Ugh, I find it really hard to find good stopping points. I had originally planned for events to happen faster and the story to progress faster, but all the plot and background details I need to add are getting in the way.
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Hiro and Bjorn walked down the street in silence, ignoring the bustling crowds. It’s been this way for a while now, ever since their disagreement in the alleyway. Hiro who grew up innocently for the past 16 years, finally saw how cruel the world could really be. Just the night before he killed another human being, a women no less, who was oblivious to him. He witnessed many deaths, came close to death himself, and finally the sight of all the malnourished slaves was the last straw.
Hiro had snapped, he grew up listening to tales of heroic deeds by adventurers. How these adventurers saved starving villages, protected important figures, rescued people, and yet here he was, being lectured by one of the so-called adventurers about slavery. Hiro knew that from that point on, Bjorn and himself will never really see eye to eye, he knew that it was only out of respect for his father that Bjorn was helping him.
“We’re here.” Bjorn grumbled. Out in front of them was the colossal doors that led into the Adventurers Association. People clad in magnificent gear were entering and exiting the building, many of who looked very strong and proud. Before Hiro could thank him, Bjorn soon walked back into the crowd and disappeared from sight.
‘If he doesn’t want my thanks, that’s also fine with me.’ Although still fuming from earlier, Hiro had decided to forget about it and nervously entered the building. Once inside the spacious hall, he saw a great number of people standing around bulletins that lined the wall. Hiro ignored these and walked towards a man dressed like a receptionist.
“Um, excuse me.” The man looked very busy, he was running back and forth bringing stacks of papers to and from a room in the back.
“Hah? What do you want?” Barely stopping in time to answer Hiro’s question, the man asked in a rude manner, “Look I’m busy kid, if you’re looking for your mommy, look elsewhere.”
At the mention of the word kid, it brought back memories of Bjorn, which infuriated Hiro. “Hey look bastard! I’m here to register, I’m already a man so show some respect and decency.”
The man mumbled under his breath, “Tch, I don’t have time for this kid.” Looking back up after searching for something below the desk, the man pulled out a sheet of paper, “Here, fill this out and bring this to the lady by the door over there.” He pointed to another similarly dressed lady, who was directing other people through the door behind her. Before Hiro could accept the paper, the man dropped it onto the desk and resumed busily delivering the papers from other receptionists into the room in the back.
‘Is it always this busy?’ Hiro looked around at the other receptionists, they were handling themselves quite well, unlike the man who attended to him. The other receptionists standing in a relaxed manner, and talking to people. Some were registering adventurers for quests, while other receptionists were writing up contracts for new ones.
‘Strange, is the AA always this busy?’ The hall was quite spacious, yet it felt crowded. That was because there seemed to be many impatient people walking about. Hiro looked at the other guys beside him, they were bent over and filling out the same form that Hiro had.
Gently tapping the shoulder of the man beside him. “Excuse me, is the AA always this busy?”
Jumping at the touch, the man looked at Hiro in surprise, “Looks like I’m not the only one, hehe.” Seeing Hiro’s confused face, “Oh sorry, my name is Colin. Are you also here about the notice?”
“Huh? Notice?” Hiro was confused, he had just arrived in Adetia last night, so of course he hadn’t heard anything.
“Judging from that, I guess not. The Association posted up a message just a couple days ago. Here look.” Colin gave Hiro the poster, which was around the size of the sheet that the receptionist just gave him.
On the poster it read:
“To all the adventurers of Adetia, I am sure you have all heard of the mentoring system here at the Association. My time as an adventurer is nearing its end and because of this. I shall be passing on my abilities to the next generation. In 1 month, there will be a contest held and from there I shall choose my disciple.”
-Romulus
“What’s so special about this?” Hiro didn’t understand the significance of the person who put up the notice.
“What’s so special? Don’t you know who that is?”
“Eh~?”
“Gah! That’s Romulus! One of the few people to ever slay a dragon. He is an S-Rank adventurer who’s gone on many quests and completed them all successfully. They say his skills with the longsword are divine.”
“Really? So if he’s picking a disciple then…”
“Yes, he’s going to hold a tournament to decide his disciple. That’s why there are so many people here. Many are here to register as an adventurer, while others are here to cancel their quests.”
“I see.”
‘If I become his disciple… Maybe just maybe I will be able to fight that bastard Lord Renart.”
“How do I sign up for the tournament?”
“Well first of all, you have to be an adventurer to participate. The way the Association’s tournament works is by ranks. There is a different division for each rank to establish fairness. My guess is Romulus will pick a disciple from one of the champions from their respective rank.”
