Chapter R4: Rebuilding and A New Journey

(Ride's POV)

The sun rose and the signs of a new day begin. Banging of hammers, the sawing of wood and the creaking of carts was heard all over the city. Bits and pieces of sawdust entered my nose causing slight discomfort.

It had been a few weeks since the monster invasion on A'bell and things have more or less return to normal.

Is what I wanted to say.

The truth of the matter is, the city was beyond repair. It will have to be built again from the ground up. New roads and pathways will have to be paved. Walls need to be torn down and rebuilt elsewhere. Gigantic holes to be covered or build around with. Farms and crops will have to be replanted and livestock will have to be rebred.

The extent of the damage was so bad that it will take years to rebuild A'bell into a functioning city again. For it to return to its former glory? Decades even.

It's not just the city either, the people that live in it had also received tremendous damage. Reports had come in from the Adventurer's Guild and despite our best efforts to save as many people as we can... A'bell was said to have lost half of its population in totality. The people that were nowhere near the gates or the inner castle, they were all dead.

A large funeral was held as we cremated them. To some, it might be blasphemy to burn the dead instead of burying them but the last thing A'bell needed was an undead rising. The discontent during that moment where we mass burn the bodies was appalling.

My heart sank knowing that the grand city I grew up in can be reduced to sunder within a single day. The only part of the city that was truly alright was the inner castle, but what good is a castle without the people in it?

"The city has gone to hell huh?"

A middle-aged male blacksmith interrupted my thoughts.

"...yeah," I replied to the blacksmith. Still looking out to the destroyed city.

"It's seen better days." The blacksmith told me. A loud sharp high pitched sound resounded around the shop.

I am currently within a weapons shop. One of the few shops that were still intact after the invasion. Inside it was a blacksmith, working alone beside a whetstone wheel, sharpening a sword.

Once he finished sharpening the sword, he wiped the blade with a clean cloth and gave it one final inspection. Satisfied, he nodded and sheathed the sword.

"All done. Here ya go kid, I'd say that is one of my better works," the blacksmith handed me the sword.

I got a feeling for the handle and the hilt before unsheathing the sword. I gave it a swing or two to test the balance and the weight of the sword before holding it in front of me for my own inspection.

It was just a regular broadsword. The blade shined with the new metal look and the hilt felt minty. Probably because it was just freshly made. It had the correct weight and the correct length. The balance was also good, but it wasn't as comfortable to use as I expected. It's supposed to have the same exact specifications as my original trusty sword and yet wielding this just feels... wrong.

It's probably because the sword is new. I'd reckon I'll get used to it sooner or later.

"It's great, how much?" I asked the blacksmith.

"Just take it kid. Think of it as my thanks for saving the city."

Saving the city... The memories of A'bell burning flashed in my mind. What part of the city was saved exactly? I wanted to retort but I refrained.

"You sure? I don't really feel good about taking something like this for free." I looked around the empty and messy weapons shop.

"Yeah, I'm going to leave to another city soon anyways, I won't be able to take everything so you might as well have that one."

"Thanks, I guess."

"No problem kiddo. Just one thing."

One thing?

"Make sure you make those bastards that did this pay."

The blacksmith said to me in a sorrowful tone. A hint of anger mixed within.

"You got it." I simply replied and left the shop.

The cause of the monster outbreak and how the monsters appeared was never found in the end. All we know was that once the End Wolf was slain, all the monsters in the city started to fight each other. It made the job to reclaim the city much easier, knowing the monsters were no longer coordinated.

There were also traces of underground tunnels and signs of a fight breaking out down there but nothing else. We explored the tunnels further and found a large clearing with hundreds, maybe thousands of dead bodies, rotting within the dark underground area. I still remembered the feeling of wanting to puke when I saw that scene. The sight of undead rising up in the tunnels full of malice and hatred, their bodies walking without souls. It was just too much for me, I had to take a few days off from adventuring just because of that event.

