Savior! Redemption in Another World! - Chapter 72

Arriving at the guild building, I didn’t even have to give the knock or password, since as soon as Sylvia and I walked up to the door of the hall, Jerry opened the door with a shocked look.

“Boss! You actually made it out!” He said, nearly tripping over himself as he ran up to Sylvia to give her a large hug.

Huh, he must have really valued Sylvia as a guild master.

“Yeah, it’s okay Jerry, I’m okay for now.” She said, returning his embrace.

“Come on! The old Night’s Edge guys are probably gonna flip!” He said, dragging Sylvia by the arm. Wait, Night’s Edge?

Without being able to ask my question, I was dragged along with Sylvia into the guildhall. Stepping in, we were met with two different reactions.

The first, which was expected, was almost no reaction.

The second, was the reaction that almost half the guild had, all of them running up to hug and greet their returning guild master.

Oh, it wasn’t just Jerry. It looks like everyone who knew Sylvia really valued her, maybe more than a guild member should value their master.

All of this had a palpable effect on Sylvia, as she broke down in tears as more and more guild members greeted her with warm smiles and loving embraces.

Not my place to get involved. Scooting out of the slowly growing encirclement I walk up to the bar within the guild building, grab some free celebratory booze, and take a seat.

I’m absolutely exhausted, but at least the job is complete. I’ll need a day or two to fully recover my mana and body, and afterward, I can set off on the journey to see Antonio and Surge.

Just as I was beginning to get too comfortable, a happy, yet bruised face takes a seat right next to me. My guild brother, Boramir.

“You did it! You crazy son of a bitch, you actually pulled off the impossible!” Boramir said, putting a happy arm around my back and pulling me into a side hug.

“Impossible? Hardly, my plan worked flawlessly, it was actually much easier than you think.” I say, allowing myself to brag a bit. I love it when a plan comes together.

“No, seriously, from the bottom of my heart, thank you.” He said, turning me to face him as he continued. “You have no idea how much this means to me, to us. How would you like to join us, the real us.” He said, his voice lowering a bit as he said that last part.

“Come again?” I ask, genuinely confused at this point. I’m already a member of the guild, am I not?

“Follow me, brother.” He says, standing up and beckoning me to follow him.

Standing up, I follow Boramir through a set of heavy steel doors located behind the staircase up to the second level. Interesting, I never noticed this door whenever I was in the guildhall before.

That being said, I didn’t spend too much time just meandering in the hall.

After walking down a staircase for a good minute, we’re brought before another large steel door, which Boramir pushes open with ease.

Past the steel door seems to be some sort of conference room. Comfortable leather furniture, magical light fixtures, and multiple documents were strewn across a center table.

“Welcome, to the exterior meeting room of Night’s Edge, brother.” He says, with a confident tone and smile.

“That’s the second time I’ve heard that name. What exactly is Night’s Edge? Isn’t the guild named Edge of Night?” I ask, taking a comfortable seat on the large leather couch, as Boramir takes a seat opposite from me.

“Well, yes and no. Edge of Night is the name of our official grey guild. Night’s Edge is the name of our unofficial guild, whose members number much lower than the official documents.” He said in a matter-of-fact tone. I think I’m more confused now than when I asked the question. Official guild? Unofficial? What’s the difference between the two aside from members?

“I think I’m missing a few key details,” I say, hoping that he would at least explain a bit more to me.

“Let me start from the beginning,” He says, taking a deep breath and fulfilling my hopes. “Sylvia, Arnold, Jerry, Keith, Trevor, and I all used to run, or I guess you could say still do run, an underground guild known as Night’s Edge. Sylvia was the guild master, Arnold, Trevor, and I were the main muscle behind the group, whilst Jerry and Keith were in charge of money and intel. Are you following so far?” He asks as I nod for him to continue.

I think I’ve already heard a bit of what happened from Sylvia.

“Around eight years ago, we realized that in order to operate on a wider scale, we would need official guild documents and licenses. Otherwise, the organization couldn’t survive financially. We needed an excuse for all of the money coming in, and forming a grey guild provided us with the perfect opportunity, hence the guild Edge of Night was born.” He said, sighing and sitting back.

