Volume 3 Chapter 4: Part 2: Arrival

"Can you guys stop moping around like this? It's just a number." Onyx shook his head. He looked at Willa and the rest, who were still acting gloomy.

It was a day since Onyx revealed his age to them. And they still couldn't get over it. The revelation was just too damaging to them.

Thank goodness there aren't any monsters, or we'll be in trouble. Onyx was relaxed when he realized monsters won't be attacking them anymore.

They passed by other villages on the way too. So monsters probably won't be coming after them.

"How long will it be before we arrive at Riqueza Kingdom?" Onyx asked Morgan.

"It should take at least an hour before we arrive at the capital," Morgan said as he continued to lead the horse, "You can relax a bit now, young lad."

"Understood." Onyx nodded and turned to Rena, "You should get some rest too."

"I'm fine, master."

"I'll continue to keep watch." Even if Morgan told them to relax, that didn't mean he could. Their mission was to protect the carriage until they arrived in the kingdom. He wasn't going to be hyper-alert, but he couldn't relax.

"But-"

"No buts. You've been keeping watch throughout the night. So take a break." Do you really think I didn't know? At night, Rena would be awake when it was Tricia and Willia's turn for the night shift.

"You did double duty. So get some rest."

"....Understood." Seeing his determined face, Rena gave in. She dozed off in a second. Her head drooped down, slowly falling onto Onyx's shoulders.

She must have been really exhausted. Onyx smiled a bit before gently putting a blanket over her body.

"Hmm?" Onyx felt something off, and when he turned around, he saw the four staring at him.

"What?" Onyx keeps his voice low, trying his best not to wake Rena up.

"Onyx, are you a player?" Nigel, the voice of the group, asked him.

"Huh? How am I a player? Ain't this what normal people do when a person's sleeping?"

"Yeah, but-" Nigel couldn't finish his sentence. But it looks so intimate when you do it, though. Onyx's action was correct. But when he did it, it looked anything but normal!

"You've broken so many girls' hearts, haven't you?" Cyrus joked around.

"Well, a couple did confess to me, and I did reject them." Well, technically, Irene did it for me. Onyx remembered girls confessing to him. The next second, Irene would shoo them away.

Like he was going to do it, but the girl was one step ahead.

"..." Cyrus made a blank face. I was joking! He didn't think Onyx would answer the question like that!

"We're almost there, guys! You guys can see the gates now!" Morgan shouted out. Everybody turned around to see the shadow of large gates.

"Shouldn't you wake her up now, Onyx?" Nigel said as he pointed at Rena, still sleeping on Onyx's shoulders.

Onyx nudged Rena lightly, "Rena, we're here now."

Feeling the soft voice, Rena began to wake up. "Ughhh." She turned her head bit by bit, only to realize everybody was staring at her.

Was I the only one asleep?

Her face puffed up red from embarrassment. She looked to see Onyx chuckling, "Did you get a good nap?"

Rena coughed a bit, "Mmhmm, I did. Thank you master."

"Pff." Onyx couldn't take it and chuckled. Rena understood why as well: as her face continued to become redder.

Seeing this, Cyrus whispered into Nigel's ears,

"I sense player vibes. And a strong one at that." "Indeed."

"..." I am not a player. Onyx could hear their whispers. But he was too distracted by the gates they were approaching.

They're different from the ones at the Espoir Kingdom. The walls weren't as grand as the Espoir Kingdom. However, it felt more imposing.

This was the Riqueza Kingdom: the kingdom of merchants. Two kingdoms that didn't follow the nobility system were the Holy Land and the Riqueza Kingdom.

They follow their own set of hierarchies and rules.

After paying the guards the fee, they entered the kingdom.

Woah. Onyx looked around inside the carriage. He was surprised by what was going on. However, he couldn't see much as Morgan's wagon was heading towards the guild building first.

Getting off, all of them walked into the guild hall. The advisor there greeted them,

"Welcome to the Riqueza Kingdom's guild hall. What can we do for you?"

"Yes, we're here to submit our promotion exam." Nigel was the one who said this, and Morgan handed her some paper.

"Give me a second, please." The advisor looked over the papers, "Also, can we see your guild cards?"

"Sure." Onyx and the rest of the adventurers took out their guild cards and handed them to her. Examining them,

"Everything checks out. However, there should be two other people, no?" The number of adventurers didn't match up with the number in front of her.

Their expression turned dark upon hearing this. Morgan was the one to explain, "There were complications with the quests."

"Complications? Did they-" The advisor didn't want to finish her sentence. The only thought in her mind was that they might have died. It was common for adventurers to lose their lives on a quest.

Morgan shook his head, "No, they didn't die. They ran away."

"....Huh?!"

Morgan nodded, "Yes, they ran away. Is it possible to talk about this somewhere else?"

"Of course, my mistake." Hearing Morgan's words, there seemed to be more to this story, "Please come with me." She led all of them to a private room.

