Arc | Chapter. 108: Negotiation & Pondering (Patreon)

Chapter. 108: Negotiation & Pondering

I sneezed.

Ceylon turned to me. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah, it’s just…” I trailed off in confusion as I lowered the meat skewer from my hand. “An odd feeling…”

Malz raised her brow. “What is this strange feeling, Arc?”

I frowned. “I don’t know… also I think it’s the first time I sneeze in… years?”

“Is it?” Ceylon raised her brow and Malz just smiled.

“It was cute,” she said.

I ignored her comment and just continued to think. It kind of felt like… someone had said my name? Or rather⁠— maybe not that; it wasn’t a feeling I could ascribe to anything. It wasn’t something that I could even describe; it was just a sudden urge to sneeze from something.

“Huh…”

I blinked before taking a bite of the meat. It was lukewarm but it was enough to make me forget about whatever that had been. In the end, even though I probably had some stuff to do, it was better for me to focus on my own things.

* * * * *

Lara couldn’t help but let out a sigh.

She had answered a lot of questions from Faral to the best of her ability, and now it seemed that the Dragon of Wind had made a decision before going into the Guildmaster’s room.

And all she could do was wonder:

Had I made a mistake?

* * * * *

Verral was a Guildmaster, and right now he was… sweating profusely.

However, the woman before him, Faral, was simply on her seat waiting for a response. Though calling her woman wasn’t quite right. Verral gulped⁠— he was hosting the Dragon of Wind in a negotiation; it was something he never expected, not even in his wildest dreams, but here he was. And for better or for worse he had to deliver.

He took a very deep breath and asked.

“What is the business you wish to discuss, Miss Dragon of Wind.”

“Faral is fine.” She closed her eyes before nodding. “As far as I’m aware the Adventurer’s Guild is a neutral organization with no ties to any particular country or territory. Is this correct?”

Verral blinked before nodding.

“Yes that is correct.”

“Is it also correct that the Adventurer’s Guild will take responsibility for any disasters caused by the guild?”

Verral hesitated for a moment before gulping.

“That is also correct…”

“Very well, then the business I want to mention is rather simple.” Farrell took a breath. “I will offer my services as an adventurer ⁠— on my own terms of course ⁠— however, my real offer is a one time request.”

“A one time request?” Verral asked, raising his brow.

“That is correct, the Adventurer’s Guild can enlist my help a single time, it will be unconditional so long as it is a single request⁠— any branching consequences or follow ups shall not be dealt with.”

“So you mean that if we ask you to take down a monster⁠—”

“I will take down the monster, no questions asked, yes. Consider it a favor from me.”

Verral processed, taking Faral’s words fully in. What she was offering wasn’t something small; especially considering that every single Grand Dragon Elder was a being in the SS Tier. The Tier of Heroes. That’s at least what he knew. So given that something like that was on the table, he couldn’t help but grow nervous as he made his question.

“And what is it that you want from the Adventurer’s Guild?”

“I’d like for you people to send a small team of S Tier adventurers to a faraway land. They must be completely trustworthy, for if this request were to fail or go wrong…” Faral’s eyes narrowed. “Then I shall raze Vaelith to the ground and attack any countries that are affiliated with the Adventurer’s Guild.”

Verral gulped.

“That is⁠— I don’t think you can⁠—”

“The Adventurer’s Guild will take responsibility for disasters caused by them.” Faral tilted her head. “Is that not it? Anyway, not like it’s too relevant, I don’t think the Adventurer’s Guild would dare play with something like that.”

“Right⁠— I’m sure we wouldn’t…” Verrel gulped. “That said your request must be escalated to the higher-ups in order to be evaluated. Would you be willing to wait until then?”

Faral frowned for a moment before speaking. “I won’t become an adventurer until then.”

“I can accept that…” Verrel took a breath. “I must know more about your request, what is the land and what will they do there?”

“It will be a welfare check up on an entire race,” Faral said simply. “And the destination is Ivyfall.”

“The… desolate misty forest?”

He felt some confusion before Faral shook her head.

“That is all the information I’m providing for now.”

Verrel nodded. “Then⁠—”

“Then we are done for now.” Faral stood up. “Use the adventurer named Meika to contact me; B Tier.”

Verrel made a mental note of things as he watched the woman leave the room. Though he didn’t dare to relax until the door closed.

Then, a very small sigh left him.

“What a weird request… it sounds rather easy, but if it’s a request from the Dragon of Wind it can’t be anything but easy.”

He shook his head as he grabbed a pen and paper from the ground. Verral began to redact the occurrence; he was going to send the scroll to the Adventurer’s Guild’s headquarters.

“Hopefully, they will agree to it…”

* * * * *

In the end, Faral had to reveal her identity.

She needed to know if the elves were safe. She was their guardian, their protector, and for the first time in years she wasn’t present. Ivyfall was in a bad position geographically, or rather it was an advantageous position for neighboring countries that wanted to go to war. The politics had been shifting for decades now, but the more time that passed the more unsettled Faral felt about leaving her home.

It wasn’t like in the past, where she’d feel concerned⁠— no. She had a brewing feeling that the place she was supposed to protect was in danger, that was why she wanted so badly to know what was going on.

At the same time, she didn’t want to ask Arc for permission to do so. Perhaps it was out of pride; she had already lowered herself to a servant and now she would be begging for the opportunity. Even if it wasn’t literally begging, thinking about it felt humiliating.

Faral shook her head as Meika caught up to her.

“Is everything alright?”

