CHAPTER 146(The Image Problem)

Please read the author's notes. (Examples and explanation of moves and appearance+ Monster Sources)

Discord: https://discord.gg/K7f8qGpvuk

pat.treon:/Keanu_Eugene

CHAPTER START---

---Guild HQ, 6 AM...

"This is a joke right, has to be. I thought the guild was supposed to be smart!" A bearded dwarf yells as he looks at the notice board in the guild.

"Huh, what's going on?" a thin amazon walked up to see what all the fuss was about. Taking one look at the update she almost froze, instead screaming as loud as she apparently could, "HE'S LEVEL 7 NOW!"

Immediately the entire room stood still. The doors to the guild have just opened and the first wave of adventurers immediately bull rushed to the notice board after hearing her scream.

In only a few moments a crowd poured in, all either trying to see the posted update or rushing to the counter, either to fling accusations or ask questions.

Sitting at the front desk with her pink-haired friend, Eina looks down at her cup of morning coffee to see the liquid trembling as the swarm of adventurers becomes rowdier and rowdier.

"Is this real?!" Someone yells out from the crowd, everyone immediately stops shouting. Any remaining conversations becoming low murmurs as they wait with bated breath for a response.

"Yes, this is a real update. Orario now officially has two level-7 adventurers," Eina says, standing on the desk to ensure everyone can hear her.

"Are you sure?" Another voice asks.

"Yes, the guild did a complete investigation yesterday before posting this news. We received official word from lady Hephaestus herself two days ago.

"This is bullshit! It's impossible! He hasn't even been here a year and he's up 7 levels!" someone at the back of the crowd yells out.

"He's gotta be lying to them!" another voice joins in, earning an entire uproar of agreement.

Seeing what was gearing up to be a full-scale riot on their hands, the other guild employees made the wise decision to stay in the back, away from the rowdy mob.

"Please!" she raises her voice, failing to cut through the noise but still trying her best. "I assure you the investigation was thorough!"

"That's bullshit!" someone fires back.

"Some brat walks in her and becomes a top dog in a year, I've been busting my ass for 40 years in this hell!" a bunny girl yells out from right in front of Eina.

"Mam I'm sorry but the guild isn't involved with how fast you progress. We only record and log activity and magic stones," Eina says. Trying to stay calm but her face becoming slightly red, annoyance steadily becoming anger.

"I bet the brat isn't even level 2, Hephaestus is probably just lying to get more sales!" Someone from the back of the crowd yells out.

"Yeah that's it, she's lying for the kid!" another voice agrees.

"Wait! That---" Eina's words are cut off as another person adds the straw that breaks the camel's back.

"AND THE GUILD IS IN ON IT!"

The entire room breaks into a full uproar, Eina immediately jumps down from the desk. Ducking down behind it to see her friend Misha already there. The head of pink hair almost laying on the floor to hide from the crowd.

"You were really good out there," the girl says to Eina, her lip quivering. Not sure what these pissed-off adventurers are going to do.

"You could have helped!" Eina growls at her friend, earning a nervous and ashamed look in response.

"Sorry sorry," the girl mumbles back.

"This might really be it!" Eina says as they both huddle together, expecting the worst from the small army of pissed-off adventurers.

"I'm too pretty to die like this!" Misha yells out.

"I'm too young to die!" Eina says as they both hold onto each other.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE!" a feminine voice cuts through the loud crowd. An immediate silence falls over the adventurers.

After a tense moment, Eina and Misha let go of each other to stand up and peer over the crowd. A head of blue hair in orange clothes stands at the entrance to the building, flanked by 8 other level five adventurers.

The captain of Orario's police force, Shakti Varma, the right hand of Ganesha.

"Ms. Shakti!" Eina waves at the woman.

A nervous silence ensues as Shakti walks forward. The level 1 to 4 adventurers parting for her, scared to even touch the obviously angry woman, trapped in the building as her vanguard of first-class adventurers stands at the doorway.

"What's going on here?" Shakti asks her friend, forgoing pleasantries to get to the heart of this problem.

"Uh," Eina looks down at her desk and grabs a piece of paper, a copy of the level-up announcements for today, and hands it to the woman.

Taking a moment to read the paper Shakti narrows her eyes at this.

"Mhm. So Ignis and Elementalist leveled up...level 7 in less than a year... yeah that sounds fake," the woman says. The crowd immediately begins to grin as she seems to be on their side.

A cold chill runs down Eina's spine as their glimmer of hope fades away, at least until Shakti continues.

