Special quests and meeting Edward

While walking Damien mind went back to the discovery he made.

Basically, as long as he helped them there was a high chance of them helping him as well and one thing that stuck on his mind was Madam Eino words.

'The young people often hope for someone to make a change in this place, though it's not like they can actually believe it is going to happen, but they still hope…'

What if he made a change here, there was a high chance that he could become their leader and make this place his base of operation.

Immediately this thought appeared in his mind a notification appeared.

[Ding: Special Chain Quest activated]

[Ding: Your thought process and Drive has activated this Quest] 

[Ding: Rebuild Gleyma]

[Ding: First Chain Quest]

[Ding: Pass Edward's test 0/1]

[Ding: Become an Adventurer 0/1]

[Ding: Talk with Troy 0/1]

[Ding: Create your Mana Core 0/1]

[Ding: Impress both Edward and Troy with an outstanding performance 0/2]

[Reward: Reactivation of Adventurer Guild, +2 Gleyma reputation, and ???]

Damien's eyes widen in surprise as he read the quest details a wild smile appeared on his face as he hurried towards the Adventurer Guild.

*******

*After walking for a while* 

"This must be it."

Damien raised his head to look at the 3 stories tall building next to an open field.

It wasn't like the other more recent buildings that were suspended by wooden and stone beams.

It instead was built atop a slightly elevated stone platform, showing a time from before the Village was built.

Damien could tell the craftsmanship that had been used in this place, it was a bit simple, but it did well in making this place different from the architecture around it.

However, because this building was an old one, Damien clearly managed to see the outline of something on the walls.

He had noticed these before across the entire city, especially on the old ruins that littered the place, but this was his first time getting close enough to pay attention to it.

"Hum... These marks?... Water?" He mumbled to himself in disbelief.

'How come? This is a dryland almost desert like, if not for the lack of excess sand...'

"Are you telling me it rains so heavily in this place that the entire village gets submerged in water from time to time?"

'The marks are around 1 meter tall, which isn't high, but if you take the other buildings around it...'

'It explains why the newer infrastructure is built over those beams but...'

'Something's wrong.'

"It doesn't make sense… Some of the houses are built with those but the older ones aren't?"

'Simply put, the engineers of the past didn't have to care about such heavy rain, so they built their houses on the ground floor, but somewhere along the line, it started to rain heavily?'

'If so, why is this place a dry land... with this amount of rain the land here should have been revitalized'

Shaking his head in wonder, Damien looked at the wooden board hanging loosely on the wall next to the entrance.

[Adventurer Guild]

*Creak…*

Damien opened the doors to the Guild, taking a look at its rather plain interior.

A dark open hall that had that classic 'Adventurer guild' vibe, with many chairs and tables surrounding a large circular reception table built around a gran pillar that supported the room.

At the far end of the hall was a bar built beneath a single staircase that led to the second floor, though he couldn't see the entrance to the third floor.

Given the size of the bar's counter, the place would've probably served food and drinks for all mercenaries passing through this area during rush hours.

It was likely a very busy place, though now, the only thing it could do was gather dust.

Even then, it seemed to do that very poorly as the ground was rather clean, it seemed someone cleaned the place from time to time.

It wasn't hard for Damien to figure out who it likely was...

"Hello?... Hello? Someone there?" He asked as he looked around.

'This seems like a nice place; I can almost picture the scene of one being welcomed by a pretty counter lady after coming back from a hard adventure...'

*Crack!*

The moment he said those words, he heard the sound of wood cracking somewhere on the second floor of the Guild, followed by a door opening and a few words:

"Who is it?!"

"I told you all... Time... And time again... That this place isn't somewhere you can come to hang out!"

"GET OUT AND GO BACK TO… Oh... Who are you?"

"..."

'He's big...'

Damien raised his head to look at the newcomer that was now staring down at him from the second floor.

It was a muscular bald old man with a thick beard and thick shoulders.

