Seth adjusted the collar of his shirt uncomfortably as Karles advised him to dress nicely to present a positive picture to his fiancée. Seth, however, had no intention of staying at her house all day and had asked Karles to pack him some outerwear because he was going to the Melianor's Guild thereafter.

Guided by an old maid, Seth made his way through the estate's grounds.

Crash.

A cup hurtled close to his head, barely missing him. The old maid in front of him had avoided it naturally by tilting her head, and the cup shattered upon hitting the ground.

‘Huh?’ Seth was surprised and could feel his heart jolting in fright.

A woman dressed in a fine gown, elegantly holding an umbrella, and another maid kneeling in front of her came into view.

"Do you think I’m stupid? You stole the treasure's money, and now you're trying to poison me? I've been putting up with your pranks for a long time, but my patience is running thin."

"Lady Elizabeth, we only have those spoiled ingredients in our kitchen. Each of them had already gone bad because the baron cut down on our daily expenses. Besides, it wasn’t me who prepared the meals." Despite her kneeling posture, the maid spoke up and replied sarcastically.

"I observed you and the other servants dining opulently in the kitchen. It appears that I have shown you all too much generosity."

“Are you planning to fire us now? The baron will only have a worse opinion of you if you fire us!"

Elizabeth was angry at the maid and slapped her across the face, the force echoing across the yard.

‘Wow, what is this drama…’ Seth stood dumbfoundedly, watching the scene in front of him.

“Y-You!” The shocked maid held her cheek in disbelief.

"Have you forgotten who I am?"

"You're just a daughter who has been abandoned! The baron left you to die and rot in this mansion, where even your fiancé refused to visit."

Elizabeth was ready to strike her again when the elderly maid in front of Seth intervened.

“Lady Elizabeth, your fiancé is here.”

Elizabeth took a step back, her annoyance visible. Their gazes met as her menacing presence closed in on Seth. He instinctively stepped to the side, trying to evade her ominous advances, but she was faster and caught him in an embrace.

"Seth... it's been so long," she whispered coquettishly, her voice muffled by his garments. “I invited you several times, but you never showed up. I heard your life was in danger. I was terrified of losing you.”

The elderly maid called the guards to remove the wailing maid. They arrived quickly and dragged her away. Seth couldn't help but observe the old maid's face, which was just as sinister as Elizabeth's.

“It's unusual for you to let me touch you,” Elizabeth mumbled.

Seth immediately said with a cold voice, "Let go of me."

This woman, who could tolerate being Seth's fiancée despite his personality, was anything but simple.

Elizabeth had a sly smile on her face as she said, “You’re really cruel. Don’t you miss me?”

“No.”

After all, it was Seth's first time meeting her.

She pretended to be sad. She was good at changing her emotions quickly.

“Why did you invite me here?”

"We shouldn't talk here. Let's go to the garden."

A quaint roof with creeping vines sheltered a tea-drinking area. On the wooden table, an assortment of teas and pastries was neatly arranged.

Elizabeth took a seat across from Seth as she smiled. "Enjoy the desserts. You like sweets, right?"

Seth showed his agreement by taking a bite of one of the desserts.

Staring at his movement, she spoke with an air of excitement. "As you've heard, the king's birthday is just one week away. It's a grand occasion, and during the celebration, there will be a special announcement. They will introduce not only the hero that Court Mage successfully summoned recently but also the other chosen heroes from the other kingdoms."

Im Haeseong was not the only hero summoned in this realm. There were other heroes from different kingdoms, each with their own set of skills. However, in the case of the Kingdom of Melianor, summoning heroes had been plagued with failure. Despite numerous tries, only one hero, Im Haeseong, has been summoned successfully.

Seth already knew about the future event. He nodded his head. "What about it?"

“Everyone brings their fiancé to the event in the palace. And since we are engaged, it's only natural that we should go there together.”

Seth glanced at her, who had a sad-looking face and calculating eyes. ‘It doesn’t seem like she likes me. Furthermore, she doesn't give the impression that she would give a damn about what other people thought of her.’

The king's birthday is a crucial story point at the start of the novel. It was essentially Im Haeseong's debut. And by the protagonist's debut, Seth meant that there was a fight that set the stage for him to show off his powers to the public and earn their admiration.

Seth began to weigh the pros and cons. ‘It’ll be interesting to see such a grand event in real life. But still…’

"You've recently avoided formal events. But you had no choice but to come this time. Otherwise, one of the other nobility will bring it up to the old fart."

