Ezra stared up at the unfamiliar ceiling. His body still hurt from every side. He was dressed in a drab, loose tunic while his arms were covered in scars.
He glanced to the right. He stood up and opened the window. Wooden planks were being passed around the city in carts while carpenters picked them up and nailed them onto the damaged homes. Stonemasons were repairing the damaged roads and making them suitable for travel.
Looked like Ezra had missed the rest of the fight.
Ezra turned around. Prise was seated in a chair, slumped over, and asleep. Massive bags were under her eyes and it looked like she’d lost a few pounds.
Ezra snapped his fingers. She started and blinked her eyes.
“One-Eye?” she said. “You’re finally awake.”
“And you’re in my bedroom.”
Prise laughed, turned her head down, and rubbed the back of her neck.
“I wanted to make sure that they were taking care of you,” she said.
He was quiet.
“What happened after I was knocked out?” Ezra said. “How long was I asleep?”
“You were asleep for… almost two weeks,” Prise said. “And it looked incredibly bad. You’d strained your body to the point where your natural healing wasn’t working. It was too exhausting. It took everything we had just to keep you alive.”
Ezra frowned. To think that he’d come so close to death…
“And what about the city?” he said.
Prise straightened her back and a sharpness came into her eyes.
“Nobinar managed to rally the troops quickly,” She said. “After you killed Villscha, the tide was turned instantly. The monsters were all eliminated and the city was saved. There was an emergency meeting deciding what to do, and, uh…”
“Yes?”
“Well, I was nominated as guildmaster.” Her tone turned dryer. “For my brave and heroic actions during the Sundering of Toria, as it’s now being called. Of course, you and I both know that I don’t deserve such an honor.”
Ezra refrained from commenting and turned his head toward the window. “I guess that you’ll finally have enough money to cure your mom.”
“I do. And oddly, I owe you for that as well, don’t I?” she said. “I would’ve just hidden away had you not told me to step up.”
Ezra sighed. “I think it’s about time you left, Prise.”
“W-wait!” she said. “Before I go, I have a gift.”
Ezra turned his head. He hadn’t noticed before, but there was a pile of clothes lying on the seat next to Prise. One was covered in some kind of black fur.
“Remember that lion head that you dropped off at the guild?” she said. “I hope this wasn’t inappropriate, but… I hired a tailor and put something together for you.”
“[Inspect],”
Chimera’s Pride (B-Rank)
Crafted from the imposing lion head of a powerful chimera, this jacket and armor ensemble radiates fierce authority and primal strength. Its sleek design incorporates the natural durability and ferocity of the beast, providing both unparalleled protection and enhanced combat prowess.
Armor Class: +45
Weight: Light
Set Bonuses:
Lion’s Roar (Passive): Gain a +15% increase to physical damage and intimidation-based skills. Enemies within a 10-meter radius have their attack power reduced by 10% due to the aura of dominance.
Predator’s Instinct (Passive): When health drops below 25%, the user gains +20% attack speed and movement speed for 10 seconds.
Unyielding Pride (Passive): Immune to fear effects and reduces incoming critical damage by 30%.
That wasn’t half bad at all. He reached out and grabbed it to get a closer look. A small strip of something fell to the ground. Prise picked it up and handed it to him.
“Your, um, eyepatch got ruined in your fight,” she said. “I made you a new one.”
Ezra picked it up. It was an actual eyepatch, not at all like the strip of cloth he’d made do with.
Prise’s Promise (B-Rank Eyepatch)
Handcrafted by Prise, this eyepatch is infused with natural remedies and protective magic drawn from her deep knowledge of herbs and potions. Made with care and gratitude for Ezra, it serves as both a symbol of her repentance and a safeguard in times of need.
Item Class: Accessory (Eyepatch)
Weight: Very Light
Skill: Herbalist’s Focus (Passive)
Ezra’s senses become sharper, granting +10% accuracy and +5% dodge rate. Additionally, any status effects caused by poison, paralysis, or blinding are reduced by 25% while wearing the eyepatch, thanks to the natural antidotes woven into the fabric.
