A Sword For Gold

Chapter 7 - Vaelia's Trail

"Pass the fish, please," requested Cora in between bites of smoky bread.

As the Sorcerer of Goldhaven had promised, Elarius fixed them up a nice, delicious, and perhaps fancy breakfast, complete with what any citizen of nobility would want to have in their ideal meal: bread, meat, fish, some fresh ale and water, and some variety of fruits such as grapes and bananas to top it all off.

"Damn, Elarius," remarked Maraxus, impressed, "Is this how you start your morning every single day?"

Elarius shook his head. "I don't usually go all out like this," he said, "But I promised you a nice and refreshing breakfast, After all, neither you nor Cora, and certainly not Baros here would like the kind of food I eat."

"All you ever eat is rice, Elarius," retorted Cora as she gulped down a cup of water, "You have neither flavor nor taste. You can't blame us."

"Heh," chuckled Elarius, "It seems like you two feel better. What about you... uhh... Baros?"

Baros looked up, pausing from how he had been wolfing down on the serving of bread, fish, and beef on his plate, swallowing before beginning to speak, "This is the best food I've had in two years!" he exclaimed, as he took another bite of fish, wolfing down on the food Elarius had prepared for them like there was no tomorrow.

"Good grief," remarked Cora, "The fuck has Vaelia been feeding you for the last two years?!"

Baros then grinned, pieces of bread and fish in is teeth, before replying, "We rely on whatever wildlife we can hunt. We usually avoid towns and cities as she keeps endlessly hunting for monsters in order to gain power."

"How do you even gain power by killing monsters?" asked Cora, turning to the sorcerer, who decided to join in on their breakfast and have some of the food that he went out of his way to prepare.

"Monsters are spawns of energy, and not of nature," answered Elarius as he took a bite of bread, "That's impressive of Vaelia, to think that she can master assimilating the residue of energy left behind slain monsters at such a young age. What kind of monsters has she been killing, Baros?"

"Just small ones, like Firebugs, Terradromes, and some Stalkers here and there," answered Baros as he paused to recall most of his adventures with Vaelia Martel.

"Is that why you're always letting us go on errands to hunt down certain monsters?" asked Cora, "So that you can gain power?"

"No, Cora," negated Elarius, "I would have to be the one to kill the monster if that were the case. I need the materials of the monsters you're able to capture or slay, and add them to my research and perhaps see what kind of role they play in alchemy, how their blood, sacs, skin, or even bones interact with certain chemicals and other things that may have not yet been experimented with."

"The fuck is the use of that?" asked Maraxus, as he finished what was on his plate and gulped down on some of the fine ale that Elarius had prepared.

"For example," Elarius spoke, as he held a finger up, "You are aware of how venomous the spikes an Acanthudrome are, right? Well, my research has led to findings about how a Terradrome is able to resist the venom of an Acanthudrome, since they are similar creatures. Thus, I was able to produce an antidote using the antibodies produced by a Terradrome in response to the venom of an Acanthudrome's spike and sell it for a high price in the market due to the high demand."

"Oh, I see," said Cora with pursed lips, impressed by the sorcerer's intelligence and craftiness, as Elarius paused for a moment to take a sip of water.

"Furthermore," he continued, holding up a second finger, "You three actually did me a favor by slaying that Hyptera for me. Lately, demands of a serum that lets you resist the hypnosis of a Hyptera have been increasing in the far east, beyond Tep Desert. My sources have told me that there has been growing activity of Hypterae in the far eastern lands."