Arc | Chapter. 43: Whims (Patreon)

Chapter. 43: Whims

“Are you serious?” I asked, looking at the S Tier adventurer.

He nodded solemnly, his golden eyes meeting my gaze with resolution. “I cannot accept this, not after being defeated like that. It’s not a weapon I deserve to possess, it’s SS Tier is it not?”

“It is,” I agreed with confusion.

“The only reason I could even injure you in the first place was due to using your own spear against you.” Shaking his head a breath left him. “That means that wasn’t my own strength.”

“Aren’t you literally called the Weapon Master?” I asked, now even more confused. “I’d think most of your strength comes from weapons.”

This time, he had no reply for what I said. Before finally, he took back the spear and sat next to me looking at the night sky.

“You’re right, I’m not bothered about whether I deserve to possess the weapon, nonetheless, I cannot keep it.”

“Why?” I was starting to get annoyed, mostly given the fact that he wasn’t making sense.

Then there was a silence, one that served to further annoy me. Meanwhile, all Jake was doing was staring at the stars, his expression the same. He looked like a guy in his late 20s, and well⁠ to be honest, I wanted to punch him for looking up there like a dumbass for what felt like an eternity.

Finally he let out a sigh.

“It feels like a handout,” he said simply. “I did nothing to deserve a weapon like this, which is why I want you to take it back.”

Huh. That was a surprisingly reasonable answer.

“I see, but how about you help me with something instead?” I suggested. “Your payment will be in the form of that ice spear.”

He turned to me and raised his brow. “What kind of task could possibly be worth that much?”

“There are multiple of them,” I said simply. “First, I want you to research and find the identities of all the heroes you can. You have [Appraisal] after all. And naturally, I want you to bring me that information.”

He nodded. “That is indeed a hard task, what else?”

“If you hear information about me being spread, I also want it reported. But for my main task, I want you to research, to find a way for me to level up without murdering people. So in short⁠—”

“You want SS Tier monsters,” he said, nodding slowly.

“I do.”

“You do know there is a chance that there is not a single one alive, right?” Jake asked. “Even my weapons, Salas’ tooth, and Anara’s fang, both belonged to primordial beasts that were supposedly SS Tier, and yet both weapons are S Tier.”

“I also know that,” I said with a sigh. “If the request is too much I’ll give you a sword too⁠—”

“It’s not too much,” he interrupted. “I want to clarify that this request might take me decades if not centuries to fulfill. I will do my utmost best, but I will only commit to it for two-hundred years, and that there is a chance that it will never be fulfilled.”

“Two-hundred years…? Can you even live that long?” I asked with confusion.

He snorted. “Don’t take me for a pushover, I’m barely one-hundred-and-sixty-three years old. I got plenty of life ahead.”

“Huh…”

I remembered Ceylon mentioning something about levels giving longevity, but I don’t think I actually parsed what it actually represented. Where would I even be two-hundred years from now? If I hadn’t died to a hero by then, I didn’t know. It was such an extreme time-frame that it seemed mind boggling.

“Well, if it seems unreasonable, I can add another fifty years to it.” Jake scratched his head.

“It’s fine, two-hundred years is enough…” I said finally.

“And how many SS Tier monsters do you need?” he asked with curiosity.

“As many as possible,” I said, turning to the sky. “One SS Tier weapon per monster, this offer is only active for this year.”

Jake paused. “That is… I don’t think I can accept those terms⁠—”

“It’s important,” I interrupted without care. “Now, you should leave, and start on that.”

Jake nodded very slowly as he stood up, putting away the spear into nothingness. Then, after hefting his cloak once more, he turned to me.

“How will I contact you?”

I stood up, and I extended my hand towards him. After a moment, he opened his palm and I gave him an ice compass. It was crude, but it got the job done.

He raised his brow. “Where does it point to?”

“It points to me,” I said simply before giving him a bunch of ice crystals, more than twenty. “Break one of them when you feel like you’re nearby and have something to report, if I come it means I’m within range, if I don’t then⁠— well I’m not. The range is a couple of kilometers before I only sense them being broken.”

My explanation was a bit half-assed. I didn’t know the actual distance limit, instead my directions were based on [God Step]’s range more than anything. However, that seemed to work for Jake.

“Will the compass run out of your mana?”

“I don’t know,” I said simply. “First time doing it, I’ll still be around as an adventurer so worst case scenario you can find me that way.”

Jake nodded. “Very well, then it has been arranged. As for whatever is troubling you, I hope it gets resolved.”

With those words, he turned around and walked away. Though he did wave with his back to me, so at least it seemed we were in friendly terms now⁠. Or at least I hoped. Finally, after that, I was alone.

