The light glare through the window, such a beautiful day, the weather is nice. Here lies a man who is badly injured on the bed, not dead. Raye opened his eyes to see Al and Will sitting right next to him.
Al:You're awake!"
Raye:"W-what happened?"
Al:"Don't tell me you got a memory loss!"
Raye:"No, I remember, the battle with the beast, I slash its vocal cord and Will delivered the final blow I think,"
Will:"Well done,"
Raye smiled back at Al and Will and so did they.Suddenly, a whole crowd enter the room and cheer for Raye.
"Congrats on that fierce battle"
"I can't believe a rookie party is managed to beat a beast like that"
"Do you want to join my Party?"
A nurse then came out from the office and chased everyone out.
"Alright, the patient is still recovering, disturbance is not allowed, so please leave,"
Everyone left except for the accountant and 2 member working at the guild.
"Mr Raye, you and your party did well during that battle, and for that, you will be rewarded with 20 Aaron gold coins,"
Raye and Al were in shocked.Will didn't react at all. He doesn't know anything about currency in different country and region, things changes over few hundred centuries.
Al:"Twenty Aaron gold coins?! I must be hearing things wrong. That's a whole lot of money, heck, it even cover our journey expenses for the next month!"
"You are not hearing it wrong Mr Al, 20 gold coins is your reward for defeating the beast, though it was originally 30 gold coins-"
Al:"30 Aaron gold coins !?"
"Well, the other 10 was used to cover the damage you did to the forest nearby that caught on fire,"
Al went depressed as Will muttered sorry though no one can hear it.
Raye:"We will gladly accept the reward,"
The two member working at the guild walk towards Raye and handed him a small satchel full of gold coins.
"Very well, we will take our leave,"
The nurse then told Raye he is able to leave after another day. She then chased Al and Will out of the room.
Al:"So,... what do we do?"
Will:"I guess wandered around this town,"
They walk around the town, helping town folks in need. Will then noticed few kids talking about Raye and the party and reacting by imagining the battle.
Al:"Hey, are you.... an illegal researcher?"
Will:"What do you mean?"
They went into a place where there is no sign of people, only to continue their conversation.
Al:"The black magic, I saw it. You use shadow magic or what seems to be it, black magic is illegal around the world, all kingdoms made their agreement since the first dawn of the world of Wyraë"
Will:"..."
Al:"Learning it could result in execution,"
Will:"Will you believe me if I told you.....I am a dark sage?"
Al:"You're lying, it is rumored that the dark sages never made a move since the demise of the demon king, it is only rumored that the shadow sage is dead,"
Will:"What if I told you,.....I'm the shadow sage?"
Al:"No way, no, that's not possible, are you?"
Will:"..."
Al:"If you are, why didn't you end us instantly, or are you manipulating us?"
Will:"I seek no interest in manipulating you,"
Al:"How can I be so sure?"
Will:"....,I have influence over demon and beast on this world, for I am the shadow sage, therefore they should bow down to me in respect even if they have not met me,"
Al:"It didn't,..."
Will:"That's because they have forgotten who their master is, or they have a master of their own, even so, my influence should be able to make the strongest demon in the world bow down to me,"
" So what are you trying to say?" Al raised his mini staff as he said that.
Will:"What I am trying to say is there is no such thing as dark sages after the demon king's demise, dark sages only receive respect from demon that remain in the demon king continent or demon that have deep respect to them,"
Will:"The only reason dark sages are still known as dark sages is because human fear them,"
Al:"I supposed Raye know about it, Well, if he trust you, I guess I can too..."
Will:"Good"
Al:"If you are really a dark sage, THE shadow sage himself, the one who is rumored to be dead along side with the demon king, how did you got injured? Someone as powerful as you shouldn't be hurt this easily,"
Will:"...., The first time I tried learning black magic, back when I was a researcher in magic, I found black magic much more fascinating than regular magic, I decided to learn it without anyone knowing,"
Will:"Well, that first time, I got caught by the guards and got sentenced to meet the king of Hiden long ago, back then, rules weren't that strict, they cast a curse on me that last forever, the curse will activate every time I overly use mana, which is only 50 of my mana, my mana capacity is 250"
Al:"That isn't that bad..."
Will:"They then torture me by making me help them by fighting beast alone, if you were to ask me does it really hurt, yes , though I got used to it since I pursue black magic,"
Al:"Damn, why did you join Raye party?"
Will:"...,personal reason,"
Will then stood up and decided to go check up on Raye again, Al quickly tag along. As Raye is walking, Will noticed a staff shop and saw many beautiful designed staff,"
Al:" staff are use to balanced out the mana consumption used during battling, I supposed you don't need it, after all,.... you got plenty of experience,"
Will:"..."
________________________________________________________________________________________
Its evening, Will and Al dropped by the small clinic to visit Raye.
Raye:"You guys are back again,"
Al:"yea "
Raye:"I noticed you got yourself a staff,"
The staff Will holding is dark colored, have an orb on the middle at the top, It wasn't pricey, the sources used to make this staff was cheap, but Will doesn't care.
Will:"Don't you think I looked cooler with it, more mage liked?"
Raye and Will laughed. Al didn't say anything.
Will:"It is just not to raise suspicion from other party,"
Raye:"I guess you are right,"
Raye:"Well, we will be setting off tomorrow once I can leave,"
The next day, Raye is able to leave the small clinic and the party resume their journey. They continue through south, almost reaching to the borderline between the Kingdom of Aaron and the dune. It would take another 3 to 5 days.
Raye:"I'm glad that no warlock show up during our fight with the beast, if they did appear, I doubt we would survive,"
Will:"Did you forget who I am? The mage you recruited is the shadow sage from the demon king,"
Raye:"Al is here-"
Al:"Don't worry, I already know his secret,"
Raye:"I guess we still got a long way to go,"
________________________________________________________________________________________
"Interesting, a rookie party, able to defeat a beast of mine, a hero, a priest, and a mage that use black magic,"
"Master, shall I go and slaughter them?"
"No need to do so, lets see how things play out a little longer,"
"Yes, master,"