Apostle? Heiligh Kingdom

The three adventurers stare dumbfoundedly at the monster or human in front of them — a tall and handsome man with dark brown hair and deep blue eyes. This scene would be perfect if he wasn't covered in blood.

The men were nearly scared to death by him — this man was a Berserker. They didn't know what would happen to them now. Mutated Ogre, which were known for their higher physical stats, yet he crushed its head with sheer strength. Its strength was equal to any monster found on the 40th floor on the Orcus Labyrinth. That black aura and ferociousness still give them chills.

While the female magician was lost in her own world with an indescribable expression on her face.

The assassin and swordsman glanced at her and shook their heads. No matter what, he saved their lives. So they should put some trust in him.

The swordsman was the first one to speak, "Brother, who might you be?"

The newcomer turned his head and grinned, sending a chill up their spine.

He approached slowly with his deep blue eyes glowing menacingly.

"Me? I just wanted my revenge from this Ogre. This bastard ambushed me when I was bathing. I lost all my possessions because of it. Well, at least I grabbed my clothes or I might still be butt-naked."

The answer left them speechless.

'You will fight a Mutated Ogre to death just for that?' was their thought, but no one said it aloud.

The man's grin widened as he asked, "Shouldn't you introduce yourself first before asking others?"

The female magician flinched before she made a bow. "Sorry, I'm Irene. This swordsman is Dale and that assassin is Tris. We are Purple-ranked adventurers."

"I see, so you guys are adventurers." the brown-haired youth nodded his head sagely. "can you show me the way to the nearest town?"

"Of course we can," Irene replied and pointed at the ogre's corpse. "You don't need the mana crystal?"

---

Leo closed his eyes and repeated the question toward Jen.

(Ogre mana crystal is inside their chest.)

Leo used Dale's sword to scoop out the mana crystal. Strangely, the skin wasn't as hard as it was before or maybe he got stronger after the level up.

"You guys can dismantle the rest," he said as he tossed the magic stone around.

Dale and Tris gave a thumbs-up to Irene and started dismantling the ogre.

Leo tilted his head, confused by their gesture, and pocketed the magic stone.

"Let's talk about you while they do their stuff."

Irene nodded and opened her pouch tied on her waist. What she took out appeared similar to a water bottle and a cloth.

"Here, clean yourself." she handed the cloth to.him. "And I'm Irene, 20 years old and still single."

His jaw dropped open from her introduction. How can you say that with a calm face?

"Call me Leo and where might you be from?"

"Horaud Town," she said and stared at him intently.

"Not telling," he replied playfully and took off his jacket reeking of blood. He wiped his face and arms with the wet cloth.

Now left in a black T-shirt and jeans, Leo ignored Irene scanning his figure while smiling calmly.

Leo raised his brow at her. She averted her gaze.

"Why did you go wild like that? Was that caused by some sort of skill?"

"I… can we not talk about it?"

This woman still wants to know more about me, even after seeing me like that. Should I keep my distance from her?

He pondering ended when

Dale and Tris finished dismantling.

"Let's go!" Tris called out.

Dale also came with a bag on his shoulder and grinned.

Thus, the group started walking towards Horaud Town with Dale and Tris in the front, and Leo and Irene strolling behind them.

After spending so much time without any human interaction, Leo was starving to speak with anyone. Still, he attempted to probe bits of pieces of information from Irene during their conversation.

[Quest available: Join the Adventurer Guild]

Enter the city with adventurers and join the guild as an adventurer

Difficulty: D

Rewards: Unlock [Analyze] function, 100SP[Accept / Decline]

'Accept it, Jen.'

He wanted to become an adventurer anyway. Irene's party seemed good to him, only if they wanted a berserk guy like him.

"Are you alright?"

He ended the conversation with Jen and glanced at Irene — a pale-skinned woman with silvery eyes and sky blue bangs cupping her cheeks and covering half of her head while the rest of the length reaching her waist. She was beautiful even in comparison to most women on Earth.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little hungry."

Irene's face formed an amused, playful grin.

"Don't worry about that. I promise to show you the best delicacies in town."

"I'm truly grateful for this favor."

"You should be."

They looked at each other and cracked a smile.

"What's it like working for Adventurer Guild?"

