Aren woke up in no hurry, sitting up and rubbing his eyes.
“Awake?” A feminine voice asked. He looked to his side, but couldn’t see correctly. All he did see was some humanoid figure. [I think I’ve seen this before.]
He closed his hands and rubbed his eyes. When he opened them again, he saw a girl who was likely a bit younger than him, with silver hair going down past her shoulders, looking at him with concern. “Who…?” He questioned, his voice still gravelly and heavy from his drowsiness.
“Oh-!” Her eyes widened in realization. “Hehe, I should probably introduce myself first. I’m Lotte, Rank 16 Bladeweaver!”
“Nn… Rank? Bladeweaver?” Aren tilted his head, confused. “…No, first, where am I?” He paused, looking down, and pulled his hands from below the mattress, gazing into them. “…Who… am I?”
Lotte’s eyebrows rose and her mouth slightly opened, the shock and concern evident on her face. Looking at him, she felt useless, as though she could do nothing for him. A tear fell from Aren’s eye.
“Why… why am I crying? Everything is okay, there’s nothing left to worry about… so… why?” His voice wavered as more water fell from his eyes, making his palms wet with the tears.
Spontaneously, Lotte stood from her chair, bringing her arms over his shoulders and embracing him, herself tearing up slightly as well. Neither said anything, until…
“Oi, Lotte, the supplies are loaded up, we should get g-oh, I’ll come back later, my sincerest apologies for interrupting.” Telor arrived, giving one of his trademark sarcastic responses.
Lotte’s closed eyes opened with a start, and she let go of Aren, sitting up straight as a pole, and her apple-red face creaked to the side, turning to look at Telor.
Immediately, she jumped from the bed, leaving the suffocated Aren dazed and confused. Lotte pulled from her pocket a small dagger without a hilt, and grabbed it by the flat of the blade. Flicking her wrist, she spun her hips counterclockwise, throwing the dagger from her right hand too quickly to be seen by the layman.
Telor held up his hand, and the blade stopped, hovering in midair. Telor sighed, lowering his head and closing his eyes in his exasperation. “Impulsive as usual, are we?” He grinned at her.
Lotte said nothing, instead preferring to rush past Telor, pushing him as she went, slamming the door behind her.
“Sorry, that girl is quite a handful. She was really worried about you, y’know. Sat by that bed for all of 20 hours without food, drink, or sleep.
“Ah?” Aren snapped out of his breast-induced daze, looking at Telor. “You are?”
“Ah, sorry. I’m Telor, Rank 14 Blood Mage.” Telor proceeded to introduce himself and explained his class.
“Anyway, we’re going to head out on another quest, so if you can walk, follow me.” Telor continued, stretching his arms and standing.
Aren followed suit, pivoting and stepping off of the bed. Despite Telor’s party having carried him here, Telor still hadn’t noticed something. When he looked at Aren’s upper body, what he saw was an accumulation of countless punctures, slashes, burns, and the like all over his body. The Wyvern didn’t cause these – these were scars, old damages. [Just how much has this guy been through to get here?]
Aren looked toward Telor inquisitively. “What’s wrong? You’re being pensive.”
Knocked out of his trance, Telor quickly snapped back to normal. “Nothing. Not a thing. I’m fine, leggo!” A drop of sweat fell from his forehead, and his eyes dodged left and right. Telor was acting unusual.
[Well, whatever.] Aren thought. [Not like it pertains to me.]
-------------------------
The two arrived at a grand building. Despite the modest size of the town, the building was massive – at least four stories high, extending outward in every direction for hundreds of feet. In front stood a courtyard of marble, with its center covered by a small garden. Giant pillars surrounded the courtyard, and beside each entrance to the building, a fountain shot water into the air perpetually.
As they entered, they saw most of the other four waiting. “Where’s Archimede?” Telor asked, rather perplexed.
“Archimede said he’d watch the carriage.” Lotte responded, still not looking directly at either of them.
“Ehehehe, I guess he just isn’t good with large crowds of people, is he?” Telor snickered, a knowing look on his face.
“Shut up, Telor, we have stuff to do. Let’s hurry up and get the guy registered.” Erlend cut in, sighing as he spoke, quite ‘done with Telor’s shit.’
