We chose an inn located in an area between the adventurer guild and the equipment store, it’s called ‘Blues of the Old Maids’. We had lunch there as well. I asked if Liz wanted to go around the town once again but she declined so we checked in right away, one room with two separate beds on the second floor. Perhaps since this is her first proper bedding after 4 days and that she is tired, Liz crashed right away after she got onto her bed.

I put a blanket on her and sat on a wooden chair near the window.

If I managed to defeat the dragon then what’s next? Should I go straight at the empire? But what about Liz? I know that I’m the one who asked her to stay with me but I can’t involve her in my personal struggle any further. I’m already taking her to face a colossal dragon after all. I bet she will say yes if I ask her to help me to crush the empire but… it just doesn’t feel right.

I need her to get stronger so that when the time comes I could leave her for a while and if I managed to come back alive then I will finally tell her about her father. Will she hate me then? Maybe she will. I’m the root cause of her becoming like this. What should I do when it happens?

Hahaha, what is this… am I really scared of her hating me? It seems that I’m getting attached to her more than I thought. Maybe I’m desperate to have someone to stay by my side after losing you guys, Reza, Mira, Surya, Bagus…

*Sigh, this isn’t like me. Contemplating too much and being melancholic won’t change anything. Let’s just move forward and face all the consequences of the fate I have chosen.

I continued to sit and looked outside the window, doing nothing else until night fell.

Then I woke Liz up to have dinner downstairs. After that we returned to the room.

“Liz, I was thinking about trying the tower tomorrow. Even without an amplifier your magic is strong so you just need to accustom yourself to fighting and the tower. Maybe we’ll at least go as far as the 7th floor.”

“Un, I was going to ask Erik the same thing. I don’t want to be a burden to you so I was thinking to do some training myself.”

I patted her head.

“Liz, I’ve never thought of you as a burden so you yourself don’t need to think that you are one.”

“Hehehe, I knew Erik would say that, but I really want to become stronger so I can be of help to you. This is what I have decided myself.”

We smiled at each other. I told her that I’m going to sleep and if she’s not yet sleepy she is free to do anything as long as she doesn’t go outside of the inn. However as I lied on the bed she snuggled in next to me.

“Oi, Liz... what are you doing? Your bed is over there.”

“You said I’m free to do anything so...”

I didn’t say anything any further. I guess I got accustomed to this as well since I drifted to the dreamworld soon after.

The next morning we departed to Orum Arx. When we got near the gate many adventurers were already going in and out of the tower.

We showed our ID card to the gate keeper who told us since we are still newbies, E rank adventurers, it is strongly advised that we should not get higher than the 3rd floor. I forgot about the ranking system which can only be raised by receiving official quests from the guild or by achieving something extraordinary before taking a test. Well, not that I care about it since the floor limit is just an advice and not a rule. I guess raising our rank will prove to be useful in the future so maybe it is not bad to take some quests next time. With that in mind I finally entered the gate to the first floor.

The first floor which might be the largest room in the tower is a labyrinth with stone wall. The whole floor is already mapped and usually there are more adventurers than demon beasts since the weak demon beasts got killed almost as soon as they respawn. Veterans normally ignore the demon beasts and left them for the beginners. We won’t get anything if we stay here so I brought Liz straight to the teleportation circle.

The second floor is not much different in term of human and beasts population balance. The floor setting is a plain rocky area but not as barren as the 50th floor. This place is also regarded as a perfect training place for beginners. Again, I brought Liz straight to the teleportation circle.

Finally the third floor which setting is a rather huge cave tunnels started to have less human and more demon beasts population. Only beginners who are confident of their abilities and veterans who are passing through can be found here.

“Liz, we’re starting here.”

“Okay.”

“Don’t use master class magic, use intermediate and advanced class spells. Since there might be people around, chant the spells or at least pretend to be chanting.”

“Understood.”

After a litle distance from the teleportation circle our first enemies showed themselves. 3 bats with wingspan that reach more than a meter appeared before us.

I gave her a sign with my hand and she quickly responded.

“Lietus, vol en serte en inimica cessarar rauliet. Inimica perfora lietus sagias!”

Three flaming spheres appeared surrounding her raised hand as she was chanting which turned into arrow shapes and after she finished chanting the three flame arrows pierced each one of the bats and burned their whole bodies.

