Referia Castle*

A man in all black with his face covered was kneeling in front of the king.

"King Holger the matter you talked about is all set to go when you're ready."

The king had an insidious smile on his face. " Good Emery and his pack of nobles have given me enough trouble it's time I knock them down a notch or two. Proceed with your mission I will not tolerate any failures."

The man wearing all black only nodded before disappearing into a shadow. Then reappearing outside the castle walls. A group of 5 men dressed similarly where circled around their leader.

"The mission is simple kill Emery take his daughter and that false nobles fiancé. The new lord Yuuta is supposed to be away on a mission so we don't have to worry about him. There is no room for mistakes If we fail we're dead and so are our families." The men all quietly agreed before heading towards Yuart in the dim moonlight.

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Yuuta quickly rounded a turn to face the Adventures guild. Making his way inside he saw the familiar face of Lara the receptionist who helped him last time he was here.

He made his way to her desk pushing through the adventures who were already in line he wasn't in the mood to wait. Using his aura anybody who tried to stop him instantly froze up under the pressure. The 20 or so adventures all backed off after getting a small taste of his power it was obvious he was out of their league.

"Hey, Lara is Sana here? I need to talk to her immediately."

Lara gave a quick nod before disappearing up the stairs only when she made it to Sana'a office could she catch her breath. She knocked quickly before getting permission to come in.

"Guild-master Yuuta is here and wishes to speak to you it seems urgent.!" Lara unintentionally screamed her sentence unaware of how on edge she was.

Sana gave a quick nod and Lara rushes to get Yuuta and brought him back to her office. He walked in and got straight to the point.

"The king ordered me to take care of your dragon problem in Rudon. He told me to report to you." Yuuta spat the words out. His anger wouldn't leave him he was still shaken up from the king threatening Ria.

Sana gave a light smile it was all she could muster as she repelled Yuuta's aura. Even without trying his aura was seeping out of his body. It took him a minute to realize what was happening before he got his emotion under control.

"Sorry about that Sana it was unintentional." Giving a sincere apology she moved on quickly.

"It's fine I can tell you’re not in a good mood and best guess it has to do with the king."

"Yea well you know he gave me a mission that will surely kill me while threatening to kill my fiancé even if I do succeed so you know not in the best mood."

Sana let out a sigh she was no stranger to the King's bad judgment and outright stupidity. The adventurers guild and the kingdom where separate entities so the king had no real say over how the guild conducts business. But they were still on his land so they couldn't do anything too drastic or they would risk being evicted from the kingdom.

"Understood I'll get straight to the point our scouts have tracked the dragon to a newly formed dungeon on the outskirts of Rudon. Things have been calm for now after moving territories the dragon seems to be hibernating for the time being but nobody knows how long that will lasts. Unfortunately, that's all the information we have a scout will meet you in Rudon at their branch of the guild he should know more."

"Ok, I'll be leaving now." Yuuta didn't feel like small talk and pleasantries so he quickly motioned to leave.

"Wait Yuuta I still need to talk to you." Yuuta didn't say anything he spun around from the door and looked at her sternly.

"Firstly you haven't been to the guild in some time but Gildi and Rohan told us about what happens with Urik and how you saved their lives. They both sponsored you for promotion to S class, unfortunately, that was a little too unreasonable for a C rank to jump to S. Therefore after a vote from the guild-masters you have been promoted to A class congratulations. You are know among the Elite in the adventure guild."

"Is that all can I leave know?" Sana gave Another sigh at his behavior he didn't look the least bit excited about being promoted. She was going to tell him about the reward for completing this quest but he didn't seem to care.

"Yes, you are free to leave." Yuuta bolted out of her office and made his way back to Lara.

"Hi, Yuuta did you get things squared away with The guild-master."

"Yea I need my guild card updated and also I was wondering do you have a way to send a message to Yuart?" Yuuta handed her his guild card.

"Of course we can it's a small fee of 1 silver piece per message." She handed him a quill and two pieces of paper. Then went to the back room to update his guild card.

Yuuta quickly wrote a message to Emery and one to Ria.

