The Unbidden: A New World (1) (Short Parts)

Part 51

The best part about having the room to myself meant I could relieve myself for the first time since coming to this world. Sure, I was supposed to be the hero, but sometimes one had to satiate those urges. We spent the first few days resting and relaxing in our rooms, or rather, I spent the first few days. I only came down to partake in filling my stomach with food and water. I had no clue what Thea and Jayde had been up to that whole time.

On the fourth day, I decided it was pertinent to establish some contacts. I made my way to the nearest adventurer's guild: 'Palindrome'. I ignored the loud boisterous nature that seemingly befell every guild lobby and went to the counter and showed my quest papers to the female receptionist.

"I see Onyx is sending some reinforcement to hunt the dragon, but why are you going for both? And where are your other party members?" she asked, taking a note and writing our party name on it before placing it next to each dragon quest.

"They are currently resting. We just figured it'd be privy to accept both quests so that way we don't have to come back in case we were too late to one of them," I chuckled.

"A valid point. Well, feel free to make use of the guild's services while you stay in the city. We look forward to your assistance in this matter," she nodded.

I returned the nod and began departing the guild when a man about my size and build came up to me in a drunken stupor.

"Oi oi, you're not seriously tryn' to kill both Ryngy and Loht are ya!?" he wrapped an arm around my neck.

His breath reeked, and he leaned in close. I gently removed his arm from my shoulder in as kind a manner I could.

"I am. Are those the names everyone's been giving the dragons?" I asked with a soft smile.

He seemed taken aback at my casual response.

"N – No, iz their acshual name tranzlated," he slurred.

Hm.

"Can you tell me about the parties Dread Steel and the Absolvers of Yuna?" I asked.

He gave me a dumbfounded look, then nodded. I motioned to an empty table and we moved to sit down. The man's gaze became more focused and serious.

"What business do you have with them?" He was trying to enunciate properly.

"None particularly. I'm just curious how powerful they are. I heard they're also hunting ... what did you say their names were again, Ryngy and Loht?"

I ordered a couple beers.

"Yea. They're both small parties with extremely powerful members. People around here are split in favoritism of them both. Some say the leader in Dread Steel is a hero, and others are saying the priestess in the Absolvers of Yuna is one."

"Why do they call them heroes?"

"They both possess extraordinary abilities. The leader of Dread Steel is a half elf with strange magical abilities and the priestess is rumored to be half human and half angel."

"Half angel? I've never heard of angels existing," I feigned surprise.

While it's true I had never heard of angels existing, I knew of Gods. The beers finally arrived, I slid one to the man.

"Neither have I, but she's supposedly so beautiful that everyone to lay eyes on her is captivated. She wears a hood all the time to prevent people from seeing her face," He took a big swig from his mug.

"Have you seen her face yourself?" I asked, drinking from mine.

The man shook his head and his face relaxed.

"I know what everyone else but her looks like. They all seem to guard her, too. It's a bit strange if you ask me."

"I see, well, thank you for the information. My name is Xavier, by the way," I reached my hand out.

"Novic," he replied, shaking my hand.

"What reason you got to go after the dragons?" his intent gaze was anything but intoxicated.

"Money, mostly, but also for a couple other personal reasons," I shrugged.

"They're not creatures to be taken lightly. It's no good when life is lost so senselessly."

"I am surely aware. Thank you for the warning," I got up to leave when he called out my name

I turned to find him tearing up.

"Please ... if you really do manage to kill the dragons, could you see if my wife's ring is in their hoard? It's the only thing I have left to remember her by," he fought back sobs.

I flashed him a gentle smile and nodded. Who was I to turn down the request of a man who lost those he cared about? I felt like he had turned to drinking, waiting for a day someone came in that was going after the dragons just to ask such a small favor. If I could give him some solace when he couldn't help himself, I felt a responsibility to assist. With another quest under my belt, I headed back to the inn to think about the next course of action.

We had two options. The dragon to the West, or the dragon to the East. I forgot to ask Novic which was named what, but I was certain I'd figure that out in time. On top of those two options, there were potential obstacles at each one. On one hand, there was Dread Steel who sounded like a bunch of hard-ass meat heads based on their name. On the other, there were the Absolvers of Luna with basically a witch in their party.

There wasn't any precedent for parties being hostile to one another to my knowledge, but there also wasn't anything stating you couldn't assault another party and kill their members. I was unfamiliar with the area, and it felt like the higher the quest reward, the more stingy and dangerous other adventurers became. It was probably best we kept our guard up just in case. The last thing I needed was to die again.

Both Ryngy and Loht were fire dragons, so it was obvious I needed to develop countermeasures to them. My first thought as to what a dragon does was instant – they spew fire. Maybe not all of them, but the ones we were going to face did that, at least, that's what I assumed. I didn't have a place to safely practice my magic anymore, so that made it difficult to train unless I could find another pocket-dimension like Vel'Nysa had.