Reality [Part 1]

"This is disgusting!" (Shiro)

"Yuck, this slimy stuff is in my hair also," Carol said as she continued to remove a slimy paste from her hair. She was covered in that slimy stuff.

Well, we all were covered in it. We took a quest to defeat a weird monster and when we killed him, a fountain of this slimy stuff was launched from his stomach and we all got covered in it.

"Ahh, this really is disgusting," I said and removed some of that stuff from my face.

"James, you should have stabbed him in the head instead of its stomach," Carol said to James.

"I said sorry for that! How many times will you make me repeat the same thing over and over again," said James in a slightly loud voice.

Yes, this is his mistake; he was the one who got all fired up and went alone to stab him with his sword.

"Well now after seeing this I am glad that we left Lily at the inn," Carl declared.

Hmm, I agree with that. She was crying and wanted to come with us but it was better to leave her at the inn. I was worried a little about her security so I enchanted her with a spell that will tell me if she is in any kind of danger.

Currently, we are returning to the guild; after completing this quest we all are gold-level adventurers. That means from now on we will get higher-level quests and those quests have a large reward.

To make the fight fair and square, I have limited myself to only using [Fire control] while doing quests. By this, I won't overpower them and we all have an equal amount of power level.

I am not completely sure why I did this but, it was feeling like I am cheating so maybe that's why I did this.

I have also gathered some information about the rank of adventurers; Copper, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Diamond, S, SS, and SSS are the ranks given to the adventurers according to their powers and abilities.

As you can tell by the names, S, SS, and SSS ranks are special and the person who obtains them are known as elites in the kingdom. Their quests come directly from the king or his subordinates.

Well, most of the time these so-called 'Elites' do nothing and enjoy the royalty they are given.

I have also read all the books in the library type place and found out that normal people here can only use magic till the [Seventh-tier]; but by harsh training, you can use magic till the [Tenth-tier].

The [Super-tier] Magic can only be used by a demon lord or a hero. I didn't have any information about [God-tier] and [Cosmic-tier] magic though.

I know that they exist because I have used the [Sixty-four Star Seal] and it is a [Cosmic-tier] magic spell. (After getting my powers sealed, I can't use Super-tier, God-tier, or Cosmic-tier magic either)

Soon we reached the guild, there's a signboard hanging beside the main door with [ADVENTURERS GUILD] written on it so it's easy to identify the building.

"James, this slimy problem occurred because of you so you will go to the guild office and submit the details. Everyone! Leave James, we all are going to the inn," Carol announced, I guess she is really angry.

James had a helpless look on his face; he took out the magic stone we got from that monster and went inside the guild building to submit it and get money in exchange.

While Carol, Shiro, Carl, and I went towards the inn; I don't know if I have mentioned this before but I shifted to the inn Carol and his party was living in because the guild was too far away from my old inn. (Wait a minute, who am I telling this to?)

***

We reached the inn; Carol went to take a bath in the women's bathhouse and Carl, Shiro, and I went into the men's bathhouse.

"Ahh, it feels so good!" Shiro whispered as we entered the bath.

"Yes, you are right about it!" I replied.

"You feel so relaxed when you take a bath after fighting too much," Carl joined the talk by saying this.

The bath was like a small pool but it was large enough for at least five or six people to take a bath together; It was not a hot spring but the water was warm enough to wash away all of your stress.

"Where is Lily by the way?" I asked as I remembered we left her in the inn.

"Huh, big sis said that she will also take her in the bath," Shiro answered

"So that's how it is," I whispered, closed my eyes, and took a dive into the water.

After bathing we all gathered in the cafeteria for dinner; James was also there. As we were talking about today's quest, Carol also came along with Lily accompanying her.

She placed two more chairs and all six of us were at the same table.

"Hi Lily, are you all right?" I asked.

"Yes! Big brother" She replied.

"You know Lily, today we defeated a big monster," James said to Lily in a cheerful voice.

"Really! Will you tell me about it?" She asked as curiosity filled her face.

"Yes, we will tell you all about it."

