Zheiro and the Moonlight Sculptor

Zheiro had no idea what he was doing.

Sweating and panting heavily, Zheiro readjusted the tool in his hands, facing the toughest trial he had ever faced so far in his life.

"Come on, Zheiro, this should be a rather easy task!" His companion, Thrycius the storyteller, called out. "You shouldn't have too much trouble with it."

"Easy for you to say, you're not doing anything to help!" Zheiro cried in retaliation, swinging his hands in frustration—an act which achieved nothing other than further tiring him out.

And indeed, Thrycius was simply standing off to the side, doing nothing but watching Zheiro deal with a difficult task and making comments that did nothing but irk Zheiro further.

Zheiro shook his head to clear his thoughts. He was getting nowhere at this rate. To make the cut he was trying to achieve, he needed a clear mind without distractions to get the accuracy and precision he wanted.

Taking a deep breath, Zheiro brought the tool down...

...and once again missed the squirty he had been fighting.

In retaliation, the squirty hopped up and latched itself onto Zheiro's head.

Throwing the sword he held away as he threw his hands up in the air, Zheiro gave up and turned to face Thrycius in frustration.

"You all right there?" His companion asked, clearly trying to stifle his laughter.

"Blub blub blub."

Thrycius broke out laughing at that much to Zheiro's chagrin, but despite that he somehow managed to pry the watery slime off Zheiro's face.

But seriously, just what did he get into?

----

"I am Thrycius; a simple storyteller. Now that you have agreed, we have been bound by the contract, which will only be considered null and void after it is completed or one of us dies. I look forward to working with you, Zheiro. Let us make haste, and prepare to leave tomorrow; we will be making our way first to the land of Mistral."

These were the words that his companion had spoken to him only the night before.

Completely shocked at the fact that he had unknowingly signed some sort of magical contract with someone he barely knew, Zheiro was in a daze for the rest of the night.

Before he even knew it, morning had appeared, and he was standing outside the gates that had led into the land of Mistral.

"Here you go," Thrycius had said, handing him an iron sword. "You'll need it to defend yourself."

"But I don't know how to use a sword!" Zheiro protested, waving his hands as he tried to refuse. "Besides, can't I rely on you for that? You're wearing that fancy sword of yours, you should know how to fight—"

"I'm just a storyteller, remember?" Thrycius said, giving a smile that did not reassure Zheiro at all. "You really shouldn't expect a storyteller to be exceptionally skilled at fighting."

Zheiro couldn't deny that. The man before him who was now his companion wasn't a warrior. But at the same time, it's not like people should expect sculptors to be skilled at fighting either!

"Can't we at least hire a mercenary or a summoner—"

"Nope. And especially no summoners, that was in the contract," Thrycius said, still giving off that scary smile of his. "You need to learn how to defend yourself, that much is crucial if you're going to learn moonlight sculpting."

"That doesn't make any sense," Zheiro grumbled. Fighting and sculpting were two completely different things; how would learning how to fight improve his ability as a sculptor?

'You'll understand in due time. For now, just accept the sword and do as I say," Thrycius said, almost nearly shoving the sword into Zheiro's hand.

"Fine," Zheiro said, giving up as he accepted the weapon. "But can't you at least wipe that creepy smile off your face? It's annoying me."

"Ha ha ha," Thrycius laughed dryly, his smile turning into a grin that bothered Zheiro even more. "Is there something disconcerting about a happy storyteller, my dear friend?"

"You don't even sound happy at all!" Zheiro shouted. More like, bored, or even condescending, Zheiro thought—but that was a thought he didn't dare say aloud.

In response Thrycius had only given off another dry laugh, before leading Zheiro off into the prairie just outside the city gates.

----

The Adventurer's Prairie.

According to Thrycius, the prairie had originally been called by a different name, but as time went on more and more summoners began choosing the Prairie as their own starting point.

It started out as a simple joke. To the prairie where all beginning adventurers wanted to start, a nickname that couldn't have been any less creative was given by the veteran adventurers—a name that had actually stuck so well that there was no longer anyone alive who remembered the prairie's original name.

Sometimes, the history behind things could be rather boring, but Thrycius didn't seem to care as he explained it all, laughing all the while.

Thrycius had said that the Adventurer's Prairie was only going to be the first step of their journey, too; but rather than continue on, Thrycius had Zheiro fight the monsters in the area.

