Volume 1 - Chapter 6: The old man leaves Flaregard (1/2)

We managed to get our hands on the Primal Flame from a dungeon that was equivalent to an expert dungeon for the best adventurers. Not only is the True Clay valuable, but more importantly the experience we got from successfully clearing a dungeon of this magnitude. With this item, we will be able to increase the quality of Luna’s equipment by another level. Although I wasn’t quite fond of the progress we made in that dungeon level-wise as only Phil managed to gain a level despite the fact that this special intermediate dungeon had earnt us a least a month-worth of experience if we remained in Flaregard.

Entering the blue vortex, we were returned to the entrance of the dungeon. In other words, back in the guild. The guild staff who were present at our arrival instructed us to wait as they rushed back to the offices, coming out not with the usual receptionist but an executive of the guild.

[How far did you make it? Please tell me that you’ve at least made it to the fourth floor. It’ll be a huge relief on us if you did since it’ll make the rest of the dungeon much easier once you return.] (Executive)

I knew that he wasn’t being disrespectful, I couldn’t help but feel offended by his words. Although it seems that we’re the only party be tasked to complete the request. The number of monsters in the dungeon was much higher than a usual dungeon which meant that a party’s resources would be used up much quicker. Even with Me and Phil leading the way, finishing each battle as efficiently as possible while relying on Luna’s Presence Detection to avoid any unnecessary battles, we still used up all our resources before reaching the end of the dungeon by being frugal. Such was the level of a dungeon similar to advanced dungeons.

[I’ll answer that question.] (Yuuya)

In response, I took out the Primal Flame from my magic bag.

Note: The flame itself is actually a lantern but I felt that it would be easier to just omit the lantern.

[I never thought that you would clear it in two days..] (Executive)

[It’s the opposite. I cleared it because I only had two days.] (Yuuya)

Since I didn’t have that much time to remain in Flaregard, we only had two days to finish the request to catch up with the caravan. Additionally life in an advanced dungeon was a stressful one. The only proof one needed was to witness how sluggish the girls aside from Phil were behaving right now at the end of the second day as they barely managed to clear the dungeon. Hence this was an irreplaceable experience for us to have right before breaking through the intermediate to advanced rank.

After listening to my response, the guild members found themselves tongue tied as they began to smile.

[Hahaha. I’m sorry. It seems that I’ve been misjudging you from the beginning. From the bottom of my heart, I’m sorry and thank you. Now then, let’s talk about the rewards for this request. FIrstly, you can keep the return stones. Truly thank you. As expected of the hero Leonard, only someone like him could introduce someone to become the new saviour of our city.] (Executive)

[Sorry..? Could you tell me the details?] (Yuuya)

Did I just hear something outrageous? The person who recommended us was Leonard?

[Didn’t you hear about this? Initially we had requested for the Hero’s party, Leonard to fulfill the request. However he gave me a counter proposal, stating that there was a party in the city that was capable enough of completing the request. And that if they were to fail, they could send another message and they would travel here to finish the request themselves. The rest happened as you’ve seen. Now that you’ve cleared the dungeon, there isn’t any reason for the hero’s party to step up. I hadn’t had any faith up until now but your party actually managed to clear the dungeon at your levels.] (Executive)

How much about us does Leonard actually know? I can’t figure out what’s his objective either. However this does answer some lingering questions I had towards the guild. Why wasn’t the guild surprised at the fact that we had five members in our party, why they hadn’t advised us on the riddle in the dungeon and most importantly, why did they delegate such an important request to a party that had relatively low levels to the dungeon itself.

[That was the situation. Even if you had failed to complete the mission, we would be able to rely on hero Leonard to complete the dungeon which was why I ordered the receptionist to hand you a Return Stone. Let’s head over there to settle your reward as well as the matter about your raptor carriage.] (Executive)

Frankly speaking, this situation doesn’t appear as appealing to be as before, but I won’t be complaining either. It was still a quest with an attractive reward, and I am about to receive that reward.

.. And I’ll be sure to send Leonard a letter myself. One of the services provided by the guild is to contact other adventurers after all. It’ll be difficult for adventurers themselves to locate other adventurers throughout the year since we had an extremely mobile lifestyle. However parties had to register themselves at a guild to complete or accept a request, and that information is being shared throughout the guild making it much easier for the organisation to contact a specific adventurer.

.

.

.

After obtaining the rewards, we proceeded towards the shopping district. I went around replenishing our supplies such as recovery potions while Til bought an accessory which originated from the dungeon, providing its user an increased resistance against stuns and improved concentration. Selene had went to the armorsmith to purchase a new set of armour rather than repair her old broken set. Her new set of armour was rather spectacular in performance as well. It was a set made of leather from a monster which was rather flexible and resistant against flames that covered the whole body. Not only is the leather strong against sharp weapons and attacks, even her vital spots were protected by another layer of magic metal which were rather lightweight and durable as well.

It was a seriously impressive set of armour, allowing its wearer to move around easily and fight much longer due to its lightweight. I’m sure you wouldn’t find anywhere else but Flaregard.

Thus, shortly after obtaining our rewards, we had already spent all of it. In fact, I even had to take a chunk out of my savings in order to supplement our shopping spree although it was fine since it was unusual for a single request to cover the cost of a full-body armour and a magic accessory.

Now that we were done with our shopping, we carried our exhausted bodies towards the hot springs where we ate a delicious meal.

[This is happiness~ Delicious food and hot springs. Luna wants to stay here forever~.] (Luna)

[Me too~. It’s like heaven here.] (Til)

The two girls seem to enjoy Flaregard as I smiled wryly.

[It’s true that their hot springs are the best. But if we travel around the world, we’ll be able to find other hot springs and even delicious food that you would never be able to find here. So long as we keep moving, we’ll be able to discover more blissful things in other towns.] (Yuuya)

[Luna looks forward to it! Luna, wants to find even more wonderful things!] (Luna)

[As expected, it was a great idea to escape from the village! Although they had plenty of amazing things there, there are even more amazing things outside of the forest! Speaking of which, if we ever come across my home village, I’ll be sure to introduce everyone to all the best food you’ll ever eat!] (Til)

[Til, there are delicious food there too? Luna is interested!] (Luna)

[Fufufu. They are many things that you’ll never find outside of an elf’s village. If we ever travel to an elven village, we’ll bring you plenty of delicious food! Well oneechan will!] (Til)

Til looked towards Phil with a smug look as she pushed the responsibility towards her sister.

Luna began sticking her body out towards Phil as she looks directly at her with drool flowing down her mouth.

[Looks like I don’t have a choice. If we come across our village, then I’ll be sure to prepare all sorts of elven dishes. Please look forward to it.] (Phil)

[That’s great! Since I specialise in eating.] (Til)

[Sigh, I wonder what will happen once I get a brother-in-law.] (Phil)

[No way, that will never happen. Our journey isn’t over yet! Until our adventures are over I’ll be by yours and nii-san’s side!] (Til)

[Luna too!] (Luna)

Are they freeloaders!? They seem so excited and frankly enjoying themselves like this. Although looking at this spectacle, Selene seemed to have a glint of loneliness around her.

[Selene, its too early for you to worry about the future.] (Yuuya)

[That’s true. But I can’t help but think that it’ll be great if this could go on and on without ending. Is that weird of me to think so?] (Selene)

[No. That isn’t weird in the slightest. At the very least I don’t think so.] (Yuuya)

Our current party was the most enjoyable party I have ever had. However even this would come to an end soon. At that moment, we’ll have to choose the option that will leave behind the least regrets..

.