Hearing that, Talon was instantly intrigued. At first, he expected the tower to have some kind of importance to the settlement. But, never did he think it was this important. Apart from spraying the outskirts of the city with Blue Elixir, it also was the headquarters for the organization that keeps the city safe from all kinds of threats.
It was a 2-in-1 structure with enough roles to be the most pivotal place in the entire city. Naturally, that also made Talon even more curious as to what is truly inside of it.
'Breeding Sand Eaters... That sounds like a hectic thing to do especially with this ridiculous quantity of blood being sprayed every single second. How many worms are being bred and killed a day I wonder?' He thought to himself.
He was sure that the tower was pumping hundreds of gallons of blood every single second which should be at least the same amount of blood one Sand Eater would have inside its body. That is at least one worm per second being killed which puts the number in the tens of thousands at least.
"I can see that picked your interest." Emino smiled when he saw Talon fall into deep thought.
"Hm? Oh, yeah, I am actually quite intrigued by it. So, the Sky Seekers guild is also responsible for breeding and killing Sand Eaters, I suppose?"
"Yeah, you can say that. Although, it's a little bit more complicated." Emino thought for a moment before replying with a weird expression.
'What does he mean?' Talon frowned slightly and was about to ask when Remi arrived at their table with 7 plates in both of her arms.
"Finally! I couldn't wait any longer!" Seeing his food, Emino smiled as he took it and stared at the dish with hungry eyes.
"Me too!"
"Give it to me!"
The entire group immediately focused on their plates as if they were the only important thing there out of everything.
"Hahaha, dig in, dig in!" Remi smiled proudly as she watched them.
Talon curiously stared at the plate in front of him. It was composed of three things; meat which he assumed belonged to the Sand Eaters. Some kind of red and green vegetables that he had never seen before and a white grainy substance that he assumed was an extra-dimensional rice or something like it.
'This does look and smell amazing.' He thought to himself. He wasn't familiar with any of it, but he didn't mind trying it purely by smell.
So, he slowly picked up the spoon to eat, only to stop for a moment as he looked at the boy next to him. For a second he forgot about Arryn, the boy had been so quiet with his head looking down the entire time.
Talon could easily guess what the boy was going through and he could only feel bad.
"Psst, do you want some food?" Tilting to the side, he whispered to Arryn secretly.
"Huh? Oh, no, it's fine, please eat." The boy shook his head with an awkward expression.
But, Talon didn't immediately take those words and instead looked away. "Can I please get another plate of those wrapped for pick up?" He asked.
"Sure thing, boy!"
"But, uh, I have no way of paying you yet..." He realized his blunder really quickly. Talon didn't even know what kind of currency they used in this city.
If they were shady enough to take his freedom, then he might as well just ignore them. He wouldn't compromise his freedom for some money and a stupid title that had no worth to him.
"Well, I will have to visit the guild's headquarters first and then I will see if I can actually do it or not," Talon said with an awkward laugh. "I'm not that confident in actually being good enough for such a job."
'Bleh, I can't even lie with a straight face.' He thought to himself.
"Don't underestimate your talent, boy. Ehem, in any case, just take some time to rest, and then you can visit the guild any time. It's not a problem."
"Thank you for understanding."
With that, the group finally reached their destination. A small inn in the corner of one of the smaller streets on the west side of the city. It wasn't as bustling as the main street. Walking inside, they were welcomed by an old-looking reception with an antique wooden table at the end and a sleepy old woman behind it.
"Wake up, granny!" Walking to the reception, Emino tapped on it, snapping the woman out of her small nap.
"Huh? What? Who?"
"It's me, Emino."
"Oh! If it isn't Emi boy. What brought you here today?"
"Tsk, I told you before not to call me 'Emi Boy', I'm a grown-ass man now, granny."
"You are still 100 years too young to be a man! Tsk, I still remember you running around here with a small wooden stick and a ball!" The woman retorted with an angry look.
That made the rest of the group look away as they held their laughter.
"I heard you, I swear to god, I heard you! No resting tonight, it is! We are shifting!" He yelled as he turned around.
"What?! No!! That's unfair, Emino!"
"Evil! That's evil!"
"Don't take decisions for yourself," Lefa added with a cold expression.
As the group complained loudly, Talon watched from the side as he tried not to laugh. This group was quite funny without even trying to be so. They seemed to share a deep bond between them like that of a family.
'That's nice to see.'
"What an interesting bunch," Acrypha commented casually.
"Yeah, they are very interesting. I'm glad I met them of all people here. At least I won't have to worry about killing anyone for now." He shrugged.
Acrypha gave him a side look before going completely silent. Nobody knew what was going through her head at that moment.
A//N: If you enjoyed reading, don't forget to support the book with GT and PS. Thank you!