Book 4: Chapter 4: Reaching the Border

Book 4: Chapter 4: Reaching the Border

It had been three weeks since Zeke and Leo had hunted the boars, and their appearance had markedly changed in that time. Most noticeably, the two had upgraded their gear.

After leaving Tradespire with nothing but the clothes on their backs, the two managed to buy several pieces of equipment from the money they earned doing quests. Both were wearing rugged but sturdy leather armor with pieces of metal protecting their vital areas. Leo had also upgraded his weapon and a gleaming red saber now hung at his waist.

Zeke, on the other hand, was holding a spear made from the tusks of the boars they had hunted. Of course, as accomplished Mages, they didnt really rely on those weapons for combat. However, the presence of the equipment and weapons made their cover all the more believable.

The two of them looked like seasoned adventurers.

Zeke had also passed his promotion to silver a week ago, catching up with Leos rank. He had been lucky, as the guild branch they were at the time had a Special quest on offer. Instead of the typical monster Subjugation, which might have taken him a lot of time, he was given the option to choose a different category of quest for his rank-up exam.

Guild quests were sorted into five different categories: Subjugation, Assassination, Escort, Reconnaissance and Special.

While Subjugation referred to the elimination of monsters, Assassination was the human equivalent. Usually, there would automatically be an Assassination quest created at the guild as soon as a criminals bounty rose above a certain level.

Luckily, this didnt apply to all bounties.

For example, the bounty the empire had placed on Zeke as well as the ones he had placed on the members of the four great families were not displayed in any Guild. The reason for this was that those bounties were considered political. As a neutral entity, the Adventurers Guild had no interest in getting involved in such matters. They focused on bounties that were placed on criminals whose guilt was proven without a shadow of a doubt Bandits, Murderers, and the like.

In stark contrast, Escort missions referred to the type of quests where the goal wasnt to kill but to protect. Typically, such a mission consisted of the name of a target and the period the target needed to be protected for. Depending on the nature of the contract, the duration of such a quest could be anywhere from a few hours to a few months.Ñøv€l--ß1n hosted the premiere release of this chapter.

Then there were the Reconnaissance missions. This category encapsulated all tasks related to information gathering. The guild would often create such quests to monitor the monster population in their respective area. Those were crucial pieces of information for the operation of any guild, as they would hand out Subjugation quests based on those reports. Therefore, Reconnaissance missions were often only given to the most trusted members.

And lastly, there were Special missions. This type referred to anything that didnt fit in the other categories or had to be kept secret. It was exactly one of those missions Zeke had taken on as his advancement test. One could say that Zeke had gotten extremely lucky, as the quest specifically requested somebody who was new to town.

As it turned out, the quest had been issued by the local guild master. He wanted somebody to tail his wife. The man suspected her of cheating and created a quest to find proof. As the wife of the guild master, she naturally knew most of the regular members. Therefore, he was forced to look for help from outside.

This was where Zeke came in. With his [Perfect Spatial Awareness], the mission would be a breeze for him or so he thought.

The Guild Master had purposefully left the town to give Zeke the chance to tail her, and Zeke had faithfully executed his task. However, before even half the night was over, he had to quit his observation. As it turned out, the woman was indeed cheating, but it was much worse than that. Not only was she cheating, but she was cheating on him with his brothers. Yes, brothers, plural.

Manuela, the wife of the Guild Master, was having affairs with all three of his brothers. On top of that, she was constantly trash-talking the mans prowess in bed while doing the deed. Zeke lost the heart to listen in after the first two hours.

He still cringed when he thought back to his report to the Guild Master. The man had been skeptical, which in turn prompted Zeke to go into more detail. Perhaps too much detail, since the man turned into a soulless husk as Zeke repeated some of the words Manuela had spoken the night before.

Luckily for Zeke, this did not stop the man from authorizing his promotion. However, this experience had made him weary of accepting any Special missions in the future. He might have saved a lot of time this way, but he felt more than a little nauseous thinking back on it. There indeed was no free lunch in the world.

Zeke shook his head to clear his mind of the awful memories.

Walking to his left, Leo practiced spells. Ever since their talk three weeks ago, his brother had started a new type of training. Zeke had told him that in order to inherit Maximilians Magic, he would have to be able to combine his Fire and Earth Mana.

He had informed Leo that Maximilians Explosion Magic was in fact a combination of the two elements. Furthermore, he promised that he would let him inherit the old mans spells if he showed promise in that field. Ever since that day, Leo spent all his time experimenting with his Mana. Zeke was aware that Maximilian had been something of an idol to Leo, so there was no greater motivation for his brother than to be able to inherit his legacy.

Maximilian had often said that he didnt intend to pass down his spells to anybody, but Zeke didnt believe that. If that had truly been Maximilians intention, there wouldve been no reason to show his spells to Zeke after he had acquired the Trinity Project. But he had, and Zeke took that fact as his silent agreement to pass them on to Leo once he was ready.

After getting confirmation from Akasha Zeke spoke up. Thats Kanion.

Leo perked up. Does that mean we have reached the border?

Zeke nodded. This is the last checkpoint before entering Korrovan.

Do you think it will be trouble to get through?

Not really. As silver-ranked adventurers, we should have the right to enter any country freely.

At those words, a grin emerged on Leos face. A good thing that we both reached Silver rank then, right?

Yes

With both of us having proven ourselves worthy of such an honor.

Yes

With both of us

Shut up, Leo! Zeke snarled.

Once again, he regretted telling his brother about his Special Mission. Ever since then, the latter couldnt help but tease him about it any chance he got.

Anyway Zeke said, clearly trying to change the subject. In case there is any trouble, I have a backup plan in mind.

Ohh? As expected of you. What is it?

I learned that there is going to be a huge auction soon. Ill just tell them that we came for that.

Leos brows furrowed slightly. And who exactly is gonna believe that we have the means to participate in something like that? We look little better than beggars.

With a mysterious grin, Zeke rummaged through his pockets before showing Leo his secret weapon. He was holding a fistful of gold coins. After only the briefest of moments, he hid them again, not willing to be seen with such a treasure.

Meanwhile, Leo had a dumbfounded expression on his face. Where did you get those?

Zeke smirked. Didnt I tell you last time? Magic.

Leos expression turned thoughtful as he remembered their talk from a couple of weeks ago. If you are going that far, our story becomes a lot more believable.

Zeke winked and sped up his steps.

Soon after, the massive gates of Kanion came into view. Even from afar, they could see the rows of people waiting to get in. With a sigh, they took their place at the end of the queue. This would take a while.