Coye Vol 2 Ch 15 (Patreon)

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'Hey, something wrong down there, Coye? Hello? You ok?' Shayla knocked on her partner's noggin repeatedly with her tiny fist, trying to wrest his attention away from the door to Dorothy's office and back on the quest board in front of them where it belonged.

Coye snapped back into the moment and shook his head, whispering, "Yeah, I'm fine... just thought I heard something, but... it's nothing."

For a moment, he was convinced he could hear the swelling sounds of Dwarven chanting and epic music coming from behind Dorothy's door, but he couldn't be sure. The door was thick, and it didn't help that a bard was playing a cheerful song over in the dining room, either.

Once he got to thinking about it, Coye assumed it wouldn't be much of a surprise if Dorothy did happen to collect RealMonster cards. The woman loved monsters to a nigh obsessive degree, so it almost wouldn't make sense if she'd never heard of the game.

Dorothy being someone who might potentially share his new interest gave Coye a warm, fuzzy feeling inside that was hard to explain. He thought that maybe he would try and ask her if she was a collector sometime. Perhaps they could talk about it, show off their cards, or even trade?

The more he thought about it, the more Coye figured it might make a good excuse for him to try and get closer to his Guild Mistress. Yet, he wondered if that was appropriate anymore. He already had Shayla and Suzette- to say nothing of Byng, who somehow got roped into the complex web of relationships Coye was cultivating, too.

Coye's poor, innocent heart was being torn in many different confusing directions, and he didn't know how to cope with all of the things he felt. While he might've been cute, he sure didn't have the disposition it took to be a player.

He knew he'd have to talk to Shayla about his emotional state later but didn't want to do it now. Coye worried she'd get on his case if he brought it up so soon after agreeing to go on a date with Byng and that she might even take it as him trying to wriggle out of it. Gods know what sort of punishment the Pixie would inflict upon him if that were the case.

Besides, Coye was still feeling better than he'd felt in days apart from his relationship turmoil. There was nothing else he wanted to do other than make good on his promise to Dorothy and do his best today. His personal junk could be sorted out later.

It was time for action, and Coye focused his attention on the large corkscrew board outside Dorothy's office.

Attached to this board were dozens upon dozens of different papers, each of which had a border around their edges that was colored one of three colors- bronze, silver, or gold. Each one of these was a quest issued by the Association, the nobility, nearby villages, or just from any old townsfolk who wandered in with a problem that needed solving and the gold to solve it.

His eyes scanned each of the papers with the silver rims, making good on his word to pick a quest that suited his level.

There were around twenty to thirty options he could choose from, but just because they were all silver-ranked quests didn't mean they were all of equal difficulty. Some fell closer to bronze, and others teetered towards gold, while the rest sat firmly in the middle. That was just how things worked when so many quests had to fall under one umbrella.

If they needed guidance, it was usually the Guild Mistress's or receptionist's job to consult adventurers on which quest was right for them, but Coye didn't need anyone's help to tell him what he could and couldn't handle. He had a good grasp of his power and wasn't setting out to prove himself.

The goal for today was just to get back into form.

There was a wide gap between the easiest and the most challenging quests. The lower end of the silver-ranked quests would see Coye slaying Terraslimes and gathering their cores. In contrast, the most demanding silver quest on the board would pit Coye up against a Ravenous Boarman, which was understandable marked 'URGENT' in big red letters and needed to be hunted down and killed at all costs.

Coye didn't like the sound of that one bit, not even for the hefty 6,000G bounty on its head. Fighting Pigmen was one thing, but Boarmen were an even more aggressive variant that had once served as some of the Demon Lord Thalrad's most powerful thralls back in the day. According to legends, at any rate.

Maybe once Coye was back into the swing of things, the gold would tempt him more than it currently did, but he'd only consider it if no one else accepted the quest... unless Dorothy came and asked him personally, which would be a different matter.

He sighed, thinking about how he'd fall like a reed in the wind if only she asked, then felt embarrassed for being so easy when it came to her.

What Coye ended up deciding on was just about exactly what he was looking for in terms of compensation and difficulty. He took down one of the papers from the board and gave it a closer look, marveling at the illustration of the fearsome beast depicted.