“Good, I was just starting to wonder about how unfair it would be.”
“Don’t get your hopes up though, Romulus might just pick from the A or B rankers.”
“But that’s just a possibility, so there’s no need to think about it anymore.”
“True, Ah! I forgot to ask for your name!”
“Oh, haha. My name is Hiro. Nice to meet you. So you are here to register just like me then?”
“Yea, Romulus protected our village from bandits once. Ever since then I’ve looked up to him as my hero.” Colin’s eyes looked far off, as if he was back in the past.
“Heh~ That’s pretty amazing, I wish I had someone like that.” After saying that Hiro suddenly remembered Tenga and began regretting what he just said.
“*Cough* Well, should we get on with the registration?” Colin indicated the sheet of paper that he was initially filling out when Hiro interrupted him.
“Oh, right.” Turning back to his registration form he began to fill in the spaces.
‘Name: Hiro’
‘Gender: M’
‘Age: 16’
‘Prior Vocation: None’
‘Reason why you want to become an adventurer: I want to save people and go on an adventure.’
‘This is it? Even a baby could become an adventurer then.’
Looking up after filling the form, he couldn’t see Colin’s anymore. ‘I guess he already went on ahead.’ Making his way towards the woman that the busy receptionist had pointed out earlier, Hiro became nervous once more.
When Hiro got to the front of the desk where the woman was behind, he noticed that he was the only person there. The other wanna-be adventurers had already gone through the door ahead of him.
The beautiful lady smiled, “Are you also here to take the test?”
“N-no madam.” In front of the beautiful lady, Hiro became shy. He wasn’t exposed much to the opposite gender, so his defenses towards them were nonexistent.
“Ara~? Then why are you here? I don’t believe you are an adventurer either, since you aren’t wearing a bracelet.” She indicated to her wrist, which had a silver bracelet with a blue gem on it.
“Ah! I mean yes, I’m here to register as an adventurer.” Hiro’s face reddened at what he had just said.
“Hehe.” She giggled and then took the form that Hiro reluctantly held out to her, “You may proceed through the door. Please enter training room 9.”
‘Eh~?’ Too embarrassed to ask what training room 9 was, Hiro walked by the desk and through the door behind the lady.
‘Woah!’ He came into a wide hallway with doors on both sides. They all had the labels: ‘Training Room #’ on them. ‘That’s what she meant by that.’
He walked down the hallway until he came to the door that was marked as: ‘Training Room 9’. Taking a deep breath, he pushed open the door and walked into the room.
‘Huh? Why am I back outside?’ The door that Hiro had just walked through closed and disappeared. Leaving Hiro alone in a wide expanse of grassland. As far as his eye could see was just grass and more grass.
‘What is this place?’ He turned back around to go back, only to find out that the door wasn’t there.
‘Ok don’t panic.’ Breathing deeply to calm himself, he knew that panicking won’t make the situation better. ‘Right now I just entered through a door at the Association, they wouldn’t hurt innocent people like us. So it’s safe to assume this is all part of the test.’
Hiro reached towards the area where the door was previously located, ‘Hm, not here. It seems that there isn’t a way out once you go in.’ Hiro looked around once again, he looked up at the afternoon sun. He could feel the warmth of its rays and the cool shade that the clouds provide every time they cover up the sun.
Hiro bent down and felt the grass underneath, it felt real too. ‘Have I really been transported somewhere else?’
[Tenga, Do you know where we are?]
[Hm…] Hiro had just remembered that he wasn’t alone and called on Tenga, who he knew was probably the most knowledgeable when it came to magic. [Haha, so that’s what it is.]
[Did you find something?] Hiro’s curiosity was peaked.
[Hiro you’ve been tricked. This place is an illusion, haha. It’s pretty clever if you ask me.]
[Tch!] Hiro felt embarrassed about being tricked, [How was I tricked?]
[A rune was place on something you touched, look at your left hand.]
Hiro looked at the palm of his left hand. There was a strange symbol that was barely visible on the skin.
[That rune, my guess would be the cause of the illusion. Somebody must’ve placed the rune on the door handle, so that when you opened it the rune would trigger.]
Hiro grew irritated, to fall for such an obvious trick, [So, how do I break out from this?] He indicated at his surroundings.
[You don’t need to do anything, once the person has realized they have been tricked and know how, the illusion should start to disperse.] Just right one cue, the grassland slowly faded away to reveal an empty room with a strange old man in it.
