The journey back to Dragonsteel city had been incredibly easy, especially when you were to consider all the foes the group had faced thus far. From skeletal giants to a whole squad of B-ranks, and in Kayden's case, a freaking Goddess, the few goblins they encountered on the way just felt indescribably puny.
With the priceless map they have earned, Kayden didn't even spare a look at the goblin ears, no matter how much copper and silver it could have gotten him. He was about to be rich! No longer would he have to spend long, sweltering hours hunting those buggers down.
"Hmm… it's getting late. Let's stop here and rest for today." He heard Aisha call out.
The party agreed, and began setting up the tents and campfire. After all that was done, they began roasting large portions of meat over a metal grill, which wafted a delicious smell that had Kayden drooling.
And that wasn't all. Ezekiel was preparing his signature 'Kali' again, stirring it in a huge pot. Yes, Kayden knew it wasn't pronounced Kur-rey, or Kar-rey, despite what Hel told him. If Ezekiel said it was Kali, Kayden would respect his homeland's dish and call it that.
"Bring out all the good stuff! It's our last day on the road tomorrow! What better time to celebrate?!"
Cheering, Louis broke out the alcohol, which Kayden politely declined. In total, four of them didn't drink, and they were Kayden, Cathy, Alice, and Bell.
"Kayden! My hero! Try some of this beer!" Louis laughed drunkenly as he offered a mug to him. Kayden took it, sniffed the contents, wrinkled his nose, and then passed it off to Madison, who was silently sitting near him.
"Oh… thanks…"
"Hahaha! Hey guys, listen to me!" Louis stood up and began yelling, and everyone turned to him suspiciously. None of them had fully forgiven him for the betrayal, and it was only thanks to Kayden's persuasion that they still travelled together. That was why Louis referred to him as his 'hero', because Kayden felt that if Louis was truly brainwashed, it would leave a bad taste in his mouth to kill him.
Still, that didn't excuse him for killing Zhang and the others, and he was having some difficulty coming to terms with that.
"This toast is for Kayden! For saving our butts countless of times these past few days! Cheers!"
That the party could agree on, so they cheered for Kayden too.
"A-aw… come on guys… it wasn't anything special…" Kayden scratched his cheek in embarrassment. He decided to put all the negative stuff out of his mind. Just for today.
"No… No… It really was special! Did you guys know? Kayden actually—"
He gave Louis a death glare.
"—…Sacrificed a lot for us! He even fought the lizard one on one and survived!"
The party clapped and cheered for him, but Kayden couldn't help but reconsider his choice to spare Louis.
'Ah… it's too late now...'
"Hey! Tell us about your battle! It must have been rough, right?" Ezekiel clapped his back and smiled.
That was a surprising sight for Kayden, he never saw Ezekiel act so cheerily. The things being drunk can do to people…
"More importantly, there's something else I want to hear about!" Aisha interrupted, "Who was the mysterious person that saved us? You mentioned that you saw everything, right?"
"Ooh! I'm interested too! Can't you use illusion magic to show us how he looks like?" Alice jumped in as well.
Now this was certainly awkward. His party was demanding to see the man that saved them, yet he stood right there! Only Louis and Madison knew the truth, and Kayden could see that they were silently looking at him as his party discussed the topic.
He had to give them something, yet at the same time, he didn't want to throw away all the credit to some fictional character he made up, and so he thought of an idea.
"This… is how he looks like!"
Kayden formed an illusion of a tall man donning a jet-black cloak and hood, with a black overcoat over a black shirt. Hiding his face was a round, black mask with white, glowing dots for eyes and a crooked line for a mouth. It was one of the disguises he had been using, and he always felt proud of how it looked.
'Hah! Witness the epitome of my fashion sense!'
The party looked at the figure with curiosity and interest.
"W-wow! He looks so cool! Don't you think so too, Alice?" Kayden heard Cathy say, and he couldn't help but nod in satisfaction.
