The Saga of Eden

Chapter 1, part 7

“Oh, you mean the Adventurer Guild? It was demolished last year, pretty boy.” Lela quips. “Try to keep up with the time, will you?”

In place of the building is now a large board containing many papers with portraits in them. [Wanted poster...]

“Might as well go there and see if there’s any job we can do.” Eden shrugs. 

The 2 of them then walk towards the large crowd in front of the wanted poster. They stop at the back of the crowd; as Talented individuals, they can see the board just fine, even from far away.

“Yo, pretty boy, check that one out!” Lela calls to Eden as she points towards the biggest poster in the middle of the board. “If we manage to beat that thing, we won’t have to worry about working again for the rest of our lives.”

Eden turns his attention to this poster again, he had a quick look at it, but once he sees the keyword ‘Lvl 72’, his attention quickly moves to something else less intimidating.

WANTED: Dead or Alive

NARILA, Lvl 72

Race: Demon

Fighting Style: Rogue

Strength: High speed, Has wings

Weakness: Weak when surrounded by enemies

Location: 2-story tall isolated building, 700m Northeast of Ella, accompanied by less than 50 demons, Lvl 10-40.

Reward: ￡60, additional rewards for other demons killed or captured.

“Demons...” Eden whispers. 

The first monster he had ever killed was a demon when he was 14. They are s******c monsters who do ruthless things to their victims, Eden was lucky he was with his teacher, and that demon didn’t have wings, else it would have ended ugly. He has a plan to deal with ones with wings, but a demon with Lvl 72 is out of the question.

[Also, what is that ￡ symbol? I only know that copper coins are ¢. Is it silver? Gold?]

“It’s not like we can actually take him on anyway,” Lela says, breaking Eden’s train of thoughts. “Oh well, a girl can dream.”

Lela might be trying to hide her honest thoughts, but Eden notices that Lela is, perhaps, genuinely disappointed with this truth. Nevertheless, there is nothing they can do, the two of them are nowhere near enough to take on that demon. 

Suddenly, the two of them hear a voice coming from behind. “But what if I tell you that you don’t have to dream?”

Startled, Eden and Lela turn around to see who just eavesdropped on their conversation and see an old man holding a wooden staff. His hair is short and his beard is long, all the way to his chest, but they’re well-cut and gray. He has many wrinkles across his face, but from his focused green eyes and how he effortlessly holds the staff, one can tell this man is much healthier than he looks. He wears a beautiful blue robe enchanted by magic, any experienced person like Lela can tell just from this that the old man is a high Level wizard and should never be looked at lightly.

Behind him are 2 people around Eden’s age, an older boy and a younger girl. The boy is likely older than Eden, he’s also wearing a bandana on his head like Lela, but it’s red instead. It doesn’t cover his head entirely, however, and Eden can tell that he’s bald. His face oozes seriousness, youthful vigor, and determination. He’s big, muscular, and a full head taller than Eden, who is only slightly taller than Lela. He’s wearing black clothes and steel gloves, and from his bald head, Eden can tell he must be (or used to be) a pupil of some school of Martial Arts that attacks using their fists, and he’s wearing their uniform. Eden considered joining them in the past, but no schools accepted training with a sword, so he decided not to.

Next to him is a nervous young girl. She’s wearing the same outfit as the priestesses from the nearby Cathedral: white hood, white gown, black belt, and a crystal staff. She looks very similar to the one next to her, they even have the same blue eyes. [Perhaps the two of them are siblings?] There are only a few differences between them, the girl has short blond hair, their expressions are different, the girl is half a head shorter than Lela, and the boy is more tanned, likely due to training outside while she mostly stays indoors.

“Lela, good to see you again! What brings you back to Ella?” The old man breaks the tension with a warm welcome.

“You’re...Astraka, right?” Lela asks, there are some doubts on her face.

“Yes.”

“Sorry, but we’re not that close. I don’t think you should talk to me like we’re friends. It’s...weird.” She tries to explain without making it too awkward. 

“Don’t worry. I should be the one to apologize for calling you two out of the blue.” Astraka lowers his head. “It’s just that we have been thinking about taking on this demon as well for a while now, but we’re lacking capable manpower.”

“So you want us to cooperate and take it down together?” Eden asks.

“Exactly, young man.” Astraka turns to him and nods happily. “Strong and smart. I like you, Mr…?”

“You can call me Eden.”

“Eden it is, then! So Eden and Miss Dandelion, what do you say?”

