" Master!! We agreed that you would help me if anything were to happen!" Rumius screamed as he ran.
Master Isadora looked up and surprise and said. " I did. But I don't see anything though?" She set a dirt stained hand to her head and made a show of looking off into the distance. Her passive aggressive stance couldn't be more evident.
" THATS BECAUSE YOU"RE LOOKING IN THE WRONG DIRECTION WOMAN!!! IM GOING TO DIE HERE!!!" Rumius shrieked as he jumped to barely dodge a green tentacle from the giant, toothy purple lily. It missed him and struck into the ground instead, cracking the dirt and drilling deep into the grass and earth. The blood drained out of Rumius's face in terror.
' I got us some honest work, and this is how you treat me? Tch, I'll show you.' He muttered bitterly in his master's direction.
" BLAST!!" He shouted, directing spell into the ground. This time, however, the mana was expelled from his feet, and there was massively powerful rumbling before a satisfyingly familiar explosion rattled his ears and blew up a massive cloud of dust. Rumius disappeared from view. The monster roared its fury as its vision was blotted out by a cloud of dirt.
In the next moment, another blast of air, compressed to only half the size but four times the air pressure of the previous punched through the dust cloud and cleanly through its central corolla, ending its life.
The monster died with a soft growl as Rumius landed gently back on the ground. When he looked her direction, Master wasn't even looking.
' Are you kidding me…' He didn't even bother going to confront her about it.
Rumius saw at least two dozen purple petalled flowers were scattered all over the ground, trampled and ruined, as if they were thrown in a act of homage to the dead monster.
" They must have fallen out when I shot into the air suddenly like that. I guess I forgot to lock the basket." Rumius clicked his tongue upon seeing how little of the flowers that he had spent the past three hours collecting were left.
" Damn this stupid plant monster. I'm going to freaking…" He raised a hand and was intent on making the carcass into a pinata.
' What if i can sell this for money? Will there be services to help me sell this?' Sudden thoughts barged in at the last moment to disturb his vengeance. Rumius paused, before letting his hand fall to his side with a sign.
' Dammit.' He thought in frustration.
' Back to square one.'
By the time he had a full basket slung over his shoulder again, Master was long done and waiting for him. The long billowy sleeves of her cloak were rolled up and clipped so as not to be dirtied and instead, her hands to the brunt of the abuse of the land. She had a pissed-off scowl on her face.
Rumius walked up to her. " Im done. Let's go back Master."
" Urgh, they'd better be paying me good for making me do this." She grumbled as they walked.
Entering through the city gates this time was a lot less troublesome with Master's newly registered adventurer's card. There was no sign of the usual need to register or check their goods.
" Master?" Rumius called out as they left the gate behind.
" What?"
" Isn't it strange that a human organisation holds so much power in demon territory? Especially with how bad current relations are, should the guild even be here at all?" He asked.
Master Isadora seemed satisfied enough with his question to give a reply. " The adventurer's guild is not a human run organisation." She said. " While it is true that it holds a great level of influence, perhaps even on the same level as the church, in most human nations, it is still not owned humans."
It was Rumius's first time hearing something like that. He had just immediately assumed that it was such from hearing all the stories that Rennie when he was younger.
" Aren't most of the famous adventurers are humans?"
Master shook her head disapprovingly. " That's only because you were raised in a human nation. Let me guess, you grew up with tales of Eric Of The Earthtree and Gia The Flash. But, you've never heard the tales of Baldur the god-slayer or that of Sidai The Thousand Limbed, yes?"
Rumius had to admit that he'd never heard those names before. He would have never expected that his favourite heroes of this world had demonic counterparts.
" Like I said, the adventurer's guild is not only made up of capable humans. Its reaches stretch far beyond the human continent, into the depths of the demon realm and I'm sure they that have their roots in Limia as well."
Rumius was silent as he took in the information. Who would have thought that this humble organisation of ragtags whose purpose lay in exploring the world was so powerful? If that was so, then who exactly sat at the top of this Goliath? He wasn't human, so it didn't make sense that he would be a demon either, since that would antagonise the humans. A dwarf perhaps? Or maybe an elf? With their kids of lifespan, it wouldn't be strange to think that an elf could have built something like this up over the course of a thousand years.
