The events that led Kael to the Adventurers Guild.
The royal capital, the royal palace. The heart of Grimholde.
In the dimly lit corridors of the royal palace, the metallic clang of Kael Thorne's boots reverberated like the relentless beat of a lone war drum, each step an ominous echo against the cold stone walls. Pride and confidence emanated from him like an unyielding flame, while the air around him held the faint, unsettling scent of iron. His presence alone seemed to promise peril, a living harbinger whose very existence instilled trembling among the guards. The stories about Kael were well-known: the strongest man in the kingdom, yielding to no authority, not even the king. It was rumored that if he so desired, he could lay waste to the entirety Grimholde itself.
It wasn't just a rumor, Kael could genuinely destroy the entire kingdom in the blink of an eye and that fear made the king tread carefully, fulfilling every one of Kael's wishes just so he could keep him from leaving the kingdom or worse, joining the kingdom's enemies. The kingdom's stability was fragile and neighboring nations watched eagerly for any sign of weakness or dissent. One wrong move and Grimholde could find itself surrounded by potential threats waiting to exploit a crack in its defenses.
Kael was heading toward the audience chamber to have a conversation with the king but before he could get there, he unintentionally overheard voices below.
Guard 1: "Hey, shift's up, it's time to switch up."
Guard 2: "Took you long enough."
Guard 1: "Yeah, yeah. Oh yeah, you won't believe what happened at the guild today."
Guard 2: "Oh yeah? Well spill everything."
Guard 1: "Some adventurers just arrived, they were total unknowns but get this, the girl, she's got affinities for all elements. And they are maxed out, too."
Guard 2: "Bullshit, no one has every elemental affinity, not even the hero's that broken."
Guard 1: "I saw it myself…"
'All elemental affinities? That's impossible. Only the prophesied hero should have that kind of power…' Kael thought to himself as he clenched his gauntleted fists, a wicked grin spreading across his face as the possibility excited him into motion.
Determined to verify the rumors for himself, Kael resolved that if the stories were true, such power could not be left unchecked. Without hesitation, he vaulted from the corridor balcony, landing with a thunderous crash that sent the guards scrambling backward, their eyes wide with alarm.
"Hey," Kael growled, in an intimidating tone, "Tell me everything you know about these… 'adventurers'," he said as he laid his hands on one of the guard's shoulders, blatantly intimidating him to talk.
CUT TO THE GUILD—
The heavy silence settled as the front doors creaked open.
Kael stood at the entrance of the Adventurers Guild as the entire hall froze in fear. Conversations died down and even the clatter of mugs and boots halted as no-one dared to move a muscle.
Seeing this, Sel glanced around completely unfazed by Kael's presence before sighing.
'So he is one of those types huh, every world's got 'em.' She said as she stared as the figure standing. 'I knew we would meet him but not this soon, this guy is going to be a pain in the ass.' she thought to herself.
"Who invited this walking sack of dead weight? You're sucking all the fun out of the room." she said flatly.
"Sel," Reiji whispered in a panicked tone, "are you seeing how huge this guy is? Don't try to piss him off…"
Kael stepped forward as his eyes locked onto Sel, fixing her with an intense stare.
"Are you the one called Sel?" he said, with a heavy voice. "Hmm… not what I expected but whatever. you're coming with me now." He said as his eyes scanned Sel with a slightly thoughtful appraisal, as if measuring potential rather than visual information. The way he regarded her was very unsettling, suggesting motives beyond the simple words that came out of his mouth.
"Huh? and why would I do that?" Sel said as she tilted her head. "We're busy, dead weight, go find someone else to talk to."
Kael's lip curled as he heard Sel's words. "You've got a way of talking with that mouth of yours don't ya. I kinda like that, most people with your build usually hide behind others but it seems I was wrong about you."
He said as he leaned in, too much for comfort.
"But I wasn't asking," he added.
Seeing what was happening Reiji instinctively stepped forward with his legs tremblingly with nausea, "THAT'S ENOUGH, DON'T COME ANY CLOSER!" his two steps felt like a battle against the invisible chains of terror holding him back. His throat tightened painfully as if trying to suppress a scream that threatened to escape. Every instinct and every atom in his body screamed at him to flee from the guild at that moment.
'Dammit, why the hell did I step in front of this guy, Sel should be more than capable of ending him with a single punch right?' Reiji thought to himself as his legs continued to tremble.
He turned back to look at Sel, she looked slightly terrified with her fist trembling slightly enough for Reiji to notice.
