"So, you're the new Environmental Vitality and Catalyst Observer. Didn't even know we had a position like that, but yeah. Is this you?"
"Yes, sir. Name's Noah."
"Huh? No last name, buddy?"
By this point, the room's murky, scented air conditioning was already hitting me at the speed of light.
The man's clean shaven head reflected the messy alcohol shelf behind him, making me smirk from time to time.
'Fucking family names always excite these assholes.'
"Uh, no sir. Orphaned at birth, so I never really got one," I said, forcing a smile.
"Oh, that's a pity," he replied, not even attempting to hide the fakeness behind those words. He continued, "Well, I don't really have a job for you right now, so how about you settle into your quarters for the time being?"
"I'm… sorry?"
He sighed and set my introductory papers down in an exhausted manner.
"You see, Mr. Noah, this department has existed for centuries, and we have never needed this position. I say that quite confidently."
"It has been two centuries since this role was last filled, and it has remained vacant for a good reason. You will receive your salary, don't worry about that, but I do not want you joining my team and causing unnecessary confusion."
Silence settled into the room as he finished speaking. I looked at him with a forced, pleasant expression.
"Uh, isn't there anything you can do, sir?"
The words hung in the air while our staring contest continued.
"Get out."
The morning sun outside the subsidiary branch was supposed to signal a nice, pleasant day.
It did not.
'If all I wanted was a salary, my savings probably exceeded this asshole's entire net worth, even if he lived another hundred lives.'
The real reason I had come this far from my hometown was to clear my head. Maybe to seriously consider starting over and forgetting the past.
The idea of coming to the Frey Kingdom had taken root when my family began acting strange around me. Of course, I knew why. At least, partially.
Being adopted into a noble family as a placeholder for their lost son sounded acceptable, until you considered the possibility that they had finally moved on from his death.
And the fact that I was practically talentless.
A Silver Core with almost no mana reserve potential. I was surprised they had even kept me around for ten years.
I walked aimlessly toward my hotel at the edge of the town square and paid for another two days. The receptionist on the morning shift did not even look at me as she muttered, "Done, sir."
Once inside the room, I hung up my trench coat, something I absolutely should not have worn today, and looked at myself in the cheap mirror.
Black hair. Black eyes. A face that was so painfully average it almost hurt. If someone glanced at me in passing, they would probably think I was a base level character from a game.
I pulled off my white shirt to inspect my body. Sweat clung to my skin, and even then it was just average.
A slight belly. Love handles that would stick out the moment I stopped watching my diet. Technically healthy.
Nothing remarkable. Nothing special.
After staring into the mirror for a while, I slapped myself hard.
"Enough self loathing time, Noah. Let's not act like an emo and get some kebabs."
The room was nothing special. A single person bed with barely clean sheets and a pillow that's hard like a rock. A closet and a desk to work on and a window that was no covers.
I changed into a simple hoodie and shorts and walked out of the hotel. It was close to afternoon, so the streets were buzzing with customers.
I stalked around the area near the hotel for a while before deciding to head toward the food stalls set up around the district plaza.
Packed with vendors loudly calling out to passersby, the place felt more like home than the past ten years of coldness ever had.
I approached a stall brimming with customers and spoke to the vendor, a man with a shaved head and a beard like something out of the Viking stories I had read in history books.
"Uh, bro, what do you guys have"
"WHATCHU WANT BOSS. WE HAVE SHAWARMA, KEBABS, WRAPS, FRIED RICE"
"Whoa whoa, chill brother," I said, backing up a little. I really did not need that much enthusiasm under this hot sun.
"Hehe, sorry boss. Customers flock, Jamal happy. So what you need, boss man?"
I smiled at him, and for some reason it reminded me of my younger brother. Not blood related, but still.
"Uh, boss?"
I snapped back to my senses and quickly shook my head.
"Seven pieces of kebabs coated with butter, and a chicken shawarma with lemon squeezed over it, with cheese."
"Huh. First time hearing that combo. You sure this hits hard, boss?"
"It does. At least for me. Try not to add too much of those dead skins, alright?"
"Alright, boss man."
I sat down at one of the seats placed near the stall, where people were already feasting on their food.
Some guy was feeding kebabs to his girlfriend, which made me frown.
