Lady Swannah (sounds like Anna but with a swan at the start) had a cheery outlook on life. And her cheer was only made brighter with the arrival of two heroes. The Riwa Kingdom’s people had struggled a long time with the level gap between the newbie area and the later realms in the kingdom.

Many Organizations were able to fill in this gap by the use of trainers and gear. They provided a safer experience between the dangers of this gap. Unfortunately, the influenced people who tried to power level others, making them feel very uncomfortable. It was even rumored that those who persisted in power leveling would experience a drop in their Luck attribute. But since no one was able to see their luck attribute it wasn’t something that could be verified.

Swannah had always had a broken heart for the people. To her, it didn’t matter if you were a slave, peasant, civilian or noble. She wanted to see all people prosper regardless of echelon. This was why the new heroes meant so much to her. Because of them, the commoner would be able to raise their level. The Grimwar Caves had been ranked an A class dungeon, making it very hard. The goblin village, by comparison, was only a Rank D area. An A Rank or D Rank had nothing to do with the level of the mobs, but rather the difficulty of the area for that level. A level 10 Rank A area would be much more dangerous than a level 20 Rank F area.

This was why she had to meet them personally and invite them. Her husband, while a man of honor, was also a petty man. If his petty side won out, he might very well ruin these heroes. So as the Lady of Longdale, she took it upon herself to make sure that these new heroes were welcomed properly.

After all, what was a hero? A hero was typically a summoned person from the same world as the . They were very powerful people who, while weak at first, had the title of Hero which quickly made them strong. Swannah didn’t believe that they would be as powerful as the summoned heroes, as there had been others who got a similar title in the past. Things like Heroic Warrior or Heroic Wizard were more likely than a Hero Warrior or Hero Wizard.

Still, a Heroic Wizard would be greatly venerated anywhere he went. But the crafter, she wasn’t as sure about. She did guess that the crafter must have gained some sort of heroic title, it was just that no crafter ever had gotten a heroic title before.

Tomorrow, she would find out.

***

Jude had retired to his room. The Steel Flower didn’t have a lot of variety in their rooms, but Jude was satisfied. He was a little disappointed in that the baths as they were in a completely different area of the inn, but at least they hadn’t been a communal bath. Instead, they were more like small stalls.

Jude decided to look at the new Title’s he had gotten: Dungeon Master, Dungeon Expert, Small Party Expert, Lifter of Curses, A Crafters Friend, Heroic Wizard.

Dungeon Master

You have taken control over a dungeon and changed it!

+10 Spi

+40 HP

+100 MP

Dungeon Expert

You have completed a dungeon in such a way that it changed the very essence of the dungeon.

+10% EXP in dungeons

+10% Drop rate in dungeons

Small Party Expert

You’ve completed a dungeon with a party well below the recommendation.

+100 HP

+10 Str

+10 Spi

+10 Agi

+5 Char

Lifter of Curses

You have lifted a curse from another ! Your wisdom is beyond compare.

+100 MP

+50 Spi

A Crafters Friend

Through your selfless actions, you are able to help crafters gain EXP.

+All classes in your party will share combat EXP

Heroic Wizard

Through your heroic actions, you’ve sacrificed yourself for the greater good.

+100 Spi

+200 MP

+All wizard related classes gain 50% EXP bonus

+All wizard related magic will gain a Rank Up bonus till Rank III

Jude was impressed. Back when he was fighting the for the first time, he was barely doing 100 damage on average. But now he could easily average 700, with his max being 840!

A Crafters Friend was really nice; he could keep leveling up Ellie so she wouldn’t fall behind. That was assuming she even wanted to go out and do that again!

Heroic Wizard was the best, with 50% EXP bonus. It already took forever to level once he hit level 10 and he had heard that every 10 levels it got even harder. And it wasn’t until level 30 that one could try and get an advanced class so Jude had some ways to go before he could unlock his next class.

Not to mention he had a whole new class to level: Spell Analyst.

Even though he was excited, he was also tired. So while he was going through all the titles he fell asleep on his bed.

