A boy walked out of his room with confident steps. His name was Faro. His most distinctive feature was that he was missing his left arm. He had bright blond short hair reaching down to his hairs and wore a sleeveless white shirt while donning a blue half-cloak that was leaning slightly to the left to cover the stump of his left arm. His parents congratulated him.
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“Congratulations,” said Grent. He was Faro’s father who had short brown hair and brown eyes. He had a tunic and pants, which was a rare choice of attire for him since he was a tea farmer. In fact, under normal circumstances, he'd be out in the field, picking tea leaves at this very moment.
“Congratulations,” echoed Vilma. She was his mother with the same bright blond hair that reached down to her waist. Her ocean blue eyes were exactly the same color as Faro’s. In fact, it looked as if the boy inherited lots of features from her instead of his father. She was dressed in a simple, but still dignified, garment. His two younger brothers were a short distance away and were waving at him with glee. They, too, were dressed up for the occasion.
“I thank you, everyone,” I said while leaning slightly forward with a palm on his chest, which was the formal way of greeting in his country, the Kingdom of Filava. It was a newly established kingdom right after the Age of Darkness that tormented the whole world ended. Nothing much was left after the event with Filava being the only nation that came out unscratched. The king of Filava was credited to have ended the Age of Darkness and was given the right to found a new kingdom which he did.
image [https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img924/2482/4631yo.jpg]
The world was still reeling from the wounds, but it was healing slowly.
“You are an adult now,” Grent said as he approached his son and placed his hand on his left shoulder. “You’ve made it.”
Growing up wasn’t as easy as it sounded. This was true especially for me, who had attempted to find a spot in society. Having turned fifteen years old a few days ago, it was time to leave his home behind and settle down elsewhere.
“Here, take this,” Vilma handed him a coin pouch. The way it was burgling downwards, it looked heavy. It had to be since there were twenty five gold coins inside with the coins being made of real gold. It was a reward for my recent deed. I was a part of a grand mission of luring a dragon out. This was the reward. The price I had to pay was my left arm, and three members of the team: Amanda, Ayaan, and Meizei. I knew all three of them very well personally. In a sense, they were like his extended family. I was incredibly saddened that they didn’t make it. I tried to be positive and told myself that at least Dumand Roseline survived. If none survived the journey, I may have become broken indeed. The survivor’s guilt would have been too much for me to bear.
“I don’t need it,” I replied. “May I entrusted it to you for the time being?”
“Are you certain?”
“I am certain, mother. May I ask you for a favor, though?”
“Go on.”
“Set aside five gold coins each for Taro and Abel. When they need it, spend it on them.”
My parents were not poor. In fact, their coffers were brimming with money. In spite of not being a proper noble family, they were allowed to live like one because of my mother’s connection to the king. She was the king’s biological mother. Likewise, my father, Grent, was also the king’s biological father. Yes, the king was my own older brother by two years. My father was a commoner, but my mother, Vilma, was a proper noble. He didn’t have a last name, but she did. The king, Kamil Fenchel, was adopted by his uncle at the tender age of seven due to being already excelling at such an age. Legally, the king was Lord Edmund Fenchel’s legalized bastard son. The biological truth didn’t matter to the nobility. Only the legal papers mattered, and legally Kamil Fenchel was not their son. Thus, my parents were not recognized as royalty. Of course, my brother had ascended to the throne and had powers to rip everything off and recognize his biological parents as his. As the savior of the world, he had the absolute powers to do as he wished. However, he chose not to shake too much. Thus, Vilma Fenchel remained to be a fallen noble married to a commoner, a farmer at that. She has told me that she has no problem with it because he acted so only on the surface. The king cherished his familial ties to utmost importance. The mere fact that Grent and Vilma were allowed to be wealthier than any nobles in the nation was the indisputable proof. No one was able to offend my parents. No one was able to scoff at them. They may have not been allowed to have an official title but, in every other sense, they were allowed freedom and beyond. Yes, freedom which was something nobles were not allowed to have. She understood the king’s intention acutely. In exchange for fancy titles that had no meaning to a tea farmer and his wife, he had granted them freedom to live as they saw fit. The freedom he granted was extended to me as well because I was allowed to live however I saw fit. She beamed a tranquil smile at me who just came of age. She held my hands tightly.
