CLACK! CLACK! The knights sat on the ground, panting as they looked at the countless bandit corpses they left behind. Their captain turned toward Arad and stared at him for a second, “Thanks for your help. Are you an adventurer?”
Arad walked toward him, “Arad Orion, B-rank.”
The captain gasped, “Only B-rank?”
The woman in the back blinked twice, “Arad Orion? The one from Alina?”
“Yeah, don’t tell me words traveled to this place?” Arad sighed, thinking she heard one of the rumors about him.
The woman looked down, grabbing her chin and thinking, ^Father received a letter about promoting this man into a noble before I left. I believe he dismissed it with how stupid the claim of a human punching a vampire is.^ She stared at Arad, ^But with what I saw now, the way this man moves, he isn’t normal.^
“Say, do you want to work as one of my knights?” She said with a smile, extending her hand.
“No, I have other things to do.” Arad instantly replied, with a second delay. ｏｖ𝚕．ｃｏ𝚖
The captain approached Arad, “We’re here on a mission to escort the elves from their land into ours to deal with a goblin infestation. But, some people seem to not like that,” He looked at the bandit’s corpse.
“Sir Arad, we have to move quickly, but I can’t let you go without a suitable reward.” She looked at Arad. ^If he’s this strong now. He’s going to only get more dangerous in the future. It’s in the kingdom’s best interest to keep him close.^
Arad looked at her. This was the part he came here for, “So, what are you paying?”
PEW! An arrow flew through the trees, racing toward the woman’s neck. ZON! CLACK! Arad teleport to her side, and caught the arrow with one hand, breaking its shaft.
“What?” The woman gasped, “Knight captain, get everyone ready…”
“Shut up for a second,” Arad growled above her head, and she swallowed her words.
^Who shot this? I can see anyone where the arrow came from. I also can’t feel anything by the smell or noise.^ Arad scanned the forest in the direction of the arrow. ^No, there is something else,^ He could see a faint green trail of magic with his [Void Eyes] across the air.
The trail twisted and turned between the trees, eventually making a whole turn. Arad turned his head to look in the opposite direction to where the arrow came from. In the far distance, he could an elvish man, holding a large bow.
The elvish man gasped seeing Arad turn toward him from that distance. It was unheard of for someone to catch his arrow, but he could even pinpoint his location. The man turned away to run.
Arad looked down at the woman, “I found him. I will be back,”
ZON! Arad disappeared, leaving that woman shaking in her place. “Princess Isdis, are you all right?” The knight captain asked, seeing her standing in silence.
Isdis turned her head toward the captain, “I’m fine,” She looked in the same direction Arad looked, sweating. “For a moment there, he felt bigger than those tigers.”
“It’s his strength,” The captain nodded, “There is no doubt about it. He’s stronger than us by a lot.” He looked at the tigers’ corpses, “This is a feat belonging to an at least A-rank adventurer.”
ZON! Arad appeared again, dragging the elvish man by the ear. “I caught him, the archer.” Arad kicked him to the ground.
“We were in the forest!” The elf gasped as he didn’t comprehend Arad’s [Void step]
Isdis and the captain stared at the elf, and back at Arad, “He’s the one who fired the arrow. He was hiding about three hundred meters in that direction.” Arad pointed back with his thumb, and Isdis felt as if a heavy stone fell on her head.
The royal castle wasn’t that big. Arad could have gotten into its head in what seemed like a second.
Isdis looked at Arad, almost ignoring the elf. She can’t let Arad loose. He’s too strong to not be tied to anything. “We will interrogate him later. Let’s discuss your reward first,” Isdis rushed back into the carriage. They didn’t carry that much money, and what they had was needed for the trip.
She ran through her bag and finally found something useful.
Isdis walked out of the carriage with a smile and approached Arad, “This is for you,” She extended her hand, carrying a gold pendant.
Arad looked at it, and it had a name engraved on its back. [Isdis Lior Ruris]
“What is this?” Arad could see faint waves of magic dancing around the thing, so he asked.
“My royal pass. It simply means that you’re working for me.” She smiled, and Arad looked at her ^Royal?^ He thought.
Isdis smiled, “With it, you won’t be stopped in any checks at any city, and even nobles won’t speak against you. Since it means you’re working on my behalf.”
Arad looked at the pendant, “But I don’t work for you.”
“It doesn’t matter, just take the benefits and leave everything else.” Isdis smiled, ^I don’t need to be able to order him around. All I need is for other nobles to think he’s working for the royal family. This should buy us time to find a deal to recruit him before any other nations take notice of him.^
Arad took the pendant, “So, what’s the magic laid on it?” He looked at Isdis, and she started sweating, “Nothing, just an enchantment to prove the pendant is real and not copy,”
Isdis looked away, ^I can’t tell him it’s tracking magic. It’s used to find the pendant if stolen and keep an eye on the people using it.^
“Fine,” Arad smiled and threw the pendant into his pocket. ^I wonder what Abel would say if he saw this. I’m sure Jack would find a way to abuse this thing for money.^
Arad looked at Isdis, “Are you a royal?”