Marcel only came back to his senses in the room of an inn back in Tatsville. It was small and sparsely furnished. There was no window. And Marcel’s whole body was flooded in pain.

There was some comfort though. He was laying on a comfortable feather bed. The twins sat next to him, throwing him concerned glances. To Marcel’s confusion, Fredrik also sat alongside them. Of course he had brought paperwork with him, which he was meticulously scribbling in at the desk on the end of the room. He only looked up when they realized Marcel was awake.

“You’re awake,” Will said, repeating the obvious.

“What happened?”

“You picked one of the stupidest fights you could've picked,” Messy said. “So nothing new really.”

Her remark was missing her usual sting. She seemed relieved more than anything.

“I feel like my whole body is covered in burns. Did the guy use some sort of fire spell on me?” Then another memory crashed back into Marcel’s mind. “Did he steal a skill?”

The same moment he asked that, he opened his status screen, and checked his skills. He breathed a sigh of relief when he realized they were all still there.

“Fortunately no,” Will said. “Something funny happened.”

“Funny?”

“Guy found out he couldn’t. We don’t really know what happened yet, but he just mumbled something about bullshit and threw a tantrum. Usually when you beat someone in a formal duel under a condition like that a menu would pop up giving him the skill.” Will shrugged. “Something about that didn’t work for him.”

“Maybe because the bastard simply cheated,” Messy said. “Realized you were about to beat him fair and square and decided to cheat.”

Marcel breathed a quick sigh of relief. Having found it he still had all his skills, the pain was suddenly way less. Still he turned towards WIll and raised an eyebrow.

Will nodded. “Might be. But I don’t know. He said there was some strange message.”

“Why did you say he cheated?” Marcel asked.

“He used a talisman on you. And quite an expensive one from what I’ve heard. Word is it was some sort of family heirloom that was supposed to help him with his breakthrough mission for the third stage one day and simply keep him safe until then. That he has lost it while still in the first stage seems to be a great shame for them.”

Messy snorted. “I heard he has cried when his father has confronted him on the halls of the second floor.”

“Really?” Marcel asked.

“Well maybe I shouldn’t speak to that,” Fredrik said. “But I have some good sources confirming that there was indeed something of the sort happening.” He smiled.

That gave Marcel some not unsubstantial satisfaction. The smiling hurt though. Every movement hurts through being told.

“Here take this,” Will handed him a pill. “It’s good for spirit burns. Soothes the pain.”

“Thanks,” Marcel took the pill. Then, shelving the question of what the hell a soulburn was, he turned towards Fredrik. “And since when do you do visits out of care?”

“It’s not out of care so much as responsibility.” The man laughed. “Still I must say I’m glad you’re okay. And I want to tell you that you became my personal hero for putting that Mungol boy into its borders. He has been bothering me for years now with his attitude.”

“What is the responsibility that I owe the honor then?”

Fredrik’s expression turned somber. “I’m afraid, it seems you have been banned from the guild. That includes prohibition from taking quests, as well as joining on official guild missions.”

“What? Why?”

“It seems the Mungols have some high backers and didn’t like what you did.” Fredrik said. “They have claimed it as inappropriate behavior, and an officially challenged the duel lost over it. By all rights of the guild that makes you denied from entry,”

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

“But you just said he cheated.”

“Yeah that’s where they threw around their weight. It’s not officially forbidden in the rule books. But to be honest, even if it were I don’t think anyone would have challenged the Mungols over it.”

That took a while for Marcel to sink in. It was as if the ground had been ripped out under him, and he was falling. He felt very cold suddenly.

“But that is bullshit…” Marcel said weakly. Although there wasn’t much conviction behind it. He could see it on Fredriks face that he thought the same, unfortunately that didn’t make it any less true.

“I’m sorry but it’s true.”

“There must be someone I can talk to. What if I go to Marty? He is in one of the higher grades, surely he can do something, right? Put in a good word for me?”

“I’m afraid the type of associates the Mungol kid is running with are a few leagues above Marty,” Fredrik said.

“But what do I do then?”

“Marcel, I don’t think there is anything you can do,” Fredrik shook his head. “I know the message says prohibited and excluded, but it’s as close to a kick out as you can get.”

It seemed so surreal to Marcel. After almost half a year of living the life of an adventurer it would simply come to an end? Just like that?

He could almost smell the stables again.

The next few days passed like a blur for Marcel. He continued to be tied to the bed for most of the time, his pain simply being too much for his body to handle. It felt like the more engaging he was for his nerves, the more the pain flared up.

There were some dark times. Dark times indeed. He cursed the Mungol guy. He cursed himself. For a while he even cursed the guild and the twins.

He felt like he was sitting at the bottom of a deep dark pit, watching while dirt was slowly shoveled on top of him. He was buried. He was lost.

The twins visited him from time to time. Will brought some food he bought for Marcel, mostly chicken pie that they ate in amiable silence. He always left after lunch time. Messy came to chat a few times. Talking with Marcel for hours on end. It was her visits that he learned to appreciate the most.

Martyn and Fredrik also came. When no one was there, he poured over his status screens. Despite all that happened, he had gotten a nice boost from the ogre fight. Which he had distributed rather evenly.

“Marcel Houst [Warrior of Rhea Level 12]”

Stats:

Str 17

Dex 10

Int 5

Wis 9

End 8

Vit 9

Per 6

It was on one day when Messy and Will came visiting him together that things started looking up for him a little. Their normally pleasant small talk didn’t hold for long until Messy blurted something out.

“I think we have found a way for you to get back into the guild.”

“What?” Marcel threw a look at Will. Then back to Messy. Then back to Will and all over again.

“Well we had a talk with one of the administrative clerks from the second floor-”

“You had a talk with one of the administrative clerks,” WIll interjected. “There wasn’t even much walking back involved.”

“I might’ve been a little too excited,”Messy said. “But there is this thing I read when looking through some of the old guild documents. About the founding rules and stuff.”

“Wait.” Marcel said. “You went through all of that just for me to get my license back? I’m almost a little touched.”

“Not just for you.” She blushed a little. “It's for our party, silly.”

Marcle played with the thought of continuing the topic, just to make Messy a little more uncomfortable, but his excitement overtook him.

“You could, theoretically, challenge him to a duel again. If you win then the ban is lifted.”

“What?”

“Yes! You almost won last time, and since you probably got a nice chunk of the experience from the ogre fight…” Messy left that thought hanging.

A few hours later they drew Fredrik into it as well. He was their safest bet to check if Messy’s idea was sound.

“Yes in theory that should work. There is one problem though. You challenging him is on par with challenging the house's honor in ways of the law. Since it was his house Mungol that has pushed for your ban and not Rodrik specifically, the house can nominate any other champion to fight in his stead as long as the person in question isn’t more than one grade over you.”

“Wait,” Messy said. “More than one grade? I didn’t know that.”

“So he could be going against a second grade adventurer?” Will asked.

Fredrik nodded.

“Then it’s doomed.”

For them it sounded like it. And in a way Marcel had to agree. He had seen just how far the gap between him, and someone pushing close to the second stage was. He had barely managed to edge that fight in his direction, and even then only by using every trick in his arsenal. And even then he had lost in the end.

Someone a whole grade higher would just utterly demolish him. They all knew that. He saw it in their eyes. The twins had just given up ever going on adventures with him. And even Fredrik looked sad.

For them going up against someone like that was completely lost. But Marcel saw a chance here. Even if it was against a second grade adventurer.

He would have to get stronger. Luckily there was still a thing he had in his backhand.