A Learning Experience - Etrian Odyssey IV (BoyxBoy)

Chapter 2

AN: Thanks so much Irish_Moon_Dreamer and Micromeichi for commenting on the very first chapter! Appreciate it very much. Hope you’ll enjoy reading this chapter as well!

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Chapter 2:

Vast blue sky that seemed endless. Wind blowing through his hair. Fresh, crisp air of high altitude. The Windy Plains was indeed very beautiful. But…

Varuna must have lost his mind.

How else would it explain his current predicament? He was on an airship, a reasonable large one at that, with four complete strangers. And he meant, completely strangers. He had never seen them before in his life. What in the world made him agree to accompany four explorers on a quest to the Lush Woodlands? He had never even been to the Old Forest Mine!

Ok, so the Count suggested some field experience. But really, this was ridiculous! Was he feeling that restless?

“So, anyway,” the brown-haired landsknecht said as he lazily rested against the railing of the airship. He scratched his cheek roughly as he glanced at Varuna with some curiosity. “What’s your name?”

It was only then that Varuna realised that he didn’t even catch their names. When he agreed to join them, stating that he was only interested in natural occurring products there, they practically (and joyfully, may he add) manhandled him onto their airship. He really had lost his mind. How was he going to explain this to Nitish and Isiah when he returned home…? He had better return home.

No, he had to. He wasn’t going to leave Nitish behind.

“Varuna,” he replied.

“I’m Bryce,” the tall man next to him finally introduced himself. He then pointed at the short blond that was at the bow of the airship, leaning precariously over the side of the gondola to get a better view. He was wearing a uniform similar to that of Bryce’s, but had short black leggings. If one didn’t have the best vision, it wouldn’t be hard to mistake him for a girl.

He had better not say that out loud.

“That’s Blayden. The squirt is my little brother,” Bryce explained before taking a deep breath and yelling at the top of his lungs. “Blayden!”

“What?!” the blond yelled back.

“Stop trying to kill yourself and say ‘hi’ to Varuna!”

Hearing that, the blond-haired Landsknecht leaned safely back into the ship, perked up and waved rather cheerfully at him. His hair reached his shoulders and was tied back with several beads and ribbons and he had surprising large, bright blue eyes. “Hi!” he shouted in greeting before turning to gaze over the edge once more.

Bryce muttered something under his breath, something along the lines of ‘idiot’ and ‘be careful’ before sighing and then pointing at the redhead steering the airship. “The weirdo at the steering wheel is Falkner.”

Hearing his name, the red-haired sniper with a slight five o’clock shadow turned and gave Varuna a rather large, crooked grin, as well as a short, two finger salute. “Yo.” He then turned back to steering the airship, seemingly humming to himself.

Varuna didn’t even have time to make any acknowledgment back before Bryce averted his attention elsewhere. He pointed at the other sniper, a young male with black hair pulled back into a ponytail. He was hanging from the rigging of the airship, seemingly gotten bored during their flight.

“And the monkey swinging by the ropes is Fletcher,” Bryce introduced. “He’s Falkner’s little brother.”

Varuna nodded his head. Their names were easier enough to remember. Both snipers’ names started with ‘F’ while the two landsknecht brothers’ started with ‘B’. Still…there was a chance that he would get their names wrong nonetheless. He had better pay attention.