Praises followed by more praises.
Nina smiled when she received compliments from her guild members. She was really happy joining a healer-centric guild like Healers' Nirvana.
It was a low-key guild that would only take selective missions. They would always be high-risk, high-reward missions. The high-risk factor would be managed by their healing-specific arrays and the high-reward factor would be enhanced by properly harvesting their loot.
That's why Nina had only attacked the monster's limbs and neck and kept his torso almost intact. His heart and other organs could be harvested, enabling the guild and her to have an extra source of income.
Nina was really glad that she had listened to a certain little rat and came to this guild. Her healing array of talents had also started to shine after joining this guild.
"Kiddo, now that this wretched Jolo is taken care of, we can finally move on to purge the monster nest in the region near Kavas lake.
I'll tell the guild master that we…"
The old man was already moving on with his next mission that was going to be conducted by them in a few weeks. Nina, on the other hand, shook her head before replying.
"I'll only be here for a few more days, Master Amory. So I'm not sure whether I'll be able to attend the big mission. It would be better if you counted me out."
Nina bowed in front of her senior after she made her intentions known to the guy. The old man raised his eyebrows and pondered a bit before nodding at her.
"Alright, kiddo. Take some time off. You had been working hard for all these months. You deserve a break."
Amory sighed and massaged his forehead with his wrinkled hands after he thought of the complexities that would arise after counting Nina out from a few of their high-reward missions. He smoked his pipe as he mumbled something under his breath, thinking of counter strategies that would have to be employed.
However, he didn't stop Nina from taking her break.
Amory Stowage had a pronounced nose and sunken eyes. The bags under his eyes and his wrinkled skin were like accomplishments of old age. He had white hair and a long white beard.
Amory liked to smoke ranked herbs from the pipe he always used to puff on. Today was no different. He took out his pouch and filled his pipe with more of the stuff he was smoking before taking a long puff.
***
"By the way kiddo, where are you heading?"
Amory asked while releasing smoke from his nostrils. One would wonder if his way of smoking pipes had anything to do with his big nose.
Nina and Amory were left alone after Jojo's tribe had been purged along with him. The members that had come with these high-rankers had started harvesting monster bodies and the resources the tribe had kept hidden.
Nina was watching over her junior guild members' progress from a hilltop along with Amory when she heard him ask the question. The smile she had this time was not something Amory had ever seen on her face as she spoke up.
"Well, I'm heading to the city of New Beginnings first. Then I'll take a detour to meet with someone I know."
Amory's eyes shined with a peculiar light when he heard about the city of New Beginnings. That's because the name of that city brings to mind Monster Canyon. A place that was supposed to be the last report for rankers stuck in their bottleneck. A place where rankers gambled with their lives to either win big or die trying.
"Uncle Amory, you should go with Nina."
A young feminine voice was heard from the two Master rankers' backs. Both turned to see a blonde woman approaching them from the sky with golden butterfly wings.
This blond elf lady had smooth and supple skin that seemed to glow with a golden hue. She had advanced way beyond her rank in elemental attainment.
She had topaz blue eyes and a pretty nose. Her lips were cuter because of their smaller size. And her cheeks looked like they were always exposed to the gentle morning light.
She didn't have an overabundance of curves. But her slim figure complemented her angelic looks while adding a sophisticated charm to her presence.
She was the guild master of Healer's Nirvana. Jina Jiang. She also had a kingdom-certified title– Goldy Wings.
As soon as the golden butterfly wings vanished into thin air, a small fairy-like existence appeared sitting on Jina's shoulders. She was a bit taller than an adult's ring finger. She appeared relaxed on Jina's shoulders as the latter safely landed on the ground.
Amory and Nina both bowed when Jina appeared from behind them. The latter smiled mildly and nodded at them before continuing.
"Try your luck in Monster Canyon, Old man Amory. With the way you are going, it won't be long before your hopes of breaking into Grandmaster Rank are completely extinguished.
I don't want that to happen to you. I know that you still want to try your luck. And that you'd always regret that you didn't strive for the Grandmaster rank when you had the chance."
Amory was left speechless when his guild master who was only in the liquid core stage of the B-Rank lectured someone like him who was close to breaking into the next rank. He was speechless not because he thought whatever she said was audacious. But because he understood that the guild master read him like an open book.
Jina was asking him to risk his life in an attempt to achieve a forced breakthrough into the A-Rank. If one looked from the sidelines, it would seem that Jina was telling him to embark on a suicide mission. But Amory knew that Jina would have kicked him out of the guild a long time ago instead of applying roundabout tactics like these. If getting rid of him was her end goal.
Amory was getting older. And he needed this kind of push to pursue his dreams. But he still had concerns of his own that came with his position in the guild. Jina smiled at him after reading his face and said.
"Don't worry, Sir Amory. I'll take care of high-profile missions from now on. You accompany Nina to the Nightshade duchy. She is the core member of Healers' Nirvana now. We should at least provide her an escort of your caliber."
Jina chuckled before looking at Amory keenly.
"Uncle Amory, I'm confident that you'll get to Grandmaster rank. Come back to us even stronger than ever before."
"Nina, please take care of our old man." She added, looking at Nina. The latter smiled and responded affirmatively.
"I'd like to go with Master Amory and Master Nina too, guild master. I just became an Adept. So I would like to travel a bit.
And I'd like to be near when uncle... err... Master Amory breaks into Grandmaster rank. Hehe."
The young girl who was cheering on Nina suddenly appeared where the trio was standing and made her intentions known. It was clear that she also had confidence in old Amory. The guild master didn't take long to approve the young girl's travel plans.
Old man Amory was emotional. He turned around instead of facing the ladies and kept his gaze fixed on his juniors who were wrapping up the scene.
"My… my eye allergies are acting up again."
He mumbled in a mosquito-like voice before rubbing his eyes. He then focused entirely on making the smoke from his pipe surround his face.
The ladies looked at each other and chuckled. They knew that old man Amory didn't have eye allergies. But they didn't try to call him out on it. They let the emotional Master ranker keep his dignity as he geared himself for last-ditch efforts of breaking into Grandmaster rank.
AN: Amory Stowage is an anagram. ;)
