The City of Murddoc, Northern Province of the Earthian Kingdom:

A long line of knights, carriages, and guards was winding through the streets. They walked in between the centuries-old stone and wood buildings. Crowds on the sides of the streets cheered and threw white flowers on the brick road, which was customary for celebrations of the return of soldiers from battle. 

However, the ones in the carriages who were being celebrated weren’t necessarily soldiers. They were called adventurers and acted more as local mercenaries. The continent was a dangerous place and they were often tasked with killing demonic beasts, monsters, rampaging animals, bandit gangs, and other killable nuisances. They were also hired to explore ancient ruins and caves or to retrieve certain alchemical ingredients. 

It was a tough job that paid well and would be the dream for many. From the rich to the poor, nearly all aspired to be an adventurer at some point in their life. Fame came to many adventurers of the highest levels and their names were known across the continent. The absolute strongest often had the power to level armies, revive the dead, and split mountains.

Now, the adventurers in the carriage were small-time when compared to those at the highest level. Their ranks at most reached B rank, and even then, most of them would just be F and C-ranked adventurers. They weren’t at the level of going beyond the province and mainly just stayed around the City of Murddoc. 

The crowd continued to roar as the adventurers in the carriages waved to the crowd. Despite the cheery crowd, there was one man who wore a frown. The man had a hood to cover his face, but one could see a small beard forming across the lower part of his cheeks. He was a bit taller than average with a toned build. He stood silently and watched as the captain of the adventuring group passed by in the most ornate carriage. 

The hooded man revealed his deep blue eyes and gave a ferocious look as they locked onto the leader. The leader flashed a sly look of disgust, which quickly changed back to his normal smiling face. Many thoughts of hate towards the opposite party floated into their minds, but the carriage soon moved on and the eye contact broke. The hooded man did not want to stay a minute longer and spit onto the ground as he turned to leave, but an explosion from behind stopped him in his tracks. He turned to see that the carriage behind the leader’s was flipped on its side and a large hole was smoking in the middle of the road. 

The hooded man looked at it in slight surprise. Knights and guards that were nearby looked around in confusion as the crowd fell into chaos. Mages shouted, “It was a hidden explosion rune! Do not move!” This caused all that heard them to stop moving as the mages used detection magic to uncover the runes. 

The hooded man looked around, to see that he was the only one in the crowd not thrown into an immediate panic. He decided that he was standing out too much and left through a nearby alleyway. He shook his head as he cursed whoever placed the rune for not doing it under the leader’s carriage. 

…

That night, the hooded man returned to the small inn he was staying at. He was walking up to his room when he felt a few threatening presences behind the door, causing him to stop himself from opening the door. He had a bad feeling so he immediately turned around and rushed down the stairs. When he was about to exit the inn, three large men with shields and swords broke through the door. The hooded man cursed, turned, and sprinted for the backdoor; only now realizing that it was odd that the innkeeper wasn’t behind the counter as usual.

Right as he reached the back door, it swung open and hit him in the face. The hood fell off the man as he held his bleeding nose and stumbled back. It revealed a young man with an unkept face and short, black hair that was similarly unkept. The young man looked through his teary eyes and could see the blurry figure of the adventurer captain from earlier that day. 

“Hello, Tujen.” The captain gave a sly smile.

“Sigric! You basta-!” Tujen’s words were cut off as he was tackled to the ground by the adventurers who came through the front door. He immediately lost consciousness when his head bounced off the hardwood floor.