Chapter 2 - First Mission

After we fixed up the trashed training room, Stella and I headed out to the Meeting Room on the Third Floor.

Will sat on the head table with a serious expression, the Captain also had a serious expression as she looked over the papers.

"Is this real?" Hime asked.

"Yes, unfortunately, it is…" Will answered.

I have no idea what they are talking about right now…

"Uh…" I said dumbly, they finally noticed us.

"Ah, Ash, Stella" Will greeted "Take a seat, we'll begin the briefing."

"Ash, you should be prepared for this" Hime warmed

Why? I was unable to voice it out as Will started talking.

"As you know,"

No, I don't.

"the Humans and Devils are on the brink of war. And a year ago, the lord of the humans, Ouranos, the patron god of Humans, had summoned heroes from another world to help the humans in their war. But we don't have the resources to stop a largescale war between the two races, let's ignore that for now, our main focus is the Heroes, they have been scouring the Scarlet Labyrinth in the town of Horus for about six months now, and they have cleared it a few days ago, and had gotten a Divine Relic"

"What's that?" I asked him

"The Divine Relic was part of the Divine Key program of the Previous Era, they were the so-called prototypes of the Divine Keys. But it's still powerful, that's why we need to take it away from the Rocheforte Kingdom"

"You mean steal them?" Stella said

Will nodded, wow, so we're actually going to break the law? Awesome, what else do we get to do?

"And this is a perfect mission for the Third Squad, in three days, I need you three to infiltrate the Rochefort capital and steal that Divine Relic from them"

I raised my hand, and I don't know why I did that.

"Why did we get assigned to it?" I asked

"Because of you" Will answered

Because of me?

"You are a synergist, you can definitely use your skills to unlock the Treasure Vault and steal the item, Stella and Hime will support you"

Ah… so I'm the master thief here

"Cool" I said "What's the plan?"

So, I searched in the Void Archives' void library, it was another ability of the Key of Knowledge, the void library was a virtual reality containing all of the information about the Previous Era, and the Divine Relic that was sealed up in the Scarlet Labyrinth was the Hollow Armor. It had the ability to absorb the power of any Angel Core and use its power.

If the Rocheforte Kingdom managed to get their hands on a Divine Key and use it together with the armor, it could mean the end of war and the world, there's no limit to a human's greed after all.

I opened my eyes as I went back to reality, just now, we were riding on an Aircraft from the Guardian Force, it was designed by me of course. Am I getting arrogant? I think I am; I should stop bragging.

Anyway, they were gonna drop us off near the kingdom capital, flying aircrafts still haven't been "Invented" by anyone in the world, so, if we stroll in with a flying vehicle it would cause a panic, probably.

"How was it?" Hime asked "any information on the Divine Relic?"

I nodded at her, then I ran over what I learned over the Void Archives, Stella and Hime grimaced over the possibility that the Hollow Armor was a horrifying weapon once it's paired with a Divine Key.

Soon after, we finally arrived, the aircraft landed down in the middle of a grass field, fortunately, there are no people in the vicinity, we picked up our bags and head out for the capital, it would take a few days on foot, but fortunately, Mr. Will had prepared a necessary thing for the operation, our cover, which is not exactly a cover.

We are representative of the Sage Merchant Company, yeah, it was a real business, the reason the Guardian force is well-funded was because of the Merchant Company, Will was the Owner of the Business selling magic tools, of course, the weapons and Vehicles that I created were pure exclusives for the Guardian Force.

A caravan carrying various tools waited for us, some distance away from our landing area, Captain talked to the guy then we went inside the luxurious coach.

"So, this is really our cover?" I asked

"Yes, so from now on, until the mission is over, you'll be calling Ms. Hime"

I nodded, our plan was to first infiltrate the Castle and scout where the Treasure vault was, thankfully, there will be an open ball for the celebration of the Heroes who cleared the Scarlet Labyrinth, which means our purpose for the Party was to be "merchants proposing to support the Heroes".

That negotiation will be handled by the Captain, meanwhile, I will be sneaking in the castle to search for the Treasure Vault, then ninja my way out of the party while hauling my ass with a large armor in my back. Easy!

We finally arrived, it was a bustling town, as we pass through the main road of the capital, the people were mostly humans, I'm quite disappointed, I was hoping to see some cat-eared girls and demi-humans, I've only read about them, and still haven't seen one, that was prior to my amnesia of course. Ahh… that sucks.

Then again, the Rocheforte kingdom was said to be one with the church of Ouranos, the lord of the Humans, their teachings were Demi-Humans are lowly creatures and Humans are selected people of god. That was also the reason why there was a lack of Demi-Human slaves in the capital.

