I woke to a sunny day, birds were singing, and the street was bustling. I sat up and rubbed the tiredness from my eyes, then pulled off the blanket and stepped out of bed with a yawn. I stretched, removing any lingering drowsiness, Then walked into the restroom to piss before brushing my teeth. Leaving the restroom I go to change my clothing, getting into something better fit for physical activities. I grab my sword and do routine maintenance, checking for any chips and cleaning the blade, once done I grab my cloak and leave the room.
I headed to the Inn's bar and ordered some breakfast- nothing fancy, just some bread and water. Once done I pay the tab, 6 bronze, and leave. I now have 1 gold, 8 silver, and 23 bronze pieces. There is no registration fee to start as an E Rank adventurer, however, to take the placement test you'll have to pay 2 silver. The higher a person ranks the higher ranked jobs you can take, and naturally, the higher-ranking jobs give more money.
Walking down the street I see many adventurers shopping at various stalls and shops. Redwin is among the larger towns in the Leonine Kingdom and it's close to Pirah so naturally, it would have many adventurers. It is still strange to see so many strong-looking people in one place, from the large burly close-range fighters to the smaller mages and other long-range fighters. It is quite the sight.
Once I arrive at the Adventurers Guild I am slightly surprised by how clean and organized it is. You'd think that there would be some rowdy adventurers who cause trouble, but for the most part, everyone is sticking to themselves and their parties, not bothering anyone or causing trouble. The guild building has a simple layout, a main lounge then towards the back is the reception desk. A door that reads Employee's Only is on the wall behind the desk. On the wall to the left of the entrance is a large board with many different papers detailing different quests.
I approach the receptionist, a petite, blond girl, whose name tag reads Sarah. "Hello sir, how can I help you" she has a small squeaky voice. Is she really old enough to do this job? My first impressions tell me she is a child, but such things don't matter much. Not to me.
"I wish to register as an adventurer"
"Of course. And what is your name?" She says as she grabs a paper and pencil.
"Ryuma"
She starts writing down something on that paper. "And what kind of fighter are you?"
"Warrior, more specifically a swordsman"
"Give me a moment to register you and have your card printed up." She turns and goes to walk off but I call out to her. "Wait, I would like to take the placement test."
"Oh, apologies" She turns around and walks back to the counter, "And you are aware of the 2 silver fee?"
"I am" I put 2 silver on the counter.
"Wonderful" she picks up the coins, "the next test will begin in 40 minutes to an hour, follow me to the testing ground."
She opens a gate next to her and leads me through the Employee's Only door. We walk through a hallway full of doors with different labels such as; the printing room, files room, break room, etc. At the end of the hallway there is a door labeled arena and next to it is a door that is made from better quality wood than the rest, with intricate designs going along it. The label simply says office.
We exit the building and before us is an outdoor arena, I'd say about 50 feet In length and 30 feet in width. In the stands, people are sitting around. There are muscly warriors, wearing armor of different types and brandishing many types of weaponry, as well as mages dressed in many different color robes holding expensive-looking staffs and wands. Also, a couple of fighters who don't fall into either category.
Sarah turns to me "This is the testing area, you sit in the stands until the examiners come out." I nod, then go to find a seat and wait.
After about 45-50 minutes of waiting a man and woman exit the building. The man is tall, buff, and bald, with dark skin. The armor he is wearing is not what I'd consider practical, it has no cover for his lower abdomen. He has a large axe sheathed on his back. Judging by his armor and weapon choice this man is a warrior of the berserker class.
The woman looks more mature, I'd say 5 to 10 years older than the man. She is fair-skinned with light brown hair. She is wearing a green robe with a pattern that has a pattern looks similar to roots embroidered onto it. She holds a staff made of wood, it's in the shape of a flower, with a bright pink magic stone floating on the top.