And that led to where they were now: Zheiro fighting against a squirty, and entirely failing.

"I still don't get it," Zheiro grumbled. "I know you're a storyteller, but I'm just a sculptor! Neither of our professions are related to fighting, so why do I have to be the one fighting?"

It was a meaningless action though; Thrycius did not seem to have heard his complaints this time, and even if Zheiro tried to refuse, there was that contract which magically bound him to whatever Thrycius said to do—and Zheiro did not want to know what would happen if he broke the agreement.

In the end, Zheiro complained and grumbled simply for the sake of complaining, as he continued learning how to fight with the sword he was given.

In the end, it took Zheiro a few weeks before he was able to successfully defeat a slime by himself—a fact which grated on him as he watched many novice summoners breeze by him and leave the Adventurer's Prairie the same day they stated.

And then they ran into a King Sparky, a king-class electric slime.

Leaving Zheiro in utter defeat, it would take yet another month of life and death situations before Zheiro could defeat it.

----

"Sure took your time." Thrycius called out as Zheiro collapsed from exhaustion. It had taken Zheiro half a year of hard work and dedication to finally clear the Adventurer's Prairie. King-level slimes still took nearly all of Zheiro's efforts to defeat, but Zheiro knew how to deal with them now.

"You... could... have... helped..." Zheiro panted where he lay, glaring at his companion.

"Ha ha! I've already told you many times over the past few months, you won't learn anything if I did." Thrycius laughed, helping Zheiro up.

As he did, a soft white light suddenly appeared before the two men. Zheiro stared at it, wondering what it was, when it finally crystallized into what appeared to be a gem, which after fully solidifying dropped and fell onto the ground before them.

Zheiro stared at it for a few moments before speaking.

"W-what was that all about?" Zheiro asked, his exhaustion long forgotten as he studied the prismatic jewel.

"It's a big shiny rock." Thrycius said sarcastically. "No, of course it's a gem."

"No wait, I know that much," Zheiro replied with annoyance. "But what's a gem doing here?"

"Well, since you are this ignorant of how the world works, allow me to explain!" Thrycius announced grandly, swing an arm out as if presenting something.

Zheiro knew where this was going. Thrycius always seemed to love telling stories, and whenever he got into it, he just never seemed to stop until it was over.

It wasn't that Zheiro disliked them, however; they were always so interesting that Zheiro often couldn't help but Zheiro wondered just how it was possible for someone to be so good at storytelling.

And thus, as Thrycius went into another bout of storytelling, Zheiro sat down to listen.

----

To make a long story short—

The land itself rewarded adventurers for clearing out an area by crystallizing the purified souls of all the defeated monsters into a gem; a reward only given out once per adventurer in each area.

And since Zheiro cleared the Adventurer's Prairie by himself, he was awarded with one.

"Gems are a precious resource, you know," Thrycius said. "They contain a lot of magical energy, making it extremely useful for various things. Summoners covet them so much that they're willing to pay incredible sums of money just to get some."

"But I don't know how to use them at all, so aren't they useless for us?" Zheiro asked.

"For you, perhaps. But I know how to use them, so don't worry about it." Thrycius replied. "If you'd like, I can hold onto them for you during the our journey. I'll show you how summoners use them, too."

"Eh, you know how summoners use gems?" Zheiro asked in surprise.

"Of course, I used to be a summoner too. That was a long time ago, though." Thrycius answered, waving it off as it it was nothing interesting.

"Used to be? Why did you stop?"

"It was boring."

Zheiro stared blankly at his storytelling companion. Boring? That was his reason to give up on being a summoner? Really?

Well, Zheiro couldn't exactly reprimand him for doing so; not only did Thrycius have a talent for storytelling, he clearly enjoyed it too.

"Well then!" Thrycius said, picking up the gem. "Shall we go on to the next area? We've already wasted a lot of time here in the Adventurer's Prairie, so we should get a move on quickly."

"Where to?" Zheiro asked.

With a grin, Thrycius simply pointed down the road. Zheiro followed to where he was pointing…

...and saw the fiery caves so hot that it glowed red from the inside.

Zheiro paled. He had always disliked fire; whenever there was one, it was likely that his work would end up getting ruined in one way or another.

"Are we really going into those caves?" Zheiro asked slowly, not wanting it to be true.

Thrycius only grinned wider in response. Zheiro was not amused.

