She was the one I loved with all my heart. I wanted to wait until we became equals before I could confess. But...
I found out that I was nowhere near her equal. Sylvia was someone who was talented in everything she does. She's the daughter of the president of the White Orchid guild. People call her the flower of Felmore's capital.
She was described as being the most beautiful out of the beauties of the kingdom. I was even lucky enough to grow up with her.
It was funny now that I remembered how I thought we could be together.
Sylvia was sitting in front of me. I could see her entire head of silver.
I was so nervous that I could barely move my fingers to write down the notes. She was sticking to her routine of ignoring me and not even making eye contact. I wanted to say something to her but my tongue wouldn't move.
I gulped audibly and lowered my head.
"Hello, miss."
At that moment, Arius called out to Sylvia in the middle of class. We were all taking down notes.
"Hm? Oh, young master Arius."
"Haha. You know me?"
"Of course I do. No one doesn't know the young master of the Alexander Family."
"Ah, geez. I'm that famous?"
Sylvia smiled silently.
All I could do was glare at the bastard. I didn't have the balls to shout at him.
"Say, Miss Sylvia...." Arius swept back his dark blue hair and smiled. All of the girls sighed as if they were in love.
"Yes?"
"If it's not a bother... Could I take you out for a bite to eat after school?"
He said with a refreshing smile that heightened his handsomeness. I could hear a few girls who were breathing hoarsely while looking at Arius. Their eyes were like looking at prey.
'...'
I looked at him as if looking at my enemy.
Sylvia remained quiet for a few seconds. She tilted her head two times before responding.
"I have plans this afternoon."
"H-How about tomorrow?"
"I apologize."
"..."
Her azure eyes suddenly turned towards me. It was a brief second but I could see her smile.
She turned back towards the front and continued writing her notes.
"E-Eh?"
Arius looked like he received the biggest shock in his life. I was also shocked. I thought for sure that Sylvia would say yes. No girl has ever rejected him after all. Even the most stubborn women fell for his charms.
"Dammit! I missed my chance at being able to bone her! Who's this fucker that she's dating..."
He whispered something I couldn't hear.
'Is he broken just from being rejected?'
I felt kind of relieved. I just knew that he would try to bone Sylvia. That was a sight that I didn't want to see.
Arius tried multiple times to talk to Sylvia but she only gave short responses. It was kind of funny seeing someone like him struggle. He could get any girl at the drop of a hat. Serves him right. Bastard.
"We will discuss the importance of the gates. I will give a short explanation about them."
Lilia turned towards us when she finished with her explanation regarding powers and classes.
"As many gates exist nowadays, they are still a mystery to us. But we do know a few things about them. They harbour materials not found anywhere in our world. This was how we were able to advance our technology further than people of the past. Dungeons are an important source of income and even low ranking guilds may plan raids to earn profit. The gates are ranked by a system as you all know."
Lilia summoned a hologram with different colours.
"This is the ranking system we came up with. There are many other ways to rank a gate based on their difficulty. Remember that any gate that has black mana leaking out of it is an abnormal gate. Its ranking could be E or D but the monsters inside could be far stronger. Take caution whenever you plan a raid."
She explained the types of monsters we can find in all kinds of gates and how much they are worth. Monsters infected with demon energy are by far the most valuable if you sell at the right price.
Demon monsters are rare so they aren't sold that much on the market. Their blood can be used in potions and can even increase the effectiveness of it. Monsters like imps and demon hounds have tough skin which can be used for armour.
I wonder what monsters we might find in the gate Sylvia was planning to raid....
◇◇◇
The next day.
"Ethan."
A voice came from behind me as I stood there and looked up at the giant gate.
'My first B class gate.'
I turned around and saw Sylvia. She was wearing her white dress armour. Since she has a swordsman class, her main weapon is a sword.
A white coloured sword was on her waist.
"You followed my instructions well. Welcome to Angel Lances."
People appeared behind her. They were all dressed in the same high quality equipment as Sylvia.
'So these are the newbies of the most famous guild in the country...'
I could tell by the aura they released that they weren't ordinary newbies.
"This is the person you wanted to invite?"
A big burly man scoffed as he looked at me. He was supposedly one of the tanks of the group judging by his large shield.
"Jackson. We already spoke about this. As Ethan is only a porter, it doesn't matter how strong he is."
"But he'll slow us down, right?" A woman wearing priest clothes spoke from the group. "Even the porters I chose were at least D rank. Isn't this kid an E rank?"
"Look at his armour. Is he trying to hide the fact that he's low level?"
My armour was indeed a little much. I spent a little more freely since Paul said he didn't mind. I had Fafnir's Fang on me as well. It's concealed so no one knows I have it. It would be a big thing if an E rank like myself walked around with such a dagger.
They mocked me as we walked towards the gate. There were many other adventurers stationed outside. Gates have an activation time so they were waiting for that.
The mockery didn't stop as we walked.
"Stop whining." Sylvia glared at all of them.
"Won't you just go and save the guy if he's in danger? He is your childhood friend after all. We need a leader who can lead us properly."
"..."
Sylvia suddenly went quiet.
"...This is his first raid so shut up. I already said that he won't fight."
Sylvia walked up to me and sternly whispered.
"Don't stray from the group. I'm serious."
I nodded repeatedly.
She turned towards everyone when we got behind the gate line. Since they were from the White Orchid guild, we had the leeway to enter first.
"I'll give you all a quick explanation of what is expected of you."
All of them nodded.
"If you dare take the rewards without my consent then I will personally hunt you down. We do not condone stealing in a raid team. Second. If you don't cooperate then the percentage of the rewards you lost will be given to our porters."
"What!? 1000 Fel is enough for these bastards! All they do is carry bags!"
A skinny guy with glasses shouted. He was wearing a magician robe.
"This is so that you will follow my orders during battles. I've done test raids before with a senior watching over us and was instructed to do the same thing if I see uncooperative members. Do you have any problem with that, Carl?"
"Tch."
"Now then. Rule three: Never touch anything without confirming if it's safe. Rule four: If you backstab then I will take appropriate measures with the law..."
There were at least a hundred rules that she mentioned as if she memorised them all. The gate activation alarm rang out at that moment.
!!!!
A vibration shook the ground as dense energy started swirling on the spot of the gate's artificially built door. Those are built so that the gate doesn't grow any bigger after it activated.
In the past there were some gates that absorbed the surrounding buildings so it was decided to build a spatial structure to keep it from growing more than necessary.
The gate had a green energy leaking out of it.
Even as I stood there I could feel myself hesitate.
Should I go through with this?
That was the question on my mind but all my hesitation vanished when I saw Sylvia's confident smile.
It was a smile I always saw in the past whenever she mouthed the words:
-Don't worry! I'll protect you!
"Let's go!"
With a shout from the leader, team Angel Lances walked forward as the gate opened up.
I entered my first B rank gate.