“You’re a monster,” Chelsea said, watching with mild amusement as Tetsuya wolfed down his third bowl of gruel. “I can’t help it,” the boy replied defensively. “I was so tired from last night’s training that I fell asleep before I could even eat dinner.” “That gruel has to feed the whole village, you know,” Chelsea teased her companion. Tetsuya put his spoon down, suddenly feeling self-conscious for succumbing to his gluttonous appetite. Chelsea was right. He was a guest in this village and he should have been more thoughtful of the villagers who were graciously hosting him. The boy felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up to see the village chief smiling at him “There’s plenty to go around for everyone,” Jason reassured him. “Help yourself to as much as you like.” "Honestly, I think our cooks are just happy that there's actually someone here who likes their cooking enough to ask for more." he laughed to himself as he watched the two cooks in the distance, happily stirring a cauldron full of gruel. “You’re gonna get fat,” Chelsea continued to tease boy, gently poking at his belly. "You're one to talk," Tetsuya muttered under his breath as he finished off his bowl. "How dare you?" she leered at the boy, feigning offense. She scooped up the leftover gruel in her bowl with her finger and playfully wiped it off on the boy's nose. Tetsuya stared at Chelsea, then down at the leftover gruel in his bowl, then back up to Chelsea. As soon as he scooped up a finger full of gruel, Chelsea had already bolted away laughing. Tetsuya gave chase, determined to give his companion a taste of her own medicine. The boy chased his companion all over the village. For someone as tall and hefty as her, Chelsea was deceptively quick and agile. Even though Chelsea was in the lead by a comfortable margin, Tetsuya refused to let up. After all, they were both having way too much fun. Their chase brought them just outside of Lord Edwards tent. The adventurers stopped right away as soon as they noticed the Queensguard watching them. "Apologies, my lord," Chelsea tried to make up an excuse for their juvenile behavior. "We were just..." "No need to explain," Lord Edward smiled at them. "It warms my heart to see two young adventurers enjoying their youth." "Will we training again this morning, my lord?" Tetsuya asked, trying to catch his breath. He wanted to learn as much as he could from the master swordsman while he had the chance. Lord Edward thought for a moment. "Actually, I have a favor to ask of the two of you," he replied. "I would like the two of you to patrol the area outside of the village." "The village chief told me that this task is usually done by his hunters, but I would like to spend as much time working with them today." Lord Edward explained. "These hunters have the most experienced handling weapons, and they'll be the ones most capable of defending this village when we leave. So, I want to impart them with as much knowledge as I can." "Don't worry, you can count on us!" Chelsea said enthusiastically. "We'll help in any way that we can," Tetsuya added. "Good to hear," Lord Edward said, quite pleased at the pair's enthusiasm. "Remember to keep a low profile. Eliminate any threats that you can, but do not engage any threats that you can't handle." "This shouldn't be too difficult," Tetsuya thought to himself. "After all, it's just a routine patrol. What's the worst that could happen?" The two adventurers hid themselves, crouching behind some bushes. “What are those?” Tetsuya asked, watching thoroughly horrified at the sight that laid before him. “Giants wasps,” Chelsea whispered her response. “Well, a nest of giant wasps to be more precise.” They watched from a distance as giant wasps the size of vultures buzzed around their nest menacingly. The flying abominations of nature brandished their stingers, like belligerent drunks brandishing their swords in a bar fight, daring anyone or anything to step into their territory. “Are they poisonous?” Tetsuya wondered. “Venomous,” Chelsea corrected him. “What?” the boy asked, turning to his companion. “Nightshade is poisonous, ” she explained. "Giant wasps are venomous The boy stared at her with a blank expression on his face. “Organisms that are poisonous unload their toxins into your body when you eat them," she explained further. "Organisms that are venomous inject their toxins into your body through their bite or their sting." "Thanks," the boy said halfheartedly. "I feel so much better knowing the proper terminology for how these things are about to kill me." “Don’t worry though, giant wasp venom isn’t particularly strong.” the half-orc reassured him. “In fact, giant wasps need to sting you multiple times to inject enough venom to kill you. Here’s the kicker though, their venom also has a strong paralytic effect. So what they do is sting you until you’re too immobilized to escape, then they pump your full of venom until it eventually kills you.” “You’re lying,” Tetsuya said. “That’s not real. That's way too horrible to be real. You’re just trying to scare me.” A wild boar approached the nest, foolishly confusing the giant wasps with giant bees. Giant bees are docile creatures that only defend themselves when they feel threatened. They are hardworking creatures that pollinate flowers and produce honey. But these are not giant bees. These are giant wasps. They do not pollinate flowers. They do not produce honey. The only thing they know how to do is fuck shit up. The giant wasps descended upon the wild boar, driving their deadly stingers into its body like a group of conspirators driving their daggers into the body of a dictator on the Ides of March. The wild boar squealed in pain and thrashed its body about, but the giant wasps were relentless in their attack. Within moments, the wild boar dropped to the ground motionless, the paralysis from the toxins finally setting in. It was difficult to tell at what point the venom kicked in and killed the beast. Tetsuya turned pale. “We have to exterminate them all,” Chelsea said. “How?” Tetsuya asked. "You just said these things are poisonous." "Venomous," she corrected him again. Chelsea’s face lit up. “I think I have an idea,” she said. “You can use your artifact to cast fire magic and burn their hive. That should take care of most of the giant wasps. Then we just kill the rest.” “Yes, let’s anger the giant wasps,” the boy said sarcastically. “I’m