It has been a few months since I was deemed the Hero. They have elevated my family to minor nobles and gave them the village to lord over. While my family chooses to try and remain farmers, the church is providing basic education to my siblings. I have been moved to the castle and had a knight assigned to me to be my teacher. My sister, Kassi, chose to stay with me. I think she stayed only because the knight assigned to me was female. Her name was Emilia, she wore what was the standard for knights of the kingdom, plate armor. Her hair was a light brown and was put up in a bun. She had the older sister vibe going on, most likely why Kassi wanted to stay with me.
Kassi had joined me in my training saying that it is only natural for an older sister to protect her younger brother. While she may look 16, I came to realize that she was only 12. I think genetics run weirdly in the family or something. I have an older brother who is 20 but looks like he's in his early teens, so I guess that's proof. During these times there have been many would-be suitors chasing after my sister, but she would always decline them.
Being with my sister had started to affect me. I used to be a selfish asshole who only ever cared for myself. I would secretly extort some of the younger kids around the city even some of the adults. But the longer I was with Kassi, the more I changed. Lately, I started to feel a pang of deep guilt build up in my chest. I realize I only have my sister because of what I did in the afterlife. I was starting to loathe myself; I don't deserve a kind sister like her. I ended up revealing my past life to her. I felt as if by doing this I could begin to atone for my ways. She stopped talking to me for about a week but after that, she claimed it didn't matter anymore because I was me and she would always care for me. Having an older sister is nice.
At noon we would start our weapons training. They said it was good to be proficient in many weapons. Today we are practicing with swords. After some time has passed, it's time for our sparring matches. It took some persuading from our teacher, but Kassi now spars seriously. She used to throw matches claiming how I was so much better than her. Emilia had to explain that that was actually just hurting me in the long run.
This continued on for five years until I was given another teacher. In the mornings I would train under Emilia. It would always be muscle and endurance training as well as weapons training and tactics. In the afternoon I would train under my new teacher, learning magic, more specifically light magic as well as learning to enhance my body with mana. Depending on your meridians and the mana flow in your body, you can increase certain aspects of yourself. Some will give enhanced senses and others enhanced speed.
My martial training was getting better, I could defeat most of the other knights except Emilia, the captain, and my sister. Magic was coming along quite well, I hated the chants and doing stuff like healing was hard at first. It took me a long time to grasp the whole soul palace and mana pool thing. I can, however, use my light magic to create stuff like laser beams, still working on the whole optic camouflage thing though.
My 11th birthday is now coming up and Kassi and I are going back home to celebrate. I was finally able to get permission to take a few days of leave.
"Hey, Rayce? You excited about seeing home?"
"Yeah, it will be good to see everyone again. I haven't actually seen them much since my baptism."
"Yeah, I am excited to sleep in your bed again like we used to."
*Sigh*
"I think we are a bit old for that now. Don't you think?"
"Never! We will never be too old!"
And so, strikes the doting sister with her brother complex. We continue to pass the time talking about random stuff until we arrive. After arriving we part ways with the merchant and continue to our new family home. The new home is quite large it looks to be 2 floors with several rooms. We are greeted by some maids and are escorted into our parents.
Seeing us our mother rushes towards us and scoops us into a hug.
"Oh, how I've missed you!"
"We missed you guys too mom." we both say.
"So Kassi you turn 19 soon. Shouldn't it be the time you settle down and find some man to marry?"
Kassi puffs out her cheeks and is visibly annoyed.
"Mother! I've told you before. I won't marry anybody. It is my duty to stay by Rayce's side."
"I still don't understand why you got so attached to your brother when he was born. Well at, least your brother got a proposal. I heard it was to the Pope's granddaughter."
Now it's my turn to be visibly annoyed.
"Ug, I turned them down. I want to marry who I want. I don't like being forced to do things."
"Alright, but I still feel that is a waste."
For the rest of the day, we meet up with the rest of the family. My older siblings' education is going well and they are getting a grasp of the noble life. For the first time in a long time, I finally sit down for a nice meal with my family. My sister and I start talking about our exploits and the training we received.
While eating dinner I felt a slight rumble in my body. As if one sat on a washing machine on spin cycle. I look over at my sister and I can see in her face she felt it as well.
"Rayce, what was that?" Kassi had spoken her face with a slight look of terror.
Our mother looking at both of us with concern finally spoke up. "Are you guys ok? You look scared."
Finally broken out of our shock I spoke up. "Yeah, we are ok. We just felt a strong mana surge come from the south."
Our mother started to get a panicked look, but before she could speak, I spoke up to calm her nerves.
"It's ok mother, whatever caused it is very far from here."
We finished our dinner in silence.
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At the Holy Church in the Adruma Kingdom, stood a lone figure. He was an elderly man of about 80. He had a long white beard and was wearing a gaudy headdress of ungodly proportions. He was dressed in his usual pope garb consisting of a white robe with red trim. Emblazoned on his sleeves was the holy symbol of a tree with the sun rising just above the top of it. He was standing out on his balcony drinking wine from a small golden chalice.
Lost in his thoughts he had suddenly felt a wave of mana assault him. Eyes wide in shock he hadn't realized he was no longer holding his chalice. He didn't know how long he had been standing there but he had soon come to his senses when he heard someone calling for him.