"Really? I don't know… looks really tacky to me… like someone trying excessively hard to look cool…" Alice responded doubtfully.
Kayden's eyelids twitched a little, but he betrayed no emotion.
"[Haha! She's right, you know?]"
"Ah well, no matter what we think of his looks, it cannot be denied that he saved us all. Let's give a toast to the mysterious figure! Cheers!"
"Cheers!"
The party all raised their cups and mugs to the illusion, and Kayden felt weird toasting to himself, but all's well that ends well. His secret was safe… for now.
After a long night of storytelling and celebration, the party got tired and all went to sleep. Kayden sighed contently as he landed face-first into his bedroll.
"Today was a great day…"
He was genuinely glad that he could take his mind off things. It may not look like it, but he was suffering quite badly from emotional turmoil. Kayden just couldn't help but feel paranoid of what the future held for him, and after what he had seen this past week? The worst could definitely come to pass.
Like as if she could sense it, Hel spoke up, momentarily distracting him from his thoughts.
"[Let me tell you something interesting. I took the liberty at calculating your PDMN now that I know the full extent of your abilities. Do you wish to know?]"
"Oh yeah… PMDN… things got so hectic that I forgot about them…" he gave a wide yawn, "Why didn't you tell me the PMDN of the enemy party?"
"[I'll be honest. The PMDN is not a very good indicator of someone's abilities. You know Zhang, the man with moon powers? His PMDN is all over the place depending on the phase of the moon. The PMDN also doesn't do a good job at ranking the powers of Gods. Telling you that the Moon Goddess' PMDN was a straight S isn't very helpful, is it?]" She explained.
"Okay… what's mine then?"
A blue screen popped up in front of his face, showing him his new ranking… in Hel's opinion, at least.
[B/B/B/A]
"Woah…"
This ranking meant that his Physical combat, Magical combat, and Decision-making abilities were all on the level of B-ranks, while his Niche still remained his strongest asset. He could pass the B-rank promotion test quite easily if he wanted to.
"[Do try to not get a big head. Even with how powerful you are, you almost died quite a few times already. The next thing I suggest you work on is using your abilities combined. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you haven't used ice magic in a long time, your transformation magic is still somewhat of a new discovery, and you just learned necromancy a few days ago… Well, you have a long road ahead of you if you wish to become the God of Thieves…]"
"The God of Thieves… huh? Thank you for the advice… and all of the support you have given me…" Kayden's eyes began drooping. That was some long-winded advice, and Kayden was already feeling sleepy.
"Goodnight."
"[…Goodnight.]"
With that, he fell soundly asleep, and didn't even wake up until two days later…
***
The sound of click-clacks filled the finely decorated hallway as a woman wearing a navy-blue uniform marched with conviction across the hardwood floor. She had long green-black hair that was tied at the ends with shining, amber eyes that stared straight ahead. Tightly held against her chest was a large envelope that had a thick, wax seal on it. Embossed on the seal were two swords crossed behind a shield, the widely-known symbol of the Adventurer's Guild.
After walking for a while, she began to slow as she came upon a tasteful wooden door with detailed carvings, symbolizing flames being doused and swept away by a holy light. On top of the door frame held a sign that spelled the letters: SECTION CHIEF
She politely knocked on the door a few times and waited for a response. Eventually, a croaky voice called out from within.
"Come in."
Pushing the door handle down, she promptly opened the door and stepped inside. The interior of the room was similarly decorated to the hallway, with a red, patterned carpet and wooden walls. Towards the back of the room stood a desk with a man sitting comfortably behind it.
"Good afternoon, Chief. There is something I have to report." She said, with a slight hint of respect in her voice.
The man that sat behind the desk had fiery red hair that flowed down to his shoulders, and his eyes were an unsettling red with black, dilated pupils. On his desk were a few piles of neatly-stacked paper, as well as a nameplate that read: Wallace Evergreen.
"What's the matter, Sebille? It's rare to see you so flustered."
