A frustrated hero

Alfred

I returned to the city of Altamira a little bad, the wounds I had on my body still hurt a lot, although they were not visible. This prevented me from moving freely. 

For all the people of that time I was nothing more than a simple lonely adventurer, so they all saw me walking with and passed by me as if nothing happened. Nobody knew what had happened. I decided to stay in a lonely place in the city, I wanted to think about what I would do from now on.

The room where I was in front of a window, it was almost dark. Those hours caused me some melancholy, I always saw how the sun was setting in the city where I lived all my life. I began to think about what to do from now on. Even though I knew that I could live a normal life without worries, it hurt me a lot to know that everyone I knew had died. A feeling of rage began to take over me in an unbelievable way. 

I took a deep breath and in the midst of my thoughts I decided to take revenge and destroy that kingdom, but first make myself stronger. I was just a lucky adventurer. I survived that situation, but the power I required now was a lot.

Maybe in a year I could be strong enough to infiltrate and bring failure to that place. It wasn't even fully dark yet and the sky clouded over from one moment to the next. Out of nowhere it started to rain in an impressive manner. A storm was coming from somewhere. 

I decided to leave the lodge and train in the middle of the storm. I didn't care about my injuries, this was not a whim, I simply wanted to do it just to get used to places like this. There were dungeons of all kinds and deplorable conditions, where it was very difficult to breathe. It was something I heard when I was a guard and I checked it in the mission I was in.

I didn't care much about getting sick. In this place there were wizards, elves and with some magic all that discomfort would disappear in a few minutes.

[...]

I went out in the middle of the rain that was getting heavier and heavier. On the outskirts of the city there was a pack of cursed wolves. A wizard decided to bring them back to life as training for the novices. Whenever they sensed a human they would attack them luckily there was an announcement at every site where these training activities took place. 

I was totally soaked with some difficulty seeing what was going on around me. Luckily it seemed that in this place there were people who lit the torches in some wooden houses that were around there. Perhaps they had left because of the rain.

I wielded my sword with my rage and approached the place where the wolves were emerging. Dozens of them appeared out of nowhere. I felt a little scared, maybe fifty of them. If I was weaker than them I could die in a few minutes. I hesitated to fight, but it was too late. 

It was too tense a moment, I didn't know if they would attack me, I just tried to stay calm for a few seconds. But they all attacked me at once. It was me against countless beasts.

With my sword I tried to kill the ones closest to me, but there were too many. The rain made the panorama more complicated for me because of the cold and the blurred vision, but I could not run away. The wolves were coming at me with impressive brutality, their jaws were too frightening. And they were red, perhaps from the magua. 

As much as I tried to pace myself, several of them bit me in the body and prevented me from moving freely, but that didn't stop me from continuing to fight.

However, everything got worse. Lightning started to strike everywhere. Even close to where I was.

I got a little scared and wanted to run away. Nature was against me, but I could not turn my back to those creatures. They were too dangerous, they could kill me in one careless moment, but the weather got worse than I thought. 

As if they had some kind of connection, lightning bolts fell close to me as a warning. I got scared and ended up hiding in one of the houses to avoid the two dangers I was facing. I didn't know if I was sleepy or if I ended up fainting from the terror I felt being in such a situation. I just closed my eyes and my body did not respond again.

[...]

The next morning I woke up in someone's house. I was in bandages and my feet were burning. I could not get up. I didn't know how I got there, but I wanted to leave immediately.

Out of nowhere I started to hear someone's footsteps. I turned my face and I could see who was that person who was approaching me. The old man who helped me and wanted to train me was in front of me.

He looked annoyed and had his arms crossed.

-It seems that you didn't learn anything from the fight against the dragons. You could have died, don't put your life at risk again if you are alone.

I put my hand on my forehead and tried to explain to him what had happened.

-Well...I...I wanted to train, but the thunder damaged everything.

-Are you stupid?

-I'm not...

-No one trains with storms. Unless you go on an S mission. There you can be believed, but you don't have the level for one like that.

-Well, I just wanted to be prepared for something like that.

The man kept looking at me.

-It's okay. Adventurers are pretty strange. I have to tell you that there's a pretty good group of adventurers forming, you can learn a lot from them and move up the ranks faster. One of them moved up to A rank.

I was fascinated to hear the idea, but what I wanted was the power to take down a kingdom. I didn't know whether to accept the man's proposal, but it wouldn't hurt to be with them for a while. So I answered him quickly.

-Okay, do you know if they have any requirements?

-Just the desire to travel the world and have various adventures.

I got up from that bed without hesitation. I noticed that my clothes were in tatters, the lightning had affected me a little, but luckily I hadn't died. 

The sword I had looked strange, like a light green tone. While I was trying to get up I tried to talk to the man, for his hospitality to me.

-I will pay him when I come back from my missions.

-Don't worry, it's enough to be your teacher. I just want you to become a hero. That's what I expect from you. You were lucky that some adventurers found you. 

I was a little embarrassed to owe a stranger, besides I hadn't trained for a long time with him, so I decided to try again.

-Let's fight.

-You still have a long way to go, even with that sword you won't be able to beat me. I was a hero once, but today I am nothing more than an old man who aspires to create new legends. 