We ordered our food and ate while James continued to tell Lily about how we defeated those monsters. Most of the things were fake and he just said them to make his story interesting, but Lily didn't notice and heard all of it with a big and curious smile on her face.

"Mamma said that adventurers can also defeat a dragon!" Lily said when James was done telling him the tale.

"Hmm, a dragon; that sounds interesting! Everyone next time we will defeat a dragon so we can tell Lily about it," James announced, maybe he was fired up or he just wanted Lily to be happy.

"Okay! Okay! We will do that captain," I replied sarcastically.

"Yes! Next time for sure." (Shiro)

We finished our dinner and then I dragged James to his bed because he was drunk and high; after that with everyone, I also went to sleep.

This day ended peacefully, or maybe this was the only day that ended peacefully.

The next day all the adventurers were summoned to the guild, we didn't know the reason but it was compulsory for all adventurers so we went there while leaving Lily in the inn as usual.

"Carl, what do you think could be the reason behind this mass summoning of adventurers?" I asked him.

"Dunno, maybe something like a mega quest? I am not sure," said Carl.

"Mega Quest? Did something like this have happened before?" I asked again.

"Probably not!" He said as we reached the guild.

The guildhall was crowded and filled with adventurers, and they were muttering about something; something that wasn't supposed to happen.

Many of them were carrying terror and fear on their faces and were drenched in sweat.

We walked between the empty spaces between the adventurers and reached the front. We saw that the guild lady was standing there with some royal guards and an unknown man.

That man was wearing full plate armor which was red and had details on it with gold. He also had a sword tied to his waist; it was a big and heavy sword. At least that's what it was looking like.

We waited a while for all adventurers to come; after around half an hour, all the adventurers who were coming had arrived and the guildhall was even more crowded than before.

"My legs are starting to hurt by standing still for this long!" Carol whispered in my ear.

"So what can I do about it? Tell Shiro to secretly cast healing magic on you," I replied in a low voice.

"He can't, he needs to chant the incantation before casting."

Sigh!

Now I have to deal with this also!

I took out a healing potion from a pouch that was attached to my clothing and gave it to Carol. She took the potion and drank it quietly without anyone noticing her.

"Now it feels much better; Thanks Haruto!"

"Attention please!" The guild lady said in a loud voice to gather everyone's attention, and it worked well. All the people who were muttering to themselves stopped, and started looking towards the front where the lady and that man were standing.

"First I want to apologize to all of you for summoning you here without any advance notice, but currently we are dealing with an emergency and I would like you all to listen about it and then act accordingly."

As she finished saying that, the man in armor walked a few steps forward and then took up his helmet and his face was revealed.

He had long brown hair and a pair of green eyes.

"First I would like to introduce myself to all of you!" He said he had a deep and confident voice.

"I am Roswell, an S-ranked adventurer and a member of 'The Elites'."

As he said that the crowd of adventurers started muttering again but this time it was about him, Roswell. As for me, I was not that surprised because after seeing his expensive armor and the royal he was given; I had already guessed that he is someone important and has power.

The thing which surprised me a little was the part when he said that he is a *member* of 'The Elites'.

I thought an elite is a title given to special ranked adventurers, he said member so does that mean 'The Elites' is a type of group or something like that?

"We don't have much time so I would like to directly come to the main point." He said and gathered everyone's attention again.

"The thing is that yesterday some unknown person breached into the castle and tried to kill his Majesty."

As he said that everyone was shocked and scared.

His Majesty, meaning the king of this country was attacked. From the information I have gathered from the books, this city is the capital of this country or kingdom (also known as the 'Imperial Capital'); and the main castle of the king is located here and that means—

Okay, I understand why everyone is so worried.

"Last night his majesty was attacked in his room by a high-level spell, but the spell was not powerful enough to break the personal barrier which is cast on his majesty. The attacker was fast and we were unable to capture him"

"As Mister Roswell explained, I think now you all understand the situation and the reason why we summoned you here. The royal family has issued a mega-quest for all the adventurers and we would like you to help and capture the imposter," The guild lady said when Roswell finished.

