Point-of-View: Argent Stryker

———————————————————————————

"Just give me the best-paying quest that’s available for my rank," I requested, after displaying my Adventurer rank.

It was a bit later in the day, around 5 PM, and I’d arrived in Blont Town, a town that’s a couple dozen kilometers or so to the south of Marri Town, where I’ll be heading to in a few days in order to rank up.

I’m a bit low on money, so I’ll try to earn as much as possible while I’m here. I mainly buy food and water to take while I’m traveling between settlements, but I can’t buy too much since it’ll weigh me down.

After a few days, I have to try and find fruits, nuts and other edible plants, or hunt animals for meat, and find a clean source of water to drink from. People with the Light Attribute are lucky, they can create their own water whenever they want.

Definitely shouldn’t say that out loud, though. A few years ago, when I was about twelve or thirteen, my parents spoke to me about the discrimination based on Attribute that exists throughout the entire world.

They said that I should never talk about people with the Light Attribute or those labeled as Heretics in public, but also that I shouldn’t blindly judge people just based on their Attribute.

I didn’t understand at first, but having traveled to many different places over the last year or so, I get it now. I’ve met my fair share of both good and terrible people, and if that’s true for people with the Dark Attribute, why shouldn’t it be true for the rest of the people in the world?

The Nobles in the capital, they’ve all got the Dark Attribute, just like the majority of us Commoners...but they don’t treat us equally, instead seeing us as beneath them. If we treat those who have the Light Attribute in that same way, doesn’t that make us no better than the Nobles we despise so much?

But...I can’t voice any of these thoughts. Sympathizing with so-called Heretics and Light Attribute users is considered a crime, one that you could be enslaved or executed for. A few months ago, I was in a place called Cusch Town, which is to the southwest of the capital.

While I was in the Guild there, I saw a young boy with his parents, coming in for an appraisal. And a few minutes later, a couple of the staff members of the Guild dragged the boy out, who was crying and desperately trying to break free of their grasp.

The parents then came running out and pleaded with the Guild to spare their son. The Adventurers present in the Guild were quick to restrain the couple, and they were pretty damn rough about it.

The boy was the killed for possessing the Light Attribute, and his parents were sold to Nobles as slaves. Apparently, towns and villages that do so are given more leniency from the capital and aren’t targeted as much by the Nobles when it comes to forcibly enslaving people.

That experience was both horrifying and disgusting, as afterwards, the townspeople were cheerfully celebrating, without so much as a shred of guilt or remorse from any of them.

As far as they’re concerned, they did absolutely nothing wrong in killing an innocent child and selling his parents to the rotten Nobility. It was chilling, as if they’d all been brainwashed.

Actually, that may not be too far off from reality. The way my mother put it...it depends on what people accept as common sense. These prejudices and discriminatory ways have been passed down for generations, so everyone grows up with such mindsets being the norm.

This way of thinking, it’s just common sense to them, so they don’t second-guess what they’re doing or give it proper thought.

And even those who do think it through, and perhaps realize how insane it all is, can’t say a word about it. After all, doing so is taboo and a genuine risk of life, so no one in their right mind would ever-...

"Ugh, it’s him."

"Why is he still here?"

"We should get the Guildmaster to report him to the Knights."

"That’s risky, he’s pretty strong. He’ll fight back if we try to capture him, so the Knights might have to come here and take him down themselves."

"I don’t know about that, I don’t want the Knights coming here..."

"Yeah, worst case scenario, we could be accused of harboring a Heretic sympathizer and the entire town could get wiped out."

I glanced at the group of Adventurers who were speaking, before following their gaze to see the person they were referring to. It was a man, maybe a few years older than I am. He was about average height, had long hair that was light blue in color and tied in low, loose ponytail, along with ash grey eyes.

The Adventurers aren’t exactly keeping their voices down, so he can probably hear them...but he looks unbothered, a carefree look on his face as he approached the reception desk while humming to himself.

I’ve noticed that different towns and villages have different levels of prejudice towards people they’re supposed to discriminate against. This place, Blont Town, seems to be especially severe in that regard.

"Here you are, these are the options available to you," Remarked the receptionist, as he walked back over with a handful of quests.

"Huh? Oh, thanks...I’ll just go through them and let you know which one I’d like to take on," I replied with a polite nod, as I skimmed through the options.

"Oh, those are Gold rank quests. You seem pretty young for that rank, are you new around here?" Suddenly spoke up the guy who that group of Adventurers had been badmouthing, peering over my shoulder.

"I, uh...yeah, I’m just visiting for a few days," I responded, after a hesitant pause. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

Associating with this guy might be bad news, but...it’s practically unheard of to come across a person who openly opposes the commonplace prejudices that exist, and one who’s walking around freely at that.

"Ah, I see, you’re a traveler too, eh? Nice to meet you, I’m Rayven Farndrey. I’m from Kieph Town," He introduced himself with a grin.

He sure seems cheerful, huh? Hm, Kieph Town is one of the few places in Obsidian that I haven’t visited...I’d intended to, but accidentally read my map wrong and ended up missing it completely.

"Likewise, I’m Argent Stryker, from Juana Village," I replied politely.

"Juana Village...," He muttered, trailing off with a slight frown before his eyes widened, "Wait, you mean the village that was wiped out by the Knights about eight or nine months ago?"

Naturally, news of what happened there spread pretty quickly. After all, while Commoners being mistreated and abused by Nobles is highly frequent, an entire village being cut down is a lot more rare, so of course people were going to talk about it.

"Yeah, that’s right."

"Oh, I’m sorry, I hope I didn’t trigger any traumatic memories," He apologized with a guilty look on his face.

Huh...he seems to be a genuinely good person, which only emphasizes how pointless all these prejudices are.

"No, don’t worry about it," I shook my head, as I picked a quest, a Monster extermination job.

"Hey, if you want, we can team up on a quest. I’m Platinum ranked, so I can take on more advanced quests, the experience could be quite valuable for you," He offered, as he signaled the receptionist to get him some quest options.

Hm...that’s a pretty tempting offer. The fact that those other Adventurers haven’t sold him out to the Knights because they think he’s too strong for them to handle likely means that he’s quite powerful.

However, I’ve been traveling alone all this time, and I intend to continue doing so until I’m strong enough to save my father and brother. After all, I can’t see anyone agreeing to help me with such a suicidal goal, infiltrating the capital.

Nobles have no mercy for Commoners, instead they’re constantly looking for reasons and excuses to screw us over. It wouldn’t be fair to drag a stranger into this, I’ll do it myself.

On top of all that, if I get too friendly with this guy, I could end up painting a target on my back. It feels hypocritical and shallow of me, but if that’s what it takes to avoid unnecessary trouble or obstacles, then so be it.

"I have to admit, that’s a really tough offer to pass up, but...I’m gonna have to decline. Thanks for offering, I really do appreciate it, but...I’ve got my own reasons for needing to get stronger on my own, I’m sorry," I turned him down apologetically.

"Nah, don’t worry about it. In fact, I don’t dislike that determination you’re showing, not bad at all," He grinned in response.

Hm, I wonder...did I really make the right choice here?

_____________________________________________

Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this Chapter! Don’t forget to vote, and feel free to leave a comment, I appreciate any and all feedback and criticism!

Also, check out my Instagram account @aimdaqs for posts relating to this book.

Join the Discord server, I plan to tease upcoming Chapters and future story arcs here, and you can also discuss or ask me any questions about the story and characters. Use the invite link to join:

https://discord.gg/sRbx9VbTVP