Rose— what the hell did you just say to the Paladin Lord? You will only do a party quest where I'm in it? How absurd. You do understand that this is not a request you can ask right after your initiation test! Rose, what has gotten into you?
"Ho ho— and may I ask as to why you would make such a specific request?" asked the Paladin Lord.
His face feature changed. It seems like he is taking this request seriously. I guess I should keep quiet and let Rose handle it.
"The main reason as to why I'm joining the Light guild is because I want to be by his side and support him. He means everything to me and I want to be there to make sure that he comes home safely. I do not wish to come home one day just to hear the news that he is no longer in this world. I— would rather die than to let that happen," answered Rose as she held her hands tightly.
I didn't know she thought about me that much. But she is being way too clingy by saying this. Will the Paladin Lord even consider her request based on her response?
"I see you've been through a lot despite your age. In your eyes, you do not want to sit around waiting for news. You would rather take action and die than to receive another bad news. However, you're still young. No doubt, you'll still receive bad news throughout your life no matter what you do," said the Paladin Lord.
"I am sorry. I cannot indulge in your request fully. However, I am willing to make an exception. For any party quest by the Dark guild that your brother is in, I will put you as the first recommendation. But for party quest from the Light guild, you will need to follow what the other guilds decide. You're still young, dear Rose. If you just follow your brother, you won't be able to carve your own path nor will you be able to see the potentials in other people. You do not want to be in the shadow of your brother forever. See the world through your own eyes instead. Would that suffice?" asked the Paladin Lord.
I turned to look at Rose. Is that enough for her? I do agree with the Paladin Lord. If she only chooses to follow me, she will not be able to grow on her own. By following other people, you can think differently in tactics or strategies that will be useful when you're faced in various situations. Thinking differently can help you improve yourself in ways that you've never even thought before. I hope Rose is willing to keep an open mind to understand what the Paladin Lord wants for her. I hope she is willing to accept his proposition.
"Thank you, guildmaster. I accept your offer," Rose bowed politely to the Paladin Lord. Phew. I'm so glad that Rose is sensible enough to understand his intention.
"Oh right, I almost forgot. Rose Starr, I shall grant you the rank of Crusader starting today. I hope you can make me proud," he said. Hang on— did I just heard wrongly?
"I'm sorry, Paladin Lord sir? Did you just granted Rose as a Crusader rank? You're giving her three hops in ranks?" I asked him.
"Well, she did managed to best one of my Templar member. I don't see why not. I'm different from your Dark Lord who is old thinking. Don't compare me with him," he waved his hand sideways.
But— aren't you older than him? Unless the Dark Lord had found ways to keep himself young despite his age? No, that is just not possible. How can an 80 year old looked as though he is in his mid thirties? That just doesn't make sense!
"Now, you wish to hear about your father, right? As for your mother, I only knew so much about her based on her interaction with your father. Truth be told, I wouldn't really say I knew your father well but we did interacted before. I guess that is better than nothing?" asked the Paladin Lord.
"Yes, that would suffice. Before that, Rose, there is something I need to tell you. I don't believe you will rat me out after seeing you so determined to support and protect me. My full name, is Zen Hawthorn. My father is Jack Hawthorn. The war hero from the Demon King's war," I confessed to her.
"I— see. No wonder you never told me your last name before. I always knew there was a reason why you kept it a secret but I didn't want to pry, hoping that you would tell me one day. Thank you for telling me, I won't break your trust," said Rose as she bowed lightly to me. I gave her a pet on the head and gestured the Paladin Lord to start his story.
"Jack was— a genius. He was very similar to you, to be honest. He was what you would call, a great and powerful leader. Speed was his forte and when he used "Accelerate", not many were able to follow him. He was actually the next in line to be the Paladin Lord but alas, the war came. When he met your mother, we were all confused as to why he would end up choosing her. Jack was always fond of female elves more so than humans. Every time you see him wondering around or relaxing in a tavern, he was always surrounded by elves," said the Paladin Lord as he recalled his memories.
