Lord Brickwell

Evan found guard captain Markos stationed close to the Brickwell Manor.

"Ah, Midnight, young man," the Captain spoke, "how's the slime hunting going?"

"I finished the Quest," Evan replied.

"What?! Already?" Markos uttered in disbelief.

"Yeah, I entered a hidden Dungeon yesterday and probably killed more than a hundred slimes. There was also this huge Anomaly Slime that was quite a handful to deal with."

"Anomaly Slime? That would explain the sudden increase in slime incursions!" Markos was astonished. "This- This is unprecedented. No wonder the slime threat level dropped this morning!"

Evan and Mille had also noticed on their way back to town that the slime spawn rate had dropped considerably and wondered if it had something to do with their abnormal Dungeon encounter. Guard captain Markos had just confirmed their theory!

Markos was surprised that someone had already completed a recently bestowed Quest. It made no sense since so many new Adventurers had arrived in Cobblestone. To the increasing dismay among players, the Quest no longer seemed worthwhile with so few slimes dangling around, thus most of them had decided that they were better off elsewhere, where mobs and EXP were more copious.

"Well done, young man! Here you go."

He gave Evan a letter of recommendation and told him to request an audience with Lord Brickwell.

At the front gate of the Brickwell Manor, a small estate surrounded by refined cobblestone bricks layer upon layer, two guards lowered their halberds.

"Halt! This is the private property of Lord Brickwell. Passersby have no business here," one of the guards issued.

"I'm not sure guard captain Markos would agree on that," a smug Evan remarked, and simply slipped out Markos' letter from his Inventory and passed it on to the guards.

One of the guards didn't seem convinced and started to slowly read the letter aloud for the other guard to hear.

"I, Sir Markos, Captain of the 23rd Company in the 6th Regiment of Edin Kingdom, deem Midnight of Amber worthy of a Heroic Merit that shall be granted by Lord Brickwell himself. Any person in the way of granting this heroic deed shall be requited with punishment tantamount to the obstruction or breach of conduct at large."

As the guard finished the letter, the guard duo's faces were already ashen in terror. That last part was certainly directed to these two maggots.

"Apologies, Midnight of Amber. We will notify the Baron immediately," said one of the guards apologetically as they both bowed at an impossible angle like a pair of contortionists as if they'd just sucker-punched an unknown heir to the King himself.

"We didn't expect anyone to complete the Quest in less than a day. I hope you understand."

Shortly after, Evan was led into the main hall of Baron Brickwell's estate and was told to wait while his Lordship finished his daily dealings.

Evan sat down on one of the many comfortable settees in the main hall and began to ponder why the guards were so overwhelmingly frightened by a simple letter.

He managed to uncover the fact that Markos went by another nickname, unofficially acknowledged by the locals as Markos the Petty Squabbler. A man that would make sure to pay back any misdemeanor tenfold, and also a man that hated hypocrisy more than a cheating spouse's immorality.

Evan found the incident amusing and could relate to the hypocrisy part.

His manager was an old coot in his 50s that always had things to complain about. One day it was the ice machine not working properly. The next day it would be the damn oven malfunctioning. None of these shitty incidents was his fault, but he would always be on the receiving end of the old whack's ramblings.

People like his manager were still living in a society where moral values remained unchanged. They were privileged and never sought to uncover misunderstandings, and would rather double down on their objectives rather than admit to their faults.

It wasn't that Evan disliked old people. He disliked old people that were lost in their own times of glory. Sure, everyone has their sob stories and past undoings, but how could he offer his respects to people that saw him as juvenile or immature just because he hadn't experienced their era? It was simply unjustified narcissistic hypocrisy.

Evan emptied his cluttered thoughts as a middle-aged man wearing a pompous attire signaled him to enter the Baron's study.

In the study room, documents and contracts were piled all over an untidied large desk. Behind it sat a young, square-faced man in his late 30s, still attending to all the paperwork that required his treatment. His strong jawline combined with a pair of piercing eyes painted him more as a warrior than a noble.

