Chapter 79 - Graywar The Dragon Boy
Everyone was in awe at the sight. Hope grew even taller and his features were more refined. His sharp jaw enhanced his facial features, particularly his mismatched eyes.
"You look cool!"
"What did you take, Hope? You weren't like this yesterday."
"Yeah. Tell us everything, Hope!"
…
The people flocked around him and it made him feel flustered. After all, he wasn't used to that many attention on him. He was used to being in the sidelines while his friends took the spotlight.
"Oh, Mr. Moon, I have something to tell you," Hope said as the people started dispersing at the sight of Frederick. The guild master told them to leave Hope alone and they did as was told instantly.
"What is it?" Elliot pursed his lips. "I have something to tell you too."
"I have Dragon Force now," Hope cheered. "I can finally help you with your Dragon Stones."
Elliot smiled, "Really? That's good news."
"What were you about to say?"
Elliot cleared his throat and pulled Lance beside him. "We talked about it and we have discussed to give you a new name, or at least if you want to."
The dragon boy tilted his head to the side, "What's wrong with my name?"
"Err," Lance scratched his head. "That was when you were a dragon and I thought you were a girl. But if you want your name, you can keep it."
"I like my name," Hope pouted. "Don't you?"
"I like it," Lance defended. "I was the one who gave it to you, remember?"
"Then I'll keep it," Hope grinned. "My name does not measure my value as a person anyway. But if they want they can call me Graywar the Dragon Boy."
Elliot chuckled, "I would want to say 'like father, like son', but then Lance wasn't the only one who contributed cheesiness and weirdness in the boy."
They proceeded with their morning routines. They already decided to take a week break from everything since they were under a lot of stress lately.
Elliot was also heavily opposed with going to another vacation saying, "Remember what happened last time?"
He walked inside Josephine's shop and was instantly greeted by Viper. "Good morning, Mr. Elliot."
"Good morning," Elliot smiled. "Where's ma'am Josephine?"
"He's at the back." Viper placed his broom on the side and called his grandmother. "We were worried sick after you didn't return yesterday. My grandmother almost went after you. If it wasn't for Mr. Midnight, she would've followed."
Elliot facepalmed after forgetting that he had forgotten to check in on Josephine.
"I'm so sorry I forgot to inform you that I had returned," Elliot apologized to the old woman. "Something came up and my mind was filled with other thoughts that I completely forgot about everything else."
"Oh, it's quite fine, Mr. Elliot," Josephine chuckled. "It was good thing Mr. Midnight decided to stop by."
"Midnight goes here?" Elliot asked.
Josephine nodded, "He loves dresses, especially ones with a lot of laces."
"Do you know why he dresses that way?" Elliot couldn't help but wonder. "It seemed like he doesn't know the difference of a suit and a dress and prefers to wear the latter at all times. I always wondered why."
"I'm sorry Mr. Elliot but I also do not know why," Josephine sighed. "But I do know that he is such a kind person, gentle and loving."
"Well, I can say that he's fierce and terrifying when angered," Elliot chuckled. He opened his Inventory and took the fleece out.
"Spatial magic!" Viper cheered and run up to them. "That is so cool!"
"Oh, you know this magic?" Elliot asked with amusement in his eyes. "Do you study magic?"
"Since I don't know my affinity yet, I could only read books. I couldn't just wait for it to show so I studied every magic out there. That way, I would already know the foundations of my affinity when I do gain it," Viper answered.
Elliot smiled wider. Seeing the enthusiasm in the boy even reminded him of himself. This was why he got angry after that woman from the other day pointed out what Viper lacked.
Even when you gain all the courage in the world, all the positivity, it would only take one discouragement to question everything. You're lucky if your will is strong, but if it's not, then your hopes and dreams would all be shattered instantly.
"Good," Elliot said.
'Quest [ A Poison for Viper ] available.'
Elliot leaned back after reading the notification but put it on the side for now. He gave Josephine the large chunks of wool he had that were separated from the meat in his Inventory.