Lower level advanced class fire elemental attack magic, flaming arrows. It was one of Mira’s favorite fire spell, so I know even if I can’t use it myself.

“Wise choice of spell, Liz. As long as you have the accuracy, smaller procjectile magic is the best here.”

Liz turned to face me without saying anything but showing an expectant look while leaning closer to me.

“Huh?”

It was silence for a while and her expectant look turned into an almost disappointed expression

Wait, ahhhh. I see.

I stroked her head while being careful not to make her beret fall off and her expression changed into that of happiness and she let out her usual “Fueee.”. So stroking from above the beret works just as well eh? I couldn’t help but smile at her.

Our plan is to reach 7th floor so we marched on. Liz took care of most demon beasts that appeared before us. We also met some adventurers who were surprised to see a little girl like Liz in the tower but after they saw her capabilities those who told her to get her out of the tower were finally convinced. I on the other hand took the role as an observer who only gives her some pointers or taking care of the unexpected.

Liz isn’t very agile and is clumsy at times but she is aware of her surrounding and quick witted. She knows various attack magics and her magic itself is also top notch for this world’s standard. By using her magic like this at the upper floors, I guess she will reach Mira’s level in a few months. I can’t wait that long though, maybe I will need to make a better strategy later. As a side note, Mira could use an advanced class spell in the magnitude of a master class without her wand.

Thanks to Liz’s mostly one hit kill spells, we reached the end of 6th floor in no time. However I could see the sign of mana exhaustion on her body. This is actually beyond my expectation. I thought she would start to get tired at around the 5th floor. Her mana capacity is high indeed, as expected of Orcus’ daughter.

“Liz, shall we take a rest here?” I said as we reached a small open area.

“C, can we?”

“Next time you feel tired, don’t hesitate to tell me.”

“Un.”

We sat next to each other, then I took out a wrapping containing two honey filled bread from my backpack and gave one to her which she accepted happily and ate right away.

“Erik seems to know a lot about this tower.”

“Well, I was here for quite a number of times before.”

“But didn’t you make a new card to enter this tower?”

“Aah, that is...I was granted special access right.”

“Was?”

“It’s nothing. Tell me when you are ready to continue.”

I stood and pretended to inspect the surrounding and Liz who is sitting while leaning to a wall didn’t ask any further.

“I’m already fine, let’s continue.”

Liz stood up and approached me and thus we continued our trip.

We entered the teleportation circle and finally stepped onto the 7th floor. The reason why I chose this place was because it has a demon beasts that is feared by beginners. The first real floor boss of Orum Arx, an emerald scaled wyvern with wingspan that reaches 7 meters and poisonous breath, ‘Venem Urm’. It looks like a rabid wolf with long webbed forelegs as wings and scales in place of fur.

I don’t think Liz has fully recovered so I told her to step back while I’m taking care of the small fries.

We got near the area where the wyvern is but I could sense an ongoing battle. Human’s shouts and a beast’s roar can be heard. We got closer until we could see some adventurers battling the wyvern.

“Ahh, it seems that it is occupied.”

I had intended to let Liz defeat it for a huge exp. points but we shouldn’t take somebody else’s prey.

“Can’t be helped, Liz do you want to go further? Or shall we call it a day?”

I asked Liz who looked to be observing the battle.

“Erik, the adventurers seems to be losing... shouldn’t we help them?”

“Hm?”

I once again looked at the people in question. Two swordsman, a sorceress, and an archer. True, they look like some capable beginners but the agile and brute wyvern is still too overwhelming for them. All of them are already wounded.

“Erik!”

Well, whatever will happen to them, victory or death, such is almost an everyday occurence here.

“Erik!”

“Huh?”

“Let’s help them!”

“Ah, right.”

We rushed to the battlefield but before we could get there the wyvern managed to pounce on one of the swordsman and bit the hand he used as a shield, ripping it off from the elbow down.

“AAAARRGH.”

The other party members could only stood in a daze with terror as the wyvern once again opened its mouth to bite the swordsman.

“Lietus Sagias!”

Liz shot five flame arrows at the wyvern but it realized an impending danger and jumped away with only two hit its left wing and burned some part of it.

“What are you doing? The wyvern’s bite is poisonous. Give him some first aid!”

I yelled at the other guys and they finally snapped out from their daze.