“My son,” she said softly. “My dear son, Faro. I will say no more. Congratulations.”
I am really going to miss my mom…, I thought. I really loved her. I liked her kindness and her tendency to get me on her laps while affectionately caressing my head. I am going to miss burying my face into her chest…
“Let’s have some drinks together as a man to a man one day,” dad said with a cheeky smile.
“Yes, let’s,” I responded. I had yet to taste a single drop of ale, however.
The coming of age ceremony was, to put it bluntly, a fancy way of kicking a male child out of his home, and that was exactly what happened. After congratulations and whatnot, I was soon out of his home with just a bag of clothes on my back. My belongings would be moved to a new place of my choice. In my case, my parents knew where I’d be going next, which was the guild. Thus, my belongings would be sent there shortly.
“Well…,” I mumbled while scratching the back of my head. “That’s over.”
Of course, I had no hard feelings because I knew, for a fact, that my parents loved me. “Okay, let’s go to the guild. My new life awaits!”
As I followed the only cobblestone road, the city of Ceres came to my view. Dad’s farm was located in a corner of the city. It was the only farm that was allowed within the city walls.
image [https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img923/9739/8WhUpH.jpg]
“Yeaaaah, it’s a new world for sure,” I remarked. Something fundamental had changed ever since the world was saved by the elder brother, Kamil. Elementals were seen virtually everywhere day or night. I was seeing six-ish wind elementals flying about. Wind elementals looked like green translucent butterflies. I was also seeing water elementals which looked like ocean-blue translucent eels.
“Woah, watch out!”
An earth elemental was in his way, and I almost tripped because of it. An earth elemental resembled a blocky doll made of rocks. Their sizes were about the same as a toddler. It glanced at him with two magically glowing eyes on its flat face that was a square-ish rock. Then it went on its way.
“Well, they can’t speak anyway…” I felt foolish for expecting an apology indeed. Nobody knew why elementals started to appear. It was believed that they were always around, and we were unable to see them.
“This has got something to do with the dragons, doesn’t it.”
The Age of Darkness was dictated by two dragons. The Dragon of the North was at Mount Siwen. The Dragon of the South was at the Doom crater in Deltalago. I was a part of the team that was tasked to lure out the Dragon of the North. Both dragons were eventually defeated by the King, stopping the rot that had been eating away the world for years. His kingdom came out mostly unscathed. However, Atra was completely destroyed from what I heard. Estana was on the verge of collapse but managed to survive.
“It’s … interesting, though.”
Estana was a nation built on desert. However, as the land regenerated, the desert was gone somehow and fertile land emerged. This was considered a huge blessing for them obviously, and they were working day and night to re-establish lost cities. It was fair to say that everyone was busy as of late; It wasn’t just Estanians. That was because, while his kingdom didn’t suffer from the Age of Darkness, there were internal conflicts which devastated two major cities. Additionally, a whole new city was being built, and a new town was in a planning stage. Lots of materials were in demand, and Ceres was the current trade hub of the kingdom due to the abundance of airships. Less wealthier merchants would carry goods by carriages, and they required escorts who were supplied by the guild, which reminded me...
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“Oh, shoot, I should hurry.”
I dashed into the city and toward the North gate. The guild was right outside of the gate. The guild building was essentially a tavern plus an inn that was dedicated to guild members only. It was a two-story L-shape building with its first floor acting as a tavern slash mission report counter. In spite of the L-shape, the design was asymmetrical with one side having an attic. The second floor was almost exclusively an inn. It had an entrance on each side. The mission counter would be in the middle.
image [https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img924/5049/HlVumw.png]
“Hey, Jane-” I attempted a casual greeting, only to find a long line at the mission counter. The girl who he called Jane was busy taking care of her task at hand along with another receptionist. She was a brunette with cheek length straight hair. It was a bob hairstyle. We weren’t in an official relationship per se. At the moment, we were close friends. Not wanting to bother them since they were already busy enough, I took stairs to meet the guildmaster, Brian.
