17

The one leading the small group was the village elder and trailing behind him was the leader of Armana's adventurer's guild branch as well as Felicia and Billy. The villagers parted for them to go through.

It was the village elder who spoke first, "On our way here, we came across the unconscious Emile that was carried away by the villagers." He then turned to focus his attention on Arthur, "I assume you're the one who was responsible for that, young man?"

Arthur was not sure whether it was to his benefit to admit this or not. Even though it was Emile who challenged him to a duel to the death, it was still a crime to have private fights within the village, especially where one of the parties ended up seriously injured.

Arthur thought about coming up with an excuse when he noticed the small nod that Felicia gave him. He trusted his friend and came clean to the village elder. "Yes, but it was Emile who started the fight. Sir, you can ask any of the gathered villagers if you do not believe me."

The villagers were quick to come to Arthur's defense. They were now Arthur's loyal fans after what they had witnessed.

"Sir, Arthur isn't lying to you."

"He was only defending himself. It was Emile who started the challenge!"

"Yea, it is Emile's fault for provoking someone out of his range. Arthur is not to be blamed!"

"Sir, you have to believe Arthur. He's the innocent party here!"

The voices of support rose and the village elder silenced them with a powerful shout, "Silence!"

The voices died down and the village elder continued, "I never did say I did not believe you, young man. These two friends of yours have just come to me to report on what you've been through at the nearby cave. Looks like we have a little rat in our midst and his influence has even infiltrated the village's adventurer's guild."

At this point, the village elder turned accusingly to the leader of the adventurer's guild and the man lowered his head with shame. The village elder then turned back to Arthur with a smile, "That is the first reason why we're here. We wish to apologize to you in person for the misfortune in our system. You have my personal promise that the village tribunal will look into what the brothers Emilio and Emile have done. All oversights and offenses will be promptly punished."

"Thank you, Sir." That felt like the correct thing for Arthur to say.

"Hmm." The village elder continued, "Speaking of Emile, I take it the reason he's unconscious is related to the loud scream that echoed through the village earlier?"

Arthur nodded. "Yes, I defeated Emile with my Voice magic."

"Voice magic, you say..." The village elder scratched his chin. "Your friends have told me about your encounter with the goddess and how she has gifted you with her blessing. Initially, we thought they were just kidding but it looks like we've been proven wrong.

"Congratulation, young man, it's not common nowadays for a mortal to receive divine blessing. Treasure it."

"I will, Sir." Arthur nodded.

Then the village elder asked Arthur a question, "If I'm not mistaken, young man, you still haven't acquired your adventurer's license, yes?"

Arthur admitted. "Yes, I was actually on my way to the entry test when I was accosted by Emile."

The village elder nodded with a smile, "That is actually the second reason why we are here. Due to your special circumstance, the tribunal has decided to award you the adventurer's license." The village elder then stepped backwards and turned to toss the leader of the adventurer's guild a look, signalling non-verbally to him that it was his turn to step up.

The leader walked forward and continued the explanation, "Normally, a person has to participate in the entry level test to obtain their adventurer's license but since you've acquired divine blessing, we're willing to give you an exception.

"Actually, we're here in person to assess your capability. If you do not live up to the standard of being an adventurer, we would not award you the adventurer's license with or without the divine blessing.

"By defeating Emile, you've shown us that you have what it takes to be an adventurer. In fact, I believe you might even be at the rank of a level D adventurer."

The leader turned to get the villager elder's opinion on that issue, the latter nodded silently. The leader continued as he turned back to Arthur. "Unfortunately, our village only issues level E adventurer's license because we only hold entry level tests. Adventurers that wish to advance in rank need to go to the nearby city to participate in the advancement tests.

"However, due to the uniqueness of your situation, I will write a letter on your behalf to the adventurer's guild at Celestia to inform them of your conditions. Hopefully, they would understand the uniqueness of your situation and award you the license that correctly correspond to your ability. But until then..." The leader reached into his pocket to take out a piece of certification to give to Arthur, "Congratulations, you're now officially an adventurer."

The gathered crowd burst out in applause. The whole event felt surreal to Arthur. He finally achieved the dream that he was hoping for. He was finally an adventurer!

Perhaps in the future, while he was adventuring on the road, he would chance a run-in with his father...

...

Eventually, the villagers went back to their lives. Arthur found himself having a small celebration at Ol' Smith's inn with Felicia and Ol' Smith. Billy was absent because after Emile was disposed from his post, the adventurer's guild needed someone to take over his responsibility.

After all, the entry test was still ongoing. There was no better warrior at Armana so Billy was requested by the village elder to take over Emile's work until they could find a replacement. Billy accepted.

Ol' Smith left a pouch of gold coin on the counter before wandering off to serve the other guests. It was the payment for the quest that they had completed that morning.

Felicia pushed the pouch towards Arthur. "I've discussed this with Billy. Both of us think you should have the reward because you're the reason we're even still alive today."

"But I didn't..." Arthur began but Felicia cut him off, "Just take it, you're going to need the money if you're going to be an adventurer."

"Thank you..."

"You're more than welcome." Felicia grinned at Arthur. "Now that we get that out of the way, I feel like I've missed out on most of the actions after I got knocked out. It feels so unfair. Now that I have you all to myself, so, Arthur, what do you say, will you take on a quest with me?"