The entire country of Rydark went into full alert because of this incident. Borders were reinforced and the army started to make regular patrols around A'bell and other major cities. The news said that Rydark will treat the attack on A'bell as an act of war but the other countries simply deny the involvement of the matter. Most of them got away with it, since well... there weren't any signs of involvement from other countries at all. All except one country, Yggdrasil the great forest country of the Elves. The leaders of this nation tried to shift the blame on them because of the elven diplomats in A'bell and their involvement with the monster invasion at that time but Yggdrasil simply replied with two words in a nutshell.

"Buzz off"

Well... It's to be expected, the elves don't really give a damn about the things happening outside of the forest. They don't stand to gain anything by attacking A'bell.

Making my way to the guild house I took another look at the city. All I could see was wanton destruction and the city's residents, or whatever is left of them, struggling to get by. Just looking at the city in this state does nothing but fill me with a sense of dread and a feeling of sadness.

*Sigh

Not wanting to look at the city any further, I unsheathed my new sword to have another look at it. It just feels... wrong. I didn't want to admit it, but the reason this sword feels wrong was probably that...

I've used a better sword before.

I took out the other sword that was hanging on my waist with my other hand to compare the two swords. The sword that I see in front of me now is a far cry from the sword I used in the raid. During the raid, the sword was nothing but an ordinary-looking sword, but the sword I'm holding in front of me now was much more... unique. Red and purple veins could be seen spreading all over its edge in a neat design, the hilt had changed to have a grip that fits my hand perfectly. It also looked cool now. When I pour mana into the sword the red glow of my mana mixed with the sword. The veins glow in such a way that you could see the magic flowing through it. And even more surprising, was that the sword feels sooo good to wield. I felt powerful just by holding it.

It wasn't apparent to me at first, but now after having this sword for a while, I could safely say that this sword was cursed. It's changing and adapting to my preference. Besides, what else could explain that weird voice during that battle with the End Wolf?

It started to change right after the raid. At first, I thought it was just the End Wolf's corrosive blood that got stuck on to the blade or something. Then the purple and red veins started to appear on the sword. My friends hadn't noticed the change in the sword too much so they probably won't know. They would be worried sick if they found out. I got the new sword just to hide that fact from them.

How did I even get a hold of this sword in the first place? I had no recollections of it. I could only think back to the time when Tyle handed me the sword at the north gate but that doesn't really tell me anything. I recalled the missing old trusty sword of mine from that boar. An unknown fear crept to me as I shudder to think that I had probably been using this cursed sword for much, much longer.

I had every right in me to just get rid of this accursed sword right now, but even I know one does not simply throw away cursed artefacts, lest you incur its wrath. There was also the fact that I couldn't really bring it within my heart to throw away a sword that had served me well in that raid. Like it or not, this sword was the one who saved my life at that time. And it was not like it had done anything wrong to me.

Yet.

*sigh

I sheathed both the swords back to their respective scabbards. It's alright if nobody finds out about it right? I'll just use it as a backup for now. Maybe in the future, I could bring it to a sword specialist or an expert in cursed objects.

I arrived on the outskirts of the city, in a small area that was filled with makeshift houses and shops. The guild house in the middle of it all. The rows of shops owners called out to the people passing by as they sell their products. Adventurers and citizens all over could be seen walking around shopping for items. Currently, this was pretty much the only place in A'bell that could be described as lively.

Most of the people who lived in A'bell no longer have any house to live in or shops to sell or buy stuff from. So, the military created these makeshift houses and shops so that the refugees could have a place to operate from while the reconstruction of A'bell is ongoing. The Adventurer's Guild is one of those who no longer have a building in A'bell. The guild house in A'bell got destroyed during the raid on the city. The guild master's full raid group had no other choice but to burn it down to the ground after collecting as many important documents from it.

The Adventurers Guild stands strong among the fallen. Most of the employees of the guild survived, bar a few unlucky ones so their operations weren't disrupted too much. Most of the guild right now was focused on getting A'bell back on its feet.

I briskly walked and entered the new temporary guild house and spotted my companions, the party 'Providence', huddling near the quest board. The boards mostly empty outside of a few papers on it.

