Rose—what the hell did you just request from the Paladin Lord? Any quest party where I'm involved, you want in? That's just absurd; how would the guildmasters even coordinate for all of them? It's just not feasible as circumstances will prevent her from joining all the quests that involve me. Rose, what's gotten into you to make such a request right after your initiation?
"Ho ho—and may I ask as to why you would make such a specific request?" asked the Paladin Lord as he crossed his arms.
His facial features changed upon Rose's request. Rather surprised he would take her request this seriously. Guess I should let both of them handle the situation. Rose needs to be independent to make her own choices.
"My main reason for joining the Light guild is because I want to be by his side and support him. Zen... is everything to me and I want to be by his side and ensure he safely makes it back home. The very idea... of not seeing him home one day, I can't bear the thought of losing him. I... would rather die than let that happen," answered Rose as she held her hands tightly.
I didn't realise she thought about me that much. But... isn't she being way too clingy by telling the Paladin Lord this? Will the Paladin Lord even consider her request based on her response?
"I see you've been through a lot despite your age. I can see it in your eyes; you're not the type that sits around waiting for news. You would rather take action and die than receive another bad news. However, you're still young. No doubt, you can never escape bad news throughout your life no matter how hard you fight," he explained.
"I'm sorry, I cannot fully indulge in your request. However, I am willing to make an exception. For any party quest by the Dark guild that your brother is in, I'll put you as the first recommendation. But for party quests from the Light guild, you will need to follow what the other guilds decide. You're still young, dear Rose. If you just follow your brother, you won't be able to carve your own path nor will you be able to see the potential in other people. You don't want to be in your brother's shadow forever. See the world with your own eyes," he continued.
I glanced at Rose to see her response. Would that be enough for her? I do agree with the Paladin Lord though. If she onlychooses to follow me, she won't be able to grow on her own. You can only learn more by interacting with other adventurers, adopting different strategies and tactics according to the situations. There's only so much you can learn from training as compared to real action. I would know it, since I've learnt so much from other adventurers even if they're weaker than me. Hopefully, Rose is willing to keep an open mind to understand where the Paladin Lord is coming from. It's only for her own good.
"Thank you, guildmaster. I accept your offer," she bowed politely to the Paladin Lord. Phew, glad that Rose is sensible enough to understand his intention.
"Oh right, almost forgot about something. Rose Starr, from today onwards, I grant you the rank of Crusader. Hope you'll make the guild proud," he smiled.
Hold up... did I hear wrongly?
"I'm sorry, Paladin Lord, sir? Did you just... grant Rose the rank of Crusader? You're giving her three hops in ranks?" I asked in disbelief.
"Well, she did best one of my Templar members, blindsided or otherwise. I don't see why she should waste her time doing mundane quests when she can improve herself with more challenging ones. I'm different from your guildmaster, who has a rather old-fashioned thinking," he waved his hand sideways.
But—aren't you older than him? Unless the Dark Lord had found ways to keep himself young despite his age, otherwise it doesn't make any sense at all.
"Now then, you wish to know more about your father, right? As for your mother, I only knew so much about her based on her interaction with your father. Truth be told, I wouldn't really say I knew your father all too well, but we had interacted before. Guess that's better than nothing, I presume?" he asked me.
"Yes, that would be plentiful. Before you begin... Rose, there's something I've been meaning to tell you. I don't believe you'll rat me out seeing that you're so determined to support and protect me. My full name—is Zen Hawthorn. My father, is Jack Hawthorn. The war hero from the Demon War," I confessed to her.
"I—see. No wonder you never told me your last name. I knew there's a reason why you kept it a secret but I didn't want to pry. I trust that you'll tell me one day about it and I appreciate you for trusting me enough to tell me. I promise that I won't break your trust," she bowed lightly to me and I petted her head before gesturing the Paladin Lord to begin his story.
"Jack was—someone you would call a genius. He's rather similar to you in appearance, honestly speaking. I can see a lot of his features in you. He was what you would consider a great leader. Speed was his forte, and coupled with the Accelerate spell, not many were able to match up to him. He was actually the next in line to be the Paladin Lord, but alas, the Demon War arose. Honestly speaking, quite a few members were genuinely surprised when he chose to marry your mother. Jack was always fond of female elves more so than humans. You'll always see him hanging around elves whether at a tavern or just strolling around," the Paladin Lord stroked his beard as he took a trip down memory lane.
