Where…am I?
"Aaaaghhh! Please stop it hurts!"
Ana?
…
"Hold on Ana I'm coming!"
Arthur arrived to where he heard Ana screaming
"You're too late."
Arthur looked down at Ana's lifeless body. He proceeded to drop to his knees.
"You know why this happened right."
The mysterious person then smiled.
"It's cause you were too weak! Ahahahahaha."
Why. Why did this happen.
"Ar…thur."
Huh.
"Ana…your alive. Come on we need to get you healed."
"It's your fault."
"What."
"You were too weak to protect me, and now I'm gonna die because of it."
"W-what are you saying Ana."
"Ahahahahahaha"
The mysterious person then stabbed Ana.
"This is your fault Arthur!"
"No. No I tried. I did my best!"
"If that were true then Ana would still be alive."
"No…no it's not true! It can't be true! I DID EVERYTHING I COULD!! It can't be true it can't be true it can't be true it isn't true I know it isn't! I did my best I did my best I did my best my best my best my best my best…that's right…I DID MY BEST YOU HERE ME!!!"
*Shk*
The mysterious figure stabbed Arthur through his heart.
"Still a weak pathetic loser."
*Shaking breathing* "AAAAAHHHH!!!!!"
Arthur then jumped up out of sleep.
*Heavy breathing*
Huh? Where am I? Ana! Where's A-
Arthur looked around before spotting Ana sleeping soundly next to him.
It was just a nightmare.
Arthur became captivated by Ana's beauty.
Ana started to wake up
"Oh… good morning Arthur." She said smiling
Arthur jumped up startled
"G-good morning!"
"Were you watching me sleeping." She said while grinning
"N-NO NEVER!" Arthur said blushing "Anyway, where are we?"
"I don't know. I passed out right after you landed in my lap. Though it looks like we're in someone's house."
An old woman then walked in
"Oh, it's seems y'all are awake."
"And you are?"
Arthur said while staying viligant and ready to fight.
"There's no need to be so tense young man. I am merely the old lady who's been caring for you youngins."
Arthur relaxed himself
"Is this your home miss?" Ana asked
"It is. My husband found you two passed out in the woods while he was out hunting. Oh! Where are my manners. Y'all can call me Mrs. Ishikawa. Would y'all like some tea? I also have water."
Ishikawa? I've never heard of a name like that.
"I'll take water please."
Must just be a name common in this world.
"And for you young man."
"O-Oh, I'll also have some water."
"Coming up. I put clothes over there for y'all. Feel free to use the shower."
"Thank you!"
The old woman left and went down stairs
"You can shower first."
"Aww how gentlemen like of you."
Ana grabbed the clothes and got in the shower
That dream I had. It felt… so real. And that battle last night was too close. If not for Ana…we'd both be dead. I need to get stronger. If I happen to die during battle… then Ana does to.
Arthur thought for a second.
Well sitting here isn't gonna do anything.
Arthur got up and walked down stairs
"Oh hello! Is she in the shower?"
"Y-yes."
"Please sit"
Arthur took a seat at the table. The lady came and gave him some water
"Thank you again."
…
Silence held for moment. It was clear Arthur was still nervous. He was a loner after all so 1 on 1 conversation wasn't his strong suit.
"So are you not curious as to what we were doing in the woods?"
"Of course not! I know exactly how my first time went." The lady said grinning
"I-Its not like that!" Arthur said blushing
"Hahaha. I'm just messing with you. You don't have to tell me anything you don't want to."
Arthur went into deep thought
"Mrs. Ishikawa, can I ask you a question?"
"Go ahead."
"Are monsters in this world common?"
"In this world?"
Shit! I messed up.
"W-well I m-meant this country."
"Oh! You must be from Monstrolp."
"Yep! That's right."
"I've heard you guys don't get many monsters there. But yes, they're pretty common here. They appear more in labyrinths though."
"Labyrinths?"
"You don't know about labyrinths either. They appear everywhere in the world."
"O-oh! Yea labyrinths I know them. I've just never been in one, nor was I really taught much about them. I was hoping you could tell me more about them."
"Sure, I don't mind."
Long ago, the world was peaceful. There were no monsters and violence was minimal. Everyone lived in harmony for the most part. That was until the day when a labyrinth appeared. Nobody dared to approach the sudden appearance of this strange cave like structure since nobody knew what it was. But, after not clearing a labyrinth, monsters are able to start coming in and out as they please. And so that's exactly what happened. The monsters attacked and destroyed everything in their sight. But with the new appearance of labyrinths came rankers. People with special powers came and fought off the monsters. With the new appearance of rankers, humanity was able to fight back against the monsters. Humanity discovered that labyrinths disappeared after you kill the labyrinth boss. And so, ranks were formed. Paper, copper, silver, gold, diamond, ascendant, and heroes
Wait heroes?! This is what that voice called all of us. Does this mean we have the potential to be hero class?
People were given ranks based on how strong they were. Sadly, even with these ranks, we weren't able to tell how strong a certain labyrinth was nor were we able to confirm if a persons strength actually met up with the rank the were assigned exactly. Some also lied or paid their connections to get themselves a higher rank then what they were. Many weaker rankers were killed because of this. That was until the first person born with detection powers came along. They were able to give a rough estimate on how dangerous certain labyrinths were by detecting a monsters inner NE. The same method was used for rankers. Many more with the same ability began appearing. We were finally able to assign rankers labyrinth jobs based on how strong the labyrinth was detected to be.
Based on what she said, it explains how they found us. We must've been in a labyrinth. I'm guessing that reaper monster was the boss. After defeating it the labyrinth disappeared. What is inner NE?
"Does detection tell you the exact rank of a monster if it's just one and not an entire labyrinth."
"I'm not quite sure about that one. Maybe newly formed detection users due since powers are always evolving."
I guess that explains how Mary knew about this worlds ranks
"Also what is NE?"
"You don't know about neutral energy? You sure you even from this world." Mrs. Ishikawa says jokingly while laughing
Arthur laughed nervously
"Neutral energy is the basis energy around powers. That nuetral energy becomes either positive or negative energy based on a persons true nature. Though there has yet to be a person with negative energy. It's even rare to find in monsters.
Even monsters don't usually have negative energy? I wanna ask why it's so rare, but I should probably stop asking questions before she gets too suspicious. I'll just find out later.
"You sure know a lot Mrs. Ishikawa."
"Oh please that's just common knowledge here."
Ana then comes downstairs
"There's the pretty lady. Here your tea's ready."
"Thank you Mrs. Ishikawa for letting me use the shower"
"It's no problem at all."
"Well I'll go wash off next."
"Ok."
As Arthur showers he remembers the betrayal from his classmates
"I swear, I'll make each one of them suffer for betraying me and Ana. They will not get away with it."
Arthur finishes up and proceeds to go down stairs
*people laughing*
I wonder what's got them so happy.
"He really did that!"
"Yes it was amazing!"
"What are y'all talking about?"
"Ana here was just telling me how you two cleared a labyrinth. A strong one too by the sound of it."
Eh?! Well so far for being secretive.
"Well I wouldn't consider it to be all that strong."
"Oh please no need to be humble."
Suddenly a man walks in
"Honey I'm home! Oh! Y'all are awake."
"Good morning. I'm guessing you're Mrs. Ishikawa's husband. We thank you for bringing us back."
"Oh it was no big deal. And y'all can just call me Mr. Ishikawa. It's nice to meet y'all!"