Brock and Boulders [Mission]

[Chris]

A new day has start and it means a new mission for Chris. He’s like the most active and most reliable within the guild, of course, like all the big cats would be. He’s up to a mission today, whatever it is, as long as its just close by, he’s ready to do one. Fortunately, there are some requests posted on their guild’s request board already and as he is going to pick one, so as his guild mates.

“Hey, Chris. Up to something? By the way, I heard you run into some Tartaros mages with Kaiba?”, Chapps, one of his guildmate asked. Familiar with him and Kaiba it seems.

“Something like that. Nothing big. Got something just around here?”

“Oh. If you’re going to take that, take this, too. You’ll pass by it, anyways. It should be easy, aye?”

Just like what his guild mate suggested, he took a mission that will not take him that far from the City as he does not want to stay camping outside by the night. He took a mission from a client just outside the city so it should not take him more than half the day to get there and get back. That’s just a rough estimation thinking that the request would be easy for him but on the other hand, he also took another request that his guild mate insisted for him to have. Anyways, he better get going as he’d do two missions for the day at the minimum and hopefully there won’t be troubles as he do so.

Chris simply travelled on foot across the city. Equipped with light weaponries, he did not really take much weapons as the nature of his job for the day is not something fighting related and its more of a chore. It did not took him more than an hour to get to the outskirts of the city though as he follow the direction he has to take to get to the manor, he had to take the rough forest path not that far from the established roadway given that there was a landslide in which a large boulder has blocked it. He can see it from his position as he walk and for the next minutes, he resumed taking the established roadway at the other side of the boulder. Of course, that’s after observing the supposed obstruction that he’s about to deal with. It should not take him long to get to the manor and meet his client.

Knock. Knock. Knock. Chris has arrived at the manor and is currently knocking at the large wooden door of it. There’s nothing creepy around it and if Chris will describe the place, its something relaxing and peaceful. Its quiet and… it can be heard that someone is coming from within the manor with each steps echoing. “Good day, sir. Are you Mr. Brock? My name is Chris Heavenfield of Sable Pantera and I am here to do the request sent to us.” , Chris introduced himself professionally and told the old man the nature of his appearance though it appears that there’s no need to explain, really. Who would happen to appear in front of his manor if not the one who will clear the said obstruction In the first place?

Spoiler:

[Chris]

The old man was, indeed, Mr. Brock, the client requesting to clear the obstruction at the roadway. Mr. Brock appears to be around his 80’s so, surely, Chris understood the situation enough. The large wooden door opened itself in which made Chris somehow curious as to how an old man like Mr. Brock would be able to pull and open a 6 to 7 feet big door made of a thick piece of wood. Perhaps its mechanical but either way, he introduced himself. “Good morning, too, young man. I see you’re here for the request that I asked for… good!”, the old man proceeds walking and so as Chris following Mr. Brock’s slow and fragile movements. “Let’s see. Come! Let’s breathe fresh air first, shall we?”, there’s nothing unusual with the old man though with just a small gesture of his finger, the door closed. Chris may not have realized this but this is what exactly happened.

Mr. Brock is a mage capable of manipulating and producing plants on his will. ”Say, Sable Panthera, huh?”, the old man continued asking questions to Chris but its more of a casual conversation rather than an interrogation. “I remember… the good-bad guild full of spirited men and women.”, Mr. Brock walks to the garden of his property and continue telling his story. “How’s Falcone? That tough man!” “Falcone?” “Oh! I see. That man already retired, too? He’s the leader of the panthers around my time… you see, I am, too, is a mage… well, at least once in my life time, I was. But now I’m old I can’t even cast a spell to get rid of the boulders right on my path. Pathetic.” “Don’t get all so worked up, Mr. Brock. It is why I am here for.“, Chris told Mr. Brock. He said that not because he worry about the old man’s state but because it is true that its what he came here for.