‘Old fart? Did she mean the king?’ Seth was a bit surprised by her uncensored words. "You know that anyone who insulted the king would get beheaded as a punishment, right?"

"I know," Elizabeth said without concern.

Seth was at a loss for words. ‘How desperate is she to have me attend the event?’

“My sister alone is enough to represent our family,” Seth replied.

As he sipped the tea, he became dizzy. ‘Didn't the maid say that the ingredients were spoiled? Is the tea also past its expiration date?’

He turned to face Elizabeth as she savored the same tea. He was overcome with sympathy for her and set down the teacup. It appeared that she was immune to spoiled food and drinks.

‘How much had she suffered in this mansion?’

Suddenly, the sly face of hers didn’t seem too annoying to him.

“You can't be thinking of going on a quest, right?” she asked.

Seth met her gaze and replied with a thoughtful tone, "Well, that depends."

They were interrupted when a soft, feminine voice called out Seth's name.

"Seth, is that you?"

He turned to face the voice, and what he saw was a woman with round eyes and long, pink hair that was wavy. The woman came running toward him, obviously excited.

"Kya!" She staggered abruptly, nearly tripping over him before landing on the ground.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

He didn't expect her to actually fall.

"Seth…" she said, looking at him in grievance, as though he were cruel for not helping her.

Perhaps her innocent and clumsy demeanor might melt any man's heart. But he knew who she was.

Alise Von Lowther. She was Baron Theron’s illegitimate child from when he had an affair with a servant. She was only a minor character in The Summoned Hero, so he wasn’t interested in her.

Elizabeth’s face contorted viciously, and Seth couldn't help but notice the change.

"Stupid bitch. You can't even walk straight. Isn't it enough that you got fucked by the sixth prince yesterday? And now you're trying to seduce my fiancé?"

Elizabeth’s remarks shocked Seth so much that he gasped.

"Sister, what are you saying?!" Even Alise was as taken aback as Seth was.

He could see that Alise almost snapped, but quickly controlled her own expression. "I only came here because I saw Seth. We haven't seen each other in a long time. He was always really nice to me. Why would talking to him be improper?"

Alise's eyes welled up with tears, and she looked at Seth as if asking for comfort. But he didn't want to be associated with the woman who was Prince Gabell's mistress. Besides, he'd read a lot of romance novels, so he was familiar with the complexities of women--especially the ones that seduced men into falling in love with her and doing everything for her.

Amid the tense situation, Baron Theron came. He stepped in without reluctance to support his illegitimate child.

Baron Theron, clearly upset, admonished Elizabeth, "Outrageous! You're the eldest child. You should take care of your younger sister instead of bullying her."

Elizabeth's anger flared, her words dripping with disdain. "Sister? I don’t have a sister who grew up in the slum! Rats like her and her mother should go back to where they crawled out from."

“Ungrateful child!” Baron Theron raised his hand, preparing to strike her.

“Enough,” Seth warned them.

Baron Theron finally noticed Seth's presence and hesitated to continue his action. As much as the drama was interesting, Seth didn’t want to watch another act of violence in front of him.

"How embarrassing. Is this how the baron treats his guests? I am not here to watch a family dispute in front of me."

“Young master Seth. It’s not what you think.”

“Leave. Don’t disturb us anymore.”

“But Seth!” Alise still looked at him in grief. “I thought you… I thought you always cared for me.”

‘When did I act like that?’ He ignored her, as he wasn’t interested in talking with either of them.

Faced with animosity, Baron Theron gripped the woman's arm firmly and made a decision. "I apologize," he replied, frustrated in his voice. "Then we'll go."

He turned and began leading the woman away from the tumultuous family gathering.

Suddenly Elizabeth became more upbeat and continued, "I thought you would stay silent and enjoy the drama."

“I’m not interested,” Seth said.

He had to make a good impression on someone who he needed help with.

Seth had been sitting and enjoying the pastry. “Anyways. I’ll accompany you on the king’s birthday. In exchange, help me go to the black market.”

Elizabeth’s mother had connections with the people from the black market, so they were able to have a VIP pass to go inside easily.

“How did you know?”

Seth read it from the novel. But of course, he couldn’t say that.

“Guess.”

“It must be your mother since she’s close to mine. Why do you want to go there?”

He was silent for a moment. “I want to get revenge.”

Elizabeth wasn’t affiliated with the Silver Skulls guild, so Seth wasn’t worried about telling her his plan.

“Is it the people who almost killed you? Birds of a Feather?”

He only showed her a smile.