Name Jude Gender: Male Age: 15 Race/Echelon Human/Freeman 21 Primary Class Spell Analyst 10 Other Classes Wizard 11 Warrior 0 Stats HP MP Str Spi Agi Char 327 672 40 227 36 20 Job Skills Special Skills General Skills Spectral Magic V

Spectral Weapons V - 30% dmg boost, 8 swords, full weapon damage

Spectral Objects III

Spectral Eye VI

Spectral Shield III

Spectral Foundations I Inventory Common V (Lang) Source Magic I

Identify I Spectral Weapons Dymana Skinning I Combat Magic I

Magic Missile I Party Leader Magic Analyze II

Internal Analyze II

Area Analyze Equipment Titles Clothes (Starter Set) Skill Sage Dark Wood Staff Dungeon Master Boots of Peace Dungeon Expert Belt of Verity Small Party Expert Lifter of Curses A Crafters Friend Heroic Wizard

***

Swannah arrived at the Steel Flower early in the morning, she hoped to catch them before breakfast and invite them over the castle for the morning meal. She already knew what they looked like after all, Abaud had provided sketches for the Warrant that her husband had issued.

To her surprise, she found the pair already awake and about to finish their morning meal. She had known how young they were before she left, but it still astonished her to see them in front of her.

She noticed Jude first, his clothes were simple and plain, but he held a certain charm about him that the others didn’t have. Clearly, he had a high Charisma stat which was uncommon in those where weren’t a noble or merchant. His long dark brown hair reached only slightly passed his jaw line, which was nicely shaped. His features were sharp yet still rounded from his boyish age. His eyes were green, no hazel. It was hard to tell at first glance.

Ellie was a cute girl herself. She had a clear feeling of ‘girl next door’. Her features were neither hard nor soft, giving her a cute and delicate look. Her straight light brown hair cut in a bob and was only slightly longer than Judes. She was still developing her figure, but Swannah thought it would become a nice hourglass shape.

The plump innkeeper noticed the Lady of Longdale as soon as she came in. But one of Swannah attendants intercepted the innkeeper and directed her away. Then Swannah then proceeded to the pair who were discussing their plans for the day. She wondered if it included visiting the citadel.

The pair quickly noticed the approaching noble as she was the only one at the inn, her dress while considered normal for her, would be quite extravagant here in a peasant’s inn, beside the attendants that followed her.

One attended announced her to the pair, “This is Swannah Rudel, Lady of Longdale, Freer of Slaves, Passion of People, wife of the Reigning Lord of Longdale.”

“Greetings,” Swannah said, “May I have a bit of your time?”

“Of course,” replied Jude standing up. “We were planning on visiting the citadel soon, but we didn’t expect that the Lady would meet us personally.”

“If you wouldn’t mind, I have already arranged a carriage. Would you like to visit now? I would love to chat with you along the way.”

Jude looked to Ellie for an answer and she quickly nodded. She still had a peasant mindset and was too nervous to talk to the Lady of Longdale. Swannah had been a longtime supporter of the peasants so she was not surprised by such a reaction.

As they road through the town towards the citadel, Lady Swannah asked, “I heard that the two of you completed the dungeon all by yourselves. But I’m curious to know, how did you do it with just a Wizard and Crafter?”

“It was quite challenging actually,” Jude said. He continued to explain their story, leaving out the time with the Modicuit Rank ups and other feats of learning. Rather he explained them away as already knowing them and being vague.

“So it was after we defeated the that we found a puzzle hidden away in plain sight. After we solved that the dungeon became the Undead Caves and we were pushed out.” Jude ended the story there as they arrived.

The citadel was essentially a castle inside of the town. It was at the highest point in the town and it’s three towers could easily overlook every point of the surrounding lands. The dark stone walls were a few shades darker than the town walls that gave off a grim feeling. But once they entered, the walls were all plastered and painted colorfully.

It wasn’t long before they found themselves before Lord Merek.

“I am pleased to have new heroes emerge from Longdale,” the lord said to them. “For many years the plague of Grimwar Caves has haunted us, but now it will be used as a place to advance the people.”

“Thank you Lord Merek,” Jude said with a bow.

“First I would like to talk to you about the matter of the Warrant.” This was the biggest thorn in Merek’s side right now. He assumed that they knew about it already since they spent the night in town without coming to him first. “It was issued based on lies from our Riwa Head Trainer. After a full investigation, we’ve found out that both Abaud and Guudnash have a long history of killing off newbies.”