sure nothing could possibly go wrong with that plan.” “Look, if we don’t do anything about these giant wasps, they’ll be a huge threat to the people of the village. What if Aegeus or Kostas or Nerissa are out playing and they got attacked by one of these things?” “Fine,” Tetsuya conceded. “Let’s pick a fight with the giant wasps.” The boy held out his hand and began concentrating, gathering the environmental mana around him. “Try not to miss,” Chelsea whispered to him. Tetsuya cast a Fire, Grade I spell, engulfing the nest in a small burst of flames. The giant wasps that survived the magical attack immediately became even more hostile and agitated, if such a thing was even possible. “Chelsea,” the boy said as he drew his sword. “If I die here today, I just want you to know… That it was all your fault.” The half-orc smirked. “Quit stalling, we’ve got some giant wasps to slay,” she said as she gave her companion a playful shove towards the swarm of flying killing machines. Alerted of their presence, the giant wasps turned their murderous hostility towards the adventurers. A giant wasp flew straight at Tetsuya, the boy blocked its stinger with his buckler and followed up with a wrath cut, slicing the giant wasp's thorax wide open, its innards bursting everywhere. "That wasn't so bad," Tetsuya thought out loud. "I think I can do this. I think I might..." His train of thought was cut short as a giant wasp drove its stinger into the left side of his face. It felt as if someone had driven a molten hot fire iron right into his flesh. The boy screamed in pain and swung his sword and buckler wildly in an attempt to get the wasp away from him. It only served to further enrage the creature. It went back in for a second attack, this time stinging in the middle of the forehead. He dropped the wasp to the ground with a wild swing of his buckler, then bent down to thrust the blade of his sword through its head to finish it off. Tetsuya looked behind him to check up on his companion. Chelsea was holding her own, striking down giant wasp after giant wasp with her battle axe. Her eyes met his for a moment, then she got a good look at his face. "Gyahahaha!" the half-orc burst out into a fit of laughter as she continued to cleave the giant wasps in half. The boy could feel it, the site that the giant wasps had stung him was severely swollen. He had lumps the size of baseballs on his face. Another wasp landed an attack, this time on his other side of his face. He quickly got his revenge by cutting it down with a rising under cut, severing its head in a spectacular spray of blood. The damage was done, however. Now the boy had a third baseball-sized lump on his face. Tetsuya looked back at Chelsea and watched her finish off the last giant wasp. She grabbed it firmly by the antennae with her free hand so that it couldn't move, then cleaved its head in with her axe. The half-orc sighed as she wiped the blood and innards off of her leather armor with her one good hand. Her left arm had gone limp, the paralytic toxins only now taking its effect. Tetsuya noticed that she had a single lump on her shoulder, one of the giant wasps must have gotten a shot in on her during the battle. But other than that, she appeared to be fine. "Are you..." Chelsea couldn't stop herself from giggling. "Are you alright?" she asked. "I dingk I'm dyging," the boy replied, his face was so swollen that he could barely form his words. Chelsea tried her best to contain her laughter. "Sorry. It's just that your face..." she apologized, still trying to stifle her laughter. "Don't worry, it looks you only got stung three times," she said, examining the boy carefully. "That's not enough venom to kill you, at least not right away. Still, we should hurry back to the village as soon as possible so that Lord Edward can treat you with his healing magic," she said, looking around, trying to find her bearings so that they could make their way back to the village. Chelsea began to walk back to the village, but she stopped and turned around when she realized that the boy wasn't following her. She saw Tetsuya standing still, looking around, listening for something. "Hey Gelgee," the boy asked, "Whag's that noygs?" The noise was faint at first, like the gentle hum of a neon sign in a back alley. But the gentle hum gradually grew louder and more violent, like an orchestra of buzzsaws playing a violent symphony. Giants wasps, dozens upon dozens of them coming from every direction. Every single one of them highly agitated and poised to strike without mercy. "Shit. This is bad," Chelsea cursed under her breath. "Looks like that wasn't the only nest in the area." She looked around her, surveying the scene. There were far too many giants wasps to even begin to count. Judging by their numbers, she knew for certain that this wasn't a fight that they could possibly win. She turned to her companion. "You need to run, Tetsuya," she spoke to him softly, the usual jubilance in her voice was all but gone. "Whag abow gyoo?" the boy asked. He knew Chelsea was a fierce fighter, but even he understood that these odds were far too much to overcome, even for her. "If we both stay and fight, they'll definitely kill us where we stand. If we both try to run, they'll all come after us, and there's no way we can outrun them all." Chelsea explained. "The only way for you to survive is if I draw their attention and fight them off while you run away." "Nog!" the boy snapped angrily, realizing her intentions. "I'm nog leaving gyoo behingh to die gere!" Chelsea shook her head. "Listen, Tetsuya. It's the only way," she said firmly. Her decision was made. "I wong leg gyoo sagrifice yourgselg forg me!" Tetsuya insisted stubbornly. "Gyoor agways risging gyoor lige do proteg everygone elgs! Agways dingking abow everygone bug gyoorselg!" the boy poured his heart out into every word, not wanting to leave anything left unsaid. "Ang dags wag I log do much abow gyoo! Gyoor brayge ang selgless and gyoo hag a goog hargh. I hag neger meg andyone lige gyoo before, Gelgee!" he said, fighting back his tears. "Gyoo wang do sagrifce your lige to proteg me, bug gyoo wong leng meeg risg my lige to proteg gyoors? Dags bullshig ang gyoo know it! Gyoor my freng, Gelgee! Ang frengs dong leage frengs behing do die! I wang do fight by gyoor side! Togday, togmorrog, forgeger!" "Tetsuya..." Chelsea said softly. "I can't understand a single word of what you