Volume 3 Chapter 4: Part 3: (Patreon)

Volume 3 Chapter 4: Part 3:

"What a beautiful sunrise." Onyx praises as he looks out the window to see the sun. It has been a day since Onyx and Rena arrived at the Riqueza Kingdom. After they finished eating their fill, they rested in an inn.

Onyx walks out to the balcony to view the scene even more. It isn't just the sunrise that's beautiful. It's a beautiful scene in general. The light breeze brushing his face, a rising sun, and gentle calming waves from the beach.

This is so worth the one gold coin. Onyx laughs, remembering the incident.

He followed the vendor's advice and decided on an inn near the beach. All the ones there are just so grand compared to the ones they crossed to get there. But that grandness came at a cost. One night there cost 1 gold coin!

That just slapped Onyx in the face. He does have the money, and he did say before they'll splurge a bit. But one gold coin for one night is overkill!

In the end: with tons of mulling, Onyx did decide to pay it. You only live once!

And this choice was great because,

Damn, they're cooking so early. Below the balcony, there's a stall set up, and the aroma floated up to Onyx's room!

Well, I guess this works. Onyx smiles as he walks to the door. But the sound wakes Rena up,

"Master, where are you going?" The two have decided to share a 2-bed room.

"I'm going to get a jog in." Despite coming to a new kingdom, that won't stop him from training.

"Ahh,"

"You don't have to come with me if you don't want to." Seeing how she's about to get up from the bed, Onyx stops her. He continues,

"I'll only be gone for a few minutes."

"..Understood then, master. I shall continue to rest." Onyx doesn't say anything else as he walks out of the room. And the moment he gets out of the building, the beach is across from it!

Running alongside the beach, he's in awe at how big it is. He didn't expect that there would be a beach so large in the kingdom. As he jogs around the area, he notices more stalls set or being set up.

"Get your shaved ice! We have apple flavored, seven grapes, and milk flavored!"

"Try some of our grilled beef stripes! They're nice and juicy! Grilled to perfection!"

Everywhere he jogs, there will be hawkers promoting their items out in the open.

I should bring some things back for Rena. The inn they're staying at doesn't supply any food. Rather, the innkeeper wants us to go out and eat at the stalls.

That's the relationship between the inns and the vendors. The vendors entice people with their food while the inns are there for people to stay even longer.

As Onyx bought some food,

Sniff Sniff.

What's that smell? Onyx sniffs some more.

Throughout all the food smells, a particular fragrance caught Onyx's nose. He looks around, searching for it and his eyes lock onto the source. Away from the stalls, he sees a bunch of fish roasting in a fireplace.

Onyx doesn't know why but the smell coming from it mesmerized him. He doesn't even realize that he's already in front of the fire!

"What do you need, young man?" An elder looking to be in his sixty asks Onyx.

Ahh. Onyx snaps out of it and realizes where he is. His face turns red as he apologizes, "Sorry for disturbing you. The smell from your fish brought me over here."

The elder laughs, "Haha, I like your honesty. Do you want one? There's plenty to go around." He chuckles as he brings one of the fishes up to Onyx.

"Thank you then." Onyx doesn't hesitate and takes it. He sits down beside the elder and munches down on the fish. The moment he did, never did Onyx expect the flavors from the fish to burst out!

What flavor! It's like multiple explosions were lit in his mouth, setting all at once!

Onyx can't believe it. But his mouth does otherwise as it continues to munch down at super speed! Seeing this, the elder laughs,

"Slow down, young lad. Nobody will take the fish away. And there's more to go around too."

"Sorry about that. I have never eaten something so good in my life." The food he ate yesterday was good. However, it's nothing compared to the fish he's eating right now!

"But why isn't anybody else coming over here?" Onyx looked around, and only he got drawn in by the fish. The other customers are focused on their own thing.

"That's because it's common here. Silver-tailed salmon is a staple here. It's always in the fish market. However, these people don't know how to prepare for it. So instead of having this delicious goodness here, what they bite into is gamy and tough meat." The elder laughs.

Onyx laughs too, "I bet you can make a fortune selling this."

"Gagaga, you don't have to tell me about this. I'd already had. When I was your age, I was the number one vendor in the 1st district!" The elder reminisces.

I see. Onyx makes a doubtful expression.

It sounds more like a boast to him.

"Hey! Don't give me that odd look. Even if you're an adventurer, you should at least hear about Darian's snack shack! It's the number one stall here!"

"Uhh, sorry. I haven't heard about it. I've only been here for half a day." The moment Onyx says this, that pride deflates like a balloon. As Onyx's about to apologize, he realizes something,

"How did you know I'm an adventurer?" He isn't wearing his armor and never said he's an adventurer. He looks just like any other civilian.

"That's simple, lad. You've said this is your first time trying silver-tailed salmon. That's a common fish here. And two, your muscles say a lot about you as well." Onyx rolled up his sleeves, showing his muscles.

To have such well-honed muscles like that showed he's a skilled person.

"Wow, that's some deduction." Onyx's a little shocked by how much knowledge he got from a glance.

"That's something you'll gain when you grow older. Also, what do I call you, lad?"

"Ahh, my name is Onyx Silver. What about you, elder?" Onyx forgot to introduce himself.

"Names Darian Todd. Just call me by my first name, lad. So how's your half-day in the kingdom?"

"Hmm, it's been fun. There are a lot of stalls around where anybody can have fun. I've already run around and tasted around 50 stalls. And it doesn't seem I've gotten through half of it."

