Hiatus Gifting This Unfortunate Guy With Blessings

Well, it didn't take long until I really did fly out of the window. I just made sure that I was hearing things properly by asking the Lord to repeat the last part two times. I was unsure if me letting myself out of the hall was something allowable but no one seemed to stop be after I said I will consider their request.

I used the small window outside of the hall I was eyeing before going inside. My owl form was small enough to fit almost every hole. Some guards on the walls eyed me curiously in flight but I uneventfully arrived quickly at the local church. I wanted to ask the priest for his take on the story.

When I went into the church the first thing I saw was a giant statue of a goddess. It was a very life-like sculpture and it depicted a woman wearing a dress with long hair and a relatively big bust holding a horseshoe in a reached out hand as if she was giving it to the person walking in.

It was my first time seeing the goddess Eris's depiction but the luck symbol was easily recognizable.

While I was admiring this beautiful piece of art a priest came by my side.

"Hello traveler, are you here to offer prayers to Eris-sama?"

He was an elderly man with white hair. Without beating around the bush I told him about me being an adventurer who brought some 'charms' and that I wanted to ask some questions.

But he only repeated what I already knew from the Lord Vessec. He was the priest that went to Axel, consulted with an archpriest of Eris Church and received this 'prophecy' from him.

They supposedly were skeptical at first but after they received the first testing 'charm' it worked properly so the priest, with Lord's permission, made a deal to buy a large number of these 'godly charms'.

I could already see the priest's budding question if I will help them with delivery so I politely thanked him and went outside.

Something definitely felt off with this story.

Anyways, it was time to come back to Axel. I seemed to be running late for the meeting so I had to pick up the pace and I knew how to do it.

What was faster than a bird with a 50 cm wide wingspan?

A half-bird creature with a wingspan of more than four meters.

After I made sure that no battle-junkie farmer could spot me I transformed into a Young Griffin for the first time.

The first change I noticed was that my vision became even sharper than it was. I could see clearly at distances even longer than my Farsight skill in my human form could pick up. Though it seemed that my hearing became a little less prominent but that wasn't much of an issue.

What surprised me was the fact that the flying was largely different than in my owl form. Firstly, the owl's flight is practically silent. Very few animals can hear an owl getting near. Griffin's flight sounded like a bombardment in comparison. Every flap of my wings probably alerted every animal in a half kilometer radius.

The other, more important fact, that took me a few minutes to grasp, was that I unconsciously was using magic during the flight in my Griffin form.

It didn't happen when I was flying at normal speed but when I tried picking up the pace to check my limits I kept flapping my wings at the same pace but my speed rose greatly seemingly without any observable reason. I was at that time automatically manipulating air currents with magic.

I wondered if I can do anything else 'magical' but it didn't seem like there was much else to it, or at that moment I just couldn't put my finger at it.

It wasn't long until I had to decide if I wanted to quickly traverse through the mountain path with my Griffin form or to do it slower, but quieter in my owl form.

The only true dangers to me while flying was the 'mother' 'kid' duo of Griffins and the giant troll able to throw giant rocks.

I opted to use my owl form for a stealthier approach.

Neither of those dangers appeared for over half of the mountain path but with a 'better-safe-than-sorry' mindset I continued to fly above the rocky hills as an owl until I saw the other side of the mountain.

I once again picked up the pace after transforming into Young Griffin and headed straight to Axel. I thought that if I kept that pace I could be on time for the meeting.

After that, I would report about the quest to Luna-san, take Megumin for an Explosion run, and after I came back to the house I would ask Chris about that whole 'charm' business.

I started to wonder how Megumin would react upon seeing my new transformation. I smiled internally when I remembered her praising my other forms. I bet she would do that today as well and then I unconsciously picked up the pace again.

I forgot to switch back to the owl form when I was near the city but, fortunately, I noticed a sleepy guard on the wall suddenly opening his mouth wide upon seeing my silhouette in the distance and I quickly changed back into an owl. The guy just rubbed his eyes and after making sure that I wasn't a monster about to attack the city he once again started observing the faraway trees once again.

In the city square, there was a visible clock and I regretfully noticed that it was ten minutes past our meeting hour.

I was late second time in a row...

After using a nearby alley to transform I walked into the guild.

And I immediately jumped back out of it.

When I opened the door and made the first step I noticed Kazuma running quickly towards me and shouting "MOVE OUT OF THE WAY".

He was being chased by Darkness who had a completely red face.

"Give them back!!!"

They ran past me at full speed but Kazuma didn't even make four steps when he threw something up in the air. Darkness noticed it and tried to grab the thing but her hands didn't reach it. When she turned around she saw that piece of lying on my shoulder.

"P-please give them back to me." she pleaded as I couldn't understand why she was becoming even redder on her face. I couldn't even take a good look at the thing before I could hear Kazuma yell from behind Darkness.

"STEAL!"

And the thing disappeared completely after a flash of light. I blinked in surprise and so did Darkness.

Then we both could hear Kazuma laugh as he disappeared in the alley.

…

"What had just happened?" I asked Darkness standing in front of me who was trying to hold her rage in because there was no way she could catch up with Kazuma who had probably used an Escape skill.

"He stole my u-u-u.n.d.e.r.w.e.a.r while trying out a new skill on me and… wouldn't give it back. He was shouting something about his 'prize'..."

Did Kazuma just use the skill that Chris-san magnanimously has taught him to steal her friend's p.a.n.t.i.e.s?

