Chapter 1: Prologue

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"Hunter of the Beol Mountains! I, Finn Deimne, challenges you to a duel!" A blonde pallum shouted to the humble abode of the person known as the Hunter of the Beol Mountains.

This adventurer was known for rumors of their strength. Such rumors included a master swordsman who secluded himself to train, or a retired high-leveled adventurer, some even said that this person was a remnant of the Zeus or Hera familia. Anyways, after Finn heard of these rumors, he overthought about it, and his thumb started to ache so much that he just had to hold his beloved spear to calm himself down. 

So he gathered his trusted comrades and blindly headed for the Beol Mountains without Loki's permission. But that doesn't really matters. Loki knows her stuff so she'll probably just leave them be. 

So now, standing in front of the said person's house with their weapons sheathed in their respective places, they called for the rumored great adventurer. 

After a few minutes of waiting while occasionally rephrasing their plea for a duel, the wooden door that was the same as his height creaked open as a small child belonging to the cat people stepped out and met their curious gazes with her own. 

She had pale white skin, a lustrous white hair that looked as if it's glowing. This all adds up to her adorable face, but that wasn't her most breathtaking feature yet, no. It was her round and huge adorable eyes. One of her eyes is a fiery red, while the other is a lush green, creating a striking contrast. 

Finn was mesmerized by the striking, mismatched eyes that seemed to draw him in and hold him captive, he had to shake his head to free himself of his trance. 

There was no denying that this girl was the one they had been searching for. Her very presence exuded a powerful and commanding aura that left no room for doubt.

He was about to speak, his fist clenched tightly in determination, when Bete rudely interrupted him, shouting at the girl with disregard for her feelings.

"A child?" He whispered to himself, "Hey brat! Tell your papa to come out and face us! He isn't so much of a weakling to hide behind a little girl, is he!?"

Finn simply let out a sigh and shrugged his shoulders, accustomed to his subordinate's boorish behavior.

Bete, with a hand firmly grasping the girl's head, attempted to speak again. However, before he could even utter a word, the girl swiftly slapped his hand away, her face contorted in obvious irritation.

"Again, Bete! She's the person from the rumors that we came here for! Stop being rude and stand down!" 

Though clearly annoyed by his captain's persistence, Bete ultimately ceded and returned to his previous position.

Satisfied, Finn steps forward and spoke, "Forgive my subordinate's previous rude attitude, he's a handful sometimes." He said with a bow, earning himself a tongue click from Bete who stood directly behind him. 

They silently waited for the girl's response for a few minutes. She just stood there, staring at the rude people who intruded into her peace.

Having enough of the silence, Bete once again lets his mouth loose.

"Hey, can't you see our captain's talking here!? Say something!" He points at Finn who's still on a bowing position, waiting for her forgivance and to let himself rise. 

But the silence still stretched into several more minutes. Bete was angry now, and the faces of their other companions also showed signs of displeasure. 

"If you won't talk, then I'll just make you! You arrogant brat!"Damn, this was one hypocritical statement I made here. Bete jogged from behind Finn to land a small knock onto the girl's head to discipline her.

"Bete, stop right there!" Riveria, who has been silently watching the whole time, suddenly shouted in her voice came a hint of urgent worry.

"What!?" Upon hearing her voice, Bete froze in place before quickly leaping back. As he did so, the ground beneath him erupted into huge stone spikes. If it weren't for Riveria detecting the magic emanating from the girl, Bete would have already been impaled and killed.

The group was shocked by the girl's sudden aggression and braced themselves for the worst, gripping their weapons tightly in case they needed to use them.

Finn, on the other hand, raised his head with a smile on his face, as if he understood something. However, that smile vanished the next moment after he heard Bete's statement.

"You've gone and done it now, you arrogant little brat! You're dead!" With fists clenched, he charged towards the young lady, prepared to unleash a flurry of blows upon her.

But the girl was not one to be caught off guard. With unmatched reflexes, she whipped out a wooden wand from under her cloak and aimed it at the approaching canine, who was quickly closing the distance between them.

In an instant, Bete's body crumpled to the ground, as if the weight of his own flesh had become too much for his strength to bear.

 "Arrgghh!" An agonizing cry escaped his lips as he felt his body throb with pain from the inside out.

"Bete!" His comrades shouted in confusion, wondering what had caused their comrade's sudden collapse.

"This is why you listen to your captai's orders, you idiot!" Riveria scolded as she carefully studied the magic the girl had used and worked to free Bete from its effects.

Unhappy with the weakness he had felt while under the girl's spell, Bete disregarded Riveria's scolding and once again took off running, determined to continue his attack.

"This time your sneak attacks aren't working!" 

With a fluid motion, the girl swung her wand upwards and summoned a massive chunk of earth that erupted directly beneath Bete, launching him up into the air and sending him flying behind the house.

Upon witnessing this display of power, the rest of the party unsheathed their weapons and stood at the ready, waiting for their captain's orders as they prepared to engage the enemy.

"It's fine! This is just a misunderstanding!" Finn spoke, trying to reassure the others and coaxing them into at least lowering their weapons.

Finn approached the girl, planting the butt of his spear firmly on the ground beside him. Extending his hand towards her, he spoke with a smile on his face, "How about we settle this disagreement with a duel? If I lose, we'll never bother you or this place again. But if I win, you'll have to join our familia."

The girl remained silent, but the magic flowing violently through her wand made it clear that she was not to be trifled with. She kept the wand trained on Finn, warning him to stay back.