"Good day adventurer," the Baron greeted, his eyes still focused on the documents. "Well done defeating an Anomaly. The slimes have been pestering the locals for quite some time now."

"Thank you, your Lordship," Evan replied.

"Ah, forgive my manners," the Baron said as he signed the last document and finally gave Evan his full attention. "I'm Ray Brickwell, Baron of Cobblestone and Vice-Commander of the 6th Regiment of the Edin Kingdom."

'That would explain why he looks so battle-hardened,' Evan thought and opened the Options interface to glean some information about the Vice-Commander. This was a function that worked on NPCs but not players unless special proficiencies were unlocked.

—

[Name: Ray Brickwell]

[Titles:

Baron of Cobblestone (C-Rank) – Vice-Commander (B-rank)]

[Level: 40]

[HP: ?/?]

—Player Description—

[Class: Swordfiend]

[Active skills: ?]

[Combat proficiencies: ?]

[Specialization proficiencies: ?]

——Combat Stats——

[STR: ?] [INT: ?] [SPC: ?]

[DEF: ?] [WIS: ?] [AGI: ?]

—

As Evan unsuccessfully scrutinized the Vice-Commander, the latter finally started the conversation in earnest.

"I'm a busy man, so let's keep this short. I hereby offer you a Heroic Merit for completing the Quest. I deem you worthy of two additional Merits for slaying an Anomaly.

As written in the rulebooks, I have the power to grant Heroic Merits to those accomplishing heroic deeds based on my personal understanding of the threat level or difficulty. Any questions?"

Evan let his emotions sway for the first time in a long time. This was huge! With this many Heroic Merits, he was already qualified for the continental stages of the coming tournament!

Outside of Soulbound Online, Eloria was Evan's home continent. Together with three other major continents, they made up the world of Ferventia. It would become fascinating to see which of these four continents would stand at the top after the first tournament!

"Thank you, Lord Brickwell." Evan paused and corrected his posture. "I do have a question. Do you know anything about a tournament?

"Ah, you're referring to the New Braves tournament. Good! I was about to inform you about this. In that regard, let me explain. The New Braves tournament will take place in several locations throughout Aerth. If you make it far, you will represent the Edin Kingdom, so I have high expectations toward you."

Evan gave an assured nod.

"Now, as I've said, there will be other kingdoms – empires even – that will duke things out regionally in the preliminaries."

'These kingdoms will most definitely include players from other continents of Ferventia!' Evan anticipated.

"Where will these preliminaries take place?"

"The preliminaries for Edin Kingdom will take place near the Harshwood Citadel located on the northern border."

"What can I expect– I mean, who are likely to be my opponents? Are there other races in the Kingdom?"

"Sure there are. Although the Kingdom mostly consists of humans, our territory has always been tolerant of all races. Well, except the undead."

'What do people here have against the undead?' Evan thought. He'd even considered choosing the undead ancestry during character creation as he found its options quite intriguing. Now, he would most likely not face any undead until he got through the preliminaries and entered the finals.

This worried him a bit. If he got through the first stage and qualified for the finals, he'd have no prior knowledge about any of the undead races and classes. Adversely, humans had a large population, well known in most regions across Aerth. The undead and other less populated races would definitely use this information gap to their advantage!

Luckily for Evan, few people would know about his class. This was his advantage.

"Alas, I think you already understand the unfortunate part of not combating the undead in the early stages?"

"Mm, yeah. I won't learn much about their abilities or their strengths and weaknesses. That's why I was wondering how I should prepare for the upcoming tournament."

"You have a point. The New Braves is set to commence 12 days from today. Since you have exceeded my expectations I will throw you one of two bones. It is up to you to decide which one you need the most."

"And they are?"

"Two Quests. Now, these are by no means easy Quests regardless of their low ranks. Have a look and pick one."

Lord Brickwell prepared two separate reports on his desk for Evan to inspect.