Arc | Chapter. 45: Confrontation (Patreon)

Chapter. 45: Confrontation

Yesterday's chapter was late, today's is super early.

I stared at the familiar guildmaster in front of me, and he seemed almost scared as he backed against the door. Which, while not something I intended, I didn’t think was a bad thing. I slowly got off from the chair and walked towards him.

“T-There is an explanation!” he stuttered.

“I’m sure there is, and I want the full explanation,” I said standing before him, my eyes narrowing. “You see, that same spear almost killed me, so it better be damn good.”

As my words turned chilly, the ground began to freeze, Dergan began to shake as he nodded desperately. I was annoyed, I didn’t know how annoyed, but definitely enough to at least give a small beating to the guildmaster. In a sense, it was partly my fault for not dissolving the spear; a mistake I didn’t plan on remaking, but other than that, he also sold it.

“So?” I urged.

“R-Right, the reason is very simple, but let me elaborate,” he said nervously.

“What is the reason?” I asked.

He swallowed. “The guild needed money you see? After you left, there were no spiders, but a few days later they began to attack the town daily. We had to put up a hiring request for adventurers, but after some time we ran out of budget, so we had to sell the S Tier spear that you left in order to fund things…”

He looked at the ground.

“I know it's disgraceful, but if it weren’t for the platinum coins Jake provided, Ranedale would no longer be standing. An actual Imera Spider besieged the town, and if it hadn’t been for outsider help, then I'd be dead right now.”

I noticed the Guildmaster shaking, refusing to look at me as I saw a single tear stream down his aged face.

“Please forgive me, I understand that it never belonged to us, but in order to save lives, in order to save myself, I⁠—”

“Enough.” I closed my eyes and sighed, turning around. “I’ve heard enough.”

The Guildmaster just stood there shocked, as I thought about things for a moment. I didn’t expect him to actually have sold it for a good reason; if anything I expected the reason to be rather frivolous and selfish. But, he had sold it to help the town. Still…

“Are you telling the truth?”

“A-Absolutely!” he stammered. “Every receptionist and guard can vouch for me. I wouldn’t dare to lie to you!”

I turned and narrowed my eyes. “Would you bet your life on it?”

“Yes!”

I nodded, and decided to think once more. Depending on my mood I’d verify the veracity of his claims or not, but for now, I decided I would trust him. With that in mind, I sat down once more and continued to eat the soup on the table. Though, I still had information to find.

“Did the spiders just randomly show up?” I asked, putting the spoon in my mouth.

The soup was nice, but unfortunately I needed information on the ongoing issues first and foremost. So, I focused on that instead. The tension died down for a brief silence, before the Guildmaster finally spoke up.

“They did.” He closed his eyes, sighing. “It happened from one day to another, there was no crazy man claiming to be a hero either.”

I frowned, and the Guildmaster took his chance to sit across from me as he continued.

“This time, the attacks seemed coordinated, but none were unmanageable except for the one that happened today. If it hadn’t been for the Hero of Frost…” He shook his head. “There were dozens of civilian casualties, but it could’ve been much worse.”

“I see, that’s good.” I nodded knowing that I had saved multitudes of people. “So, has there been any suspicious figures in the town after the spiders came?”

“Suspicious figure?” he asked somewhat taken aback before thinking.

I continued to eat the soup, this time enjoying it. It was cold, but it tasted quite nice; I had taken it from a fridge-looking thing in the Guildmaster’s kitchen. Finally, after a few more seconds, the Guildmaster nodded.

“There was someone.”

And I paused. “What were they like?”

“A girl, more than a head shorter than you, she had black hair and red eyes, her irises had white rings, however that’s not what made her suspicious,” he said, shaking his head. “It was her… insistence on arguing that there were more than enough adventurers already and that it was a waste of money to keep hiring them.”

Dergan sighed.

“People argued with her, but she knocked out an adventurer with a kick in the groin, and then left huffing and puffing never to return. She was muttering something, but no one heard her. I think that's the only weird individual I have encountered during this time period; it happened about three days ago.”

With those words he closed his eyes, as a long sigh left him.

“I don’t know, I just hope the Hero of Frost can rescue us. They seem to have personal business with the Hero of Spiders,” he said. “As for where they came from, or what their goal is, I don’t know.”

“I see.” I nodded.

