Arc | Chapter. 152: Casual Interactions (Patreon)

Chapter. 152: Casual Interactions

Late at night, Zalbor screamed and cried. He had been healed from his injury but, unfortunately without a very expensive potion he wouldn’t be getting his manhood back. That⁠ thought alone filled him with so much dread and grief that he struggled to process it. He screamed until his throat grew hoarse, he cried until his tears ran out, and he punched walls until his fists bled, before finally, he remembered everything.

The woman, the white-haired homeless woman, the one that had called herself the Heroine of Frost⁠— she… she had been the reason for his suffering!

Zalbor’s mind raced and thought of multiple ways for revenge, though unfortunately he didn’t know where the woman was staying so instead he made use of his contacts to track her as soon as the sun rose.

He was going to get his revenge…

Zalbor grabbed at his groin with anger.

One way or another he’d hurt the woman.

* * * * *

Sleep had been quite nice, a long while had passed since I had used a proper bed so it was an enjoyable experience. Sleep in the Forgotten Places was… okay at best. Now, though, it was time to leave. I wouldn’t be staying in the city of Zurn for much longer. However, after grabbing breakfast with Lily I realized I had yet to obtain my payment for the hydra. And so, we headed for the Adventurer’s Guild.

The city itself was quite nice, though I did feel like people stared at me a lot, and more than anything they were eyes of pity. While I could surmise the reason rather easily ⁠— looking homeless⁠ ⁠— I didn’t really care for trying to restore my clothes just yet. Plus, I didn’t even know if I’d be able to make them just as easily given the way my magic had changed.

“I’ll worry about it later.”

With those words, I entered the Adventurer’s Guild, this time I made Lily stay outside. Stares immediately came my way, some recognized me and gave me amusement, others just looked at me with confusion, but I paid it no mind as I reached the counter.

“It’s you…” The woman behind the counter frowned.

At that moment, I sensed someone run out of the building in a hurry, but I paid it no mind as I raised my brow.

“I suppose that is a fair reaction, don’t worry though I’m just here for payment.”

“Payment?” The woman sneered. “What payment?”

I tilted my head. “The one for killing the hydra?”

And she chuckled. “You? Killing the hydra?”

Her words were loud enough for other people to hear, and because of that, I heard chuckling behind me too. Indeed, it was a ridiculous prospect to these people, but now I just found the situation annoying.

“Just tell Stella, she’ll fill you in.”

The receptionist immediately turned serious. “You can’t just request to see the Guildmaster like that⁠—”

“You!” a scream echoed. “You, I’ve finally found you, girl who claims to be the Heroine of Frost!”

I turned around only to see the creepy man from yesterday, he was looking at me with bleary blood filled eyes⁠— primal hatred in his expression. I wasn’t dumb, I knew why he was here, however I didn’t care. So, I corrected him.

“I don’t claim to be the Heroine of Frost, I’d show you my status if I could.” I crossed my arms. “I’m level 180 or something.”

My words caused people to look at me strangely, but the wolf man couldn’t care less as he strode to me unsheathing his sword. The reaction causing a wave of susurration to spread through the guild.

“The leader of the Black Fangs wants to kill that woman!”

“She looks so weak and yet claims to be that strong, ridiculous.”

“She isn’t even moving, is she frozen in fear?”

I didn’t really pay it any mind as the man continued.

“Fuck you!” He raised his sword. “I’ll kill you, you whore!” His sword began to shine in a purple light. “Regret this, [Abyssal Slash]!”

At that moment a blast of purple light came my way and it hit me⁠— wood from the floor exploded everywhere around me as people in my vicinity screamed in a panic. Then, a second later the smoke cleared and⁠— people gasped.

“She’s unscathed.”

“How?!”

“That makes absolutely no sense.”

I shook my head and turned back to the now pale receptionist.

“Well with that out of the way, get me Stella or my payment⁠.” I paused before deciding to clarify. “The payment would be preferable.”

The man behind me was panting in anger. “You dare ignore me?!”

I paid him no mind, and finally I saw the door upstairs open. Meanwhile the man sprinted at me in a frenzy⁠— though I didn’t really care. Instead I turned to see the elf who looked over the balcony.

“Just what is going on⁠—” Her eyes widened in horror. “Be careful!”

“[Death Slash]!” And his sword collided against my back only for it to explode⁠— like glass shattering, dozens of pieces of frozen metal flew everywhere.

“I’m here for my payment,” I said simply.

Stella just stared at me, absolutely mortified, meanwhile there was a heavy silence in the guild. It was a bit annoying.

The man behind me growled. “You!”

