The ship pulled into the harbor, and we docked with no problem. Braum said he would take care of the Gem Hearts and get us our cash at the guild, but I asked for directions to the dungeon.
"Getting pretty late don't you think?" Braum asked me.
"Unless you feel like lending me every drop of your blood, I need to go and clear at least one room of the dungeon. Plus, I have all this build-up of Mana, I would really like to see what I can do with it besides the spells. I have seen Mei use her Mana when we fought Healia and monsters in the dungeon," I said, but all the color had drained from Braum.
"Head up the road, and once you get to the center cross street where all the vendors were, take a left and follow the path out of town. You were kidding about taking all my blood right? You just want to go and train, right?" Braum asked hopefully.
I smiled, trying not to make it seem too villainous, but it was really hard. I had this big man as white as a ghost, but sailors were superstitious people by nature.
"Don't worry, I don't need to take your or anyone else's as long as I can get to the dungeon," I said with a smile and turned to the others. "I would like to go alone, so I will walk with you, but then I will see you back at the Guild."
"No you aren't," Lesha said with the finality of a door closing.
"Listen, I just," But she cut me off again, grabbing me and pushing me roughly ahead.
"No, I will be going with you, the other girls will take our stuff back. Then you can buy me a sword on the way, and use your fancy Mana to protect me," Lesha said, pushing me forward.
The rest of the girls were remaining silent, and Corbit and Tim had already disappeared. This woman, I wanted to be mad at her, but I couldn't find a real reason to be. I had told her I was going alone, but she obviously thought she knew better. We might have to talk about this.
I started to walk forward, but then Lesha waved the girls off and then walked into an alley. I guess the talk would happen now, but when I got into the alley Lesha looked like she had just been whipped.
"K, I am really sorry, I don't know what came over me. I can't be acting like that in front of everyone, but you can't just leave me behind when you go to do dangerous things! That is no excuse for my behavior and I am sorry. I am just worried that you are taking more risks now because of your new strength, but we still need each other, okay? Please don't ask me to stay behind," Lesha said taking my hand, looking up into my eyes.
I stared into her blue eyes for a moment, letting myself feel her words. She wasn't wrong, but as Lesha had just said, that was no excuse for doing something like that. There are many ways that could be a lot more effective, but I had been leaving her out of things since Healia.
"I understand your feelings, and I will not deny you the option to come with me, but I think we need to figure out better ways of dealing with things, both of us. We also need to work on these outbursts and my red eyes, but let's get going and talk on the way."
I leaned in and kissed her, and she kissed me back. I took her hand and walked out of the alley with her.
I hoped the boys would stay with the girls, I should have been more specific. That would be the last thing that we needed right now is for them to get captured and I have to tear the city apart.
Luckily, when we got to the market, the girls were still there and Tim and Corbit were both with them. I let out a sigh of relief and walked over to the group that was ordering some meat skewers.
"You caught back up fast, but there is a smith just around the corner, and he knows your coming and there is a blade waiting. I paid for it already so you just have to pick the one you want from the three I convinced him to sell me at the same price. It will save you time, and we will have some meat from you to take with you one your way back from the smith," Time said with a grin.
"Thank you, that means a lot to have you on top of things like that. Excellent works," I said with a smile, but Tim turned away with a small grin.
I would have liked to tease him about it, but that would defeat the purpose of him getting things lined up. I grabbed Lesha's hand, and she followed me around the corner that Tim had directed us.
The smith was called… you have got to be kidding. The two of us looked up at the sign, and Lesha started to giggle.
"Do you think he knows? I told Gastbo that it wasn't a unique name! I wonder who had it first?" I pondered, about to walk into the shop when a little man appeared.
The man shared a striking resemblance to Gastbo, except this man was in a lot better shape. The man gave us a warm smile after looking us up and down.
"Gats will already say that he came out first and that he picked his shop name first, but the only person that believes him is our mother! So you are the Infamous Kiada, Leader of the Crimson Legion Guild. The woman who single-handedly took on half a guild of muscle heads. Did I mention you had one hand tied behind your back while you did it, also doing a handstand? The stories of you are already running wild and growing longer by the day! I'm Crass, Gastbo's twin Brother!"
"Great, can we get the sword? We are in a hurry, sorry," I said, feeling a bit bad to have to leave after such a glorious intro.
"Of course! Your Member told me you needed to get a quick dungeon run. I heard that you only drink the blood of virgin women! You do drink blood don't you?" Crass asked as we followed him into the shop.
