Harbinger: The Four Knights

In Search For The Dragon's Only Weakness

The guild leader gave the three of them a room to spend the night while he and his assistant takes care of things like how many adventurers are willing to come with them to the dragons’ lair. “I did not think that there will be a few number of adventurers that are willing to join us with the dragons’ lair.” The guild leader muttered after seeing the names written in paper that he holds. “Well, that is understandable boss. Dragons are ruthless creatures and dangerous to boot, there is no way that some of the adventurers would think of themselves in times likes this. Especially when the expedition this year might cost them their lives.” His assistant pointed out but the guild leader knew about this himself.

[There are only a good number of 8 adventurers that are willing to join us excluding the three new comers. There will be only 12 of us heading out tomorrow since Kayla needs to watch over the guild in my stead while I am away otherwise the guild might be in chaos.] he thought to himself as he ponders on how their numbers will deal with the number of monsters that they are going to face during the expedition. “Ah! There is no use pondering over something that we can’t help with. I need to get the supplies immediately, we might have fewer in numbers but I can’t slack off and bring inadequate equipment as well.” He told himself as he writes off the things that they are going to need and hands it over to Kayla saying that he needs those things ready right before sunrise.

“Are you two really sure that we are going to do the dragons’ lair in our first expedition? No matter how I look at it, all I can see is death, there is no way we can deal with dragons that are far greater and stronger than us, there is just no way. Unless you have a plan or a way to deal with them of some sort, I’m all ears.” Marcus told the two as they recall the ways that the great elder used to tell them when they were still a child. “As far as I can remember, there was one thing that a dragon is weary of.” Amon muttered as he scan through his mind the one thing that he spoke of but then all of the sudden, Abel takes out a piece of paper from his bag and hands it to Amon who immediately recognize what Abel handed to him.

“This is it! The one thing that could help us defeat a dragon!” Amon exclaimed and Marcus immediately rush to his side to see what was written on the paper. “Dragon’s bane? What the heck is that?” Marcus tilt his head in amazement after hearing something like that for the very first time. “And where did you get an information like that?” he added. “Dragon’s bane can be found near the volcanoes, it an ore that emits red light and it c an be forged into something that can easily kill a dragon. Well, that is what the legend from our lands go.” Amon said with a confident tone and Abel confirms Amon’s claim.

“What the young master saying is true, a single dragon’s bane ore can be made into a sword. The injuries that it inflicts will cause the dragon so much pain that it will no longer be able to deal with the incoming attacks towards it. After seeing how the meeting went earlier, there will be only a few of us coming to the dragons’ lair which is really convenient since moving with such a large group of people will only expose ourselves and would be vulnerable to their aerial attacks.” Abel supported as he asks for a map of the land, Marcus handed one over and tells him the locations of the volcanoes nearby.

“Marcus, there is one thing that I want you to do.” Abel said after seeing the number of volcanoes in the land, Marcus turns his head and listened to what Abel had to say. “I want you to tell the guild leader to bring a blacksmith in our room immediately, we are going to interrogate him.” He said with a serious tone, Marcus obliged and went to fetch the guild leader immediately. “Can humans really forge a Dragon’s bane successfully while under a whole load of stress?” Amon asked Abel who shook his head. “That is the reason why we are going to interrogate a blacksmith, to know what their limits are.” Abel responded as he looks at the map once again.

[If we are not able to forge weapons from a Dragon’s bane ore, we are still able to use it as raw material but a refined and forged Dragon’s bane ore is so much effective than the raw ones, if worse comes to worst, we need to resort to using raw materials otherwise we would all die. We need to inform the guild leader of this immediately.] he though to himself while waiting for Marcus to come back.

[Ah! I hate such a large place like this.] I thought to myself as I wander around the empty hallways hoping to find someone that can lead me to where the guild leader is but it irritates me to think that this place is as large as our house, a large building with only a few people inside it. I treaded the hallways back and forth like a fool and after the tenth time of walking in the hallway, I saw Kayla. A smile crept on my face after knowing that I will be able to see the guild leader. “Hello Ms. Can I see the guild leader? I have something very important to tell him.” I said with a smile on my face after finally able to see someone.

