128 The Mage Taking Actions
Arad, Aella, and Jack returned to the city, “I will report to the guild,” Jack said, smiling. “I bet you need to rest,” He looked at Arad.
“Yeah,” Arad nodded, “I doubt the basement is finished. But I can implant the core inside and rest,”
“You intend to hibernate inside the dungeon?” Jack asked.
Arad nodded, and Aella smiled, “I will stay around the house guarding it while he sleeps. Return when you finish with the guild.”
“Return?” Jack smiled, “It’s your house. I will come to visit when I finish with the guild. You better get some tea ready,” Jack glared at Arad.
Arad giggled, and Aella stared at Jack, “The place is still a construction zone,”
“If I can brew tea on a campfire. You can do it in a half-built house.” Jack replied, heading toward the guild while waving his hand. Arad and Aella retreated to the forest house.
***
CLACK! Jack pushed the guild’s door open, entering while yawning. He wants to sleep after the dungeon clears. ^I will tell Nina that the rank-up approval has to wait a few days. Arad is hibernating, after all,^
Thud! Thud! Step after the other, Jack walked into the guild. ^But what if she asked what Arad is doing?^
“That can’t be!” Jack stopped, heaving the loud voice of a man shouting. “Sorry, but the quest has already been finished,” Nina said with a smile.
“Don’t fuck with me! I asked for him. Why did someone else take the quest?” The man screamed his lungs out.
“As I said before, our adventurers are hard workers. They won’t just ignore a rogue dragon.” Nina said.
BAM! The man smacked the desk with his hands, “The carcass is damaged! What should I do with this crap now, you bitch!” The man screamed, flailing his staff.
Jack stopped by a table, sitting with a bunch of adventurers, “Say, who’s that corpse?”
“AH! Jack? What a coincidence,” One of the adventurers said with a smile.
“Come here, listen to this!” Another one waved to Jack, “See that man, he’s a mage from the mages’ tower. He came looking to give your party a quest,”
“Really? Why is he looking for a ticket to the afterlife, screaming at Nina?” Jack asked.
“He had a dragon-killing quest and wanted Arad to take it, but sadly, someone else killed the dragon before you could return,” The adventurer smiled.
“Why look for Arad?” Jack stared at the adventurers, “We just killed the young red dragons, don’t tell me he heard of us all the way from the mages’ tower and came here?”
“That’s right,” One of the adventurers said. Stabbing his food with a knife, “My bet is that Nina sniffed that. She sent someone to kill the dragon so he won’t send Arad.” He smiled, “And now. Our lovely mage has picked up on that and is pissed.”
Jack looked back at the screaming mage, “Hee? What do you all say?”
“Trouble,”
“He’s suspicious,”
“I want to punch him,”
“He’s up to no good,”
Jack stood with a smile, “I got the gist of it,” CRACK! He then cracked his neck, “I should ask Arad to pay me more for this job,”
Jack walked toward the mage and patted his shoulder, “Hey, care to calm down?”
The mage turned toward, “Get your hand off me, you bastard!”
Jack lifted his hands and backed away with a smile, “Hold your horses, you’re looking for Arad, aren’t you?”
“What are you doing?” Nina glared at Jack.
“The name is Jack, Arad’s partner,” Jack said with a smile.
“You’re that rogue Jack? Where is Arad?” The mage stopped screaming and looked at Jack.
“You wanted the black dragon dead, and the quest is finished.” Nina glared at the mage, “Why do you still look for Arad?”
“Come on, Nina,” Jack said with a smile, “Let him be, but sadly Arad isn’t in the city now,”
“You’re here, so you have returned from your quest,” The mage glared at Jack.
“On our way back, we met Alcott. Arad and Aella headed with him to the east. I remained to tend to my woman,” He pointed with his finger toward Lydia, who was in the back drinking. She spat her drink when she heard him.
“Alcott has already left the city,” The mage glared at Jack.
“He returned to pick up a dagger that he bought. I don’t know why. But he was keen on taking Arad with him,” Jack explained, “Alcott and Arad are fast, but you might still catch to them if you hurry,”
The mage stared Jack in the eyes, “Where are they headed?”
