Volume 3 Chapter 5: Part 1: Announcement

"Master, what do we do now?!" Outside the guild hall, Blaine screams out in anxiousness. He can't contain his fear any longer. Just hearing Onyx's words was enough to make him sweat like no tomorrow. It took all his mental strength not to collapse in the guild hall.

And he's not the only one. Vinnie's the same too. Onyx's words are like a death sentence to them. It doesn't matter whether they survive today or not.

Tomorrow or a day later is going to be their death.

"Shut up right now." Instead of getting wisdom from their master, a glare came their way.

"!" Vinnie and Blaine stood straight. A shiver came down their spines as they got glared at. That look was something they had never seen before from their master. It was cold. And they felt isolated.

"Follow me." Galven doesn't say anything else as they walk. Vinnie and Blaine become meeker as they follow him. They follow him to an alleyway, isolated from everybody else. And then,

Bam! What Blaine got was a fist to his face!

"Blaine!" Vinnie called out. But Galven grabbed him by the mouth.

"Shut your traps. Or do you want everybody to come here?!" Hearing his words, Blaine and Vinnie kept their mouths shut.

Galven gritted his teeth, "Are you two fools? Why are you yelling in the middle of the streets?! Do you know where we are?" Those two screamed in front of the guild hall. Where adventurers and other guild employees werecoming out from.

What was more, the people around were looking at them weirdly. Screaming like that was telling everybody they lied.

The two became even more quiet hearing Galven's reasoning.

Galven clenched his teeth even harder after seeing their miserable faces, "Didn't you say those fools were dead?"

"Y-yes."

"Then why are they still alive then?" This was why Galven jumped in and helped these two. They told him about how they died to the stone lizards.

Hearing this, Galven was over the moon. He hated Onyx to the very core. Remembering how he embarrassed him in front of everybody caused the hatred to fester. People were still talking about the incident too.

Galven can still hear the snickering at him. That's why he was so happy when he heard Onyx died.

"We didn't know either! We thought they wouldn't live from that!" The two thought the same only a few minutes ago. But the matter was,

"What do we do now, master?!" Blaine asked. They still need to do something about tomorrow. But Galven's following words were,

"We? I wasn't the one who lied about all of this?"

"..." Blaines and Vinnie's expressions turned blank. What? They couldn't believe it. Vinnie screamed, "But you're the one who told us to make them the villains!"

Yes, the entire thing was Galven's idea.

The two never thought about trying to pin this on Onyx and Rena. The first thought they had was to hide! They wanted to run from there. It didn't matter what they said; they abandoned their group. There would be hell to pay if they ever said anything.

But they didn't know what to do, so they told their master about this. They thought they could get some insight. Instead, the first thing he said was,

"Hmm? Run away? Why do you need to run away?"

"Huh?!"

"You guys don't need to worry about anything. Instead, let's make it bigger and make them the ones who are at fault." That's the thought Galven had. He wanted to pin this on Onyx and Rena. And with everybody dead, they don't need to worry about back talk.

And that was what they did. Vinnie and Blaine followed Galven's word to a T. But what he's doing right now is throwing them under the bus.

"When have I said any of that? The only thing I heard is my disciples were used as bait. And as their master, I will go to the guild and help them seek justice. But I never thought you guys would lie." Galven sneered.

"..." They were played.

"We are your disciples! How can you treat us like this!" Vinnie screamed out. He can't contain it any longer.

His emotions are in disarray.

"Disciples who only caused me trouble. You guys are nothing more than a joke." Did you guys really think I took you in because I thought of you as my disciples? Galven decided to teach the two to gain fame. It was to make him look good in front of everybody. But seeing as how they lost all purpose, there was no use for them any longer.

He needed to nip it now before it had the chance to go further. Galven doesn't look at them more as he leaves the two in the alleyway.

"..." They just couldn't believe it. But,

"What do we do now?!"

"We gotta get out of here?!" They shouldn't worry about Galven too much. They needed to get out of Advent City!

....

"Onyx, you're here, right!" The next day, Stewart crashed through the door again! When he entered the inn, he saw Onyx with a fork in his mouth.

"You know, Stewart...You can always walk in like a normal person." Onyx isn't surprised by him busting through like this anymore. And every time he does,

"STEWAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRTTTTT!" What came next was Mary's rampaging voice.

"EEEEP! I'm sorry, Mary!" And Stewart quickly apologized.

Ahh, it's a good morning. "You guys can come and sit here." Behind Stewart was the rest of Scarlett Lynx.

"Thanks." Etta sighed as she sat beside Rena.

"Have you guys eaten?"

Lucia shook her head, "No, we haven't. We came here to eat as well. Rebecca! We'll get the usual."

