Trustworthy

“If you were going to hire me as a guard then you’d better start trusting me,” He told me.

I just glared at him. “I do trust you.”

He stared back. “Apparently, you don’t because you just wasted a spell to protect yourself when I’m here.”

“Well that was just a precaution,” I told him.

“That meant you don’t trust me!” He pointed out, frustrated with me.

“Well…” I didn’t know what to say. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust him. “I’m just not used to fighting with someone beside…” I confessed. “I’m usually alone.”

He looked at me, perplexed. “Alone? How are you doing these kinds of requests?”

I just shrug. “They're usually easy, but this one I knew needed help with.”

He pursed his lips at me. “Then why’d you choose me?”

“For one, I already know you,” I simply told him, “… and you were the most convenient.” Hopefully he didn’t catch the last part.

He gave me a look. “Well, thanks for that.” He sighs. “You know? it hurts when you trust in someone and they don’t trust you.” He looked at me with a hurt expression.

Guilt grew inside of me. “Look, I’m sorry! I promise to trust you more. And like I said I just need to get used to fighting beside you.” A thought came to mind. “But you don’t trust me either! You protected me even if you knew I had my spell up.”

He palmed his face and groaned. “It’s my job to protect you whether I trust you or not.” There was a pause before he spoke again. “But I do trust you. You’re an amazing mage, and since you hired me, protecting you is my top priority.”

I felt embarrassed and a little flattered. In a small voice, I told him, “sorry… and thanks…”

“It’s okay and no problem,” he reassured me. “C’mon, we should move as much as possible before night falls.” I nodded at his suggestion, and we started walking towards our destination.

The next time we fight, it was against several imps, ten of them, easily outnumbering us. It wasn’t as simple of a fight as there was a lot of them against only the two of us. At first I didn’t go all out with my magic because he was there, but I told him that I would trust him more, so I just let myself go. I was able to incinerate three of them with a lightening spell, trusting he was smart enough to not be in the way of the spell. But while I was casting the spell, an imp came from behind me. I didn’t get the chance to use a protection spell on myself, but he came to block the hit with his shield before retaliating with his sword, effectively killing the imp and turning it into dust.

I looked at him, “thanks,” and he just nodded before getting back into stance, focusing on the enemies in front of him. Four down, six more to go, and if they were going to be like this then this fight will be much easier than I thought. That was until I looked up. Curses, night was approaching, and the trees in the forest was blocking any remaining sunlight. The imps were growing in size and strength. I had to do something quick, so I raised my hand to cast a light spell to brighten up the place, but then I felt my wrist being grabbed.

“Allow me,” he said as he stared me right in the eyes. I nodded, and he let go of my wrist before turning back to the empowered imps. “You trust me?”

“Yeah,” I told him.

His sword started to brightly glow before he looked over to me again with a grin on his face. “You take half, I take half?”

I grinned and chuckled. “Alright.”

He smiled and he pointed his sword towards the sky before it let out a blinding light. Oddly enough the flash didn’t affect me, but all of the imps were stunned with blindness, making them easy targets. I charged up the same lightning spell before striking the closest three imps with a chain strike. The imps weren’t destroyed yet because of their strengthened form, but they were now stunned from the electricity.

I wondered how he was doing so I turned just to see him strike down his second imp, and I smiled; he’s doing fine. I closed my eyes and readied another spell, a different one this time. I breathed in then out before opening my eyes. The breathe I breathed out became frosty and traveled and expanded its way towards the imps recovering from their stun. The cold air wrapped around the imps, and their skin slowly turned frosty, slowing their movements towards me before freezing them completely. With a snap of a finger, the frozen enemies were shattered into brilliant dust.

I turned to see him watching me this time. He was looking at me with such awe. I didn’t know how to react, so I just bashfully scratched the back of my neck. “Too flashy?”

He chuckles. “You call that flashy then what did I do?” He was teasing me.

“Not flashy enough,” I teased back.

He laughs, then he looks at me. “It was beautiful—” His eyes widened at what he said. “I mean it was cool.” Then he caught himself again. “No pun intended.”

