Once the two had gotten close enough to one another, both Valyr and Tryndall lightly embraced each other for a while, only to let go soon after as they looked at each other with light grins on their faces.
“What are you doing here, Valyr?” Not expecting Valyr to appear in the same city he was in, Tryndall was eager to know the reason behind the former being in Clossbay. Though, just as he asked that, he could not help but notice that the aura Valyr was emanating was significantly stronger than when they had first met.
In response to the question, Valyr let out a soft chuckle. “Well, I just arrived at the city, actually. I was just going to grab a couple things from the city and take my leave. Then again, since you’re here, I think I’ll have to change my plans.”
“Anyways, how about you, Tryndall? What are you doing in Clossbay?” Naturally, Valyr had to ask the question back. After all, both of them had not seen each other for over a month.
“Oh? You’ve just arrived? Who knew we’d arrive at Clossbay City on the same day?” Hearing Valyr’s earlier, Tryndall could not help but let out a peal of laughter as he made Valyr privy to this information. “Well, to answer your question, I’m here under the orders of the Adventurer’s Guild to complete a quest. Can’t tell you too much about the quest, though.”
“Oh? You’re under the Adventurer’s Guild now?” Listening to Tryndall’s words, Valyr could not help but raise his eyebrow in slight surprise, inwardly thinking that the two of them had truly gone through a lot while they were away from one another. “When did that happen?”
“All I can say is that it’s a very long story.” Tryndall looked back at Valyr with a bitter smile, recalling all of the trials and tribulations that he had to go through in order to get to where he was now. Nevertheless, he placed these memories at the back of his head soon after, offering Valyr a suggestion that the latter agreed to.
“Well, if you want me to tell you how I got into the Adventurer’s Guild, we could do that over a light meal. In exchange, you tell me what you’ve gone through so far.”
“Alright, where to?” With that statement, the two of them wandered around the city for a bit, eventually heading into a somewhat popular restaurant that served breakfast even though it was already afternoon.
…
“…and that’s more or less how I got into the Adventurer’s Guild. Though, I’m only a One Star Adventurer at the moment.” As Tryndall was finished narrating everything on his side that led him to where he was right now, it was only then did Valyr snap back to reality, who did not know when he had gotten engrossed in listening to Tryndall narrate his life experiences.
In any case, with Tryndall keeping up his part of the deal, it did not take long for Valyr to start sharing what he had gone through so far with the former. Of course, Tryndall was surprised to find out that his friend had become a blacksmith, thinking even before Valyr started narrating that he might have gone with a combat class that leaned towards the usage of the spear in his ascension.
Aside from that, Valyr talked about how he had traveled to a couple towns and cities during the past month, only to mention sometime later that he had also helped the village defend against a monster tide. Hearing that, Tryndall could not help but have a hint of worry as he asked him if the village made it out fine, to which Valyr responded that it did, save for a few unfortunate casualties.
As Tryndall let out a light sigh in response to his last statement, Valyr thought about whether or not to tell his friend about the Reinforcement Elixir and how it could help him out. However, after pondering over it for quite a bit, he decided not to do so, even though the man before him was his friend.𝒐𝒱𝑙xt.𝑐𝚘𝓂
‘In any case, for him to take up the Shadowblade class… now that’s unexpected.’ With this thought in mind, Valyr looked at the man before him, who had dark hair and dark eyes, which contrasted greatly with his current clothes, being told by Tryndall that it was the uniform of the Adventurer’s Guild. ‘Then again… he does kind of fit the class, given his appearance and body type.’
Although he looked like the type of person that did not stand out amongst the crowd, the aura he exuded was a different story. On the surface, his aura made one feel like they were looking at a normal person. However, just like a wolf in sheep’s clothing, a slight darkness mixed with faint bloodlust and fighting intent could be sensed underneath, which he seemed to be keeping under wraps at all times.
‘A blacksmith, huh? With the aura he’s exuding, it makes more sense if he chose the Lancer class or something.’ Naturally, while Valyr was looking at his friend, Tryndall did the same thing back, his eyes gaining a light blue tint for a brief second before disappearing. ‘Hmm. His stats do resemble what a blacksmith would normally have.’
‘Though it is quite peculiar that I can’t identify his class.’ As this thought surfaced in his mind, Tryndall could not help but narrow his eyes for a bit as he continued to look at the man before him. Though, after a while, he eventually shrugged his shoulders as he placed this thought at the back of his head. ‘Then again, my [Analysis] is only at Level 3. It isn’t the first time [Analysis] hasn’t given me everything I wanted to know.’
‘I wonder if he allocated all of his unassigned status points towards AGI? I did hear AGI is everything for Shadowblades.’ In the meantime, Valyr had just used [Analysis], looking at the information screen that had appeared on his mind.
In an instant, his attention fixated on Tryndall’s high AGI, surpassing the triple digits even though he was still halfway to reaching the peak of Rank 1. Though he was curious as to whether it was all unassigned status points or if there were skills and equipment involved to reach this value, he decided to forget it, opening his mouth as he noticed the two of them had gone awfully silent for quite some time now.
“Well, since we’ve both caught up onto our respective lives, mind if I ask about the quest you’re taking?” Taking a bite of his half-eaten sandwich, Valyr looked at the man opposite him.
“I can’t tell you much about the intricate details of the quest, but in short, I’m looking for a man in this city.” In response, Tryndall shrugged his shoulders before taking a bite of food from his plate, only to devour the remaining bits of food on it soon after.
Hearing Tryndall’s words, Valyr thought back to the quest Damian gave to him before he left. With the quest in mind, he could not help but get the feeling that the two of them had possibly accepted the same quest. ‘Surely that isn’t the case…’
‘…right?’
Mulling over whether or not to talk about it, Valyr eventually decided to ask Tryndall, consoling himself with the thought that there was a higher chance of them not having the same quest. “A man, huh. Speaking of men, I was just wondering… is the man you’re looking for called the Clossbay Killer?”
Unexpectedly, Tryndall’s eyes widened in slight fear, wondering how his friend knew about the man he was looking for in the city. Fortunately, after thinking about it for a bit, he eventually came to a conclusion that seemed the most plausible in explaining how Valyr knew.
Taking in a deep breath, Tryndall asked. “Correct me if I’m wrong… but do you have the same quest as well?”
‘Huh.’ Listening to Tryndall’s response, it did not take long for Valyr to realize that his friend indeed had the same quest as him. ‘I wonder if lotteries were a thing in Veldanyr at this time…’
Feeling that his mind had instantly gone off on a tangent, Valyr returned his train of thought back to him and Tryndall having the same quest. Unsurprisingly, his train of thought eventually asked the question if teaming up with his friend would allow him to complete the mission faster. Of course, he also thought about it from the perspective of the rewards, wondering if completing the quest together would divide the reward in half.
Eventually, Valyr came to a conclusion, nodding as he replied to Tryndall’s question with a slightly awkward chuckle. “What if I told you that I might have an idea on what kind of quest you’ve taken?”
“Does that mean your quest is about finding the whereabouts of the Clossbay Killer?” Tristan asked back in response, being slightly taken aback by this unexpected coincidence. Seeing Valyr slowly nod in response to his question, he could not help but scratch his head for a bit, only for a thought to surface in his mind soon after.
Noticing that his friend started to look at him with a knowing smile all of a sudden, Valyr could not help but get the feeling that Tryndall was going to ask him a question that seemed to be natural route of their conversation at this point. And just as the latter had opened his mouth to ask him, Valyr instantly knew…
He was probably right.
“Say… would you want to work together on completing this quest?”
‘…called it.’