Marked Ones: Advent of the Demon Prince

The party spent a day or two resting in town, taking in the sights and scenes provided by the city of Lelvern. It was not only the main road that was bustling with shops and people, but the entire city seemed to be constantly rife with people buying, selling, and exchanging wares.

Even the residential areas had different stores and stalls run by the residents of the area who wanted to exercise their entrepreneurial spirit. Lucius and Rena spent these two days thoroughly enjoying one another's company as a couple, rather than as the friends they had been for almost half their lives.

Wherever they went, Rena was hanging off Lucius' arm as though he would disappear if she ever let go. She also slept next to him every night and pouted when they had to get up every morning. Essentially, she was being spoiled.

Lucius was not going to say or do anything about it though, she had earned it. Also, it was just too cute for him to stop and he truly enjoyed the moment of happiness that their time together brought him. Throughout his life there were very few happy times, and most of the happy memories he did have were overshadowed by negative experiences, but nothing could take away this.

"I think it's time to meet up with the group at the guild. They gave us a few days off to celebrate, but it's time to get with Jen to see what she's got for us now." He informed the beautiful girl snuggling up against his chest.

They were sitting outside a small café and had started to attract the attention of onlookers passing by. No one seemed offended, rather the majority flashed the pair teasing smiles.

Rena sighed quietly in a strange combination of contentment and resignation. "Alright, we should get going. We have six more quests to go, after all. At least we know we are guaranteed a spot the moment we hit the minimum, thanks to Jen."

He nodded, "We were very lucky to have met her, she's been an incredible resource."

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"Resource? She's our friend, Lucius."

"My only friend is you. Everyone else is a resource. Some more reliable than others." Lucius sighed. He stood up and paid for their meal while also leaving a generous tip for the wait staff.

"Friend?"

He subconsciously shuddered from Rena's harsh glare, but he held his ground. "Yes, friend. You are my lover as well as my best and only friend and I wish it to remain that way for as long as possible."

Lucius gently placed a hand behind Rena's head and pulled her face close to his, then planted a light kiss on the center of her forehead. "Let's go."

"Mmm."

They meandered through the streets on a lazy route back to the guild. When they arrived, the party was chatting amongst themselves at some tables off to the side.

"Ah there they are! Ready for our next job?" Jen shouted across the room.

Lucius and Rena walked over to the group and sat down at the saved seats to listen to the details of the next quest. According to Jen, they were being requested to provide assistance to another party already working a job a little further west of the city.

There was a grouping of hunting camps and a centralized logging village that had requested assistance with an incursion of goblins in the area that had begun harassing the loggers and hunters.

Apparently the first party had gone out on the job, but reported to the guild that their own group was not equipped to handle the monsters alone. Since it was a quest made by the city, city officials approved a sub-quest to provide the first group assistance.

The original was considered a Beginner Rank quest since it was only for goblin clearing, but the party that went on it was rather famous in the area so the guild upped the difficulty rating to Intermediate for the time being. They were even considering retroactively upping the rank and subsequent rewards upon completion, if the reports supported the change.

"So we are going to help out some famous party? Why are they letting us help? We are new in town, wouldn't the city want someone more established to go save their special favorites?" Lucius questioned.

"Well, normally, they probably would. However, thanks to a certain someone that took out a dangerous Marked One and then had the gall to claim to possess a mark representing both Celestia and the Abyss… they are making an exception. Honestly, the guild approached me with this offer instead of the other way around.

If we take it, we could win a lot of brownie points with them!" Jen had a massive grin on her face.

Rena giggled in response to their leader's behavior and teasing tone. Lucius could not help but shake his head, but agreed nonetheless.

After taking a bit of time to make sure they were completely stocked up, which did not take long seeing as how they had done nothing but run around the city of merchants for two days, they set out on their journey to help another party solve some sort of goblin infestation.

It was a few days of a journey to the area where the quest location was located. From what Jen had been told, the goblin infestation started becoming a problem a little over a month ago. Goblins are decently common creatures, but they don't tend to live in large forests like this one. Lightly wooded areas close to grassy plains were more suitable habitats for them.

"What do we know about the other party?" Lethen asked.

"Not too much, I know that they've been operating out of Lelvern for the better part of a year. Used to be that there were a pair of brothers in it, but according to gossip, the younger one ran off. They are pretty popular with the locals because they take a lot of quests relating to clearing roads and supply routes, you know, some real 'help the common man' type stuff."

Lucius wondered why they would choose such a route. There were plenty of other quests that paid more and were much less dull than cleanup duty. Though, good publicity could help with favors down the future… he would have to make a point to ask them when they met them.