"What do you want, Velt?" Alex glared at the man that approached them.
"Trouble." Natalie whispered to Nash as the giant dark skinned Human walked towards their group.
"When I heard that the great Dark Swordsman was spotted entering such a crappy dungeon, I didn't dare believe it. Who would've thought he'd leave while so beat up!?!" Velt laughed sarcastically.
"What do you want?" Alex grit his teeth. Velt was known to be incredibly aggressive towards Dark races, even the ones who were born into it rather than converted to it.
"Give me whatever you got from the dungeon and piss off before I call the entire Earth Alliance on your ass." Velt smirked.
"The Earth Alliance?" Nash's eyebrow twitched.
"My elder brother is a part of the Anti-Dark Legion. So if you don't want to die, give me all you have." Velt smiled.
"Wasn't it what I got from the dungeon?" Nash thinned his eyes.
"I changed my mind, now fork it over!" Velt barked out.
"…" Nash's eyes widened in recognition. "Your brother is Rohan, right?"
"You know him?" Velt was pleasantly surprised.
"Rohan Dominr. Member ID: 23213. Special member of the Anti-Dark Legion. Position: 5,893rd of the legion. High-Tier Advanced-rank Hunter. Performance: C. Quite average as a member, even below average." Nash listed out all of Rohan's information. "He wouldn't even have the authority to mobilize a small party in the Anti-Dark Legion, let alone the entire legion."
"…" Velt said nothing as he looked at Nash with fear. He could contribute him knowing his brother's name to fame, yet he wasn't naive enough to think that such information about even his performance would be available to the public. This kid in front of him seemed to be a related to a very important member of the Earth Alliance if he wasn't a member himself.
"Cat got your tongue?" Nash looked at him with a face full of seriousness as he walked closer to the giant man.
"…" Velt could only glare cautiously.
"Go tell Rohan that the boss has a message for him." Nash came so close to Velt that he was whispering. "Tell him that the boss is coming back. He should get ready for him and keep a close eye on the rivals."
"…" Velt grit his teeth.
"What are you waiting for, a kiss on the cheek?" Nash glared with a raging whisper.
"I'll let you off since this kid knows my brother!" Velt scoffed with fake laughter.
"…" Nash took a deep breath as he saw Velt walk away. "Thank you! Please send my greetings to Rohan!"
"You really have connections with the Earth Alliance?" Natalie whispered to Nash as she walked up to him.
"His ego seemed fragile. Being stubborn with people like him can cause trouble." Nash sighed. "Let's go to the appraisal shop."
"Let's go." Natalie led the way to the appraisal shop.
After walking into the town, Nash pointed her to the appraisal shop he went to to appraise his Tier-2 Mana ring.
Ding, ding.
"Welcome." a young girl said with a stuffy nose. "How can I help you?"
"We need to appraise a few things." Natalie said.
"How many?" the girl asked as she walked out from behind the counter.
"We have an armguard, necklace, earring, some clothes, tusk, and a femur." Natalie said as she put the loot on the table and Nash unequipped his armguard.
"Give me a few minutes, I'm a little out of it." the girl said as she sniffled.
A blue magic array appeared over her lazy eyes. "Necklace isn't an item."
"The armguard is a Tier-2 equipment that can open up into a shield. The earring is a Special Tier-2 item that boosts Mana quality to the maximum of the Advanced-rank." the girl sniffled. "The clothes aren't items, but the tusk and femur are Tier-2 materials."
"That'll be 40 Silver Coins." the girl sniffled. "I can take the materials off your hand for a discount."
"How much?" Natalie asked with a nervous smile. 40 Silver Coins was a lot of money. Nash was probably livid.
"I can buy them off you for 15 Silver Coins." she sniffled once more.
Nash dropped 40 Silver Coins on the counter and took the stuff. "Thank you for the appraisal. If we have more, we'll come back here."
"Alright, I guess." the girl nodded.
After leaving the shop, Natalie turned to Nash. "Why did you not accept? We were going to sell them anyway."
"I have someone who can turn the tusk and femur into Tier-2 items." Nash said. "As for the earring, I want it. I'll buy it from the party."
Alex had already left at this point. The entire party looked at him. Natalie sighed. "It's a very powerful item. It would sell for at least 20 Silver Coins."
Nash said nothing as he took out 25 Silver Coins.
"Fine." Natalie distributed the 25 Silver Coins to the rest of the party. Giving 3 and a half Silver Coins to each one. The last 50 Copper Coins would be used for drinks after this.
Nash clipped the earring onto his left ear. He could feel his Mana increase in quality. His Mana's quality was already at the Intermediate-rank although he was still at the Beginner-rank. 'At least I can use proper Spells now.'