“Hopefully he will be able to help with the leveling problem,” I said simply as I turned in the direction of the mansion. “Well, now that that’s out of the way, I should⁠—”

And I paused remembering Thomas’ whereabouts, he was far very far away from Rivas. With a small sigh, I went to pick him up before calling it a day. I didn’t bother to explain anything to him or respond to his apologies, and instead simply went to sleep as soon as we arrived.

Just like that the day ended.

◇ ◇ ◇

The next day, things were a bit awkward, mostly during breakfast. I tried to enjoy my food, Rory and Regis just chatted with each other, but the most bothersome part was Thomas. He was bombarding Ceylon with questions, to the point she seemed uncomfortable, they were all in order to help Ceylon, but it was still awkward.

Though, as I finished my food, Thomas let out a long breath, seemingly making his final question.

“Ceylon, would you like to start a business in the name of Arlow?”

And she paused, a fork in her mouth. Then, after a moment, she took it out, swallowed what was in her mouth, and took a breath.

“I’d like to, yes.”

“Very well, from now on you are allowed to use the family’s name to establish anything your heart desires as your first business. Given how much you’ve studied, I can’t wait to see what you do.” He smiled gently.

“Right, thank you.”

Ceylon nodded and breakfast ended just like that. Though as I was about to approach Regis in regards to going to Ranedale, Ceylon approached me and pulled me aside. She seemed nervous.

“Did you say anything to my father…?”

“I did, why?” I raised my brow.

And at that moment, Ceylon let out a long relieved breath.

“Ah, I’m glad. Here I thought he was looking to test me and kick me out of the family or something.”

“If that happens then I’ll burn this place to the ground,” I said, shaking my head before shrugging. “Or well, freeze it to the ground, not like I can burn it.”

“Right, if that happens please don’t do that,” Ceylon said awkwardly.

“I’ll try not to.”

With that, the conversation ended. But before I could go elsewhere, someone came my way, and it was Rory. She smiled at me and spoke before I could say anything.

“Thank you for having me here, Arc. I’m just here to say that, I’m leaving.”

I blinked. “Leaving?”

“Yep!” She nodded. “Talking with Regis’karr has taught me a lot, and told me that there are a lot of horizons I should expand before even thinking about trying to befriend heroes and the like!”

“Uh… huh?” What?

She chuckled. “Sorry that must be confusing, basically I hope to meet many fantastic creatures before coming back and asking more information about you Arc!”

“Don’t do that,” I said simply. “But see you I guess.”

Rory’s smile turned to seriousness. “Sorry, I understand that I’m actually not a welcome presence to you, but I just want you to know that I enjoyed what you shared with me.” Then she turned to Ceylon. “And thank you for convincing Arc to let me join the party.”

“Right… I kind of regret it…” Ceylon awkwardly muttered.

But Rory just laughed and then, headpatted Ceylon. I winced at the gesture, especially how she seemed to consider trying the same with me again, before chuckling to herself and waving.

“Well goodbye to you two, if our paths cross again let us catch up on stories.”

With those words, she headed towards the exit of the house and after speaking with some servants she left. It was… very anticlimactic considering I expected to spend a lot more time with her around. And being honest, I was glad.

“You know…” Ceylon turned to me. “I’m sorry for getting you involved with Rory, it was clearly way outside what you’re comfortable with. I’ll work on that…”

“Right… yeah, I do agree with me being too closed off with people, but someone as weird as Rory is…”

“It was a terrible idea,” Ceylon sighed. “Sorry again.”

“Yeah…”

Finally, after a moment of silence, I spoke up.

“Well, are you interested in setting a business in Ranedale?”

“I am, but first I must gather some paperwork and also funds to do so,” she said awkwardly. “So I’ll do that and talk to my father about it…”

“Right, good luck.”

“Thank you.”

And with that, Ceylon too left. All while I left to talk to Regis about what was going to happen in Ranedale⁠ and what I wanted him to do in regards to his adventurer registration. To which he agreed without problems.

Finally, an hour later we set off for Ranedale, except after using [God Step] once I stopped and turned to Regis in the middle of the forest.

“Turn into a dragon.”

“What…?” He asked befuddled.

“I want you to give us a ride to Ranedale as a dragon,” I said simply.

“You⁠— that is… That…” His face even became weird as he seemingly processed my request, before sighing. “Fine, I guess it was going to happen eventually given the elders want to meet you.”

Ceylon spoke up. “Arc isn’t that a bit too embarrassing? I mean, for a dragon being mounted is⁠—”

“It’s fine,” Regis interrupted. “I’ve heard heroes in particular are quite fascinated by the concept, if I may ask, why are you interested, Arc?”

“You’re a dragon, who wouldn’t want to ride a dragon?” I asked, before turning to Ceylon. “If you suddenly discovered there are gigantic winged creatures wouldn’t you want to ride them?”

