Robert 1

Loueras Elvedriel

Roughly forty years ago

"Have you finished that quickly sir Loueras?"

"Yes Mary, and you can stop calling me sir, just Loueras."

"Well…yeah…um, I will get your pay for you." With this, Mary scurried away.

I was in a guild office in a northern town of the Kingdom of Radiver. All the way across the country from the south, where stood the forest of Elvedriel. This is where I made most of my career, as far away as I could get while still staying in Radiver.

As for the girl, well, she came in three years ago, but it makes sense she is tense despite us knowing each other already for all this time given that I am an elf.

Now that I look at it, many adventurers in here also knew me for a couple years, yet still were wary of me as well, even the more experienced ones.

They always looked at me like some kind of enigma, and awed at the sight of my blade and armor. Not that I will put it against them, as elven armor was indeed lighter, much more durable, and craftier, and our weapons were more sharp and elegant. And elves are known to be secluded in their forest, and almost never leave. So it does feel lonely that even despite me escaping the elven kingdom to be a free adventurer, I still feel isolated amongst the humans, and put in the spotlight like some celebrity with no one daring to approach me.

"Sir Loueras!"

"Yes, thank you."

Mary came over and laid a small leather pouch on the table filled with human coins for the task I completed earlier. It was a simple escort of a somewhat wealthy family, at least for the standards up here in the north, and fend off any possible roadside bandits. 

Then something caught my eye. A group of boys and girls, all young, the oldest not a day over twenty. There were around seven of them, four men and three women, all dressed in their own style of armor, and carrying weapons. Definitely adventurers, but I never saw them before.

"New recruits, they registered when you were away on your job, sir Loueras."

"Is that so Mary? Any promising ones?"

"Um…all of them registered as 'D' ranks. Oh! But one got a 'C' rank!"

"From the start?"

"Yes! That boy over there, in the maroon colored shirt. Robert Lesley I think was his name umm…yes, Robert Lesley."

"That is surely uncommon."

"Yes! He is a King level water style swordsman, and casts advanced level earth, water, and intermediate barriers!"

"Interesting, so he is quite talented?"

"Yes he is! And also quite um…" 

I looked over at Mary, and her cheeks suddenly flushed as she timidly looked away and stopped talking. I smiled, knowing exactly what that last part would be. It seems like this boy already earned a liking for himself, and not just as a newbie adventurer.

He was young, muscular, fairly tall and athletic. Green eyes, triangle face, with a spiky haircut. A big grin plastered on his face, a friendly man I assumed as well. No wonder Mary blushed.

As I looked away from Mary, our eyes met, and his were wide in surprise, as were the other members of his group.

Robert Lesley

"Well congrats man, I knew you could do it!"

"Thank Marcus! Oh and Bailey, you owe me a silver, heh heh!"

"Oh shut up." Bailey snapped, but then smiled. "Here ya go so shut yer trap."

"Oh thank you Bailey! Oh how well I will spend it!" I teased him.

"I swear Robert you damned provocateur, I will sock you in the face so hard right now."

"Hahahahahahahaha."

It was a light hearted chat. Bailey bet a silver on that I won't be able to start off with anything above a "D" rank, but since I became "C" rank right off the bat, he had to pay up, which he really didn't want to do. A silver is quite a lot of money. Well, sucks to be him, shouldn't have bet so much.

The others I got friendly with a little bit during our entrance exams. One of the girls, Sarah, was quite a well rounded mage. But since she was only a mage and to be honest, sucked in close combat, she got D rank. Although her skills really do pull for a "C" rank so I consider that kinda bullshit.

"Hey, you could easily rank up to 'C' in a short while! You are a great mage!" I tried supporting her, seeing her somewhat solemn face.

She smiled and thanked me, although it was somewhat forced. 

The ranks of the adventurer only limit you to what dungeons or labyrinths you could go into. In regards to regular tasks, although they are also ranked based on difficulty, you are not limited to pick up even an "S" rank task while being an "E" rank adventurer, although it would be suicide, and people would look at you strangely, you were free to do whatever you want.

Mainly, a rank was just status and to show how powerful of a person you are. The higher your rank, the more people revered and respected you.

I got myself a "C" rank, which according to the examiner was quite rare, so I couldn't help it but not beam my charming smile at everyone. Nothing will ruin this day. Especially now that I also got myself a silver coin in my pocket, I could eat and drink all night.

"Say, Marcus, Bailey, what do you guys say about having some fun at the pub tonight?"

"Sure, but yer paying, Mr 'C' rank! You got Bailey's coin dontcha?"

"Oh for crying out loud guys, enough already, stop pouring salt on the wound."

The three of us laughed as we were ready to head out, until Marcus tugged on my sleeve and forced me to stop in my tracks.

"Yo…look." He pointed in the direction of the counter, where…there was an elf. 

A real life elf. Beings I only heard about in grandpa's stories. Noble, wise, high and proper, spiritual people. This was the first time I ever saw one besides a drawing. A real elf, standing before me, and in these northern parts? What the hell is going on?

"Hey, Robert, that's…that's an elf right?"

"Holy shit." Bailey went wide eyed as well.

"Yeah Marcus…that's…an elf."

I froze in place, just staring at the man even though I knew it was rude to do so. He was tall and slender, a sharp face, long silver hair, and entrancing emerald green eyes. From the looks of it, he looked like a thirty year old man, but I heard that elves live for over a thousand years. 

