Being A Hero - Phoenix Flight

Davi felt himself lying down. He could feel sand on his back and water touching his feet. He didn't know how, but he knew that he was back in his village. He was on the beach with his water, relaxing in the ocean's embrace.

That wasn't all he felt, either. Gently, a hand poked his cheek.

Davi's eyes cracked open, and he blinked away sleep. It wasn't the sky above that he saw, though, when his eyes finally adjusted. Instead, Davi stared up into a pair of purple orbs that peered down at him.

"Hello!" A voice chirped out.

Davi sat up as fast as he could and half rolled away, putting distance between him and the person. He entered a crouched stance and readied himself, but he stopped when he saw who it was that had been staring down at him.

"Whoa! You're jumpy."

It was a young woman who looked to be around his age. She had brown skin and a well-built physique, showing muscles and strength hidden in a lean form. Instead of clothes, she wore scraps of cloth that covered her modesty, and long black locks fell down her back. What was most notable to Davi, though, were her ears, which were long and sharp at the end, and her eyes, which were a dazzling purple.

"An elf?" Davi felt stunned as he stared at the woman. She was an elf, that much he was sure, but how? They were all dead. Then again, as he looked around more, he was able to confirm that he was on the island he grew up on. None of this was real. "Oh. I'm dreaming, aren't I?" Davi grew more relaxed, and he let out a sigh of relief.

"Dreaming?" The strange elf woman cocked her head to the side. "Yeah, I guess you would say this is a dream." She walked forward, and then, without any warning, she grabbed Davi by the head. He grunted as she tugged on his neck and gazed at him with a critical eye. She mainly focused on his ears. "What's with your ears?"

Davi tried to shove her off of him, but she easily overpowered him and actually lifted him off the ground. "I-I'm human?"

"Human?' The elf frowned slightly, and she placed Davi back on his feet. "That's not right. I can feel the blood of the elves flowing through your veins."

Davi took a moment to catch his breath now that he was back on the ground. "My mom." He stated after some time. "My mother's mother was an elf."

"Ooh!" The woman nodded her head eagerly. "I get it! So you're a descendant of an elf! That's still a little odd. I mean, I was sure I knew your bloodline, but your eyes are also wrong."

"My eyes?"

"They're blue." The elf said casually. "I really thought you had the blood of the royal, but your eyes aren't purple like theirs."

"How odd." Davi brought his hand to his mouth, and he bit down on it hard enough to draw blood. "Perhaps you'll find the answer to that question one day." He threw his hand out and watched as a wave of ink began to spill out of his palm. The same method he had used to escape the dream last time.

"What are you doing?" The dark-skinned woman took a seat and casually watched him as a door bubbled up from the ground.

"Leaving." Davi created the handle, and he opened the door, about to step through.

"Oh. Okay. One more thing before you go, though."

Davi was already halfway through the door when she spoke up. He felt a tug on his body as something past the door tried to yank him through, but he managed to turn around and look back at him. "Yeah?"

"How did it feel?" The woman asked, and her look changed for a moment. "Did you feel good?"

"...Did what feel good?"

"Eating my father."

Davi's eyes widened slightly, and he didn't have a chance to answer as he was fully pulled past the door, and it slammed shut. He felt himself falling, then suddenly he felt himself rising, and he snapped to, his eyes opening once again. This time, he found himself looking into the dull brown ones of Ragna.

"Do you need CPR?" The man asked, twirling his mustache. Davi shot up and rolled away again, entering another battle stance. "Oh, looks like you finally woke up." Ragna laughed. "I was getting worried."

He was back in the real world. Whatever he had just seen was a dream. It wasn't real. Just a nightmare. So, why couldn't he stop thinking about it?

Davi breathed and winced. His body ached. His nose smelled blood, his ears were pounding, and his eyes were sticky and wet. His muscles felt like jelly as well, and he nearly collapsed but managed to shake the pain off and stood up. "What happened?"

