"Yo." Arriving at the table where his companions were seated, Joren sat down and ordered something to eat. He noticed Pantera staring at him with an amused expression.
"Joren, so nice of you to join us. Pantera told us you were cultivating. Trying to break through to the 3rd circle already?" Lenny stuffed his face with rice pointing his spoon at Joren as he greeted him.
"Nah. I was just getting the lightning element." Casually throwing out that statement, his food arrived and he started eating
"Ah, getting the lightning element, that makes sense." Everyone nodded and went back to eating before the realization hit them.
"THE LIGHTNING ELEMENT?!" They all shouted
"Wait wait wait wait wait! You mean like you were seeing if you could absorb lightning mana or do you mean you were trying to actually cultivate the lightning element?" Lenny asked
Holding up his hand, purple energy crackled around it before surging in full force. Lightning danced around his hand, shining in the faces of his bewildered companions as their mouths were agape.
"Y-You, you actually cultivated the lightning element?! Impossible! How the hell did you do it?!" Glenn was used to Joren shocking him. He was already skilled at using mana and showed how talented he was in actual danger. But he knew that achieving an element is no small feat. Nobles have ways to ensure their children cultivate an element at a young age, but a commoner only has luck or on rare occasions, talent.
"Amazing! You truly are amazing!" Derry, being the magical nerd she is, was fascinated by Joren's ability to achieve the lightning element on his own at such a young age. She put a mental note in her head to ask questions about it later.
"I've always been able to see different colors of mana. Gramps told me that it was normal. I can even see the colors of all of your mana." he gestured at everyone. "Normal people have white mana surrounding them, while you guys have the color of your mana element surrounding you. I didn't know why that was at first, but it was only after you told me that I finally understood."
"Wait! So you mean you can see the colors of mana? Like right now?" Pantera asked. While her shock at Joren achieving the lightning element passed when she saw him in the room, she was shocked to know that he could always see mana colors.
"Yup. Some areas have more colors than normal as well. The most abundant color right now is white, but there are traces of purple, orange, blue, and brown. There are more but those are the most prominent colors here." Joren pointed in the air at all the different mana particles. From an outside perspective, he would look like a crazy person pointing at nothing.
"You never fail to amaze me." Glenn shook his head and smiled slightly
"You mean to surprise you." Arnold countered
"Haha, yeah, he never fails to surprise me." They all laughed and continued their meal until it was almost time to call it a night.
"We'll start our next job tomorrow. I know I said you could have a few days off, and I wasn't looking for something that would make us hit the road imminently, but there was only one request on the board and it pays well." Glenn lifted a mug that was next to his plate and started drinking its contents.
"It has good pay yet no one accepts it? Sounds sketchy. What's the catch?" Pantera questioned
"It's an escorting job. A Noblewoman plans on going to the Royal capital and they want to hire mercenaries to aid in safe travels." Glenn explained
"A Noblewoman? Shouldn't they have the means to travel without needing to hire mercenaries? I'm sure she would have her own escorts and guards that travel with her, right?" Joren didn't know the ins and outs of how nobility worked, even in his world, but he did know that important figures always traveled with bodyguards or some form of protection with their own means of travel.
"I think that's the reason why no one is taking the job, they know that nobles have no problem traveling where they want," Lenny spoke up
"This either means she's a runaway, short on money, or she's running away from someone or something." Coming to the same conclusion, they all sat in deep thought. Was it worth it? They wondered.
"Well, the pay has to be good right?" Lenny asked
"30 gold coins," Glenn responded
"Holy shit! 30 Gold coins?! That's enough to retire and ensure our kid's future!"
"Uncle, since you already accepted the job, there's nothing we can do."
"I know, but I still wanted to inform you guys. To be honest, I wasn't going to accept it at first, but I thought it was a good idea to have you understand how escorting works."
'Ha, escorting. If I wasn't in medieval times, I would have assumed he was talking about sex work.' Joren laughed at his inner thoughts
"Let's head to bed. We have to wake up early to meet our client. Since their destination is the royal capital, we need to be prepared for that long journey."
They were in Viscount Harold's territory right now and that was a two-month journey from Bakers town. In total, it would take them three months to reach the royal capital.
"I've also sent a letter to Paul informing him that the delivery was successful and his information leak is on his side since we didn't encounter bandits." When Glenn spoke those words, everyone turned to him with a 'What the fuck are you talking about expression.'
"Ahem, I mean we didn't encounter bandits that were targeting his goods. Okay, let's go. We'll meet our client at the guild in the morning." They all got up and went to their rooms
Arriving at their room, Derry told Pantera that she wanted Joren to sleep in her bed tonight and Pantera reluctantly told her about the bet she made with him. A smile so bright that the sun would be jealous, shined on Derry's face as she stuck her tongue out at Pantera and then grabbed Joren and hugged him tight while they all went to sleep.
...
They arrived at the guild ahead of schedule to show their respect since their client was a Noble. They didn't know who she was, what her backing was like, and her attitude, and since they were getting paid 30 gold coins, they wanted to be respectful. They were sitting in a room that was dedicated to mercenaries meeting their clients in private.
"I wonder what she looks like. I hope she's hot. Maybe she'll fall for my charm"
"Lenny, you better not flirt with her or I'll remove your balls." Pantera shot a serious gaze that made Lenny shiver.
"Noted." He responded while nodding his head.
Just then, seven people walked into the room they were in. Five of them wore shining yellow and red armor with helmets covering their faces. Swords dangled from their hips and they walked in unison with a sun symbol on their breastplate. In front of them stood two people, a man, and a woman, or more specifically, a girl. Her face wasn't visible as she had a hood that covered her head.
The man was tall and muscular. He wore yellow and red elegant luxurious clothing with armor padding and plates in vital areas for protection while his hand rested on his sword. He had black hair and brown eyes and looked fierce. The energy radiating off of him made was felt by Joren and the others and they could feel how strong he was. He too had a sun symbol on his brestplate.
'This guy! He's in the 5th circle!' Joren could feel how pure his mana was. Instead of the normal flame-looking mana that encompasses a person, the mana surrounding the man looked like it was a second layer of skin.
"Young Lady." The man spoke
The girl took off her hood and looked at their group she looked at Joren. Warm orange eyes stared into Joren's crimson eyes. She had long fiery curly red hair that reached her lower back. She had a slender, but mature figure with a modest waist and breasts. Two suns dangled from her ears in the form of earrings and she had a ring on her right hand with a sun symbol on it as well. She looked about 16 but she gave off the radiance of someone in power.
'She's beautiful.' Joren couldn't take his eyes off of her. He'd seen beautiful women before but not like her.
"My name is Tessa Von Solight. Since you accepted my request, I hope you can do your job properly. Going to mercenaries is already disgraceful to my status and you're commoners on top of that, truly disgraceful. Just do your job and stay away from me. I hate being around commoners." She looked at them with a disgusted expression and walked away with the five knights following her.
"Please follow me." The man led them to their carriage that was parked a good distance from the guild. It was also red and yellow with a sun symbol on the sides. There were horses ready to be mounted and four knights hopped on them while one was the coachman for the horse carriage.
Tessa and the man entered the horse carriage and closed the door behind them. Since it wasn't a caravan, not everyone could fit in it, on top of it belonging to a noble, they weren't even allowed in it. So, they all mounted the horses meant for them and started their journey to the royal capital.