He posed the question to his master, and in return, the answer which he got was surprising.
" I don't know." She said.
' Even master didn't know?'
Sensing his astonishment perhaps, Master Isadora elaborated further. " Don't be so shocked. No one really does. However, it is said that he or she is a part of the Seven."
" The Seven?" Rumius asked, puzzled.
" It's what people used to refer to a group of individuals who have appeared at certain times in history and pulled off feats that were unfathomable, to say the least. Of course, no one knows if they're real or are still around, but…that's enough for now. We're here."
Master pushed open the doors and led the way in. It was still around lunch hour, so the guild was emptier now than at most times. The receptionist who had given them the request was at the counter diligently fulfilling her shift.
Placing their baskets on the counter, Rumius and Isadora looked on as the lady left with one basket slung over each shoulder. Rumius lamented how having a grown body with muscle like that must be nice. Right now and for quite the considerable future, Rumius was still stuck with a body with the fingers the size of mini-sausages and legs the length of four interlinked chopsticks. But at least he was growing pretty fast.
' And being small makes me hard to hit.' A voice said optimistically. ' And power isn't a problem as long as I circulate my mana.'
' Hey, you're right!' He thought smiling. There weren't all downsides to being a kid after all.
A large man approached them at that moment. He was broad shouldered and wore heavy gear much resembling that of an adventurer, yet held no weapons. The man rested his hands on the empty counter and he and Master exchanged a slight glance that Rumius just barely caught.
" Here is fine." Master said. " The kid is the apprentice I told you about."
A momentary look of surprise passed through the man's face, and he took a step back to look at Rumius. It also gave Rumius a chance to get a better look at him.
His face was tan, no doubt thoroughly sun-kissed, and a roughly shaven beard dotted his mouth and lower face. A pair of long horns pointing straight upwards aside and he could just have passed for human.
The man nodded and turned back to Master after a moment of eye contact with Rumius.
" Regarding your request. I'm afraid we won't be able to do anything about it for now."
Master Isadora frowned, visibly displeased. " Haah? I've paid you already. Now you're going back on our contract?"
This time, it was the man's turn to become mad. His fists balled up. " Isadora." His voice was deep and master's name came out of his lips in a manner of forced calmness. " We've worked together many times before. And don't forget regarding this contract it is I who am doing you the favour. I do not. APPRECIATE. The honour of a blood contract which I've signed being insulted."
Master waved her hand." Fine, fine, I get it. So? What's the problem then?"
Rumius's heart went out to the man as he saw him narrow his eyes in annoyance. 'God, I get the feeling too!' He wanted to say.
The man let out a sign, " There has been reported sightings of sandworm attacks. A caravan travelling from Limia the other day has already fallen prey to it and as of tomorrow, all transport routes will be closed and monitored under tight supervision until the threat is removed or gone by itself."
" Even if I wanted to, I couldn't take you."
Master Isadora fell silent. She folded her arms as she gazed at the floor with a faraway look in her eyes.
" Sandworms rarely attack humans. And even when they do, it's been out of self-defence. Are you sure these reports are credible?" She questioned.
The man shrugged his shoulders. " They're as credible as my sources can be. There's been nothing left of the caravan. Even the Mayaka they were taking had been eaten whole."
" A Mayaka?" Master looked up, shocked. " By a sandworm?"
" We found its's remains. It looked like quite a tough fight."
Master fell into silent thought again.
" How long do you think it will take for this to end?" She asked.
" For the Sandworm to go away by itself? Pfft, at least a month."
" I don't have that kind of time." Master scowled.
" I'm afraid you don't have a choice, Isadora. There's nothing we can do for now."
Rumius could see the visible change in Master's stance to the situation the moment the guy said those words. What she said next was of no surprise to him.
" Nothing I can do?" Master scoffed.
" I'm afraid you've forgotten who you are talking to, Mauvelai."
" When is the extermination team moving out? I'll going to join them to send this critter back from whence he came."