'Huh? don't tell me s-she's actually scared of this guy… why was she talking trash about him to begin with if she couldn't beat him… wait, could she? No, this isn't the time to think about if she can or can't, she already said she lost a lot of her powers when she followed me here, add that up with her trembling right now, I think it's reasonable to assume she can't beat him as she is right now….dammit, dammit, dammit Sel.' Reiji thought as sweat began dripping from his head unto the guild floor. 'She said I couldn't die but that only applied to natural causes right? so there is a good chance that I might die here and probably get sent back to that place… what should I do? I don't want to die here.' Just as Reiji was thinking of a way to survive this encounter, his mother's voice began to echo in his head. "Reiji, promise me you'll run and not look bac—"
'But… this wasn't that moment, was this what dad was talking about? Did he know something like this was going to happen? No, that's impossible, what the hell am I even thinking? I don't know if I'm already dead and this is just my soul thinking about all these things' he thought to himself.
"Sometimes, the things worth protecting are worth facing your fears for, even when running would be the easier choice." Reiji exhaled as he remembered his dad's words. 'To think my dad's words is what's keeping me from shitting my pants right now, I don't care if he knew if this scenario would happen or not… anyways dad, I'm borrowing your words for a while, maybe to my death even' Reiji thought again as his body began to feel lighter, like the crushing weight had slightly lightened.
Kael scowled. "Hey, how long do you plan on standing there? Scram kid before I punch your face in" Kael said.
Hearing this, Sel began to tremble slightly more intensely than before, her expression had completely changed as she was smiling behind the oblivious Reiji trying to play hero.
"I said, THAT'S CLOSE ENOUGH! DON'T COME ANY CLOSER!" To Reiji, the world seemed to have decelerated dramatically, as if every second had stretched into minutes. Just as those words escaped Reiji's mouth, Kael moved instantly, all Reiji could see was a blur of muscle and rage as Kael's fist rocketed towards him faster than he could even process that a punch had been thrown in his direction, It was too fast for a mere human to even perceive its movement.
'I… can't..dodge in time,' Reiji thought to himself as it seemed like his mind was beginning to match the speed at which Kael's punch was moving at, he saw the fist rocketing towards him at incredible speed but his body could not move in time to even turn sideways.
Suddenly, Kael was on the ground coughing as blood began to seep from his mouth and nose, his face bruised as if he had been punched square in the face. The air between Kael and Reiji still rippled as if charged with the aftermath of a powerful force. It left Kael dazed as he struggled to comprehend what had just happened.
"Huh…? did I… do that?" Reiji said as he stared at his hands. "But I didn't move… right?"
Reiji turned to look back at Sel as he said those words. 'Huh? was she' "why are you smiling?" Reiji said out loud as he was met with Sel's cheerful expression.
"What? no I wasn't" Sel said as she immediately changed her expression to that of a serious one.
"Don't lie to me, I know what I saw.."
'Was it her? but I didn't even see her move… if it was her then does that mean I did all this for nothing?' Reiji thought to himself as he opened his mouth to speak, but before he could let out the words he intended to, Kael stood up in a fit of rage.
"YOU LITTLE SHIT! WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?! I'LL KILL Y—" Kael said as if trying to throw another punch at Reiji.
"THAT'S ENOUGH, KAEL…. STAND DOWN."
A commanding voice cut through the tension like a blade, hearing this, Kael froze.
'Huh? who is that?' Reiji said as he turned to look at whose voice that was.
A figure stood at the entrance to the guild.
Clad in radiant armor that gleamed under the guild's light, he stood tall, exuding charisma and the authority of someone used to leading others.
'Hmm… so that's the hero, huh?' Sel thought as she narrowed her eyes, sizing him up. 'He seems… alright, I guess.' She added, seemingly uninterested in the hero as well.
The suffocating tension in the guild began to ease as whispers buzzed through the crowd of adventurers.
"That's him, isn't it?" – Adventurer 1
"Yeah, that's the hero." – Adventurer 2
"No way, is he gonna fight Kael?" – Adventurer 3
"A showdown between Kael and the hero?" – Adventurer 4
Kael's eyes narrowed as he recognized who stood there.
"How dare you stop me, Ren?" he growled.
"You're causing a scene, Kael" Ren replied calmly. "The king heard about what was happening at the guild and sent me to deal with the situation."
"I do what I want," Kael scoffed. "What, you want to fight?" His lips curled into a grin.
Ren's tone stayed cool, but his eyes were sharp. "If you want a fight, I'd be happy to oblige… but are you sure now is the time?"