“Randall!” The Archer rushed to the swordsman, opened his bag, and took out a bottle with bluish liquid. It seems that they had at least prepared some antidote. The sorceress also rushed and started to take care of his bleeding arm while crying.The other swordsman stands guard near them.

“Liz, stay close to me.”

“Un.”

The wyvern observed me and Liz from a distance. Maybe it instinctively realized my strength and is wary of me? Don’t worry boy, I’m not the one who will defeat you. I can’t be too showy with my strength since there are other people here as well.

“Liz, you know what to do. Don’t give it a chance to retaliate, keep attacking.”

“Okay!”

Liz launched another barrage of flame arrows but the wyvern managed to dodge them again as well.

“Liz, do it once again by making it so it will dodge by jumping then use earth magic at where it will land.”

Liz quickly responded. She shot another barrage of flame arrows aiming at its legs which were dodged by the wyvern by jumping away but then...

“Eht rumeris, Ecdurare!”

Some earth stakes were raised and she also added the effect harden on it. The wyvern responded by flapping its wings to change where it will land but it was still too late. One stake stabbed through its left wing and another two grazed its stomach and neck.

“As expected of a floor boss, it won’t go down easily.”

The wyvern looked at us and jumped to the side, swinging its tail at the earth stakes. I immediately stood in front of Liz as the tail hit the stakes, sending them flying at us in pieces.

I deflected each one with the serrated sword but the wyvern used it as a chance to jump near the beginner guys. I was thinking that one or two sacrifice might be unavoidable like this. However as I saw Liz’s terrified face, fearing the worst to happen, I reflexively used my whole strength and jumped in front of the wyvern which used its poison breath, shielding the beginners.

“ERIK!”

I could hear Liz’s shout as the poison cloud enveloped my whole body. Don’t worry Liz, this low level poison won’t affect me the slightest bit.

I swung the blade on my hand with enough force to scatter the poison cloud away then I focused my killing intent on the wyvern which froze with fearful eyes in response.

“Liz, now!”

Liz was dazed for a second but she quickly used a high level advanced earth magic.

“Ures Eht Rancus!“

The earth under the wyvern bulged for a few seconds to a significant diameter and a huge earth lance was made at the middle which impaled the wyvern at its stomach right from below, it struggled for a bit before ceasing to move completely.

Is it just me but was there almost no preparatory time before she activated her spells in the battle? Usually she would need to concentrate for a bit before chanting the spell’s name. She must had been in a full concentrating state. Her spell choices also indicated a potentially high battle instinct. She is indeed a demon lord’s daughter.

Liz ran to me, asking whether I was alright after being hit by a poison breath which I just answered with “It was nothing.”

The swordsman who is rather alright compared to the other one then approached us.

“My name is Kaldor, I don’t know who you two are but thank you for saving us.”

He is thanking us but his eyes are glued at Liz with a suspecting look.

“Thank her instead, I barely did anything. She is also the one who wanted to help you guys.”

“Ah, yeah. Once again, thank you very much.”

The Kaldor guy bowed deeply at Liz.

“P, please raise your head. We just happened to be close by.”

He raised his head and once again looked at Liz focusing on her beret.

“Even so, if it weren’t for you we might have died here. How can we repay this?”

“Oi, shouldn’t we take your friend to a doctor first?”

I interjected and he finally realized the important fact.

“Erik, they are not in condition to fight, they also need to carry the wounded person…”

Liz looked at me with her hesitant but expectant eyes.

“I know, let’s escort them back to the surface.”

“Un.”

After some brief preparation, we started to move towards the teleportation circle to go down.

At that time something kept bothering me. If Liz hadn’t told me to help the guys, I don’t think I would help them… The me from the past would have gone to their rescue without thinking.

With me and Liz as vanguards, Lloyd the archer and Kaldor carrying the incapacitated Randall, then Yusa the sorceress as rear guard, we reached the surface quick enough that the doctor said Randall can still be saved although he had lost much blood. His left arm is of course, beyond help. The others were wounded quite heavily as well but their treatments were finished in just an hour or so.

Liz is talking with Yusa and Lloyd near the door to the room where Randall is being treated. It seems that she is encouraging them. It’s good that she is no longer being timid when she is around humans other than me. I took the chance to call Kaldor, bringing him away from there to talk.

“What is it?”

He asked me with a face indicating that he knows what I was going to talk about.