'Thinking about going Owlbear slaying, are we? Not bad, not bad... I'm sure that'll be fun. Almost got eaten by an Owlbear once, funny story.' Shayla said, only to remember it wasn't so much of a funny story after all as she gazed off into the distance.

"Yeah, I thought it would be a good pick. Will you be ok if we do this one?" Coye whispered, not wanting to upset his partner by dragging her off to a traumatic reminder of bad memories.

'Oh, don't worry about me,' Shayla snapped out of her funk easily enough. 'I'm pretty sure I've almost been eaten by just about every monster on that board at least once or twice before. If anything, I'm excited to get some payback on those feathered fuckers, so let's do this!'

Coye was glad Shayla was up for it since an Owlbear would be the perfect target.

The informational blurb on the quest flier explained that one of these nasty beasts had wandered out of the forest and gotten lost, somehow ending up in the hills to the north/northeast vicinity of Cransmere. It was currently no cause for alarm, but if left alone, it might find its way to the main road, where it could endanger traders and travelers alike.

This wasn't a lost animal that could be led back to its home where it wouldn't bother anyone. An Owlbear was a vicious monster. It could kill humans and had a penchant for enjoying the act. Thus, it needed to be put down, and taking up the task would earn Coye a hefty 2,000G. A respectable amount, to be sure.

This was an excellent opportunity because Owlbears were strong and fast, but they had nothing else going for them. There wouldn't be any fancy and annoying magical trickery like there was in Coye's battle against Jack, and there wouldn't be a risk of poison or other status effects like there was with the Vine Vipers.

It would be settled with smart preparation and smarter fighting, which Coye needed.

Satisfied with his decision, Coye took his chosen quest back to the front desk and was glad to see Tammy back at her station. Pleased in the sense that he wouldn't have to interrupt Dorothy, that is. His actual excitement to see the redheaded receptionist was minimal as it ever was.

"Morning," she welcomed Coye but didn't see the need to look up from her current task. At the moment, she was amusing herself by painting her nails a pretty shade of green. Beside her sat a book, Thrilling Tales, and a few magazines that he assumed would be her entertainment for the rest of the day.

"Hey, I got something for you to do..." Coye meekly pressed the quest onto the countertop.

"Gimme a few mins," Tammy sighed, as thrilled as ever at the prospect of doing her job.

"Please, Tammy... I'd really like to get going..."

"Why, what's the rush?" She asked with a long and drawn-out sigh before finally raising her eyes to meet Coye and giving him a quick look that started off as cold but seemed to melt the more she glared at him. "Huh...? Hold on a sec..."

Coye couldn't remember Tammy ever making eye contact with him for more than a few seconds. He would've preferred if they kept it that way, as it made him shirk back.

"Uh, c-can I help you...?"

"You look different, femboy," she observed impassively. "Something happen?"

'Tell her you got laid,' Shayla joked.

"N-No. I mean, not really...?" Coye looked away, nervous about being under so much of Tammy's scrutiny that it caused him to break out into a slight sweat. "Also, d-d-don't call me that..."

"And you'll do what to stop me?"

Coye was quiet in response, causing Tammy to raise an eyebrow and nod. Although she looked away from him, the pressure didn't let up. He hoped that Tammy was going back to her typical, minimal style of contact, but his hopes were dashed as she took the quest flier in her hand.

"So... Owlbears, huh?" She commented with vapidity.

It took Coye a second to understand that Tammy was attempting to make small talk with him, mainly because it had never happened before. He wasn't prepared for this, so it was only natural that he dropped the ball.

That being said, he dropped the ball so hard that it fell into an entirely different Realm.

"Y-Yes, Owlbears...? O-Owlbears. Gotta kill them." Coye muttered, sounding much too confused about his task than he should've.

Shayla died a little inside while Tammy looked back up at him straight on, showing no indication that the boy's pure, unadulterated cringe affected her opinion of him one way or another.

"I mean, that is your job, yeah."

Coye searched for words and added most helpfully, "Yep... I k-kill other things, too..."

"That you do,"

There was a long silence, the only sound being the merry music drifting out from the dining room, which did little to lower the awkwardness hanging in the air.

