Greyson went out the next day in search for some missions which would fit his means. Glancing through almost all of them, he could not help but furrow his brows. Why were they all so hard and taxing? The pay was not an issue and they were even offering more money than he would normally make per mission, however, they were too high which meant danger. Suddenly, Greyson felt stuck in a conundrum of whether to take the risk or to just go out on his own. Although making money was great and all, he wanted to be alive to receive it for the reward to mean anything. Nothing was more precious than life, right? After thinking it through, Greyson decided to take the notice for the relatively easiest mission. He thought that the reward was not so high that the danger would be beyond the level he could handle, and if, worse comes to worst, he would just ditch the mission and head to the Beast Empire on his own with his group. Their current power could not be easily overlooked. Greyson had powers equal to weaker magisters and Halcrem and Lucius both were equal to magister level magicians. With the rareness of magisters in outer human countries, Greyson was not particularly worried for their wellbeing. Bandits and other criminals could only hope their luck was not so bad to run into Greyson"s group.Walking back to the inn, he grabbed Lucius and Halcrem and hauled them over to the meeting spot mentioned on the notice. When he arrived, Greyson was surprised to see that the destination was a jewelry store! Seems that the danger during the transport was due to the price of the goods. Although caravans transporting food were usually the most targeted, precious jewels, especially magic stones, could sell for extremely high prices. The store was named Elegance. Impressed by the grand, yet cla.s.sy, exterior, Greyson walked to the front door only to be stopped by a frowning guard.
"Name? Appointment?" Speaking just these two words, the guard coldly glanced at the rest of Greyson"s group before directing his eyes back towards Greyson.
"My name is Greyson. I don"t have an appointment..."
"No appointment, no entry. I do not recognize the name Greyson from the list of VIP customers." Holding firm to the rules, the guard quickly interrupted Greyson without letting him finish. Peeved by the man"s short temper, Greyson just squinted his eyes dangerously.
"I do not have an appointment but I am here to offer my services for the mission that was posted on the notice board in the city square. I saw they were hiring escorts to help guard a transport." Stating his business clearly, Greyson then moved to go around the guard once more. Not completely convinced of the young boy"s reason, the guard moved to stop him once more.
"What now?" Greyson looked over upset that this man continued to stop him.
"I need to see proof of your power. The escorts for this mission need to at least be advanced level magicians as said in the notice."
"Proof?" Feeling that the request was not too unreasonable, Greyson allowed his mana to radiate outwards towards the guard. Sweat dripping down his face, the guard could feel a heavy pressure come down on him that originated from the boy in front of him. Shock clear on his face, the guard knew that the boy in front of him was actually an advanced level magician, perhaps even stage four or five. Respect appeared on his face as he no longer blocked the way and allowed for Greyson to go pa.s.sed him.
"Follow me, sir. I will notify the master of your arrival." Such a quick change in att.i.tude was hard for Greyson to adjust to, so at first he just blankly looked at the guard. Lucius quickly poked his paw into Greyson"s face to get his attention. Breaking out of his daze, Greyson nodded towards the guard and followed behind him into the jewelry store.
From all around him, Greyson spotted multiple different s.h.i.+ning colors. He had never seen so many jewels and precious stones all at once before. After observing quietly as he walked up the different floors, Greyson realized that the first two floors contained normal jewelry for regular wealthy citizens or n.o.bility, however the third floor and up contained jewelry decorated with magic stones. Each one was precious and had different effect. Looking at the expert craftmans.h.i.+p of each piece of jewelry, Greyson could not help but feel extremely impressed. Lucius and Halcrem barely even spared a glance towards such precious merchandise, completely unaware of its value. Sighing and shaking his head, he knew that jewelry did not usually have a strong impact on magic beasts. Some were born with a natural affinity and desire for such things like dragons. Eden"s innate ability specifically came from this and allowed her to sense treasures in the surrounding areas. When he heard of the gift, Greyson felt slightly envious of such a useful gift. However, he knew that it wae a double-edged sword. Just like Lucius" gifts, Eden"s abilities were the reason she was targeted and tricked into serving the Argentum family.
