章 1: Aiden and Eira meet
"Welcome to Draconia" That was the welcoming message that greeted us upon our arrival at the city gates.
It was an impressive view from atop the hill. The castle stood tall in the centre of the town, surrounded by a moat of blue water. The entire area was well-kept and clean. There were rows of houses lining both sides of the road that led up to the gate. Some had stone walls while others had wooden ones. Most of them looked similar to one another. All of the structures had a red roof, except for some of the buildings near the centre of the city. They all had roofs made of glass tiles that reflected the sun's rays back into space. There were also many trees planted along the side of the roads, which added to the beauty of the sight. We could see the sky's beautiful colours beyond the buildings.
We were so relieved to finally be here after all this time. My sister and I looked around at the bustling crowd, full of excitement and energy.
"It looks like there will be no shortage of jobs for us to take," said my brother-in-law who had come along with us. "I see some pretty interesting job postings up on the bulletin board over there; we should probably check them out."
My sister and I nodded in agreement. After spending the last few years doing menial tasks in the castle, we decided it was time to move on. It wasn't that we didn't like working in the castle, it was just a bit boring really. Just doing the same thing day in and day out was starting to bore me to death. Ever since I became a knight, all I did was guard the castle gate and go on patrol every now and then. Sometimes I even got sent out to fight in the war, which was exciting for a while. But eventually, that novelty wore off too.
We made our way over to the bulletin board where a large map of the surrounding area hung on the wall. As we approached it, the map came alive and changed into a scrolling list of job opportunities.
"Wow, look at all these different quests!" exclaimed my sister.
She was right. There must have been hundreds of postings posted up on the board. Each one of them had a description, and most of them included pictures too. My eyes moved from posting to posting, looking through each one with interest.
"Are there any good ones?" asked my brother-in-law.
"I don't know, let's look and see!" I replied enthusiastically, excited to start earning money again.
While I was scanning the postings, my brother-in-law went over to the large desk near the entrance, where a man sat behind a big wooden counter. When he arrived, he noticed that the man was busy dealing with customers who were asking him for help. He saw that the man seemed very knowledgeable, so he waited patiently until the man finished assisting another customer before approaching the counter.
The man looked up and acknowledged my brother-in-law with a courteous nod. "Hello sir, how may I help you today?"
"I'm here to inquire about some of the job postings on your bulletin board," said my brother-in-law.
"Oh yes, please tell me what kind of positions you are interested in," replied the man.
"Well, I've been a soldier for a while now, and I'm looking to change things up a little bit. I want to do something less mundane, more exciting and adventurous. Can you recommend anything to me?"
The man smiled at my brother-in-law with a warm smile. He reached under the counter and pulled out a small piece of paper. He unfolded it and handed it over to my brother-in-law. The paper contained a list of potential jobs.
"This is a shortlist of the available posts in the area. I would recommend you take a look and choose whatever seems interesting to you," said the man.
My brother-in-law took the paper and glanced over it briefly. His eyes lit up when he spotted a couple of postings he thought sounded promising.
"Thank you for your help, I will consider these options carefully. If I get stuck, I'll be sure to come back and ask for your assistance. Have a nice day!" he shouted as he walked away.
My sister and I followed him with our gaze. "What did you find? Is that one of the jobs you are interested in?" she asked eagerly.
"Yes, actually it is. I'll let you know if I decide to apply for it. Let's keep going; there are still more job postings to check out."
As we continued browsing the postings, my brother-in-law wandered off towards the far end of the bulletin board. There were many other adventurers lined up behind him, waiting for the man to finish helping another customer.
"Excuse me, can you tell me about this quest?" asked an old man with a bald head.
The man looked up and saw the line of people waiting for his attention. He sighed and quickly scanned the list of postings again, searching for a suitable answer.
"Ah yes, this is a simple job. All you have to do is kill the dragon that has been terrorizing the local villagers. It sounds like it could be fun. Are you interested in taking it on?" he said hurriedly.
