Novels by Victor

For a moment, nobody spoke. The people who had been laughing at Ronan stared after him, trying to get another look at the bag.Then a loud laugh came from one of the stalls. It was the same trader who had dismissed Ronan earlier. He looked towards the man pointing at the egg, his face full of amusement."Are you trying to be funny?" he asked. "That useless healer, carrying a True Bond egg? Are we in the afterlife already?"The man turned towards him, but before he could answer, another trader joined in."You should be more careful about what you say. You almost made me believe it.""Perhaps he saw an ordinary egg and got excited," someone else added, causing several people to laugh.Their attention returned to Ronan, who had slowed down to adjust his bag. The movement had exposed more of its contents than he intended, and he reached inside to settle the eggs properly before drawing the opening closed."Look at him hiding it now," the first trader said. "If he really had something so v

The whispers started almost as soon as Ronan stepped out of the stall. A trader who had been watching the entrance turned towards the man beside him and smiled."The newcomer must be disappointed by now.""What did he expect? We told him before he took that fellow inside."Ronan heard them clearly, but he continued adjusting the bag against his side. Several people had stopped looking at their own goods to watch him and the merchant."He can't say we didn't warn him," another trader added. "All that time wasted, and for what?"A few people laughed, glancing towards the young man standing beside Ronan. They seemed to be waiting for him to complain about what had happened inside.The merchant looked from one face to another. He had just bought crystals he was pleased to obtain, yet the people outside had already decided that the meeting had been a disappointment."Perhaps he thought he would find something valuable in that bag," someone said."From Ironclad's healer? That fellow can't e

Ronan stared at the merchant, his hand tightening around the strap of his bag. The doctors had always told him that his sister's condition could only be managed, and for three years, he had depended on the guild to keep her treatment going.Even if he found enough money to settle the hospital bills, she would still need to remain under their care. He had asked whether there was anything else they could do, but the answer had always been the same.Now the merchant was telling him that the egg inside his bag could be part of a permanent cure.He wanted to ask where he could find the remaining four. If the young man knew what they were used for, perhaps he also knew where to look for them.However, he stopped himself before the question left his mouth. The merchant had already asked where he had obtained the first egg. Asking how to find the others would only make him more curious.Ronan loosened his grip on the bag and lowered his hand to the table."I can see you don't want to talk abo

Ronan picked up the egg while the merchant was still staring at it and placed it inside his bag. The young man's eyes widened behind his spectacles, and he immediately leaned forward."Why did you do that?""Because you were staring at it too much," Ronan replied, drawing the bag closer to his side."I was examining it. You brought it here to sell, didn't you?""It's still mine.” Ronan replied. The merchant opened his mouth, but the words he wanted to say didn't come out. He drew his hand back from the table and looked at Ronan.He drew a deep breath and settled back in his chair. When Ronan had first approached his stall, he had thought the young man needed money for a meal. Even after seeing the crystals, he hadn't expected anything like this.Even the A-rank crystal hadn't surprised him as much as the egg. He studied Ronan's clothes again, trying to find something he might have missed.Perhaps he had mistaken someone from a wealthy family for a poor Hunter. After all, he had also

"Are you not buying?" Ronan replied flatly, looking at the young merchant who was still examining him from behind his spectacles.The merchant cleared his throat and adjusted the black robe covering his shoulders. His eyes moved towards the bag Ronan was carrying before returning to his face, and for a moment, he seemed unsure of what to say.Ronan could tell that the man wasn't from the town. Although he had dressed like the other merchants and arranged his stall to look ordinary, he appeared unfamiliar with the people who visited the market. Otherwise, he would have recognized Ronan immediately, just as the other merchants had.It wasn't difficult to understand what the young man was thinking either. Ronan's clothes were worn and stained with blood, and nothing about his appearance suggested that he was a Hunter capable of obtaining valuable crystals.However, unlike the others, the merchant seemed to be making an effort not to look down on him."Well, I do buy crystals," the young

Ronan stood beside the dead Mother Worm, examining the enormous creature that had almost taken his life. Its body was still warm, and the sword he had used to finish it remained buried in the wound along its side.He pulled the weapon free and used it to cut through the creature's thick flesh until he found the crystal buried inside. It took him several attempts to remove it, but when the crystal finally came loose, Ronan stared at it for a moment before wiping away the blood.An A-rank beast crystal.He had seen the guild members collect crystals like this during their expeditions, but he had never been allowed to keep one. Darius always insisted that his payment was the money spent on Nera's treatment, even when Ronan had absorbed injuries that would have killed the other Hunters.This time, there was nobody to take the crystal from him.Ronan placed it inside the bag he had recovered from the chamber and turned towards the eggs and crystals scattered near the wall. Most of the eggs