Chapter 3: What Was Your Name Again?

Dust POV:

I honestly feel like singing a song right now. The goblin’s settlement had a shocking amount of goblins residing within. Although some corpses were destroyed the point of the ears being unsalvageable, the total amount I was able to gather was around three hundred sixty-two ears! I originally had three hundred sixty-three, but decided to discard the one from the goblin who’s entire left face was stomped in.

Adding these ears to my old number of twenty-four, I now have three hundred eighty-six! With this, I have a total of one hundred and ninety-three points! I’m confident that even Hank can’t gather these many ears within a single day, even with the help of his team.

Goblins were too sneaky of a bunch and only attacked when they had the advantage in numbers. So if Hank brought his team along, the goblins would naturally avoid them. I’m guessing they all hunted individually too, and decided to split the rewards later on.

I left the forest after walking for about an hour, and soon caught sight of the town of Aharne. Walking along with a bit of difficulty because of the accumulated weight, I ignored the strange looks I got from passersby when I lugged around a bulging, bloody sack filled with ears.

Outside of the Adventurers’ Guild was the town square where a podium had been set up, along with three examiners that were already beginning to examine the sacks of other participants. I eagerly got in line and caught sight of Hank getting his bag checked. He looked at me and smirked, pointing towards the scoring.

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Top Scores:

1. Hank: 91 points

2. Farne: 73 points

3. Ace: 70 points

4. Elise: 69 points

5. Gulgan: 64 points

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It looks like Hank really did make it to the top… he has a good lead too. I also noticed that both of Hank’s friends, Gulgan and Farne had both made it up there as well. If I didn’t get lucky and came upon the wrecked goblin village, my measly twenty-four points would have stood no chance.

Finally, it was my turn and had my sack of ears checked. The examiner gave me an astonished look and listed my score down. I nodded and sat down with the other participants who’s scores had already been listed down.

Hank walked up to me, smirking. Apparently, he hasn’t seen the new scores yet.

“It was already decided the moment you agreed.” He said in a mocking tone and sneered. I looked at him, the person who constantly tormented me in my stay in this city. I gave him a bright smile and listened to the head examiner.

“Thank you all for participating in this event and quelling the goblin population around the area. Because of your efforts, the city of Aharne has become a much safer place and therefore, we would like to award all participants with a piece of silver.”

Everyone cheered happily and listened to the head examiner with rapt attention.

“Now, we will announce the rewards. The first place will get a large amount of fifty silver plus a single low-grade magic item from the Adventures’ Guild. The second will get thirty silver, while the third, fourth, and fifth will get twenty, fifteen, and ten silvers each respectively.”

Upon hearing the award Hank smirked confidently and puffed out his chest, in his heart, the victor had already been decided.

“The second place and below may claim their awards from the Adventures’ Guild after the event while the first will be called upstage for his award.”

Hank had stood up by now, preparing to walk upstage while I struggled to stifle my laugh. I’ll finally have my petty vengeance!

“..Congratulations to the adventurer Dust for winning the competition with a massive lead of one hundred and ninety-three points! Please come up and receive your spoils.”

Hank froze on the spot. First, cluelessness was in his face, replaced by astonishment, which changed to realization, and finally, his face showed anger!

“Bullshit!” Hank screamed at the judge, “His adventurer’s ranking is only H! There’s no way he could’ve killed so many goblins without cheating!”

The head examiner considered this and looked at me, who was now standing up.

“Young man, what can you say about adventurer Hank’s claims?”

I look at him and say, “Examiner, using poison is allowed in killing goblins, right? Most people training as thieves and assassins in this event used these methods, I'm pretty sure.”

The examiner gave a firm nod, “Absolutely.”

“Then I—“ I start but Hank interrupts, “This person is absolutely not working on the thief or assassin profession! There’s no way he could’ve made such a good poison, let alone use poison so efficiently!”

The examiner stayed silent and gave me a curious look.

I smile slightly, “I never claimed to use poison Hank… Then examiner, since poison is an indirect means of killing, by extension, doesn’t that mean that other indirect methods are permitted?”

The judge nods happily at my statement, “Yes, it is. As long as the death of those goblins can be attributed to you or your colleagues, whether directly or indirectly, you have the right to claim those ears.”

“Then…” I say, “…killing the mate of a male Alpha Tusk Boar and making it rampage around the forest thus leading to it attacking a nearby goblin settlement is a fair reason, yes?”

