Ch 117 -- The Guild Master Is An Imposing Elf

By noon the next day the Dungeon City of Doran had finally come into view.

"As they said back in Claire, it"s a really large city." I muttered, taking in the sight of its impressive walls.

"Umu." Fer agreed, slowing down at last. "Anyway, it looks like it will take us some time to get in." Following Fer"s gaze I could make out a long row of people standing in front of the gate on this side of the city.

"Ah, you"re right, there are lots of people waiting to enter." A big city like this there were bound to be lots of visitors, Adventurers and merchants and the like. It couldn"t be helped, we"d have to queue up and wait our turn to get in.

"Wouldn"t it be faster to just fly over the wall?" Dora-chan suggested. "Well, Fer could easily jump over carrying you and Sui." I looked up at the high walls, the very very high walls surrounding the city and shook my head. Nope. No jumping, not that high.

"No, no, we"d be caught by the city guards doing that and I am not in a hurry anyway so let"s wait here together."

"Nuu, it"s annoying but it can"t be helped." Fer muttered. He was obviously impatient to get into Doran"s dungeon.

"Let"s join the end of the queue over there." I pointed and Fer set off again. As Fer got closer I heard a voice shouting "A monster"s coming! A Great Wolf?" and people who looked like Adventurers started brandis.h.i.+ng heir weapons. More cries, "A baby Dragon too! Look out!" as they caught sight of Dora-chan flying along beside us. Some people dressed like mages held up their staffs and started murmuring enchantments. This was getting bad.

"It"s okay folks, both of these guys are my contracted monsters!" I shouted loudly so everyone could hear me. Fer and Dora-chan stopped, obviously not threatening the people nearby and this convinced them that they had submitted to me. The Adventurers put down their weapons and the mages lowered their staffs... but it was clear they were still suspicious and wary. After all Fer was, at least, a giant Wolf-type monster and Dora-chan, although small was obviously a Dragon even if they thought he was a baby. If they were worried about a Dragon this small I wondered just how troublesome a fully-grown Dragon could be. Fer, who seemed invincible to me, had said a few times that some older Dragons could give him what he called "a decent fight".

We joined the end of the queue waiting to get into Doran and stood quietly. There wasn"t really anything I could say to the people staring at us so I just kept my mouth shut. The uncomfortable silence lasted only for a short time though as I soon heard a voice calling my name. What?

"Mukouda-saaaan!" Someone was running towards us while loudly shouting my name. Who was it? It was a man, by the pitch of the voice but I didn"t know anyone in Doran, this was my first visit ever...

"Mukouda, I"ve been waiting for you to come for sooo long now~" The voice grew louder. Who was he?

I said "Who is Mukouda?" with a puzzled expression on my face because everyone was watching me. I wished whoever it was wouldn"t shout my name so loudly.

"Mukouda-saaaan!" Please don"t call out someone"s name like that! I"m not here!

"Ha ha, Mukouda! I knew at once it was you when I saw your contracted monsters! I"ve been waiting a long time to meet you!" The running man stopped in front of me, excited and gasping for breath.

......Who was this? He was handsome and well-built with long hair, obviously in the prime of life. As I studied him closely I noticed his long ears tapered to a point. Was he an Elf? I"d never seen an Elf before...

"I was so excited when I heard the story from Rodolpho that I couldn"t sleep at night. So this is the Pixie Dragon!" he exclaimed, getting even more excited as he stared fixedly at Dora-chan who buzzed around behind my back, trying to conceal himself as if he was terrified of being seen by the man. This Elf, he was handsome and obviously vigorous but there was a faint whiff of, well, a pervert about him.

"Mukouda-san!" The Elf suddenly grasped my shoulders with both hands. Hey, what are you doing?

"I am truly astounded!" he declared. Oh, is that so? Great, you"re astounded, now let go of my shoulders will you? The people around me were staring even more. Please don"t stare, I begged as I tried unsuccessfully to dislodge the Elf"s hands from my shoulders.