“Don’t play stupid. I know that you’re being suspicious of Liz.”

“…Well… that is true. She used her spells almost without chanting in the fight so...”

“I hate to say this since she just saved you guys but… If you pry any further and put her in danger, I won’t hesitate to finish you guys off.”

I released a bit of my killing intent, Kaldor stepped back and shivered in response but he continued to look at me.

“P, please don’t look down on me and my party members. There is no way we will put our savior in dangerous position. I talked to the others as well and we decided that we will just write that she is a capable mage in the report to the guild.”

“As long as you understand. You should also write that she didn’t fight alone. Just remember, if anything happens…you guys will be my first target.”

“You have my word.”

Even though the guild maintains a neutral stance in the war, the adventurers themselves over here are humans. There’s no guarantee that a huge problem will not occur once Liz’s identity is known.

I turned to walk back to where Liz is but Kaldor once again spoke to me.

“If I must say, you are the suspicious one sir Erik.”

“Hoo?”

I turned my body halfway and looked at him.

“You were clearly hit by the wyvern’s poison breath and is completely unaffected. I don’t know how but I realized that you also did something to stop its movements as well.”

This guy is more observant than his look.

“On the way back to the surface, although the little lady took out most of the demon beasts, you also covered for her by killing the unexpected enemies with just one slash before everyone else could realize whatever was happening. Then just now you completely scared me with just a glare. You look human but… just who are you?”

“That… I can answer honestly. I’m just somebody who fell from grace and became a fallen nobody.”

I answered him while walking away.

“Eh? That is an honest answer? What do you mean by that? Sir Erik?”

Kaldor quickly followed me.

“Aaah, and don’t call me ‘sir’ okay? I hate that way of calling now. Just ‘Erik’ is fine.”

Meanwhile, when Erik was talking with Kaldor another conversation is taking place.

“I heard Randall is going to be alright although it will take him several weeks to be discharged.”

Lloyd the archer told Yusa and Liz then sits next to Yusa

“That’s good. Once again, thank you for helping us... mind if I call you Liz as well?”

“Ah, I don’t mind.”

“I didn’t see much since I was desperate to help Randall but your magic was awesome. I am a mage as well but I have never seen someone activates magic with such speed and magnitude. Also, your spells were so short.”

“Eh? T, that was...I...”

“And don’t you think your beret is a little too big for you?”

Yusa touched the beret but Liz quickly ducked while holding it with both hands.

“Fueee!? This is....”

Lloyd elbowed Yusa and gave her a sign with his eyes which says ‘Stop it’. Yusa only smiled wryly to him and answered in low voice “Sorry, I just wanted to confirm...”

“Thi, this beret is the one that Erik chose for me.”

Liz is holding the beret on her head while smiling.

“Erik... eh? Didn’t you say that he is your brother?”

“Y, yes.”

Yusa observed Liz closely even though Liz clearly showed an uncomfortable face.

“Hmm...For siblings you two don’t look alike at all.”

Liz pondered for a moment then answered.

“We are from different mother...”

“So that’s the setting?”

“Se, setting? Hauuu...”

Liz looked down with teary eyes.

“Oi, Yusa. Didn’t we agree to not pry any further?”

Lloyd whispered to Yusa while pinching her cheek.

“Sowwy, sowwy... “

“Sorry, Yusa never knows when to stop once she is curious about something.”

At that moment, the doctor accompanied by two nurses came out of Randalls’s room and approached the three.

“I’m sorry to talk about this right now but, can one of you come with me to finish the administration procedure?” said the doctor.

“Yes, yes. This Lloyd here will do it.”

The one who answered was Yusa while pulling Lloyd’s hand to make him stand up.

“Me? Argh fine, but don’t bother the little lady too much, okay?”

Lloyd followed the doctor and nurses away from there.

“Heheheheeee, now it’s just the two of us.”

Liz shuddered when she saw Yusa’s expression. First was the equipment shop owner’s daughter and then the one in front of her. Liz started to think that human girls are scary.

“So, tell me… you’re not a human, right?”

“Eh, no… I… why are you asking me that?”

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone else. Well, I guess both Lloyd and Kaldor already knew though.”

Liz could only look down before answering.

“U, un. It is true. Am I that suspicious? Do I look strange?”