"But I saw this kid fight," she says. The crowd became dead silent. Everyone from the doorway to the guild staff hiding in the back were straining to listen. Only a very select few outside his team ever saw him fight, and aside from Tiona nobody saw him take any fights seriously. Thankfully she raised her voice to make her message clear.

"Shared one mission with him and I saw all I needed to, he's not normal. And lady Hephaestus is an upstanding woman, if she says he's level-7 then he's level-7," she hands the sheet back to Eina, turning around to face the crowd.

Giving all the adventurers a harsh look she furrows her brow slightly, "if you think this is all fake then have your god launch an official investigation... or grow a spine and bet your life on it, go challenge him yourself if you're so sure. But I recommend you come fight me before you do that, if you can't beat me you sure as hell can't beat him, and at least I know I won't kill you. Now everyone, get out!"

Immediately her people at the doorway stand aside for the adventurers to flood out of the guild. As the entire hall is suddenly cleared out Shakti turns to Eina.

"If this is legit, why haven't I heard of any celebration or something for it?" Shakti asks. This was certainly a momentous occasion after all, she expected a massive party especially from Orario's most wealthy familia.

"Uh, he hasn't actually been seen since entering Hephaestus's main floor in Babel three days ago. At least that's what the man who brought their crates of items to trade in said yesterday," Eina says.

"Hmm, probably had a private party already," Shakti says. "I know this isn't really by the book but, I can't help but ask, how much?" she leans in to whisper.

"I'm sorry but I'm not sure what you mean," Eina says. Misha leans in to join their little whisper party.

"Valis, those deeper floor monsters gotta be worth a fortune right, if I can get even one or two items from him our familia can buy better equipment," Shakti explains.

"Oh, well... I'm not really allowed to discuss that with anyone other than the adventurer in question. In fact, I only know because I helped Varissa with all the math...it was, quite a bit," Eina admits.

"It's not like I'm gonna rob him. I'm just curious. I saw him take down a Glavenus like it was nothing, stomped his foot, and turned the floor into lava, what was his cash in. 8...9 hundred million?" Shakti asks.

"Mmm," biting her lip, Eina couldn't deny that this information had been rattling around in her mind just begging to be told to someone. The largest numbers she'd ever had to really deal with. "Alright...9 and a half," she says.

"Damn," Shakti leans back slightly as she hears the reveal. "That much split three ways, that's a little over three hundred million each," she says thoughtfully. "I could arm all our guards with better quality gear for that money."

With a sad frown on her face, Misha can't help but fantasize about that payout, "I don't even make a million Valis a year... I could retire easily with that money."

"Uh... that wasn't nine and a half hundred million... from the items they didn't withhold they made nine and a half BILLION Valis," Eina says meekly.

Both women immediately freeze, not sure how to process such a large figure. That was simply unheard of for all but the wealthiest familias in the history of Orario.

"If I wasn't so fond of being alive... I'd so become an adventurer," Misha says with a deep sigh.

"Damn. Powerful, rich, hot, and famous...some people just have everything in the world," Shakti says.

"Yeah," Eina agrees, only taking a moment before she looks over to Shakti, "wait... hot?"

---Yang's Apartment...

As the three women were imagining the perfect life of Yang Shen, the man himself was having problems of his own.

Sitting on the floor in front of his luxurious couch he looks through the massive windows down at the city. Seeing the thin blanket of white as winter makes itself know. With tired, red eyes. He doesn't feel anything.

Playing with the ring on his finger, constantly twisting it around he only looks out to the horizon, trying and failing to focus. He just couldn't seem to clear his head.

His couch had a pillow from his bed as well as some frozen spots. A side effect of his current mood, thankfully it wasn't as bad as what Welf experienced simply because he had better control now.

For the man who supposedly had everything, he felt oh so poor...

---Dungeon Entrance...

"The weather isn't as cold anymore, I'm glad winter is ending," Riveria says as she steps out of the dungeon.

Walking with Lefiya at her side, returning from a small training trip with her protege.

"Mhm, but at least it doesn't bother us in the dungeon. It's always nice and warm in there," the young girl says as she wraps a scarf around her neck.

Riveria was also sporting a slightly changed look. With the collar of her robes altered and raised to shield her neck, blocking anyone from seeing the dreadful scars on her skin. As well as a green sleeve, fitting her left arm as if it were a second skin. She felt somewhat comfortable walking around in the company of others with these changes, it was a slow process but she's taking steps to get back to being confident in her own skin lately.

