Solar Mage

Chapter 23: Warp Gate

Blaine looks back at me.

"What\'s up with your face? It\'s dirty to keep thieves away from the treasures hidden inside it!"

That... actually not a bad idea. As long as there is still barrier magic-

He easily opens the desk drawer.

No barrier magic or even a lock? I take it back, this guy is absolutely insane. I should avoid him the next time I see him.

He snaps me out of my trance impatiently.

"What are you doing just standing there? Come here and take one of them already!"

I walk over to the drawer, initially not noticing anything wrong but suddenly have a realization.

Wait, what did he mean "one of them"?

I look down into the drawer and see the entire drawer filled to the brim with gold tokens with the letters, B. A. engraved onto it.

He has so many of them... how is his token even worth anything if there are so many of them!?!?!

"Vice-Guildmaster Aquafield, why do you have so many tokens? Also, it doesn\'t seem like you have any magic or locks protecting it, can I ask why that is?"

"It doesn\'t matter boy. Just pick one already!"

Even if this old man is crazy, he\'s still the vice guildmaster so this must be some kind of test. I need to concentrate.

I stare intensely at the drawer. But they still all look the same.

Focus harder!

I strain my eyes and stare even more intensely at the tokens.

I see it!

One of the tokens radiates a golden aura and I immediately grab it. Blaine stays silent as he is lost in his thoughts.

***

This boy has unbelievable perception abilities.

***

"So that\'s the one you\'ve chosen?"

I\'ve made up my mind.

"Yes, I will choose this one."

"Are you certain? You can\'t pick another one, last chance."

What\'s wrong with him? Oh, I get it now, this was the only real one out of all of those so I passed the test.

I confidently responded.

"Yes, I\'m sure."

He sighs.

"Sigh–"

He sighs again.

"SIGHHH– okay. Well, congratulations on your promotion. I would tell you where the warp gate was, but I forgot. Go back to the receptionist\'s desk and ask them for the location. What was the phrase again- right, to Glory, Peace, and Freedom. Or something like that."

How did he get such an important position when he\'s so incompetent? Whatever, let\'s just get this over with.

I take out Dustin\'s sword and hold it in front of me. Then I close my eyes and recite the Adventurer motto back to him.

"To Glory, Peace, and Freedom.."

Wow, I\'ve heard it said so many times in stories but have never heard it said aloud before, it\'s so cool!

I sheathe my sword and begin to leave.

"Good luck with whatever you\'re in a hurry for and don\'t die. It would be bad if that Amy girl started crying even more.

That\'s the first nice thing he\'s genuinely said to me! It\'s... weird.

"Don\'t worry old man, there\'s no way I would die before you. I\'ll see you soon."

I walk out and head back to the receptionist desk for directions.

Dustin keeps his emotionless face and silence as he watches me leave the room before breaking down into panic.

AAAAGH THE TOKEN THAT HE TOOK WAS THE ONLY ONE NOT MADE OF GOLD, BUT DIVINUM!!! WHY DID I EVEN TURN MY SHARE OF THE DIVINUM INTO A STUPID TOKEN!?!?! HOW DRUNK WAS I THAT NIGHT?!?! Ugh- I hope- no he better not lose it and return it back to me safe and sound!

After tracing my steps back, I see the task boards of the main room. I look around the area and spot the reception desk. As I walk past the other adventurers, I overhear some rumors.

"Did you hear about the 15 year old newbie Adventurer who fought against our Vice Guildmaster and won?"

"Did that really happen?"

"Yeah, the whole arena and even the barrier was destroyed from their fight."

"What\'s his name?"

"What does he look like?"

Haha, they\'re talking about me aren\'t they... wait! This is amazing, my fame is increasing, soon, my name will be told to all the young children across the world and be an inspirational figure to all! Hahaha.

My expression turns dark.

Wait, but I didn\'t put my name on the registration, so what\'s my name?

I take out my adventurer\'s ID and stare in disbelief at the blank section where my name is supposed to be.

It\'s over. It\'s all over, my name will never be written in the history books... I will be forgotten.

The other adventurers continue to gossip.

"That\'s the thing, he is nameless!"

Wait, nameless? That\'s actually not a bad name. Hm nameless, it\'s a great name! I will be the mysterious nameless super secret adventurer in all black, nameless! Thank you rumors, you\'ve saved me.

I notice Amy in the corner of my eye and walk towards her with a big smile on my face.

She notices me approaching and her face brightens, she waves at me.

Ahh, how cute.

"Hey there Amy, thank you for helping me skip the wait."

"Don\'t be sorry about it, it\'s no big deal. Anyway, did you pass the exam?"

"Huhu, who do you think I am?"

I pull out my Adventurer\'s ID.

"Of course I passed!"

"That\'s great! I\'m assuming you came back because you want to know the location of the warp gate?"

"You\'re spot on once again."

Seriously, how does she know everything?

"Did you see the long line forming outside our guild?"

She must be talking about that line formed at the right of the building

"Yeah, I saw it."

"That line leads to a warp gate for adventurers. It costs a gold coin to use and has a very long wait time, but adventurers who use it are those from other factions who came to the capital city for business purposes, so they can afford it."

"Oh, I see. Thank you for letting me know. I\'ll be off then."

I begin to leave but she suddenly shouts after me.