It was simple logic but for some reason she took a moment to parse my question before finally speaking up.

“As a child, I guess I thought about it once or twice⁠—”

“Same logic.”

Regis let out a sigh before stepping forward, and after a couple of seconds and a gigantic crimson glow, we were greeted by a majestic red creature, and⁠— I paused seeing part of his red scales were black.

“You’re still injured.”

“Of course I’m still injured.” He snorted. “Why wouldn’t I be after that fight? I’m not a freak like you, and potions don’t work on dragons.”

I did feel a bit bad as he continued.

“Anyway, get on.”

With those words, he lowered himself towards the ground and his wings too unfurled to their max wingspan for easy access to his back. I strode without hesitation as I climbed upon his neck, meanwhile Ceylon hesitated and took a while, but eventually, we both were on.

“You’re colder than I imagined,” Regis said before beating his wings.

And with that, we were off to Ranedale. Riding a legendary creature, a legendary role model for the humans, and it was all due to a childish whim. But, I found myself smiling as the wind blew through my hair.

It was great.

◇ ◇ ◇

In the end, I decided to ask Regis about his servitude. And that’s when I learned the truth, it first began with a long sigh, but he decided to explain to me everything for one reason or another. How the other dragons wanted him to serve me because he was acquainted, but more than anything how they wanted me on their side.

He spoke of a blood ritual that would turn me part dragon, which I inwardly noted but mostly made sure to listen to what he said. Which boiled down to the dragons expecting me to feel grateful so I would help them. Now, if Regis continued to serve me and he had some trouble I’d certainly help him, but when the logic fell apart is when including other dragons.

After all, Regis himself, the Dragon of Flames didn’t even seem to care that much about his kin, so there was absolutely no way I’d help him in that area; but alas. The logic of the dragons was such, he explained that they always abided by their code of honor, so in their mind there was no way I’d refuse.

Which was⁠— well stupid. But unlike Regis, he also mentioned most other dragons are actual recluses. So, no contact with anything would probably do that. So, basically, it boiled down to whether I wanted to kill some heroes or not. Finally, Regis sighed.

“You know, I never once expected you to feel indebted,” he said with finality. “The main reason I’m here is for protection, as for my kind I don’t expect you to help them as nice as it’d be.”

“Protection?”

“Protection from other heroes, those who prevented me from participating in the ongoing circumstances with Draliz,” he said simply. “I’m serving you out of selfish reasons, but also because I agreed to do so during the meeting with the other elders.”

“I see, I guess that’s fine.”

There was some confusion before I explained to him that, if the heroes bore hostility towards me then I wouldn’t hesitate to repel them or even outright kill them. Which would actually be beneficial to me if the Hero itself was SS Tier, but that was something for another time.

After that, the conversation ended, and we flew through the day. And not long after, we entered the territory of the Black Forest, which made Regis speak up with a grim tone.

“The monsters are abnormal, and there are… a lot of spiders in particular. They are fighting amongst each other on a large scale, something that rarely happens in the Black Forest.”

His words made me pause as I immediately remembered the so-called hero that had summoned the previous Imera and Emera spiders.

“Anything that could’ve caused it?” Ceylon asked.

Regis nodded slowly. “Outsider interference, as for what is being done, I don’t actually know.”

At that moment, I frowned, knowing that things could potentially become troublesome. But before I could make any further thoughts, Regis called.

“Ranedale is under attack.”

I turned only to see thousands of monsters swarming the city, their cries soon reached my ears as Ceylon gasped. Then I nodded.

“Alright, Regis, kill them all.”

The wings tensed, doing a double beat for a moment as he spoke.

“All of the humans too? I thought you needed the town?”

“The monsters only,” I said, frowning, it wasn’t as if that needed clarification.

The Dragon of Flames shook his head. “I cannot do that, if I do anything it will raze the town as well.”

“So you cannot grant me the wish of riding a dragon and murdering thousands of beings,” I said, sighing, now actually bothered.

“Not today at least,” Regis said as if lamenting it.

It was a childish wish, it really was, but I was so close to attaining it that it actually did irk me to some extent. A sigh left me.

“Fine, I’ll just do it myself.”

One attack…

I pointed my finger at the entirety of the town.

“[Wrath of the Ice Queen].”

There was a silence, and then thousands of spears exploded upon the land, impaling each and every single one of the spiders, ending the siege of the city in an instant. We flew low, surveying the city to take in the damages, and all there was present was carnage.

“Alright, let’s land then,” Regis said simply.

I nodded. “Yeah.”

And he stopped flapping his wings, and before I could stop Regis, we landed.

In the middle of Ranedale that is.