"There doesn't seem to be many jobs left huh?" Scorch says as he reads the remaining few papers on the board.

"Most of the jobs has been outsourced to real experts, Adventurers aren't exactly the best candidates to do construction work after all," Tyle said as he analysed the situation.

"Goes without saying ain't it? We are adventurers, not odd jobs."

"There is a job here to explore the tunnels below A'bell! We could take that!" Lanarya suggested with her trademark energetic attitude.

"Please no more tunnels, I don't want to deal with any more cave-ins." I barged into the conversation.

The four of them got startled as they heard my voice but soon regain their composure. They turned around to face me.

"Oh Ride, how's the new sword?" Scorch said as he eyed the two swords on my waist.

"It went well, the blacksmith said I could have it for free."

"Nice" Scorch replied.

"Let me see, let me see!" Curiosity got the best of Lanarya.

I replied with a sure and unsheathed the brand new sword. She let out a cute "Woah," before suddenly looking sullen. What's wrong?

"Muuu, I think you got cheated Ride. This sword is nothing special!"

"Yo- you think so? The blacksmith said it was one of his best work."

"That blacksmith must have been terrible then, your other sword is way better!"

I can't help but gave her a wry smile. She wasn't wrong, the other sword IS way better... if you ignore the fact that the sword is cursed. But, it's not like I could tell them about it.

"Can't be helped, He got it for free after all, can't expect too much from it I guess," Tyle told us his opinions.

"Really? Looks like a pretty good sword to me." Kranis said.

Scorch took a good look at the sword and replied, "Yeah, the sword looks pretty good to me as well."

"It's not bad or anything, it's just... It's normal! Ordinary! Why would you even want to change swords anyways? Just use the old one!" Lanarya chided me.

"Well, that sword is uh... kind of damaged. Yeah! I'm going to need to repair it at a proper blacksmith. And besides, I realised I need a backup sword anyways!" I gave Lanarya my best excuse. She didn't look pleased but she accepted it.

"Anyways, I wonder what are the jobs available to us," I said out loud to get away from the sword topic, sheathing the sword in the process.

They made way for me as I started to look at the board for the available quests.

"Foraging nearby forest for edibles"

"Explore the tunnels underneath A'bell(High-Rank teams only)"

"Monster subjugation: Clear the roads from monsters"

"Escort a shipment from Makaran, (2 weeks, food provided)"

"Babysitters required"

"Oh wow, there really isn't anything to do here," I said to my friends.

The only ones notable to me was the monster subjugation and the foraging ones, but I bet there was probably a bunch of other adventurers doing those already.

"The city has no need for adventurers right now. Most of the monsters are being dealt with by the army and any construction work are being handled by real workers," Tyle mentioned the fact to us.

"It's no wonder everyone is leaving the city," I said.

"The city is in shambles, there are barely any basic facilities in the city and there is not enough money flowing through the citizens for any request to adventurers. Is it that much of a surprise?" Tyle answers back.

All of us went silent for a while.

"Let's just... take a break today I guess?" Kranis suggested. All of us accepted, not really in the mood to do anything.

While walking along the rows of shops with my teammates, Kranis suddenly brought up a topic. "You guys heard of the rumours yet?"

"Rumors?" I asked back.

He came closer to me before speaking to me in a soft voice but just loud enough for the rest of the party to hear. "That a Supreme is behind the attack"

"What?!" Scorch asked back in shock.

'Supreme', the moniker given by the people to immensely powerful beings. Ageless immortals that could only be described as gods and goddesses. Some of them live secluded far from interaction, some live among the people in plain sight, some become leaders of powerful nations, some religious figures with massive followings and fanatics, some even live as objects of fear and harbinger of chaos. It is said that one supreme is powerful enough to destroy an entire country. A few of them could wipe a whole continent clean. And when Supremes fight against each other, they can easily turn the world to a living breathing hell. All the tales and stories I've heard of the Supremes all point to their destructive powers.