The man steps forward and speaks, no more like yells"I am Gorrick, an A-rank adventurer and follower of the battle god Leonine, I will be the one testing the warriors" he has quite a loud and deep voice. My first impression is that he seems like a brute, I already do not like him. Next, the woman speaks up "I am Thalia. I also am A-rank. I am a follower of the Plant Goddess Euthalia, and I will be the mage examiner" Her voice was soft, but had some authority to it.
After Introducing themselves they told us how they planned to test us, it would be 1 on 1 matches, and every examinee would fight the examiner who tests their group. We will alternate between mages and warriors. "Who would like to go first? Mage or Warrior, it doesn't matter, just come up," Gorrick yells.
"I-I would" After a moment of silence a girl around my age raises her hand. She is wearing a blue robe and clutching a wand, with a red magic stone, close to her chest.
"Then come up"
She walks up. She introduces herself to the examiners and then gets into position. The battle starts and, well to no one's surprise, she is quickly beaten. Next is a male warrior, also defeated, after him a male mage, defeated, female warrior, defeated, and so on.
Soon there are five of us left, two warriors and three mages, but no other examinee wants to go up. Some of the previous examinees were strong and will rank C, but for the most part, my fellow test takers have not done well, most will be E or D rank. Now the collective confidence has plummeted. It's now the warrior's turn and no one wishes to go up, Gorrick sits there calling for volunteers, but no one comes forward. I sigh, guess it's my turn.
I stand and walk down to the arena. "I will go"
"And you are?" ask Gorrick
"Ryuma, sir, I am a swordsman. I follow the Goddess of Blood, Beatrice"
"Never heard of her, must be a shit god," He says with a smirk.
"Watch your tongue" I spit out. I may not have known her long but Beatrice has given me strength I never would have gained, and more importantly, the opportunity for revenge. She has done more than enough to warrant my loyalty. I will not tolerate any insults.
"And why should I, boy? What are yo-" He stops halfway through his words and a look of fear momentarily crosses his face, he's sensed my bloodlust. I get into position across the arena, drawing my blade. He does the same, going to his area and grabbing his axe. We stare at each other as we wait for Thalia to tell us to begin.
"And sta-"
Before she can finish her words we are charging at each other, our weapons clash, sending air across the field. "Oooh, you are strong boy, shame you're with an unknown goddess. If you were with Lord Leonine you could become much stronger". Without responding I kick his stomach sending us both back, it's like he's a wall of stone. Before I can recover he is at me again, swinging his axe down. I just barely roll away to dodge the attack. I get to my feet and jump at him.
I slash at him again, he slashes back. We enter an exchange of attacks, neither of us hitting each other. After a moment of the back and forth our weapons clashed in a way that caused us both to let go of them. For a moment my eyes dart up to my sword, in that moment he punches me square in the face, sending me flying.
"You're strong, the strongest examinee I've seen, but you can't win"
He's right, we are equal in strength and speed, and my technique is better, however, his experience trumps all that. Due to my lack of experience, I can't find good openings as easily, and I make stupid mistakes. Even with my blessing and years of training with Master, I'm still not good enough. I can't beat him. No, I can, I refuse to lose here. I WILL WIN.
I stand and grab my sword, and we begin to slowly walk towards each other. When I'm about 15 feet away from him I throw my sword like a spear, aiming straight for his face. He easily deflects it, but that is of no shock, I never intended to hit him with that attack. My goal was simply to startle and distract him. While blocking my sword he momentarily looked away.
When he looks back to where I was, I am gone, and before he can find me I punch his gut. His eyes widen and he coughs. I quickly follow up with a kick to his shins, causing him to lose balance. I punch his face and cause him to fall on his back. I grab my sword, which luckily didn't land too far away, and then I sit on his chest, putting my knees on his shoulders in such a way that he can't move his arms. I plunge my sword toward his face, stopping right before touching his skin. "I win"
"I-...You-....Yes, this is my loss"
After a moment of disbelief, he accepts defeat. I climb off him and help him up. While I don't like him, I do respect his strength. Once up he dusts himself off and grabs and sheaths his axe, he puts his hand out. I take his hand and shake it as he speaks, "Good Job boy, not many beginner adventurers can beat me"
"It was a fluke, if you hadn't put your guard down I would have lost"
"Nonsense, to beat me is a quite feat. You know, I am considered the strongest warrior adventurer in Redwin. I think it's clear what rank you are"
"I agree" the woman, Thalia, spoke up, "Your strength is on par with an A-rank adventurer, so of course you'll be given that title"
My eyes widen. A-rank? I was well aware that I'd rank the highest of the examinees, but I didn't think that I would go straight to A rank. Well actually, I do recall Beatrice saying that she estimates my strength to be that of an A-rank, so I shouldn't be too surprised.
