The guild master's room was large and very organized, it contrasted with the rest of the guild. There were two sofas and a coffee table in the middle of the room. The guild master asked Victor to sit on one of the sofas.
"You are much younger than I thought," he said as he sat down.
Victor said nothing.
"The man you knocked down filed a complaint against you because of the attack, but I know you acted in self defense, and I managed to make him drop the report when I informed him it would be recorded that he was beaten by an F rank adventurer. He is B rank, in case you want to know."
"I appreciate your help."
"No need to thank me, I would never have taken it forward anyway. But I wanted to meet you, it is not just any beginner who can knock down a veteran. Of course there are many exceptions, like well trained people who join the guild as former soldiers and retired generals. But you are different, you do not have the age for that, yet you are a mage with good combat skills. It is not my business and I will not ask about your past, I just wanted to see you and tell you to be a little more careful along the way."
The guild master's face did not reflect the kindness he possessed, he had a tired face with no expression, yet he still seemed to care about people, which was excellent for the position he held.
"Until someday, I do not know if I will still see you after you go to the Capital."
"How do you know that?"
"It is very common for a guild master to have a lot of information. Maybe I have more information than the merchants' guild. Just remember that when you want to buy any information," he said, laughing.
Somehow he knew what Victor's objective was, but Victor was not very surprised, it was common for some people to obtain information easily, especially rich and influential people.
Victor already expected him to have an information network, but he did not expect the guild master to be using it on him.
"I will remember that next time I need some information."
The four generals were in Victor's room, all agreed to go to the Capital soon, that way they could more quickly create a way for all demons to walk freely on the surface. Nothing better than using a shop for that, since the shop would always need merchandise, with that he could use several demons as delivery workers, and in that way everyone could leave the Tower a little.
Some demons preferred to stay in the Tower, those Victor would not force to leave.
On the way to the Capital, they saw a carriage stopped on a bridge. Victor got down and went to the carriage, one of the guards pointed a sword at him, Victor did not react.
A man wearing expensive clothes got down from a second carriage and asked the guard to lower the weapon, the guard obeyed. Both the sword and the armor the guard wore looked expensive, he also seemed to be a noble, but one in a lower position, like a knight.
"I am Duke Carmine," the man in expensive clothes said.
"I am Victor, I am a merchant. Did something happen?"
"Yes, the bridge is broken and we are thinking of going back and taking another route."
Victor approached the bridge and saw that it was completely submerged. Victor raised his right arm and used earth magic, he made the ground move and form a new bridge. The Duke watched in silence, he had already seen magic, but not in the way Victor used it, he always saw mages using staffs or wands. But since Victor himself was actually just a swordsman who used magic, he did not use any wand or staff. He only presented himself as a mage because of the fame he ended up gaining, even though he preferred to be called a swordsman.
"Thank you very much, let me reward you," he said while opening a bag of coins.
"It is not necessary, I also need to cross the river," Victor said as he entered his carriage.
The Duke did not insist, but found the situation unusual, since in his entire life he had never seen a merchant refuse money.
"He is strange," the guard said.
"How so?"
"He did not seem afraid of me at any moment, even with the sword pointed at him."
"You are right, but I think he could fight using magic, he seems to have great mastery, I myself have never seen anyone use magic that way without a wand or staff."
"Who are you talking about?" the Duke's daughter asked.
"About a merchant we just met, he used magic and made a bridge appear from the earth."
"He is a merchant, maybe he is used to bandits, and that is why he knows it is best to stay calm in moments like that."
Victor and the others decided to take a break for lunch.
"You should have asked Niko to use magic, it would be better to keep some of your abilities secret," Eris said after learning what Victor had done.
"In a way, keeping some information is useful, like the fact that I am a swordsman. At some point everyone will know that I use earth and fire magic. But I think we should hide some information, like the fact that Niko uses the four elements, you will use only wind and fire magic, or earth instead. Choose two and use only those," he said while looking at Niko, then he turned and said to Lysandra, "Lysandra must hide the armor and Eris must hide that she can absorb mana, you will just be someone who provides support. And Vans, well… just be yourself."
"You are so useless you have nothing to hide," Niko said laughing.
"That is not what I said, alchemists are good at making potions and things like that, they are not good at fighting, that is why Vans should remain like that, he did not even fight in a war, even though he could."
"You are very different from your father, that is a compliment," Eris said to Vans.
Sandra did not hear the conversation. She was busy preparing the food, this time she asked Vans to let her cook, since she felt useless just walking around and receiving good pay for it.
She finished cooking, Vans was afraid the food would not please Victor, but it was the opposite, she cooked better than Vans.
"It is decided, you will be our cook, Vans does not know how to do this properly," Niko said while chewing.
"I hate to admit it, but she cooks better than you," Eris said.
"I agree, but I must say that after all this time eating Vans's food, I can say that I am finally eating something good," Lysandra added.
The words hurt, but what hurt more was Victor silently agreeing.
They continued and made another stop, ahead the Duke's carriage was under attack by bandits. The guards were at a disadvantage, they were four knights against five men with swords, two mages, and one rogue.
Victor got down from the carriage and rushed to attack, he launched fire arrows, two hit the mages, they fell to the ground. Niko used wind magic and knocked down the rogue and two more men with swords. A hidden man appeared and grabbed Niko, he was threatening her with a dagger. Vans looked furiously at the man and began throwing acid flasks at him, Niko broke free and the man began screaming in pain. Vans was very angry and threw another acid flask at the fallen man. Then he threw and hit the other two men, Vans's movements were very fast, the men could not dodge.
"Thank you, but I did not need your help, you are so weak you need to use a potion to have an advantage," Niko just laughed at Vans.
Victor and the others entered the carriage, the Duke's guards were speechless, they did nothing and were saved by people who only seemed to be enjoying the situation.
"Arrest the survivors, we will interrogate them," the Duke said.
The Duke went to Victor's carriage and asked what he wanted in return. Victor said he did not need anything.
"They almost killed us, but you saved us, all I can say is thank you, but I want to reward you somehow, please come to my mansion in the Capital, you can stay there if you want, besides that, if you change your mind, I will be very happy to offer whatever you want."
"Actually, there is one thing I want!"