"I'm not flustered at all, Chief."
The woman called Sebille had a stiff look on her face as she walked up to the desk and placed down her document.
"This here is an important document sent over by the branch at Dragonsteel city. They mentioned that it was of significant importance."
"Significant, you say?" Wallace stretched his arms and yawned. "Everyone always says that to get my attention. You'd think they'd use a different way to convince me by now."
Seeing Sebille wordlessly stare at him without so much as a nod, he sighed before casually opening up the envelope and looking through its contents. With a slight amusement in his voice, he began to read it out aloud.
"Dear Wallace, Section Chief of the Babylon Head Branch, we request for the head branch to put out a new bounty— Hah! That's new!— on an unknown outlaw. Please see the attached documents for a full list of the crimes committed."
He laughed and took a look at the attached documents, but his expression took on a look of surprise before it was quickly replaced with an expression of interest.
"On the seventh day of the third month this year, twenty adventurers, including five B-ranks, one C-rank, and fourteen D-ranks, were killed single-handedly in one night. Below is the full list of casualties… let's see here…"
Zhang Mingzhe, aka Moonlit Ghost. Cause of death: Unknown.
Ronald Richardson. Cause of death: Hypothermia and decapitation.
Brandon Derolo. Cause of death: Hypothermia and decapitation.
Ryan Sarcott. Cause of death: Hypothermia and piercing wounds.
Oda Perun. Cause of death: Hypothermia and Loss of blood.
The list only goes on and on.
Seeing Wallace grow so quiet all of a sudden, Sebille coughed lightly to attract his attention.
"Chief… your orders?"
"Give me a minute, there's something interesting here… 'Eyewitnesses report that a single man in full black performed all of these deeds. As the appearance of the individual bears a striking resemblance to an infamous outlaw of the past, we request that this bounty be made global… You may rank the bounty as you see fit, though our estimations deem this individual to be no less than an A-ranked threat…' Huh…"
Wallace gingerly placed the documents back into the document and buried his face in his hands. He could already feel a headache coming.
"…Chief?"
"Hmm… it looks like the Aurallian Reaper is back, but why?"
Sebille had never heard of that moniker before, and curiously asked him what it was. The man peeked through his fingers and gave her a scrutinizing look.
"You've been working at the Guild since about four years ago, correct? Then it makes sense why you don't know that name. The Aurallian Reaper was a S-ranked bounty responsible for a series of mass murders in the Northern Continent. However, seven years ago, the man disappeared and was never to be seen again… or at least… until now…"
Sebille was stunned. S-ranked bounties were exceedingly rare, and she could count the total number of them in the past century on one hand. If such a being truly returned, it would threaten the lives of many, and the Adventurer's Guild will have to mobilize a large amount of its forces, which would then bleed their resources dry. She certainly wasn't looking forward to that outcome.
"Ah, don't worry too much. There are some key differences between this individual and the Aurallian Reaper. First, the height difference is astounding, though it could be attributed to age. Second, the Aurallian Reaper has never killed anyone on other continents during the time of his rampage, it doesn't make sense that he would start somewhere else now. Lastly, a large number of people were spared from this incident, which strikes me as strange. Overall, the behavior of this one is too inconsistent with the real one. We can safely assume that this individual is probably mimicking a legend, probably for some borrowed fame."
"But aren't those just assumptions, Chief?" Sebille voiced her opinion. "What if it turns out to be true, and it actually is the Aurallian Reaper?"
"Then we make adjustments to the bounty," he waved her off. "For now, set a global A-ranked bounty, and choose a suitable monetary reward. Even an A-ranked threat is nothing to laugh at, so don't be stingy with the gold."
Wallace placed down the documents and yawned, eager to return to his daydreaming. However, he noticed that Sebille hasn't left yet.
"…You may leave now."
Planting her feet together and performing a salute, Sebille expressed her gratitude for his time before walking out the door. With extraordinary purpose, she marched off to her next destination.