To Be a Hero {SBI Fantasy AU}

6. Intriguing Tavern Encounter

Travelling on foot was definitely much slower than travelling by horse, and Tommy couldn't help but ask when they'd ever arrive at the next town, much to the dismay of his older travelling companions. They were making decent progress, and according to Philza they'd be able to get into town a couple of hours before sunset.

Still, he couldn't help but glance nervously at the trees that surrounded them on all sides. The silence was far from comforting, and Tommy felt the need to fill the emptiness with sound.

"So, Quackity, where were we even supposed to take the vase in the first place?" he asked.

"Hmm?" the mage answered, "Oh well it was supposed to be a gift for a king. A friend of mine, the one that hired you guys, is friends with King Eret."

"Where's that?" he queried.

Waving his hand flippantly, "Its like, somewhere down South. I just know I was supposed to bring it to some town named Lameberg or something."

The berserker had been quiet throughout this exchange, and the only indication that he was listening was the slight tilt of his head. There wasn't much that could bee seen from underneath his mask anyway, so his miniscule head movements were all anyone really had to go with. "That's the Antarctic Empire." he stated, both heads swiveling to peer at him curiously.

"O-oh." Quackity stammered, "You know the place?"

All he got in return was a cryptic, "You could say that."

"Anyways, anyways," the boy continued, "why did you think that an infinite supply of golden carrots was the best gift for this random king?"

The mage scratched his head slightly and said, "Well, like I said, golden carrots are like the best food out there, and I mean Karl didn't give any specifics. He just said that it had to be something really cool."

Tubbo tilted his head a little, pondering the subject, "I mean it was really cool. Ignoring the whole" he waved his hand a little awkwardly, "making buff super-monsters thing."

The older mage's shoulders slumped, and Philza couldn't help but give him a little pat on the back. "It wasn't your fault." he comforted, "There was no way you could've known." The small gesture seemed to take a significant weight off of the mage's shoulders, but he couldn't help but remark, "Yeah I know that, but I still put a lot of people in danger." Tubbo gave him a little pat on the shoulder to try and console him, and Tommy picked at the hem of his tunic, feeling bad about yelling at him earlier. 

Changing the subject quickly in an attempt to dispel the somber mood, the squire turned to the berserker. "Uh.. Speaking of people!" he nervously laughed, "How'd you take out so many monsters at once? You went through them so quickly!"

Techno tilted his head, as if why he decided to talk to him of all people, but answered anyways. "Well, Tommy, you just have to know where to aim. Everyone knows to take off the head when dealing with undead, however a good strategy that people tend to over look is slicing through their spine or breaking them. The magic that animates them stems from their head, which is why they stop moving when you remove it and so it makes sense to remove the direct path that the body has to the head itself, the spine. And while I did take care of most of the oncoming horde, a big flaw with my performance was that I missed several chances to land a critical head blow, making it a little slower than it should've been." Tommy couldn't help but look at the man with wide eyes, struggling to take in the large influx of information. He stammered, "Uh wow," trying to sound like he understood even a speck of what the man said, "interesting strategy?" He hadn't had someone give him so much information in a while, and it gave him mild flashbacks to his governess and her math lessons.