“My my, it seems you caught on quite quick child.” The old man spoke from his cross-legged position, all the while keeping his eyes closed.
“Why did you do that?” Hiro was also sitting cross-legged when he broke out of the illusion.
“That was your test.”
“What was that supposed to accomplish? I see no point in that.” Hiro who was irritated at being tricked earlier was slowly venting his anger on the calm old man.
“Calm down child, this test was to see how observant you are.”
“Huh?”
“To be an adventurer means to always be observant of one’s environment. A small overlooked detail could lead to a major mistake. This was to see just how much attention you pay to detail. And I am quite impressed, you cleared it in record time.”
‘Gah! I want to yell at him, but he makes such a good point!’
“I-uh-Thank you.” Hiro was having an internal struggle, he didn’t know whether to be angry for being tricked or happy because he was just complimented. “What happens if I wasn’t able to break free from the illusion?”
“Hm?” The old man old man finally opened his eyes, “I’ve never thought that far…”
‘This old man…’ Hiro was shaking in anger, at first he thought the man was wise and was giving him a lecture. Now he finally figured the man does things on a whim.
“It’s fine, you passed the test. Haha. Please go back out to the receptionist, and give her this.” The old man reached into the folds of his shirt and pulled out pin.
“What’s this for?” Hiro asked, while staring at the golden circular pin.
“It’s to show that you passed.”
Taking the pin, Hiro walked back out into the hallway he was just in. Curious at how the run looked, Hiro turned around and examined the door knob.
‘Amazing.’ The rune was disguised so well that it seems like a decoration. The only way anyone would notice that there was a rune there was if they were well versed in magic and very observant. Curious to see if this sort of thing was present within all the other training rooms, Hiro slowly checked the knobs as he passed by.
‘I guess mine was the only one that had that sort of test.’
Going back into the hall where the beautiful receptionist was, Hiro handed her the golden pin.
“Heh~ So you passed that old blokes test.” She asked, as she picked up the pin.
“What do you mean? Isn’t is an easy test?” Hiro slightly reddened.
“What do I mean? Don’t you know who he is?!” The lady didn’t believe what she had just heard.
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Taken aback by her sudden outburst, Hiro took half a step back. “I-isn’t he just one of the test examiners?”
“Hah~ I guess you aren’t from around here. Listen, that eccentric old man was Siberus Luxia. He’s the head of the Adetia’s AA branch.”
“W-w-wait…” Hiro was trembling, “So you mean to say I was just tested by the person in charge of all this?” He waved his arm around him.
“Yes, not many people pass his tests, and even fewer pass it so quickly.”
“Wait, if you knew he was a test examiner, then why did you assign me to his room?!” Hiro was dumbfounded, he had just heard the beautiful lady say that very few people ever past Siberus’ tests.
“I didn’t know, that old man comes and goes whenever he chooses. Just remember this: everyone who had passed his test had become quite famous within the AA. Also I should tell you my name.” Her beautiful face broke into a pleasant smile, “My name is Lynn, nice to meet you Hiro.” She ended her introduction with a wink, captivating the innocent boy.
“H-h-how do you know my name?!”
“Ara~ It was written down on the form right?”
‘That’s right! I forgot I handed my form to her earlier.’
“Remember me ok?”
Hiro didn’t know how to react, her pleasant smile began to become more seductive. It was as if she was a hungry lioness who was getting ready to pounce on her prey.
“Ah… I’ll keep that in mind…” Satisfied with his answer, Lynn proceeded to the next part of his registration.
“Ok Hiro, the next thing for you is to test your physical and magical abilities.” She was flirtatiously leaning over the desk and moving her face closer to Hiro’s.
Backing up a bit, “Why do we have to do that? Isn’t there just one test that I had to take?”
“That may be so, but I’m just curious about what you’re capable of, Hiro. So I just want to test you myself to see why the Head was so interested in you.” She winked seductively.
Hiro could help but blush from her sex appeal, “Uh… Is there any other option?”
“Nope. Now let’s go.” Lynn coyly got out from behind the desk and gestured for Hiro to follow her back through the door.
[Tenga, what should I do?!] Hiro, in his panic, asked Tenga for advice.
[Hm, it’s obvious she has an ulterior motive. But you’re young Hiro, go and have some fun, haha.]
[Ugh!] Seeing how Tenga wasn’t any help, Hiro shyly followed after Lynn.
They were both back in the hallway where the training rooms were located. The longer they walked, the faster Hiro’s heart began to race.
‘Ugh, what do I do? What do I do?’ Hiro looked around frantically, thinking he could probably dash into one of the training rooms by the side.
