Chapter 11: An Encounter With An Angel

Ace woke to bright sunlight peering through his window curtains. Getting up from his bed, he put a towel around his waist and headed for the stairway leading to the bath. Luckily this stairway avoided the dining area, so he didn't have to worry about exposing himself to a bunch of strangers. Arriving at the bath, Ace noticed it was empty much to his delight and decided to enjoy this peace and quiet for as long as he could. After getting clean, he finished getting ready and left the inn after talking to Jin about directions.

Following the directions, Ace soon arrived in front of the adventurer's guild. The brick building was two levels. The first level had two screen windows on the sides of a wooden door with a sign reading "Open" hanging from the handle. On the right side building was a large white tent with seemingly no way to enter. The second floor had two roofs on top of the left and right sides. Under the roof on the left was an open balcony with a few groups of people sitting around some tables. On the front of the right roof was an insignia of a warrior standing victoriously on the body of a dead dragon.

Ace went inside and saw what he had expected the scene of the guild to be like. The place was loud with adventures constantly talking and arguing with each other. A large group of them were crowded in front of a board that had pieces of paper covering most of the board. Some were pushing and shoving each other to get to the front of the pack which caused more arguing and yelling. Although the scene was chaotic, Ace still enjoyed seeing this as he had only read about situations like this back on earth.

Noticing what looked to be the guilds employees on the second floor, Ace walked up the spiral staircase and went in front of a booth marked "Registering/Quitting". A woman with short brown hair wearing a white button-up and black vest standing behind the booth greeted the new face with a smile.

"Welcome to Tarrin's Adventurers Guild. I'm guessing you're here to register?"

"Yes, and I wanted to sell some monster parts as well."

"To register with us will cost you a silver coin. You'll be given an adventurer ID with your information and rank. As a beginner, you'll start out as an E rank and you can only accept quests of the same rank. Based on the number of quests you complete; you can rise in rank and be promoted to D rank. The order of ranks after E are D, C, B, A, and with enough hard work, you could potentially reach the top rank S. I'll go into more detail about everything else if you decided to register."

Ace handed the employee a silver coin and waited for her to continue. Sure enough, once he paid, she began going into more detail about the rules of being an adventurer, quests, rewards, and other important things to note. After she finished talking Ace boiled down the most important information to be:

1.) No fighting fellow adventures unless attacked first

2.) You can only complete a maximum of three quests a day

3.) You are paid only when the completion of a quest has been fully verified

4.) The guild is allowed to summon adventurers to complete an "Emergency Quest" and failure to participate when summoned will result in being banned for a year from the guild

The woman then began processing his ID papers to confirm his identity and while she did that Ace went over to a different booth to sell his monster parts. He made sure to only sell the parts from the weakest monsters in order to avoid any unwanted attention on his first day. After selling the parts, Ace went back to the "Register" booth 15 silver richer to check the progress of his adventurer ID. It seemed he came back at the perfect time as the ID was ready for him and once he received it, he headed straight back downstairs to select a quest from the board.

Ace managed to maneuver his way to the front of the crowd and quickly chose the first E quest he saw. He sat down at one of the tables to read about this quest when a conversation he overheard managed to pique his interest."

"Have you guys heard that some nobles in the capital are being randomly killed in cold blood."

"I heard it was done by a group that calls themselves the "Saviors". Apparently, they attack high-ranking officials who support the death of 'Stale Bloods'. Nobody has been able to catch them yet, and anyone who manages to catch a glimpse of them claim they had a pair of wings on their back."

"Hmph, you two idiots will believe anything you're told. Stop believing in ghost stories and focus on the quest for today."

Ace was curious about these so-called "Saviors" but decided to focus on his quest for now. The quest wanted him to collect 'bluegrass', which is used in healing potions. There seemed to be no limit on how much he could collect, and it seemed he would be paid based on how much he brought in. There was also a warning about going too deep into the forest as you might encounter powerful monsters. Ace decided to wait until night to complete the quest to avoid all the other E ranks trying to compete over the bluegrass.

