Chapter 1: Prologue: The Bell Tolls in the Guildhall

The adventurer's guild of Alta was abuzz with activity. There was a large crowd at the notice board looking through all the available job requests. At the receptionist's desk there was a long line of adventurers waiting in front of the lone unfortunate receptionist. She kept a consistent smile as she processed each of the adventurers, however fatigue had begun to set in.

"Why did Aliya and the others have to turn up sick the day everyone suddenly decided to start working hard?" The long-haired guild receptionist thought to herself.

"We worked really hard to make sure the roots weren't damaged this time Miss Kei, we're gonna catch up to him in no time" The group of newly promoted bronze adventurers in front of her beamed.

They were young, likely in their mid-teens. If it wasn't for a certain adventurer, the speed of their rank up would be commended. They had climbed out of the beginner copper rank after only a few months after all. Most new adventurers usually take half a year to be promoted to bronze.

"I guess it can't be helped, with how fast most were outranked by a relatively new face, it was bound to happen for a few of them to get self-conscious. If only they were always like this." Kei silently muttered.

Suddenly an angry voice shouted

"Hey idiot! I saw that first!"

Kei turned to the notice board where a commotion had started.

"Kehoda baldy, first come first serve!" Replied an adventurer holding a request notice.

"Piss off, everyone knows you'd just get yourself killed hunting dire wolves so let the real adventurers handle it." Replied the large bald brutish man from whom the original shout came from.

"What'd you say? Why don't you go fark a goat, you might actually satisfy someone for once." The roguish adventurer retorts while drawing the scimitar at his side. An iron tag hung from his necklace.

The brutish adventurer smiles with eyes full of rage and draws the large two-handed warhammer at his back. A similar looking iron tag was attached to his right ear as an earring.

Kei looks around trying to think of a way to resolve the situation peacefully. The trio of bronze adventurers she was serving were eyeing the two iron rank adventurers and seemed to be thinking of moving in to de-escalate the situation. However, stopping the two iron ranks without injury to any side may be too much for bronze rank adventurers.

While she was thinking desperately, a familiar sound rang clearly throughout the hall for all to hear.

"Ding...ding...ding"

The quiet sound of a bell began to echo in the ears of every person in the hall regardless of the other noise, this caused all the adventurers to freeze.

"As showy as ever, but the help is appreciated" Kei remarks.

All the adventurers who had frozen began to slowly look tired with their eyes beginning to close from fatigue. However, they eventually realize what is happening as this is a familiar sensation for a decent number of them.

"That asshole"

"Again"

"Seriously"

Fatigued curses began to be muttered as adventurers one after another slumped to the floor.

After a few moments, the guild hall becomes silent except for the soft sound of bells, Kei sighs.

A hooded figure appears entering the guild hall holding a tied sack in a gloved hand, he stops at the entrance in-sight of Kei and begins walking towards her. His face was covered by a black wooden smiling mask.

Kei scanned the figure with her eyes out of curiosity, appraising him as he approached. He was of average height with a seemingly matching build. However, Kei knew that his darkened gambeson and cloak was visually minimizing any muscle bulk he may have had.

"Huh, it looks like the guild's gotten busier nowadays, I'm sorry for the trouble" The black masked adventurer begins.

"Rank-ups are publicly released after all; it doesn't help that one the newly minted silver ranked adventurers is still in his first year of adventuring… You know you'll eventually cause an accident if you keep doing this." Kei points her hand at the sleeping surroundings.

"Sorry haha, I'm not good with dealing with people, it's kind of a hassle since I'm a bit shy" The masked figure says jokingly without embarrassment.

"Right… Just be sure to wake everyone up after you leave… So, what can I do for you"? Ignoring the doubtful veracity of his statement, Kei continues the conversation.

"I just came claim a bounty I happened to run into" The man places the sack he was holding on top of the table and unties it.

Kei looks inside and frowns, then looks at the man questioningly.

"Usually, most adventurers don't bother to drain the blood or place herbs for the smell."

"Ahh, is that so? I just didn't want to get blood onto my clothes and I'm honestly really bad with strong smells."

"Sigh… Perhaps your Lordship should stay away from the adventurer profession, unpleasant smells are regular occurrence after all" Kei says in sarcastic resignation.

"Heh, I think I'll pass for now, have to eat after all" The adventurer chuckles at this.

"Uhuh…" Kei looks through the bag and begins counting its contents.

After a few minutes she looks up.

"These are all the bounty targets?" Asks Kei, while discreetly activating the guild's lie detector under the table.