Protesting all the way, Zheiro was dragged by Thrycius all the way into the cave of flames.

----

Today, Ixia was once again visited by the king.

Probably, the only good thing about being visited about the king was that she didn't have to pretend to weave, but that still meant having to dodge and avoid the king's advances.

"Ixia, Ixia, my dear Ixia!" The king said extravagantly as he entered her quarters. "Your beauty never ceases to amaze me. Your raven black hair that shines ever so brilliantly in the light, and the—"

"Your majesty, I apologize for interrupting," Ixia cut in, not sorry at all. "but even if you find me pleasing to the eye, if there is something you wish to say to me please get to it. I have been rather busy with my work lately, after all."

A shameless lie. But the king ate it up, anyway.

"Ixia, you know that I am willing to give you anything you wanted if it meant that I could gain your favor. Whether it be power, money, or anything in the world, I would do all I could to get it for you, on this I so swear." The king continued, not even offput by her polite yet blunt response.

"Right now, your majesty, I could really use some time alone so that I can concentrate on my sewing," Ixia lied again without any shame. "The requests I have received have gotten far more difficult as of late."

Perhaps unfortunately for Ixia, though, the king did not seem to get her message.

"Hahaha!" The king laughed jovially, placing a hand over his heart in mock despair. "Your tongue is as sharp as ever, my dear Ixia! Pray tell, what is it that I can do to gain your favor?"

Internally, Ixia groaned. There were limits to how far she could be this impolite to the king, but at the same time it seemed that the king was more than willing to turn a blind eye to her words. On the other hand, it meant that he simply could not get her message!

"Your majesty, I hold much respect for you. I do believe you are a great king, after all," Ixia said slowly, as politely as she could. "But romantically, I am not interested in you. If you asked me a hundred times to be yours, a hundred times more would I refuse."

"And if you would refuse a hundred times more, I would only ask another thousand times!" The king replied without restraint. "But seriously, Ixia, I've had many gifts sent to you, yet I see not one displayed prominently here in your room."

"Your majesty, I do appreciate them. But as gracious as it is of you to send my gifts, I have no interest in many of the gifts that you have sent."

"No interest, you say, yet you so proudly display this wonderful sculpture of a bouquet?" The king asked, clearly not very happy.

Ixia froze for a moment. In hindsight, leaving Zheiro's sculpture out in the open when all the other gifts from the king were stored away may not have been the best of ideas, but she couldn't help but admire the sculpture every day whenever she could.

"Well, you see, your majesty," Ixia replied cautiously, trying not to let her nervousness show, "This is a wonderful piece of work, is it not? The quality of the sculpture is beyond anything I have seen before. How could I not display such a lovely piece of art?"

"Yes, you are right." The king replied as he gazed at the sculpture. "Certainly, its beauty is beyond any other sculpture that I have seen— not as beautiful as you, of course."

If Ixia could groan at the terrible last minute complement, she would.

"However," the king continued. "I would think there is another reason that you have this sculpture on display. After all, a certain name that belongs to your beloved childhood friend so freely gossiped by the servants matches the name of the one who made this sculpture."

Ixia froze yet again.

The king had already knew from the start. Lying would do her no good anymore. But that didn't mean she was without options.

"Well, yes, your majesty," Ixia replied nervously. "They certainly do share the same name. Likely, it is because they are the same person. However, since you would do anything for me, I can trust you to make sure that the sculpture stays unharmed, right? If harm came to it, I could do nothing but blame you for the castle's lack of security."

"Of course," the king replied, barely keeping his smile. The room grew very quite tense as the two of them stared at each other, both of them understanding the hidden meaning behind their words. Even the king himself had grown a little nervous, now that the sculpture's safety was now up to him. "I would do anything to bring you happiness, Ixia. I treasure you above anything else, after all."

"That's good to know," Ixia replied. "I'm sure that you wouldn't dare do anything to make me sad, which relieves me greatly."

"Yes, of course," the king responded, sounding a little defeated. "I will have messengers sent so that you may know of how your beloved friend is doing. And so, without much further ado, I shall take my leave."

Before Ixia could say anything in response, the king slipped out of the room, shutting the door behind him.

It was only after making sure that he had truly left did Ixia breath a huge sigh of relief, sinking back into the comfort of her chair. Dealing with the king was always such an annoyance.

It would be hours before Ixia could fully relax again enough to properly sew, much less think.