He had a huge gruesome scar on his right arm going all the way from his forearm to his shoulder, with part of it rising to his face as well.

On his waist was a short sword of standard size, but it looked like a long dagger in his hands rather than a proper weapon... Maybe not that exaggerated...

Still, from the way he walked, talked, and through his bodily expression, he looked like a man that was ready to fight at any moment, anywhere.

In a sense, even Damien felt him intimidating.

But noticing that he had spent too long thinking, Damien quickly replied:

"Ah yes, sorry for being rude, I was told by Miss Eino to come here and…"

"Hm..."

His eyes opened slightly when he heard that name.

"Eino? That old lady?" He said with half a smile as he interrupted Damien.

"Yes Mr…"

*BAM!*

The old man jumped from the second floor without hesitation, slamming his feet in front of Damien, grabbing his shoulders with both hands as he said:

"Call me Guild Head, kid."

He then put his right index finger on his chest, but not in an intrusive way, he just lightly tapped it.

"You are not yet fit to call me anything else, got that?" He said as he looked straight at his eyes.

Once again, he looked quite intimidating.

"Yes, Sir Guild Head."

"..."

The man did not say anything else as he turned around and sat in a chair by the counter of the bar.

"Let's cut all of the unnecessary talks and go straight to what matters."

"Oh yeah, I forgot to say it... But I'm Edward."

*FWOOSH!*

"?!"

*Grab!*

Edward suddenly threw a knife at Damien at breakneck speed, but he grabbed the knife in the air right in front of his face without flinching.

Though he was sweating a little as he realized how close to death, he had actually been... In the first place, Damien didn't even realize he had a knife on his body...

He wondered just how many weapons he had hidden...

So, he looked at Edward with a slightly confused yet pale face.

"Hm... Alright, good reflexes." He said with a satisfied nod as he tapped on the counter.

Edward looked at Damien for a few more seconds before he asked:

"Why are you here?"

"..."

"There is something I want to find here… but I need to get stronger before I can even think of trying to get it." Damien replied honestly.

The man in front of him wasn't asking him why he was there, in the Adventurer Guild in itself, but why was he all the way there, in the South, lost amidst a forgotten Village few still remembered about...

He completely jumped all sorts of introductions and went straight to the meat of the subject.

"Hm... So, you seek strength not for the sake of it, but for the sake of your objective?"

Damien nodded and said sarcastically:

"Getting stronger is not bad…"

Edward, the Guild head, smiled.

"What about wealth and glory?"

Damien replied once again with a bit of sarcasm:

"Wealth comes with power, there has never been a truly powerful man that is poor, if he wants something he can easily get it as for Glory the choice is his."

Edward's smile was so wide that it seemed as if he was about to open his mouth and laugh, but he stopped smiling and said in a deep tone:

"You have a good mentality, especially your honesty, I like it."

He lightly touched the counter, as if remembering something...

"I don't care why you came this far down South, so I will just say, welcome."

"For now." He said with a teasing smile, albeit it looked rather aggressive...

[Ding: Your quest has been updated]

[Ding: Pass Edward's test 1/1]

[Ding: Impress both Edward and Troy with an outstanding performance 1/2]

*Tap*

"However, this doesn't mean you are in the clear yet."

"You were sent here for a reason, so I won't spare my breath, do you wish to proceed and become a Mercenary?"

"Yes." Damien said without much hesitation.

"No hesitation... It seems you put some thought into it on your way here... GOOD!" He said as he slapped the counter with a smile.

"I lost my patience with useless talking long ago, and I don't think it'll come back anytime soon, so I do appreciate such decisiveness... Though this doesn't mean you're a mercenary yet."

"This branch may be falling into pieces with its last proper commission having been handled decades ago, but this doesn't mean I will be making things any easier for you."

He got up and went to the main counter.

"I am not that sort of person, and even if I am the sole Adventurer in this forsaken place, old and alone, I know very well the extent of my abilities, and I expect to be followed by people of similar qualities..."

"So be prepared."