Elias pointed his revolver at the poor man's forehead, the dark-magic powered handgun he's holding was hot, very hot that it showed a burnt-mark at the man's forehead, if he pulled the trigger, he would be blown into pieces. But the man shuddered at Elias's callousness.
"I, uhh… Who are you guys? What are you doing here?" The man's eyes darted about wildly. Elias got his hand ready to pull the trigger, he felt no remorse for killing this man, at all means.
"Answer the question. Every time you tell me something other than an answer, I'm going to kill you from here now!"
"Huh!?"
"Are you Cassius Calico?"
The man stammered for a moment, but Elias's sharp glare silenced any protests he might have, and he answered with more vigor that his pale face would suggest.
"Umm… Ahhh, yes! I am! I'm Cassius Calico! That's me!"
So he really is Cassius Calico. By some miracle, he had actually survived
Elias lowered his revolver and sheathed it at his belt. Instead of his vengeful face earlier, he turned kind, he lent out a hand from Cassius.
"I see. I'm Elias, Elias Rynd. I've come looking for you at Lord Phillip's request. I'm glad you're alive"
"Lord Phillip sent you!? I guess… I owe him another debt for this. Umm, thank you for coming here. If Lord Phillip sent you, you must be pretty strong."
There was a mixture of gratitude and respect in his gaze. It seemed he wasn't too bothered by that earlier point to his revolver. He seemed like a surprisingly nice fellow.
I stepped in behind Elias, I've come up with a series of questions inside my head, all of them were generated by Plasma. I introduced myself to Cassius as well as my rank
"Greetings, Cassius. My name is Eirene Rynd, I was also sent by Lord Phillip, he was a great ruler of Town Allure. Tell me, what happened to your party?"
As Cassius stuttered, Elias suddenly interrupted both of them, now adding a layer of dramatic effect from Cassius.
"H-hey! Don't point that thing over me!" Elias pressed the revolver again in his forehead
"If you want to live, answer my sister's questions. Otherwise, I will blow your skull off!"
"Okay! Okay! Have mercy, spare my life!"
Glad my brother didn't overreact, otherwise, our payment will be over. Elias monitored his little sister and questioned what happened. There, the party went all ears.
In short, Cassius said everything about the incident.
Cassius and his party were climbing the same mountain path Elias had taken when they were set upon by ten high orcs.
Unwilling to take on such a force, the party began to retreat. However, more and more high orcs kept coming and, before long, they had been driven up to the river a little over halfway up the mountain.
Surrounded and driven into a corner, the party's paladin and swordsman gave their lives to let the others escape. Forced further upward by an advancing horde of high orcs, the party arrived at the second river, only to meet their doom.
A chimera was waiting for them.
The moment they burst out on the riverbank, it had fired it's searing breath at them, sending Cassius flying into the river. As he was being washed downstream, the last thing he'd seen was one of his members of the party get incinerated to flames. While the remaining members were trapped between a chimera and a horde of high orcs.
After falling down the waterfall he'd stumbled into this cavern, and he had been hiding inside ever since. And yet, he hadn't even tried to save them. He'd just hidden down here in this cave like a coward, praying for someone to come save him.
Cassius's emotions got the better of him halfway through the story, and by the time he finished, he was in tears. He'd basically forced his way into their party, and yet, the adventures he'd traveled with hadn't so much as looked annoyed when he asked them to teach him skills or share stories about their adventures.
He hated himself even more for a feeling relieved when help had finally arrived, even though his comrades had all died.
Those feelings had all come to a head when he recounted the tale, which was why he was a sobbing mess. Cassius cried loudly
"Fuck! Fuck! I-I'm the worst. Everyone died, but even though I was useless, I survived… and then…I even felt happy when I learned I was saved!"
Cassius sobs echoed through the cavern. No one said a thing. No one knew what to say to the sobbing young man who blamed himself for his comrade's deaths. Catherine and the others understood exactly what he was feeling.
I gently patted Cassius on the back, my expression pained.
Catherine was shocked as always, while Patricia was at a loss for words.
But when Cassius finally paused to take a deep breath, the person everyone had least expected to say anything confronted him, Elias.
He walked over, grabbed Cassius by the collar, and hoisted up into the air. When he spoke, his tone was surprisingly gentle.
"What's so wrong about wanting to live? What's so bad about being happy that you survived? Those feelings are the most natural thing in the world. For a human, wanting to survive is a praiseworthy trait."
"B-But… I…"
"If you feel bad for your dead partners… then live in. Even if you have to crawl on the ground dredging for scraps, survive. As long as you keep struggling… eventually, the day will come when you realize there was meaning in you surviving this day."
"Live on." Tears still in his eyes, Cassius blankly repeated Elias's words
Elias thrust Cassius back to the ground and mumbled some words.
"What the hell is wrong with me?"
His speech had been half-directed to himself. When he'd heard Cassius lamenting his own survival, it had somehow felt like he was saying it was a mistake for Elias to have survived. That was what had gotten Elias so worked up.
Of course, that was just his persecution complex rearing it's ugly head. What he'd done wasn't so much different from a kid throwing a tantrum. Despite how mature he tried to act, Elias was still a twenty-six year old man, He still had a lot of growing up to do.
Having realized its mistake, Elias was stewing in a rare moment of self-loathing. Seeing his expression, I walked over and gently took his hand in mine.
"It's okay. You said the right thing. Cassius."
"Eirene?"
"Live with everything you got. We're going to survive together, right?"
"You're right, Eirene. No matter what comes in our way, we'll make it through alive. I promise I won't leave you alone."
"Thank you, Eirene!"
Before long, Elias and I were lost in their own little world, Cassius' existence completely forgotten. He nuzzled happily against my hand.
Meanwhile, Elias's words had really hit home to me and the others. They were the words of someone who'd changed his appearance and even the very core of his being to crawl out being a luminous knight alive. Ever since my brother's unexpected reunion had been cold and aloof, but for the first time they'd seen him get heated up.
Finally, Cassius managed to get everyone's attention, and the party began preparing to descend. There was still an hour until darkness fell, so if they hurried they could reach the foot of the mountain before the day was up.
True, the sudden appearance of a high orc horde and a chimera were worrying developments, but they weren't part of Elias's mission, nor mine. Besides, it was unreasonable of anyone to expect Elias to investigate those incidents while protecting such a weak group
Will realized he'd just been a burden too, so he agreed that they should withdraw. My sense of justice compelled him to argue that they should investigate further and save the villagers from Rebelbub Village from their plights but with such dangerous monsters as high orcs and chimeras roaming about. I was having none of it.
But of course, it was too much to hope everything would go according to plan. The moment the group exited the waterfall cavern using Elias's magic, they were greeted by a fearsome sight.
"Grrrrrrrrrh!"
It was easily seven meters long. Claws as big and sharp as swords jutted from its forelegs. The wings sprouting from its back were glimmering faintly, covered in a thick layer of mana.
It is a beast of a lion's head, goat's body and the serpent's tail, merged together and becoming a…
Chimera.