"Ah yeah, sorry. Guess I zoned out again, this still doesn't feel real at all.."

"I know what you mean, I still do double takes multiple times a day you're really doing to surprise the guest. Now allow me to help you with that."

"Thanks, I'm really going to miss you Elise."

Terra was standing in her room putting on a dress in front of her new mirror, but had once more gotten lost in her own eyes when Elise arrived to check on her progres. A month had pa.s.sed since Dax had slayed (or obliterated) the dragon. After that had happened Terra convinced her dad to allow Dax to complete her operation, granting Terra not only flesh and blood limbs but also her sight. But it wasn't completely the same, per Qiton tradition her healed body showed bright white scars, Russell was of course not okay with that but Terra loved it so they were allowed to stay on her body. Terra's face had also been repaired and she had received new eyes. Terra's new eyes were anything but normal however, the pupils were of a deep crimson colour, and her sight had become way better than her old eyes had ever been, and now rivaled her other enhanced senses. The rehabilitation had been lengthy, but with the help of Dax, Elise and Alice there had no major issues, and she had now recovered completely from her old indurries. The second Terra had recovered Russell had called the entire Black Hollow elite together for celebration, even a few n.o.bels from the capital had made it there, leading to Terra's present situation of trying to put on a dress for the first time since her mother died about 6 years ago.

"Is it really necessary for me to appear in a dress? Can't I just wear my new armor?"

"I believe that would in poor taste miss Terra, besides this dress is lovely and you almost have it on now~"

"Are you perhaps having fun Elise?"

"There's no way that's the case, I'm simply fulfilling my obligations as your attendant~ Now breathe in I'm closing the back"

After having suffered through Elise dressing her up for her own appereant enjoyment, Terra was finally dressed in a elaborate elaborate crimson dress. Making her way down to the main hall she was meet by the eyes of every single powerful n.o.bel, military leader and merchant of Black Hollow.

(I never noticed how fake their smiles look.. Oh no I need to show the same smile.)

Being welcomed by her dad, Russell held a short speech to the party about how a apparent miracle had happened, restoring her daughters health and leaving out any mention of Dax.

(He still really doesn't like him huh.. But that hardly matters anymore.)

In a corner stood Dax wearing a pure black suit with a red tie, busy tasting wine with great care and speaking with a guild employee. He had been invited out of obligation as the hunter that slayed the dragon, but that was all there was to it, and no one except the guild employee had paid him any attention, but rumours floated around the hall about him.

"He looks like a demonkin, but I can't pinpoint the race.."

"Did he really slay the dragon?"

"Apparently so yeah, multiple guards confirmed it. Then there's the rumor about him also healing Russell's daughter."

"Surely that's just a crude joke, still he might be a valuable chess piece. Did the new type of slavery collar arrive in the capital?"

"That's best not discussed here, let me invite you to my estate."

"That would be great."

Listening in on the various conversations going about around the hall while making a fake smile, Terra briefly looked in Dax's direction as he gave a small nod.

"Why am I here again?"

In the corner Dax was quietly speaking to a guild employee, the same woman that handled his requtment. She still carried a business like smile along with her thin presence she was properly more skilled as a a.s.sa.s.sin than a corporate employee.

"To show that I'm a.s.sociated to the guild, and to tell me more about yourself~ You have been a.s.signed to handle me right? Then we should get to know each other a bit more."

"While it is correct that I've been a.s.signed to manage you there's no way you would actually heed any of my advice is there?"

"Bingo."

"What?"

"That means you are correct."

"I'm leaving now."

"In that case take this stupid tag with you."

As she was about to turn and leave, Dax took out his black guild tag and presented it to her.

"Do you really think that's a good idea?"

"I do. I estimate an extremely high chance of you being told to do whatever you can to keep me in the guild by your superior."

"That or just kill you to make sure that you're not a treat to the guild. So let me ask once more, do you really think it's a good idea to leave your only protection in this world?"

"My only protection? I thought the guilds information network was top notch, I've already made new a.s.sociates~ Don't you feel it? They're watching us right now, ensuring that I remain safe until pace agreements can be made."

Sensing the air for a moment, she hurriedly turned around to lock eyes with a high ranked priest giving off a faint smile and muted traces of magic.

"See? They understand that even in the highly unlikely event they manage to somehow kill me, they and this entire f.u.c.king dirt ball would suffer the full consequences, now are you sure you and the guild are closing this relations.h.i.+p?"

"T-that decision is no longer up to me."

"That's good enough for now~ Now please tell me about my payment for the dragon."

"It's progressing as planned. While the head couldn't be recovered as there wasn't anything left, every other valuable part except for a third of the remaining scales have been sold."

"Good work, what's my total amount of a.s.sets from it then?"

"As previously discussed you would buy information about the capitals power structure for about 100 large gold coins and strategic maps of the area for 50 correct?"

"Bingo~ And I'm still donating 20% of the total profit to the guild."

"Total profit stands at 2205 large gold coins, 20% of that will be donated to the guild for some unknown reason that's beyond me. That would make your profits after auction fees 1600 large gold coins."