Realising what he just told me, I smacked my head. Oh great, so my elven fetish was because of you? Geez! Even Rose is judging me with her squinted eyes, like she's interrogating me without saying anything. So glad Lily isn't around my life; otherwise, I really don't know what'll happen if these two ever met.
"Ah, but when your mother was pregnant, it was a celebration to behold. It was such a festive day. Both the Light and Viking guilds pulled together for a grandiose feast, pretty much free invites to anyone who wanted to attend. I was there, on that day, and it was—momentous. Liquors and beers were emptied by the barrels, mostly due to the Vikings and their drinking habits. But the joy and laughter we shared that day was... a sight to behold. But as I recall, there was a rather strange rumour about you. But now that you're here, safe to say that it was a baseless rumour indeed," spoke the Paladin Lord as he stared at me, trying to recall something.
A rumour about me? Is it about what my parents did? Should I push him on what it's about? But he seems rather certain that it's a baseless rumour.
"Your father was a great man, Zen. Both your parents fought zealously against the Demon King. They fought with tenacity and skills unseen by humans today. Doubt even the current guildmasters can match both of them in combat. You would do well to make him proud. For you are his son after all," he smiled. I stood up and bowed to him as a sign of respect, which Rose promptly followed.
"Thank you, for telling me about them. I can finally feel some closure towards my parents. Rather glad I finally know a bit more about them now," I told him.
"Likewise, I'm glad that I got to meet the hero's son. I wish both of you well," he bowed lightly and left us to our own.
Rose and I headed back to the Dark Guild after the endeavour. She needed to retrieve her things from her room to her new place at the Light Guild. No doubt it's gonna take some time for her to transfer everything over, seeing that she had bought a lot of clothes recently.
"Are you sad that I won't be living with you anymore, Onii-chan?" she asked.
"I've been living alone long before you came along, Rose. I'll be fine," I assured her with a smile.
"I'll come by often to cook and clean for you. Don't worry, I won't leave you high and dry; I owe you that much. Your head chef will still be around for you, he he. With that said, you don't mind if I leave some of my clothes at your place, right? Since I'll probably be staying over often. Unless—you're planning to invite some female elves over to your place?" she spoke with a scary red-eyed glare. Geez, that's some murderous intent there.
"You can do whatever you want, Rose. I doubt there's even any female that would be willing to stay with me anyway, aside from you. Just... knock before entering, just in case, alright?" I told her.
"Fine. I just hope I don't see someone riding you or something whenever I open your door. I definitely don't wanna seethat," she crossed her arms.
It was this very day that Rose left my home and lived on her own at her guild. She still visits from time to time, and I really hope she has made some friends of her own. Honestly speaking, my room felt rather empty whenever she wasn't around. Hadn't expect a year of her presence would make me feel this way.
Either way, I kept improving my skill stat with alchemy and cooking. I'm determined to unlock all of those bloody hidden spells from the legendary gauntlets—even if it's the last thing I do.
***
Time flies by rather quickly after Rose left. I'm 15 now, close to 16 in age while Rose was hovering between 12 and 13. She ranked up to Paladin, while I was stuck at my current rank.
Now I know what you're thinking: The Dark Lord refuses to promote me in an attempt to force me to work harder if I wish to rank up. Quite the contrary, actually. The Dark Lord had actually been pushing for my promotion to the Queen to knight me. Going so far as not to promote another Shadow Knight until I am knighted by the Queen.
My very first attempt had me bowing to the Queen as I awaited her to knight me. All was going well until the Queen saw my face. She glared at me as though I'm some disgusting insect and told the Dark Lord that she'll never knight me until the day she dies. Is my face that disgusting? Geez!
The Dark Lord informed me that the Queen has never acted this way before. She had always knighted anyone from any guild, no matter the reason, since she rarely bothered herself with the adventurers' guild. He interrogated me on whether I had done something horrible to offend her, but I assured him that I've never met the Queen before in my entire life until the ceremony itself.
"Perhaps there's something amiss we have yet to uncover. I will get to the bottom of this. Rest assured," he assured me.
Truth be told, ranking up was the least of my concerns. If the Queen is not gonna knight me, I'll just find other ways to become stronger. My skill stat was already close to 35 now. Just a couple more and I'll be able to unlock the second hidden spell. So near yet so far. As for the final hidden spell, that'll probably take a lifetime for me to achieve, so I'm going to leave that aside for now. 50 skill stats is not something achievable overnight, but it'll remain as one of my end goals.