"We blacked out." Looked toward the voice and saw Olivia. She was seated, her back pressed to a tree. Her face was pale, but she seemed to be doing a lot better than he was. Likely because she didn't have an impure Core and because she had a healing factor. "That sucked!"

Ragna sheepishly rubbed his chin. "Yeah. The first time is always the worst. When you eat the Core, its mana erupts in your body, and it tries to be reborn through you. The Cores don't have as much power as they used to, though, and you can tell because of their size. When a person dies, most of their mana fades, and it's the same for a monster. The Cores we have are bigger than our bodies, and this is a fact for even the weakest mage, which is why, within a living mage or monster, the Core forms its own pocket realm to reside in. When you two ate what was left of the monster Core, its fading power made an effort to convert you, but since the power difference was so great, your Core easily beat it into submission and devoured it instead. Your physical bodies took a beating, though."

"You're telling me." Davi wiped some of the dried blood away from his eyes. "I think this is the worst I've ever felt."

Ragna reached into his underwear and pulled out two potions and tossed one to both squires. "Drink these."

Olivia gulped hers down instantly, as did Davi, and when she was done, she wiped her mouth clean. Her body was already starting to mend, and the potion kicked in immediately, almost all the damage fading. "So, we ate the Core and got our asses kicked. How long were we out for?" She asked.

"Almost thirty hours."

"Thirty hours!" Olivia nearly collapsed back down as she started to stand up. "Really?"

The sky above was evening even though it had been midday when they arrived. She had assumed they were out for a few hours, not a whole day. No wonder her stomach ached. She was starving!

Ragna nodded, and he pointed his thumb back toward the tree where the gate had been. It was now a normal tree and had even shrunk, getting smaller than it had been yesterday. "It took over a day for that dungeon to finally move on. A few monsters attacked, but I slaughtered them. They were all extremely weak. I was about to take you both back to the village when you began to stir awake, Olivia. After that, Davi also began to wake up."

"Geez." Olivia rubbed her head and shook it. "Well, did we get stronger at least?"

Ragna's grin shot up again. "I don't know. Why don't you both check?"

Davi lazily swiped his hand and brought his up.

'Shadow Core: Grade S-, Mana: Grade C+, Endurance: Grade A-, Strength: Grade S-, Efficiency: Grade D+, Resistance: Grade E1.'

Ragna studied them in silence, then nodded. "Good. Your Core went up by one, as did your Mana and Efficiency. Olivia?"

She brought hers up next and was a little disappointed at what she saw.

'Blood Core: Grade B-, Mana: Grade D+, Endurance: Grade C+, Strength: C+, Efficiency: Grade C+, Resistance: Grade S-.'

"Your Blood Core went up a level." Ragna nodded approvingly.

"That's the only stat that went up," Olivia said, a little bummed.

"That's okay. The higher your Core, the faster your other stats level up. Your Core is finally reaching the level of an average mage's, so you should start to notice a good increase soon. Now, why don't you two check your Traits and see if there is any difference there?"

Olivia brought her traits up first.

'Skill Traits: | Knife-Wielding: Grade C | Scythe-Wielding: Grade C+ | Hand-to-Hand: Grade D |'

'Other Traits: | Determined: Grade A | Polymorph: Grade D+ | Cursed Life: Grade D- |'

After her, Davi brought his up.

For Olivia, her Quick Regeneration, Scythe Wielding, and Polymorph all went up by one. For Davi, his Curse Resistance, Sword Wielding, Way of Self Iron, and Danger Sense went up.

They had both gotten a bit stronger, though not by much. It was nice, though, to see that their efforts were paying off, even if only slightly.

Ragna looked over both their traits and stats and then nodded. "Alright. Good. Looks like you both grew from this quest. At the very least, it was worth it for that alone. Perhaps we're even luckier than we know since young Davi found a sword!"

"One that might not work for me," Davi muttered, getting bitter once more.

"Indeed. You'll have to wait until we speak to Olem. Try to have faith, though." Ragna punched Davi in the shoulder before he eventually turned. "Well, let's go ahead and go tell the village the dungeon is closed."