At that moment I used another piece of advice that Chris-san has bestowed upon me. An animal, especially a flying one, was faster than a human using an Escape skill.

I flew high up and looked around the streets. I noticed that Kazuma was no longer running but walking around a nearby alley while holding a black fabric stretched out between his hands.

I silently swooped in and grabbed Darkness's possession out of Kazuma's clutches.

"Oy! Give them back!"

His cries fell on my owl's deaf ear and I just turned around and flew towards the direction of the guild.

Darkness was standing in the same place while watching the sky so I did another descend and released the 'package' right above her which she promptly caught.

After I came back to the place in my human form I noticed both relief and, less visibly, slight dissatisfaction on her face.

"Thank you." But she sounded grateful.

I - not knowing what else to say - just nodded my head in answer and asked about another topic.

"So, the meeting is over already?"

"Yes. 'That guy's' equipment will be ready tomorrow so we agreed on meeting the day after in the morning for another quest. "

"Okay. Sorry for being late today. See you!" I said and tried to walk into the guild to talk with Megumin and then with Luna-san but Darkness stopped me.

"Do you know where Megumin lives? I am kinda worried about her. She didn't show up today."

"What?" I answered automatically.

"Kazuma said she probably forgot and had changed the topic but I-"

I stepped quickly in the guild and scanned the area not believing that Megumin would be so late or didn't appear at all. Maybe they just overlook her… Who was I kidding? Who would overlook that Explosion Girl with a massive hat and even bigger presence?

The only faces I recognized inside were Aqua giving some sort of performance and Luna-san standing on the side of the gathered crowd. When the latter saw me, she came up and started:

"Kazuki-san, how was-"

But I almost immediately interjected:

"Luna-san, did you see Megumin today in the guild?" And I started quickly describing Megumins looks but Luna-san quickly stopped me and answered.

"Yes, she took up a Giant Toad extermination quest together with two guys... um, Dane and Karg were their names if I recall correctly. I saw them leaving two hours ago."

Weren't they the two that paired with her previously and run away after she used her Explosion?

"What?! Why?" Darkness behind me exclaimed faster than I could.

Luna-san had no idea how to answer that question so I asked the more important one:

"Where? Who placed that quest."

Seeing my rush she quickly went to the counter, picked up some paper and after a few seconds she told us the location of the farm a few kilometers away from the city that has posted the quest.

Suddenly I had that unsettling feeling in my stomach.

Darkness seemed extremely worried as well.

"We should grab Aqua, find Kazuma, and-"

She started talking about gathering the entire team but I just couldn't wait.

"There's no time, come with me."

I went outside and Darkness followed me with questions written all over her face.

"Hop on and hold tight." was the only line of explanation I could think of at that moment.

I had to admit that she very quickly collected herself after seeing me transform into a horse-sized Griffin. When other people around noticed me they became stunned for a few good seconds before they started screaming but at that point, I was already flying away with Darkness on my back.

Heavy!

If not for the magic assistance during the take-off I probably would've struggled to fly away. I didn't think I could let another person besides Darkness sit on me without me crashing shortly after.

I pushed myself to the limit to fly as fast as possible towards the farm Luna-san described while Darkness was shouting something on my back.

"I wonder how many bones would I break if I fell from this heigh..."

You will die! Please don't do that! How will I look Chris in the eyes if you do that?!

While making sure that Darkness wasn't 'accidentally' slipping off my back I continued to fly at top speed.

We started nearing the location and I could see something happening to the west of the farm.

I noticed a very familiar sight. One guy was hacking a Giant Toad with his sword while it was swallowing someone. The other Giant Toad was also swallowing someone whose boots I could recognize. And there was a flaming crater to complete the scenery for a perfect deja-vu.

…

"There!" Darkness has finally spotted the scene as well. As started descending quickly Darkness seemed to unsheathe her blade and prepare for a strike. Seeing that I flew a little bit slower and aimed myself so she could slash at the Giant Toad. I flew directly by it but Darkness blade didn't connect.

I turned my head to look at Darkness judgingly and she answered while stammering.

"I-I-I was w-worried about hitting M-Megumin!"

Okay, let's pretend that this is a case and that Darkness didn't just swing her sword.

The toads finally realized that a Griffin was here but before they could start hopping away I landed near the one that was swallowing Megumin and slashed with by talons at the spots that Chris has mentioned to me in the past. After three slashes, the Toad stopped moving entirely.

Darkness jumped from my back to get Megumin out of the Toad and I quickly went to take care of the remaining one.

Throughout our descend the adventurer that remained standing - Karg, I thought- stopped hacking at the Toad and was instead looking in my direction with eyes almost bulging out. He seemed unsure if he should run, resume attack he Toad or attack me.

With the Toad's back exposed I ran onto it and started slashing until it stopped moving as well.

Without waiting for Karg's reaction I turned around and rushed back to see if Megumin was alright. I saw that Darkness had already taken out her from the Toad's mouth so I changed into my human form and ran up to them.

"What are you guys doing here?" Megumin asked surprised when she saw me and Darkness standing above her. She sounded as if she was greeting a friend in a bar she never saw him in before.

"Listen to this! I managed to get four Giant Toads with one Explosion this time!" she happily exclaimed almost immediately after.

…

(A/N: This chapter marks the 2nd week of me posting this fanfic! Thank you for reading good people! Please share your opinions with me in the comments about what you liked and what you disliked. If you can, please leave a review as well! I am unsure if I can write 1 chapter a day this week but we will see how things play out. Until the next one!)