Chapter 29: Adventure starts for the Hero and his retainers

Ester saw Lupa kicking the large boulder, but didn’t ask anything. She knew the boulder had something to do with the death of the fifth hero. But that happened decades ago, and there shouldn’t be any danger.

Vincent suddenly stood up, lost his balance, and slammed his back against the large boulder hitting his head first.

Ester worryingly tried to see if he could feel her touch. But Vincent didn’t respond. The pain was too much to make him notice her voice or touch.

Ester didn’t know what else to do. She could see him closing and opening his eyes as if he was deeply confused by the pain.

Suddenly, Ester decided to make him notice her presence by what he had done to her. She placed her lips against his and kissed him.

Lupa caught this action, she frowned and exclaimed, “Hey, I’m here too!”

The two worried beauties took turns, kissing him until a while later, Vincent became conscious of his surroundings before he was about to pass out from the lack of oxygen.

.....

His sight became a bit clear and saw a scene he never thought would happen to him; two girls taking turns kissing and suffocating him at the same time.

“Argh... My head feels like it’s about to split open... Argh... and my heart about to explode.” Vincent tried his best to say these words. To stop them from killing him.

“Your mark and eyes are glowing! It might be something about the fifth hero’s resting place!” Ester urgently said while she didn’t know when he might faint.

Vincent gazed to his side and noticed an error window hovering. It was strange and felt ominous, but he could do nothing other than resist.

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historical

[eRrOR.]

[WaRnING.]

[UnKowN SouL is absorbing the host soul power.]

[Host forced to auto-accept.]

[Soul power empty.]

[UnKowN SouL is absorbing energy from the host.]

[The host is losing energy.]

[The host body is taking damage .]

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Vincent now knew why he was in pain. Something appeared to be possessing his body and stealing his power. However, he could barely stay conscious, and before he blacked out, he saw a strange new message.

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[UnKowN SouL absorption complete.]

[Host’s energy and the UnKowN SouL have fused.]

[Soul Egg Acquired in Soul Domain.]

[Host body will continue to lose energy until Soul Egg begins to grow.]

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Ester and Lupa caught Vincent while he fainted from exhaustion and pain. The two carried him out of the water, laid him down in the grass, and noticed the mark wasn’t glowing anymore.

His eyes became clear, and the bulging veins vanished. Both girls quickly dried themselves and wore their clothes.

Soon, Lupa carried Vincent on her back while Ester carried the clothes. Lupa gave a final menacing glare at the boulder, but couldn’t hear it vibrate anymore.

After arriving back at the cabin, they placed Vincent on a chair to dry him as they didn’t want him to get a cold. Traveling to Areo Forest while sick was a bad idea.

Lupa quickly removed his wet towel leaving him stark naked. Ester became embarrassed with a pair of red cheeks while Lupa smirked and said, “So that’s his private part, hehe.”

“Stop staring and cover him! Look, he’s trembling from the cold!” Ester took a few peeks while she wiped his body to clothe him. Unlike her words, her eyes thought differently.

“Hehe, sister Ester wants to mate with Vincent too.” Lupa chuckled while teasing and helping her. Ester became too embarrassed by this situation to respond. She did her best to ignore Lupa while bringing clean clothes.

Like a ken doll, Vincent had two beauties dress him while burning his naked body in their minds. Then they gently laid him on the mattress to rest.

“Stop drooling, you horny wolf! ” Ester said with a frown, then continued, “Shapeshift into a wolf and warm him with your fur. We need to leave here early in the morning, even if he remains asleep.”

Lupa understood. She turned to wolf form and rested beside Vincent.

‘So this is the last time sleeping in this cabin.’

Ester thought as she went to sleep. However, it wasn’t easy as the naked body of Vincent couldn’t leave her mind. The first naked man she ever saw.

*Day 4 Morning

Hours later, the morning dawned. Ester and Lupa woke up, but Vincent remained asleep.

“Lupa, if you find anything interesting, place it in the cart. In a few hours, we will leave east to Aero Forest.” Ester ordered. Lupa nodded and happily wagged her tail while picking anything that caught her eyes.

*Yawn

A few hours later, Vincent opened his eyes. He stretched his arms but felt pain all over his body. It felt as if he overtrained and became sore.

“Vincent is up!” Lupa heard him wake up and rushed to his side. She placed his smartphone and watch on his lap as she insisted on giving them to him herself.

“Morning... Why do you look so happy?” Vincent asked. Then recalled how he was washing naked when fainting in the lake. His face flushed red when he noticed clothes on him. Vincent felt so embarrassed that he could die.

“Hehe, I saw how you will mate with me. I hope it’s soon... Aww...” Lupa teased Vincent when Ester rushed and pulled her ear to stop.

“You dirty wolf. Let him wake up.” Ester said with her cheeks flushed red. She averted her eyes and barely looked at him.