"Mhm, unless there are more I don't know of, that's everything reported in the request."

There was no reaction from the lie detector.

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"We'll double check later to be sure, but it looks like you fully completed the bounty, their all accounted for." Kei nods satisfied.

"Alright that sounds good, please give me the main reward now and deposit the remainder in my account."

"Of course, would you like it in silver or gold?" Asks Kei.

"Gold for now, I'll keep it light and hope I won't drop it somewhere"

"I see" Kei places a single gold coin on the counter.

"May I ask what your plans are after this, a gold coin means you won't have to work for a month after all" The receptionist asks inquisitively.

"Hmm, I might take it easy for a while but I'm thinking of seeing a friend for a bit before I decide." The adventure offers after some thought.

Hearing this, Kei's eyes widen in surprise then narrow mischievously.

"Ohh, this is the first time I've heard you having a friend since the time you registered. Aliya and the others might get jealous you know" Kei replies teasingly.

"Really? Haha, I don't remember ever dating any of them, but I'll keep that in mind. I'm sorry they seem to have left you by yourself by the way." The reply was quivered at first but turned amused after the laugh.

Kei smiled, though she already concluded that the man was uninterested in romance, she knew he was surprisingly easy to fluster when the topic was brought up.

"Don't be, despite the headache, I got to see something interesting again today." Kei still found the repeated silencing of the guild hall amusing despite its possible danger in the future.

"I see, please still have a few silver coins from the side reward as an apology for the mess." The voice had sincerity.

The masked figure chuckled then started moving towards the exit, the sounds of bells still echoing in the silent hall. After the sounds of the bells and his footsteps disappeared, the adventurers began to wake.

"Ughhh, what happened?"

"Rich kid came again didn't he?"

"Lucky bastard, I wish I had bloodline magic."

"Did anyone ever find out anything about him, must be some kicked-out noble right?" Asks one adventurer.

"No idea, he was already wearing a mask before he started pulling this" Replies another.

"With his mask and magic, he's definitely some high lord's runt." A third supposes.

Grumbles began and conversation turned to the reason for the sudden industriousness among adventurers; the previous heated argument was forgotten.

The three bronze ranked adventurers stood up and then turned towards Kei.

"Was that Mr. Miru's bloodline magic?" asked the lone girl who seemed to be the party fighter and leader. She had a lighter complexion and was dressed in gambeson with metal plates covering the upper chest. She had blonde hair tied in a ponytail like Kei.

"Has to be big sis, I'm surprised though. I didn't think he didn't like talking to people this much with the way he was when he saved us" replied the boy shorter tanned boy next to her. The boy wore darkened leather armor, the hide skinned from a monster. He had short deep brown hair styled in a messy fashion, he had roguish features and was presumably the thief or scout of the party.

"With what happened last time, he must come from a really blessed bloodline" The dark-skinned member then added. He was tallest among the three with red hair covered by a brown wizard's hat. He was a mage who dabbled in divine healing magic. Though things such as curing diseases or lifting curses were only learnt by official church healers, lesser forms of healing for first aid such as the closing of wounds could be learnt by the general public.

"I'm afraid so, he's been doing this frequently ever since other adventurers started approaching after he ranked up to steel. Since he was promoted at an impressive rate, people have been trying to get closer to him for a variety of reasons, not all of them pleasant." Kei, replying to the fighter's question.

"I see, I guess standing out too much is a problem no matter the reason." Mutters the fighter disappointedly.

"By the way, if it's not too much to ask, why did he come to the guild today" asks the mage.

"Oh, he just turned in a bounty." Answers Kei in a matter of fact manner.

"Huh, I'm kind of annoyed he used his magic to skip the line, which bounty was it?" Retorted the thief.

Kei then noticed that a number of nearby adventurers had begun to look with interest at their direction after they overheard the thief's question.

"It was the one put a few weeks ago by the city. We were having trouble since no one had made any progress on it" Kei's voice was heard by those close to the receptionist desk.

"...Wait you don't mean the one with a side request?!" The fighter suddenly voices out in surprise.

"Mhm." Replies Kei with no intonation or change in her voice.

"How many of them did he get?" Asks the female fighter.

"He fully completed the bounty; we'll inform the city and take the down the request later." Kei informs her.

"Ehh!?"

The trio of adventurers as well as a few of those who overheard the conversation gasp.

Kei smiled then worryingly looked at the open sack she had placed at her feet containing a drained head of a notorious bandit boss along with 100 different ears tied to a string.

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