Volume 3 Chapter 2: Part 1: Promotion Exam

"Phew. This should do it." Onyx wiped the sweat from his head. He was on top of a roof, hammering down some wood plank.

"Thank you, young man! Have a couple of drinks after you're done." A villager screamed out. In his hands were a couple of drinks.

Seeing that, Onyx jumped down from the roof, "Thanks a lot, village chief." Onyx took the drink. He looked around to see people doing the same thing as him. Thank goodness; things have gotten better. He stayed at the village for a few days since he and Rena fought with the monster.

They stayed in the village for a few more days to calm the people down.

"No problem. And thank you for fixing my roof." It's not just calming people down. Onyx and Rena helped out in fixing the houses and other things that got destroyed by the monster.

"It's the least that I can do after what happened." Onyx looked down. The first thing they did was make graves for everyone who died.

"You've done more than enough. Everybody in the village understands you've done all you could to save us." Many villagers died.

However, more people would have died if Onyx didn't come to save them.

"Master, I've brought you some food." As Onyx and the village chief talked, Rena came over with a plate of food.

"Ahh, thank you." Onyx smiled. The village chief nudged him, "Kid, you are so lucky to have a wonderful wife." Even he felt envious of Onyx. Seeing how the two act: they were the definition of what a couple should be.

Right now, Onyx borrowed some of the villager's chief clothing while Rena wore a traditional dress too. They were like husband and wife.

"It's not like that." Onyx made a wry smile while Rena's face showed a tint of red.

Oh really? The village chief raised his eyebrow. Are you guys really going to say something like that? It looked nothing like that at all.

"I'll have to check up on the others. Have fun, you two." The village chief didn't say anything else as he walked away, leaving the two there.

"Let's sit there." Looking around, Onyx and Rena sat down by a bench.

"Hmm? Why don't you have a plate?" "Ahh, I'm not that hungry."

Hearing that, Onyx chuckled, "You're bad at lying." That was due to the grumbling sound from her stomach.

"..." Rena looked away, trying her best not to say anything. Onyx smiled as he split the food in half, "Here, you eat this. I don't need to eat so much."

"...Understood." Rena shyly took half of the food. As the two ate their food, Rena asked, "Master, when will we leave?" They stayed in this village for a good few days.

"We can leave any time we want. But we don't need to move. Let's wait a bit more." Onyx stretched his hand and looked at the village entrance, "And here they come."

A few meters away, the shadow of a carriage came toward them. The villagers could see it; as they walked towards the gate.

"Let's go too," Onyx said as he took Rena's hand. And when they arrived at the gates, the carriage was already there.

"It's you again." The person who came here was none other than the coachman from before!

"Mmhmm, and I came here with some-" Before the coachman could finish his sentence, people jumped out!

"Onyx, are you alright?! We've heard about the situation!" The people who jumped out were none other than Stewart and the rest of Scarlet Lynx. The others had their weapons raised, ready for a fight!

"Woah, guys. Calm down. Look at the situation around you." Onyx quickly calmed them down.

Stewart and the rest looked around. They realized it. Besides Rena and Onyx, the villager's gazes looked at the group in shock: they looked fine. More so, it didn't look like there was a battle at all!

"Where's the monster?"

"Already dealt with it."

"..." Really?! Did we come here for nothing, then?! When they first heard about this, Stewart quickly jumped on it, wanting to help Onyx. Little did he expect it to be done so quickly!

"I see." Stewart sheathed his sword back and sighed in relief. Though, there was a hint of sadness in his sigh.

"Yeah, We've been fixing houses for the past few days. Though, I do need some help from you, Muriel."

"Hmm, what do you need me to do?"

"There are some people who are heavily injured. I used potions to heal their wounds, but some didn't heal as much. So can you use your magic to help them?"

Muriel smiled, "Sure. I don't mind."

"Thank you. Also, can you guys help me with fixing some buildings too? It'll only take a few minutes."

"Sure." Stewart smiled, and the rest helped out too. It didn't take long before they finished.

"Thank you so much!" The village chief and the villagers bowed their heads as they watched Onyx and the rest getting on the carriage. With the added people, they finished repairing the village for the most part.

"No problem." Onyx smiled while Rena nodded her head. As the carriage left, the villagers continued to shout at them; they waved back at them.

"Wow, you're really popular." Stewart chuckled.

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"Hehe." Onyx scratched his head.

"And umm." Stewart turned over to Rena.

