"Sir Gold, are you tired?" She asked."No, no, it"s fine," Gold responded, "Why did you decided to follow me? Like you just abandoned your village to follow me? I am a complete stranger to you."
"I had nothing to do in the village," She said skipping next to him, "I am a grown lady and I still lived with my parents, so I wanted to do something with my life, I am 24 you know."
"You are how old?" He stopped walking, "I thought you were younger."
"You pervert," Clover glared at him, "I already am in a relationship with someone so don"t even think about it, she lives not very far from here, but the last time I saw her, she was moving so I don"t remember."
"No, no, no, that"s not what I meant," He stammered, "You don"t look old-" He stopped talking as three men barred their path in front and three others behind them, "Well, I guess we can save this conversation for later."
"Travelers, give us your money and we will spare your lives," One of the men stepped forwards. Gold shook his head and Clover moved close to him, trembling. Gold wore a long, brown cloak with a belt around his waist, the cloak covered his body entirely and he wore a mask that prevented people from seeing his face, "Are you deaf? Hand over the money, mask man," Gold focused a ball of energy in his left hand, "Ha, look at this guy, a magic caster," He laughed and all the others laughed, "What is that? A tier one?"
"Tier 4, cast Chain Lightning," He said as a ma.s.sive amount of electricity gathered in his hand. He opened his hand towards the men in front of him and the bolt traveled from his hand and hit the leader and jumped to the other men. They screamed in pain as they died from the sheer power of the magic he cast. He turned to the others and cast a spell with his right hand, "Tier 5, cast Dragon Fire," A ma.s.sive wave of flames left his hands and caught up to the running bandits. He heard their screams die out as the fire consumed their bodies. Clover covered her eyes. Gold put his hands together and the magic faded. He placed his hand on Clover"s shoulder, "Now, maybe we can continue our trip? What do you think?"
"Yes, if we hurry, we could get to the Baldur town by dusk," She said as she skipped next to him, "You are really cool, what other spells do you know?"
"Too many to list," He said as he pulled a book from under his cloak, "I have this here book to remember, but some normal spells, I remember, Like most tier one and two spells," He changed the conversation, "What did you say about ranking?"
"Oh, yeah, I forgot, so there are four ranks, bronze, silver, gold and diamond," She explained, "We will start in bronze, so we won"t be earning much and the quest will probably be basic, um, I think we have to be recommended to silver by the people who hire us."
"What type of things would we be doing?"
"Maybe bodyguard, um, small monster killing and I think maybe some gathering quests but I think you wouldn"t want that, would you?"
"I think I can settle on monster killing and being a bodyguard," He said not looking down at her, "How should we be listed? Magic caster and you would be?"
"Companion, travel companion," She smiled, "I don"t know how to fight, so yeah, I would just be good to carry things."
"Well, if you are fine with that, we shall be listed as Magic Caster and Travel Companion, Gold and Clover, should we have a name?"
"Golden Clover? Is that what you are thinking?" She said looking up at him with a you-can"t-be-serious face, "If you want, but only, only if they ask for one."
"That is fine with me," He laughed, "I wonder what our first quest will be."
"Hopefully something that pays a little."
They arrive in the city as the sun set. They entered the empty main street and walked towards a building at the end of the street, the Guild Building. Clover opened the door and lead Gold inside. They walked over to the tall counter. Clover began talking.
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"Is there any s.p.a.ce for another party?"
"Yes, there is one, two s.p.a.ces," She said looking through the pages of a large book, "Party size? Roles?"
"Two man party," She looked at Gold and squinted. Gold lifted Clover up so that the receptionist could see her, "Magic Caster and Travel Companion."
"Okay, names?"
"Gold and Clover."
"Okay, here you go, two bronze plates, it shows that you are members of the guild system and you can be hired," She said, "Actually I have a job to offer for you, from the alchemist of the town, for a bodyguard party to go gather materials in the Westwards Forest," Clover had wide eyes as Gold started talking.
"Yeah, sure, where do we sign up?"
"She will be here tomorrow morning, I will recommend you," She said, "Just be here early. There is an inn down the road if you need a place to stay," They began to head to the door, "Have a good evening!"
"Thank you," Gold said as he put Clover on the floor. They walked outside and began walking, Clover said nothing and seemed worried then p.i.s.sed off, "What"s up? Did I say something wrong?"
"You f.u.c.kING IDIOT! You agreed to go to the Westwards Forest! Do you know what will happen?! Do you know what lurks there?! The guardian of the Westwards Forest is a reptilian queen, she will kill us," She screamed, "We can"t just tell her that we won"t do it, that will be terrible, and you didn"t even ask about the reward! You f.u.c.king idiot!"
"Don"t worry, I have some spells that will protect us, I think that it will be fine, let"s rest and tomorrow we will talk with this alchemist and go to the Westwards Forest with him, or her," He laughed, "I don"t think the guardian will be a match for me," He leaned in and whispered, "I might have a tier nine magic, just saying."
"What?! Tier nine?!"
"Shhhh!" He whispered as they entered the inn, "It might come in handy tomorrow."
The next day, Gold shook Clover awake. He was already fully awake and ready. She scrambled out of bed and got ready and picked up her bag. They left the inn and hurried to the Guild building. They noticed the receptionist from before, who had just opened the door to the building. They greeted her and the three entered.
