After hearing the voice of a girl call out to them, both Ark and Thufrat stopped in their tracks outside the guild master's room. From within the room, a young lady, around Ark's age, appeared. The young lady was fairly tall, and she was the most beautiful woman Ark had ever seen in his entire life. Her wavy blonde hair cascaded down her shoulders, covering parts of her beautiful emerald dress. Her eyes were a beautiful and mysterious shade of red, bewitching almost anyone who would dare stare into their depths. Ark's breath was instantly taken away. Luckily for him, he was currently a wolf, and not in his human form. Even though he had seldom really taken an interest in a woman before, he was sure that he would blush if he was in his human form.
Thufrat was a dwarf, but he still really appreciated the lady's beauty, not letting it show though, as he was sure that this was a noble, not someone he would dare offend without a good reason to. The lady stopped right in front of Ark and Thufrat, and she started to intensely stare at Thufrat. This went on for almost half a minute before Thufrat lost his patience. Just as he was about to talk, the lady crouched down and started to pet Ark.
"Awwww, so fluffy!" The girl was surprised at the quality of this wolfs fur, he would become an excellent carpet! Jokes aside, the girl couldn't help but continue to pet Ark, enjoying the feeling of running her fingers through his fluffy fur. After petting him for a while, the young lady scratched him a little behind his ears, ruffled his fur a little, and stood up.
"Fuuuuuu, that sure was refreshing! I'm sorry for suddenly petting him like that!" The young lady bowed a little and apologized to Thufrat. This put Thufrat in quite the tough spot, what was he supposed to say to that? This young lady had no idea, but she had just petted Ark, Thufrat's only and best friend, not his contracted beast.
"Well, if you're going to apologize, apologize to my buddy here." As Thufrat said this, he squatted a little and patted Ark on the back. This woke Ark from the stupor he had been in. When the young lady had suddenly started to pet him, he had been left in a daze, freezing on the spot. He almost felt humiliated at the thought of being petted, but worst of all, it felt so good! The feeling of someone petting him, Ark would be lying if he said that he didn't like it.
When the young lady heard what Thufrat said, she was taken by surprise and reevaluated the wolf in front of her a little bit. As she looked at it closer than before, she could notice that this wolf wasn't some ordinary beast and that it had some level of intelligence. The wolf currently had a weird look plastered across its face.
During this time, the guild master had also withdrawn from his room and arrived at the scene. Seeing this, he couldn't help but chuckle a little, before he bowed a little before Ark.
"I'm sorry for the behavior of my guest little fellow, I hope you're not offended!" He said lightly, the apology was the epitome of half-hearted, but he couldn't care less. He wouldn't let this young lady bow and apologize to a beast though, seeing as her apology to Thufrat was already pushing boundaries.
Ark could easily see that this robust middle-aged man in front of him wasn't sorry, and he just snorted lightly before urging Thufrat to leave with him using his eyes. The mana in the surroundings could sense Ark's displeasure, and they caused a small riot when Ark snorted, sending the air in the surroundings into disarray. Thufrat could only smile wryly before following Ark down the stairs, and out of the adventurers guild.
"Pfft, hahahahahahaha, the wolf didn't seem to be too fond of your apology Roberto!" The young lady couldn't hold her laughter in as she thought about what just transpired.
Roberto wasn't as carefree though, when the mana was sent into disarray earlier, he could feel that something was wrong. He wasn't exactly sure, but he could feel that no one had conjured or manipulated the mana in the air. Almost as if it acted out of its own volition. If that were to be the case, then that meant that the wolf that was in front of him wasn't simple, if the mana in the air would follow its every whim without the wolf's command, then that wolf would surely be extraordinary.
[Why would a wolf, like that, follow a dwarf?]
This was the thought that kept darting across Roberto's mind, he seriously couldn't wrap his head around it. While Roberto was thinking serious thoughts like these, the young lady was thinking about how cute the wolf was when it was displeased and snorted, she chuckled a little as she recalled it. [What an interesting wolf!]
On the other hand, Ark was a little displeased, not with the young lady, but with the guild master. It wasn't like he even needed to get an apology, he kind of liked the petting after all, and no harm was done. The thing that annoyed him was the old man's attitude, it was like apologizing to Ark wasn't worth the hassle, which kind of pissed him off. After leaving the adventurers guild, Ark and Thufrat headed to a deserted part of the city, where Ark swiftly turned back into his human form.
After turning back into his human form, Ark stretched a little, before he started to walk around town with Thufrat again. After walking around for a while, the two sat down inside a small but cozy restaurant and started talking.
"God damn it, that old man seriously annoyed me! How can he dismiss me just like that? Stupid old man, if he only knew!" As Ark said this, he pouted a little, he didn't really take the whole situation seriously.
"Pfffft, look at you, I thought you were some kind of majestic being, but look at you! Hahahahaha" Thufrat said merrily as he saw Ark's pouting.
After some friendly banter between them, the two ordered some food and talked a little about their mission the next day.
"I wonder what kind of person the noble lady is going to be like?" Ark asked a little naively, he was genuinely curious after all.
"Don't get your hopes up kid, most nobles look down on people like us. They act like they are some other kind of species, sitting all haughty on top of their high horses. They seem to conveniently forget the fact that we're all the same, just because they had luck on their side when they were born." Thufrat said as he clenched his fists a little.
[Seems like I opened up an old wound] Ark thought to himself as he took another bite of food, his mind wandering away on its own, towards something completely different...