Rewards for the Mission

We managed to get onshore and I saw everyone disembarking, all of the slaves were crying in happiness at escaping the Tower of Heaven.

Hardigan said, "We will not need you here, for now, you may report back to the nearest Rune Knight base where you will be debriefed."

I nodded and headed to the Rune Knight base and there as expected I was grilled over every small detail of my encounter.

They were especially interested in what I said to Jellal and I basically lied and said that I was trying to free him from the possession without magic.

Doing that is the safest way of getting rid of possession magic, what I did while as effective still had side effects like causing Jellal to lose some of his memories.

They also grilled me on how I came to know where this place was and the evidence I had pre-planted really helped as it made the reason why they didn't receive a report the fault Benny.

In their eyes, I was acting as a proper Rune Knight should but due to the idiocy and corruption of 1 clerk, a potentially devasting weapon could've been ignored.

So while I was getting commendations for my decisiveness in checking Erza's story even after being denied reinforcement, Benny was fired from his job and blacklisted.

Ignatius also suffered a lot of blowbacks as Benny had been working for him. He was demoted from a squad leader back to a normal Rune Knight.

As time went on and all the reports were coming back that I basically handled the situation perfectly, with no casualties and smart decision-making I quickly was promoted.

As Hardigan promised he did push for my promotion and with the hearty support of Barat I was quickly promoted, faster than any Rune Knight before me.

This also seemed to quell much of the distrust that the Rune Knights held towards me as I did strike a truly decisive blow against the Balam Alliance. One that affected their long-term plans.

Before will destroying their subsidiary guilds was annoying it was still recoverable, though this wasn't. Now every country in the world would be looking out for something like this.

Not only that Hardigan had also found a lot of leads of where the materials and food came from, luckily the culprit was lazy and didn't source from outside countries.

This busted a lot of spies that they had in high positions and exposed many of the Dark Guilds that had managed to stay under the radar.

Apparently, a massive shipping tycoon had worked with the Balam Alliance to ship resources. He only got so successful because his rivals would have "accidents" caused by the Dark mages.

Before while it had been odd it had never raised any alarms but now with evidence linking him to the trade, one of the richest men in Fiore just went to jail.

This as you can guess sent multiple shockwaves through the kingdom as many of the wealthy are trying to hide any dirty secrets they have as the Magic Council is on an inquisition.

From all of that commotion, as you would guess, a lot of people wondered who started this and my name soon became a lot more well-known.

As I guessed, the story of a child, untalented in magic surviving the harshest of conditions to become a terrifying Executor just to switch to the side of good resonated with a lot of people.

I represented how no matter how bad your condition was you could still rise above your means and become great, that ideal was timeless, and everyone can relate to that.

I quickly got asked for an interview for many famous magazines like Sorcerer Magazine, and the Magic Council was encouraging me to go to them.

Their public image had not been great in recent years as they have had a lack of talented young mages that draw the attention of the audience.

Now that they had such a hit with me made them want to capitalize on such an opportunity and got me in front of as many magazines as possible.

---

I was in the studio for Sorcerer Magazine and was dressed in my new Rune Knight Squad Leader uniform. I looked similar but was a little different.

Some change of color and symbology here and there, as well as making it better fitted to make me look as dashing as possible. I was their new golden boy.

A reporter came in, she was beautiful with long blonde hair and a bombshell body. She sat in front of me and began the interview, "Hello my name is Maxine and I will be your interview for today."

"I just would like to say that I am a massive fan after hearing all the incredible things that you managed to do despite your harsh background."

"If you haven't heard folks this man right here is Marcus Fulbright, the rising star of the Rune Knights and previous one of the most dangerous criminals in the world."

"That was an incredible change Marcus, what prompted such a massive change in lifestyle."

I smiled, "Well Maxine I just came down to fact that I hated my life. I was always so angry and I sadly took that anger and lashed out against the world."

"I didn't think if what I was doing was right or wrong because I wasn't taught that as a child, but one day I realized that the people I was following were actively making my life worse."

"Getting sent on missions that I would barely survive, forced to train all day every day, having the constant threat of death if I were to fail, these were all things that the Balam Alliance forced me to do."

"So I got tired of it and I decided to quit. I knew this type of life just wasn't what I wanted to live so I took a risk and decided to try a new one. So far it has worked out great."

Maxine replied, "That's great Marcus, I'm not sure I could've done the same thing in that situation. I heard you mention though that you were being sent on missions that were incredibly dangerous, isn't volunteering for that mission what got your moniker The Maniac."

I nodded, "I would always go on those types of missions just to try and get the approval of anyone around me. Me constantly going on these types of missions and surviving is how I got that name."

"I developed most of my combat abilities in those types of life and death situations and as much as I hate them now I have to admit it shaped me into the man I am now."

She said, "I also heard that you managed to do most of these missions barely being able to use magic is that true."

I chuckled, "Yeah, I was never that talented at using my magic although I was born with 3 innate magics. So I had to improvise to keep up and survive this harsh world."

"As you may have heard I made 2 martial arts styles that I called Renewal Taekwondo and the Rokushiki to make up for my weakness."

"It worked despite my poor magic talent I managed to gain such a fearsome reputation for myself due to my martial arts. I had to constantly face people that didn't believe that I could go so far without magic."

She asked, "You really built those martial arts from the ground up."

I said, "Yup, they were made to allow even me, a small kid, to stand up to the monsters I was fighting."

Maxine said, "I guess that is why people call you the greatest martial genius of this era. I haven't even heard anyone coming close to your talent in marital arts."

I said, "Don't discount the rest of the world, I'm sure a few marital artists here and there can perform similar feats to me."

She replied, "So your martial arts styles can be taught?"

I said, "Yes, although it would be hard to find someone who had the willingness to suffer through my training method I believe anyone can learn my styles."

"After all, I was a starving kid when I first made these styles. What they need more than anything else is control over your body."

Maxine said, "Can you show us an example."

I nodded, "I will show you what a master of my Rokushiki style can do. Just wait for a moment."

I stood on the chair and began using my Seimei Kikan to massively increase my musculature and my height making me look like a giant.

I said, "The technique I am using right now is called the Seimei Kikan and it can be used to perfectly control your body. Right now I am strengthening all of my muscles to make me look like this."

"If a normal man were to do what I am doing now he would be able to crush stone and bend steel with his bare hands. That is the power of control."

I then struck down to my speed form, becoming much thinner and more flexible. I began running around performing feats of acrobatics that seemed inhuman. Twisting my body in unnatural ways.

I continued, "It can be used in multiples ways as you can see. Now I am much faster and can even catch a bullet in midair or turn my head 180 degrees."

"The limits of what many people consider possible is so sad seeing that the human body even without magic can do some impressive feats."

Maxine clapped at my demonstration, "That is amazing, I can't believe that you can do all of that without using any magic and you say anyone can learn this?"

I replied, "So long as they can stick it through the training then yes they can. Otherwise, I would be dead with my poor magic potential."

She laughed, "That is truly inspirational. Well, I for one would love to learn how to do this martial art."

I said, "Don't worry I'll try to make sure that the steps of how to train this martial art will be freely given to anyone who wants to train it. Courtesy of the Rune Knights."

She smiled and the rest of our interview continued in a similar manner showing my incredible backstory, skill, and generosity.

Now with this interview, I had gone from a relative unknown to a household name. Just a few more steps now till I reach my goal.