"Wow, you really want this job," She giggled as she sat behind her desk, "You didn"t ask but the reward is 50 bronze coins, which is probably the highest reward for a bronze tier job."
"When will he be here?" Clover asked impatiently, "Just to know."
"She said she would be here early in the morning, to leave as soon as possible to avoid waking the guardian," She said as a woman walked through the door, "Speak of the devil and she appears, good morning Lady Liz, this is the party I talked about, Clover and Gold," She said nothing and held her hand out, palm to the floor. Gold knelt and kissed the top of her hand.
"A gentleman I see, tell me, why do you think you are fit for this job?" She was smiling a little, "This won"t be easy, Clover, how long has it been? I missed you so much, and who did you bring along?"
"I am a high level Magic Caster."
"A Magic Caster?" She looked surprised, "Like what tier?"
"I master most of the spells," He said as she looked shocked.
"If you will follow me, I think we should get going," She said as she gestured them to follow her, "Thank you for recommending these two!" She walked across the street and led them into a small store. They followed her into the building where she grabbed a bag and two scrolls. Clover walked over and tapped her arm. She looked at her and smiled, giving her the bag and one of the scrolls. Clover put it in her bag and smiled.
Soon after, they had left the town and were walking down a dirt path that lead into the Westwards Forest. The forest grew lush and thick, the tree bark was of a silver tone and the leaves above them were pink. There were thousands of flowers and small plants that littered the floor. They stopped every now and then so that Liz could pick up a plant or a flower that she then handed to Clover, who placed them in her bag.
They were nearly gone when they heard a threatening, female voice, "How dare you harm the forest," She seemed nearly in tears with anger, "Such a lesser race, humans, all you do is take and take and you never give, how dare you."
"T-t-the g-guardian," Liz fell to her knees, "P-please, C-c-creator, m-make this p-painless," The guardian leaped out of the trees and lunged at Liz.
"Tier 9, cast Negative Barrier," A black barrier appear in front of Liz, causing the guardian to go flying back, "Clover! Get Liz out of here!" Clover picked up Liz and put her on her shoulders and ran out, "Now, guardian, show yourself," She stepped forwards into the light. She had long green hair matching her scales. She only had one clawed hand. Her body was littered with small patches of scales and her clothes was made of vines and leaves. She had dark green eyes, "Miia?" She suddenly lost her expression of arrogance and confidence, "Is that you? How long has it been?"
"H-how could h-he know my name?" She hopped and hid behind a tree, "I never told anyone my name, unless, no, no it can"t be, everyone in Terruna died, but could you really be him? My master? Has he finally come to get me?"
"Miia, come on, do you not recognize me?" He touched his mask, "Oh, I see, come take a look at your master," He removed his mask and she peeked around the tree. She spotted his purple and red eyes, his scaled face and the scars, "Come girl, don"t be scared, come on," She hesitated and then shyly walked out from behind the tree, "Come on, Miia," He said as she walked over to him, "How are you doing?"
"I am good, master," She said looking down at the floor, she kneeled in front of him and looked at his feet, "I am sorry, master."
"For what?" He knelt down to her level and she lowered her body further, "What would you need to apologize for?" She pulled him onto her and wrapped her legs around his waist and hugged him tightly, "Miia? Are you sure you are okay?"
"I am sorry for leaving you, master," She was crying, "I broke my promise to you, punish me however you want, I don"t care, whatever I deserve, master."
"Miia," He began smiling, "Where is that collar you had? You need to have it on in my presence, remember?" She scrambled from under him and climbed up one of the trees, "Still the same, I guess she is still in love with me."
"Here," She sounded out of breathe, she knelt in front of him and held out a leather collar with a chain attached to it. She put it on and handed the chain to Gold, "Master, what are you going to do with me? What do you want to do with me?"
"How would you like to stay with me and leave this forest?"
"Of course, master," She nodded, "Whatever you want me to do, if I can, I will, master."
"Now follow me," He said as he tugged on the chain, she squealed a little, "Did that hurt you?"
"A little bit, master," He knelt down and she lowered her head, "I will be quiet now, sorry, it has been so long since I had to listen to someone."
"I"m sorry, I didn"t mean to hurt you," He smiled at her and put on his mask, "Now, follow me," She walked on all fours next to him, "How long has it been since Terruna has been gone?"
"12 years, master," She sighed then blushed, "12 years without you, I missed you so much, I am so happy you are here."
"Did any of the others make it here?"
"I don"t know, master, I haven"t left this place in a long time," She answered, "Who were those two?"
"One was my travel companion and the other was a lady I took a job from to help her gather plants and things for alchemy," They walked out of the forest and Clover noticed Gold. She skipped over to him and then noticed his chain. Her eyes followed it down and she noticed Miia, on all fours.
"G-gold, w-why d-do, w-why is she o-on a leash?"
"Her? No, she is with me now," He chuckled, "Lady Liz, do you have everything?"
"Yes, I think it should be fine," She said and then was surprised when Miia bowed in front of her. She looked up at Liz.
"I am sorry for trying to hurt you, human, please forgive me, punish me as you see necessary," She said with her head at Liz"s feet, "I am sorry, I didn"t know you were master"s friends."
"Master?" Clover turned to Gold, "Can you explain this?"
"This is Miia," He pat his thigh and she walked over to his side, "She was my, let"s say, servant," He laughed, "Now, let"s get back to town, the sun should be setting soon."