“Certainly young master, please follow me.” She said as she leads the way. A few minutes later they are in front of the guild leader’s room that Marcus recognizes and thanks Kayla before entering the room.

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

“Excuse me.” Marcus said as he opened the door and find the guild leader’s fairly stressed complexion. Good evening guild leader, I have something important to tell you. It is about the dragons and how to deal with them, my comrades knew a weakness that can help take down a dragon and wants me to tell you to bring a blacksmith in our room for interrogation. But please keep this a secret, we don’t want any dragon meat and core heist if the weakness is real after all.” Marcus knew how crucial it was to be kept in secret that he immediately knew without Abel telling him.

The guild leader was surprised of the piece of news that he heard from Marcus and immediately stood up and grabbed Marcus by his arm, telling him to follow him outside. “The guild’s blacksmith lives in the house next to the guild’s building and decided to built his smithy there.” He said as they tread the hallways faster than Marcus could walk earlier.

The two of them got outside the guild’s building faster than Marcus expected and saw the very same house that the guild leader is talking about and the guild leader immediately knocked on the door a few times but nobody answer. [Well, it is pretty late so people should be asleep right now.] Marcus thought to himself and wanted to stop the guild leader from causing a scene but before he can speak up, the guild leader knocks the door like it was about to break open.

BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!

Marcus was horrified of the guild leader’s action that he froze in his place but this time, a person answered with nothing but a vengeful shout. “What the hell?! You do realize that its already late to be bashing people’s door this late at night right?!” a person with a blacksmith’s clothes shouted as he angrily slams the door open. “Good day old man Kaseki, I’m really in need of your assistance right now.” The guild leader asked with a humble tone as he bows his head but the old blacksmith did not show any signs of interest. “If it isn’t the guild leader, is that a valid reason even for a person like you to be banging my door like that? Didn’t your parent’s taught you some manners?” he said with a bashful tone. “You are going to wake my family with that kind of knocking you idiot.” He added.

“Wow- I never thought I would be able to see someone who can casually call the guild leader names, even the adventurers earlier were like puppies when the guild leader got angry but this time, the guild leader is the one who looks like a puppy. Just what is going on?] Marcus thought to himself as he stares at the spectacle occurring before his eyes. “You don’t have a family old Kaseki, all you have is your tools, your favorite smelting hammer and the weapons that you crafted. You are basically alone.” I the guild leader said with a calm tone. [Damn, the guild leader is even throwing off some. No- no-! don’t get distracted Marcus, your younger brothers wanted you to do something so you must do it properly!] he slap his cheeks while the two bicker with each other and cut in their bashful fight before it drags on any longer.

“I hate to cut in on your wonderful conversation but there is something important that we want from you Mr. Kaseki, and we need to get to it immediately, please lend us some of your time and I apologize for waking you up from your sleep.” Marcus said with a respectful tone and bows his head. The blacksmith saw his gesture a lot refined than the guild leader and agreed. “Even this kid’s attitude is better than yours. When will you ever grow up you kid?” he turned to the guild leader who is not even interested in getting in a fight with him at the moment. Then the three of them went inside the guild’s building and head straight for the room where Amon and Abel are waiting.

[A bunch of kids?] Kaseki thought to himself after seeing the other two kids inside the room. “So? What do you want from me?” he asked immediately after arriving. The guild leader is also interested in the thing that Marcus told him earlier so he stayed inside. “We want to ask you if you can create something that can deal with dragons.” The blacksmith immediately lets out a laugh. “AHAHAHA! I did not believe what the other members told me earlier. They said that the guild leader has already lost it because he wants to venture in the dragons’ lair for this year’s expedition but I never expected it to be true after all. Don’t joke around kid, you don’t know how ruthless and dangerous it is to be with dragons inside a cave. You are all just going to throw your lives away just like the others before you. Now if you’ll excuse me, I want to leave before I get influenced by your stupidity.” The blacksmith was about to leave when Amon mentions something interesting for a blacksmith like him.

