CH744 (Patreon)

“No one,” Ben repeated, already going through their mind to try and see more context. “If you’d seen how much I’ve been offering, you should know pretty damn well that’s impossible.”

“Ah, it’s unfortunate but sometimes things turn out this way,” They tried to say, sounding stiff while Ben managed to see in their memories exactly what had caused it while he tried to keep himself contained.

It seemed the paper they’d read hadn’t shown that he hadn’t received any takers but instead had a note telling whatever employee ended up reading it to tell him as much, meaning for whatever reason, the adventurers guild had made the intentional choice to not help one of their first ranks.

He clenched his fists and took a deep breath before unclenching, already feeling like whatever was happening was going to be a pain to deal with as he spoke again.

“Alright, listen, I know this isn’t your fault but I also know you’re lying so is your guild master in so I can deal with them or do I have to track down wherever they live to demand answers on their doorstep?”

“...Just one moment, I’ll get them for you.”

“Oh, I think I’ll follow along, thanks.”

He didn’t want to give them any time to be warned about who he was or why he was there and much to the employee’s discomfort he walked behind them, through a hallway and up some stairs until ending up in front of another door that the employee tried to knock on, failing entirely as Ben just let himself in.

“Hello there,” He said in forced cheer. “I’ve come for answers and I’m hoping you wanna do this the easy way.”

The man on the other side didn’t immediately respond, at first looking more surprised than anything before their attention turned to the employee Ben had come with, waiting for some context while they tried to shrink into themself.

“Ahem, first-rank adventurer, Ben Heph, here with concerns about his recently submitted quest.”

While that didn’t get any visible reaction, Ben was already in his mind and could feel the worry such a statement brought while he continued on with his false cheer.

“Yep, that’s me and while I’ll at least say for your poor employee’s benefit that they didn’t let on that you lot had decided to suppress my quest for some reason, let’s be real, it was obvious. Who would believe I wouldn’t get a single taker when I was offering so much? Honestly, get better at lying. So now the only question is why.”

“I’m sorry, but I’m not at liberty to say.”

Ben could feel the fear in the other man even as he said it. Since Ben was at the first rank that meant he had at least two awakened skills, more than enough to tear the place apart if they were combat-oriented if he was angry enough and despite the feelings of good cheer he was trying to project, it was plenty clear he was seething inside.

He might have even given in to those feelings too, if not for the fact that he’d gotten the answer he wanted from the other man’s mind, telling him all he needed to know. The quest hadn’t been denied at his discretion but had come from the very top, with that guild not even getting a reason as to why, giving Ben somewhere else to direct his rage as he asked only one thing more.

“Where can I find the head guild location?”

---

Returning to a city Ben had been to twice before, he was once more at warriors’ tower, walking the streets he’d once rioted through to end up at a grand building that made up the home of the main branch of the adventurers' guild and let himself in, finding the place swarmed.

It shouldn’t have been a surprise, as the biggest branch he’d seen by far in a city that was wholly devoted to developing one’s combat skills, there were plenty who would take the job, both to prove themselves and as a form of practice in whatever spare time they had so it was bound to be busy but at least it was staffed well, with the line he went in moving smoothly as he got to the front while he tried to keep his feelings under control.

It was hard though. He’d been working so hard and now it looked like someone had decided to get in his way without so much of an explanation. It couldn’t help but enrage him when the entire reason he was doing it was for the sake of growing to help the planet as a whole. He was constantly forcing himself to keep calm as he made his way to the front, a guild receptionist greeting him politely once he got there.

“Hello, how can I help you today?” They asked, with Ben’s card already out and at the ready, showing his status as both an apostle and a rank one adventurer.

“I’m here to talk to the guild leader, they should be expecting me.”

“Uh, just one moment, I haven’t heard about him having any meetings set up today.”

“Oh, we don’t have one but seeing as how he intentionally suppressed a quest from a rank one adventurer without any sort of explanation and tried to keep the entire thing a secret, he absolutely should have known I was coming to see him.”

He said it loudly, wanting others to hear and it got some murmurs around him. The guild generally wouldn’t reject a quest from such a high-ranked individual but to do it without so much as an explanation as to why was unreasonable.

Stating that so clearly made the employee look uncomfortable as well but they tried to keep in control of the situation given they only had his side of the explanation.

“I’m sorry to hear you’ve had problems, if you’d just take a seat for a moment I’ll get someone to you as soon as I can find one who might be able to tell you what happened.”

“Oh, thanks but I’m not really one to wait around.”

Without waiting for a response he left the line and started walking towards the office he wanted. He’d already seen in their head where it was and that the guild leader was in, he wasn’t going to wait for them to give him the runaround, even as different employees caught on to what he was doing and followed to try and stop him.

“Sir, no matter your rank you still need to wait,” One said, grabbing his arm and ending up pulled along as Ben ignored him, forcing them to look back to the others. “I’ll need some assistance for this one!”

