Lloyd walked over to the table where the others were, taking a seat beside Craine, unsure of how to approach the subject. "Um… Darkness, mind telling me what the hell I just witnessed?" Mary stated, breaking the silence.
"A method someone taught me a long time ago for faster frustration relief. Though I'm not sure if the person is still there." Darkness stated, his mind wandering to his own thoughts. "So feeling better?" Darkness asked, turning to Emmy.
".....Exciting. It was much different from punching boulders or trees." Emmy stated, a calm smile forming on her face.
"I'd appreciate it if from now on...don't tell Emilia to punch things at random," Lloyd stated.
"There's no harm in it. The guy deserved the hit." Craine grinned.
Darkness simply nodded, complaining to himself in his head at why he even agreed to use a certain someone's advice.
A waiter reached their table to take their order. "Meat! And lots of it!" Darkness stated abruptly.
"Just meat? You sure about that?" Mary asked, composing herself after letting what happened be.
Emmy nodded with vigor, her eagerness for it boldly showing.
"One punch is all it takes to change her whole character," Craine sighed as the others gave their orders.
The Iron Terror, unlike the slightly cheery Emmy, weren't heavy eaters, but it still took the same time for all but Darkness to satisfy themselves. Not long after, the inn was behind them.
"To think such a small child could be that strong."
"I'm guessing that wasn't normal." Darkness sighed. A century is all it took for me to be this careless with people.
"Well it's not like it's also such a big deal. If you're strong you're strong. Anyway before anything else, you two should at least apply for IDs at the guild. You are still too young to get one from Escher's administration."
A crisis struck at the guild. The adventurers were causing a riot all over.
"......…..What do you mean a forced reassessment?" "...…but, I already had mine a month ago...…." "We all know that they're gonna charge us for it!"
The crowd grew louder, sending their aggravations to the receptionists at the counter. The door opened abruptly, Lloyd entering first, grinning as usual, his demeanor clearly not welcome in the guild.
"Something funny, Lloyd?" A voice in the crowd snapped before going back to bombard the receptionists once again.
"I do love a good riot but for that I'd need to know what it's for." Mary stated, pulling one of the adventurers from the crowd forcefully.
The female adventurer couldn't protest once already pulled away, now at Mary's mercy. "They are making all adventurers below rank 'A' to get reassessed." She stated calmly before turning back into the crowd.
"Is that supposedly a bad thing?" Darkness asked. Emmy stood behind him, soaking in the guild's interior. It was bigger than the inn with notice boards on the left and right walls and smaller ones on each of the large supporting pillars. The front currently was too crowded for her to clearly see what lay ahead.
"Well for one, it's not cheap for us especially since our party just got reassessed in the next town for us to reach 'B' rank," Druid sighed.
"Money is something that we can work around. We specifically didn't get reassessed here in Escher so the testers might have their own ideals and either rank us lower than 'B' or higher." Mary added.
"And before the Arelion raid no less," Lloyd exclaimed before the door behind them burst open and two familiar figures walked in, making Emmy feel tense.
"Shouting and the receptionists who are only messengers won't do you any good!" Rune stated, walking towards the crowd, the infernal mage walking carefree behind her.
"The real reason you will be assessed is for the oncoming dungeon break in two weeks." Rune stated, stirring the crowd.
"It's too early for a dungeon break!" "Wasn't the next dungeon break going to happen simultaneously between four dungeons?"
"That is the report from the higher ups of the guild." She sighed. "I know it's disadvantageous since the Arelion raid. But we can't have ourselves assigning people to handle a dungeon they aren't able to. It's all for the safety of you adventurers." She concluded.
"Arelion raid?" Darkness asked, tugging on Mary's arm.
"The fact that you don't know about it clearly shows you do not hail from this kingdom."
"The one thing adventurers ranked 'B' and above look forward to all year, due to how profiting it is." Craine grinned. "A true test of strength." He added.
"Well you know the behemoth class monster that lives in the Arelion Mountain? The Abyssal Dragon." Lloyd began.
I'm pretty sure that's the title I was given but what does it have to do with the raid? Darkness pondered as Lloyd continued.
