When the door opened, a big fat man in a black suit looked out.
"You may come in now."
Slowly he walked back to his chair, which creaked loudly as he sat down, clearly the fat man was the guild leader.
There was candy everywhere in the room, from cakes to lollipops, this is where you found it.
There were portraits of the same person hanging all over the wall, apparently pictures were taken regularly and so Anri could see that a once athletic and handsome guy had become the fat ugly man in front of him, to say the guild leader had a glow down would be an understatement, he had more than that, to become as ugly as him you have to work hard.
Nervously Anri took the seat at the guild leader's table. The guild leader looked at Anri while stuffing a chocolate bar in his mouth.
"I was told you were an aspiring adventurer."
Said the guild leader with his chocolate bar in his mouth, causing his drool to spread all over the table, down to Anri's clothes. The guild leader swallowed the bar down all at once, practically destroying it, but Anri continued to listen to him and said nothing, not wanting to judge too quickly.
"This fucking hero academy, all these adventurers are running away from us, and they think they're going to be heroes."
Already realizing that the guild leader was not a fan of the Hero Academy, Anri wondered if the guild leader's candy consumption had anything to do with the hero.
He took out the nearest candy bar and gulped it down in one go before continuing to speak.
"We need an icon, someone stronger than the students of the Hero Academy."
He reached into a cupboard behind him where he pulled out a chocolate cake and took a bite before placing it on his table.
"Do you want some?"
The guild leader asked with his mouth full to Anri who just shook his head in denial.
"Anyway, so where were we, Icon, in any case you seem to be an exceptional talent, which is why we spare no expense or effort for you."
The guild leader pointed a finger at Anri's chest while stuffing the remains of the cake with the other.
"To train you for the academy tournament in two weeks, don't worry, it's only the first year, still be careful, these are all talented guys too, to master this will take you the next two weeks."
The guild leader raised his hand to Anri's face and showed him a 2 to clarify what he had said.
"Train with an entire party of A-rank adventurers!"
The fat guild leader started clapping his hands, which were covered with chocolate sauces and other sweet stuff.
"Huh, are you happy?"
Anri was conflicted, wouldn't people in the academy sense that he had this incredible aura? Anri was undecided on whether to accept the offer when the Demon King approached Anri.
[Accept.]
Anri wasn't sure should he accept, the Demon King usually wanted evil, but now he seemed to want something where there were no negative points.
Without thinking further, Anri agreed.
"When does the training start?"
The guild leader rang a bell and the guild lady came running up the stairs.
"What can I do for you?"
She asked the guild leader who stuck a lollipop in and replied.
"He's the candidate, bring him to THE party."
She had a serious look on her face as she nodded and then looked to Anri to take him with her.
"Please follow me."
So did Anri, Anri said goodbye with a slight bow to the guild leader who had already eaten the lollipop and was now gulping down more candy, a true miracle that he didn't die from his candy consumption. As the guild lady walked down the stairs with Anri, he put on the mask and turned his face into his old face, without the horns. The guild lady did not notice Anri's action. When they arrived downstairs, the guild lady asked Anri to wait.
"We're dispatching messengers right now to bring THE party here."
Ragnar and Neve had been waiting for him down here and came up to Anri, who now had to wait, with many questions in his head.
"What did he say?"
Asked Ragnar curiously, Neve was also interested in what the guild leader wanted from Anri, after all she was never asked to come to his office by him, and usually that didn't bode well, but this time was different, Anri explained what the guild leader had said, to which Ragnar just smiled and patted him on the shoulder.
"A quick rise, isn't it, boy?"
He considered which party would train him, there was only one that came to mind.
"Use the training with them, after all as a party they are almost as good as the hero if not better, it's a wonder they still take a job though when they're already retired, it must have been a personal request from the guild leader, after all he himself used to belong to them even if he doesn't look like it."
He said the latter part more quietly, not wanting to be heard. Neve went to Anri's ear to whisper something to him.
"They'll be able to feel it too, watch out."
She wasn't entirely wrong about that, strong enough to sense Anri they definitely were, if Neve at rank C could sense him, a rank A party definitely will be able to.
Ragnar smiled at him and gives him a thumbs up.
"After that, though, we'll at least do another job, right?"
Anri couldn't refuse this question from Ragnar, though he couldn't answer it 100 percent positively either, after all he didn't know what was waiting for him in the future. However, he just nodded and gave his hand to Ragnar, it was only a short adventure, which connects Anri with the two, yet the parting was a bit hard, he wanted it to be only a short goodbye.