Wordlessly following, the group finally arrived at the topmost floor. After two large wooden doors opened, a large office opened up to them. The decor of the office was simple with jewelry identification equipment on one side and a large desk with a table and two couches in front of it on the other side. Eyeing the equipment, Greyson could tell that the owner of it was most likely a jewelry appraiser who tested the authenticity of the stones brought it. Their position was of paramount importance to any jewelry store because buying fake stones would cause a store to quickly go bankrupt. Moving his eyes toward the large desk, Greyson glanced at the figure sitting in the chair. The owner of the room was a surprisingly young man. His face looked around mid-twenties, however, the more powerful one was, the harder it was to determine true age. The young man had chestnut-brown hair and when he glanced up he showed his light green eyes.
"Charles, what is it? You know I do not like to be disturbed without prior notice." A frown forming on his face, the young man completely ignored Greyson"s group and turned to the guard who led them in.
"My apologies, master, however, this group is here to report for the posting about the escort mission. They already proved to me that they have the strength requested for in the notice." Nervously bowing, the guard was quick to explain the situation.
"Hm?" Raising his eyebrow in slight surprise, it was at this moment that the man finally turned his attention towards Greyson. "You are an advanced level magician?"
Inwardly rolling his eyes and complaining, Greyson decided not to say anything and directly showed his power. The young man"s expression showed some approval, but his reaction was considerably mellow compared to the guard. Greyson knew that this young man must be at least a magister level magician from the ease which he dismissed Greyson"s pressure.
"Hahaha, I apologize for all the testing. I just do not want to waste my time with liars and weaklings. Direct shows of strength are the easiest. Let me introduce myself, I am Wayne Tattersall. I am the owner of this branch of Elegance. There will be a trade going to the Beast Empire with a couple of rare jewels and stones that we received. Although there should not be any large issues, we do not want any bandits getting in the way so I decided to hire some people. Just make sure the packages get to the border and your job is done. There are guards waiting by the border to take over security. At that point, the packages are also no longer my responsibility so you will not have to worry about them."
"If we run into serious trouble, I will run away and not protect the packages. Are you still alright with this?"
"Well, aren"t you refres.h.i.+ngly straightforward. Do you think I would not expect as much from random hires I made? Of course, you are not going to lay down your life to complete this mission and I was never expecting you to. If you really have such bad luck as to run into those extremely strong bandits, I really would have nothing to say. I guess it would mean this trade was just not meant to be."
"You are surprisingly relaxed at the prospect of your jewels getting stolen. Won"t your business be severely affected?" Greyson could not help but feel confused at Wayne"s words.
"Are you not from Greenwolf Country?" Wayne suddenly asked.
"No, I am not. Why do you ask?"
"If you were from this country, you would not ask such a question. Bandit attacks are so common that most people expect such things to happen. Merchants have a real tough time thriving here. Luckily, I have a lot of people in this city who can help me with their purchases so I still make a considerable amount. Plus, this city is right on the border to Rainbow Country, so I can constantly trade with them. Most merchants do that unless there is a really nice deal somewhere else. This deal with the Beast Empire could mean a lot of money, however, I know that a caravan carrying precious goods across the Greenwolf Country was easier said than done. Therefore, I am taking a chance, but this chance will not ruin my business so easily. It will hurt, but only for a little while. I have already calculated a means to which I can have a speedy recovery even with that loss. That is why I hope for your success, but I do not expect it." Shrugging his shoulders, Wayne quickly explained his reasoning. Greyson"s eyes widened in surprise. It seems that the bandit problem in this country was worse than he previously thought. However, he felt pleasantly surprised by Wayne"s easygoing att.i.tude. He quickly was able to avoid feeling any pressure to make sure the mission is a success. If everything goes well, then great; if it doesn"t, oh well, it is not too important.
...
