Chapter 83 – Returning to Ourelona

At the first sun rays, the painting in Nozomu’s room opened, and a smiling Koyaga entered, and gently shook him. As he opened his eyes, he stared at the happy couple and went to get his clothes, changing in an instant. He entered the narrow corridor, leaving the Princess in the room to give one last kiss to her lover, and she then followed him swiftly.
In her room, she went straight to her closet to choose a dress, and Nozomu helped her get dressed.
A knock on the door alerted them, and a maid’s voice asked for permission to enter.

Nozomu unlocked the door, and the maid entered, looking down. With her face all red in embarrassment, she asked, “Princess… I came to help you get dressed… as usual… I didn’t know and no one warned me… Please pardon me... “

“Do not worry. Nozomu was helping me, but it is better if you do it because he lacks finesse. I am not expecting any sudden visits, except the usual ones from Nobles and citizens that want a hearing, so I guess only a simple necklace and loose hair will suffice.”

“Very well, my Princess.”
…

After breakfast, Nozomu left the Castle, and like last time, he barely arrived at the Academy in time for first class.

As he was entering the main room where the other students were, he saw Taisetsuna waving at him from a table, and she gave him his bag as soon as he approached and said, “Here. We have a special assignment today.”

“Really? What do we have to do?”

“We are going to a Guild of Adventurers of our choosing to complete a Free Quest. It seems your idea has stuck and all the Guilds in the country are using it. I thought it would be nice if we went to Ourelona to see if there is one for us to do.”

Nozomu made a tired face and complained, “But I just rode here, and now I have to leave again?”

“You can ask Hinotsume to give you a ride to Ourelona, and we will go by Magical Circle with the Unicorns and Tresuria’s deer. Maybe you can ask Hinotsume if he can take Oaky as well? Because we don’t have a ride for him, and I do not see Rampage very willing to take him, considering his weight!”

“Okay… darn it, I was hoping to spend the entire morning seated in a nice chair during class.”

As they were leaving, Tomiga Yurao approached and asked, “Dame Taisetsuna, may I ask where your Party is going? I thought maybe you wouldn’t mind joining forces with my Party?”

Taisetsuna glanced at the group behind him and made a slight smile. “You heard the Principal. The idea is that each Party goes to a different Guild, or we could all end up doing the same Free Quest. We are going to Ourelona, and perhaps it would be better if you went to another? The first time we met, you were in the Capital’s Guild, so I assume you are a member there?”

“Yes… I am… I am surprised you remember. It is just…”

He looked at his tail with a sad face, and Taisetsuna winked at Tresuria, who quickly went to her while taking something from the bag she was carrying.

She gave it to the Lion-kind boy and spoke with a nervous tone, “We… made this for you. Hinotsume helped... and gave us a short blade after changing the hilt so that you could use it. Be careful, because it is a double-edged blade, and it is coated with a Sleeping Potion. Chuji wants to give you this vial with that Potion for you to coat the blade once a day.”

Tomiga took the vial and looked at the strange contraption. It was a blade, firmly attached to a metallic holder with a hole in the middle and a set of strings. He stared at it, not knowing what to do with it.

Taisetsuna took a dagger from her belt with her tail and pointed it at him and explained, “See? I learned how to use my tail to grab a dagger to help me fight, and Tresuria felt bad for what Draiky did to your tail, so we thought of what we could do to help you. If you put the tip of your tail inside that hole and tie the strings, it will stay in place, and you will get an extremely dangerous new tail. It is not your tail, but it sure is deadly! We thought you would like it, and it could come in handy one day.”

Tomiga Yurao nodded with a surprised look, and he quickly put the new weapon on and tied the strings as instructed.

He made a few movements with his tail to get used to the feeling and the weight, and then said, “This is so light! What kind of metal is this? I never saw a blade this long and so light!”

Taisetsuna shrugged. “I have no idea. Hinotsume came with that one morning and said it was a very ancient weapon from a long-lost civilization, and none of us could figure out what kind of alloy was used to make it. It is way stronger than a normal sword, that is for sure. Chuji broke one of my swords with just one swing and took down a large tree in the forest with three slashes. I guess that if you sell it, you will get a huge amount of coins, but-“

Tomiga interrupted her with his eyes shining, “Selling it? A gift from you? I will treasure it forever!”

“It was not only me, you know? Many of us worked on this, a little at a time, and always with no one nearby because we all wanted to surprise you. Well, Draiky didn’t help; he was often trying to ruin our plans. I think he is still angry at you.”

“Yeah, I understand why he is angry… And… thank you, I mean, all of you, for this… This is not the tail I was born with, but it is amazing!”

Taisetsuna tapped his shoulder with a smile. “Glad you liked it. Now, it is better if we leave, or we won’t be back for dinner, and we will have to find a place to sleep.”