They parted ways, Anri waved goodbye again to Neve, who stared at him dully and turned away, then Ragnar went to the guild lady to get them a new assignment.
Anri sat down at a table by himself now, he was always curious when the door opened, what adventurers would come? Is Oswald part of the party? After all, he was so strong? No ... He had already left the capital, he could not be. Again and again the door opened, but never it seemed to be strong adventurers, at least not those who were already retired. Hours passed before the door opened and a small elf, who was maybe half Anri's size, came through the door holding a staff more than twice his size, when the guild lady saw him she ran to the door and led him to the table to Anri.
"I guess I'm the first, little one, or should I say big one? Without question, he knew exactly what he was doing when he asked you, I'm just wondering why you're doing this."
The little elf looked straight into Anri's eyes, who only raised his hands innocently, he felt like he was being accused, what did he mean by that?
However, Anri introduced himself, as was polite.
"My name is Anri. You are?"
The elf laughed and waved his staff.
"Never mind the formalities. My name is Thandor, I am a mage."
He said with a laugh and looked closely at Anri.
It remained silent for the time being, Thandor stared at Anri all the time, as if waiting for Anri to do something, it was unpleasant, very unpleasant.
But the staring didn't last very long, because then an orc came in, or was it even one? Anri was unsure, from the shape it was definitely an orc, but from the external features it was a human.
Thandor waved the orc, or whatever it was, over.
"Grak, come over here, my friend, that's the big one."
He pointed with both hands at Anri. So Grak was the adventurer's name, slowly Grak came over to them, the guild vibrated and all the adventurers by now were looking at Grak and Thandor, there was a lot of whispering but no one dared to ask the two if they were who they thought they were. Grak stood in front of the table, only next to Anri did he notice how huge Grak was, his hair brushing the ceiling. Slowly Grak held out his hand to greet Anri, who then took his hand as well and shook it, Grak smiled as he introduced himself.
"Name Grak."
The language didn't seem particularly familiar to Grak, however, Anri didn't focus on that and he couldn't laugh as his hand was literally crushed by Grak. Anri was greatly relieved when Grak let go and sat next to Thandor on the bench across from Anri, a loud crack sounded before the bench collapsed, to Thandor this didn't seem funny, he was used to it with Grak.
"Uh oh. Broken."
Said Grak innocently as he raised his finger to show the guild lady that her furniture had flaws.
Then the last party member walked in.
A small, unassuming boy who didn't seem old, when Thandor waved him over Anri didn't believe his eyes, the boy seemed younger than Anri himself, yet he was a part of the party, was he about a baby when the party was active, never.
"Hello."
Said the boy smiling and looking Anri in the face.
"You're young."
He laughed self-deprecatingly at his comment, while Thandor already felt his irony was simply not funny and noticed Anri's questions, so he enlightened him.
"Thrakka was cursed by a demon long ago, thus aging backwards until he disappears."
Now it was clear why the actually old adventurer seemed so young.
There was a brief silence before Thrakka took the floor.
"I'll take you on for the first three days!"
Without agreeing on anything, he had simply decided that now. He pulled a sword from his back and raised it in the air, then he pushed his way in front of Ragnar to the guildswoman and had the heaviest order given to him, Ragnar said nothing, for he knew who it was.
"We're off!"
The two set off, and apparently had a mission, because they went into a forest, where Thrakka just stopped and grinned at him.
"What's your weapon?"
Anri reached for his book, which Thrakka had noticed before. He pointed to the book.
"Give it to me. You'll get it back at the end of training."
Slowly Anri reached for the book, but he should do it, it was his mission as an adventurer, so he did, maybe he would learn something that way.
Out of nowhere, Thrakka threw his sword into the ground in front of Anri, which dug firmly into the ground, it seemed to have immense weight.
"Pick it up."
Thrakka ordered Anri, who then tried, no chance, he couldn't get it up.
"For the next 3 days you will have to pick up this sword, you are forbidden to use magic, and don't you dare try. In that time, I'm sure this monster here will notice you, if he hasn't already."
Thrakka showed Anri the order, here in the forest apparently a mutant was skulking around, between bear, lion and insect, it looked terrifying, the legs of a bear, the body of an oversized insect and the head of a lion.
"But how am I supposed to pick up the sword?"
Asked Anri which Thrakka answered directly.
"I do not spoiler."
And with that, Thrakka said goodbye to Anri, who can only watch Thrakka disappear into the shadows of the forest with his book.
("Are you still there.")