I smacked my head. Damn it. So that fetish was because of you, father? Geez! Even Rose is judging me with squinted eyes. It's like she's interrogating me with those glaring eyes of hers. I am so glad Lily is not around, otherwise I don't know what will happen if these two ever met. So glad I don't have the guts to ask the receptionist from the Elemental guild on a date.
"Ah, but when your mother was pregnant, it was a celebration to behold. It was such a festive day. Both the Light and Viking guild pulled together to make a grandiose feast. I was there on that day and it was— momentous. Liquors and beers were emptied by the barrels. Mostly due to the Vikings and their drinking habits. But the joy and laughter we shared that day was certainly a sight to behold. Although, there was a strange rumour about you. But seeing that you're here, safe to say it was a baseless rumour indeed," said the Paladin Lord as he stared at me.
I wonder what rumour was that? Is it related to my parents? Should I push it? But he seems to be certain that it was a baseless rumour.
"Your father is certainly a great man, Zen. Both your father and mother fought zealously against the Demon King. They fought with tenacity and skills unseen by humans today. I doubt even the current guildmasters can match both of them in combat. You would do well to make him proud. For you are his son after all," he smiled at me. I stood up and bowed to him which Rose followed the same.
"Thank you so much for telling me about them. I can finally feel some closure with my parents. Glad I understand more about them now," I told him.
"I'm glad that I finally got to meet the hero's son. I wish both of you well," he bowed lightly and proceeded to head out.
Rose and I headed back to the Dark guild. She needed to retrieve her items from my room to her new place. No doubt it's going to take her time to transfer things over seeing that she had been buying a lot of clothes recently.
"Are you sad that I won't be staying with you anymore, Onii-chan?" she asked.
"I've been living alone before you came along, Rose. I'll be fine," I assured her with a smile.
"I'll come by often to cook dinner. I won't leave you high and dry. Your head chef will still be cooking for you. He he. With that said, you don't mind if I leave some of my clothes at your place, right? Since I'll probably be staying over often. Unless— you're planning to invite some female elves to your place?" said Rose with a scary red-eyed glare. Geez, that's some murderous intent there.
"You can do whatever you like, Rose. I doubt there's any female member that would be willing to stay with me anyway. But just knock before entering, just in case, alright?" I told her.
"Fine. I just hope I don't see you on top of a female elf when I open your door. I definitely don't want to see the sight of that," said Rose as she crossed her arms.
And so, Rose officially left my home to live by herself with the Light guild. She still visits me from time to time but I really hope that she had made some friends of her own. I won't lie, my room felt a little empty without Rose around. I didn't expect a year of her presence would make me feel this way. Either way, I still continued increasing my skill stat with alchemy and cooking. I am definitely aiming to unlock those two bloody hidden spells from the legendary gauntlets.
***
Time flies by quickly. I am 15 now and close to 16. Rose is hovering between 12 and 13. She is officially a Paladin now while I was still stuck in my rank. Now I know what you're thinking. The Dark Lord refuses to promote me in an attempt to force me to work harder than I'm supposed to. Quite the contrary actually. The Dark Lord had actually been pushing for my promotion to the Queen in an attempt to knight me. Going so far as to not promoting another Shadow Knight until I am knighted by the Queen.
My very first attempt had me bowing to the Queen and waited for her to knight me. All was going well until the Queen saw my face. She looked at me as though I'm some disgusting being and told the Dark Lord that she will never knight me until the day she dies. Is my face that disgusting? Geez!
The Dark Lord informed me that the Queen has never acted this way before. She had always knighted anyone from any guild no matter the reason since she rarely bothered herself with the adventurers guild. He interrogated me on whether I did something horrible to offend her but I had never met the Queen before in my entire life until the knighting ceremony.
"Perhaps there's something amiss we had yet to uncover. I will get to the bottom of this. Rest assured," he told me.
Truth be told, becoming a Dark Knight was the least of my concerns. If the Queen is not going to knight me, I'll just find other ways to become stronger. My skill stat is close to 35 now. Just a few more and I'll be able to unlock the second hidden spell. So near yet so far. As for the final spell, that'll probably take a lifetime for me to achieve so I'm going to leave that aside. 50 skill stats is not something I can achieve overnight so I'll just set it as one of my end goals.
