CHAPTER 94.

Riya couldn't understand how the situation had devolved.

She deflected a dagger thrown at her and ducked under a sword swing.

They had come to the Guild in order to make money and establish themselves in this new region, especially now that a lot of the refugees were starting to have some semblance of normal life, so it was important for her and Kaz to resume their adventuring activities⁠. Meanwhile, Cecile and Asil the elf had come along to request herbs. It should have been a straightforward thing, but instead the adventurers immediately became hostile as soon as they found out they all were from the Great Desert.

And it was all because they were refugees. The demon attack that had happened in the past had drawn hundreds of adventurers towards the city stealing jobs from the locals, and now with the refugees that were coming to the city the tensions with the local adventurers had taken a new high. So, there was nothing but hostility and refusal to let them accept requests.

Everyone tried to reason, but in the end it fell on deaf ears. Even when Riya reasoned that the Guildmaster would surely hear them out ⁠— the leading figure of a Guild Branch, usually powerful retired adventurer ⁠— it was ignored, and in fact, it made people angrier because they didn’t want the Guildmaster to interfere in “such a small matter”. There was also the fact that he wasn’t even present at the moment, having left to collect the payments from the monster parts gathered this month.

And Cecile ⁠— who had no protective measures on her at the time ⁠— was the first one to bear the brunt of the first attack, getting a cut on her shoulder. It was supposed to serve as a warning, telling them to back off and not come back. But instead, it immediately caused a battle to break out, led by Asil.

Riya blocked a sword with her dagger, and even though she a much higher level she was still sent flying back, all because her strength stat wasn’t particularly high. While they wouldn't be killing them, knocking them out and taking their possessions wasn’t out of the question.

She gritted her teeth as she fought back, but quickly got overwhelmed by the swipes of the level 135 warrior. She tried to pounce on him but she was repelled by a mage. And that was when they heard a scream⁠—

Riya’s eyes widened as the purple haired merchant was thrown out of the guild by a mage. While at first, she hadn’t been well acquainted with her, they had quickly become close friends in the past few weeks, and the sight made Riya feel bloodlust.

Cecile burst through the doors and the first one to scream was Asil, firing a lightning spell at the mage. A rare level 150 individual.

The mage blocked it with a barrier and then smirked. “Consider it a warning, we told you to leave. While the Guild is a neutral organization, each branch acts slight differently, and in Cytel’s branch we have decided that foreign adventurers are not welcome.”

He clicked his tongue and continued.

“Either leave now or get beat up just like your friend. The Guildmaster is busy today so let’s not bring him trouble. We don’t want to tell him that a bunch of people from the Great Desert came to cause trouble right?”

Numerous adventurers voiced agreement hearing that, and Riya bit her lip.

Everyone was hesitant, even Asil, and why wouldn’t they be? They stood more to lose than to gain, in fact this could get them vanished from the Guild and if the Guildmaster stepped to defend his branch things would be disastrous considering their level. In the end, he was more likely to trust the locals than foreign adventurers. Cecile could also get easily healed by healing potions. So, there was no reason to not turn around and accept defeat, right?

Riya saw the logic in that, and in spite of it all, she gritted her teeth and spoke in anger.

“No.”

Perhaps it was humiliation, or perhaps it was because of what had just occurred. But there was no way she could just walk away like that.

“Very well.” The mage nodded. “Knock her out, Nate.”

And at that moment, Riya sensed a presence behind her. She turned only to see a rogue just like her, brandishing his daggers by the dull side for a clean strike.

[Rogue. Lvl. 150]

And he was much stronger than her.

Riya knew she had no chance to defend, but even then she had to try⁠—

An explosion resounded, a blue blur passed and the rogue hit the wall along with another object. Pieces of wood flew through the air, as the adventures present turned to see what had happened.

And when all eyes landed on the knocked out rogue, they couldn’t help but be surprised. Riya in particular was also shocked.

There was a half a spider on the ground, the rogue had gone out of the building, breaking through the wooden walls as if they were paper. And it wasn’t any spider but a Grand Sapphire Ardrid, a monster that was over level 150. A footstep echoed, and everyone turned to see the source at the door.

Riya paused. It was Amber, and she was carrying Cecile, she wore a grim expression, bloodlust permeating the building.

