4 Chapter 4
“Aria, I’ll probably come back late today,” Olivia said the next day as they were having breakfast.
Aria tilts her head as she smiles mischievously, “Oh my, are you meeting a boy?”
Olivia’s disgusted expression causes Aria to laugh. “Is it a friend? Then, go have fun. But, remember, please don’t be back so late. It’s not safe for a girl to wander late at night.”
******
“What is this?” Her voice is flat as he stares at Kaiser who’s been avoiding her gaze. Kaiser could see the slowly irritated Olivia as she made her way to the bed. Kaiser quickly stands up and stands beside her. “I swear, I did not know about this. I woke up and he’s there, bleeding!”
The said bleeding man has neck-length maroon hair with a fair and chiselled face. His body is taller and broader than Kaiser. “Wow, now I look properly, isn’t he handsome?”
Olivia sighed, “I’ll go call for Sir Edwyn. You take care of him in the meantime.”
“Oh, okay.”
Kaiser went to the bed and fixed the man’s posture so that he lay on the bed properly. The main injury, which is the head, was pressed down using a torn cloth from Kaiser’s old clothes. As he was pressing it down, grunts escaped the man’s lips as he struggled to open his eyes. Kaiser saw a very beautiful maroon eye. “Relax, you’re injured. The doctor will come soon,” Kaiser said in a reassuring tone.
A while later, Olivia and Edwyn arrived.
“He’s fine. The head injury was not serious and he fainted from fatigue. There’s a lot of scratches on his body and some fracture bones on his elbow but overall, it’s fine.” Edwyn said as he wrapped the man’s injured head with gauze.
“That to be said, what can we do now?” Kaiser inquired.
Edwyn hesitated before he spoke up, “I will take care of him. You guys can go collect the herbs.”
******
“Is it okay leaving them there?” As they were collecting the herbs, Kaiser suddenly asked.
“Sir Edwyn is the one who asks us to leave them alone. It must be his acquaintance. We need to do something after this anyway.”
“Hmm? What is it?”
“Magic.”
“.....Magic!? There’s magic!? Can you use magic?”
“I can. For example,” Olivia closes her eyes as she chants in a whispering tone. Gradually, the ground around them was coated with ice and Kaiser could not move at all. He then could see how Olivia manipulated the ice around them.
It was very beautiful.
“Just like that, I want you to try it. There’s more than any other type than ice and we need to identify what’s yours. Here, read this book first and then we will try it later.”
Olivia collects the herbs and Kaiser goes to read the book by the river they first met. After an hour, Olivia came back, some blood got on her.
“Olivia, there’s blood on you. Are you okay?” Kaiser looks at the trembling hands as he gets worried, ‘Olivia did say something happened to her but she did not remember about it all…’
“I encountered a low-level monster. It’s their blood. How is it? Can you try it?” Olivia brushed it off, clearly wanting Kaiser to stop asking her any questions.
Kaiser reluctantly stopped himself and repeated what he had learned.
“The wind is too strong. Is it the wind type?” Olivia gazed at Kaiser who’s surrounded by a strong wind even though the man itself seems to be unaffected. Minutes later, the wind slowed down and seeped into Kaiser’s body, especially around his back.
‘There seems to be a special point of where it was absorbed…’
Olivia went to the now excited Kaiser and started pulling his clothes.
“Olivia!? What are you doing!? Hey, stop, Olivia, what are you doing in broad daylight!?”
While hearing Kaiser’s complaints, Olivia successfully took off Kaiser’s clothes and on his back, she saw a gleaming silver rune. “Kaiser, go see your back on the river.”
“Wha-! What is this? This thing covers my whole back.”
“I have one too but not as large as you. It’s on my forehead. You need to cover it up, control the vitality you’ve felt earlier and imagine the rune gone.”
******
A bustling place full of people having a weapon by their side and the rusty smell of blood and sweat filled the area. Nonetheless, the receptionist working at the counter seems to be unaffected.
“I never thought I could see a real-life guild with my eyes. Tell me, Olivia, Is this a dream?” Kaiser seems to be emotionally affected. Olivia chuckled as she walked to the counter, “Hello, we’re here to register as an adventurer.”
A pale green hair girl smiles, “Then, please fill this form. While you’re filling the form, I’m gonna explain a little bit about the guild. The rank we have is shown on a necklace that will be given to you later. On the necklace, your name and the date you start off as an adventurer will be written on it. Transparent as the highest rank, gold is the second, silver is the third, bronze is the fourth and black as the last rank which indicates that you’re a beginner. We will give you a card that has your information and could be used as a pass if you’re travelling to another place. Please note that if you were to fail on a mission, you have to compensate with money in return. If you want to know more about the rules, on the second floor, there’s a small library and you could ask the worker there to give you the guild book. You can use the library to search for some information too. If you have any questions about your mission, you can ask me or any other workers here. If you want to form a party, please kindly let me know as we will give a ring to the leader. Any questions?”
“How can someone remember all of that?” Kaiser whispered to Olivia. Olivia saw the complicated look in Kaiser’s eyes as she found it funny, “I don’t know. Maybe all of the people here have a photographic memory?”
“Oh, yeah, that makes sense.” Kaiser’s eyes are wide in revelation. Olivia and the receptionist laughed when they saw Kaiser believe it.
“Thank you for waiting. Here’s your necklace and card.”
Kaiser scrutinized the necklace as he found it very similar to dog tags back on the earth. The shiny black metal gleam as the name Kaiser was shown in a cursive font. Olivia told him to not write a full name because commoners don’t have any last names. Last names were given to royalty and nobles. ‘Weird, is it such a big deal to have a last name?’
