“Who are you?” Arad said, standing between the strange young man and Aella.
The man stared at him, smiling, “Abel Alina, the current prince of the city. Don’t you know me?”
“Never heard of you before,” Arad replied.
Able froze in place, his face almost cracking. “Is that so? Well, I guess I don’t get out a lot,” He looked down, sighing.
At that moment, Arad and Aella felt gazes on their backs. All the female adventurers stared at them with sharp eyes.
“I oversee the elephant trunk brothel to the south. I heard the dragon slaying party had a beautiful rare elf, so I came to see if she could work there.” Able smiled, looking at Aella, “What do you say?”
“No,” Aella replied immediately, glaring at Able as if she still couldn’t comprehend what was going on in his head.
“Come on, just give it a try for a week. I never had a woman who refused or regretted it.” Able didn’t want to back down.
“Didn’t you hear her?” Arad glared at Able, “Get the hell out of here,” he growled.
Able turned toward Arad, “Who talked to you?” CLING! Out of nowhere, Able swung a sword at Arad’s face.
GAW! Arad growled, opening his jaw and biting the sword in half. CRACK!
Able froze, staring at his shattered blade. ^Did he bite it?^ He couldn’t believe what he saw.
[Arad, don’t let the werewolf blood out,]
“Didn’t you hear me? I said she doesn’t want to work for you. Scram!” Arad growled.
All the adventurers in the guild stared with both anxiety and fear. Did they see Arad bite a sword? What’s going on? Able never came here like this before.
“Able! Stop fooling around, or you might get hurt,” Nina called.
Arad stared back at her, and Able smiled, “Do you really think this one could do it?”
“That’s what I said,” Nina smiled, “So why don’t you stop with the jokes, and let’s get to business? What is the problem?”
Able sighed, “Fine. You might have noticed that I put some quests for volunteers before. The situation has escalated,”
“You never reported a problem besides a lack of workers,” Nina stood, approaching them.
“What’s going on?” Arad looked at Nina. “He’s the prince of the city and the owner of the elephant trunk brothel. Unlike his act earlier, he’s a relatively decent guy,” Nina replied.
“Someone has been killing our workers, poisoning them,” Able growled, “Yesterday, we had the first death,”
“What? Poisoning?” Nina gasped.
“Yeah, at first we thought they were just sick. Multiple people have been falling ill, and we had a loss.” Able grabbed his head, “An alchemist said they are poisoned, and not with just any poison. It was the clear sky.”
“Clear sky? That means you have a cubus?” Nina said with a serious face.
“Yeah, I’m good with the sword, but not tracking. I need someone to track and catch that thing,” Able growled.
“That would be hard. Cubus are known to be masters of mind control and seduction. And they are strong,” Nina scratched her head.
“I just need people capable of screaming. Just call me when it appears, and I will deal with it.” Able growled, “This why I’m looking for a strong-willed woman, one that could inform me of the cubus arrival,”
“I will put a quest immediately,” Nina said, turning around.
Able sighed, looking at Arad and Aella, “I was really hoping you would take the job. A woman who fought a dragon could resist a cubus temptation enough to scream at least,”
Aella shook her head, “I still won’t take the job. You have to find someone else,”
Arad thought, “Cubus, are they magical creatures?”
“They are the true form of what you call Incubus and Succubus.” Able replied, “They have more magic than they need,”
Arad nodded with a smile, “Can I take the job?”
“EH?” the entire guild gasped.
“You? Sorry, but we only serve men.” Able sighed.
“Not that,” Arad shook his head, “I should be able to track it with magic. Just let me sit as a clerk or seller, whatever you name them,”
“You can see magic?” Able stared at Arad.
“Something like that,” Arad smiled, “I should be able to tell you when magic is activated or if someone is using it,”
“Are you sure?” Able glared back at Arad.
“Of course, just how you’re covering your two swords with magic right now,” Arad said with a smile, and Able laughed.