The group pulled Aren along in their pace, eventually arriving at the nondescript front desk, at which a nondescript receptionist stood, constantly shifting her glasses over her short angular nose.
Lotte moved her face close to Aren’s, and whispered. “Do you remember your name yet?” She asked suddenly.
Aren, upon seeing her move so close to him, hopped away from her out of surprise. “Y-yes!” He responded, still attempting to regain his composure.
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
“Okay, good. Polona here will help you get set up, we’re going to leave now.” Lotte responded, nodding and attempting to look serious. Aren was still stunned into silence, and stared as the group left.
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Aren arrived at the testing area with Polona, exploring the area with his eyes, his curiosity insatiable. It was a massive room that likely took up most of the building’s space, and at either end there were targets of every kind set up. The walls and ceiling shimmered and seemed to glow. Off to the side were three racks, each containing different types of weapons.
“Go ahead, take your weapon of choice. I’ll call in your testing opponents whenever you’re ready.”
[This is a difficult choice. All of them seem interesting, and I have equal (zero) experience in using all of them. I’d probably want to go with a regular longsword, just because of how effective they are in their simplicity, but a staff or halberd may be useful too. If I can get a durable staff, I can become unstoppable. Bows are out of the question; I don’t like those at all. Hmm… I guess I can try the scimitar; that one seems like a lot of fun.]
After deciding on his weapon, he walked over, pulling it from the rack. It was heavy, and difficult for him to hold up. “I’m ready.” I said, gripping the handle so tightly that my knuckles went white.
“Alright, come on out, Lucius!” She shouted, and out walked a man. He had almost vampiric white skin and bright golden angular eyes that didn’t fit his oddly blue hair. He was not burly, but his muscles were very well defined. In his left hand, he held the hilt of a longsword. It was likely as long as Aren was tall.
Upon being instructed to do so, both sides made their way to the center of their side of the arena. The ground itself was painted similarly to a basketball court combined with a hockey rink.
“The rules are simple. Fatal and permanently crippling strikes are disallowed; the first contestant to be immobilized or otherwise rendered unable to fight is disqualified. Time is limited to three minutes.”
Time trundled by slowly, agonizingly so. A single drop of sweat gathered on Aren’s forehead.
“Ready?” Polona asked. Both sides nodded their heads, narrowing their eyes and lowering their waists.
“Begin!” She shouted, dropping her arm.
Author's Note
Spoiler :
Sorry for the short chapter! Got preoccupied with proofreading for a translator friend of mine. I'll make a longer chapter next time to compensate!
The Information Section (where I fit detailed information on stuff I don’t know how to stuff into the chapter without boring you to death)
Spoiler :
Lotte: A girl with bright silver hair even more eye catching than her comparatively enormous breasts, she turns 16 a few days after the arrival of our hero. Rank 16 Bladeweaver, she’s one of the lower middle ranked adventurers registered.
Telor: A moderately tall guy with highly reflective bronze-colored hair and dusky blue eyes. He’s a Rank 14 Blood Mage at the age of 19, and an incredibly sarcastic guy.
Erlend: A Rank 14 Knight, he has a moderately strong sense of justice. However, he still doesn’t like doing work that others should be doing. His hair is pure black, and his eyes are the same.
Bladeweaver: A very high skill class, a Bladeweaver has near-mastery over any and all things with sharp edges. Highly dangerous if utilized correctly, they can be defeated by almost any other class if they aren’t highly talented.
Rank: Ranks go up as one gains Points. One can gain these through completing quests. One can accept quests with a difficulty level of one third of their current points. Points are spent upon Rank Up, so one who takes a Rank 1 150 point job will still be in less danger than someone who takes a Rank 2 10 point commission. At the beginning of one’s employment in the guild, they have ability and aptitude testing, so it’s rare that anyone is actually put into Rank 1. Anything below Rank 5 is very rare, so is anything above Rank 10. Most who are employed are Rank 20 or higher. The highest rank achieved by anyone currently alive is 100, and the highest ever is 2241.
Blood Mage: Blood Mage is a form of magic that is rather common. The distinction between a normal mage and a Blood Mage is simple. Blood Mages don’t have specific elements. On top of that, Blood Mages fuel their spells with their own blood. They have a higher capacity for spell use, but there is a much higher penalty if they overstep their body’s bounds.