The dust storm lasted for nearly five hours and forced them to spend another three hours digging their cart out from the windblown sand. Arthur learned that dust storms could last anywhere from a couple of minutes to a few days, which was concerning. The four tried to explain to him that they were unbelievably lucky since no lightning had struck them, and he didn't have the heart to tell them it wasn't the case. He was tired and barely had any mana left after the seven direct hits they received. He was glad that he had managed not to use his mana storage items, but if the storm had lasted any longer, he would have been forced to. He managed to pretend everything was fine until he fell asleep. The next morning, they packed their things early and moved out.

  They reached the city in the late afternoon, and as they passed through, heard news that Bishop Hiijan and his five most trusted Priests had gone missing the previous night. A part of the Bishop's residence was damaged by a large monster, and some eyewitnesses claimed that a huge Lion had scaled the walls of the city and attacked the Bishop. Most probably, the Bishop and his aides were dead and the remaining priests had gone to Lord Howthorns to seek his protection.

  Arthur, who played innocent, took it calmly and expressed his sorrow to hear the news. Mostly for the sake of onlookers who might be working for who knows who. However, without the pesky Bishop, making the local temple work for Sion should be easy. Nonetheless, he kept that thought to himself. They got to the adventurers' centre after they returned the carriage to Benjamin. Val'narii Ashfallen entered the building as if it belonged to her, and everyone hushed upon seeing her expression. She took her place behind the desk and cleared her throat, making a small crowd gather nearby.

  "Lord Ives killed the Armoured Lion in a single combat before my very eyes." She declared which caused a loud murmur of voices. Some of the people looked outraged, but she nodded towards Arthur. "Please, take out the evidence, Sir."

  Arthur shrugged and summoned the dead body of the large feline, which caused an additional uproar of excited voices. One tall Human approached the beast and shook his head in disbelief as he placed his hand on an old wound on the monster's body.

  "Undoubtedly it's the same Lion that has plagued us for the last months." He said. "I recognise the wound I inflicted myself before I had to run for my dear life..."

  The man turned towards Arthur and bowed deeply.

  "My name is Cassam Sif, the A-rank Adventurer. You have my gratitude for slaying this monster, Lord Ives." The Human warrior said.

  "I don't want to come out as vain, but that wasn't a problem." Arthur slightly inclined his head, which seemed to be well received. "I hunted far more dangerous creatures in my life."

  At least that wasn't a lie. Hunting Voidlings and Chaos Spawns was far more dangerous. The man looked at him for a short while until he thoughtfully nodded.

  "I somehow believe you." The man said with respect and smiled. "There are some nasty creatures around, so I think you won't be bored, Sir."

  Arthur laughed and looked at Val'narii, who nodded with a serious expression. Cassam returned to the crowd and no one else approached the lion. The branch manager procured three identification plates made of copper and gave them to Catherine, Silfa, and Ben.

  "You are qualified to be registered as E-rank adventurers." The Dark Elf announced with a smile.

  Arthur smiled, since that certainly made things easier. As he had been informed earlier, the Adventurers usually started their career at the rock bottom of the ranking with G-rank. Having rank E allowed them to take far better jobs.

  "However, the biggest problem I have is how to rank someone like you, Lord Ives." Val'narii shook her head. "The highest tier I can give you without approval from Central is B-rank. However, we all know that someone who could singlehandedly kill the level eighty Armoured Lion is an A-rank at worst but most probably an S-rank."

  "Well... As long as I can take whatever picks my interest..." Arthur shrugged. "It should rank me up sooner or later."

  "Unfortunately, that's not the case. As the B-rank, you will be able to take only the B and A-rank jobs. Well, lower rank jobs as well, but that's not the point. You won't be able to rank up for three months, Sir Ives, which might be an inconvenience..."

  "Hmmm..." Arthur walked towards the quest board and looked at the available quests.

  They were marked with a stamp indicating a required tier as he expected. Most of the jobs seemed old and they were mostly S and SS grade. All of them were interesting simply for the payments they offered alone.

  "So I can't take those?"

  "Unfortunately..." Val'narii shook her head.

  "Oh? Do you have someone cocky enough to try to hunt down S-tier monsters?" A raspy man's voice came from the door.

  "Region Director!" The Dark Elf woman paled in shock. "No one told me about your arrival!"

  "I hope so!" The man walked towards her counter with a wry smile. "That's how the inspections should work. I'm here to check why you have so many unresolved quests."

  He stopped near the Lion's body and took a better look.

  "I..." She blushed in embarrassment.

  "So you finally took down that Armoured Lion... A nice specimen." The man inspected the body with a professional expression on his face. "Parts preserved perfectly, nothing broken... If not for traces of the water magic, I would have said that it died on its own. Excellent job, whoever did it."

  The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  "That... That would be Lord Arthur Ives, Sir Soren!" She pointed at Arthur with a smile. "He wanted to register as a freelance adventurer, and he had the letter of recommendation, so I oversaw his test..."

  "Oh? Excellent work, for a noble, Sir." The man looked at Arthur. Unimpressed. "So?"

  "I wanted to grant him B-rank, Sir! But truth be told, I wanted to petition to grant him a much higher rank. He might be S or even SS..."

  The man laughed as he looked at Arthur with a hard gaze.

  "Good one." He stopped laughing and pointed to the stairs leading underground. "To the training facility, Lord... We will duel and I will assess how strong you are."