/ Dear Emery this is Yuuta I met with the king and he has sent me on a mission that surely means my death or at least that's what he thinks. I'm writing to warn you he is planning something and it's happening soon whatever you've been planning you need to set it into action soon. One more thing he threatened Ria as well I'm sending Terra back to protect her. If anything happens to her because of your squabble with the king I'll rip your spine out of your body with my bare hands./

, Yuuta Vermillion

/Dear Ria this is Yuuta I'm writing you to let you know I'll be gone for longer than expected unfortunately the king is a bigger prick than expected. I'm sending Terra back to protect you She is to be with you 24/7 I know it will be uncomfortable but please, please, please bear with it for me until I get back. I love you and promise to return as soon as I can./

, Love Yuuta

After finishing his letter he handed them over to Lara and she handed him his guild card which was now pure gold with a giant A on the left side.

"Congratulations on your promotion to Rank A Yuuta." Lara said loudly with a smile on her face. Yuuta just grimaced as every person in the guild looked his way. A rank was essentially the farthest you could make it as an adventurer. In the entire world there were less than 20 S Rank adventurers and less than 1000 A Rank adventurers.

"Thanks how long does it take for these messages to reach Yuart?"

"With the use of magic, they will make it there today tomorrow at the latest."

"Thanks, Lara see you around." Yuuta headed for the door and Lara gave a small wave. By this time adventurers were lined up to ask Yuuta to join their parties. Not to mention the few girl adventurers were throwing themselves at him.

"Wanna join my party we could use somebody strong."

"Hey, you're cute wanna get a drink with me and some of my girlfriends?"

"I'll give you 10 platinum coins to join my party for a single Request?"

The attempts to persuade and seduce came from all directions. He ignored them all and quickly left the guild followed by a small crowd. Using wind magic to fly towards the mages guild. The crowd erupted in cheers and pleas seeing him fly off it solidified his A rank.

A quick flight to the mages guild and he was in the elevator to Avenci's office. The elevator creaked to a stop and the familiar faces of Avenci and Gildi were standing over a weird contraption lost in thought.

"Hello?" Gildi was the first to snap out of her tunnel vision and had a surprised look on her face.

"Yuuta why are you her?" She ran towards him and gave him a hug.

"I came to talk to Avenci about a couple of things." He said plainly. Disappointment flashed over her face before going back to a smile.

" She's a little busy right now let's get some tea while we wait." Avenci was still staring at the spinning contraption she didn't even notice Yuuta.

Gildi and him walked into a side room that had a stove and a kitchen table. She quickly set up the kettle and took a seat next to Yuuta.

"How long do you think she's going to take I'm kind of on a schedule." Yuuta's face was void of expression a thousand thoughts were going through his mind and fear lots of fear it felt like he couldn't breathe every time he thought about the king's plan what he would do to Ria. He was having a borderline panic attack.

"Are you ok?" Gildi gave him a look of concern.

Yuuta really didn't feel like explaining again but he counted Gildi as a friend.

"I don't know if you know much of what happened but I got adopted by the lord of Yuart."

Gildi started laughing like she heard the funniest joke of her life till she saw his serious expression.

"Ohh you're serious"

"Unfortunately yes and now I'm caught in between my "Father" and the king. But that's not why I'm here mostly."

"So why are you here?"

"The king is trying to get rid of me so he sent me on a suicide mission to kill a dragon."

"A dragon!?"

"Yep, so I was hoping Avenci could give me some tips on fighting them really anything."

"Me and Absolute Dominion fought a couple back in the day but we were never able to kill them just mildly wound them. They are just too strong my strongest magic barely put a dent in it but thanks to your upgrade you gave me I have a feeling I could take one on." She flexed her muscles with a proud smile it seems she's putting her new found power to good use.

"Is there anything I should now about dragons weaknesses or things I should look out for?"

" The eyes are the go-to for attacks it's the only place that isn't protected by scales. The best strategy is to down it if you can disable its flight you have the upper hand as they say a downed dragon is a dead dragon. Dragons are also weak against other dragons so any weapons made from dragon scales are highly effective."

Yuuta rubbed his katana remembering it was made from dragon scales and Mythril.

"Anything else? Whatever you can think of will be appreciated."

"Not really I guess the only other thing is there age the older a dragon is the stronger it is they are immortal beings but they gain power and wisdom as they age some are even smarter than humans and can talk. The younger ones act more on impulse and are significantly weaker. The young are usually the ones to attack villages and cities they aren't smart enough to think about the repercussions."

