Halo (Etrian Odyssey Fanfiction)

Chapter 49

"Awe, hey kid, we're sorry, it was just a joke," one explorer held his hand out towards the hexer, grinning with a very obvious glint in his eyes, "Come on, we'll dry your clothes off and get you warm, yea?"

"Yea! Or you could join him in the water!" Eliath yelled, not moving from his spot as he chucked the large box overhand, hitting the explorer in the back and pushing him over the edge of the fountain and face first into the water, where he flailed like a fish as the hexer crawled away from him, eyes a little wide in shock.

Eliath stormed closer and sighed when he saw the crate had broken, and all the expensive silks were soaked, "Awe fuck, I'm so fired."

"What's your problem, kid?!" the four explorers left demanded, turning to him and watching as he dragged the crate from the water, wringing the silk out and wincing.

"I don't like people like you," he said, glaring at them, "Fuck off before I get another crate."

The four of them seemed like they wanted to protest and fight, but the man in the fountain water happily scrambled onto dry ground and started limping away, looking pretty freaked out, so his companions ended up following reluctantly after him.

Eliath watched them leave before he pulled more silk from the water, sighing in frustration, "That was stupid of me. Now I'm going to have to pay for all this damage. This sucks."

He turned away from the fountain to go tell his boss he'd fucked up, but stopped when he felt something snag the back of his shirt and turned to see the hexer was still kneeling in the water, leaning against the edge of it and holding onto Eliath with this... strange look on his face.

"Oh, sorry, I forgot about you," Eliath admitted, turning to the hexer and reaching out, helping him out of the water and smiling at him, "Are you okay? Did you hurt yourself when you fell?"

The strange man didn't answer, just stared at Eliath, who didn't mind the silence and just pulled his coat off his shoulders, pulling it over the hexer's shoulders instead, "Here. It's pretty hot out so your clothes should dry pretty fast, but use this until they do, okay?" he reached up and pushed the sopping bangs away, frowning when he noticed the strange gem imbedded in the hexer's skin, "What's this?" he asked, and the hexer tensed up before turning away, lifting his hands to fix his bangs to hide the gem, "Sorry, that's none of my business," Eliath apologized with a laugh, frowning a little.

This guy... he wasn't from the village. Eliath would have recognized him if he was. Was he travelling with someone, or... was he alone? If he was, then it would be wrong of Eliath to just leave him, especially with those five guys wandering around. They might come back.

"Hey... what's your name?"

The hexer paused, turning to give Eliath a quizzical look, "Lesai," he said softly, and Eliath smiled.

"I like that. I'm Eliath. Are you hungry? I can buy. Er, I'm probably gonna get fired for ruining that silk, but I can still pay for some lunch," he held his hand out for Lesai, "What do you say?"

The hexer stared at his hand in confusion before lifting his eyes to Eliath instead, slowly reaching out to set his hand in the survivalist's, not answering vocally, though his answer was clear.

That was the first day Eliath met Lesai, and it had turned into a companionship of five years, a hexer to join the growing guild Historia. Eliath never realized it before, because he was always so busy taking care of Sage, and Flandr, and Naylin, and Na'axri, but Lesai was... special. It wasn't until recently that he realized it, and now that he understood what that meant, ironically it was Sage who had unintentionally helped him with that, he wanted Lesai to know that he was special.