In any case, this is perfect. I'll be able to get some of the highest-paying jobs as well as fight the strongest monsters. I'll be training, and gaining funding at the same time.
"I thank you Mr Gorrick, Ms Thalia"
"Hah, drop the niceties, were comrades now." He slaps me on the back as he speaks, and Thalia just nods in agreement.
"I guess I'll go wait inside the Guild Hall and wait for my card," With that, I head towards the door.
{Good work, you did better than expected}
"I'm honored by your praise"
I hear gasps coming from the people behind me. It's only natural, to see a god's words is quite a rare sight. As I enter the guild hall I can feel all of their eyes on me. I go to a chair and wait to be called up.
A little while after I returned inside the guild hall Sarah, the receptionist, called me up. As I walked up to her I saw she was wearing a face of intrigue. "Is my guild card done?"
"Yes, it is. Here you are." She handed me a small silver card. It had my name, rank, god I'm following, and fighting type on it. "When you need something from the guild, show the receptionist at any local guild hall, and they'll assist you to the best of their abilities."
"Understood"
"Now I'll tell you a bit about being an adventurer. First of all, as an adventurer, you are welcome to use any of the resources the guild offers to your rank. Secondly, you will only be allowed to take quests of your rank and lower unless you're in a party. A solo A-rank adventurer can take A-rank quests and below, but an A-rank party can take S-rank quests. Third, if there is an emergency in the city you are currently located in, you are obligated to assist the authorities. Any questions?"
"Can I take a quest now?"
"Of course, you may take any quest on the board to your left"
Going up to the board I see many quests. I look to the A-rank section, scanning the board for a mission that I like. As I'm reading my eyes land on a quest at the top of the board: Extermination mission - rank A - Kill the Fenryr pack that resides 1 day away from town - Reward is 30 gold - see front desk for more information.30 gold is a lot, but killing a pack of Fenryrs is very dangerous.
The Fenryr is a wolf-like monster, created by Nokron, the god of night. Their fur is jet black, and alone they are a low B-rank threat, but in a pack, they can easily be A-rank, sometimes even S-rank, though such occasions are very rare. They are masters of stealth and hunting and can manipulate dark magic.
I grab the paper and walk up to Sarah, "I want to do this quest." She looks at the mission and confusion crosses her face for a moment, "A-are you sure"
"I am"
"You do know about Fenryrs, right?"
"Yes"
"And you still want to take this quest?"
"I do"
She sighs and grabs the mission paper, she reaches under the reception desk and grabs around under it. She pulls out a map and places it in front of me. The map is of the surrounding area, there is a circle a bit north from Redwin Villiage. "This is where the pack is"
"Got it"
"You'll need to bring back proof you killed them, any kind works,"
"I will"
"Then the mission is yours" With that she grabs a stamp and stamps the quest paper.
__________________________________________
Thalia:
In the Redwin Adventurers Guild building, there is a lounge area, a place for adventurers to sit and wait for paperwork to be done or for their party members to arrive. In said lounge area sits two women, a young receptionist, and a mage, talking as they ate from the bar next door.
"Most of the test takers this year were nothing special, mostly D rank, and a couple of C ranks, but nothing of note. It honestly seemed like it would be another boring day testing weaklings and listening to that brute bark." The mage was telling the receptionist a story from earlier that day.