More hands grabbed onto him but with no luck slowing him down. With all of his awakenings tied into the potions he’d drank and his near-constant training, he was simply too strong for even an average adventurer to stop, let alone the staff, and when one eventually resorted to trying a sleep spell on him, only for it to fail too, did they realize how out of their league he was.

That didn’t keep them from trying though as he eventually made it to the door, kicking it in and forcing the one inside to rise to their feet.

“What in the name of-”

“Ben Heph, rank one adventurer,” He said loudly, finally forcing off the ones that had clung to him. “ That would be the name you need to worry about right now, seeing as how you decided to get in the way of my quest without so much as a word why.”

The answer got him a glare but Ben didn’t care as he walked over to the desk, and seeing there was no seat on the other side of it for him to use, made a point of materializing one for whatever intimidation factor that would give before sitting down.

“So, mister bigshot man in charge, why exactly did you decide to cancel my quest while telling the guild I put it through to just pretend nobody accepted?”

Still glaring, the guild head looked over his shoulder and waved away those who were standing at the door before focusing back on Ben.

“Misallocation of guild resources. You’ve already put in one inappropriate quest in the past and I’m aware of how many of our books you’ve had sent for. You can’t simply do what you want and get away with it. Perhaps consider some of your actions while I’m being lenient and get out of here before I strip you of your rank and call the guards.”

More rage flooded Ben’s heart, not for what he’d been told but for the real reason he’d seen in the man’s memories as to why his quest had been stopped, leaving him to materialize a knife and plunge it into the desk in front of him while speaking in a cold voice.

“High vitality enhancement, level zero. High spearmanship, level zero,”

“What are you-” The guild leader tried to ask as Ben materialized another knife, once more plunging it through the wood in front of him all the way to its hilt as he went on.

“Air augmentation, level eight. Thrust enhancement, level four. Pain resistance, level four. Laceration resistance, level three…”

Ben went on, listing skills and levels while materializing more knives to stab into the desk as the guild leader understood what Ben was doing. Aside from the obvious intimidation, he was listing the other’s entire status.

“And finally, cooking, level zero,” He finished, plunging in a tenth knife. “You can’t lie to me and you sure as fuck can’t hide anything from me, so why don’t we get to the truth of the matter and the reason you blatantly abused your position. Your god asked you to not allow my request to go through.”

It was a fact that had him fuming as he resisted the urge to track them down to get whatever experience he could to his sacrilege then and there. He didn’t know why but the one the guild leader had worshiped had seen fit to step in to stop Ben from getting his quest but there were clearly no good intentions behind it, with the guildmaster not faltering.

“Fine, that’s correct but now that you know is all the more reason to give up. If the gods don’t want you to do it then do yourself a favour and try to atone for whatever got you in their bad books and get the hell out of my office.”

“No, it’s not gods, it’s god, singular, and as the leader of one of the most prominent global organizations on the planet, it’s your job to remain impartial. You can’t be letting others influence your choices when it comes to the people under you.”

“We’re not talking about some random other, we’re talking about a deity. Say what you will and threaten me how you’d like, you won’t be seeing me changing my mind.”

Ben had to stop himself from hurting the man. Too many of his minds were edges away from materializing and others were prepared to actualize since he could inflict mental damage that way without leaving wounds but he held himself back in the end, just barely. 

He was enraged in ways he rarely had been before and he was being mistreated for reasons he didn’t know but that wasn’t an excuse to go so far as to maim or murder a person.

But he also couldn’t do nothing. If he didn’t let out a bit of his anger then he was going to explode and since he could see there was no changing the other’s mind he ripped from him all of the mana his body held without another word, forcing him to mana exhaustion before using his magic to turn the other’s clothing to dust and materialized bottles and alcohol to fill the room, pouring it over him while he was passed out at his desk before walking out back to the main hall and enchanting one of his bracelets to act as a microphone for all to hear.

“Man, I can’t believe the guild leader is passed out naked and drunk at work. I knew he was unprofessional but I wasn’t expecting it to be that bad!”

With how loud he was it got plenty of attention and while most eyes ended up on him, more than a few went to see what he was talking about while he left the building to whatever chaos would unfold, instead speaking up to the sky.

“Myriad, you better be free right now. I have a pretty big complaint and I’m expecting a meeting with the gods as soon as possible to get it resolved.”

<Oh hell, what is it already?>

“One decided to get their believer to keep me from putting a quest through. Seeing as how I’m pretty damn unhappy about that, I want to get that resolved before I go to burn their church down.”

<What happened? Hold on, if you’re telling the truth then this is actually rather serious so give me a little bit, I’ll make sure all relevant parties know.>

“Okay, thanks.”

He’d tried to sound calm with his god but the moment he went off, Ben punched the guild wall, feeling stone crack under his attributes and the significant buff he was getting from his ill intent before walking away to some quiet alley so he could sit on the ground, lost in his thoughts.

No matter what I try to do, someone always has to get in the way.

His anger slowly gave way to his frustration and he covered his eyes to block out the world, waiting for Myriad to get back to him.