“We’re almost there, come on!” She suddenly reached back and grabbed onto Hiro’s arm. Suddenly, she opened the door and pushed him into the room. Tripping and falling over from the push, Hiro fell face first into the room, followed by Lynn who was giggling.
Embarrassed by falling, Hiro cried out, “What did you push me for?!” He got up and looked over at Lynn only to see she wasn’t at the door way anymore.
“Now let’s get started shall we?” Her voice came from farther in the room.
‘How did she get by me without me noticing?’
“Catch.” She threw one of the training swords that was lined up along the wall.
“Woah!” Unprepared for the unexpected development, Hiro clumsily reached out with both hands to grab the sword. However, before he even made any contact with the sword, a brown blur flew from across the room and smacked him in the arm.
“Ow!” Rubbing his right forearm where he was just hit.
“Get up! A real enemy won’t wait while you sit there and nurse your wounds!” Lynn yelled out. The look in her fierce eyes revealed that the earlier seductive beauty was gone. In its place was a wild and barbaric woman who looked like it just spotted its prey. Her hazel eyes were filled with excitement, almost as if she is anticipating her opponent to be her equal.
“Hee!” Hiro got up hastily and pulled up the wooden sword. “Why are you doing this? I didn’t do anything wrong did I?” Hiro could tell at a glance that Lynn was quite proficient in handling the sword. He also knew that he was no match for her, she was able to travel past him and across the room without him even noticing.
“Why? Because I want to fight someone strong!” She suddenly dashed out and swung her sword in an overhead strike.
This time Hiro could see the attack coming, although he could see it, it was not the same as blocking it. His body just felt to slow to block her incoming attack, the wooden sword in his hand felt like it was moving through water compared to her sword. However, Hiro dropped down onto one knee to create enough space and time for his sword to block.
*Wham* The heavy blow struck down onto Hiro’s sword, causing him to lose his balance. He hadn’t expect the hit would be so strong from such a fast swing, thus he lost his balance and shifted more weight onto his supporting leg. Seeing an opening, Lynn kicked forward right into the center of Hiro’s open chest knocking down once more, this time onto his back.
“Weak!” She pointed her blade down at his chest, “Is this all you can do? If it’s just this, how did you manage to pass Siberus’ test?” She spat those words out in disappointment.
Rubbing is chest and looking up at her in irritation, “Of course this is all I can do! I’m not some kind of monster like you!” He didn’t know what to feel, the situation did a whole 180 degree turn so quick he was confused. One moment a seductive lady was leading him somewhere, the next moment a barbarian woman was swinging at him and yelling in his face.
“Then is seems I brought my hopes up for no reason.” She threw down her sword and walked out of the room, in disappointment and left behind a stunned Hiro.
‘Huh? What just happened? Did I just get beat up by a receptionist?’ Hiro was dumbfounded, he was sitting there rubbing his chest where he was kicked and looking at the bruise that was on his forearm.
“Wait…” He just suddenly realized something, “Did I pass the test or not?!”
Running out of the room and into the hall to chase after Lynn, Hiro was desperate.
‘Where did she go?’ Looking left and right, Hiro couldn’t see her at all, only a familiar man exiting from Training Room 6.
“Colin!” Running up to the guy, whom he had met at the desk, “Did you see a brown-haired barbarian lady walk by here?”
“Barbarian? I can’t say I have… Why are you looking for her? Got a crush?” He smirked deviously.
“No, she was in charge of finishing the registration…” Hiro suddenly felt tired, he didn’t know if he passed or not. He had passed Siberus’ test, but felt like he failed Lynn’s so he was unsure of where he stood.
“So that means you passed! Right?!” The cheerful smile from Colin only caused him to fall deeper into despair.
“I’m not sure… So how did your test go?”
“It was pretty hard.” Colin began stretching both of his arms, “I had to do 500 push-ups and squats with the examiner on my back.”
Hiro blushed lightly, “Was it a she or a he?”
“Hah~ it was a she.”
“Then that’s not so bad.”
“You aren’t asking the right questions. Hah~ The real question you should be asking me is: How old was she?” Colin grew paler.
Hiro began to have an idea of what Colin meant, but still hesitantly asked anyways, “So… How old was she?”
“Let’s just say she’s old enough to be my grandmother.” The answer that Hiro knew was coming caused both of them to cringe at the same time.
“Haha, I guess my luck isn’t that bad then. I just wish I know what to do now.” They both were walking back into the hall, both seeming to be sad even though they should be happy.
