User blog:Thrycius/Zheiro and The Moonlight Sculptor: Chapter 6

'''Disclaimer: This is a crossover fanfic between Brave Frontier and The Legendary Moonlight Sculptor. I don't own either of those; they belong to their respective owners, namely Gumi/Alim and Nam-Hi-Sung (남희성) respectively.'''

'''Disclaimer (extended): This crossover fanfic now also contains some elements from the Type-Moon universe, owned entirely by Kinoku Nasu. I don't own anything from there, either.'''

Is this your first time seeing this story? Go directly to chapter 1 here!

Zheiro was astounded.

He was told to practice the magic called Projection while his companion Thrycius cleared the way through the Cave of Flames.

And certainly, while that was exactly what he did, he didn’t expect them to be out of the Cave of Flames in less than two days.

“And we’re done!” Thrycius shouted out enthusiastically, pocketing the gem that appeared as he dragged Zheiro out of the caves. “Here we are at the next area! Back to practicing your combat skills, my friend!”

“Wait, wait, wait!” Zheiro exclaimed in protest. “You tell me to practice Projection, but I barely had any time to do so at all! And now I have to go back to fighting again!?”

In comparison to combat practice, trying to practice Projection was much easier on Zheiro. At least Projection didn’t hurt the way being smacked around by monsters did!

Not to mention Zheiro only had as much time to practice as Thrycius had to clear out the the Cave of Flames-- that is, less than two days.

There was no way Zheiro could learn anything properly in that short amount of time, not to mention how new he was to magic!

“Zheiro, I know you’re enthusiastic about learning magic, but trying to force your body to utilize more magic than it can handle can kill you,” Thrycius said with that annoying smile of his. “And your body still needs more training, so yes, you will be fighting again. This time the enemies won’t have that silly elemental advantage over you, so it should be easier on you.”

“Hold on. Using magic can kill me?” Zheiro asked, wanting to confirm.

“Well, using too much of it can,” Thrycius confirmed. “If you use more magic than you can handle at any one time you will start using your own life to cast the magic. I’m pretty sure you can imagine that’s not a good thing at all.”

“If that is the case, why didn’t you tell me this earlier?” Zheiro asked in outrage.

“Zheiro, do you really think you would be able to concentrate if your mind was clouded with fear?” Thrycius asked with his usual slight smile.

“As if being dragged through those searing hot caverns, surrounded by monsters, isn’t without distraction already!” Zheiro retorted.

A short pause followed as the two young men stared at each other, Thrycius still smiling. Zheiro was quick to give in, however.

“Okay, I suppose you are right about that.” Zheiro said with a sigh. “If I had to worry about accidentally killing myself, then yeah, I might not even have tried.”

“And there you have it.” Thrycius concluded. “Besides, I did promise that while we are to travel together for this particular journey, that I would do my utmost to prevent you from dying. So you shouldn’t worry too much, because I’ll stop you before you go too far.”

“Well, that’s good to know…” Zheiro started, before the full meaning of his companion’s words sunk in. “Wait, when did you make such a promise?”

“Why, it was in the terms of service agreement! You should really read those things before agreeing to anything, Zheiro.” Thrycius said, chuckling. “You did ask me to teach you moonlight sculpting, and keeping you alive just happened to be part of the agreement.”

“What terms of service agreement? You never said anything about it when we made the contract!” Zheiro protested.

“Why, that’s because you never asked.” Thrycius said with a laugh, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“Then, can I read it now?” Zheiro asked. It would be good to know exactly just what he did get himself into, after all—

“Nope.” Thrycius shot down his request, grinning even wider than before. “The contract is no longer tangible. If you want see what was written in it, you’ll have to master moonlight sculpting.”

“What does that have to do with anything?” Zheiro asked, exasperated. He had asked this question so many times already by now that he had already lost count! Seriously, why is it that his companion infuriated him so much at times? “Zheiro, my friend, think about it for a moment. Just like our contract, the moonlight is also intangible. If you can’t carve the moonlight, what makes you think you can hold an intangible contract and read it?”

When Zheiro finally took a single step out of the searing hot cave of flames, he froze in place by the new nature of the environment that surrounded him.

Without a second thought Zheiro immediately turned around and went back inside the caves.

“Zheiro? What are you doing?” Thrycius asked, turning around and tilting his head in curiousity. Despite the nature of his question, that slight smile was still on his face. “I would have thought someone like you would have wanted to get out of those fiery caverns as soon as possible, not head right back inside.”