Whether Tammy was growing bored with her decision to chat him up or it had become too painful for her, she chose to wrap things up. "Right, well... I'll get this taken care of, then. Feel free to take off, or whatever."

'Thank fuck,' Shayla felt immense relief, unaware if she could have taken much more awkward tension.

"T-Thank you, Tammy..." Coye lowered his head and tried to be polite but still felt like a mouse watched by an owl from across a moonlit field.

Tammy made a grunt of acknowledgment, and as he tried to exit the conversation by slipping out the front door, she bid him farewell with, "Have fun out there, Killer."

"What? K-Killer...?" Coye turned back, cheeks red with embarrassment, but Tammy had already ducked into the back room to file the paperwork for his quest leaving him to look on in futility at a girl who wasn't there.

Desperate for some explanation as to why Tammy was acting so out of character, he rushed out the front door, and after seeing nobody else was around, he mumbled to Shayla, "What was that about?!"

'You mean the part where you somehow failed at basic conversation or the part where Tammy tried chatting with you and even gave you a cute nickname?'

"The second part! W-Why would she talk to me out of the blue like that...?"

Shayla shrugged. 'I dunno, big guy. You're gonna have to learn that as handy as I am- and I'm pretty damn handy if I do say so myself- I don't have all the answers. I mean, yeah, I'm magic, but it's not like I'm a mind reader.'

"...But right now, you're-"

'My telepathy is one-way! I can read surface-level emotions at most.' Shayla elaborated, knowing he would bring this up like a total smartass.

"Ok, ok, fine..." Coye sighed. They'd only been together for around five days. It wasn't his fault if he didn't fully understand her powers yet.

"Anyway, I-I just don't see why Tammy would suddenly-"

Shayla was getting fed up with this topic because Coye was acting downright pessimistic over it. She snapped at him, arguing, 'Why are you so stressed out over why Tammy talked to you when you should just accept and be happy that she did? Is it such a bad that she felt chatty?'

"N-No, I..." Coye felt his voice catch in his throat.

'Then why treat it like it's such a big deal? It's not.'

"Sorry..." Coye sunk into thought.

He struggled with the ins and outs of interaction, so even a slight change in what he expected from somebody he knew was enough to bring worries to his anxious little head.

Once again, his partner helped him look at things from a different perspective, and he soon convinced himself that Shayla was right. Tammy suddenly feeling talkative and giving him a joking nickname didn't mean she was making fun of him or that he did anything wrong.

It just meant that she was being nice.

Coye hoped that in the future, he could grow as a person and not be so taken aback when people surprised him like this, and he wished he could rewind time to do that interaction over again.

Shayla sensed some of the conflicts in Coye's mind and started to give the boy her trademark reassuring head pets. 'It's ok, baby. The more you talk to people, the better you'll get at this.'

"You think so?"

'Course I do. Besides, Tammy didn't seem that put off by you being an awkward goober, so I'm assuming she might chat you up again sometime. When she does, just let it happen. Ok?'

Coye was calmed by the affection, and he gave it some thought before nodding his head and smiling contentedly.

"Yeah... ok. I'll try my best."

'Good. Let's get going then, Killer.'

"H-Hey!" Coye blushed as his Pixie had a long laugh at his expense. He couldn't stay mad, though, and not long after that, the two of them set off and took the north road out of town.

If followed to its conclusion, this road would lead any travelers to a few small farming hamlets before ultimately leading to Arrark's most famous dungeon, the Labyrinthe of Light. Coye had never traveled that far before, having little interest in dungeon delving on top of not even having a party of his own to justify doing so in the first place.

Today, they would only be searching the area short of an hour out of Cransmere. After they had left through the ruined north gate and found the road devoid of fellow travelers or merchants, Shayla popped out of Coye's hat and stretched out, satisfied to feel the sun on her skin.

"Finally," she yawned as her back cracked. "I was starting to get sore from laying around up there..."

"I'm sorry, Shayla. What about your stomach? Is it doing any better?"

"Oh, it's good now, I think. I shouldn't get in the way if that's what you're worried about."

"Just making sure before we start searching for tracks. I'm going to have to rely on my speed for this battle, so..."

"Yeah, I get you,"

"Glad to hear it." He smiled, then stepped off the main road and headed out to search for his prey among the grassy plains and hills.