“I would be happy to. Lela?” Eden answers and turns his gaze to his partner.

“Splitting the money for 5 people isn’t ideal, but we’d get some good pay nonetheless, I’m in.” Lela shrugs. “And Astraka, you can call me Lela. Hearing everyone say my family name makes me feel old.”

“Excellent.” Astraka nods. “Are you two free right now? We can go to my place and discuss the plan right away.”

“Sounds good,” Eden answers, but Lela quickly pulls him away for a private talk. Their hands touch and Eden blushes a little bit.

“Are you crazy? You can’t just accept such an invitation from someone you just met?” Lela nags at him quietly so no one can overhear them. Her face is very close to him, perhaps too close. “I don’t know if you noticed, but that guy probably has Level 50 or 60 or something, and we are outnumbered. I WILL NOT become a plaything to some old man if this turns out to be a trap!”

“Of course I knew that!” He did not. “But...look at the girl behind him! You and I can tell that she’s just an innocent priestess, and the young man is her brother, I’m sure of it! They’re not being coerced into this. If they trust Astraka, then so do I.” Eden wracks his brain to think of another reason. “Besides, you’re potentially losing a lot of money if we walk away now.”

Eden seems to have hit the right spot. Lela lets him go after another second staring at him and sighs. “Fine, but if this turns out to be a trap, then every man for themselves, got it?”

“O-of course.”

The 5 of them start walking back to Astraka’s place. Now that Eden’s cool, quiet persona did not work with Lela, he figures he should use the nice, caring persona instead. [Maybe this will be enough to attract these 3 into joining my team, they seem strong.]

“Hi, I’m Eden, what are your names?” Eden walks next to the young man and offers his hand with a smile. His supposed sister is staring at Eden intently. Based on his serious expression so far, Eden is afraid that the tall man will ignore him like when he first met Lela, but he’s surprised that the man shakes his hand and smiles back. 

“Nice to meet you, Eden. I’m Harmani, and this is my sister, Nara. We’re glad to see two more Talented people joining this fight against the demon.”

[Aha! So she is his sister, after all! Wait… two more?]

“Which one in your team is Talented?” Eden asks.

“We all are,” Harmani responds, and Eden’s eyes are opened wide out of shock. “I’m surprised you didn’t know that already, we’re all pretty famous in this city individually, even more so together. I guess you’re from out of town.” Harmani continues.

[Seriously? This is perfect! All I need to do is convince them to join forces, and we’d be all set to travel anywhere!]

“But we still have a long way to go, I’m only Level 43 and my sister is only 38. We still have a long way to go before we can catch up with Astraka.” Harmani continues.

“But you two are still young, right? You still have many opportunities to learn,” says Eden.

“I guess you’re right, but enemies don’t discriminate in a life and death situation. Besides, I graduated very recently with no killing experiences, while my sister is only 18 and first time leaving the Holy Order.” Nara blushes red after Harmani says the last part and kicks him. “Ah! What did I do!... Oh, I see, sorry.” 

Nara turns the other way and pouts. She’s mad because...because...Wait, what is she angry about? Hold on, let me check...Oh, she’s mad because you should never reveal a woman’s age. Is that correct? I honestly can’t tell.

“Hey, don’t leave me out of the conversation!” Lela suddenly says after she feels comfortable enough to join, she then walks up next to the other side of Nara. “Hey Nara! I’m Lela, don’t be scared, okay? I won’t bite.” She teases the younger girl, who’s still looking very shy.

“H-hello...Lela. N-nice to meet you.”

“Kyahh! Young priestesses like you are just the cutest!” Lela says as she hugs Nara tightly, squeezing the small priestess against her body. Nara can only whimper a small “Eep!” in response, but she doesn't try too hard to push Lela out. Normally, Nara would be smothered when her face is buried that deep into a woman’s chest, but thankfully the lack of “roughness” on Lela’s upper body allows Nara to breathe.

The 4 of them continue their idle chatting and soon, they have arrived at Astraka’s home: a plain 2-story tall cottage made out of brick. When they walk inside, however, Eden and Lela are surprised to see the interior is surprisingly comfy, with a fireplace, a bookshelf, two sofas, a dining area, and a large table near the bookshelf. It is as if the interior looks many times bigger than what the exterior has shown. On the large table, Eden sees countless pieces of paper of the site where they’re planning to attack, with notes and arrows all over every single piece of paper.

“So let’s kill some demons, shall we?” Astraka claps his hands in excitement.