" Say? Isn't that dangerous?" Milo nudged toward her friends seeing Cyra and Bijan fight relentlessly to take control of the glowing magic stone.
" I don't know but it seems precious." Jake folded his arms not really caring about the events. He was never motivated about money from the start.
" We should stop them right!?" Cody felt uneasy. If what Bijan said was true wasn't they playing with fire? If Noah found out about the value and they damaged it during their silly quarrel, it would really lead to a disaster! He would often find out that their leader was someone who was oddly quirky about new things.
Julia didn't give a response quietly pulling something from her tent which followed by a loud sound stopping the siblings dead on their tracks. It was her trustee handgun that she fired in the air to half their fight.
The magic stone which was about to fall from Cyra's hand was grabbed by Milo which he promptly presented to the most dangerous individual among their group, the girl with a freaking gun!
" I will be taking this thing. If it's truly valuable, it should go to the person that took down the monster no?" She said with a sly grin emanating Noah's posture of blowing the smoke from the barrel. Both Cyra and Bijan stiffened looking at serious expression on the kid's faces.
Cyra felt ashamed she gave in to his antics while Bijan didn't know if it was right decision to give something so valuable to a bunch of kids! Just when he felt like saying something, Milo cut him off.
" We have protective bags that would save it from taking any damage. These are something that he gave to us to carry valuable parts of the weapon." He pulled out the bag for the scope. The magic stone as big as their hand fit perfectly inside the enclosure.
" Beside, you don't know what teacher would do if he finds out that you messed up with his spoils of war." Jake added.
" I am sorry. It's just...I was too excited. I never even heard of magic stone of this size. There are rumours about few in deep inside the headquarters of Magic guild but no one had seen them." Cyra said with a rare blush.
" It's really dangerous. You don't know what could happen if something like this falls into enemy's hands-"
" Aren't you going to protect us? Beside, I know he would regain consciousness tomorrow." Julia dismissed his arguments stashing the small box inside her travel bag. Since she and Cyra were the only girls on this mission, they had to share a tent together.
Bijan promptly gave up getting deadly stares from her sisters and kids. He really wanted to hold it in his possession but if Cyra was there, it wouldn't hurt right? He was ready to stand guard for whole night if it meant to safeguard such a precious 'artifact'!
But everyone gave him another pressing matter which needed his utmost attention, he was smelly beyond belief and they told him to clean up! He reluctantly made his way toward the small creek to wash up. It was true that he was covered in blood and grime but still...nevermind, he thought as he gathered his supplies.
Meanwhile, kids asked Cyra more about these mysterious magic stone. She told them everything, most of the magic weapons and artifacts were made around these stones as their core. They were highly sought after item because of how scarce they were in the wild.
One in a thousand seemed to conservative chance of finding such stones inside the monster, beside normal monster's magic stones were too small for Guilds to take interest. They could only be used to make household appliances so the cost to reward ratio was quite low.
This was the reason why guilds would band together to hunt famous or evolved monsters because the chances of obtaining quality resources were quite high. She had participated in few of them but it was not a pleasant experience seeing the representative of guilds and noble families fight over exotic resources.
" Right? You have seen Mr Alastair's heavy shield right?" Cyra asked suddenly. The kids tilted their head before understanding where she was going with it.
" That's right, ordinary weapons wouldn't be able to block heavy blows. He might be a knight but his strength comes from utilizing the magic power inside his body in different way from the sorcerers. He could use that towering shields effortlessly because of the small magic stone embedded inside the weapon." Cyra explained but the kid's curious faces once bright turned gloomy again.
" But, he still got injured." Cody whispered.
" Not everything could be solved with powerful weapons. He might have caught off guards by the enemies, beside didn't you guys face off against them and won?" Cyra said with a smile to lift up their mood.
" That's right! We will win!" Jake said with a growl dispelling his earlier uneasiness.
" We will, leader said, something mind is more important than weapons. With careful plan, there is nothing we can't achieve. He single-handedly took care of them." Julia added, allowing a rare proud tone to permeate her usual demeanor.
The conversation shifted to other topics, like why Cyra wasn't using any weapons and was Bijan really her brother? She answered everything carefully until Bijan returned. He looked refreshed and cool with his wet hair slicked back and a calm smile on his face.
The sky was already dark with stars providing the dim light to illuminate the tough forest flora. They sat down around the crackling fire talking and sharing meal. From time to time, Cyra would check up on Noah but there doesn't seem to be any signs of him waking up.
Still, his wounds were healing at a remarkable speed. If not tomorrow, she knew if there were no internal injuries, he would surely regain consciousness in two days. But that would be cutting too close, they only had few days to spare so in the end, she went outside and told everyone her plan for tomorrow. They couldn't just sit still and wait for him, they had to be more proactive, enough to catch their enemies off guard!