Chapter 21: Tilly

Joshua turned back to the girls, noticing one off to the side that had not spoken up once since he awakened. "Hi, I am Joshua." He said to her,

She nervously responded. "Sir knight!" As quickly as she could speak it in a high-pitched voice and ran away quickly.

"That was just Tilly." Doreen said. "She is like that. It's better to just let her come around to you in time. She is very shy, but a damn good healer. She was the one who healed your wounds after all."

"I will have to thank her then." Joshua said.

"You handled the guards really well Joshua!" Misha said surprised.

"Yes, I am surprised you got what I was alluding to before." Doreen said. "By the way they call me the scarlet reaver. I am an A-ranked adventurer. How would you like to join my party?"

"Doreen he is D-rank!" Misha said. "You go on A-rank missions that would be asking for trouble!"

"And the four thieves were all B-rank were they not?" Doreen asked. "Look, anyone that can take on four higher ranked opponents and have the balls to fight is alright in my book. Strength of will is an adventurer's strongest weapon."

"I still forbid it!" Misha said.

"Then we can just ask Tonya." Doreen said. "You want me to go over your head?"

"I… well He hasn't even agreed to it yet!" Misha replied.

"I am sorry Doreen; I have my own personal quest I am following right now." Joshua said. "I don't want to drag you into it."

"What's the difficulty?" Doreen asked.

"AA-rank." Joshua replied.

"You are not going on an AA rank mission!" Misha yelled. "Those are kingdom level calamity missions! There is no way I am going to allow that!"

"Well, it's a personal mission." Joshua said. "Not an official request of the guild."

While Joshua was turned to talk to Misha, Doreen snuck behind him and grabbed his status plate. "So, you are level twenty now, but these stats are of a level eighty… One who levels every stat they have evenly but a level eighty nonetheless.

That's one interesting skill kid. Then let's see demon slayer and… There's another one, named Cursed Fate? What the devil is that skill?"

"I got a new skill?" Joshua asked. "Cursed Fate…" His mind went back to the final moments of the man he replaced in this world. Also, to how he had no remorse for taking the lives of others. "Does it describe it at all?"

"Nope." Doreen said., casually tossing his status plate back to him. "That is a truly unique and incredibly ominous sounding skill. The fate it doesn't have a description on the plate means it is probably an evolution skill.

That means it will change over time."

"I am sure Joshua knows about skills." Misha said.

"Hey, you were the one going on about him being D-rank." Doreen said. "So, when I try to teach him something he is suddenly better than a D-rank?"

"I actually didn't know." Joshua said. "Thanks for telling me, and please don't steal my plate again."

"You should hide it better." Doreen replied. "You have a ridiculous amount of money in your bank account. Truly befitting a noble. Did no one teach you the hide command? Honestly Misha, you should do better training the rookies."

"I just assumed." Misha said.

"Right." Doreen said. 'Listen kid, when you don't want your stats to be read by everyone else there is a simple spell to hide it. Especially the banking information. Just hold it in your hand and say inconverdo."

Joshua picked up his plate and said "inconverdo." Everything hid on the tablet aside from his name, level, and base stats. As Joshua thought about it, you realized the plates of the nobles he dealt with didn't show their amount of money in the bank.

"That is useful." Joshua said. "Why did no one tell me this?"

"It isn't normally allowed for a commoner to hide their status plate." Doreen said. "So normal people wouldn't tell you. Adventurers are allowed to as sometimes we get captured by the enemy and our skills being hidden helps us greatly.

So, Misha was supposed to explain it to you, but didn't do her job."

"Sorry." Misha said.

"Now back to the matter at hand, kid." Doreen said. "I want in this AA-ranked quest of yours. Give me the details."

"Yes Joshua." Misha said. "Give us the details!"

"I have to save my mother." Joshua said. "A knight by the name of Gilroy is holding her against her will. He beats her and god knows what else. As a fellow knight I can challenge him, but it is a fight to the death and as a challenger I have to fight him or his champion.

The problem is his champion is an AA-ranked adventurer. So, I need to get stronger. To that end I have this map."

Joshua handed the map over to Misha. "This map is of Yernale, the town that rests upon death." Misha said. "So, you're planning on going to a dungeon then?"

"I need to get stronger and dungeon running is always an efficient way to do that." Joshua replied.

"That dungeon is literally called death." Doreen said. "It will eat you alive and spit you back out. Who in their right mind would give you a map to such a place as that?"

"The count's butler." Joshua explained. "He was a friend and servant of my father and wishes to help."

"It sounds like he wanted you dead." Doreen said. "Sending a rookie to his death like that…"

"Who was your father?" Misha asked.

"A viscount by the name of Gilhaven." Joshua said.

"Seriously?!" Doreen said laughing. "Well, I guess you do have the long flowing blonde hair. Yeah, I could see that. Tilly! Get over here! Stop being shy!"

Tilly returned to the room and rubbed her hair through her hands as she walked over to Doreen, staring at the ground the whole time to avoid eye contact.

"Joshua re-meet Tilly." Doreen said having a hard time not laughing. "She is your sister, well half-sister."