"I know that many of you are scared and don't want to accept this quest, and we are not forcing you to do so. Adventurers are free and they are allowed to take actions of their own free will; so you are free to make any decision you want," Roswell said after the guild lady.

After hearing this while Carol, Shiro, James, and Carl were busy deciding along with the other adventurers on the topic of whether to take this quest or not; I was busy analyzing the situation.

I am not very good at analyzing but anyone can understand the reason behind this mega-quest if they think about it.

First, the main reason behind this mega-quest was to gather all possible adventurers in one place; maybe the guards were not able to capture the attacker but they must have imprinted his or her physic and body stricter in their minds.

The attacker used magic, which means he was a sage or mage; and most of them are adventurers.

So if some other country was trying to kill the king by attacking by using an adventurer as an assassin then there are high chances that he will respond to the summon and come here in the guildhall.

Second, if he is not an adventurer, they could use the adventurers as a mini-army to spread them in the capital and search for the attacker.

The reason for this is that there are many places where royal guards or knights can't go without catching everyone's attention.

While adventurers can easily mix with the crowd and search for the attacker without anyone noticing them.

There are some flaws in this plan, but, surely, this is not their only plan to capture the attacker. Many secret teams and knights are already searching for the culprit in the capital.

But he also said that the attacker used high-level magic, but last night I didn't sense any mana which is released when anyone uses high-level magic.

No, maybe that's not it, maybe I sensed it but ignored it.

I was again lost in my thoughts when Carol put her hand on my shoulder and asked.

"We are thinking about accepting this quest, what do you think about it?"

"Huh? Me, well maybe— I will also accept it," I replied as I broke out from my thoughts.

After that most of the adventurers accepted the quest; why won't they accept it? The reward for capturing the culprit is 500 gold coins and the reward for revealing his identity or giving any information about him is 150 gold coins.

Along with the other adventurers we went to the guild lady and assigned ourselves to this quest.

Then we went out of the guild building and discussed what to do from now and how to capture the culprit.

This may sound childish and naïve but when more than 100 people are doing the same thing then the odds are on our side.

We decided to spread and search in different locations and then in the evening we will meet at the inn and discuss what we found and then next day act accordingly to it.

James went to search in the area where the slave market was located because there are chances that the culprit will hide in a place where most of the people will avoid going.

Shiro and Carol went to search towards the west gate; Carl went to search in towards the center of the city where the castle and the magic academy are located.

I had thought that the attacker might try to escape after a failed mission so I went to search towards the Main gate of the city and mostly towards the outer walls of the city.

We decided where we will search and went in our own directions.

***

Currently, I am in a market-type place near the main entrance and exit of the city. I tried searching in the nearby inns and the guards about the characteristics of the culprit which Roswell gave to all the adventurers but I didn't find anything.

What if the culprit can use flight magic? Then he can easily escape from here. No wait, maybe there's a barrier covering the whole city.

I think I should check; I closed my eyes and used [Dimensional Magic] to search for anything like a big barrier.

Found it!

There's a dome-shaped barrier located on the top of the city, but this is a new barrier. Most probably it was made after the culprit attacked the king.

I opened my eyes and started walking in the market again, the sun was setting and it was about time for us to meet in the inn.

I was passing by an item shop when my eyes captured a glimpse of something; it was a wooden full-face mask with a fox typeface drawn on it.

I don't know why I liked that weird mask so much and I bought it, I decided to give it to Carol. I wanted to see what she will look like in this, a fox girl!

I was excited by my imagination and was blushing hard. (Pretty naïve I know)

***

It was dark and the sun was already down, I am not used to covering long distances on foot! Someone give me a bicycle or a car!

After a long walk, I reached the inn; maybe I am the first one here?

I entered the inn and asked the girl on the corner about them; she said they arrived here a long time ago.

I really am late!

Oh no, now I am going to get scolded by Carol!

I climbed up the stairs and reached the second floor.

I stood in front of our room and opened the door.

All the things that were going on in my mind stopped in a flash; I could not understand the scene which was after me.

Wha—What!

How!

Th….Thi….This can't happen!