“Why? Why form a separate guild with separate members instead of making Night’s Edge an official guild?” This just seems redundant and frankly stupid.

“It was Keith’s idea originally, and we followed his advice. Most adventurers who join grey guilds do so due to the money, not loyalty, but we still needed enough heads to make our guild official. There’s no honor among thieves, so we’d simply filter all the small-time jobs to Edge of Night to keep them appeased, whilst the big fishes would be dealt with by Night’s Edge.”

“Yet, that all changed when Keith died. We started to have trouble differentiating between good jobs and scams, which ended up with Sylvia walking right into a trap, leading to her being captured. With no one on intel and no guild master with connections, Night’s Edge fell into obscurity, overtaken by Edge of Night.” Boramir continued to explain, his head falling into his hands.

“Then why take so long to break out Sylvia? And why request I take her with me? Nothing your saying is making sense.” I say, still not understanding where I fit into all of this.

“You don’t get it. Sylvia has connections all over the underground, and they turned her into the guards. The moment she steps back into the underground, especially with no mana, we’ll be back to square one.” He says, raising his head and pinching the bridge of his nose. “Night’s Edge still has an underground reputation thanks to Arnold and Trevor keeping up appearances, yet once that well runs dry, we’ll be shit out of luck. The point of you taking Sylvia along is to free her of this stupid life on the run, as well as help out Night’s Edge. Once Sylvia’s regained her full strength and built new connections throughout the continent, Night’s Edge will be able to stop cowering in shadows and go back to running the black guild space.”

Ahh, it’s a pride thing. He wants me to take Sylvia with me and act as a wall of meat, that way she can do what she does best without worry.

“I understand. But there are still two things I don’t understand.” I say, holding out two fingers.

“What would those be?” Boramir asks, tilting his head slightly.

“One, what took you so long to save Sylvia. Two, why me?” I ask, as Boramir just shakes his head and chuckles.

“Sixty-three. We tried sixty-three times to break Sylvia out of that hell hole. Whether it was hiring a bunch of goons and rushing the tower, getting mages together to blast the tower with fire and explosion magic, attempting to contact Sylvia and help her escape, truly we had thought we tried everything. In fact, I’m still shocked you succeeded. We spent over one hundred thousand Soldi hiring a Legate tier fire magician to set off detonation magic at the top of the tower, yet all that it left was a huge black scorch mark. No matter how much magic we threw at the tower, it was as if it simply absorbed it and shrugged off the rest. We figured out around try number forty-one that there was some sort of magic absorption inscription on the tower, so in all honesty, it felt hopeless.” He said, chuckling and shrugging, eventually, his head falling back into his hands.

Hmm, interesting. I guess that would prevent most high-scale damage, especially since my strongest attack could barely crack the tower.

Yet, still, something is nagging at me.

“How did you know Sylvia had lost the use of her mana? Also, you still haven’t answered my other question.” I say as Boramir looks up at me as if I’m stupid.

“I was a partner with this person for years, she used to leak mana like a leaky faucet, yet when you brought her back, there was nothing. Also, who else could I choose for this but you? You accomplished something no one else in Night’s Edge ever could, making you more than fit to join us and reap the benefits once we reclaim our spot at the top, even if your only contribution is standing in front of Sylvia when she was weak.” Boramir said, a warm smile spreading over his face as he stuck his hand out, a symbol shining a brilliant gold on the back of it. “So, brother, care to join us? All you have to do is exactly what you’re already planning on doing, go to your children. Just protect Sylvia on your journey.”

Although a few things are still bugging me, I can’t turn him down. Boramir has been nothing but kind to me and is even trusting me with protecting me someone dear to him.

If I turned him down now, I could hardly call myself a leader, let alone an honorable man.

Shaking his hand, I could feel a symbol begin to burn itself into the back of my hand, the symbol of a bird’s wings, with a halo around the top of them. I could also feel a connection with Boramir and a few others now, beyond what could be considered normal.

“Welcome,  brother, to the family,” Boramir said, a pleasant smile on his face, yet his voice almost seemed to rise an octave or two.

Hmm, must have been my ears playing a trick on me.