Not really

I honestly can’t pay too much attention to Mia’s duel. My mind just keeps replaying what happened at the end of my duel with Url. I was about to lose one of my legs. Good grief, I am so lucky that rank up happened when it did. As well as the new skill. I wonder how I will explain this in a letter to my mom.

After a short time, the clerics tell me they are done healing me. The wounds on my face are fully healed and the bruises on my chest are barely visible. Those will apparently fade in an hour or so. I thank the clerics, pick up the pieces of my sword and head over to the judges to pick up my adventurer card. Standing next the podium where the judges are is Harold, the queen’s counselor. He was the first person to notice my adventurer card full of question marks, so I’m sure he’ll have an opinion to offer.

Harold smiles at me and says, “Darx, it’s good to see you. How has your time with the Dark Dragons been?”

“Ah, pretty good.” I greet him with a weak smile as the disqualification still weighs on me. “I made acquaintance with some of my mom’s old friends and more. Everyone’s been quite helpful. I’m happy to have joined.”

Harold nods. “That’s good to hear. Having a sense of belonging is more important than some people realize.”

Harold then reaches for an adventurer card lying on the edge of the judge’s table.

“I took the liberty of looking over your adventurer card.” He says. “Part of my job as the queen’s counselor. Congratulations on your rank upgrade. And in front of so many people no less. I predict that everybody in Riledo will be talking about you for a while. You could capitalize on that and make yourself a celebrity if you like.”

Then Harold comes in close with a worried expression on his face.

“Be careful about people trying to use your celebrity status to build themselves up. I know Aelbrecht for long enough that he won’t do that. As an S rank, he’s got his own celebrity status. But be suspicious of total strangers suddenly being friendly for no reason. This city holds more leeches than you would expect.”

I have never known Harold giving me bad advice, but I feel he’s overreacting with me becoming famous. Still, there could be opportunists who think like him. I guess it wouldn’t be a bad idea to be careful.

“So yeah, here is your adventurer card. I don’t know how you do it, but you keep amazing me with this.” Harold continues as he hands my card back to me.

I look it over and yeah, the B on my car has been replaced by an A. Just like the judges said. But my adventurer card did not add an air-based skill to my card. It added air magic instead. And my class has also finally been filled in. The question marks have been replaced by the word “Archon”.

“Wait … archon? What in the hell is an archon? Kiara never told me anything about that class.” I tell Harold.

“Same thing I am wondering. I too never heard of the archon class.” Harold replies. “In fact, as the person in charge of the awakening ceremony, I can assure you that I have never seen anyone gain the archon class before. You can easily be the only archon in this whole kingdom.”

I start to get worried now. If I am wrong and people really do start treating me like a celebrity because of my rank upgrade, then them learning about me being an archon is going to make it even worse. I better keep this only to myself and the people I trust.

Just then the gong goes off. Oh. Mia’s duel is already over? And the judges announce Lacey as the C rank champion. Ow. Well. Looks like no champions from Merton this time. I thank Harold for his advice and put my adventurer card away. Then I decide to stick around and wait for Mia. Lacey is so happy and animated with her win that she is the first to get here.

“Darx! I won! Did you see?! I’m the C rank champion! Hah, even my sister couldn’t be champion! But I did!” She says with a very big smile.

“Indeed, you did.” I smile at her in return. “Congratulations for that.”

“By the way, in my mind you are like totally the B rank champion and not that Url guy.” Lacey says. Then she brings her hands behind her back and with a slight blush asks, “So, since both of use recognize each other as champions, you think maybe you and I could spend some time together? Like, not as adventurers but as … just a boy and a girl?”

That is actualy a very sweet way for a girl to ask me out. I really wish I could agree to her request but …

“I am very flattered, Lacey. If I didn’t already have a girlfriend, I would totally agree to that.”

“Oh, you already …?” Then Lacey starts blushing even more. “Wow. I am feeling so embarrassed now. I was sure you were still single.”

“Sorry for the misunderstanding.” I apologize. “But hey, now you can still find a guy who is even better than me.”

“Yeah, ok. Thanks for clarifying. But uhm, if it doesn’t work out and you and your girl break up, come see me, ok.” Lacey replies. Then, with a mischievous smile, Lacey heads to the judges to collect her adventurer card.

“I didn’t know you and Lacey were friends.” I hear Mia’s voice behind me.

“I met her at the Pleasant Owl a couple months ago.” I say as I turn to face Mia. “Her and Monica both, as well as a friend from my month at the castle.”

