My calcutions were off, and I had to spend a week in Kota, waiting for the auction. I would have preferred to spend more time in my pntation in Grimsburg, but I still had enough time to collect my coffee and sugar supply, and we agreed that Nelly will return after me, a day after the auction.

  It would have been more convenient for me to use Guild portal spell myself, but it would have been impossible, even if I would have master level Wisdom skill. Nelly told me that the spell required one thousand of mana, plus one hundred for every additional person. It was less for Nelly since she had Lesser mana use skill, but with the amount of mana that I currently had, almost all level five spells would have been beyond me. That was so unfair. No wonder mages tend to chose only magic reted skills. I did not know that before, or I might have chosen different skill set in the beginning. But nothing to do about it now. Maybe I could buy some artifacts in the auction, which would help me.

  I was not pnning to attend the auction, but received a message from Alexandrios, that he had acquired something that would interest me. I did told him about some things that were an interest for me, but that wrinkled gremlin did not say what he got, and, as usual, he sold things only during the auction.

  Still, I wanted to maintain good retionships with him and, to show him my appreciation, visited his auction house, and sold one of his men some rare monster materials, from floor guardians that we got while searching King of Iron Mountain artifacts. That increased my orichalcum coin amount, but I already had several hundreds of them in my wallet, so money was not a problem for me. I hoped that it will stay that way, even after the auction, but auction worker passed me additional message to make sure that I have enough coins till the end of the auction, and, with a heavy sigh, I took out the rest of the fangs and cws that I kept in my Female purse.

  Auction workers eyes almost jumped out of his sockets, and he had to run to one of his superiors, after permission to spend more coins.

  I spend my time buying potions, which we always managed to use up, and even got myself four elixirs. I asked around about Gods mead elixirs, but there were non on the market. I was hoping to run into dungeon wasps during our hunts, but we did not encountered any. And Nelly used up st of God mead elixirs, when Herculian almost wiped out our party. Maybe I will run into some wasps in Darkness dungeon?

  I woke up te in the morning and needed some time to get out of bed. I did stay in a very expensive tavern, but it was worth it. They had a big bath, soft beds and food was tasty. They even had fresh fruits on the menu.

  After spending month inside the dungeon and then weeks on a ship, this was a nice vacation.

  I was walking on a street, chewing on a stick that people used to keep their teeth clean, thinking what exactly Alexandrios got. I hoped that it was another leveling potion. I will need to wait at least a year, before I can use it, but it would be definitely worth the money.

  I noticed some men following me. Probably some robbers. I was in no mood to deal with them and used Conceal spell to shake them off. I succeeded and arrived at auction house, without any encounters. Bck coin allowed me to go inside, and I took a seat closer to front. I needed to wait almost an hour before auction started. As usual Alexandrios started with less interesting artifacts. Among them he presented several magic gems, even one from mid-ranking floor guardian. That was useful, but I had to greatly overpay for them. I felt disappointed thinking that it was why Alexandrios invited me. It was worth coming here, but I did expected more from him.

  Several artifacts ter, Alexandrios grinned at me and took off the bnket from the next object.

  - Lady's and lords may I present to you one of the rarest orbs that we can offer you. A leveling orb. Using this orb you can level up by one level, no matter how high your level is. Even level one hundred will not be beyond you.

  Some of the audience ughed. There was no upper level, but people who reached level one hundred were legends among legends, and most people were proud even to reach past level ten. But it was more than interesting for me. After bidding ended, I got the orb, but I got a suspicion that Alexandrios pced his own people among the audience, since I had to part with forty orichalcum coins to get the orb.

  Greedy, little monster. He definitely knew how to squeeze the st coin out of the poor girl.

  Other artifacts were impressive and high ranking as usual, but after gathering Four legendary artifacts of ancient king, they did not look so impressive to me.

  I got bored and felt sleepy, when Alexandrios started his sve auction. He always kept the sves till the end. If I could get them to Bcksmith cave, I would have definitely bought all of them, but for now sves were of no interest to me.