"Haha, I can tell you, you haven't even gotten through a tenth of it." Darian laughs.

"But I'm curious, what's going on over there?" Onyx says as he points at the center of the kingdom. The entire portion of the land is elevated two times, creating three different sections. (Best example is a smaller cake stacked on a larger one.)

"Ahh, this is your first time here, so you wouldn't know about it. The Riqueza Kingdom is separated into three different layers. The first layer we're in right now is Sea. That's where all the stalls are set up. This is the best place for travelers and people to tour around.

The second layer is Earth. That's where most residents live.

And the last layer is Sky: which is the highest point. Those who live there are high-tier merchants, and a majority of expensive items are bought there too."

"I see. So that's how the kingdom is made." It made a lot more sense to Onyx now, "Also, can I have another one?" Talking so much made him want another fish.

"..." Darian laughs, "Sure! Sure! Take as much as you want. But in return, I want to hear about your adventures."

"Hmm? You want to hear about my adventures?" Onyx tilts his head, "Are you sure? It's pretty mundane?"

"I've given you information. Now it's your turn to share."

"Sure, I don't mind." Onyx doesn't care as he begins to share most of the things during his adventure.

Darian's expression changes into surprise hearing all of this, "How is a deviled python mundane, child?! Do you know how many people died from fighting it?! Let alone a party; you did it alone." If anybody else heard about this, they would have spit out blood!

"Ehh, Besides the devil python, the rest are pretty normal."

"..." Normal for you. Blood kong, a variant. There's no way an ordinary adventurer could do this.

"But it seems like there's something on your mind."

"Hmm? What do you mean?" Onyx's expression changes a bit.

"You can't lie to me, lad. Do you know how long I lived? Just from walking over here, I can tell there's something on your mind. Tell this old geezer here. I may be able to help you out."

"I've just been thinking about something." Onyx says as he looks up at the skies, "It's something I've never imagined happening."

"Good or bad."

"Bad." That image is something Onyx can't get out of his mind.

"Hmm, then take this advice from this old geezer: Don't think about it at all."

Hah? Onyx's expression turns blank. Do nothing about it? That's what he's been doing for the past few days. And doing nothing is why he's in turmoil all this time.

"Let me rephrase this; Just erase it from your mind. If you don't understand what's happening and have little to go on: there isn't anything you can do about it. So why be frustrated about it? It's a waste of thought."

"..." Onyx doesn't know what to say. But it makes sense. He can't do a thing about it. Yet, he's thinking about it so hard too.

Thinking about it a bit more. Onyx gets off the ground,

"So you finally got your answer?" Darian smiles.

"Mmhmm. Thanks a lot. I have to go now. I have somebody waiting for me." Rena is probably sitting at the inn still. "Thank you for the fish." Onyx doesn't say anything else as he quickly leaves.

Seeing Onyx leave, Darian chuckles, "So that is the hero."

...

"Thank you for the wait. Congratulations, you two passed the rank-up quest." The advisor says to Onyx and Rena.

After eating their breakfast, the two go to the guildhall to find out the result of their quest.

"Please hand me your guild cards." Onyx and Rena nod and hand their guild card over. The receptionist stamps it, and the guild cards change colors.

"You two are now C-rank adventurers. With the higher rank, you guys will take higher-level quests."

"Mmmhmm." Onyx understands. But then he asks, "What about the verdict?"

"You do not have to be worried about this. We have verified with the guild requester and checked the sight as well. Everything is what you guys said. In a few days, a letter will be sent to the guild hall in Advent City. It'll explain everything, and the adventurers will be punished accordingly by your guild master."

"Understood." Hearing that Vinnie and Blaine will get punished places Onyx's heart at ease. The two didn't say anything else as they left.

The two have decided they will leave after this.

"Let's get some gifts for the others before we leave." Rena nods, and the two decide to look at some stalls. It doesn't take before they buy everything they want.

"Rena, let's-" Onyx was going to say it's time to go; he noticed Rena eyeing something strangely.

She's looking at some accessories. Each one looked to be hand-crafted and well-designed.

"You want one?"

"Ahh, no, master. I was just looking around."

"..." Ony smiles as he looks down at them. A snowflake caught his eye.

"How much for this one?"

The vendor explains, "Oh, you got yourself a good eye there, young man. This hair clip is made from fragments of aurora amethyst. In the morning, this may look like a beautiful hair clip. But at night is when this hairclip truly shines! A beautiful aurora will form around it!"

"Huh?! Then why hasn't anybody snagged it up?!" If it's something like this, then it should sell like hotcakes.

The vendor scratches his head, "That's because it cost one gold coin."

"..." That explains it. Who would spend one gold coin on a hairclip?!

"Customer, I assure you! The quality of the material I used is high-tier! And the design is one of a kind as well!"

"Alright." Onyx gives him the gold coin. He doesn't need to explain it to him!

The vendor smiles, "Thank you for the purchase!"

After buying, Rena quickly questions, "Master, why would you buy something so expensive?!"

"Give me a minute." Onyx unclasps it and places the clip on Rena's hair.

Seeing it on here, Onyx nods,

"This is why I bought it. The clip looks perfect on you." It felt like the hairclip is made just for Onyx.

"But-"

"Relax, coins are not an issue for us. And it's fine to splurge a bit from time to time."

"..."

"It's fine. Now we can leave the kingdom." Onyx doesn't say anything else as they leave.