The Legend of Sun Knight Ss18

The Legend of Sun Knight Side Story: We Are Not the Dark Human Squad

Original novel in Chinese by: 御我 (Yu Wo)

"We Are Not the Dark Human Squad, Part One" - translated by Doza

“Stop joking around, Neo!”

Aldrizzt struggled with all his might, but to Neo, his strength was so meager that it could be disregarded.

As a matter of fact, there weren't many people who could put up a struggle against Neo Sun.

“What the heck are you struggling for?” Neo finally lost his patience. Just when would they reach their destination if he had to drag him like this the entire way? He didn't have that much patience.

Aldrizzt jerked back and his anger surged forth. He forcefully shook Neo off, and the latter who was also tired of dragging him on like this, took the opportunity to release him.

“Shouldn't I be the one asking this question? You insist on dragging me into a big city, just what are you thinking of doing?”

Neo said as though it was a matter of fact, “It's to register our team, of course!”

He's serious? Shocked, Aldrizzt said, “We only have two people, and we've never even taken on any huge missions. What is there to register?”

“It's precisely because we've never taken on any huge missions that we must register our team!”

Neo felt extremely dissatisfied. With Aldrizzt's and his strength, what missions were there that they couldn't handle? Unfortunately, as they were solo adventurers and didn't have much reputation, there simply weren't any big missions that would be given to them. Most of them were item-collecting and escort missions, and Neo completely had no interest in escort missions. Compared with protecting someone, he was better at beating someone up. And therefore, they were only left with a whole pile of herb-collecting, worthless missions!

Aldrizzt was very happy doing these jobs picking flowers and plants, but Neo was extremely depressed. The adventurer life he had imagined was definitely not being a gardener! Speaking of which, other than that time when he met Aldrizzt a short while after leaving Leaf Bud City and was hunted by a whole group of dark elves, the following days were truly too boring.

“I don't want to do any more of these gardening missions!”

Aldrizzt rolled his eyes and said indignantly, “The sites of these ‘gardening missions' are locations that even warriors rarely go. I've already tried very hard to find the most dangerous sites for collecting. What more do you want?”

Without any hesitation, Neo said, “Register our adventurer team, seek out an elf to be our archer, and accept the most dangerous mission. Best would be the sort like slaying dragons!”

Why do you have to have an elf as the archer? Aldrizzt felt very vexed. Neo plainly knew that he was a dark elf, and would definitely be unable to get on the good side of an elf. Despite that, Neo still wanted to find an elf to be their party member.

Aldrizzt already couldn't be bothered with the two words “slaying dragons.” Having journeyed with his companion until now, he was incapable of feeling shocked regardless of what Neo wanted to kill.

“Wasn't the previous incident when we entered a small town enough to make you understand?” Frustrated, Aldrizzt said, “At that time, we had been surrounded by the citizens in an inn in the middle of the night. If we hadn't been strong enough to escape, then even if we had been tied to a stake and burned to death, it wouldn't have been strange! But do you know how many people there are in a big city? Perhaps we would be encircled by more than a thousand people!”

“Be encircled by more than a thousand people?” Neo's blue eyes shone. He stroked his chin as he said, “Even though getting surrounded isn't anything new, getting encircled by more than a thousand people sounds a lot more interesting than gardening missions.”

He was totally wrong. The thing that Neo loved the most was danger. Aldrizzt was full of regret.

“Let's go into the city.” Neo's tone did not seem to leave his teammate any room for discussion. Yet, he also did not immediately turn around and leave because…

“Which direction do we head toward?”

Upon hearing this, Aldrizzt also clearly comprehended that if he did not lead the way or deliberately take the wrong route, Neo would definitely hit many walls before he managed to find the city—Truthfully speaking, sometimes he was truly baffled over who was the human that lived on the surface and who was the dark elf that lived underground.

What should I do? Frowning, Aldrizzt called out, “Neo.”

“Hm?”

“Do we have to enter a city?”

“We do!”

As expected, there was no room for discussion. Aldrizzt sighed and reluctantly compromised, saying, “Then, we'll go to Leaf Bud City.” At least that is the location of the Church of the G.o.d of Light. If something actually happens, the Church probably wouldn't watch the former Sun Knight get mobbed, right?

“We can go to any city except Leaf Bud City!” Neo wasn't willing to buy it. “I've lived there for several decades. I know Leaf Bud City like the back of my hand. Why would I go there?!”

Like the back of his hand? Aldrizzt asked skeptically, “I'm quite doubtful, are you sure you can recognize the streets in Leaf Bud City?”

