By the end of the third of Eric and Ultio's departure, they had finally found a settlement where they could stop for some time.
It was a small town called Lont.
Not many people lived in Lont, but there were quite a number of adventurers, explorers and mercenaries settled within the town.
"Finally, the wonderful land given to humanity by the accumulation of our great deeds!" Eric exclaimed as he jumped off Wyvern's back and began to kiss the sandy terrain.
Ultio sighed and walked past him. "Doing such is inadvisable, Mister Midas," He advised as he passed the young man and entered the shabby-looking town.
Although the darkness of the night had been able to hide Wyvern's large figure descending from the sky, it was still inadvisable to dally around.
"Oh, right," Eric quickly got to his feet and jogged to meet up with Ultio.
*****
Later that night, a large building appeared in the distance, making its way towards Lont at an astonishing speed. The dust clouds behind this building were almost ten metres high, but still looked small compared to the building itself.
"Oh heavens, we're finally arriving," A young lady in a large red cloak said with a sigh of relief.
Tyrian, who was bound in bandages groaned slightly in agreement. He still hadn't recovered from all his injuries, and he wasn't as powerful as Veryn, so his body didn't heal at such a terrifying pace.
"Be grateful. I paid so much to get this building as our headquarters, and it has been so useful," Veronica said with a huff and adjusted her glasses.
They were all present in the large room that formed the torso of the humanoid building. It had tall, intimidating walls built from stone with many trophies, artworks and medals hanging on the walls– all won or bought by the members of the guild that owned the building.
Four red leather couches were arranged around a large, round glass table, with a large, dim-lit chandelier hanging overhead.
Veryn sighed and began to speak, "Guys please, we have a mission to-"
He was interrupted by a tall man with long, dark grey hair and a lean, muscular build. The man looked very intimidating and violent, but had a very charismatic aura– like a pro wrestler. He wore a black shirt and black pants, and had a thin black chain wrapped around his left forearm like a wristband.
"Ver, just forget about the mission for one moment. Man, you're always yapping about the mission and all, but let's be honest; we're just here because of the other members of Guild Ouranos, who-"
A silver knife suddenly shot through the air and clipped the man's ear. The knife kept going and was about to hit one of the trophies on the wall, when it was snatched out of the air by someone.
"Ay, Ver, can we not do this?" A skinny young man with tan skin and short, spiky silver hair said and crushed the knife in his hand. He wore a simple white long sleeved shirt and black pants.
"He interrupted me," Veryn said and crossed his arms. "I hate that shit,"
The burly man wiped the little blood on his ear off and chuckled. "If you wanna go, Ver, you just have to say the word," He said in a challenging tone and got to his feet.
The skinny young man with blonde hair sighed and pulled him back down. "Sit, Dorgan," He said, and jumped onto the couch from behind.
"Hmph!" Dorgan snorted and crossed his arms over his chest. "I'll listen... But only because it's Hype,"
"Please don't call me that," The silver haired man said with a sigh.
"But we like it," Everyone chorused.
"Now, are you all done with your petty squabbles? We have more important things to attend to," A young man with green skin and hair said in an irritated tone.
"Shut up, Derrek," A man wrapped entirely in bandages, dressed in a black trench coat, said coldly. "We don't have time for this. Let us get into our formal attires, as we are about to get into the public,"
"Finally, someone with a little bit of wisdom," Veronica said and threw her hands in the air.
Derrek huffed and crossed his arms over his chest. "I'll remember this,
"What's wrong, Derrek? No more words of wisdom?" Someone said laughingly. He was a young man with short black hair dressed in light, red Samurai armour with two Katanas sheathed by the left side of his waist, held by a purple rope belt.
Derrek rose his middle finger and left the room.
"Well then, I guess the others should be arriving in Lont by morning, so we should get settled in the town and get some rooms in an inn," Veryn said as he got to his feet.
Everyone agreed with his suggestion and left to make preparations.
*****
"Uh..." Eric groaned as he woke up in a shabby bed in a single, rundown room in a poor-looking inn.
Ultio, who was standing by the window, watching someone or something outside the inn. "Morning, Mister Midas. How were your dreams?"
The two men had decided on a neat, orderly sleeping arrangement. Eric slept in the bed, because he was the one paying for the room, and Ultio slept on the roof of the inn because he claimed the room was too small for two people.
"Awful," Eric murmured and rubbed his head slowly. His head was ringing, almost like he had gulped down thirty gallons of alcohol last night. "I feel like there's a few thousand dragons thrashing around in my head,"
"Been there," Ultio commented offhandedly as he narrowed his eyes.
Eric winced as he got off his bed and stretched his body. "Like what you did with your hair," He said, pointing at Ultio's hair, which he had slicked back messily, leaving a some stray strands sticking up randomly or dangling in front his.
Ultio blew a few strands of white hair from his face. "A necessary adjustment," He murmured and turned to leave the room.
"What were you looking at?" Eric asked as he wrapped a new blindfold around his eyes and prepared to perform his daily hygienic activities.
Ultio paused as he placed the back of his hand against the door to push it open. "Just our new neighbours," He said and left the room.
Eric was silent for a while. Then he shrugged and walked into the small bathroom within the room.
*****
Right beside the inn Eric and Ultio were staying at was a large, high-class inn, where only the richest and most popular adventurers stay when they visit Lont.
Coincidentally, all the rooms booked by Guild Ouranos were the rooms directly opposite Eric's room.
Furthermore, the room right opposite Eric's, belonged to Veronica and a young lady dressed in black clothes and a white and red mask.
At this moment, Veronica had just finished taking a bath, and was putting on her clothes.
The lady with the mask sat on the bed, staring out the window, focused on Ultio, who was now sitting on the roof of the other inn.
"Vee, it seems like you've got yourself a stalker," She said to Veronica emotionlessly.
Veronica rose an eyebrow curiously and gasped over dramatically. "Whaaat? Already?" She said and covered her mouth in 'shock'.
The masked lady was silent for a moment, before she spoke again. "He seems to match the description you gave me of the gentleman you saw on a Dragon yesterday, and I must say, he is truly attractive. He's basically a male version of Verah, in terms of attractiveness, if not more,"
"Shit! Really?" Veronica's mock shock disappeared, replaced by actual surprise. She leapt into the bed and followed the masked lady's gaze to the roof of the neighbouring inn.
"Holy... Rena, do you know what this means?" Veronica asked, turning to the masked woman who was called Rena.
Rena shrugged and got off the bed. "You said he was on a Dragon yesterday, so that indicates that he's a very powerful person, which means he's also here for the tomb,"
"Yeah..." Veronica said and placed her index finger on her chin as she fell deep in thought.
"Let's follow him," She suddenly said, seeing that Ultio had already got up to leave the roof.
Rena was about to oppose, but then she heard Veryn and Derrek arguing loudly in the next room, and she sighed. "Let's go,"
**************************************
I'm sorry for the previous mistake. Shout out to 'tm_nezuko' for pointing that out.