CHAPTER FOUR.

YOU AREN'T TECHNICALLY SUPPOSED TO BE HERE. Or maybe you are.

This meetup is purely for S-Class adventurers. You've technically retired, but still, you find yourself receiving the invitation. Part of you was simply going to ignore it, but then you remembered Sora tended to rile people up with his manner of speaking—and went on to the event with him.

Right off the bat you notice the majority come from XinHua, and very little comes from the streets of Eudora, or the city known for its ruin—Fermi. There's some littered in between from Solaria, Nightshade, and more, but you can't be bothered.

You see the looks of disdain that get cast by the S-Class adventurers of lower castes. The stereotypes are shitty around here: you know what people think of you and Sora. Elite, Upper-Class, overrated, arrogant,  filthy rich. Sora doesn't care. He can turn them to corpses and use his necromancer ability anytime, and don't they know it.

You can spot several familiar faces. There's Lovell from Fermi—the female archer who has some healing attribute, like Dior. There's Finn, the guy from Eudora that continues to throw angry glances at Sora (he claims that they're in a rivalry. Sora would like to differ. He doesn't even remember his name), and...there's still plenty of unfamiliar faces. The number of S-Class Adventurers seems to have increased due to new (illegal) ways of triggering attributes to awaken. Meanwhile, the chairwoman of the Capital Adventurer Guild claps her hands to get the attention of the milling adventurers.

Her name is Patricia. You recognise her fast enough after seeing her name plastered on newspaper cuttings—long, jet black hair usually put up in a severe bun, glasses perched on her bumpy nose, her immaculately pressed suit. She's young, but her perpetual seriousness gives the illusion of her being much older.

There are a bunch of top tier guilds littered around Infinitum, but hers is the administrative one. She's part of the government that lords over Infinitum's basic rules, basically—each region, though different, has a basic set of rules to abide by. The Capital Adventurer Guild is a subset of the government of Infinitum—and it approves the guilds made as well as oversees the rules.

Sora's guild is technically more powerful in terms of raw abilities, but the Capital has more power regarding politics and administrative matters. It doesn't bother Sora, though—as far as he's bothered, he has the whole region in the palm of his hand. Those who've tried to take him down now serve him as shadows.

Meetings like this don't happen often. So the only logical deduction is that this meeting is for an implementation of a new rule—new change to the system.

"Thank you all for making your way here," Patricia says smoothly, "I've thought about this decision and worked with it tirelessly with my colleagues."

Someone yawns. Patricia can't really hurt them—she's A-Rank, so yes, she is strong—but this is a room filled with S-Class Adventurers. Another one plays with the dagger they have hanging on their ear as earrings, making an occasional metallic cling sound out.

Patricia only smiles. She knows the eccentricity and quirks of geniuses too well. She's a genius too, in her own right, yet part of you heartily dislikes her. She's sly, like a fox. She's gotten her position with her connections, weaseling her way into the upper echelons of Infinitum's information network with her wits. You heard rumors of her supposedly conducting some illegal activities where she disguised work camps as orphanages, or tinkering with some lab experiments said to create formulas for triggering attributes. Mainly, she's trying to model her efforts after some successful Project years back.

Her goal, as you heard, was to create some sort of weapon against humanity. Crazy villain shit. You don't give a damn, though.

"This might be interesting for you power hungry folks," she says sweetly, "I'm very much aware that we have leaderboards—both global and regional—but it's about time to expand the ranks, don't you think?"

A burst of murmur erupts. There's shifting of feet, sputters, eyes widening. Patricia smiles, delighted by the unrest—then she taps the air in front of her twice, making a hologram pop up before her. It's big enough so that everyone in the room can see it, and immediately you can see the whole list of S-Class adventurers lined up nearby. A hundred and fifty nine.

"A hundred and fifty nine of S-Class Adventurers." Patricia confirms. "It's quite a lot—which is good, as monsters are appearing more and more—but the S-Class position should be special, right? It's become a little too broad. The power imbalances within S-Class Adventurers are too strong. Sora, for example, could kill you all in an instant. And you, Louis, stand no chance with anyone. You barely made it to S-Class."

A ginger haired male swallows and jumps. He's a poor little thing—looks around middle aged, having sailed right into a stale mid life crisis with his attribute growth stagnating. Sora tilts his head beside you; he doesn't look impressed, nor proud. After all, to him, that should be the case. He should be able to annihilate all of them.

You frown. Where is she going with this?

"To make it more conducive for the Capital to work with each of you and cater to your individual needs, We like to introduce SS-Class, and SSS-Class," Patricia continues. "You will be able to scan the screen with your individual adventurer IDs to find out your own rank. Then, a main grouping of the classes will be displayed on the leaderboard."

The gasps ripple around the room. People start to check their screens frantically, all panicked—they're used to be being the cream of the crop, and they won't be used to being lower than someone. You furrow your eyebrows—does this apply to you? After all, you're a mere bartender now.

"SSS-Class," Sora reads off beside you, giving a little sigh. "Really, there isn't a SSSS class around here?"

"Quiet," you frown. You press your Adventurer ID to the hologram floating before you (you carry that around as a means of identification) and then you stare at it in disbelief.

"SSS-Class," you say, completely flummoxed. "Wait—what? Is that some stupid little error—"

Hell, in your six years in this game, you haven't done a single proper mission. Sure, there's the occasional let's do this killing mission together that you've done with Sora, but...

