The Beginning After The End novel Chapter 26

"So... who’s it going to be?" My father took a sip of his coffee, setting it down on the round wooden table we were all seated around.

We had been currently just finished eating breakfast with the Twin Horns party., who The group had chosen a rather modest inn full of lively chatter. As they conversed while eating breakfast, while my Mother was currently busy wiping off the remains of food chunks bits of food that had managed to escape my sister’s mouth off of her.

"Kuu!" Sylvie hopped up onto the table, with her head held high. Even without her mentally transmitting, everyone was able to make out that, ’I’m enough to protect Papa!’, everyone was able to tell that that’s what she was thinking.

"Sylviee! Come here~!" My sister waggled a piece of meat in front of Sylvie, tempting my legendary dragon bond, who instantly began to drooling like a starving puppy, right before she leapt into my sister’s arms.

When I saw this, I couldn’t help but chuckle at the thought of Sylvie wagging her tail at a bandit smart enough to simply lure her away with a piece of meat.

Apparently my father’s ex-party members had just finished a dungeon exploration with several other parties, so they had some free time before their next mission or quest. Thus, it wasn’t really a matter of if they had the time, but rather if any of them wanted to. _{fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm}

Adam, who was spoke up first while polishing the tip of his spear, was the first to speak up., "Babysitting doesn’t really fit my style, so I’ll pass on this. Besides, I feel like, with my personality, Arthur might kill me in my sleep one day."

Despite the joke, my father responded with a solemn nod. He knew what kind of temperament Adam had, and in-turn knew that they weren’t likely to get along with each other.

"I was hoping that Durden or Helen would accompany Arthur. Honestly, although I can’t offer much, but Alice and I are more than willing to compensate you guys in whatever way we can if you do this."

"Don’t talk like that, Rey, we’re all family here. I, for one. would love to accompany him and watch him grow, anyhow," the gentle giant responded, his narrow eyes becoming even smaller as he smiled.

"Durden is right. You, of all people, should know that we aren’t doing this for the money. Besides, we managed to get quite a bit of treasures off from of our last dungeon raid." Helen said, shaking her head.

Suddenly, a silent hand shot up, making everyone at the table turn to look.

"I would like to volunteer."

"J-Jasmine? You, you want to go with Arthur?" Angela sputtered, looking at her brusque companion in shock.

Angela had made it clear about how eager she was to accompany me, but I felt like Angela would be a greater source of danger than any of the possible threats of an adventurer. I tried to lightly hint that she might not be the most suitable but even I was surprised that Jasmine would take the initiative to accompany me.

"Hmm... Logically speaking, Jasmine is the most suitable person to protect Arthur. Durden only specializes in offensive area of effect spells. Although II do want to go with Arthur too, but I feel that maybe I’m probably not the most suitable person since protecting someone isn’t really my strong suit." Helen just scratches her head.

"Jasmine, are you really okay with going along with Arthur?" my mother asked, concerned.

Giving my mother a determined look, she looked at my mother with a determined gaze as she nodded firmly in response.

"Pfft! The lady says she wants to go, let her go. She’s the only Augmenter among us that has an elemental affinity! She just reached the dark yellow stage last year, and coupled with her wind attribute, I think she’d be the best suited." Adam said after a let out a chuckle as he leaned back on his chair.

"Hmm... For Arthur’s safety, I guess I’ll just have to step down from this. It’s a pity though." Durden just scratched his head, clearly disappointed.

"Sorry, Durden, I know how much you care about Arthur." My father put an arm on the large mage’s shoulder.

"Maybe I’ll join the Twin Horns on a dungeon raid in the future!" I exclaimed. Durden just smiled at this, giving me a nod as he tousled my hair. The rest of the Twin Horns chuckled merrily as we finished up our conversation.

It was decided that, in a week’s time, I would go with Jasmine to the Adventurer’s Guild and register myself. I’ would automatically start off as ant the E class adventurer after passing a simple test and could, depending on how well I do on any missions or on quests I take, raise my class accordingly.

Getting back home, I spotted Lilia downstairs —meditating— right as when a maid was gently placed a cup of water by her side.

"Uu... Lily no fair! Training without me!" My sister rushed past my side and plopped down into a comfortable sitting position to start her mana manipulation training as well.

As far as I could tell, it would take the both of them a few more years to actually form a mana core, but at the pace that Lilia was going, it was easy to imagine that she’ would awaken around the average time most children did.

On the other hand, Ellie didn’t have the patience for training, and grew bored after an hour or two, so it would take her a lot longer. That’s fine though, I wouldn’t want her to become a mage too early, as; she would attract too much unwanted attention. I’ would be proud if she could simply can form a mana core by the age of nine or ten.

Putting away my jacket, I turned back to face my father, who was still making his way up the stairs. "Dad, can we go to the Auction House again? I’d like to pick out a sword? We never had the chance to after the incident, and I’ve wanted to start practicing."

"Yeah, I have a few things I need to tell my team there anyway. We’ll ask the carriage driver to stay for a little bit, so go wash up."

________________________

Both Lilia’s father and mother were already waiting for us at their auction house. It was my first time seeing either of them after the incident so I was faced with another long string of questions from the two of them regarding my health. After much coaxing and reassuring them that I was fine, we finally went inside. I could tell that Vincent had been less than thrilled by the treatment the King had shown regarding this incident, but at this point, just like how the King felt towards me, I only felt apathy towards the man. It was clear that he had not put me into any sort of consideration besides that of a less-than-insignificant child, which suited me just fine for now.

The King’s representative had told us that night that both the augmenter that had attacked me and Sebastian had been stripped of their nobility. Vincent merely scoffed when my father told him this, though.

Rolling his eyes, the auction house owner spat out that their sentencing was nothing but comforting lies. "Bah! Men like them... as soon as they get their wrists slapped, and they just take a relaxing break for a bit, they’ll It won’t be long before they’ll have their positions back."

I noticed my father tightly clenching his fists, but these sort of politics were all too familiar to me.

Father went off with Vincent to meet the guards, while Tabitha took our carriage back to take care of Lilia, leaving me with only Sylvie search for a sword.

Perched on my head, my bond curiously looked around the cluttered storage hall, littered with vaguely sorted crates and shelves of miscellaneous goods. Vincent had told me that the Helstea Auction House stored a lot of goods, most from different merchants and adventurers, and others from remote places, including the Dwarf Kingdom.

There had been almost no business transactions done with elves ever since the war over a neutral territory had reached a stalemate. Over the years, relations between the two races were said to have gotten better, to the point of even having a friendly tournament, but it would be a slow process before the enmity is actually ceased. This was a pity since elf weapons, which were comparatively lighter and thinner, would’ve been perfect for someone of my physique.

Something I had learned while living with the Eralith family in Elenoir was that, while both weapons and armors forged by dwarves were considered the highest class because of the race’s innate mastery in the field, elves had their specialties in bows as well as conjurer staffs and wands.