New Challenge

After I parted ways with Mia, I wanted to see Syvis, but meeting her without agreeing on a place first is complicated. If I go to her guild, they won't let me in and won't give her the message that I'm looking for her. The way they treat me almost makes me think that the guards have orders to prevent me from meeting her. After having no luck asking the guards, I decided to wait a while around the Oblivion building in case I saw her. It seems that the meeting she had in the castle has been going on for quite a bit.

After walking around for a while, I noticed a raven descending to where I was from the sky. The crow stood on a barrel close to me, and when I looked at it more closely, I noticed that he had a small note tied to one of his feet. Then as soon as I took the note, the raven flew away.

There will be an emergency meeting. Make sure to be in the guild meeting room as soon as possible. The note said.

An emergency meeting? I wonder what the reason is? Well, it looks like it won't be possible to see Syvis today. I took one last look at the Oblivion building and headed back to my guild to see what was going on.

As I entered, Rina approached me, "Darx, hurry up. Everyone is already in the meeting room."

"What's going on?" I asked.

"It's better if the guild master explains it to you. Hurry up."

I rushed into the meeting room, just as Rina said. After entering, I saw a wide room with a long rectangular table and several guild members sitting in front of it, with the guild master and Dante seated in the background talking to each other. After looking around the rest of the room, I saw the familiar faces of Shalia and Leona.

I walked up to them, "Where's Ryul?"

"He is out of town," Leona answered me immediately.

"Out of the city? Won't he come to this meeting?"

"Sophia and Ari needed help with a quest and asked him for help. They left in the morning and will be back in a couple of days." Shalia continues.

"I see."

Ryul told me that he needed money, so he was willing to accept any quest. His village was also destroyed, and his family lost everything. Now that they are in [Ridelo], Ryul requires money for them to have a place to live at. At least until his father and sisters get jobs. Ryul asked Dante for help, and it seems that his older sister will work alongside Rina in the guild dining room and I recommended to send his other sister to go see Oliver since they needed a waitress.

"Now that we're all here, let's start the meeting." The guild master said in a firm tone, sitting at the end of the table with Dante standing next to her, "As some of you already know, today we had a meeting in the castle. The queen wanted to inform us about two important matters."

"Is it about the invasion?" Gerald asked.

"In part," Estella replied to him, "The first part of the meeting and the one that interests us most is about the entrance to some ruins found to the south along the border."

"Ruins!?" I mumbled quietly.

"But they are not just any ruins. According to the reports, they are ruins of [Zrephia]." Dante added.

As soon as everyone in the room heard that it was the ruins of [Zrephia], several in the room stood up in amazement. "How is it possible?" "Where?" "I can't believe it!"

"Quiet!" Estella said aloud, "It seems that there was an earthquake a few days ago, which uncovered the entrance. A local group of adventurers entered the ruins but after seeing what kind of ruins they were, they backed off and informed the queen of what happened."

"Why did they back down?" Neku asked, "Aren't those ruins where relics of those times have been found? They would have gotten rich."

"Those are not places that just any adventurer can enter," Dante replied, "Four more ruins like that have been found in the past where most of the relics seen today have been found, and although those who enter indeed have the opportunity to find incredibly valuable relics, they are also some of the most dangerous places in which many adventurers have lost their lives."

"If the ruins were found on the edge of the territory, it will be more complicated," Seto spoke.

"What do you mean?" Neku asked.

"Seto is right," Stella stated, "After the last war with the beast-kind, there are parts of the territory that remained neutral that until now had been beneficial for the traders since those were places where merchants did business between the two nations."

"That means beast-kind adventurers will also be looking to enter the ruins." Leona mumbled.

"Correct!" The guild master asserted, "One of the reasons for today's meeting was for each of the big three guilds to send one of their best parties to the ruins, knowing that aside from the dangers of the place, the possibility of having to deal with beast-kind groups are very likely."

"It's even more complicated than that," Seto added, "If we're all looking for the same thing, clashes with the Oblivion and Dark Dragon parties are also likely occur."

"Indeed!" Dante continued, "Oblivion plans to send Kase and some of his best A-Ranks, and Dark Dragon has plenty of talented adventurers to choose from."

"We don't have an S-Rank or have multiple A-Ranks at our disposal, but the members of Midnight Dawn are just as good or better than them," Nemu said enthusiastically.

"I'll be honest," The guild master said, "Not participating in this quest would cause great damage to the guild's reputation, and right now, some of our best A-Ranks aren't in town, making things more complicated. However, I have confidence in the members of the guild present here."

"I'm going to participate in this quest," Dante spoke, "And I know you're all members of different parties, but just like my sister said, I'm confident that we'll come out on top in the end, so what do you say?"