“Who did this?” she asked, her solemn voice ringing.

The mage looked at her raising his brow. “You are that girl that came the other day? I suggest you don’t get involved in this.”

Amber looked at him. “Were you the one to hurt Cecile?”

“That girl?” The mage looked at Cecile. “I didn’t know she was your acquaintance, sorry about that. Do understand that it was a necessary thing.”

“A necessary thing?” She tilted her head, not having any particular expression.

“That is right.”

Amber nodded, but she had a small frown now, and approached the elf.

“Asil, take care of Cecile, I have to deal with this.”

The elven mage paused, receiving the fainted merchant. “You are angry, aren’t you?”

“No.” Amber shook her head and turned towards the mage that had done it all. “I’m fucking pissed. But I’ll take care of it.”

Riya was taken aback by that. After all, it was the first time she had seen Amber behaving in such a way. She seemed calm, but her voice was grave.

The mage raised his brow. “If you don’t stay back, I’ll be forced to fight you. Even if you are a warrior of a higher level, you really won’t have an easy time considering I’m a mage that specializes in barriers.”

“You hurt my friend,” Amber said simply.

“And I’m telling you that it was a necessary thing, so back the fuck off before I deal with you as well.” He raised his staff.

Amber walked forward, ignoring his statement.

“You know, I had begun to regard this kingdom as my home, even if most of my life was spent elsewhere. Because this is the place that welcomed me when I didn’t understand the world, and its where I made my first friendships. That’s also why I brought refugees from the Great Desert here, because this is where I developed, where I have connections, where I became a hero.”

She shook her head.

“So now, you can imagine how I felt when I saw a friend of mine had been beaten up in the city I saved, in the kingdom I had begun to consider my home. All over something incredibly stupid.”

The mage frowned. “You are… Amber, the hero of Cytel.”

She met the gaze of the mage, still approaching him at a relaxed pace.

“Of course, while I should hold everyone present responsible, you are the one that did it. You are the one that hurt my friend. So, I suggest you brace yourself or you might actually die.”

With those words, she pulled back her fist as she became covered in a soft blue light. And everyone present sensed it⁠— the change in atmosphere. It immediately became heavy, oppressive almost. And Riya, herself felt as if she was in the presence of a true monster.

The mage snorted. “If you are so desperate to get beaten up, then fine.”

He tapped his staff on the ground and a purple barrier was erected. It sheened with an iridescent light, refracting light from different angles, and it was evidently strong, it was a specialized barrier.

“Have at it, it will deflect whatever you do to it back at you⁠.”

“Good, then I don’t have to hold back, do I?”

With those words a gigantic sword appeared at her hands, one that was pulsing with blue lines and was covered with blue flames. It was Amber’s signature sword, and one that immediately scared the lower level adventurers present. But their alarmed mutterings went unheard.

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The mage swallowed at the sight and cast another barrier to protect himself, and Amber gripped her sword with both hands and cocked it back.

“Don’t die because I still want to beat you up quite badly.”

“That’s…” The mage paled, immediately regretting his life choices and raised his staff to teleport and she swung⁠—

The sword struck and the barriers⁠ exploded. The mage broke through the wooden supports of the Guild building and went flying out into the plaza outside. Splinters flew through the air and a series of loud bangs resounded, dust billowed as a gust of wind swept through the Guild.

Amber shook her head and turned to the rest of the adventurers that were frozen in their spot.

“Who else attacked Cecile and my friends?” And then she cocked her head. “Or I guess, all of you did.”

At that, multiple adventurers paled and ran, fleeing immediately but not every single one of them. Some of the higher level ones jumped on Amber and she looked behind. An assassin teleported and he was grabbed. His throat was held and with a powerful swing he was blasted out of the building.

At that moment another warrior appeared and she headbutted him pretty much instantly. He broke through the flooring as the guild lightly trembled.

“I got her!”

Another assassin cut into her neck only for the blade to merely nick her skin. His eyes went wide before Amber slapped him with the blunt side of her sword, sending him flying out of the doors from the guild.

Even though Amber had arrived a minute ago, the Guild was already a mess with multiple holes, and that was when a door in the back slammed open as an angry voice bellowed.

