Book 2: Chapter 8 (2/2)

“… And so?” Tafel asked, raising an eyebrow.

The man exhaled as a vein bulged from his forehead. He pointed at a crest on the sword’s hilt. It was an engraving of two crossed hammers. “How about this? Do you recognize it?”

“Nope,” Vur said. “And I’ve read a lot of books.”

“It’s the symbol of the dwarves! The dwarves! We’re a group armed by the dwarves!” the man shouted. He lowered his voice as he narrowed his eyes. “But I bet you don’t know what that means either. We’re going to kidnap you and turn you over to the dwarves in exchange for more weapons. Now, do you want to surrender peacefully or should I teach you two a lesson?”

Tafel pointed at the man as her hands glowed red. “Conflagration.” A rose made of flames blossomed in the air in front of the man’s face before exploding outwards, burning the leader and knocking over the nearby men. Tafel snorted as the men screamed, rolling around on the floor and slapping themselves to put out the flames.

“What happened to negotiations?” Vur asked. His barrier had shielded him from the explosion—not that he would’ve needed it anyways.

“What do you mean?” Tafel asked with a smile that reminded Vur of Lindyss’. “This is negotiating.”

“T-that’s not the power of a D-ranked adventurer,” the leader said as he applied an ointment to his burnt flesh. The skin and flesh wriggled, forming a pink surface on the wound. “Are you the guild’s quality checkers?”

“None of your business,” Tafel said and placed her hands on her hips. The men withdrew, pressing themselves against the walls of the room. Their actions left a sour taste in her mouth. This scene was all too familiar to her. Thankfully, there were no women or children this time. “Let’s go, Vur. They’re not going to bother us”—she glared at the leader—“right?”

“R-right,” the leader said and lowered his head, pressing his forehead against the ground.

Vur walked over and picked up the mithril sword, causing the man to tremble. Vur swung the sword a few times before biting the tip. It cracked. “Too soft,” Vur said and dropped the weapon. If it was stronger, he would’ve gifted it to Tafel since she liked equipment so much.

Tafel rolled her eyes at Vur’s actions before proceeding through the clearing, the men creating a path for her. She stopped in front of a purple archway at the end of the room with runes inscribed on its surface. There was no door or passage, only a rock surface beneath it. She glanced at the leader who was watching her from afar. “What is this?”

“It’s a fairy queen’s gate,” the leader said. “If you insert enough mana into it, the passage appears. It can take up to fifty mana potions before it opens.” He scratched his nose. “It’s a common commission for low-ranked adventurers. It’s the best place for slavers like us to find prey. Not only do we reach our quota, but we also get free mana potions.”

“Makes sense,” Vur said with a nod. He approached the archway and tilted his head to inspect the runes. He rubbed his chin, copying Charon’s favorite reading pose, as he read aloud, “Property of Erin. Touch this and I’ll kill you.” Vur scratched his head before poking the archway. Nothing happened. He shrugged at Tafel who was staring at him with a blank face. She sighed.

“You can read fairy runes?” the leader asked, eyes widening.

“He’s noisy, isn’t he?” Vur asked Tafel before frowning at the leader. The leader shut his mouth and sat on the ground. Vur touched the archway again and poured his mana into it, lighting it up. The rocky surface distorted and disappeared, revealing a pool of purple liquid on the other end. In the center of the pool, a green lily pad was floating on the surface.

Vur entered the room and squatted by the edge of the pool. The liquid seemed to recede as he approached, avoiding the glow coming off his body. He tilted his head and took a step forward, but the pool surged backwards and avoided his foot. What exactly did the birthflower want?

“H-hey,” the leader said. “That’s poisonous.” Maybe the horned girl would kill him if he didn’t warn them ahead of time. “Only fairies can drink it.”

Tafel frowned at Vur. “You’re thinking about drinking it, aren’t you?” she asked and sighed. “Do you want some help?”

“I got it,” Vur said as he held his arms out to the side. A breeze rushed through the opening and into the room, circling around pool. The wind spun faster and faster, creating a suction force which lifted the pool off the ground that funneled it towards Vur’s open mouth. Stella’s birthflower had prevented him from being poisoned during the assassination attempts on his life—he didn’t believe it’d fail him now.

The hunters’ leader watched with a pale face as the pool of liquid was consumed by Vur. The only side effect was a slightly bloated stomach. How was his luck so bad? He had chosen to push his luck one more time before the guild sweepers came to investigate, but he ran into these two monsters. What were they? A-ranked? S-ranked?