Chapter 9: Tarmora

It was a fine morning, the sky was as clear as can be, with little to no clouds drifting along the blue canopy of the world. The wind blew softly with a cool breeze that made even the most restless person longing for the comfort of their beds. Few song birds up in the trees that lined the earthen road towards the small village of Colibao were singing in their happy melodious chirps. It was indeed a great day, and Tarmora took it all in herself, enjoying the simple pleasures of nature that she so loved.

The angel finally reached the gate to the village, as she entered, she saw people buzzing about, doing their jobs and businesses already at this time of the day. The angel tried her best to blend with the crowd, as she walked like one with purpose, like someone who knew exactly where they were heading.

Unease took hold as she felt curious stares of the people following, but she sensed no signs of aggression but only admiration.

Her eyes caught a young boy walking with his younger sister holding her hand. She walked towards the boy, hoping that he could help her find what she was looking for.

"Good morning to you handsome boy" she cheerfully greeted, much to the delight of the boy, hearing being called handsome by this pretty older sister.

"Yes sister, can I do something for you?" The boy said.

"I am lost, I think… I am looking for a person, you probably heard of him? His name is Sinante Bluewing."

The boy's eyes beamed up upon hearing the name. Tarmora knew she hit the jackpot, the boy knows who and probably where Sinante Bluewing is.

"Yes I know him, everyone here knows him!" The boy said excitedly.

"Can you take me to him?" Tara asked with a sweet smile while she bends forward towards the boy.

"Yes" said the boy blushing, catching a glimpse of Tara's cleavage.

"We will take you to him" the little girl declared as she elbowed her brother in the belly.

The three of them walked to the center of the village where an old circular fountain can be seen. A statue of a middle aged man with a goatee and a ridiculous smirk adorned the center of the fountain like a monument of sorts.

Tara peered into the face of the statue and at once recognised the ridiculous smirk of Sinante Bluewing.

"Yeah… that's him alright. But that is a statue" she protested to her young guides. Her finger pointed towards the statue.

"I am looking for the actual person?"

"But big sis, Sinante has been dead for five hundred years. Only his statue and his portraits remain." The boy explained.

"F-five hundred years?!" A shocked Tara exclaimed.

"I have been gone for five hundred years… ehehehe… no wonder the world looked absolutely different…" Tara muttered with a blank stare, the realisation of this new revelation has rocked her.

"Uh big sis, are you okay?" The little girl asked as she went closer to the angel and lightly tugged her skirt.

Tara looked down at the young girl, a cute little girl who tied her hair in a twin tail. She smiled and patted the little girl's head in a gentle way.

"It's nothing sweetie, but thank you for worrying for me."

She gave her goodbyes to her little guides, thanking them for helping her. Tara secretly casts a blessing of protection for the two kids in such a whisper that is impossible to be heard by mortal ears.

With nothing much to do, the angel decided to walk around the fountain exploring the place, and started to collect her thoughts about the situation. Finding a wooden bench under an oak tree, Tara slumped down and crossed her legs.

"Might be a good place to sit and assess my situation" she decided as she went over her thoughts, carefully sorting out everything she had discovered.

"Five hundred years have gone, no wonder the world changed so much… Sinante is long gone, but that doesn't make sense."

"I know that I felt his mana surging, there is no doubt about it. Such a unique type of mana that feels so otherworldly, like from another reality. It is his and his alone, no doubt about it."

A look of sheer confusion crossed the pretty angel's face, she tried to think about other possibilities that might be at play. After all, when she thinks about it, she too has been summoned from being dead for five hundred years after all.

"But I am a primordial, and an angel at that... so it is not impossible for me to revive, as long as some random person actually knows what they are doing and has somehow gotten hold of my essence…" She then took out the small amber stone that was used to summon her back to life.

She studied the stone carefully and admired its beauty at the same time.

"Now that I think about it, I also gave a very small part of my essence to the woman I loved…"

A deep sadness and longing struck her heart as she remembered the one person in the world that she actually cared about. She thought that she should have looked for Kyouko first, but her rage took the best of her.

Her melancholy was interrupted by a sudden movement above her head. She looked up and saw a squirrel, running on the branch of the oak tree, carrying an acorn.

Tara's eyes beamed with delight at the cute little critter, running back to her drey. Seeing that, it suddenly dawned onto her the most plausible reason why she felt Sinante's unique mana, despite him being dead for five hundred years.

"The son of a bitch probably has a descendant nearby..."

"I need more information first... not only about Sinante's descendants, but of this world in general." Tara had lived for a millennia, so she understood that the world changes with time.

With that in mind, she finally stood up from the bench and with renewed fervor, set out to find the most perfect place to gain information on the world and its people; the Adventurers Guild.

Now all she needed was proper directions to actually get there.

"I wonder where my two friends are?" She thought as she backtracked to the village entrance to find the boy and his little sister.

………………….