It hadn't been long, but just thinking about it, I'm already hating this country.

We stopped by a luxurious hotel, okay, hooray for the Guardian Force!! We were able to have this kind of luxury on job!

"Then, you two, head to your rooms" Hime said "I'll be going with the others while we sort out the merchandise in the Company Storage.

"Okay~" Stella said and dragged me inside the hotel, it was probably the largest building in the capital, of course, that was aside from the castle, but still, the hotel had about six floors, the reception area was marbled floor, then a grand stair case lead to the upper decks and to the rooms up on the third floor.

"Then, you should get ready for the party" Stella said "I'll see you later"

Later the night had finally came, even the suit that Will had prepared for me was something special, it was made from a high-class fabric.

I took a look over myself over the mirror, which was probably my first time looking at myself in the mirror, my white hair grew to my shoulder tied in a small pony tail, yeah, it's much better, I like it, lightning blue eyes, I wore the black suit in style, black coat over a white shirt, and black pants and shoes, weapons weren't allowed inside the party so, for now, I'll be relying on the Void Archives, on that note, the Steampunk googles didn't fit along the suit.

I concentrated on the Void Archives to change its form, soon enough the Key transformed into a pair of Black Framed glasses which was a match for the suit.

I guess that should do it…

I walked outside the room and saw Stella and Hime outside waiting.

"Wow, looking good, Ash" Stella praised

I fixed up the cuffs of my shirt. "Feeling good, Stella"

"Ah, your tie, it's crooked" Hime said as she fixed it for me.

I saw Stella trying to hold her laugh, I was probably red from embarrassment, I just said something cool and totally blow it like an idiot.

On the other hand, Hime and Stella were dressed well.

The Captain had her hair down like usual and was dressed in an elegant purple one-piece dress, the hems were long enough to hide her feet; her arms and back were greatly exposed, and especially since at the bare top, The Captain's bosoms were emphasized. I was troubled on where to look, then my eyes wandered on Stella.

My eyes opened wide as I stared at her. I've been utterly captivated by her outfit. Not just her outfit. She didn't have the same frivolous air about her that she usually did. Instead she was standing with her back straight and her arms, which were usually waving about, were folded demurely in front of her. Plus, she wasn't stamping her feet when she walked like she usually did. She let her hair down, golden-blonde strands floating lightly behind her.

On top of that, she'd changed into an elegant, pure-white dress. The base design was simple, frills adorned the sleeves, and there was a cute ribbon attached to the dress's back.

What caught my attention more than anything, though, was her expression. It wasn't her usual shit-eating grin, or her boisterous smile. Instead, it was refined, elegant smile with her eyes downcast and her eyebrows knit together.

Simply put, she looked like the splitting image of a high-class noblewoman.

Seeing me stunned silence, Stella looked up to me and tilted her head quizzically. Even that gesture had an air of refinement to it. I think my heart just skipped a beat.

"Nyufu…" But then Stella's noble smile vanished, replaced with her irksome grin. Her aura of refinement vanished in an instant.

"Oh my? What's wrong, Ash? Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Nothing…"

Her sudden transformation left me flustered and unable to reply properly. And so, her grin grew wider, and she leaned in closer to me.

"Don't worry, I understand completely. You've totally fallen for me, haven't you? My stunning good looks left you speechless, haven't they? Nyufufufufu"

"D-Don't be ridiculous. I was just surprised at how different you are from usu-"

"You can't fool me. I can see you blushing, you know~ Oh, Ash, you're hopelessly, madly in love with me, aren't you? Hey, flustered, Ash! How're you feeling right now, Huh? Why don't you tell me? Come on, say it!"

If only her mouth could shut up, when she's like this, no matter how beautiful she looked, all I could think about was how annoying she is. Not only had I completely regained my cool, I was also starting to get angry.

"How am I feeling? To be honest, I want to dump you in the bottom of the ocean right now"

"Kyaaa!" Stella screamed playfully as she hid behind Hime.

Meanwhile, Hime just watched our banter with a warm smile, then clapped.

"Okay, that's enough" she said "We still have something to do…"

A Party for Nobles proved too hard for me.

It was too extravagant for me.

As we reached the door for the banquet hall, the Captain held out her hand. I already understood what it meant; I was supposed to be the escort of the captain for the party.

I lightly bent my arm and Hime put her arm in there.

"Well, then, Ash, I'll be counting on you to be my escort, yes"

I smiled and nodded "Please leave it to me, Miss Hime"

Stella followed closely behind, ever since we entered the party, we've been getting stares from the crowd, but it simply couldn't be helped, after all I was escorting two beautiful ladies, if the other one would shut up that is.