"Oh yeah, I guess they wouldn't know that it is closed, would they?" Olivia hurried after Ragna as he began to walk in the direction of the village. "It'll be sweet to tell them we actually saved the day!" She grinned.

Ragna also grinned. "Helping people is the best part of the job."

Davi stayed silent but quietly followed along. Ragna and Olivia seemed to get along well and kept talking about the dungeon. He vaguely mentioned it, but for the most part, he was in his own little world.

He had changed.

When did it happen?

Davi glanced down at himself, eyeing the robes he wore that came from his homeland. Why did he care so much about these robes or the sword? The robes didn't add to his power, nor did the sword, which he suspected wasn't a dark type. Despite that, he felt himself feeling new emotions.

Before, in the past, nothing mattered. The only goal he had was slaying the dragon. He was a machine—a robot. One programmed to walk a single path.

Was that true, though?

Even before, he would wander off that path to help people. To follow in his father's teaching. Those teachings right now were telling him that there was someone who needed help, but who was it? Olivia? No. He did want to help her as well. To ensure she wasn't used in Evelyn's twisted plan, but someone else was in need of his help.

A pair of purple eyes came to his mind—the elf woman.

"Ragna."

"Yes?" Ragna jumped slightly when Davi spoke up, and he turned to give his student his full attention. "What do you need?"

"When I ate that core, I had a weird dream. I think I saw someone. A woman."

Ragna tugged on his mustache. "Ah. I see."

"...You don't sound shocked?" Davi raised an eyebrow.

"I also had a dream," Olivia said sheepishly. "I dreamed I was fighting some weird monster I had never seen before. That was after the dream of where I almost turned into the cerberus, but my Core remade me."

Davi raised an eyebrow. "I had a dream like that as well. When I blacked out, I saw myself in my vault, and I began to turn into a tree, but then my Core appeared before me and tore me apart. After that, I had another dream, and that was where I met the woman."

"It happens a lot." Ragna mused. "The first part the two of you experienced wasn't a dream. It was more like a vision. The Core tried to turn you into a monster, but then your Core rebuilt you and kept you safe. The other parts you saw, though, were dreams. Due to the damage our body takes from the effects, we run a terrible fever. This leads to us having a fever dream since our mind is still running. They often take memories of your life and various emotions. A lot of people will have nightmares; others will have… more lewd dreams because of the emotions they're feeling. The first couple of times you eat a monster Core, it'll happen. Just bear with it, and eventually you'll be so tough you can withstand the backlash like I did."

"So the dream meant nothing?" Davi asked.

"They never mean anything. It was just a strange dream."

"...I see." Davi didn't know if he believed that or not. It had seemed so real, and that question she asked him…

"Looks like we made it back to the village!" Olivia changed the topic of the conversation when she noticed Violet Village up ahead. Because of the setting sun, there weren't very many people who were still outside, but those who were turned to look at her. She smiled, but it faded when she saw the looks they were giving her.

She hadn't expected to be welcomed back with open arms, but she half hoped some of the people would look happy to see them. No one did, though. They stared at them in fear and disgust and didn't seem to care that they returned.

Olivia turned and looked toward Crowe's alchemy stand. The man was standing there alone, stirring his pot. He also didn't look that grateful despite the fact that they saved his life. In fact, he looked mad, likely because he didn't get any ingredients in the dungeon at all.

"He tried to enter the dungeon while you two were knocked out." Ragna noticed where she was looking and spoke up. "He got pissy when I told him no."

"Seriously?" Olivia sighed, and her shoulders slumped. She really didn't feel like a hero right now. They did do the right thing, though, so at least there was that.

Ragna had been about to lead them in the direction of the chief's hut, but the old lady stepped out of the building and hobbled over on her cane. She was followed by a few guards who had slightly smug looks on their faces.

"I take it you did your job." The woman sneered up at Ragna, who looked down at her.

Ragna gave a big smile and brought a fist to his chest. "Indeed! We managed to slay the boss and made sure that the dungeon was sealed! We came by to report this to you!"

