The Laughing Swordsman

Apollo let out a deep sigh after his body had been rejuvenated from eating the rainbow colored fish.

"Where did you find these?"

Layla scratched the side of her head.

"Um... there was this place with big trees and a lake! The fishies were there!"

Apollo furrowed his brows.

"Oh... could you take me there?"

Layla blinked a few times.

"Ehehe... maybe!"

Apollo raised an eyebrow with annoyance.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

Layla scratched her cheek with her index finger while her tail swayed.

"Um... I forgot where it was! But if we search for long enough, we can find it!"

Apollo's eyebrow twitched. He pinched the bridge of his nose with his thumb and index finger.

"Never mind, never mind."

Layla tilted her head to the side.

"Ok!"

Suddenly, she perked up. Her furry ears twitched.

"Oh, can I have the elixir now? I even went through so much trouble to play with we both know you!"

Apollo blinked a few times, confused at first.

Oh, right.

That.

Apollo rolled his eyes.

"Alright, whatever."

He looked around himself for a moment.

...It was quite the bare place.

Would there be a place for requests?

Apollo decided to just take a look to see if there was anything available. He stepped into his shadow and found himself within the shadow world.

Apollo made sure to hold his breath as best he could in here. It was as though he was underwater, but without the pressure the water would normally bear on him.

There were several passing clouds of grey mist, but there was no eye symbol. However, there was a trail of red mist.

Apollo remembered this was how he was guided before. Since the mission had been completed, this trail of mist probably led him towards the nearest place for requests.

And so, Apollo began walking towards this trail.

After a few minutes, he found the slightly parted eye. The trail of mist seemed to be going into the eye, blending in with the deep red glow it emitted.

Apollo touched the eye before finding himself in the request room.

After just a few seconds, a crack of space opened up.

And out from it, came Layla.

She tumbled, but quickly got back up to her feet. Layla stood tall while her tail swayed enthusiastically.

"Where is the elixir?"

Apollo waved his hand dismissively.

"I am going to get it, just wait."

  He walked over to the table made out of grey mist and pulled out his iron coin, which somehow stayed with him despite all the fights he had been through.

Apollo flicked the coin, after which plumes of mist appeared. Two dense lines of mist condensed, resembling how many chances he still had to use the coin.

There was a torn parchment, the request to assassinate Kylan Noia. Next to it, was a familiar small vial. It was sealed with a cork and translucent light blue liquid inside.

Without much hesitation, Apollo tossed it over to Layla, who snatched it out of the air.

Layla brought the small vial close to her face, inspecting it curiously. A few moments later, she pulled off the cork, causing a soft pop to ring out.

Layla put it next to her lips and downed it all immediately.

After a few moments, she smacked her lips and nodded a few times.

"Very cold! It feels nice, hehe."

Apollo looked at Layla with a bit of curiosity.

"Do you feel different in any way?"

Layla tilted her head to the side.

"Um... no?"

Apollo's eyelid twitched.

...Did it just have no effect?

Layla giggled.

"Isn't it just a cold drink? It feels really nice. Can we get some more?"

Apollo drew a deep sigh.

"...No."

Layla pouted.

"Aw... really?"

Apollo forced a twitching smile.

"Really."

Layla lightly pressed the tips of her fingers together. She looked at Apollo, then the ground.

After a few seconds, she let out a disappointed hum.

"Ok..."

Apollo was a little surprised.

Honestly, he expected Layla to freak out once more, after which he would fight with her. Though considering how strong she was, this was definitely the ideal outcome.

Apollo shook his head.

"Anyways... I hope that mission is still there."

This entire time, Apollo hadn't forgotten about the original mission he wanted to complete. The one that would give him the 'Basic Shadow Step Technique' reward.

With a bit of trepidation, Apollo picked his silver coin back up and flicked it.

Once more, plumes of mist were released. However, this time, there was only a single line of condensed mist.

Apollo made a mental note of this. After all, he was essentially playing with fire with how few chances he had. From what Apollo knew, the last request only let him get a single chance.

It was clear that these chances wouldn't come easily, and if they ran out...

Apollo sighed.

He decided to cast his eyes upon the parchments.

Currently, there were four requests available. Like always, Apollo looked towards the reward section.

'Reward: 100 Gold Coins

Reward: 500 Gold Coins

Reward: Eye of an Adult Unicorn

Reward: Basic Shadow Step Technique'

Although Apollo didn't care too much about the coins, he was still a little startled by how many they were.

Apollo's only experience with money had been in his own village, where the only thing he could really buy was food and miscellaneous things.

This included various arts the people of the village made in their spare time, or interesting things that some of the villagers brought from the outside.

However, most of them were simply trinkets that had no real use.

But what Apollo didn't know was that money, and in particular gold coins, were not as useless as he thought they were.

If nothing else, money could let him acquire large amounts of food in the long term reliably. This was definitely important with how much he consumed.

However, he was only going to find that out after traveling down the road for a long time.