Sorrow

The Beginning

The sunlight slipped past the blinds and casted its rays into my room. It was finally morning. The day we will start our journey.

As I thought about the things to come and all the places we'll see, I couldn't help but feel my heart beating faster. The excitement was eating me alive. I quickly got out of bed and got ready for the day.

As I was leaving my room with a backpack on my shoulder, I saw Keyla leaning on a pillar in the hall. Her baggage was right on her shoulder as well. It seems like she was as excited as I am, judging by the smile that she was trying to suppress.

I greeted her and asked if she was ready.

With a grin on her face, she said, "I'm as ready as I'll ever be."

We walked to the front door of the church. There, all of the church were waiting for us to bid farewell. Even the Pope was there. Because after this, we won't be seeing each other for a while.

"Greetings to the Pope and the Cardinal. May the blessings of the light be with you."

"Greetings to you as well, paladin, saintess. May the blessings of the light be with you. It seems the time has come for you to depart. We hope that the Goddess may protect you on your journey so that you may return safely and successfully. Let us spread the Goddess's greatness and compassion to all the people on the continent so they may repent and follow the light," preached the Pope.

"Of course, Pope. We will surely not disappoint," said Keyla with utmost certainty.

"Yes, of course, you will not." The Pope said with a gentle smile.

"Then we bid our farewell. We will be going on our journey now." I couldn't wait any longer. The outside world was right behind those doors. All we need to do is step right out.

"May the Goddess of light and protection always be with you," said all of them at the same time as we both walked out of the church.

We walked and walked until the church was no longer in our view.

"We're finally outside...." whispered Keyla with a hint of disbelief in her voice.

"Yeah, I almost couldn't believe. But we're finally outside. So where do you want to go first ?"

"Well, we don't exactly know where the monster is. And I doubt we can beat it with our current strength. So the first thing we need is strong companions. A party to go slay the dark monster, you might say." Suggested Keyla.

"Hmm... you're right. We need to build our strength first. If we are looking for a strong individual, I suggest we go to Ganacsade, the city of mercenaries." I said while looking at the map in my hands.

Ganacsade is a medium-sized city located on the southern border of the kingdom of Esmond, a kingdom with most of its people worshiping the Goddess of Light. But right now, we are in the capital city, Dhexe. So the journey would be quite far.

"You dummy, if we are going to hire a mercenary, we need money. And I doubt it will be cheap, especially when we're hiring to help us kill the dark monster. We only have 100 gold coins given by the church," remarked Keyla as she tried to hit my arm. Thankfully, I dodged in time.

"Well, if money is the problem, then we can go make some."

"Do you think that making money is that easy ?" Said Keyla as she looked at me like I was an idiot.

"Don't look at me like that. We can do some jobs at the guild center and earn some money. With our strength, I think we can even do a B-class mission." Jobs at the guild center are categorized into different classes. F-class is the easiest, while A-class is the hardest. S-class is an almost impossible mission that only the premium members of the guild can access. Learning all this information from the church was worth it. It came in handy today.

"Well, I suppose we can. Alright, let's start from there. If we need to, we can go somewhere else." She finally gave in to my suggestion.

"Yes! Now let's go. We have a long way to go. We have to get to the city of Harada before nighttime." The city of Harada is the closest city to Ganacsade. It will take us a whole day to get to Harada and another day to reach Ganacsade.

We both started walking while looking at the map. It is our first time outside of the church, so we don't know many places in the kingdom. Thankfully, Keyla brought a map with her so we wouldn't get lost.

We continued to walk while admiring the gorgeous scenery. Time passes, and now it is almost nighttime. After walking for a whole day, we finally reached Harada, the city of lakes. We quickly booked an inn and rested for the night. We still have a long way to go tomorrow.

==========

The next day, we didn't waste any time and immediately started heading to Ganacsade.

"We're almost there. We just need to walk for a little more," said Carlos.

"Finally, my feet are starting to feel sore," complained Keyla.

We both walked with curiosity in our hearts. The city of Ganacsade has a bit of a reputation. People say that it is the city that never sleeps. Even when the sun is setting, the street lights are still bright. They say that you can find almost anything there.

Suddenly, we heard a voice coming from behind us. "Hey, excuse me, do you know where Ganacsade is ?"

Our backs tensed in surprise. We couldn't sense him approaching, so his level of power must be at least the same as us, if not higher. Slowly turning around in caution, we both looked at the man who asked for directions.

"Oh, what a coincidence, we are heading there as well. We can travel together if you want ?" suggested Keyla. She must have known that he is at least as powerful as us and wanted to make connections with him. If we're lucky, maybe we can even recruit him.

"I would appreciate that, thank you. As you can see, I am not that great with directions," as he scratched the back of his neck.

"That's okay everyone has their weaknesses. By the way, I'm Keyla, and this is my friend Carlos."

"I'm Liam, a pleasure to meet you. If I might ask, what business do you have in Ganacsade ?"

"Well, you see, we have been given an important task to take down a monster. We cannot disclose any more information than this," said Keyla as she was trying to get closer to him.

"What about you? What business do you have in Ganacsade ?" I was curious about who this person was. I have never heard of someone named Liam before. If he is as strong as us, we would at least know who he was, but we don't. I suspect that he might be hiding his true strength. Perhaps, a hidden master.

"Oh, I am going there to become a mercenary. I'm looking to earn some money."

"Ah, I see. Then we wish you the best of luck." If he were to become a mercenary, then there's a chance that we can hire him. He's trying to earn money, so if we offer him enough gold coins, he might be willing to join us. Keyla seems to have the same idea as me. All we need now is more money.