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Finn had expected as much, but that was not important at the moment. He had gotten what he wanted, and he was confident in his chances.

With a fluid motion, Finn picked up his spear and brandished it towards the girl, adopting a stance that made her slightly uneasy. The two stood there in silence, each ready for the other to make the first move.

As if a glass breaking in a library, the two sprang into action. Finn raced towards the girl at a blinding speed while she jumped into the air, trying to put some distance between them.

Finn was at a loss. He had never seen anyone hover in the air like the girl was doing, and she was unleashing all kinds of magic that he struggled to dodge or deflect with his spear.

Initially, Finn had planned for the girl to run out of magic and come crashing down to the ground, allowing him to finish the duel. However, it was now him who was struggling to keep up as the attacks bombarding him increased in accuracy, as if she had adapted to his defenses.

Breathless and knowing he would eventually lose if he didn't do something, Finn decided to take a chance and go all-in on one attack. He leaped towards the girl, hoping that her ability to float didn't extend to actual flying and that he could catch her off guard.

Unfortunately, Finn's gamble did not pay off and he came crashing down to the ground as the girl easily dodged his strike and even hit him with a powerful gust of wind that sent him flying to where Bete had landed.

Upon witnessing this, the rest of the party sheathed their weapons, but still kept a grip on them. They had lost, and they knew they had to retreat and honor the duel's promise. 

But what Riveria saw was actually quite a comical scene. Finn was struggling to free himself from a tangle of vegetables and vines, hacking away at them with his spear. Meanwhile, Bete was angrily thrashing around, buried under a huge pile of barrels in what appeared to be a warehouse.

Vegetables were flying everywhere as he punched wildly.

The girl they had been fighting earlier was now shouting words that she couldn't understand, tears streaming down her flushed cheeks as she ruffled her beautiful white hair.

With a flick of her wand, the girl sent Finn and Bete flying towards Riveria, where they harshly crashed into her. As they lay there in a heap, the girl wailed in front of the warehouse, hugging a ruined cabbage.

Not knowing what to do, Riveria simply checked on Finn and Bete to make sure they weren't injured. Thankfully, they seemed to be okay. They all stood and brushed the dust off their clothes once Riveria had confirmed their safety.

Finn sweatdropped at the girl's actions and spoke, "I… I think she doesn't understand our words. Earlier, I thought maybe I could trick her into coming with us after beating her, even though she probably had no idea what I was saying…"

Upon hearing this, both Bete and Riveria had a look of realization on their faces, though Bete's seemed to be tinged with annoyance.

Riveria approached the girl, who gave her a stern glare. She spoke some words that Riveria couldn't understand, gesturing towards the pouch hanging from her waist.

Realizing what the girl wanted, Riveria turned to her companions and said, "I think she wants us to pay for the damages…"

"Then go ahead and do so," Finn suggested. However, Bete had other ideas.

"Pay for what now!? Wasn't it her who sent us towards these annoying crap!? There's no need to pay, let's leave!" Bete declared, kicking a smaller barrel aside and causing it to break and spill pepper all over the ground before turning to face away from the others. 

At this, the girl looked heavily irritated and Riveria felt a huge burst of magic leave the girl's body, causing the three of them to jump in fear.

This stopped Bete in his tracks, and he stiffly turned around and started picking up the pepper he had spilled with his hands, carefully piling it in one spot.

This only seemed to irritate the girl further, and she kicked the pile of pepper into Bete's lowered face before following up with a kick to the side of his head, sending him sliding across the ground.

"This… Riveria, do something?" Finn looked worried as he turned to Riveria, hoping her great elven knowledge could help them resolve the situation.

So, with a wary smile on her face, Riveria unstrapped the pouch from her belt and offered it to the girl as a peace offering.

The girl roughly grabbed the pouch and it instantly froze solid. She then threw it at Bete's head and shouted again, gesturing towards her warehouse, which was now littered with ruined vegetables.

"Maybe she wants us to replace the vegetables instead of just paying for them…" Finn scratched his cheek as he spoke.

Riveria understood this as well, but the lack of proper communication was definitely proving to be a problem. So, she simply nodded at the girl, who instantly calmed down. Riveria then began to look around inside the warehouse, memorizing the items they needed to replace.

After healing up Bete, who had a small cut on his forehead, they returned to the front of the girl's house. There, Finn explained to the others what had happened in the warehouse and what they now need to do.

"Why are we even bothering with all these!? It was her who flung us onto those vegetables!" Bete shouted in displeasure.

"Look here, Bete… if someone had just listened to what they were being told to do, there wouldn't have been a fight, and there wouldn't be a broken warehouse or a destroyed farm or ruined vegetables," Riveria said, palming her face in frustration.

Bete fell silent, unable to refute Riveria's words. 9f course he couldn't, he isn't smart enough to do so. 

After some more discussion, they realized that the sun would be setting in about an hour, so they knew they had to start getting ready to leave.

Doing as planned, they were about to descend the mountain when Riveria suddenly felt a tug on her coat. Turning around, she saw the girl from earlier standing there with a huge pack of baggage that looked like it weighed quintuple the her weight. Her expression was once again cold and stern.

The others also realized what was happening and pretended to be unaware, leaving Riveria to deal with the girl. Riveria was understandably annoyed by this.

It seemed as though the girl wanted to make sure that they properly replaced the ruined vegetables and brought them back to her house.

And with that, the small party led by the Loki Familia had gained a new(although temporary) member. Little did they know how this would all end…