Arc | Chapter. 87: Ex-Guildmaster (Patreon)

Chapter. 87: Ex-Guildmaster

It was as if a pin had been dropped. The old man’s voice echoed throughout the guild as an unsettling silence began. Then, a moment later susurrations broke out, ushering new rumors about me to others.

“Did that man just call her the Heroine of Frost?”

“No, that’s impossible, there is a Hero of Frost already!”

“But then why would she be called that?”

A sigh left me, knowing I had very little options to save my neck other than to simply ignore what he had just said. I shook my head and looked at the old man that was striding towards me, a wry smile settled on my face as I greeted him.

“Old man, didn’t expect to see you all the way here; I thought you were still in Blackcrest.”

The old man was none other than Blackcrest’s Guildmaster, the person that had tried to guess my identity as a hero, and the only one to correctly do so. Though I never confirmed anything with him, it seemed he had just accepted it and went along with it.

He smiled at me. “Well, as of now I’m officially an adventurer again.”

I paused for a moment. “You mean you’re no longer⁠—”

“Yep.” He nodded. “I have stepped down from my position of Guildmaster of Blackcrest. I came here to do paperwork.”

“Right…”

He turned to Ceylon and nodded at her. “Nice to see you here too.”

She meekly agreed. “Yeah, nice to see you too…”

Then the ex-Guildmaster turned to me and proffered his hand with a smile. “Feel free to call me Raynell instead of old man.”

I took him up on his offer and nodded. “Alright, Raynell.” I shook my head. “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t call me by that title, we don’t want false rumors to spread.”

He chuckled. “Relax Miss Heroine of Frost, things will be fine.”

Hearing that, those that weren’t whispering amongst themselves began to do so, and all I could do was sigh and shake my head.

“Whatever old man.”

In response he chuckled, and at that moment the receptionist to my side coughed to draw my attention. I turned as she put on a professional smile and spoke up.

“These are the requests that I found based on your criteria.”

I nodded and grabbed the stack of papers, but just as I was about to start shuffling through them the old man spoke up.

“That reminds me, you did take that intel request and next thing I knew Mount Arlais blew up, you wouldn’t have anything to do with that right?” he asked in a teasing tone.

“No,” I replied flatly. “Now let me read.”

I turned to the requests and began to read, and quickly found that amongst the five of them or so I didn’t really understand the difference between the monsters. A small sigh left me and I turned to the receptionist.

“Which has the highest quantity of monsters and most potential experience?”

She blinked as I offered the papers, but before she could react the old man spoke up.

“Perhaps if you let me see I could offer my expertise.”

A sigh left me and I handed him the papers. The man had been an A Tier adventurer so it made sense to me that he’d be able to offer a good opinion. I watched as his aged eyes scanned through all the papers before finally he piped up.

“Aha, this one is good. Only problem is how far away the destination is.” With that he handed me a single piece of paper and the rest were for the receptionist.

I read it and quickly raised my brow. “Undead? Those are a thing?”

“Well they are annoying to kill but they are in high numbers and reward a lot of experience.” The old man shrugged. “I believe it’s what you want.”

“Right…”

I nodded and turned to the receptionist handing her the paper. “Do you think the old man is right?”

She ruffled through the papers very quickly and let out a small sigh, though I could see the hesitation on her face as she spoke up.

“That is indeed probably the best option for what you want, but the request is at the peak of B Tier, I’d suggest having someone tag along for safety purposes.” She breathed. “At the same time the destination is five days away by horse.”

“Oh, I see.” I nodded.

“Well, aren’t those great news?” The old man smiled at me. “That means I can tag along with you and you won’t have any trouble with the request.”

I sighed. “Well, can I undertake it alone or…?”

The receptionist took a breath. “That, we’d need to check with the Guildmaster.”

“Alright…”

◇ ◇ ◇

The Guildmaster sat behind the desk before us, her blonde hair was neatly tied and her piercing green eyes stared right into my soul. Then after a moment she spoke.

“You cannot take the request alone.” She shook her head. ”I suggest taking Raynell along with you; having an A Tier adventurer accompany you is quite the honor.”

I sighed. While I could ask the Dragon of Water; right now he was busy funneling his wealth into Draliz and would often have to leave the continent for it. Not only that, but it would draw way too much attention; at the same time I was acquainted with the old man so perhaps it wasn’t too bad. No rumors had reached me in spite of him knowing my identity but still.

I turned to Ceylon.

“Well what do you think?”

She blinked. “Well we could always just go without the request⁠—” the Guildmaster coughed in the background. “But perhaps this wouldn’t be a bad idea? We can just ditch the old man if it becomes bothersome.”

“Hey,” the old man protested.

“Alright.” I nodded as I turned to the now annoyed Guildmaster. “We’ll accept the request.”

She harrumphed and began the proceedings for us. Though there was no doubt in my mind that Raynell, the old man, had quite a lot of sway with her which is why she had declined us. But it didn’t matter. I wasn’t planning on entertaining him for too long.

And not long after, we left the guild.

* * * * *

Raynell was in a good mood. Though admittedly he did feel like the third wheel, but well he was going along with the Heroine of Frost and her incredibly close friend. He was nothing more than an invader in their relationship. However, this was an opportunity he couldn’t let go of. Not for as long as he was sane.

The reason was simple:

He wanted to see what the Heroine of Frost was capable of.