just said." "So I guess we're both just going to have to make it out of this alive so that you can explain it all to me later." she grinned as she held her battle axe tightly in her one good hand. Testuya grinned, or at least he tried to grin with his swollen face and all. "Legs doog digs!" he said, raising his sword in the high guard position. The giant wasps launched their attack. Tetsuya brought his blade down in an over cut, slicing a giant wasp in half. Another giant wasp came for him on his left side. He bashed it with his shield and struck it down with a high cut. He screamed in pain as a stinger struck his leg from behind. Tetsuya could feel his leg quickly going limp. Two more giant wasps pierced his other leg. The boy dropped to the ground, both of his legs completely immobilized. He rolled himself on his back, gripping his sword and shield tightly in his hands. A giant wasp swooped down to attack him, but the boy struck it down with his buckler with every ounce of strength that he had. Even with both of his legs immobilized, he had every intention to keep fighting until his very last breath. "Testuya!" Chelsea stood by the boy's side, determined to protect him. Even with the venom completely immobilizing her left arm, she cleaved away at every giant wasp that came near her and companion. But as valiantly as she fought, the numbers were far too much to overcome. A giant wasp struck her, burying its stinger in her leg before she could strike it down. She felt her leg going limp and feared for the worst. She knew that at the rate that things were going, there was no way she could protect her companion, not at the state that her body was in. Chelsea gritted her teeth and dug down deep. She refused to give up without a fight. She refused to lay down and die. Chelsea fought fiercely, cutting down a giant wasp with a swing of her battle axe. A storm of arrows rained down from the sky, striking down about a dozen giant wasps with deadly precision. For a moment, when he saw the arrows flying, Tetsuya thought that it might have been the group of novice archers from the village coming to their aid. But of course, that was impossible. The accuracy of those shots was far beyond their skill level. He turned towards the direction that the arrows came from, what he saw was not a group of archers working in tandem, but a lone faun standing in the distance with a bow in his hand. The giant wasps redirected their murderous rage towards the faun, seeing him as a threat that needed to be eradicated. They advanced towards him like a flying army of death, brandishing their stingers at their prey. Without missing a beat, the faun continued his relentless flurry of attacks. He held his drawing arm out in the air and a handful of arrows materialized in his hand. He fired the arrows in quick succession, taking down a giant wasp with every shot. Some shots he lined up so perfectly that he took down two giant wasps with a single arrow. The archer used his nimble movements to keep the giant wasps at a safe distance, retreating strategically if he felt that his targets were getting close enough to land an attack. A quick back step, an evasive sidestep, his footwork was masterful. He nocked his arrows and released them without delay, seemingly firing off his shots with even properly aiming. Still, every single shot found its mark. The archer fired arrow after arrow until not a single giant wasp was left alive, turning the forest grounds into a mass grave for the giant wasps. The faun approached the adventurers and examined their injuries. He pulled out a handful of leaves and gave them to Chelsea. "Mandrake leaves," the faun explained. "It should mitigate the effects of the venom. At least until you get proper treatment." "Just chew them and rub the extract topically on the wound, right?" Chelsea asked. The faun nodded. He turned to the boy and examined his swollen face. He knew it would be difficult for him to chew the mandrake leaves himself. The faun knelt down beside Tetsuya and examined his body more closely as he chewed on a mouthful of mandrake leaves. Tetsuya finally got a closer look at the faun. His long, disheveled black hair complemented his sunkissed skin. His face was soft and feminine. His body was lithe and waifish. Unlike the fauns from the village, who wrapped the bodies in togas made of cotton, this faun wore a short skirt made of leaves and not much else. At that moment, Tetsuya made a startling revelation. The faun kneeling down beside him was a creature of legend, a mythical being known as a 'trap.' A boy so beautiful and feminine that he robbed innocent men of their heterosexuality. Tetsuya remembered the countless hours of scholarly debate that he and strangers on the internet had about the true nature of traps. Is fucking a trap gay? Only if your balls touch. It's not gay if he wears a skirt. Agree'd. Skirts are magical. There's literally nothing wrong with sucking a feminine dick. This thread is gay. Y'all need Jesus. The faun spat out a bit of the mandrake extract into his hand and applied the resulting ointment on the lumps on Tetsuya's face. His hand was surprisingly gentle, he took great care in not exacerbate the boy's injuries by handling him too roughly. Once he finished with Tetsuya's face, the faun moved on to his legs. He grabbed the boy's trousers and began to yank them down. "Wharg arg gyoo dooging!?" the boy protested. "You were stung on your legs, weren't you? I have to treat you." the faun explained. Tetsuya turned to Chelsea and watched her pulling up her trousers. She had already finished treating her own injuries. Without warning, the faun yanked down Tetsuya's trousers down to his ankles, with his undergarments along with it. "Sorry," the faun apologized as he pulled the boy's undergarments back up, but not before Chelsea could sneak a peak. "Wow, you're small, even for a human," Chelsea said, trying her best to contain her laughter. "Ig changed my mind," Tetsuya said. "Just go aheag and let the poigon gill me." "Venom," Chelsea corrected him once again. The faun finished treating the boy's injuries and pulled his trousers back up. "Give it a couple of minutes," the faun said, addressing the pair. "The ointment should take effect soon." "Thanks for your help," Chelsea said to him. "We'd probably be dead by now if it wasn't for you." "Don't mention it," the faun replied, brushing his hair away from his face.