Dozens of exquisite delights were lined up on the table, Stella was already eyeing on the food, if I don't keep her in check, she'll be gobbling down the whole table, that girl was one hell of a glutton after all, but first things first, I had to escort Ms. Hime to the party.

Just as we settle in the party for drinks and all, Stella was beside the food table, "Elegantly" nipping down the whole buffet, some nobles have already started their approach with their "Pure" intentions while eyeing Stella and Hime. On the other hand, they've handled it with ease, they're defending themselves unnoticed.

High-class noblewomen are something, I can't keep up.

Some adventurers were in the hall to, they weren't making too much of a fuss which was weird, I always thought that Adventurers are a rambunctious bunch.

On a side note, I've been receiving some stares of curiosity, when I looked over the other side which was the source of the stares, a bunch of people were looking at me in disbelief. I touched my hair, yeah, I guess so. My hair color was too unnatural for the usual crowd, it's probably why I've been getting some stares.

Not long after, the announcement that the Hero party had arrived in the hall. The hall exploded in clap, I had to clap to blend in.

Fifteen teenagers about my age walked in from the double doors into the hall, each of them was dressed extravagantly, the leading one was handsome, and somehow seeing that handsome face makes me want to drive my fist into it. My guess was that he's the Hero, next to him was a two guys with a big build, I'm guessing they acted as tanks for the party, then a girl with a long black hair tied in a ponytail, she seemed embarrassed on her dress, however, I find that it suits her. On the back side of the group, yeah, they're the meanies, they carried themselves with swag feeling that they owned the room, they succeeded in making themselves look like idiots.

The Hero party paid their respects into the king, Hime already made a move and approach the king, that was my queue to get the hell out of dodge.

"Guren…"

Before I could even move, I was suddenly called out by someone. It was a mistake to turn back, I shouldn't have done it.

"You're Guren, right?"

The person that talked to me was the Ponytail girl from the hero party, she wore a red dress, and her face too was a look of disbelief.

Does this girl know me?

"You're back…" she said and held my arms, damn she's strong! "You're really back! This is great! Kaede would be happy about this!"

She kept babbling on and on about someone, but I was still confused, soon enough, some of the nobles are really looking at us, this wasn't part of the plan!!

As curious as I am to whether I knew this girl or not, our mission comes first.

"I'm very sorry, miss. But I think you're mistaken me for someone else" I said and did a light bow toward the girl and walked out of the Hall.

I need to pull back, this party would only last for an hour, I took one last glance at the hall, the girl looked stunned and had a downcast gaze, meanwhile Stella was on the food stall, that girl! What is she doing! We're on a mission here!

There was one flaw on our plan… I don't know the layout of the castle. I've been wandering around the castle for 30 minutes and I was lost, I don't know where the damn treasure vault was!

"Shit! I'm lost here!"

Why wasn't there a sign that says "This way to the Treasure Vault" or "The Riches of the Kingdom is that way"

Thankfully because of the party, all the personnel in the castle were busy for the party, meanwhile I'm sneaking into the castle, correction I wander on the castle, lost in direction. However, the hall was dimly lit even with the torches that was hanging on the walls.

"Gu… ren…"

Another voice of a girl called out, this time I learned from my mistake, I did not dare turn back to face the voice, I instead walk off like I didn't hear it.

"Guren… Guren…"

She kept calling my name and was following me around, I reached the courtyard inside the castle, that was then she grabbed my arm, I was forced to look behind at her.

The moonlight shone on her face, she had sleek, black hair that went all the way down to her waist, and large alluring eyes that were dripping with tears, she was filled with relief as she saw me, her grip on my arm grew tighter.

"It's… real… it the real you!"

Her lips were trembling, all of a sudden, she put both of her arms around me in an embrace, she choked out the words she wanted to say.

"Guren... Shank you... hic... for coming back. And I'm... sho sorry I couldn't protect you... Hic..."

I don't know, here I was again, unable to respond to the situation.

Then my head throbbed, ah!! What the hell!! My head feels like it's getting crushed.

I slumped over the ground holding my head.

"Ngh!!"

"G-Guren! Are you okay?" The Girl asked, but I couldn't answer her.

By the time it got unbearably painful, I started to ran, I ran leaving the girl, the castle, Hime and Stella behind. I had to abort the mission.

I pressed over the communicator on my ear.

"Captain… ngh! Sorry but I need to abort the mission!"

As soon as I got back to my room, I collapsed as a sudden wave of memories invade my mind.