"Is my day destined to be bad today?" I muttered as I ruffled my hair.
Another couple was outright making out in a shady corner. The guy noticed me and winked, like he was showing off a streak of ranked game wins.
"Maybe I should have ordered food at the hotel," I sighed as I closed my eyes and tried to think through my predicament.
My thoughts went over to my grandfather, who clearly warned me not to step into Frey Kingdom.
Even though under public consideration, Frey and my home kingdom, Brethel Kingdom, had good trade and political relations, the past two years had been hanging by a thin string, threatening to break at any point.
It had been rumored that Frey Kingdom was housing a demon slave ring.
Using demons as slaves was not really new to either kingdom nor to the species itself, but rumors that a demon general had been working for Frey Kingdom's queen, Amanda Frey, had reached my grandfather.
This obviously sparked internal disagreement within the royal family, as Amanda Frey had been nothing but kind to the Brethel Kingdom in terms of trade routes and resources.
Moreover, Amanda Frey and Olivia Brethel, the queen of the Brethel Kingdom, had once been best friends and rivals.
So the tension between the kingdoms could break under any mishap.
'Well, it's probably wrong intel' I thought to myself as I opened my eyes and saw the vendor skillfully squeezing lemon over my shawarma.
I had met Amanda Frey twice at the royal family's mansion. She was nothing but kind and even acted like the class difference between commoners, nobles, and royalty did not matter.
She had also wiped out entire demon armies back in the day, feats still told in history books.
'Well, who am I to judge? Maybe she is a traitor. Staying low until I can get a solid idea of where to settle down is my main priority. Politics and fighting against demons can be left to the brave ones'
"BOSS MAN, HERE YA GO. IT'S TWENTY COPPER COINS."
'Geez, don't shout in my ear dude' I thought to myself as I took out my worn out purse and paid the guy.
"BOSS! YOU GAVE TEN COINS EXTRA!?"
I waved my hand dismissively and walked back to my hotel, my previous thoughts dwindling into how I was going to devour my meal.
#####
TAK! TAK!
The sharp knocking on my door yanked me out of sleep. My head throbbed as I reached for my phone and squinted at the screen.
3.07 AM.
I sat up and pulled my revolver from the suitcase, the Colt my grandfather had given me. Just in case this was some drunk knocking by mistake, I stayed still and listened.
Silence.
Two minutes passed, slow and suffocating, and just as my grip began to loosen,
TAK! TAK!
My fingers tightened around the revolver as I moved toward the window, each step careful.
I slipped into my white shirt, the fabric sticking slightly to my skin, while the knocking began again, repeating the same pattern.
'There is no way someone with good intentions is knocking on the district's cheapest motel room at three in the morning'
I slid open the window screen and peered down at the two story drop below.
TAK! TAK! TAK! TAK! TAK!
The sound crawled under my skin.
Not loud. Not frantic.
Measured.
Familiar.
'I just cannot place it'
'Every fiber and tissue in my body is telling me to stay inside, and yet I want to jump'
TAK! TAK! TAK! TAK! TAK! TAK! TAK! TAK! TAK! TAK! TAK! TAK!
The knocking was no longer random.
It was a rhythm.
A tune.
One I had not heard in years.
The melody they used to play at the orphanage.
A mournful song about a swordsman who met his end through his own self sacrificial resolve.
My pulse thudded in my ears.
And then it stopped.
Not faded.
Not cut short.
It ended cleanly, as if whoever was knocking had reached the final note.
Silence followed.
That silence felt heavier than the sound.
I made my decision.
I climbed out the window, grabbed the narrow ledge along the hotel wall, and slowly lowered myself down.
The moment my feet touched the ground, the air changed.
The whole street was silent and empty. Even the occasional homeless people and the sloppy security guards of the hotel were nowhere to be seen.
A dense fog rolled through the street, red and white swirling together.
"The Blood Mist phenomenon," I muttered as I holstered my revolver and moved forward carefully.
A rare occurrence. One that marked demons on the verge of ascension into another realm of mana.
Judging by the fog's reach, it was at least S rank. Enough to blanket half the kingdom.
'Then what was the knocking?'
Screams tore through the next street, followed by gunshots and the warped howls of monsters.
The answer came too easily.
Whatever knocked on my door did not want to come in.
It wanted me out.