  - We have only two more objects to sell you today, - grinned gremlin: - As always I kept the best for the end. Please welcome our elven friend first.

  Guards brought out e female elf girl. She was sixteen years old. Thin, cute and afraid. Alexandrios gnced at me, but I just yawned. I already told him before that I had no pns to save all elves in the world. Probably I should have tried, but it was such a bother. Gremlin looked surprised, but to my surprise, not disappointed. Elf girl was still a virgin and was sold for sixty eight orichalcum coins to some fat looking aristocrat, who licked his lips, when he was decred a winner.

  - And now our st prize. Rarest among rare on our continent - fallen angel!

  Curtains opened behind Alexandrios and guards brought out young boy, with bck wings behind him. I stretched in my chair. On human continent fallen angels were just as hated as demons. Long ago seven archangels led an army of other angels against their brothers. Michael's armies defeated them, and angels escaped human continent. Archangels became demon lords in Dark continent, but angels founded settlement in Skull Dungeon Isnd. They became known as fallen angels. Unlike angels who had white, silver or golden wings, fallen angels had dark wings. They were welcomed on barbarian and dark continent, and even traded with dark elves, but they were banished from human continent, under the fear of death. Nothing would tell demons or barbarians that you are not allied with humans, like a fallen angel among your people.

  - Keep him as sve and torture him to your liking, or sell him to angels for a small fortune. Or keep him as a toy in your bed, - grinned Alexandrios: - He does have such angelic face.

  Murmurs arose among guests. Fallen angel were rarest creatures on human continent. And Alexandrios was right, angels would pay a small fortune for him. They would publicly execute him ter, but that would be such a waste.

  - Our bidding will star with twenty orichalcum coins! - decred Alexandrios.

  After a while, I zily joined the bidding, but it was heated one. Bidding ended with dizzying high of two hundred and ten orichalcum coins. Alexandrios could barely contain himself and almost jumped after price reached hundred and fifty coins, and, when he decred me the winner, he was wearing a grin as wide as an alligator would have.

  - Thank you for participating, - decred Alexandrios the end of the auction: - We well wait you all next year and keep working hard to satisfy you next year as well.

  I waited for a while, for auction house to clear out, until one of the guards came after me.

  - I was surprised that you did not bought the elf, - grinned Alexandrios, when guard took me to one of the private rooms: - You do realize, what that man will do to her?

  - Dress her up and marry?

  - Sure, sure, - rubbed his palms Alexandrios: - But I wanted to thank you for selling all those monster materials. I will make a fortune, using them and selling in the future.

  - Gd that you are so happy. What can you tell me about fallen angel?

  - It was hard to get my hands on him. At least I would like to say that, but that would not be truth. He was found ashore after the storm, alongside remains of the ship. Dwarfs found him. They send him to Denbing, where I bought him from some shady merchants.

  - I see. How much did you pay for him, if it is not a secret?

  - Not anymore. Ten orichalcum coins. And I did overpay, if you ask me.

  I sighed and counted the coins that I owed him. I included gold coins for sve colr, and Alexandrios nodded in satisfaction.

  - Gd you came. I will wait you next year, - he grinned.

  - Do not count on that. I will probably be too busy for a while.

  - Sad to hear that. But my auction house doors are always open to you.

  Guards brought fallen angel, and I pced sve colr on his neck. His eyes were empty and non interested.

  - Do you have a name? - I asked him, but boy did not answered.

  Alexandrios snapped his fingers, and guard pced cloak on his shoulders.

  - On the house, - expined gremlin. I nodded and pced my hand on leveling orb. Light flowed into me, and I felt mana entering my body. Orb broke into pieces that turned into light sparks and disappeared. I nodded to gremlin and pushed boy outside.

  - At least you did not disappointed, - I sighed: - Till next time.

  I took boy to Adventurer guild and used leveling crystal to get one more level and increase my Master swordsman skill to advance level. Now I had master level Light magic skill, and all other skills were at advanced level. Next time I level up I will get one more master level skill, and then one more and one more after that. Those were pleasant thoughts.

