"HAAA! Finally!" Aella sighed, falling on her back with her arms spread apart and staring at the sky as she felt a slight burn in her eyes.
"Thirteen thousand seven hundred and forty-six gold coins in total," Mira looked at Aella, "And that without counting the jewels."
"That's a hundred and thirty-seven platinum coin. And you have forty-six gold coins left." Claug smiled, looking at Aella, "I doubt it will be enough to make a magnificent castle, but it's a start."
"We would start by building a road to the mountain base and then a long staircase leading to the top where the castle would be." Mira smiled, "Arad can transport the materials in his stomach. We should be able to get a foundation ready with this amount of money."
Aella looked at Mira, "You're amazing, already thinking of how to build the castle." She smiled, "I doubt Bob will accept the job,"
Mira scratched her chin, "You're right. We need to find someone willing to take long-term work, but those people are usually busy building forts and castles for nobles and lords."
"Arad is getting a noble title. Could we use that to get the castle going?" Aella looked at Mira with a smile. She stood up and cracked her back.
"Lord Arad's first castle, a magnificent fort on a snowy peak on a monster-infested land. Who's the brave daring to tread the stone stairs to his front door?" Aella waved her palm and looked at Claug, "How does it sound,"
"Sounds like a trial of seven thousand steps. I feel sorry for the one building them more than walking them." Claug smiled, and her opal fangs glowed under the sunlight.
ZON! Arad emerged from thin air, leaving a faint trail of dark mist after him that disappeared in the blink of an eye. He stared at Claug with a magical purple glow in his eyes, "We finished the meeting," He smiled.
"Really? This quickly?" Claug smiled, getting her head close to him. "Those two old geezers have left?"
"No, they are still around the mountain peak. You can still feel the dragons around." Arad looked at the sky, "Ignis said that even if the majority of the chromatic dragons followed the orders of staying away from my land, there would still be hotblooded young ones who dare attack for glory."
"And you can kill them. That's normal. I bet Ignis even allowed you to hunt chromatic dragons who annoy you. To us, it's the strong that eats the weak." Claug giggled, "But Kinryu had another thing to say, right?"
"Yeah, unlike chromatic dragons, metallic dragons are good-natured, and killing is something frowned upon by them. Meaning I would have to have proof of wrongdoing deserving of death before killing one of their kind."
"That's true," Claug approached Arad, "You can see it as humans law. You can't just kill anyone you meet Unless they are a proven criminal like bandits."
Aella approached Arad, "So, the mission is over, right?" She looked at his face with a smile, excited to hear they finished an S-rank quest.
"Yeah, about that," Arad scratched his head, "The quest was to get the marquess's daughters. And they seem to have fled the city before we even arrived."
"So the quest failed," Mira sighed, looking at Aella as her ears dropped, "You didn't finish the s-rank quest?"
"No, the quest failed. Our job was to get the twins, and we didn't. It's a simply failed objective." Arad sighed, "But since we knew why ran away in the first place, we should probably report that they were killed in the mess."
"You intend to lie to the marquess?" Aella looked at Arad with a sad face.
"I know you wanted me to finish an S-rank quest, but we couldn't do it. The twins played us well." Arad scratched his head, "I bet that noble wouldn't like that we failed either."
Claug nodded, "Knowing that ugly pig, he will be both enraged that you didn't find them and relieved that he doesn't have to deal with them having stabbed another noble's eye."
"We need to wait for Alcott to be able to move before we can report back, so I have some time to think of a solution." Arad sighed.
"It isn't really a problem," Mira approached Arad. "As you said, it's simple. No twins failed the quest. That's it."
"You're right," Arad smiled, patting her head.
"Master," Tina approached Arad, "This is the first time I got to speak to you like this. I'm pleased to work under you," She bowed, her hair flying forward.
"Yeah, we didn't really have any time to speak to each other in the carriage." Arad had spent most of his time with Kinryu and Ignis, and Tina didn't find it possible to speak to him with thousands of dragons watching.
Tina looked at Claug, ^It's only one, and she's as green as a lizard that I can ignore her, she had gotten used to Claug and won't get scared by her presence.
"Hoi!" Claug glared at Tina, "I could sense you wanted to say something disrespectful, didn't you?"
Tina giggled and looked at Arad and then at Serin, "She also seems to have calmed down, thanks to you."
Arad approached Serin. She was sleeping in her small bag, waving her tiny hands a the air and laughing. Or, that is what everyone besides Arad saw.
He saw Loci in her fairy form flying around Serin and making funny faces, and Serin was trying to catch her.
Claug looked at Arad and noticed that his eyes and Serin's eyes are looking at the same spot in the air. Her draconic brain quickly drew the conclusion.
"Arad, what are you two looking at?" Claug asked.
"The genius loci named Loci, she is in her fairy form and floating around Serin," Arad replied, pointing with his finger at the empty space around Serin.
"A loci?" Tina tilted her head.
Arad lifted Serin and started spinning with her as she laughed, "Don't worry, I won't be keeping you tied here as a slave." Arad looked at Tina as he played with Serin.
"When things calm down, I will find a way to send you back home." Arad declared with a smile.
Serin giggled, a faint golden light burning in her eyes. For some reason, Lydia's words came back to Arad. ~Holy magic isn't a power owned by mortals, but one granted to them by the gods to pursue a good goal. That is why clerics and paladins are heavily religious. their power is granted to them by the gods.~
Claug gasped, swinging her claw at Serin as fast as she could, sensing a surge in her holy magic.
***
A blond angel sighed in the heavens, "Did you really need to do that?" She glared back at the oak-tanned muscular man sitting on the golden throne behind her.
Another white-haired angel looked back with a grin on her face, "That girl doesn't have a fate anywhere else."
"Her father died protecting her and his wife, a true man. How I could not hold his last wish true?" The man replied, lifting his palm and swinging it down.
CLAP!!!
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