Ss18 (1/2)
The Legend of Sun Knight Side Story: We Are Not the Dark Human Squad
Original novel in Chinese by: 御我 (Yu Wo)
”We Are Not the Dark Human Squad, Part One” - translated by Doza
“Stop joking around, Neo!”
Aldrizzt struggled with all his might, but to Neo, his strength was so meager that it could be disregarded.
As a matter of fact, there weren't many people who could put up a struggle against Neo Sun.
“What the heck are you struggling for?” Neo finally lost his patience. Just when would they reach their destination if he had to drag him like this the entire way? He didn't have that much patience.
Aldrizzt jerked back and his anger surged forth. He forcefully shook Neo off, and the latter who was also tired of dragging him on like this, took the opportunity to release him.
“Shouldn't I be the one asking this question? You insist on dragging me into a big city, just what are you thinking of doing?”
Neo said as though it was a matter of fact, “It's to register our team, of course!”
He's serious? Shocked, Aldrizzt said, “We only have two people, and we've never even taken on any huge missions. What is there to register?”
“It's precisely because we've never taken on any huge missions that we must register our team!”
Neo felt extremely dissatisfied. With Aldrizzt's and his strength, what missions were there that they couldn't handle? Unfortunately, as they were solo adventurers and didn't have much reputation, there simply weren't any big missions that would be given to them. Most of them were item-collecting and escort missions, and Neo completely had no interest in escort missions. Compared with protecting someone, he was better at beating someone up. And therefore, they were only left with a whole pile of herb-collecting, worthless missions!
Aldrizzt was very happy doing these jobs picking flowers and plants, but Neo was extremely depressed. The adventurer life he had imagined was definitely not being a gardener! Speaking of which, other than that time when he met Aldrizzt a short while after leaving Leaf Bud City and was hunted by a whole group of dark elves, the following days were truly too boring.
“I don't want to do any more of these gardening missions!”
Aldrizzt rolled his eyes and said indignantly, “The sites of these ‘gardening missions' are locations that even warriors rarely go. I've already tried very hard to find the most dangerous sites for collecting. What more do you want?”
Without any hesitation, Neo said, “Register our adventurer team, seek out an elf to be our archer, and accept the most dangerous mission. Best would be the sort like slaying dragons!”
Why do you have to have an elf as the archer? Aldrizzt felt very vexed. Neo plainly knew that he was a dark elf, and would definitely be unable to get on the good side of an elf. Despite that, Neo still wanted to find an elf to be their party member.
Aldrizzt already couldn't be bothered with the two words “slaying dragons.” Having journeyed with his companion until now, he was incapable of feeling shocked regardless of what Neo wanted to kill.
“Wasn't the previous incident when we entered a small town enough to make you understand?” Frustrated, Aldrizzt said, “At that time, we had been surrounded by the citizens in an inn in the middle of the night. If we hadn't been strong enough to escape, then even if we had been tied to a stake and burned to death, it wouldn't have been strange! But do you know how many people there are in a big city? Perhaps we would be encircled by more than a thousand people!”
“Be encircled by more than a thousand people?” Neo's blue eyes shone. He stroked his chin as he said, “Even though getting surrounded isn't anything new, getting encircled by more than a thousand people sounds a lot more interesting than gardening missions.”
He was totally wrong. The thing that Neo loved the most was danger. Aldrizzt was full of regret.
“Let's go into the city.” Neo's tone did not seem to leave his teammate any room for discussion. Yet, he also did not immediately turn around and leave because…
“Which direction do we head toward?”
Upon hearing this, Aldrizzt also clearly comprehended that if he did not lead the way or deliberately take the wrong route, Neo would definitely hit many walls before he managed to find the city—Truthfully speaking, sometimes he was truly baffled over who was the human that lived on the surface and who was the dark elf that lived underground.
What should I do? Frowning, Aldrizzt called out, “Neo.”
“Hm?”
“Do we have to enter a city?”
“We do!”
As expected, there was no room for discussion. Aldrizzt sighed and reluctantly compromised, saying, “Then, we'll go to Leaf Bud City.” At least that is the location of the Church of the G.o.d of Light. If something actually happens, the Church probably wouldn't watch the former Sun Knight get mobbed, right?
“We can go to any city except Leaf Bud City!” Neo wasn't willing to buy it. “I've lived there for several decades. I know Leaf Bud City like the back of my hand. Why would I go there?!”
Like the back of his hand? Aldrizzt asked skeptically, “I'm quite doubtful, are you sure you can recognize the streets in Leaf Bud City?”
He could only recognize the half closer to the Church of the G.o.d of Light; however, Neo would never admit it. In any case, recognizing half of it also counts as recognizing it! “Of course I can recognize the roads.”
Aldrizzt was not fully convinced, and asked in reply, “Then tell me, right now which direction do you head to go to Leaf Bud City?”
“It is Leaf Bud City that I know like the back of my hand, not how to get to Leaf Bud City!”
Neo knew that if Aldrizzt acted disoriented and led them the wrong way, then perhaps they really would end up at Leaf Bud City. However, with his personality, Aldrizzt could not do something like pretending to be disoriented. So, as long as he persuaded him to agree to lead the way, there would be no problems.
“Aldrizzt, no matter what else you say, I still want to enter a city and form the Dark Human Squad!”
“…” Aldrizzt's expression changed and he asked in disbelief, “Were you actually still thinking of this name, Dark Human Squad?”
“Of course. You are a dark elf, and I am a human. Isn't it perfect to call us the Dark Human Squad?1”
“It's not perfect at all!”
Aldrizzt was determined to disagree until the very end. Simply thinking of the laughter it could raise when they registered their team made him want to dig a hole to bury himself in it. What's more, if they became famous… With Neo's plans for their adventurer life, even if he tried his best to block half of them, he feared that they could still build up a considerably large reputation with the remaining half.
If they became world famous using a team name like Dark Human Squad, Aldrizzt would rather go back to the underground den of the dark elves.
“What's wrong with Dark Human Squad?” Neo felt that this team name was extremely suitable for the two of them. Just when he was about to insist on keeping the name, he suddenly thought of something better and changed his words, “Then, as long as we use a different name, we're good to go?”
Aldrizzt blurted out, “Yes!”