"The Band of Heroes? I can get behind that name." An chuckled as she looked at her husband.
Eldrain was smirking from ear to ear, shaking his head. "I love the name. So what's the quest called, and when do we leave?"
Raghav crossed his hands. "The quest is called A Dead Man's Quest. I do not know how long it will take to accomplish our goal. But it will take us to other continents. I have a commission underway for some items. I was given an estimated date of delivery, which is Sunday. So we will most likely leave on Monday."
As Raghav's gaze shifted towards Erich. "Mr. Yrictor, please draw up our party form and add in our credentials and show us active on our private quest. But keep us open for other commissions."
Aurelia tilted her head. "What's the difference between quests and commissions?"
An rested her hand on Aurelia's shoulder. "A quest is a long task that stretches for months or years and requires one to travel far and wide. A commission is more akin to a day's work, delivering a letter to another town, hunting down monsters attacking a village. Finding materials such as rare ores, wood, or animal body parts for clients."
"I see. So you will be doing these commissions while you are travelling?" Aurelia looked between Raghav and the Exter Couple "Yes, however, we will not be hunting down animals, we may take up normal commissions, we may even fight monsters if need be. But we will not be hunting animals, and also no meat, egg, fish, or alcohol will be acceptable on this journey. That is something I do not want at any table I sit at."
Eldrain snorted at Raghav's words. "Relax, we are vegetarians and non-drinkers, much like most of the human population of Paneria. Once you indulge in either one of those two dark habits, the other three are not far behind."
"Umm." Sarah raised her hand as she poked her head out from behind Erich. "What do you mean, the other three?"
Raghav leaned his head slightly to the left, not looking at either An or Sarah. "Allow me to explain. There are five dark habits one person can have. Consumption of others' flesh, consumption of alcohol or any other mind-altering substance, perverted thoughts, and gaze upon someone other than the person you married, gambling and lastly theft. When a person indulges one of these habits, slowly but surely others follow."
Sarah looked around as she shook her head. "B…But isn't that j…just presumption? My husband drinks, yet he does not possess the other four habits."
Eldrain snorted, and An slapped him on the back as he looked away. "Does he now? Where do you think he got those fifteen silver coins from last week, and why are there often coins missing from your pouch?"
Sarah's jaw moved down, and her eyes grew wider.
Amusement appeared on Eldrain's face, and the edges of his lips curled upward as he watched the realisation dawn on Sarah.
Pop
The cracking of her bones from her clenched fist filled the silent lobby.
Blowing out a large amount of air from her nose, she turned to Erich.
Clenched teeth and frowned eyebrows with anger-filled eyes greeted Erich. "You can go home, Sarah. I will close the guild tonight."
"Hmm."
That would be all that Erich would hear from Sarah as she moved towards the front desk.
Raghav raised his eyebrows, and he looked down at the floor, placing his hands in his pants.
She gathered her items from the front desk and entered the staff room behind it. All eyes, except Raghav's, were fixed on the door to the staff room.
SLAM
The rear exit was slammed with great force, as the sound reached the lobby on the other side of the building.
An looked at Eldrain, who had a grin on his face, and she rolled her eyes, lowering her head, shaking it.
Her hand moved to support her forehead. "Even though you are only shy of two years from being half a millennium old, you still are as childish as you were when we met."
"How long have you been married?"
With a raise of her left eyebrow, An turned to her right to find Aurelia, who was leaning forward with her head down like An's and a smile on her face.
Her innocent smile broke through An as she chuckled and raised her head. "I will let the big man answer that question. Tell her, my dear, how long have we been…" "436 years, 8 months, 19 days and 20 hours."
Raghav blinked, looking at Eldrain and gave a slight nod, turning towards Erich, who met Raghav's eyes, and the two men nodded.
"Are you also a half-elf and half-dwarf?" She gently moved her white hair back and revealed her elongated ears to Aurelia. "My husband, being half-elf and half-dwarf, somehow managed to discard the distinct traits of both species; he is not slender and does not have elven ears, he is not a dwarf, which I am thankful for. I, on the other hand, am a pure elf."
Time had come to a stop for Aurelia as she gasped, reaching for An's ears, stopping herself just a few inches away. "Can I touch them? I always wanted to meet an elf, but I never left the capital."
