"Village Head, having you as my future Vice Guild Master is a blessing," Lux said with respect. "Please, take this token as well."
"Mmm. Since you asked so nicely, I guess I can work these old bones of mine a bit," Cedwyn replied as he took the red token, making Randolph snort and Grandma Annie smile.
"Heidi will join as well!" Heidi exclaimed.
"Uh… maybe next time." Lux chuckled as he patted the head of the little girl who was feeling competitive with Laura and Livia, who was around the same age as her.
The other Elders of Leaf Village just exchanged glances with each other and shrugged. They felt like joining a guild at their age wasn't a worthwhile thing to do, so they didn't ask Lux to give them red tokens.
Half an hour later, Lux left the Village Head's house and went around Leaf Village to ask some people to join his guild.
"You want me to join your Guild?!" the Innkeeper, who owned the inn and tavern that Lux used to stay in while in Leaf Village, asked with excitement. "Of course I'll join. But I will just stay here in Leaf Village and look after the new members, okay?"
"That's fine, Mr. Jones," Lux replied. "Thank you for your help."
Mr. Jones was the innkeeper that asked Lux for his signature and treated it like a family heirloom. Of course, the Innkeeper didn't recognize the Half-Elf because he was wearing a disguise, but after a private talk and exposing his true identity, the Innkeeper happily agreed to join Lux's Guild.
"Me? Join your Guild?" Aron, the Captain of the Guards in Leaf Village, played with his beard as if deep in thought.
He was surprised to know that the true identity of the chubby boy was Lux, but after connecting the dots, he realized that the only one that could return to Leaf Village after stepping into the Apostle Grade was none other than their Eternal Guardian.
"Okay, but I won't be going anywhere," Aron replied. "My duty is here in Leaf Village. As long as you are fine with that, I don't see a problem joining."
"There's no problem, thank you, Mr. Aron," Lux smiled as he handed a member token to the Dwarf.
Just like what happened to Cadmus and the others, the token merged with the palm of his hand, signaling that he had now become his temporary Guild Member.
Lux had now gathered eleven guild members, and he just needed nine more to finish the quota needed to make a guild before he traveled to the Stronghold of Norria.
He wasn't just randomly inviting people—everyone he had tried to recruit were people whom he thought would play a crucial role in his guild.
The Innkeeper's role would be to give his guild members good accommodations and discounts whenever they decided to stay inside his inn.
This would give his guild members a feeling of exclusivity, which would entice the factionless Solaians who would appear in Leaf Village as their starting point in Elysium.
Aron was the Head of the Guards, whom people usually ask for help whenever a problem arose. If the Guard Captain was part of their guild, wouldn't that mean that they already knew a big shot from the beginning?
He also wanted to recruit the Captain of the Riders of Norria, Boreas, but they were directly under the management of the Stronghold of Norria, which was under the command of the Royal Family.
Lux thought that it might be taken as something offensive if he tried to recruit any of the Riders of Norria to join his guild, so he didn't look for Boreas while he was searching for guild members.
To his surprise, it was Boreas himself who came to find him and ask to become his Guild Member.
"Don't think too much about it," Boreas stated after taking the red token from Lux. "We will leave after you establish your guild. Think of this as a repayment for helping us deal with the Mutated Thunder Wolf King. If you didn't help us back then, I, as well as my men, might have all been buried six feet under by now, or worse, turned into monster poop. Isn't that right, boys?"
"That's right, Captain!"
"This is but a small matter. Just think of it as returning the favor."
"Compared to our lives, such a simple thing isn't even worth mentioning."
The Riders of Norria laughed as they told Lux of how much more comfortable their life had become since the barrier around Leaf Village appeared.
No more Monster Outbreaks befell the small village with the power of the Guardian Crystal.
This gave the Riders plenty of free time, and since they had nothing to do, they decided to escort Lux to the Stronghold of Norria to create his guild.
The journey towards the Stronghold wasn't long. Using the paths that were only known to the Riders of Norria, they were able to arrive at their destination in less than two hours.
They passed several checkpoints along the way, but since Boreas was escorting Lux and his friends, they were able to pass without too many problems.
After several more checkpoints, they finally made it to the Stronghold of Norria, and the first thing Boreas did was report to Commander Thoram that Lux had returned to Leaf Village, prompting the Commander of the Riders of Norria to come and meet the Half-Elf and even escort him towards the Adventurer's Guild in order to back him up.
"Thoram, you must hold this Human in high regards since you personally tagged along," the Guildmaster of the Adventurer's Guild in the Stronghold of Norria, Keelan, said with a smile.contemporary romance
"Well, Lucien and I go way back," Thoram gave the chubby teenager a side-long glance before shifting his attention back to his acquaintance. "Can you help him complete his guild registration?"
Keelan grinned. "Since you have come to vouch for him, even without recommendation letters and the badge that indicates he has completed the Trial of Leadership, I guess I have no choice but to agree to your request."
