***
...
"Hey, old man, when are we arriving in that town?" Asked Rami as he stumbled while walking.
"Just like... 10 more minutes. Don't worry, we'll stop for a night there, then we'll get some horses to get to Empire of Lumisis faster."
"I'm gonna die before we even arrive there...!" Whined Rami as he threw his arms around.
"Stop overreacting. We've been walking for only 6 hours, and we did have some breaks on top of that." said Horatius.
"I'm gonna die!" Said Rami before falling on the ground.
The whole group stopped and looked at Rami.
"I think we should just leave him to catch up to us..." Said Zio blankly.
"We should just let him get eaten by wolves." said Zorn whilst looking down at Rami with an annoyed look.
"I agree..." Said Horatius as he began walking.
"You two are psychos." said Bellator as he eyed Zorn and Horatius.
"Rami, it's okay. I can carry you on my back if you can't walk anymore." said Seren while looking gently at Rami, who immediately rose from the ground and jumped on Seren's back.
"You're such a life saver, Seren!"
"Yeah, yeah..."
"Well, you had time for a conversation. Let's get moving." said Sahin before continuing walking with the group following behind him.
"Oh, and how much until we get to that lumi empire or whatever?" Asked Zorn.
"Well... depending on how much time we'll spend in the town... around 3 days, if we are lucky we may even arrive in 2 days." Explained Sahin as he eyed the surroundings.
"That sounds like hell! Seren, get ready to carry me for another 2 days, please..."
"... Eh...?"
***
The group had just arrived in the town, having no idea what fate had prepared for them now.
"This place is lively." said Rami as he looked around.
"Well, it's a market town. It was to be expected." said Zorn with a scoff.
"Yeah, yeah, Mr. No fun."
"What?"
"Come on now, stop arguing." said Sahin.
"So... where are we going now?" asked Bellator.
"Well, I wouldn't mind a beer after this long walk."
"If we keep wasting money this way, we will run out of money in a few days."
"Oh, come on now, a beer wouldn't hurt."
"It would hurt."
Sahin completely ignored Bellator as he walked to a bar with a wide smirk, ready to savor more than just a drink.
"HEY, OLD MAN!" shouted Bellator as he grabbed onto his arm, trying to stop him just to be dragged along the way, with no trace of stopping Sahin from his current mission.
"I think I will get a beer too" said Zorn, blankly.
"Nobody cares..." responded Horatius as he looked around suspiciously.
"What are you looking at, Horatius?" Asked Seren as he also looked around, trying to see what caught Horatius' attention.
"Nothing in particular." said Horatius before following behind Sahin and the others.
"Ooh, I can already smell the good heavenly smell of beer." said Sahin.
"HEY, HELP ME OUT HERE!" Shouted Bellator, looking at the others whilst still trying to hold Sahin back.
"No thanks..." said Horatius.
"Good luck, Bellator!" said Rami.
"Sorry, I'm already having enough trouble carrying Rami." said Seren.
"I cannot care less." said Zio.
"I also want a beer." said Zorn.
"Why am I even struggling...?" said Bellator before letting go and simply began following Sahin.
***
Inside the bar
In the background there was classical music playing, the people we're talking either about the current state of the world or just normal things, but something was clear- this town was not afraid of the archs, nit even a little bit.
This town is one of the best trading towns, it's currently the biggest trading town inside the whole region of Velmoria, a town that will surely get reinforcements from kingdoms and empires located in the magical lands of the world.
Thus, Sahin only ignored all the people and their rumors and sat down, then ordered a beer.
"Seems like this town is not worried about the archs" Zorn said as he looked.
"Considering it's current influence, it is to be expected" responded Sahin.
"We still don't know anything about those guys. Maybe they are weak against magic" said Rami, hopeful.
"I highly doubt. Eldoria still had some knights who can use magic. It wouldn't be as simple as that." said Zio as he eyed the place.