This time I laughed, and he became embarrassed. “Thanks.” I held my fist out with my palm up and concentrated for a second before opening it. A ball of light floated up and lit up the area around us. Then I walked up to him and patted him on his shoulder. “C’mon, we should find a place to set up camp for the night.”

He nodded and led the way while I followed behind with the light hovering over us. Minor demons like imps empowered or not won’t be bothering us, but stronger demons might want to give us a hard time. It was a risky move doing this, but we just needed it to see in the dark forest.

As we were walking, he asked me a question, “how long can you keep the light up?”

“For as long I need it to be up,” I told him. He stopped and turned to face me, observing me, checking me up and down. I knew what he was doing, so when he did that, I calmed my breathing, making it seem I was in tip top shape, but it didn’t matter because he noticed.

“You okay?” I wasn’t expecting for him to ask that.

“I=I’m fine,” I stuttered out.

He just grinned. “You’re a bad liar by the way.” I glare at him and he chuckles. “If you’re tired, then I can take a turn with the light.”

I just sigh, and I let go of my façade. “Yeah, okay… I’m a bit tired. You can take a turn.”

He smiled at me and his sword started to glow as my ball of light began to fade away. He was using his sword like a torch as he continue to lead the way. “You know what this reminds me of?”

I grew confused at his question. “Not a clue…”

“Hah, well this reminds me the time we first met each other.” I smiled at the memory.

“That was fun.” It really wasn’t because the first time we met was by chance, and he protected me. Much time had passed since then and the both of us had grown stronger. “How does this remind you of then?”

“Well, for one, you trusted me then,” he turned his head to let me see his smirk.

I just shook my head. “I had to.” I heard him sigh. “Without you there I would’ve been done for,” I added before I heard him chuckle again. “Thanks.”

“N-no problem…” He became quiet for a second. “Just doing my job.” Once he was done speaking, he stopped in his tracks, and he put a hand back at me. “Something’s here.”

I nodded before summoning back the ball of light. We could here stomping coming towards us, and he braced himself from getting hit. I heard a clang, and he was pushed back, almost knocking into me. The light revealed that the demon was a minotaur that charged towards us. The minotaur’s battle axe was up against his shield.

“Get back!” He shouted at me before shoving the axe back with his shield.

I did as I was told and put some distance between us. I began casting the lighting spell, and it struck the minotaur, damaging it and stunning it. That allowed for him to strike the demon a few times before it recovered from the stun.

The minotaur swung its axe again, and he used his shield to block it. He flinched at the impact of the hit. I grew a bit worried until I saw his fierce eyes. I was reminded to have trust in him, and my worry disappeared. I began casting another spell while he had the minotaur stalled.

He pushed the minotaur back again, and I used this opportunity to cast the fire spell I was channeling. A red magic circle formed underneath the minotaur, stopping it in place before a pillar of fire erupted from the circle. The demon roared in pain, and he took this chance to land the killing blow. He stabbed the minotaur right in the heart, turning it into ashes.

He was heavily breathing when he brought his sword down. “Well, that’s taken care of.”

I was a bit tired myself. “The campsite I used is just up ahead.”

He raised an eyebrow at me. “You’ve been here before?”

“Yeah, that’s how I knew I was going to need help,” I told him, “that minotaur was evident enough.”

He became thoughtful. “So you fought it before.”

“One like it. Apparently, they’re common in this area, which is unusual,” I confessed.

“Yeah… I thought it was odd seeing a minotaur here. They’re usually found in cave systems and not in forests like this one.” Another thought came to his mind. “Did you have trouble when you fought one by yourself?”

I pursed my lips before nodding. “Yeah… that was what made me think I’d needed help. We should probably hurry before more comes.” He agreed, and we moved on from that area. It wasn’t long before we hit a small cave on the side of a cliff.

He looked at me with skepticism. “You sure this is safe?” The both of us looked at each other. “Yeah, okay.” Another one of our growing unspoken communication. We were starting to fully trust each other. I smiled at him and he became bashful. “L-let’s just head inside before anymore demons come,” he said as he walked into the cave.

