Drachen and Sarah were both currently walking in a forest towards a village as drachen was asking about every little thing he could think of

"So how far is the city you're from?"

"Well where I parked my car not too far away from here,in a little village"

"Why's that? wouldn't it be more convenient to park it closer to the cracks?"

"Yeah but this place was said to be infested with monsters,and true to their words,while I was coming here I ran into some of them, although I managed to kick them out of my way,so you won't need to worry about them"she said

"Wow,you must be really strong!"

"I mean maybe,still not much compared to my family"

"I see"

"Anyways,once we get my car it won't be too long until we reach the city,one or two days at most, it's a good thing it's not that far away"she said

"What is the main city like?"

"It's immense,you could easily get lost in it if you don't recognize some roads,and sometimes you still do, it gets confusing"she said

"Are every big cities like this?"

"No not really,depends on which country you are in,well for example-"

"Don't tell me,I want to find that out myself when I go there"drachen cut her off

She smiled

"alright then"

It didn't take the duo long enough to reach arrive near a hill where they could see smoke rising ahead as Sarah stopped

"Huh?"

"What is it?"

She then started running towards the smoke as drachen was confused but followed her anyways as they both arrived at the top of the hill to find the village in ruins with people wounded and such

"Oh dear!"she hurried over to one of the villagers who were on their knees

"What happened?"

"Run! he's still here!!"shouted the villager

"Who?"asked Sarah as suddenly laughter echoed from the skies

"BRAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!"

They looked over to see someone clad in a dark feathered cloak wearing a white crow mask as he held a large spear while riding a creature with large dark wings

"THE NIGHT HAS ARRIVED,THE GODS HAVE FORSAKEN YOU,FOR I

THE DARK CROW HAS ARRIVED"shouted someone as both Sarah and drachen were shocked but on opposite sides of the spectrum

'he's evil but also so cool!'thought drachen

'is this guy a chuuni or something?'thought Sarah

The dark crow then began to fly down at high speed towards the two as drachen created a portal to avoid it and Sarah rolled out of the way as he slashed the ground they stood in causing it to blow up

Sarah who got her feet back on the ground put her hands on the ground as vines appeared from the ground and targeted the attacker

Seeing this he steered upwards while slashing the vines away

"Drachen,we have to stop him!"she shouted

Drachen was still processing what happened but he nodded nonetheless as he started to make portals upwards to catch up to the dark crow who noticed that and dives right back in to slash at drachen who noticed this and made a quick dash out of the way while shooting a beam out of his portals which the dark crow narrowly avoided

The dark crow's mount then flapped it's wings at drachen causing a massive gust of wind to send him away as he then proceeded to fly away while laughing

Drachen who has landed on the ground was still processing what happened but was also feeling a bit ashamed

This was his first fight and he couldn't even do anything due to them being surprised by him

'wow...'

"Drachen!"shouted sarah who hurried over to him and knelt down in front of him

"Are you okay?"she asked

"I'm okay, it's just that this all happened suddenly"

"Oh right,this was your first fight right?"she asked as he nodded

They were interrupted by someone shouting

"ALL OF MY GOODS ARE AS GOOD AS GONE NOW!!"Shouted someone

"If this keeps up I won't have enough money to sustain my family!"shouted another person

Seeing this Sarah helped drachen back up as they walked to one of the merchants

"What's wrong?this wasn't happening when I passed by the other day?"

"It's the dark crow,an urban legend amongst the villages,he spreads terror wherever he goes,last time he appeared was last year,and he lasts the entirety of a month here,we only had to deal with monsters before before,but this?!we can't keep it up any longer"said the merchant

"Anyone who knows about it?"asked Sarah

"Well there are traveling merchants who appear from time to time,but they are deep in the woods"

"Huh, doesn't really seem practical for customers"

"Yeah well we can't stand this any longer,many people have already left the village to go to the main city,I advise you do as soon as possible"

Sarah nodded

"I see..."she suddenly seemed like she remembered something

"Wait is my car still intact?"she asked

The merchant pointed to a pile of junk in the side of the village as Sarah fell to her knees

"My...car..."

