"Pffff! What kind of name is Winston Mage?"
Primrose burst out laughing as Atlas downed his sandwich he had gotten for free as compensation for joining the adventurer's guild.
"I should ask you the same. Rose? Very obvious."
"Hey!"
"Whatever. Just make sure to call me Winston, okay?"
Primrose got into a stiff pose and saluted Atlas.
"Okay, Mr. Winston!"
Atlas took another bite of his sandwich and sighed.
"Quit being so childish and let's get started."
He stood up and made his way onto the main road. Primrose turned her head.
"Hey, Atla- Winston. Are you okay? You don't seem like your normal self-"
"I'm fine. Really, Rose. I'm fine. I've just been thinking about a lot of things recently," the elf said quietly.
The two walked through the town while Primrose started to munch on her sandwich.
"I was thinking that we should go with the highest mission I could find so we can test our strength, so I picked three-"
"No."
"Well, maybe the second strongest…I picked two of those-"
"Absolutely not."
"Then, the third?"
"Now we're talking."
"Why are we going so low?"
"Do you want to stand out?"
"Not really…"
"Then we're best staying on the lowest rank we can."
"What about money?"
"We'll have to deal with it."
The pair were now on the outskirts of town in front of the gate that led back up to the Hurk mountains.
"What's our first mission?"
Primrose reached into her pocket and pulled out a piece of paper.
"Looks like it's gathering minerals from a cave- boring!"
"We're doing that one."
Primrose pouted.
"You're no fun!"
The cave that they needed to go to was a couple kilometres away. Atlas himself was sick of caves, but he knew that the mission was necessary. They hiked up a long trail and passed many beautiful flowers. Primrose took the lead while Atlas stayed behind; keeping a lookout for any beasts that might attack them.
The trail brought them to a mine with a sign on it that read: "Feruke Mine."
"That's weird," Primrose pointed out, "Feruke Mine…I thought it was a cave?"
Primrose pulled out of her satchel the piece of paper that clearly stated the mission was at a cave.
"Maybe we got the wrong location?" Primrose said.
"I doubt it. The map that was given to us led us here on purpose. Let's just go in and get this over with."
Atlas walked past Primrose and into the mine. The quarry itself didn't have anything that screamed danger. In fact, the only alarming thing, or rather creepy, were the decaying minecarts and their tracks. The mine was just large enough for two people to walk beside each other and just small enough in height that Primrose could touch the ceiling with her arms.
"This place is creepy," the princess said.
"It's a good thing you brought that torch."
As the pair got deeper and deeper into the mine they noticed many rich minerals and mana crystals laying still, untouched. The mine was abandoned for a reason. Usually when mines get abandoned it's because they had salvaged everything they could, but why was there still so much?
"Rose, we've reached the point we were instructed to go. Do you have the bag?"
Primrose nodded.
"Okay, here, give me the torch."
"You're making me mine it?!" she exclaimed.
"You're the knight," Atlas pointed out.
"I'm a princess! For me to get grime on my gloves or even in my fingernails-"
"Fine, we'll take turns. How about that?"
The owner of the quest had specifically asked for rubies, a mineral used in a lot of staffs like Atlas'.
"Hey, something's poking me. Can you shine the light on the bug under me?" Primrose said as she mined the ruby.
Atlas pointed the torch towards the ground and his eyes widened.
"Gah!"
Primrose turned to look at Atlas with an annoyed look on her face.
"What? Now you decide to be your flustered normal self? Does a simple bug-"
Primrose's eyes widened. Below her, gripping her foot was a severed hand that was in the process of decomposing. Atlas shone his light towards the other end of the mine to see skeletons and rotten flesh that belonged to what looked like adventurers. One could tell from their swords and staff that these people had come to do the same thing they had.
"Winston, something feels off. We need to-"
A roar suddenly echoed throughout the mine. Atlas pointed his staff towards the source of the sound while Primrose drew her sword.
From around the corner of the mine appeared a small dragon, a cub. It was just small enough to fit in the mine and just large enough to kill someone. On top of it rode a stout small man with a long mustache. He wore chainmail that didn't manage to hide his fat belly.
"Get 'em boy!" the dwarf yelled.
The giant lizard ran towards them at a high speed. There was no use running. Atlas leaped out of the way as the dragon crashed into where he had just been standing. Primrose stood nearby, unharmed.
"Rose! The key to these creatures is that they can only focus on one target! Dragon's follow an honor code! Right now it's after me, so get out of here!"
Rose smiled at Atlas.
"And let Mr. Winston have all the fun? I don't think so!"
The dwarf smiled at them as he turned the dragon around.
"Do you two really think you have the upperhand? Those pathetic adventurers knew the dueling rule as well and look what happened to them!"
"There's someone expecting us, you know!" Primrose yelled.
"Oh yeah, and who might that be?"
"The adventurer's guild and the person paying us!"
The dwarf sneered at the pair.
"Now how would the adventurer guild expect you if I can just cover it up? I put in the request, after all!"
"You-"
The dragon began charging at Atlas again, yet, this one seemed unfazed. Instead of doing anything, Atlas closed his eyes and sat down.
"Atlas, get out of the way! Atlas!" Primrose yelled.
The elf opened his eyes with a look of irritation on his face.
"I don't like killing people, but I will have to kill you now that my companion told you my real name."
Atlas pulled out a knife from his pocket and sliced open his palm. The pain made him groan and clutch the wound.
"You're in my world now," the elf said with a menacing smile.
Suddenly, doom rose into the air like a tsunami and swallowed the dwarf and human girl whole. The dragon stopped and began to whimper.
"Damn it! Why can't I move?" the dwarf said.
Primrose looked around and tried approaching Atlas, who was walking towards the dwarf, but couldn't move. She tried kicking off with wind magic powering her muscles, but even that had no effect on the time spell.
"Atlas! Don't kill him! We need to turn him in!"
Atlas' cold gaze turned over to Primrose.
"Now you're lecturing me about killing people?"
"We-we can make money by turning him in!"
"I don't care."
Atlas pointed his staff at the dwarf.
"Heh, kid, you can't do crap! You don't have it in you to kill me-"
"Enough with your yappin-"
Suddenly, a giant pain hit Atlas in the stomach. He had reached his limit.
"Argh!"
"What's wrong? Have a tummy ache?" the dwarf mocked.
Atlas grabbed at his eye. He pondered to himself why he felt a giant presence of mana within it. They had passed a lot of mana crystals and before they had, he hadn't felt anything like it.
Suddenly, the pain stopped and Atlas' right eye changed from a yellow to a multi-coloured hue between blue and yellow. Mana flowed into Atlas' body and he could feel the barrier hold itself just a little longer.
"Earth bullet," he said.
A bullet slammed into the dwarf's head, causing it to explode. His body slumped down and brains covered the tunnel.
"Rest in peace," he said quietly as the box he had formed disappeared.
The dragon roared at Atlas, bringing the elf's attention to him.
"You will be under my care now. I know you're smart and can understand me. If you don't want to die, you'll be mine. Do you accept?"
The dragon whimpered.
"I will name you Brady," the elf said as he walked over to the dragon and began petting it.
The cub rubbed its head against the elf as it received his affectionate touch. Primrose hadn't moved from her spot. She was too shocked.
"Oh yeah, Primrose?" Atlas said as he petted the dragon, "Don't make that mistake again. I don't want to unnecessarily kill people."