Ventgard

"What should we do, if those rats catch us we're dead!"

"Just follow me to the entrance. The guard there should be able to help us."

Me and Saliza were running away from the pack of rats who were hot on our tails. I'm not very athletic so both Saliza and the rats were faster than me. Moral of the story, don't skip gym class.

I was running out of breath and began to slow down. The rats were inches away from me and I was nowhere near the entrance. Suddenly a man came out of nowhere and knocked the rats away with a staff.

My legs gave up and I dropped to the ground to catch my breath. I turned around and saw a man dressed like a character straight out of an RPG game facing the pack of rats with a confident smirk.

Saliza rushed over not to check if I was alright but instead to admire the man with big gleaming eyes.

"We're saved! He's a ventgard and he's gonna save us!"

"You mean vanguard?" I asked. "No, a ventgard. What's a vanguard anyways." Saliza replied while cheering the man on. By the looks of this man, I'm guessing ventgards are some sort of magic adventurers. Honestly that's a dumb name.

The pack of rats charged at the man, but he was completely calm. He picked up a nearby rock and threw it above the rats. Suddenly the tip of his staff glowed along with the rock which started growing larger and larger until it was big enough and crushed all of the rats beneath it. All that was left of the rats was just a bloody mess.

Both me and Saliza were amazed. Earlier when she said that this world had magic this was probably what she meant.

After dealing with the rats, the man walked over to us pointed his staff at us. His staff glowed again and we were covered in a strange light that healed our wounds and restored our energy.

"The name's Haler. I'm a foreign ventgard moving into this country. It's a pleasure to meet you two."

Haler's staff disappeared into light while he stared at his bracelet.

"By the way, how did the two of you get here? Only ventgards or people accompanied by ventgards are allowed in this area."

I couldn't think of an excuse. The only thing in my mind right now was large rats, magic and portals.

"We were uhh... training to become ventgards!" Saliza quickly replied.

I'm not interested in becoming an adventurer. Sure it sounds like an exciting job, but I'm not the kind who likes endanger myself on a daily basis. Plus I'm built like a lamp post so I would be a horrible adventurer.

"Actually I was here because of...the rats who did this thing where...it is the thing of...."

I kept muttering under my breath the best excuse I could think of at the moment. I'm really awful at coming up with excuses.

"What he's trying to say is that he was training to become a ventgard, but he gets embarrassed about talking about it." Saliza said.

I would have preferred an excuse that didn't include me wanting to be a ventgard since I'm still not sure what it actually is, but I have no choice to go along with it.

Haler chuckled at us. "Well since you two are so eager to become ventgards, I'd be more than happy to accompany both of you to the headquarters where you can register yourself to become a ventgard."

We both agreed and followed Haler to the entrance . He talked to the guard at the entrance and explained what happened. The guard then gave me and Saliza a stern look. "You both are lucky that Haler just so happened to arrive here today. If you two are going to become ventgards then I would highly suggest that the two of you stop doing reckless and stupid things."

The guard was right, I should be ashamed of myself for falling through a portal that randomly appeared below me.

After that we entered Mezio, the country we are currently in, and continued to follow Haler to the headquarters. The headquarters was a very large building in the center of the country with more people dressed like RPG characters walking in and out of it.

I'm no longer on earth, which means that everything I worked for has now gone down the drain. The potential future of me becoming wealthy and successful was gone just like that. I won't even be able to see any of my friends and family again. This sucks.

I really didn't want to believe that everything I just witnessed was real. Why couldn't all of this just be a nightmare that ends when I wake up.

"Here we are, the ventgard headquarters of Mezio." Haler said as we walked into the building. The inside of the headquarters looked surprisingly modern. I was expecting it to look like a guild from an RPG game where everything was made with wood and stone since most people here look like RPG characters.

They even have air conditioning here despite not having a single air conditioner. This was probably done with magic or something. It was like being in a convention filled with incredibly talented cosplayers. Another thing I noticed is that almost everyone here wore identical bracelets, including Haler.

Haler brought me and Saliza to the receptionist and talked to her for awhile.