“So your petty revenge isn’t enough, but you also want to destroy my Guild branch too?” he said annoyed. “I saw everything through the vision artifacts that were set, and even though I teleported to my office anchor as fast as possible you still made a fucking mess.”

It belonged to none other than the Guildmaster. His footfalls echoed through the hall as the surviving adventurers let out sighs of relief. Kaz, Riya and Asil however frowned. Finally, a lumbering man stepped out into the open, he was practically made out of pure muscle and he wore an open coat that showed his battle-scarred body. On his hand, there was a thick wooden pole that vaguely resembled a staff.

And his level was high.

[Combat Mage. Lvl. 170]

He eyed Amber. “Are you really sure you want to make an enemy out of the Cytel Guild branch, miss Hero? You can still make amends.”

In response, the brown haired woman just met his gaze. “Enemy? I should be the one asking that.”

Amber’s voice turned threatening.

“Do you really want to make an enemy out of me?”

Following her question, a heavy silence fell.

* * *

Amber was angry, it was a type of anger that she hadn’t felt before. She wanted these people to see the consequences, she didn’t want to trash the whole place but rather make them truly and thoroughly regret it. Whether it was through a beating or humiliation, she didn’t care. She wasn’t doing it for the sake of future refugees, or even for the sake of fixing the treatment that adventurers from afar were receiving.

Rather, she was doing it for herself, because oddly enough she felt disrespected by the whole situation. They had dared to touch her friend, her friend. And while they probably did not know any better, it still pissed her off to no end. Just like William had angered her when he threatened Liz and Velda.

And this very reason was why she had no qualms about her actions so far today.

Silence filled the surroundings, except for the creaking wooden structure, even the leader of this Guild branch seemed frozen.

“I’ll ask again: do you want to make an enemy out of me?” Amber raised her brow.

“As the Guildmaster I cannot let this slide,” he said simply.

“Then it is a shame, because I cannot let what happened to my friend slide either,” Amber said simply. “I really wish I could let this go, but you are defending those assholes.”

“I didn’t tell them to go and beat up every adventurer that did not cooperate, but I did allow them to do what they wanted even if I did warn them about the potential consequences, namely being vanished from the Guild or getting beat up if it escalated too much,” he stated. “But your actions have crossed beyond simple revenge, as you can see by the state of the building.”

He gestured at the destroyed Guild, and Amber paused, feeling sudden irritation.

“Are you telling me you were aware that they had been doing this?”

He shook his head. “A singular adventurer was beat up in self-defense a week ago, aside from certain complaints that reached⁠—”

She interrupted, “So you are telling me that you could have told them to behave and prevented this?” Amber looked at him, almost incredulously. “And here I thought you were innocent in all of this, but then again I also heard about the tensions in the Guild, so there is no way you wouldn’t have heard of all this bullshit.”

She slowly raised her sword feeling disappointed.

“I really was apprehensive about beating you up, but now I don’t care.”

The Guildmaster’s staff unleashed a soft glow, and a moment after he was encompassed by a red aura, his attributes increasing greatly.

“Just try.” The Guildmaster sneered. “You are not the only one with a Legacy Branch, you know. Don’t look down on me, Amber.”

She shook her head. She wasn’t going to kill him, she wasn’t unhinged, but making him beg for mercy? That most certainly wasn’t out of the question. So, she prepared herself.

The man frowned, warning her. “You will regret this.”

“I really won’t.”

She used the 3rd Rank of Quick Dash, appearing behind him and swinging her sword. The man barely turned but managed to block with his staff, and the ground beneath his feet shattered. Blood ruptured from the veins in his arms and his eyes went wide, fear evident.

“H-How…”

And it was only natural, Amber was using every single strength buff at her disposal, and with Inexorable Momentum buffing itself via its 4th Rank that buffed all Inexorable skills the longer she was in battle, she was even stronger than when she first hit that mage. The difference between the two of them was just that great, and the Guildmaster had seen it just now.

And it was because of that, that she had enough of this.

Amber looked him deeply. “You should know, I can make my next attack even stronger, but I won’t do any of that.”

She did have Cursed Rage Synergy, and Curse of the Vanquished at her disposal. And while the Guildmaster was a combat mage⁠ — which based on what she saw allowed him to buff himself to be physically stronger⁠ — it wouldn’t make much of a difference. However, rather than explain any of this, she continued what she was saying.