Mia’s expression switches to annoyed and while not looking into my eyes she says, “You know. I am certainly quite bummed that I didn’t become the C rank champion. But I always felt bad for cheating on you. So, if you feel like dating Lacey, you should go for it. She certainly looked like she wanted to.”

“That is very kind of you, Mia. But I already have a girlfriend.” I answer.

Mia looks at me with pleasant surprise and asks, “Already? Wait ..." Then her expression turns into one of disapproval. "It’s not Amelia, is it?”

“Amelia and I have made up, but don’t worry. It’s not her.”

“Hmm, alright then.” Mia responds. “I shall pray your new girlfriend treats you better than I did. You deserve that at least.”

After that, Mia went to collect her adventurer card and rejoined her guild. I better rejoin my guild members too.

When I get to the Dark Dragon section of the arena, my fellow guild members start yelling compliments at me. A lot of them are congratulating me for having become an A rank and also a few for being the rank B champion. It looks like they all share Mia and Lacey’s opinion here. I really wish the judges were of the same opinion.

Kiara is already waiting for me at the entrance. When I reach her, she immediately gives me a warm hug.

“Hey there, big guy.” She says with a big smile. “Now that was a massive cold shower there, wasn’t it? Everyone has already been talking about it and almost everyone feels you deserve to be the B rank champion instead of Url. Still, having a rank upgrade instead of the prize money seems like a much better reward to me. I certainly would appreciate it.”

“Yeah,” I tell her with a sigh. “I am not going to pretend I’m not grateful for the rank upgrade. I certainly am. But I do have a few questions about some other changes to my adventurer card. Do you think if maybe we could get somewhere private?”

Kiara cocks her head and says, “Kinda hard to get some privacy here. We are like surrounded by fellow guild members and thousands of people are around them.”

She has a point. Now is probably the worst time to show anyone my adventurer card. Who knows who is looking over my shoulder? So instead, I get close to Kiara’s ear and I whisper, “I have air magic now. That's two magic elements while a spellsword should have only one. Also, my class has finally been filled in. Apparently, I am an archon now. Have you ever heard about a class like this?”

“No, that is new to me as well.” Kiara replies in a normal voice. "I guess we better bring this to Aelbrecht. He is the last resort when it comes to things like this.”

Kiara and I head to where Aelbrecht is seated. We let him know about me having 2 magic elements on my adventurer card now and also that it has updated to describing me as an archon.

“Hmmmm, archon.” Aelbrechts says pensively. “Now that is a class type I haven’t seen in several centuries.”

“So, it existed before?” Kiara asks surprised.

“It is an incredibly rare class, but there have been cases of it.” Our undead guild master continues.

“Ok. Then what is an archon?” I ask Aelbrecht.

Aelbrecht leans back a little and looks up, like he is thinking about his answer. Then he says, “The adventurer cards seem to be quite strict as to what combination of skills fall under which class. Fighters must have only fighter skills. Mages and clerics must have only magical skills. Spellswords may have a combination of mage, cleric or fighter skills but are limited to only one magic element. If you have fighter skills you cannot be a mage. If you have access to more than one magic element, you cannot be a spellsword. If you have more than one magic element and also have fighter skills, then you must be something other than spellsword or mage.”

Aelbrecht is giving me an answer, sure. But it’s a little hard for me to follow. “So, I am now something like a spellsword who leans more to mage than fighter? Like a super spellsword?” I ask.

Aelbrecht simply nods as a reply.

“I still don’t get it.” Kiara speaks up. “If archon is a class that exists, then why is it so rare that we go entire centuries without one?”

“There are many classes other than the ones we are used to.” Aelbrecht answers Kiara. “It is just that some of them can only be unlocked by people who can choose their own skills.”

When Aelbrecht says that last sentence, everything suddenly makes sense. Normal people have their skills chosen for them. But my adventurer card started off full of question marks. It allowed me to choose for myself. Which then made it so I could choose a combination of skills and elements that do not fit any of the usual classes. I could have taken a sword skill from the fighter class, combine that with a stealth skill from the rogue class, then add the beastmaster skill to that and maybe also a magic element. And that would have been a class even different from archon. Or what if I chose 5 magic elements? Oh lord, if only I had a better understanding of the many different possibilities.

I ask Aelbrecht if my thoughts on this are correct and he silently nods.

While I am trying to process the magnitude of what this means, Kiara asks Aelbrecht, “Guild master. You said it has been a long time since you’ve last seen an archon. Can you tell us who the previous archon you know was?”

Aelbrecht leans forward and looks into Kiara’s eyes. Then he calmly answers, “The last princess of Zrephia.”