The campsite was just how I left it; the remnants of a campfire remained towards the end of the cave, two stakes were on the edge of the campfire, and rocks were lined around the firepit.

He began taking the top half of his armor off, so he was just in a shirt and his leg armor. He found kindle up against the wall and placed them into the firepit. I stepped towards him, and he placed a hand up to me. “Don’t, you need to rest up.”

I just sighed. “Okay…” I just sat behind him as he lit the tinder up. Along with the tinder, firewood was also lined up against the wall, so he got some and put them towards the sides of the campfire. As I sat there idled, a thought came to mind. “Why did you accept the quest?”

He turned to look at me with furrowed brows, confused at my question. “What do you mean?”

I pursed my lips, thinking of how to explain. “I mean, you knew it was going to be difficult with just the two of us, and yet you accepted the request.”

“Well, it was from you.” It was a quick response. “And I knew how strong you are, so this wouldn’t be too hard,” he added, not trying to sound too eager.

I was flattered. “Thanks for coming along then.”

He turned his head to respond to me, but then he saw me smiling at him. It took him a second longer to talk. “It’s… no problem…”

Once the fire had been made and taken care of, I walked towards the entrance of the cave. I wrote runes onto the floor of the entrance, creating a barrier for us to last us throughout the night.

When I got back to the fire, he stared at me. “I thought I told you to rest?”

“I just put down runes. Runes don’t use energy…” He eyed me suspiciously. “Only initially, but that’s all.” I clarified, and he sighed before going back to attend to the fire. I peeked over his shoulder and found that he was cooking some meat. “Now, where did you get that?”

“I always carry some cured meat in my pack.” He looked at me again. “What do you eat when you set up camp?”

I became a bit ashamed. “I… uh… I don’t…” He glares at me. “Un-unless I find some fresh fauna for meat.”

“I guess I’m treating you tonight then,” he remarked with a grin.

“If you call this a treat then what would a meal in the city be like?” I teased him.

“Oh you know, a home cooked meal rather than one at a restaurant.” He said to me while giving me a wink.

I laughed at him, and he looked insulted. “You better be an amazing cook then.”

He chuckled before going back to attending back to the meat. “Just wait a few more minutes, then you can judge me if I’m a good cook or not.”

I watched him cook as I waited. He took out some spices from his pack. “What do you bring with you in your pack?” I wanted to know because it got me curious.

“Just things to cook with,” he simply replied. I became silent before he took note of it and continued explaining. “Like spices, utensils, plates, pans, pots. You know, things to cook with.”

“That’s a lot of things to carry in your pack.” I looked at him and his physique. Well it was obvious that he was able to carry all of those things with no problem. He is a guardian after all.

“It’s all worth it when food tastes good,” he said with a smile. I laughed at that, then he began pouting.

“Sorry, no more teasing.” I smiled at him again. The smell from the steak was enticing, and my stomach growled at the aromatic smell.

This time he chuckled before bringing out two plates from his pack. He placed steak onto one of the plates and got a fork and a knife out before handing them to me. I grew embarrassed at my own hunger but accepted the plate anyways.

“I… um… I guess I was hungrier than I expected…” I confessed, and he just grinned at me, looking at me expectantly. I stared at the seasoned steak for a few seconds. It looks too good to be real, and the smell… it feels like a dream just staring at it.

“Aren’t you going to try it?” He asked, and I could hear a bit of worry in his voice. I nodded before slicing a piece off of the meat. I stared at it for another second. I knew it wasn’t going to be bad, but it’s been a while since I’ve had something that smells this good. I ate the piece I cut off, and it was more than I expected. It was delicious. “So how was it?”

“It’s delicious!” I call out without noticing how enthusiastic I was. Once I caught myself, I just stared at him while he laughed. My cheeks were growing flush and I turned away, embarrassed.

“So? Do you think this is a treat now?” He was being smug, but I had to give it to him. He proved himself that he was a good cook.

“Yeah, it is…” I admitted. I became quiet as I continued to eat.