Byng would be waiting for him tomorrow morning, so he aimed to find the Owlbear as quick as he could. If that didn't work out, they would return home and try again later in the week. There wasn't any time limit on the quest, so long as he got it done within a few days.

They were in luck, though, as after a little over an hour of hunting, Coye came across a scattering of large brown and black feathers that led him to some nearby tracks that looked like they belonged to a bear but bigger. Taken by themselves, it could be mistaken for just that, but the feathers sealed the deal and made it clear that this was definitely their target.

Coye did what any good monster hunter would do and began trailing the tracks, gaining additional insight. He soon discovered that Owlbear was chasing after a meal. There were hoofprints stamped into the ground belonging to at least three deer, and soon after that, Coye found a fresh pile of dung from the Owlbear.

"Great, we're really close..." Coye said, plugging his nose to protect himself from the overpowering odor.

Shayla snickered yet blocked off her nostrils as well. "Are you always this happy to find monster shit, or what?"

"Oh, be quiet..." he pressed on ahead despite the teasing of his companion.

Their target was even closer than Coye estimated. Only two hills worth of tracks later, they could see the beast.

Below Coye and Shayla's current hill was a wide expanse of grass where the Owlbear loomed, feasting from the corpse of a large buck, its beak tearing through crimson sinew and cracking bones with little difficulty. The other deer it was hunting was there, too, dead and sprawled out on the grass in bloody piles, just waiting for the monster to have at their remains.

It was too distracted with its meal to notice its new onlookers, and Coye ducked back behind the hill and knelt against the grass to consider his options.

Shayla cracked her knuckles and grinned, flying over to Coye's shoulder. "How do you wanna do this, big guy?" She asked, her glowing eyes filling with determined magic, ready to support her boy in battle.

Coye cupped his chin and thought about it before thinking aloud, "Normally, I'd try and get downwind of the monster, but I think it'd notice me if I tried. Owlbears have real good senses, and I'm not the best at sneak attacks, anyway."

"Ok, no big deal. Do you want to just rush in then and try to brute force it?" Shayla slammed her fist into her open palm to symbolize a sudden impact with great force.

"Might be the best option, but I'll have to play things smart..." Coye mumbled and opened up a few pouches on his belt, inspecting their contents. He didn't have any means of attacking from a distance- not any that would make it past the monster's hide.

Thinking about ranged attacks naturally brought his mind to think about Byng and how an archer like her might deal with such an opponent. He figured if one of her homemade arrows didn't do the trick, she surely had an Art or two that could pierce thick monster hides.

Of course, Byng wasn't the only one with tricks, and Coye had plenty of his own. While digging through his tools, he came upon exactly what he was looking for and gingerly pulled a small glass bottle filled with a yellow liquid out of his pouch.

Shayla had stalked Coye for months before making contact, so she'd seen him and his alchemical oils before. Yet, she couldn't remember him pulling this one out, and she also noticed it looked pretty empty.

"What's this one do?" She asked and then recoiled after he opened. "Agh, that smell makes my brain all tingly..."

"Good, that means it's working. This is a paralytic oil called Nerverrine- don't worry- the smell doesn't have an effect on you. I don't break it out much since it's pretty expensive and hard to make... I only ever use it on big monsters that are strong enough to kill you in a few hits."

"Oh, nice! It looks like you're running a little low, though. Are you gonna have enough?"

"Yeah, this'll last..." Coye nodded, tipping over the bottle and letting its viscous contents drizzle onto his weapon until it emptied. "I'm not looking forward to getting more, though."

"Think Suzette could help you out on that? I still don't get how the whole buying and selling crap works, but she's gotta have connections, right?"

"Probably not. It's a controlled substance or whatever that's called..." Coye shrugged his shoulders, then pulled out a handkerchief to help him spread the oil until it coated the entire surface.

Shayla blinked at yet another new phrase she'd never heard before. "You know that means nothing to me, right?"

"It means it's hard to get officially because they don't want people to have easy access to it."

"And who is 'they' in this situation?"

"The Crown and the nobility, I assume?"

"Ahh, tricky, tricky..."

