🏆 THE AMBY AWARDS 2023 TOP PICK - DIVERSE LIT 🏆
It's Rin and Hye-jin against the world. Or so it should have been.
Nagara Rin and Joon Hye-jin, college sweethearts and passionate gamers, have lived a fairytale marriage. Not even a decade after did...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
A sigh escaped my lips as I plopped down on one of the millions of cushions in Dragnasand Guild. My muscles ached and throbbed so much that I didn't even know which ones were hurting. Even my bones felt like they're going to shatter if someone just bumped into me. I groaned and rested my head against the cushion. My eyes closed as a drawn-out breath flitted off my nose. If I could just drift away for a moment...
"Since when are you back, Kora?" a voice made me open my eyes. My gaze landed on Ahrian and Mirani who were both looking at me like they've just seen a ghost.
I raised a hand to shoo them away but found no strength to. Damn. That teleportation spire wiped me out. I needed to remind myself to never use those again. "Just this afternoon," I drawled, my eyes closing once more. A boot nudged my shin, snapping me back. "Oh, hi. Didn't see you there," I waved at the two blurry blobs hovering over me.
"You need to take it easy," came Mirani's stern and distant voice. She might as well be talking from the bottom of a teapot. "When was the last time you slept?"
A strangled laugh ripped from my throat. "What is sleep?"
"I'm not joking, Kora."
Mirani's tone carried a hint of threat and annoyance. It was enough to throw me out of my stupor. I sat up and rubbed my eyes. The tension in my shoulders and neck made the whole movement look so stiff. "Look, it doesn't matter," I pushed my hair off my forehead and sighed when the strands plopped back down. "I need to go on these missions. Otherwise, I'll be a sitting duck here."
And it's true. After knowing how Cavya gave me a Grand Noble rank when Seline was still an Initiate, I needed to prove to everyone I have earned that on my own right and not just because I defeated Cavya in a half-thought match. The only way to do that was to take on as many missions requiring Dragnasand adventurers and even going on joint assignments with other parties on behalf of the other Knights.
It yielded something, I was sure of it. When I checked my attribute tiers earlier this week, I was leagues farther than the ones I started with. If I continued on this path for a little while, I would finally be worthy of a Grand Noble rank and maybe even more. Then, I'd finally be of help with Cavya and the others whenever we get bigger missions. They wouldn't ever need to worry about me and whether I would live or die, because by then, I would have been able to carry my own weight.
And if there was anything I hated more than anything, it's to be a burden to other people.
"Kid," Ahrian was the one who spoke after some time. Had Mirani given up. "I appreciate the sentiment and you taking the brunt of the work that would otherwise trouble Yaora or me, but make sure you have enough to bring with you to your next assignment."
I glanced at the falcon-headed langkoor. Now that I thought about it—maybe the reason why she was the Knights' aerial support and elite sniper was because of her falcon-like senses. She's a natural-born huntress, emphasis on the natural. It might not be nice to say (or even think, but look at where we were), so instead, I said, "I have my weapons and my skills. That counts for something, right?"