“So you can tell! That’s amazing. Is it an ability or a skill?”
“I spent some time with Merlin. She taught me a few tricks on how magic work,” Arad replied with a smile.
“Merlin? The archmage?” Able gasped, “How did you manage to reach that woman? Did you sign on for one of her experiments?”
“She’s the one who hired me to take down the dragon. I had to make the best of my time with her,”
“I see.” Able nodded, “We’re closed this week after we lost someone. But we will open next week. Get yourself ready,”
“See you then,” Arad waved to Able as he left.
Aella stared at Arad with a worried face, “Are you sure?” She asked.
“He’s the son of the lord. If all I need to do is look for someone then it will be an easy connection to make,” Arad replied. His plan is simple. Go there, use void eyes, find the cubus, inform Able, and then profit.
“I see,” Aella nodded, “Should we take a quest while we wait for next week?”
Arad nodded with a smile, “Let’s have look at the board.”
“Shouldn’t we ask Nina about a rank-up?” Aella asked with a smile.
“We need Jack to be present for that. To the guild it’s the whole party who slayed the dragon,” Arad replied, and a voice called them from the back.
“The guard commander and the archmage Merlin put a request for you.” Nina called, “Due to that, we prepared a rank-up exam for your party,” She approached Arad and Aella with a smile.
“Really? Which rank are we getting?” Arad asked.
“You will rank up directly to C-rank if you finished the exam,” Nina said with a smile.
“Just C-rank? I expected at least B-rank.” Arad sighed.
“Both the guard commander and Merlin asked for at least B-rank, but the guild argued against it. You hunted a very young dragon as a party of three. A single B-rank adventurer should be able to take it alone.”
Arad looked down, “Fine, what is your exam?”
Nina smiled, “In fact, it’s already hung there,” she pointed at the quest board.
****
[Goblin slaying: Clear the goblin nest of Detrimus. Five coppers per head, and you can keep all goblins’ belonging.]
[Giant Toad slaying: Kill nine giant toads in two days. Twenty-five copper coins per kill. The guild owns the corpses and will send haulers.]
[Raging Bull termination: The eastern farm needs a brave adventurer to castrate their gorgon bull. Four silver coins as the last adventurer got gouged. The farm owns the testicles, and they must be unharmed] 𝗼𝐯𝐥.𝗻𝐭
[City wall debris clearing: The city council is looking for workers to clear the rubble after the destruction of the city’s east wall.]
[Bar host: The silver moon bar needs a strong adventurer to be a bartender. The last bartender agitated some gangs and got stabbed, so we need a strong and smart one. Twelve silver coins per day.]
[Temporary exchange: The southern elephant trunk brothel needs an attractive woman for a week, and the house mistress will decide on the look. One gold coin per day to 20 gold coins per day, depending on the type of service.]
[Mine investigation: Workers have been dying in the silver mine of Silverbell, and a cleric is needed to investigate. Pay five silver coins]
[Magic punching bag: Merlin, the city’s grand wizard, requires a young male, preferably 20~25 years: To be a test subject for the new polymorph spell. PS: You might end up as a frog for several days, but I will keep you safe in my room. Pay two gold coins][Already taken]
[Rise of the dead: Two skeletons have risen inside the city’s catacomb. Please get rid of them. Pay two silver coins]
[Wolf invasion: The city’s ranger spotted suspicious activities among the wolves in the western forest. We need someone to investigate. Pay three silver coins.]
[Ape shit: Apes seem to have started guarding the western forest. They are throwing stones, fruits, and even their waste at travelers. Someone, please stop them. Payment is undisclosed.]
[A new dungeon appeared south of the city. It’s been confirmed to be a C-rank dungeon. It’s open for the brave souls,]
****
“The guild wants you to clear the C-rank dungeon. All the loot there will be yours.” Nina smiled, “That should be enough to get you some new equipment and put you on par with the other C-rank adventurers.”
Arad and Aella stared at the board, “What should we expect there?” Aella asked.