"Ahh, this person is my friend and party member, Rena." Hearing his cue, Rena nodded,

"It's a pleasure working with you all."

"Hello, my name is Stewart, captain of the Scarlet Lynx, and this is my party." Etta and the rest smiled at her and introduced themselves to her.

"...Lucia." Lucia's tone was flat as she introduced herself. Onyx showed a surprised expression, not thinking the kind Lucia would make such a face.

And when it came to her brother; Reynold's turn: he walked over in front of Rena. Before anybody else could say anything, he knelt in front of her and kissed her hand,

"Hello, beauty. My name is Reynold, and I want to ask whether or not you're free to enjoy this evening with us?" The next second, he got a fist down to his head! It came from Etta.

And Muriel and May dragged Reynold away from Rena. Etta apologized, "Sorry about that, Rena. Ignore this idiot. He doesn't know how to control himself."

"What?! Can a guy not shoot his shot at a beautiful girl?! This is true love, I tell you! True love!" Reynold felt wrong with what Etta said.

The veins on Etta's head bulge from fury, "It's not true love when you do it every time! Barrett! Do your thing!"

"Ay Ay!" "Barrett, ughghhh!!!!!" Before Reynold could say anything else, Barrett body-slammed him!

"Barrett, chill out with the body slam. It'll shake the carriage!" May added. Imagining the carriage tipping over brought shivers to everybody.

"Understood." Barrett changed the body slam into a roll-around.

Onyx ignored the sight as he asked Rena, "Are you ok?" Even he was shocked that Reynold would pull something like that!

"Mmhmm, I'm fine. Just a little shocked by it." Even Rena was shocked by it. Nothing else happened after that. Only the sound of Reynold screaming resounded throughout the carriage.

...

After a couple hours of traveling, the group set up camp for the day.

Onyx and Stewart were in charge of making the tent. While they did this, "Onyx, can you tell me what happened?" Stewart asked.

"Not right now." Onyx gave a short glance, and Stewart understood what he wanted to say. Stewart turned to Etta, "Onyx and I will get some firewood."

"Got it."

The two left the camp, and Onyx apologized," Sorry about that. I didn't want to tell anybody about what happened." Oliver informed him that this mission was tightly sealed.

And only the leaders of the party were told about this.

"It's ok. I understand why you didn't want to say anything about it." Stewart knew it as well. Oliver told him the same thing.

He decided not to tell his team members about it. Especially not Reynold. He could not keep a secret to save his life.

Onyx sighed in relief, "So here's what happened." Onyx begins to recall everything that happened to him to Stewart. And hearing all of this, Stewart's expression changed.

"So that's what happened. How could a monster do so much damage?" Stewart found it surprising that one monster could massacre all these villages in a few weeks.

"I didn't believe it either." Even he found it odd the monster could do so much damage this quickly.

Seeing his strange expression, Stewart comforted him, "Good job, Onyx. If you didn't make a move, more towns would have been destroyed."

"Mmmm."

"But what did you do with the body?"

"Ahh." Onyx held up his bag, "The monster is inside this bag." Without anybody knowing, Onyx placed the body in his bag. He thought Oliver would be interested in it.

"Huh? It's in the bag?..... Wait, is that a dimensional bag?"

Onyx nodded, "Yeah."

"...." Stewart made a strange expression, "...How rich are you?!" He couldn't believe it. How was Onyx able to earn so much to get a dimensional bag.

A dimensional bag was useful as it increased the number of demon crystals and drop items an adventurer could hold. Its usefulness meant it was expensive as well!

"If I told you what I did to get it, would you believe me?"

"..." Stewart shook his head, "No, you don't have to say anything. Let's go back to the camp now." When Onyx and Stewart arrived back with the firewood, what they saw made them drop the wood in their hand.

Stewart grabbed the middle of his forehead, "What did you pull this time?"

Barrett explained, "The blockhead tried to peek at the girls taking their bath."

"...What? Again?" Stewart felt more problems came his way while Onyx could only make a strange expression.

"Don't look at me like that!" Reynold made a tearful expression. The look he got from the two questioned whether or not he had a screw loose in his head.

"You're just asking for trouble!" Stewart asks Barrett, "So where are the girls now?"

"They're getting changed right now."

Stewart sighed, "You got lucky you've only got beaten up." They could've done worse if they wanted to. Reynold could be five feet under, and Stewart and the rest would be ok with it.

"But I have to admit."