"Do you even need to ask? Of course, we'll go! Right Neku, Hisa?" Seto said.

"Hum!" Neku confirmed.

"I'll go! But it's a pity that William and Rina are not here to accompany us." Hisa answered too.

"And when are we leaving?" Gerald asked.

"We have little time to get ready. We need to leave tomorrow at noon." Dante reply.

"And what do you three plan to do?" The guild master said, looking at us.

Leona, Shalia, and I stared at each other for a moment and determined the three of us responded simultaneously, "We'll go too!"

"I don't want this to sound bad, but is it okay for Darx to participate in this quest?" Seto asked, "We'll take Neku and Gerald, who are B-Rank, but I think taking Darx, who is only C-Rank, would be too dangerous. Inside those ruins, if he can't take care of himself, he will cause us troubles."

"Don't worry, Darx can take care of himself," Dante replied, "I admit I hesitated for a moment to include him too, but he's not a normal C-Rank. Darx will be of great help."

"I see. In that case, I will trust your judgment." Seto finalized.

Dante then ended the meeting, "Leona and I will be the tanks, Seto and Neku will be our front attack, while Darx helps in the front and also helps Gerald with the magic ****. Shalia will be behind giving support and helping Hisa with the heals. Well, a great party if you ask me."

"Take the rest of the day to get ready, and we'll meet up tomorrow to head out to the ruins." The guild master concludes.

"It's a shame Ryul isn't here," Shalia said, "I'm sure he'll bang his head on the wall when he finds out what he missed."

"Yeah, hahaha!"

"We have little time, so we better use it to prepare. It will be a long trip." Leona told us.

As we all left the meeting room, Dante called out to me discreetly, "Darx, do you remember the little bar I took you to when you trained with me in the castle?"

"Yes, I remember."

"There's someone who wants to talk to you there tonight."

"Someone?"

"You'll understand when you're there. Just go alone and try to be discreet."

"O-Okay, I'll go later."

"Don't overthink it. There are reasons for the secrecy, but you'll soon understand why. Now I won't take up any more of your time, go and get everything you need ready for the long trip."

I was curious to know who wanted to see me tonight, but I decided to take Dante's advice and not overthink it. The important thing now is to gather everything I need. If the ruins are on the southern border, it will take us several days to get there. I was thinking about what I will need for the trip, as I was walking to the common area, when I looked up and was surprised to see Syvis there.

"Is your meeting over?" Syvis asked me.

"Yeah!" I reply, smiling.

Since I was hungry and Syvis was also hungry, we sat down at one of the tables and ordered something to eat.

"In Oblivion, this will never happen," Syvis started the conversation, "Non-guild members are not allowed to enter the building unless invited."

"I know! I have tried to look for you several times, but they deny me entry."

"I like that your guild has a bar-restaurant at the entrance, and they let anyone in. It makes Midnight Dawn look more welcoming."

Syvis is right about that. I'm sure each guild has its own rules, but most of the people who are in the food court are not members of the guild and come here to spend the afternoon after finishing their day-to-day work. It makes the place look more lively, and I'm sure the extra income will do the guild well.

"It took quite a while for the meeting at the castle to end, from what I see." I said.

"Yes, there were many things to discuss, and I suppose you already know one of them," Syvis said as she tasted her soup, "Will you go to the ruins too?"

"Wait, are you..."

I suddenly realized. High-level parties will go to this quest, and Oblivion will also participate. Logically, Syvis will also go as a member of the Oblivion party. But does that mean we'll be enemies for the duration of the quest!?

"From your expression, I assume that you are part of the party sent by Midnight Dawn," Syvis said, "And I guess you already know what that means."

"I just realized..." I said with a crestfallen tone.

"Why the long face? You and I are in different guilds and two guilds that don't get along too. This was meant to happen."

"What should we do?" I asked.

Syvis made a serious face, almost like she was angry, "Darx, you are now a member of an important guild. You cannot let external factors influence your performance. You have to take things seriously and do your best even if I'm in a rival party. I will do the same."

Little by little, I really started to understand how difficult this quest would be. I know that what Syvis says is correct, but I don't know if I can attack her if we have to face each other inside the ruins. Kase will also be in Syvis's party and he is an S-Rank, and I'm sure the rest of the Oblivion and Dark Dragons members are also incredibly strong. That's without mentioning that it is very likely we will have to face Beast-Kind parties too.

"Darx, you need to be well prepared and focused," Syvis continued, "In a similar cave found years ago, several adventurers died. The ruins of [Zrephia] are dangerous places."

"I-I understand, I will be ready!"

I wanted to sound sure of myself, but I'm starting to question if I'm really up to the level of a quest like this.

