Chapter 01: Guild

Going to the city center it was possible to see the trade and traders crowding the streets, even though they were wide it was still difficult to move around it.

A man shouted excitedly.

"Fish, fish sale, the cheapest in all Palatine, come and buy."

He continued to shout excitedly until he saw a tall boy with red and black hair passing by him, with a smile he took his hand holding the boy's shoulder and spoke.

"Hey, boy. How about some fresh fish for just 10 gold?"

The young man listened and smiled looking back, it was Max who answered.

"10? Damn, is it that expensive here?"

"Dear? No no. I have the best price in town, you who are a strong boy need food and energy, if you take it now I'll only leave it for 9 silver coins, how about that?"

The young man looked on with an expression of surprise, but then he waved his hand in denial and spoke.

"It's tempting, but thanks, where I live one of these is a silver one, but good sales buddy."

He said goodbye letting go of the seller's hand from his shoulder and then going to cross the bridge to go to the gates of Paladina, the seller looked disappointed but soon saw another shorter and thinner boy pass by and with a smile he extended his hands to the boy and already spoke.

"Hey, little boy-"

He was already looking with the same smile but he noticed the boy much further away, he looked at his hand and was surprised not to have touched him, but then he shrugged and went back to selling excitedly.

The bridge took them to a square near the exit of the big city, Max could see several young people who seemed to concentrate in the center of the square while others waited in the corners.

Max noticed that many had backpacks, managing to see several different types of weapons, simple swords to others adorned on their hilts. There were some with leather armor and others with iron armor showing the variety of the place and the number of participants.

The young man continued to position himself, still surprised, but soon he looked to the side and identified two familiar faces that made him smile, Max ran towards them while waving and shouting.

"Hey, Johnny, Karen."

As he approached, two people were looking at him, one was a boy with black hair wearing a light brown protection and fur decorating it, his eyes were green and his body was muscular, on his back was a spear and upon hearing the cry, he looked on with a smile despite an uncomfortable expression.

"How noisy, and late to boot..."

Max would come up to them and talk excitedly.

"I'm glad you came, has anything been said about the mission yet?"

"No, and you're not the only one late..."

The speaker was a girl a little shorter and thinner, she had a big bow and beautiful by her body and attached to it, she wore light clothes without any protection just with a quiver on her back, her hair was light brown and she she looked slightly irritated despite demonstrating a calm expression.

Hearing the phrase, Max put his hand behind his head and sighed speaking.

"Damn, I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing..."

As soon as he finished the sentence, he took a step back and ended up hitting something, looking back he saw another young man with blue hair who had stopped after the hit, Max looked with a puzzled expression but soon spoke.

"Sorry friend. I hurt you?"

Nast noticed the boy who had accidentally hit him and looked at him with a neutral expression, just continuing on his way to the corner of the square to lean against the wall and wait for the appraiser to arrive.

Max watched the boy leave and soon Karen spoke.

"Did they eat his tongue? Was it hard to be cordial?"

After hearing the archer's sentence, Max smiled and answered.

"Okay, but changing the subject… If it's a hunting mission, how about we form a group? That way we can get more monster energy and grow together."

Such an attitude was typical of Max who made his friends smile, nodding their heads and extending their fists each with their bright eyes, Karen's were yellow, Johnny's were light green and Max's were orange.

Soon they touched their fists and Max saw a tall man with long brown hair tied up with some white parts arrive on the podium of the place, he wore a beautiful blue armor and on his back there was a great two-handed sword, he looked at all the young people there and coughed into his hand to warm up his voice, then raised his head and screamed.

"All who are here, listen."

The scream made the young people pay attention, including Max who was already watching him and then he was free to continue, so the knight showed a parchment putting it forward, letting the bottom part fall and revealing a yellowed page with some names of monsters written with something next to it.

- Points for Raking.-

Witch, Ghosts, Demon Candles, Magic Goblin. 5 points per monster.

Hobgoblin, Mutant Dog, Mud Golem. 10 points per monster.

Special level monsters.

ghost tree - 50

Two-Headed Dog. - 100 points

Cyclops. - 500

Hell Phantom. - 1000

"For those who are about to join the guild, in a few moments a hunt will begin for some of the monsters that we released in Green Wind Park. The monster must be killed and bring proof of its death, ears, essence or even the head, as long as they do."

