Master Of None

”Eh I don’t mind, when I was a kid I first joined the army. My father was a knight so it was in my blood to follow him. I unlocked my system in one of my first fist fights with a group of people who insulted my father. Naturally I got my butt kicked.” Barry laughed at the memory from so many years ago. ”They said my father would never survive a single battle let alone a war, so in my anger i threw a few punches and lost my mind. Next thing I knew an instructor was kicking me across the courtyard and I was on the way to a healer. I Can tell you they never spoke bad about me or my family again.” Barry seemed rather happy to speak about his family like this. ” Naturally when I learned I had a berserker system I volunteered to become one of the specialized forces with unique systems, it went pretty well for a few years but eventually the flame died away. I was only following orders and doing exact;y what I was told. I was reprimanded for letting my skills take over, so I left and joined as an adventurer. Almost twenty years later I am the vice guild master and I get to travel around the entire continent without restriction.” This was why he smiled so much telling Walker the story, he had made it to the epitome of his dream. The path he traveled was the path he belonged to.

”That is really inspiring, Vice master Barry, I hope that my party can achieve the same feeling.” Barry smiled patting Walker on the shoulder. He really did hope that every single one of them found the exact same feeling of belonging he felt every day of his life. The constant errands from the guild master were frustrating yes, but he got to do them his way without anyone stopping him. 

With a bit more pushing they had all the defeated rabbits stored away in an hour or so. Barry started the pace and pushed the party to move faster than they had before. He had a taste for the battles to come and wanted to find a larger group. Walker and the party struggled to keep pace. Maria was most definitely hating the bumping around, however she had no choice but to bear it since she would have been left in the dust if she was on her own two feet. 

Hours passed them by and they started to feel the effects of the rigorous travel. Barry looked cool as a cucumber in comparison making them all that much more jealous of his level. The fields and farm houses started to show in the distance. There were groups of adventurers roaming about here and there along with evidence of battles. There had definitely been a few horned rabbits that had made it this far, there were also many adventurers leaving toward the plains. They saw that the vice guild master was there and waved or nodded in greeting, ”Well this will be where I leave you all, I still have much more to do.” Barry did not even wait for a reply, he was gone that instant not even waiting for the group’s farewell. 

Looking at the walls past the fields they were a bit disheartened by the fact that they still had to Walk. They had no choice though and moved on. The more adventurers they saw the more they realized that they were being watched. It would seem that the additional insignia from the king of Ordist was enough to draw the gaze of those that had stubbornly ignored the party known for having a title. Adding to their quickly spread gossip almost every adventurer now knew them along with most nobles. 

When they finally approached the gates they found that the guards welcomed them readily, Walker had expected to have to explain their new companion Maria but instead was ushered through. It would seem that due to the outbreak adventurers were given the fast pass in and out of the walls. This made things much easier for them since they just wanted to get home to rest. Reporting in at the guild and going to the castle to deliver the documents would wait, it would be a huge insult to show up in a half asleep and filthy state to the castle. 

Their final walk through the inner walls and to the mansion were blurred out as they were all too tired to fully focus. Besides bathing and making their way to their rooms the only other memorable part was setting up Maria with a guest room right next to where Su’s room was. 

Not a single member of the party was immune to the small nightmares of horned rabbit hordes, the only exception was Midnight who only seemed to dream of eating them roasted. 

After waking up early so many days in a row every member of the party naturally woke up just as early. It was easy for them to hunt out breakfast and find that Maria had snuck in to Su’s room to sleep due to her nightmares. While they waited for breakfast to be cooked Su and Remey took Maria around the mansion showing off the training grounds and library. The found that Maria was able to read at a ferocious pace. Having discovered this they asked if she would like to stay there which was a resounding yes. Su had already introduced Maria to her mother and was very comfortable leaving the two in the library. Her mother had found it the best place to sip tea and relax.

Having gotten their new guest settled the party adorned themselves with their gear and made way for the adventurers guild. They left easily enough to make it there before many people. The sounds of adventurers trying to make way to the front desk were rather loud, so much so that it could be heard from down the street. Walker and party got to the front doors without much trouble pushing past many groups also trying to get inside. ”Su can you lead the way? I know it may be rude but we need to get to the front.” Su gave him a nod and removed her shield from her back. She braced herself and started forward down the middle of the room. 

There were shouts at the, to wait their turn and to stop pushing but when they saw the plaques and medals the party wore they quickly shut their mouths. Clara was looking deathly tired at the counter and was very happy to see her party return. ”Welcome back to the kingdom, what is your plan, leader of the Omnipotent party?” Clara still seemed to have a bit of energy to tease them.

”We would like to turn in some horned rabbit bodies from vice guild master Barry. We would also like to turn in some from our party, however we would like the meat, poison, and horns from them returned to us. We also have a large body of a greater Ice imp dissected and the usable parts returned. Lastly we would like an escort to the castle for an audience with the king.” Walker had a hefty request, Clara had been prepared for every word of it though. She had suspected royalty to play some cards and the audience with the king was an obvious result of this.

”Please follow me to the basement, we will drop off the defeated monsters there and then I will let the Guild master travel with you to the Castle.” Clara was all professional which actually seemed to relax the party as it felt like home. 

Following her to the basement the party found that most staff was very occupied with breaking down horned rabbits the second they would be brought in. The even more surprising part was the massive amount of space cleared. ”I have asked for space to be cleared for your and Barry since they consist of the largest possible influx.” That was all Walker needed, he started to first pull out of his storage all of the horned rabbits that Barry had defeated. The dissection staff took them almost as fast as he could put them on the ground. 

”The next rabbits were hunted by our party and also the greater ice imp.” At those words a larger group of staff came over lured by the rare monster. The moment the greater Ice imp body touched the ground they pounced on to it like wolves on prey. They started measuring and recording as much as possible to add to their records. This gave Walker time to pull out the remaining rabbits. Once this was done he felt a great deal of weight had been removed since he now just needed to wait for the results to be brought to him ready for whatever he decided to do with them.