Plans to Part

It took them a couple of days to find the nearest town. Between the maps the old party had, with Zeke’s and Aleister’s travel sense (along with even Zentella’s sense of direction) they made good time.

However, the travel itself was… less than ideal. Leo attempted to talk to the young Zentella, but she refused to speak more than a few words. The most he got out of here was that she A) Knew the people that were after her, B) Knew of the Crimson Eye and C) Already accepted her mother was most likely dead.

The town was actually bigger than Leo expected. It seemed to be a standard medieval magical town. With a decent size wall surrounding the perimeter, a river for fresh water flowing through it.

“If it ain’t broke I guess.” Leo sighed to himself at the cliché, “Shall we go in?”

Zentella just nodded not letting her expression change while holding his hand.

Not exactly sure of what he should do at this point Leo guided her to the orphanage in this town. This was one of the few orphanages that Rebecca set up across this continent. Leo felt really bad about his current decision. It was however, the most sensible one in his mind. Zentella needed to be kept safe, and cared for. While both parents asked Leo of this, he also needed to fulfill the party’s wish to prevent the Demon King’s summoning.

Leo had a vague idea of what that would entail. During the few days he scanned the the System Screen to familiarize himself with the specifics. Zentella had stated that no such thing as the system existed for anyone else. She implied that an Adventure’s card could detail something similar, but no further details. It was on the screen he noticed that he had indeed absorbed the shard of the red orb.

While the orb itself was needed for the summoning ritual, and the only one of its kind, it now had been used. However, it was shattered since it summoned a “Hero” instead in a quick and crude ritual. Now through some twist of fate the shards shot out around this world. The still absorb negative energy and could be used now to power up anybody. The Demon King was just a moniker, a title, given to the next Demon King. What would actually happen during the ritual was that the collective wills of each previous Demon King would be summoned absorbed into the new strongest vessel, crowning them.

So Leo now needs to absorb the remaining shards to prevent the reformation of the orb. Once he does the energy will be absorbed into the system and the orb can never be used again. This meant that whoever would want to become the next Demon King would hunt him down. So Zentella must not be with him. He cannot protect her and constantly hunt down the shards, especially how he was now. Some of the stronger skills were locked and his stats weren’t truly great (not that he had anything to compare them too) and he felt he could get stronger. This was what was needed to keep his promise.

XxXx

“Don’t wanna.”

“Zentella please.”

“Don’t wanna.”

Leo groaned as now he faced a new challenge, one that he should have knew was coming.

“I’ll just go with you.” Zentella puffed her chest

“No, you will not.” Leo knew that she was strong. Apparently trained in the art of assassination. Before this he might have just brought her along, living in his fantasy. However, now? Now carrying the expectations of the old party and her mother he couldn’t bring himself to bring her into danger.

“But why here?”

“Because they will take care of you.” He knew from Rebecca’s memories that this place was legit.

“It looks boring.”

“It could be,” Leo sighed, “But why do you want to go with me.”
“Because.”

That was the most he was going to get from her. But this was for the best.

XxXx

“Here you go, all registered!”

“Thank you.” Leo said looking his new new Adventure Card and Adventure Tag. Thanks to his return of the Aleister’s party tags, his review process was streamed line.

Sophia, the guild receptionist beamed a smile at Leo, “Let me know if there is anything else you would need.”

Leo rubbed the back of his head with a nervous laugh. Sophia was a cute woman around his age with platinum blond hair tied back. If there was one thing Leo knew about the opposite sex; it was when they were trying to sell you something. After all, him turning in the tags allowed Sophia to take him around the town to equip him with standard gear under order of the adventure guild master.

Apparently no thieves or murderers would turn in an Adventure’s tag as their process would identify them as the culprit. Being as that may, an ordinary person, such as Leo, was able to retrieve a dead adventure tag and return it alive. This sparked his all expense shopping spree equipping him in standard leather armor, a short sword, and an arm shield. No one asked for his spacious bag allowing him to keep most of the old party’s items and gear.

Luckily enough he was allowed to sell monster materials they had collected, but that would take time to process. As he was about to leave, Leo felt the intense gaze from Sophia’s closed eyes. Feeling that this could end up a pain if he left it alone, he took the bait.

“Actually, I could use help picking out my first request.”

“Wonderful,” with extreme speed a sheet of paper and a quill appeared infant of him on the counter. “This material gathering mission is a recurring one, but will be more than suited for someone of your caliber and easily help you raise up in our ranks.”

Guild ranks ranged from F to S. Thanks to the tags, Leo was boosted to C straight out of the gate along with his stats. It seems Zentella was right. The Adventure guild did have means of recording peoples stats and quantifying in the adventure cards.

“And if you would sign with me as your exclusive manager, you’ll see more immediate success.”

‘There it is.’ Leo thought to himself. It seems that if a receptionist sponsors an adventure of great talent they get a good kick back. ‘Well… I only need the money to travel. My true goal won’t need much of this.’ Resigning to not deal with something like this later he just smiled and accepted, “Thank you, I appreciate it.” He then marched out of the guild practically giddy earning him stares and giggles from the other guild members. That didn’t bother him, nothing could at this moment. “Now, let’s see what theses skills can do.”