AN: From here on, unless speaking to people unrelated to the guild or his past, Alistair will use the pseudonym "Raven" whenever taking part in adventures or his 'new' life to keep people at a distance.
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'Oh? Who would have thought, despite his touch and fierce exterior, he was such a nice boy deep inside?' Emily thought as she began to move her attention to the main screen.
Tap! Tap! Tap!
Her fingers began to move across the smooth keys, brilliant green vines wrapping around her fingers as she began to accelerate her typing; cute flowers began to sprout from her body as she entered the information he desired, chanting the notes and adding his adventurer tag to her private account to monitor.
'This boy is so cute~ I cannot wait to see how he does in the future; today, a mere [Class-G] Adventurer, what will he be a month from now or further into the future?'
A small white dahlia sprouted from the top of her head as it began to fill the room with a calming and sweet floral scent.
While Emily was focused on changing his information, the man in question, Raven, was reading more information about his parents, his face sometimes smiling widely or frowning as he saw their dangerous and amusing mission reports, causing him to see a side of them he never did before, until he came to the most recent files, ones related to the incident that took their lives.
Bzzt! Bzzt!
-Error!
-Insufficient Access level!
-[Class - G] Adventurer identification is too low to view!
-Closing query!
'Hmmm?' a frown came to the face of Alistair, his hands tapping the file repeatedly as he felt his heart begin to race, cold sweat forming on his body.
In contrast, his mind began to come up with all sorts of crazy ideas and breathing faster until he was forced to lean against the marble desk to steady himself, the throbbing veins from his arms that bulked up due to his anger and frustration.
'Why!?'
-Error!
'Why!?'
-Insufficient...
"WHY!?"
Bang!
With a huge crash, his powerful, tanned hands slammed onto the marble, a throbbing pain shooting through his fists. Despite his higher strength, this marble was high-class and resilient even to an [Class-A] Aventurer's strength.
'Fuck, it's so hard!' Alistair complained, his face scrunching up with both anger and the throbbing pain now shooting down his arms, the flat of his fists a darker, reddish colour as Emily looked at him with stunned eyes, her mouth agape as she was shocked by his sudden outburst.
Because she was so focused on finishing his Adventurers Card, applying it to the app and physical system, his sudden sound caused her to let out a little scream and jump as her vines instantly gathered into countless sharp spikes, ready to pierce his body in a defensive mechanism.
'This bastard scared me... I was too focused on typing...' Emily thought, looking at his angry face, the tapping of his fingers and the error sound.
Suddenly, she understood and wanted to speak out, but even though she wasn't of the rank able to open those files, his mother was her idol when growing up, or rather when she first left her forest to join the bureau.
Mor'Grana, the lady of the raven storm...
A legend to many monster girls and those who were not human, she was powerful and heroic and didn't care who you were or what race you might be, accepting and guiding anyone, whether male or female.
"Mr Gran... Raven... Are you alright? Does your hand need medical treatment?" Her soft voice was almost sarcastic to his ears.
However, her soft hands were coated in strange leaves that seemed similar to aloe vera, a soothing sensation suddenly filling Alistair's body as he looked at her, the formerly bloodshot eyes fading.
'Not good, I lost my cool... I thought their deaths were a thing of the past...'
"I still have a long way to go, huh..." His voice was quieted like a sigh as he enjoyed Emily's soft green vines and delicate fingers rubbing his hands gently like he was a precious treasure.
Quietly, her eyes became soft, watching as he calmed down, a faint smile forming on her face, her soft green lips glossy and alluring.
"You loved your mother quite a lot..... didn't you?"
Alistair's body twitched; the fact he was a mother's boy wasn't well known, as he spent a long time trying to hide it. His mother was a little strange and would always take him out to fight wild animals or monsters and give him unreasonable tasks to complete.
Honestly, even speaking to her was trouble...
"I...."
The strange atmosphere began to envelop him, the soft touch of Emily's fingers, the small flowers blooming on her vines and body with soft, sweet smells that calmed his nerves and made him feel relaxed, some scents reminding him of his mother, as the quiet cars in the distance driving past, the wet sound of puddles being splashed by their racing speeds.
Alistair didn't know if Emily had done something, but he began to speak for the first time since his mother's death.
