“It’s already ongoing as you see, I'll add you to the end of the list. What’s your name?”
“Rein.”
“Hmm, never heard of you before, are you new around here?”
“Yeah, I just came to the city earlier today.”
“Hey boys! We got a new one!”
Chants were coming from all around, eager to see what the new face could do.
“Alright there’s two people going before you, then you're up.”
I sat down on a chair and observed what was happening. There was a table of bets going on next to the scoreboard. The next person went, you were given three darts and the closer to the center you hit, the more points you got, with the maximum being 10, or 30 total as a perfect score.
“3 points!”
Standard stuff. The only non-standard thing was the fact that the dart board was on the other side of the room.
“Miss!”
“Noo!”
Over at the betting table the average scores went as follows: 12, 8, 0, 16, 4, 2 and 10 with bets scattered but mainly on the person coming before me.
“8 points! Total 11!”
Another couple of gold pieces get bet on them as they seemingly know exactly when to come from another room.
“It’s him!”
“The champ!!”
An unknown hooded figure wearing a white mask was handed the darts as the crowd started cheering louder than ever.
“10 points!”
It was clear as day with Max-Level Magic detection, they were cheating.
“8 points!”
Even with a perfect job, subtle wind magic still couldn't correct a throw too far off without being noticed by the average person.
“10 points!”
The crowd went wild as ‘the champ’ sat down in silence. I could see the fairy squirming in her jar. I was now the last to go. As I was handed the darts a voice came from behind me.
“Is it too late to bet?”
“Alphonse, your back already? I thought you were doing a training session with a newbie?”
“Ah, that’s been wrapped up already.”
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“Well, there’s still him left, everyone else has gone though.”
“Perfect.”
Al went to the betting table and slammed his entire wallet of gold coins onto it.
“What?!?”
He put his thumbs up in my direction while everyone in the room was silent, confused yet excited for what would happen next. The hooded figure was staring at me through their mask.
“Don’t put that much pressure on me, I’m still new around here.”
With no other choice I threw the first one.
“10 points!”
At this the crowd was in disbelief.
“10 points!”
A roar now comes out.
“Is he actually good?”
“Can he beat the champ??”
“What if he gets a perfect score?”
“He could beat the record…”
After pausing a few seconds for tension, I threw the last one.
“9 points! REIN IS THE WINNER!”
Mixed feelings came from the crowd at me not getting a perfect score with a perfect opportunity while Al had a smile on his face grabbing all the money from the table.
“I’ll be taking this.”
Mel had teary eyes now, she was so close to being given to a random guy.
“Rein! I totally remembered your name! Thank you very much… blah blah blah… Now open this bottle!”
“Yeah, maybe later.”
“WHAAAT??!?”
I tossed her up and caught her again, still shaking around in the bottle.
“I still don’t know how you get yourself into these situations…”
“Situations?!?! This one a one time mis-ta-ke!! You know what? I’m not talking to you anymore.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
From behind I hear the drunks talking about me to Al.
“Who the hell is that guy? How is he so good?”
“He’s the new rank S adventurer, Rein.”
As I heard collective shouts of surprise I made my way to the quest board. I picked the quest at the top middle of the board, marked in red with skulls and went over to reception.
“Hi sir! Would you like to accept a quest?”
Sherry seemed to act more serious than when I first came here.
“I’d like to complete one.”
“Eh? But you only just picked it up?”
“I completed it earlier, I kind of need the reward money so…”
“Look who needs money now!”
The fairy who said it wouldn't speak moments ago just made a remark at me.
“Ah- I understand. Let me see the quest.”
I handed the quest over and she put on a worrying look.
“This is for a fire dragon, correct?”
“Yeah.”
“We need the monster’s crystal as proof… Not that I don’t believe you or anything…”
By the time she finished speaking the crystal half the size of me was already on the counter.
“Ah!”
After a small jump she examined it further.
“I can confirm this is a fire dragon crystal! I’ll be back with your reward money in a second!”
As she left the room my eyes stopped on only one thing. The obviously suspicious hooded figure was still staring at me. Their mask was white with red highlights and markings, it looked like some type of demon or monster, but more subtle.
“Here you are sir!”
On a tray in front of me was a red bag around a mountain of golden coins.
“All 260 gold should be right there.”
I tossed the whole thing into my storage.
“Thanks.”
I made my way out, Mel in hand, while the suspicious figure suspiciously followed me. I walked a little south and into an alleyway between two inns. Mel had a worried look as I turned around to confront them.
“Can I help you?”