“Alright. Alright. Young man. Off we will go but is there’s something we need to bring with us aside from our guns?”, the old man was joking as he give a reference to Chris’ large arms and so with his not so young arms. “Herherher… sure with your weapons, we can manually take those large rocks. With bare hands!“, the old man continued blabbing out how he thinks he’s still young. He’s just getting friendly to Chris.

“Shovel? Pike axe? Wheels? I think I can handle it with just these.”, Chris told the old man as he pointed out how useful his hands were to him but still, he tool the equipments with them. Together with the dog companion of Mr. Brock and two large horse pulling the cart that the old man used to get to the site. Chris just walk as its not really that far from the manor. There’s just two of them, really.

“Judging from your look, are you that fond of magic?“, Mr. Brock asked Chris as they reach the site while gesturing his hand showing the magic he’s capable of doing. On his palm, Chris saw a small seed growing a sprout and based from the tone of the old man, Chris had the idea of what the old man meant. “Not that much.”, Chris new that Mr. Brock is referring on how he use magic as this is not the first time he’s asked the same thing. Unlike many, he uses his very own physical skills the most than using magic for everyday means and right now, he won’t really be using magic at all. Just raw physical skills lifting the said rocks.

Spoiler:

[Chris]

The two men, Chris and Mr. Brock did share small chats on their way to the site where Chris has to remove the obstruction right after a suspected landslide had left the place blocked and impassable. All in all, there’s like three large boulder of rocks and tons of small parts and dirt. Estimating the total time of doing this, Chris gave it a rough three hours at maximum and might be shorter if Mr. Brock helped him albeit his old age. Chris started to clear the scattered dirt first and on the same time, examining if there might be another case of landslide. Fortunately, there’s nothing serious or critical about the cliff aside from noticeably soft spots around the collapsed part. But then, the conversation continued as Chris do his work. Mr. Brock was there watching from a distant at first and eventually give his own hand clearing the part where Chris will take the rocks.

“So young. I remember… but I did not have that kind of shape!”, Mr Brock was pointing out how good Chris' built is as he lift 50 to 70 pounds of rock one by one. So far, Chris was able to clear 18 percent as he estimates the over all obstruction that he has to clear. Chris simply listened to the old man’s story as he put the rocks away, shoveling it and clearing it away. “I may not be that buffed as you young man but you won’t be able to imagine how powerful am I with plants!”, Chris just continue to listen to Mr. Brock as the old man tell his story while and doing his own stuff helping Chris. Even for a bit and as the old man do so, he was using his magic. It was helpful enough to clear the scattered rocks off where Chris is working. Chris definitely won’t be able to imagine how cool it is if the old man can just use his very own magic to clear the road by himself… that is, when he was still young. Which is why he is asked for.

A couple of hours have passed and among the two, Mr. Brock was the one who got tired the most. As for Chris, he’s around 86 percent of progress and the only remaining obstruction in front of them is the single but large boulder around a ton. Chris managed to moved the other two to the sides already but the last one seems to be the most difficult as it won’t be rolled that easy as it got stuck in between a crack. “There we go! One last piece of potato!”, Mr. Brock jokingly told Chris as he watch from the distance. But there’s nothing to worry about. Chris readied himself to lift the boulder. Well, not actually lifting it per se but somewhere along those lines. Mr. Brock also lend a hand. As Chris positioned himself down, Mr. Brock did produce several thick plants from below in which made Chris able to push it off the small crack at the right timing. They did not do it on a single try though but with the help of Mr. Brock, even if he’s already old, he still managed to pull that off. Pushing the boulder to the side has then became easy and that ended his job. The roadway is now clear save from some small rocks and the damaged way but it should be fine now. “Good job! Young man, we pulled it off! Herherher! If I was just a little bit younger… I could have done it myself. Herherher!”, Mr. Brock reached for Chris arms for a handshake right after small taps to his shoulder. The roadway is now clear. "Anytime you need Sable Pantera's help.", Chris gladly told his client as he's also grateful that he had helped from the very old man, himself.

Spoiler:

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