Chapter 27: CH. 27 | The Price of Silver Rank

***

The next day.

Thalia came and woke them all. When Theo woke up from his sleep on the sofa, he was startled to find a breakfast spread waiting on the table in front of him.

When he turned, it was Thalia cooking in the kitchen, using whatever ingredients the apartment had on hand. The meal was simple: just eggs, bacon strips, and boiled potatoes.

But that wasn’t the point for Theo. What really caught him off guard was that Thalia had cooked breakfast for all of them, getting up earlier than everyone else.

"We need to get up and get ready earlier. The scramble for guild missions is brutal."

"If we’re late, all we’ll be able to do is a solo hunt," Thalia said.

Theo got up, nodded, and dug into the breakfast in front of him. Meanwhile, Lily was already awake and dressed in her signature white priest robes.

"How’s Riley?" Theo asked.

"She’s doing better. She usually wakes up in the middle of the night, but she didn’t last night."

"Sounds like your medicine worked perfectly on her," Lily said.

The young man nodded, pleased. With nine doses of Riley’s medicine still left, Lily could at least save some of her money for herself.

Once breakfast was over, Theo went to shower and change. Ten minutes later, he came back to the living room dressed all in black, a black shirt and black pants. With that, he made it clear he was ready.

After preparing a meal for Riley, Theo led the three of them out of the apartment.

Once they reached the main street of the city, Theo’s attention was drawn to the big clock in the town center. It wasn’t seven yet, barely six in the morning.

Still, as usual, the street leading to the city guild was already packed with adventurers. They looked fresh and eager, whether or not luck would be on their side that day.

"Thalia," Theo said.

Thalia stepped up and walked beside him, "What’s it, Theo?"

"Make sure Lily’s in my party. I’ll be the one competing for the mission later."

"Understood."

She dropped back to talk to Lily, telling her their party number. Lily already understood how it worked, so joining Theo’s party wasn’t difficult for her.

[Congratulations! Lily has joined the party]

[Party No.: AGP94500178]

[Name: Theo’s Party]

[Leader: Theo (None || Lv. 3)]

[Member:]

[1. Thalia (Mage || Lv. 3)]

[2. Lily (Priest || Lv. 6)]

"Wait... what’s your class, Theo?" Lily asked, the question slipping out the moment she saw Theo’s class on the party panel.

Theo gave a small smile, glancing back at Lily for a moment, "I don’t have it."

"What? How’s that even possible?"

"Who knows. Maybe it’s just my bad luck," Theo said.

"Don’t worry, Lily. Even without a class, his swordsmanship is more than enough to match a knight," Thalia said.

"All right. I trust you, Theo."

The young man looked back and smiled again, glad that Lily was starting to put her trust in him despite his limitations.

They finally arrived at the city guild. Sara had the morning shift that day. She looked well rested and greeted Theo and the others.

"Welcome, Theo," Sara said, "Ready for the next mission?"

"Of course."

Theo looked around and saw that not many adventurers had shown up yet. He told Thalia and Lily to grab seats near the guild’s mission board. They did as he said and hurried off.

"Looks like you’ve got a new party member."

"How many F to E rank missions are there today?" Theo asked.

"Quite a few. Twenty seven guild missions in total," Sara answered, "You’d better get ready. We’re still sorting them out."

"All right."

He wrapped up his conversation with Sara, then walked over toward Thalia and Lily. But when he got there, Theo was a little startled to see a man and a woman sitting at the same table.

Who are they?

Even more surprising was that the woman seemed to be talking with Thalia. Judging by her clothes and weapon, her class was clearly the same as Thalia’s.

"I’m not the party leader," Thalia said.

Theo walked up and knocked on the table, drawing both their attention. He introduced himself, and the two of them responded to him warmly enough.

"I’m Theo. I’m the leader of their party."

"Oh, so it’s you. Let me guess, you’re a Knight, right?" the woman mage asked.

He glanced reflexively at Thalia and Lily, then chose not to answer her question. Instead, he asked why the two of them had come to this table.

"I’m a silver rank adventurer. We need a party willing to take us in," the woman said, "You don’t need to worry about the guild mission. I can definitely land it."

"Thanks for the offer, but my party already has a mage," Theo said, "I don’t intend to trade her out for you."

SLAM!

"What’s wrong with you? You’re just a rookie adventurer, but you’ve got this arrogant attitude. Do you even realize what you just said?"

"You just insulted my girlfriend. You’re saying some weak, low level mage like her is better than my girlfriend, a silver rank adventurer!"

"I’m the party leader. I’m the one who decides whether she’s fit to join my party or not," Theo said.

"You damn rookie!"

He saw the man draw his small sword, clearly about to lunge at Theo. Theo saw it clearly, his hand reflexively drawing his own sword.

[Authority of Mystic Eyes Triggered!]

[Foresight Skill Activated!]

The world around Theo turned gray. The man’s actual body froze in place, but the shadowy image of his future self moved, hurling a dagger-like blade toward Theo.

He looked over at Thalia and Lily. Their future shadow images also moved, rushing to try to save him. Even so, Theo’s focus stayed on the dagger cutting through the air toward him.

Theo counted the seconds with perfect precision, planning to catch the dagger in his hand and throw it right back at the assassin.

All right... I’ve worked it out carefully.

The Foresight skill switched off right away. Theo had only borrowed ten seconds from the future to read the attack.

Color returned to the world, and the situation reset to the start. The assassin hurled the dagger at Theo. Thalia and Lily screamed at the top of their lungs.

"Watch out, Theo!"

Theo shifted to the side, sheathing his sword again and thrusting his hand forward. After counting the seconds, he managed to catch the dagger right in his grip.

"W-What just... happened?" the assassin asked.

"Nice dagger," Theo said, "Let me give it back to you!"

Now it was Theo’s turn, swinging the dagger forward with full force. The assassin, still stunned, grew even more shocked as the blade that was supposed to wound Theo now shot straight back at him.

The man raised his hand and tried to stop the flying dagger with his own palm. As a result, his palm was pierced straight through, and he dropped to the guild floor, groaning in pain.

STAB

"YOU?"

"Do you realize what you just..."

Theo drew his black sword and pressed it right against the woman mage’s throat, leaving her helpless and barely able to move.

"I don’t care if you’re a silver rank adventurer or not. If you try to mess with me, I won’t hesitate to slit your throat."

"Y-You’re going to kill me? The City Authority of Justice won’t just sit back and let that happen!" the woman said firmly.

"Theo," Thalia called, rising to her feet.

He glanced at Thalia, took a deep breath, and started sheathing his sword again. For some reason, after seeing just how ugly the other side of adventurers could be, Theo always got swept up in a mix of irritation and frustration.

"Fine," Theo said, "Both of you, leave. I don’t need either of you."