The woman's fingers curled around her cane, and she grinned. This was the moment he would ask for the rest of the payment, and she'd turn him down. He'd grow violent and might even threaten her or harm her, but she was confident he wouldn't kill her since that would be a serious crime. If he attacked her or even harmed part of her village, she'd have a lawsuit on her hands, and everyone would believe her since it was a member of Phoenix Flight.

Even if he didn't harm her, she still had Crowe, who had gotten hurt in the dungeon. She could claim the guild roughed him up and treated him poorly, and since they didn't let him in, he would be all the happier to go along with it.

These idiots had done their job perfectly, and now they were going to make her rich—

"Here you go." The chief blinked as suddenly Ragna placed a hefty bag in front of her, which he had pulled out of his pants.

"Huh?" The old lady did a double-take and took the bag. It was heavy, and as it opened, her eyes shot open, and she gawked, as did her two guards. It was filled to the brim with coins and pills, as well as jewelry. There was more wealth than she had ever seen in her life sitting within the bag. Enough to easily repair Violet Village a few dozen times at least. "W-w-w-w-what is this?" The woman stuttered.

Ragna gave her a thumbs-up. "It's what we found in the dungeon. Oh, I did take some of it out, enough to cover the rest of the fee for the quest we took, but that's the rest of the Bells and gems we found. Since it was on your land, you can have them." The chief felt as if her brain had short-circuited. Her body shook, and she kept staring at the coins, waiting for them to vanish. Ragna gave her a pat on the shoulder and a thumbs-up. "If any more monsters or dungeons open up, be sure to call on the Phoenix Flight guild. We'll charge the same fee we did today!"

The old lady didn't say anything and stood frozen like a statue as Ragna turned and began to head out of the village, followed by Davi and Olivia.

"Why did you give her all the Bells?" Olivia questioned. "That was all our money." Davi did the same when she first met him. Why were all the Knights she knew not greedy when they needed to be…

"It wasn't all the money." Ragna shook his head and patted his crotch. "We still have plenty of books to sell, which will earn a decent amount. Plus, we got to keep the three cores, and Davi got a new sword."

"Knights keep everything in the dungeon, though… We would have kept all that stuff and the Bells." Olivia pointed out.

"Maybe." Ragna could see where she was coming from. At the same time, though: "It was the right thing to do." Ragna said simply. "This village doesn't have much and has suffered before. We defeated the monster, we stopped the dungeon, but we can't help the village the way it truly needed it with brute force. Besides, giving them the money was Davi's idea!"

Olivia shot Davi a look, and he let out an innocent whistle. "Yeah, this does seem like something you would do."

"I wanted to help them," Davi said quietly.

"What comes around, goes around!" Ragna cheered. "I'm sure this good deed will be worth it!"

Over with the chief, she finally snapped out of it. She held the hefty bag of coins. It was a lot. An insane amount for her tiny little village.

"He really just gave it to me." She stared ahead at where Ragna and the other two Knights were. "Wow…" She glanced back down at the bag. "What an idiot!" She laughed.

This worked out even better than she thought. Now, she could claim the Knights not only roughed up Crowe and demanded extra payment but also tried to bribe her and her village for her silence!

"We're going to be so rich!"

Sometimes doing the right thing doesn't help a person. Some people are cruel and will take an act of kindness and step on it.

Phoenix Flight was unlucky in this moment. Truly, the guild is cursed with bad luck.

Back over with Ragna and the others, they were none the wiser as they were about to leave. "Wait a moment." Olivia paused, and she turned and left, leaving Ragna and Davi confused. She walked toward Crowe, who tensed up.

"What do you want!" The man spat out.

"Here." Olivia reached into her pouch, and she pulled out all the jars she had found in the vault. "The kind of stuff you wanted was like this, right?"

Crowe stared down at the stuff, almost as stunned as the chief had been by the bag of coins. "N-No way!" An excited grin crossed onto his face, and he grabbed one of the jars, holding it up. A piece of what looked like a yellow root floated inside. "These ingredients are from the days of the elves! This thing is easily over a thousand years old! Its yellow color is proof! It's an alchemist's dream to work with stuff like this!"