"I will settle for the blood of a fit and able male if you don't hurry up," I said with a devilish smile.
If the standard for virginity was male penetration, then he wasn't completely wrong, but I didn't have time for games. Crass put his hands up in surrender and then stepped to the side with a bowing flourish.
Three swords were waiting, and Lesha let go of my hand to go and examine them. There was a rapier and two long swords, none had gems or decoration, which was a good sign.
My father had always said that a weapon should not be some fanciful thing. If the blacksmith is serious, he will make a product that is strong and built to do the job it was meant to.
Killing; if the weapon wasn't strong, it could break in battle. If the weapons pommel, hilt, or guard were to shine or sparkle, it would make you a target.
Lesha picked up each weapon, but she took the rapier. That was a good choice and when she advanced past Ruby Rank she could become a Duelist.
Each class had advanced classes that were decided by your style of fighting and your weapon choice{Insert Fat Boy Slim in BG music}. If she continued with the long sword she would become a knight, and then I didn't know.
Some classes had not been discovered, or if they had we had not heard about them. Knowledge was still very limited about these things, and new classes were said to be discovered all the time using unique weapons.
"Thank you, Mr. Crass, I will get some good use, and next time we will stay longer!" Lesha said as I dragged her out of the Forge.
"Come on look at the sun," I said, starting to walk back to the group that was waiting for us.
"Coming!" Lesha said after she belted on her new weapon.
I turned to grab the brown folded paper that had the meat, but I got drawn into Lesha's body movements and almost missed grabbing the meat.
"Jeez, K, quit gawking at your girlfriend and get going, and grab ahold of the meat properly before you drop it!" Candi scolded me, coming over with Trinity.
"Awe, you were Gawking at me, baby?" Lesha said as she brushed by me.
I grinned at Tim and got a better grip on the paper-wrapped meat that was starting to make my mouth water.
"Remember, stick together," I said, before turning to jog to catch Lesha.
"Yes, boss mom, I mean Guild Leader!" Tim joked, calling out.
I really need to get a handle on these rapscallions! Each one of them had their own brand of lip, except Corbit. He was the only one out of the bunch that seemed to respect me or at least fear me enough not to give me lip like the others.
I handed Lesha two meat kabobs and she held on in her hand, attacking each, but switched back and forth. I smiled to myself as I bit into my own meat skewer. As good as it was, the other hunger made the enjoyment of the flavor was only a minor enjoyment that still left me to feel hollow and cold.
I picked up my pace and Lesha did the same, she understood what I was feeling.
As we neared the edge of town, I started to think about what kind of Guild Leader I wanted to be. Did I really want them to change? Would not every one of them fight with me if I asked? Maybe that was part of our misfit's charm, and who didn't it really matter to if I was aiming for the top?
I wanted to have happy and friendly members that could trust each other. Maybe I would just have to teach them to tone it down in public, but I don't think I wanted them to stop completely.
All these people had become my family after this short time, and I liked the relationship that we all had. I just had to become a more respectable Leader that made better choices, and this would come with practice and learning from others like Jester.
We had finally reached the dungeon; it wasn't far out of the city; less than five minutes of speed walking. Now we stood before the oily archway.
"Ready?" Lesha asked, pulling out her new rapier.
"Yes, let's go," I said, talking Lesha's left hand and stepping through.
On the other side was a wet and dank cave, with a long hall and an open doorway at the end. Great, but I should have enough. I would just have to be fast.
"I need to summon Gobby for this, but then I will need your blood after, so you have to control yourself, or I will have to order you to stay, okay?" I asked Lesha, but she nodded right away.
I put my hand out and pulled most of my remaining blood and let it pool in my hand.
"Summon Blood Gobbler!"
The ball of blood brightened and then dimmed. Then it fell out of my hand and I kicked him before he hit the ground, and he made a sickening slap when he hit the ground.
"K! I'm BACK! But, oh, you don't look so hot, colder than anything really. We need to get you one of the heated blanket things! Or maybe…"
"GOBBY! TRAPS, NOW!" I roared at the yapping ball of blood.
Then I pulled some of Lesha's oh-so-sweet strawberry silk nectar from the town holes on her neck, giving me some sweet relief from the frosty cold that was trying to take over me.
"Traps are all good, K!" Gooby called from the end of the hall, and I turned to Lesha, who was panting with glowing eyes.
"Let's go," I said as we both darted down the hall to the first room.
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