A Warlock's Ascent

Meeting Hillary in the guild came as a very pleasant surprise to him, he had always wondered whether she and Jurgen were able to get out of Cloudhold in time, before this day he used to think that they were dead, after all, there was a psychopathic Mage running amok in Cloudhold. But he was wrong.

There was an awkward silence between them, no one knew what to say to the other person. But then he initiated a conversation. "How have you been?"

She smiled. "Fine. The pay of being an adventurer is very small here, but still, it is better than being a slave."

He didn't know much about pay of adventurers so he just nodded along. "That is true, and what about Jurgen? How is he?"

She hesitated a little bit. But then she said. "I dont know. We got separated in Cloudhold. And since then I haven't seen him."

Sensing something was wrong, he asked "Do you know about… Angela?" She meekly nodded her head.

He then looked at her, the awkward silence before, coupled with her gloomy face, he realized something. "You dont think that he was killed by, her, right?"

Her eyes became watery, but she kept smiling as she was standing in the middle of a Guild, even though she was holding back her tears. Looking at her pitiful condition, he instantly wrapped her hands around her. She also hugged him back, and both of them stayed like that, remembering a lost comrade.

After staying like that for a few minutes, they separated. She wiped some of the tears that made it outside, while he kept staring into the air before him. She thought that he was staring at her but only knew that he was staring at the message that he had received from the system.

"I am really happy that you were able to make it out safely," she said.

"I'm also happy that you are safe…" Both of them then stayed stood there awkwardly, not knowing what to say next. It is then his eyes fell on the page that she was holding.

"You are going on a quest?" he asked.

"Yup, a C-Rank mission," she said while showing him the paper.

A frown appeared on his face, she could take the C-Rank mission if she told the guild her identity, does that mean guild knew that she was an Earthian? "A C-Rank? But why? Are you not hiding what… you are, your identity?" he asked.

"No. I have the guild card from Cloudhold. So getting a C-Rank card made was pretty easy."

"Oh, so what are you gonna do? Hunt some dangerous beasts?"

"Nope, nothing like. This is a mission to investigate a battle site. Yesterday or the day before yesterday a battle took place near the bridge connecting Vecrus and Barcelma. I have to investigate and see whether this was done by a monster or not."

"Why?"

"Well according to the report, such destruction could only be caused by an evolutionized monster. And guild tries to keep an eye on such monsters."

"Is that soo… Anyway, we should catch up, after you are back."

"Yeah, we should."

After making more small talk, Hillary left him standing there…

He had thought that he should ask for help regarding Hasan, but after they hugged each other, he was busy reading the message that had appeared before his eyes…

Name- Hillary Cook [PLAYER]

Level-42

Class- Mage's Apprentice

Familia- Mistress of an Owl. [ATHENA]

Familia Rank- Soldier

He had dismissed the message after reading its content, but after her departure, he couldn't help but smile, this cheat ability was broken. Before he thought that this ability was only useful in identifying objects and such. But he was wrong.

The other surprise that he got from this ability was that he was able to identify the real names of gods. Athena, the goddess from the greek pantheon whose familia Hillary had joined, he had heard about her. He didn't know much about that goddess, but he had heard her name once or twice, other than that he was totally oblivious about her.

Reading the name also made him wonder whether knowing the name of the goddess could help him in some way, but couldn't think of anything…

As he stood in the middle of the guild, lost in his thought, a man came from behind and tapped him on the shoulder. He looked back to see Hasan standing behind him. "Shall we go," the giant asked?

He nodded his head and then they started moving.

***

Igor stood on the upper floor of the guild, looking down at Hasan and Gilbert's interaction. As both of them started moving, he turned around and saw two of his man standing by, ready for his command.

He simply nodded at them, and the men nodded back and started moving, trying to catch up with them. Igor wanted this mission to be the last day for Hasan to walk on this hunk of rock, he tolerated him enough, and now it was time to get rid of him…

As he stepped into the office, he saw his secretary waiting for him there, she was sitting on his desk, long gone was her professional look, her hair was out of her bun's bound, she had a few of her shirt's buttons unhooked, giving Igor a clear and beautiful look at beautiful mounds.

"What do we have here? A naughty cat?" he said with a smile. He locked the door behind him and came closer to his naughty cat.

"This cat came bearing gifts." She said as she felt his hand roaming around her butt.

"What might that be?"

"Why dont you dive in and see for yourself," she said while gesturing towards her big mounds.

He smiled and instantly dived in, like a mole digging his way through dirt, he shoveled her mounds gently here and there and soon found what he was looking for. It was a pendant, with a small red color orb at its end. He recognized it instantly, it was a soul orb.