"Wait, big brother- I know it\'s not allowed for me to ask you for your information, but can you tell me your name?"

Ahhhhh, she called me big brother, she\'s so cute!

"Hmm, I don\'t know, should I?"

Her eyes start to water up.

"You\'re a big meanie!"

Ah, did I go too far?

"I\'m sorry, I\'m sorry please don\'t cry. "

"Sniff- so will you tell me your name?"

"My name is Arthur. Arthur Ventrike. If you are ever in danger and need help, go to Wolkan Academy and tell the headmaster that you\'re Arthur\'s little sister. She\'ll give you lots of candy."

Her tears immediately fade.

"Candy!? Okay, I\'ll forgive you this time brother."

I\'m dying from her cuteness!!! Wait, if she\'s working here, then does that mean that she needs money?

I scramble through my money bag.

Ten silver coins, one gold coin, and two platinum cards, huh?

I take two platinum cards out and hand it to her and she becomes serious.

"Arthur, this is too much money. I can\'t accept this."

Seeing how mature she can be, it\'s clear that after her brother died, she had to take care of herself at a young age, in this cruel world. Her childhood is nearly over.

"No, please take it. You\'ve had such a hard life and had to experience what no one should have to experience. Maybe, after all of this is over, I can take you out and I can help you finally enjoy the happy childhood you were supposed to receive. Until then, you can take this, and use it for whatever you want."

She returns to her child-like state of mind.

"Thank you brother and it might not make sense to say this to the great nameless, but please stay safe."

She knew about it huh? I should\'ve expected it already, she knows about everything.

"I\'ll see you later."

I say as I walk away.

I leave the building and walk to its right side.

Ugh, despite over an hour passing, the line is still this long huh? Oh well, not like it affects me either way since I have the Vice Guildmaster\'s token.

As I walk past the line, there is initially no sound but the further I go, the more people I see looking at me with angry expressions and some even bad mouthing me. Sfill, none of them lay a finger on me.

They can say what they want but they don\'t touch me because they are still uncertain that I am skipping the line. Glad to see that at least B ranks use their brains.

I continue to walk past the line up until I reach the front and take the first spot, after the latest person stepped through the portal.

The portal closes after he walks through.

I can feel the anger directed at me, staring at the back of my head.

They may be angry, but B ranks will try to figure out the situation first before doing anything because they are smart–

The portal regulator begins to ask me something.

"Excuse me sir, you will have to wait at the back of the line if you don–"

A man grabs my shoulder and grips it tightly, interrupting the portal regulator.

"Hey kid, I don\'t know what rank you are but like the portal regulator said, get to the back of the line."

I turn around and see a man with crazy dark red hair that looks like a berserker.

The portal regulator tries to speak but is cut off again. Behind the berserker-like man is another man trying to calm him down.

He must be his bodyguard, and that berserker must be the son of some kind of faction leader since he doesn\'t seem that strong and has a bodyguard. It\'d be fun to mess with him a little bit.

"I\'m an E rank."

The berserker is dumbfounded.

"Are you affiliated with any faction?"

"Nope!"

He turns to his bodyguard.

"Hahaha, see Makle? He\'s just some nobody, no one will care if we beat him up, he\'s the one skipping the line anyway."

The bodyguard backs away as the berserker begins to approach me. Before he gets to me, the portal regulator steps between us and stops him.

"If you interrupt me one more time, I will ban you from using this portal, now step away."

"Don\'t you know who I am? I\'m a C rank adventurer and the heir of the Berserker Guild!

Looks like I was right, he was a berserker and he wasn\'t that strong, but to just be a C rank? Pathetic.

I try to hold in my laughter, but a giggle slips.

"HUH? DID THIS E RANK JUST LAUGH AT ME!?!"

The portal regulator stops him once again.

"Fighting is prohibited at this portal. I don\'t care who you are, now stop holding up the line."

The berserker becomes slightly embarrassed and backs away to his bodyguard.

The portal regulator turns to me.

"Now, you must have a good reason for skipping the line or there will be serious consequences."

"Of course I have a good reason."

I pull out the Vice Guildmaster\'s token.

"Here it is!"

"The Vice Guildmaster\'s token? Well, you must know the reason why I must inspect the token, right?"

Right, because there are so many of them in the drawer that have no lock or barrier magic.

"Yeah, it was quite the sight haha."

"Hoh, so you have this one huh? You must either be the greatest thief or truly one recognized by the Vice Guildmaster. This is real, you may pass.

He hands it back to me.

"Thank you sir, portal regulator. Here is the fee."

I handed him a gold coin.

"There\'s no need for that, a guest of Blaine is a guest of mine. And no guest of mine needs to pay a fee."

Referring to the Vice Guildmaster by his first name? They must be close friends.

I push the coin closer to him.

"Consider this a tip then, for your exceptional service this fine afternoon."

He hesitantly takes the coin out of my hands.

"I appreciate the tip, adventurer recognized by the vice guildmaster. I won\'t forget your generosity. Where to?"

"The border town. Ashland."

He moves aside and begins chanting. Then, a purple portal opens.

Hm, it\'s a different color than the one I used to get at Wolkan academy. Ah- I shouldn\'t think of that, let\'s just save Dustin and father so that I can go back.

I do not look back, but I can feel the berserker in complete shock as I walk through the warp portal.