***
I was having breakfast with John and Rose when we were suddenly summoned by the guild to attend a meeting. We were busy discussing as to why I am the only one who had not reached the highest rank. John had met Lily recently and confirmed that she is at the rank of Blitz Knight now. He also highlighted that she had grew up and looked extremely beautiful now. Both the Elemental and Viking guild have a mutual bond with one another, hence the reason as to why John was able to meet with Lily.
The Viking guild have a tradition that requires them to attend a ceremony to meet with the Underwater Dragon King in the City of Underwater Marrydia. It is customary for the Viking Lord to prove his worthiness to lead the guild every five years. Failing to do so will result in his death. And the next potential Great Viking will have his chance to prove himself worthy of being the next Viking Lord when he or she meets with the Underwater Dragon King.
Why would the Underwater Dragon King be willing to indulge in such a tradition is beyond me. And since it is underwater, the Elemental guild excels greatly with their lightning spells. Hence, this is where the mutual bond comes into play. The Elemental guild provides support to the Viking guild in their tradition while the Viking guild in turn provides full support to the Elemental guild with their needs.
I was tempted to ask John on whether Lily has a partner of her own but seeing that Rose is here, I held back. Rose in turn was insulting the Queen for not knighting me. She was saying that she did not even smiled once during her knighting ceremony and all she wanted was to stick her rapier down the Queen's throat. Both John and I quickly closed her mouth with our hands when some of the guild members came over and summoned us to a meeting. We were confused by the sudden invitation and turned to look at each other as though any of us knew about it.
We reached the place in question and it was a grand meeting place. It looked like some sort of hotel but we only have taverns here. We headed in and was greeted by an unusual scene. Inside this meeting room, four of the guildmaster were seated together with a large table in between. Only the Elementalist was not here. How strange to see all the guildmasters to sitting together and chatting with each other.
"Glad to see you're here. Please be seated. We'll begin shortly," said the Paladin Lord.
What's going on? I am fairly certain that they didn't invite us to talk about our relationships. Or did Rose offended the Queen earlier with her remarks? But it was guild members who escorted us and not soldiers. Hm, something fishy is going on here. I just hope it's not related to me not being able to be knighted by the Queen.
"Let's get started. The four of you are chosen to uncover the mystery about the recent disturbance in the Northern continent. You will be given three days to prepare yourself for the journey. A carriage will be transporting you to the City Of Lilies Dahlee and you will be ferried to the Northern continent from there. Any questions?" said the Dark Lord. Straight to the point as always.
Wait, four of us? Who is the last member? Oh, looks like there's a Dragon Knight member here with us. Guess we'll be travelling together then.
"What are we looking for? This quest is too vague for all the trouble to send us there. We require more information otherwise we have no idea on what to look for," asked the Dragon Knight.
"More information will be provided to you by your guide. We do not know much about the quest ourselves but it was a request from someone that we could not refuse. Keep in mind that this quest is top secret. You are not allowed to inform anyone outside of the four of you," said the Dragon Lord.
"Are we to only uncover the mystery or eliminate the disturbance itself?" I asked them.
"We ar no expecting ye te face an army o demons yourself. Ance ye figured oot what is causing the disturbance, ye can return an summon more backup," said the Viking Lord.
Gosh, I really hope John doesn't start talking like this if he ever becomes the Viking Lord one day. My brain hurts trying to understand what he's saying.
"Do not take on the role of being heroes in this quest. As you all are aware, Demons are resilient creatures. We will provide support to the four of you. Although we are hoping that demons are not coming together to start another war," said the Dragon Lord.
"That is absurd. The only Demon capable of such a feat was the Demon King. I do not believe any random Demon is capable of rallying the others to start a war. They are practically fighting among themselves all the time," objected the Paladin Lord.
"Whatever it is, do take care of yourselves over there. Find the answer to the mystery and come back. No hero business," said the Dark Lord.
The four of us bowed to the guildmasters. This was not something any of us could refuse. We were chosen for a reason. We were chosen because all the guildmasters had the utmost faith that we can accomplish this task.
