"Geez, you really haven't changed!" Beanie told him, mocking. He then elbowed Garan, his expression turning sly, "Hey, tell me. How'd you two… you know, transition to lovers?"
Garan didn't answer him, though his pace hastened forward, to the point that Beany struggled to follow.
"Hey!" Beanie yelled, cackling when he saw Garan's ears a bit red. "Stop running away!"
The team watched their interactions with complicated expressions. Other than in relation to his wife, their captain had never been so uncharacteristically… human. It seemed that the captain placed a high importance on the reporter, as well.
Moving on from the topic, the old friends changed to Beany's family. "What about your wife? Do you have any idea where she is?" Garan asked, shifting the topic off him.
The two of them reunited when they accidentally met on a mission related to Fargo. Garan actually knew he had been married by virtue of his wedding ring, but he never met his wife.
Beanie was also a wife slave and was successfully distracted from teasing his friend.
"I was too weak alone and couldn't go out to find my family." He said and with a smile looked at their team in admiration. "Now I can find them safely, preferably with all limbs intact."
"Well, we'll help you train. Most of the monsters here wouldn't add any experience to us, anyway, not even the copper."
"Really? I owe you!!"
"We owed you first," Garan said as they moved forward. Before they could go far though, the stoic man couldn't help but ask again. "Was that all you know about her?"
Beany nodded apologetically. "Yeah, I was in isolation for a while after that. I wasn't able to contact her at all until all this happened." He said, as he was imprisoned for months after revealing government 'secrets' about their disappearance.
"I was only able to call my wife, but I was too far to reach them in time."
Fortunately, Beany was freed for about a week before the disaster, or else he'd have been guilty for life.
"I'm sorry for you."
"No, I did a lot for myself." He said, "It's very hard to get a good scoop. I've been stagnant for so long, I wanted to make my wife proud."
Beanie's face because soft in remembrance of his beautiful wife. "When I married her, I promised heaven and earth you know. How else would I win such a beautiful woman??"
It was not entirely for Garan or Althea, but to get a big scoop to bring pride to his beautiful wife. He had always pictured her proud smile, telling him that she was glad she chose him.
"You must be thinking of your wife," Garan said after a while, making Beanie raise a brow.
"How'd you know?"
"You look stupid."
"Heh, you should see how you look when you talk about Althea."
Garan shrugged… and then proceeded to look stupid indeed.
Beanie could only cackle.
…
Hours passed as they traveled East and the team was now fighting another mob.
It was a relatively strong mob with a few level 9 monsters and a number of level 8 minions.
Luis, Plaridel, and Sammy, the lower leveled ones, dealt with rare monsters level 9 and above because it could still give them experience.
Fortunately, there weren't many of this level or the refugees nearby could only wait for death.
Sammy took out a level E bow he bought months ago. It would be too much of a waste to use his level D equipment—which generally handled monsters level 11 and above—on such weak monsters.
"Wind arrow," He called, and the poor damage of a level E attack increased by a notch, killing the monster in a couple of shots.
A moment later, using the same techniques, the dark-skinned man took down another one. There were four level 9 monsters in that mob, with the remaining lower-level mob killed early on.
Luis and Plaridel went directly against the four monsters, while the long-range attacker Sammy was protected by a wall of fire made by Plaridel.
It was thin, as Plaridel needed to manage energy use, but it was enough to redirect the monsters' attack for Sammy to make his shot and Luis to use his fire sword to deal with the other one.
"Fire Barrier," Plaridel chanted, forming another wall of fire around the remaining monsters to keep them in place. The monsters roared as they were burned and Luis quickly slashed his weapon to deal with another one which had been greatly damaged by Sammy's arrows.
"Fire Slash!" He yelled, with unnecessary gusto, swiping his fiery blade at the beast.
BANG!
They watched it go down, finally reducing the four monsters to three.
One reason they chanted their attacks was not to look silly (the two of them would even argue it sounded cool), but uttering the names of the skills made them easier to manifest and solidify.
Aether was such an abstract thing, that using it to create complex attacks was a laborious task.
Not everyone had brains like the Captain or Gill.
Plaridel watched as the remaining monsters reached his firewall, and he immediately changed its form to trap them.
"ROAR!" The monsters roared in response, using their bodies in an attempt to get out. They didn't care if they were burnt.
Unfortunately for the monsters, they couldn't even cross the wall of fire.
This Fire Barrier was a type of firewall, but it was different from the firewall of a mere fire Elementalist. If it was by others, the monster could indeed cross and it would only cause damage to the monster.
The Fire Barrier had combined with his Shieldsman occupation, and those trapped inside would not only be damaged but also legitimately trapped.
This was a painful lesson he, and other Fire Sheildsmen, learned from those strong aborigines they fought against.
Sammy continued to shoot the Wind Arrow continuously, with most of them hitting good spots. Luis, on the other hand, waved his flame-covered sword. He relentlessly slashed and parried, the element doubling his attack power as well as its reach.
Beany watched all this in HD, unconsciously walking closer to the fight that he lost an eyebrow. Had he not been pulled back by the collar by Eagle, he'd have lost both.
Regardless of the eyebrow hair that remained, he was so very engrossed in what he was watching that he didn't take note of it at all.
"So… cool." He mumbled turning to the soldier next to him.
"Level ten right? Level ten and I'll be able to use elements right?" He asked, eyes bright with excitement. He had wind affinity. With this thought, he vowed to work even harder.
Soon, they encountered a small mob of monsters, disabled by the team, and killed by Beany. By the time the sky darkened and they had to rest for the night a few hours later, Beany was promoted from the base of level 3 to the middle of level 4.
"YES! I'll definitely make it up to you guys!" He yelled, calming down a bit as he helped the team set up camp.
The soldiers shrugged, not really minding the trouble at all. After all, a friend of the captain was also their friend.
Beanie refused to not be able to show his gratitude, however, and insisted on giving rewards. After a thought, he just promised them one of the best rewards he, personally, received. "I'll get my beautiful wife to make you her signature dishes!"
Sammy couldn't help but stare at the former chubby reporter in inquiry. He was really not attractive, how beautiful could his wife be?
So… in classic Sammy fashion, he asked.
"Tsk! You don't know. I prayed to different gods when I was pursuing her!"
He showed a printed photo of their family of four. "Here," He said, proudly presenting the photo. "I will also bless your eyes with my beautiful baby boy."
Sammy's eyebrows rose. It was indeed a beautiful woman and a cute child. He looked up at Beany, and then the picture again.
"Did you take a DNA test?" He couldn't help but joke.
"Youuuuuu!!!"
Beany gasped in great offense, grabbing the other man's shoulder to headbutt him. Unfortunately for him, Sammy was a soldier 10 levels stronger than he was and effortlessly avoided his attack.
However, Beany did not give up and he continued to run after the man to issue his revenge.
It was quite silly and quite a few people laughed.
"You… gasp… jerk… gasp." Beany mumbled bitterly, rubbing the sweat on his face.
Sammy's lips twitched. "Yes, yes, I was just joking," He said, handing the photo back to Beany. "The little boy has your inquisitive eyes."
All of Beany's annoyance was wiped away by the comment and he brightened up immediately as he hugged the photo. "Well, you got good eyes." He said, before sitting down next to the campfire Luis made.
Beany made sure to secure the photo in the space, of course.
It was just that… if Althea and the others were here, they'd recognize the woman and child in the photo. One of them was even a team member now.
Priya and Theo.