"Umm Sarah?"

"This was our best bet to go back home quickly!!"she got up as she then turned to drachen

"We need to stop this guy for what he did to my car you hear me!and after that we'll use his ride after as payback!!"she started shaking him

"But how?"

"We ask for clues that could help"she said as she turned to the merchant

"Where are those traveling merchants you talked about?"she asked

LATER

The duo were currently walking in a thick forest following some large tracks on the ground that were akin to wheels although their size may say otherwise

"So how do you plan to take on the dark crow?"

"Last time he caught us by surprise,this time we'll lay a trap and catch HIM by surprise,however before we do that we need to know everything we can"she said as they finally stood in front of a large building that almost looked like a manor with large wheels on the four corners

They knocked on the front door, however no one came

"Well this is weird,there should be someone here"said Sarah

She did so again

"Maybe you didn't knock hard enough"said drachen as he kicked the door hard several times

"IS ANYONE HERE?!"he screamed at the top of his lungs

"Drachen what are you doing?!"asked Sarah pulling him away as they heard the door unlock from the inside as it slowly opened with a heavy creaking

They were greeted by a beautiful woman wearing a bartender attire as she had brown hair

"Oh new customers!why please do come in,we aren't open at the moment but we don't mind customers,my name is Rosa at your service"she greeted them

"Oh thank you"thanked her Sarah as they helped themselves inside

As they walked inside they were immediately stunned by the contents inside it as it ranged from potions,to appliances and so many more

"Wow!this place has so much stuff!"

Sarah who was also looking around remarked the same

"Yeah,there are items that are extremely scarce and almost legendary"

"Why thank you,we pride ourselves in our ability to get the best possible items for our customers"

"We?"asked drachen

Rosa nodded before slowly turning and

"HOWAAAARD!!!GET OVER HERE WE HAVE CUSTOMERS!!"she shouted in a barbarian voice as an old man with a rather good build  slowly made his way in and spoke with a monotone and almost devoid of life tone

"Hi welcome to Howard's shop where we have the most valuable goods you will find around the lands,we hope you enjoy your stay here"

"If you find anything you like please let us know"

"Well I was wondering if you knew anything about the dark crow"said Sarah as drachen started to wander off getting lost in all the objects in display letting his legs take him where his eyes desired when suddenly he found himself in a far off room filled with heads of wild beasts going from small to heads as big as he was

"Wow!did you hunt these beasts?!"he asked instinctively turning to Howard

The man smiled as he seemed like he regained a bit of life in his eyes

"Why yes,in my prime I was a fierce warrior, challenging the most fearsome beasts,in fact most of our goods here come from our old adventures"

"Really?!you were an adventurer?! that's amazing!"

"Yes,those were truly the days,endless adventures, traveling lands,fighting strong foes and encountering new treasures"

"Why did you stop though?"

"Well...time has caught up to my body and my wife demands that I leave my adventure behind"he said

"I see..."said drachen,the two felt like they could get along very nicely,drachen had so many things to ask of Howard,while the old man could tell the boy so much about his adventures but it was all cut by Sarah suddenly walking towards them

"Let's go drachen,we should head back now,we have a deal in our hands"

"A deal?"asked drachen

Rosa followed along

"If you two manage to get rid of the dark crow then we would gladly give you a mode of transportation"

"Honey?are you sure?I mean...the dark crow is doing a great job of keeping away the competition no?"

"Yes but we also barely keep any customers because of him,and he keeps going where we go, it's as if he's after us or something,I say we get rid of him"

"Oh..."

"Anyways, we'll do everything we can to stop him so you can rest easy"said Sarah

And so the two walked out of the shop as they set up camp not too far from there

"So what are we going to do?"

"For now we can go and rest, I'm tired from all this walking and running, aren't you?"she asked as drachen nodded and the two called it a day for now since tomorrow

They would be hunting crows