"These should be enough," Josephine said. "B-But I'm afraid I would need your further assistance, Mr. Elliot."
"Sure thing, what is it?"
"My mana could not sustain the continuous use of the spinning wheel. I need another source of mana and I'm afraid Viper is incapable of doing so," Josephine requested, looking embarrassed.
"Oh, okay," Elliot agreed instantly. "Should we start now?"
"Sure, we can start now."
Josephine led Elliot in her work desk where the spinning wheel was. She gestured Elliot to sit on a chair beside the desk with a small crystal in front of him. She made him put his hand on the crystal and the spinning wheel started to growl.
"What's happening?" Elliot asked.
"The spinning wheel uses mana, converting the wool into mana threads," Viper answered. "If made without this special thread, the Gallant Threads would not be produced since mana wasn't involvedin the process of making it, it would be basically be just as a regular thread."
Elliot hummed in understanding, slowly nodding as he watched the device turn and drain his mana. "This isn't so bad."
Josephine started doing her work and feeding the spinning wheel the Gallant Wool. What they said about the wool being converted into mana enhancement of the threads was right too.
The spinning wheel had 6 openings where the wool would be fed. One opening was slightly higher than the others, this was the one that's going to be converted into physical thread. The five below would fortify the physical thread with magical properties.
Not long after, the device had finished its work. It produced a good amount of thread that Josephine would use for Elliot's clothes.
"Thank you, Mr. Elliot, we would take over from here," Josephine bowed. "Your request should be finished in 2 days."
"Nice," Elliot smiled. "Thank you so much. I will go now."
Josephine and her grandson bowed at Elliot as he got out of the shop. Outside, there were 3 men following him as he was walking around the city to stroll.
Elliot noticed the men and purposely turned to a corner, into a small and dark alley. Instantly, the men followed him with one leaping on a wall of a nearby building and landing in front of him.
"Hello, young Adventurer," the man in front of him grinned. "We heard that you scared a certain old lady recently."
Elliot wasn't impressed about the woman's actions. She apparently used his money to hire thugs just to scare him.
"You look young to be scaring people, kid," the one behind him said. "You need to be kinder to live in this world properly, you know? Just live with others peacefully."
When Elliot did not respond, the three thugs took daggers from a hidden part of their bodies. They raised the daggers and pointed it at him.
"She said we can at least make sure you don't get enough sleep because fear will always eat you after we're done with you," the first thuh smirked. "We're just going to–"
He wasn't able to finish when Elliot had clashed his knee on his stomach. The man could only cough blood as Elliot raised his foot above his head and slammed it down.
"You talk too much," Elliot said with a dark expression on his face. "Fear's going to eat who?"
His movements were too swift for the men to follow. He flipped and spun, kicking one man who clashed with the nearby wall. Elliot then ran to the last thug and jabbed his fist right on his jaw, knocking him out along with his peers.
"Thugs should know their places," Elliot said, brandishing his sword and purposely dragging it on the ground. The thugs awoke to the sound of metal being dragged on the concrete floor, the eeriee sound brought shivers down their spine.
"I know you're all awake," Elliot grinned. "When I count to three, if you don't run, I will pierce this sword right through your hearts. And no one would know since I'll kill every one of you three."
"Y-You can't do that," the man who was slammed on the wall stuttered.
"I killed quite a few men before," Elliot slightly looked up as if he was looking down the men. "Three wouldn't be so hard."
"Run!" the thug Elliot first attacked dragged the last one by the foot and ran. The one on the wall followed them, taking the other foot of their fellow and ran.
"I know you're there," Elliot said as he returned his sword in his scabbard.
Lance walked out from the darkness, smirking. "Even I was scared."
Elliot chuckled, "I was serious though."
Lance smiled and nodded, "Of course, you were. You look like a dangerous hamster while you were scaring them."
"You–" Elliot scoffed and rolled his eyes.
This made Lance laugh and ran. "Hamster!"
"Come back here!"