  Arthur looked at the man and shrugged, then moved his gaze to Val'narii, who raised both thumbs up and smiled encouragingly.

  "Very well." Arthur turned and started down the stairs.

  The training arena was a fairly big reinforced room illuminated by many light runes. It was at least seven metres tall and had some spectator seats set up near the entrance. Arthur walked through the thin layer of sand that must have been scattered purposefully on the stone floor. It would certainly make his footing less stable and could even make him slip if he isn't careful. He eyed Soren, whose steps were heavy and deliberate. Catherine, Ben, Silfa, Val'narii, and even Cassam sat in the first rows, followed by most of the adventurers.

  "The rules are extremely simple," Soren explained as he took out his massive, two-handed sword from his holding space along with his armour. "Impress me."

  The man was suddenly enveloped in a bubble of red mana and rushed forward.

  "A Berserker..." Arthur nodded to himself, and still wearing his casual attire, just put on his armoured gloves. "In terms of the combat capabilities, you couldn't find yourself a worse enemy, Sir Soren."

  Arthur activated his Ultimate Defence skill and allowed the Berserker to strike him. The hit was fully absorbed by Arthur's skill and the surprised Director staggered back. The Paladin used this opportunity to punch the man in his chest, but he made sure not to harm him too much. Despite his best efforts, the Berserker's chest plate was dented. Arthur sighed and continued.

  "A Berserker like you relies on powerful strikes and usually wears down their opponent in a short exchange of blows that can only be described as a battle of attrition." He explained loudly as he stepped inside Soren's reach to block his another blow. "However, I'm a Paladin, Sir Soren. You can't wear me down or even deal enough damage so that I would normally consider withdrawing. At least, not during the duration of your Berserker's Fury skill. Even if you could inflict any wound on me, I will heal before you can take any advantage of it."

  "Interesting!" Soren laughed. "Interesting and refreshing to finally see someone who isn't all muscle for brains."

  The Director cast three buffs in a quick succession and dashed at Arthur, only to change the angle of his attack at the very last moment. Arthur danced around and dodged the blade, but he wasn't in any real danger for the next three minutes. He crossed his arms and allowed Soren to hit him as he pleased.

  "That's an impressive skill but it won't get us anywhere. Would you mind turning it off?" The Berserker puffed with a grin.

  "Very well." Arthur shrugged and cancelled the skill. He suddenly realised that Soren didn't want anyone to learn its exact duration and he cursed himself. Pride and vanity truly walk before the fall.

  Arthur put on his sparring armour and one of the swords he looted from the many bandits that had tried, and failed, to kill him. Only a plain shield with the Inquisitorial emblem was flashy enough to gain any comments, but Soren furrowed his brows. Arthur pushed, relying only on his physical superiority. The level difference alone was huge enough to put Soren to shame. The Director was just level eighty after all. Their swords clashed and Soren was clearly having fun during their duel. After nearly half an hour of fighting where Soren was unable to land a hit on Arthur and the latter was clearly unwilling to strike his opponent, the duel ended.

  "I'm really impressed, Lord Ives." Soren gasped for air. "You gave those old bones a run for their money, I won't lie..."

  "I wouldn't say you are that old..." The Inquisitor laughed and offered a towel to the Director who gave him a better look and started laughing even harder.

  "You don't even break a sweat!" He accepted the towel and wiped his face. "All right kids! The spectacle is over. Val'narii, Lord Ives, and your companions, let's speak in the office."

  They moved to the office on the highest floor where they sat on couches facing each other with a low table between them. Only then did Soren take a deep breath and look at Val'narii who sat behind her desk.

  "Two weeks ago, the Regional Office received an anonymous letter that your branch is poorly managed and that you were neglecting your duties." He said with a grim voice, and the Branch Manager paled. "I wasn't supposed to see that letter..."

  "But..." She gasped and clenched her fists. “That’s…”

  "A pile of bullshit? Yes." He nodded briefly. "However, the way it was written warranted an audit. Guess who was very eager to get on your back?"

  "Sara?" The Dark Elf sighed.

  "And her incompetent brother." The Director nodded. "However, by pure coincidence, I was auditing their office while they received the letter. Of course, they were outraged that I decided to continue my audit in your branch."

  "But... Who wanted to take me out of the picture? Because that's what we are talking about, right?" She asked with concern and looked at Arthur, who pretended he wasn't listening.

  "I have no clue, but this stinks, and isn't just about your petty rivalry with Sara. Something is going on. A lot of Adventurers have been going missing recently. Most of them weren't particularly on good terms with the crown and the Temple, but I have no clues other than suspicions. Many Dark Elves disappeared as well. Entire families seemed to flee somewhere and I only learnt that a word "Sal'aat" was spread among them."

  "Gods..." Val'narii covered her face. "I beg you, Soren, keep it secret!"

  "What's going on, Val'narii?" The Director asked with a soft voice.

  She was quiet for a long moment before she looked right at Arthur.

  "It's the evacuation order, Director. If the elders decided to take our people away, I'm afraid that something worse than the current persecution is coming. Maybe not immediately, maybe in a few months, or even years, but it was decided that the weakest had to flee at the first sign of the approaching cataclysm."

  Thank you all for reading.

  I wish you all a great day and as always I wait for your comments.

  A big thanks to and who edited the chapter!