To be honest, I preferred to not become the Hero of Frost again, but perhaps if things went awry, I’d have no choice. I shook my head and continued eating the soup, much to the amusement of the man before me, and as soon as I finished, I stood up.

“Thank you for the food.”

He blinked. “You’re… welcome?”

I nodded at him, and without any further words I left through the front door before using [God Step] to return to the inn and end the day.

As for the Guildmaster, my business with him was done for the most part, at least for today.

◇ ◇ ◇

It quickly turned the next day, unfortunately the inn we were staying in did not offer breakfast, so we went out to try to find something. Though, well we found some meat skewers and… spider skewers, which actually were quite good; their main allure was the crunchiness. Regis had no problem eating them, Ceylon on the other hand.

“This is…” she hesitated. “It’s… good right?”

“I like it.” I shrugged.

Meanwhile Regis just nodded. “Not comparable to the best delicacies in the world, but certainly good for a cheap meal in the middle of nowhere.”

Our words seemed to prompt her to try it, she chewed onto whatever spider thing the skewer had as we walked down the street. And Ceylon chewed and slowly swallowed it.

“It’s quite… I don’t know, edible I guess…”

After that, she took another bite, and slowly ate her food. I didn’t want to force her to eat, but I would’ve certainly felt worried if she went without eating for numerous days again. Unfortunately a lot if not all restaurants seemed to be out of business due to the constant spider sieges.

So, that was all we could eat. As for our destination, well it was of course the adventurer’s guild.

It took a few minutes of relaxed walking to make it nearby, though it was worth noting that every other person in the street seemed to be in a somber mood, even the adventurers around didn’t seem to be doing any better. The reasons for this were obvious, except too…

“Huh, I wonder why everyone is so depressed around here? I mean, spiders just attacked, but it seems a bit much, it’s not like they deal with them daily…”

Regis.

The dragon that was disconnected from human affairs at a grounded level. Perhaps, normally he wouldn’t voice his thoughts out and come across as normal, but given he was traveling with us and our new companion, he was being open and friendly. And well, it was honestly jarring.

“Can’t you just…” Ceylon massaged her temples. “Nevermind.”

Regis raised his brow but said nothing, and moments later we arrived at the adventurer’s guild. We walked through the double doors to a full guild; all the tables were occupied and every single receptionist had a line, so, in the end we waited.

I decided to pick the receptionist from last time, and when it was my turn he instantly recognized me. The bald man with a long beard nodded at me.

“So it’s you again, are you here to take a request?”

I shook my head. “I want to register my friend, Regis, as an adventurer.”

My red haired companion nodded as the receptionist turned to him.

“How strong are you?”

He paused and turned to me, clearly unsure what to reply.

“He’s a D Tier Flame Mage, or whatever class it was,” I said dismissively. “Let me just talk with the Guildmaster about this.”

The receptionist met my gaze. “While I know he values you very highly, you cannot just demand his presence whenever you feel like it.”

“Huh?” I blinked, I had literally broken into his house yesterday. “He’ll understand, just call him over.”

It was a bit annoying, but I couldn’t exactly do as I pleased given my identity as a C Tier adventurer. So, I just crossed my arms waiting for the reply. The receptionist frowned at me, and spoke.

“That is not⁠—”

And I heard it.

“You don’t get special privileges just because you spoke with the guildmaster once.”

the sound of an adventurer starting conflict— did this always happen? I turned only to see a man walking with a frown, meeting my gaze.

“You need a reality check, and I’ll give it to you.” He reached me. “You are no one, and you should go fuck off and wait in line like the rest of us who want to meet the Guildmaster.”

I frowned, it was always annoying to be talked down on. And then, I saw it, his index finger moving to poke me, only⁠— Regis walked in the way.

“Stop, you’re annoying Arc.”

The man frowned and turned to him.

“And who do you think you’re? You’re just some pretty noble boy who thinks they have what it takes to be an adventurer. Look at you, you’re scrawny and weak.” Then, he pushed Regis with his arms. “You don’t have what it takes.”

“Don’t do that again,” he breathed in annoyance.

“Or what?” The adventurer towered over him. “You’ll cry to your rich father?”

“No, I’ll beat you within an inch of your life,” he growled.

The adventurer laughed, and pushed. Putting all his strength, only for he himself to be made to stumble back against an immovable object. Then, without words Regis walked up to the adventurer who was regaining his balance, raised his arm and smacked him.