We all headed out to have our own meeting. We settled on our favourite tavern, 'Sleeping Daisies'. Of course we did not mention a single word of our secret quest. Our discussions was more towards self introduction and what is needed to prepare for. The three of us introduced ourselves to the Dragon Knight.
"My name is Pietro Borage, nice to meet all of you. I take it the three of you are acquainted with one another. That would make me the oddity of this group," said Pietro.
"You won't be the oddity. Let's get along. Cheers," I raised my cup. All of us cheered together.
Our meals arrived and we devoured it to our heart's content. I can see that John is no longer the picky person he used to be. Truth be told, his weight had gained significantly. Not to mention he is drinking beers when he's just 15. But no one would dare to poke fun of him. Everyone knows that Vikings are ridiculously strong and you would not want to get punched by them when they are drunk.
"Let us move to the more important topic at hand. Who will be the leader of this group?" asked Pietro.
Rose immediately raised her hand. We were all shocked that Rose wanted to be the leader until she said that she is voting for me to be the leader. John also agreed that he do not mind voting for me. I turned to look at Pietro and asked him.
"You seemed to be older than all of us. How bout you be the leader instead?" I asked him.
"It is true that I am oldest here. And I do have experience in being the leader of a group a number of times. But your other teammates would like you to be the leader instead. Who am I to deny that from them?" answered Pietro.
"I insist. I would like you to be the leader instead," I smiled at him.
"Well— if you insist. Take note that when I'm leader, my orders are absolute. Hesitate and all of us might end dead. Is that clear?" he asked all of us.
"Alright, but I would appreciate if you allow us to give opinions. You will make the final decision on whether to follow our opinions and such," I told him.
"Very well. But opinions are not allowed during combat as every second counts. We will meet in the morning, three days from now at the Northern entrance. Don't be late," warned Pietro as he stood up and walked away.
I guess that concludes our meeting. But John and Rose decided to have a talk with me instead.
"Zen onii-chan, is there a reason why you decided to make him leader instead? I— don't really like that guy much," said Rose.
"Indeed. He gives off a sort of bad vibe," explained John.
"I see. I do get the feeling that he had been assigned with some other mission aside from ours. Which is why I decided to make him the leader. I want to see his intention. And I don't want him to feel left out seeing as he's the only oddity in our group. But remember, act on your instinct. He might be the leader but we are still our own person. No one's orders are absolute from my point of view. Do what you feel is right," I said to both of them.
They nodded and understood my intention to make him the leader. By doing so, we can figure out what's his role in this quest.
***
Three days passed and the four of us met at the Northern entrance. Each of us had a backpack filled with supplies that might last us for a week. We do not know how long we'll be over there and I hope there's a town or village that we can stay. Rose brought along her trusty rapier while John was wielding an axe that was even larger compared to the one I bought for him previously. His strength should be off the charts now. Pietro brought along his long spear and a couple of small ones. As expected of what a Dragon Knight will be using.
I thought of bringing along my gauntlets but after much consideration, I decided not to. I was suspicious of Pietro and was not about to reveal one of my most important equipment to him.
It took us about a day and a half before we arrived at the City Of Lilies Dahlee. Good thing we brought along some winter clothings as it was snowing heavily. It would take us another day until we reached the port as we got lost due to the heavy snowing. Upon reaching, a lizardman was there to greet us.
"Greetingsss. I am Kronk, I will be your guide sss," introduced the lizardman. Wait what? Did he just say— Kronk is his name?
"Excuse me, did you just say your name is Kronk?" I asked him with disbelieve.
"Indeed sss. I am a mixed between a reptilian and a human sss. My father have such horrible naming schemesss," said Kronk as he shook his head. Oh well, who am I to judge? If Kronk is his name then Kronk it is.
We boarded the boat and the four of us turned our gaze towards the Northern continent. Otherwise known as the Demon continent. From afar, we can already see a storm brewing over there. All of us braved ourselves as we headed towards the unknown.
"I hope the four of you are ready sss," said Kronk.
"Yes, we're ready," I replied. How wrong was I.