It's not just a myth either, they really do exist. Although rare. So rare that one can live a hundred years without ever meeting one. Most people avoid them, and vice versa, it seems that the Supremes don't take much care on the lives of mortals and avoids us as well. Rydark, this nation, in particular, has one Supreme that lives close by and has been a part of Rydark for as long as this country has existed. Constantly aware of us, but merely ignores us as the Supreme goes by his or her own way. Rydark is obviously smart enough to not disturb the said Supreme.

Interestingly, it's also why the highest rank of adventurers is S rank and not A rank, The 'S' from the title S Rank is taken from the letter S from 'Supreme', as a tribute to their strength.

"It's the only explanation! How else could the invasion happen if it's not a supreme behind it?"

"I don't know man, it sounds pretty far-fetched," Tyle said out his thoughts, "Which Supreme could have done this anyways?"

"I've heard from the other rogues the other day..." Kranis said as he moved closer to us, "They say they saw a black shrouded figure fly pass A'bell on the day of the invasion."

A black shrouded figure? Could it be?

"That description could only describe Omega right?" Kranis said to us.

Omega, the supreme of the end. Harbinger of the end of the world. It is said in myths, that at the end of the world where nothing is left and when the world could no longer be restored, Omega will appear with an Ark to bring whatever survivors that are left to a new world. He or she appeared about a few thousand years ago, presumably from an already destroyed world. The ark that he or she uses just sailing along the waters of the Omega Sea directly east of Rydark. One can sometimes spot Omega's ark when sailing in the Omega Sea. A ship that dwarfs even the biggest of man-made ships. Made from materials unknown.

Obviously, the world hasn't ended yet, but it is explicitly said that Omega would only act when the world has ended, not that he or she would destroy it. So Omega just ignores us and sail in his or her Ark in the Omega sea waiting for that day to come. The stories described Omega wearing a black shroud as a coat. The more shrouded the coat gets, the closer the world is to the end.

"That's dumb. What does a Supreme gain by destroying A'bell, especially Omega? Omega has a long history with Rydark, he's tolerated Rydark for hundreds of years, he even actively prevents powerful seaborne monsters from approaching Rydark. Why act now?" Tyle argues to Kranis.

"Maybe he got bored? I don't know man, don't dice me, I'm just telling you what I heard"

We all kept silent, thinking about the rumour Kranis just told us.

...

"Why do you all call Omega a 'he'? In the stories I've heard, Omega is a 'she'." Lanarya suddenly joined the conversation.

"Depends on the story I guess" I answered her. "It can be a 'he' or 'she' because no one has really seen Omega face to face in a few thousand years, only his or her ship, the ark"

"Hmm, I see." Lanarya squinted her eyes and tilted her head in confusion "Also, it doesn't make any sense, cause if she wants to fly above A'bell, why not just sail that big ark over the city? Sounds way more end of the world than just flying around!" Lanarya gave her counterpoint.

???

How are you supposed to bring a ship to fly above a city? What?

This girl...

I looked over to the guys and they all turned away telling me that it's my problem, not theirs.

I stared into a cup that I'm holding. Ripples appeared as I shook the glass. We continued our random banter throughout the entire way as we finally found a decent looking restaurant.

"Still, to see that board empty. It's my first time ever seeing that in A'bell," I said as I took a drink from the cup, a bit dejected.

*Munch

"Cheer up! *munch I'm sure the city will be up *munch and running soon enough! *munch"

"Don't talk while you are chewing," Tyle said to the gluttonous girl in front of me.

Lanarya quickly swallowed her food. "We could always take a break from adventuring! It's not like we are short on money or anything." Lanarya said out loud.

She was right, the compensation from the Stream Dragons and the End Wolf was enough to last us quite a while. We made quite the fortune all things considered. We even made extra from the End Wolf because the guild gave us the bulk of the credit for the kill. But...

"I can't accept that. Money without a continuous source is going to run out regardless of the amount" Kranis replied back seriously. "Besides, we'll get rusty if we take too long a break. The guild is always watching"

"*Munch True I guess *munch"

"At this rate, we will have to join the other adventurers and leave the city," Scorch said as he eats his meal.

