The atmosphere in the Adventurer's Guild of Dustford was always a chaotic symphony of clashing mugs, loud boasts about oversized rats and the thick, familiar smell of stale ale and woodsmoke. Normally I found the noise comforting—it was the sound of a world where people didn't know who I was.
But as I walked toward the heavy oak door at the back of the hall, the roar of the tavern started to fade. Not completely. Just… enough that the silence around that door felt heavier than it should.
Aror, the Guildmaster, had sent a runner for us.
In the world of adventuring being summoned to the "top floor" wasn't casual. Ever.
It meant you had either done something very right.
Or something very wrong.
Tess walked beside me, her wooden staff clicking against the stone floor in a steady rhythm I secretly admired. To anyone watching she probably looked like a focused young mage ready for a mission.
But I noticed the small things.
The way her fingers brushed her cloak sometimes.A nervous habit she'd picked up after we left the mansion.
Most people wouldn't notice it.
I did.
Hidden snug against my chest, inside the reinforced lining of my tunic, Sui rested like a cool silent weight. We had to be careful—very careful.
In this kingdom only about one in a thousand people were born with the affinity to become a Monster Tamer. If anyone discovered I had a contracted slime… especially one as intelligent and strange as Sui…
We'd stop being "reliable rookies."
And start being "valuable assets" to the crown.
Or worse.
Targets.
I pushed the door open.
The Guildmaster's office felt like stepping into another world. The noise of the guild hall died instantly behind us.
The room smelled of expensive tobacco, old parchment and the sharp metallic tang of freshly sharpened steel.
Aror sat behind a massive desk buried in maps, ledgers and half-empty inkwells. His eyes—sharp and predatory, like a hawk's—tracked us from the moment the door creaked open.
"Take a seat," he grunted, pointing to two wooden chairs.
We sat.
Inside my coat Sui shifted slightly. A tiny vibration against my ribs.
A warning.
She didn't like Aror.
Apparently he smelled like "sharp rocks and old secrets."
"You've been busy," Aror said, leaning back until his chair groaned.
"Fourteen orcs in Southwood. No casualties. Broken sword, but still a clean victory for a couple F-rank kids."
His eyes narrowed slightly.
"People are talking, Rio. The veterans out there are wondering if you two are the luckiest rookies in history… or if you're sandbagging your way through the ranks."
I kept my face neutral.
Clueless kid mode.
"We just do the work Guildmaster," I said with a small shrug. "The orcs were just… slower than they looked."
"Hmph."
Aror leaned forward now, fingers locking together on the desk.
"Well the work is about to get harder."
A pause.
"I don't like anomalies in my guild hall. And you two are definitely an anomaly."
He tapped the map in front of him.
"I'm fast-tracking your promotion. You're moving from F-rank to E-rank."
Tess leaned forward slightly.
"But," Aror continued, "I'm not handing it to you on a silver platter."
"You're taking a formal Rank-Up Test."
Tess frowned slightly.
"What's the objective?"
Aror dragged a map toward us and pinned it down with a heavy iron paperweight. His finger pointed to a tiny village marked in the valley between two jagged mountain spurs.
"Oakhaven."
Then he said it.
"A Goblin King."
The room seemed a little quieter after that.
"He was spotted three days ago near this village," Aror continued. "Not your typical green-skin. He already wiped out a scouting party and reports say he's gathering followers."
His finger tapped the map.
"Forty… maybe fifty goblins."
Tess inhaled softly.
"If we don't deal with him now," Aror said, voice dropping slightly, "Oakhaven is finished."
"Oakhaven…" Tess murmured, thinking. "I've heard of it. It's a farming village, right? But I thought their harvests had been failing?"
Aror's expression shifted. Just for a moment.
"Poverty doesn't even begin to describe it."
"The soil went bad five years ago. Most of the young people left for the cities."
He exhaled slowly.
"Those who stayed are mostly elderly… or families with nowhere else to go."
"They're starving, Tess."
That word hung heavy in the room.
"They can't afford a high-rank subjugation request. The Guild is covering the cost and calling it a promotion test."
Another pause.
"If the goblins destroy their winter stores there won't be an Oakhaven left by spring."
"They'll freeze."
"Or starve."
A strange feeling stirred in my chest.
That same warm-cold sensation I'd felt near the white marble in the blacksmith's shop.
Faint now… but still there.
This wasn't just about a rank anymore.
It was about people barely hanging on.
"We'll take the mission," I said.
Tess looked at me briefly—but she didn't argue.
"Good," Aror replied, standing up.
"But don't underestimate a King."
"They aren't just bigger goblins. They lead. They plan. Primitive tactics, but tactics nonetheless."
He walked around the desk.
"You leave at dawn."
Then he looked at my sword.
Directly at the charcoal-black hilt.
"And Rio."
I looked up.
"Try not to break this one."
He smirked slightly.
"That obsidian-iron blade cost the Guildmaster a favor to recommend."
When we stepped back outside the guild hall the evening air felt cold.
Dustford's street lamps flickered with soft magical light.
Tess turned toward me.
"A Goblin King, Rio… that's a huge jump. We've only fought scouts and small groups."
"A King means a horde."
"I know," I said quietly.
I wasn't afraid of the goblins.
Not really.
But the village…
That worried me.
"We can't stay F-rank forever," I continued. "Higher ranks mean more clearance. Less people questioning what we do."
"If we're going to figure out who targeted us… or what happened to the others…"
"We need that freedom."
Tess sighed softly, breath fogging in the cool air.
"It just feels like everything is happening so fast."
"One month ago we were barely surviving the woods…"
"And now an entire village is depending on us."
I reached out slightly.
Almost touched her shoulder.
Then stopped.
"We'll handle it," I said. "Like always."
"I heard a merchant caravan is heading toward the southern pass at dawn. If we offer to guard their wagons for free we can ride with them most of the way."
Tess smiled faintly.
"Saving silver while going to save a village."
She shook her head slightly.
"That might actually be the most adventurer thing we've done yet."
"Get some rest," I told her as we reached the inn stairs. "Tomorrow's going to be long."
I watched her go upstairs.
Then I sat on the porch.
For a moment I just stared at the stars.
Sui rippled softly beneath my shirt.
Then her voice appeared in my mind.
["Master? Why does the scary man want you to kill the Big Green?"]
I exhaled slowly.
'Because the Big Green is hurting people who can't defend themselves, Sui.'
There was a short pause.
Then—
["Then we squash the Big Green."]
Another pause.
["Very flat."]
Despite everything… I almost smiled.
The charcoal sword rested heavy at my side.
I was only thirteen.
And sometimes I felt every single year of it.
But when I thought about the starving people in Oakhaven…
That warm-cold feeling in my chest hardened into something steady.
Like a quiet flame refusing to go out.
We had a job to do.