Almond opened his eyes as he blinked a few times, feeling a brand new source of power within him as wind and light in the atmosphere resonated with him.
Looking at the watch, he saw that he still had over an hour until the deadline to reach the S-rank dungeon.
“It seems Lily finished before me,” Almond wryly smiled and got up.
Looking at Natalia sleeping like a log nearby, Almond activated Espada Ad Grimveil and teleported Natalia into her bedroom.
Lily felt Almond’s domain and sent him Magic Whisper from inside the hall, “Almond, we have a bit of trouble to handle.”
Almond teleported and appeared in the hall. His nose twitched, and he breathed the aroma in bliss, “Can we eat this food first?”
“Yeah, start eating. I’m almost done, so I’ll tell you the matter,” Lily ate her last few meatballs and got up to wash her hands before she returned and sat back across Almond at the dining table.
Activating her wristwatch, she showed Mira’s message to Almond and said, “Mira lost her Elemental Imprint.”
Almond gulped the salad he just chewed and blinked, “Lost it?”
He read the message, and his expression changed as his eyes turned icy, “Wtf…I didn’t expect a guild leader would do something like this.”
“Yeah,” Lily nodded and sighed, “What should we do? Personally, I want to help, but I can’t find a way to do that.”
Almond frowned and quickly started eating, “Let me eat fast, and then we are going there.”
“Alright, you listen to what I found about the situation so far after calling her.”
“Tell me,” Almond nodded and continued eating.
…
11th rank Shadowforge Guild.
The guild was situated atop a hill with multiple buildings all over it in Yemrai City.
In the inner area of the guild was a residential area, and in that residential area’s luxurious section, Mira sat at the pond’s edge outside her house.
Her legs halfway dipped in the calm water, unmoving.
“Sniff…” Mira wiped her nose before a teardrop fell into the pond, creating a small ripple.
She was sad, angry, and helpless.
Sad because she lost her Elemental Imprint.
Angry because the one who took it was the guild master.
Frustrated because she couldn’t do anything about it.
*Steps*
A figure arrived behind her from the wooden gate, a slender woman with a long black ponytail, “Are you still crying?”
She arrived beside Mira as the sun highlighted her brownish-dark skin and beautiful face, but seeing Mira, she couldn’t help but sigh and pat her head.
“You can’t mop around like this. He will not give back the Imprint. If you had kept it hidden instead, this wouldn’t have happened.”
“How would I know someone of his status would do something like this?” Mira snapped, her fist clenched. “Why is he so shameless, elder sister Merinda?”
“Shss….” Merinda weakly smiled, “That item is pretty amazing. Given the options it gave, the guild master didn’t suppress his desire and threw away his shame to get that Vaylith Element. Who knew an element like that mix of Darkness and Wind existed?”
“I wanted it,” Mira ground her teeth, her eyes tearing up. “We almost died in that boss fight. Everyone worked hard and got that reward, but he took it!”
Merinda turned silent, but she only felt helplessness.
‘Unless many top powerhouses condemn guild master Brenol, he won’t give up…moreover, he already used it, so it might not even transfer.’
“I asked for help, and Lily said she would do something about it once Almond wakes up,” Mira said as a brief hope appeared in her eyes.
‘What can they do?’ Merinda sighed but didn’t say anything.
…
“So that’s what happened.”
Almond and Lily waited as they watched Admiral Rudra nodding and entering a thoughtful expression after listening to Mira’s situation.
“Elemental Imprint is an invaluable resource, something that no amount of money can justify its value,” Almond somberly said. “And she got that item by risking her life by participating in the Heroic Challenge. Everyone was at the death’s door there.”
“And now, some worthless idiot wants to take it without doing anything?” Lily snorted. “This should not happen.”
“Old man, you do something, or I am going there with my spirit wraiths,” Almond said with a determined expression. “I won’t let my party members receive an injustice like that. We risked our lives for that reward, and I won’t let anyone else take it away.”
“Calm down, I can understand your feeling,” Admiral Rudra said with a nod, and shortly, a glint passed through his eyes as he sharply smiled, “Have you checked out your SSS-rank Airship’s features?”
Almond shook his head. “Not yet. I just put it away after you returned it. Didn’t have time.”
“Get on it and reach the Shadowforge Guild’s headquarters. I’ll meet you there in half an hour. The S-rank Dungeon isn’t far from there, so we’ll go there after finishing this matter.”
“Yes,” Lily grinned. “Thank you, Rudra Gramps.”
“That aside, you should go meet your parents. Dagon was complaining that his daughter forgot him after finding a man.”
Almond wryly smiled while Lily laughed and said, “We’ll go there later.”
“Mhmm, now get on your ship. Let’s give your party member the justice she deserves.”
…
Almond took out the SSS-rank flying ship before he teleported himself and Lily atop its deck.
“It’s seriously awesome,” Lily said as she looked around the spacious deck. “Is that fancy metallic cabin its control room?”
“Yeah, it’s pretty big.”
The ship was 50 meters wide, not including the length of its wings, and 100 meters long, and looked like the most semi-futuristic and magical to ever be constructed.
“Let’s see what it got,” Almond inspected the ship, and Lily did the same.
As they read the status and reached the list of its features, both of them were stunned and exclaimed simultaneously at the amazing functions of this ship.
“Wow…”
“This is amazing…”
[Airship: Sky Empress Erseinan]
-Rank: SSS