Chapter 5 ~Rank C~

Noah had been in this world for 10 days now.

He had so far completed 9 missions. 1 mission away from being promoted to Rank C.

The way to Rank up was to either complete a set number of missions, in this case of D -> C, 10 missions, or to complete a special mission given by the guild.

These special missions were created to make it easier for adventurers to rank up faster. You only had to do one, but they certainly weren't easy.

Noah in his room in the inn, was taking a bath. He had paid for a month instead, after a week had gone by.

Arteus was waiting outside, clenching his fists and biting his lips.

'Can't! Go! In! Do Not! Go In! Stay calm, hold ba-'

The door to the bathroom opened to reveal a Noah, completely clothed, with his hair wet and a towel in his hand.

Noah made his way to Arteus, while drying his hair with the soft, white towel in his hand.

Arteus looked up at Noah - 'Thank me("god"), he's fully clothed.'

He smiled happily - "Come here, let me help you."

He said, and moved inwards the bed, making space for Noah to sit down.

Noah gave the towel to Arteus, who started gently drying his hair.

Noah - "Today, I'll be doing a subjugation quest. Will you come with me?"

Arteus - "Sure. You'll be promoted to Rank C, right?"

Noah nodded in response - "I should also contact grandpa Sil."

Grandpa Sil is Erasil, the god who had sent Noah to this world.

On the second day, he had contacted Erasil, reporting to him of everything that had happened.

'I haven't contacted him since then, he must be lonely. He's an old man after all.

But, his reaction when I mentioned Arteus keeps bugging me. What was that all about?'

Noah remembered that strange reaction from Erasil, at the mention of Arteus.

Noah - "Grandpa Sil, I met a person named Arteus, who's the owner of the inn I'm staying at. He's also an adventurer, at SSS-rank.

At first, he was a little cold, but the next time I saw him, he acted really close. I didn't mind though. Grandpa Sil, who do you think- ... Grandpa Sil?"

Erasil was currently quite. Noah had contacted him through the special ability - {God's contact}.

For a few minutes Erasil stayed quite, and only looked at Noah.

He did not respond no matter how much Noah called at him.

But, he soon started laughing. He laughed quite heartily, with happiness oozing out of him.

"I see! I see! Arteus! Noah, I'm sure you've already gotten along with this person! Make sure you continue to do so!

I'm sure you will be happy with him! Ho ho ho!"

After that short sentence, and laugh like Santa, the communication was cut off.

Noah was left shocked, that he hadn't noticed the way Erasil addressed himself.

...

But now, Noah had remembered - 'The way he addressed himself changed. Was he so happy to hear about Arteus, that he forgot how he used to call himself?'

It was a funny experience for Noah.

After Arteus finished drying Noah's hair, both of them left to the guild.

At the Guild, Noah once again went through the royal treatment, where everyone made way for him and Arteus.

He had already gotten used to this.

On the Mission Board - Noah chose a goblin subjugation quest, located in the 『Transmere Village』.

It was a C-Rank mission, from the head of the village.

After he chose this mission, he immediately went to the village with Arteus.

Along the way, he kept an eye out for a 'connecting' feeling.

This is so, he could find his familiars.

So far he had only come across Roe the (Fenrir) and Soo, the (Slime).

Arteus also knew about his familiars, and so kept an eye out for any kind of familiar magic, that resonates with Noah's.

Unfortunately, they did not come across any.

They arrived at the village and talked to the head - Mr.Lake.

Mr.Lake - "Thank you for arriving here. I didn't think the request would be accepted so quickly."

Noah - "Yes. Can you tell me about the place where the goblins came from?"

Mr.Lake smiled and happily reported to them about the place of the goblins hide.

Arteus and Noah followed the direction given by the head and arrived near the outside of the village.

After this Noah brought out his Familiars Roesia and Soo.

Noah - "Roe, track down the goblins exact hideout."

(Yes, Noah) - Roe replied and immediately started sniffing around, following the scent of goblins.

Noah held Soo and followed Roe. Arteus as well followed him, his eyes never leaving Noah.

Suddenly Noah asked - "Arteus, do you not have any familiars?"

Arteus raised his eyebrows — 'Does he want to have another familiar? Meet mine? I don't want him to. If he does, all his attention will be given to these animals.'

Despite what he thought, he said honestly - "I do. But if you want to meet them, you'll have to wait."

Noah - "Why can't I meet them now?"

Arteus - "They're doing something else now. You'll meet them soon, don't worry."

Noah pouted his lips and said - "Okay..."

Arteus smiled at this cute look and said - "Don't pout, that looks too cute. You just have to wait a few... months? Maybe, and you'll meet them."

Noah frowned and pursued his lips - "I'm cute, yes, but I don't want to be called that. Also, make sure they finish it quickly and come back. I want to meet them!"

