Stranded Stranger

Chapter Three: Forbidden Forest

Shawn was shocked by what he saw as he opened his eyes. Ava was inside his room, sleeping beside him, and they were hugging each other.

He was dumbfounded for a while, then he quickly withdrew his arms and stood up to avoid being misinterpreted, but he didn't know what to do as his ugly thoughts began swirling around his head.

He didn't know how this woman got inside his room; he couldn't recall anything. Was there something that happened between them?

"You're awake?" Ava asked in a sleepy tone. She rubbed her eyelids and gazed at Shawn. "You looked shocked; is there something wrong?"

"Nothing, um, by the way, what are you doing in my room?" Shawn asked while holding a bolster.

"Your room?" Ava asked and looked around. "What am I doing here?" She suddenly stood up and walked towards Shawn, thinking about what happened last night. She couldn't even sleep because he kept snoring and squeezing her breasts.

Shawn was surprised by what Ava did next. Her palm left a reddish mark on his skinny face as she slapped him without saying anything. It created a loud blast that pierced the silence of the dawn and snapped around the room.

"You pervert, why did you drink with that old man and collapse? You even vomited on me. I will never forgive you!" Ava shouted before she angrily walked out of the room with heavy and annoyed steps, then the door boomed as she shut it back.

Shawn came back to his senses, and he remembered that he was drinking with the old man and the guild master of the Adventurer's Guild yesterday. He also remembered the agreement that he joined the adventurer's guild, but he couldn't remember how they got back, as well as that he vomited on Ava.

Shawn touched his aching face. It was painful, but he still managed to smile as he imagined Ava's lovely reaction, though she was mad.

"Perhaps she carried me again. She probably misses me for being gone in a little while from this place. She really cares about me," Shawn thought while fixing his bed. "But is there something else that happened?"

"So, how's your sleep with my sister, sir?" Ash asked enthusiastically as he suddenly appeared in the room like a spy. "You were really drunk last night. Please tell me what you did and what happened!"

Shawn was surprised to hear those questions from Ava's energetic brother. He doesn't know that he saw him sleep with Ava as well as get drunk last night. But that was really embarrassing.

"Nothing interesting," Shawn simply replied. He continued to the kitchen, but Ash kept following him as if he really wanted to know what he did. "I just joined the adventurer's guild at the Capital.

"The adventurer's guild?" Ash asked, his wide eyes filled with excitement as if he wanted to hear something extraordinary. "Is there someone who's strong and powerful from that guild, sir? I want to join that guild too. I want to fight monsters and orcs to get stronger."

"Nope, and please stop calling me sir," Shawn replied as he sat down on a chair. "You also can't join that squad without asking your sister's consent because they are doing dangerous activities.

"But sister will probably disagree. She's so strict and overprotective to me. She won't even let me practice outside because she's thinking that I could destroy the surroundings and hurt someone; that's why she's still single until now. She's a hellcat," Ash exaggerated.

"Um, Ash, you should not say something like that about your sister. I know she's strict, but you should understand that she only wants to protect you and your family," Shawn advised.

"Okay, sir, I won't say something bad about my sister again. I'm sorry for my bad demeanor," Ash apologized in a low voice.

Silence prevailed for a little while after Ash apologized. Shawn doesn't want to change Ash's energetic behavior just because he said something more than he needed, so he broke the silence.

"Um, can I ask you something about your sister?" Shawn asked.

"Yes, sir, you can. I know many things about her—her flaws, her strengths, as well as her weaknesses; I know even the color of her favorite underwear," Ash replied and smirked.

"Can you tell me about the kind of man your sister likes?" Shawn asked him in a low and serious tone.

"Um, sister Ava likes a weird, strange, or odd man like you, sir. She believes that weird people should be valued and taken care of because they are special," Ash answered.

Shawn remained silent for a while as he held his chin, thinking that perhaps this might be the reason why Ava was so worried about him, because he was special for her and there was a place for him in her heart no matter how silly he was.

"I have another question, Ash. Is there someone else who wants to be your sister's boyfriend? I mean someone who likes her and woos her?" Shawn asked in a serious tone.

"I think there's someone. Her friend named Allen. He's a wizard who lives in the Forbidden Forest. I think he likes my sister because they're always together."

Shawn remembered the forbidden forest that Emma had mentioned. It was a place where orcs and other dangerous creatures lived. The place where the squad conducts quests to train themselves.

"So, I have a rival to Ava. But I don't want to fight anyone just for the sake of affection. I believe that if you love a woman, you should let her go and support her wherever she's happy," Shawn said.

