I did not have any trouble finding the knight in the center of the village thanks to my added height. It appeared she was in the middle of a spar with a bare-chested human wielding a spear. He had been quicker than I expected and repeated several quick strikes which Velariah managed to dodge with some difficulty. She threw a quick glance my way and recognized my presence before striking with her sword.
Unfortunately for her, the human was swift as the wind, probably due to lack of armor. If Velariah had been an archer this would have been a simple fight. Did this guy always fight without armor? That seemed like such a stupid idea in this world.
He made a long sweep with his spear which was easily dodged. Velariah took hold of the spear mid swing and raised her sword with one hand. She then pulled in the human until the tip of her blade at his chest, a small trickle of blood was seen. It was her victory.
The crowd cheered and I joined them in their cheers before she walked up to me. She appeared tired, she panted and almost mis stepped before she reached me. It appeared this fight had been going on for a while before I arrived.
''You okay?''
''Yea, I'm fine, that just took longer than expected.'' The elf stretched her neck. ''That coffee stuff of yours does wonders, but I fear my next opponent may be the last I see.''
''Because?'' I was confused.
''This guy was high-ranked silver, the next will be low-ranked gold. I'm not sure if I can handle him.''
She seemed to have caught her breath again.
''I'm sure you'll be fine.'' I cheered her on.
''Thanks, I'll need it.'' She walked up to the organizer in red then back to me.
''I'll have my next match in a minute, if this is going to be my last, let's eat something after.''
''I'll wait, just don't lose.'' I tried to dismiss the growing hunger.
'"Alright, if you say so.'' She said before walking back into the ''arena''.
She had to wait a minute or so before the next contestant appeared. I stepped forward to get a better view of the fight but didn't dare to get too close to other people in fear of their reactions so I didn't get too far. Her next contestant was a familiar face. The lizardman that I had seen exiting the tailoring shop stepped into the ring.
Oh damn, Velariah was right, this may be her last fight. This guy had looked ridiculously ripped before. He didn't even bring a weapon, how overpowered was this guy?
I would probably find out soon.
Velariah drew her sword and charged the lizardman. The green demi human grew large nails on his left hand and parried her sword strike with them. He then punched her in the stomach with his right hand, knocking the wind out of her and making her land on her bum.
Ouch.
He then grew large nails on his right and held them up to Velariah's chin before she could stand up again. That was quite anticlimactic.
Ok, this guy was seriously overpowered. And this guy was low-ranked gold? How strong was her father, like, for real? Wait what was Valtheril's rank again? Something in diamond, right?
He retracted his nails again and extended a hand to help Velariah up. What a gentleman. She accepted the gesture as she was still feeling her stomach. That must have been a hard blow to do so much through all that armor. I hoped she wouldn't lose her appetite because of it.
The lizardman helped the elf walk to me. She was limping a bit too much for me to feel comfortable.
''Vel, you okay?" I asked, slightly panicked.
''It's Velariah, and yes, I'll be fine, I just need a minute.'' she panted again as they kept moving out of the crowd before they came to a halt.
The green scaled humanoid put a hand on Velariah's stomach and I could see waves of green light entering her body. It seemed to stop the pain as the white-haired elf stood back at full height in no time.
So, not just power but also healing magic? When was this guy getting a nerf?
He then walked over to me.
''Greetings, I don't believe we have been introduced yet, the name's Draco.''
Oh no he did not just say that.
I laughed, hard. I would have dropped to the floor if I could. Draco, you have got to be kidding me. I knew I was being rude but I just couldn't help myself.
Draco looked at he in confusion, he tilted his head to boot.
''I'm so sorry.'' I said as I was still laughing. ''Elania's the name by the way.''
I had to force myself to stop laughing, but when Velariah also added het confused expression, I started all over again. She even scratched her head. I had the feeling they had no idea what I was laughing about, it only made it worse.
''Oh, god, I'm so sorry.'' I apologized again.
Next thing he tells me his last name is Salamander or something. I grinned and almost exploded in laughter again thinking about that but I managed to contain myself.
''Anyways...'' Velariah distracted the both of us. ''That was an interesting fight to say the least. Let's have something to eat. I heard somebody brought in a Saibon boar yesterday and I'm craving some.
Yeah, no shit.
I rolled my eyes. ''We brought that in yourself, you dummy.''
''I know.'' She smiled as she frolicked off to the guild.
''So, you already knew her?'' I asked Draco.
''Afraid so.'' He nodded.
Afraid so? That bad, huh? Damn, I knew there was something wrong with this elf...
I followed Velariah together with the lizardman. I had the feeling there were some things he wanted to talk about but didn't find the opportunity to do so. Maybe over a glass of milk... Seriously, what was this world? No alcohol, no coffee, was there anything left that I could drink besides milk, tea and water?