The Adventurers Guild hall was a very busy place, mercenaries from across the locality gathered here to get information, accepted requests and waited for people to hire them for certain jobs. From merchants, to local nobles, these mercs worked as bodyguards and escorts, but sometimes, though not in the open, worked as personal assassins to take out rivals and business competitors or even personal enemies of their employers, but such a thing is illegal and may revoke a mercs license in the local guild.

Tara entered the guild hall hoping to glean some information about the happenings around the world, and to also sort out her next plan of action. She started to approach the information desk where a guild representative is stationed.

As she walked towards her destination, she could feel the stares of the men directed her way. She paid it no mind, these people posed no threat to her. When she finally reached the information desk, she was greeted by the guild representative in a very professional manner.

"Good day to you miss, my name is Carlos, and I am your guild representative in this branch." Carlos is a man of middle build, wearing a dark blue vest over a white long sleeve shirt and a yellow neck tie.

"How can I help you?"

"Well met…" Tara responded to the greeting and started to explain her query.

"I won't be taking much of your precious time sir, I was just wondering if you can provide me with some information about the current state of things in this region… I am a foreigner you see... and I am looking for new opportunities." Tara explained in earnest, trying her best to act in her most polite manner.

Carlos looked at Tara seriously for a couple of minutes, he seemed to study if this girl is actually telling the truth. Her eyes are strange enough to give credibility to her claim, and the fact that he has never seen a girl this pretty before in all of his life proves that she is in fact a foreigner.

Satisfied that the girl wasn't lying, Carlos took out a piece of paper from under his desk and handed it to Tara.

"You must first register your name as a new recruit, before I can give you the information you seek. It is our policy that all information is withheld for guild members only."

"Very well, where do I sign?" Tara took the form without reservations. She thought, whatever they wrote there, she could handle it.

Carlos pointed to the dotted line on the bottom of the form. "Sign your name here, or a thumb mark if you can't write."

After writing 'TARA' on the form, she then handed it back to Carlos, who then took it and stamped the document with the guild's official seal of a rearing stallion, thus making it an official document and binding.

"Welcome to the Adventurer's Guild, Colibao Branch" Carlos officially welcomed their newest (and prettiest) member.

"Now, about my queries?" Tara wasted no time in asking.

"Ah, about that, the information that we give will depend on your ranking as an adventurer… the higher the rank, the better the info. That's how things work" Carlos explained with a smile.

"So how would one increase their ranking?" Tara asked with genuine interest, she has been itching for action and she has seemed to finally found a reason to do so.

Carlos was a bit surprised by her question, she really must be a foreigner to not know the workings of a guild.

He wasn't annoyed at all, as a matter of fact, he is happy to explain the more intricate workings of a guild, especially to a beautiful girl. So he started a long and detailed explanation of the guild's functions, including its history.

Tara listened to all of it attentively, getting all the information she could acquire.

"...and at the core of it all, it boils down to getting a quality quest and completing them on time, you can also opt to take a much more dangerous quest if you are looking to rank up faster than the normal method, but mind you, if you die, the guild won't be held responsible for your actions." Carlos finally finished, and expected a lot of incoming questions from the new guild member.

"So, if I take a Rank S quest, I become Rank S if I complete it and will be able to skip ranks E, D, C, B and A?" Tara asked Carlos for clarification.

"Yes, and you can now take a quest from the quest board over there, but I would advise you to start with a simple quest, get the hang of it first before going for the big quests" Carlos said while pointing to the other side of the hall where the quest board is located near the bar.

Tara then proceeded to cross the hall towards the quest board excitedly. When she was halfway there though, she was blocked by a huge adventurer with a pot belly and a balding head.

"Where are you headed sweet cheeks?" The man asked with a malicious grin growing from his ugly face.

There were scattered chuckles from the men at the table he was sitting while looking at Tara in a very lewd manner.

Tara could smell the stink of his breath and the foul smell of his unwashed body, and she couldn't help but wrinkle her nose in disgust.

"Excuse me sir, but I need to get to the quest board to see if there are any quests available for a novice adventurer." Tara tried so hard to be polite, she doesn't want to attract too much attention to herself. The problem is, her looks alone have already attracted too much attention.

"So you are looking for a quest eh?" The ugly bastard asked.

"I have a quest for you… how about we go to my room and fuck, I will eat your sweet little cunt, and you suck my cock, then I will shove my willie up your pipi? Hehehehe, I will pay you of course, and it would be considered as a quest. Hehehehe!" The ugly bastard said, licking his lips lasciviously.

Tarmora just stared straight at the man, and with a sudden sweet smile, she pointed to the outside of the guild hall.

"You want me? Follow me then!" she casually told the ugly bastard and proceeded to walk through the door into the outside of the guild hall.

The ugly bastard was surprised, he did not actually believe that the beautiful girl would agree so easily, he was expecting resistance and he would enjoy taking the girl against her will, but if she agrees willingly, who is he to let this good fortune slip by.

He has never had such a fine girl in all of his life, he would fuck that girl for a week non-stop. With a cheer from his friends, the ugly bastard, with a stupid grin on his face, followed Tara out of the hall.




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