After Natasha told her squad members that they were about to participate in another quest, the girls started preparing themselves-albeit with some unwillingness. They put their armors or battling suits on - while whining, they cleaned and polished their weapons - while pouting, and as they finally threw supplies and spare weapons on a traveling cart, they groaned.

Oh, knowing that they were deprived of their “free-day” surely didn’t put them in high spirits, still, an order from your superior was absolute.

“Hey, you! Alabaster… what a stupid name… Why don’t you pack yourself? Where are your spare clothes, additional weapons, food!?” Brigitte called out for me. “As for weapons, I received those recently, they are in great shape and I won’t need to maintain them during such a short quest. As for clothes…I won’t need them. My armor is just enough.” I tried making something up on spot, and I must say - I wasn’t very convincing. “... Males! Have you heard about hygiene?! No spare clothes!? What will you sleep in? Also in armor or butt-naked?! Your kind truly is second after animals… No, wait, I am quite sure that even animals clean themselves more often and better than you!”

I should make up some better excuses for next time. Eating, sleeping, bathing - these things had become irrelevant and pointless to me but were still vital for the sake of keeping my identity secret. For now, to keep my head low, I will need to make myself some enemies… or at least give up on a few possible friendships.

“Brigitte, is everyone in this squad as much of a bitch as yourself, or did you merely decide to set a bad example? My gear, my food, and my lifestyle - they are all mine, and mine alone. Do not interfere in them, and in return, I won’t interfere with yours. I won’t mention that you have the courtesy of a port whore, I won’t mention that your attitude does not add to your charm, and I will not say that in these too long robes in which you stumble every ten steps or so you look simply ridiculous… No, wait, the last thing is actually dangerous - how did you avoid getting yourself killed? You can barely walk in these, not to mention fighting…“ I pretended to lose my cool. “Yo, Briggi, he is right, you know?... I am talking mostly about robes… but yes, you are not a sweetheart either, have to give him that!”

Another girl emerged from behind me and joined our “peaceful conversation”. She was tall - for a woman, second tallest after Natasha (I am not counting myself), with long red hair now tied in a single ponytail. She was wearing leather armor here and there reinforced with metal, she was carrying two blades my her belt - a quite wide shortsword and a rapier.

“... So you are our new shieldbearer? Nice to meet ya! Name’s Henrietta! Henrietta Redhawk, I am a duelist. I will be in your care, big guy.” she smiled honestly, raising her arm. “Pleasure is mine, leave your flanks to me.” I said raising my own in response.

Our forearms met in a warrior’s greeting.

“Also, I thought that most of the adventurers here would have names related to Silver… Or Lion…” I noticed. “Yeah, I am from a different House… Noble House, not Guild House… That’s quite confusing, well, long story short, my family is rather well known for our archery skills, but, as I was rather fond of seeing my enemy's eyes while killing them, I trained in swordsmanship…” “... She means that she was the only person in her family that managed to shoot herself… with a bow…” Brigitte added. “THAT WAS AN ACCIDENT! AND A ONE TIME EVENT!...” she yelled blushing furiously “...But yes, I am somewhat awkward with a bow.” Henrietta put her hand behind her head with a bit of puzzles expression. “Wait, putting clumsiness aside, how did you manage to shoot yourself?” “W-well… I was on the shooting range, and the instructor gave a command to lower bows and take a break… and as I lowered my bow, I didn’t quite ease the grip over a string, and then it slipped from my fingers and I shot my feet…” she blushed even more remembering the embarrassment of that day. “ Yeah, the news spread quickly, my ancestors were told to be able to impale a mosquito to a tree from a hundred meters without killing it… and then there was me, shooting myself… Long story short, I was nearly disowned, my younger brother tried to take over my position and thus - a heritage and role of the future head of the House… And as my last resort of keeping my name was to win a duel, unlike me, he is a great archer, so he agreed on the challenge… without reading it.” This time, her eyes sparkled with dark satisfaction. “Well, I didn’t challenge him for the archery contest - which is pretty much a tradition in my family, but fencing. And I handed his ass back to him. Well, now he is smarter and won’t repeat the same mistake again, so I joined Lions to get some achievements as an adventurer to strengthen my position, just so he wouldn’t be able to question my position again… Phew, that’s my life story reduced to more or less two-hundreds words, was your curiosity quenched?”

Her eyes were sparkling for the whole duration of the monologue, apparently, she was quite used to sharing her story and wasn’t ashamed of it.

“I was mostly concerned about the ‘shooting oneself’ part, but yes, that was plenty, thank you.” “Don’t mind it! Don’t mind it!” she waved her hand as if it wasn’t a big deal “...from now on we are comrades, we will trust our lives to one another, we need to trust each other and thus sharing such small stuff is nothing!... Now, your turn! We are dying to know what’s under this helmet!” “Sorry to disappoint you, but my helmet will stay exactly where it is…” I hesitated. I didn’t want to lie, so I needed to spread half-truth and information deprived of context skillfully “... I made a vow…” I did. Not about this matter, but I did “...and, well, right now I want to remain nameless. You can say that just a few days ago I was but a regular nobody, you could even say that I was nearly nameless, like the average peasant that you pass walking through the village… I want to become someone greater than that. And so, I cast my old name aside, until I would be worthy of a name, I shall remain nothing more, but an Alabaster Blade… Oh, and I am also looking for strength and allies because I know a few people in desperate need of an executioner.”

