Volume 2 Chapter 4: Part 2: Adventuring

 

As the two ate their food, customers woke up later and came down to eat their breakfast. 

 

"Onyx, are you sure you're ok with all of this?" Stewart makes a constricted expression as he says this. 

 

"Hmm? What do you mean?" Onyx continues to drink his soup, not knowing why he's making a weird expression. 

 

Stewart looks around. He then gets closer to Onyx and whispers, "How can you be so calm when so many girls are staring at us?!" 

 

The two are sitting right dead center of the floor. And around them, the only people sitting close are women. If you do a 360 turn, only females can be seen. All the male customers got shoved into the corner, all dead and alone. 

 

"Oh." Onyx makes a blank expression. Like there was nothing wrong with this.

 

"Why are you so calm?!" Stewart's voice screeches a bit as he continues to whisper. Onyx can see the sweat forming on his forehead. 

 

"Aren't you used to it, though? Etta told me before you got a lot of confessions when you were at the orphanage."

 

Stewart's face contorted a bit. When did she tell you that?! The question should be why instead! He wanted to ask, but, "This and that are different! Do you know how they're staring at us right now?!"

 

If the female customers only glanced at them from time to time, Stewart would have been ok with that. 

 

The problem is it was not subtle at all! They were full blasting looking at the two, not having any shame. If Reynold was here, he would be flirting with them. But not him. He at least got some control not to do it. 

 

Onyx shrugs his shoulders, "It doesn't matter to me. They're just looking at me. And it's not like they'll do something."

 

"..." It's not a matter of and, it's a matter of when. From how those girls gazed at them, Stewart could tell they were ready to pounce. Yet, the kid in front of him doesn't seem to care. Are you some sort of super sage or something?!

 

"Nah, it's not because of that. I just got used to it, you know?" Yes. This isn't the first time Onyx got ogled with such intensity. The last time this happened was when he was 13 years old. 

 

Wyatt had spilled juice onto him by accident. His shirt got stuck onto his body, showing indents of his abs. 

 

And that caused all the girls to stare at that spot. Some even got a nosebleed from the light exposure. 

 

And that's only one instance. There were other occasions when girls would just stare at him crazily. Like Stewart, he had the same expression once before. But now, he was just used to it. 

 

Onyx turns around and sees the girls looking at him. He nods slowly. 

 

"Kyaa!!!" 

 

"He just winked at me!"

 

"Get your facts straight! He was doing it to me!"

 

"No, he did it to me! My fortune tells me that I will meet my fated one today!"

 

"..." Stewart doesn't know what to say when he sees the playful expression on his face. Damn, he's a demon!

 

After the two finish their meal, the two split up. Onyx has to go to the guild while Stewart decides to go out and do some shopping. When Onyx walks into the guildhall, the people look at him as eye candy.

 

But it stops for the most part as Madelyn walks over to him, "Ahh, Onyx. You came."

 

"Mmhmm. Did I come late?"

 

Madelyn shakes her head, "No. You came here on time. The guild master told me to wait for you. I'll be the one to explain everything to you."

 

"I see. But are you sure you're alright with doing this? Isn't there a lot of work you have to do?" 

 

"No. There's nothing for me to- Hey!" Madelyn makes a strained expression. She got nothing to do. Her line is still barren and without people. She was going to say that, but she noticed the childish grin on his face. 

 

He's messing with her. 

 

"I'll have you know; I'm 5 years older than you!" Hearing that, Onyx smiles, 

 

"If you are older than me, why are you treating me like I'm the older one?" She was treating Onyx really formally. He continues, "Madelyn, you don't have to be so uptight with me. It doesn't feel right with me as well."

 

At the royal palace, Onyx was also taught etiquette and such. Table manners and remembering every noble's name. Everything was just so annoying to him. 

 

Hearing this, Madelyn sighs, "Alright, I'll act normal then." Realizing that Onyx has a close relationship with Oliver, it means his background isn't ordinary. 

 

Onyx smiles when he hears this, "Then it's a pleasure working with you?"

 

"Who does this kid think he is messing with Madelyn like that?!"

 

"How can Madelyn smile so beautifully? She never did that to me before?!"

 

"This is so unfair!" 

 

Seeing how the two interact, adventurers turn blue from envy. They couldn't believe somebody would flirt so much in front of them. They got out of their seats, wanting to cause trouble. But then another one stops these fools, 

 

"Hey! Don't mess with that kid."

 

"Why?! He's just another one of those pretty boys! We're just going to test him."

 

"Test him? Did you guys not hear about what happened yesterday?"

 

"About Galven getting beat up? What about it?"

 

"Well, that kid was the one who did it. He slammed him down good and beat him like a rag." 

 

"..."

 

Another one chimed in, "Yeah! He also fought the guild master to a standstill. Do you guys still want to fight somebody like that?"

 

"..." Hearing this, the adventurers made the wisest decision of their lives and sat back down. 

 

While the adventurers talked, Onyx could hear all of it. That's why his expression is pitch black. I didn't beat him like a rag! And how am I equal to Oliver?! He could beat me black and blue!

 

Seeing his expression, Madelyn chuckles, "You've been the talk of the guild after you took down Galven and fought with the guild master." 