"Oh! You're the new ventgard from Aiden. Welcome to Mezio, I hope you will enjoy your stay here." The receptionist said while taking a bow.

"Thanks, I look forward to working with you all. By the way, these two over here would like to become ventgards" Haler pointed at us and introduced us.

Saliza was could barely contain herself while I was still contemplating everything that happened.

"I'm sorry but at the moment we don't have any elite rank and above ventgards who are willing to take new recruits, well except for one, but we don't recommend joining him."

Without a second thought, Saliza immediately replied. "We'll join him."

I wanted to go against this but I realized that if being a ventgard lets me use magic, then I might be able to use it to get back home.

The receptionist sighed and took out a form and a pen.

"If you want to join him then I can't stop you, but just so you know, no one has ever passed his test. As you know, in order to become a ventgard, you would need to first pass a test made by a professional rank and above ventgard who is willing to teach and supervise new recruits.

These tests usually range from testing your strength and speed to testing your ability to make decisions during a situation, you get the idea. When these tests are created, the head ventgard will be informed about it and approve the test if it is acceptable. The only people who know what these tests are until they are completed are the ventgards who made it and the head ventgard."

I got nervous when I heard what these tests are going to be like since again, I'm not very athletic. I spent most of my time studying or playing video games with Dan and not working out. Saliza was very fit while my muscles were almost non existent.

"The ventgard that you want to join has done some very questionable things in the past, and while we don't know what kind of test he made, so far not a single person has been able to pass his test. Furthermore, there have been people who cried after finishing his test. Sometimes everyone wonders if him getting his test approved was just a mistake made by the head ventgard."

The receptionist handed us the form. There was a picture of someone's face on it. Above the picture was a name that says "Reizo Geret."

"Here is the form if you still want to join him. This the name and picture of the ventgard who will be testing you."

There was already a name on the form. Someone named "Serith Renfir" had already signed up. Me and Saliza wrote our names on it and handed the form and pen back to the receptionist.

"Alright, now all you need to do is go to the training rooms downstairs and find the room that says B4. There you will find someone else who is also waiting for the test to begin, and once your ventgard arrives, he will instruct you on what to do for your test."

I have a really bad feeling about what was going to happen. If others who were more prepared for these sorts of tests still failed and cried about it, I don't think I have a high chance to pass.

"Well good luck on your test, I hope that the next time we meet, you two would have already become ventgards." Haler said with a smile before leaving.

While Me and Saliza were walking towards the training rooms, I asked Saliza

"What exactly is a ventgard?"

Her eyes lit up as she explained that ventgards protect their counties and hunt down monsters for a living. She then went on about the many battles that different ventgards have fought and tried to make it sound as exciting as possible.

I stopped listening after I heard 'hunt down monsters for a living'. Even if I do somehow pass the test, my time in this world is not going to be pleasant.

Once we made it, we saw a boy who was around 18 years old sitting on a bench outside of the room we were supposed to go to. The boy had brown hair and he was smartly dressed. He was also very fit like Saliza.

The boy noticed us and began waving at us.

"Are you two also here to do Reizo's test?"

We nodded as we walked over to take a seat. "My name's Serith, I'm also here to do the test."

The three of us waited for awhile before out of nowhere, Serith asks "Do you two think Reizo is evil? Some people think he is, but he's actually a good person."

Me and Saliza didn't really understand why he would suddenly start talking about Reizo. We both thought that maybe Reizo was very infamous and that Serith was just a fan.

"Reizo once saved me and my family 10 years ago. My parents are retired ventgards and we were going on a vacation, but some old enemies who held a grudge against my parents caught us off guard and attacked us. Before they could kill us, Reizo came in and defeated all of them. He's the reason why I want to be a ventgard."

After hearing that, I thought that since Reizo saved people, he might not be such a bad person.

That thought lasted only for a second when a drunken man in his 30s came tumbling down the stairs and walked towards us. He was quite muscular and wore a dark grey shirt and a dark brown coat, both of which were stained with alcohol. His eyes were tired and the way he stood made him look like he was going to fall over any second. A little more filth and he would look like a homeless man.

The best part was that he looked exactly like the picture of Reizo.