The examiner smiled at me, “Yes, it is well known that tusk boars treat their mates with absolute care and should never be taken lightly.”

“I don’t believe him. He doesn’t have any proof that he killed a female tusk boar. There is no concrete evidence of his victory against this enemy!” An adventurer in the crowd spoke up while Hank and the rest agreed. I didn’t have a retort. What he said was the truth, but luckily the examiner came to the rescue.

“Clarence.” The head examiner said and a scrawny man walked up the stage, “Dust, this individual practices the soul arts and will be projecting your memories outward for everyone to see.” At these words, everyone went silent, the adventurer’s guild detested cheating and usually brought soul art practitioners to their events for these exact reasons.

Clarence put his hand on my shoulder and showed a two-dimensional projection of my fight with the tusk boar.

Everyone watched on and numerous people expressed shock at the way it was killed. Some questioned the identity of the beauty I fought with, only to be drowned out by the noise all the others were making. In the end, the examiner prompted everyone to quiet down and the matter was settled with Hank being forced to sit down, watching me as I received my award.

I asked for the magical item, but was told that they’d inform me about it later on. I walked up to Hank with a smiling expression, “So… about the bet. When’ll I get the things you promised?” His expression darkened. “Meet me… on the road outside of the village tomorrow,” He slowly answered and left.

In the corner of my vision, I catch sight of a cloaked individual walking among the crowd, away from my direction. “Is that…”

“Mr. Dust, come with us,” The examiner said behind me, “We must talk about your adventurer’s rank. Follow me.”

“…Alright.” I reluctantly follow him towards the guild. As expected, the inside was still as extravagant as when I first entered. The floor was made of polished marble and the walls were lined with intricate carvings depicting the figures of great adventurers.

The examiner, who was named Carlos, led me inside a room and said, “Sadly, our branch in this town isn’t capable of advancing your rank.” He gave an apologetic glance and continued, “To advance your ranking, you must travel to the closest city and give this permit to that city’s Adventures’ Guild.”

“What about my magical item?” I ask, my answer was given in the form of an envelope. The envelope had the wax seal of the Adventures’ Guild, a dragon with a sword through its chest.

Carlos spoke dejectedly, “Our branch only has a small number of magical items. In the city nearby, there is a much larger collection, I recommend claiming your reward after you upgrade your ranking there.”

“Thank you, I was planning on leaving the city soon anyways, I’ll head out tomorrow.” I say and tuck the envelope inside my pocket. I looked back at the head examiner whose shoulders were slumped. I wonder if he’s usually like that when alone with someone…

Carlos smiled weakly and waved me out of the guild, “Good luck.” He said before shutting the doors behind him.

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Third Person POV:

Dust walked back to his home, a small old shack located in the corner of the town. The weeds in the lawn were overgrown and the floorboards showed sign of age and creaked constantly. He picked up a bag and proceeded to pack in two changes of clothes and other necessities, including money and his adventurer’s license.

It was already dark outside, with the moon providing an extra amount of light to his dimly lit room. Dust sat next to the window rested his chin on his palm, looking outside. He had nothing to do now, before going home, he checked on the inn and found out the innkeeper had returned just this morning and received his modest pay of 10 copper for taking care of the inn in his absence.

“It looks like I’ll finally leave this place, huh?” Dust told no one. Although he already had plans to leave beforehand, he still had to admit that he’ll miss this place a lot. This place is the root of his adventuring career after all…

Dust sighed and closed his eyes, eventually falling asleep.

‘………..’

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Dust’s POV:

I woke up fairly early and put on a new set of clothes, another white shirt stacked under my leather armor and a clean pair of dark brown pants. I walked out and locked the door to my house. I sighed, why am I even doing this? The door's so weak even a child could break in with a bit of effort...

I fastened my sword’s sheath to my waist and proceeded onwards, to the road leading outside the town. The sky was dim and clouds covered most of the sky.

When I got there, Hank was already waiting for me. His two friends stood behind him as they waited together. I walked towards them but something was seriously wrong with the atmosphere.

“Kid… No, Dust… Did you honestly think that I’d hand over the fruit of all my labors over the years to you? Just like that?” Hank said in a quiet blank tone, his voice creating an eerie atmosphere as he drew his sword.

I tightened my hands into fists and gazed at him with a grim look, “What are you doing?”

“Why, I’m going… to kill you!!” He dashed forward and the speed he used, although nowhere close to the girl from the other day, was fast enough for me to only barely block the fist that came at my direction. The arm I used to block went numb at Hank’s strike.

