New Beginnings

Zycor and Adria traveled through many places on their journey. They crossed the plains of Velathria's southeast, and the mountains of north Acrye. They finally came to rest in the city of Toswal after twenty days of travel. Adria was having trouble getting Zycor to eat more than just the bare minimum for survival. "Just eat the food you stubborn kid!" Adria exclaimed.

She had purchased a manahog roast for Zycor due to its high nutritional value. A manahog is the result of a normal hog absorbing too much mana while it's growing, causing its body to mutate and grow larger. This, in turn, greatly increases its strength. So although they are not especially rare, they can be expensive depending on the difficulty of the hunt. "I-I can't, this was a lot of money, right? I shouldn't have any," Zycor responded.

Adria, with a slightly irritated smile, said, "Zycor, sweety, I am not asking you to eat it, I'm telling you nicely."

Zycor stared at the roast in front of him. He had never seen something so expensive before. He asked Adria if it was really ok, and she reassured him it was fine. It looked so good that if he had any tears left to shed, he would have.

The duo went to bed and continued their travel in the morning. "Hey, mama Adria, where are we going?" Zycor asked.

Adria said, "To the city of Abros located in the kingdom of Muthgrad. We are still a ways away though."

Their journey continued south for another four days, encountering a few lesser mana beasts such as manarabbits or manasquirrel. Adria was more than enough to take care of them. After all, surviving in the underworld requires a certain amount of mental, physical, and magical strength. They finally hit the border of Acrye and Muthgrad. They paused so Adria could wash Zycor as well as herself of the dirt and the past few days. They had dinner and finally went to bed as they normally would, Zycor getting as close to Adria as possible.

They traveled another two-and-a-half days and finally hit the capital of Muthgrad, Vestrana. When they got to the main gates, there were two guards there and when they saw Adria and her ID plate, they called their commanding officer. "Well, well, well, a pleasure to see you again Adria! Are you here to see the usual customers?" the officer inquired, slightly buzzed from some… confidential resources.

Adria responded, "Sort of, I am here to see the guild overseer. I need to talk about something with my old friend."

The officer nodded and had the gate raised. Zycor curiously asked, "Mama Adria, how do they know you?"

Adria, not wanting Zycor to learn the truth nor lie to him, said, "Well, I do business with many of the people here in Muthgrad. So I have ended up getting to know quite a few people here."

She did not technically lie to him, she just left out some… unnecessary details. "That's really cool, so you must have a lot of money," Zycor commented.

Adria said, "Well I used to have a lot of money but not anymore."

After a brief pause, she continued while she smiled, "Now, it's our money."

After some time of travel through the city, they finally arrived at the guild overseer's office. The guild overseer is the person who was in charge of monitoring and controlling all of the guilds in the kingdom, making sure they do not step out of line or cause trouble for other guilds or businesses. When they finally entered the overseer's office, he said in a very disgruntled voice, "What do you want, I am a very busy ma-."

As the overseer raised his head, he saw that it was not an appointment he had forgotten about but Adria. "Oh dear me, please forgive my tone. I have just been under quite a bit of stress as of late. You know how it can get here. So, my lovely friend, what brings you here?" he inquired as he rose from his chair as he walked around his desk to greet her.

Adria replied, "It's quite alright, Dreiford, I did show up unexpectedly."

Dreiford Hikens, the guild overseer for the kingdom of Muthgrad. Though to the people of the surface and day he is a hard working respectable man, the underworld knows him as a cunning and sadistic man. In fact, Adria had made quite a large profit off of this man in the past. As he shook her hand, he saw Zycor standing behind her, hiding the best he could. Dreiford grinned sinisterly and said, "Well, if you came here with a new toy for me I still have my hands full with the last batch. But, I think I can make an exce-GAH."

Before he could finish his sentence, he felt his hand start to crack and fracture from the immense force Adria had begun to grasp it with. With a cheery face, as to not upset Zycor, she said, "My dear friend, I would like you to know that this one is not for those purposes. And if I ever catch you or your associates trying anything with him… well, it won't go well for you."

She then let go, making sure not to cause any permanent damage. Dreiford recoiled a bit and then asked, "Well, what brings you here then, Miss Mori?"

"I am here to ask you to help me set up an adventurers guild in the city of Abros. On top of it having the necessities for an adventuring guild I will need it to have accommodations, I am sure you know what I mean," She replied.

Dreiford nodded, "I can have it done for you in a week, anything else you need?"

After she thought for a moment, Adria replied, "Nothing major my old friend, just make sure our other acquaintances know not to lay a finger on my child."

"YOUR CHILD?!" Dreiford cried, understandably taken aback.

"Settle down, Dreiford. I found him while I was traveling and decided to adopt him. So now that you know, please do keep it in mind moving forward," Adria said as she turned and began to walk out.

Dreiford, now sweating bullets, responded, "Yes, of c-course, Miss Mori! I will make certain everyone knows not to mess with you or your kid!"

When the door shut Dreiford fell to the ground as he attempted to catch his breath. "That boy is her kid?!" he thought, "Oh dear God, what would have happened to me if that child wasn't present in the room?! I-I should give the kid something as thanks, for saving my life."

With the end of their meeting Adria and Zycor headed off to the City of Abros to the southwestern part of Muthgrad. When they arrived two-in-a-half days later, the head of the team hired by Dreiford to clean up, restore, and fix the building to be used as the guild building greeted them. "Greetings, it's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Mori. We should be done here in the next three or four days, until then we have an inn prepared for you and your child, already paid for, of course," he told them.

Adria replied, "Smart man."