Demonic Devourer's Development

At my question, Risha perked up again. Some cheer returned to her face, and I saw how her confidence was returning as clearly as if it was poured into her like water.

"Well, first, I had to join. It was yesterday evening, but the lower floor was still working—"

"You were outside after dark?" Rosha rose, grit her teeth and fell back onto her seat. "Fine, fine. Go on. Tell me you at least kept to the main streets."

"I did! So, I asked Helen to let me become an adventurer, but first we chatted a little, of course, and with Marie who was on the shift, too—"

My lip curled in impatience. "I asked you what have you found, Risha, not about every step you made… Who are even all these people?"

"Oh, Helen works as a receptionist and a barmaid, and Marie is another waitress—I mean, just a waitress, since I'm not a waitress anymore. Helen actually told me to not join, just like you did, Rosha, but I convinced her—she knows we need money—so even though the enlister had checked out already, she gave me the standard adventurer's contract and set me with the Blessing Stone."

"See, even Helen knows that what you did was stupid."

I had to interrupt the sisters before they could return to the screaming/crying match and at the same time direct the flood of words from Risha's mouth. "What's the Blessing Stone?"

"It's a magic item that people can use to connect with gods so they could bless you with a class! There's also a special prayer to say, but Helen knows it because she works as an enlister too, sometimes. And I didn't have to pay any fees since I didn't ask for a training course, but Helen recommended me a retired adventurer who was giving them for cheaper than in the Guild, anyway. I picked a cleric class, because I heard you two talking about… how clerics could do some thing you wanted?"

"Yes, Risha." I gave her an encouraging grin. "You are pretty good at eavesdropping. Though, only a high-level cleric would know the spells I have the interest in."

"Well…" Risha's face dimmed for a moment. "Either way, and then Helen gave me my adventurer's card, and after that I asked her to show me the quests and notices. I had to promise her I won't go anywhere alone, but I said that I just wanted to look at first, and well, the rules say that I have to have access to the lists at all times, and here they are!" She pulled out several rumpled sheets of paper and slammed them on the table with a victorious smile. "I wrote them all down!"

I was quick to grab them, but much less quick to decipher Risha's crooked handwriting. "Kobolds activity… Bandits… Huh, elite… what is written here?"

"Elite kobold," Rosha read over my shoulder. "Special features: insect wings, a spike out of right wrist, last sighting…"

As a look of horrible understanding dawned on Rosha's face, I chuckled at the futility of this particular Guild-issued quest and moved on. "Birds of Paradise—what is that?"

"Birds of Paradise are monsters from Blue Mountains. They only come around Glesk in autumn, when it's their mating season, and even that's not for long. They are as big as a horse and have feathers like steel, right, Rosha?"

Rosha blinked, shook her head and appeared to move past the information she just found, except for the look she sent me. A single glance, but a very dark one, one that said that I would have to placate her later. My mouth went dry at the thought of how much web that would take from me.

Maybe I should try selling her my venom for a change.

"Yes, that's right, Risha. This notice says, though, that they were sighted outside the Blue Mountains too, though it's only spring. Maybe it's because of that winter. If so many crops died around here, animals in the mountains must be even worse off."

"There were other notices about the mountain monsters. Helen said that Glesk is a calm city, and people mostly go closer to the mountains to adventure, anyway. Even our rivers are calm, no Water Ibexes or anything, like closer to Blue Mountains."

"They are Ibexes for a reason, Risha. Of course they won't come so far to Glesk, kobolds would've eaten them all."

Birds as big as a horse and with feathers like steel… Sounded like nasty opponents, and steel feathers were a double-edged ability to evolve. If they were anything like scales, then I was past that phase of my life already. But there were still a few quests left.

"Frost Griffins… hmm, this sounds familiar… and Prism Bugs, captured alive. No, it must be Griffins. Rosha, what are those?"

"Griffins are creatures with a body of a lion and a head and wings of an eagle, but there are several species of them. Frost Griffins have ice-blue feathers and grow as big as a cow… A big cow, if they are males. They all have pelts and feathers with a great protection from cold, but male's feathers, especially from wings, worth much more because male Frost Griffins can use some ice magic, and their feathers have ice affinity." At my puzzled look, Rosha added, "They make great accessories for spellcasters who focus on ice magic. If you got them even from a single griffin… The crafted items would sell from two thousand gold, at least!"

Risha whistled. I blinked.

"And how much is that in… cows?"