Remnant of Malachus

Chapter 1

In this kingdom of wealth and success where dreams come true, I still walk alone in my journey in order to fulfill my life's goal. Everywhere I look, I see everyone with bright smiles on their face, some might be faces I've never seen before, some might be people I've seen since I was young, but there comes a time in life where everyone succeeds, and I hope mine will come soon.

I walk along the stone pavement in the middle of the night. The streets were lit up by several lamps along the way, and an omnipresent, blue, glow radiating out of a towering blue mana-crystal. It's funny how something from a tragedy that almost destroyed the entire kingdom could be so beautiful...and traumatic, hehe.

It's about 8 pm, after several hours later I've arrived at my destination for tonight.

The Southern Dungeon Entry. 

A white, open-aired building stood in front of me, it had wooden floor, the hall wall was long, about 15 meters, there were six, white pillars supporting the building. It is placed in the south of the dungeon and it leads to a tunnel that connects to it. There are 4 official dungeon entries in Malakai, the northern entry, the eastern entry, the western entry, and the southern entry, all of them are placed next to the Malakain Hunter Guild building, where registrations and other administrative work are done.

This was the closest dungeon entry to the place I'm currently staying in. I walk into the building, there was a light breeze that blows through. To my right was the reception table, three wooden desks are placed consecutively next to each other, on them were several tidy documents and paper stacked into neat piles.

Malakai is a powerful kingdom that basically holds power over the entire continent, you don't have to do a lot to be registered as a citizen here, and most importantly, Malakai has a very unique dungeon that regenerates itself. All of these factors make Malakai gather a lot of attention from all over the world. Many people and races come from everywhere to get a chance to become rich. Hunting, in particular, has become a very successful business, since the material from the dungeon is always in high demand. What started as a way to protect the people from monsters has become the number one commercial business here.

But the Hunting Guild has one reputation in particular that draws people in, their godly reception. Every receptionist is said to be polite, humble, calm and reserve, everything you could hope for, or the, in other words, the perfect receptionist. Not to mention how attractive each one of the receptionists is, the fashionable uniform the receptionists wear boosts their looks even more, I've seen women faint from saying hello to one. Some grow so popular that they even have their own Fanclub, and every year, the hunting community holds a popularity contest for receptionists. So, after hearing such a thing, I had my hopes up high, then I met him when I started hunting 2 months ago, at the start of the year.

I walk over to the receptionist table, an elven man was sitting there alone, reading a newspaper. He had long, pointy ears, golden blonde hair, and a bushy mustache. I stood in front of the reception table, waiting for him to take my name, but he didn't, he just kept reading his newspaper.

"hello."

...

Our eyes met.

...

He still kept reading his newspaper.

...

"HELLO."

He finally stood up.

"Name." He quickly asked.

"Nero," I answered back in the same tone.

"Tag."

I pull out a small necklace from my pocket, it had a small bronze tag attached to it.

"Bronze..." He mumbles as he writes down the information I just gave him on a piece of paper. "You can go now."

I put the necklace back into my pocket and continued over to the stairway that leads down into the dungeon, as you can tell, we don't really get along. It all started because I accidentally knocked over his documents when I first came here, I properly apologize to him, but that wasn't enough to earn his forgiveness. It's not like I care anyway, but I think it's good to have some relationships with people that you can rely on.

I reach the end of the stairway and entered a wide tunnel with several torches on the wall, at the very end there was a large metal door. Beyond that door is another world, full of monsters and mystics, anyone can lose their lives at any given moment. My heart began beating a little faster, the anxious feeling before entering the dungeon is something I could never get rid of, even though I've experienced many life-threatening situations, death still scares me. Because even though I've been living in hell all this time, I still have to meet mother again.

I push open the metal door, despite its size, it wasn't that heavy. Crackling howls and screeches echo through the empty cave-like terrain with multiple blue, mana crystals. Multiple yellow eyes can be seen staring at me, looks like today's gonna be quite a fight...haha.

~

The dungeon has a cave system that leads downwards called floors. These floors are connected and keep descending downwards, the deeper you do, the stronger the monsters. This is because the amount of mana produced by mana crystals also increases the deeper you go. Normally living things can't absorb mana from their surroundings, they only use the mana they produce naturally, but monsters inside of the dungeon have the ability to absorb mana from their surroundings. That's why they also kill living things, once they are killed, the mana that is stored up inside the body is released into the surroundings, that way the monsters can absorb it.

I took a small step to the right, narrowly avoiding the attack. A small green figure jumps past me, and with one swift motion I s***h upwards, blood flies up into the air. Currently, I'm surrounded by about 5 goblins. They are one of the weakest monsters in the dungeon, they can be encountered throughout floor one to floor five, and are very common. I've been hunting them for their ears, goblin ears are one of the materials the guild buys, that way I don't have to go through the trouble of finding a place to sell them. They usually sell for 11 coins, very cheap, I could barely buy anything with that.

