LINKED | Brothers Online Series | BK #1

Chapter 8: Deal

Thomas Min':

Karim is officially a lunatic. I have the proof.

He literally just ran out of a cave screaming and swinging his sword like a madman. If I didn't know any better, I would have thought he was a caveman, what with all that yelling.

After we had chased that black-haired thief into a monster infested clearing, my brilliant brother had the absolutely amazing idea of running in to "rescue" her. What was he thinking? I'd told him before. We were to do zero amounts of heroics and absolutely zero rescue missions. Honestly, there was no reason for us to go in there. We were seriously risking our lives. But nooooooo, Karim just had to play the knight and run in to bail that potion-stealing thief out of there.

If he wasn't my brother, I would have left him there.

Seeing as how I was bound with the numbskull, I just had to chase after him. Of course things couldn't have gotten any better. Instead, we were in a Monster Spawn Area (MSA for short). These areas had much higher monster respawn rates and were great places to grind. Of course, they were also great places to get FLIPPING TRAPPED!

When I hustled behind into that cave, I realized that I didn't have one damsel in distress, but two. Oy. My day just got a whole lot better... NOT! We had to haul them both out of there and one of them WAS'NT EVEN STANDING! I was the one that had to carry her out, but not after I was repeatedly threatened by the black-haired thief. Besides, I wasn't much of an offensive tank anyways. Karim was better suited to bust our asses out of there. Hopefully that thief could fight too.

When I picked up the unconscious female, my first thought was how light she was. She was only about a hundred pounds or so. I guess it wasn't her fault though right? Genetics man, they can get ya.

As I lifted her up, her eyes flickered open and I stared into a pair of bright blue orbs slightly dulled from pain. I couldn't help but put a reassuring smile on my face. "Don't worry princess; we'll get you out of here." She smiled faintly before promptly falling unconscious again.

I mentally kicked myself in the face. What the hell was that? Princess? Don't worry? I just met the girl and I was already spilling heroic nonsense.

Note to self: don't pick up half-unconscious girl in a cave in the middle of the forest surrounded by Treants, a thief and a psychotic brother.

I then walked up to my brother to alert him of the new plan. He understood and began to lay waste to Mother Nature. Man, weeds wouldn't stand a chance against my brother's sword. He had literally gone crazy, slashing and hacking his way out of the cave. The thief and I followed closely behind the crazed swordsman and we broke free of the darkness. Monsters kept spawning as we ran right out of the clearing. I held the blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl tightly to my chest as I ran, hoping that I didn't accidentally drop her. That would've been embarrassing.

We kept running and running until we made it back to the dirt path that snaked through the forest. Once there, we stopped to catch our breath.

I still hadn't let go of the girl.

Karim looked over at me and grinned. "Woo weee! Wasn't that fun?"

I lifted a finger that wasn't occupied by carrying a dead weight (hehe, dead weight. Get it? What? Too soon?) and pointed it at him. "You, sir, are a freaking lunatic."

"I learned from the best," he said cheekily. I rolled my eyes. I then glanced over at the little thief and saw that she was eyeing us suspiciously. I rolled my eyes again.

"Oh come on! We just saved your lives. Can you at least stop looking at us so suspiciously? Sheesh. What an ungrateful lot." The girl's eyes widen and she turned red. She looked away before whispering, "Thank you."

Karim's eyes softened and he said, "No problem. Anytime." He then threw a penetrating glare at me. I rolled my eyes. "Say, maybe we should take you back to town. Make sure you get back safely." The girl's eyes got wider as she heard this from Karim and she got even redder. Hmm, she kinda looks like a tomato. Wonder if she'll turn purple. "What do you say huh?" continued my chivalrous brother. "Do we have a deal?" He reached his hand out and offered it to the girl. She stared at it for a few moments before lightly grabbing his hand and shaking it. Immediately after, she let go and looked away.

Karim grinned. "It's a deal then. Come on. Let's go." He beckoned her forward and motioned for me to follow along. They headed down the dirt path towards the town and left me standing there, holding an unconscious girl.

I sighed. Being a hero was definitely not worth it.