Missions rack up points, which allows you to advance up the ranks. But if points really determined the rank, it didn't make sense why you would be SSS-Class. Sure, [Name] is fucking powerful—but—

Patricia seems to be able to read your mind. She can hear the obvious displeasing remarks and shock around the room ("I cleared so many missions this year! I'm still at S-Class!"), and she quickly interrupts.

"Dear adventurers," she intones, "take note of another change—while other lower adventurers will be able to advance the ranks with points from missions, S-Classes and above will not be able to do so. From here onwards, it's a pure test of skil. We have deemed points to be useful for competitiveness, and thus the point leaderboard will still remain—but we cannot deny that it has remained a loophole to allow for less worthy people to obtain the S-Class title. And hence, points will no longer be able to be used to advance up the ranks in S-Class."

"That's bullshit!" Someone yells from afar, "I worked my ass off!"

"And hence, why you're fifth on the points leaderboard," Patricia says, "you'll still be rewarded for your efforts, but you can't advance anymore. From now on, it's monthly evaluations. People who are now above S-Class will be able to access Grade 10 monster gates without the authority of the Capitol. They do not need guilds either, and can clear them individually."

"I prefer this system," Sora whispers to you, a—flirty?—some on his face—"look at the board. It's just the two of us in SSS-Class."

Sure enough, on the glaring screen that has now materialized, you and Sora are the only ones in that category. About sixteen are in the SS-Class. You can see scowls deepen when they see that the only two in the highest class are from XinHua, the golden region.

Technically, your position makes sense given Patricia's explanation. But is [Name]'s skill really that strong?

You raise your hand. Patricia's eyes light up as they land on you. She has a strange, money grabbing look in her eyes, and she practically licks her lips in some devilish, off-putting way as she chirps: "[Name]! What is it?"

"I'm retired," you sputter. "I'm not an Adventurer anymore," you say, "this doesn't make sense. I only came to accompany my friend."

Sora's face looks irked at the last word, but still you continue. "I haven't been active at missions. My powers have probably dwindled."

"Well," Patricia says slowly, "we're hoping you can come back to it. Your skill and talent isn't to be brushed aside. We'll reward you handsomely."

Her cajoling tone makes you snap.

"Well, fuck that," you snarl. "I'm a fucking bartender now. You know, mixing drinks, making people drink? That's what I do now."

Her expression darkens for a moment. "You registered as an Adventurer. You can't just tap out of it."

You throw the guild ID at her. "Here. Happy?"

"[Name]," she says calmly, as she passes you back your ID. "You were sixteen when you signed up to be an adventurer. And to be an adventurer is a forever thing—it's a contract that goes on forever."

Sixteen. Dammit. Two years before you transmigrated here. Fuck you, original [Name].

"You're awfully powerful," Patricia says, "and if you aren't going adventurer work—if you aren't benefiting Infinitum—your powers are essentially a hazard to society. You—"

A shadow flits out and claps a hand onto Patricia's lips. Her words become muffled, and she struggles to breathe with such a meaty, slinky shadowy hand on her and—

—she coughs as the shadow returns underneath the ground. You smile softly, as you nudge Sora. "Thank you."

Obviously, this feat is seen by everyone. An open defiance towards the Capitol, the law—the government—is a usual death sentence. But for Sora, it is nothing. It's always been nothing to him.

"Mr Selasta," Patricia snaps, "such behavior isn't accepted so easily."

Sora intertwines his hand with yours. He smiles brightly. "Don't disrespect my loved one. Why, need me to shut you up again?"

You stiffen. There he is again—now in front of everyone—doing some strange things. Dressing you up with endearments, being touchy...

...you hear the whispers.

.

.

"They're dating?"

"Like attracts like."

"Damn, if they could have children, they would be massively overpowered."

.

.

"Stop joking around," you whisper sharply to Sora. "What the fuck are you doing?"

"Nothing," Sora says cheerfully. "But you are someone I love, aren't you?" He continues sweetly, tilting his head. There's practically a fucking flowery aura radiating off him. "Don't you love me too?"

As brothers. He probably means he loves you as family. Brotherhood. Plus, he's been good to you. You don't want to be dismissive towards him. So you smile and grit your teeth, your words sounding strange as they escape through the small gaps of your gums.

"I love you too."

Fuck it. You're just saying I love you like you would to a family.

There's nothing strange about that, is there?

—

FRONT PAGE OF THE INFINITY AND BEYOND'S DAILY ISSUE: Sora Selesta and [Name] L/n rumored to be dating. The power couple exchanged heated confessions after Sora Selastia shut the Chairwoman of Capitol up with his necromancer abilities. What can we be expecting from this couple?

SECOND PAGE OF THE INFINITY AND BEYOND'S DAILY ISSUE: S-Class ranks to expand; point system within S-Classes to be abolished. Sora and [Name] to be the only two SSS-Classes. Sora, who has recently defeated the Grade 12 Monster by himself, and [Name] who was last seen working as a bartender under the Selasta Group, which Sora runs. Is this a call for [Name] to return back to work?

—

Axel crushes the newspaper. He knows it's almost old fashioned of him to be reading the newspaper; instead of just scrolling online—but he can't help it. He likes old things. He finds comfort in traditions.

Which is why he absolutely despises this new development.

You, dating another person?

No fucking way.

He hums, tears the paper up, and discards it along with all the other stupid NMOX mail he's been getting. He can't get over the breakup that happened seven years ago—he fucking can't. It's too fucking annoying to see your face plastered on newspaper sites—dating Sora, all of people.

That scumbag.

He'll fight for you viciously, with teeth.

He'll earn you.

A/N; definitely still easing into things. be patient :] add this book to your library for updates!

how was it?