I stood in the middle of a circle of goblins, one attempted to s***h me with its claws from the left. I took a step backward to avoid it, once it landed on the ground, I stabbed it with my sword, penetrating through its body and piece through to the other side. The goblin's corpse drop to the ground, I scan around, 4 more to go. I ran to the next one, which was right in front of me, with a horizontal s***h I sliced the goblin's belly open. Blood spews out and it screams in pain, the other three come rushing towards me, 1 from the left and 2 from the right. I send the one on the left flying with a kick, the other two came rushing, I stab my sword through the first one, the second one came not far behind instantly. There was no time to pull my sword out, I left my sword stuck on the goblin's chest and punch the goblin as it jumped up from the ground trying to attack me. It got knocked back to the ground, I pulled out my sword from the dead goblin as I heard running footsteps coming from behind me. With a quick s***h, I killed the goblin, not wasting any more time I plunge my sword through the last one.

That was exhausting, I've been running around the dungeon for about 3 hours now, I'm currently on the second floor, I better start packing up and leave, I just want to go back and rest. Tomorrow I also have work, it's for the best that I return now. I quickly kneel down and cut out all the ears from the goblin. 10 more ears, in total I got 26 ears in total, I squeeze the ears into my pouch and leave it hanging from my waist. I hope Miss Mary won't bother me today, I began my ascent up the dungeon.

~

After about 40 minutes and running around I found my way back to the iron gate. Walking up the dark stairways that lead to the surface, I was welcomed by the soft, mellow, moonlight.  I walk up to the receptionist table again, the elf is still here reading his newspaper as usual, behind him was a clock, it's 11 pm, huh?

I put my pouch on the table, it stinks of the smell of fresh blood, the receptionist sees it and reacts with a face of disgust. Hehe, stinky isn't it? Well, I probably smell the same right now. I was covered in soot and dirt from top to bottom. My white shirt can be mistaken as a brown one, and my black vest and pants look worn out. But I don't want to complain about it though, sometimes you need to get a little dirty to earn some extra money.

He wore his gloves and open the pouch, taking the ears out and counting them one by one.

"260," He said and threw 2 gold coins and six silver on to the table while swiping off all the ears into a box and closing it.

I try my best not to interact with him but I need to have manners right?

"thanks." I try to throw the most unenthusiastic thanks I can.

On each of the tables was a blue tablet next to a stack of paper. This is called a statsmeter, this device converts physical abilities into numbers, they can be found at every guild, and dungeon entry.

I place my hand on it, a bright blue glow, letters started appearing on the piece of paper on top of the stack, I took it out and take a quick look.

~

Strenght: 24

Speed: 25

Resistance: 22

Endurance: 28

Mana: 29

Skills: none

~

Still no skill huh? I walk out of the entry and onto the streets and making my way south. It makes me curious actually, why do I not have a skill? Actually, I might be able to answer that on my own. Skills are born from strong desires, so anyone can get a skill if they have a desire that is strong enough. It's pretty convenient, I've seen people with crazy skills before, like a dude that works in a book store that got telekinesis because he really didn't want to stand up and pick up a new book every time he finished reading one, crazy convenient. Maybe I lack the desire to allow a skill to manifest, or maybe my one and only desire is just impossible. I just want mom to come out of that crystal, I just want to live like I used to 9 years ago when I wasn't as alone as now.

Ugh, whatever, all these thoughts are making me depressed, I'm just disinterested in everything, that's all, haha. It's already late, I've been walking for a while now, hunting really is exhausting, and I can't even complain about it. I have to hunt at night because I have my job to do during the day, in the past, I would also have a part-time job at night, now, it's hard enough to find a job. I have a little bit of a reputation myself since my father borrowed a lot of money from the loan sharks, they like to come after me, they would always threaten to destroy the place I was working at if I can't pay the amount they request each month. I would, subsequently, get fired, the loan shark would beat me up, and take all my money, andddddd repeat all over and over again. Honestly, it's rough, but I need to keep moving forward. Everything I do is for her anyways, for my mother.

~

I arrive at a market square in the south of Malakai, this is where I'm currently staying at. Infront of me was a wooden building with the sign saying 'Cafe' on it. Crap, the light is still on, I open the door and enter into the wooden building.

"Nero!" A voice called out to me.

"yes?" I think I'm going to get scolded.

There were multiple tables spread across the room, on the one in front of me sat a lady, she had dark brown hair, and vibrant emerald green eyes.

"Where were you!" She shouted.

This is Miss Mary, the owner of this cafe, we met two weeks ago, she was kind enough to hire me as a server to help her tun the cafe and even allow me to stay on the second floor, I'm grateful to her and all but she gets really worried if I come back late.

"It's midnight, why did you come back so late? Hunting again?" She asked me, she seems to have calmed down a little. She always has that genuinely worried look.

"yea..." I gave her a quick answer, at this point, I just want to catch up on some sleep. I was about to go to the stairway behind the counter to get up to my room.

"Waitt!" She shot up from the chair she was sitting from and reached her hand out like trying to stop me.

"Ahhhh...Ha-Have you eaten dinner yet? Since you left early this evening." She asked frantically.

"no." I turned around again and continued walking to the stairway.

"WAIT!" I stopped to look at her again.

