Chapter 9 [Journey Begins]

"Instead how about this? Seeings that you seem to know your way around this place, I want to hire the lot of you" Alph decided to strike while the iron was hot and directly got to the point.

"You see I'm not exactly from this region so I'm not that familiar. It's good fortune for me to run into an experienced team of adventurerssuch as yourselves" He further added.

"Uhm, I see. I'm very grateful for your generosity sir, and of course we don't mind helping you in exchange. What can we do for you?" Kane spoke, feeling a heavy burden being lifted off of him.

After all, there really was no reason for Alph to start living in the forest if he was there just for the Elven Forest.

The Cave Of Tranquility was said to have the effects of calming the mind and inducing tranquility, hence it was possible that Alph was really there to train his mind and soul as he had said.

"I just need your help getting to the nearest city and of course I can pay if needed" Alph was wiling to give up a few Golden Lotus if they demanded payment.

"There is no need, in fact we are indebted to you for letting us take the Elven Treasures, if anything it's us who should be worrying about the payment" Kane was very grateful that Alph seemed to be just a kind traveler, of course that didn't mean he would let down his guard.

He was a seasoned adventurer, and although his heart was telling him that Alph was harmless, his mind was already planning various options if things get complicated.

Alph on the other was oblivious to Kane's thoughts and felt relieved, he could finally leave the damn forest.

Although life in the cave wasn't that bad, humans were inherently social creatures, not to mention that he still didn't know what kind of place he had ended up in.

After a bit more of small talk, Alph followed the group inside the cave.

Now that there was no more obstacles, Kane and the group hurried to unseal the treasures inside the cave.

In fact the method of unsealing wasn't very hard, it was finding it which was the real problem.

After a couple of minutes, a complex magical circle was drawn on the wall at the cave's end.

Kane then pricked his finger and drew a line on it which caused the circle to start emitting green light.

The wall which it was drawn on turned into light and disappeared, behind it appeared a small room with inscription drawn on the walls.

The room contained a small platform with a treasure chest.

Kane secretly glanced at Alph from the corner of his eye, and seeing him still leisurely standing there with no interest, gestured at Mokuzen who performed some handsigns and a shadowy clone materialised out of his shadow.

The clone walked inside the room and carefully inspected every nook and cranny.

After making sure that the room was safe, Kane stepped inside.

Meanwhile Alph was mentally commenting on the scenes playing out.

*What was that? The shadow clone jutsu?*

"So, where are you from? Seeing as you are more interested in Mokuzen than the treasures I assume you swing that way?" As he was observing, Riri came up to him.

"What? No! Uh..." Alph was dumbfounded at her sudden comment, struggling on how to justify his actions.

"Ahaha It was just a joke! I saw you checking out Saila and me earlier so if anything you probably swing both ways!" Riri burst into laughter as she continued to tease him.

Alph felt cold sweat on his forehead, *Damn it, I tried not to stare!* He cried out to himself.

"Don't be childish Riri! Don't mind her, she's always like that." At that moment Saila also joined in.

"Haha, I see" Alph could only try to akwardly laugh it off.

"Of course I am! You gotta lighten up too if you want to develop into a lady like me Saila, besides, I don't mind if you look more Alph!" Sadly there was no stopping Riri, even Saila was left red cheeked and down headed.

"Hah? Like there's anything good to look at you old witch!" Raiden couldn't take it anymore and struck a blow at Riri on Saila's behalf.

"Alright that's enough, we have obtained the Elven Treasures!" Fortunately, Kane's announcement came at the right time, stopping the emergence of a war.

Basically, there were three treasures.

A ring made of a strange wood with a green glowing stone inlaid in the middle, a piece of white glowing cloth and a bow made of wood inscribed with beautiful patterns.

The ring was said to boost magical capabilities, especially nature magic, and store 5 spells of upto 6th circle.

The white cloth, which was an arm band, was said to be capable of enhancing the physical capabilities of the person wearing it and granting them hyper regeneration.

Lastly the bow was said to be capable of firing 100 magical arrows before it would need to replenish which took 6 hours. The magical arrows are very powerful and contained a special type of poison.

The bow of course was taken by Kane while the ring was taken by Riri and the blessed arm band was given to Raiden.

That left Mokuzen and Saila with nothing to gain. Apparently they had already discussed it beforehand, and came to the agreement to pay each member who didn't get a treasure a thousand gold coins.

Alph didn't know how much a thousand gold coins were nor how valuable the treasures could be considered so he didn't have any opnion on the matter.

With their main objective taken care of and their years of efforts bearing fruit, Kane and the rest were in a cheerful mood.

Also, as the treasures were taken out, the cave seemed to have lost it's magic and was slowly turning into a normal cave.

Alph couldn't wait to finally explore the magical world he had found himself in, as the rest were preparing to depart, he pulled out the Grimoire Of Gluttony and unsumonned and summoned the injured orc.

It was a very useful function of the grimoire which could get rid of any injury on his slaves.

As the old and tattered Grimoire Of Gluttony emitted a purplish glow to swallow the orc and spit it out again, Kane and the rest became flabbergasted.

"T-That! Is that a Grimoire!" Exclaimed Saila.

Kane immediately grew tensed, as did Mokuzen who was already gripping the twin swords on his back.

*Ah fuck, I'm an idiot!* Alph cursed himself in his head.

In the heat of, and suddenly loosing the calming effect from the Cave, had made Alph mess up. He didn't know if Grimoires were considered bad, and seeing their expressions it might be the case.

"Ahhh yeah, did I forget to mention it? I have a Grimoire.." Alph akwardly explained,tl there was no way left out for him.

He was ready to cancel Danes Character Development, after all, in the end his life mattered more than anything else.

"Wow! A real life Grimoire User! No wonder you weren't interested in the Elven Treasures" Riri broke the ice once again, seemingly oblivious to the tension in the air.

Although she was impulsive, her words made Kane suddenly realize something. It would have indeed been too weird for a normal 3-4 star beast tamer to not be enticed by the Elven Treasures, a Grimoire User on the other hand was a completely different story.

Grimoires were items of great power, known to have existed since the beginning of time. However not all could wield them, only the chosen few were deemed worthy by the Grimoires and every single Grimoire User was destined for greatness.

This was the first time Kane had met a Grimoire User, he had tensed at first since he was already feeling suspicious of Alph in the back of his mind but now that he thought about it again, Grimoire Users were almost always backed by powerful individuals or organizations. Alph didn't need to trick them if he wanted to take the treasures or their life.

"It's fine Mokuzen, and I'm sorry sir Alph. We reacted rashly since it was the first time meeting someone as esteemed as yourself" Kane immediately adapted his behavior, he didn't want to offend someone as powerful as a Grimoires User.

"Uh, I don't mind. It's me who failed to introduce myself properly" Alph breathed a big sigh of relieve inwardly, it seemed like luck was really on his side today.

"Wait, then since you are a Grimoire User travelling to the capital city, are you going there to enroll in the Acryd Magic Academy? " Riri spoke, seemingly having realized something.

Stuck on what to say, Alph merely smiled and nodded his head.

Saila on the other hand had grown silent, her head was once again hung low.

"Then if there's nothing else, lead the way!" Alph gestured and climbed up on the back of the Draylion, he couldn't bear the awkwardness and the eagerness to finally start his journey.

Kane nodded, he was now taking his job of escorting Alph to the capital city far more seriously.

*Fantasy world, here I come!*