As Gildi was talking the kitchen door flew open. Avenci walked in covered in soot missing her eyebrows.

"Gildi go clean the laboratory the extractor blew up again." She walked to the sink and washed her face.

Gildi frowned but didn't dare talk back after giving a quick wave to Yuuta she grabbed the broom and a bucket of water and headed out the door.

"Hello, Yuuta So you're going to kill a dragon huh that sounds like fun."

Yuuta gave a small grimace." So you were listening to us?"

"Of course I thought I would let you and Gildi talk for a while she hasn't stopped talking about you since she came back. You seem to have made quite the impression on her not mention what you did to her magic. Her mana is denser than mine now."

"She gave me a hand back when Urik tried to kill me so I repaid my debt."

"Yea she told me everything you sly dog!" Avenci said mischievously.

"Yea whatever everything I do seems to get blown out of proportion these days."

"Anyways how have you been, how is your magic training coming along I could feel your mana pressure when you came to the city it's 100 fold stronger than when I first met you."

"Yea turns out I have a real knack for it don't even need to chant to use spells."

"It's probably because you're a vampire right?"

Yuuta tensed up hearing her words he immediately thought about killing her just on instinct he grabbed his sword and prepared himself.

Avenci felt his intent and almost dropped the screaming kettle. "Calm down Yuuta do you think Gildi could keep something like that from her master? Anyways don't worry the first time I met you I knew you weren't human I've only seen an aura like yours from S class monsters. I won't tell anyone even if Gildi didn't cry and beg to keep it a secret I still wouldn't have told anybody."

"And why is that what have I done to earn your trust?" Yuuta asked sternly.

"My top two apprentices Gildi and Emmy both sing your praises and have helped both of them I can tell you have a good heart and are no threat to me."

"Guess there's nothing I can do about I mean I could kill you but I think that's just because I'm in a bad mood today?"

Avenci let out a nervous laugh." Yea I heard about you and the king if I knew you were getting into bed with Emery and his goons I would have advised against it. Not like the king is any better but he has the backing of the church which makes him almost invincible."

"Yea I'm starting to see the situation I got my self into but there's no going back I picked a side. Plus I'm not really scared of the king I met him didn't leave much of an impression something to be desired I would say."

"You're not wrong there he has the I.Q of an 8-year-old it's his son Prince Ronin you have to be worried about he is an evil little bastard only 16 and is the general to the kingdoms army and ruthless as a wild animal. He is the brains of the operation most likely."

"I like to keep chatting about politics and other things I don't care about but I have more important things to do. Ohh yea check this out." Yuuta pulled the magic stone out and showed it to Avenci.

"Hmm.. and where did you get this?"

"It was in a wyverns den they were getting all cozy with it I have no idea what it is at first I thought it was a magic stone but it's hot to the touch and consumes mana. It's constantly taking my mana when it's anywhere close to me."

Avenci didn't say anything she just examined the stone putting on a monocle like the jeweler's wore. "I'll need time to examine it if you're in a hurry leave it here for a while and I'll get back to you."

"That's fine with me if you can't figure out what it is just sell it for me and you can take 30 percent of the profit. See you later Avenci."

"Before you leave take Gildi with you she's too young to be stuck up in a room 24/7 with me she still craves adventure." Yuuta let out a sigh thinking about it for a minute.

"I guess it couldn't hurt she has fought a dragon before."

"Good and don't bring her back for a while she's been getting on my nerves!"

Yuuta walked out the kitchen door finding Gildi on her knees scrubbing the soot-covered floor. Yuuta gave her a quick look her butt moving left and right as she cleaned. Shaking his head and mentally scolding himself for wasting time he tapped Gildi on her shoulder making her almost jump out of her skin taking a look over her shoulder.

"You scared the crap out of me!"

"Sorry, Avenci wants you to come with me to kill this dragon do you want to go?"

"Really do you want me to go?"

He nodded his head " Yea you have experience fighting dragons and you can support me with magic you'd be a big help. Meet me downstairs when you're ready."

Gildi's face blushed a little thinking about being alone with Yuuta. She said her goodbyes to Avenci and headed down the elevator.