“Don’t worry. You look perfectly normal. The way you used your magic was the root of our suspicion, only after that we started to be suspicious of your hat.”

Yusa reassured Liz while lighlty pinching Liz’s cheek.

“Erik told me to chant the whole spells or pretend to chant but I was so focused on the fight so I forgot…”

“Anyway, you’re cute, you’re our savior, and you’re cute. We owe you one, whoever you are doesn’t matter.”

Perhaps she couldn’t hold back anymore, Yusa hugged Liz, and rubbed her cheek on Liz’s. Liz seems to dislike it but Yusa pretended not to notice.

“I don’t think cuteness matters there...and you said it twice.”

“Next, that Erik isn’t your brother, right? He looks perfectly human.”

“…Un…”

“So, what’s your real relationship? Tell me…okay?”

“F, fueee!?”

Yusa grabbed Liz’s shoulder strongly, cutting any chance to escape for the teary eyed and blushing Liz.

When I got back, I saw that the archer guy isn’t there and Liz is talking with the sorceress. Different with before I left her there, I could see that now she is really nervous when talking to the sorceress, what happened? They’re talking in low voice so I couldn’t really hear anything though. Kaldor entered Randall’s room to check on him while I approached Liz.

“Liz, time to go.”

“F,fueeeeee!? Erik? When did you get here?”

“Huh? Just now.”

Liz heaved a sigh of relief while the Yusa girl look disappointed as if I have come at a bad time.

“Were you two perhaps talking about me?”

“N, no. We were talking about... magic, yea... magic!”

Liz is panicking and Yusa just smiled at me awkwardly. It couldn’t be more obvious. Well I don’t think Liz will talk bad about me... I hope.

“Well, let’s go then.”

Liz approached me nervously and I was going to walk away before Yusa called me.

“Ah, Erik bro.”

“Just Erik is fine... what’s with ‘Erik bro’?”

“Can we meet again? Actually, I want to have more talk with Lizzy.”

“Hmm, if Liz is fine with that then I guess it’s fine.”

I looked at Liz, she is fidgeting so maybe she is hesitant. But I was thinking that she’ll need to socialize with many people so this is a good chance.

“I’m not against it so what about you, Liz?”

“Un. If Erik says so then It’s okay.”

Yusa showed a delighful face.

“Yay, then let’s meet sometimes. Our party will be moving to an inn closer to the hospital, maybe the ‘Bulu Angsa’ on the second street.”

“Coming here is a hassle, why don’t you be the one to visit instead? We are staying in the ‘Blues of the Old Maids’ but we might spend more of our time in the tower.”

“Okaaay!”

Yusa waved her hand to us as we walked away but Liz and I ignored that and just head to the lobby where the exit is. We walked leisurely and Liz was silent most of the time until we left the hospital.

“Erik, why do they don’t really look down even after one of their friend got hospitalized with such condition?”

“Hmm, because they are adventurers.”

“Adventurers…”

“And it’s not that they don’t feel down or sad, it’s just that one must be prepared for anything once he or she chose the road of an adventurer. Adventurers risk their life challenging dungeons and fighting demon beasts basically every time they have the chance. I guess Kaldor and his party have quite some resolve.”

“How can someone gain such resolve?”

“The reason will vary for each individual, money, fame, power and skills, etc. Well, I guess most will say money. For some people this could be their only source of income, they need to make a living for themselves and their important people such as their family.”

“Their family… But if something bad were to happen to them then their family will be sad.”

“As far as I know, even their families are resolved to accept anything to happen. I don’t think this will apply for each and everyone though, also… people can’t help but feel sad if they lost somebody important to them after all. Even I….”

I couldn’t continue. Reza, Mira, Surya, and Bagus just floated in my mind.

“If anything bad were to happen to Erik, I don’t think I will be able to stay calm… “

Liz gripped my hand tightly and shook her head before continuing.

“No, I don’t even want to think of such thing…“

The sentence ‘Don’t worry, I won’t let anything bad happens to us’ crossed my mind but I didn’t say it. The path I chose is a dark road where I couldn’t see where I am going. If possible, I just want her to be stronger and independent so when the time comes she’ll be able to live on, without me.

I kept silent but I returned her grip, lightly.

We returned to the inn, ate dinner and returned to our room. I could see that Liz was thinking with grim expression all the time before she is finally asleep. I didn’t pry for what it is and chose to go to sleep myself.