"It all began with the guild sending adventurers to subdue Abyssal but they learnt real fast how outmatched they were. Didn't matter the number or the rank. They just couldn't come close to grazing the big guy. But here is the surprising part. What do you expect when you encounter a monster that you can't escape or defeat? You expect people to die of course but not once has any adventurer who went on those battles ever died. They come back with injuries yes but not a single casualty. Seems like Abyssal is just a softy powerhouse. But that's not the main reason why the raid exists. Abyssal's cave is saturated with his mana which a curious mage absorbed into an orb and brought. The thing was termed a treasure worth a lot." Lloyd paused, letting his excitement go down.
"Basically, that's what happens each year. It's mostly a profit run but I can attest to the quality of materials siphoned using Abyssal's mana. This here is one made from harnessing Abyssal's mana, though it cost a small fortune to buy." Druid stated, gesturing to the orb on his staff. Darkness remained silent.
That's why I felt something was off about that orb at first but that's not the main issue here. To sum it up, these lowly creatures came to my cave time and time again each year to use me as fodder for their own self gain. Here I was seeing it all as bravery. That their intentions were honest. It's clear that all in all I was the fool. The other behemoths would surely have an issue with this. How far do these humans intend to take their foolishness!
Darkness' aura seeped out without his notice. The air around him grew heavy, pressing down like invisible weight. A faint shimmer of violet light flickered at the edges of his eyes, and the temperature seemed to drop. The wooden floor creaked as if straining under unseen pressure, and for a heartbeat the guild hall felt suffocating, as though death itself had entered. It took him only a second to calm himself, the aura vanishing like smoke swallowed by the wind.
Rune froze. The adventurers around her were still speaking but their voices faded into the background. No one else felt it? she thought, clenching her fists to keep them from shaking.
"Are you even listening?" A voice spoke from the crowd, snatching her from her thoughts.
"There is nothing to be done. This isn't even our jurisdiction. As members of the United Front, the guild's matters are none of our concern but we were still made to go to the guilds across the kingdom this morning to calm the riots. So instead of complaining, you should be preparing." Crimson cut in, watching the crowd and spotting a figure that picked his interest.
With inhuman speed he was on one knee, holding Emmy's hand in both of his, gently, the sudden shift throwing her into a loop. "If only the United Front accepted my proposal to have the ladies dress like you do. Surely if they'd see you they'd surely change their minds and let girls wear skirts instead of this," he stated, pointing at Rune's uniform.
Emmy, both confused and frightened by the sudden approach, retracted her hand and without warning, her foot met his cheek, slamming him to the guild's closest wall hard.
Most of the adventurers ignored this, being accustomed to Crimson's character. "Please forgive this idiot on my behalf," Rune stated, walking over to them and glaring at Crimson who was now getting up.
"Don't give me that look. You see it as well. Her uniform is better than yours," Crimson stated, dusting himself and regaining his posture.
"That's a member of the United Front right there. Takes a kick like that and gets up like it was nothing," Craine sighed.
These two, despite their characters, are a force that the human race depends on when it comes to demons. Not killing them might have been the right choice. That's one mistake I won't regret at least.
"You alright there Darkness? Your eyes have taken a deadly purple color you know," Lloyd whispered.
"Nothing to worry about," Darkness sighed, his eyes reverting to the usual faded purple.
"Got some new members there Lloyd?" Rune asked, turning to him.
"They just came to register is all. Though I wouldn't mind if they decided to join the Iron Terror." Lloyd grinned.
"Well we'll be off. We have a lot more guilds to go to before we can truly say we are on break," Rune sighed, walking out.
"See you soon." Crimson stated, waving at Emmy as he also walked out.
Rune waited for him outside, staring at the cloudless sky above. The air was still, almost too still, as if the city itself was holding its breath.
"You felt it too, right?" she asked as Crimson reached her and they began walking.
"You mean the soul-crashing feeling that death is staring at your back? How could I miss it?" he joked, though his grin was thinner than usual.
Rune's eyes narrowed, her voice low. "Well, make fun of it as much as you like. Just be on your guard. Whatever it was… it clearly doesn't want to be traced." She sighed, her gaze lingering on the horizon as if searching for the source of the unease.