“Oh, welcome back, Lord Fenchel,” said Brian whose hairline had rescinded to the top of his head. In his own words, though, he was “not yet bald”, which was indeed true.
“Come on, sir. Let’s drop the formality.”
He chuckled back. I was granted a titular title as a part of the reward for the successful mission, meaning I was a noble in a legal sense. In reality, no one around me treated me like a noble. I mean, why should they? I was no one, and it wasn’t as if I was demanding to be treated like one, either. I just couldn’t care less about the nobility. My top priority was getting back to my life.
“Where are Duman and Roseline? In their rooms?”
“Duman is in the backyard, working on the Fat Lady. Roseline is out on a mission.”
“She’s out on a mission? Is that a good idea?”
Both of them suffered a lot from the mission. The group of six, including me, were all close friends. Amanda, Ayaan, and Meizei were lost. For me, Amanda’s death was the most impactful since she was like my second mother. For Duman, Meizei was his wife. For Roseline, the mere fact that she wasn’t much of a use as a healer and failed to save anyone was too much for her. Duman drank a lot initially while Roseline confined herself in her room and refused to leave for over a month. Fast forward six months, both of them were back on their feet seemingly. Duman acted normal on the surface although he had distant looks frequently, spacing out as a result. As for Roseline, she lost her smile completely. It really pained me to see them act so aloof.
“Nothing I or we can do,” Brian said while shaking his head. “Just let them be. Time will heal them.”
I was lucky to have a family while recovering. They had no one but only themselves. In my room, Duman was the person I was worried about the most because he lost the most in my opinion.
“Anyway, I want you to go back to work. You don’t have a problem with that, do you?”
I had a half year break. I was itching to go back to work.
“No, I don’t.”
“Good, Jane and the others have been hellish days. You being back to work will lighten up the load a bit.”
“How come it’s so busy? I don’t think I’ve seen the counter being that busy in the morning.”
In the afternoon, the counter could get somewhat busy occasionally. The current business didn’t seem normal.
“Several factors. One, Ceres is the capital now, thus more people are coming in naturally. Two, shitcrap of merchant wagons are coming in, and they need escorts. I am sure there are other factors, but those two are enough to have an impact.”
“Is it always busy?”
“Pretty much, and has been so for several months now.”
“Why haven’t you hired more people?”
“Can’t even if I want to.”
“Why not?”
“Do you think newbies would be able to handle the load down there? They will simply choke and break down.”
Being a receptionist wasn’t a simple task. First of all, one would need to be able to read and write. Being literate was already a pretty high bar because the majority of commoners were illiterate, meaning it wasn’t easy to find anyone to become receptionists. Secondly, it required a considerable amount of time to get used to the job. A trainee would need to work alongside an experienced one for a while before taking on a busy hour. With everyone so busy, training new receptionists was easier said than done. There was a reason why it took almost two months to get used to the job, and Brian was right. I couldn’t fathom any newbies learning the ropes while being pressured into doing the job. He or she was just going to get depressed and quit.
“Having said that,” Brian continued. “I want you to train some new ones. I don’t want you to work as a frontline receptionist anymore.”
“What? Why?”
“I will be blunt. You have only one arm.”
I imagined myself working down there. In such a busy and chaotic period, I did see Brian’s point. Having one less arm meant being slower probably.
“I can work during quiet periods,” I argued.
“And there hasn’t been a quiet period for months,” Brian replied. “Just train newbies for us, and go on missions if you feel like.”
Sighing, I rubbed the bridge of my nose. The whole conversation felt like the guildmaster was pushing me away. At the same time, objectively he wasn’t too wrong, either. I did have only one arm. Fortunately, I wasn’t too pissed because I knew thatI was no longer the same useless boy I once was. Ever since I was healed, my physical abilities were far superior to my old self. I was fairly confident that I could make it as a regular guild member. Of course, I would need to learn swordsmanship properly this time as well as learn earth magic, both of which were going to take some time. I might as well train some newbie receptionists meanwhile.