"Really?" Olivia tilted her head. "That's cool. I plan on studying alchemy, but I haven't gotten into it yet."

Crowe's smile faded, and he looked back to her. "You want to study alchemy?"

"Yeah."

"Why?" Crowe demanded. "Knights don't study that. They force people like me to do all that work, spending hours grinding and brewing, all for them to treat my potions as if they're mere trinkets for mild cuts!"

Olivia pointed her thumb at where Davi was. "Despite being sturdy, I've seen him get beaten down a lot. He wasn't born with a healing factor like I was. I'm not that good at a lot of things, but after speaking with someone, I thought learning alchemy could help me improve my magic and let me make sure that he doesn't harm himself as much. He's an idiot sometimes and has a bad habit of letting himself be hit for the sake of others. I just wanted to make sure he gets back up afterwards."

Crowe almost recoiled at her words, and his look softened. He stared back down at all the jars. Hadn't it been the same for him?

He never had the power to fight. He wasn't born strong or blessed with a strong type of magic. His fire magic was as basic as they came. He still wanted to help, though. As a kid, he trained to become a master alchemist so he could help the shields that defend humanity.

Where did his love for the Knights go?

Why did he stop viewing them as superheroes?

"Those ingredients were everything I was able to find." Olivia tapped one of the bottles. "I'm sorry you weren't able to enter the dungeon yourself. Ragna didn't want you to get trapped or hurt. We wanted to keep everyone safe. We didn't do it the best way, but we got the job done. Next time there's an issue, try to give us a call first. I have a feeling someone from this guild will always show up when asked."

She was about to leave, but Crowe called out to her. "Wait!" She looked back at him, and the blonde man shifted slightly before letting out a grunt. He placed the jar on the table. "Stay here!" He ran off, leaving her baffled. When he returned, he had something in his arms. "Here!"

A book was shoved into her arms, and Olivia looked down at it. It had a faded brown cover, and the pages were written out instead of typed up. "What's this?"

"It's my book." Crowe suddenly seemed embarrassed. "I-I once thought about maybe becoming an alchemist teacher, but—it doesn't matter! Those are my notes. Any other book you would buy would be second-rate compared to mine, so just go ahead and take it."

"Oh? Thank you."

"Don't thank me!" Crowe gritted his teeth. "I'm not doing it to be nice. You, Knights, always force all the work onto poor alchemists. It's for everyone's best interest if a Knight can do that job herself so she can make the potions for her guild and not bother us to do it!"

Olivia giggled at his outburst and placed the book into her bag. "Thank you." She said it more meaningfully this time and gave a bow of her head.

When she finally left, Crowe remained standing in place. Sometimes, if you did a kind act for a person, they would use it as a chance to step on you. At other times, a person would take that act and pay it forward.

Later that day, the chief of Violet would hold a meeting where she would try to convince everyone to carry a lawsuit against the Phoenix Flight guild. Crowe would be the only one to protest, and it is said that he gave a three-and-a-half-hour speech explaining why that was a bad idea and why the village shouldn't go through with it.

Shockingly, the people agreed with Crowe's points.

Consequently, Crowe also became the new chief of Violet Village.

That was a story for another time.

Outside Violet, Olivia stretched and let out a sigh. "Alright. The first of many quests done. What happens now? We head back to the base."

"Not yet." Ragna turned to her and placed his hands on his hips. "You didn't think I forgot, did you?"

Olivia suddenly felt a wave of dread. "What do you mean?"

"I reminded him." Davi hummed and gave her a thumbs up, though he kept his blank look.

"Reminded him of what…"

Ragna laughed, and a glint appeared in his eyes. "You said you lived near here, did you not? Well, of course, we must return you to your home and allow your family to see the brave Knight that you have become! Next stop, Fri village!"

"Oh no…"

"Oh yes!"

Chapter 119 - Being A Hero