A smile appeared on her face as An nodded. "You can, my child, but only if I can pat your hair."
Without a second thought, Aurelia nodded as the two women reached for the other's head.
Pressing the elongated ends with her glove fingers, Aurelia's excitement grew when the ears squished under her finger. 'I thought they would be pointy, but they are soft.'
An's hand gently patted Aurelia's golden hair as she admired the young woman's curiosity and amusement.
Warmth emerged on her face as she tilted her head. 'I always wanted a daughter.'
Raghav and Erich descended the stairs. Raghav held two sheets of paper and was reading them, and once they arrived in the lobby, Erich saw the two women patting each other's heads.
Erich frowned in confusion before sighing and shrugging his shoulders. 'I am too old for this.' He then turned towards Raghav and bowed his head slightly. "I will be leaving, Grand Guild Master." Raghav, on the other hand, was still going over the papers. "Hmm. Goodnight, Mr. Yrictor, take care of yourself, and could you please lock the rear entrance as you leave."
The two then walked their separate ways as Erich went towards the staff room and Raghav walked towards the couch where the others were sitting.
As his hands dropped, Raghav looked at Eldrain, his head leaning on the back of the couch, and his arms crossed.
If one listened closely, they could hear the slight snore that left his nose.
Placing the paper on the table, Raghav walked to Eldrain's side and used a pillow from the couch, placing it between the wall and Eldrain's head to prevent his head from hanging backwards.
Then he circled back to the other side of the table and sat in a chair, facing them.
The two women stopped their small talk and turned towards Raghav as he slid one sheet of paper in front of An and another in front of Eldrain.
A third sheet was then placed on the table, and Raghav pulled out a pen from his breast pocket, placing it on top of the third sheet.
"These are your participation forms. I will need your adventurer's ID and your signature for your participation in the quest. Then we can fill in our details as founding members of this party, and our party will be formed."
The light snoring stopped, and Eldrain leaned forward, grabbing the sheet in front of himself.
His hand then moved across the table, reaching for the pen, but Raghav's hand stopped him. "I believe you should know about the quest before you sign anything."
Eldrain nodded and let go of the pen and leaned back, puffing from his mouth. "Understandable. So tell me what this dead man's quest is about?"
"Yes, I have to say, even I was curious about the details of this quest when I heard the name."
Reaching towards his right, Raghav's hand vanished through a small portal in the air, and then, when it reemerged, he held a golden compass in his hands.
The compass was set down in the middle of the table, and Raghav gestured at it. "Our quest is to find Crimson, and this compass will lead us to it."
A seriousness that surpassed Raghav's found its way on Eldrain's face as he leaned forward. "By Crimson, you mean the Crimson from the prophecy?"
Raghav nodded. "This compass belonged to King Istreid and was in his possession when he died. But as a failsafe, Istreid sent all his belongings to his vault. That is where Aurelia and I found it and had a talk with Istreid's vestige. It told us about the compass's properties of pointing towards Ancient Relics, and he was the one who asked me to fulfil that Dead Man's Quest."
His head shook as Eldrain blinked rapidly. "That chamber you moved to the pocket dimension was Istreid's vault. Where was it originally?"
Instead of using words, Raghav simply pointed upwards, and Eldrain followed with his eyes. "In space?"
"Hmmm. It was orbiting the planet, so I brought it into my pocket dimension for safekeeping."
"Well, that makes sense, no matter how powerful we Grand Masters are, not all of us can have our dimensions. Octiv was lucky he found a rift in space that led to an empty dimension, and he was able to claim it. Istreid was known for being the greatest user of gravitational magic. I mean, he summoned meteors the size of kingdoms, so it is no wonder he was able to place a chamber in orbit."
An looked between her husband and Raghav. "So our quest is to find Ancient relics until we find Crimson? What comes after?"
Raghav shrugged his shoulders, keeping his gaze down. "We keep it safe, as I am aware the two of you would know. The true prophecy spoke of no hero; it spoke of death and destruction, and all of it begins with crimson shattering. When I executed Vaughn, he mocked me, saying I was summoned to be a hero of a fake prophecy meant to cover the truth."
Silence fell over the room for a brief moment as a gentle sadness overtook the faces of everyone except Raghav.