The advisor asked, "Please explain to me what happened?" Nigel began to recount what happened throughout their journey from beginning to end. From how Vinnie and Blaine came late to the fact they ran away without a second thought.

"I see. I'm sorry this happened to you all." The receptionist could only say these words. But they could all see the disgust on her face, "For now, we need to investigate the matter a little more before deciding on the proper punishment.

If it's as you said, these adventurers will face the harshest judgment yet. Also, please tell me where the incident happened?" She brought out a map, asking them to point to where it happened.

"It's around here." Morgan pointed to a general location of where they were.

Tricia asked, "What's going to happen to our promotion?" Besides the Vinnie and Blaine incident, the promotion was the most important.

The advisor smiled, "We will give you your evaluations tomorrow. Please come at any time to get your reading."

"Also, we like to sell some materials here," Morgan added.

"We can talk about the prices at the counter then." The guild was more than happy to buy materials.

....

"Thank you for all the hard work on this journey." After selling off the hides and demon crystal, the group left the building.

"It's our pleasure. You made it much easier for us to work." If Morgan didn't say anything to his employees, there might have been more complications throughout their journey.

Morgan smiled and offered a handshake to Nigel before separating from the adventurers. Nigel turned to them, "What do you guys have plans to do now?"

With this, the quest ended.

Cyrus smiled, "I'm going to be looking around the kingdom. I want to see what kind of girls I can hit on!"

Tricia grabbed Willa, "Willa and I are going to go shopping." They got a lot of coins from selling the hides. With this much, there was no need for them to hold back.

"What about the two of you?"

"We are going to be walking around as well."

"Alright then. Thank you for all the hard work these past few days." Everybody thanked each other and parted ways.

And only Onyx and Rena were left there now.

"Where should we go first, master?"

"Of course, the first thing we should do is relax." That was the only thing Onyx wanted to do now. Those days of traveling and killing monsters were the last thing he wanted to think about.

Now it was time for him to chill out and let all this stress out.

"Let's look around at the stalls. We'll buy as much as possible to eat today!" Onyx said with a smile.

"Mmhmm." Rena nodded her head.

...

As the two walked around, the only thought inside Onyx's mind was,

Wow.

The number of stores is many times that of the Espoir Kingdom. What made it so different was the stalls. Many stalls were set up so that the entire street was a maze.

"Come try our octopus balls! You can only find swift-silk octopuses in the Riqueza kingdom!"

"Check out this one-of-a-kind toy here! I guarantee that nobody has ever seen it before!"

"We got all the clothes you can ask for. From warm to cold, we have it all!"

Each vendor screamed out their product with great vigor. From food to clothes, they have everything out. Onyx got hooked by their shouting and wanted to buy. He noticed something and asked,

"What are these?" What Onyx saw was a vendor grilling. But the person was grilling something he had never seen before.

"Ahh, these are silken smooth scallops. These can only be found here in the Riqueza Kingdom's seas. The batch we got from the port is plump and fresh. Would you like to try some?" The vendor smiled.

"Of course." Onyx took out some coins and handed them to the vendor. And the stall owner gave him two scallops.

"Here, Rena." Onyx handed one to her and looked down at his food. A rich and savory aroma came from that one piece of meat.

Bottoms up! Onyx dropped the scallop into his mouth. The moment he did, his eyes sparkled! He couldn't believe it!

It's so smooth and tender! And there was a light saltiness to it as well.

There's this slight nuttiness to it as well. Onyx looked up at Rena, and her eyes showed the same look as Onyx.

"We want two more."

"Sure, give me a minute to grill them up. I'll give you guys some nice and hot ones." The vendor began to grill some more in front of the face. The aroma coming from the grill was to die for.

It didn't take long for Onyx and Rena to finish it in a matter of seconds.

"Let us get another."

"Sure, sure. As long as you pay for it, you can have as many as you want. Also, you should try these shell fishes." The vendor laughed,

"You kids aren't from around here, are you?"

"Mmhmm," Onyx nodded as he ate something red and white, "What am I eating right now."

"Ahh, that's ground lobster. So where are you guys from?"

"We came here from Advent City. This is my first time trying something like this."

Onyx's village was nowhere near any seas at all. And the seafood was something that was scarce too. The only actual seafood Onyx had was grilled fish.

But that was about it.

"Do you know of a good place where we can rest for the night?" Onyx asked. What better way to find the good stuff than to ask the locals.

"If you're looking for an inn, then there's a lot of places here in the kingdom. But the best ones you guys should choose are by the beach."

"The beach?"

"Mmhmm. The inns are a bit more expensive than normal ones. However, it's worth it. You get a nice breeze, and you'll get the morning sun on your face when you wake up too."

That sounds nice. Hearing this, Onyx thought about it for a bit, "Thank you for the tip and the delicious seafood." He paid him for the food before leaving.

"Should we go to the inn now, master?"

"Nah, we still have a lot of time. How about we have some other food while we're here." It's still evening. There was really no need for them to rush.

"Understood." Rena nodded her head.