Asked Anri the Demon King, but he got no answer, quickly he tore the mask from his face and looked for his horns, they were still there. But why was the demon king gone? Surely the power rested in him and not in the book? Anri was confused as he tried again to raise the sword, again to no avail.
In the distance he already heard the monster, it was already running towards him, Anri's aura had probably noticed it early and now recognized him as a enemy. Anri tried to defend himself with his fists, he dodged and then gave the monster a hook to the chin, without success, the monster lunged for Anri, but he dodged.
On a tree Thrakka sat hidden with the book in his lap and watched Anri.
"Well, what are you up to?"
Thrakka asked the book, quite obviously he had noticed what exactly the aura was emitted from, namely not from Anri, as the demon king claimed, but from the book, which in combination with Anri's aura radiated strongly around it.
"If you remain silent, I will tear you in two, and if it curses me, it did so long before you anyway."
The demon king could not help but speak to Thrakka.
"Silence lowly human! If you tear me apart, the boy dies, be aware of this! We are bound by a pact."
Thrakka just smiles when he hears the voice, because this was not the first meeting between the two, not for nothing the party had long been called the Hero Party, because before the Hero existed, they were the only hope of humanity, but they failed in the fight against the Demon King, this Demon King who was just lying on his lap.
"So you can talk. Think, not that we're going to let you use the boy, we've only recently found out how you want to use him, but it's far from too late to stop you."
The demon king had to gulp when he heard this, his first plan failed. While Anri continued to dodge the mutant below the tree, he didn't notice Thrakka in the treetop.
"You know ... Thandor gave me something there, you'll be good and silent from now."
Thrakka took out from his pocket a kind of sticker made of paper, which bore a seal. The demon king insulted him as he flipped through the pages until he arrived at a blank page.
"Stop it! If you do, I swear you'll be the first one I kill when I'm alive again."
Admonished the Demon King, cheekily, without listening to him, Thrakka smiled at the book while applying the sticker.
"Yeah, yeah, I'll be dead by then anyway, so cut the bullshit."
The sticker was in place and the Demon King was silent, or rather he could not speak.
Now Thrakka just watched Anri with a smile, who was still having problems.
He was already sweating all over himself as the mutant's movements become faster and faster, he must find a way out of here, but where? Up trees? Bears can climb after all, can't the mutant maybe do that too? One thing was for sure, he couldn't think about it, he had to act, quickly he ran away from the mutant between bushes, he even managed to relatively outrun him and hid against a tree trunk, his aura was calm, since he didn't have the book anymore, wouldn't the mutant find him? He had no desire and time to find out, but now he would have to look for food first, he trusted his feeling, the mutant would currently not be around while he was looking for food, and there it was, a wild boar was eating a mushroom in a nearby clearing, slowly Anri approached his food, but the boar noticed that too, Anri's training had worked, his strength was so strong that he was definitely stronger than wild animals, only monsters were superior to his physical strength, but shouldn't that also be trained in this training? Anri did not know, but he trusted Thrakka.
The first day of training was only short and Anri had to find a place to sleep without using his magic, he found a tree which was not cozy but hidden and safe which is why he chose it, the boar he tore apart with his bare strength to get to meat, it was raw but he had to eat something to survive 3 days. So he ate the meat without complaining, it was far from delicious and he was about to throw up, but he managed to swallow the it. Before sleeping Anri walked far around his sleeping place, he looked in every direction for footprints of the mutant, but found none, which was a sign for him that this one was unlikely to pass by here.
It was once again one of those evenings when he asked himself questions about Vaelus, would he meet him in the arena, if so, Anri should not show his true form, it was better for the image of the Heroes Academy if it would become known that they had rejected him at the academy, but he had flourished at the guild, it is enough, already if one of the guild defeats the hero-candidates.
What Anri didn't think about was the possibility that he might lose, only remotely did he think about it, after all he had defeated the golem, he was the one who put out the fire in the village, he was the one who saved Ragnar, he was proud of what he had done.
He was ready, or so he thought, even without training he thought he could take on the students of the Hero Academy.
Will this prove to be true? Anri will have to wait until the competition for an answer.
Thrakka also had to sleep, but for him it was nothing unusual to sleep in the trees, he also did not have to be afraid of wild animals, because even in his sleep he had one eye open.
Slowly Anri fell asleep on the uncomfortable wood, with all the words in his head, all the questions and all the possible answers. He dreamed only briefly, until he is awakened by a crackling of the wood, quickly he gets up, had the mutant found him, a look to the right and one to the left, nothing, but then came directly the next crackling, from a bush, there was definitely something, thought Anri, slowly he approached the sound and pushed the bush to the side.