“The Ruris kingdom, Arad was saying something about it being better for some reason and Alcott seemed to agree,”
The mage stood still for a moment, staring at Jack, and then snorted, “Fine,” He walked away with a growl, leaving the guild in a hurry.ｏｖ𝚕．ｃｏ𝚖
Nina stared at Jack, “That was a lie, wasn’t it? He will be back, you know?”
“The forest is dangerous. He might kick the bucket there,” Jack turned to leave, “If you excuse me, I gotta make sure the forest is dangerous enough,”
All the adventurers understood. Jack intends to kill the mage in the forest, “I can’t allow that,” Abel said from his table, glaring at Jack with a smile.
Jack glared at Abel with a smile, “Said who?”
Abel stood, “You can’t go alone,” Abel approached Jack, “I want a cut of him as well,”
Jack smiled, “Hoho, guess Mr.son-of-lord is taking care of the paperwork,”
“The clean up is easy. I want to see that man twitching,” Abel smiled.
“You two,” Nina stared at them, “Can you stop joking?” She glared at them. They were talking in the middle of the guild.
Jack and Abel looked at each other and then at the adventurers. Everyone pretended they heard nothing.
***
The mage walked across the city, reaching into his pocket, “Damn it, I don’t have enough elder twigs,” He growled, looking around for a plant shop, [Lisworth’s Greenhouse]
“Excuse me, I want some elder twigs,” The mage entered the shop with a smile, looking at the old man sitting at the desk.
The shopkeeper glared at the mage with one eye, “Get out. I don’t serve the likes of you,” He pointed with his cane at the door.
The mage stepped back, “What?” He got confused, “I want elder twigs. Can’t you hear me?”
“I said I don’t serve the likes of you, dog of the mages’ tower.” The shopkeeper growled, “I can tell from the tattoo on your neck,”
The mage smiled, “I see. Were you a student there in the past? Then you must know to listen, don’t you?”
The shopkeeper smiled, “Listen to your elders. Tug your tail between your legs and crawl back to where you came from. I don’t serve the likes of you,” He grabbed one of the pots and threw it at the mage.
“Oi! Fine, I don’t need to buy from you anyway, there is plenty of shops around here,” The mage spat on the ground, leaving with an angry growl.
From the back, a maid walked out, “Master Cain, who was that?”
Cain looked back with a smile, “No one important, Jemima.”
Jemima looked at Cain with a worried face, “You mentioned the mage tower. Couldn’t you have shown him the badge?”
“I said you don’t have to worry about it.” Cain smiled, “It isn’t our business to interfere.” He looked at the door, lifting his finger. The broken vase flew back to his hand, getting fixed in an instant.
***
The mage rushed across the city, finding another shop to buy the elder twigs. “Good, with this, I can do it,”
Outside the city wall, the mage pulled the elders’ twigs and cast a spell, waving his wand. With a swift move, he threw twigs, and they burned in purple smoke, “I call servants in the name of Bodhimicah, from the elder ashes conjure me a flying shape, gliding across the sky with black wings,” [Flock of familiers: A gang of crows]
As the waves of magic pulsed, the purple smoke of the burning elder twigs wiggled, taking the shapes of crows and flying to the sky, “Find Alcott and Arad,” The wizard said, lifting his hands to the sky,
After a while, the crows returned to the wizard. They reported that they found nothing, “For several kilometers? As I expected, that rogue lied to me.” the mage growled, “Unless Alcott can move at inhumane speed…” He paused momentarily, “That is possible for someone who hunts dragons.”
“Look for Jack,” The wizard provided the crows with a brief description of Jack.
“Hey you,” As the wizard was busy casting his magic, he heard the voice of a woman behind him, “Who are you?” He looked back and saw a fully armored knight, carrying an extremely long sword, he couldn’t even see her face.
“I heard you’re looking for Arad,” The woman said, and the make slowly lifted his staff, “Why do you care?”
The woman didn’t say a word, she just swung her sword at the mage, “Then die!”