Chapter 102:

"That was great, thanks, Sara!" Kayda said, standing up from the table in the restaurant of the inn.

"No, wait, I am still eating," I said between bites.

"Nova, come on. I told you we are going somewhere today, and we can't be late." Kayda said, not turning around.

"I take it back you are a devil. You hear a devil!" I shouted while putting most of the food that was left on the table in my storage. Running after Kayda, I added. "Sara, I will bring back the plates tonight."

"Okay!" Sara said, seeing me run out of the inn.

"You are slow," Kayda said with a grin.

"Shut up, I will get you back for this," I said with a plate in my hand.

"Hey, I said this was a punishment for making me worried last night," Kayda said, clarifying it to me, still keeping her grin.

"Punishment? That wasn't punishment. That was torture. Making me watch you eat your and my food while I only had 5 minutes to eat as much as I could!" I said aggressively.

"That's more than enough time to eat enough food for you."

"Kayda, what will you do if I put you on a chair across from me who was eating a good fatty juicy steak, and you can do nothing but watch me eat that while being hungry as hell," I said dangerously, looking at Kayda whose mouth started to water with her eyes shining in horror.

"I guess I went too far," Kayda said, getting out of her daze.

"At least you now know, but you said we need to be somewhere. So why have we been standing outside the guild for the last 10 minutes?" I said, looking up at the guild in front of us before looking around seeing quite a lot of people standing outside, seemingly waiting for something to happen.

"We are waiting for the guild to open for the day," Kayda said with a grin.

"why? Do we need to see the guild master for last night or something?" I said, looking at Kayda, confused.

"no, I told Sara I would give her a detailed report about your findings, but last night, you were very vague. So, I assume you wanted to talk about it in private." Kayda said, giving me a knowing-it look.

"I see. You really are like my mother, huh. Yes, I do have more info, but it has me in a bind to actually tell everyone about it."

"hmm, is it something like mixed morals?"

"Yes, they do help some people, but they are a bad organization. It's like robin hood." I said, looking at Kayda with a complicated expression.

"Who is robin hood? Never mind, we will go get ourselves some collection quest and go out into the forest before talking about it." Kayda said, looking at the guild doors.

"Was that your plan from the beginning?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"not quite. I was just planning to see all your power."

"All my power? I thought you already had seen everything." I said with a thoughtful look.

"I haven't. Remember, we never train together or spar with each other since the first day. I don't know how much you improved over the last month. I do know that your stats have grown, but the duel with Hugo didn't push you to use all your power, so I have no idea how strong you are." Kayda said with a shrug.

"Oh, so you want to know what I am capable of so you would know if I could handle the enemies or not," I said.

"Yeah, that's pretty much it," Kayda said, smiling at me before looking at the guild doors that started to open. "They are finely it opens."

"It seems so. Let's get at least a fun collection quest." I said, walking into the guild.

"fun? There won't be anything that's your type of fun quest." Kayda said, following behind me.

"hey, Kayda, there is one there at the top. Clearing Mountain Crystal deposit mine. How about that it also pays 12 gold coins per kilo." I said, pointing to the top of the quest board.

"that is an A rank party quest girl. Don't be crazy." The guy next to me said warningly.

"Kayda, I am going to take it," I said, ignoring the guy.

"that's fine, just let me put it on my name," Kayda said making grab the quest before giving it to her.

"Ladies, are you crazy! You will find a day if you go there. Those lands are under the trolls' control!"

"trolls? That won't be a bad test subject for my new chakrams." I said while walking past the guy intending to wait outside for Kayda.

"Are you even listen to what I am saying! Ugh." The guy shouted, grabbing my shoulder only to find a Katana held against his throat with me glaring at him.

"take the fucken hint. I don't give a shit what you say, so fuck off." I said with a low voice before kicking him in the stomach, sending him against the quest board, knocking him out instantly.

"nova, that wasn't necessary, you know," Kayda said, coming next to me after she gave in the quest for us.

"I am hungry." That was all I said before walking out of the guild.

"I guess you are," Kayda said, following after me.

"Kay, remember to pay for damages!" Sara yelled from the reception desk.

"I know I will get it from her later. At least she is rich now." Kayda yelled back, waving at Sara.

"I need food," I muttered, looking around for any stalls that were already open. 

"you're not going to get any stalls yet. They only open up in about 2 hours."

"Devil," I muttered, looking at Kayda.

"Hehe, sorry, let's go to the mine and test out your new weapons," Kayda said nervously.

"..." not answering her, I started walking towards the closest gate to the mine.

(1 hour later)

"Hehe, food glorious food." I hummed to myself while eating a raw wolf leg.

"Nova, can't you at least cook the meat first before eating it," Kayda said disgustedly.

"Huh, it's actually not so bad, you know. Here try some." I said, looking at Kayda with a bloody face before turning around to the wolf I just killed. Grabbing the other leg, I ripped it off before giving it to Kayda.

"No thanks. I like my meat cooked." Kayda said, waving her hands in the air.

"Then cook it with you scorch magic, lizard," I said, annoyed while looking at her like she was dumb.

"Oh, that's right," Kayda said, embarrassed before taking the leg before encasing it with fire.

"See, easy as pie," I commented, seeing her taking a bite out of the meat.

"Yeah, but why aren't you doing it as well," Kayda said with a neutral expression.

"I am a monster, so raw meat doesn't bother my stomach, and secondly is that I don't trust my fire magic," I said, taking another bite with a smile.

"you don't trust your own magic?"

"Yeah, it's not like I won't use it. It's more like I think there is something more about my magic that I don't understand. And seeing my curses faded a bit after I destroyed the pillar yesterday, even I have second thoughts about my magic."

"Your curses are fading!?" Kayda shouted, surprised, pulling the scarf around my neck to check my neck.

"It's not like that the ones on my arm retracted upwards," I said, pulling sleave up until my elbow. While in the past, where my curses stopped just before my wrist know they stopped halfway up my forearm.

"that's weird, and I don't know if it's a good thing," Kayda said, inspecting my arm with a thoughtful look.

"Yeah, but I already have some theories at what it might be. So don't worry about it because I am 100% certain that this won't kill me." I said, smiling at the worried Kayda.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, anyway, let's get moving. I am stuff," I said, standing up before stretching my legs out.

"Okay," Kayda said, looking at the pool of blood where the wolf used to be. "Don't you think you ate too fast?"

"Nah, I didn't eat the entire wolf, so I should be fine. At least we have lunch settled then." I said, waving Kayda off.