"It had reached the point it always does towards the end, where the examinees were too intimidated to come up, It was quite boring. Gorrick was asking for volunteers to come up, and after a moment, he stood. As he came down, I couldn't help but shudder. There was something about him that... scared me." The mage wrapped her arms around herself at the memory.
"Even as he stood in front of us introducing himself, he was called Ryuma, he had an air of confidence. He truly believed he could win. Then that stupid muscle brain insulted the god he worships, and as soon as he did the air felt heavier. He was glaring at Gorrick, with a bloodlust unlike I've ever seen." The mage chuckled, "If I wasn't so put off I would have found the look on Gorrick's face a bit funny." The mage took a bite of her food, "Mph, how delicious. I swear this bar never serves bad food". The receptionist nodded in agreement as she took a bite as well.
"Anyway after that, they got into position. He held his sword, a beautiful katana with a black blade, in perfect form; he had no openings. Before I could finish saying start they charged at each other and clashed. I saw Gorrick say something, I couldn't hear but I felt Ryuma's reaction. His rage was unbelievably powerful, and then they jumped back." The mage took a sip of her beer as the receptionist sipped her water.
"They went at each other again, slashing and hacking, neither hitting the other. It was incredible, I've never seen an examinee hold their own to an examiner like that. After a bit, they clashed in a way that caused their weapons to fly out of their hands, Gorrick used the chance and punched Ryuma in the face, sending him flying across the testing grounds. Once he up stood they started to walk toward each other. When Ryuma was around fifteenish feet away from Gorrick he threw his sword at him, it was a move that took everyone by surprise, and Ryuma capitalized." As she spoke the mage mimicked the movements Ryuma made with her fork before plunging it into her salad and taking a bite.
"During the split second Gorricks eyes left him, Ryuma charged at Gorrick and punched his gut. The blow was so powerful that Gorrick coughed a bit."
"Really Thalia? This story is hard to believe" The receptionist said, she had been silent as Thalia told her the story of how the new A rank came to be, but she couldn't stop herself this time. Gorrick was the strongest warrior in town, of course, she was having a hard time believing what she was being told. No examinee should be able to fight back like this against him. She had asked after she gave Ryuma his guild card. It's unheard of for someone to start at A rank, so of course she had to know what happened.
"Come now Sarah, I wouldn't lie. If you don't believe me ask Gorrick"
Sarah made a face of disgust, "Yeah no, I'll trust you, I want nothing to do with that creep. Please continue"
"So while Gorrick is recovering, Ryuma kicks his shin causing the meathead to lose balance. As Gorrick is trying not to fall Ryuma proceeds to punch him in the face, causing him to fall over. As Gorrick falls Ryuma grabs his sword, then quickly places himself on Gorrick, putting his knees on his shoulders so that he couldn't escape. He then plunges his sword down at Gorrick's face, stopping right before making contact." Thalia chuckled.
"You should have seen the face that muscle-brained idiot was making it was priceless, he was so shocked that he lost"
"Ha, serves him right," Sarah had an amused look on her face, enjoying the mental image. She didn't like Gorrick, not a single woman in the guild did. "I guess Mr Ryuma being A rank makes sense"
"But wait, there's more. I'm almost certain that he was a consort"
"What? Surely you're kidding" The look of disbelief on Sarah's face was quite amusing, Consorts are incredibly rare. Due to their rarity, they usually make themselves known to grab fame and riches, but Ryuma hadn't mentioned being a consort, as if he didn't think it was important.
"Nope, as Ryuma was walking off these bright red words appeared in the air speaking to him, and as you know gods only talk to their consort or planned consort"
"Holy shit. do you think he'll succeed?" Sarah looked to the mission board, where a mission was missing, an A-rank mission at the highest tier, just barely not S-rank, even Gorrick didn't want to take it on.
"I have no doubt he'll succeed. Something tells me we will be hearing about Ryuma a lot in the future, don't you think Mr Manager?"
"I think you are right Thalia," said a gruff voice sitting at a table behind them, he took an audible sip of his drink, "I think we will most certainly hear more about this Ryuma character"