"You're not going to eat?"

"hmmm, sure, but I'm not paying."

"Ugh, whatever, sure, get yourself something to eat or something." She hands me 5 silver coins. I take it and leave.

For some reason, Miss Mary has always been so caring towards me, she stays up late like this waiting for me to come back, for no reason at all. She keeps asking about my well-being but we've only known each other for two weeks. Maybe she is just a really kind person. I don't know what's going on in her mind, for the past 2 weeks that we've known each other, she has done nothing but worry about me. All the people I used to work for minded their own business, whether I came back late or my injured, they would offer some medicine and act as nothing happened. Well, maybe I was unfortunate, who would want an orphaned child as one of their workers, I was kicked out of many places and had a lot of jobs, the same thing would repeat over and over again. Some had the same expression as Miss Mary, a genuinely, worried look, but they stopped caring after a week or so. I just can't trust them, Miss Mary included too, I wouldn't say I have trust issues but after my grandfather tricked me and my father, I just can't bring myself to trust someone 100%. I need to depend on myself as much as possible.

It will only be a matter of time before she kicks me out, it's almost March anyways...The loan sharks will be coming, and I'll get kicked out again. There was a time I blamed my father for doing something so stupid as to borrow large sums of money from loan sharks but I don't really care now, I'll get beat up and they'll threaten Miss Mary for some money, I'll get fired and become homeless again.

I walk out of the door, next to our cafe there's a bakery run by a small family, I've been buying bread from them since the first day I started working here. It's midnight now, but the light was still on, I knocked on the door and went inside. The smell of freshly baked bread rushed into my nose, the bakery was rather small compared to Miss Mary's cafe, trays stacked on top of one lay across the table, there was a wood oven at the very back that is emitting a soft glow throughout the building. She should still be awake...

"Hello?" I called out.

"I'm sorry but we're closed for today!" I voice called out from the back of the shop, behind the oven.

"Stella. It's me."

"Mr. Nero?" A girl walked out. Blonde hair and green eyes, Stella Celestel, she's the daughter of the owner of the bakery, Mr. and Mrs. Celestel. She usually stays up late to make bread, I met her for the first time when I came back from hunting late at night, Miss Mary told me to buy some from their shop and I've been buying food from them since then.

"Mr. Nero, did you just come back from hunting?" She asked.

"yep. I just came here to grab some food. haven't eaten yet."

"Oh, most of the bread is still not ready, would today's leftover be ok?"

"yep." I'm not really the picky type when it comes to food.

"We have some creampuffs leftover today, do you want some?"

"sure, 2 creampuffs then." With that, she grabbed some creampuffs and put them in a small paper bag and hand it to me.

"Ok then! That will be 40 coins." I hand her 5 silver coins and then leave.

"See you later, Mr. Nero!" She said as I walk out. She really should lock her door, I mean all I did was just walk in, you could easily get robbed like this.

I walk back to the cafe, Miss Mary is still sitting there, zoned out. I sat directly across from Miss Mary, on the same table, and start eating my creampuffs. The Celestel Bakery never disappoints, I suppose. The soft and fluffy cream stuffing, that is rich and sweet can be only described as heavenly. It's so good.

"Nero, please don't come late like this next time," Miss Mary said as I stuff my mouth with the second creampuff.

"It's not good for your health, I'm worried about you." I stood up and prepare to leave.

"it's none of your business anyways."

...

...

Silence fills the room. I think I'm dead. That was a little too mean even for me.

"..."

I look up to meet Miss Mary's eyes.

"Really? You really just said that."

"My bad, that was very mean. I'm sorry." I said to her in the sincerest way possible.

"Really? You don't look like you do though." She said intimidatingly.

"Miss Mary, actually mean it." I get that a lot, people say my face doesn't really change that much, that's why they can't read me very well.

"Ugh, well whatever... You won't listen to me anyways. Just don't overdo it and come home safe. Go get some sleep now, tomorrow you still have work." She seems to have forgiven me.

"We cool right?"

"Yea." She gave me a short and quick answer.

With that, I enter the stairway behind the counter and head up to the second floor. Guess I'll get some rest tonight.

~

(Mary's POV)

I'm seriously worried about Nero. I wish he would trust me more.

I sat still alone after Nero left.

I still don't know what made him like this, but I'm sure it has something to do with the attack 9 years ago. Up until I met him 2 weeks ago I thought he was dead. After the monster attack, his family was reported as one of the casualties, to think I would meet him again. Is this fate?

If only you knew how much I worry about you, would you trust me more? If only I could find a way to tell him that I care for him. How long has it been since I last met you, you were still in your mother's womb when I first saw you.

Miss Ana, your child ended up in my care, what should I do?

Miss Ana, you chose this child over your own family, he must be quite precious to you, even after all this time, I still think back to the days I worked as your maid, the ups and downs we had. I was happy to see him again, he looked exactly like your husband I immediately recognized him. After all, how could I forget the face of the man that ruined your life. Maybe it's my sense of duty that makes me care so much about him, yet I still resent that man for taking you away and leading you to a path that leads to you losing your life, I really am hopeless...