The Charm of Her Soul

The mercenaries that arrived belonged to a prominent bachelor. One of the most famous fighters in the city.

He is one of fifty people in the town who hold the rank of an Arvus. This rank of power, skill, and experience makes them far stronger than most other men.

And this bachelor was one of the men who pursued Crystal and got a massive dose of shame.

The various mercenaries and questers who served in this group naturally recognized Crazy Crying Crystal.

Crystal saw eight mercenaries from afar. Leading them were two Captains of the mercenary group.

Even at the distance, one of the captains recognized the face of Crystal as his eyes were empowered by the mysterious force that stands in contrast with Wizardry, the Will.

His eyes could peer further out, and he was acting like a scope.

"Crystal Diante? She's alive?! Wasn't she kidnapped four days ago?!" Another shouted.

"Crazy Crying Crystal. I wonder how the boss will react to this." The Captain sneered.

"Let's go." A fellow captain with

Crystal saw the men and began to think.

"Adam said that the kidnappers who took me belong to a mysterious organization that has powers. Can I trust them?" Crystal pondered and glanced around to see if she could still escape.

At once, she noticed chaos and destruction on the other side of the mountain.

"What?!"

It was as if several landslides and earthquakes shook the region.

"Was this… because of their fight?" Crystal recalled the attack that brought down the temple and caused the entire mountain to fall.

"Adam was really bearing the weight of the entire mountain! That meant the destruction of that place caused great earthquakes and affected the nearby mountains… Incredible." For all her emotions on Adam, she had not clearly understood how strong he was.

Her heart ached at this thought, and her longing for Adam resurfaced. But this desire was pushed by rage.

"These emotions… The dragon soul…!"

Crystal recalled that Adam told her that since a portion of his dragonic soul was in her, the anger, wrath, pride, and power would slowly manifest.

"He did say… that I will have a temper… I have to control it." Crystal paused and reflected. One of the things that Adam warned Crystal repeatedly in those three days was to tame her emotions. Apart from the Zero-Frost euphoria that awakened her other emotions, the problem was the dragonic soul of Adam that would slowly merge with her own soul and give her a change in temperament.

"If their fight brought down the mountain and caused this catastrophe, these mercenaries could have been sent out to search for more survivors caught in the calamity. Not to mention..." Crystal glanced at the approaching mercenaries.

"There aren't five of them..." Crystal recalled the rituals and spells. The organization itself was called the Five.

"For now, I just have to control my emotions. Adam's soul would thaw mine and limit my depression. But now that my body bears very little frost, Adam''s temper would affect me greatly." Crystal closed her eyes and recalled the steps to harness the frost.

A few times, Crystal was asked to circulate the cold power, and she succeeded only on the evening of the second day.

The small portions of the frost began to circulate. She became calm, even as the anger and rage slowly dispersed just in time for the arrival of mercenaries.

The mercenaries laughed as they saw Crystal standing in silence, and they approached her from behind.

"Hey… You're Crystal Diante, aren't you?"

The mercenaries arrived, and the captain leading them asked.

"...Yes. I remember you. Captain Frank. You are known as the Scope of the Sword Quest." Crystal turned around.

The moment they saw her face, everyone froze.

She was beautiful. They knew this. But now, something different about her caused their hearts to stop.

"Beautiful..." One of the mercenaries could not help but mutter.

Crystal saw their silence and their expressions and was confused.

"...Are you all alright?" Crystal asked.

"Er… yeah! Cry-Crystal! We were… looking all over for you the past days!" Frank began to speak.

"I have been trying so hard to search for you! Are you safe? Are you alright?" Frank approached and offered his hand to hers.

"Looking for her? Really? Didn't you just call her Crazy Crying Crystal?!" The other Captain called out.

"Lady Crystal. We're glad you are safe. We have heard of how you were kidnapped by evil men. Rest assured, we will bring you back safely." The other captain called out and offered his hand.

Crystal chose the hand of the other captain as she contained her anger at the nickname that Frank had called her.

"Thank you, Captain. I believe you are the Janker the Blur?" Crystal asked as she reached out to the other Captain.

The captain gracefully pulled her up.

"Oh, such sweet bliss that such a beauty would remember my name." Janker smiled and moved closer to kiss Crystal's hand.

Crystal firmly pulled it back to escape Janker's peck.

"Captain, I have just been taken by men. You will forgive my insolence of not wanting to be touched by any other." Crystal frowned.

"I…! I…! I apologize!"

"This will be a good tale to tell your wife, Janker. You tried to kiss the hand of a woman that's just been kidnapped!" Frank spoke with a sour tone.

"Are you headed back? If not, please spare some men to lead me back to town. I am… unfamiliar with this region."

"I will lead you back, my lady. The Captains still have to scout and help find other survivors in this region." One of the mercenaries spoke out.

"You? You might as well get her kidnapped again! Fair lady, this mercenary is quite dull. He would lead you astray. He barely passed the test when he applied to be part of the Sword Quest mercenary group. And I hear he has a short… dagger."

"What does my dagger have to do with this?!"

"So you do not deny it's shortness? Fear not, fair maiden. For I have a long sword…!" The mercenary revealed his sword.

Crystal remained quiet and confused. It was only then she recalled another trait that Adam casually mentioned.

"His dragonic heritage was from a Devil of Charm. And since I have his soul, it would draw out the emotions of others…" Crystal recalled.

Adam had explained that the small portion of his soul was already terrifying when placed within Crystal. Crystal was already very beautiful. But her frost and the coldness that she emanated would become like a ward that would cause many to distance themselves from her.

But the soul of Charm would entice others and awaken their emotions. With her captivating beauty, Adam said that the weak and untrained men would be drawn to her like a moth to the flame.

She then gazed at the group, who were now fighting for dominance.

"With your age, your sword isn't even stiff!"

"What did you say?!"

The fight began to turned wild as insults about how short or frail their weapons was echoed and Crystal blushed red with embarrassment as she knew they weren't talking about weapons.