The Last Primal

After coming to a decision, it wasn't long until Mary registered the quest under Lily's newly registered name. With a smile under the cover of her hood, she happily strolled out of the Guild's Hall and was on her way towards the East Gate. 

Behind her, a tall and sturdy man wearing a golden set of armor was walking. His eyes, which was covered under the visor of his golden helmet, were shining with fervent passion. 

His zeal, his determination was set, he was fervent to show his new muse how deep and honest her feelings were. He was certain that if he showed his worth and proved that he is the best choice available, Miss Lily will reciprocate his feelings. 

It doesn't matter if there's a weak boy waiting for her at home, the rules of the world are dictated by the strong, while the weak could only cover in shame.

The 2 city guards recognized Sir Michael as he passed behind the hooded figure. Puzzled, they looked at their direction as they were walking towards the river's direction. 

"'Doesn't he have a wife at home? Maybe he is wooing the girl to be his new mistress?" asked one of them.

However, the other angrily yelled at him.

"Don't talk about this, don't even look at their direction. We are simple folk, we haven't seen, or heard anything. Just do your job, and don't bring trouble over your head!"

"Miss Lily, we are getting close to the river where these frogs could be usually found. Please let me take the lead and stay safe behind me!" Pulling his long sword out of its sheath, Sir Michael walked forward as they left the city gates. Even just outside the city in the plains, there were risks. 

Since his goal was to impress this girl, he planned to take the lead and have the girl amazed at his skills.

Lily let him take the lead, as she was leisurely strolling while humming a tune. As they were getting closer, she already had her bow ready in her hands. From the looks of it, she wasn't really paying attention to the eager knight. 

Soon, they heard the sound of frogs croaking ahead of them. As they got closer, they spotted two relatively large specimens sitting motionlessly at the shore. They were both probably around half a meter in size, dark greenish and brown colored with spiky protrusions growing all over the surface of their bodies. It was an incredibly ugly sight to behold.

"Stand back Miss Lily, let me handle these vile beasts!" spotting the first two of the required animals' Sir Michael was eager to showcase his skillset. He grabbed the grip of his longsword harder and started making his way towards them with confident steps. 

However, he didn't even take two steps forward, when an arrow coated with glowing green energy whistled by his left ear. Instinctively he jumped to the right, and watched with wonder, as halfway to their target, the green energy beam suddenly split into two, and penetrated into the back of the skulls of the frogs. 

Both animals fell forward, spasming one last time before the light left their eyes. Sir Michael was awoken from his stunned silence by Lily's angelic giggling. 

"Ehehe I'm sorry Sir Michael, I hope I did not scare you! Would you be so kind as to extract the required parts from the animals?"

Unable to process the events that just transpired, Sir Michael dazedly nodded at Lily's question and forced out a stuttered "S-sure…" before he mindlessly walked over to the two dead animals.

Looking at the back of their heads, he only saw one arrow drilled into the skull of one of the frogs, while the second frog simply had the hole proving that he was indeed killed the same way. 

Looking back at the figure covered in a tattered brown hooded cloak, he wasn't sure what to ask. Killing two targets with 1 arrow was not an easy feat. And that green energy that he saw previously? Did she just use magic? 

"Miss Lily, did you just… used magic?" Sir Michael asked after a while. People that were able to use magic, was scarce. If that was the case, he had to rethink his strategy, but he was certain; he absolutely had to make this woman his!

"Ehehehe, I'm not sure…" Lily giggled at his question. Then pretending she was thinking hard about an answer, she continued. "...maybe? I just wished to kill both of them, and then it happened!"

'Maybe she never tested for affinities? Hmm….' Sir Michael was thinking about his best course of action. If this girl never tested for any affinities and never had anybody teach her about magic, this would be a great opportunity to lure her in. 

Coughing to focus, he looked at Lily, and while hiding his thoughts behind a polite smile, he asked.

"*Khm*, Miss Lily, did you ever check for affinities? If not, we could head to my residence once we finish here and check it for you."

Although Granny had already taught her about this subject, Lily pretended she didn't know, and while tilting her head sideways, she 'innocently' asked.

"Affinities? What is that?"

With a bright smile, Sir Michael started explaining the best way he could. As a noble and a knight, while he had no natural-born affinities, he managed to awaken a light fire affinity using his family's wealth to obtain the required elixirs.

"I'm not exactly sure about the reason, but some people can have some sort of connection to some of the elements. Ehrm, I may not be the best in explaining this, but if I'm right that Miss Lily probably has an affinity towards Nature or maybe Wind? Either way, when we head back, we could have it checked. If you have an affinity, you would be able to enroll in the Academy. The Dean is a friend of the family, and I could make sure Miss Lily would get in."

Although he couldn't see it, but based on her cheerful tone, Michael was sure Lily was smiling.

"Thank you, Sir Michael! But for now, let's get back to completing my quest!"

The smile widening on his face, Sir Michael quickly finished dissecting the dead frogs, and as he stored the two gall bladders in a leather pouch on his belt, he stood back up and looked for their next victims. 

Soon, he spotted another pair just a few dozen steps away. Pointing in the direction, he silently exclaimed.

"That way, Miss Lily! I can see two there!"

It didn't take too long before they finished gathering the six Thorny Forest Frog gall bladders to complete the quest. As Michael finished dissecting the last frog that had its head cleanly cut off by his blade, he placed the organ inside the leather pouch on his belt and walked back to Lily who already placed her blow on her back.

"Thank you for the help Sir Michael, you are really kind!" She happily thanked the knight.

Giving her a slight bow, Sir Michael was happy to receive the compliments. Thinking that he made a good impression, he respectfully asked.

"Since we finished the quest, should we head back? If we can quickly turn it in, I could escort Miss Lily to take the test?

"Test? What test?" Lily asked, confused.

"The test to see which elements Miss Lily might have affinities for. Then, if Miss Lily wants, I could talk to the dean and make sure Miss Lily gets accepted. If I remember correctly the semester should start next month."

"Oh? Sure! Let's go, we should hand in the quest!" As Lily exclaimed, she was already darting towards the city gates. Thinking he had made good progress, Michael had a satisfied smile on his face as he followed behind the cheerful little lady.

---

It was around lunch time, and the streets were crowded with people. A silent figure was dexterously making his way through the crowd. The rugged, tattered linen cloth that was covering most of his body and face kept fluttering as he swooned through between the small gaps in the crowd. 

The only clue he had about the location of his sister was from the local branch owner of that smuggling ring. Although they didn't officially deal with slaves, he wasn't an idiot to believe them. 

Without any other leads to go on, he had nothing to do. Unwilling to waste away two full days doing nothing, he was making his way to check out the local branch of the Adventurer's Guild, to check what kind of requests they have and see if there's anything that he could take just to spend these two days. After all, he was already a registered member.

Just as he passed through the double doors and entered the hall, he suddenly felt the buzzing of his sword. Puzzled, he looked down and unwrapped the linen cloth he used to hide the decorated and recognizable royal sword. 

As he saw the gem in the pommel shine, he was stunned and almost fell onto his knees. The glow meant that it resonated with another royal artifact that was close by!

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