Her eyes sparkled.

“Nameless avenger on duty! Now, that's story material! I remember reading similar stories when I was a bit younger…” that couldn’t have been very long ago, how old are you, girl? Seventeen?! “...Oh, they were truly great!” “These stories, how did they end?” I asked more out of courtesy, not curiosity. “Depends on the kind of novel, if it was a romance, the avenger would find a lady and a more noble purpose, the villain would still get punished, but without blooding the hero’s hands, either executed for other crimes or struck down by divine thunder… in other stories… well, they rarely ended well, these stories were but a lecture for other noble kids. They tried to teach us to avoid getting obsessed with such matters, so the avenger would either fail, or after achieving their goal they would notice that they lost everything else they held dear…” “I see. Shame, to me it looks like a wasted opportunity to end a perfectly good story.” “I know! Right!? Especially that in one of the books…” the red-haired duelist completely lost touch with reality as she started describing all her thoughts and feelings regarding a story she once read.

I didn’t care. Neither of the ends she just mentioned concerned me. Love? Other purposes? No, thank you. There is no way I would fall in love again. There is no woman like Liz’. Caring, yet fierce. Smart, but humble. The one who loved you with everything she got, not asking for anything in return…

… and even if there was such a woman, I don’t intend to meet her.

As for the other reason - losing everything you had because of your obsession? Shame. I already lost everything. Even my soul no longer belongs to me.

Fate-Breaker. I will fully use the chance you gave me…

The white-haired god sneezed loudly, causing Frank to freak out.

“You said you are a god…” an adventurer that recently achieved B rank asked his partner in conversation. “Did I fucking stutter when I said that?” his choice of words was rather unusual for a god. Not that Frank had spoken with many gods, but he can’t really imagine The Lady of Light using ‘Fucking’ as a comma in her speech - which this man kept on doing. “... So gods can sneeze? You catch a cold?” “I sneezed because of all the cocaine I snorted off your mother’s tits! Not your fucking business whenever I sneeze, cough, or fart!!... But wait, as you mentioned that now... I indeed don’t remember ever sneezing since my ascension… that’s irrelevant now! We were discussing how pathetic, sorry, and useless you are and how desperately you needed my intervention… Say, kid… Do you also wish to get stronger? I am asking because I might have a solution for all your problems, but of course, I will ask for more in return as well.”

That was like a dream! He was about to get even more than he asked for! And for what!? For nothing! He said something about becoming his worshiper - Frank wasn’t really devoted, so following a new Devil, Spirit, God or whatever this man was proved no problem for him… Especially from what he had just heard, this whole ‘Beast’ had a rather simple agenda - take everything you want. Become stronger. Break through your limits.

For Frank, this was a no-brain deal!

“Of course! I’ll do it!” “You don’t even know what I would ask for…” the man squinted his eyes looking at the adventurer with suspicion. “Doesn’t matter! I will do it anyway! As long as I can achieve my goals, I don’t care about achieving yours alongside them!”

Now, the Wanderer in Rags smiled widely.

“That’s what I like to hear. You’re my kind of person.” “Ready to adapt and become stronger? Confident and determined?” Frank tried to get on his good side. “Desperate and naive, but your description will work too. Fine. Do we have a deal?”

Twin-eyes serpent stretched his hand toward Frank.

“Deal!” he quickly shook it.

There was a flash of light and a quick sharp pain in his palm that perished within seconds. As he withdrew his hand he noticed marks on the back of his hand disappearing, as if digging deeper into his body. A magical contract? Not an Oath?

Maybe this was some kind of curse! That’s just wonderful! If that’s a curse then it can be dispelled! That might be hard, but not impossible! Frank couldn’t believe his luck.

“Listen now, kid, return to that Special Area you came from, go to the place where you found that old woman. Then, the signs will lead you to the place I created. A dungeon. Perfectly balanced, possible for one person to clear it. Once you enter it, the door behind you will shut, cutting off your exit, so be sure you are perfectly prepared before you go. Don’t worry about food, you will find plenty inside. You will spend a few weeks inside, maybe a month or two, can’t be sure. Once you leave it, you will become absurdly more powerful…” “What about money? That was my main concern…” Frank tried to shift his attention to other, more concerning matters.

Something changed in the Beast in front of him. His shoulder twisted and changed, turning into a colossal bone-limb similar to a sickle, which dug on the table perfectly between his fingers.

“Disturb me one more time and you will lose a limb.” Beast in Black. His name suddenly made sense “... Inside of the dungeon you will find a small fortune, also, information regarding the new dungeon, monster, traps, and items that can be obtained could also be sold to the guild for a tidy profit. This alone should give you either an A+ or S- rank as well. You will not only become known as an Elite Adventurer, but I guess you could become quite popular with a certain group of people...”

Frank shivered in anticipation at the mere thought of the adventure that awaited him.

“... of course, only if you survived. The dungeon is quite challenging, be prepared for an Undead that doesn't get tired, sees perfectly in darkness, does not need to sleep and such… but I will make proper adjustments before you get there, so don’t sweat it. Anyway, with that covered, I need to excuse myself. Other people are praying to me and… Oooh no! WHO THE FUCK WANTS TO PUT PINEAPPLE ON PIZZA! SERIOUSLY! WHAT’S WRONG WITH ALL OF YOU!”

Without saying anything else, he disappeared in smoke and flames.

The world returned to its old colors and people started moving again, no one seemed to notice what had just happened.