Chapter 51: A ranked quest

 Augustine: Song weaver, self-proclaimed Life Skiller. Will do what he must. 

It took a bit of convincing, but the receptionist at the guild gave us an A quest. Seeing as Dean can blow up pretty much anything, a goblin settlement shouldn't be so hard to tackle. Or, at least I think so. I don't know about the others, but I am pumped on all kinds of pills, and ready to spill blood and guts. 

My stomach does a lurch at the thought, and I place a hand over it. Ok, maybe not ready, but I must do this. Once Vincent becomes a hero, I can retire. Yes, I should think about all the hunting and cooking I will be doing, once I retire. 

Lexus is standing outside the guild house, with a backpack on his back. I furrow my brows. 

"Just what do you think you are doing?" I ask him. Is the kid trying to get himself killed? Surely, he doesn't want to come with us? 

"Lex, what are you doing in here?" Dean asks from next to me, when Lexus refuses to answer. 

"I want to prove to you all, that you don't need to do this," he says, and I blink. "Dad can still be a hero, even without the recognition." 

"No, he really can't," Atha says, but Lexus is like a little fighter today. 

"What are you going to do, if I become an adventurer? Should Tine and Allan really come with all of you? I had to be woken up by their screams most nights, you know? I was the one who comforted them, most of the time," Lexus is speaking the truth. Normally, he lets me cuddle him, when I wake up from a bad dream. 

"You don't understand, kid," Vincent begins, but Lexus is having none of it. 

"I don't understand? Do you even love Tine and Allan? Do you, dad? Because they love you enough to risk having even more nightmares. I would have understood, if there was a need for all of you to do this. If the world was a dangerous place. But it no longer is. One snap from Leander's fingers, and everything becomes right as rain. So, I ask you, why do you do this? For vanity? What if you all die! What then?" 

We all stare at the kid. His tail is still whipping back and forth. Vincent finally bows his head, and tears the quest license in two. 

"I was never going to become a hero, anyway. What sort of hero risks his lovers?" He asks. I go to him, and lay a hand on his shoulder. 

"We can hunt often. I have no problem with killing elk for their meat," I say, and he buries his face in my nape. I hold him, as he lets go of his hopes and dreams. The reason behind him coming to me. Why we are even together.

"You can still be a hero, Vince," Dean says, and we all turn towards him. "It would just involve you doing something for the community. You won't be an archer hero, but you know?" 

"Why didn't you say something sooner?" I snap at the incubus. 

"I was having fun, up to the last kill. What? We just spoke with dungeon cores, killed spiders, hunted, and had walks in the nature. Why shouldn't I have been happy?" Dean says. 

"So, like public service?" Vincent asks. We all turn to stare at him. "I think I have something in mind. Something I can do with my bow, and Tine's help." 

"Hunting for the poor?" I ask. What else can it be? 

"Precisely," Vincent tells me, and we are off. We don't hunt any females, and we leave one male to every twenty. Still, by the time we are done, the forest is empty of most of its elk, ducks, and a couple of bears too. Considering that we didn't dress them on the spot, both Allan and I did fine. 

Lexus was with us the entire time. I let him play on my harp, to try and lull the animals into peacefulness. He played the one melody that I taught him perfectly, and Atha delivered the finishing blows. 

You are reading story Life Skilling at novel35.com

With our catch, we go back to the guild house. The mayor won't just accept so much wild game. No laws are forbidding someone from doing what we just did, but the old man still didn't open his gates to us. Guild Master Warren comes out, with Warren Junior. The two wait until we have piled up all the dead animals on the sidewalk, and then the guild master speaks.  

"You could have been great," he says, and then looks at Allan. "Keep the staff, boy. If you lot decide to sign up for the watch in the city, you will need it." 

"We won't be signing up," Allan says, and then hands back the staff. I can see that it is hard on him. He got attached to the thing. "But I will continue the mana lessons with Thomas. One day, I will be just as good without the staff, as I was... scratch that. I was abysmal with the staff. I did blow away the guild house with that tornado." 

Warren Junior snickers at that, and his father hits him over the head. 

"Well, I will make sure that there are quests for the dressing and the cooking of all that meat," the guild master says, as he nods at the mountain of carcasses. "I do suppose that someone became the hero of the city, if not an archer hero." 

Vincent rubs the back of his head. 

"You know, guild master, I got something better," he places an arm around Lexus, and another one around me. "Come on, group huddle." 

Dean chuckles, and comes to stand closer to Vincent. Atha and Allan are soon in the huddle. 

"We should probably become farmers," Vincent says, and then nods at me. "We emptied the forest. It will take some time, before the animals there will repopulate it. So, if we want to make Augustine's dream come true, then we have to begin to grow our own produce, and look after our own animals." 

"My dream? I don't want that silly little thing," I tell him, nuzzling his neck. He smells just as good as the first time we were so close. "As you said, we have something better. Let us leave the hero business to the World Core and his harem. Let us just raise our kid." 

Lexus begins to wave his tail back and forth then. I kiss the top of his head, and giggle. 

Technically, we all got what we wanted. I am going to do plenty of cooking, seeing as a growing child would need more food than most. Even without Lexus, there are four grown men that can put away food like nothing else.

Vincent did get his badge as a hero of the city, and he showed it to his mother. I don't believe that I have ever seen Ms. Parsons smile so brightly. 

Dean got us, his harem, to feed him. But he got more than that. He got our friendship, and love. I don't believe that there is an incubus happier than he. He is all smiles most of the time, and he likes to tease us that we are his wives.

Atha went into the stone golem trade. He managed to talk Reggie into not giving brains to the golems. The two have quite the profitable trade, and the blooming bromance. Good thing that Reggie is really asexual; otherwise, I'd be jealous.  

As for Allan? Well, he got our support and adoration. I don't think he will ever forget where he started, but I also don't believe that he will wake up screaming anymore. 

Yes, Vincent is not an archer hero. I am not a restaurant chain owner. Atha did not take over the world. Dean is not the main man in the harem. Allan did not become a healer on Leander's level, he ended up becoming a better one, in time.

 And isn't that enough? We will watch Lexus grow, and thrive. Keep in touch with Dru, Ariknol, and their gaggle of children.

 Now, only if Warren Junior will stop coming to our house with flowers in the middle of the night, trying to get Lexus to go out with him. At what age did an incubus went from puppy love, to grown up love again? 

The End.  

You can find story with these keywords: Life Skilling, Read Life Skilling, Life Skilling novel, Life Skilling book, Life Skilling story, Life Skilling full, Life Skilling Latest Chapter