Skill: Healing Mist (Active, 3 Uses per Day)
Upon activation, the eyepatch releases a soothing mist of medicinal herbs, healing Ezra and nearby allies for 10% of their max HP over 5 seconds. The mist also cleanses minor status effects like poison or bleeding. The mist’s refreshing scent reminds Ezra of Prise’s dedication to healing and protecting others.
Bonus: Essence of the Wilds
Effect: Every time Ezra takes damage, there is a 10% chance the herbal essence in the eyepatch will activate, restoring 5% of his max HP and increasing his resistance to poison by 20% for 10 seconds.
It wasn’t bad at all. But…
“This isn’t going to activate some poison to knock me out as soon as I put it on, right?’ Ezra said.
Prise winced, then shook her head. “Absolutely not, I promise it’s just a normal eyepatch.”
Ezra guessed ‘normal’ for Prise meant ‘packed with effects from top to bottom.’
She crossed her arms. “Also, um, I took the liberty of ranking you up to B-rank myself. Technically there was supposed to be an exam at HQ, but… well, who was going to challenge me after what you did?”
Prise passed him a gold pendant in the shape of a bird along with a thin card made of some kind of silver. The silver had his name and rank written on it.
He took them out of her hand and looked at her.
“The card is something that I should’ve given you a while ago—it’s proof that you’re who you say you are.”
“And the pendant?”
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“Think of it as an honor. It serves as further evidence of Toria’s debt to you.”
He glanced over at the door.
She stiffened, then nodded.
“I’ll take my leave,” she said.
She approached the door.
“Prise?” he said.
She paused.
He sighed. “Thanks.”
She stood in front of the door and shook a little. After a few more seconds, she opened the door and slammed it shut behind her. Ezra slipped the new clothing on. Luckily, there was a mirror—Prise had probably brought it in exactly so he could look at himself.
The armor and clothing underneath hadn’t changed all that much. A tunic along with some leather armor. It was the fur cloak on top that was the most noticeable. It was made from the mane of the lion that Ezra had fought, but dyed black.
Ezra slipped his eyepatch on and gave himself a nod.
“Prise came through,” Filamenta suddenly spoke.
“You’re awake,” Ezra said. He looked to his shoulder. Filamenta sat there. Where had she come from? Ezra didn’t know.
“I ended up getting a nap along with you. I’ve been feeling tired as of late. I think you’ve been overusing me.”
Ezra rolled his eyes.
“Yeah, yeah,” Ezra said.
“By the way,” Filamenta said. “You might want to check the edges of your vision.”
Ezra did so, and a half-dozen blue boxes appeared in front of him. He nearly fell backward before he caught himself.
[For killing 2 boss monsters, you have unlocked the ‘Boss Monster Tracker’!]
[You have leveled up!]
[You have leveled up!]
[You have leveled up!]
[You have leveled up!]
[You have leveled up!]
[You have leveled up!]
[You have leveled up!]
That was a lot of level ups. And a boss monster tracker? That sounded very useful.
But before he could explore that, there was one blue box pop-up that had appeared. He looked down at it.
[For heroism in the face of grave danger, for sacrifice above and beyond your duty, you have earned the title ‘Guardian of Toria’.]
He grimaced. He clicked it to view the description.
[Guardian of Toria] - Equipped (2)
Guardian of Toria is the highest honor bestowed upon a single hero who stood resolutely against the dark horde during the Sundering of Toria. This title signifies unparalleled bravery, unwavering dedication, and an unbreakable bond with the city of Toria itself. As the Guardian, you embody the spirit and resilience of Toria, earning the respect and admiration of its citizens and allies alike.
Can be active in addition to your current title.
As the embodiment of a myth, other people will find it significantly harder to discern any information about you based on your appearance. Hides your name from view, replacing it with [One-Eye].
Ezra sucked in a breath. This would make him immune to his classmates if he ever ran into them—they’d only see the title [Guardian of Toria]. Yeah, he would be keeping it on.
