Chương 53: 1.3.09 - Monkey Girl

Annie POV HAAH — HAAH Annie was running through the forest, her breath quick and shallow from the running and the high humidity in the forest. Several times she almost tripped on a tree root or nearly slipped on moss covered rocks — her boots slammed on uneven earth, kicking up clumps of damp soil with every stride. This is all Randell and Waldo's fault! Annie thought to herself as her robe got snagged on a tree branch, nearly making her fall to her knees.

The hem of her blue robes already stained with mud in the past few minutes. KIEEK — KIEEK The screech of monkeys pulled her out of her thoughts, back to the present predicament she was in. She conjured water from the air while she ran and formed it into shards of ice, risking a look back to fire them at the monkeys swinging through the tree branches. It was hard enough to hit them when she was standing still, it was practically a wild shot while she was running.

Nevertheless, the monkeys steered clear of the path of her spells and bought her a few extra seconds. Why are men always men, first thing they do is go to Rising Skirts. If they hadn't spent all their coins on wenches in every town our funds wouldn't run dry. Annie had decided that she was going to spend her time wisely while the two men went to the brothel. The locals had told her that the outer part of the forest only had Red and Oranged cored beasts. The part they had left out was the beasts' concentration.

"KYAAA~!" Annie screamed as a piece of brown sludge landed in front of her, causing her to almost fall again trying to sidestep it. In all honesty, the piece of brown sludge would not have harmed her at all. She had come into the forest to train her new Water Whip spell. She thought she had found a perfect target when she found a few monkeys that started throwing rocks at her. She could have easily stood her ground and dispatched them but she used the projectiles the monkey threw as training targets.

She was cutting them down with her water whips, smacking apart the smaller rocks when one of the projectiles disintegrated mid air as it came into contact with her whips. The brown projectile broke apart with a wet smack, scattering several brown drops onto her. One such drop landed on her cheek, and would have dropped into her mouth if she had not turned her face. When she used her fingers to touch it and brought it up to her nose, she screamed and ran immediately.

Rocks and other projectiles she could handle, monkeys flinging feces at her was where she drew the line. She started running immediately and realized she had lost her way only after a few minutes. By then the few monkeys that started chasing her had turned into a big horde. Whether it was because they had numbers on their side, or because their 'prey' only ran away without fighting back — their numbers only grew and she could not outrun them as she would either trip or slip if she ran too fast without looking.

Suddenly a monkey jumped out from a tree in front of her, its paws out and lips curled back to bare its fangs. Not good! Annie thought. If she crashed into this monkey and fell, the rest of the horde would be on her in no time.

"Watch out!" CRAK A stream of white and blue energy crackled over her head as she ducked, the spell caught the jumping monkey square in the chest and knocked it back. A smell stung her nose, the same kind of smell that lingered in the air during a thunderstorm. Even though she was no longer on a collision course, she had lost her footing and was about to fall. She turned her body, bracing for impact on the forest floor.

At least none of the monkeys threw a feces here yet Someone caught her instead, one arm looped behind her knees and another braced her around her back. She thought the person would let her down quickly so that they could continue running but she was suddenly jerked in one direction. Her head slamming into the chest of her mysterious savior. She let out a gasp, momentarily too stunned to process what just happened. She looked up and saw a masked stranger.

The face missing the obvious signs of facial hair but not quite feminine. She realized her hands were placed on the chest of the savior — flat but firm muscles underneath the plain clothes. The lack of bosom likely meant that the person carrying her was a man. Lights above! This is the first time another man besides my father and brothers held me this close! Not even Randell and Waldo have done that! Annie felt a flush of heat come to her face as the masked stranger continued to run through the forest.

The man was jumping from point to point more than running, and she was amazed at how he could navigate the forest floor without tripping when his eyes just looked straight ahead — never once looking down at where he stepped. Stolen story; please report. Wind rushed past her face with every leap, a prickling sensation ran up her hands that were still on his chest. She quickly retracted her hands, realizing that she had let her hands linger unnecessarily. The flush went up from the cheeks all the way to her ears.

Annie's thoughts started going wild as they travelled through the forest. Can I still get married now that I've been held by another man? What if he demanded some form of payment?!? What if he demanded I pay with my body?!? No no no, I can't do that... The screeching of the monkeys faded into the forest as they gained more distance and eventually lost them. After what seemed like at least 10 minutes, the masked stranger eventually stopped in a clearing and placed her down.

