A frustrated hero

Guild

Minutes later we arrived at the guild, I had never been in one before. This place was made of marble stones and had some things written in another language. I felt a little lost in a place like this, there was a big wooden door and a knob to enter. 

The elf did not hesitate to enter and opened the door, and left it open for me to enter. 

My expectations fell when I entered the place. I saw a place that looked more like a bar. There were people at different tables drinking and talking. The tables in that place were made of wood and were a bit dirty. A few drunks were fighting with their hands. I didn't know what to think. 

-Welcome to Thornton's guild. It is one of the two that exist in the city. 

My disappointed face made the boss of this place laugh. 

-Don't be scared, that's how heroes are. When they do a mission they spend their money on anything. You have to blend in with everything, avoid trouble. Ah right about the bet..... Willy, I need you come here. 

And just as I thought at some point, the elf brought a dwarf in front of me. He seemed to be a very tough guy, he was quite well built, he was bald and had a black beard that reached his chest. His eyes were as black as his beard and his clothes looked like they were going to tear at any moment, in short he was a bit small. 

-Well, as I said a few hours ago, we're going to measure your strength, but you're not going to fight. You're going to arm wrestle. 

He was just doing it for fun, maybe to entertain all the people who were here. I was very dismayed, but I wasn't going to give up. I had some muscle in my arms, maybe I could hold on a little. 

A girl who seemed to be the receptionist of the place played along with the boss and pointed out the place where we would be seated. It was a table that was alone and had nothing on it, at least it was clean. 

The dwarf sat down and then I did, we rested our arms and the elf gave the order to start. I started doing some force and suddenly I felt that something scratched my arm. Out of nowhere my hand broke in front of everyone. 

"Crack!" 

At first it didn't hurt at all, but then my body started to feel it that something was wrong and I fell to the ground suffering a completely unbearable pain. I lifted my face a little and the elf out of nowhere made a strange chant and I felt my arm slowly ease up. Until it stopped hurting and I got up again, as if nothing had happened. 

-I lost the bet, well I'll start from level zero. 

He didn't hesitate for a minute and answered me in a very kind way. 

-Don't worry, you'll start from D, you have some strength, most people who have lost to Willy have done it normally. You are the first human to have his arm broken, for opposing his strength. 

I saw him a little disappointed, maybe the elf saw something in me and thought I was special, but he just wanted to help me to see if I did something else. 

I listened to him and headed over there. There was a girl manning the place, long blonde hair, dark glasses, she had brown hair, her face was round and she was wearing a black shirt at the time. 

-Excuse me...I'm new and I want to join this guild. 

She gave me some papers to fill out. I had to put my name and the name of my home country, I was embarrassed for what had happened to me. So I filled them out quickly, but I put the name of another country. I didn't take more than ten minutes there and handed them to her. 

The woman read them and started talking to me. 

-Rank D? You just started in this guild, why do you want to go through the levels like this? 

-I talked to the boss here and he said he could help me. 

The receptionist became even more serious, but she spoke to me. 

Okay, on the board there are several missions, but there are only two for that rank at the moment. Most of them have already been completed, in a few days there will be more. The first is to join a group of heroes who in three days will travel to kill crimson monsters that are destroying a city. The second is to participate in the reconstruction of a kingdom that has been invaded and needs personnel to do all kinds of work. 

As much as I felt the need to go see my family, I didn't want to go, I knew they would kill me for being a former guard, and if one of those who arrested me saw me they would also kill me. The only way to go back was to change my physical appearance and have the courage to go there. I was still very young and lacked experience. I decided to tell that woman the option I was choosing. 

-I'm going to take the first one. 

-Mmm, ok... And well, be careful with the boss, he is still very young. He did a lot of missions and all, but he is still as immature as a child. So please don't play games with him. 

When I heard that I wanted to know what rank he had reached, I was very surprised to hear that, to me he was a normal elf. I turned my face, but he was gone, however something quite strange happened. Several people arrived and I had seen them before. They were the same ones who took us as their slaves to explore the dungeons. I still had the clothes they had captured me in at the time. I tried to leave, but I stood there in fear, I knew I could do nothing against those men. They came to my side and spoke to the reception. 

