Summer Break

Chapter 8

The six soon to be adventurers along with Arthur and Elijah walked through the front door to the adventurers guild. The sounds of other adventurers calling out for mages with specific abilities as they tried to form a party for either a quest or dungeon dive filled the air. As they walked veteran adventurers looked at them with frustration, as there were too many adventures as it was. Many of the younger generations were overconfident and arrogant, and took on more difficult quests than they should with larger groups than normal. This had resulted in the veterans who needed the money from these to take on even more dangerous quests to make the same money. The younger adventurers and other mages that were there were applying to become adventurers just saw them as more competition.

"So Claire, do we just go to the counter and tell them we're here to see your uncle, or are we supposed to meet him here somewhere?" Arthur asked, not liking the looks they were getting and wanting to leave as soon as possible.

"Just follow me," Claire replied as she took the lead.

She led them past all the applicants sitting on benches waiting to be called up, and straight to a hallway guarded by two armor clad men with spears. As they approached the guards moved their spears to block the hall, but Claire had already pulled out a paper and held it out to one of the guards as they arrived. The guard took the paper and studied it for a few seconds and moved his spear.

"My apologies Ms. Bladeheart, you and your party may proceed," the guard stated as he stood back at attention along with the other guard.

"Thank you," Claire replied, and continued down the hallway. She lead the group down the hallway making several turns along the way until she came to a set of frosted glass double doors. Claire knocked, but didn't wait for a response as she opened the door. "Hello Uncle," Claire announced as she walked in.

"Hello Claire," Kaspian greeted as he stood up from his desk. He walked over to Claire, with a warm smile and gave her a gentle hug before looking to the rest of the group. Even though Kaspian still looked as clean cut as normal, he was dressed much more casual, wearing a pair of black boots and pants with a green button down shirt with his sleeves rolled up. "I welcome all of you, and I'm truly excited to be sponsoring so many skilled young mages." Kaspian's eyes then landed solely on Arthur. "And it is a pleasure to see you again Arthur Leywin."

"I'm sorry sir, but I believe you have mistaken me with someone else. I fairly certain that we've never met," Arthur replied politely.

"Not as Arthur Leywin, but as the masked swordsman Note," Kaspian replied with a sense of pride.

Arthur's eyes quickly shifted to Claire who quickly shook her head.

"Claire did not reveal your identity to me," Kaspian stated as he saw Arthur's eyes shift. "It was fairly easy for me to come to that conclusion on my own after I had a piece of crucial information."

"And what was that?" Arthur asked.

"When giving me the names of everyone who would be applying to become adventurers she told me you were already one. From my investigation to learn Note's identity I had already learned that Arthur Leywin was not an adventurer. After that it was easy to put all the pieces together," Kaspian explained.

"I see. So what do you plan to do with that information?" Arthur asked as his eyes narrowed.

"Give you the opportunity to move up to AA class," Kaspian replied with a smile.

"Wait what? I don't have enough merit points for that!" Arthur replied in shock.

"As Note you didn't, but after I learned your identity I decided to call in several favors to fully understand who you were. The incidents you dealt with while a student at Xyrus Academy are being counted and the merits earned give you more than enough for the exam," Kaspian explained.