpkin coloured hair and bright green eyes, as well as the silvery grey hairs and brown eyes of the elderly couple, these three faces engraved themselves into his mind and heart at that moment.
That was the day that the boy now known as Katoru Yamaguchi found his family. A small house in a small rural village in an unfamiliar place.
Years had passed since that day and Katoru's new grandparents had recently passed away leaving him to fend for his younger sister and himself, alone.
He wasn't sad though, he had grown used to living with others again and had grown fond of his younger sister. He worked around the village doing any and all jobs, manual labour or not in order to secure money to take care of him and his sister Sakura. He had a dream now, to raise enough money and help his sister to get into a school because he knew that she wanted to learn to do things like reading and writing along with magic. He knew that she had a dream of her own and he wanted to help her to reach it. Furthermore, he had a dream of his own, to become a strong adventurer because they made lots of money and if he grew strong enough, he would be able to protect his sister and buy them a nice home and more. That was his dream and that's what he has been doing.
That's why, on the day that he was working, helping a local farmer to gather crops, he happened to hear about an adventurer (Vaelis) that apparently came out of nowhere and started growing quickly within the guid. Hatoru wanted to be an adventurer even more now, he wanted to see this adventurer and meet him and maybe even work alongside him. For the first time in a long time, he was excited to meet someone he had never met, aspiring to grow strong enough to meet this mysterious man and become his disciple. However, he wouldn't work under just anyone.
' What if those stories are false? What if this man isn't anything like how they think he is. '
Hatoru thought. Even while laying in bed, looking up at the ceiling, his hand in front of his face reaching for something unattainable.
' I won't get my hopes up. I'll find that man if it's meant for me to… and when that happens, I'll fight him.. If he refuses or runs away then I'll have my answer. '
He squeezed his hand to his chest and sighed, closing his eyes.
' but… what if he isn't a coward. What if he's strong, just like the rumours say or even stronger? What if- '
His mind raced with thoughts of " what if's" and so on. Throughout the night, every day and night after hearing about Vaelis for the first time, even while working he would think about him and it got to the point that he began to feel restless.
"Aughh! Damn it! "
He yelled out and stomped his foot down while ruffling his short black golden hair much to his sister's surprise.
" Big brother? What's going on? You scared me yelling out so suddenly! "
She scolded him and hit him which caused him to sigh and calm down. Patting her head gently and shaking his head.
"Sorry, sorry. It's nothing. I just had a lot on my mind.. that's all. "
Thus, from that day onwards he continued to take his own thoughtful approach. Working during the day from early morning and then training his body and even practicing swinging a wooden sword that he carved. He would swing his sword over 1,000 times before bed everyday after working out. Neither Vaelis or Hatoru would know that they were both making preparations to meet one another.
The months would pass by like that for over 4 months, with Hatoru working and continuing to keep up with the gossip of the adventurers and training for the fateful day that they meet, while he saved money for his sister to attend an academy, and Vaelis and his group continued to take on quests, completing missions varying in difficulty until eventually they could no longer accept small petty tasks and had to take on B rank missions and higher.