Kael's grin twitched as he heard this.
'He's right…I'm in no shape to fight the hero after what just happened… He isn't someone I can take down without my full strength.' Kael thought to himself. 'Even I couldn't react in time; everything hit like a blur…. was it her?' He thought as he looked back at Sel who just had a blank expression. 'There's more to this group than I thought. Whatever, it's not worth pushing further right now.' He added to his thoughts as he glanced at Reiji.
Kael shrugged as he walked towards Ren who was standing at the entrance of the guild.
"Tch. Scared? Whatever… I don't waste time on weaklings."
He said as he strode out, still wearing a smug expression. The oppressive weight in the air vanished as the door shut behind him.
Ren turned and gave a slight bow. "Are you two alright? I apologize for his behavior. He can be… difficult at times."
"N-No, we're fine," Reiji said quickly. "Nobody got hurt, so yeah, we're all good."
Ren straightened, offering a gentle smile. "I'm Ren Kazuki, the Hero of Grimholde. A pleasure to meet you both. Are you two new to Grimholde?"
'Wait, Kazuki? That's definitely a Japanese name. Is he Japanese too? He did say he was the hero…' Reiji thought to himself as he heard the hero's name.
"I'm Reiji. This is Sel, she's my… uh… uh—"
Before Reiji could finish up his sentence, Ren's eyes lit up. "Wait. Reiji? That's not a name from around here… are you Japanese by any chance?"
'Crap.' Reiji thought as alarm bells started to ring in his head. 'Nope, this is a bad idea, let's not hand out isekai cards just yet.'
"Ja…pan…ese?" Reiji tilted his head, faking confusion. "What's that?"
Ren studied Reiji for a moment, then chuckled softly. "Ah. My mistake, don't pay what I just said any thought." He said, turning to Sel. "And how rude of me, it's nice to meet you, Lady Sel."
'Phew, I dodged that one,' Reiji said internally. 'What a smart guy, he wasn't going to out himself to anyone who didn't already know the truth of his origin. That meant he was playing it safe too. That's good to know. The fewer people who know we aren't from this world, the better.' Reiji thought.
"Well then," Ren said as he turned towards the door, "I should head back to the palace and report to the king. I hope we meet again, Reiji, Sel," he said with a smile.
With that, the Hero vanished into the light beyond the guild doors.
'Hmm what an interesting pair' Ren said he continued to walk.
After all the madness had settled, Lyra handed both Sel and Reiji a small metallic card etched with their names and adventurer information.
"These are your guild cards, also used as formal identification. Please take care not to lose them." She said, then paused as she turned to Sel with an almost apologetic smile.
"Oh, and Sel? The Guild has decided to assign you a provisional Rank B status. We're sorry we can't place you higher. Honestly, we wanted to make you Rank S outright, but without a formal record to go by, B is the best we can offer for now until you build up some experience and trust with the guild."
Sel took the card with a calm nod.
"That's fine." Sel said.
'Not that I care about ranks either… we just needed identification and a source of information.' Sel thought to herself.
"Wow Sel, rank B huh?" Reiji said as he smiled at her. "That's super impressive, you'll hit S-rank in no time I bet."
He said to Sel before he turned to Lyra, puffing out his chest a little.
"So, uh… what about mine? What's my rank?"
He grinned widely, already dreaming of being a B-rank adventurer as well.
Lyra blinked.
"You're… rank D."
"…Huh?"
"Well," she continued with a businesslike tone, "you should technically be rank E but considering you're in a party with Sel and also taking into account that stunt you two pulled earlier against Kael, we figured D would be um, generous."
Reiji stared at the card Lyra handed him with a blank-eyed expression.
'So I only got bumped up because I know Sel? Seriously?' He he thought to himself. 'Well… okay, I guess staying under the radar isn't such a bad thing.'
"Wait, did you say… party?" Reiji asked; only now had Lyra's words made sense to him. "Sel and me?"
Lyra tilted her head as her eyes widened in innocent confusion.
"Oh?… was I mistaken? You two arrived together and seemed close so I assumed you wanted to register as a party. If that's wrong, I can fix it—"
Hearing this, Reiji glanced at Sel.
She was already smiling at him with that soft knowing smile again.
Reiji sighed, a small smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.
"No, you're right. We're a party."
And just like that, it was official.
They were now registered adventurers of the Kingdom of Grimholde. A Rank B goddess and a Rank D nobody. Still, Reiji couldn't help but feel a twinge of excitement.