The day she lost her father, her world changed. The people around her, the demon generals who served her father who once greeted her with smiles or told her stories of the outside world and their experience suddenly became people who treated her as nothing. Even worse, some started to look at her with cold eyes. Now that she came to think of it, perhaps the smiles they had shown her were not all genuine. They smiled at her not because of herself, but because of her father. It was faint but she felt kind of betrayed.

Fortunately, there are still some loyal servants who kept taking care of her and finally decided to take her away from the capital once things took turn for the worse, the power struggle to decide who will become the next demon lord. On the run, some of her loyal servants were killed, some sacrificed themselves protecting her, some were ambushed by demon beasts in the forest where their hideout is, some killed by assassins looking for her. Finally the remaining servants who couldn’t take it anymore decided to leave her and fled for their own safety. Although she understands that they had a valid reason to do that, this time, her feeling of being betrayed reached its peak.

After a few days of being alone she started to feel desperate, until she found an injured human who later named himself as ‘Erik’. From what he was saying, it is possible that he was acquainted with her father to some degree. She couldn’t recall anything about him though.

At first she was wary, no, scared of him. However, for reason unknown to herself she was attracted to him. Furthermore, although at first he spoke in a cold uncaring tone, after he first introduced himself, he started to treat her gently as if she was his own kin. She sensed that his care for her is real and genuine thus she decided to trust him. The fact that he is a human doesn’t matter, no, she actually thought that the fact that he is human contributed to make her trust him. Moreover, he is someone who knows the pain of being betrayed and the pain of losing something important.

‘He is a human but he cares for me’

‘He knew that there might be numerous assassins sent for me but he stayed with me anyway, he even protected me from some of them.’

‘He promised that he will not leave me alone and it was him who asked me to go and stay with him.’

His existence has suddenly become more than someone she trusts, more than a salvation for her lonely heart, he has become an irreplaceable existence to her.

However, he has a goal which she herself found as strange. He is a human, but he was saying about destroying a human’s nation.

He did say that the path he is taking is a dangerous one so he is fully aware of it. He also said that he will protect her.

But, who will protect him? She couldn’t shake off the possibility of something bad to happen to him. No matter how strong he is, she still thinks that it is impossible to face the fighting force of a whole nation. Even her father the demon lord was defeated by some humans although she also heard that all the humans who intruded the castle were also killed in the process.

The thought of once again losing someone important haunted her mind since the previous talk about adventurers and their resolve.

She doesn’t want to be the only one being protected, she wants to protect him as well. For that, she needs to become stronger.

That night, she decided that she would do anything to make it come true. Such is her resolve.

The next day, we waited till the sun rises halfway up before going to the equipment shop. Liz’s mood also seemed to have brightened up.

Since it wasn’t that far we arrived in no time. There are bags under his eyes but the old man welcomed us with a smile right after he saw us enter the store.

“Yo, lad. I was expecting you.”

“I assume everything went well, eh?”

“Well, I couldn’t say that it is perfect but...”

“Cyyyuuuuuuuttieeeeeee!!!”

Before the old man finished his sentence, his daughter appeared from behind the shelves and jumped at Liz.

Liz, of course dodged her pounce and hid behind me with a terrified face. As a result, the daughter’s face magnificently hit the door with a loud *BAM* and she lost consciousness.

We, including the old man ignored that and continued.

“It’s faster if you just see for yourself.”

The old man opened a cabinet behind him and brought the jacket onto the table. But I don’t see any change on it... wait...

The old man also put some bluish silver metal plates with various size on the table.

“I don’t know what kind of material your jacket is but it was really hard to process. All the scissors, knives, and needles I used couldn’t do anything to it so I tried to use your dagger. Using it, I could only make some modifications and holes to attach buttons and slots for these. Try them on.”

I put the jacket on and only then I noticed the changes. It fits better on my body than before and the buttons on the chest area helped to fix the jacket on my body perfectly. The old man then picked up one of what seems to be a breastplate from the table and gave it to me.

I attached each metal plates on their designated slots. A breastplate, separate backplate which is joined to the breastplate on the sides, vambraces which cover the forearms part of the sleeves and the back of my hands, then layered shoulder pads.

“These are made from alloy of learis steel and azulite ore. Their endurance and hardness are top-notch. Well, this is all I could do to the jacket, at least now it looks like a proper armor.”