Leaving the city huh... It's what the blacksmith that I met earlier today said as well. Unless you had something to do in the city, which was none at the moment, there wasn't any real reason to stay. Like Tyle said earlier, the jobs were dry, the flow of money was bad. For us adventurers which are dependent on requests, it was pretty much a death sentence.

When the jobs run out, the adventurers will have to leave to another place to find new jobs, and that was exactly what's happening. The bulk of the adventurers all left to find a way to survive. It all starts with the lower ranks, the Es and the Fs, which soon spread to even the higher Cs. The higher ranks were affected by this as well, but they weren't hit as bad as the lower ranks since most of the quest after the full raid all had high requirements. The same goes for us, most of the quest we had accepted these past few weeks had all been B rank or higher requirements. Clearing the city of remaining monsters, exploring recently uncovered tunnels under A'bell and clearing out the undead that festers there. Things like that.

"*munch Maybe we should take the quest *munch to explore those tunnels after all?

"Please no, I had enough of underground tunnels for now," I said to her. It wasn't the best of experience after all.

Responding to Lanarya antics had become a common thing among the party nowadays.

…

Nowadays? Wait a moment... I eyed the beautiful young girl with long golden hair sitting in front of me.

Why is she still with us again? Our deal was that she joins us only for the raid, but somehow or someway, she managed to barge herself into the party for the rest of the subsequent jobs. If I didn't know the girl in front of me, I would say she was taking advantage over my rank.

Being a B rank adventurer, the party can be considered a B rank team, so we could take on more jobs. There weren’t many jobs a C rank could take after the invasion so I guess she stuck with us to take on more jobs.

Not like I mind either way. As far as I’m concerned, she’s welcome to the party anytime. I have to say, Lanarya's antics is a new sight for the party and is honestly quite refreshing. I looked over at the other members of 'Providence' and saw that they too have pretty much have gotten used to the spunky girl. It's scary how fast they managed to warm up to her, but what was even scarier was how fast she is to trust us!

Aside from personal valuables and small change, most of our money was handed over to our Rogue Extraordinaire. He pretty much handled all over expenses money and she... well, she just went with it and gave all of her money to him.

This girl has way too much trust in strangers.

"I said this already! Don't talk with your mouth full!" Tyle reprimanded her.

"*Munch But *Munch I'm hungry!" She replied as she protects her food from the boy with glasses.

...

But, this isn't entirely a taking advantage situation. I didn't realise it before, but having a woman’s touch in the party really opened up a whole bunch of avenue for the party. Suddenly all-woman parties, which we had problems before, were now much easier to team up with. Dealing with clients had become much less of a hassle after Lanarya joined the team, especially the female ones.

And above all else...

Despite her attitude, the girl known as Lanarya Lana was surprisingly competent. She's good at everything you expect an adventurer to be good at. Fighting, teamwork, judgement. Everything that you demanded out of an Adventurer, she delivered. In a strict sense, she was even a better sword fighter than me as evident in our sparring matches, which did put a bit of shame into me. I had no idea why she wasn't a B rank adventurer already.

However, there are a few downsides to it. For starters, our lodging expenses pretty much doubled, since we had to get two separate room for us and Lanarya. There was also the expenses to maintain her equipments. Unlike ours, it's custom made and she needed custom tools and materials to maintain them. And then there was... the girl expenses... If it wasn't apparent, she likes maintaining her beautiful long hair and she likes cute things. You could say she's quite the spender.

Still, all in all, she really fits well with the team. The others... they all treat her like the little sister of the group.

I look to the girl in front of me once again as she greedily devours the food in front of her. She noticed me and quickly hid her food with her hands.

I'm not going to steal your food...

"Has this place ever been this empty?" Scorch said as he looks around the empty guild house.

"I don't know, maybe? At night perhaps?" Kranis replied as he flipped a coin before catching it, he then proceeded to flip it again.

"Most of the adventurers has already left the city, can't be helped" Tyle absentmindedly said as he reads a book.

Silence occurred between the members of 'Providence'.