"Yeah. I could make some myself if I had the ingredients, but it's... ah... even though my dad taught me how to craft all the oils I use, I've always been awful at it, so I just buy my oils from the Guild... it just takes a few months to get permission for a refill since I'm not a Gold-ranked adventurer."

"Damn, that sucks. You don't know any alchemists who might be willing to make you some on the down-low, do you?" Shayla asked, always trying to encourage the easy way out.

"No... I don't know any-" Coye stopped mid-sentence and tilted his head. "Er, well..."

"Looks like you remembered someone," the Pixie teased, raising an eyebrow. She wasn't blind to the blush on his face.

"Tiphanie is one of them,"

"Ahhh, interesting... very, very interesting..."

Coye was referring to one of Britni's party members, a certain green-haired girl infamous around Cransmereand beyond for her alchemical talents. Of the four Baddest Bitches, Tiphanie was by far the nicest to him, but the idea of asking her for help still made Coye's skin crawl just because he knew he would never hear the end of it from the others.

That, and he was afraid of what she might ask for in exchange.

Tiph was an unpredictable girl who he could never get a read on for reasons that became obvious just by looking at her. Still, she was the only somewhat friendly alchemist that came to mind, and he filed that fact away for later consideration.

Since she had already pressured Coye into interacting with one girl he was uncomfortable with today, Shayla was willing to let it go for now and drop the matter.

"No worries, you fight just fine without that stuff, so it's not a problem if we don't get it refilled right away. Right?" She'd seen Coye take down all sorts of monsters, and frankly, she'd feel embarrassed for him if he couldn't take down an Owlbear after all that.

"Yeah, it just-"

"Never hurts to be prepared, I know, I know..." she rolled her eyes at him and motioned for him to speed things up with her hand.

Coye held his less-than-trusty sword aloft under the sun's light and turned it over in his hand, studying its every detail. Every inch of it was slick with the numbing yellow ooze, just as he wanted, and the numbing smell was thick in the air.

He shut his eyes, took a deep breath, and readied himself with his shield in one hand and sword in the other.

"Let's do this," Coye said, standing atop the hill and looking down at their target, still eating and blissfully unaware of its oncoming fate.

"I got your back!" Shayla attached herself to his pauldron as Coye leaned forward on his right leg, his energy surging and causing the grass beneath to fan out subtly around his boot.

He kicked the ground, descending from the hill like lightning unleashed.

The speed was even greater than expected, leaving Coye no time to ready a follow-up Art for his initial attack. Paying it no mind, he clenched tight around the hilt of his blade and delivered a clean diagonal slash across the unsuspecting beast's back.

A full pillow's worth of feathers burst from the arc of his sword as the Owlbear roared in response to the sudden threat, chunks of meat, bone, and bloody viscera falling from its yellow beak. Its tough hide repelled Coye's sword, as expected.

The beast flipped around its massive body to face the boy in only a blink. Staring him down with its madness-inducing, studious eyes, it swiped at him with claws so sharp and force so strong that it would put any ordinary bear to shame.

Coye's shield absorbed the impact as he raised it out in front of his body, but the resulting force pushed him away a good ten feet.

He landed roughly on the ground, hitting the back of his head against the dirt. Coye groaned, knowing that this probably counted toward his sword's restrictions on its magical power, the useless damned thing.

The Owlbear was already on him before he could even stand, but Coye executed a perfect dodge roll as it slammed its claws into the earth in an overhead strike.

"Wind coming, heads up!" Shayla warned him as he rose, creating a fleeting yet intense draft against his back to grant him an opportunity to rush in faster without having to use his stamina.

Coye took the chance, running in on the monster's flank.

It was tempting to use a significant and powerful Art to inflict loads of damage, but Coye was much more intelligent than that. Owlbears might be as bulky and tough as the latter half of their namesake, but they were twitchier and faster. If his foe got in even one attack where Coye couldn't react in time, it would be catastrophic, so he had to save his stamina to keep up a healthy layer of Steel Soul just in case.

Besides, going all-in went against the point of using Nerverrine in the first place. Even if Coye didn't fully pierce the hide, the paralytic oil's power would build strike by strike.

Coye let out a loud grunt as he slashed his sword across the beast's side, feeling it dig deeper this time. Stabbing would deal more damage and apply the status effect quicker, but it would also rob him of his mobility which was a death sentence in this fight.