Hearing that man full of nostalgia gave me some of my anger towards the country that hurt me so much, but I was not willing to leave my revenge behind. 

[...]

I went straight to the guild to look for the group of adventurers who needed new recruits.

I felt a bit tired, I didn't know what to do. I thought for a moment about not going there, but it was an opportunity I couldn't miss.

When I least expected it, I was in front of the wooden doors of the guild. I pushed them to enter there. 

What I saw left me a little worried. There were dozens of people there. All perhaps trying to get into the group of adventurers.

I walked to a line that was there and looked at my face in one of the mirrors of the place. I saw myself there and was totally surprised. I was no longer the man I once was. I had a weird red beard. I didn't know why this was happening to me. I concluded that it was because I was exposed to so many dangers and changes from the healing I had experienced the last few days, so with my new appearance I decided to move on.

As I was thinking little by little the line began to move forward and as it appeared several people signed up. A bearded man was the one who wrote down the names of each of the people who were interested in joining that group.

-Tell me, why do you want to join this group?

-I just want to get stronger and have experience. Alone I won't be able to improve much.

-Ok, then welcome to the group, but tomorrow we start the journey to the north of the continent. We already have enough members to start the mission we need.

-Eh... excuse me, what mission? -I asked.

-We have to explore a dungeon, which has already been searched. Unfortunately it is very big and many people are needed for this mission. If you are afraid you can give up.

-I am not willing to continue.

The man gave me some kind of paper. I assumed it was for something to identify me. I took it and put it in one of my pockets.

This mission had me a bit pensive, I didn't know what I would find in that dungeon. Maybe it was a mysterious place that appeared out of nowhere and formed little by little over the years. 

While I was thinking about what I could find in that place. I saw those men who were chasing me, but they did not recognize me. They seemed to be drunk, laughing at anything. I was calm and ignored them. I wished not to meet them again. Until I could face them.

As I was about to leave the guild, I remembered the boss of this place. I had not been able to talk to him, even though I was already staying at the old man's house. I had to talk to him sooner or later.

[...]

The next day I took my things and headed to the guild for my mission. I noticed that there was an argument going on there. It looked like it was a confrontation between two people, but I was surprised to see the head of the guild there. And they were trying to separate him. 

It seemed strange to me. He was an elf and his race generally avoided fighting and was peaceful. The person he was apparently having this altercation with was another elf, but he looked quite young. 

I ignored what was going on and entered the guild, not caring about the people around me. To my surprise, it seemed that all the people outside were members of my group. When I wanted to leave, they entered the place.

I counted almost a hundred people on the site. I noticed that the elf who had fought with the boss was our leader. He was tall like most of his race, only he had long white hair in a braid, a wide green hat, red eyes, and fine facial features. All the adventurers surrounded him. I was quite thoughtful, it was very strange. 

That elf started talking and said a few words to rule people out.

-Well, the dungeon we will enter is a bit complicated, little by little different adventurers are arriving from different places, but they haven't gone through it completely, it is believed that some of them haven't even shown up. This is not going to be easy. I will not judge the one who abandons.

Little by little a group of people began to leave the place. Until less than half of them were left.

-Well...I hoped there weren't that many, but whatever. Welcome to the Dusno's little group. There are currently only nine of us, but counting those who stayed we are thirty-two. Anyway, we are already registered for this mission. We must go and meet up with the other groups that will explore this place. When we get to the city we will buy clothes to identify each other. 

It seemed a little strange to hear this. It all seemed too improvised and no one was saying anything. I was very hesitant to go on, but the old man's recommendation left me thinking a bit.

[...]

Before noon we all took our places in floats. It was a caravan that would go to different places in the course of the journey. Each one would take his own course.

I felt strange, for me everyone was a bunch of strangers. I didn't feel safe in that place. I thought about leaving the group, but I wanted to give this mission a chance. 

Each float could hold six or so people. We only needed five to leave. Our leader came to us and gave us some directions.

-Well, in those five we will start our journey.

I was a little annoyed to see that he got the ones that were in the worst condition. They looked old and with repairs in several parts, besides the horses looked quite tired. I felt it was unbelievable that they put us in their group, they didn't seem to have much money.

I was a little surprised to see that some of them went all the way to the floats without even complaining about what was going on. They seemed to be willing to put up with anything to make a living.

I was the last one to go to the floats. I was still a little unsure of my new mission.

I walked slowly until I reached the chariot where I would travel. There I noticed that the elf who was leading the group was in it.

I tried to sit away from him. I felt a little tense, as I didn't know what kind of problem I had had with the guild leader. It was too weird for me.

I just sat down and tried to get into a proper position, but out of nowhere he started talking to us.

-Eh....Good morning, I'm Alfred, I'm the leader of this group. It's a pleasure to meet you. I just hope we get along well. 

A bearded man with blue eyes, a red cape, and a blindfold on one of his eyes spoke. He was a bit annoyed, he dropped the formality and spoke frankly.

-We are not interested in getting along with you. We just want to have experience. That's all.

-Okay, well, please avoid fighting in the dungeon with other adventurers. Take what you see of value and leave, that's all.