The young people gathered in the square continued to look at the list of points until some seemed to start a conversation.

"Hey… is this real?"

"There are some very dangerous ones there..."

The conversation continued and the knight continued.

"The monsters will be worth according to their difficulty, monsters smaller and weaker than the 5 points will only be worth one point. To keep the fearful safe, the monsters that were released outside of the Garden, are two-headed dogs, ghost trees, three cyclops and finally a hellish ghost, near the end of the map."

When they heard the name of a cyclops, one of the few rational low-level monsters, their real danger came from their reasoning ability that despite being a monster manages to wield weapons and defend itself, besides it there was an infernal Phantom, monsters from 5 to 10 levels above the current zone.

Soon the young people retreated a little, but the knight closed the parchment and then continued.

"You, individually or as a group, are obliged to bring at least 125 points per member, it doesn't have to be the cyclops or the infernal, don't worry. But know that due to their rarity, they will also be worth more and we have limited spaces, remember that, the most valuable or the adventurers with the most points will obviously have priority in our selection."

He spoke opening a smile that seemed to hide a certain malice, but together with him Max smiled and spoke.

"Great... The event will last until noon tomorrow, anyone who brings materials after that time will be disqualified and their items will be worthless, keep that in mind."

The phrase instilled an atmosphere of tension among the adventurers, in addition to the threat of monsters it would also be a race against all those competitors, most seemed unsure about that and some retreated back.

The knight would look at the city gates being raised and then he would raise his hand to the youths, pointing to the gate next and shouting.

"Everyone who manages to kill the monster must pay attention, as the points can still be stolen by other competitors, stay tuned."

He opened a wide smile and all the young people started to stare at that moment, the danger now was not just in facing the monsters and then it generated an atmosphere of tension, soon everyone heard a shrill scream.

"BEGIN."

The scream made all the adventurers move and go at high speed towards the door, soon what looked like a quick start was interrupted by another scream similar to a roar in the middle of everyone and a blazing aura was shown in the crowd.

Max looked surprised and from the crowd jumped a young man without armor on his chest, his hair was long and spiky white, he had a club in his hands and was screaming.

"COME, COME TO ME, GAHAHAHAHA."

He was vigorous and the jump made him take the lead of everyone running towards the trees in the garden, soon Max's companions who had stayed behind with him looked on in surprise and Johnny spoke.

"Wow, we have a lot of competition. That's Samson, isn't it?"

"Yeah, he was the strongest student in our class, wasn't he? Only Max competed with him."

The archer commented until they saw a pair formed by a young man with brown hair with beautiful armor and a sword on his back soon being wielded, beside him there was a girl a little shorter with tied blonde hair passing by with a dress to her knees with details in purple with a wand in his hands.

The presence caught the attention of the group but soon they heard a loud laugh at their side, noticing Max who was smiling and talking.

"Great, that way the victory will be more delicious."

With a smile, he took a step forward and started running towards the garden, soon passing by the duo and being followed by his companions who soon returned to smile as they accompanied him.

Still on the platform the knight was smiling with his arms crossed, right next to him there was a shadow kneeling beside him who spoke a voice similar to a whisper.

"He is sure? Don't you intend to put those two in the guild? A cyclops is not a monster that novices can easily face, let alone a hellish ghost..."

Even with the sentence, the knight kept smiling and looking at the young knight accompanied by the healer, but soon he looked at Max who was running and then he saw Nast with his arms crossed still in the corner of the square, but soon he started walking towards the field , which made the knight smile and talk.

"Just two? In this year's harvest I want to find everything that is promising, only the right grapes will make a good wine."

The shadow beside him listened and spoke.

"You know those aren't the orders."

"And are you going to stop me?"

It was a threat and the shadow raised its head, seeing all the golden aura leave the knight's body and his eye shining like pure gold, in the place the pressure seemed greater and some birds fell around as if they were being pulled.

He was ready to fight, but soon the shadow lowered its head and spoke.

"No sir."

The knight looked straight ahead again with an irritated look and spoke.

"That's what I thought."