Aella stared at Nina, gulping. “We can get there quickly?”
Nina nodded, “I will recommend you ask Arad about that. Carriages and horses aren’t fast enough.”
CRACK! The guild door opened, and Arad walked in, Jack strolling behind him. “You two, come here.” Nina waved her palm, calling them.
She pulled a large map and showed it to Arad, “How long do you think it will take you to get there?” She asked.
It usually takes weeks to reach the border between the humans and elves. No matter how fast someone could try, it could take over a month to travel.
Nina lifted her head and looked at Arad’s face. “Running at full speed and with stamina potions. I could get there in a day.”
Arad froze in place. Seeing the distance, it could take him at least five days to fly there without hurting Aella on his back. “You can run that fast?”
“I won’t say run, but jump.” Nina smiled, “We barbarians aren’t smart enough to throw a rock at birds when we see them. We instead try to jump high enough to catch them. I got Jack back from your house to the city in a single leap.”
Nina wasn’t joking. It wasn’t that Arad cannot win against her in a fight. He couldn’t even run away.
Arad imagined himself flying into the sky, running from Nina. And she jumped into the clouds and caught him by the tail. The great wyrms said she could kill one or two of them before dying, so she must at least match their speed.
“Say, how strong are you compared to Alcott and the other S-rank?” Arad looked at Nina, and everyone in the guild gasped, opening their ears to listen.
“I’m ranked pretty high between the s-ranks. But I won’t say I’m the strongest by any means. The ranks are changing by the day, but I would say Alcott is in the top twenty while I’m in the top ten.” she smiled.
“Who is ranked number one?” Jack asked.
“A half-devil, half-dragon necromancer named Gray Lisworth. And the second is a human spell sword that goes by the nickname ape. The third is the elves’ spirit king, Grant. And the fourth is the wind devil, albeit he rarely shows up, but the words are that he’s a little kid that always wears a mask to avoid the chains of hell. I would say he’s a warlock.” Nina stated some of the strongest S-rank she knows, and whom she thinks are far stronger than her.
“Are they stronger than world powers?” Arad asked with a serious face.
“World powers? Where did you hear of that?” Nina glared at Arad.
“The dragons,” He replied with a straight face.
“The world powers are in another league. It would take the top S-rank banding together to take down one of them. The strongest of them is the demon lord Kayden Daimon, who runs an orphanage chain across the whole world. Please don’t attempt to fight that man. He’s generally a pacifist and won’t fight unless provoked.”
Nina grabbed Arad’s shoulders, “Don’t even think about fighting them. Just focus on growing stronger and reaching S-rank first. Everything comes in its time,”
Arad smiled, “Don’t worry about me. I’m not stupid enough to start a fight that I can’t win.” Arad looked at the map, “Can I take this? We need something to guide us.”
“Of course, I brought this for you.” Nina smiled, rolling the map and handing it to Arad. She then looked back at Jack.
“Did you get everything you might need?”
Jack smiled, hitting Arad in the stomach, “And I got him to carry everything, let’s go kill some goblins.”
“The party consists of Arad, the leader sorcerer. Aella, the ranged archer. Jack, the trapper rogue. And Lydia, the frontline paladin.” Nina stamped the papers and put them inside her desk.
“Please be careful, goblins might be weak individually, but they can wipe an A-rank party in seconds in groups, especially inside their nest and with their traps.” Nina smiled.
Arad looked behind him, “People are calling me dragon slayer, but that belongs to Alcott. Can you call me goblin slayer after this quest?”
“Ranking slayer!”
“Sense slayer!”
Some adventurers shouted, laughing, “Just be careful, Alina’s star.” Another one of them smiled, lifting his mug, “Goblins are green little bastards. A toast to the success of this mission.”
***
Arad, Aella, Jack, and Lydia headed through the city streets. They will go to Arad’s house first, then fly from there to the borders.
“Let’s go check on Lyla’s shop. She did tell me she got some saddles,” Aella looked at Arad with a smile. She wasn’t going to sit on a rug on his back for the whole trip.
CLING! Arad opened Lyla’s shop door, walking inside with a smile, “Mother Lyla, are you here?” He asked.
“Arad, I’m here,” Lyla replied with a smile as she stood behind the counter, facing another customer.
Arad blinked twice, seeing the strange man.
The man stood taller than Arad, but much more thinner. Sutures covered his topless body as if he was grafted from several humans. His short white hair glowed under the light as his red eyes looked at Lyla with a smile.
“This vase, it looks nice,” The man held a vase, showing it to Lyla, “How much is it?”
“Five silver coins,” Lyla replied. 𝐨𝘃𝗹.
The man smiled, putting the money on the counter. “I will take it. Do you have anything else?”
Lyla pointed at the shelves, “Take a look there and pick whatever you want,”
The man turned around, “Please excuse me,” He walked past Arad and started glaring at the shelves, humming.
Arad looked at him for a second before turning to talk with Lyla.
Lydia glared at the man, disgusted, “I smell the dead from you,” She growled, grabbing the hilt of her sword.
The man stopped, looking at her, smiling, “I’m a necromancer, after all. Sorry if I was stinking. Are you a paladin?”
Arad, Jack, and Aella froze. They knew Lydia could snap at any second, smiting the man.
“You’re awfully relaxed for a necromancer facing a paladin.” Lydia glared at the man.
The man tilted his head, “Only hay fear fire. I don’t have anything to hide. I’m but a scholar who studies the dead.”
CLING! Lydia pulled her sword. She can’t put a blind eye to a necromancer, especially after what happened with Xaviin.
“I only came here to visit my dad and beautiful younger sister.” The man lifted his long arms, “Smite me if you want. I don’t want to cause trouble.”