Adventurers Of Time

Chapter V-5: Chris

(Irenes Town, from Chris's perspective.)

Chris walked out of the Inn and headed to the Alchemist. There were less people in the alchemist shop compared to yesterday. 

"Good afternoon lady, do you have anything special for me?"

"Nothing special but I have these prototype explosives the blacksmith made with me."

"He made it with you?"

"Yeah, he made that with me. What are you thinking, you naughty boy?"

"I certainly did not think that you had some fun with him while crafting those explosives."

"I would have slapped you for thinking that but the blacksmith is my husband, so…… it's totally fine."

"The blacksmith is your fricking husband, cool. May I take some of them on my way out?"

"Sure do, take two only because someone else might need it too. Help me test the explosives, alright?"

Chris grabbed two explosives in the crate and carefully inserted it into his bag. He thanked the alchemist for her generosity and went out of the building.

He made his way to the entrance and was greeted by the guard. The guard told him that he let Alicia pass through the checkpoint about half an hour ago. After they had a chat for a while, the guard let Chris pass through the checkpoint. 

"Time to kill some slimes and wolves! Here I come, forest!"

Chris ran into the forest and met some hunters who were setting traps. The hunters stopped Chris from moving forward because he was going to step on one of the traps. 

"Adventurer, stop right there! You are walking into our trap zone, follow the green trail."

Chris successfully avoided stepping on the traps and talked with the hunters. 

"Thanks for notifying me about the traps, what are you guys hunting here?"

"We are hunting a rare beast. Slimewolf, basically it's a merged slime and wolf."

"Wouldn't that mean those traps wouldn't work on it?"

"The plan is to decapitate it and we launch a surprise attack."

"Anything I should know before I leave, just in case?"

"Careful for where you are walking, we have traps set in the forest. It's well hidden with branches and leaves so try to stay away from dry branches and leaves."

"Okay, thanks."

Chris then went on a rampage and killed some slimes and a wolf. The wolf fight depleted his healing potion supply. The slime fight used two of his explosives. 

(Two hour before night time, final slime fight.)

"Damn you slimes, enjoyed devouring my favorite sword?"

The slimes jumped around and attacked Chris. He was hitted right in the head. As Chris fell on the ground, he remembered taking some explosives from the alchemist this afternoon. 

"Devour this!"

He threw one of the explosives towards the slime. The explosive went right into the slime, and nothing happened except Chris got hit on the head again. 

"Did that not work or do I have to throw this on the ground?"

He threw another explosive onto the floor and what happened next can be described with the word, chaotic. The explosive exploded on the floor, launching debris to the surrounding. One of the slimes exploded too, causing a chain reaction which killed all of the slimes within the fight. Chris got blown away and he was falling apart. 

"That hurted my back, my whole body. 

By the means of that, Chris decided to call it a day. He took what he could harvest from the remains of the slimes and slowly walked back to Irenes town. 

________________________________________

The guards at the checkpoint saw Chris and ran to help him. Chris was carried to the infirmary for wound treatment, where he was forced to drink two bottles of potion by the nurse. He looked at the nurse, and asked for her name.

"Thanks for saving me, what's your name and how can I thank you?"

"My name is Ling, the adventurers and others call me nurs-ling because it rhymed."

"Nurse Ling huh, where am I?"

"You are in the town infirmary, you don't really have to repay me. It's my duty to help those who are in need of my help."

"I will introduce my friend to you tomorrow. Just you wait. Thanks!"

"See you soon but not in the infirmary, okay ?"

Chris ran out of the infirmary and headed to the alchemist shop . He knocked on the door but no one replied, so he pushed open the door. The alchemist and the blacksmith were talking to each other behind the counter. 

"We are closing soon. What's your matter?"

"Did I interrupt? I was just coming by to say thanks for the explosives. It saved and almost ended my life."

"Now that you have said what you wanted, give us some privacy. Can you?"

Chris got out of the alchemist shop, what he could hear after he went out was lewd voices in the shop. He went back to the Inn and talked to Nakahara sitting at the counter. 

"I finished the quest, can I get my rewards now?"

"Nope, the rewards are given after hours of quest completion. That way, we won't be scammed by certain adventurers."

"No rewards for today? Is that what you mean?"

"Yes, go take a rest in your room for now. The rewards will be distributed to all adventurers next morning."

"Is Alicia back from her quest yet? I am kinda worried about her."

"She's not back yet, don't worry about her. She's a good survivor after all."

Chris walked back to his room but changed his mind when he was walking upstairs. He climbed up the stairs of the watchtower, and took a view of the town again. 

"The town looks more peaceful in the night compared to the morning. I could see adventurers walking around the town from here, that guy is kissing a girl."

"Chris, what are you doing up here? Spying on others?"

Chris gasped when he heard the voice of a girl replying to his words. It was Nakahara, the owner of the Inn. 

"How did you know I was up here, Miss Nakahara?"

"I knocked on the door and there was no reply, then I guessed that you might be on the watchtower."

"Nice guess, how did you own this Inn though? Family inheritance?"

"Technically they gave this Inn to me for my 18th birthday. My parents are not dead yet."

"I didn't mean that, I was just curious."

"My father is a writer, and my mother is an artist. Mother's work is famous for expressing her feelings, Father's work is mostly fantasy stories."

"When was the last time they talked to you? Nakahara?"

"Last week."

The conversation ended awkwardly and Chris went back to his room after thanking Nakahara for wasting time talking with him. Chris entered the room, sat on the bed and went to sleep.