"Good. I will forget about the drink you owe me from a month ago."
"What a petty Commander. You're still keeping tabs of such a simple thing?"
Keelan laughed as he guided Lux to the Altar Area where Guilds were created.
"Just place your Guild Token on top of the Altar and register the name of your Guild," Keelan explained. "Depending on the Rank of your Token, the Rank of your Guild will rise accordingly."
Lux nodded his head in understanding. He then took out the Dragon Token, which was also the token that he used to summon Keoza, and placed it on the altar.
The Dragon Token glowed faintly and hovered a meter above the altar, proving that it was a legitimate Token, approved by their organization.
"A Dragon Token?" Keelan rubbed his beard. "This is the first time I've seen a Dragon Token used to register a Guild. Maybe he will jump to a Silver-Ranked Guild from the get go."
"Well, I wouldn't be surprised even if it jumps to a Gold-Ranked Guild," Thoram commented. "The design of the token is quite unique. Maybe he found it in some ancient ruins after he left Leaf Village."
—-------
(A/N In case you guys forgot, the known guild rankings in Elysium are Bronze, Iron, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Mithril, Orihalcum, and Adamantite.)
—-------
The Guildmaster and the Commander of Norria made some small talk as Lux started to register his guild.
All he needed to do was write the name of the Guild on the altar, and the registration process would be complete.
As soon as Lux finished writing the name of his guild, a loud tolling of a bell reverberated in the surroundings, which made Keelan and Thoram wonder what was going on.
—-------
Wildgarde Stronghold…
"A bell?" Gerald glanced at the Bell of their Stronghold in the distance. It wasn't moving in the slightest, so he wondered where the sound he was hearing was coming from.
"Is someone casting a spell or something?" Natasha, who was with Gerald, and Rainer, who was performing their routine patrols around the Stronghold, frowned. "This prank isn't funny."
Rainer closed his eyes as he extended his senses throughout the entire stronghold. He was the one who had created the defensive mechanisms protecting their city, so he could easily detect if someone was using any spell that was making the sound of the bell that they were hearing.
"No one is casting a spell," Rainer stated. "This sound is not coming from inside our Stronghold."
The three Guardians were not the only ones who heard the sound. Several people inside the Stronghold were also looking around to see where the sound was coming from. But no matter where they looked, they were unable to see the person responsible for the tolling of the bell that they were hearing.
—----
Barbatos Academy…
"What's that sound?" Alexander asked. "Do you have an event planned for today?"
"No, Headmaster," Alicia replied. "There are no scheduled events for today."
Iris, who was also inside the Headmaster's office, walked toward the balcony to see if someone was playing a prank on them. However, she saw no one in the immediate vicinity, which made her wonder what was happening.
As a Saint, it was very easy for Alexander to detect where the sound was coming from as long as he focused his mind on it, and the result of his investigation made him frown.
'It's coming from the sky?' Alexander thought as he gazed to the heavens. 'Just what is going on?'
—----
Kingdom of Agartha found near the core of the Earth…
A pink-haired young lady, who was bound by several chains, raised her head to look at the ceiling above her head.
She didn't know where the sound was coming from, but the moment she heard it, she felt as if the power inside her chest was starting to fluctuate.
It was as if something from beyond the darkness of her prison was calling out to her, and it made her feel things that she had long discarded after being locked up for the last few years of her life.
"A change is coming," the pink-haired girl muttered as she slowly stood up to raise her hands towards the ceiling, making her chains give out clinking sounds. "A change that will sweep this world by storm."
—----
Kingdom of Espoir Frieden, the Holy Land of the High-Elves…
A beautiful elf narrowed her eyes to look towards the South. The moment she heard the tolling of the bell, her heart started to beat wildly inside her chest.
She didn't know what was happening, but she knew that whatever it was, it would also have an effect on all the Elven Kingdoms, including the Holy Kingdom of the High Elves.
—----
High Above the Skies of Elysium, the floating Island City of the Draconians, Karshvar Draconis…
The current Dragon King opened its eyes as the loud tolling of a bell reached his ears.
"Keoza…" the Dragon King muttered. "After hundreds of years, you have finally made your choice. Good. I look forward to seeing the person you have acknowledged.
—----
The tolling of the bell could be heard in every part of Solais and Elysium. Every creature under the Heavens raised their heads in confusion as they tried to figure out where the sound they were hearing was coming from.
Seated on top of the highest peak of Elysium was the God of Games, Eriol.
A smile could be seen on his face, as he waited for the announcement to the world to be given.
—-----
< Worldwide Announcement! >
< Let it be known that on the 13th day of the Month of Death, in the year of the Crow, the first ever Mythical Guild in the World was created! >
< Spread the news far and wide, and welcome the coming of the Guild that will be known from this day onwards as… >
< Heaven's Gate! >
—-----
done.co