Coye wouldn't stop moving, running even as his attack finished and zipping straight past the twisting Owlbear that again howled in pain.

Shayla expertly supported this hit-and-run plan of action by providing setups for her partner whenever she noticed something she could do to help. The trusty Pixie pelted the beast with rocks to get it to turn its head, she dragged obstacles in its path and made it lose its footing, and she distracted it with little fairy fireworks every now and again.

Her little tricks granted Coye a brief moment to step in, attack, and step out before the Owlbear knew what was coming.

Fifteen minutes passed like this as they distracted and chipped away at the monster, and by then, Shayla was starting to become irritated. Even though the Owlbear was now bleeding all over, the wounds were shallow, and it felt more like Coye was giving it a shave or helping it molt its unwanted feathers.

"Is your nerve thingy working, or what...?!" She snapped, letting out an annoyed grumble.

"Yes," Coye answered with a huff, ducking beneath a series of rabid pecks from the Owlbear's deadly beak and then pivoting to the left with another weak slash. "It's getting slower. It's just taking a while because it's bulky..."

Shayla narrowed her eyes and studied the beast, and once she did, she saw what Coye saw.

The Owlbear might not've taken much damage, but its condition was not pristine. Its movements were sluggish, its breathing was as ragged as a hurricane, and drool pooled from the sides of its beak.

On the other hand, Coye was still operating with peak performance. The worst that could be said was that he'd broken a sweat. Barring that, his breathing was steady, his form was immaculate, and he'd hardly used any of his stamina.

This was the first real time Coye and Shayla had fought as a duo. The Bronze-ranked quests served as only a warm-up for this moment. She still had a long way to go until she'd be anywhere near as battle-savvy as her partner, Shayla realized, but this only encouraged her to do better in the future and pay more attention to the state of her foe.

After four days of playing the role of both a personal pocket pussy and an emotional confidant, it was refreshing to see Coye so competent and on top of things. It brought a smile to Shayla's face, reminding her of just one of the many reasons she picked this boy in the first place.

Coye knew what he was doing, and he knew that this would be over soon.

He waited for the Owlbear to perform its next attack, only for it to raise its claw and whiff by a wide margin. Coye understood that the monster was starting to lose feeling in its body due to the Nerverrine. If he pushed forward now and struck hard, he would surely bring down the beast.

Coye gritted his teeth and poured energy into his right arm, feeling it swell and surge with so much power that it bordered on pain, his graceful, half-elven musculature not built to handle such stress.

Stepping in and raising his sword arm to bring down a powerful Double Strike, Coye watched in surprise as it staggered away from his slash at the last second and raised its head to the sky. A cacophonous outcry tore out, a noise that was half growl and half shriek.

Coye recognized what it had just done and put distance between himself and the now minor threat. His attention turned solely to the power of his pointy ears, which were not just for decoration. The sound of heavy stomping and then a follow-up screech came from the southwest.

"Oh, shit..." Shayla thought aloud and clutched even tighter to Coye's leather pauldron. "Did that quest poster say there might be two Owlbears, or are we just unlucky?"

"It happens,"

"You sure don't sound very worried..." Shayla gulped, the heat of the moment getting to her.

For much as she loved the stories of legendary Fairies who fought alongside knights of old, it would take time for Shayla to live up to those valiant spirits from times long past. She'd only ever focused on escaping and keeping herself safe in life or death encounters until now. Fighting to win was new to her, and Shayla struggled to adapt.

That was where Coye came in.

"Why would I be? We can do this." Coye reaffirmed his companion, shooting her a brief smile before looking off to the stumbling Owlbear's mate, which arrived over the nearest hill.

That smile of his was all it took.

"...Yeah, you're right," She scoffed, feeling emboldened. "What was I thinking?"

"There's no time for thinking," Coye said, gripping his sword and leering over at the oncoming threat descending onto the battlefield. "Just keep doing what you've been doing, and I'll do the same."

"You got it, big guy!" Fighting spirit filled the tiny Pixie's veins, surging through her blood like fire. The blue glow surrounding her body crackled with magical energy, reflecting the conviction in her heart as the second Owlbear drew near.