“Well, fine, I will train newbies, for now,” I conceded.
“Attaboy. Thanks. Go greet, Duman, will you? He will be happy to see you.”
“Yeah, I will.”
I had mixed feelings about seeing him actually in spite of his positive response. Those who survived the mission all had lost too much to be able to just pretend that everything was fine. Either way, I showed my respect to Brian and left his room and made my way to the attic which was where my room was.
“Man.., gotta clean up first,” I mumbled as I saw layers of thick dust present on the bed and furniture. When I opened the only windows in the attic and was about to start cleaning, a slender man entered whose age looked to be well past forty.
“Hey, Kid.”
Looking back to the source of the voice, I recognized who it was instantly.
“Cvetko, it’s been a while.”
He looked thin and emaciated with deeply sunken cheeks. If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought that the man was suffering from a terminal illness. But that was just how the man looked. He had looked like a dying man for decades apparently.
“Yeah, dusting up?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Get off the window. I will help.”
He was a decent wind mage. If anyone could actually help me, that was him. Without any protest, I moved away from the window and dashed toward the door to get out of his way. Cvetko extended his arm and raised his wrist to make his palm face the window.
“Elementals of wind, heed my call. Grant me a breeze that is powerful enough to remove the dust in this room.”
Several wind elementals appeared in the room, and a gust of wind blew out of nowhere, carrying the dust out of the attic in a blink of an eye. The bed sheet became a bit of a mess as a result, but it would not take much time straightening it out anyway.
“Thanks, mister,” I told him with a grin. I could tell that he had something in his mind and waited quietly for him to speak.
“I don’t believe that my decision to back out was wrong but…,” he eventually said after taking a deep breath and then he became silent. He clearly had more to say but kept his mouth shut.
“If you were there, more of us might have survived,” I continued for him because I, too, had similar thoughts while recovering from the wounds. The man was a wind mage. He could fly. His ability was greatly missed. As if I was right, he dropped his head.
“You are not wrong, sir,” I told him flatly. Was he feeling guilty for what happened? I couldn’t fucking care less. He chose not to go, the end of. “You could have delayed the dragon to earn us time to escape. Amanda may have not needed to cast sacrifice. I may not have lost my arm. You are not wrong. But you opted not to go. That was that. Would-have, should-have, who the fuck cares. You cannot alter the past after all.”
With his hands placed both on his waist, he sighed deeply.
“I will not hold this against you, sir. Rest assured,” I continued. “But don’t blame us for feeling a bit resentful about your actions.”
The group needed someone to distract the dragon long enough for me to pilot his airship down so that others could escape. As a wind mage, he would have been the perfect man for the job, and he would have survived most likely as well. Because there was no one to hold the dragon down, Amanda had to cast sacrifice, and I had to ram the airship into the dragon’s eye. I felt phantom pain from where my arm was supposed to be as such thoughts flew across my mind. I didn’t want to be mad at him because I understood his desire to live on but couldn’t shake off the lingering thoughts that he should have tagged along.
Whatever…, it’s all in the past, I thought, shaking off my thoughts. Reminding myself again that I shouldn’t blame him. In doing so, I inadvertently ignored him and continued my task of cleaning the room. By the time I realized it was a bit too quiet, I snapped out and looked around. He was gone. Feeling a bit dumbfounded, I stood still.
“I guess we weren’t the only ones feeling something,” I mumbled. “But, sir, your suffering means nothing to us. We were the ones who had to face the monster and crawl out.”
When I regained consciousness, I found myself in the bed of my room, staring at the ceiling. It was really a déjà vu moment for me because I went through an eerily similar experience when my knee was shattered beyond a full recovery. I really panicked internally when I realized that my left arm was missing. If it wasn’t for the news that my knee healed, I may have fallen into perpetual darkness. It was only then I was able to recall what I had done. It gave me shivers whenever I thought about why I did what I did. That was a suicidal move on my part.
“Whatever,” I blurted as I jumped onto my bed, sending further dust into the air.