74 Chapter 2 - Journey Begins (2/2)
”Yes, organise by power brother. My growth will improve by a rate of 17% if this action is continued regularly,” the angel baby declared, his eyes starting to droop at the same time. ”My time of awakening has left my...energy reserves...depleted...”, soon the angel baby fell asleep, and before Kenji could get caught up any more in Almanac's problems, he left his quarters onto the top floor of the Golden Goose Adventurer guild.
The door he exited had 'Almanac, Guildmaster of the Golden Goose Guild and Second in command of the Hero Guild Alliance' scrawled on it's front. Kenji shook his head, wondering how someone with some a strange tendency to have short sprints with odd women could possibly be so important.
Making his way down and passed the huge number of adventurers, Kenji waved his quick goodbyes. They had already partied last night, some of the vomit still being cleaned up by Satyr maids, while some few adventurers groggily snoozed under the tables. Kenji remembered when he too had slept like that. Good times.
At the door, he was met by Violet, a purple-skinned elf with an amphibious, some would say alien, complextion. Beside her was Tenko, a little white furred wolf girl with literal moons for pupils. Too be fair she had been growing swiftly over the last few weeks, a few inches taller already, but was still the youngest of the three by a wide margin.
Noticably, only Tenko had a travellors pack on.
”I thought you would be coming,” Kenji smiled, yet a little saddened that their time had travelling together had for the moment come to an end.
”You've seen how Almanac is, this place would be reduced to shambles if left to him. The Freed Sun Elves and Satyr's look up to me alot too, they wouldn't listen to Almanac if I weren't here,” Violet said softly, peering around to find several heavily armed Sun Elves and Saytrs patting down everyone withing bow range. For the Sun Elves having Violet around meant the curse that had plagued their people wouldn't return, while the Satyr had been freed from their mental enslavement due to Violet's direct actions. To say they would die for her was an understatement, and Kenji could appreciate while her staying behind to help lead Tariak would bring a great deal of stability to the still rebuilding town - although it would be closer to a city when construction was finished.
All that didn't mean Kenji felt happy about it though, then again, it was natural to feel sad when you drifted apart from your friends.
”We'll come back, Violet! Tenko swears it!” Tenko said, her bushy white tail wagging as she grinned with a mouth filled with fangs, ”you can meet my pack too! They are very nice, and very good at sports!”
Sports was a thing Kenji had introduced to get the sudden infusion of different species to better get along and had quickly become the favourite pass time for Tariak's citizens. Soccer had proven a crowd favourite, and it now seemed as if every family for miles around owned a pigskin ball with which to practice.
”That reminds me Tenko, have you already said your goodbyes to Grey and Gold beans? They aren't going to be around for a while you know, heading all the way to the Royal Magic college. They - er- they have a new brother too, that might interest you.”
”A NEW BROTHER! We talked all last night while Kenji was playing drunk idiot juice, but...” Tenko giggled as she peered between Violet and Kenji with a knowing grin, ”Tenko can talk more. Do not be late Kenji, I want to go to my family really quickly!”
Bounding her way inside, Tenko scurried up the stairs passed a series of smiling adventurers. Her excitable nature and extreme confidence had quickly set her up as the Hero Guild's mascot while becoming a bit of a celebrity amongst Tariak's very small human hybrid population.
”Do you have to be the one to go?” Violet grumbled. ”It's not fair that you've introduced all these amazing things, from crop-rotation to that weird 'Bank' thing and just leave! What am I supposed to do if people ask questions, how am I supposed to fix stuff when it breaks and I don't understand how it works?”
”Remember I wrote a short book on each subject, you'll find absolutely everything you need there. I've also completely trained a series of helpers for you while working far ahead of schedule to leave you without any backlog of work whatsoever. Your a smart girl, Violet, and with the elves and Satyrs supporting you, there won't be an issue you can't overcome.”
”It's not fair you don't have to sleep,” Violet grumbled, ”you can just solve everything like that. So why not stay and keep leading us, huh? Why not send all these adventurers, these 'heroes' you've gathered and send them to help Tenko free her people?”
”For one, Tenko won't allow just anyone to ride her back in wolf form, and no one else has the speed to catch up. Secondly, no one has the flexibility of my mimic powers. And lastly, as long as I have bodies stored in my internal space to turn into, I can die several times. That's several deaths that I can spare others, several chances for all the people I care so deeply about to grow strong enough they can be entrusted with quests like these in the future. Until then, I want to do my best to give them the best chance at success, even if I can't do everything myself forever.”
”You won't need too. You have me, you have us all. You just need too get over your ego and start relying on us a bit more,” Violet said, and turned her lilac eyes to admire the golden rays of dawn.
For a while, Kenji did the same, the swarms of construction workers getting started for the day, as Tariak's transformation from ash to glorious city of Heroes continued.
And inside Kenji felt afraid, that after everthing he had done, and everthing he could do.
After all that.
It would still fall apart.