"I"ve actually seen a Pixie Dragon, a particularly rare Dragon sub-species, with my own eyes... I"m so thankful I"ve lived to experience this day... I"m soooo happy... Ougggh..." The supposedly-adult Elf was blubbering like a child and still holding on to my shoulders. I tried again to disengage his hands but his grip was still too strong. Please don"t cry, Elf-san. Compose youself and let go of my shoulders. Stop attracting so much attention to yourself, to us, to me. Please. Pleasepleaseplease.

"Gusu ..." the Elf finally straightened up and released his clamp-like grip on my aching shoulders. "I"m sorry I lost my composure. It"s just..." he waved his hand grandiosely. "I was overcome. I beg you will forgive me."

Well, yes I"ll forgive you, just stop crying, whoever you are. Maybe I should find out who he was. The Elf was still trying to peek around my back at Dora-chan who was evading his teary-eyed gaze.

"Oh, ummm, who are you?" I asked hesitantly, trying to attract his attention again. The imposing Elf blinked and focussed back on me.

"I"m terribly sorry, I was so excited by the sight of the Pixie Dragon I forgot to introduce myself." He bowed in an elegant manner before straightening up again. "I am Elland, the Guild Master of the Adventurers Guild in this city," he waved his arm back at the walls behind him," The famed Dungeon City of Doran. Pleased to make your aquaintance."

............?

The Elf was Elland-san, the local Guild Master. Really? A Guild Master that was excited by the sight of Dora-chan and weeps freely? This must be the person Rodolpho-san warned, uh told me about, his old friend and party member, the one who was obsessed with Dragons. It seemed he hadn"t exaggerated in his description of the Guild Master of Doran.

"Let"s head straight to the Guild." Elland-san said.

"Well, but I have to wait in the queue to enter the city..." I protested.

"No, no, I do not have time to wait, Mukouda-san." Elland-san said, pus.h.i.+ng me inexorably forward through the crowd at the gate. The Elf was an impressively strong person. "We can all enter Doran together under my Guild Master"s authority." The waiting mob of Adventurers and others parted as we approached the gate, clearly recognising the Guild Master but glaring at me for getting special treatment. "It will be fine, there are so many things I want to ask you so let"s get to the Guild as soon as possible." I"d be happy to wait, Elland-san, really, I thought to myself, cringing inside at the hostile eyes focussed on me but Elland-san"s hand pus.h.i.+ng on my back was unstoppable.

We entered the Dungeon City of Doran without pausing, Elland-san grandly declaring to the gatekeepers "I guarantee this person and his contracted monsters with my authority," as we pa.s.sed them with no objections, simply bows of agreement from the guardians.

Elland-san, we just met a few moments ago so is it really okay for you to say "I guarantee this person and his contracted monsters with my authority" to the gatekeepers? I really hope it wouldn"t cause me problems further down the line. As we pa.s.sed through the imposing gate I wondered about Elland-san"s declaration that "there are so many things I want to ask you". That would be about Dragons, right? You want to hear all about my incredible experiences with Dragons. Problem is, I don"t know anything about Dragons...

Doran"s Adventurers Guild was situated just inside the city"s gate, an impressively-sized building that dominated the small square it fronted on. We quickly entered the Adventurers Guild and I was guided and pushed by Elland-san into the Guild Master"s office on the second floor as Guild staff and visitors jumped out of our path.

"There you go, sit down sit down please." Elland-san gestured at a two-person couch with ball-and-claw feet, suavely elegant and more than suitable to grace the office of the Guild Master of an important Dungeon City. I gave in to the inevitable, sure there was no escape now I was in his office, and I sat down. Elland-san sat opposite me in a similar couch, preparing paper and a pen on the table between us, obviously eager to listen to what I had to tell him.

"Let"s get started shall we? I"ve got a lot of questions for you, if you don"t mind." Even if I did mind I wasn"t going to avoid the questions he had for me. I glanced at the imposingly-solid door which Elland-san had shut firmly behind me and shrugged. Haa, I travelled a long way to this city since I wanted to look around and do a lot of things. If I survived the coming interrogation then my time would be my own again and I could sight-see to my heart"s content.