  As long as boy had his cloak, he did not attracted attention. Well, not too much. He did not talk, but did understand my words. When I bought us food in my tavern, he showed some interest for the first time. Waitress looked at half naked boy with disapproval, but did not commented, after noticing my B rank adventurer tag. I used Appraisal spell on him. To my surprise it worked. He was level one fallen angel with no skills. A bnk boy for now.

  - So, what is your name boy? - I asked again after dinner: - Do not make me beat it out of you. I would hate to cripple that cute face of yours.

  - Its Azael.

  - That's mouthful. What do you think will happen to you?

  - You will sell me to angels, and they will torture and kill me. That is the destiny of all fallen angels, who end up on human continent.

  - Tempting. But not right now. First you will spend some time working as a sve and then, if you behave, I will send you to more fun pce. Let us hope you survive, so, no committing suicide. Do not try to kill me or anyone else without an order. But you are allowed to protect yourself if attacked. Also do not try to run away. That should be all for now, I guess. Now let's go get some sleep. We will have a hard talk tomorrow, and I need to prepare a speech.

  * * *

  To my surprise Mesmer did not got a heart attack or a stroke, when I asked him to let Azael work on coffee pntation. His lip did twitch, and he broke writing feather.

  - I did not think that you will ever surprise me, but here we are, - he said and looked at Nelly. She turned away and pretended that she was not here.

  - She did not know, - I protected the girl: - Besides, it is temporary. Like high elf temporary, and he is a sve.

  - That's the only reason why I am not showing you the door. He will stay on pntation. Keep his wings hidden and his colr visible. He will not talk to anyone and avoid everyone as much as possible.

  - Sounds great , - I happily nodded.

  - Also, I will need something to expin, why I allowed you this... This request.

  - Sounds reasonable, - I carefully agreed: - How about a loan. A secret one that you can copy until we return. Sounds fair?

  - What loan, - Mesmer's lip twitched again.

  I sighed and took out Book of light from Female purse.

  Mesmer looked at it and bended second feather.

  - Where... Where did you get it?

  - Do you really want to know?

  Surprised Nelly also stared at the book, and Azael almost fell of the chair. So, that book was kind of big deal or something?

  - Probably, I do not, - sighed Mesmer: - Fine. That will allow me to expin, why I allowed that abomination to stay on guild's ground. Leave, before I change my mind.

  - Where did you got that book? - asked Azael, when we exited Mesmer's room.

  - Now you are talking, - I looked at fallen angel disapprovingly, and he felt silent.

  - What was it? - asked Nelly.

  - Book of light. Found it in the attic.

  Peasants in my pntation did not overreacted to Azael's presence. They probably decided that he was connected to Mage guild, and everyone knew that mages were not normal. Cofea trees were growing well, but, just to be safe, I spend three more days casting Nature blessing. Farming was a hard job.

  * * *

  I cautiously approached griffin and patted his head. They were big. Not as big as elephants, but close. They had lion's bodies, eagle heads and wings. Also their front legs had three fingers with huge, razor sharp talons. Their eyes were angry and disapproving.

  This was my first time seeing griffins, and up close they were scary.

  - This one is mine, - proudly decred Theodoric: - I call him Adam.

  - How cute, - I commented.

  Griffins had saddles and bridles and were ready to fly. They had supply bags, attached to them, and saddles had additional ropes, that riders used to tie themselves, to prevent falling.

  - Are you ready to fly! - smiled Theodoric.

  - No, - I answered honestly. I thought that I was, but I changed my mind: - Maybe we can walk after all. What's a year or two?

  - We are helping Takiko's family, - decred Nelly: - And flying on the griffins. Right now.

  - You are not a party leader, - I mumbled.

  - You can fly with me, - offered Theodoric: - It is safer than you think, and I won't let anything happen to you.

  - Nelly will fly with you, - I sighed: - Can you two show us, how to tie ourselves to these saddles?

  - Of course.

  He gave some weird sounding command, and all griffins sat down. Even so, we had to use ropes to cim on saddles, and Theodoric and Christopher showed us how to tie us to saddles.