"Your Holiness...your Holiness, can you hear me?"
"Yes, I can hear you. I am sure you are here regarding that manaquake?"
"Correct. That felt like energy from a powerful Demon Lord."
The Pope turned toward his guest and folded his hands behind his back. He appeared to be in thought for a minute.
"I think it is too soon, but we need to deploy the hero. Judging by where that mana came from, I can only assume it came from those heretics in the Vassedras Empire. They have been a sore sight for a long time and this will be the perfect excuse to invade them."
"Your Holiness, are you suggesting that we just invade them?"
"No. We first must propose to help them in tracking down that demon lord and slip our people in slowly. Once we do that we can strike at the royal family and bring down that cursed empire."
"And will the hero agree to this?"
Laughing to himself the pope finally responds.
"He will. If he doesn't, we have ways of making him do what we want. However, in the event, he turns out to be faulty goods, prepare for a hero summoning. This way we can bind the new hero with slave magic."
"As you wish."
With a bow, the unknown conspirator walked out of the pope's chambers.
"If only that fool had married my granddaughter."
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Leon Vassedras and his daughter Neira were in the war room with his royal advisors. A large bald man with a mustache too wide for his face was looking at a map of the local area.
"My Lord. We believe the source of the manaquake came from these woods. We don't know what would be awaiting us there so we should move a large force to investigate."
Examining the map with her one good eye, her bad one now covered by a pink and white eyepatch spoke up to the rest of the war council. Looking up at the Emperor she spoke up.
"My dear, we should instead employ the use of the Mercenary Guild. Should anything disastrous happen it would only cost us some coin and we would still have our war potential intact."
Scratching his chin deep thought, Leon finally answered.
"Hire the mercenaries and start bolstering our troops. I would like to be prepared for any surprises. Also, I know that damned Holy City will come here and try to weasel its way in, prepare to intercept and mitigate them as much as possible."
The advisors around the table in unison salute with their left hand going to their right shoulder and bow.
"YES YOUR HIGHNESS!"
After the room cleared out Neira turns to Leon.
*Sigh*
"It's days like these I wish I had my original toy. The maids just don't last as long as she did. Speaking of is there a new maid for me yet?"
"No, I didn't get one yet, but I did find something better. A passing slave trader happened to have a woman from the demon race. I saw her and for some reason, I was reminded of your late mother. She is in the dungeon cells waiting for you."
With a manic laugh, she leans over and kisses Leon.
"Thank you so much! I am going to have so much fun with her."
She then skips out the door and down the hall to the dungeons.
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Arlan and a large group of mercenaries were now in front of a large cavern in the middle of a clearing in the woods. Before them, lied a gruesome scene of what was an orc village.
"whew...look at all that destruction. Whatever did that must be a monster." Nilrem said looking at all the carnage of molten earth and whatever pieces of bone that managed to survive.
Arlan finally coming to his senses motions the two mithril ranks that could join. The first one was a pretty boy. He had short black hair and black eyes with a look in his eyes that could freeze fire. He wore simple leather clothing, as he didn't need armor for his speed, and had two daggers sheathed on his back by his hip. The second was a tall amazon of a woman with tan skin and fiery red hair. She wore a sleeveless leather shirt with a plate cuirass over the top and leather pants with metal greaves. On her back was a large greatsword, larger than what a normal person would use.
"Zaber, take a small scouting party of your choice and investigate that cave. Thania, select a team that will double as both backup and expedition force. The rest of us will set up a Forward Operating Base here and establish a supply line back to the capital."
With just a slight nod the two mithril ranks left to perform their assigned tasks.
"Nilrem if you could, while I set up base here please take a group and scout around the area."
"I had the same thoughts in mind already."
With that Nilrem left.
.
.
.
One week had passed since the FOB was established. Arlan had gathered all the mercenaries for a briefing.
"All right you guys. From our expedition reports, we have determined that this cave is something called a dungeon. So far we have only been able to explore ten floors."
Arlan pauses and scans over the group before continuing.
"The reason for this is because the floors of this dungeon break all concepts of reality. We have come across scorching deserts and humid jungles. They are large floors and very easy to get lost in. We think it is due to this we haven't seen Zaber and his squad yet. Nilrem will continue with his part now."
With that, Arlan stepped aside and Nilrem walked in front of the group.
"Our scouts had located a small house to the west of our location. It had looked lived in so we suspect a hermit of some kind may be in the area. We have no reason to believe at this moment this hermit had anything to do with this dungeon so if you see anyone not part of the expedition please escort them to myself and the Guild Master."
"The second part of the business is we have discovered a wide variety of rare creatures inside the dungeon. After our initial inspection, we had found that the materials from them could greatly improve our current equipment. So, we have enlisted merchants and skilled crafters to come down here."
"With the way things are looking we intend to turn this place into a crafting town and our new HQ for the guild. With this, we can support the empire and maybe even introduce tourism."
Nilrem steps aside and Arlan walks back up in front of the group.
"You heard him! The expedition team is responsible for mapping out the different floors. Everyone else we are on guard duty and construction detail. We need to get some buildings up for living quarters and workplaces for our guests."
Construction had started on the world's very first dungeon city.