Rank Up

It was then that Locus let go of the lifeless statue. Now that he had time to think, he quickly realized what had happened.

"I must have accidentally used my ability."

Even though you could call it an accident or a mistake, Locus had still taken someone's life.

After gathering his thoughts and checking on the cut that wasn't nearly as deep as Locus had thought, he looked over at Carl, who was still tied to the tree. Locus quickly came to his aid, cutting the rope with his katana by using it like a knive. It was incredibly easy, and so it took Locus just a few seconds.

Carl had a shocked expression on his face, which was no wonder considering the fact that he just witnessed a killing.

"Just hand in there for a second; I'm going to free you."

When Locus cut the rope, Carl immediately tried running away in the direction of the coin-filled bag.

"Where are you going?"

Locus chased after him and caught him about 20 meters further. After all, Carl was still a little kid. Nevertheless, he was a little kid who was now resisting Locus' grip, trying to escape him.

"Stop that; it's fine now. Your mother, Noelle, asked me to rescue you."

Carl paused. There was a sense of longing in his eyes.

"My name is Locus. You don't have to be afraid now. Can you tell me if there were other people with you that were like this man?"

Locus pointed at the dead man, and Carl shook his head.

"No."

"So he was the only one?"

Carl nodded. That was a relief for Locus. He sheathed his katana.

"Let's get you back to your parents."

The two of them went back the way that Locus came, taking the bag of coins with them.

They left the man whose name they didn't know back on the clearing. Explaining his condition and what happened to him would disclose Locus' ability.

"Carl, I need you to promise me that you won't tell anyone about the guy turning into stone."

"Why?"

"Because it's my secret."

Carl smirked.

"So I know your secret?"

"Yes, and I want you to keep it."

"Okay."

By the time the two of them reached Carl's house and knocked on the door, the sun was already setting. When Noelle opened up, her face lit up and she laughed while embracing Carl.

"Carl, you're back!"

She turned to Locus, still embracing Carl.

"Thank you so much! I don't know how I could ever properly repay you."

"You already provided an extra gold coin."

While saying that, Locus realized that he had forgotten the gold coin back at the meeting point.

"And you're serious about your payment of only four gold?"

Locus nodded.

Noelle went inside and came out a few seconds later with four coins in her hand. She gave them to Locus, who went on to thank her, but just when he turned around to leave, he heard Noelle's voice calling him.

"Don't you want my signature to mark your mission as complete on your form?"

Locus took out the form that the both of them filled out to make this job official. She was right. There was a field for marking the completion of a task.

Locus went back to the door and handed the sheet to Noelle.

"Sorry, it's my first time."

Noelle smiled as she signed the form a second time.

"It's fine. Just remember it when you go on your second mission."

She gave back the form to him.

"Thank you, goodbye."

"Goodbye."

Noelle and Carl waved as Locus left. In that moment, Carl's father came to the door, embracing Carl and waving as well.

Their house wasn't far from the guild, so Locus quickly reached it. The line was longer than before.

"No wonder; they're probably all coming back from their missions."

Locus waited in the queue until it was his turn.

"Next, please!"

Locus stepped up.

"Good evening. I have completed this mission."

He showed the form to the man on the other side of the table. The man took it and inspected the paper.

"A kidnapping? Alright, may I see your adventurer card?"

"Of course."

Locus rummaged around in his pocket and handed the piece of paper to the staff member, who, after taking a look at the card, seemed surprised.

"You're rank F?"

"Yes."

He looked up and down, eyeing up Locus, and then looking back at the card.

"Was this your first mission?"

"Yes."

"Then I think you deserve a rank-up."

Locus looked intrigued. When gathering information on the rank system, he learned that, after completing enough tasks that add up to a certain accumulated difficulty or effort, one can get promoted to a higher rank, which would then enable him to take on more difficult jobs and increase his reputation.

The employee took a folder out of one of the many drawers that were taking up the wall behind him and wrote something inside.

"I will increase your rank to rank E, although you theoretically deserve rank D."

He looked up at Locus.

"But, as you can surely understand, I can't really make someone who just came back from his first mission ever a rank D, when many adventurers take months to reach that goal."

The man signed a spot on Locus' adventurer card and gave it back to him.

"Congratulations! You are now officially a rank-E adventurer."

"Thank you very much."

Locus had a bright smile on his face when he left the guild. He had to celebrate. Celebrate himself and the people who made this possible.

"Thank you, Noelle; thank you, Carl; and kind of thank you, kidnapper."

Locus paused. He suddenly thought back to his fight. The wound he received had closed by the time Locus got out of the guild. After all, it was just a little cut. But the damage he inflicted had killed a man. A real human being, whether he had now been good or bad.

In that moment, Locus gaze fell on the sign of a bar. He heard laughter and music coming out of it. When he took a closer look, he saw many people in light armor, some of them carrying weapons, sitting around big tables, talking and enjoying themselves. He figured that this was the place where adventurers hung out after work. The guild was probably too small for them.

Locus remembered when he didn't want to sit down at the guild because he wasn't a real adventurer. Filled with confidence, Locus entered the building, sat down at one of the smaller, empty tables, and leaned his katana against the tabletop.

A little while later, a good-looking woman came to his table.

"Good evening, dear sir. Can I get you anything to drink?"

Naturally, Locus had experienced the taste of alcohol before, but he never really "drank". Locus decided that he wanted to change that. After all, he was an adventurer now. And he killed someone.

"I'm new here. Just bring me something you can recommend. With alcohol in it."

The woman nodded and left in the direction of the bar table.

While he was waiting for her to come back, he noticed two people from the other side of the room walking straight towards him.

"Hey, we were told that you're the one who helped the woman with the kidnapping this morning. Is that right?"

"Yes, that's me."

"You're new, right?"

Locus nodded.

"Then let us tell you something, boy, we're the ones that are responsible for the kidnappings. You got that?"

"Do you have an official license for that?"

The expression on their faces changed. They got angry.

"Do we have a problem?"

"I don't know, but it looks like you have one. I just helped someone out because no one else did."

Locus picked up his katana. In that moment, one of the guys grabbed him by the head and smashed it on the table. There was so much force behind the attack that Locus couldn't stop it.

"Now you've done it, boy. We'll go get the others; you just wait here."

While they went back to their table and said something to the other three guys sitting there, Locus stood up and drew the katana. He wouldn't just let them have their way. He wanted to prevent tyrants like them from having their way.

Then he remembered his encounter in the woods. He couldn't do anything against the attack. What if there had been five people attacking him at once?

Locus looked around, but the other guests didn't really look like they cared about him. Locus couldn't tell whether that was because this was common or because they feared they might end up in his place.

Just one person was looking at him... or rather, at his stance. He looked rather young, had blonde hair, and sat at the table right next to Locus'. When their eyes crossed, he opened his mouth.

"You know you're holding it wrong, right?"