"He was wrong. I was brought here to give the world a hope, that even if death and destruction are the truth, there will be hope. I did not ask for this, nor was I asked to do this by anyone. But I am now here, with a duty presented to me, I do not require assistance to fulfil it. But I want to work together with others willing to do the same, to inspire others to be better and to protect those who cannot protect themselves. So that is our true quest. Not just to prevent the prophesied end of the world but to fill it with hope to fight and overcome the evil that threatens to consume it."
Sliding the pen across the table, he looked at Eldrain and then lowered his gaze and his head as he turned towards An. "Will you accompany me on this Rogue Odyssey?"
Eldrain finished signing the paper and handed the pen to An, looking back at Raghav. "You did not need to say all that. But good for you."
The response knocked off Raghav's seriousness and made the edge of his lips curl up.
He gave Raghav a thumbs up as he looked at Aurelia and found her smiling at him. "He has done this before, has he not?"
With her gaze fixed upon Raghav, she nodded. "He did, yesterday, to the graduates of the military academy."
Thud Thud
They all turned towards the front door. "Open the door. It is I, Belreid."
"Father? What is he doing here? We told him we would be late."
Raghav walked towards the front door. "I guess we will find out after I open this door."
Inserting the key into the doorknob, he turned it, and the door unlocked with a clicking sound.
Taking hold of the door with both hands, he backed up, pulling the door open. "Welcome, your grace."
Without a single explanation, Belreid grabbed Raghav's shoulder. "Raghav. The vault. It has been taken; someone moved the vault."
"Take a deep breath, your grace. It is nothing to be alarmed at. I moved the vault. The passage in the library connecting to the vault is working, yes?"
"It is." Raghav looked behind the king and saw Mage Olda and Reinhardt. "Come on in. I will explain it in detail."
Stepping to the side, Raghav made way for the three to enter.
Once they were inside, he peeked out and looked left and right at the empty road.
Before leaning back in and closing the door. He then walked after the new arrivals.
Reinhardt observed the empty lobby, looking past King Belreid, and his eyes landed on Eldrain, who turned his head towards the group, and their eyes met.
Both of their eyes widened, and Reinhardt drew his sword and leapt forward towards Eldrain, thrusting his sword forward. On the other hand, Eldrain stood up, pulling a giant war hammer, the size of Reinhardt's torso, from the storage pouch tied to his waist and swung it towards the approaching Reinhardt.
"Stop."
Their attacks stopped as Raghav asked.
The warhammer rested a few millimetres away beside Reinhardt's head, electricity sparking between the hammer and his helmet.
Meanwhile, the tip of his blade was at Eldrain's throat, the heat from the blade burning some missed beard hair.
Raghav walked over and stood between the two men with his arms crossed.
The two men laughed and placed their weapons down, turning towards Raghav. "We have had prior run-ins with each other."
Speaking in unison, they pointed at each other. "Did not end well… for him."
An looked past her husband and smiled as she pushed him to the side. "Reinhardt, my child, how are you?"
"Mrs. Exter. I am in excellent condition. How are you?" "Oh, I am as I always am." Raghav had lowered his eyes to the floor. "Let me guess. Teacher and student?"
"Yes. I met Reinhardt when he was six. Taught him for a few years, while travelling through the region." "Master Eldrain taught me almost everything I know; he is the reason I am a Master Rank warrior."
Placing his hammer back in the storage pouch, Eldrain sat back down. "The best student I ever had, albeit I only had one."
Raghav grabbed two more chairs and brought them, placing them beside his own.
"Alright, let's take a seat, everyone."
Mage Olda, Raghav and King Belreid sat on the chairs from left to right. An moved past her husband and sat between him and Aurelia. Reinhardt stood beside the table until Eldrain grabbed his shoulder and pulled him down on the couch beside him.
"Relax for a moment, there are four Master rank warriors and two Grand Masters present. There is no danger here."
"I know, but I still must keep the king safe."
"It is alright, Reinhardt. You can relax, we are in a safe environment. Now, Raghav, can we talk about the vault?" Raghav nodded and looked at everyone, except for An, his eyes lingering on Aurelia as he gently smiled.
An took notice of his actions, lowering his gaze or outright closing his eyes whenever she was in his vision and the way he looked at Aurelia. 'Oh my. What a peculiar man.'
Aurelia gestured for Raghav to continue as he placed his hands on the table. "Let us begin."