“Nah, don’t worry, this is good.”

“Un, Erik looks great.”

Liz added. I patted her head in response and she delighfully let out her usual “fueee”

“How about the daggers?”

“I was waiting for you to ask me that.”

He took out the daggers and gave them to me.

The blades are now almost silver colored, not pale ivory like before. Although it seemed that the length has significantly reduced, the shape is more refined with distinct separation of sharp and blunt side on one dagger while the other is sharp on both its edges. The hilt is now black and felt like it is made of some leather, a red gem on one and dark green gem on the other are attached at the bottom part, magic stones? There are also black metallic guards, a common horizontal shaped on the dual edged and front quillon long enough to cover the middle finger on the single edged dagger.

“Old man, you really made them into nice weapons.”

“Obviously, I also prepared some surprises for you, just try to infuse mana on them later. I even used up all my stock of polishing stones and whetstones on them. Just what material are they made of?”

“Wyvern’s fangs.”

“Seriously? ‘twas the first time I worked on such hard wyvern’s fangs. Just what kind of wyvern in the world is that?”

“I don’t know, let’s just say a really huge one. So, how much?”

“Not gonna tell, eh? The whole assets I used to work on them, including the armor should be around 200 denatum or 2 uarum coins... but since you trusted me with such fine materials I guess I’ll cut it to half the price. 100 denatum.”

Both father and daughter gave such discount easily. Even I started to feel bad so I didn’t haggle and paid with 1 uarum coin. After giving Liz her size fitted ring which I almost forgot, the old man also gave me a specialized belt to hang both daggers at my sides and the serrated sword at the back as a bonus, thus I also ignored his daughter who just regained consciousness to chase and hug the scared Liz for a while before we left the store although Liz pouted and didn’t talk to me for a while as the result.

High quality equipments for Me and Liz, plus lodging and meal expenses, my remaining money is at 1 uarum, 208 denatum, and 32 mearis coins. If limited to just food and lodging, these will suffice for a few months so I don’t think I should worry about money yet. I could also sell some demon beasts material from the tower if I want to.

“Liz, let’s aim for the 15th floor today.”

“... Un.”

She didn’t look at me at all since we left the store, perhaps she is still angry. I stroked her head gently and said

“Sorry Liz.”

“... That’s unfair, I can’t be angry like this...”

I grinned while Liz blushed and looked away.

We reached the guild’s plaza and headed to the tower’s gate.

“Excuse me, are you perhaps Erik and Lissa?”

An old man whose hair is a mix of black and gray hair approached us. His face featured a short styled beard but with quite thick moustache.

I thought that Liz would hide behind me but as the old man got closer, although she looked downwards, she stayed firm beside me.

“That’s right, and you are?”

I looked again at him. I felt like I have seen him before but I couldn’t remember who and when. Although he looks to be quite old, his body is that of a veteran warrior. Not so bulky but muscular enough to look strong. I also noticed that his clothing is a formal wear of the guild.

“Just call me Teo. As you can see, I’m from the adventurer guild.”

Teo? Now that kind of rings a bell. Ah, I see… I met this old man just once before. What is such an important person doing here?

“Got something to ask us?”

“Hahaha, I’m sorry, I just wanted to see the talented young girl and her brother with my own eyes.”

He must have read the report from Kaldor.

“If that is all then please excuse us.”

“Wait.”

He looked intensely at Liz who finally gave in and hid behind me.

“Looking at someone like that is kind of rude you know.”

As I said so he finally looked at me.

“I want you to believe that the guild is neutral in this war. Not many people know but we have some demon race and beastmen staying and working in the office. I know that not all of the adventurers may be okay with it but the majority of guild officers are in the opinion to keep this stance.”

“What are you implying?”

“Nothing, I just want to share this view to the new adventurers.”

He’s lying on that part. There’s no way a guild officer not to mention this old man would approach us like this just to tell something like that. Is he suspicious of Liz? What did Kaldor write on his report?

With what he said I don’t think this old man has any intention to harm us although I can’t see where this is going.

“Sorry to keep both of you here. I’ll be going back to the guild then.”

He walked away and we resumed our trip to the tower. I pretended not to notice but the old man secretly and swiftly put a piece of paper in my pocket as we passed by each other before he went back to the guild.