“I think you misunderstood what we meant Mr. Blacksmith, we do not want you to create simple weapons like you have until now,. We want you to create weapons that can kill a dragon, with a Dragon’s bane ore.” The blacksmith immediately stop his hands from turning the door knob  and immediately turns to the ones he referred to as kids. [How the hell did they know about something like that?] he thought to himself. “Dragon’s bane? What is that?” the guild leader muttered in ignorance. “Stupid, that is the only ore that can inflict too much injury to a dragon that’s why it is called Dragon’s bane in the first place.” He bash the guild leader’s ignorance and turned to the kids and say. “You got my interest now kids, now tell me, what do you want from me?” he said with an enthusiastic tone and expression.

Abel and Amon then proceeded and pointed out the possible Dragon’s bane ore location near the volcanoes according to the map that they have with them, they plan to venture into those volcanoes before proceeding with the expedition to the dragons’ lair. “We need to come fully prepared, but if you can come with us and forge weapons while we fight with the dragon’s that would also be efficient since we do not have to travel that would probably take a few days.”  The guild leader realized and understood what the kids are planning to do by calling the blacksmith over, and now they have to convince him to come but with the fear of the dragon’s their chances are slim.

               [If I want him to come then I will have to throw in a lot more bait otherwise he would just brush the thought of coming with us to the dragons’ lair-] “I’ll go.” The blacksmith immediately answered. “Hmmm that’s good to hear- wait what?!” the guild leader was surprised of he sudden answer without a single ounce of hesitation. “What did you just say old man?” he wanted to confirm but gets a scolding instead. “Have you gone deaf before me you i***t? I said I’ll go, there, is that enough now? I can’t believe that an i***t like you gets to be the guild leader.” Kaseki said with a bashful tone once again.

               “But I thought you are going to refuse!” the guild leader was convinced that Kaseki was going to refuse but things are not going as he expected. “You really are an i***t. There is no way a blacksmith like me is going to refuse something like that unless the blacksmith you asked had thrown away his passion. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for me to create such things that can take down a dragon so why would I refuse?” [There is no way I would refuse an opportunity to be able to get my hands on something that I have only heard in legends. To think that kids like them are knowledgeable with dragons’ weakness but are they also aware that creating such weapons require skill? I doubt my skills as a blacksmith will be able to pull something off.] he thought to himself while the information slowly settles on the guild leader’s head.

               The guild leader postpones the expedition for a  day because of the newly found information of the weakness of the dragons which would greatly increase their chances of coming back home alive to their families. The other adventurers who didn’t want to join were surprised about the postpone and thought that the guild leader finally come to his senses and decided to check him out in the guild’s building only to find that Kayla is the standing guild leader starting today since the guild leader will be busy with the preparations. The entire guild was in shock after learning that the blacksmith himself also tagged along with the guild leader. “So that means the guild leader is serious when he said when the expedition this year is going to be the dragons’ lair?” one of them muttered in surprise.

               They asked the stand in guild master, Kayla of the list of participants in the expedition and were surprised to see some new names along with some of the members that they are familiar with. “So Curio and Nero are coming as well?” the ones who read the names of the participant were baffled as to why would some of them agreed to join the expedition even after learning how dangerous it will be. They immediately asked Kayla where the guild leader is but she refused to answer their questions. “There is no need for you to learn where the guild leader is right now, you will only hinder them after all.” she said with a cold tone and turns her back on them, leaving them speechless. [What am I supposed to tell you when I don’t even know where he is headed myself. That troublemaker is giving me a lot of head ache these days, I hope things will get better soon.] she thought to herself as she stares at the amount of paperwork that she needs to deal with.

               TAKATAKATAK! TAKATAKATAK! TAKATAKATAK! TAKATAKATAK!