"Phew, those Muckapes sure are nasty. You really don't want any of that turd getting in your hair. Trust me, it was difficult getting the smell out" She did not notice earlier while she was surrounded by brown projectiles but the voice of her savior was unusually young. If she had not verified it herself, she would have thought that the masked stranger was a woman by the sound of the voice and lack of facial hair.

"You alright? I saw you almost tripped. Easier to just outrun them than kill them all. Most of them are Red cored anyway and won't give me anything." Annie kept her face low, her face still flushed as she tried to form coherent words from her scrambled thoughts.

"We're almost out of the woods by the way, just a few hundred meters that way and we should see the roads" the masked stranger pointed out. She wanted to open her mouth to say two simple words but somehow it got caught in her throat. She continued looking at his boots instead as she was too shy to look the stranger in the face. In the end, her emotions got the better of her and she just ran off in the direction the man had pointed out without even thanking him.

Annie had thrown all her clothes away and scrubbed her skin raw after that ordeal. She was never going near any Muckapes ever again. She ended up moping in her tavern room the whole of the next day.

"Lights above! How could I be so rude? I did not even thank him for saving me. What if he thinks I'm some ill mannered hag and never wants to see me again?" she buried her face in her pillow"Wait! What am I saying? Why would I even see him again?" she yelled in frustration into her pillow. She pulled on the Weave to bring up her status.

Status Core: Water Affinity (High) Core Stage: Yellow Stage Level: 3 Mana Core Capacity (MCC) Progress to Next Level: 492/2, 500 Core Mutations: - Increased Water Affinity - Frost Edge Spells: - Conjure Water (Tier 2) - Level 5 - Water Manipulation (Tier 2) - Level 1 - Water Whip (Tier 1) - Level 5"Urgh, all that trouble and I did not even level my spell" Her Water Whip spell stayed at the same level as when she first came to town. She dismissed the window and went back to sulking.

They were supposed to take on some missions to earn some funds, stock up on their supplies, before proceeding to Tidehold. It had been a while since she had gone back home and Randell and Waldo did not mind visiting as well. She just hoped that she would not run into him again until they left. She thought she could use the downtime to train her new spell and gain a few levels in it, but it ended up being a disaster. What blighted animal even uses their feces as a weapon in the first place?!?.

She shuddered at the thought of the brown smudge nearly falling into her mouth. KNOCK — KNOCK Did the person somehow track me down and come here to tell me off for not showing gratitude?

"Annie? Are you in there?"

"Oh~ It's just you Waldo."

"Huh? Who else could it be? Anyway Randell wanted me to inform you that he had found a good mission with a high potential payout. We almost had to turn it down as the mission specified 4 man party only but he found someone to fill in. We should meet at the Guild Hall tomorrow around lunch." Waldo said through the door.

"Sure~ I'll be there. What are the two of you doing tonight then?" she asked lazily.

"Errr... We'll be doing some... information gathering... through the local proprietress" Waldo said with a hint of guilt in his voice.

"Bahh you both are going to the Rising Skirts again aren't you?! Just go! All men are the same" she shouted angrily before plopping back on her bed. Annie got dressed the next morning in another set of robes and her usual adventurer armor. She only wore a simple leather chest piece under her robes to keep her movement nimble. She did not have any movement spells and couldn't afford to be bogged down by heavy armor.

The guild hall was already busy with activity by the time she arrived, the bar keep was still not here as adventurers rarely drank right before a mission. She saw a few people at the mission board before her eyes wandered to a table where Randell and Waldo sat with another person who had their back to her. They were talking excitedly, the usual behavior for Randell but surprising for Waldo. As she approached, Randell caught sight of her and said to the new member while tipping his chin in her direction.

"There she is. Just on time""Annie, you're here. Meet our newest temporary member — Damian" She composed herself as she walked the last three paces to the table, trying to make sure she gave a professional greeting to give a good first impression. The new member stood up and turned around, the familiar mask glinting as it caught the light coming from the windows. Annie froze. The greeting she had rehearsed on the way to the guild hall died somewhere between her brain and her mouth. No. No no no.

This can't be happening... Annie lamented the fact that Randell had picked the one person in the whole of Hollow's Reach that she did not want to meet. The smooth young face, the short black hair, and those piercing blue eyes that she had not noticed two days ago.

"Ah, we've met. It's the monkey girl." Damian said with a hint of cheekiness in his voice.