(MC POV)
After slapping the guy awake, I got him to spill out what he knew about the dragon.
Apparently this elf is some sort of Seer and he needs a scale from the dragon to give us a rough location of it. For some reason, I didn't even need to ask before he immediately told me everything he knew about the Technique and begged me to release him.
Well, not that I was really after it, but I won't say no to a gift.
So in the end, I figured out that Arza was only here to track this Dererei guy so that he could actually do the real tracking of the Dragon that had been 'terrorizing the lands'.
Not sure about the terrorizing part since if a Myriad Colours Dragon wanted to, it could just burn this entire Plane out of existence.
Could I just remind everyone that I'm here to have an easy life? Why the hell are all these problems being heaped onto me huh?
Now I'm starting to think that locking myself up in my courtyard and doing nothing but cultivating would be the easier option.
Ok nah. I'll probably be bored out of my mind within the first day and besides, I got other people to worry about now.
He pointed us to a cave of monsters nearby that he knew the Dragon had been seen around before, telling us that we should be able to find at least one scale in there. He then promptly ran off into the distance.
Was I really that scary? Eh, maybe he's just a scaredy cat.
Henry stepped forwards, his mace and shield already sheathed, "Ah I know that cave, it's quite an infamous monster nest that no one has been able to clear so far. The cave's full of these spider type monsters that breed extremely fast and swarm intruders immediately upon entry. I remember some Adventurer teams attempting to subjugate it before but they never returned."
Lance spat on the ground, "Damnit, we don't have enough manpower for a monster nest extermination now!"
I stood up and cracked my knuckles, "I just need to find one of its scales right? I'll be right back."
Arza snapped out of her trance, "Wait! You can't be serious about going to the cave right now?!"
I raised an eyebrow at her, "What? Why not? Just pop in, burn some spiders, get the scale and pop back out. Simple."
Arza grabbed my arm to stop me, "Those aren't normal giant spiders you moron! You may be able to teleport but those spiders flood the entire cave! You won't have a safe place to teleport to!"
"Not to mention those spiders are the Armored Swarm Spiders, their skin is too tough for even swords to cut through! You'll be slaughtered!" Henry added.
I shook the elf's arm off, "They're just spiders in the end. Nothing a good fire can't solve."
The elf wrung her arms in the air, "Arrgh! You don't even know what those spiders are! One of their base characteristics is that they're fire-pro--"
"Bah, the kid wants to go and jump into the monster nest, let him!" Lance interrupted, putting his hand on the elf's shoulder to stop her. "Just don't drag us into it!"
I shrugged, "Never invited you."
Ignoring them, I trekked my way towards the cave which was just a short distance from here. From what the other elf had said, it should be near the mountain's rock face within a clearing.
"Damn it Lance! I won't have a kid's death riding on my conscience!" Arza yelled, pushing him away to run up to me. "Stop it, kid! This mission just got a lot more complicated! We need more than a single party to complete this!"
"And I already told you, I don't have the time for that. Relax, I know what I'm doing," I rebutted, not slowing down my pace.
Arza sped up to match my speed, "You're what? Eight? What the hell do you know?!"
"Enough to get by. Now if you aren't here to help me with the spider monsters, just go back, thanks."
"Damnit, you leave me no choice!"
She raised her arm before swinging it down in a chopping motion towards my neck, trying to knock me out.
I ducked underneath her strike, letting it sail over my head harmlessly.
"Please don't do that again," I warned. "I'm fine with you not coming with me. In fact, I don't even care if I don't get any credit for this Request. Just don't get in my way."
I glared at her to get my point across before continuing my way.
(Arza POV)
I cannot believe this.
I should have known something was wrong with this kid the moment I saw him.
How he acted when he first introduced himself should have clued me in on his oddity, how did I miss it?
I only joined this party because this job seemed simple enough to complete and the pay was good.
The Request had asked for a tracker to search for some kind of multi-coloured dragon that was a menace to the region. I had instantly thought of my acquaintance, Dererei, who could help us with his Seer skills.
What was even more fortunate was that I remembered he had told me he was tracking some kind of dangerous monster in that specific area, that must mean he was hunting the very same monster as the Request.
All I had to do was track him down, have him point me in that dragon's direction and I should be able to take over from there.
This was a recon mission anyway, so just taking notes of our quarry would be enough to net us a reward. This Request was basically easy money for me.
I immediately accepted the Request and joined another party as a temporary member.
They seemed good enough to work with, though that Lance guy seemed to be rather full of himself at times.
Henry seemed like the quiet guy but I noticed he usually goes out late at night to god knows where.
"Night walks," He had claimed. Though I'm not sure why he usually dresses in a full black outfit when he does so but hey, who am I to question?
Unfortunately, we were stuck in the Guild for the next few days since the mission required at least one Practitioner to join us before we could depart.
Not sure why that was a requirement but it's probably a Practitioner thing that we wouldn't understand.
When we finally got a Practitioner to join us, we were not expecting an eight year old kid that had a weird air about him to join us.
I had always been more sensitive to Elemental Quarks since young despite lacking the talent to be a Practitioner, allowing me to sense everything around me which vastly contributed to my skills as a tracker.
That was one of the reasons why I am able to walk around freely outside even when elves are high value targets to Dark Sect Practitioners and monsters.
With my sensory abilities and skills with a bow and arrow, there should not be anything that I could not hunt or evade from.
The feeling I got from the boy was a mix between searing hot and freezing cold and if I stared at him long enough, breathing became just a little bit more difficult.
But yet the heat does not feel like something fire would give off and the cold also felt different from the ice type of cold.
It's like putting both hands in two different tubs of hot and cold water before plunging them into a tub of warm water.
What shocked me even more was his teleportation Technique.
As far as I know, teleportation was supposed to be an impossibility since no Practitioner was able to figure out which Quark combination can be used to transfer someone from one place to another.
There were attempts at using Space and Astral Quarks which should have worked in theory but didn't.
This eight year old kid just teleported all of us such a vast distance away without even breaking a sweat? He is most definitely not normal.
As if that wasn't enough, he did something to knock Dererei out and had him crying and begging for mercy when he woke him up. I have never seen anyone as terrified as he had been then.
When he expressed his intention to clear the monster nest alone, I decided I must stop him.
It's obvious that he's a Practitioner that was specialised in Space and Astral Quarks, specifically spatial and mental manipulation as evidenced by the teleportation and Dererei's reaction.
He must be some noble House's son and lived a sheltered life up till now, thinking he was invincible with his talent and snuck out of his house to seek adventure.
I have to protect him before such a talent like him dies because of his own hubris!
I might even get the teleportation Technique from him and spread it to the people as a breakthrough! I will be able to live luxuriously after that!
I'll just knock him out here and take him away with me!
But I hadn't expected him to be able to dodge my strike to his neck so easily.
The glare he sent me right after made me stay rooted to the spot for a good two minutes before I managed to return to my senses, finding the boy walking away without a second glance back.
No! I can't lose him!
I must take him back with me!