"Oh, well... out journey is still too early to even think about such complex things" said Sahin.
As the conversation went on, a mysterious figure wearing a cloak entered the bar, then walked to a table and sat right behind Zorn before speaking.
"You've grown, Zorn." said the mysterious figure as a smirk appearance on his face.
"Hm...?"
Zorn then slowly looked behind him, inspecting the mysterious figure that had just spoken to him.
...
"Oh... it's you, old man, Draegor. Long time no see."
Draegor then bursts out laughing as he throws the cloak down before pointing at Zorn.
"This is how you greet your old man after 7 years? Hahahah, you are just like your old man!"
"Draegor...?" Mumbled Bellator as he stared at Zorn.
"Draeger the dragon slayer, Draegor?" Mumbled Zio.
"Draegor, who was one of the 4 strongest warriors just a decade ago?" Mumbled Seren.
...
EHHHHHHH?
"Oh... I haven't told you? He took me in when I was a baby." said Zorn blankly as if it was not a big deal
Bellator then grabs Zorn's collar before shouting:
"YOU MEAN THAT YOU WERE RAISED BY THE GREAT DRAEGOR? AND WHAT'S UP WITH THAT LOOK!? YOU THINK YOU'RE SPECIAL NOW?"
"Eh?"
Zorn was about to speak before Zio interrupted.
"IT TOOK YOU 7 YEARS TO TELL US THAT, DUMBASS?"
"Why are you two so mad..." Mumbled Zorn as he eyed the two.
"YOUR FATHER FIGURE IS A LITERAL LEGENDS!" shouted Bellator.
"And?"
"DONT YOU JUST GIVE US 'AND'!"
"Who's Draegor?" Asked Rami as he tilted his head sideway.
"Some kind of hotshot." responded Horatius with.
"He sounds cool!"
"He isn't..."
"What? Jealous, you weren't raised by a warrior as I was, Horatius." said Zorn with a smirk.
"Oh wow..."
Horatius began clapping mockingly as he spoke.
"Congratulations, oh mighty Zorn, on your achievement. Want a medal on top of that?"
"You..."
"Now, now. There is no need to argue." said Sahin.
"So... Sahin, what are you doing here?"
"Oh, we're traveling."
"Hmm... I see... your passion still hasn't left you."
"Seems like old man is still keeping secrets..." muttered Seren as he stared at Sahin.
"What about you, Draegor?"
"You know me. I'm still trying to prove the existence of demons... Ever since that day, 14 years ago, my sole purpose, the only thing I fought for was to prove the existence of demons."
"I see..."
"Where are you heading?"
"We're heading to Empire of Lumisis."
"Hmm? What for?"
Sahin was about to speak, but then Zorn interrupted him by saying:
"This dumb, stupid old man wants to recruit the youngest sibling of that demon-angel crap, shit family."
Draegor immediately burst out laughing at what he heard.
"What? It's a good idea." said Sahin. As he eyed borh Draegor and Zorn.
"No, it's not!" Responded Zorn with.
"Well... I can't help you two with that... Sahin, do you remember Charis?"
"Of course I do." responded Sahin as he layed back.
"Charis had become the leader of the knights in the Empire of Lumisis In order to gain more information about the 'half-angel, half-demon' family. I know you already know how the blind can be stronger warriors that the ones with sight but I'll still explain so the kids can also understand it– Charis has a 'sight' that we came to call 'the third eye' even though blind, Charis can see more than us, who have been blessed with sight... Charis can see how the life force flows in our body. He can see the actions our body wants to do... 4 years ago, we managed to get permission to explore the forbidden continent, Jarkansan... Aside from the structures we came across and the writings on them with a language we have yet to discover, we found a book, a diary... the book was at least 2 millennium old. In the book, it was written about 'the third eye' and its powers... it said that it can also see the true color of a person if mastered... to see if it is an evil soul or not... we don't know if that power, the 'third eye' can also be obtained by those with sight, but one thing is obvious... it's a power that exceeds every other magic power, a power used by gods."
