A Sword For Gold

Chapter 5 - Midday Wyvern

They entered the capital as two, and now they left as three.

Naturally, it was a tad bit awkward for Baros Delvis, having just rejoined Maraxus Lonsen and Cora White after having deserted them two years ago and now rejoining them simply because they had saved his life. After two years of traveling with Vaelia Martel, the girl that they were now definitely looking for, he needed to get acclimated to traveling with Maraxus and Cora. Granted, one would expect that it should not be difficult considering that he had history with those two renowned hunters, in their past adventures before Vaelia had decided to leave them for good, taking Baros along with her.

"Looks like you two have made quite a name for yourselves," Baros brought up, as he looked sheepish in constantly riding his horse behind Maraxus who always walked or rode side by side in every journey of theirs together.

"The Starfall Hunters," Baros spoke, "You two have definitely come a long way. How long did it take you two to settle into Starfall Village after Vaelia and I had left you both?"

"Around three days," replied Cora, "One of the villagers saw us capturing the Magnodon that was terrorizing his fields. We were capturing it because we needed its teeth to sell for money. We were desperate, so we turned to some errands from Sorcerer Elarius for gold, and so the villager, as he passed by, seeing us do him a favor, decided to bring us into the village proper and introduce us to the town and found us a place to stay. We've been settling there ever since, making a name for ourselves as swords for hire."

"How about you, Baros?" asked Maraxus as he looked back at him for a second, "Where have you and Vaelia been all this time, up until we found you fighting for your life on the road?"

"Simply put, I've been traveling all over the country alongside Vaelia, watching her as she honed her sorcery," said Baros, "She's gotten really amazing with her fireballs since the last time you've seen her."

"Oooh, someone's in love," Cora murmured quietly, only letting Maraxus hear what she had said under her breath.

As Maraxus tried to stifle his laughter, he then asked Baros, "How about you, Baros? Any incredible feats lately?"

"Yeah!" he exclaimed, "I managed to kill a Terradrome all by myself!" said Baros proudly.

Maraxus and Cora immediately glanced at each other at the corner of their eyes. Maraxus' eyebrows were pressed together in disgust while Cora raised an eyebrow, trying her best to stifle her laughter with a slight smirk.

"That's the easiest monster to kill... all it does is run around..." Maraxus said almost too loudly as Cora elbowed him in the ribs, stopping him from trying to make a regrettable statement. After all, Baros Delvis had just rejoined them, albeit with a totally uninspiring set of accomplishments in his two years of traveling with Vaelia Martel.

"Wait," Cora realized briefly, "That is very base of you, Baros. Why are you killing monsters as small as a Terradrome? Master Zel had always told us to capture small monsters instead of kill, so that you have complete and intact material to work with. Granted, Maraxus did kill the Nightstalker yesterday, but the only ones you're supposed to slay are creatures bigger than a regular house such as a Magnathus or a Hyptera."

"Or a Doroza," Maraxus added, seemingly with a hint of hatred and remorse in his tone as he took a very deep breath after having named that monster. Cora took a slight, worried glance at him, momentarily holding her breath before resuming her brief exchange with Baros.

"I know," acknowledged Baros, "I was supposed to weaken it so that Vaelia can come in with the finishing blow."

"So, Vaelia's the one killing monsters now?" asked Cora with a raised eyebrow.