New Life
After passing the test, the three of us went to the receptionist with the cards that Reizo gave us.
"How was the test? Don't feel too disheartened if you didn't pass." The receptionist said when she saw us.
"You guys aren't the first group to fail and you all won't be the last. Many people before you have failed this test so even if you did fail you should-"
The receptionist thought that we failed just like most people who tried to join Reizo, so I interrupted her while she was trying to comfort us.
"We passed." I showed her the cards that Reizo gave us. She was shocked to see that someone actually managed to pass Reizo's test. She then took the cards and scanned it several times, confirming that we weren't using fake cards and that we did pass the test.
"I don't believe it. You guys actually managed to pass his test, Great job!"
Saliza was ecstatic that she could finally become a ventgard and Serith seemed much happier after finding out that Reizo only acted that way for the test.
"I need you three to come with me to complete the final step of becoming a ventgard."
We followed the receptionist who led us to a room only accessible by staff located all the way at the back of the headquarters. She placed our cards into a slot near the door and pressed a button to open the door. There was a pedestal there and the receptionist asked us to put our arms on it.
Once we place our arms on the pedestal, the receptionist pressed a button on the card slot.
A beam of light shot down from the ceiling and onto our arms. My arm felt like it was being submerged in hot water.
Once the light faded away, the three of us had a bracelet around our arms, the same bracelet that almost everyone in the headquarters had. The bracelet felt like metal but was stuck to my arm almost as if it was a part of my skin.
The receptionist took out the cards which lost all of its color and placed it in her pocket. "Congratulations, you three are now officially ventgards." the receptionist gave us a thumbs up.
To Saliza and Serith, this was a great accomplishment. To me, this signified the start of a new life, one which I doubt will be pleasant.
The receptionist then brought us back to the reception table where she gave each of us keys with the same tag on it.
"these are the keys to your new room. For today we will need you three to stay in the headquarters so that we can settle a few things. After that you are allowed to go back to your home if you want."
"Wait, rooms?" I asked. The receptionist explained that the headquarters was where many ventgards lived and that a large portion of the headquarters was dedicated to making rooms for ventgards to live in since there were many homeless and poor people who became ventgards in order to earn money.
I was gonna ask Saliza if I could stay with her after the test, but since we got our own room, I don't need to worry about where to live now.
"Do ventgards mostly just hunt monsters?"
I asked. This was something I wanted to know because if I don't need to fight monsters on a daily basis, then that would be great.
"Most ventgards are known for being powerful and hunting down monsters, but the job of a ventgard is to protect the town, gather resources and help fulfill the requests of locals." The receptionist explained to me, and with that, we left to go check out our rooms.
We took the stairs and searched around to find our room. Once we reached our room, I unlocked and opened the door. It was like a motel room. We had a clock, a fridge, a bathroom, two bunk beds, stuff you find in motel rooms. Overall the room was not bad.
"Since we're finally ventgards, we can relax now!" Saliza said as she hopped onto the top bunk of one of the beds.
"Hey Serith, since you know more about Reizo than us, could you tell us what type of person he is." I asked.
Serith thinks for a moment before saying "When I first met Reizo, he saved my family. He was passionate about being a ventgard and treated everyone with respect and kindness. His old team inspired many people to become a ventgard."
Saliza looked down from her bed after hearing what Serith just said. "If he's so kind then why did he make a test that consists of him beating a ghost child in front of us."
Serith sighed and explained what happened to Reizo. "Reizo was once in a team of 4, and one of the members of his team was from earth."
I already knew this story wasn't going to end well when he mentioned that one of his teammates was from earth. Although this might reveal why people from earth have such a bad reputation in this world.
"Reizo treated each of them like they were family, including the one from earth. His team was quite popular and very powerful despite only having 4 members.
But one day on a mission, something happened and Reizo's teammates got killed. The mission wasn't completed and Reizo was the only one who returned. Apparently the earth scumbag betrayed his team and ended up killing Reizo's teammates before escaping. Ever since then, Reizo changed and started to gain an infamous reputation. There have been all sorts of rumors going on about him but I don't believe that they're true."
After hearing that story, I started feeling nervous. Since I'm in Reizo's team, that means that he's going to be supervising everything I do. Since he's worked with someone from earth, he's bound to have some knowledge about earth. I need be extremely careful around Reizo or he'll find out that I'm also from earth.
After finishing the story, Serith goes to the toilet to take a dump. Saliza could clearly tell that I was feeling very uneasy after hearing that story, so she climbed down and talked to me.
"I'm sorry I dragged you into this and made you work with someone who hates earth with every fiber of his being, but even if you're from earth, I don't think you're evil."
This made me feel better knowing that Saliza finally trusted me, but I still couldn't shake off this uneasy feeling. I've already seen first hand how powerful Reizo is, and combined with his hatred towards earth, I will not die a pretty death if he finds out.
Eventually it got late so the three of us went to sleep, wondering what our lives are going to be like from now on. Will it be exciting and fun, or will it just consist of pain, we'll find out tommorow. Although I'm very certain that it'll just consist of pain, alot of fear and pain.
The next day, around 3 am, we woke up to the sound of someone unlocking our door. Shortly after, a man wearing the receptionist uniform came bursting through the door.
"Rise and shine new recruits! Today is your first day as a ventgard. My name is Jack and I'll be showing you around the headquarters so get up and let's go!"
I was barely able to open up my eyes and I wanted to sleep more, but I can't do that when someone at the door keeps yelling at the top of his lungs. This is even worse than school.
Slowly, the three of us got up and washed our faces before following Jack as he guides us around the headquarters. We were all half asleep while Jack kept going on about qualities that a ventgard should have.
"The first area he brought us to was a large area with a podium at the front. "This area is the assembly hall, where ventgards will assemble whenever there is an announcement or an event."
The next area he brought us to had people in it. "This area is the cafeteria. Ventgards usually have their breakfast, lunch and dinner here. Once we're done I'll leave you guys here to have your breakfast." There were many ventgards having their breakfast while chatting with each other. Some of them waved at Jack who waved back at them. There were also ventgards passing by us and wishing us good luck on our first day.
The next area we were brought to was a familiar place "This area is where all the training rooms are. The three of you will have to go to the training room where you took your test yesterday and meet up with your ventgard in charge at 5 am."
The next area we were brought to was rather small compared to the others. "This area is the library where people can find all sorts of books here. Books about spells, monsters and our world can all be found here."
The last area we were brought to was a bizarre looking shop. "Last but not least, this area is the armory, where you can buy and repair equipment."
After finishing, Jack brought us back to the cafeteria and left. Some of the food was similar to the ones on earth, but the others looked like something out of fiction. We needed money to buy food, but we didn't have any.
"New recruits right?" A lunch lady said.
She handed each of us a plate of rice with curry on it. "Here, new recruits need to eat up before they begin their ventgard duties."
We thanked the lunch lady before finding a place to eat our breakfast. We were still pretty sleepy and slowly ate our breakfast before going to the training room to start our first day as a ventgard.