"What does that have to do with our current task?"
"Well... I strongly believe that the youngest sibling is... the most dangerous."
"Really?"
"There are 6 siblings... the oldest name is Aelion, then there is Daniel, Erza, Lucy, Mellisa , and Mel– it seems like Aelion, Daniel, and Erza take turns ruling. The emperor is basically just a peasant in their eyes. Right now, Aelion seems the one that rules the most. One of them rules when the other 2 leave and so on... Lucy and Mellisa seem to never be in the Empire that often, while Mel never leaves."
"I see... quite the mysterious family– I still don't see with what this information could help us."
"Every information we have in them helps, dumbass."
"Yeah, yeah... no need to get to insults..."
"Anyway... criminals who are punished with execution are taken to Mel before their execution and sometimes even get to live– we think that Mel may have the 'third eye' and mightiest mastered it enough to see the true intentions of someone, if they're evil or not."
"See people's true intentions...?"
"Yeah... we also think that Mel kills those he sees unholy... Just 3 days ago, there was a scene where Mel had sended a knight in the arena to fight 10 orcs, leading him to his death... Mel Maybe done that because he saw evilness in his soul or... he done it for fun."
"That knight... was he someone important?"
"No, he was just a low ranking knight. He had nothing nothing with anything important until he was called by Mel into his room."
"Well... that raises questions."
"We also do know that Mel watched the knight's train for some minutes before going on with his day every morning."
"I see... he really is an interesting fellow."
"I'm not telling you not to go and try your luck recruiting him... neither am i telling him to fo do that... I'm just asking you to be vigilant... that kid knows about the word, maybe even more than we do... his hobby is reading about the world, he has around 1000 books in his library... and also that kid is unpredictable. Charis can read the life force flowing through us perfectly. He can predict all our movements, too, but with that kid... he can't even predict how the life force will flow in him. He said his life force in going in all directions as if it's purposely trying to make it hard for Charis. And it's not only Charis, everyone– nobody can predict that kid."
"Well, that sure sounds fun."
"... Sahin... if Charis would be here, he would tell you that it's a bad idea... but I think you should give it a try. I feel like that boy is a pure soul, just lonely. He also also has plenty of books of adventures, so im sure the idea of foing an an adventure would excite him... he's a brilliant kid that isn't understood by those his age... I'm sure that must feel lonely."
"Well, you sure are sympathetic towards someone you don't even know considering that when you were raising you, you were beating my ass for every mistake I made." Zorn said as he gave a mean look to Draegor.
"Shut up, dumbass! I was making a cool, sad moment here!"
...
***
The talk went on, with the group laughing, enjoying something as simple as a talk.
"So, where did you said you're heading?" Draegor asked
"To Empire of Lumisis, by my estimate we should arrive there in 2-3 days" Sahin said proudly
"2-3 days?... oh you don't know?"
"Know what?"
"The main road closed because of a dragon attack. You'll have to take the longer route and because of the archs people are desperately trying to move in Empire of Lumisis for safety. If you're lucky it should take around a 3 months"
"... 3 what?"
"3 months"
"Oh! I'm so glad Seren is willing to carry me for all the journey" Rami said, signing in relief
"What? I didn't s-" Seren wanted to protest just ro be cut off by Rami.
"Thank you, Seren!"
"But don't worry I heard there is a person who can use teleportation magic in this town— well, I'm pretty sure it costs 10.000 gold coins per person." said Draegor .
"10.000? We cannot afford that!" Said Sahin.
"No worries, I'm sure you can obtain the coins needed in less than a month. There is alot of work you can so here. And who knows, maybe you'll find a job to get rid of magic beasts"
"Hmm..."
Sahin sat in silence until he smirked and spoke
"Well then, let's hope that opportunity hits us. We'll be staying here until we get enough gold coins!"