***
I was having breakfast with John and Rose in some tavern outside when we were unexpectedly summoned by the guilds to attend a meeting. We were busy discussing the reason as to why I'm the only one who was stuck at my current rank. John had met Lily recently and confirmed that she's at the rank of Blitz Knight now. He highlighted that she had grown up and was extremely beautiful after her growth spurt. Both the Elemental and Viking guilds have a mutual bond with one another, hence the reason why John was able to finally meet Lily.
The Viking guild holds a customary tradition that requires them to meet with the Underwater Dragon King in the City of Underwater Marrydia. The Viking Lord will have to prove his worthiness to lead the guild every five years. Failing to do so will result in his death and the next potential Great Viking will have his or her chance to prove themselves worthy of being the next Viking Lord upon meeting the Underwater Dragon King.
Why would the Underwater Dragon King be willing to indulge in such a strange tradition is beyond me. And since it's underwater, the Elemental guild excels tremendously with their lightning spells, which was how this mutual bond came into play. The Elemental guild provides support to the Viking guild for their tradition, while the Viking guild in turn provides full support to the latter with their needs.
I was tempted to ask John whether Lily has a partner of her own, but seeing that Rose was here, I wiped that thought away. Rose, in turn, was insulting the Queen for not knighting me. She vented her frustration, stating that she did notsmile even once during her knighting ceremony, and all she wanted to do was to stick her rapier down the Queen's throat. Both John and I immediately rushed over to shut her mouth with our hands when some guild members came over to summon us to some meeting. We were baffled by the sudden invitation as we glanced at each other as though any of us knew anything.
We reached the location in question where the meeting was to be held, and wow, talk about a grand meeting place. It looked like some sort of hotel, but we only have taverns here. The members guarding the place granted us access upon seeing us, and we headed in, immediately greeted by a rather unusual scene. Within the meeting room, four of the guildmasters were seated together with a large rectangular table between them. Only the Elementalist wasn't present in this meeting. How strange it is for me to see most of the guildmasters seated together and just chatting with one another.
"Glad to see you all here. Please... be seated. We'll begin shortly," gestured the Paladin Lord.
What's going on? Fairly certain they didn't invite us to talk about our friendships. Or did Rose's remark earlier offend the Queen? But—it was guild members who escorted us, not soldiers. Hm, something fishy is going on here. Hope it's not related to my issue of not being knighted by the Queen.
"Let's begin. The four of you are... handpicked to uncover the mystery about the recent disturbance in the Northern continent. You'll be given three days to prepare yourself for the journey. A carriage will be transporting you to the City Of Lilies Dahlee, where you'll be ferried to the Northern continent from there. Any questions?" the Dark Lord explained. Straight to the point as always.
Four members? Who's the last one? Oh, there's a Dragon Knight member here with us that I didn't notice earlier. Guess we'll be travelling together.
"What are we looking for? This mission is too vague for all the trouble of sending us there. We require more information; otherwise, we have no idea what we're supposed to be doing," asked the Dragon Knight member.
"More information will be provided to you by your guide. We only know so much about it ourselves, but it was a request from someone... we couldn't refuse. Keep in mind that this mission is top secret. You're not allowed to inform anyone else aside from the four of you," warned the Dragon Lord.
"Are we to only uncover the mystery or eliminate the disturbance itself?" I asked the guildmasters.
"We ar not expectin' ye te face an army o demons yourself. Ance ye figured oot what is causing the disturbance, ye can return an summon more backup," answered the Viking Lord.
Gosh, I really hope John doesn't start talking like this if he ever becomes the Viking Lord one day. My brain hurts trying to understand what the hell he just said.
"Do not take on the role of heroes for this mission. As you all are well aware, demons are resilient creatures. We'll provide support when the disturbance is a cause for concern. We're hoping that demons aren't joining forces to start another war," the Dragon Lord shook his head.
"That's absurd. The only Demon that's capable of such a feat was the Demon King. Not every random demon is capable of rallying the others to start a war. They're practically fighting among themselves all the time," objected the Paladin Lord.
"Whatever it may be, do take care of yourselves there. Find the answer and get back. No hero business over there," the Dark Lord finalised the meeting.
We bowed to the guildmasters before taking our leave. This mission was not something any of us could refuse since we were personally hand-picked by our respective guildmasters. Rejecting the mission without a valid reason will bring down our reputation within the guild itself. We were chosen for a reason and they place their utmost faith in us to complete the task.