Over the few days, Noah and Arteus had gotten along very well.

They had a few intimate moments, but Noah did not think much as he felt comfortable.

Arteus however, had noticed his continuously weakening guard.

Noah had completely let his guard down in front of him and always changed his expressions,

Only when they were in private. In front of others, if Arteus was not there, he never showed any emotions.

Arteus laughed at this cute response - 'He knows he's cute, but doesn't want to be called that. Still the same as always.'

Oh, and.. Roe and Soo just completely ignored their flirting.

Indeed. You should ignore all dog food thrown at you.

Well, maybe except for the ones you like.

After around 10 minutes, the group of 4 arrived at a small green forest.

There wasn't much here, but if you are able to sense presences, you'd be able tell that there were (Monsters) here.

Noah - "This must be it. So, they're underground."

Arteus - "Be careful. Even if they're weak, there are many of them."

Noah smiled at Atreus - "Don't worry. I'm not weak, and I have Roe, Soo, and most importantly you."

'My body also has instinctive reactions, all the techniques are engraved in my body.'

Arteus smiled and went closer to Noah, held his hand - "That's right. I'm here, there's no way you'd get hurt. I won't let you."

Noah as well, held Arteus's hand. They both went underground, using teleportation magic.

The underground area where the goblins lived, was not very big, it could just barely fit a normal adult man, but these two were too big, making them have to bend over.

"This is why I don't like goblins, they have the worst places. Not even big enough to hold a normal adult man."

Arteus grumbled.

"That's true. And they're annoying little rats for newcomers."

Noah remembered just how annoying goblins were to him, when he had just started out.

If there were just a few of them, 20 minutes or so was enough to kill them, but a group was pretty much impossible for the new players.

Noah asked with a simple tone, his eyes shining with excitement- "Should I just burn them all down?

I haven't used proper magic, I want to do a big spell!"

He emphasised on the 'big' by making a large circle with his hands.

Arteus smiled, "That's good, but shouldn't you also bring back some of their parts and magic stones?

I don't think they'll be able to survive with your magic powers."

Noah frowned, seemingly contemplating - "Right... then, I'll have to use a different method!"

Arteus sighed, with a doting expression on his face - "Can't you just fight them?"

Noah shouted at him, although it was just a little higher than before - "Of course not! I want to use magic! Magic!"

Arteus caressed Noah's head and said in reply to the stubborn boy - "Alright, alright. I understand.

Just use wind magic to take away the oxygen, so they all-"

Before Arteus could complete his sentence, a group of goblins arrived.

Arteus looked at the goblins with an annoyed expression.

'Did they have to come now!? Just a few minutes later! I wanted to see him act spoiled like that for a few more minutes! Goddamnit!'

Noah looked at the goblins with an excited expression.

In fact, he had noticed Arteus's grumbling expression, but put it aside for the time being.

'Oh! I should try the method Arteus said just now on them!'

And Noah immediately executed that method, taking away the air from that specific place that those goblins were standing.

Arteus blinked, 'He's really excited to use magic, isn't he?'

He sighed and looked at Noah.

The goblins had already died, the oxygen taken away from them.

It was a simple and neat execution.

Noah grabbed Arteus and they both made their way through the goblins little habitat, killing all of them.

Roe and Soo, also happily killed some of the goblins they came across.

Roe brought the remains of the goblins to Noah, who stored all of them, where as Soo ate up all the ones he killed.

The four of them, soon came to the centre of the place, and found the shaman who was controlling all of these goblins.

Noah and Atreus had already figured out there was another (Monster) that was the head of these goblins.

According to Mr.Lake's explanation, the goblins always ran away whenever they were at a disadvantage.

Only came back when they had better armour and weapons, and most of the time always came in sneaking, stealing their food and trying to kidnap the women. Though they did not succeed, as the women are always protected and there were many women who were strong as well.

Arteus said to Noah - "You take care of the shaman. I'll take care of the rest of the goblins."

"Okay!"

Noah immediately used some water magic and shot it at the shaman, who created a small shield surrounding him.

The rest of the goblins were quickly taken care of by Atreus. He used just his physical ability to kill all of them.

Oh, and it seems that I've forgotten to mention the fact that there's much more space in this place, so they could stand up properly.

Noah sent a stronger water ball towards the shaman, breaking the shaman's magic shield and injuring it.

The shaman hit against the wall, making it cough some blood. Noah took this chance, and used ice magic to send the icicle towards the shaman, killing it.

The rest of the goblins were taken care of as well, which were either eaten by Roe and Soo, stored by Arteus or Noah in their inventory.

Noah dusted off his hands - "We've taken care of all of them. Now let's go back and report to the head and guild, so we can have food! I'm hungry!!"

Roe and Soo disappeared into Naoh's shadow as soon as he said that, with their stomach full in satisfaction.

Arteus smiled and teleported along with Noah, who held his hand.