He could only recognize the half closer to the Church of the G.o.d of Light; however, Neo would never admit it. In any case, recognizing half of it also counts as recognizing it! “Of course I can recognize the roads.”

Aldrizzt was not fully convinced, and asked in reply, “Then tell me, right now which direction do you head to go to Leaf Bud City?”

“It is Leaf Bud City that I know like the back of my hand, not how to get to Leaf Bud City!”

Neo knew that if Aldrizzt acted disoriented and led them the wrong way, then perhaps they really would end up at Leaf Bud City. However, with his personality, Aldrizzt could not do something like pretending to be disoriented. So, as long as he persuaded him to agree to lead the way, there would be no problems.

“Aldrizzt, no matter what else you say, I still want to enter a city and form the Dark Human Squad!”

“…” Aldrizzt's expression changed and he asked in disbelief, “Were you actually still thinking of this name, Dark Human Squad?”

“Of course. You are a dark elf, and I am a human. Isn't it perfect to call us the Dark Human Squad?1”

“It's not perfect at all!”

Aldrizzt was determined to disagree until the very end. Simply thinking of the laughter it could raise when they registered their team made him want to dig a hole to bury himself in it. What's more, if they became famous… With Neo's plans for their adventurer life, even if he tried his best to block half of them, he feared that they could still build up a considerably large reputation with the remaining half.

If they became world famous using a team name like Dark Human Squad, Aldrizzt would rather go back to the underground den of the dark elves.

“What's wrong with Dark Human Squad?” Neo felt that this team name was extremely suitable for the two of them. Just when he was about to insist on keeping the name, he suddenly thought of something better and changed his words, “Then, as long as we use a different name, we're good to go?”

Aldrizzt blurted out, “Yes!”

“Alright, we won't use this name. Now that we're good to go, let's go to the city to register our team.”

“…” Aldrizzt cried out, “Wait a second!”

Neo raised an eyebrow and retorted, “Hey hey, elves should mean what they say, right?”

“I am a dark elf, not an elf! To my race, not meaning what we say is a virtue.”

Neo let out an “oh” sound, then asked back, “So can you, this ‘dark elf,' say what you don't mean to your comrades?”

Aldrizzt was startled, and then his shoulders drooped weakly as he honestly admitted, “I can't.”

“Then we're all good; now let's go to a city to register our team!”

Aldrizzt hesitated for a moment. To agree was to agree. Furthermore, looking at how persistent Neo was, he feared he wouldn't be able to do anything to make him give up on his plan. He could only nod and hope that by pulling the hood of his cloak a bit lower and wearing a veil, maybe he would be able to hide his true race?

Right now, he could only hope that Neo merely wanted to enter the city to register their team. He had better not take the opportunity to drink wine, eat a meal, cause trouble, and stay in an inn. Then inexplicably, someone would discover that he was a dark elf, and after which they would really have to act out the scene of getting surrounded by thousands of people in the middle of the night.

“Let's go, Aldrizzt—what are you staring blankly at? Hurry up and lead the way.”

Even though the words in his mouth sounded like he was urging him impatiently, Neo was actually feeling very happy. This maneuver “Use an even worse proposal to make the other party accept the not-so-worse plan” was a trick that Chasel was an expert in, and usually used on Neo himself. It was rare that Neo had a chance to use it on others, even thoroughly embarra.s.sing the other party. This made him feel that all the past resentment he had felt from getting tricked by Chasel had been swept away.

“I'm really sorry, but adventurers need at least three members before they can establish their teams.”

Looking at the female attendant before him, who wore an apologetic expression yet was occasionally winking at him seductively, and hearing a dark elf chuckling behind him, Neo felt his good mood completely vanish.

However, he also could not do something idiotic like having an outburst. Instead he put on a faint smile, propped both his hands on the counter and lowered his head slightly, making the female attendant in front of him so crazy about him that hearts were nearly floating out of her eyes. Only then did he open his mouth and request, “We really do have three members, but one of them has yet to arrive. I wonder if you could be a bit more flexible and let us register our names first, and afterwards let him come and submit his information?”

The female attendant was gazing fixedly at such a handsome guy while her hand slowly slid toward the large hands propped on the counter. Even so, her mouth still dutifully said, “I'm sorry, I really can't make an exception.”

Neo immediately wiped the smile off his face and drew back his hands, letting the female attendant's hand that was about to touch his fall onto air. She looked at him dolefully, but Neo ignored her. If she didn't make an exception, then he wouldn't let her touch even his fingernails.

“Aldrizzt, we're leaving.” Neo coldly turned around and walked off.

