The F Ranked Journey (BL)

Nate POV:

Before Lars gave me from his sandwich, I hadn't eaten anything in the last five days. It is a good thing that water could be found around every corner, since a river passed through Mirstone, but food was difficult to come by.

The water was good for drinking, yes, but only after it was boiled. The fish, which were once abundant, were now no longer so plentiful. 

I could still remember the good old days. Days during which I would go with dad and mom to the river's edge, and spend an afternoon waddling through the water, as dad tried to catch us dinner.

Which never worked out. Stephen was a king, and he had always depended on his servants for such things. The people wanted from him not to know how to fish and hunt, but to lead soldiers. And he did that with an air of calm competence. 

My mother, Sybil, whom most people held as responsible for the holy war raged against us, was not like dad. She was born a demoness, and she had never depended on anyone to give her food on a plate. No, she was the one to catch fish after fish. The one who would chuckle, as we, dad and I, would try to clean the fish afterward.

Mom would only shake her head, and take the fish from us. Always with a smile, a little bit unbelieving that we couldn't do something so simple as cleaning fish.

If it wasn't for her demonic powers, I would have died days after being deposed from the throne. Her blood healed me completely every time I ate. That was something the people soon found out.

Merchants would only sell me food, if I was willing to pay at least five times the real price. Hunting and fishing weren't something I learned for fun, as I once did, but something I learned to survive.

And now I was faced with the fact, that I had promised Lars a date at a restaurant. There was no restaurant in Lergo, which would serve me without taking away all of my possessions. 

How do I tell that to Lars? It was obvious that he didn't know who I was. Had he known, he would have never agreed to hold my hand. I was the plague for everyone who remembered my mother. 

The funny thing was, that if it was not for mom, we would have lost the war. Dad died early on, and it was Queen Sybil who assured us the victory. She didn't deserve to be poisoned by the bastards from Arkano.

The people of Lergo thought themselves as very kind, when they called away the guards on that night, but that was something I can never forget or forgive. I knew who had suggested it. Would stop at nothing to get my justice. Lars didn't have anything to do with that, and I wanted to stop my hate from showing on my face, but it was hard.

"Nate, now that we are a party, do you think we could take a quest?" he asked me, unsure. I nodded because I needed money, and a quest would earn us at least enough for a warm meal. The sandwich, which Lars had shared with me, was good, but I needed something more. More meat, more vegetables. Otherwise, my body would not recover soon enough, and no one would want to give me a hard quest as I was.

"Yes, lets. Do you have any preferences?" I still didn't let go of his hand. The only thing I wanted, was to never let him go. My mother had told me more than once to be careful with whom I imprint, but Lars was not like other people.

He didn't see me as the half-demon who I was. No, he saw just a boy in need. More I didn't need to know.

Together, we went to the quest board, which was taken out of the guild on this bright April afternoon. Just so we, F rank beginners, could pick a quest which won't end up with us dead.

As I looked through the options, I noticed that the most quests paid no more than 50 copper coins per person. Bread costs more. Yet, the most beginners took quest after quest, even grinned so, as if they had luck that they could take such a quest at all.

Lars was grinning as well, as he reached towards a simple E rank quest. I read the details quickly, but it was just a house-sitting quest. 

No, my gaze was locked on a quest which was at the very bottom of the quest board. There was apparently a gigantic boar, which was terrorizing the surrounding farms. I reached out for the quest, and Lars sucked in a breath.

"Nate, it says here that the boar is at least five meters long," I could understand him. He was a healer, and I didn't have any weapons on me. Well, no weapons he could see. My arms and legs were weapons enough, and my bite was poisonous. 

The perks of being the son of a demoness.

He had no way to find out all those things about me. I needed the money.

"Hey!" we heard a voice behind us. There was this boy, who was at least two meters high. He was trying to get pass me, his gaze locked on the boar quest. "I want this one."

"I saw it first," I said, but Lars started to wave his hands.

"We could take it as a squad, right?" the jealousy welled up inside me. No, Lars didn't know that I had started the process to romance him. An imprinting was just a way to show a human that you found him or her interesting. It was in no way binding, no matter what the humans thought. 

The truth was that Lars saw this boy, and had more faith in him, than in me. 

"Sure!" and it seemed that the boy was ready to share. I didn't have any illusions that he acknowledged me as someone who was strong. No, Lars had changed into his healer robes, and healers were hard to come by. 

Everyone wanted to be in a party with a healer. I just hoped that was the only reason why a boy built like an Adonis would smile so brightly at Lars.