Wood Affinity?

"Mister, have you seen this person before?" Raymond held out a painting of his grandfather to a villager and asked politely.

"Hmmm, I think I have come across this painting somewhere before!" The villager nodded sagely.

"Where?" Raymond asked with hope filling his heart.

"Ah, it was the day before yesterday. You showed it to me then and asked the same question!"

"I see…"

-Make'em Vanish-

"Arghh!"

"Master! Don't start sending everyone into the sky! The elves will start coming after you if you keep breaking the rules!" Jasmine facepalmed as she scolded her master.

"Don't worry, I didn't throw him too hard. He will be fine," Raymond shrugged and went to ask another person.

"Leave him be, it's better than doing nothing but sulking," Lyla said from the side.

"Yeah, now that the stupid rain has stopped, he is in a better mood," Jasmine agreed as they caught up to Raymond who had just grabbed another village's collar to throw him into the sky.

"Master, you're going to get us banished from this place at this rate!" Jasmine grabbed her master's arm and pulled it away from the villager.

"These elves! All of them are assholes!" Raymond thundered as he was dragged towards the mercenary guild by Jasmine and Lyla.

"Anyone would react harshly if you keep asking them the same thing every day!" Jasmine countered. "They can be called pretty nice since they aren't getting physical with us."

"Sigh, I think we should move to the next village. Nobody has seen Grandpa here." Raymond muttered as he entered the guild.

"Good morning, Luna! Do you have any mission for us?" Jasmine asked with a smile. If they could get a nice mission, her master would cheer up a bit.

"Oh, it's you guys. Good morning," Luna greeted them in her usual bored tone.

"You know, the reason for mercenaries' work dwindling here might also be because of your bland tone!" Raymond remarked. "I mean, you look the part of a pretty receptionist but you lack the enthusiasm."

"Hmm, maybe you're right but who cares? There was only Vivian long before you guys came here. She isn't the type of person who would mind my attitude." Luna raised her eyebrows at Raymond. "But do tell me if you feel turned off by me."

"No, it doesn't matter as long as I get missions from you," Raymond replied. "You can act like a brick wall for all I care."

"I see… speaking of missions, I have something special for you today!" Luna took out a mission poster from her drawer.

"See this? It's something you've been asking for, Bandit Subjugation!"

"Really?" Raymond took the mission poster from her and perused it eagerly.

'Damn! It's not a single thug. It's a whole gang of bandits! This is gold!'

"These people came out of hiding after a long time. Maybe they ran out of their provisions." Luna explained the details since she was too lazy to write it down on the poster.

"They call themselves the Black Iron Gang. They attacked a merchant carriage two days ago. The merchant Arlo has been kidnapped and they are demanding ransom—"

"Arlo?!" Raymond exclaimed.

"Yes, why? Do you know him?" Luna questioned.

"Well, he is my d-devotee, cough!" Raymond coughed into his hand and looked away in embarrassment.

"Eh? Come again!"

"Sigh, forget I said that. Tell me why this poster is empty. There is nothing except for the gang's name! What about the rewards? You forgot to put the most important thing!"

"Hah, haha, you see… the thing is… I didn't have enough time to make a proper poster." Luna whistled.

"I am pretty sure you said Arlo was kidnapped two days ago. You are just lazy." Raymond deadpanned. This guild master was something else. Even the receptionist Rumi from the Capital's guild was more hardworking than Luna.

"Haha, don't mind the small stuff. It was just a harmless mistake. Here, give it to me and I will write down the reward." Luna quickly snatched the poster and scribbled on it before pushing it towards Raymond.

"100 gold coins and there might be a bonus depending on the client's satisfaction?" Raymond nodded as he read the reward.

"Yeah, and the last seen location of the gang members was near Cloud Village which is situated to the west of our village," Luna looked around the guild room cautiously and gestured for Raymond to come closer.

"Vivian has been acting kind of strange lately. I think she suspects our backdoor deal. Be careful and avoid running into her while you're out doing missions," She whispered.

"I think you just jinxed it. I am definitely going to see her today," Raymond pointed out. "And in case you forgot we are not doing anything illegal."

With that being said, Raymond exited the guild with his wives.

"Doing something illegal is easier than dealing with a best friend who throws temper tantrums," Luna mumbled to herself as she closed her eyes to take a nap.

———

"Ray, do you want me to search around the village?" Lyla asked as the trio reached the Cloud Village in the afternoon.

They could've arrived sooner if Raymond hadn't stopped to enquire every single person he came across about his grandfather.

"No need. I think I will try my magic," Raymond closed his eyes and concentrated on his mana. He had been practising it for a week and to his pleasant surprise he discovered that his mana didn't affect the people when he used it in this way.

"What magic?" Jasmine asked in confusion only to be shocked when the drop of mana appeared between Raymond's eyebrows. "What are you doing, master?"

"Shh! Don't talk," Raymond warned her and slowly tried to feel the connection with the trees around him.

Several sounds of leaves rustling reached his ears in response which brought a smile to his face.

'My friends, have you seen any gang of crooks nearby? Can you ask your friends for me?'

As if responding to his request, one of the tree branches leaned towards him and nudged him in the chest.

"Wha— How? Master, when did you learn that…" Jasmine's eyes widened in surprise. "Do you have an affinity with the wood element?"

"Hehe, who knows?" Raymond smiled mysteriously and walked in the direction the branch was pointing at.

"Hmph, that means even you don't know it!" Jasmine scoffed as she along with Lyla followed him.

"Ray, is it true? Do you have an affinity with wood?" Lyla asked curiously. Even she found it incredible since she knew about his broken core.

"I don't think so, Lyla," Jasmine mused. "He is still in the Martial Minor realm and even if he had an affinity, it would've to be wind."

"I am more inclined to believe he beat up a bunch of trees before they submitted to him," Jasmine beamed, confident in her assumptions. "I knew it, Master is a bully!"

"What? That doesn't make any sense…" Lyla trailed off as she saw that Jasmine was running behind Raymond and asking him all kinds of questions.

[Does anything about him make sense?] Heartsbane chuckled.

"Mmm." Lyla, with nothing to rebuke Heartsbane's words, smiled faintly and followed them into the forest.