Hearing this, Aldrizzt felt glad and nodded repeatedly behind his veil as he said, “Let's hurry up and return to the forest.”

“Return to what forest, don't we need to take on a mission?”

Only then did Aldrizzt remember, not only did they have to take on a mission, they also had to report back that they had completed the previous mission. However, he really did not want to accept a mission in the city. During this period of time, he would have to come into contact with people from the Adventurers' Guild, and it was simply too easy to get discovered by others. Even if he wore a veil and pulled his hood lower, if he continued to look down instead of at the other party when he spoke to them, it would arouse their suspicion or curiosity, and it would be followed by the big crisis of his true ident.i.ty being discovered.

All the previous occasions when his true ident.i.ty had been revealed had happened in a few small towns. There weren't many people in a small town and the moment Neo was unhappy, he swung his sword around wildly, so those few residents did not dare advance and surround them at all. However, in a big city…

“Aldrizzt, what is the name of the mission that we have to report back?”

In the blink of an eye, Neo had already rushed to the front of the counter for accepting missions, and was now turning his head back to ask him. Aldrizzt laughed bitterly. He had once again forgotten that Neo only knew how to take action and never made plans. By the time the words were out of his mouth, he feared that he would have long since taken action, and he wouldn't have any time at all to stop him.

“It's Medicinal Herb Metru—”

“Where did this beauty come from? Her voice is so captivating!”

He was suddenly interrupted by a loud voice taunting him from behind. Aldrizzt felt anything but rea.s.sured. At that moment, sounds of laughter erupted all around him. Even though Aldrizzt's voice was soft, one could still clearly distinguish it as a man's voice. This person was obviously saying it on purpose to ridicule him.

This sort of situation wasn't rare. Aldrizzt had already discovered that his voice was much too soft compared to that of a human male, and so it occasionally attracted several verbal slurs about how he wasn't manly. Personally, Aldrizzt actually didn't mind. In any case he was not a man; he was a male dark elf. However…

“Who said that?” Neo turned around, and with a single glance, saw a big man wearing a contemptuous expression behind Aldrizzt. Without pause, he coldly snorted at him.

However, every time, Neo would always immediately create a scene. Aldrizzt hurriedly said, “Neo, I don't mind.”

But it was as if Neo hadn't heard Aldrizzt's dissuasion at all. He glared at that man, and frostily said, “You can't even distinguish between male and female, what kind of adventurer are you? You probably can't even recognize the roads, so what adventure could you go on?!”

Are you truly qualified to say such things?! Aldrizzt nearly coughed out blood. Who had to spend three days at the beginning before he could finally identify my gender? And now, who was it that couldn't even recognize the way home?

“Mind your own business.” The person who had ridiculed him wore light armor and looked tall and strong, particularly his biceps, which were so buff they were like two giant boulders. He appeared to be a warrior. He took several steps closer toward Neo until the two of them were face to face. Neo was shorter than the other by a full head, so they looked just like an adult and a child.

“He is a member of my team. To insult him is to insult me!”

Aldrizzt was dumbstruck, and because of this sentence, nearly stood at Neo's side to confront the other party together with him. However, this wasn't necessary at all. Besides, he really couldn't bear to watch that man get beaten up by Neo until he was bedridden for a month because of a single taunt.

That's right, he was worried for the other party's safety, and completely unworried about his own companion.

“Neo, I really don't mind…” Aldrizzt broke off, because he realized that Neo didn't actually look angry at all. Instead, he was more eager and excited. When that warrior stood in front of him and turned out to be a full head taller than him, he looked even happier.

Aldrizzt had a flash of realization. Basically, Neo had stayed in the forest for too long, and his hands were itching to find someone to practice his skills on.

The heck about insulting his teammate is to insult him…

Aldrizzt was annoyed. He turned around and queried, “May I ask which is the farthest inn from here?”

Farthest? The attendant was confused. He had heard of people asking for the nearest, but he had never heard of anyone asking for the farthest. He could only ponder for a while, and then inform him of one that was farther away.

“When he finishes fighting,” Aldrizzt gestured toward Neo and said, “please tell him to go to that inn to look for me.”

Let Neo fight until he was content. Then, he would see if this adventurer could find his way to the inn by himself. If he couldn't find it, then he could have fun sleeping by the roadside!

1 "Dark Human Squad": Neo formed this name by using the "dark" from dark elf combined with "human." It's a terrible name because the combination of 黑 (black) from 黑暗精靈 (dark elf) and 人 (human/man) to form 黑人隊 (Dark Human Squad) actually means "Black People Squad."