“From now on, you shall come to the Adventurer’s Guild on the daily, make your name known even if it's through random chitchat,” Faral said.

Meika blinked.

“Oh alright.”

And with that Faral decided that was enough time off. She’d just go find Arc instead.

* * * * *

The day passed and Faral had found us soon enough. The adventurer that accompanied her was nowhere to be seen but I paid no attention to that. Rather, Malz was…

“Hey, can’t you go away?” she asked Faral.

“I have no reason to.”

“Come on now, let me spend time, Arc alone,” Malz urged almost with a friendly tone.

“Ceylon is there so it won’t make a difference.” A sigh left the Dragon of Wind.

Malz crossed her arms. “Well it is different, Ceylon is like my little sister or something.”

“Am I?” Ceylon asked, completely baffled.

“I’m not going.” Faral shook her head. “I’m just minding my own business anyway.”

Malz had been rather attached to me all day, and now it was bordering on possessiveness. I didn’t quite get it, but I just let it happen. I think I enjoyed it, but I simply focused more on enjoying my day as a whole before needing to start investigations in regards to the Hero of Spirits.

So, in short; I still paid no mind to whatever Faral and Malz were talking about, and that was what was supposed to happen until…

A message appeared in my mind, written in a strange runic writing that I could somehow read.

Those that are present with Arc, inform her that I require her urgent help outside of Vaelith. ⁠— Regis’karr.

I blinked.

Could I just understand every single language as if it was English?

Faral and Malz turned to me at the same time, but before they could speak, I nodded.

“I know, Regis’karr’s message, right?”

Faral nodded, but Malz blinked.

“You saw it…?”

“Yeah?” I raised my brow.

“Huh, I believe it only reaches the Grand Dragon Elders within a certain vicinity.” Malz tilted her head. “Did you receive it due to having draconic blood?”

“Maybe?” I shrugged. “I still feel pretty human though; or as human as I can feel anyway.”

With that the topic ended before we decided to set off in search of Regis’karr.

It was a slight interruption to my plans, but not something that mattered too much.

◇ ◇ ◇

At least that’s what I thought…

I found myself standing in a charred forest. Ceylon was staring at heavily injured and fainted adventurers. They were for lack of a better word; burnt to crisp. Malz was confused and Faral just observed our surroundings, meanwhile I was looking at a wagon in the distance filled with kids.

Then finally, I turned to Regis’karr as a small frown settled on my face.

“What made you think I can help with this…?”

He hesitated. “Well you’re wiser than me in human things so…”

I shook my head. “Sorry, I’m just as lost as you, but I’m not going to deal with whatever disaster you got into.”

With those words I turned around as Regis’karr winced, completely lost on what to do⁠— that was until Faral spoke up.

“I think… I may be able to get some help…”

I raised my brow. “With whom?”

“The Adventurer’s Guild.”

I blinked and began to listen to how she had made contact with them. And even exposed her identity to them for some private reasons, though I was constantly reassured that her connection with me wouldn’t affect me much. In the end, all I could say was:

“Make sure to clear up that no one else knows you’re the Dragon of Wind and that it’s a matter of utmost secrecy, Faral.”

A sigh left me and then, she left to seek help.

* * * * *

Verral had experienced many things throughout his life, but a Grand Dragon Elder asking him for help was nothing he expected; especially not for her to plead for her identity to be kept secret⁠. However, that wasn’t the end of it⁠—

He never expected to scream as he was carried in the claws of a flying dragon.

The trip was short-lived but it had been terrifying. Verral didn’t want to experience it again. But he had readily agreed just to be in the Dragon of Wind’s favor. Finally, after taking some breaths to stabilize himself from the supersonic flying speeds, he joined Faral to see the problem.

And the first thing he saw was…

An eclectic group of people.

First was a red-haired boy, worry present on his face. Then there was a strangely dressed woman, one whose beauty was hard to compare⁠— black clothing and long black hair. There was also a noble girl, and a woman that was clad in white, he didn’t think too much about her until their gazes met.

Verral couldn’t help but pause for a moment, but he was brought back to reality by the sounds of whispers in the distance.

He turned in the direction only to see a wagon full of children and teens.

“Is that the… thing you require help with…?” Verral asked in surprise.

“Yes, to rehome them or find their parents,” Faral said simply.

“Right, I’ll see what I can do, but before we go back let me take a look at the situation.”

With that, he approached the wagon and the kids who at first shrunk back. But after some words of reassurance some began talking; however instead of talking about the kidnapping process they spoke of something else.

“I’m scared…”

“The red-haired boy is a dragon…”

“One of the adventurers called him the Dragon of Flames.”

Verral blinked. Turning in confusion at the red-haired teen.

The Dragon of Flames…?

Faral had said⁠—

And Verral paused as he noticed a group of adventurers on the verge of death, and worst of all⁠— he recognized it as the S Tier group; Nightling.

What?

* * * * *

In the end, the Guildmaster left along with Faral, however I had overheard the conversation at the wagon and couldn’t help but sigh as I turned to Regis’karr.

“You turned into a dragon for everyone to see?”

“Well…”

And I just shook my head as I decided I didn’t have the energy to deal with things. At this point, the fact that I was a hero seemed to be spreading left and right regardless of what I did. Mostly with the Hero of Flames to blame. It wouldn’t surprise me if the Adventurer’s Guild found out soon enough without me doing anything.

A sigh left me as I realized.

Maybe people knowing I’m a hero isn’t a terrible idea.

But I wasn’t too sure yet.