"Gotcha." Rebecca smiled as she went to tell the chef.

"Stewart, you dummy. Do you have to be so embarrassed in the morning?" Etta scowled a bit as she looked at Stewart, who was being scolded by Mary.

"To be honest, I thought Reynold would be the person to do it," Onyx revealed.

"Huh?! Onyx, why do you think I'll do it?! I'm not like our captain!" Reynold screamed out as he pointed at Stewart getting yelled at.

"Can't disagree with that."

"Yeah, it's surprising that he didn't do anything weird lately."

"It's usually Etta scolding Reynold for doing something stupid."

"He's a good person but has too many death-seeking tendencies."

"You guys?" Can I get some backup?! Reynold was about to cry. How could his own comrades say that about him?

"So why have you guys run here?" Onyx got serious.

"Oh yeah! Someone from the Riqueza Kingdom arrived here!" "Oh." Onyx doesn't think much about it as he continues to eat his food.

"..." Can you act more surprised? May was the one to speak for all of them, "Aren't you curious about what they have to say to all of this?!"

"Nah, it's not surprising. One of the advisors already told me they would send somebody over to let Oliver deal with everything." With what the advisor said before, Onyx didn't need to worry. He was just angry that someone smeared Rena and his name.

That' was why he was so confident.

"..." The rest didn't know what to say. They were worried for nothing! Onyx ignored their looks,

"So, did the messenger say anything to Oliver?"

Etta shook his head, "No. They're planning to make an announcement in the afternoon for everybody to hear. The reason why we are here is because the guild master told us to inform you two to go to the guild hall."

"I see." So that's what Oliver's playing at. Onyx understood what Oliver planned to do. The rumor spread throughout the entire city.

Even if the guild master gives out his punishment, it'll take weeks for the rumors to be gone.

"Alright, but for now, let's just keep eating." Onyx was calm as he continued to eat.

...

"Woah, there's a lot of people." In the afternoon, Onyx and the rest walk toward the guild hall. And the moment they arrived: there was a group of people there!

"Didn't the announcement just come out a few hours ago? Why are there so many people here?" Of course, Onyx expected there to be a lot. However, he never expected it to be this much.

Stewart explained, "That's the power the guild master has."

"Big brother Stewart!" As the group waited for the announcement to go off, somebody called out to them. It was none other than Ryan and the rest of his group.

"Senior Onyx, sister Rena!" Willa shouted out especially loud when she saw the two. Rena smiled gently, and Onyx waved his hand,

"It's been a while, Willa. How was your trip?"

"It was great! Sister Tricia taught me a lot about music. And we went on a shopping spree too! I got a new staff and robe too." Willa showed off her new equipment to Rena and Onyx.

"That's good. Hmm? What's wrong with you?" Onyx asked Ryan. While Willa looked sparkly, Ryan looked dead both outside and probably inside.

"So unfair. I wish I could've been in the same promotion exam with senior." When Ryan and the others heard about Willa partying up with Onyx, they felt envious of their newcomer.

What was more, she earned more than they earned in just a month!

Not realizing what he thought, Onyx smiled, "Oh yeah, there's something I have to talk to you about, Ryan."

Ryan's face instantly brightened, "What do you need from me, senior!"

"Relax, I don't need anything much. Just come with me to this alleyway." Onyx still had a smile on his face as he said this. But it felt a little off now.

"Hmm, why do we- Senior, why did you grab my neck?" Onyx doesn't listen as he grabs Ryan by the scruff of his neck. He looks back to the others,

"This won't take long.' Onyx doesn't say anything else. Ryan's group got confused, while Stewart and the older ones knew why. Good luck, Ryan.

That's the only thing they can think of as they watch Onyx drag Ryan to the alleyway. In the next second, everybody can hear whimpering and crying! It only lasted for a few seconds. But it's enough.

When they returned, Onyx was smiling while Ryan had three bumps on his head!

"Did you learn your lesson?"

"Yes, sir!"

"Good." Onyx held back a lot when he punished Ryan. He turned to Stewart,

"So when is it going to start?"

"I think now." Stewart pointed at the stage, and Oliver walked up.

"Hello. Thank you for taking time out of your busy day to come out here."

"Woohoo! Oliver!" The crowd cheered out loud. That goes to show how much people respected him.

"Thanks for the cheers. However, I won't be talking as this gentleman here will be the one." With that, the person beside Oliver stepped up.

"Hello, I'm a messenger from the guild at the Riqueza Kingdom. It has come to my attention that there's a rumor about a few adventurers using their own as bait.

Well, this is false. Please bring the two up!" With that, Vinnie and Blaine were brought up in front of everybody.

Onyx looked at them strangely,

"What happened to them?"