“How is this even possible?” Zheiro asked, pointing outside at the frozen wasteland that covered the land just outside the caves. “I mean, it’s not even winter, and it’s impossibly hot in here, so how could there be snow right outside the caves? And more importantly, how did you not notice yourself?”

Indeed, Thrycius was standing in the snow as if it was completely natural for him to be there.

“Hm? It’s just snow, what’s so strange about it?” Thrycius asked, still smiling.

“I— You— What—” Zheiro stammered, completely stupefied by the scene before him. “You know what, nevermind. I’m not even going to ask this time.” Zheiro said, shaking his head as he gave up trying to understand the scene before him.

“If you want, I could tell you another story about how this came to be,” Thrycius said, still giving off his trademark smirk, “Ah, but alas, that might time away from you ever reaching your goal. Oh, the predicaments that bards such as myself must face due to impatient listeners!” Thrycius lamented dramatically, throwing his hands in the air in mock despair.

Even Zheiro could tell it was all an act, but he got the point.

“I get it, I get it, I won’t complain about the time you take to tell stories,” Zheiro said, feeling defeated for some reason. “Come on, I only asked about it once.”

“Ha ha ha ha,” Thrycius laughed it off, clearly not really annoyed by it at all. “That’s quite wonderful to hear, Zheiro. But more importantly, how long are you going to hide within the Cave of Flames? We have still have a long way to go.”

“Long enough to for me to put on more layers of clothing before I step out there again.” Zheiro replied in annoyance.

It’s not that Zheiro hated the cold, but rather he was completely unprepared for it, having been surrounded with overwhelming heat for the past 2 days. If anything, Zheiro normally would have welcomed the change, if it weren’t for the fact it was so sudden.

With a sigh, Zheiro finally followed his companion out into the cold.

Progress was slower than Zheiro had expected—although he no longer had so much trouble fighting off enemies, trudging through the snow slowed them down and exhausted them rather quickly.

Well, it was exhausting for Zheiro, anyway. Thrycius looked entirely at home here as walked and skipped and danced through the snow, writing or telling stories as he went.

“Don’t you ever get tired?” Zheiro finally asked one day, panting for breath after a rather tough battle fighting a group of merman.

“Hm? Why? It’s not like I’m actually doing anything difficult or exhausting,” Thrycius said, completely ignoring the fact he had been moving far more than Zheiro everyday outside of battle. “Besides, if you recall I am attuned to water, so I feel right at home here.”

“Is that how these things work?” Zheiro asked, not really expecting an answer.

“Who knows?” Thrycius said with a mysterious smile.

Zheiro blinked. “I’m surprised. There’s actually something you don’t know. Didn’t you have a story explanation for everything?”

“I’m just a bard, not an omniscient god,” Thrycius said, smirking as if what Zheiro said was the most ridiculous thing he had ever heard. “I may happen to know a lot of things, but I don’t know everything. If I did, wouldn’t that put me on a level higher than even the gods?”

Zheiro had nothing to say in response to that.

“So how long do you think it will take before I learn moonlight sculpting properly?” Zheiro asked one day.

“Well, that depends on a number of things, but… Zheiro, how long did it take for you get as far as you are now in sculpting?”

“Hm… I know it took me many years of practice.” Zheiro replied after some thought. He didn’t remember exactly when he started, but he did remember that it took a lot of effort resulting in cut fingers and lopsided sculptures.

Not to say that he was bad at sculpting for many years, but to get to the level of skill he had now? That took a lot of effort on Zheiro’s part.

“Then you can expect to take at least around that long to learn moonlight sculpting,” Thrycius answered lazily. “After all, you have to learn a few new various things from scratch.”

“I see…” Zheiro responded, slightly offput by how long his companion had estimated it would take him.

“Hey, I’m sure it will be worth it in the end,” Thrycius said. “Being the only one of this day and age to master such a legendary technique is no joke. If anything, you should be proud to be chosen.”

“Well, I suppose you’re right,” Zheiro replied.

To be honest, Zheiro never cared for fame, power, or money. He just wanted to fulfil the promise he had made all those years ago, and mastering moonlight sculpting was the way to achieve it.

“Of course, at the rate that we are going now, you can expect us to take twice as long,” Thrycius interjected with his usual smirk. “But feel free to continue dragging yourself through the snow, taking breaks earlier and more often to deal with exhaustion, and setting up shelters in time before night falls.”

“Hey, weren’t you the ones who said all those things were necessary when travelling through this kind of terrain?” Zheiro asked, annoyed.

