The crushing pressure faded and the blue energy vanished from their bodies. The magic formation slowly dimmed until nothing was left.
Everyone looked at each other with tired expressions. They were bruised, bloody, and beaten. Not only that, but they were tired. The bandits attacked when they were sleeping and although they managed to push through, they were still human and needed rest.
"Phew, I'm beat!" Lenny threw his swords down and collapsed to the ground. Arnold and Glenn casually sat down and Joren kept looking at the dead bandit he was standing over.
'The lightning element huh? That's what I want!' Joren felt out of place knowing that he was the only one here that didn't have an element so he wanted to work on that as soon as possible, especially after encountering the bandits they had just fought.
"I know we are tired and hurt, but we should get moving." Everyone turned to Derry who was sweating profusely while holding up Pantera who was still very weak from the blow she took.
"She's right." Glenn agreed. "We caused too much commotion. Although there's still some distance between here and the closest city, I'm sure someone picked up on the magical activity that happened here. We should leave as quickly as possible."
After looting the bandits where they managed to obtain some copper, silver, and gold coins, they headed to the caravan which wasn't in the same spot since the horses ran away in fear. Derry decided to be the coachman this time as she was the least injured and Arnold, despite being badly hurt himself, decided to be next to her.
Lenny went to sleep right away when they entered and Pantera also went to sleep to rest her body as she needed to be in the best condition to heal everyone. Joren and Glenn sat next to one another closing their eyes and resting their bodies, but they didn't fall asleep.
"Hey Uncle, can I ask you a question?"
"Sure."
"How do you know when you obtain elemental magic?"
"Hmm, that's an easy question. I knew I had obtained the fire element when the mana I absorbed started turning orange. At first, I was confused because I only thought mana was white in color, but I later learned that mana has multiple colors, and each color represents an element." He explained tiredly
"What are the colors?" Joren asked
"Well, I only know the basic six colors for the most common elements. Turquoise for wind, blue for water, brown for earth, orange for fire, green for wood, and purple for lightning."
Joren was stunned at this new piece of knowledge. Why? It was because, since the first day he was able to sense mana, he saw many colors. He thought that was normal and mana would simply be white when used in its pure state.
"So do you just absorb the orange mana and boom you have the fire element?" Joren asked
"Well, yes and no. Your mana core is the energy field your mana ring produces. If you absorb the colored mana alongside regular mana, nothing will happen. You have to absorb the colored mana ONLY and then your mana ring will undergo what's known as a nature change. My mana ring underwent a fire nature change as I only absorbed fire mana, which in turn made my core turn orange and support fire mana. Only then could I use the fire element and absorb regular mana alongside fire mana together."
"I see. Thank you."
"No problem, now get some sleep, you should rest your body."
"Yeah."
...
A little over a month had passed and they finally made it to Viscount Harold's estate. Over the past month, they encountered more bandits, but they weren't from the Red Bear Bandits and many other dangers like mana beasts. But even with all the setbacks, they managed to arrive on time, three days early in fact.
They were greeted by two large silver gates with the letter 'H' that split in half when opened. The Viscounty estate was massive. At the entrance, a huge fountain with fish was situated at the center giving off luxurious vibes. A large garden encompassed a mansion with animal-sculpted bushes. The mansion itself was nothing to scoff at. It was a large white building with many windows plastered with silver and gold. The road leading up to the mansion was made of marble.
"Wow, everything is so fancy," Joren commented
"Yeah don't get too entranced by this place, we won't be here for long," Lenny spoke.
They arrived at the gates and were stopped by two guards in silver armor.
"State your name and business." The guard demanded
"Hello, I'm Glenn and these are my companions." He handed the guard their ID and continued speaking. "We had a job request from a man named Paul. We're here to deliver the things Viscount Harold ordered."
"The documents?" Official business, especially when it comes to Nobles always has documents. There are only a few cases where things go off the books, some being illegal business.
"You see, there had been a problem where bandits would attack convoys from the merchant we accepted the request from so in order to avoid them, we took this job off the books."
"Hmmm. Your IDs check out so I know you're not fake mercenaries. But I'll have to confirm with the Lord to verify your story." The guard spoke
"No worries. Just tell him that his order from Paul is here." Glenn assured the guard that if he said that to the guard, Viscount Harold would confirm their validity.
The guard left and relayed the message to the chain of command and after 20 minutes, five servants dressed in the typical black servant attire came out and walked up to the caravan.
"The Lord has confirmed that you are indeed here to deliver what he has ordered. Please show us the items." A servant spoke.
Everyone got out of the caravan and opened the back taking out the crates. The servant opened them and nodded his head confirming that these were indeed the items and were in perfect condition.
"The Lord thanks you for your hard work. Here is your compensation." The servant handed Glenn a bag of ten gold coins and left with the crates alongside the other servants.
"That's it? No asking how our journey was. Not giving us a place to rest. Not even offering us some juice. He didn't even come out here himself. What a bastard." Joren complained, kicking a nearby pebble.
"We aren't important enough for that Joren. And we're random mercenaries that he's never met before. In his eyes, we simply delivered what we were paid to do, no need for pleasantries." Glenn got back on the coachman seat while everyone else hopped back in the caravan.
"I know, I was at least hoping to get some juice. Well, whatever. What's next?"
"We'll spend the next few days relaxing and restocking on the things we need. I'll head to the Mercenary Guild of this city to pick out our next job. So until then, you're free to do whatever you want." Glenn whipped the reigns and the horses neighed and started galloping