The group traveled quickly through most of the cities on the way in a quiet manner and no one was seemingly making any trouble. During this time, Greyson silently turned fourteen. He did not feel any different, other than a burning desire to quickly break through. He felt that he had been stuck at this point forever! When he thought about it, since the beginning of his journey he had not spent more than a year in a stage other than this one. Normally, the breakthrough came quite naturally to him. Recently, he started to realize why he could not without the fruit. After working so hard to be able to freely activate his Snow Dragon bloodline, the presence of this bloodline grew and won over the elf bloodline. This resulted in the white hair and light purple eyes and his physique growing stronger. At night, he started to feel like his body was fighting internally. Occasionally, he would feel this painful burning sensation as his body continued morphing between dragon scales and his elf features. The conflict between these overpowering bloodlines was starting to damage him against his will. Starting to feel more of a rush, Greyson did not hold back against the weaker opponents and completely took them down. The other members of the caravan actually grew extremely frightened of Greyson after such a show of aggression. They thought he was a devil hidden underneath the misleading beautiful features. Such a contrast disturbed them even more than if Greyson looked like a violent man. Flas.h.i.+ng a mesmerizing smile while slas.h.i.+ng down bandits, they could not help but s.h.i.+ver at such a sight.
Greyson also started to feel worried that his emotions were becoming slightly unstable, as well, not just his physical body. Normally, his temper was extremely even-keeled, however, when he saw weak bandits trying to hold them up, his fury would flare up and he would take them out. Noticing such changes, Greyson decided to constantly play his flute. Originally, he learned calming spells to help others and himself to keep clear minds during fights. He never expected that such spells would come in handy in his situation. As the caravan continued traveling around, peaceful music spread throughout the forest. Rare tranquility engulfed the surroundings. The caravan could not explain the unprecedented peace they felt when they listened to the music, even the magic beasts of the forest followed along and relaxed.
The spells were very effective at calming Greyson down and, since he could meditate and play at the same time, he did not need to stop. His music actually affected even potential attackers, so the caravan did not run into any trouble for a very long time. They were quickly closing in on the Beast Empire border.
"This mission is going surprisingly well." Halcrem yawned. Greyson could not distract himself, so he refrained from answering and just continued to play. Lucius, on the other hand, did not show the same relaxed feelings.
"I don"t know. I feel as if something bad is about to happen and my intuition is almost never wrong. Halcrem, do not let your guard down. You, too, Greyson, be ready to fight." Finally speaking up, Lucius warned both of them of his feelings. Halcrem did not quite trust Lucius, but that was because he was not aware of Lucius" abilities nor his ident.i.ty as a Destiny Cat. Greyson, however, frowned deeply.
All things stayed quiet for another two days, but Greyson continued to stay wary, as did Lucius. Halcrem observed the both of them and could not help but think they were too cautious.
"I say, Lucius, I think your instincts were wrong this time. It"s already been two days and we will arrive at the border after one more."
"No, my insti-..."
*BOOM!*
Before Lucius could finish retorting, a large fireball flew towards the front of the caravan as if on cue. Sensing it early, Greyson quickly set up a water barrier. The fire-ball slammed into the s.h.i.+eld and exploded causing the loud noise. Although his barrier did not get smashed apart by the attack, Greyson could tell that the force was still strong and that the fire-ball was a mere probing attack, nothing serious. His expression turned serious and grim.
"Such a peaceful trip was just too good to be true for me, I guess..." Sighing lightly, Greyson felt that he attracted trouble wherever he went. Thinking of this, he couldn"t help but glance at Lucius.
"Are you sure you bring good luck? Why do I feel like bad things continue to happen after you woke up. I had no troubles traveling through the entire Rainbow Country as you slept."
Lucius glared over, however, eventually he just snorted and did not say anything. It seemed he was more concerned about the enemies. Seeing Lucius treating the opposition so seriously, Greyson knew they must be more powerful than he previously a.s.sumed. In almost no time, four figures approached out of the smoke from the earlier explosion. Squinting his eyes, Greyson finally managed to make out the features of the approaching figures. One was an extremely tall and muscular woman, a scrawny middle-aged man, an old man, and a good-looking young man around Eden"s age. Judging from the power radiating off of all of them, they seemed to be magisters except the young man. He felt weaker in comparison, around advance level stage four. Others repeatedly told him about how powerful bandits in this country could be, however, seeing for himself, Greyson felt himself inhaling sharply. Such powerful opponents...
Other than himself, Halcrem, and Lucius, the rest of the caravan was negligible. They were just too weak. The real issue, though, was that Greyson could not tell what stage magister these people were at. He started to wonder if he should just quickly escape. He had his own issues now and the Beast Empire border was so close. Wayne, himself, did not expect him to throw away his life. Watching the figures approach, Greyson still could not make up his mind.