"I'll intrust the guild to keep a large part of those a.s.sets, as I can't be asked to carry around that amount of gold. Please prepare 300 large gold coins at this guild office within 2 days, and the rest can be stored and managed at the capital office."

"Understood, now do you still need me here?"

"If you tell me where you're from you can leave~"

"..."

"I'm kidding, that's it for now. I'll be in the capital 2 weeks from now, let's meet at the central guild office then~"

Instead of answering back, the guild 'receptionist' left Dax behind as she left the hall.

"What to do now.. Can't really talk to Terra and Alice apparently hate this kind of event so she's not here."

Looking around a for a conversation partner, Dax was about to give up when he spotted what appeared to be a mid ranking merchant that was looking bored. Dax concluded that he must be a must be a merchant based on his thin figure and overly fancy clothing.

"Where you also invited here out of obligation?"

"Ah the dragon slayer! Yeah sorry to say I would much rather be at- Wait you were invited out of obligation? Are you hated here for some reason?"

"Let's just say that Russell would properly try to kill me if I weren't under protection from several parties. Call me Dax, what's your name?"

"T-that sounds rough.. My name is Gary Pederson, I'm the president of Pederson trading nice to meet you Dax the dragonslayer."

"Pederson trading huh? Are you based here or in the capital?"

"Yeah we opened about 2 years ago in the central district."

"Hoo? you must be a grand mechant then"

"Not exactly no.. I've been looking for opportunities to expand into new ventures for the past few months without luck I'm afraid.."

"In that case I might have a opportunity for you."

After the party Dax went out to the courtyard behind the Williams estate where he was meet by Terra wearing light clothes.

"That dress looked good on you."

"Let's just get on with it, I'm exhausted after dealing with that disaster"

"Then let's get on with it. Warm Up first then we get to it, start with sprinting 20 times around the estate"

"Okay."

Directly after slaying the dragon, Terra had dropped down on all four and begged Dax to become his disciple. Dax had blackley refused but Terra proved quite stubborn and after 2 weeks of nagging him doing her rehabilitation Dax had finally agreed to at least see how serious she was when it came to it.

"Are you really sure you want to be my disciple?"

"I am. I want to become stronger."

"And you're not gonna give up on asking me any time soon?"

"Only if I find someone stronger before you agree, I'm completely serious about this"

"Okay then allow me to test you."

"Sure! What are we doing? Is it hand to hand combat or perhaps-"

"Nope, first I want you to run around the edge of this field."

"Run? But I'm still not recovered. Okay then, for how long?"

"Till you pa.s.s out~"

That day Terra had ran for 6 hours. After 6 hours had pa.s.sed she was no longer able to run and simply walked in a half conscious state while her feet were bleeding until an hour after when she had finally pa.s.sed out. Impressed with Terra's force of will Dax agreed to take her under his wings and teach her about fighting, but a certain requirements had to be met first. Dax had carried the pa.s.sed out Terra and placed her into the bioprinter.

"Perform basic recruitment procedure"

After that Terra had found herself getting increasingly stronger and after just 2 weeks of training she found herself stronger than she had ever been, and Dax still insisted that it was still only in the into course.

"That's 20~ Now drop down and give me 500 pushups"

"When are we gonna start doing combat training?"

"When you don't break from me hitting you, now for the pushups, give me 600"

"That's not what you said-"

"What? Oh yeah I said 700."

"..."

If glares could kill Dax would be dead multiple times over, but at the moment he didn't pay any attention to that.

(Overlay gravsig a.n.a.lysis with current readings)

(OVERLAYING CURRENT READINGS ON GRAVITATIONAL SIGNATURE WITH PREDICTED MODELS… ERROR, CURRENT ESTIMATION UNDER CURRENT READINGS.)

(Yeah that's my point exactly, that stinger is overheating… or not, that's not nearly enough to explain it.. plot current rate of growth.)

Dax was currently looking at data from comsat-1. What was taking all his attention was the irregular gravitational waves extending out from the orb encasing it.

(And what about laser and radio communications?)

(UNRESPONSIVE. EMERGENCY RE ENTRY FORMATION OR 'ORB' APPEARS TO BLOCK ALL COMMUNICATION SIGNATURES.)

(It couldn't be that f.u.c.king easy.. What about the current rate of irregularities?)

(CURRENT ESTIMATES SHOW EXPANSION OF GRAVITATIONAL WAVES AT EXPONENTIAL GROWTH.)

(And the heat that would generate?)

(HEAT GENERATION COULD BE SET TO EXCEED COLD FUSION REACTOR LIMITS IN 6 MONTHS.)

(And h.e.l.lwalker regulations specify that any orbital capablecraft needs to carry enough fuel rods for 100 years of normal operation… Give me estimations on that kind of explosive force.)

As ICI plotted the force the stingers main reactor having a not so friendly meltdown right outside the kingdoms capital, making his smile completely disappear.

(And what are the chances that would happen?)

(UNKNOWN, NOT ENOUGH DATA.)

"Hey Terra have you ever been to the capital?"

"204! 205!.. No I haven't. 208! 209! 210! But Alice have! 212! 213! 214! She was born there!-"

"You think she would be up for a new job as guide?"