“Well, if you’re worried about wasting time you could always risk your life charging your way through the snow instead,” Thrycius remarked casually, “Just try not to get hypothermia and freeze to death along the way, that would make things a bit difficult.”

“A bit difficult, he says,” Zheiro muttered sarcastically. “I get it, I’ll take my time and follow you like always. Happy?”

“Why? It’s your own life at stake here, you should be the one feeling delighted.” Thrycius retorted with a grin.

With a sigh, Zheiro simply palmed his face, deciding that replying wasn’t worth it.

In the end, it took them a few weeks to clear the Egor Snowfield—and it was mostly because their progress was impeded by the snow.

Hopefully, Zheiro thought, the rest of their journey wouldn’t ever be impeded as badly as they were here.

“Everytime I come here, I can’t help but be awed by the sculpture you so proudly display here.”

Ixia looked up from the current dress she had been sewing together, meeting the gaze of the speaker who had quietly entered her room.

“I’m glad you appreciate the sculpture as much as I do, my Queen,” Ixia replied, getting off her seat as she knelt down to bow. She was quickly stopped, however.

“Oh please, there’s no need bow when it’s just the two of us here, Ixia,” the Queen said, taking a hold of her arms with the intent to pull her up. “We are friends, are we not?”

“But this is how I show my respect to you as my queen.” Ixia stubbornly replied, keeping her head bowed. “And I fear that if I grow accustomed to not showing you at least this amount of respect, I will forget to do so when it really is required of me. But more importantly, what brings you here today, unannounced?”

“Can a Queen not take the time to visit her servants when she so wishes?” the queen asked rhetorically, shaking her head with a sigh.

“Well, yes, but I would prefer it if you announced yourself beforehand so I could make my room and myself more presentable for your visit.” Ixia replied.

“But that’s bothersome, for both you and me. Why should I announce myself every time I wish to go somewhere? I may be of high status, but to have even the discreet and private parts of my life be announced is going too far, I think. Or rather, your overly polite act just made things more stifling when I came to visit you not as your queen, but as your friend.”

”And is there anything wrong with preparing for a friend’s visit?” Ixia asked.

“Well… no.” The queen conceded, crossing her arms.. “But it’s not like you would have done much different in preparation if I had announced myself beforehand, however.”

“Hahaha. You got me there,” Ixia laughed freely, a grin finally forming on her face as she finally raised her face. It didn’t last long, however, as Ixia’s face quickly turned serious. ”More importantly, I’ve been meaning to ask. What happened to the messengers that the King promised to send to Zheiro? It’s been over half a year since he said he would send them, and there has yet to be any word from them.”

“Oh, that? If I recall correctly, initially there was some trouble trying to locate your friend. The last time he was seen he was all the way at the Imperial’s Capital Randall, but that was also nearly half a year ago. You know, the center where all those new summoners have been gathering? After some investigation, it also turned out he had been adventuring lately, which made it even harder to locate him.”

“Adventuring? Why would he do that?” Ixia asked, perplexed. She had trouble thinking of a way adventuring would help the promise they made being kept.

“I… I don’t know, either. But I’m sure he’s doing it for your sake.” The queen replied. “And I did send my own messengers as well, just in case.”

“I can only hope he’s doing such a thing for our sake,” Ixia agreed. “But since it’s him, I doubt he would break our promise so easily. Anyway, since it’s a rare occasion for you to visit alone, let’s talk about something else, shall we?”

“Ah, certainly,” the queen quickly agreed. “Why don’t you tell me about the cloth you weave? Just like the sculpture displayed here, the clothes you make contain a beauty unlike any other I have seen. Where does your inspiration come from?”

And so, for the next few hours, Ixia and the queen laughed and talked about various things; a rare moment of enjoyment for two people who carried far more than they probably should on their shoulders.

''A/N: Sorry for the really really late update. However, there's some good news: not only are finals over, I graduated from University, so I'm done with school; thus, I can spend more time writing now that I'm in the mood again. ''

''The bad news (at least for those who like reading whatever nonsense I write) is that I have to go look for a job now which may eat quite a lot of time, but at least I should be able to write more often than before. On the other hand, I don't really have a proper editor/proofreader anymore so that might slow down my update speed.''

''Anyway, about this chapter. To be honest, it feels more like a filler chapter where I was just trying to throw in specific jokes that would only work in that area. Well, things will probably begin kicking up next chapter, so look forward to that. Now, time for me to go catch up on everyone else's writing...orz''

''Anyway, please leave a comment even if you didn't like it; constructive critism is always helpful. Thanks!''

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