23 Memory of the Skill (1/2)

Thorn, Rose and Cure Song were striding toward the Mercenary's Guild.

\”Hehehe… Now that our party has two one-star veterans, I wonder what kind of jobs we'll be able to take.\” Rose commented, eyes shining with anticipation.

\”You shouldn't be too excited, although the higher ranked jobs have amazing rewards, their difficulty and the risks involved with them are in a completely different league in comparison with the unranked jobs.\” Cure Song warned.

\”It'll be alright; if the incompetence of the two of you gets us in trouble, I'll save your pitiful asses.\” Thorn magnanimously promised.

\”Mmm? What are you talking about? Obviously when the two of you get in trouble, I'll be the one saving your lives.\” Cure Song replied using a resolute voice.

\”Oh, really now?\” Thorn frowned at Cure Song.

Instantly, a heavy atmosphere of hostility materialized between the pair of males.

At that moment, Rose cut in with an evident amused smile: \”You two sure are funny. It's a matter of course that when the time of crisis comes, I'll be the one rescuing the both of you.\”

Taken aback, both males remained silent for a while. Then…

\”HaHAHAhaha…\”

\”HahahaHAHA…\”

Their unrestrained laughter burst out.

Expressionless, Rose saw their laughter hurt their stomachs and swore: \”I'll definitely shut your mouths later.\”

Not too long after, they arrived at the Mercenary's Guild. Unexpectedly, there was a strange scene playing out at the entrance: Vei Dal was standing with a troubled expression in front of a gorgon kid who was holding a whiteboard which had written on it 'I need a mercenary with a skill related to tracking to track and rescue abducted people. I'm offering four black horse monsters and a 4 m x 9 m D-class zenanium carriage of eight wheels as payment. It's urgent!'

When Rose's party approached them, they heard Vei Dal's gentle voice: \”I really understand your situation, but there's nothing we can do. Perhaps you don't know this but to search for a mercenary in front of our gates and not in our Contract Hall is the same as giving us a hard slap on our faces. Please, you must go elsewhere.\”

But in spite of Vei Dal's words, the kid didn't walk away. She trembled in fear lowering her head, but still refused to give in on her search.

After calculating what was the equivalent in money of the payment the little gorgon with white snakes was offering, Rose came closer to Vei Dal, and asked: \”What's going on?\”

Vei Dal turned his gaze to look over at the recently arrived cultivators, and then exclaimed: \”Oh, it's you guys! Thorn congratulations for your victory! Sorry, yesterday, I hadn't the chance to congratulate you because of what happened…\”

\”Don't worry about it.\” Thorn smiled waving his hand.

\”Cure Song, did you join their party?\” Vei Dal couldn't help but ask in surprise.

\”Yeah.\” Cure Song replied, not too glad about the entire situation.

\”That's great! I'm sure your party will become famous some day!\” Vei Dal emotionally affirmed.

\”Yeah, it's a pleasure to see you too; anyway, what's going on with that little girl?\” Rose asked turning her head in the direction of the nervous and gloomy kid.

Scratching his head with some embarrassment, Vei Dal replied: \”She want a mercenary to resolve the mysterious abductions on the roads surrounding Lurep Village. That's why we didn't let her in our Contract Hall. She would be just wasting her money with the entry fee after all. But then, she came here with that whiteboard and refused to leave… *Sigh*\”

Tilting her head, she asked in bewilderment: \”Mysterious abductions?\”

The shadow human replied amazed: \”Don't you know?! Since almost ten years ago, there had occasionally been reports of people going missing; after investigating, we always ended up finding only empty carriages. We couldn't find the responsible of the kidnaping, neither could the Lurep Village Adventurer's Guild Branch, not even the military forces of Lurep Village could. We even contracted tracking experts from the nearest city, Stormy Cloud City, to help with the case, but it was to not avail. It's a matter that has been troubling us all for quite a long time now…\”

Rose cast a quick sideway glance at Thorn, and said to Vei Dal: \”Is that so? Well, I'm confident in the tracking skills of our party, so we might as well give it a try.\”

Vei Dal got confused, to his knowledge in Rose's party there wasn't a single cultivator with a tracking skill.

Even Cure Song got confused.

She ignored their reactions and looked into the completely black eyes of the gorgon kid. \”Hello, my name is Rose. Your job offer, we are accepting it!\”

Deep astonishment flashed through those black eyes, and then tears of joy streamed out of them. The kid wasn't ignorant about how hard her request was, there had been just too many mercenaries who unhesitatingly refused to help her after all.

Smiling gently, Rose asked: \”What's your name?\”

The kid let go of the whiteboard, used her hands to wipe away the tears from her cheeks, and gnashed her teeth to keep her tears at bay. \”I-I'm Caroline Darrel.\” She muttered.

Caroline Darrel took a deep breath, and buzzed: \”L-let's go.\” She then turned and ran toward the west gate of Lurep Village. Knowing that her family might be in danger, she didn't want to waste more time.

Rose's party followed her, and Rose grabbed her up and carried her on her back as she accelerated.

It was the first time for Caroline Darrel to experience the sensation of being touched by a stranger that she had just met, and yet, she didn't panic. Somehow, she could feel that Rose's back was safe.

Vei Dal stood there, a deep frown on his face. (I hope our suspicious won't end up being more than that: just suspicious…)

With Rose leading the group, the three of them dashed through one after another street, shocking the bystanders in the process.