"Adventurers do all kinds of quests, you know like monster subjugation, collecting raw material, and all sorts of odd jobs."

"Can I join the Adventurer Guild without any Identity?"

Irene showed a confused expression before remembering the words he said earlier. "You lost it while running?"

"Yeah..." he purposefully trailed off with a sad expression on his face.

"I will get you a new status plate," Irene replied as her silvery eyes depicted a strange glow for a brief moment.

Was that an illusion?

(Dunno.)

'...What's a Status plate?'

(It'll cost you 1SP. I'm sorry, but I'm also restricted by 'The Creed'.)

'Okay, take it. No need to be sorry.'

(It's an Artifact used in this world. It acts as a form of Identification and quantifies your parameters and skills.)

He nodded his head at her explanation. The status plate seemed like a useful artifact for both identity and growth tracker.

"Thank you, Irene," Leo expressed his gratitude with a reliever smile.

Irene shook her head with a smile. "It's the least I can do after you saved our lives."

---

After walking for 15 minutes, a sight came in view that truly dumbfounded Leo. The massive walls with a large gate made of iron-like metal embedded in it — probably for entering the Kingdom.

He shook off the surprise and adopted a serious face. Showing surprise might raise suspicions in Irene and others.

"Halt!"

A man yelled as he came out of the small post built on either side of the gate. He was donning armor.

Guard?

"Show us your status plate or Identification," said the 2nd Guard who came out of the other post.

Irene whipped out a square-plate from the pocket of her robes. She pressed her finger on the plate and displayed it to the soldier.

The soldiers examined the plate with eyes wide as if about to pop out of sockets.

"I-I-Irene-sama!"

This easy-going woman held an influence strong enough to scare these guards. Leo cupped his chin and contemplated.

The guards turned to him with a suspicious glint in his eyes. Well, he couldn't deny it. His black T-shirt and jeans would surprise anyone in a fantasy world. Any passerby was bound to label him as a weirdo.

"A-Are you one of the Apostles?" the guard stuttered, his legs trembling.

"Forgive my rudeness but I bought these clothes from a passing merchant. As for Apostles, I grew up in a small village so I have no knowledge pertaining to any Apostle."

The soldier nodded his head. "I meant one of the summoned heroes."

"No, I'm not," he denied with a serious face.

"True, no apostle has been reported missing."

Leo picked up the whisper with his senses.

They must be talking about Eri and her classmates. Looks like I came to the right place.

"He is my friend."

Before the guard continued Irene cut him off in a rather cold manner.

The Guard stepped back as his large body shrank. "P-Please don't c-cripple me."

Irene's brows twitched. Her annoyed expression almost made him burst into laughter.

"Just open the damn door!"

"Hai!"

The soldiered hollered at the guard uptop to open the door.

Leo entered the gate with eyes brimming with curiosity. His first impression was that the Heiligh Kingdom looked really similar to a medieval city. Old fashioned streets packed with citizens, caravans passing by here and there. Kids playing on the streets. Guards donning light armor patrolled the streets. The small shops on either side of the streets created a rather lively atmosphere.

They hired a caravan to Horaud Town. Irene and Leo sat together facing Dale and Tris.

"How old are you?" Irene asked.

"...Seventeen," Leo replied.

Dale and Tris looked at each other and smiled wtyly.

Leo sighed at their reaction — his uncle mercenary friends also showed a similar expression of disbelief.

He lowered his head and tried to ignore those memories.

"My uncle trained me since I was 6. Maybe that's the reason I'm strong."

Leo glanced at them to see a warm? smile on their face for some reason.

"Anyways, how is Horaud town? I've never been there," he said, trying to change the depressing topic.

Dale nodded. "It's a town for adventurers, most people go there for Orcus Labyrinth. We also dive in sometimes."

"Can you show me around?" Leo requested.

"Sure, I'll do it." Irene volunteered with a smile.

Then, they chatted about random things for the rest of the way.

Leo just nodded his head to reply. His mind busy in observing the circular map on right corner of his vision showing blue, yellow, and white dots.

So that big blue dot is for me, yellow for allies, white for strangers and maybe red for enemies.

(Yes, it can show enemies on it. If they are not hiding using any skill. The maximum range is 100m for now, and undiscovered areas are left blank.)