The Order

"I'm Aldous Ruxley, the son of the current head of the Adventurer's Guild. I'm only a couple years older than you so just call me Aldous." He said.

He did look like he was seventeenish or eighteenish judging by height. The only thing that made him recognizable was his curly brown hair. In fact, he was the first person in this world that I had seen with curly hair.

"Aren't you sad about your friends?" I asked, remembering what happened.

"Friends? Oh, you mean those guys. Nah, I barely knew them. They wanted to take the same quest as me so I ended up sharing the quest with them. Death happens quite often when you're an adventurer, so I'm used to it." He said with a nonchalant smile.

"Anyway, since you and Rachel technically saved me, I brought you guys home as guests so feel free to stay as long as you guys like. You guys don't look to be from around here anyway."

"Since you're up, why don't I show you around the capital." He said with another smile.

Even for a crazily extroverted person, he was smiling way too much. I couldn't tell if he was fake smiling or if they were actual smiles, but he didn't seem to have any ill intentions. Now that I thought of it, why did I wake up in a bed? How did I even get here? The last thing I could recall was killing the slug... Strange, I didn't seem to be able to remember what happened after using the system evolution coupon.

"What happened after we killed the slug?"

Hearing my question, he gave an awkward laugh while looking to the side.

"Never mind, where's Rachel?" I said after figuring out from his expression that something unpleasant happened after killing the slug.

He returned his eyes back to me when I changed the question. "Rachel went to participate in this year's Martial Championship."

"Martial Championship?"

"It's a tournament that is held every five years. Normally, it wouldn't be too big of an event, but this time, the prize isn't just money." He said with a chuckle.

"You must be wondering what's so special this time around right? Well, this time, the winner will be bestowed the title of Martial Champion."

"What's so good about a title?" I asked.

"You don't know?" He raised one of his eyebrows as if mocking my knowledge before continuing.

"The main headquarters of the Holy Church just announced the appearance of the hero last week. You should know what that means but judging from your confused expression, I guess there really are people like you who live under rocks." He took a sip of water from a mug.

'Since when did he have a mug?' My thought was left unanswered as he continued explaining.

"I'm sure you know about the Legend of the Square Order, right? You know, the one that vanquished the Demon King." He said.

"Merlin was in it or something, right?" I said recalling my first meeting with the old fogey.

"So you have heard of it. This'll be easier to explain then." He said.

After taking a deep breath in, he started. "As you already know, Merlin was part of the Square Order. But that is only a small part of the legend. There were originally four members of the Square Order; we only know three of them while information about the fourth member was lost in history records. The respective titles of the three known people are the hero, the wizard, and the champion. The hero in the legends was depicted as a red haired man with the symbol of a golden sword in the shape of a key; he was Hero Author. The wizard, as you already know, was Merlin, the first and last person to have ever reached the 9th Circle Wizard realm in regard to magic."

"The champion went by the name of Fahris. The legends say that he was the manliest of all men. He could shatter mountains with his bare hands. Although I think that was an exaggeration, he was known to have mastered numerous martial art styles and was regarded as the king of martial prowess. As you can already guess, the three human kingdoms were created after these three war heroes. The Kingdom of War was the birthplace of Fahris, Kingdom of Magic was Merlin's, and Kingdom of Arts was Author's."

"In the Kingdom of War and the Kingdom of Magic, there are tournaments held as a tradition to celebrate Fahris and Merlin. Whenever a new hero arises in the Kingdom of Art, the winners of the said tournaments will be granted a title and will accompany the new hero on his adventure to defeat the Demon King. Of course, the appearance of a new hero also means the rise of a new Demon King. As of now, I heard the Magic Tournament has already taken place in the Kingdom of Magic so that only leaves us with the Martial Championship. You understand now?" He said, taking another sip from his mug.

'According to what he said, a new square order is formed whenever there is a new hero. Hmm.'

"I heard the winner of the Magic Tournament disappeared, what'll happen if he isn't found?" I asked.

"Well, there have been instances in which the winner of the tournaments were assassinated which led to the second place inheriting the title. Why do you want to know?" He said.

"Nothing, just curious."

It looks like I will have to lay low for now and not draw any suspicions toward myself. That would also mean no more batman role playing for now. Maybe I should consider creating another persona.

"Anyway, get dressed. I'll give you a tour around the capital. If—you were wondering, the participants for the Martial Championship are already full."

"And why would I want to participate?" I said.

"Heh, with your strength, if you joined, I'm sure you'd place second." He said provokingly.

"So you think I can't get first?" I responded.

"Who knows. I heard the first prince was quite the monster in terms of physical strength. Even before the Martial Championship was announced, a majority of people already believed he would win."

"Alright, enough with the chit chat. I put your clothes in the bathroom. Go wash up."