We were in the temporary guild house that was set up, just relaxing by the benches. It's technically our day off, but there really wasn't anything to do. The city was gone, there wasn't much entertainment to be found right now. Scorch was just servicing his axe, Kranis just flipping his coins like normal, Tyle was reading a book, and Lanarya was busy grooming her hair. The relaxing sound of her humming was the only thing you could hear in the guild house. The only other people in the place was the receptionist and some sleeping adventurer on the far end of the guild house.

...

This... kinda hurts.

It hurts.

I had been keeping myself busy with things, but it was times like this where I actually had time to think about things, do I really realised how much it hurts.

It hurts so much.

The city... my hometown... was basically burned to the ground.

It really hurts to know that the city you love so much can be reduced to the state that it is right now.

What hurts, even more, was that I couldn't do a damn thing about it.

I miss them, so many things. The fresh smell of A'bell's bakeries, the sound of children laughing in the background. The loud noise of rowdy adventurers in the house and in the taverns. Spending your hard-earned money on new equipments and items. All gone now. All replaced with this sad excuse of a quiet place.

It hurts, it hurts, it hurts!

This... this A'bell...

This...

"A'bell is nothing but a former shadow of itself at this point." I didn't know why, but I let the others hear my voice.

All of them stopped doing what they were currently doing and looked to face me with a confused look only for their faces to turn into a very worried expression soon after.

What's wrong with them?

“Are… you okay dude?” Kranis asked me.

"Hmm? Yeah, I’m fine. I was just thinking about how that there's no future for us in A'bell right now... it's probably time we moved to... other places... as well..." My voice trembled and my sentences took awhile for me to say for some reason.

"Ride..." Lanarya looks over to me with a very worried expression.

What's with these people? Why are they looking at me like that?

...

...Why is my vision blurry?

"Yeah... I agree" It didn't take long before Tyle answered me with a serious face.

"If that's what you guys want, then I'm in I guess" Scorch said.

"We are going to need to buy new equipments sooner or later" Kranis said.

The others gave me a reply, each one of them with a sincere tone.

"You can go anywhere you want Ride, you don't have to stay here if it hurts so much..." Lanarya told me with a smile, and yet unlike her usual smile, it carried a pained expression.

Well, they accepted it fast. Totally didn't expect that. Why are these guys suddenly so serious about it too? I expect a debate back and forth between them, to be honest.

Dammit, my eyes.

Unable to stand my vision getting blurry, I raised my hands to rub my eyes.

...

Only for it to feel wet...

It took me a while to realise, but tears were falling out of my eyes.

That entire evening, all of my friends just stood by me not saying a word.

It is night-time when I stopped being such an emotional wreck. I covered my face with my hands in embarrassment. It felt good, yeah, but I can't believe I bloody cried in front of them!

Ignoring me, the other party members discussed plans on where to go next before ending on one weird topic.

"I guess... this is goodbye then. It wasn't the way I envision things to happen, but it was a pleasant experience working with you. I hope we can meet again in the future" Tyle said as he offers his hand to the only girl in the party.

Ahh right... I didn't think about that. Lanarya won't be able to follow us huh. To travel to other cities, means we have to travel long distances. It's not the same as living in the city. There aren't any walls between our sleeping areas and it's going to be super awkward. We are a bunch of guys after all.

I turned to look at Lanarya, ready to accept her goodbyes. Just as we are about to get along with each other. Great another thing I got to lose...

Only for her to have the most innocent looking confused face I've ever seen ever.

"Why are you saying goodbyes? I'm not going anywhere you know?"

Eh?

"Eh? Bu-but, we will be travelling a long distance and all that..." Tyle lost for words, that's a first.

"Well obviously! But it's alright! I have experience camping! I won't let you down!" Lanarya replies in an energetic tone.

That's... not the problem here you know.

"No, well that's... you will be travelling with four of us alone you know?"

Lanarya tilts her head. "What's wrong with that?"

I could see Scorch and Kranis facepalming in the background.

I too feel like doing so. I wondered how did I ever trust my life in the hands of this dense girl?