Zach slowly opened his eyes after a long rest, he felt that his body was sore but more energetic than ever. He descended, took back the rock and exited his room. He wanted to roam the shops of the Yosa seeking a new scythe and of a better quality.
He had either damaged or destroyed all the one he had. This lead him to thought about a treasure he got in the dungeon. 'What is Zaalem, and why does it needs souls ?'
With this in mind he started to walk in the streets looking at every shops there was. He was mainly seeking a good weaponsmith but he looked at every other thing that was being sold. He could not wait to have a tailor made scythe as he only had about a month to give the book to the royal family.
While he was looking at everything around him he stumbled on someone. "I'm so ... Oh it's you !" Zach said when he recognized the old dwarf that lead him to the biggest shops. "Yeah, it's me young man, do you need something in particular ?"
When the old dwarf saw the young man again he was at first curious about what he was doing this time. However when he looked closer at Zach he became shocked, he noticed that his body had became even more powerful that it was a few days before.
It did not make any sense to improve so much in such a little time and there was more to it, as if his body not only became more powerful but of an even better quality. All of that made the interest he already had in this young boy even deeper.
Zach replied to the old dwarf. "Yeah, if you could lead me to the best weaponsmith of the town, I'm in dire need of a scythe." When the old dwarf heard this his ears perked 'Scythe ? A quite interesting weapon for a young man like him.'
"I know a place, don't worry, follow me." The old dwarf said and walked away still on the main street. Zach a bit taken aback by the old dwarf followed. They stayed on the main street for 15 minutes and turned in a small alley.
It was a pretty dark one even if it was in the iddle of the day, the old dwarf then went to a door and knocked on it 3 times. They waited a dozen of second and another old dwarf opened the door and exclaimed.
"Every time you come to me you end in owing me a debt and you never repaid any of them, old scammer !" "Yeah Yeah, but I know you Magnus and considering our friendship, you will do me a favor once again, won't you ?" the old dwarf replied.
Magnus clicked his tongue "You are right, you old bastard, what are you there for this time ?" "I brought you a new customer, this little kid is seeking a new scythe." When Magnus heard this he raised an eyebrow.
"Yes, that's right, I need the best scythe possible." Zach said, Magnus chuckled and responded. "Kid, you should know that the scythe is a weapon that few people wield so I don't have any scythe in stock, nevertheless I could make you a great one in about a week."
When he heard this Zach's face darkened, there was only about a month before his deadline. And even if he was about 2 weeks away from Constantos he could not arrive out of nowhere in the royal palace and say that he had a priceless item form them, nobody would believe him, at best he would be thrown out and worst he would be imprisoned.
And betting everything on Starmatos' token was dangerous, what if they didn't recognized it because they were too young, too dangerous in his opinion.
So he believed that only a week could be short and with 2 weeks it would be safer, after all Kartelion will be after him and he didn't want to add Delp for nothing.
Zach finally replied to Magnus. "I can't wait a week, I will keep the old damaged ones I have." The old dwarf had a confused look when he heard this, a week for tailor made weapon of the greatest quality was quite fast, so he asked. "Why are you in such a hurry boy ?"
"I have something to deliver at the capital at the latest one month from now." Zach didn't want to say what he had to deliver, he found the fact that this old dwarf helped him quite suspicious, he could be an enemy or an ally but it was too risky to risk it.
"I see ... You are peculiar boy, why can't you wait a week for a weapon that could save your life ?" The old dwarf said while looking at Zach's shadow, Zach noticed the old dwarf gaze, he felt that if he had said that it wasn't because of the weapon but something else.
"I can't wait." Zach declared, the old dwarf looked at Zach and said "Why is a boy like you controlling so well the shadows that you can stock things in it." Magnus looked at Zach with a surprised look.
When Zach heard the old dwarf saying this his face darkened, jumped back and took his scythe from his shadow. When the old dwarf saw that, he smiled and said. "Do you really think you have a chance against me if I saw through your little trick ?"
'He's right, I can't even sense his cultivation level but why did he kept that for himself ?' Zach knew that if he ended in a fight if he lasted a split of second it would be a miracle so he asked him. "What do you want from me ?"
The old dwarf stoke his beard and said. "From you nothing, I'm just curious about how a young boy like you can already be so powerful and have such precious and rare skill while not knowing anything about Yosa. Maybe you are worthy of investing ressources in your growth if you are an ally of Delp."
He paused, squinted his eyes, let out his aura and said in a menacing voice. "However if you are Delp's enemy someone like you should be eliminated as fast as possible. So I'm asking you one more time why do you need to go to the capital ?"
When Zach felt the old dwarf aura he was petrified, he never saw something like this, in front of this dwarf the fox he fought was like a new born. He was at least a peak rank 4 and he could be a rank 5 which told Zach how much important this dwarf was in Delp.
Zach sighed, relaxed his battle stance, he knew that it was useless and said in a serious tone. "I'm here to finish Pedro, Oscar and Kyle mission, they entrusted me what they got in Kartelion."
When he heard that the old dwarf was shocked, he almost fell on the ground, he knew about this mission and he also got the news of their failure. Never would he have thought that this boy was in fact finishing the mission, so it made him suspicious.
"Tell me for what they went to Kartelion." He decided to test him, only the highest officials, Pedro, Kyle and Oscar knew about {The book of Hidden Bloodlines}. Zach nodded and replied. "It was to retrieve {The book of Hidden Bloodlines}, as you can guess I have it in my shadow right now."
This time when the old dwarf heard Zach he fell butt on the ground, it showed how much surprised he was. "You ... How ... Show it to me." Zach still fearful about what could happen if he stumbled upon a rotten noble didn't dare to put it in his hands.
So he only took out only the upper part where the title could be read, the old dwarf saw it and knew that this time it couldn't be more true so he said. "You're right kid we don't have a week to waste in this town, this book have to land in the royal family hands as soon as possible. Magnus, you didn't see a thing today, we are clear."
"Clearer than crystal." Magnus nodded, he never saw his friend in this state so he knew that he wasn't joking. The old dwarf preferred to keep the fact that {The book of Hidden Bloodlines} was in Delp a secret until it fell in the hands of the king.
"Boy follow me, I will lead you to Constantos, it will take us about a week !" The old dwarf exclaimed. When he heard this Zach was happy, the time needed to reach the capital just got halved.
Zach nodded and asked a question that was in his mind since the beginning of their conversation. "Who are you ?" When the old dwarf realized that he didn't present himself he smiled in embarassment and told him. "I'm Viggo the Minister of Delp's economy and Craftmanship."
When he heard Viggo's position he now understood why this old dwarf could have spotted his shadow and his reaction when he talked about {The book of Hidden Bloodlines}.
"How will we travel to the capital ?" Zach inquired, Viggo chuckled and whistled a few seconds later a beast that was looking like the cross of a horse and a bull stopped in front of them. "We will go with him." Viggo annouced proudly.