Bab 24: The blue elf, named Zion
Nathalia was stunned by that behavior of Zion, considering that the Guild Master was a figure respected by everyone, so it was expected that he was someone haughty.
The blue elf pointed to the two chairs in front of his desk with a relieved smile, indicating that the rookie pair could take a seat. Nathalia and Luke accepted the invite.
"As both were nominated by the Strogueher family, I will make a special request for you two."
The half-wolf remained serious and said nothing. Nath also followed this same behavior, as if imitating him.
Zion took it as consent to continue talking. "Yesterday, a novice quintet disappeared on its first day of activity; that's hard to happen, considering that we always have adventurers moving between floors, especially on the first ones."
Nathalia came forward and asked: "Couldn't they have spent the night on the first floor? This happens, doesn't it?"
"Only high-ranking adventurers risk sleeping inside the dungeons, and only when on deeper floors. I don't believe they could have chosen to sleep on the hard ground of the second floor, instead of sleeping in a warm bed."
"What if they went to floors beyond the first and second?" Luke questioned; after all, in his head, it made sense that if they're not seen on the first or second floor, it's because they're on another one.
The elf's eyes, which were as blue as the ocean, met the half-wolf's golden-yellow eyes, and Zion said: "I know you're a novice, so it's understandable not to know that, though I'm still surprised by a nominee by the Strogueher not realizing for what the ranking system was created."
Nathalia facepalmed and said: "Luke, just read about the ranking system."
Luke Lange didn't know what to say; he was just frustrated, because he had never learned to read and was embarrassed that he didn't know much about these complicated Adventurer systems.
"But no problem, boy. I'll explain why they can't have gone to another floor." Zion said with a smile. "When a dungeon is discovered, there are two essential processes to be done, before adventurers can enter it and any cities can develop around it."
For the next few minutes, the elf explained in many complicated words, which the half-wolf understood only half of them. Still, as far as his intelligibility was concerned, the rank system wasn't as useless as Luke believed.
From what you understand, when a dungeon is discovered, two types of adventurers are called: The Sensory Mages and The Seculars.
The second type is popularly known as heroes or saints since they are so strong that their talents are believed to appear only from century to century.
Sensory Mages scale the size of the Dungeon and pass this information on to the Seculars, who define what the Dungeon's type is. As all Seculars are S-Class, they don't get in trouble and return to the surface after a few days.
When informed of the number of floors and difficulty, Sensory Mages level the floors from Class F to S, so that the Dungeon's resources can begin to be exploited.
"Between the floors, there is a protective spell created by the Sensory Ones. Protection that only those of the predetermined class can overcome." Nathalia complemented the elf's explanation.
Luke still didn't understand everything; even so, he chose not to continue with that monotonous chat.
"Why are you ordering this service for two F-Class?" Luke asked to find out if this could be a trap set up against the Stroguehers.
"Since I don't want to draw everyone's attention to this case, I haven't launched a mission, and I also believe that higher-ranking people who would trust this type of work will not be interested."
The half-wolf thought it plausible and nodded. "Let's talk about payment."
The elf crossed his solid arms and nodded. "I was waiting for you to bring it up. How much do you think is a fair amount?"
"A gold coin." The boy took a chance; after all, that was the same amount as his current salary.
"Perfect."
When Luke and Zion went to shake their hands, Nathalia interrupted them: "Wait a minute… Just a gold coin? That's peanuts! I don't work for less than ten gold coins."
The elf was startled because ten gold coins were a considerable amount. For that amount, he would personally look for the missing quintet. Nathalia grew up surrounded by hundreds of gold coins, so she didn't have the notion that it wasn't that easy to get money.
Luke looked at the girl and touched her hand. "Do you trust me a little?"
Nathalia was surprised by the sudden touch, and the girl's entire face turned as red as a tomato. 'What do you think you're doing in front of the Guild Master?' The girl thought and, in the end, just nodded at the question.
"Zion, when I talked about a gold coin, I meant one for each."
The smile on the elf's face faded when he heard this, but he nodded after a few seconds. Two gold coins were a lot; however, he felt it would be good to take a risk on these two novices.
The contract closed only verbally was enough. Luke didn't want to build evidence against him if anything happened, and Zion felt the same way.
"Besides, can you explain this to me?" The boy took the bag with the sixteen teeth of the Superior Goblins and threw it on the man's desk.
Turning the bag over in his hand, the elf saw several large fangs fall into his hand, and he didn't understand how Luke had it. "Did you buy them?" he questioned, confused.
"No, I removed them from the bodies of the Goblins myself."
Zion frowned. "But how? Did you go into a secret dungeon?"
The half-wolf just nodded, indicating that this was not the case.
The elf raised his hand to his mouth and was silent for a few seconds, looking at the air, and then asked: "Where were they?"
"Near the Strogueher mansion," Nathalia replied, consenting to the idea that she wasn't family.
"I'll send the C- and B-Classes to investigate today what might have happened," Zion said, making sure he had answered the boy's question.
"What are the possible answers? They can't leave the Dungeon, right?"
"There have been cases where the barriers created by the Sensorials were weak and broke, but if that's the case, Vasconcelos would only be ruins right now." The elf said and got up from his chair. He was six feet six.
"Then?"
"As I said, we have to investigate. It's too early to try to determine what happened."
The half-wolf understood that since the man had an official job, he couldn't give information about possible flaws to a stranger in this way.
______
Discord for illustrations of the characters:
https://discord.gg/qz2vDAn7Kb
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