Master Of None

Laurence spoke quickly without leaving out any details, the guild master Ribbolt seemed very interested in hearing the part about the party auctioning off corpse spider eggs. The more the story went on the more Ribbolt seemed to glance at Walker. The party had been standing still the entire time, Midnight was clearly becoming restless. Absentmindedly Walker began to pat her head to keep her distracted from waiting. Slightly jealous Onyx left walkers shoulders partially to reach his other hand, Walker now completely distracted himself was smiling like a fool giving both of them attention. He often forgot how young they really were even though they could do so many amazing things already.Â

Seeing that both the monsters with the party that had entered his office were getting attention from the leader, Ribbolt began to peg Walker as a tamer. Seeing that Ribbolt was known to be a bit aloof he did not fully read any notifications from his tamers. This being known by the average tamer in the guild Lawrence had already pieced together that he didn't know why the parry was there, most likely having approved the escort without a second glance. Laurence became a bit more energetic after realizing their guild master was still falling in to the same habits. He had already gained a small revenge on the rabbit tribe that made fun of him years ago for his poor dancing but now it would continue. This guild master of his that had always burst in to anger and shirked his work would feel the shock first hand!

Finishing up his report of every event during the travels Laurence held back a triumphant laugh knowing the guild master would be asking about the party any minute. " You three very well know you won't be able to hatch and form a contract with any of those eggs. If you dare keep one from a tamer that could give them a good home expat to be food for Toro." The stern look on Ribbolt's face spoke of unending penalties if his words were not headed, Walker wondered who Toro was but didn't speak up to find out just yet. "Now you there leader of the whatever it was party, are you sure the adventurers guild is where you wish to stay? Tamer's at your age with two beasts, let alone a dragon and an abyssal serpent, should be with my guild. You would gain much more."Â

Ah and there it was the moment Laurence was waiting for. Midnight let out a small growl knowing how Walker felt about her and Onyx being called his tamed beasts. They both knew very well that to the core of his being he saw them as his family, every day he expressed to them those true emotions and reminded them of this. "Respectfully sir, These are not tamed beasts nor am I a tamer. Let me properly introduce myself, I am Walker user of the jack of all trades system. These are my siblings Midnight and Onyx. Our ranger Gil, Brawler Remey, and Shield bearer Su." The steel in his voice betrayed his polite words. Ribbolt respected a tamer's feelings towards their tamed beasts but found that new tamers would still see them as beasts. However he was not hung up on the fact that Walker had so quickly decided his beasts were equals but instead that not a single person the boy had introduced had any form of system related to taming.

"Laurence, why did you bring them here, who's tamed these monsters if none of them are tamers, I can clearly see their identification tags. I know they are registered." the cold glare almost put Laurence off of his happier mood. Gesturing to Walker Laurence didn't even need to speak.Â

"Brother I feel this man does not understand our bonds." Onyx spoke up causing Ribbolt to shift slightly, his poker face remained but his body language showed he was unsettled, never had Ribbolt learned anywhere that abyssal serpents could use skills allowing them to speak within someone's mind.Â

"It may seem odd to you but as I said I am a user of the jack of all trades system. That being said I learned the blood contract skill and formed equal contracts with Midnight and Onyx. I am in no way a tamer, the skill was only a way for me to build a strong bond with family." Not only was this boy insinuating that he was not a tamer but also that he could use a high taming skill blood contract. Tamers that used such skill often had a very wide range of possible tamed beasts, it was unheard of for one without a tamer type system to have this skill!Â

Feeling this was somewhat familiar Ribbolt moved to his desk throwing papers around causing a general mess to grow. Eventually lifting up a small folder he flipped it open reading the contents. This was the information Laurence had sent ahead of them as they traveled. It explained the intricacies of the party they had escorting them along with the relation to the king. Even more so it described the details of their titles. "Hmmmm" the long noise Ribbolt made while he thought of how to proceed almost seemed to echo. "So five hero titles and one monster with a skill I have never heard of its species having...Not to mention those medals show you are close to royalty'¦" trailing off once again Ribbolt had reached the spot where Laurence had promised a reward from the guild master.Â

Still reveling in his masterful ability to shock the guildmaster in a minor bit of revenge Laurence turned to Ribbolt with a smile. Not lasting more than a second Laurence recognized the look of impending punishment. "Laurence seems to have told you I would be paying for their escort, Of course I as their kind and honorable Guild master would be more than willing." It was like a volcano building to eruption, Laurence knew his future was done for, the guildmaster was sure to put him to cleaning the pens for months. "Well it may not be much but I see hints of dragon scales in some of your gear, as it so happens Toro sheds his scales once a year to grow larger. If you would like some I am willing to part with about twenty medium scales." This reward sounded rather small at first but Walker came to the realization that these would be twenty medium sized scales from an ADULT dragon. Not to mention they didn't even know its species yet, it could be extremely valuable to them, not that they planned to sell it but instead use ity for more gear.Â

"Thank you very much, we will gratefully accept it. We are very happy to have been of assistance escorting our friends home. We had many fruitful encounters as Laurence described, some of which I am sure we would not have had without their knowledge." This was in no way exaggerating, Walker couldn't have imagined meeting the rabbit tribe without their guidance. "Midnight has actually been shedding her baby scales, she's nearly finished as I'm sure you can see. I hope that you can give me some advice for what is to come next. I know it greatly depends on species but any knowledge is valuable to us." Walker found the reward interesting and its value was not lost on him Yet he refused to think of it now, he was finally meeting someone who was adept in raising a dragon and he wanted to drag out as much information as possibly to try and help himself.Â

"Well I do see what you're saying, I can also see she is very new to her wings. Skeletal dragon wings and crystal clack fire dragon body with mixed up scales. I'd give the wings another three months before she could fly for over an hour, that is unless she starts easing more bones and more dark crystals. Also make sure she prectives flapping theme, she doesn't need to lift off just flap them until they are tired. I have some journals you may find interesting, I can gladly share them, well as long as you can show me this system of yours that can use our timer skills." Waker had been the one trying to glean information but Ribbolt wasn't going to give it away freely, he wanted proof that this boy in front of him could do what he said. This would also give him a better understanding of the type of person trying to form relations with the guild, it was not every day that someone with a title, let along five with a title visited.

Even though Laurence was significantly taller than Ribbolt, Ribbolt managed to grab hold of Laurence's ear and start to drag him out the door. "Well get those feet moving we are going outside, Laurence has volunteered to spar with you so you can show off the skills you have." The disgruntled sounds of Laurence as he was dragged down the stairs were all too common sounds when the guildmaster visited a headquarters, not a single tamer stopped to help in fear they would be dragged in as well.Â