“Heh… You had some skill after all!” Hank sent a kick into my abdomen, sending me flying. I fell to the ground a few meters away and rolled, silently struggling to stand up with a self-depreciating smile on my face.

I drew my sword as well and faced him with a bitter expression, “…This is how it is, huh?” Hank looked at me condescendingly and said, “You’re too weak! So in this life, you’ll only be stepped on by the strong!”

As he said this, I rushed at him and threw a punch, his figure blurred and appeared beside me, where I tried to counter by swinging my sword at him.

“Too slow!” He deflects my strike and punches me in the face, making me crash to the ground, groaning in pain. He kicks me on the side and sends me sprawled out on the dirt. I gave him a hateful look and thought to myself, ‘Am I going to die, just like this?’

As the thought enters my head, fear overwhelms me. I… I don’t want to die. Those bastards haven’t paid their debt yet… My mother still hasn’t been…! I grit my teeth, regretting my course of action as bitterness filled my being. I looked up at Hank who gazed at me like an insect. I felt the blood gushing out from my nose where he punched me and saw him slowly raise his sword.

I close my eyes, feeling my tears well up and resigning myself to my fate. Except, no sword came, I wasn’t killed. What followed was Hank’s pained scream.

“Aaaaahhhh!” I felt something warm splash across my face, and the smell of copper invaded my nose. I opened my eyes and saw Hank gritting his teeth, face twisting violently in agony and clutching the place where his sword arm used to be. Blood flowed continuously and splashed all over the ground below. His severed arm that still held his sword laid there in the grass.

My eyes locked into the figure behind him, the stunningly beautiful girl who’d saved me once before, her eyes revealed a bone-chilling, cold look. The sword she held gleamed sharply, blood covering it’s edges.

“Scum… will always be scum.” I hear the sound of the cold beauty’s voice once again, the temperature lowered by a few degrees due to the large amount of cold killing intent she gave off. Hank turned around and screamed in wretched anger, “Bitch! I’ll fucking kill you!!”

His two friends let out cries of anger and sprang into action, attacking her from two sides. She responded by becoming an quick blur, flashing away from my vision and reappearing in front of Hank’s headless body. His shoulders slumped an expression of shock was on his head that landed with a thud on the still wet grass.

I looked at Hank’s two friends and noticed how one had a stab wound on his neck while the other was cleanly bisected from the waist up. It all ended in an instant and I watched on with a stupid expression, looking at her back that was turned to me.

A moment passed, and she stared at my pathetic figure. “Are you just going to lie down there forever?” the black-haired beauty said in a soft tone.

I quickly stood up, my feet unsteady, and wiped the blood off my face, I looked at her with a complicated expression and said, “I guess I owe you one again, huh?”

She flicked her wrist and all the blood flew off her sword, splattering to the earth below. Her face had a complex expression as she looked at the blood on the ground, leaving me confused. Finally, she looked at me and spoke, “…You don’t have to pay me back.” She spoke in a quiet tone and started walking towards the nearest city…

The city I was also planning on visiting.

I looked at Hank’s corpse, the magic-resistant cloak was ruined because it’s entire left arm was cleanly sliced off. But… I could still take something else… The sword. I looked at Hank’s headless body and stared in disgust, I refused to wield a sword that this bastard used. I tore my eyes off Hank’s corpse and turned around, looking at the road ahead.

I stared at the girl who saved me, noticing that she was already fairly far away. I jogged towards her. Catching up, I started walking forwards beside her. My clothes were dirty and I was pretty roughed up. The average looks I was born with also probably heavily contrasted with the girl I was walking beside, but I didn’t care. I kept walking with a smile on my face until she finally spoke…

“What are you doing?”

Looking at her as if she asked a stupid question, I answered as I walked on beside her. “I’m headed to the city.”

“…Stop following me.” She said, but was completely ignored by me as I continued to walk forwards.

I kicked a pebble aside as I walked and stared at the road as I blurted out these words…

“…What was your name again?”

“…..”

Chapter End.

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Author’s Notes:

Hello again everyone! I really like how this chapter turned out and would like to know what you all think about the first two main characters. How they’ll end up, even I don’t know at this point. I’ll just let them grow and decide for themselves!

P.S., read the next side chapter as it gives you all a look at what the main heroine’s thinking. Also, it has a scene from this chapter at the end that I decided to cut out. Look forward to it tomorrow!

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