He grabbed my shoulder and turned me around only for him to scream as his hand was frozen. A sigh left me as I looked down at his pathetic figure before I decided to put him out of his misery. Plus he was being annoying too and getting in the way of me getting my money. He was at my feet, holding his hand in pain, and I simply lowered my hand⁠ ⁠— index against my thumb ⁠— and I flicked.

A squeal resounded along with a cloud of dust straight out of the guild, then came a heavy thud.

“There,” I turned around to look at the mortified Stella. “I’m here for my payment, Ms. Guildmaster elf, Stella.”

My words seemed to do the trick, after hearing them she tensed and slowly nodded.

* * * * *

Stella felt… exposed.

The woman, Arc, knew of her race…

It was the first time it had happened, and she didn’t even know what to do now. Or rather⁠— how to deal with the fact that she knew. Stella was already preparing the money, a pouch full of platinum coins ⁠— more than the yearly wage of a large part of the population.

Still…

She had sensed a blast of mana right as it happened, and when she exited her office there was a large gash inside the hall. The destruction going past Arc and past the receptionist⁠— yet the receptionist had been protected by Arc’s body. Not only that but she had taken the blade of an A Tier warrior point blank and came out unscathed…

And the woman knew her identity…

Stella shuddered a bit at that but quickly made her decision as she opened her drawer and grabbed a black adventurer tag with golden engravings.

Perhaps it was wrong of her to do this, but she hoped that giving the woman a secret identity would buy her silence.

* * * * *

After about five minutes of waiting, I was called into the Guildmasters office. People had been whispering about me the entire time and as soon as I left it turned into full on discussions. Mostly rumors they had heard about me prior and wondering about my appearance. Now though, Stella sat before me.

“This is your payment.” She said, sliding a pouch towards me. I could see it filled to the brim with silver coins that shone in a blue hue. “Two-hundred platinum coins.”

I smiled and grabbed the pouch before tearing a hole with my dagger and throwing it there. Then, as I was about to stand up Stella continued.

“I have a request, or a favor to ask of you.”

I blinked. “What is it?”

“You know what I am, right?” Stella asked, shifting uncomfortably.

“An elf?” I asked, puzzled.

She nodded with a sigh. “So I didn’t mishear you. I’d like to ask you to never mention my race to anyone, most people don’t know of our existence really.”

I blinked. “Is that so?”

“I hope that can remain a secret; the wrong people hearing about our race could spell the end of us. Last I heard, our guardian the Dragon of Wind isn’t present in Ivyfall.”

I paused. “The Dragon of Wind is the guardian of your race?”

She nodded again. “Which is why I’d like you to keep it a secret,” she said, sliding a black tag with golden accents to me. “Consider it a token of gratitude.”

I grabbed the tag only to see that I was now registered as an S Tier adventurer.

Name: Arc. Registered in: Zurn Branch. Tier: S

“Right, I’ll keep it to myself,” I agreed and accepted the tag.

I didn’t know what I was going to do with it but⁠—

“Actually, is there another favor I can ask for?”

Stella paused, and nervously looked at me. “What is it?”

“Could you write a recommendation letter for me to become an adventurer?” I asked. “Given I was already an adventurer before that, and I got a new tag I got an idea.”

Stella paused. “Right, I’ll do it, may I ask what the idea is?”

“Well it’s simple, I’d like to get an adventurer tag of every rank⁠— you know like a collection?”

“A collection of adventurer ranks…?” the elf processed. “Sure… just… don’t expose me for helping you, I could… lose my job for this…”

I smiled. “Don’t worry, no one will believe me anyway.”

“RIght…”

◇ ◇ ◇

Ten minutes later, I walked out with a personal letter in my pocket dimension as well as an adventurer tag. Lily seemed a bit flustered when she saw me but approached me anyway.

“Are we leaving the city now?” she asked quietly.

“We are leaving, yeah, our next stop is the next continent and the capital of uh…” I trailed off trying to remember. “Artonis or something.”

“Right, so our next stop is the continent of Syrk and the main capital of its biggest empire; Arthosin,” Lily nodded.

“Yeah.”

And with that, we left the city and went on our journey.

The first hour was peaceful, but eventually, Lily, the Dragon of Taboo, broke the silence. Curiosity evident in her voice.

“Are you not worried about getting hurt?” She asked before continuing. “You could’ve avoided the attack but you let it hit you. Why?”

“Well…” I was looking at the clouds. “My instincts told me it didn’t matter so I just paid it no mind. I doubt you pay any attention to the wind hitting your skin when outside⁠.”

“I guess I don’t, but do you truly trust your instincts that much?”