Vincent didn’t know how to respond. He stared at the two while feeling disappointed since he didn’t get the chance to take a peek. Instead, he was peeked at.

“Ahem... What’s done is done.” Vincent pulled himself up as time was passing by. He didn’t know when the Guard Lord would send soldiers to check the cabin.

“So, what were you doing?” Vincent placed both the digital watch and smartphone in his pockets as he asked.

“We were filling the cart with things to take with us, but... what happened to you?” Ester asked while averting her eyes and nervously fiddling with her fingers.

“Let’s fill the cart and leave. I will explain what I know later. We don’t know when the soldiers might arrive here.” Vincent insisted on hurrying and leaving the explanation for later.

Ester and Lupa nodded. They were already filling the cart to leave quickly. Soon with the help of Vincent, the cart got filled faster.

Vincent didn’t see any more essential stuff to take. He decided to use inspection on himself to see if there was something different about him.

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[Name] Vincent Agius

[Condition] Healthy, Tired, Soul Egg Nurture 0%

[Soul Power] 0sp

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Vincent gazed at the strange new condition and felt that being possed by some spirit of the lake might be the case. As he focused with worry at the new condition, a new small display window pop up.

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[Description] Soul Egg Nurture.

[Effect] Absorbs Soul Power from host to nurture and hatch the Soul Egg.

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Vincent remained dumbstruck while his eyes barely blinked. He stared at the new display window, but strangely, he could see the description of this new condition as if his inspection became more potent.

When bathing in the location where the fifth hero should have died, he felt similar but stronger pain than when learning a new ability or spell. It was the effect of exchanging the Soul Power from his energy.

However, energy might imply his vitality instead of losing years of his life. Or so he hoped.

This condition was forcefully taking his Soul Power to grow. Not only this meant he couldn’t use Minor Heal if a problem would arise, but also a spirit was growing inside of him.

‘I’ll focus on the present. Future me will somehow take care of this.’

Vincent pondered for a while, then decided to leave everything for the future.

“We are ready to go. All the necessities are on the cart. ” Ester patted his shoulders as he was to be stuck in his own world of thoughts.

“Ahh... Yes, let’s go.” Vincent grabbed the small wooden two-wheeled cart’s handlebars, gave one last look at the cabin, and pulled the cart. Their journey started with a horrible beginning, but now Vincent had two companions that trusted him.

Ester slowly eased in this unique situation while getting flustered most of the time. She could barely look at him without her cheeks becoming red.

Lupa, on the other hand, skipped energetically along the way as if she didn’t care. She was happy, and that was all she needed.

Vincent took a peek with inspection and was surprised how both of them raised their Soul Syinch stat. Ester became ten percent while Lupa twenty percent.

‘Is Soul Synch a likability stat? Like the one’s in romance games?’

‘I should keep this a secret for now since I don’t know what this stat does.’

.....

Vincent couldn’t tell them because he thought it would be best to keep this a secret. To know how much they liked him was an advantage that Vincent didn’t want to take advantage of as he desired to build a relationship on trust.

On the way, Vincent explained what happened to him, how he might be growing a soul in his body, and how he didn’t have Soul Power to cast Minor Heal spell.

Surprisingly, Lupa became mad. She stopped skipping and said with a frown, “Not fair! I want one too!”

Vincent and Ester stoped in their tracks. Two pairs of eyes stared at Lupa while she threw a tantrum for a questionable reason.

“Ahem... It takes around three to four weeks of walking to reach the town of Laurel.” Ester tried to change the subject. She guessed why Lupa became like this and needed to teach her how men can’t have children. Spirit or not.

“Is there an adventurous guild in Laurel Town?” Vincent asked while continuing with her to change this awkward subject.

“I heard they have a small office, and not many gather there. It should be great for us since we need to lay low.” Ester spoke with the same cautious mindset Vincent had.

To lay low as much as possible to survive. However, Vincent was the key for this to happen. His uniqueness could attract more attention than they wanted.

Lupa puffed her cheeks as the two ignored her. She trailed behind in a grumpy mood.

“The town is part of the Lusterfall Kingdom, but I never went there. However, I heard Aero Forest connects Tival Village, Laurel Town, and the edge Lusterfall Kingdom city. That’s how vast the forest is.” Ester explained how enormous it is and how easy it was to get lost in Aero Forest. Their only compass was to walk at the dawning sun since it rose from the east.

“So, what is an adventurous guild in this world? Is it only for quests?” Vincent knew that every game or story had different versions. This world might have too.

“I only heard the basics. F Rankers are classless people, while those with a class become E Rankers even if they are weak. Also, the adventurous guild is neutral and doesn’t interfere in wars. You have to leave the guild to join in a war.” Ester gave a general idea of how much authority they held.

To not involve themselves in wars meant it was a force to be reckoned with. If it was like a job center, then it had thousands of employees around the world.