257 years ago, two countries were reduced to dust for angering him. After the incident not a drop of rain fell. Fearing the demon lord's power, all races stopped the ongoing war.
Peace finally returned, bringing changes.
The demon nation now thrives and the nations have all developed. Yet between the royals and nobles of the different kingdoms there exists huge rivalries. However, the demon lord who had ended the war, suddenly vanished leaving his subordinate to rule. His family is now the royalty.
The present times:
Unlike the aristocrats the commoners have become well-acquainted and don't harbour hatred for different races.
---
A refugee town, where all the races are welcomed.
Goods are being delivered and demons unloading the goods along with dwarves.
The mayor's manner.
The goods ordered from the capital were insufficient to the growing number of refugees.
"What do you suggest?" asked the fat man sitting on his chair looking outside the window?
"Um… about stopping the refugees, sir." The worried butler replied.
"No. The do not have any place to return to. I want this city to be a place for them. How are the preparations for the welcome of the duke?"
"The preparations are almost finished. This time we shall make sure to impress the duke."
"I see. Good job. You may leave."
'Ha...hopefully the duke will lend us a hand. At this rate we will go bankrupt.'
***
In the rugged part of the town there was one building which was bigger than most. Its door was slightly ajar, they morning light seeping inside through the opoening door. This was the adventurous guild, its branch in Bani.
A young adventurer had just walked in. He had average looks and wore the standard clothing of the adventurers these days: a simple shirt and a specially made pant. He was Ray.
Ray wore a lightly coloured shirt and had shimmering white hair, which was quite common in this refugee town with people from different places, his eyes were a shade of dark blue. he had a sword hanging on his left through the specialised pockets of his black pants.
As he approched the front desk with two receptionists,
"Hello, Ray. Are you ready to try for the advancement?" the lady greeted him warmly.
"Yes, could you get things ready?"
"Yeah, we are all waiting for you to become the youngest A-Rank adventurer in the country. You are only nineteen this year, right?" The receptionist asked excitedly.
"Yep, I'll surely advance."
"Best of luck! You can go to the...Training room 5. I'll send your examiner soon. Hehe... I have bet 1 gold coin on you. You better not fail."
"Keep scaring me like that and you'll never see it again." He joked.
With that Ray, headed past the staircase, to a door on the right. Just then, a couple of drunk adventurers were coming down the stairs.
Looking at one of them, Ray shouted " Oi!, Your button's loose!"
"Huh!?...Oh" Th slightly drunk man looked down then at Ray's back dissappearing through the door.
His name was Henry. As he stared, he remmebered that ray had come to Bani only a month ago, but he had instantly become the talk, after all how many 19- year old B-ranks are there?!. He had met the guy a few days ago, as they were looking for quests, and learnt that he wasa solo adventurer. He quickly went on his way.
Arriving at the training room, Ray streched for few minutes, when the examiner arrived.
"Are you really ready kid?? If you fail, I am making sure everyone hears about it." The examiner teased.
"Haha. We'll see about that. Now let's begin already."
The well-toned veteran mercenary with black hair held his long sword, pointed at Ray.
"Ha! Brat, you are over confident. Tch...tch, even the demon lord will flinch if I get serious! I was a S-rank you know?
'Haa…the lord… again.'
As their fight started, the examiner rushed with his long sword, attacking Ray's knee, quickly dodging it, Ray turned side ways, and stab! Right at the examiners abdomen. But the veteran who was expecting pummeld downwith his elbow!
Ray should have lost his balance, falling to the ground face-first under the force! But he was nowhere to be seen. just as the mercenary turned around to look, he felt the cold steel at his neck.
When the fast elbo came down, Ray had swiftly appeared behind his back, in his blind-spot. Then he turned his thin sword towards himself!...No, behind him! The steel's cold slowly approaching his opponent's neck, as if to caress.
The fight was over in under a minute.
"I win."
Ray smiled, as he sheathed his sword.
"Don't get cocky brat. I went easy on you. But as you advanced, today's drinks are on me. Now go register as an A- rank."
"Yes! Thank you, I will!"
There were many types of exams needed for advancement, but they got lesser and lesser with each rank. While the test for f-ranks required participants to show case their monster and herb knowledge, techniques, etc for advancement.
But for an A-rank exam, only beating an guild high- instructor would suffice. Furthermore for S-rank only mana testing would be done. This was why going through all the ranks was neccesary procedure and no one was an exception.
Going back to the counter,
"I won." Said Ray smiling.
"Congratulations Ray! But make sure that you do not push your-self too much, ok? Here, done, this is now you're A-rank identification card."
"Thank you. (Shouts->) I am an A-rank, any party who wish to recruit me?"
'Well, even though I am usually a solo adventurer, the guild rules say that after a rank advancement the person should do a party mission before a solo mission. It is for them to get adjusted to the higher difficulty of monsters.'
A black-haired woman, approached Ray. Looking at him,
"How well can you mana?"
"I would say, I am slightly above average."
In this world, there exists a power that can be used to control the nature to an extent. This is mana. It exists in the nature all around us and can be absorbed by humans till they reach their limit. But some people have very low mana capacity and can't actively use mana. And there are also some special cases of people being born loved by mana. They are born with some amount of innate mana, and have high mana control ability.
"That's fine. I am Kyle, also an A-rank. Our party is going for a ruin exploration of the newly found ruin. You are a swordsman, right? Would you like to join?"
"Ruin? Haven't all ruins nearby already been explored?"
"As I said, this one was found recently, so the dangers are unknown. So, are you joining?" Said Kyle, raising an eyebrow.
"Hmm… Ok then, I'll join. When are we leaving?"
"Tomorrow early morning. I'll introduce to our party members then. Come to the main gate."
"Okay. See you tomorrow."
Kyle's group had an unexpected vacancy just before an important raid. She needed to find a replacement fast. Moreover she was also interested in making the aquaintance of the youngest A-rank.
[To be continued]