"Back there, when you made the arrows appear in your hand. How did you do that?" Chelsea asked curiously.

The faun grinned. "It's pretty simple," he explained. "I cast Plant, Grade I to form the basic shape of the arrow out of wood, then I use Alchemy, Grade V to turn the arrowhead into steel and the fletching into feathers."

"That's insane," Chelsea shook her head in disbelief. "You would need to have a ridiculous amount of mana control to pull that off."

The faun held out his hand and gave Chelsea a demonstration. He materialized a single arrow and handed it to the half-orc. It was almost too quick to notice, but it was exactly as the archer had described it. "You're not from the village, are you?" she asked, taking note of his strange choice of clothes. "Galanis' Village? No, I don't live there," he replied. "I do drop in to check up on them every once in a while. Just to make sure that they're okay."

"I have an outpost in the Forest of Artemis, but I don't spend most of my time there either," the faun added. "I mostly just wander the Wildlands, looking for whatever trouble I can get myself into." "My name is Chelsea, by the way. And that's Tetsuya" she said, formally introducing herself and her companion. "Hey. Nice do meeg gyoo." the boy said as he struggled to stand up back on his feet. The ointment had not fully taken effect yet, and his lower body was still partially paralyzed. The boy stumbled and lost his balance, but Chelsea caught him in her arms. "We should head back to the village," the faun suggested. "You two shouldn't be out here until you're both fully healed."

"Goog idea," the boy mumbled as he leaned on Chelsea for support.

"I didn't catch your name," Chelsea said, turning to the faun.

"My name is Alexis," the faun replied. "Alexis Forrester."