With time to spare Ace decided to roam the streets checking out food stalls and stores occasionally buying something. Sometime later the sun was replaced by a red moon and the sky became dark as Ace walked towards the town's wall. After showing his adventurer ID to the stationed guard, Ace headed to the spot outlined in the quest's information. Seeing no sign of bluegrass due to earlier adventurers, Ace went deeper in the forest not concerned about the quests warning. After searching for a while, he found a large patch of the grass near a tree trunk. As he went over to collect the bluegrass, he could hear the sound of a conversation not too far ahead. Ace decided to put the bluegrass on hold and silently approached the noise. Once he was a good distance away, he moved to a better vantage point to see who was talking. Now kneeling on the top of a hill that was covered in shrubs, Ace could clearly see the figures of two men talking in a small open area.

One of the men was tall and skinny with curly blond hair reaching down to his waist. His clothing was elegant and looked expensive. His demeanor gave off an arrogant feeling as though he was always looking down on you.

'He has to be some sort of noble, everything about him screams luxury. The one I'm interested in however is you.'

Ace turned his head staring at the other man who was talking to the noble. The man was huge as he easily towered over the noble with his height and large body. He was wearing a suit of armor from head to toe that was hugging him tightly, but it didn't seem to affect his movement. The only thing showing flesh was the eye holes on his helmet. Around the mouth of the helmet were sharp points made to look like teeth and there were two short horns coming out the sides of his head. Strapped to his back was a large battle axe with red blades. The feature that really caught Ace's attention, however, was the two jet black wings on his back.

'I wonder if this is a member of the "Saviors" I heard those people talking about earlier.'

Ace focused back on the conversation once he heard the noble talk

"Do you have what I asked for? If anyone were to find out I was associating with a group of "stale bloods', my reputation would be ruined so hand it over quickly so this can be over with."

At the mention of the term 'stale blood', Ace could see the man in armor slightly react. After a few seconds passed he replied to the noble in a gruff voice.

"You gave us what we wanted so it's only fair for us to return the favor."

"It's a good thing you can understand something so basic I would be worried- "

In a blinding speed, the large man grabbed the axe off his back and chopped off the head of the noble in one swift movement before he could finish his sentence. The noble's body fell to the ground as the large man looked down on him with disgust before turning his back to walk away.

"Pleasure doing business with you."

As he began to walk away, he suddenly stopped and turned his head back looking directly at the spot Ace had been observing from.

"You enjoy the show?"

Ace knowing he had been discovered jumped down from his spot revealing himself to the large man. They both silently observed each other for a while before the large man finally broke the silence.

"I hope you can understand why I need to kill you. It's nothing personal, it just looks like luck isn't on your side today."

As soon as the large man finished his sentence he disappeared from his spot and reappeared next to Ace swinging his axe to cleave him in half. When the blade of the axe hit his body, it went right through him like he was a ghost much to the surprise of the large man. Taking advantage of his surprise, Ace turned towards him and delivered a powerful punch straight to his gut that sent him flying back towards the forest.

Ace looked over to where the large man landed and soon saw him emerge from the trees with a fist-sized dent now on his armor. He walked back towards Ace stopping a good distance away.

"It's been a while since I got hit that hard. I'll give you some credit, and as a reward, I have acknowledged your strength. I'm known as Camael the angel of strength, what is your name?"

Although Camael acted tough, the pain from the punch was much more than he expected. He was also concerned about his axe phasing through him.

'I can't seem to tell if he is a mage or warrior. From that punch, I would've assumed he was a warrior, but I've never seen a warrior have a phasing ability like his. I need to find his weakness and finish this quickly.'

While Camael was trying to rack his brain on how to defeat his opponent, Ace spoke snapping him out of his daze.

"So, tell me, why would I give my name to a man who can't even hit me? You are nowhere near earning my respect."

Infuriated by his remark, Camael lost all reason and rushed towards Ace sending an overheard blow down onto his head. His axe came down incredibly fast and created a massive crack when it struck the ground. Camael looked at where his axe hit only to notice that Ace was not there. Before he could figure out what happened, he felt a palm touch his back.

Ace concentrated a large amount of light into his palm and shot it through Camael destroying any armor in the way and creating a hole through his chest. Camael instantly collapsed forward as his eyes showed no more life in them. As his body lay lifeless on the ground something odd began to happen. His body, as well as his armor and, axe, started to melt. Ace jumped away as he was unsure of what was happening. Seeing nothing dangerous happening Ace approached the scene to see the only remaining evidence of Camael being a pile of black sludge.