“Excuse me, are you Hiro?” The voice was coming from the desk where Lynn had originally been.
“Uh yes, that’s me.” He and Colin walked over to the new receptionist. “Is there something you need from me?”
Nodding, “Yes, Lynn asked me to finish her task for her. Now tell me, what did you do to make her that angry?”
“Hehehe.” Rubbing his chest, “I’m not sure myself.”
“Hmm…” She squinted her eyes teasingly, “Is that so?”
“Eh? I swear I didn’t do anything to warrant such anger from her!” Hiro picked up the hint that the lady was getting at.
“Huh? Hiro you did something to the beautiful lady that was just here?!” Colin yelled in surprise.
“No no no, I didn’t do anything I swear!” Hiro was beginning to panic, he didn’t want to be labeled as a pervert and especially not to someone he had just met.
“Hehehe, I’m just teasing. Here’s your bracelet, I just need you to imprint it and you should be all set.” She pulled out a copper bracelet from under the desk and handed it to Hiro. “Oh are you also finished with your test?” She asked Colin.
“Yea, I finished just now, here’s the pin.” He placed a silver pin onto the table.
“Ah! Ok.” She took the pin and reached below for another bracelet and placed it in his hand. Next she took out two pins and reached for Colin’s opposite hand, “Now you might feel a prick.” Taking one of the pins, she pricked his index finger and proceeded to do the same to Hiro.
“What do we do with this?”
“Ara~? You don’t know?” She looked surprised, “Country boys, pfft. I need you to splash a drop of your blood onto the bracelet. That should imprint your status onto the bracelet.”
“What’s the point of these bracelets?” Hiro asked. While staring at the droplet of blood that was on the edge of his fingertip.
“They are used as your rank indicator and also a storage device.” She answered.
“Cool! You mean we can put stuff into this tiny thing here?” Colin pointed to the bracelet in his palm, forgetting that his index finger still had blood on it. As soon as the blood made contact with the copper bracelet, a bright flash of light followed by a puff of white smoke escaped from the bracelet.
“Yes, although there won’t be much space within that copper bracelet. The better bracelets will have more room for storage.” She answered.
“Wait, but how is that possible?” Hiro asked while imprinting himself to his bracelet.
“These bracelets have been enchanted to create a pocket of space by a secret method that we cannot disclose. Obviously the higher rank you are, the more worthy you are for a better bracelet.” She smiled as she gave her answer.
“So will anyone be able to accecss our bracelet’s inventory or only ourselves?” Colin asked out of curiosity.
“Only the person wearing the bracelet will be able to access the inventory.” She answered.
“Eh~? Then what’s the point of imprinting then?” Hiro whined.
“Please be calm. The reason why we have you imprint yourselves is due to the nature of quests.” She takes a deep breath before continuing, “When quests are completed there would be rewards given out right?” She waited for them to agree before continuing, “It would be dangerous to keep all the reward money in the building, so in order to pay out for a quest completion the Association uses these bracelets.”
“So how does that work?” Hiro asked.
“Teehee, it’s a secret.” She winked, “Just hand your bracelet to one of the receptionists over there.” She pointed across the hall towards the opposite side where lots of people were gathering around. “They should be able to confirm that your quest was finished and transfer the reward into your bracelet. So is there anything else you’d like to ask me?” She looked between Hiro and Colin, expecting for another question from the two.
“Nope, Hiro you got anything you want to ask?”
“None here either. Thanks for all the help, see you!” Hiro waved at the receptionist and left with Colin.
They were both on their way out of the AA building. It seemed that it took Hiro a while to register, when he had entered the building, it was close to midday. Now the sun was on its downward arc and almost touching the horizon.
“So Hiro, Whatcha gonna do from here?” Colin asked haughtily.
“Hm? I’m not sure, how about you?” Hiro replied.
“Well…” Colin ran in front of Hiro and stood proudly, “I’m going to train for that tournament in 1 month and win it!” He smiled in a challenging manner.
‘Oh right! The tournament, I want to become Romulus’ disciple too. Although I was so easily beating by Lynn, if it’s Romulus teaching me, I bet I could beat her!’
Hiro smirked a bit, “Not if I join it too.” They both looked at each other as if they had just told a joke, “Haha, I guess I’ll see you there then Colin.”
“Same here, nothing is better than a rival. Am I right?” Colin agreed.
“Yea, see you I’m going to need all the time I can get.” Hiro waved at Colin and left.
“Yea, see you.” Colin replied, “Sorry, but I’m going to win.” He mumbled under his breath.