In the middle of the sea, a heavy storm rained down, tossing the ocean, where Arthur and Serena stood facing a mythological creature from the depths of the sea... the Hydra. Arthur prepared to leap from the ship's stern, chanting a fire spear spell.
"Take this, you bastard!!!" he ready shouted, running to get a good stance, his steps quickening as he dashed on the stern. When he saw that the ground was running out, he swiftly cast wind magic on both his legs, making them as light as feathers.
He jumped immediately, but the Hydra quickly turned its gaze towards Arthur, its mouth opening to launch an attack. However, from the lookout tower, Serena gripped her bow, surrounded by wind magic. An arrow was shot, soaring through the air rapidly, even the rain couldn't divert its path.
The arrow pierced the Hydra's protective layer, and unable to see Arthur in the air, the Hydra fired a stream of heat from its mouth that missed Arthur entirely.
Arthur quickly seized the opportunity, landing both his feet on the Hydra's head, then stabbing its eye with his damaged spear. The Hydra felt pain, thrashing wildly, forcing Arthur to fall. Luckily, Serena used her magic to pull Arthur back to the main deck of the ship.
"Serena, explode it now!" Arthur was thrown to the ship's deck.
"I know," Serena created a new magic circle, triggering her arrow shrouded in wind to explode and fill Hydra's head with very strong air.
Before long, the air reached Arthur's fire spear, causing the flames to spread and fill all the spaces filled with that dense oxygen, burning Hydra from the inside.
However, Hydra did not fall; its burned head slowly turned to ash and fell away, replaced from within by a new head that slowly emerged.
At that moment, the ship's crew continued firing relentless attacks, but not a single attack could deliver a fatal blow, only scratches and minor wounds could be inflicted on the Hydra.
At the same time, Serena and Arthur were still reciting their spells.
"Seriously, who gave the casting sheet for this underwater fight scene with Hydra?" Arthur muttered to himself.
"What?" Serena asked in return, having caught Arthur's mumbling.
"Nothing, how many more times until the Hydra falls?" Arthur asked, looking at Serena.
"Four more times left, we've killed it five times already," Serena replied, slightly embarrassed by Arthur's gaze and avoiding his eyes.
The wind with warm air blew strongly, making the cold raindrops around them barely felt anymore, and the rain gradually began to subside.
The new Hydra head had just grown perfectly, and they both had finished preparing their magic.
"We end this in one attack!" Arthur was filled with enthusiasm as he prepared to launch the final strike.
"I know," Serena had also finished preparing her magic circle.
"I never thought this day would come. In the past, just surviving against a few demon soldiers was overwhelming, but now..."
"I can fight here against a legendary creature because that person came, Arthur..." she thought to herself, at the same time showing a hint of tenderness on her firm face towards the man standing next to her.
"Now!" Arthur initiated his final attack.
He stepped faster, faster, and then jumped when he reached the edge of the deck, landing on the head of the Hydra and freezing it.
Meanwhile, Serena used her wind magic, quickly pushing with the wind spell to start a whirlwind, until the wind was strong enough to lift the Hydra into the air.
The Hydra, unable to think, could do nothing, slowly its body started rising out of the sea until it was swept up into the air by Serena's wind magic.
Arthur quickly jumped down towards the sea.
"Alright, here it is! Freeze!" Arthur's magic circle grew larger, and the area of the sea gradually began to freeze.
After that, as the sea froze, the Hydra fall from the air, its huge body crashing into the frozen ocean.
"Alright, everyone attack!" Serena shouted, igniting the fighting spirit of the entire crew. They all dashed agilely across the slippery ice terrain, launching their best attacks.
Elsewhere, Arthur, exhausted, sat in silence, not moving at all; he couldn't even lift his hand. "Ah, I can't even stand anymore, how annoying," he thought. Yet, despite saying that, he felt relieved that the Hydra could do little more. Watching everyone unleash their all-out attacks on the Hydra made him feel calmer.
Without the ocean, the Hydra became weak, it couldn't even fire any strong attacks. Slowly afterward, the ocean returned to normal, and everyone gathered back on the ship. Serena, along with the crew, was making repairs when she saw Arthur being carried by other crew members. He could only sit weakly in the forecastle of the ship, hardly moving.
Worried, Serena quickly left her place and walked towards the forecastle. However, her steps halted again in front of the door as she remembered who Arthur was to her. But this time, she ignored it and walked straight in. After pausing for a moment, she bravely stepped inside.
Arthur saw Serena enter. "Hey, what are you doing?" he asked Arthur condition, worried something happens when they fight before,
"Nothing, I just need a rest," she replied, quickly going to the other side and sitting there with a slightly embarrassed expression.
The ship slowly began to move again, and they spent their time in silence, not speaking anything.
---
Two days ago, Mansion
A loud noise was heard from the backyard. Serena and Tiara, who heard the sound from the study, immediately got up from their places and rushed towards the source of the noise.
Pertkins, was stuck in a tree, tried to climb down slowly. He managed to get down but fall hard into the ground.