-The mission in the mountain dungeon was a failure. We used slaves to explore it, but they all died. We won't do it so please give us another B rank. 

She looked a bit annoyed to hear that, but since it was her job she listened to them. 

I tried to sneak out of there, but one of them recognized me. 

-You...you...look like one of our slaves... 

I was forced to turn around to try to calm the atmosphere or I would try to fight, I was not willing to be a toy of those people. 

I turned around and looked at them, I did not hesitate to speak to them. 

-You are wrong, I don't know who you are. 

One of them approached me without hesitation. 

-You look so much like one of our slaves that we sent to explore a dungeon. None of them came out alive, but maybe one of them escaped. 

-You are mistaken, I am... Gabriel, I was born in the Land of Lions, and I came to be an adventurer in this city. 

The man, in spite of that, kept looking at me, doubting very much what I said. And he pulled out a golden dagger and started pointing it in my face. 

I was about to pull out the wooden sword and try it on him, but Willy, the dwarf I had lost to, grabbed him by the arm. 

-Don't mess with him. He's a friend of the guild leader. Well you know how he is, he doesn't like fights here. 

He calmed down a little and reluctantly took off the dwarf's arm. 

-We'll meet again...you're still our property, and even the boss can't intervene. That's what the invasion treaty is for. That whole country already fell under our hands. 

That treaty was a law that all the countries signed to do whatever they wanted when they invaded a place and nobody interfered. Unfortunately, mine was there and never expected something like that to happen. All the people in my town were under their domination which would spread all over the country from what I could hear from the man. 

In my defense I insisted that I lived in the land of Lions to terrify the man. 

-I was born in the land of Lions, I can show you my adventurer's registration card. 

The man with the scar on his face decided to speak up and give his opinion. 

-We will capture him later, it is only a matter of time. Our country is now the biggest, we can easily put a bounty on you and say you escaped. We have nothing against you, but we know you took something from that dungeon. 

I knew it was a lie, they caught us for trying to escape and for fear that we would give notice of what was happening to the rest of the country. It was obvious that they would kill me since they thought I had stolen something from them, they would not leave me alone. I continued in my position as an inhabitant of Tierra de Leones. 

-I am from the Land of Lions, don't get me into their problems. 

I left the guild as fast as I could, to avoid further discussion, and I bumped into an old man. He had no hair, many wrinkles on his face and his eyes were blue. Unfortunately he dropped some objects he was carrying. 

-I'm sorry," I said, a little frightened. 

-Don't worry, it's nothing. 

I wanted to ask him some questions, but out of nowhere he started to pick up everything that had fallen on the floor very quickly, something quite strange for someone his age. I was so surprised that I spoke to him. 

-Wait," I said. 

He stopped and, a little confused, spoke to me. 

-What do you need, young man? 

-Well, you can help me... I'm going on a mission and I don't know much about this. I think you were an adventurer. 

-I see that you have an excellent view...yes I was, but many years ago. Now I'm just an old man who writes documents of this city, if you want I can be your teacher. 

He left me surprised, I didn't think he would be able to offer to help me like that. I didn't refuse, I needed to be ready for my first mission and I wasn't going to throw away an opportunity like that. 

[...] 

I followed that old man without hesitation, he took me to a training area like the one I was once in days ago when I was stopped by the adventurers of that country. 

-Well, young man, let's start, I see you have a very unique sword. Quite to be honest. I've never seen one like it before, where did you find it? 

-In a dungeon... 

I decided to show it to him and without hesitation he looked at it. At first glance it looked like a normal wooden sword, but it cut as if it were made of metal. 

The old man doubted that it had an edge, but out of nowhere it cut. 

-Unbelievable...Well...I think it has an attachment to you, no one else can handle it so no one else can have it. It's strange, as if it was made specifically for you. 

I remembered the stone giant. I didn't understand why he gave something so rare to me, I was not the right person to carry that responsibility, I was nothing but a selfish and a liar. 

While I was thinking, that man gave me a real weapon. 

-Well, let's fight, I feel honored to have a future legend in front of me. 

He had totally changed the way he saw me, I wanted to explain to him who I was, but I saw in him, someone I could imitate and trust.