We walked into the guild hall and found that the Lore keeper wasn't in yet. Our previous spot was empty so we occupied it again. We would get something to eat first and hopefully the ongoing trials would be over by the time we finished so we could get Velariah's registration done and get her tag.
The same waiter from last time walked up to us with paper on a board and a pencil in hand. We all ordered some pork chops that would possibly be huge if the size of the boar was any indication. I could do with something big; I was starving, I could possibly eat a horse. Quite literally too. I ended up ordering a double portion. I was a big girl, after all. That, and all that silk had drained me badly.
''Would you like anything to drink? We have something new, it's called coffee, it's a hot drink that is particularly energizing.''
''Sure, sounds good.'' Draco had said.
''I'll have one too.'' Velariah said then looked over to me with expectation.
Evil I tell you!
''Uhm, I'll skip that, what else do you have?''
''Just the usual, milk, ale, mead, kingberry juice, tea-''
''Kingberry juice please.'' I had said the moment he called it out. Why didn't I know this was a thing before?
How did they already get their hands on coffee, anyway? I only had very lightly roasted and very dark roasted coffee left at Velariah's home unless...
Did Elly give the other batch to Valtheril? Had she bailed out on us and shown him how to prepare the beans? Damn that elf! Well, I guess I had told Valtheril to take the coffee to the guild, I didn't exactly mean all of it...
I looked around and saw quite a few people drinking it. It seemed to be quite popular already just as I had hoped. I guessed it would be at this time of the day. It was still early afternoon, many people coming in here would probably still have to go out on quests.
Speaking about quests, it seemed the quest board was packed. I guessed it was because so many people were watching the trials. I would make sure to get a good one before they were done. But first, dinner! Or well, lunch I guessed. I wasn't used to eating a warm meal for lunch so that threw my biological clock off course.
Our drinks were delivered first, together with a cup of sugar and milk. Draco eyed the brown liquid with suspicion and sniffed first, remarking it as odd, yet full of aroma. Velariah did the same as to not stand out which had me trying to keep down a smile. Maybe she should not have added the exact amount of sugar and milk that she had before. It seemed Draco was none the wiser though, he was too focused on his own.
While the waiter was serving the plates with pork chops it was Velariah who spoke as I took a sip of my strawberry smoothie.
''So, Draco, I believe there was something you wanted to talk about.''
''Ah, yes. You see, there was another reason I traveled here besides getting clothes. I have had trouble finding a party to complete quests with. I knew you were going to be joining the guild anytime now and you have been more accepting of me than most people.''
He brought the cup of coffee to his mouth and sipped again. It was quite odd to see how someone with a long reptilian snout with rows of teeth and a large tongue drank coffee. It really was more like carefully pouring it inside than it was sipping.
''So, I was wondering if I could form a party with you.'' He finished.
''Isn't that actually a bad idea, considering you could easily make more money doing gold level quests?''
That sounded like Velariah wasn't going to be placed in gold. Was it because she lost?
''Well, it's better than not doing anything. You know silver group quests still award more than gold solo quests on average, right?''
"I am aware.'' Velariah answered.
I wasn't. Lucky me, I guess.
''Besides.'' Draco grabbed one of the port chops with his bare hands and chewed off a piece and swallowed it instantly. What a waste.
''You will be gold in no time.'' He assured her.
''Well, you'd have to get Elania's permission, I wanted to form a party with her.''
She did? That was neat.
''I'm fine with anything, really. Seems you have been going through the same as me, no?'' I said as I tried cutting a piece of a pork chop with a provided knife.
He nodded.
''Is that a human thing or do you experience the same with the elves here?'' I asked, I didn't want to mention the word racism but I think he understood what I meant.
''Humans are far worse than elves. I've lived with them for too long, I just recently got gold rank and it seems many of the people I knew weren't happy about that. I decided it was time to leave after that.''
That sounded like he didn't want to go much deeper into the subject. Fair enough.
''Though, remember I am only mid-ranked silver, it may take more time for me to reach gold than Velariah.
''Bullshit!'' Velariah chimed in. ''That's only because the registration part is scuffed for you. If you went all out, you would be considered gold already.''
I could beat this lizardman? Is that what she said? He seemed crazy strong though.
Yeah, this knife was not cutting it, literally. Thus, I retorted to using my hands `to eat. I would wash them later, I had a spare set of clean hands anyway, how useful.
''But you seemed awfully strong taking out Velariah earlier. isn't that a bit too much of a skill gap between silver and gold?'' I asked.
''Yeah, it may seem that way, but I never truly told Velariah about my abilities. She needs to learn to stop rushing in blindly or it may one day kill her.''