Of course, it’s not like the woman, Arc, had confirmed her identity or anything but there was no doubt about it with him. That said, he did reconsider whether to call her Heroine of Frost in public; he had thought it was fine due to the fake Hero of Frost making an appearance, but given the whispers that followed them after they left the guild now he wasn’t so sure.

But he’d think about it after his trip, for now he thought he’d enjoy things.

“So, miss heroine, when are we setting off?” he asked randomly during a space in the conversation.

“After I have a very serious talk with you,” she said simply.

Raynell blinked and next thing he knew is the two women walked into an alley. Of course he had no choice but to follow. And once they were in deep enough Arc turned to him with a small frown on her face.

“Look, I don’t know why you want to come along, but if you insist then I have only one requirement.”

“What is it?” Raynell raised his brow.

“No speaking of what happens to anyone,” she said with a cold hiss. “Fail to do so and I’ll ensure you regret it.”

He met her gaze and Raynell knew she was serious. The air was becoming cold and even his breaths had vapor now. It was quite… terrifying. Her eyes looked like ones of an apex predator, reminiscent of a dragon.

“I’ll make sure to keep it in mind⁠—”

And she took a step forward, making Raynell back against the wall. Her hand was against the wall and she lowered herself to meet his gaze. Her eyes bore into his soul and at that moment Raynell saw it.

Once more, he saw it.

It was that same sense of profound depth like the ocean, but for a moment, he saw more. Flashes of frost⁠— in a single moment he found himself standing in a snowland where the temperature was enough to endanger his life, in the background a gigantic creature of unknown origins stood there looking at him.

Then, the scenery shifted as he found himself standing atop of a mountain. And then, he felt a chilling cold, one that told him to look upwards, and that’s when he saw it⁠— a gigantic magic circle that he didn’t understand but still irradiated never seen before danger.

It was the same magic circle he had seen in the far distance of the horizon.

And then, it fired as he shivered.

Raynell yelped, blinking as he lightly convulsed into the wall. His heart rate increased ten-fold as he looked at Arc.

“I am serious.”

“R-Right… not a single word will be known, I promise…” Raynell spoke more certain than ever⁠— and more fearful than ever.

Was this the power of a hero?

Arc frowned as Raynell began to panic, and then she just nodded.

“Alright, now we should get going.”

Raynell nodded, still terrified. The heroine stepped away and gestured to Ceylon, immediately smiling at her blonde friend. They held hands before Arc turned towards him, proffering her hand.

“Take it, we are going right at this moment.”

Raynell blinked, slightly confused but meekly nodded. His heart was still restless, no amount of life experience could’ve prepared for what he witnessed; even what he had seen of the Hero of Flames didn’t compare to what he felt just a few moments ago. But if this was just a glimpse, then…

What awaited for him to see?

With that resolution, he grabbed onto her hand.

“Alright, let’s go⁠—”

And the world spun, everything blurred for just a moment before he realized they were standing in a forest. What?

Arc turned to her companion. “Hey are you okay?”

“Yeah… It’s slightly better now that I leveled up…”

“That’s nice.” Arc smiled.

Meanwhile, Raynell was still as confused as ever. He turned towards the pair.

“Where are we⁠—”

And a tree next to him shook, an explosion of dirt took his attention as he turned in a panic. There, he saw a woman rise from the ground. She was an adventurer with a sword, and was bloodied all over.

“Faral.”

And at that moment another person next to the woman, a sword hanging over the adventurer. It was… another woman with flowing green hair and robes. Raynell had never seen her before but her appearance gave  him a weird feeling. Almost as if she was someone to be worshiped. The woman relaxed and turned.

“What is it, Arc?” Then she raised her brow looking at Raynell. “And who is this?”

“An acquaintance,” Arc said simply. “We want to travel to…” she trailed off.

“The Traitor’s Grave.” Ceylon said simply.

“Yeah that place.”

“I think I know where it is?” She asked herself. “So you want a ride?”

“Yeah.” Arc nodded. “As for Meika…”

And the adventurer collapsed on the ground.

“Well it seems that that’s been resolved, we’ll just take her along” she said idly.

The interaction had made Raynell relax enough for him to ask something jokingly. “Why are you guys worried about the girl seeing whatever we are about to do?”

“Well the less people that know the better.” Arc shrugged. “Faral is the Dragon of Wind after all.”

“The Dragon of Wind?” Raynell chuckled and shook his head. “You aren’t joking are you?”

Then the sunlight of the forest got blocked. Raynell blinked and turned only to see her. A towering dragon stood there, looking down on both of them. Raynell had seen illustrations of old⁠— there was no doubt about it.

It was the Dragon of Wind.

His mind paused for a moment, as Faral, the Dragon of Wind spoke, lowering her head.

“Alright, let’s go.”

Arc nodded, and hefted the fallen adventurer over her shoulder like a sack before boarding the mythical beast without hesitation. Raynell just stared for a few moments.

They were going to be riding a dragon…

“Well, are you coming or not?” Arc asked, raising her brow.

That was enough for Raynell to break out of his stupor, making him nod and quickly walk over the wings of the dragon, before joining everyone. And a moment later, with a flap of her wings they set off. All while Raynell was in disbelief as he processed everything that had just happened.

The Dragon of Wind was subservient to Arc, and… the Dragon of Flames too?!

It didn’t make sense…

“So does this person know you’re the Queen of the Dragons?” Faral asked.

“Well now, I guess he does.” Arc shrugged.

And at that moment, Raynell’s old aged brain stopped working, unable to comprehend what he had just heard.