He wore a white elven robe. It was very beautiful and elegant. Something not even the nobles could probably afford. The long curved blade at his side was also beautiful and engraved in elven filigree. On top of his robe, like a t-shirt, was some sort of chainmail armor, each link so small and light, it didn't seem like it offered much protection at all. But I heard from gramp's stories that the elves like to make their armor outta mithril, so perhaps that's what it was?

He also wore shoulder pads made of some kind of leather, and also engraved with elvish designs.

The man stood high and proper, emitting authority and strength, exactly how I imagined being in the presence of an elf. Despite his slender figure, he stood straight and undisturbed, like a seasoned warrior.

He was talking about something with the girl at the counter, and then looked over in my direction, and our eyes met.

I flinched back at his gaze. It was calm and nonchalant, emitting some sort of mystery and wisdom, yet it was hard and judging, like just from one glance he already knew all about me and what I could do. Unlike the nobles whose gaze was full of pompous authority, his actually evoked reverie and caution at his persona.

How can I describe it? His look was of someone being fully confident of striking me down right where I stand should I be hostile to him. It was a calm look of a predator, and radiated power. Then he looked away.

"First time seeing an elf, eh kiddos?"

A bulky man with a giant battle axe flung over his back approached us.

"Um. y-yes sir." I stammered. "Do you…know him?"

"Sure do. He frequents here for some time now. Strange feller, never saw an elf outta their forest until I met him. Scary looking guy eh?"

"You could say that."

"Heh. His name's Loueras, but I never caught his surname. Wouldn't want to get on the bad side of that guy I'm telling ya. 'A' rank adventurer."

"He's an 'A' rank!?" I asked in astonishment. "But that's just one step away from an 'S' rank!"

"I'm telling ya, that elf is strong. Grandma or grandpa never tell ya stories about elves? Strong people they are, despite being hermits. Rumored you wouldn't be able to get through his armor even if yer life depended on it, and he would cut you down before you could even blink."

"Really?"

The man shrugged. "An 'A' rank is an 'A' rank, that's an elf for ya."

"Are all elves that strong?"

"Hmm, I don't know 'bout that. Probably, who knows?"

Then the guy left us, still standing and looking at the elf named Loueras who was once again chatting about something with the secretary girl. My mouth was still agape, and so were Marcus's and Bailey's.

"Hey, Robert?"

"Yeah?"

"New bet. Two silvers if you can group up with that guy."

"WHAT!? No, no way in hell. I don't wanna die."

"Three."

"Like I said I…"

"Four."

"I will add in one more, make it five." Marcus added.

Five silver coins. That's a whole month's average salary here up north.

"sigh…Ok fine, here goes nothing."

"We believe in ya."

I began cautiously approaching this scary looking man, and stopped in my tracks the moment he looked at me again?

"Do you need something, young man?"

His voice was rich, his tone calm and leveled, but his gaze was stern.

"I uh…um…nice t-to meet you, um, I am R-Robert L-Lesley, um, p-pleasure to meet you."

Shit shit shit! Why did I have to stammer so much? The first impression is super important and I just ruined it all!

"Loueras Elvedriel."

The elf said his name and turned back to the woman.

"Um."

"Yes?"

"Um, sir? I, uh, heard you are an 'A' rank. Is that true?"

"It is. And you are one of the new one's here right? 'C' rank?"

"Ah, yes!"

Wow, he already knows my rank. I guess it is true when they say that elves are all knowing. We just met and he already knows a little about me.

"So, is there something you wanted?"

"Well um, the thing is, I learned that you are an experienced adventurer, sir, and I…um…canIaskyouifIcanjoinyou?"

I sped through that last part with my eyes shut and in a slight bow to the elf. I didn't catch his expression, or how he looked at me at that moment, but to my surprise, I didn't hear outright rejection.

"May I ask why?"

"Um, I would like to get experience. And I would like you to teach me how to be a great adventurer as yourself! I promise I won't hinder you, I will learn to the best of my abilities and put in all my effort!"

What was once a bet, was now an amazing chance to become a disciple of this man. Learning from an "A" rank adventurer, and an elf at that, is something that I don't think any adventurer even dreamt of. If I could get this man to teach me, what amazing experiences would I get?

"How old are you?" He asked suddenly. "And what are you able to do?"

"Sixteen, sir! I am an Advanced rank water sword style practitioner, Advanced earth and water mage, and I can cast Intermediate barriers!"

Loueras regarded me for a few moments before turning to the girl again.

"Mary, please be so kind as to show me what 'A' rank tasks there are."

"Ah! Sure thing sir Loueras!"

He just turned away from me. Is that his way of accepting me, or rejecting me? I am not very sure. Guess I will just have to stand here and wait for an actual verbal response.

The girl, Mary, came with a pile of wooden plates in her hands, and spread them out on the desk in front of us. Loueras scanned them over quickly and picked one up.

"I will take this."

Mary smiled and collected the rest of the plates. "Sure thing!" Then left to hang them back up on the wall.

I took a sneak peak at what the plate that Loueras was holding, but couldn't really make out what it said. Not only because it was at an uncomfortable angle, but also because my reading and writing skills were very basic.

He held up the wooden plate he picked up. "I can take you with me if you are up for the task. We will be hunting a Wyvern."