"Hmm?"

"Muriel has some giant ones." Reynold grinned as he said this.

"...." Did you not learn from this at all?! Stewart banged his head on his hand. To be honest, if there was a brick wall in front of him, he would have smacked his head on it instead!

That'll at least give him some sanity back. He couldn't believe there would be somebody so dense.

"And it's not just her; big sister Etta and the rest have grown up. Well, May is still a washboard." Reynold shook his head as he remembered everything.

"..." Are you trying to make this situation worse?! And don't you notice them?!

"...Ahem." Hearing the cold grunt, Reynold turned to find the girls looking at him. Well, glaring. He just became the number one scum of the earth.

"..." Reynold's expression turned an extra shade of white.

"It seems you don't know what you did wrong yet, do you?" Etta shook her head. They thought about letting him go after a light beating as they got other things to do. But it seemed he hadn't learned his lesson.

"Etta, let me do it. It seems I need to make sure he doesn't remember anything." "Big sis Muriel, let me help you as well!"

Muriel had a big smile while May cracked her knuckles.

"I can explain, myaghhhhhhH!" There's no need for them to listen to his explanation as May did a pile driver,

"How dare you call me a washboard! Take this and this! And have one of these!" May began to punch him without rest. Muriel continued to smile as she added,

"May, you can go all out. If Reynold is near death, I'll heal him, and you can beat him again."

"!" What?! Reynold's expression was indescribable. It was because he wanted to make a tearful expression, but being beaten up so much in the face made it weird.

Seeing this, Onyx shook his head as he looked at Rena, "Are you ok?"

"Mmhmm. I'm fine, master." Rena nodded, "Luckily, May realized Reynold was spying on us." Being his sister, May understood what his brother planned. She stopped it before he could see more.

"That's good." Onyx turned around to see Reynold getting beat up more. He sighed, "Anyways, I'm going to rest now. Tell me when it's my turn to keep watch."

After saying that, he entered his tent.

...

The next day, Onyx and the rest arrive back at Advent City. Going in, Madelyn spotted Onyx.

"Onyx, I heard about what happened. Are the two of you safe?!" Madelyn quickly ran up to the two, worried about them.

"We're fine. Is the guild master in his office right now?"

"Yes." Onyx didn't say much as he walked up to the office.

Seeing him like this, Madelyn was a little surprised. She could tell there was something off with him.

"I'm sorry. Master has been on edge these days." Rena apologized and followed Onyx up the stairs.

The moment Onyx opened the door, "Oli-" A shadow zipped past him!

"My little sister! Are you hurt at all?!" It was none other than Michelle. She blasted past Onyx and hugged Rena.

"Mmghhhh!" Rena tried to talk. But what came out were muffled sounds as her face caught in Michelle's chest.

"Michelle, I think you should let go of Rena. You're going to suffocate her."

Michelle looked down to see Rena's face smoosh together in her bosom.

Ahh.

She let go, and Rena kept gasping for air.

"Are you trying to kill me?!" Rena cursed out loud. She thought she was going to die from suffocation! And from that anger, she forgot where she was.

Realizing where she was, Rena looked at Onyx with a blank expression. Because Onyx was making the same face too! But it turned into a smile,

"So this is how you act."

Rena didn't even think about it as she quickly ran out of the room!

"I'll go get her." Michelle smiled as she chased after Rena. With the two leaving,

"So I got your letter. Tell me what happened."

"Understood." Onyx recounted what happened there. And Oliver made a tense expression, "I see. So that's what happened."

"Yeah."

"Good job in dealing with it. I've already told Madelyn about the reward. Just go down, and you'll get it."

"...Understood."

"Hmm? Is something the matter?" Oliver felt something wrong with how Onyx acted.

"Oliver, there is something weird about the monster."

"What was wrong with it?"

"It talked."

Oliver's eyes went wide, "...What?"

"Yes. The monster talked."

"Explain now." Oliver's expression turned grave.

"When I was about to finish it off, it talked. It asked me to help me. And when I was going to help, it went crazy and attacked me." Despite the attack, Onyx couldn't get that scene out of his mind.

Every night, he dreamt of this scene.

It grinded his heart.

"..." Oliver sighed, "Don't worry about it for now. Your promotion exam is going to happen in a few days. Focus on that for now."

"...I understand." Onyx didn't say anything as he walked out of the office.

With him leaving, Oliver grabbed his head, "Are they making a move now?!"