Though there was something distinctly rotten about someone like him claiming such a title. He swallowed the disgust and exited out of the title screen. He moved to his map.
A map of the local region appeared in front of him. He zoomed out, revealing the whole continent. Two red translucent circles appeared. One was north of him and covered a massive radius, and the other one was far to the northwest—near the location of the Demon Lord. It was also much smaller. Both circles had numbers written in the middle. The one directly to the north was Lv. 85, while the one to the northwest was Lv. 1300
Ezra decided that the one to the northwest probably shouldn’t be fiddled with. The problem with the north one—it was huge! That wasn’t the actual size of the boss monster, was it?
“No, that one just moves around a lot, I’d bet,” Filamenta said. “You’re going to be tracking it down. And this time, I doubt there’ll be a sub-boss to guide your path. You’ll need to get or find someone with the [Tracking] skill.”
Go figure. Ezra opened up one of the drawers to his side.
“What are you doing?”
Ezra pulled out his pouch and waterskin and slipped it onto his belt. He opened a cabinet and then grabbed his sack of food. Thank goodness that Prise had decided to be so nice.
“What do you think?” Ezra slung the sack over his back. “It’s time to leave.”
“Wait, what? But we haven’t even said goodbye to Dumrivil! And what about Nobinar, surely we need to clear things up and explain what happened with Villscha.”
Ezra exited out of the room. He was in a long corridor. “Prise will take care of that last one.”
“But—“
“Dumrivil is probably busy.” Ezra stepped down the stairs and peeked out. Nobody was there save for a receptionist. “I wouldn’t want to bother him.”
“Ezra, damn it, you can’t do this!” Filamenta said.
Ezra ignored her and stepped toward the exit. The receptionist froze and reached out a hand. “Wait, sir One-Eye, where are you going?”
Ezra dashed toward an alley, then skipped up a wall. He was back on the roof. He ran forward toward the edge of the city, [Cat’s Grace] fueling his every step. Eventually, he reached the gates.
A mercenary was sitting by the gate, asleep. So much for security. He walked outside and took a glance at his minimap. It was time to head north.
“Ah, so you’re heading out?”
Stall guy stood in front of him. He was scratched, beaten, and bloody, but was still standing straight.
Had Stall guy intercepted him or what?
“It’s a shame, you know. You could stick around the city a bit longer,” the man said. “You’re half my damn customer base.”
Ezra blinked, then shrugged internally.
“Maybe you need to branch out,” Ezra said. “Stop only cooking burgers, I guess.”
“I guess.”
The two were quiet.
“Good travels, boy,” the stall man said. “Perhaps you’ll succeed where the rest of us failed.”
He walked past Ezra and into the city.
Ezra paused for a moment, then ran north.
----------------------------------------
The office was on the second story. It was a bit warmer than Villscha’s. Smaller and cozier, with a window pointed toward the courtyard.
“Miss Prise? The guild representative has arrived.”
Prise gave the guild girl a look, then nodded. “Send them up.”
She looked back down at the stack of papers. As it turned out, recovering from the disaster was almost as much work as surviving it. There was food to be distributed, and resources to pass around, and everyone argued over who really deserved it or who needed it. And since the mayor had died and the new one didn’t have any real political power (not that the office ever had any in the first place), it somehow fell to Prise to be the leader. Her—a random guild girl just two weeks ago ago.
Luckily, things had started to slow down. The most immediate crises had been taken care of… including her mother. She was skipping around as if she’d never been ill. Every time the woman jumped into the air, Prise had a mini-heart-attack.
Prise glanced out into the courtyard. Nobinar and Dumrivil were training a small group of men and women who’d decided to join the Mercenary’s Guild. Enlistment rates had shot up recently, no doubt due to the heroism shown by the guild during the Sundering of Toria.
Of course, Prise was sure that they would be much more hesitant to join if they knew that Villscha had been the one responsible for the whole mess. Everyone at the top had agreed to keep it quiet… even Prise. They were reeling from the catastrophe, and wouldn’t be able to take another one.
