Chapter 29 - Getting Equipped.

Soon after they confirmed the details both Seth and Lloyd went off to the side to pick up a few more items they'd need to sort out.

Silva watched them both leave and nodded to himself, he was at least happy that Seth tried to take the initiative for once in the conversation.

("Ever the worrier, aren't you?") Azula murmured just loud enough for Silva to hear it.

("Oh quiet, I just want him to understand you can't let everyone take the initiative from you") Silva replied ("Oh the other hand…") he glanced at the small azure dragon still resting on the other chair.

("What?") She noticed his gaze, seemingly having something to ask.

("I've been meaning to check, I heard this capital here was called 'Reverie', now I may forget some minor details but if I remember correctly isn't that…?") He shot Azula and inquisitive look.

She sighed and nodded reluctantly ("Yes, like I thought you'd realise, my previous partner's family name was also 'Reverie', whether it was a coincidence, luck or fate itself I somehow ended up partnered with her descendant")

("I see, so in the end that little girl settled down… I wonder what happened to him… Have you heard anything?") Silva inquired; a stout figure flashed in his mind as he did so.

("No, even in the records of the royal family I never saw any mentioning of him, and it was so long ago it's hard to find traces anywhere else unfortunately") Azula replied, she knew who he was talking about, and she had already tried finding information to no avail.

("Right…") He said while his head bobbed downwards, in his head he remembered the last time he saw him, his previous partner.

Tired from all the fighting and horrors, Silva had decided to leave after the contract was fulfilled, leaving his partner alone, at that time he though he'd be fine but…

'Was that a mistake… what happened to you after that?' Silva thought in his head, but in the end, what's done is done, there's no taking it back unfortunately.

("Since that's the case, I wanted to ask something; Was your decision based on that fact or did something else influence it?")

What decision? To both of them it was obvious, how Azula and Lloyd now had a bound soul.

("I can't say that didn't affect my decision but that wasn't the main reason… when I first contracted with Lloyd, I thought he was rather immature, much worse than 'her' but as I saw him grow up and become a king, I shouldered his burdens and he shared his hardships, somewhere along the way i…") She stopped speaking, she looked over at Lloyd's back in the distance with a melancholic gaze.

("Heavens! You…") Surprise flashed across Silva's face, but he withheld any other words.

("No matter, what you do has nothing to do with me, you've made your choice") He continued, in the end he was just an outsider.

("Thank you") Azula seemingly smiled at Silva.

After that, they sat in silence watching their partners in the distance.

… … …

"You don't have much other equipment, right?" Lloyd looked over his shoulder and asked Seth as they were walking to another storage

"Other than whatever I scavenged from this place, not really; I was stripped of everything I had when I was caught, not that It would have survived the test of time anyway" Seth replied, he barely had anything to his name.

"Well, I'll give you some basic stuff at least, you probably don't want to stand out too much from the get-go so you should leave the stuff you have here, even if it's worn, I don't want to give anyone the idea of scavenging the remains of this place if they recognise the insignia on them." He just began his plan to revive his country, he didn't want to blow their cover even if there's was just a tiny chance of it happening.

"Sure, that's fine, it's all beat up anyway" Seth said, bringing out all the armour pieces and the sword he had from the storage ring before dumping them in a pile next to the terminal they just reached.

"What have you got for me then?" Seth mentioned eagerly, happy he could finally have a proper set of equipment to use.

"Hold your horses, what kind of weapon are you used to using?" Lloyd asked trying to stifle Seth's enthusiasm.

"What am I used to? I mean, whatever I need to use as an adventurer… Spears, different sizes of swords based on the situation, bows and such?" Seth never used a specific weapon in the end, he was an all-rounder.

"Very good, the motto of our army was 'Use whatever you need' so they never stuck to a single loadout, you'd fit in well" The king said with a chuckle.

Seth nodded, he had also heard that when he was younger and took it to heart, in the end adaptability was best, an unbending tree breaks first.

"Let's see here…" Lloyd whispered to himself as he typed away on the terminal's keypad, the treasury was large, so he didn't have a full memory of its minor items, myriads of names flashed by as a long list while his eyes scanned them. "These should do." He pressed the larger button and the terminal flashed before a few items appeared next to the both of them.

A spear, a short sword, a smaller dagger and a bow, they weren't super impressive, but Seth was happy enough, there was both Luminite and Steel variations of the three melee weapons, while the bow seemed well crafted.

Another flash appeared and a leather quiver appeared with about 30 steel-tipped arrows.

"That should do for weapons, right? You should use the steel ones normally, I'm not sure the status of Luminite weapons these days but before only the military or incredibly rich adventurers got their hands on them, only use them when needed." Lloyd mentioned this to caution Seth, the latter already had that in mind though as he stuffed all but the steel sword, bow and quiver into his storage ring.

"Now for the armour I guess" Lloyd said looking at Seth's seemingly nude figure, he was skeleton before so that was one thing but with the skin-walker effigy covering him it was rather awkward.

"I'll probably need some bags as cover, I used to carry some dummies around when I first got my ring to not give myself away" Seth also mentioned 'I'm not going to mention that I started doing that after getting my ring almost mugged from me the first day I got it!'

"Yes, good idea I have plenty of storage bags here" Lloyd replied before asking about the armour "So what kind of armour do you want? Full plate mail… may be a bit conspicuous?" He queried Seth

"No, I won't bother with something that big, back when I was younger, I thought it'd be amazing to use but after wearing it a little while ago… I find it just gets in the way and hinders my movements; Probably something light? Like I used to have, hardened leather with protectors would be good…"

"Simple enough, give me a second…" Lloyd tapped away for the final time before the last pile of equipment and a small pile of other things popped up.

Seth didn't waste time and threw on all the equipment, after he was done, he finally felt a peace having actual clothes and equipment for the first time since he revived.

He had a hard leather chest piece, with some protectors hear the centre of his chest just enough to cover his core, a couple of small shoulder and elbow protectors and metal gauntlets covering leather gloves, the same for his trousers which were basic leather and knee protectors, with thick boiled leather boots that would give sufficient protection.

He also picked up the helmet but stored it away, he doesn't really need one in the end, but he'll wear it when needed just for show, he then reached over for the bags he requested and was surprised when he realised, they contained some things.

"This is…?" He opened the bag and saw some chunks of gold and small gems.

"You'll probably need to make some money, I'm not too sure how much those would be worth but it should be a small fortune so it should do, I can't exactly give you coins since coins pressed by Alora will probably not have much worth these days" Lloyd explained.

"Oh right, thanks" Seth thought how he didn't really need to eat so that wasn't a problem when it came to money, but he would probably prefer to stay in an inn or use transport if he could, not mentioning if he need to buy supplies.

He also realised he would need to reapply as an adventurer since he lost his medallion all those years ago which made him curse under his breath, he had spent a few years raising his rank and all that went to the bin.

"That should be it right?" Lloyd asked, he couldn't think of anything else he'd need to start with.

"Hmm, should be fine, I guess? A map would be nice, but I doubt you'd have one that's up to date" Seth said, he cursed at how the mapping part of his system only showed travelled areas and he assumed after all these years he would no longer have recognition of the above area.

"Unfortunately, not, anyway since that's done let's go to the teleportation array" he said with an almost delighted tone.

'Well, he's eager, not that I'm not; I can't wait to finally get out of this dark and dreary place.' Seth thought as he inwardly became excited to tread on the surface again.