Chapter 23 - The start of the Adventurer’s Test
Chapter 23 – The start of the Adventurer’s Test
Lara woke up and saw that Ren wasn’t there beside her. She then proceeded to stand up and silently got dressed. Though on the outside she was moving in a calm systematical manner, in the inside was a whole different thing.
‘Ren was so intense last night! He must have really wanted me last night. I thought he was slowly getting bored of me. Yet yesterday proves it! Ren still needs me!’
Even though inside she was smiling in glee, on the outside she was as stoic as ever. Ever since she was small Lara had difficulty expressing her emotions. It was not like she had no emotions to speak of. It was just that her emotions existed within her, but for some reason she had difficulty showing it on her face. Or even in her tone of voice. She even had difficulty speaking what she wanted to say. Yet even with all those defects, Ren still understood her. It was like he could see into her very soul.
…
When Lara was done changing she went out of her room. She jumped up towards the roof of the inn. Once she was up there, she closed her eyes and like how Ren taught her, she extended the flow of her mana outwards to scan the area. Even after she did this she still couldn’t locate Ren or Valdel.
Deep inside she started to get worried. Was it possible that the two of them left her behind? Was she finally being abandoned by Ren? Even though deep inside Lara was now in a state of panic. Her outside look and expression remain ever stoic.
To a third party Lara looked as cool as ice, yet inside her thoughts and heart she truly wasn’t. While Lara was contemplating what to do, she finally felt Ren’s presence nearing her location. She immediately dashed towards the place where she felt Ren’s presence. There at the distance she saw his silhouette.
Once she was face to face with the two, she went direct to the point. “Where have you two been?” Lara as usual said so in an indifferent tone, but inside she was very angry.
“Oh we tested our new weapons. So we went out to spar for a bit.” Valdel unaware of what Lara was truly feeling answered with a smile on his face.
“Hey no need to be angry. We just went out for a bit, you were sleeping so soundly so I didn’t want to wake you up.” And like usual it was only Ren who could truly understand her true feelings. It was a simple thing for Ren to do, since he can determine ones mood depending on the flow of ones mana.
“I understand.” Lara’s answer was quick and to the point as usual, but deep inside her heart was a different picture.
‘Ren understood me! Even though it so hard to change my expression, and even if I tried my tone of voice doesn’t seem to change. I also saw my reflection when I smile, it’s pretty scary, I can’t show him that. Still I knew Ren would figure out what I’m truly feeling. There is no need for words between the two of us. Since we our connected by a bond stronger than words alone.’
“Lara let’s go we need to go to the adventurers guild. As for you… You don’t need to come Valdel, since it’s only Lara and I who will be tested.”
“Sure, I’m just going out of town for a bit to test Nika’s abilities. Don’t do anything too crazy out there.” Valdel warned the two, especially Ren.
“Hmph, how about you? How about you stop sticking your nose in another person’s business. If you keep on being such a busy body, someday you’ll get stab in the back.” Ren responded with a snort.
“I’m not a busybody… Whatever… Lara keep an eye on that guy and make sure he doesn’t get into trouble.” Before Ren could retort to that statement, Valdel quickly fled the scene.
“Yeah, you better run you coward.” Ren not wanting to back down shouted those lines to the fading back of Valdel.
…
Hilda who was holding a brand new spear stood right outside of the adventurers guild, waiting for Ren and Lara. This time she was prepared to watch what kind of person Ren truly is. Today will be their test as adventurers and she was their proctor. So that gave her a chance to observe Ren up close and see how he reacts and adapts to different types of situations.
“Hey Hilda it’s nice to see you’re energetic today as well.” It was then that Hilda heard that irritating overconfident voice of the troublemaker Ren. 𝐛𝗲𝐝𝐧𝗼𝐯𝐞𝐥．𝐜𝐨𝗺
“Enough chit chat, are you ready for your test?” Hilda got right straight to the point, as she pointed her spear at Ren’s face.
“As ready as I’ll ever be. Also can you stop pointing that thing at me. Or do you want me to break it again?” Ren nonchalantly answered. Hearing Ren’s answer Hilda stopped pointing her spear at Ren, and shifted her attention to Lara.
“How about you? Are you ready?”
“Ready.”
“Okay since both of you are ready, let’s head out immediately.” Hilda without waiting for a reply simply walked towards the north exit of the town. Seeing how impatient Hilda was made Ren shrug his shoulders as he followed her.
Lara who saw how Hilda acted was a bit irritated.
‘That woman really has too much pride in herself. She just makes me irritated, but it’s obvious Ren has set his sights on her. It’s pretty much an unavoidable fate that I need to get along with her as Ren’s woman. If only I could just kill her… Damn it! If only that was an option, I would’ve done so that first time she was rude to Ren.’
Lara who was having a fiery internal monologue still look cool as ice on the outside, as she followed Ren and Hilda.
…
The three walked quite a bit northwards from town, until finally they saw an entrance going underground.
“This is a dungeon, in here I will be testing what rank would best suit you. Normally if you reach the third floor you pass, and get a D rank, C rank for five floors, B rank for nine, A rank for fifteen, and S rank for eighteen and above. But since no matter what happens in this test you two will be given a B rank, you just need to show me a bit of you strengths.” Once Hilda was done explaining how the test works, Ren went ahead and asked a question.
“So how many floors does this dungeon have?”
“No one knows, the last Guild Master was the one who got farthest in. He went as deep as twenty floors, but he couldn’t get pass the guardian of the floor, so no one really knows how deep this particular dungeon goes.”
When Ren heard what Hilda said, he started to smile. “How interesting.”