Feeling the winter chill on her face Riveria proudly walks toward the guild building to trade in their loot. The small pack on Lefiya's back was filled to the brim with monster crystals and items.

Seeing crowds of people on the street looking at them. Lefiya felt nervous, Riveria always draws a crowd. The pinnacle of elven beauty was eye-catching to any sane man or woman after all.

It always made the girl feel to curl in on herself and hide. As if she were unworthy of being in the presence of such a dignified beauty. This is why they entered the dungeon at night, but her teacher was feeling a bit more comfortable now.

As her cheeks became slightly tinted with just the faintest hint of red, eyes dropping to the cobblestone road to avoid the lecherous and admiring gazes, Lefiya was completely oblivious to the chaos ensuing in Riveria's mind.

Seeing everyone looking their way, Riveria's facade of the calm and controlled Elf almost crumbled. A problem she never would have had months ago, but now she was nervously fidgeting with her clothes. Her hand was shaky as she raises it to fiddle with her collar. Holding her breath as she ensures it's covering her scars.

She can feel her stomach churn as more and more people seem to stare directly at her. Their gazes of lust and admiration are warped and twisted by her mind as she fiddles with the fingers of her sleeve-covered left hand.

She can almost feel their hate and disgust, as if they could somehow see through her clothes to the THING that was just beneath.

Feeling no holes in her sleeve she releases the breath she held. A mistake it seems as her body immediately takes one more shallow breath. Then another, and another. Before she knew it her heart was racing, her head whipping around, her facade was cracking. Had anyone been close enough they could see the anxiety and panic in her shaky eyes. She reeked of fear.

She could almost hear the crowds murmuring. Then the laughing began, laughing at her.

'What is that?'

'Disgusting!'

'That thing is their princess?'

'I thought elves were supposed to be good-looking.'

'Who could ever follow that?'

'WHO COULD EVEN LOVE THAT?!'

As if the wind was knocked out of her by the voices in her head, she drops her staff. Four hundred million valis left behind as if it were nothing for her to push Lefiya to the side. Cutting across the girls' path and ducking into a dark and cold alleyway.

"Can't breathe... can't breathe, oh gods. Why. I-I can't!" she repeats constantly while stumbling away.

"Lady Riveria?" Lefiya asks as she sits on the ground. Completely confused as her mentor just shoved her to the floor to seemingly run away. Picking up the womans' staff the young girl rushes after her.

Stumbling into the thankfully deserted alleyway, Riveria throws her cloak to the side. The white fabric doesn't even touch the ground before Lefiya catches it.

"Can't breathe. I can't breathe!" Riveria says in an exhausted tone, sounding as if she'd just ran a hundred miles.

Leaning against the wall she slinks down to the floor. Collapsing to her knees in the cold dirty snow.

Propping herself up on the wall with her shoulder and head she immediately begins to fiddle with the buttons of her robes. Those few golden buttons feeling like they'd be the death of her.

"Lady Riveria please stop," Lefiya begs. Not wanting her hero to begin stripping in public.

"I can't," in her frustration, she simply tears the two top buttons off the robe, "breathe."

Seeing where this is going Lefiya drops her backpack, both their staves and Riveria's robes to drop down in the snow beside the woman.

As Riveria begins fiddling with the next set of buttons the girl sees small tears falling onto the High Elfs' lap. For an instant Lefiya freezes, her entire world falling apart as she sees the impossible. The brave, selfless, strong, and noble princess of their entire race, the woman who she put above the gods themselves, was crying, she'd never looked so mortal before.

"I, can't... I-I can't..." Riveria's words became murmurs. Then eventually sobs. Quiet sobs of shame and doubts as she leans against the wall. Tears streaming down her face as the voices just keep yelling in her head.

'How do I comfort someone that I thought was invincible?' Lefiya asks herself. The image of Riveria held by all elves completely destroyed as she sees the broken mess in front of her. The very fear that made the great mage so conflicted in the first place. The weight of expectations is far too heavy for the woman to carry anymore.

Draping the white cloak over the crying woman, Lefiya sits against the wall in awkward silence. Just waiting and waiting for the tears to stop flowing, for the sobbing to go quiet.

Waiting for the woman whom she thought was invincible to return once more...

END CHAPTER---

Man... reading these last two chapters back to back cannot be good for your heart. The new volume officially begins with this chapter :)

I spent like a week trying to get the panic attack part right, not sure if I did so if anyone has feedback for that I'd appreciate it, the last thing I want to do is misrepresent people.