"Why, yes I am!" responded the old man eagerly.
"Good! I will be sending out the team tomorrow morning, so we need to send out the applications tonight. You will receive your reward once the dragon is dead. I will be contacting you soon with further details. Please wait here."
My brother-in-law grabbed the application form from the man and hurriedly jotted down the information. He gave us a quick wave and left the building.
"Did you see that geezer?! He got one of the best postings!" I exclaimed excitedly.
"That's true, it does sound interesting. I wonder what kind of dragon it is? Maybe there are even others hiding in the forest. It must have hatched recently if that's the case. I wonder why it hasn't fled yet?"
"Who knows, maybe it is too young to fly on its own. Or perhaps they feed it regularly and protect it from predators. Dragons are mysterious creatures; you never know what goes on inside their mind."
"Yeah, I guess you're right. It would be pretty cool to discover a new species of dragon. That would be amazing!"
As we spoke, I called over my sister, Lidia who was checking out some wares from the stalls and began walking side by side through the crowded streets. My sister, wearing a pair of tight leather armour, and I, in a simple shirt and pants, both wore our weapons strapped to our backs. We looked like two sides of a coin: she was a warrior, and I was a warrior. My brother-in-law, Benzo wore a similar outfit but with a sword strapped to his waist.
"Hey Eira, do you remember when we used to talk about the possibility of finding a new species of dragon?" Lidia asked me.
"Of course I do," I replied. "We spent hours discussing it. Do you think it's possible, Lidia?"
"Well, I think it's highly unlikely. In order for a dragon to evolve, it needs to be exposed to multiple mutations in its DNA over a period of several generations. That means the dragon would have to live for a really long time to develop a new type of mutation."
Benzo joined the conversation, saying, "Yeah, that's probably what happened with the dragon we encountered a few months ago. It was bigger than usual and had a lot of sparkly ice breath attacks. Finding a new type won't be easy."
Benzo was right; the chances of finding a new species of dragon would be slim. However, I wasn't letting go of the idea completely.
"I agree with Lidia; it doesn't seem likely, and it also sounds impossible, especially without the right tools and knowledge. But we should still keep our minds open to the possibility. Who knows what might happen?" I added.
I was trying to encourage both my sister and my brother-in-law to continue pursuing the idea of discovering a new species.
"Alright, alright, you convinced me," conceded Benzo.
He was about to say something else when someone called out his name. He turned around and saw a familiar face.
It was a man who worked in the same office as Benzo. He was a tall muscular man with broad shoulders and an aggressive personality. I didn't know much about him except that he was an experienced fighter. He was dressed in a white cloak which covered most of his body.
The man approached us. "Hello there. I heard that you are looking for a job?" he asked.
"Yes, we are," I replied.
"So you want to join the quest to hunt down the dragon terrorizing the village, is that correct?" he inquired.
"Yes, that's right. I am Eira, and this is my sister, Lidia." I introduced them.
He nodded his head and smiled broadly. He then held out his hand. "Hi, my name is Aiden. A pleasure to meet you all."
"Nice to meet you too. Thank you for volunteering," I responded.
"Not a problem. I'm not doing this for the money though. I want to prove myself worthy in the eyes of my people."
"Then let's get started, shall we?" I said enthusiastically.
"Sure. I already have the equipment ready. I think we should leave now. If we don't make it before nightfall, we won't be able to start until tomorrow."
"Okay, let's go then. Where do we go from here?" I asked.
"There's a big hill close by, so that's where we should start. From there we can spot the dragon easier. And if it's anything like the last one, it should be visible from miles away. We will have to fight through the forest before reaching the top of the hill. I suggest we start heading towards the forest now."
"Sounds like a plan to me. Let's go," I replied.
All 4 of us make sure to double check our gear before we set out on our quest. We were all excited to hunt this dragon, Lidia and Benzo's mouths were practically drooling. I, however, maintain my composure because I didn't want to come off as a newb in front of Aiden. He looked like an experienced fighter but there was something about him that I didn't trust.
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