Step Two: Profit

the day after, Vol returned to the house with the cure

"ah, you are back"

"I have acquired a cure for the poison"

"is that what the green flash was from last night?"

"I apologize if that woke you up"

"you apologize a lot" Mitir said

"I apologize"

she laughed

"should I administer the cure?" Vol said after she stopped laughing

"sure, go ahead"

he put the vial into his hand, and then extended the needle from his finger again

she was injected with the green antidote, and once it was done, Vol retracted the needle

they all waited quietly for something to happen

after waiting for about a minute, Vol spoke up

"you'll feel the effects in about 3-5 days, so rest up and hopefully this will work"

Flam looked at Vol

"why did you have us waiting here if it's gonna take three days?!"

"i didn't have anyone waiting here"

"yes you did!"

they argued back and fourth, while Mitir and Rev watched the two bicker

"they sure are a pair, aren't they?" Mitir said

"don't worry, she does this with me too" Rev responded

she chuckled to herself

after they were done, Vol began to take his leave

"I'll come back in about four days to see how you are doing" Vol said

"sounds like a plan"

so, they left, and four days later, they returned to the house

to their surprise, it had been completely cleaned, with the lights now on and the books back up on their bookshelves

"hellooo?" Flam called into the house

"back here!" a voice responded

they went back into the house, and found Mitir cleaning happily, using her magic to control various rags and dishes

"it looks like it worked" Vol said

"I haven't felt this good in years!" she said

"truly, I thank you for this"

"no problem" Rev said

after this, they went on a quest accepting spree

over the course of three months, they accepted various quests and did numerous extra-guild tasks, from planting crops to building things to healing other people to even killing monsters, and this caused their rank to go up tremendously as well as their funding and skills. their reputation in the city also went up, and in no time, they became well known by the people of the town as the "party who could do anything"

Mitir's suggestion had raised Vol's to rank seven, and after the three months, all three of them had all gone to rank four, with Vol taking on extra quests to catch up to Rev and Flam's rank

Vol had also experienced various strange occurrences. one time, while he was in his hotel room, an explosive arrow flew through the window. he managed to contain the blast within a bubble of barrier arcana, but it still worried him

a second time, he nearly stepped on a landmine inside of a field, only spotting this after he stepped on it, but instead of jumping off, he used his foot to crush the mine and disable it before it could explode

strange things like this had happened numerous times over the course of those months

one day, however, the strangest thing happened

while they were looking for a quest to do, Mitir walked into the guild building with full armor equipped, and a sword on her back

Prin dropped what she was doing and ran over to her

"how are you feeling?" she asked anxiously

"good" Mitir said, "I've been re-training for the past month and a half so I could re-join the guild"

"it seems that the Sotir party managed to cure your illness"

"yes, the cure worked very well. I was up again after three days, if can you believe it!"

they both laughed

from then on, Mitir regularly joined the three on their quests, especially subjugation, so she could get more combat training in to make up for her years in bed

Vol decided to look into Mitir, and found that her fame had not been fake

she had become a scorpius ranked hero by herself over the course of five years, and had been one of, if not the most, talented and strongest person in the town.

so the four became great friends with each other, including Prin, who supplied them with free drinks from time to time (except Vol, because he had no mouth to drink with)

Vol and Flam also wrote letters to Reigna during this time, hoping she would receive them and know what they were doing

after those three months, Vol had determined that the points they would acquire would be too small to continue. the town they were in had relatively low-level quests, with the highest single one they ever found being rank five, so if they wanted to rank up in a modest amount of time, they would have to go to a city with higher level quests

Vol told this to the other four one day

"and so you have to leave now?" Mitir said, after she finished a drink

"yes" Vol responded "the most optimal course of action is for us to leave now, and go to another town to get more quest points"

"so you can save the world"

"yes"

"i guess there's no stopping you then"

both Rev and Flam looked disheartened to leave the friends they had made

"can you at least spare four days" she asked

"why?"

"my husband returns from his business trip, and he would probably want to thank you for curing me"

"I can do that"

both of the children's faces lit up again, and they were happy once more

the next three days, they continued on the quest as normal

on the night of the third day, however, something strange happened

as the three were in a different hotel room, an arrow came flying through the window

Vol immediately jumped on it, but after realizing there was a piece of paper attached to it, he backed off

he opened the paper, and read the note

it was asking him, Flam, Rev, and Mitir to meet them out at a marked hill early tomorrow morning

so he took the letter and told Mitir and Prin at the bar, alongside Rev and Flam

"we should probably see what this is about" Rev said

"what if it's dangerous?" Prin asked

"nothing can harm this guy, so we'll be fine" she said while knocking on Vol's metal body

"if you say so" Prin said

so, the four went to the location, and saw no-one their

but, out of the corner of his optics, he saw a flash

he put up a barrier, only for another piercing arrow to slam into it, rocking the barrier

"what was that!?" Flam said

"there's someone over there!" Rev said, his Lens showing him where the enemy was

they rushed over to the location to find nothing

suddenly, they were surrounded by bandits

"who are you!?" Mitir asked

"aren't you supposed to be sick?" a familiar voice called

"it can't be... I drove you out of this town!"

"clearly not, old woman"

out from under the trees, he appeared

that rat bastard, Chazos

Mitir and Flam could see him normally, while Rev and Vol could see him clearly in the dark, Vol with his base sight and Rev with his lens

"get 'em"

suddenly, a strong rope came and bound them all together

they tried to break free, but the rope was too strong, and it resisted arcana

"Vol" Mitir whispered "can you get us free?"

"i might hurt you all if I do that"

"what're ya whispering about there, ya idiots!"

Mitir turned her head towards him

"the only idiot here is you, Chazos!"

he kicked her in the fact so that it went to the side, but she only spit and looked forward again

"I thought i kicked you outta this city!"

"nah" he said "you only pushed me underground"

"who do you think made that scorpion overload?"

"what?" she said, dumbfounded

"it was me, stupid!"

she was in shock, not at the fact that he did it, but at how dangerous such a task is

"I made it overload to get you out of my business. everything was fine, until you showed up and started being all uptight and "just" and taking away what I do best!"

"stealing quests from people and taking advantage of women?"

"exactly! is is our right as the strong to do those things, me and my men!"

"that has got to be the most illogical moral code I have ever heard, and I've met satanists before" Vol said, unamused

"you shut it, tin can! you know what you are, a monster is what you are!"

"how so?"

"I hit you with an arrow that could crack a vault wide open with one shot, and you didn't even budge! I shot bombs, placed landmines, even froze you, and they all did nothing! I watched you so much and spent so many steel coins on trying to defeat you, i cant even count them anymore!"

"so that was you?"

"you're missing the point!!" Chazos said, getting increasingly angry

"so now, here, we are going to end you, and have our way with these fine women you provided us, all as you watch!" he said, laughing

"I severely doubt that" Vol said

"and why so? you four are trapped in the world's best anti-arcana trap, the constrictor rope! even the normal military can't have these!

"*you three" Vol said

"three?"

Flam then decked Chazos on the head from behind