“I do.” I nodded, my tone solemn. “It’s what kept me alive in the Forgotten Places for so long. Though, even before I left Arlas, I don’t think the attack would’ve hit me thanks to a skill. Now, well I’m really not sure if it’s in place or not.”

“You said your mana ascended,” Lily stated. “And I can sense that the way you use magic is different from everyone else, but you still have access to the system do you not?”

“I think so.”

[ Status: Hero. Race: A̵s̷c̶e̴n̵d̵e̸d̴ ̴D̷r̷a̶c̵o̸n̷i̶c̴ ̸H̴u̶m̷a̵n̷. Name: Arc. Level: 180. Tier: SS. Attributes: Unavailable. ]

“I do but now I have a race category that seems to be slightly corrupted.” I tilted my head and proceeded to open my skills which looked the same as last time I did. “Everything seems alright.”

“Have you tried using normal magic?” Lily asked.

“Hm… no I haven’t.” I thought for a moment before I turned to look at our surroundings.

We were currently flying over a vast ocean, I had no idea what it was called and I didn’t bother to ask about it. Instead, my eyes darted around and found⁠— nothing.

“Is there anything that I can test magic on?” I asked.

“Well, we are in the Sea of Death, so, most certainly,” Lily said without a pause. “Just give it a minute, I’m sure you’ll see something.”

“Sea of Death?” I tilted my head. “Is it the most dangerous sea in all of Arlas or something?”

“Pretty much.”

Huh…

And as predicted by Lily, two minutes later I saw a familiar beast, except much bigger and it had rugged scars.

[Grand Killer Martal. Tier: S]

Oh, like the bigger version? I pointed my hand at it. Should be a bit helpful. I didn’t really know what to expect, but after taking a breath I spoke following my instinct.

“[Judgment of the Ice God].”

Contrary to my expectations it felt like arcane magic and a gigantic spear blasted the poor beast. An explosion of blood and gore occurred, one that went almost a hundred meters into the air as a sigh left me.

“That…” Lily began. “Slightly felt like normal magic but also not really.”

“Yeah I don’t know.” I looked back at the sky. “I’ll figure out stuff before reaching Draliz I guess.”

“I hope so.”

“What will you do when we get there?”

My question put the dragon in deep thought, as there was only silence after. The wind passed through my hair as I enjoyed the view and sights I could see. The other continent was already in view⁠— Lily had called it Syrk, it seemed to have plains as its main biome.

Finally, after another minute of silence Lily spoke.

“I don’t know, perhaps hole myself up in a room for a few days before returning home.”

“I see.”

There was another silence, though this one lasted about five seconds before she spoke again, this time making a question.

“Do you… judge me for that?”

“I don’t. I can tell that all of this⁠— everything I’m doing is not for you. So.” I thought for a moment. “Sorry for dragging you through Zurn, and for what’s left to come.”

My apology made the dragon nod, and then say something I didn’t expect.

“I’m glad I met you.”

And then, there was silence as we flew for the rest of the day and slept somewhere in a forest.

* * * * *

Navis was having quite the boring morning. Ever since he had moved to Arthosin his job had become quite boring and slow; and well it made sense given that most of the promising warriors joined the army in the capital. Which left the Adventurer’s Guild with…

His eyes looked across the hall at the shoddy dressed people.

The scraps.

He sighed and then saw someone enter through the door. A woman who⁠ — for lack of a better word ⁠— has seen better days. She had an ice leg too. The sight made Navis sigh. The state of adventurers in the capital really was poor. She walked up to the counter with a small smile, an odd dagger at her waist.

“Hey so, I’m here to become an adventurer.”

Oh it’s worse than he thought. He watched as the woman grabbed a dagger from her waist and tore into space. What the⁠— The sight made him completely pause as she stuck her hand into the void space that had just opened. Then she pulled a letter⁠— fuck…

“So, Stella, the Guildmaster of Zurn in the other continent wrote the recommendation letter,” she said, simply sliding it over.

“Right…” Navis looked at it only to see a golden seal.

Only for the Guildmaster to read…

He looked at the shoddy woman and accidentally voiced his thoughts out loud. “Who the fuck are you?”

She blinked. “Oh, I’m the Heroine of Frost.”

Navis paused and quickly apologized, “Sorry, that was very rude of me.” He did not register what the woman had said. “I’m just impressed, people as capable as you are rare here.” He smiled. “I’ll be right back with the Guildmaster.”

And with that, he headed upstairs with the letter, knowing that he now had a very long day ahead of him. Something that was quite exciting.

Perhaps with her help the adventurers can become prominent in Arthosin once more.