Arad opened his eyes with Aella sitting beside him, "Did Merlin knock me out?"
"She sure did," Aella replied with a smile, "You can't compete against an archmage in magic," She added with a smile.
Arad sat and looked beside him at the two books Merlin gave to him, "And those are?"
"Give them a read," Aella replied. Arad looked through the books, "Martial arts and fire magic?"
Merlin stared at him, "You're right. Try to learn them while working on mastering Gravity magic." She smiled, "Since you're advancing so quickly. You won't have a problem with a bit of extra work."
Arad stood and put the books in his stomach, "We will be going them. I will come back later after we finish the rank-up exam,"
Merlin stared at Arad, blinking twice, "What did you get exactly?"
"I don't know. We have to clear a new C-rank dungeon." Arad replied.
Merlin scratched her chin, "You might want to take a healer with you. You can never know with unmapped dungeons," She said with a smile.
"We will take enough healing potions," Arad replied. Aella looked at Merlin with a smile. "Taking a healer will be a huge hit to our fighting power,"
Merlin nodded, "I guess you can't handicap Arad for healing. He is your main damage dealer," Taking a healer means that Arad can't transform or use multiple elements, his vampiric or wyrmwolf powers.
"Exactly." Arad replied, "We will retreat if anything happens."
"By the way," Merlin looked at them, "Take the scales and bones. You might need them for weapons or armor. Remember, it's illegal to sell to private establishments like shops, so be careful," She pointed at the bags in the corner.
"To whom can I sell?" Arad asked.
"You can sell to me, the archmage. The city's council, the adventurers guild, or the merchant guild. You also give them to a blacksmith on the condition that he only makes armor or weapon for you with them," Merlin explained.
"That strict," Arad sighed,
Aella looked at Merlin, "Is it because of inflation?"
"As expected of an elf. You are right," Merlin smiled, "The prices of the black market are breaking everything. The city is trying to mitigate that by controlling the trafficking of goods."
Arad looked at her, "From how you sound, it isn't working,"
"Yeah, their plan is backfiring." Merlin sighed, "I hope they listen to their archmage once,"
"You tried to speak to them?" Aella looked at her.
"Yeah," Merlin sighed, "The city lord said that I'm a mage and know nothing of trade or how to rule a city. His head is harder than a stone,"
"It's like that everywhere," Aella sighed, "You need strength to make people listen to you,"
Merlin looked at her, "You need absolute might. I even tried to reach his son. But the lord won't even listen to his own son,"
"Son? Abel?" Arad looked at Merlin.
"You know him?"
"I just met him this morning," Arad replied, "He had a cubus in his brothel and wanted someone to catch it for him,"
Merlin looked surprised, "Why would Abel worry about a cubus?"
"What do you mean?" Arad stared at her, confused.
Merlin scratched her head, "I might have to look into that. I can't say much now until I make sure I understand the situation,"
Aella looked at her, "Is something wrong?"
"I'm not sure," Merlin looked at her books, "I might need to discuss this with Grandpa,"
"Is your grandfather a wizard?" Arad stared at her.
"I learned most of my magic from him," Merlin smiled, "I will take you to meet him when we have time,"
Arad nodded, "I can't wait," He smiled, "But for now, we have to go,"
"I know, be careful in the dungeon,"
*****
Arad and Aella left the archmage tower and headed to the inn to look for Jack. The bartender told them that he would be back soon. The two waited about an hour for Jack to show up. He came with a massive bag on his back.
"Chief! Can you put this in your stomach?" Jack said with a smile, putting the bag on the ground with a thud. "What do you have in there?" Arad asked.
"Trap material, rations, and holy water blessed by Lydia. Generally, anything we might need." Jack replied with a smile, opening the bag for Arad and Aella to see.
With a single flick of his finger, Arad absorbed the bag into his stomach and looked at Jack, "We have to clear a C-rank dungeon,"
"I know, the guild informed me," Jack replied, "We should use the crawl method,"
"Crawl method?" Arad and Aella stared at Jack, confused.
"That means we take the dungeon slowly, clear the first layer and set a supply chain with the outside world. Then proceed to the second later, and so on." Jack explained, "The only problem is that we have to clear it in a week, or the monsters will start reappearing."
"How do monsters appear in dungeons?" Arad asked.
Jack shook his head, "I don't know. I'm not an expert on dungeons. I know what other adventurers saw as an effective method. But I don't know anything about the inner working of dungeons."
Arad nodded, "Then let's go with that plan."
Jack seemed to remember something, "Mira wanted to see you. I will go to the dungeon first to set camp. You go check on her."
Arad and Aella looked at each other. Was it about the building? Aella looked at Jack, "Did she say why?"
Jack shook his head, "No, she only told me to say she wanted to see you."
"We will see you at the dungeon then," Arad said with a smile as he and Aella left. Jack took a few steps. And then stopped, "Didn't I just give him all the trap and camping equipment? "Chief!" He screamed, rushing behind Arad and Aella to retrieve the items.
***
Arad and Aella reached Lyla's shop, "Mira has been waiting for you two to show up," Lyla said with a smile, pointing upstairs.
Arad looked at the stairs. And then back at Lyla, "How you've been doing lately?"
"Still alive and kicking," Lyla smiled, "The life of a merchant isn't as dangerous as yours, so I should ask how you are doing. I heard you fought a dragon?"
Arad giggled, "As you can see. I still have all of my limbs," Arad waved his arms, spinning them, "I won't say the fight was easy."
Aella giggled, "Why did Mira call us?"
Lyla smiled, "She wanted to talk about the building progress, and I urged her to call you as well,"
"Why?" Arad stared at her.
"Do you still have some of that dragon's scales? I need a couple of them for the blacksmith," Lyla said, looking at Arad with a smile.
"Is that even legal?" Arad sighed, remembering what she said last time.
"Probably not," Lyla shook her head.
"Then I can't hand you anything," Arad smiled, walking past her. POP! Ten red scales popped beneath her desk.
"What a shame," Lyla looked down, seeing the scales, "What a wasted opportunity," She smiled.
Arad and Aella went upstairs to meet Mira.
Aella opened the door and walked into the living room. Mira wasn't there.
"Where could she be?" Arad asked.
"In her room, probably," Aella said, walking toward Mira's room and knocking on her door, "Mira, are you inside,"
"I'm not inside," Mira replied, "You can enter," She added.
Aella pushed the door open with a smile, "Was that a joke?"
Mira stared at her, half-naked, "Probably," She sighed.
Aella quickly stared behind her. Arad had understood Mira's joke and remained in the living room, "Sorry," Aella apologized and closed the door. She went back to Arad, "How did you understand her?" She asked.
Arad looked away, "Just a hunch." He was lying. It was Mom who warned him.
Aella stared at him for a while, "Fine," she sat beside him, waiting for Mira to come out.
"Sorry for the wait. I just returned from the shop and had to change," Mira walked out of her room, stretching her arms. She then sat beside Arad and Aella, staring at them and smiling.
"Your house should be ready in a week. Bob is doing a great job with his team," Mira said, giving Arad a sheet of paper.
Arad took the paper and gave it a read, "The total cost is fifteen gold coins?" He looked at her.
"That includes my furnishing as well," Mira stared at them, "And Bob had to rebuild the whole house from the ground up. It was falling apart," She said.
"I expected that," Arad put the paper on the table and looked at her, "But from your face, something else is bothering you."
Mira looked at Arad, "Bandits attacked us twice when you were away," She said, "The first time was when we were transporting building materials,"
"How did it go?" Arad stared at her.
"The moment the bandits pulled their weapons, a moose rushed from bushes and stomped them to death."
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