Tomiga Yurao waved them goodbye, and as Taisetsuna was going to her Unicorn, one of Tomiga’s friends said, “That was nice of them, even after what you did. I thought she wanted to kill you because she and her friends were frequently glancing at you over the last few days. It is better if we go as well, or we won’t have time to do any kind of Free Quest.”
…

Hinotsume and Mizukonta landed a few metres away from the main gate of the City of Ourelona, and the Guards stationed there watched in disbelief as Nozomu and Oaky dismounted and walked to meet them, with Hinotsume and Mizukonta peacefully seated on the ground, staring at them.

When he arrived near the Guards, Nozomu made a slight nod and greeted them, “Good morning. I am going to the Guild. How is everything around here lately?”

One Guard answered, while still looking at the enormous Dragons a few metres away, “Nothing… unusual until today… That Dragon brought you… Unbelievable… Why didn’t you come with your Unicorn today?”

“He is coming with Taisetsuna and some friends by Magical Circle, but I had to come with this pet plant of my Gailie friend because we didn’t have a ride for him because of his massive weight.”

“Are the Dragons going to stay there, waiting for you?”

“Well, they can’t go inside the City considering the size of the streets, but I will come back to get them as soon as I check if there is a Free Quest in the Guild.”

The Guards opened the gate and kept on staring at the Dragons, that were now lying on the ground to rest while they waited.
Along the main street, many people recognized Nozomu and came to greet him, and his plant company surprised a few.
With the stops he made along the way, when he got to the front of the Guild of Adventurers, Taisetsuna and the rest of his group were also arriving there.

Taisetsuna greeted him with a big smile. “What took you so long? I thought you would be inside already!”

“I encountered too many people that wanted to talk, and a bunch of them asked for you.”

“Well, to me, they only waved from afar, probably because of my big group.”

Nozomu noticed that three children were riding the two Unicorns and Tresuria’s deer, and Taisetsuna shrugged. “The kids approached, and Rampage lowered his body for them to mount. Furnace did the same, and the deer imitated them. Don’t ask me why Rampage did that, because I have no idea what he thinks most of the time. Maybe he is getting used to people? Or he just likes kids.”

Nozomu helped the children to dismount, and they took the Unicorns and the deer to the stable, saying to Nozomu that they had that covered, so he could go inside and leave all the work to them, and that they would groom the Unicorns, and feed them Magic.
Taisetsuna gave one copper coin to each child to pay for that work, and she then opened the door for her Party.
As they crossed the doors, the Guild was empty, and only Koyaga and a young girl were behind the reception desk.

Seeing them, Koyaga approached with a big smile, while the girl quickly went to the kitchen. “Look who just arrived! What are you all doing here?”

Nozomu made a slight frown and asked, “That is what I want to know. Weren’t you supposed to be in the Castle?”

“I will move there in a few days. I just want to be sure my helper is properly trained. The helpers that I got for my brother are doing great. Please, take a seat. The girl went to get tea for us and to call the Guild Master.”

As they were pulling the tables together and sitting, Udo Eskola, the Guild Master, arrived. He gave a big smile to the visitors and said, “Such a nice surprise! I wasn’t expecting a visit today, but weren’t you supposed to be in class?”

Taisetsuna answered with a big smile as well. “The Academy gave us a special assignment today. We need to do a Free Quest and return to the Academy for dinner. But why is no one here? I never saw the Guild so empty!”

“Because the ground shook a lot over these last few days. We got a lot of Quests from people asking for materials or medicinal herbs, and a bunch of Free Quests, asking for help to rebuild their houses and stables. All the Adventurers have work, and they are often out. The Free Quest was a wonderful idea, Nozomu. The citizens completely changed their opinions and views about the Adventurers. During lunch and dinner, there are always people here, talking and eating with my Adventurers who became their friends.”

“Nice! I hope there is a Free Quest for us to do, or we will need to go to another Guild to find one!”

“We have one that is being delayed because of a lack of people. A couple that recently got married. They got a new house that my Adventurers helped build for them, but they still need a stable and help with clearing the field around it for them to crop. Considering you are so many, it should be fine.”

Before Nozomu could say anything, a voice came from the door, “I hope we can also help because we already went to two other Guilds and there was nothing for us!”

Taisetsuna looked back to the worried Tomiga Yurao and said, “We got the Dragons that we could ask for help, but if they refuse, a few more hands would be nice.”

Tomiga smiled at his group, and they sat at the tables. While he was taking care of the introductions, Udo Eskola whispered to Nozomu, “Let’s go to my office. I have bags and bags of chocolates ready for you. And an enormous sum of money as well.”

When the new girl arrived with the tea, Nozomu followed the Guild Master to his office.
In there, he jolted at the sight of dozens of bags in one corner and another smaller pile nearby.

The Guild Master pointed to the biggest pile and said, “Those are the chocolates, and the smaller pile is my share of the sales here. I have no idea where I can put all that money because the Guild’s safe is packed as well. I put your share in your room, a pile bigger than that one, full of coins. And another pile is in Taisetsuna’s room. Her share, like you told me to do. Outside, in the back garden, I have bags with blue flowers from the ‘Fool’s Death”, lots and lots of bags. Seta spent the entire week carefully taking the nectar from the flowers and receiving flowers from other Guilds and people that brought them here. He has vials upon vials full of nectar for you."