Arad stared at Nina with an exhausted face, "Merlin? Really?"
"Why?" Nina looked confused, "Do you have a problem with her? Her quests are quite popular,"
Arad remembered he saw a quest about the archmage wanting people for her experiment. "Yeah, I remember those." He replied, sitting and telling Nina about their encounter with Merlin.
"You're going to take it?" Aella sat beside Arad after he finished telling the story.
"I don't know. I will at least hear what the quest is about." He looked at Nina with a smile.
Nina sat facing him and pulled a single piece of paper, laying it on the table, "The quest is simple. Merlin needs you to retrieve a magic lantern from the inside of an experimental heater."
"An experimental heater? She said something about that, but I don't know the details." Arad looked at the quest sheet.
"You can say it's a massive oven. Merlin wants you to use a flame cloak and walk in to retrieve the lantern. You could very well finish the quest in a few minutes." She pointed with her fingers at the reward, "A full ten gold coins,"
Arad nodded, "This looks nice," He smiled, "I won't take it since too good to be true." He stood.
"Are you sure?" Nina looked at him, "Merlin's track record is clean. All the quests she gave could be finished easily."
"I still feel like there is a catch, and I won't accept the quest until I hear what that is." Arad looked at Nina one last time before leaving with Aella.
Nina sighed, taking the paper and stomping it as rejected. She then took it to the mailing department, "Send this back,"
When the department manager looked at it, he gasped, "From the archmage, and it got rejected? Get him to accept the quest. We can't send such a thing back."
Nina glared at him, "I told you to send it back. Merlin would be angry if we forced him to take the quest," She left the paper with them and walked away.
***
A letter reached Merlin that day saying that Arad rejected her quest. She looked at the paper, smiling, "How hard is it to make you come here?"
With a flick, the lantern flew from inside the heater and back to her hand, "Ouch! Hot!" She cried.
"Arad, o, Arad. One day I will get you here, and he just how your insides work." She took a blank paper from her desk, "What should it be? It's probably better if I don't write my name on it."
She started preparing a second quest.
***
Arad walked out of the private room and to the guild, seeing Nigel's father waiting at the guild's door. "You finished?" He asked with a smile.
"Did you need something?" Arad replied, looking around. The man was alone.
"I wanted to thank you for saving my son. We're in your dept for the second time," He bowed slightly.
Arad shook his head, "No need to thank me. It's nothing." Arad waved his hand, leaving with Aella as quickly as they could.
^Good, it's spreading.^ Arad thought, smiling inside.
[Building a reputation so it will be hard for people to act against you.]
^Now I have someone I know in the guards? All I need is to know more people, and then I will be safer.^ Arad's draconic brain is already hard at work. Trying to make sure he's using everything to further his goals.
After walking for a while, Arad and Aella reached Lyla's shop.
"What brought you back?" Lyla asked. Staring at them from inside the shop, "I got what Mira asked for." Arad replied, walking in with Aella trailing behind him.
Lyla blinked twice, putting what was in her hands and approaching him, "That can't be right. To finish such a thing in one day." She looked at him momentarily before pointing toward the stairs, "Mira is asleep. Wake her up."
"It's the middle of the day." Arad sighed.
"She works on her own schedule. She worked in the morning and is now taking a nap. She usually wakes up late in the afternoon and works till midnight." Lyla explained. Mira isn't lazy. Her schedule is just messy.
Arad approached the stairs. And then stopped, "Aella, you go wake her up." He looked back.
Aella nodded with a smile, "I will be back," She walked up the stairs.
In the meantime, Arad approached Lyla, "Can I drop the stones here?" He asked while looking around.
"No, do it in the back room." She pointed at a small room at the back of the shop. "How much did you bring?"
"I didn't count, but it's a lot," Arad walked to the back room and extended his palm.
"Wait a moment," Lyla rushed toward him with a large bucket, "Here you go."
Arad started filling one bucket after the other until he reached the tenth one and stopped.
Lyla looked at the pile he made, "You really brought a lot. I doubt a miner could get this much in a day, let alone an adventurer grabbing stones from a goblin hole."
"My storage helped. All I needed was to gather what I found." Arad said, pulling a nearby chair and sitting.
"Ah! You came back," Mira stared down the stairs with Aella behind her. Her hair was messy, and she almost wore a long white robe. "I will be down soon," She walked away to get herself ready.
***
A few minutes later, Mira came to inspect the stones. After a few moments, she smiled. "They are all decent, nothing amazing, but it's expected from that mine."
"So they good?" Arad approached her, bending over to look at the stones.
"Yes, just give me a moment to weigh everything," She walked to the back to bring a big enough scale.
Thud! Mira put the heavy-looking object on the ground and started working. One bucket after the other, she weights everything till the last pebbles.
"Fifty-four kilos and a bit, let's say it fifty-five. With three silver coins each, you have earned one gold coin and sixty-five silver coins." Mira immediately calculated it and approached the counter. She registered the purchase and pulled Arad's payment.
"Here is your payment, don't spend it all in one place. Except here in the shop." Mira smiled. Arad counted the money, "Thanks,"
"Don't forget to come in two days. Aella's should be ready by then." Mira smiled.
Arad nodded. "Aella, give her your bow. It's time for an upgrade."
"Is that okay? We won't be able to fight as efficiently without it." Aella said, putting her bow on the table.
"Yeah, taking a day or two breaks won't hurt anyone," Arad replied.
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