 

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?" Onyx raises one of his eyebrows, seeing how she's laughing at him. 

 

Madelyn shrugged her shoulders, "It's not my fault it became like this. And you and the guild master did take it too far." Remembering how Galven got stuck into the wall was funny. 

 

"..." You're the reason for everything that has happened, though. Albeit, Onyx walked over to her counter; the rest was all her!

 

Seeing his expression, Madelyn gives a wry expression, "Sorry about everything." She knows it as well. 

 

Onyx sighs, "It's fine." And out of instinct, he pats Madelyn on the head. 

 

!!! Madelyn froze, and the rest who watched the two did the same. What are you doing?! The crowd thought, wondering why he was patting her on the head.

 

Realizing what he was doing, Onyx pulls his hand back, "Sorry about that. Force of habit." Her guilty expression reminded him of Irene. 

 

Whenever Irene would have a guilty or wronged expression, he would be there to pat her head and soothe her. 

 

"..." Madelyn doesn't say anything. She just became lost in thought. 

 

"Hello?"

 

"Oh yeah! Let me explain to you your rank!" Madelyn's face turns beet red. But she still maintains dignity as she drags him over to her counter. 

 

"So, what rank did I get?" Onyx asks. That's the entire reason why he came here. 

 

"The rank you get is D-rank." Hearing her words, Onyx frowns.

 

"You thought you would get C-class, didn't you?" Onyx nods his head. Madelyn smiles, 

 

"Before I explain why you didn't get C-rank, I need to explain to you the ranking system of the guild. The rank goes from G to SSS. The rankings break up into three groups; G-D is low, C-A is mid, and S-SSS is high.

 

Onyx, you're more than qualified to become C-rank, maybe even B-class or higher. But power isn't everything you require to rank up. There are some criteria needed to break through to get to C-rank.

 

C-rank is where low-tier adventurers jump into a mid-tier one. Rank ups from F to D; you only need to hunt down specific monsters, but ranking to C-class is different. Rather than power, you have to show your insight and other abilities. And afterward, all rank-ups become more difficult." Madelyn explains. 

 

Oliver wanted to give Onyx a really high rank. But Madelyn and the rest stopped him. He was so young. They wanted to see more. Jumping him into mid-tier was extreme.

 

"I see now." Onyx thought about it for a bit. Remembering Galven's expression when Oliver offered it up, no wonder he was so excited. 

 

"Also, I don't want any adventurers causing you trouble," Madelyn whispers into Onyx's ears. That's the other reason why she didn't want Onyx to get a high rank. 

 

Even if Onyx defeated Galven, some adventurers would find it unfair that Onyx got to rank up quickly. They might even try to cause trouble with him. 

 

Onyx understands the reason as he smiles, "Thank you."

 

Madelyn explains, "We have given you the highest rank possible. For the rest, you will have to take a test." 

 

"What do I have to do to get through C-rank?" Onyx knows he's more than capable of ranking up. 

 

"Originally, if you want to rank up to C-rank, you will have to collect at least 10 middle-class and 50 lower-class demon crystals or finish 20 D-rank quests. However, the guild master says you don't need to do any of it." Onyx brought more than enough demon crystals. What's more, there are even high-level ones. 

 

"So what do I have to do to rank up?" 

 

Madelyn nods, "You will be given a quest to do with another group of adventurers. For now, please wait. It should be ready in a couple of weeks."

 

"Understood." Onyx sighs. He can't do anything about it now. Madelyn gives a wry smile, "There are still some things you need to know as an adventurer." She starts explaining some other things to Onyx.

 

After a while of explaining, 

 

"While you wait, you can choose any quest from the board. Also, don't tell the others about this. You can take quests a tier higher than your rank by yourself. Ordinarily, you would have to do it in a group. But the guild master says you don't need to do that. You're more than qualified to do it."

 

"Understood." Onyx walks over to the quest board. Everybody made way for him, scared he might bite them or something. 

 

Onyx doesn't care as he looks at the board. Hmm, there are a lot of quests. There were multiple boards for each rank. 

 

As he looks around, there are many different types of quests. 

 

It goes from killing monsters, collecting materials, mining for ores, and even cleaning an inn. 

 

There's a variety. Onyx also notices an interesting one. Oh, there's one from the Crescent Moon too. The quest asks the person to hunt for meat. And it's something he was familiar with, fanged boars. 

 

It's a D-rank quest. Hmm, that should be good enough. After a few minutes of deciding, Onyx picked out the quests he'll do. 

 

Looking at what he came back with, Madelyn gives him a strange look, "Are you sure you want to do all of these?" Onyx comes back with five different quests. Four C-rank and one D-rank. 

 

Onyx nods, "Yeah, I want to do all of them."

 

"Are you sure you can do it?" Madelyn wanted to make sure. It isn't uncommon for adventurers to take up multiple quests. However, the ones Onyx wanted to do took up a lot of time. Half of them focused on taking down monsters, while the other two were collecting materials. 

 

"I'll be fine. This is nothing to me." Madelyn nods her head and allows this to go through.

 

"Is this kid insane?!"

 

"How could he do so many at the same time?"

 

The adventures around begin to talk about him like he was some kind of anomaly. But one glance from Onyx was enough for him to shut them down. 

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