"But Allen isn't good. He does evil things such as attacking people using his dark magic and using them as subjects for his experiments," Ash informed. "My sister can be in any danger for staying with him."

"Is that so? Let me see if I can do something about it. But don't worry about your sister; she's old enough to handle anything in her own way," Shawn reminded.

"Yup! She's eighteen thousand years old, and I'm just ten thousand years old. She knows what she's doing, but I don't know why she still keeps talking with that evil wizard," Ash replied.

"You're seven thousand years old?" Shawn was shocked. He couldn't believe that a boy who was smaller than him was living in this world for more than seven thousand years. Perhaps the time in this world was way faster and different from the time on Earth.

"Yes, I'm already seven thousand years old. How about you, sir? How old are you?" Ash inquired.

"I'm seventeen years old," Shawn replied.

"Seventeen years old? Do you mean you're a fetus? That might be the reason why you still can't use any magic because you're not fully developed yet. Hahaha!" Ash laughed like a mischievous kid in a comic.

"That's not what I mean, so don't make fun of me. I'm a human, and humans can barely reach a hundred years old before they die; our lifespan is so short compared to yours," Shawn explained. "We were also born without magic, so stop laughing at me."

"I see, you're seventeen, but that doesn't mean you're younger than me because there's a huge gap between our lifespans," Ash cleared.

"Exactly, but I think I'm not the only human in this world—there might be someone else here who also came from Earth," Shawn said.

"You're right, Sur. It's not impossible that there's someone like you here because you're here in the first place," Ash reminded her.

"I really hope to find someone like me here, but I think I should practice using magic too, so that I will be able to compete with the people here," Shawn said.

"You mean you're taking a mission from the guild?" Ash asked in an enthusiastic tone. "How I wish I could join too, so that I can learn to control my magic as soon as possible."

"No, you can't; your sister won't agree. But I think I should convince them to give me a mission; they might underestimate me because I'm just an ordinary man who can't use magic."

"Don't worry, Sur. You'll get what you want because I believe in you, so you should believe yourself too," Ash said.

"Thanks for bringing my hope up, Ash. I'm going to the guild house now, so take care of yourself and your sister," Shawn replied.

Shawn stood up and continued outside the house. Ash followed him, watched him go away, and disappeared from the view.

Thereafter, Ash showed a devilish smile on his young face that grew creepy, and then his appearance slowly changed. A white mask gradually formed and covered his face; he didn't have the chance to resist it.

"See you on the other side, human!" His demonic laughter gradually disappeared as the sun began its journey in the sky.

It was already afternoon when Shawn reached the capital. The people were looking at him like a monster as he passed by, and he became uncomfortable like a fish taken out of the water.

"Am I so popular that they keep staring at me?" Shawn asked himself. He didn't know what was so interesting about him that he became popular until he heard some gossip about him.

The people were gossiping that he was a stranger who came from Earth, a human who couldn't use magic, and a drunkard who asked for a fight.

Shawn felt embarrassed by what he heard, so he hurriedly headed to the adventurer's guild to hide. He remembered that he was shouting and asking for a fight last night due to drunkiness.

"Oh, Shawn, what's up?" Emma asked when she saw Shawn running towards her. "We're having a quest; do you want to join?"

"Yes, Emma! That's why I came here. I want to join the quest." Shawn panted as he halted and held his knees in front of the woman. He kept chasing his breath for a while.

Emma didn't give him a glance before going to the counter. She took a piece of paper with a drawing and gave it to Shawn. "We'll be conducting the quest in the forbidden forest. There's no rank limit here; anyone can participate. The participants have to collect ten leaves of a clover plant to finish the quest."

Easy-peasy, Shawn thought as he took a look at the drawing. It depicts a plant with four leaves, a clover, and also some ugly, human-like creatures called orcs, as well as goblins, which may be protecting the plants.

Looking at the drawing, Shawn realized that it wouldn't be easy since there were orcs that he needed to fight in order to do his task. He was thinking about how he could defeat these creatures.

"It won't be easy because there are many orcs in the Forbidden Forest; not just that, there are also other dangerous creatures that you may encounter, so don't let your guard down," Emma reminded.

"Can you let me borrow some equipment before I take on the quest?" Shawn asked. "I'll give you the leaves as an exchange once I finish the quest."

"Exactly. I can use those leaves to make healing potions." Emma stood up and led Shawn inside their stockroom, where the equipment was stored. "You can pick whatever you want."

Shawn borrowed a weapon and armor. After that, he was ready to embark on a journey to the forbidden forest. He didn't waste any time thinking about what was waiting for him there.