He got himself a plate and turned to face towards me. He saw that I was being timid. “Tell you what. Once we’re done with this then I’ll treat you to a proper meal,” he told me with a smile. I simply replied with a nod. “You’re being awfully quiet.”

I lowered my head. “I’m just… not used to company…”

He raised one of his eyebrows. “How long have you been going at it alone?”

I was becoming ashamed again… “A few… no… several years, now? I think?”

He opened his mouth to say something but he opted not to. He could tell I was getting tensed. “Sorry if what I’m asking is making you uncomfortable…”

I looked up at him a bit surprised. “Oh, no, that’s not it… It’s just that… it’s been a long time since I had any company and that I just don’t remember how to act or what to do.”

When he realized I was telling the truth, he gave me a sweet smile. I grew bashful again and just continued eating the food in front of me. We finished our meals in relative silence. He took my empty plate and the dirty dishes before heading to the entrance of the cave with a bottle of water.

“Is that potable water?” I asked him. He checked the bottle before nodding at me. “Then let me help.” He knew what I was planning to do, and I was sure he would be against it, but I guess he couldn’t always stop me. We looked at each other then he sighed, resigning his stance. I smiled as I went my way towards him, and he just shook his head also smiling.

I crouched next to him and place a hand onto the ground in front of him. A blue magic circle formed and when I lifted my palm away a small spout of water came pouring out.

“Thanks,” was all he said before he started to wash the dishes with the water I provided.

“It’s the least I can do since you cooked.” I told him before I went back to the campfire to find a spot to settle down for the night. I folded my cloak longwise and laid it on the floor not too close to the heat of the fire, then I used my pack as a pillow. I lied there on my makeshift bed, with my back facing the heat, as I heard him walking back.

“So… uh… when does the spout stop?” There was a slight pause before he spoke again. “Sleeping so soon after eating?”

I turned over to look at him. “Well, there’s nothing else to do.”

“And that’s where you’re wrong,” he told me as he sat across of me on the other side of the fire pit. I just stared at him while he gave me a smirk. “We could talk for a while.”

I was taken aback by the suggestion, but I sat up anyways now looking at him at eye level. “So… what did you want to talk about?”

“First off,” he started, “what do I do about that?” He pointed to the water spout that I had made. The spell was still active and water was still pouring out of it. I had forgotten about that. With a snap of a finger, the water slowly stopped and the magic circle disappeared. “That solves that.” He chuckled. “How have you been? It’s been a while since we talked like this.”

It was weird that he was interested in my wellbeing, but if it was to pass the time then I guess that’s fine. “I’ve been doing well enough. Just doing taking on enough jobs to pay for travelling expenses. You know, the usual.”

“Not really.” He scratched the back of his neck. “I kind of settled in the city, so no more travelling for me.” It was a little surprising to hear that from him, but the fact that he’s an excellent cook gave me a hint. “Surprising isn’t it? Though it’s not all that bad.”

“A bit surprising, but because of how well you cook, I can’t imagine you cooking like that all the time while travelling without a trailer.” He had a small smile when I finished talking.

“Yeah… that was one of the main reason I got a place in the city.” He blankly stared into the fire. “Another was in hopes of meeting someone special.” He still had that sad smile on his face. “Call me a sap, but I’m constantly imagining living a life with someone. That’s why I became a guardian, to see who I was compatible with and see if anything could happen.”

I grinned at him. He’s a hopeless romantic from the sound of it. “So how is the search going?”

He simply shrugs. “I’m just going with the flow and see what happens next.”

I chuckled at him. “A bit laid back for something you’ve always wanted.”

He laughs at me remark. “Well, I’m living life in strides. And besides, there’s no use worrying over something that you have no control over.”

“What do you mean?” He got me confused.

“I mean, if it’s meant to be then it’ll happen naturally, don’t you think?”

I pursed my lips at that. “Sure, I guess it does…” That usually doesn’t work, not for me anyways. “But if you want something to happen then wouldn’t you have to make it work?”