               “What a great day even though I only get to sleep for only a few minutes!” the guild leader cried while he rides in a chariot heading to the nearest volcano that has the possibility of having Dragon’s bane ore. Marcus, Amon and Abel as well as Kaseki did not manage to get a wink of sleep as well since they have been making plans the entire night but the four of them were not bother by a single night of skipping sleep, for they are excited for their own personal reasons.

               “What are be going to do today guild leader? I know I came close to not joining the expedition this year because of the persuasion of my peers but it is so interesting that it pique my interest, especially when the one who defeated us is coming as well. That would ruin my reputation as their seniors. Haha!” Curio asked with a smile on his face as the guild leader answered him. “The postpone of the expedition for a day is because we are going to find something that might help in taking down a dragon and you all know what that means right?” the guild leader no longer need to hear their answer since he can already assume what their answer is going to be. “Let’s just hope that nothing bad happens.” He added as he turns to the road and saw that they are already near their destination.

               [Wolf’s peak, the dormant and closest volcano in our lands. The last time it erupted was about a few hundred years ago and did not let out a smoke since then, thought I have only read it on the books but it really looks like it’s dead.] Marcus talked to himself as he marvels at the sight of the volcano for the very first time in his life.

               A few moments later and they have arrived at the bottom of the volcano, there was nothing in sight, the place is barren and not even a w**d can be seen on the ground surrounding the volcano but Amon and Abel were not fazed for their objective is just a few inches deep in the ground. “Now we just have to look for the clues that will lead us to the Dragon’s bane.” Abel muttered to himself as he looks around the area. Amon told the guild leader to look for a few red spots on the rocks in order to find the dragon’s bane, the guild leader told the others of the red spots and so the search is on. Everyone moved immediately and looked around for some red spots like they were told, an hour of searching passed and none of them found a single spot.

               “Ah! There is nothing at all.” Nero said as he sat down with the others. “Where is Curio?” they all looked around and saw that Curio is missing but Nero told them that he is still looking for the red spots on a nearby cliff. “That guy is really enthusiastic in things like this.” The guild leader muttered when all of the sudden they heard a cry that sounded like Curio. “I found it! I found red spots!” without a second of hesitation, they got up and immediately head to where Curio was. “And there it is, the first one. Dang, I did not think that it would be difficult to find this thing.” Curio said as he fell on the ground.

               Kaseki then proceeded to dig it out and with a little chip on the surface, a red ray of light shine brightly. “That’s the thing.” He said as he continues to dig the ore up while the others are gasping in awe as they marvel at the sight of the strange ore for the first time. “What is that guild leader?” Curio asked in everyone’s stead. “The thing that will raise our chances of coming back alive, that is the ore that old man Kaseki will make as a weapon, a weapon that can kill even a dragon.” The guild leader said with an excited expression after seeing the Dragon’s bane for the first time as well.

               The adventurer’s expressions were priceless when Kaseki successfully dig out their ticket to an easy dragon hunting but sadly, it was a single ore that can only make a few arrows. “This is all of it, we need more and a lot bigger than this for me to be able to forge a few swords but this is definitely it.” Old man Kaseki said as he hands over the ore to the guild leader who safely kept it inside his dimensional ring. “If that’s the case then what are we waiting for? Let’s go!” Curio immediately stood up even though he was exhausted and went straight for the carriage. The other adventurers saw his enthusiasm and got influenced by it. With everyone’s hope lifted up, the group went straight to the next volcano and search it thoroughly and went to the next one after finding it empty of the ore that they are looking for, thought they found some ores that can help in making the perfect weapons along with the Dragon’s bane ore.

               A few hours later

               “I found one! Phew!” the others then rushed to Marcus’ place after screaming that he found an ore. Old man Kaseki then examined the hole and conclude that they hit the jackpot, the others were confused as to what he said so the old blacksmith had to be specific. “We just hit the jackpot, this is an ore deposit, a huge amount of Dragon’s bane that is enough to make weapons and even shields!” everyone’s expression brightened after hearing that from their blacksmith. They shouted their cheers after a few hours of tiresome work, their hard work finally paid off. They all happily dig the deposit and hauled in a huge amount of ore.