"Alright, where do we go for the tusk and femur?" Natalie asked.
"I'd like you to trust me on this and let me take care of it." Nash said. 'It would be a pain to explain why an entire party of Dark races is following me.'
"..." Natalie hesitated slightly. "Fine."
She handed over the materials and turned to the party. "I guess that means we're officially done today. It's been eventful, but we've gotten a lot off it."
"We have this place we always celebrate in after successful dungeons. Would you like to join us?" Naetir looked at Nash.
"No thanks." Nash shook his head. "I still have to train and get some other stuff."
"Alright." Naetir looked disappointed.
"Meet me at the Adventurer's Association early morning." Nash said as he left.
"He's still so weird." Rob looked at the man's back as he whispered to his party.
"He has tactics, money, and technique. He'll be useful." Natalie sighed.
Ding.
The bell sounded out as Nash entered the Earth Alliance Trading Firm.
"Owen!" Nash called out.
"???" a man inside raised an eyebrow in confusion.
Owen came out with a frustrated look. However, when he saw Nash, he immediately walked up. "How can I help you, sir?"
"I need your blacksmith to make me anything with these two materials." Nash said as he took out the femur and tusk.
"Using the femur, we could probably make a shortsword. The tusk is too small to make any useful equipment. I can try to get our inscriber to make it into an item." Owen explained. "Naturally, you'd get the 50% discount for VVIP members."
"How much will it cost?" Nash asked.
"Roughly one gold coin. After the discount, it would drop to 45 Silver Coins." Owen estimated.
"That's fine, but I want a top quality item." Nash reminded.
"Naturally." Owen nodded.
"I also need this to be fitted to my arm." Nash took out the armguard.
"That can be arranged. It will probably cost 10 Silver Coins, 5 with the discount." Owen explained.
"Very well, I'll see you tomorrow." Nash walked out.
"..." Owen sighed. 'Dealing with important people is always a pain.'
"I guess I can go to the Final Sip right now." Nash sighed.
--------------------------------------------------------------
"Hm? Velt...finally, some ease for the heart." a dark haired man smiled as he cleaned his sword in the garden of his house.
"Brother!!" Velt ran up to Rohan. "Brother! I need to tell you something. When I was teaching those Dark races a lesso-"
"Velt. Didn't I tell you stop messing with them?" Rohan frowned. "You don't have any authority. One day, you'll get yourself into some serious trouble."
"Just listen for now!" Velt said as he caught his breath.
"What?" Rohan continued frowning.
"I met this brat!!" Velt said.
"And?" Rohan raised an eyebrow.
"He recognized you!!" Velt roared.
"..." Rohan was confused at first, but then his confusion turned into fury. "Have you been you using my name to cause trouble!? You damn bastard!!"
"You're not getting it!!!" Velt was frustrated. "He knew about you!! He even mentioned your evaluation in the Anti-Dark Legion!"
"What?" Rohan was confused.
"He said something about the boss having a message for you!" Velt continued.
"The boss?!" Rohan was taken aback. 'Boss had been gone for the last few days with his wife...could it be possible that this brat is associated with the boss?'
"What's the message?" Rohan asked.
"He said that the boss is coming back soon and to keep a close eye on the rivals." Velt finally relaxed a little when he saw that Rohan took him seriously.
"What's the kid's name?" Rohan asked.
"...I...I didn't ask." Velt looked down to the ground in frustration. 'How could I forget something so basic!? Damn my pride!!'
"It's okay...just don't tell anyone about this. Okay?" Rohan looked at his brother.
"Alright. He was in the Dark World party. The fake one that's been making trouble recently." Velt said.
"I see." Rohan nodded. 'The rivals...meaning that someone in the Earth Alliance is responsible for the disappearance of the boss. Either Kane's Strike Force, or...Mark Evon. I need to see to this as soon as possible.'
Just as Rohan was getting up, he saw something in the sky of Frozen Cavern Town.
--------------------------------------------------------------
As Nash was walking down the street, something caught his eye in the sky.
"Attention. Attention."
'The Earth Alliance emergency announcement system??' Nash was confused. 'Why would they use it now?'
"Hello, everyone. My name is Mark Evon."
Nash's blood started to boil as he heard the voice in the sky.
"This announcement is being broadcasted across all cities and towns under the jurisdiction of the Earth Alliance. As the most responsible for this incident, I requested to make the announcement myself." Mark stated. "Around a week ago, council member Nash and council member Mira asked me to help them in a secret mission. During this mission, I let my guard down which caused the death of council member Mira. In a blind rage, her husband, Nash, turned to the Dark. After taking down the enemy, I was forced to take his life due to an agreement we had within the council. That is all I have to say."
Like that, Nash, who had started picking himself back up, fell even further into the abyss of despair.