Nobinar went over to one of the new mercenaries and explained a motion while Dumrivil wandered over to someone else and then bonked him over the head with a wooden stick.
Nobinar had retired from the adventuring life. He might’ve been able to get a new arm if he was willing to pay to meet with an S-rank healer, but the price was exorbitant and Nobinar said that he felt tired of the adventuring life anyway. Training was a good way to occupy his time.
As for Dumrivil… Prise had no idea what the man was thinking. He said something about ‘giving back to the community’ and ‘spreading the knowledge’, but it was clear that he was already itching to go. Of course, as long as he was here and still wanted to do it, Prise was happy to let him be an instructor.
She reached for her cup of tea and sipped it, looking out at the horizon.
Her thoughts wandered, as they often did, back to Ezra.
It’d shocked her when she found his body. She immediately recognized his face from the posters, and everything clicked together at that moment. To protect his identity, she’d ended up blackmailing the healer by hunting down some scandalous information of his—his wife would be very displeased to know what he was spending his money on. And of course, Prise herself would take the secret to her grave. She could do at least that much.
Ezra had probably already left. Every single one of his movements seemed to scream it to her when she met him. She didn’t blame the man, of course. This town represented nothing but pain to him. It was a town full of people who’d stab him in the back at any turn… well, that was his perception, anyway. Now, everyone loved him. The man was a hero. Everyone had seen him on the streets, facing down monsters. Everyone had seen him sail into the air and take down Villscha. Everyone had seen that a few minutes after that’d happened, all of a sudden the monsters lost their coordination. Everyone would be telling their children and their children’s children about the Guardian of Toria, a One-Eyed mercenary who slew the leader of the monsters and saved the city.
Prise did wish that he’d stayed longer. She owed him everything, and she felt that she could’ve repaid her debt just a little, had he stuck around.
Footsteps echoed from the door. It looked like the guild representative had finally arrived, probably to hash out the terms of her employment. After all, headquarters must’ve been reticent to let a guild girl with no apparent experience act as the guildmaster.
She stared out at the edge of her vision a little bit harder. If she focused, she could just spot a figure in the far distance.
Overhead, she heard the cry of a bird. She opened up her window and stuck her head out. Shimmering light like rainbows hit her eyes.
The Metamora bird had finally flown overhead, and not a moment too soon.
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Charles sat down at the table and wrapped his cloak further around himself. “God, it’s freezing outside.”
Idia stared into his newspaper, idly chewing on a piece of meat. “Yeah, well, we’re in the far north, so I’m not sure what you were expecting.”
Charles placed his chin into the palm of his hand.
“Honestly, I was expecting a break. Haven’t we killed enough lesser demons?”
“You’ve barely killed a handful, get over yourself. Besides, I—I mean, we—can’t afford to miss out on getting this boss monster. It’s embarrassing enough that someone else got to the second. It’s even more embarrassing that it was a damn mercenary.”
“Right, that whole Toria situation,” Charles said. “I still haven’t gotten a full story from anyone.”
Idia sighed and put down his newspaper.
“From what I can tell,” Idia said. “It turns out that the second boss monster was hiding in some frontier town in the south. It was cooperating with the local guildmaster to have a horde of monsters swarm over the city and then the rest of the kingdom.”
“But then that guy… what was his name? One-guy? Two-Eye?”
“Yeah, something like that. He supposedly killed the boss monster… and now the Mercenary’s guild won’t stop rubbing it in our faces. It’s gotten to the point where the Queen actually sent in a request asking for him to accompany us.”
Charles perked up.
“So we’re going to get a new companion?”
“If they find the guy. I think he disappeared,” Idia said. “Anyway, keep in mind why we’re here. That third boss monster—if someone got ahold of what it’s carrying around, the results could be disastrous.”
Charles grimaced.
“Yeah, I know… a Dark Seal, huh? If it fell into the wrong hands… god save us all.”