Part 29

After relenting under Jonathan's pressure, I eventually got myself a set of leather armor. The armor was black and slightly lighter than leather armor should be, but it fit well with my body and was comfortable. Thanks to my『 Appraisal 』, I was also able to see its stats.

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Dark Leather Armor

+15 AC

A normal set of leather armor, though it has been colored black for dramatic effect

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'It's not as good as my suit, and it's heavier than I thought,' I thought as I picked up the armor, 'but it's alright.'

The twins tried to make me get a weapon, but they eventually gave up when they remembered that I was a mage, not a warrior. Then, after everything we chose was purchased, we returned to the twin's manor to rest for the day.

Hazel went with us, though she tried to get away by returning to the guild.

"Nope! You're in our party now, so you're coming to the manor with us!" Evelyn shouted, betraying the usually silent and calm personality she had thus far. She literally started dragging Hazel by her collar as they went to the manor. Hazel was strong enough to easily pull herself out of Evelyn's grasp, but she didn't do so and instead chose to go with the group.

We traveled through the city for another forty minutes before we finally arrived at the Forsyth Manor. The sun was beginning to set, as we had wasted the day at the guild and hadn't really done anything but recruit Hazel and get new armor, so we returned without even accepting our first quest.

"We'll return tomorrow and do a quest for sure!" Jonathan said, hyped up. I turned to Hazel, who was staring at the manor's gate in shock. She was raised in an orphanage and had been living off of scraps as an adventurer, so she was naturally surprised to see such a rich home.

"That makes sense," She mumbled to herself through her dazed trance, "After all, Evelyn is rich. She paid for my armor like it was nothing."

"Hazel," I called, bringing her back to earth. I nodded my head to the gate, which was now open, "Let's go. The twins are going to give you a room so you don't have to sleep at the guild anymore."

"A room? Here?" Hazel shouted. I laughed, then nodded as I turned to the manor. Hazel quickly followed me as I made my way through the gate. As we walked to the front door, I kept glancing at Hazel to see her expression as she saw the manor from a closer angle.

Her face was full of awe like mine had been when I first arrived here. Then, once we were getting closer to the door, I looked around for the twins and noticed them racing to the door again. They were quickly getting far away, creating a large distance between us.

"Just so you know, Hazel," I said once the twins were too far away to hear us. Hazel turned to me, "A dragon is naturally stronger than humans. Before, your stats were abysmal, but now they're strong. You will need to watch your strength so you don't show too much. When possible, hold back."

"Hold back?" She said. I nodded, then looked away as I thought about the incident with Nicholas.

"Yes. If you don't, you might end up killing someone."

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Arthur Aureys

Race: Dragon

Level: 5

XP: 1426.8/1600

HP: 130

MP: 170

AC: 20 (+)

DMG: 30

Rank: SS

Equipped Items: Leather Armor

Titles: Dungeon Master

Skills: Appraisal, Morph, Ancestral Magic, Summon, Acrobatics, Dungeon Visit, Fire Cyclone

Skill Sets: Flame Manipulation

Status Effects: Flame Immunity, +10 AC

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"God, this is horrible," I said as I felt the weight of my armor. My stats, which were usually a little bit higher than this, just served to lower my sense of value more. The others looked at me and laughed as they put their own sets of armor on.

Hazel looked at me and smiled as she tightened the strap of her sword around her back. She chose to wear her sword around her back now, as the sword I had given her was a little bit longer than her other sword- which ended up creating problems around her hip, and her body was strong enough to pull it out from over her shoulder.

I didn't really mind the change. I was just happy she chose to use my weapon over her other.

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Curse Saber

+35 DMG

+5 Curse DMG

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Rusty Sword

+10 DMG

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It helped that the sword I gave her was considerably stronger than her old sword. Her new weapon even had Curse damage, which was a type of damage that I was completely unfamiliar with. When I saw it in the store for the first time, I was a bit afraid of using it. However, I was completely confident that it would be put to good use in Hazel's hands.

Once everybody had put their armor on and was ready for the day, we set out for the guild.

The walk there took twenty minutes, as the day before, but now we knew what we needed to do once we got there.

"We're all F rank, so there isn't much more than goblin extermination," Jonathan sighed as he read a quest on the wall. I nodded, then picked up another of the quests on the wall and read it out.

"Here's one," I said, "Smoke Forest Rabbit extermination quest. It pays nicely, too."

"There's no way in hell we can catch one of those," Jonathan said as he looked at me, "Is there one for Smoke Forest Boar? They're tough as hell, but we can take one."

I looked back at the board and searched through the options available to me. Then, after I looked over the entire board, I turned back to Jonathan and shook my head.

"I see," Jonathan sighed as he took a quest from the board, "It looks like we'll be taking care of a few goblins, then."

"Let's get back to the girls," I said, "They should be about done at the shop by now."

"I finally made it out!" Kelvin yelled as he saw the light of day. As his eyes met with the light, he began to jog forward. His legs shook as he finally exited the giant maze that he was trapped in. For him, it had been an exhausting experience of what felt like a week of hell. He would explore the maze as much as he could, but he would always run away whenever he heard anything that felt like danger.

After two full days of going through the dungeon at a snail's pace, he had somehow managed to reach the exit. He walked forward a few steps, then collapsed on the ground as his legs finally gave away. He hadn't slept or eaten for two days, which made him even more exhausted than he should've been.

"I need to get back," Kelvin muttered. Then, an image of his companion, Bernard, and his family flashed in his mind. Kelvin quickly shook his head in shame and thought of another option, "No. I can't face Bernard's family, but I need to warn the guild. Hewe. I need to go to Hewe, it's my only option."