Syvis's countenance became more relaxed, and in a soft voice, she said to me, "Putting aside what I just told you and being a bit selfish, I feel like it's a bit early for you for this quest. Part of me would like you to ignore what I told you before and think a little more about yourself, refusing to participate since I don't want you to be seriously injured."

It made me happy to see how concerned Syvis looked for me. It's rare to see her make expressions like that.

"I feel the same way," I reply, "Even if I know you're strong, I wouldn't want your life to be in danger either. But it makes me happy that you feel the same as me, and I really hate the idea of facing you in combat, so I'll find a way for that not to happen. However, I feel that I should participate. I can't just pull out because it would be dangerous."

Syvis then kissed me on the lips out of the blue, "In that case, let's go shopping. I will tell you everything you need, and I will advise you with all the information you will need."

"I thought you couldn't help me since we're on different teams," I jokingly said.

"Silly, the quest hasn't started yet."

We kissed one more time and left the guild to do some shopping. Syvis, having traveled a lot and having experience with dangerous places like the one we are going to, told me all the information that could help me as well as recommendations on what to bring. When night came, I wanted to spend a little more time with Syvis, but she also had to go back to her guild to prepare her things. Instead, we arranged to see each other in the morning before leaving. It will be a journey that will take many days, and knowing that she will be with Kase for so long makes me uncomfortable, but there is nothing I can do.

I remembered what Dante told me about going to his bar at night since someone wanted to meet me there. I didn't know if it was too late, but I decided to go anyway. Upon entering the bar, only one person was sitting at one of the tables with a hood covering his face, but he took it off and greeted me happily when he saw me enter.

"Darx! Here!"

To my surprise, it was Harold. Confused, I greeted him back and sat in front of him.

"Do you want something to drink? Although it may not seem like it, this place sells a delicious tee."

"I'm fine, thanks."

"For a moment, I thought you weren't coming." He told me.

"Sorry, I forgot about the time buying some things I needed."

"I imagine you were with Syvis. It was a nice surprise when I found out you two were dating. Syvis is someone I like, and you too, of course."

"T-Thank you...!"

"You don't have to be nervous, Darx. I know this meeting seems strange, but it has its reason," Harold drank from the tea and continued, "As you may have already realized, I didn't want them to know that I was meeting with you."

"Them? Who?" I asked.

"The answer is a little more complicated than it seems, but to simplify, it would be the church."

"The church!? Why would it be of interest to them that we meet?"

Harold's smile faded, and he placed his hands on the table with a thoughtful expression, "I was refraining from telling you what I am about to say until I had more information, but external circumstances have **** me to speak."

I was really confused by all this, but Harold's seriousness tells me it's something important.

"You know that the color of your eyes has intrigued many people, including the Queen and, of course, me. Among those people is the top brass of the church."

"Why would they be interested in me?"

"The church worships the goddess [Imris]. She is the pillar of the church, and in whom all humans believe. What we know about the goddess [Imris] and all of creation is the narrative that the church has told us for many years. Apart from the church, there have only been a few adventurers who have managed to be in their presence for a few moments and both history and those few adventurers and the church agree on something; She has silver hair and red eyes. The offspring she left behind on earth that was the royal family of [Zrephia] possessed silver hair and red eyes. Apart from them, no one like them was ever been seen throughout history. Until you arrived."

"I-I'm sorry, I don't understand what you want to tell me."

I can't give you a concrete answer, but I don't think your appearance is just a coincidence."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"I've done a lot of research on you and your family, and now that Ilene is in the castle, I also had the chance to talk to her. I can now say with more confidence that your father was not who he said he was."

"There must be some confusion. From what my mother told me, my father didn't have red eyes like me. In fact, it was a miracle that I was born since she couldn't have children because of an affliction she had. I have nothing to do with it."

"I'm not saying your father had the red eyes, but that your father Azriel hid things. No matter how much I search, there is no trace of him until he came to [Riledo], and in his ****, there was no trace of him either. I'm not sure of the answer either, but before we get any further off-topic, I'm here because the church believes there is a connection between you and the goddess [Imris]."

"That's ridiculous!" I said.

"For the church, it's not. I know they've been following you. The reason we're seeing each other this way is because it's not safe to talk about it in the castle. Their followers are everywhere, and the relationship between the kingdom and church is not the best. The church wants to stay in contact with you, and we are an obstacle."

So the times I felt like someone was watching me wasn't hallucinations of mine. Someone was really watching me.

"What I really came to tell you is to not trust the church, no matter what they tell you. Soon they will come to you to try to get you on their side."

It seems that today is full of complications and confusing things. As a child, the color of my eyes only attracted me to bullying, but now the kingdom and the church are behind every step I take. At times I just wish I could go back to those simpler days.