They teleported to the head's house, who was surprised at their sudden arrival.

Mr.Lake - "Oh god! You surprised me! D-Did you use teleportation magic just now!?"

Noah and Arteus looked at Mr.Lake nonchalantly, their smiling expression now cold.

"Yes. And we've completed the mission, so we'll be reporting to the guild now."

Mr.Lake looked at them with shock and fear, his eyes moving towards where their hands were intertwined.

"Y-yes! The... the reward will be given to you by the g-..."

They both disappeared before Mr.Lake could finish his sentence, only the image of their intertwined hands left in his mind.

——————

At [FrostShield], Noah and Arteus teleported in front of Lydia, the receptionist from before.

Lydia shook, almost screaming at their sudden arrival, but soon closed her mouth after she saw who it was.

'Jeeeezzz, I've still not gotten used to this yet! And their holding hands again!!!'

Noah said to the shocked Lydia - "Take us to the back. There's too much to drop here."

Lydia immediately replied in a professional tone, though with a little stuttering - "Y-yes. Please, follow me..."

Lydia led Noah and Arteus to the back of the receptionist area, where all sort of processing are done.

They went to the butchering area where all of the (Monsters) are butchered. Obviously.

Lydia said to the group of butchers - "Umm... This time is a goblin subjugation, so Mr.Erasil has brought a lot of goblins apparently. Please get ready, ... once again..."

The butchers answered - "Yes... we shall do our best once again."

After they said that Noah brought out around half the goblins he had collected.

He kept some of them in order to use them in the future, if needed.

Lydia and the butchers looked at the crazy amount of goblins.

This was not as much as the time he went on a rat subjugation, where he brought so many, that even a warehouse was not enough.

But it was still quite a lot.

They all smiled as invisible tears streamed down their face

'It seems there is more work. God, please let us be alive at the end of this.'

The last time they had almost died from exhaustion.

Arteus who had heard their wishes, completely ignored them.

He after all heard a lot of wishes, but he couldn't and shouldn't grant all of them.

The butchers immediately got to work after Noah brought out the goblins.

Lydia asked Noah to follow her.

"Mr.Erasil, please follow me. Since you have completed the set number of missions, you'll be promoted to Rank C."

Noah followed Lydia to another room, where around 10 people were working.

They were blacksmith mages, who were hired to make guild cards for the adventurers.

Noah gave his guild card, which Lydia took and gave to the blacksmith mages.

Noah waited in the lobby with Arteus for only a few minutes, before he was given his new guild card, now in a silver colour.

Before it was bronze.

"Mr.Erasil, your guild card.

You are now Rank C, so just as before you will be able to access F-C and B ranked missions.

Also, you have been invited by the guild leader to meet him next week, on Monday."

After Lydia informed this, she fled back to her post, taking care of the other adventurers.

Noah looked at Arteus - "Will you be able to come on Monday?"

Arteus said with a smile on his face - "Of course. I can be free whenever you want!"

Noah - "Right. You 'have' to be free whenever I want."

Emphasis on the 'have'.

Arteus laughed at this little act of possessiveness.

Noah as well laughed along with him.

'I know I'm developing feelings for him. But, I don't know how to act on the fact that I like a guy.

I've been single my whole life, i was never interested in dating so I don't know my sexuality.

But now that I'm liking Atreus, I guess I'm gay.

It's surprising, but I don't mind.

I should accept it and see where this goes.'

They continued to talk about things, unknowingly (or knowingly) scaring everyone else while they laughed and smiled.

The rest of the adventurers talked between themselves, either squealing at the dog food fed to them, or leaving.

As one of the adventurers left, jealous of the two men flirting, he bumped into a women, slightly taller than him.

"V-Victoria!"

The man stuttered in fear.

He immediately ran out of the guild, scared, as the whole guild turned silent.

They all had worried expressions on their face, frozen from fear. They could not move even an inch, as the woman made her way towards Arteus and Noah.

The woman with black hair and orange eyes looked angry as she looked at Noah and Arteus who flirted with each other.

She stopped right behind them and said in a slightly forced high-pitched voice that made you want to puke -

"ARTEUS!!!"

———————————————————————————————

Writing this while seeing a horror movie isn't the best idea.

Sorry I didn't post for the past 2 days, I was trying to think of exactly where I'm taking this story.

Now I've figured it out, and am starting to post again.

Other than this, I wanted to talk about the ship name for Noah and Arteus,

I've decided on - either

Arteuah (Arteus x Noah)

Pronounced as (Art-U-ah).

Or Oriasil (Origin x Erasil)

(Ori-a-sil)

Origin has been decided as Arteus's last name.

I couldn't think of a better last name for Arteus, anyways, it's simple and I like it, TBH.

Please, give your opinion on the ship names.

Thank you for reading.

ARoseRRRSS.