All of us headed out for a meal to discuss among ourselves further. We settled on my favourite tavern, 'Sleeping Daisies',and of course, keeping the mission a hush. This meetup is more so to break the ice with the Dragon Knight member.
"I'm Pietro Borage, nice to meet all of you. I would assume that the three of you are already well acquainted with one another, which would make me the outcast of this group," spoke Pietro.
"After this drink, you won't be the outcast any longer. Kanpai!" I raised my glass and all of us cheered together.
Our meals arrived and we devoured them to our heart's content. Glad to see that John is no longer the picky person he used to be. Perhaps that would explain the reason for his weight gain, which is rather significant. Not to mention he already started drinking when he was 15, but none of us would dare to poke fun at him. Everyone knows that Vikings are ridiculously strong, and you definitely don't wanna brawl with them when they're drunk.
"Let's move to the more important topic at hand. Who's gonna lead our little group?" asked Pietro.
Rose immediately raised her hand. We were all shocked that Rose volunteered to be the leader until she mentioned that she's voting for me to be the leader. John agreed that he didn't mind voting for me as well. I glanced at Pietro to see his reaction and decided to ask him.
"You seemed older than the rest of us. How about you be the leader instead?" I asked.
"It's true that I'm the oldest here, and I do have experience being a leader before a couple of times. But it would seem that your teammates prefer you to lead instead. Who am I to deny that from them?" answered Pietro.
"I insist. I would like for you to lead us," I smiled at him.
"Well—if you insist. Take note that when I'm the leader, my orders are absolute. Hesitate and it might be the death of all of us. Is that clear?" he asked everyone.
"Alright, but I would appreciate it if you allow us to give our opinions. You'll make the final decision, whether you wish to follow our opinions and such," I told him.
"Very well. But opinions aren't allowed during combat as every second counts. We'll meet in the morning, three days from now, at the northern entrance. Don't be late," warned Pietro as he stood up and walked away.
Guess that concludes our meeting... with him. Seems like John and Rose aren't done with it yet.
"Zen—Onii-chan, is there a reason you made him our leader? I—don't really like that guy much," spoke Rose.
"Indeed. He... gives off a sort of bad vibe," explained John.
"I... see. I do get the feeling that he's assigned to some other mission aside from ours. Which is why I decided to make him our leader. I want to see his intentions on this mission and I don't want him to feel left out, seeing as he's the only oddity in this group. Just remember, follow your instincts. He might be the leader, but that doesn't mean we'll follow all his orders. No one has absolute order over you, do what you feel is right," I told both of them.
They nodded and understood my intention in making him our leader. I'll keep an eye on him and won't hesitate to sock him if he tries to sabotage us.
***
Three days passed rather quickly, and the four of us met at the northern entrance to gather for the secret mission. Each of us brought a backpack filled with supplies that could last us for a week. We didn't have an estimate on how long we'd be over there, and hopefully there's a town where we can stay. Rose brought along her trusty rapier, while John was wielding an axe that was much larger compared to the one I bought for him previously. His ridiculous strength granted him an advantage in using two-handed weapons to deliver heavy blows on his enemies. Pietro brought along his long spear and a couple of small ones. As expected of a Dragon Knight to use.
The idea of bringing along my gauntlets crossed my mind, but after much consideration, I decided that it was not worth it. Since Pietro was joining this mission, I was wary of revealing anything important to him if I could help it. Guess my gauntlets will remain inside my chest until the situation calls.
Even with the carriage provided by the guilds, it took us about a day and a half before we arrived at the City Of Lilies Dahlee. Good thing we brought along winter clothing, as it was snowing heavily throughout the journey, which was why it took more time to reach the city. It would cost us another day before it was safe for us to travel to the port when it started snowing lighter. Upon reaching the port in question, a lizardman was there to greet us.
"Greetingsss. I'm Kronk and I'll be your guide sss," the lizardman introduced himself. Did he just... say his name was Kronk?
"Excuse me, you said your name is... Kronk?" I asked him with disbelief.
"Indeed sss. I'm a mix between a reptilian and a human, sss. My father has such horrible naming schemesss," he shook his head.
Oh well, who am I to judge? If Kronk is his name, then Kronk is what we'll call him.
We boarded his boat, and I gazed towards the continent that we were heading. The Northern continent, also known as the Demon continent, is notorious for being one of the most dangerous and brutal places to traverse. Even from afar, I could see a storm brewing over there. We braced ourselves as we headed into the unknown.
"Hope the four of you are ready sss," Kronk smirked.
"Yes, we're ready," I replied.
How wrong I was.