Chapter 25: Are You Sure You’re An F-Rank?: Part One

Peyton Garner was an A-Rank Spy Class Warrior. An incredibly skilled Warrior with a very…interesting persona. She was very intelligent and very perceptive, but beyond that, she still had a slight naive child-like character to her. It mostly and strongly showed itself when interacting with people she was comfortable with, but the same could be said of her perceptiveness as well. Due to her being a Spy Class Warrior of the Warriors Association, she had to strictly practice the art of hiding in plain sight. So she had to have a cover occupation as a receptionist at the Association, that way, she could still be very close to her job while also maintaining the facade of seeming like a normal human. It was tasking simply having to navigate through all that. She just had to be given another tasking assignment in addition.

“What? A protection assignment?” She asked.

“You betcha.” Answered her senior colleague and best friend Melissa, Chadwick Sukala’s Secretary as she held a tablet in her hands.

In addition to working under him in the Association, they were both also Chadwick’s students once in a Martial Arts School he used to own. So they’ve known each other for quite a while.

“Remember that F-Rank Warrior you recently registered?” Asked Melissa.

“Oh, you mean Raid?”

“Oh? You even remember his name?”

“He’s the world’s first F-Rank. Kinda hard to forget.”

“Maybe, but you’ve been working here for years and you still haven’t memorized any of the names of the Six Emperors to this day. Forgive me if I’m surprised to see you pay so much attention to one little ole’ F-Rank.” Said Melissa.

“I….don’t know what you mean by that.” Her cheeks, unbeknownst to her, turned red. It was fairly visible given her light skin complexion.

“Are you…blushing?” Melissa picked up on it.

“What!? W-why would I be blushing?” She asked in protest.

“Oh my god Pey.”

“What?”

“Are you…?”

“What!?”

“You’re not…do you actually like that F-Rank Warrior?”

“W-what!? W-what would make you think I like him!?”

“Holy smokes, you really do, don’t you?”

“N-no I don’t! Shut up! Just tell me more about this assignment already!” Ordered Peyton.

“Alright, calm down there lovebird.” Said Melissa.

“I hate you.” Declared Peyton. This was something she said a lot to Melissa, they both knew she didn’t mean a single word of it and Melissa would always react to it as usual:…

“And I’ve got nothing but love for you my darling little sister.”

“I know. So, just what am I supposed to be protecting him from exactly?” Asked Peyton.

“The Reinhardt Family.” Answered Melissa.

“Why would the Reinhardt Family be after him?.”

“There’s a decent chance he killed Zeke Reinhardt, the Family’s third son.”

“You’re kidding right?”

“Have you ever known me to be a kidder?”

“Yes and in fact a very awful one at that, since you don’t even laugh or smile when you kid or make fools out of people.”

“We can talk about the awful saddening image you have of me later. Bottom line is, I’m not kidding this time, even though I really wish I was. Here, it’s all in this report…” She handed her the tablet she was holding as she added.

“The boss has decided to take Raid’s side on this one…says the only reason he’d do what he did, that is if he did do it, would be as an act of self-defence. So here’s what you’re gonna do. Starting tomorrow, you’ll be ’temporarily’ assigned to the Registered Warrior Service section of the reception hall.”

“Why’s that?” Asked Peyton.

“The boss theorizes that Raid might come to sell Mana Crystals, and if he sees you when he does, there’s no doubt he’ll head on over to your table since you two are, more or less, acquainted.”

“I see.”

“From then on afterwards, you will follow him, everywhere.”

“Oh that’s totally not creepy at all.”

“Perks of the job, get used to it. You’ll make sure no one who looks even a little bit suspicious comes near him and deal with them accordingly. This must all be done without his knowledge, mind you.”

“And if he does find out?”

“Then that’d make you a pretty terrible spy.”

“Seriously, I really do hate you.”

“And I love you with all my heart little sister.”

“I know.”

*******

“Peyton? What are you-”

~Gasp~

“Ah! You’re alive! You’re really alive! But…but how? How are you alive!? How’s that even possible!? There’s a large sword in your chest, are you sure you’re even huma…”

She kept rambling something or other, I was hearing her less and less as I began to be lost in thought. It was odd, she was still as beautiful as ever, but the expression she had on her face was a first. Small tears were visible on her eyes, and she was a lot more talkative than before. Far from the calm and collected girl I knew.

“If she’s here then that means she was a Warrior this entire time. Is she the one the Reinhardt Family sent after me? That’d suck if it was the case.”

“This is bad. It’s good that you’re still alive but…I don’t know what to do right now. Should I contact HQ? Maybe they can send a team of Priest Class Warriors and-”

“Hey, could I ask you for a favour?” I interrupted.

“Ah!…y-yeah, sure. What is it?” She hurriedly answered.

“Could you…pull this sword out for me? I need it pulled out in one go, but I don’t have the courage to do it myself.”

“Since she’s a Warrior, I’m sure she can do it.”

“What!? Just pull it out, are you crazy!? This is the only thing that’s preventing mass bleeding right now, if I just pull it out, there’s no way you’ll survive!” She argued.

“If my survival is as important to you as you’re making it out to be then you really oughta pull this sword out. I can’t exactly explain right now so please just do it, I’m dying over here!” Not really, but still…

“O…o-okay then! When you put it like that, I guess I’ll have to trust you. I’m gonna do it now, are you ready?” She asked.

“Impossible, no one can ever be ready for something like this. Just make sure to do it quickly. All in one go, okay?”

“R-right. Here we go then!” And she yanked it out, really put some effort into it, you know. The pain I felt was, in a word, immense.

“Sweeeet mother of all that is holy! That’s money maker pain right there!” If it was my heart instead of my right lung, I surely would’ve died.

“This was indeed risky.”

I then looked at Peyton, she was holding a sword that looked almost her size like it was a kitchen knife.

“She really is a Warrior, through and through.”

“A-are…are you really okay?” She asked looking incredibly baffled after throwing the sword away. Considering how I was acting despite the mass bleeding and large hole in my chest, her reaction was understandable.

“I will be.” I answered as I got up.

I then activated my Resilient Regeneration Skill.

“Finally getting to use this Skill, let’s see what it’s capable of.”

Green Mana enveloped my body. All damages to my body started healing, my lungs, ribs, muscles and skin all went back to normal.

Peyton looked bewildered.

“Is that…a healing spell? I thought only Priest Class Warriors could do that.”

“It’s not a healing spell, it’s a regeneration Skill. I can’t use it on other people, just me.”

“That’s…unheard of. Is that another unknown trademark Skill of the Blacksmith Class.” She asked jesterly.

“Uhm…no this is…this is something different I picked up along the-w-wh-why are you here? I mean, I doubt you’re the assassin the Reinhardt Family sent after me considering how insistent you were on me not dying. So what…w-what exactly are you doing here?” I asked in curiosity.

“You know that the Reinhardt Family is after you?” She saw fit to dodge my question with one of her own.

“Figures they’d be considering I killed Zeke Reinhardt.”

“Whatever, lemme just humour her.”

“So you really did kill him.” She said.

“Don’t act like you didn’t already know.”

“We….had some suspicions.”

“’We’?”

“The Warriors Association.”

“And the reason they sent you after me is…?”

“To protect you.”

“Finally.”

“Well hello. That’s interesting, how come though?” I asked, driven by curiosity and she readily explained. I made sure to pay attention to a certain degree as this heavily influnced my life as a Warrior.

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