A Certain Guild Master's Memories (2)

The Iron Tavern - December 31, 69

"CHEERS!!" all voices around say together as we drink a mug of ale.

"Captain make a speech." a slightly drunk adventurer yells across the room.

"I... I don't know. I didn't expect to be able to become an S-Ranked adventurer." I say stumbling over my words from the sheer shock of being able to advance.

"You beat a dragon with 2 people and didn't expect to make it to S rank, did you not know that it was an S+ rated monster." another adventurer shouts while filling up his mug with another beer.

"Haha..." I laugh nervously.

'It was all due to Alice, our Priest. I can't thank you enough.' I think as I look at her having fun.

As she catches my gaze she goads me into a speech.

"SPEECH!"

"SPEECH!"

"SPEECH!"

As the loud roars of adventurers fill my ears I eventually give in.

"Alright. Alright. You have known that I'm not a speech person but here are some true words." I say raising my ale high.

"I started off thinking a job as an adventurer was my last resort, I had no talents other than the sword and my personality was unfit for a knight. Hard work has determined that the sword I have has reached even a dragon. Work hard and you will be rewarded!" I shout as all of the adventurers in the guild cheer and fill up on alcohol and snacks.

"A corny but good speech." Mark says as he raises his mug.

"Thanks."

"So how long have you and Alice been a thing?" Mark asks while sipping at his beer.

"About 3 or 4 months now, sorry about that I wanted to tell you sooner. " I guiltily answer while patting Marks' shoulder.

"It's fine, ever since we helped her out of the dungeon she's been clinging to you and when others show interest she isn't interested in getting close to them." he answers while looking down contemplating.

"I hear you found someone now. How is it?" I ask trying to change the topic.

"It's been good, the priests at the church say that we can expect a child is expected in April, around the 20th." he answers slightly drunk.

"That's good news. How about your wife? Is she alright?" Alice says jumping in our conversation.

"Yeah, the doctors say they haven't seen someone in such good condition during pregnancy," he answers slowly.

"Well Zach and I have to go, we have to wake up early tomorrow." Alice comes in from talking with her friends as she grabs my

"Alright see you later. Get home safe you hear?" Mark says as he gets ready to leave himself.

As we reach the Tavern entrance I look back but it is just all the adventurers from the guild, they didn't even notice me leave as they continuously cheer and drink alcohol. They really are just looking for reasons to drink.

As we head down the alley under the dark sky Alice speaks up.

"Sorry, I have somewhere I would like to go." Alice says as she waves her hand beckoning me to follow.

As we head out of the town and into the forest all low leveled monsters avoid us as we have an intimidating presence. After walking without talking for some time we reach a hill that looks over the town.

"I found this place a couple of weeks ago and I have been waiting to show you." she says as we look over the bright town. The view is breathtaking, the birds chirping as they fly by, the sound of the town quietly in the distance, the technology given to us by the hero long ago has been advanced working fluidly.

"This view is beautiful, thank you for sharing it with me."

I thank her for showing me something so beautiful. These moments fills my heart with happiness as I think about the future.

"I wanted to say one last goodbye. I can't stay here any longer, they've already found traces of me and I don't want them to hurt you. I'm sorry but we can't go together." As I'm feeling the bliss of the situation she drops a bomb on me.

"W-What, your leaving? Why? Why can't I go with you?" I say stumbling due to how fast it was said.

"It isn't a place that humans can go." a voice from behind me answers as I fling around to see the voice.

Turning around there are 12 people hovering mid-air, all of them have an aura around them that makes the dragon we fought look like a child. The massive amount aura suffocates me as I try to speak but am unable to.

'Monsters'

"We finally found you, bitch. Hiding in the human realm so we couldn't have any chance huh. We had to make avatars just to abide by the Plane's Laws." one of the voices said as he reaches out towards Alice.

"I've been hiding because I didn't want to be found. Isn't that just common sense?" Alice says as she backs away from the incoming thing not affected by the aura at all.

"If you run, this human dies." as the same voice from earlier says that the surrounding aura changes into killing intent and smothers me even more, I can barely stand in place as the aura crushes down on my body.

As Alice looks at me in the current situation she unwillingly sighs and casts magic.

"Teleport"

As the magic is cast, I thought it would be her running away but the magic flies through the grass and engulfs me as my vision changes from the forested hillside to our house in the city.

"NO!" I yell running out of the house while grabbing the elven sword I keep under my bed. Running out of breath as I jump onto the rooftop and leap over the lively city I reach the entrance of the forest and try to follow the exact route I took last time. As I get closer to the hill the aura of whatever those things are starts to smother me the same as last time making it hard to control my body. The sounds of screams echo throughout the forest as I rush through it. Hearing the screams I activate all my skills and having mana cover me entirely as to resist the aura as I rush to the other side of the hill only to see Alice in chains and something pulling her into what looks to be a crack in the Dimension.

All 12 of the beings enter into the Dimensional crack quickly after her and the crack closes up like ti was never there in the first place.

----------------------------

As he stares into space and daydreams about his past he murmurs, "I pray... that somehow... one day... you will be relieved of all your suffering."

With that sentence quietly echoing throughout the room, the tear falls from the Guild Master's face and onto the desk.