Elizabeth burst out laughing and slammed the table. Her demeanor was considered unladylike. "What..? Hahaha! This is the fiancé that I know. Of course, you wouldn’t let them off easily. I've heard that you even killed a servant. Is that true?"

"Who knows? But I want to kill them within three days."

Seth had dragged out the plan for too long.

“Fine. I’ll accompany you to the black market.” Elizabeth agreed without hesitation.

…

Entering the carriage, Seth noticed Celia and Isaac already seated inside. Karles was outside, driving the carriage.

"Noel and Leon?"

"They are training with One in the Mansion. They wanted to accompany us, but I told them it would be dangerous for them. I believe they should first train and strengthen themselves." Celia elaborated.

She was aware that they were capable of fighting, but she also recognized that they were still children who needed to learn how to defend themselves.

"That's good."

"I can't wait to see the guild."

"Me too."

"Hm?"

He misspoke. ‘I’ should’ve seen the guild.

In the Kingdom of Melianor, only two official guilds existed: Melianor's Guild and the renowned Silverskull Guild. The majority of the adventurers chose Melianor's Guild as their starting point, and anyone with superior talent or skills was recruited into the Silverskull Guild, which offered a higher wage. There were benefits and drawbacks to each guild. In theory, it was equivalent to both government and non-government places.

As they entered the building, there were already many adventurers. Some of them were looking their way and jeered, probably knowing Seth's bad reputation.

Celia looked at him in concern. “Are you okay?”

“This is normal," Seth replied.

He had already experienced it in Tudela Village, but it was still mildly uncomfortable when people stared at him. Isaac only frowned as he followed them.

Ignoring the taunts and jeers, they approached the guild reception, Seth's heart heavy with a sense of foreboding. He had a terrible feeling about what he was about to discover.

The receptionist forced a polite smile and greeted them. “Hello, welcome to Melianor’s Guild. How may I help you?”

“I lost my guild card, so I want to make a new one.”

“Alright. Please fill in this record. We’ll prepare you a new one immediately.”

Seth took the paper and moved to the table to fill in the record.

Celia sat beside him as she looked curiously. “What’s your current rank?”

Seth was embarrassed about it and hesitated to tell her.

“Come on. Tell me, Seth.”

Celia continued bugging him until he gave up and said, “E-rank.”

“Eh? Eeh?!”

“Why do you look so surprised?”

“I mean, it’s impossible. You defeated the leader of the Demon King Worshipper.” As she knew the topic was sensitive, she lowered her voice.

“Well, he’s not registered as a monster.”

“What do you mean?”

“Everyone starts from the bottom. We can raise our ranks by doing enough quests for the requirements to get a promotion or... make remarkable achievements. For example, anyone who kills 100 demons can get a ‘Demon Slayer’ title, and they would get at least an A-rank.”

“Oh, I see.”

Seth glanced over at Isaac, who was examining the bulletin board that listed the available quests.

Celia followed his gaze and asked curiously. “What about Isaac? What’s his rank?”

“He’s a B-rank.”

“Huh? That’s so far from you.”

“You don’t need to poke at my wound like that.” Seth continued feeling the form on the table.

“Wait, that’s not my intention.”

Seth smiled slightly, while Celia was embarrassed after he teased her.

After returning the paper to the receptionist, they waited for half an hour before she handed Seth the new adventurer identity card, complete with his picture and personal details.

“You look different in the picture,” Celia commented.

Isaac had approached them and agreed with her. “True.”

“What do you guys mean? I look the same.”

Still, Seth wasn’t used to his current face. In his previous life, he had black hair and eyes.

“Have you decided on a quest?” Seth asked.

Isaac showed him several E-rank quests on the board.

“Why are we doing E-rank quests?”

“You are an E-rank adventurer.” Isaac looked at Seth as though he were a disappointment.

‘Damn it.’ Seth cursed inwardly. He pointed to another piece of paper on the bulletin board. “Let’s do this quest.”

It was a D-rank dungeon quest with a minimum of five participants.

Isaac sighed. “You can’t go on a D-rank quest unless you are a D-rank adventurer.”

“There are you and Celia, though.”

“I don’t want to carry you.”

“I thought I could take advantage of him,” Seth mumbled solemnly.

Celia patted him on the shoulder. “It’s okay, Seth. We can raise your rank, and I haven’t done a quest before, so it’s a good starter for me.”

Since she would join the Legendary Master of Rejuvenation, she didn’t need to register as an adventurer.

“Well then, let’s go.”

‘There are only three quests left for me to fill in the requirements to get raised to D-rank. It shouldn't take too long…’ or so he thought.