  Saddles were big enough for two people, and there was another part of them used for baggage. It probably could have been adjusted for third person.

  - Everyone ready? - asked Theodoric, and we nodded: - We do not have time to teach you how to use bridle, so try not to touch them. My griffin is the pack leader, so others will follow him. Just hold on and enjoy the ride.

  Theodoric gave another command, and griffins jumped in the air. They flopped their wings and flew into air. I grabbed saddle and for a moment closed my eyes. Somewhere near me Nelly screamed in surprise. I kept my eyes close, but nothing happened, and I opened one eye. Flying on griffins was more comfortable than flying on king-simurgh. Comparing to simurgh, they were slower, but saddle and being tied up to it, made a lot of difference. I looked down, at little houses, and smiled. We were flying close to the clouds, and air was cold, but not freezing. I wrapped my cloak around me and slowly started enjoying the view.

  Below us we saw small trees, grassnds and sometimes doll sized houses. Flying on the griffin was not so bad, and, when I got used to it a little, I even had a short nap.

  Few days ter we crossed Rakshasar eastern border and reached uninhabited nds. I did not known what I expected, but nothing changed. There were small patches of trees and unending grassnds below us. Few times we saw small vilges, that belonged to trolls. Sometimes we saw animals or perhaps monsters below us, but we flew to high and too fast to see exactly who it was. I did imagen uninhabited nds to be monster infested barren nds, but they turned out to be more hospitable.

  We usually camped two times a day, to give griffins some rest and opportunity to fly off and hunt. Every time they left, I was afraid that they will not return, but Theodoric just ughed at that. According to him griffins were well trained and very smart. They were loyal to their master and could tell a difference between animal, monster and intelligent creatures.

  As worried as I was, this turned out to be my most interesting journey yet. No wonder Theodoric liked flying so much. He also taught as basic commands and how to use bridle to fly in different directions, but we were not allowed to use them. Because we were inexperienced and also because we were not griffin masters, but just a passengers, and, according to Theodoric, giving commands to griffins could anger them.

  Usually at night we used warning crystals, that produced loud sounds whenever someone crossed invisible barrier, but now we had griffins to protect us.

  Monsters, who lived outside the dungeons, were more careful and did not attacked every living creature. And there were not many monsters, who were brave enough to attack griffin pack. According to Theodoric, only downside to griffins was ck of stables outside Holy griffin empire and griffin appetite. In uninhabited nds griffins fed themselves, but in more poputed areas Theodoric did not allowed them to hunt, since they would attack farm animals and bother peasants, and steal their livestock. They could tell difference between humans and animals, but all animals were the same to them.

  In my opinion benefits far outweighed the downside. More importantly we crossed distance that could take us several month, or at worst a year, in less than a month.

  - I think I see it! - shouted Theodoric and pointed at a small hill. One side of it was covered in darkness. If that was not entrance to Darkness dungeon, then I did not know what was.

  Theodoric tried to nd near the hill, but griffins refused to approach it. Hero had to take them further away, and only then griffins obeyed his command and nded.

  - I am sorry, but griffins will not go close to that dungeon. They never before where afraid of anything.

  - Ancient dungeon will do that to you, - I shrugged.

  - How long should we wait you? - asked Theodoric.

  - You should return to the saint. We can return whenever we want. Did you forget that Nelly can use Guild portal spell?

  - That's right, - ughed Theodoric and scratched back of his head: - It slipped my mind.

  - Thank you for getting us here. We will be fine now.

  - Are you really pnning to enter that dungeon? Why would you do that?

  - Takiko's family is imprisoned there, - seriously expined Nelly. Nine tailed fox, who was standing near her, nodded and stepped towards the dungeon.

  - No time for long goodbyes. Stupid fox misses his family, so we need to go and rescue them.

  - Takiko is not stupid, - objected Nelly. We went towards the dungeon, arguing about foxes intelligence. I was winning, since fox refused to talk. Theodoric followed us with surprised gaze. When we went far enough, he shook himself and ordered Christopher to prepare for the way back.