Hermitcraft Fluff Book

Keep Adventuring!

The ever elusive Joe Hills.

There have been over a dozen reported sightings of said demon across the kingdom. He has been going around claiming he was a traveling bard looking for a place to stay. People have said that he would always fly off, poems spilling out of his pockets, usually ending with "Keep adventuring!"

Cleo sighed, there wasn't near enough evidence to trace him. She buried her face in a pile of newspapers, with front page headlines all about demons. What the hell was she doing with her life? Hunting demons, apparently.

This demon, Joe, he was different. Others would bare their fangs and sharpen their claws at the sight of her. They would pounce and slash and kill and run away at the sight of her hunting knife. But Joe has never run away, or even make any attempt at hostility. He didn't even look scary, he just wore a pair of glasses. Why was Joe so different?

She heard a knock on her office door, probably False coming to lecture her to take a break on the case. Such a hypocrite, considering False would spend 25 hours a day dedicated to her craft. Cleo was not planning on giving up this case. She pulled open the door and was met with an unexpected man with a skinny build and glasses. Joe Hills himself.

She immediately reached for her hunting knife and pulled it on him. "What do you want?" She snarled. He raised his arms in surrender, slightly quaking. She could end him right here, right now, but for some strange reason, she didn't want to. "I mean you no harm, I just want to talk." Cleo rolled her eyes. No way would she fall for that. "Come in. I'm gonna break your legs."

Joe scrambled inside and she slammed the door behind him. Cleo pulled out a dusty old chair and pointed at it. He sat in it, warily eyeing her knife collection. She sat in her office chair, giving it a quick spin before she turned to face Joe. He stuck his hand out in greeting. "Howdy y'all. I'm Joe but I'm sure you already knew that. I've seen you all around this kingdom and you seem like a fantastic person." Was he joking? He had to be joking.

Her face was pure confusion while she was also trying not to laugh. Joe put his hand down after noticing that she wasn't going to shake it. "So, how about we make a deal? You don't break my legs and I take you out for lunch?" Cleo couldn't keep it in anymore and burst out laughing almost falling out of her chair. This man could not be serious. She turned away for a moment to gather herself, and when Cleo turned back, Joe gave her the most serious smile she ever saw.

"Your not joking?" He shook his head. Now this was quite the moral dilemma. It would be so easy to just kill him. Why didn't she want to? Was she just going to throw away her life's work for some demon? Cleo tucked her knife back into her pocket. "You are a strange man Mister Joe." she chuckled to herself. "Thanks." he winked at her, before promptly disappearing in a cloud of smoke.

She always hated it when they did that. To think she almost trusted him, and then just let him get away. When the smoke cleared, a single note on a paper flittered through the air, and Cleo reached out and grabbed it. It was a poem. How typical.

Meet me at the place where the sun shines bright

Where there is happiness and cheer and all things good

The celebration starts at noon, I hope to see you there

In the busiest place in town square

Keep Adventuring -Joe

It was some sort of invitation. Perhaps this was the lunch date he was talking about. She wasn't going to go to it, of course. Or was she? Her thought process was interrupted by yet another knock on her door. Did Joe forget something? The door creamer open to reveal False standing there, looking slightly concerned.

She quickly shoved the note in her pocket. "Hey Falsie! What's going on?" False didn't seem to notice. "Nothing really, just checking on you. You haven't come out of that room for 10 hours! I wanted to be sure that my best friend wasn't dead, ya know." Cleo sighed, she was right.

"I'm fine! Thanks for checking in." She said while gently pushing False out of the doorframe and slamming it shut behind her. There were a couple protests from her outside the door before she decided to walk away. When Cleo was sure she was alone again, she pulled the invitation back out of her pocket.

She checked her watch; it was half-past eleven. If she was going to make it to Joe's date she better get a move on. Pulling the knife out of her pocket, she hung it up on her wall, as she wouldn't be needed it.

After all, what's the worst that could happen?

Word Count: 854 words

I hope you enjoyed (i guess) -Ella