“I won’t continue my act of revenge any longer. Because I believe that I’ve done enough. While the situation was perhaps was unavoidable, if you or the adventurers had genuinely apologized for what happened to Cecile, the situation would have most likely immediately de-escalated.”

She shook her head.

“But instead, it was escalated. Not showing any remorse over beating up an innocent merchant is nothing but shitty, every action shown by the Guild over this situation has been absolutely disgusting, whether it be against my friends or strangers. But I’m not some paragon of justice to try to make things right for everyone and teach a lesson to those adventurers that mistreated the others, so this much is enough. I got what I wanted.”

In the end, she wasn’t all that angry anymore. Not after landing that hit and seeing the eyes of shock from the Guildmaster. So, she stopped putting strength into her sword and instead, vanished it into her ring before turning around.

“I’ll return to turn in my the requests I took later.”

Amber started forward and then looked at the shocked group of friends and acquaintances.

“Let’s go.”

“Right…” Riya paused but quickly followed.

Kaz swallowed and did the same.

And Asil simply smiled, satisfied with her actions.

“Wait,” the Guildmaster called.

Amber looked back. “What is it?”

“Do you think you can get away with this?” he said, threatening her. “Do you really think⁠—”

“You are misunderstanding something.” She interrupted with a sigh. “I only acted in retaliation to what was done to my friends, nothing else and nothing more. The Guild is supposed to be neutral, what happened today wasn’t⁠— it was blatant favoritism towards the locals and I seriously doubt the higher ups of the organization would be okay with that, based on what I know anyway.”

The Guildmaster frowned. “So you expect me to just lick my wounds and do nothing?”

She shook her head. “No, for what it’s worth I’m sorry for destroying the Guild building, so I’ll pay for the repairs. Just send the payment request to the Starkell residence with the itemized costs and I’ll cover it, but for now that is all. That is everything I can apologize for, just like everything you can apologize for is for your negligence.”

With those words, she turned around. The Guildmaster stared at her and watched her go, and finally he grumbled.

“I’ll let this go for today, Amber. But destroy my Guild branch again and there will be true consequences.”

Amber nodded and with that, they set off.

In the end, she didn’t feel like threatening the man or anything to get an apology from him even if she had apologized herself, she was already fulfilled after all. But the main reason as to why she apologized was because she didn’t want to deal with this again, so it was better to make amends in that regard. And since the Guildmaster’s main and first source of anger was the fact that the Guild had gotten trashed, it was rather easy to make up for it.

And more importantly, she had no qualms about apologizing for something she was actually wrong about⁠— apologizing for beating up the adventurers or the Guildmaster? That she would most definitely not do.

All in all, Amber was quite glad with how she had dealt with things, even if Riya and Kaz were now relatively scared of her. Now all there was left was for her to return to the residence and let Cecile rest. A health potion had already been given to her by Asil back at the Guild after all.

* * *

Rumors of her actions quickly spread⁠— reaching the gossip of those near the city gates by the time they left the capital, it wasn’t anything troublesome. And so not too long after, they arrived at the Starkell residence where two acquaintances awaited, ones that Amber didn’t expect to see today.

A red-haired woman that was taller than her, and a rather unassuming man. Both wore white armors. It was none other than Ave and Terrel. The former approached her first with a smile.

“Amber, long time no see,” the red-haired knight captain said. “Did you not want to say hi?”

Amber paused. “I was quite busy with a lot of things…”

Ave looked at her dubiously. “Hm, you are lying.” Then she shrugged. “Well that’s fine.”

“Right…”

“More importantly, both of us were looking for you,” she continued. “In fact, we’ve been looking for you for more than a day now.”

She blinked. “What about?”

“Do you want to explain, Terrel?” Ave turned.

The man coughed. “Well, to put it simply, there has been a meeting ongoing with all the available nobles in Cytel since yesterday.”

“Right, that doesn’t sound good.”

He nodded and continued, “And the king requests your presence.”

“Right.” Amber felt concerned. “What for?”

Terrel hesitated and averted his gaze, Ave however grabbed her by the shoulder and met her gaze.

“This meeting is regarding your possible exile from this kingdom, Amber.”

And she paused.

What?