Meanwhile, Arthur and Talia fell right into the grass, their bodies filled with the scent of leaves. They stood up slowly, helping each other. Sebastian landed perfectly by himself.
Arthur stretched his body in to his sudden movement. Not long after, his gaze shifted.
His Compass was lost!
Panic was the first thing he felt. Arthur hurriedly searched for his Compass, looking among the bushes, not caring how sharp the thorns of the bushes were, he continued searching until he found it.
"Where is it? Where?"
"Ah, found it," Arthur was just happy to find his Compass, but soon his expression tensed again, the Compass was in a messy state, with several parts scattered.
Accidentally, his hand brushed against Talia's hand, who was also helping him look for the missing parts.
Fortunately, all the pieces were found, but one part was broken.
From the side of the Mansion, Serena and Tiara were seen running to check the backyard. Arthur saw Serena running, and Tiara also noticed everything, including a familiar face.
"Talia..." Tiara stopped running for a moment, seeing someone she loved right in front of her. Without realizing it, tears streamed down her face as she took slow steps, which quickly turned into a run, not looking where she was headed.
"?" Talia saw her too, a girl running towards her. Although she couldn't see her face, she knew the crying girl was Tiara. She opened her arms to hug Tiara. Her tears couldn't be held back, and soon tears began to fall from Talia's dull face as they comforted each other in their embrace.
Everyone who saw them could only let the two remain in their own world.
"You did it," Serena looked at Arthur with a faint smile on her face.
"... Yes," Arthur could only return that small smile with his tired face.
That night, everyone gathered, sitting around the living room.
"So... what's going on?" Arthur was curious about why they were gathered.
"You ask why?" Serena shot an intimidating gaze at Arthur, her face with a creepy smile seemed to be trying to threaten Arthur's life.
"Of course, it's about them. At first, I thought you only brought Talia here, but it turns out you brought two more people along."
"So you really want to live comfortably, huh? I'm sorry if our family can't provide you with such good service. If that's the case, why not just marry the daughter of a wealthy family?" Serena showed her frustration, her increasingly scrunched-up face becoming more intense.
Watching their argument, the others could only remain silent, as if they were not there. Soon, Serena used her magic and threw Arthur against the wall.
Thud!
"Ouch… that hurts! What was that!"
His gaze grew more intimidating, a cold aura made Arthur's whole body tremble in fear. Slowly, he stood up and backed away to his chair. "I don't have time for this; I have to leave for the dwarf land the day after tomorrow," he said, but he couldn't bring himself to meet Serena's terrifying expression.
"Hey, are you going there?" Pertkins responded to Arthur's words, curious about what Arthur would do.
"Yes, I need to fix my Compass," Arthur diverted his gaze to his broken Compass on the table. "That's why I want you to come with me, Pertkins," Arthur replied to Pertkins' question.
"Eh... Sorry, I can't," Pertkins was surprised to hear Arthur's words, his expression suddenly turned sour.
However, Pertkins didn't let it end there, he informed Arthur about some people who might be able to help him when he arrived there, also discussing the issues currently happening in the dwarf kingdom. Their conversation became more serious than expected, and Serena could only listen to what the two were talking about while the others sat quietly the whole time.
"Eh? I didn't think it was that bad," Serena felt worried as her hands couldn't stop trembling while listening to Pertkins' story. "If it's that severe, I think I'll join Arthur," Serena said seriously while looking at Arthur.
"Alright, if that's what you want," he said with a bored expression while fiddling with the Rubik's cube he had created with magic.
"Why are you so annoying?" Serena became a bit annoyed with Arthur's tone.
Not long after, Talia interrupt the conversation.
"Um... Sorry to interrupt, but we also want—" However, Arthur cut her off, "Oh, you're going to work here as maids, of course, you will be paid fully for your work, don't think about leaving here, got it?" Arthur emphasized Talia and Tiara's position in one go. They both fell silent and accepted it just like that, but the sigh of relief they showed was a signal that they accepted Arthur's offer.
"You too, Sebastian, from now on you will also be a servant here, please take care of all lives in this Mansion," Arthur looked at Sebastian hopefully for him to accept it.
Sebastian, still confused about his current situation, couldn't say anything, but he also breathed a sigh of relief, which Arthur took as acceptance.
Arthur smiled faintly at the three of them, and the conversation that night ended, as they all returned to their room, resting until morning came.
The next morning, Pertkins gathered his things to prepare to continue his journey. The farewell became a joke for Arthur, Pertkins, and Talia as they spent their last moments together laughing.
Not long after, a young carriage arrived, and Pertkins quickly left, waving his hand and saying goodbye.
"He's gone, if his journey is over, I think it wouldn't hurt for him to work for us, right?" Arthur said, hoping to get a response from Serena.
"Don't get your hopes up too high, maybe that will happen when you're dead," Serena replied with just enough that she felt was sufficient, and then she went to prepare her things for the departure to the dwarf kingdom, the Kingdom of Roland.