Jude was confused, he had already forgotten about the attack that lead them into Grimwar Caves, “Who are Abaud and Guudnash?”

“Ah yes, you might not have known their names. Abaud is the Riwa trainer who chased you into the Grimwar Caves and Guudnash was the Head Trainer here in Longdale for the Riwa Kingdom. Do not fret, they will be served justice. But they will have to be sent back to Geonar for their trial.”

“Will I be required to attend the trial and witness?” Jude wasn’t afraid to do his public duty, but he would rather work on his levels and ranks than go off for who knows how long for some trial that he really didn’t care about. He did feel sorry for others being victimized, so that was the only motivation he could muster if he had to attend the trial.

“That will not be necessary unless you truly wish to do so,” Merek replied, “As a hero, you will find that many doors will be opened for you and your enemies will find nothing but despair. With your newfound status, trying to kill you is enough for a death sentence.”

Jude found this really strange, a death sentence just because they attacked him? This society seemed a little perverse. But then again, it was a society based on nobles rather than election by the people.

Once again he told the story of their adventure through Grimwar Caves to Lord Merek and his court attendances. But when he came to the part about Ellie becoming a Divine Smith his eyes lit up and he interrupted Jude’s story.

“So you, little girl, are a Divine Smith?!” He asked.

“Yes, my lord,” Ellie replied with her head down. She was clearly nervous. Jude had no idea whether to keep their new classes a secret or not. He had already told lady Swannah, but even then he had not gotten to the part of the story where Ellie was upgraded to a Freeman.

“Excellent! You will now work in my service. I will bring bountiful resources for you to advance your class.” Lord Merek said.

Nobles not only had social authority over peasants and citizens, but they also had skill’s related to the task. For a noble to appropriate a peasant, with or without their consent, was an easy thing to do.

Lord Merek wanted to claim her as soon as possible. There were other nobles of his court here this day and while it would be considered rude for them to claim the child, Merek didn’t want to take any risks of losing her.

“Fneap cky seimird cey pe tuejr,” Lord Merek chanted. “!”

But it failed. Jude didn’t know the skills of a noble, but he could read between the lines enough to understand what Lord Merek had just tried to do.

“What are you doing?” Jude asked a little angry.

But the lord ignored him, “Why did it fail?”

Then the lord turned to his court and asked angrily, “Did someone here already claim this girl?!”

No one in the court answered and Jude was losing his cool.

“Never mind, I will sort it out later. Guards, escort our new Divine Smith to one of the guest suites.” Lord Merek said.

Jude’s first reaction was to start attacking, but there were quite a few people that were a higher level than he was. So he decided to use words instead.

“Wait! You are going to take captive a Freeman?” Jude asked.

“You are perfectly fine here, we know you are a Freeman and will not detain you,” Merek said.

“Then what about Ellie? She is also a Freeman.” Jude said with clear disdain. “She is also my dear friend.”

Lord Merek’s complexion changed.

Jude continued, “She is also a Heroic Craftsman. Does the title of hero mean nothing? Earlier you told me that doors would open up for me and my enemies would know despair, but what about Ellie? Is she not also a hero?”

Lord Merek did not have an answer, but he pushed out words non-the-less, “I will—no, how could—I mean, why did—”

A Peasant he could control easily through skills, a Citizen he could still influence, but a Freeman he had no power over. He could not compel her to be his Divine Smith or even make her craft anything if she didn’t want to. But Lord Merek was a shrewd man and quickly changed tactics.

“Young lady, if you work for me I can offer you the best salary and supply you with everything you need to reach level 30!” He pitched.

It was a good proposition, reaching level 30 for most crafting classes was incredibly hard. Each time you crafted or repaired an item of the same time, the EXP would reduce. This meant getting to level 30 was extremely expensive.

But could Ellie’s heart be swayed by mere money? Jude may not be able to afford the extravagant expense to level her up the traditional way, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t get her to that level. In fact, if she stayed with Jude, she could get it quicker!

“What do you say, Miss Ellie?” Merek now had done a complete 180 and was acting sweet and kind. Swannah merely sighed.

“At this time, I will stay with Jude,” Ellie responded.

***

The rest of their stay at the citadel was rather uneventful. Lord Merek was clearly not in a good mood and Jude refrained from telling any more of the story.

Jude ended up considering the whole event was a waste of time.