Okay, he had a point there. Velariah was far too eager, she possibly got cocky from the previous opponents.
''Yes, my abilities are quite strong, but I cannot keep them active for long. If she had simply waited and defended, she would have won.'' He finished.
I could hear Velariah swear under her chewing. If only she had known. Maybe this would be a wise lesson for her.
I may have eaten faster than I was supposed to. I was just too anxious to pick up a proper quest before the good ones were gone. Despite the speed at which I ate, there was no denying this was by far the best pork I ever had in life. If I could get used to this body and the weird glances people gave me, this world may not be so bad after all, if. I would probably have to at least make some name for myself as adventurer too. If people would look at me the same way they looked at Valtheril when they noticed his tag, I doubted anyone would get stupid ideas in their head.
I would have a long way to go if I was able to make it there at all. Maybe if I could find out what my inherity was so I could focus on improving that? That seemed like a solid plan. I could try to generate a modest income through coffee trade while keeping a low profile, as long as the methods remained secret, we would be able to monopolize that in Dawnleaf. In the meantime, the three of us could take on group quests and try to get our ranks up while earning money as well. How much would this inherity revealing ritual cost anyway? I'd have to check with Velariah still.
This strawberry smoothie was amazing as well, here was to hoping I didn't have some weird allergies that would cause me to get expelled from the guild hall...
Even though I had double the portion of my two companions I finished before them and went off to the quest board as more people started streaming inside. I was going to be sure to get a good quest while there were still good ones to be had.
Let's see here.
Silver, hmmm.
Escort quest to Duskleaf village. Nope, not done here yet. Goblin reconnaissance, boring. Forest mapping, skip. Hellspider extermination, huge skip. I hated spiders. Also, ''Hellspiders''? No thanks. It was a group quest though, with one gold, five silver reward money.
Up next was a quest to help cutting down trees, yikes, no more of that please. A slime polluted pond cleansing, I had no idea how that worked but that could be something... the reward money was a bit low at two silver and this was not a group quest, either.
The rest of the quests were all garbage, it seemed they had put the somewhat interesting quests on top. From here on out it was all the standard rescuing animals, supply runs, gathering and labor. Yikes, and I had so hoped there would be something good.
Draco appeared at my side and I almost jumped back from surprise when his yellow reptilian eyes visibly moved over the quest board.
''Any luck finding something good?''
''Not really. I was hoping for something interesting, but all of this is garbage.''
I wondered if I should take the slime one to just have something when Draco called out.
''This one looks good.''
Oh, please don't let it be...
Yup, he was pointing to the spider extermination one.
''Please no...'' I said meekly. Velariah had appeared next to us as well.
''Why not? The reward money is good, we should have no issues ta-''
''I fucking hate spiders.'' I said a bit too loudly, causing a few heads to turn my direction.
Fuck.
Oh, the irony...
I wondered what these elves thought of me now. I hope they didn't see me as one of these so-called ''Hellspiders'', though, I guess I very well could have been...
The lizardman eyed me top to toe before he spoke in a reserved manner.
''Well, I guess we coul-''.
''We'll take it!'' Velariah spoke with a FAR too optimistic voice.
Damn you woman! I swear, this elf... Did she not care how I felt? Or was this another instance where she would just enjoy making me feel awkward. I mean, the reward money wasn't bad, not bad at all. But ''Hellspiders'' Ugh, the name alone made it sound like they were the worst thing in the world. They probably were for all I cared.
Velariah took the paper from the quest board and walked over to the Lore keeper's desk who had quietly come in recently. I was left behind with Draco who shrugged. Fine, reward money it was, but I better be getting some of her part too for dealing with this shit.
We walked over to Vel who was just about done talking to the Lore keeper and turned to us with a huge smile plastered on her face. There was no way this was going to end well...
''Great news.'' She spoke.
That couldn't be good at all.
''The reward listed was only a base. there's an extra silver for every hellspider killed.''
''And the bad news?'' I asked, fully expecting there to be bad news. There was no way there was only good news with this elf. It just wasn't possible.
''We got to destroy their nest.''
I knew it.
''And how do we do that?'' I crossed my arms.
''With this!'' She held up red crystal. It was shaped like a faceted diamond but as big as a golf ball.
Velariah explained this was a fire crystal she got as means for completing the quest. From what I was told it seemed to function like an incendiary grenade. You were supposed to slap the top of the crystal and then throw it. A few seconds after throwing it would explode and engulf everything around it in flames. It seems this world had understood the concept of ''Kill it with fire before it lays eggs''.
''How big are these hellspiders anyway?'' I asked, fearing the worst.
''About my size.'' She said nonchalantly.
I froze and felt the blood run away from my face.
''Are you okay?''
…