“I see your point.” He held his own chin in thought. “Hmm… maybe that’s what I’m doing wrong?” I raise an eyebrow at him, and he just laughs. “I mean I haven’t really been trying. The only effort I put in is being a guardian and hoping to find someone compatible and that’s like the bare minimum. What about you? Have someone special?”

“I… uh…” He caught me off-guard. “No… I don’t.” This wasn’t something I really gave thought to. Thinking about it would seem nice. “It’s kind of not my thing, since I’m always travelling from place to place. I usually don’t stay too long in one place.”

“Then what about flings?” He asked me a bit too quickly after I was done talking, as if he was ready to ask that question.

“Well, yeah.” I sounded a bit too casual, but that was simply it, casual flings. But the expression on his face tells me he thought differently. It was a mixture of disappointment and acceptance. “How about you? I bet you get a ton being a guardian,” I joked hoping to brighten the mood.

“Try none at all.” There was a sad smile as he spoke. “But that’s only because I reject most of people’s advances. It’s just not my thing I guess.” The both of us became silent for almost a minute before he spoke out, “you’re going to stay in town for a little longer, right?”

“Yeah…” I was becoming suspicious at what he was getting at.

“You can stay at my place while you’re here, so you don’t have to spend any more money on lodging.”

I just stared at him, a bit speechless. “Y-you don’t have—“

“I told you I’d treat you when we go back, so call this a plus.” The smile he had was much more genuine than previous ones.

“I don’t want to impose—” He gave me a look, and I sighed and resigned myself. “Okay… thanks…”

The smile was back on his face. “No problem!” He laughs and I just glared at him.

He didn’t really give me a choice. Though I could always do what I do best once I finish a request, disappear. That’s why I prefer to work alone. But with that look on his face, I don’t think I could bring myself to do that to him.

We continued to talk for a little while longer. I learned about his hometown, how he came to be a guardian in the first place, what he was doing right before we met for the first time, and that not only can he cook but he also makes desserts. I also told him a bit about myself. I told him where I came from, what made me be an adventurer, how I got so into magic, and the places I’ve been.

“You should go there sometime. It’s beautiful in the next coming season,” I informed him.

“Is it?” he asked then a thought came to mind. “You should take me then, you know where it is.”

I opened my mouth to object, but… “That’s true…” I thought about it for a second. That didn’t sound too bad. “Alright, I’ll come back and take you.” He smiled at my response and I returned the smile before loudly yawning.

“Seems like we’ve run out of time to talk,” he teased. “You should rest, I’ll keep watch for the night.” I gave him a look of concern. “I’m used to it, comes with being a guardian.”

I pursed my lips. “I put up a runic barrier for a reason. You also need the rest. Trust me, will you?”

He chuckled. “Okay. I’ll also rest because I trust you.” He grinned at me, and I smiled at his decision to listen to me.

I laid back down on my makeshift bed and went back to facing away from the heat of the fire. The whole time we were talking he was tending to the fire, making it stable and having it last. I heard clacking of metal, so I assumed it was him taking off his leg armor for a more comfortable sleep. The last thing I heard was sheets rustling before he spoke. “Sweet dreams.”

I didn’t respond. I didn’t know how to. This was something new because I usually never interact with people like this. I’m not much of a conversationalist, but I actually enjoyed our conversations. They were fun and I liked learning about him. Something I haven’t noticed until this moment was how much we were smiling when we were talking to each other. It was actually refreshing to be able to casually talk to someone like this. It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to do this with someone, just talk.

Realization hit me. We trusted each other that much to let our guard down in front of each other even though this was basically only our second time meeting. And it didn’t bother me at how much I already trust him. Even though I kind of have to trust him, this trust was much more willing and naturally formed and it wasn’t forced or shallow. I smiled at that.

Trust was something that was hard to do because it can be so easily broken. So it was easier to be wary of others rather than to trust them and get stabbed in the back. It happened to me a few too many times, but for him I knew I could trust him. Not because we had just bonded, but, even before, I knew he was a genuine person, like how I used to be. I’m glad he hasn’t grown wary like I have. He was trustworthy.