My Second Life Is An Absurdist Power Fantasy 26 26.

"What's happening here?"Jack asked the terrified man.

But the man, seeing they didn't immediately follow his advice, he kept on running, das.h.i.+ng as fast as his short legs would carry him into the evening past the outskirts of town without ever responding.

"Well, that's not a good sign." Jack said, turning to the other three. Rose already had her sword drawn, and Eleanor performed a few hand gestures before a faint blue light flashed, and a faint glow of Mage Armor gathered around her.

"No, it's not." Rose said, walking slowly towards the village. "Keep your eyes open."

"Goblin attack, you think? Or something else?" Eleanor asked, turning towards Rose.

Before Rose could reply, an explosion tore through the center of the village a couple hundred feet ahead of them, sending a fireball nearly a hundred feet into the air and shooting several dark shapes flying into the sky that Jack hoped beyond hope weren't human bodies.

"Something else." Madeleine said dryly.

"Yeah. We need to hurry! Let's go!" Rose said, breaking into a sprint towards the village center. Eleanor and Madeleine ran after her, leaving Jack standing dumbfounded.

"Come on, Jack! Hurry up!" Eleanor called back to him as she ran.

"And go in there? Are you crazy? We don't even know what's in there!" Jack called back.

"You're the hero of legend! You can literally bend the world to your will! What are you so afraid of?" Eleanor said, stopping and turning towards him with her hands on her hips, her tail flicking back and forth.

"Dying!" Jack called back.

Eleanor stomped back the couple dozen feet back over to him, and grabbed his hand, scorching the bajeezus out of it, but despite his howling protests of pain, refused to let go as she physically drug him by the hand behind her. It was now he realized for the first time just how ridiculously strong the Tiefling actually was. He now for the first time got the distinct impression that he couldn't have refused her earlier advances if he had tried. She finally let go of his hand when they were back together with the others, and he looked down to see the entire palm of his right hand blistered up like a slice of half-cooked bacon.

Eleanor looked down at his hand and winced. "Sorry. Forgot about that." She reached into the small pouch on her side, pulled out a white feather, and ran it across her tongue before tracing it through the center of his palm as she chanted something under her breath. He watched as something flashed golden for a moment, and the pain in his hand vanished. He looked down to see it good as new, and the feather gone.

"Better?" Eleanor asked.

"Yeah, thank you." Jack said.

"Okay good. Now come on!" She said, motioning for him to follow as she ran on towards the village center.

Jack swallowed, and looked towards the blazing buildings standing in the distance. Well, I mean, he did ask for adventure. Guess you always get what you ask for.

He ran after them. What kind of hero would he be if he didn't?