About his mother, how she would train him, tell him how to treat women... sometimes take him and his dad and make them fight against her and beat them easily... memories and thoughts sealed deep inside his chest.
The soothing pollen from the large flower that bloomed on Emily's chest was called "Remaniscia."
A flower that soothed violent tendencies brought out a person's deepest and most peaceful memories as Emily quietly listened, long having closed the front desk; what Alistair saw was merely the reflection of an animation playing.
Emily wasn't a mere receptionist but the bureau chief's daughter.
'This boy is too cute... I thought he was more arrogant and egotistical...' She thought this didn't happen on purpose; her emotions were not easily sturred, the flora on her body only blooming when she was well fed and her body filled with high levels of nutrients.
More than 20 minutes passed before the effects of her flower's scent faded, his eyes becoming more focused, noticing the embarrassing things he told a stranger.
Still, he didn't blush and only maintained a stoic face, his hands no longer sore, thanks to the sticky but pleasantly warm balm from Emily's hands.
Boop! Boop!
A sound came from the large printer beside Emily, breaking their moment as she wryly smiled, never expecting his mere scent to cause her to lose control of her vines and flora.
The small card that was printed with the magi-tech ordinator was Alistair's card, with a handsome image of his face on the top left with a silver shining foil below; what was amazing was the face would turn, moving from side to side as if fidgeting, the pose he took while Emily took the image for his card.
He turned left, began to clean his teeth, rubbed his neck, turned right and looked around with a slight whistle, then looked towards the camera with a natural smile as the image began to loop again with a seamless edit.
'How cute!'
"It's finished printing; here is your new identification card; use this with any bureau worker to void any troubles. It can be used for a 10% discount at most food courts, armourers and clothing stores. Don't forget there is also the app version, so please download it from the Melon store for free."
Emily passed the small card into his hands, her dainty white fingers barely half the size of his bear-like palms; the image amused him, while the information of his attributes was displayed the same but hid the fact of his [Stamina] and [Vitality] being drained.
'I wonder if it's to save ink, or maybe just the space?' Alistair thought, his hands slowly releasing the silky hands of Emily, her body now relaxing and leaning back into the chair, while her vines began to clatter away at the keyboard. Alistair thought she was done with him, before the huge 3D image before he began to show various dungeons and their difficulty levels.
She was helping him again; such top-level service, he thought.
-Novice dungeon search
Arcanso area 1
- Wailing Cavern [3 Floors, Danger Level G]
- Forbolg Keep [5 Floors, Danger Level F]
- ....
- ...
He noticed many, but they were rather difficult, the floors increasing with each new dungeon; suddenly, Wailing Cavern was highlighted, Emily giving a light cough as she smiled gently at him, the yellow flowers on her green hair swaying along with her, creating a cute atmosphere.
"How is the best way to get to Wailing Caverns?" Alistair asked as he decided to accept her advice. Tapping the display, it began to show a map, only around two miles from his current position and seemed to be the entrance to an abandoned underground track.
Emily leaned forward, her deep cleavage stealing his gaze for a moment before returning to her face, noticing her little smirk as she pushed her arms together as if to tease him.
"You took the bus here, right? Number 114 on the Dalvic route?"
"Yeah."
"Then, the stop just before here, Dalvish Court, is the best place to get off with just one stop away, then cut through the food court and shopping centre, and it should be just past the abandoned apartment complex to the south of Dalvish shopping centre."
'Hmmm, isn't that the stop that...' Alistair stopped thinking and just nodded before finishing his business here, looking at his new identification card, with [Class - G] In large, bold letters caused him to feel as if everything was finally beginning.
Alistair's body turned to leave before he looked back with a soft smile, different from his usually stoic and faint smile, almost causing the flora to bloom with a mere smile; his deep voice sounded, followed by his loud but calming footsteps.
"Thanks for all the help, Emily; I hope you are the one I deal with in the future... I mean it."
Emily sat on her chair; the enriching scent and essence that oozed from his body almost vanished when he left, causing her to feel cold, like someone turned the AC on low, tapping her desk.
She reached for the phone, hoping to make his future a little easier, as the son of her idol, not wanting him to get involved in the dirty side of being an adventurer.
"I pray the day I can see the Raven's Tempest again, this time... Her son to carry her torch..."