The adventurer cried as the floorboards of the guild shattered⁠—exploding wood in all directions as the man ended up literally six feet under.

“Waste of time,” Regis snorted.

I blinked, having a small feeling of deja-vu as the entire guild went silent, staring in horror. Regis crossed his arms, and a moment later, the side door slammed as the Guildmaster came out.

“What the fuck is going⁠—”

And he paused, meeting my gaze.

“Arc, did you cause this?”

“No, but my companion who I want to register as an adventurer did.”

There was further silence, and then, the Guildmaster nodded at us.

“I see, come in.”

And he walked back into his office, people let out weird sounds of surprise as I quickly gestured for Regis and Ceylon to follow. We went in and closed the door, as soon as we did that, the guild hall exploded into heated discussions about what had just happened. Some spoke of a new S Tier individual, others tried to guess my relation with the guildmaster, and⁠—

I stopped bothering to listen, as I removed the Necklace of Obfuscation and handed it to Regis. Hopefully it would make registration much easier.

As for the Guildmaster, he was… glaring at us.

* * * * *

Dergan didn’t want to upset Arc, not someone as strong as her. Even if he had met the Hero of Frost, he had to remind himself that S Tier individuals were still at the peak of humanity, and Arc was one of such individuals.

But even then, she was odd. Whether it was her way of doing things, or even the new red-haired companion she had brought. Dergan didn’t know what was wrong with the boy, other than he didn’t seem human. His mannerisms were slightly mechanical to him, but the feeling stemmed from something else, something that he couldn’t quite pinpoint.

Dergan let out a breath before getting to work, but honestly he didn’t want to do too much. Especially thinking back on the scene that had unfolded outside of his office. So he simply turned to ask.

“Is he secretly S Tier too?”

There was a pause, one of hesitation, before she ultimately nodded. “Yeah, he is.”

“I see. Alright.” Dergan nodded.

He didn’t understand how such a young boy was that strong, but perhaps he had gotten to B Tier at 16, and stopped aging at that point. That was a reasonable explanation to him. So he began to make a new adventurer tag.

“What Tier and name?”

“D Tier, name Regis’karr.” The boy answered confidently. “Class Flame Mage.”

“Alright.”

In all honesty if what he was doing was found out, he’d instantly lose his position, but something told him that this was the right thing to do. But he still nodded and got to work, and in nothing short of a minute a new Adventurer’s Guild registration had been made. He stared at the engraving.

Name: Regiskar. Registered in Ranedale Branch. Tier: D

He nodded, and handed over the plate only for Arc’s companion to frown.

“You got my name wrong, it’s not Regiskar, it’s Regis-kar-r.” He emphasized.

And Dergan blinked. “Like… the Dragon of Flames, Regis’karr?”

“Yes, that is me.” Regis’karr snorted. “As if I’d let my own name be sullied by a human.”

Arc paused, Ceylon facepalmed, and Dergan blinked.

“Human⁠—”

“Don’t mind what he says, he is just eccentric.” Arc sighed, interrupting him. “The adventurer tag is fine.”

Regis’karr frowned. “What do you mean, my name is clearly wrong⁠—”

And he paused under the gaze of Arc.

“It’s fine.” She said once more.

The boy slowly nodded, his gaze towards the ground. “Ah, right… Yeah, it’s fine.”

Dergan couldn’t believe what he was seeing, but before he could think of anything further Arc turned to him and bade farewell, leaving the room with her companions shortly after. And all Dergan could do was take in what just happened.

“Humans… that is him… name sullied?” He muttered to himself. “That monstrous strength, it can only mean…”

And it downed in his mind.

Regis was Regis’karr, the Dragon of Flames. And yet, before Arc he was completely submissive. Which could only mean he had submitted to her; but hadn’t the Dragon of Flames submitted to the Hero of Frost already…?

Arc too used Frost, and she was terrifyingly strong, the feeling she gave him yesterday was exactly the same…

And Dergan paused.

“Arc is the Hero of Frost…?”

It made complete sense to him, it all suddenly made sense. Her mysteriousness, the fact that she was around when the Hero of Frost was around⁠—

“Wait…”

And then he rolled his eyes at himself.

The Hero of Frost was a man, including the massive height difference, there was absolutely no way that Arc could be the Hero of Frost.

“That really was quite stupid of me.” Dergan chuckled, smiling to himself. “Arc being the Hero of Frost? Ridiculous.”