Marked Ones: Advent of the Demon Prince

"Hey…wake up."

"Mmm…"

"Dumbass, get out of bed or I'm going to zap you."

"…as if you could, you useless cat." Rena finally mumbled as she pushed away the finger prodding her cheek.

Today was like any other day, she simply wanted to sleep in late, but her annoying, formerly feral cat was once again pestering her for his morning meal.

"Ass…anyway if you don't get up we will be late getting to the guild, you still wanted to join right? You have been pestering your father for permission for a few years now for it…but I know you noble girl types; so quick to change your mind on a whim."

Instantly, Rena shot up and threw off her blankets. The covers softly landed on Lucius' head, covering him completely. He did not move to remove it because he was aware that his mistress was currently changing while he was in the room. Rena giggled with excitement as she quickly changed out of her nightclothes and into her adventurer outfit.

She put on a plain white shirt and skin-tight pants that allowed her a full range of movement while still providing at least some barrier between her skin and the elements. Over the shirt was a lightly padded leather chest piece that protected her chest and abdomen. Her legs had leather shin guards, thigh guards, and simple leather boots.

Finishing off the ensemble were a set of bracers, fingerless gloves and a light cloak with a hood.

Essentially, she looked like a blend between a mage and a scout. This was her preferred combat uniform since she was a midrange fighter despite only having Compatibilities in magic. Other than magic, her other specialty was strategy and she did her best in the midrange, being able to rapidly respond to problems as they occur and instantly issue orders.

When she was finally finished changing, she walked over and pulled the blanket's off of her friend's head. Underneath it was a pair of shining eyes, an annoyed face, and ruffled, unkempt hair.

"You really should be more presentable, you know. You are a servant of the illustrious house Petra." Rena giggled as she teased out Lucius' hair to put it back into a somewhat presentable fashion. The boy normally kept slightly longer hair that he mostly finger brushed for a few seconds once he got out of bed.

"My hair was fine before you covered me with a blanket you know."

"You preferred that I didn't cover your face? What a perverted thought about your benefactor."

"Shut up." Lucius laughed.

Rena gave him a small smile. He had served as her bodyguard for the better part of four almost five years. Their current relationship started off thanks to running into each other during a deadly trial in the woods outside their hometown, and then proceeded to end with his father's death by her father's hand…

Thinking back on things like this gave her a sense of guilt every time. She also had vague memories of being forced into a promise of protecting Lucius by whatever dark entity was in the woods with them that day, but honestly that promise had basically no impact on why she chose to be his friend instead of just protecting him.

All of these thoughts passed through her mind as she bid goodbye to several of the staff on her way out of the manor. She followed Lucius as he led the way through town. It was relatively early in the morning for her, but apparently for the common people in town, this was already a booming and active part of the day.

The cobblestone street down the main thoroughfare was littered with people visiting stalls, shops, and bars…though for the life of her, Rena could not understand the need to drink at so early in the morning.

"Hey, Lucius." Rena asked. "Are you really sure you are okay with joining the Adventurer's guild?"

She was worried about him because despite having shown his strength in the woods so long ago, he had not been able to advance beyond the Novice Rank. Rena had advanced into the Beginner Rank a long time ago and was currently well on the path to Intermediate already. On top of that, even though he had Compatibility with Thunder magic, he had still yet been able to activate a spell of any kind.

"Yeah, it should be fine. I can compensate for my rank a little bit thanks to my beastman senses. I make a good scout…besides I have to follow you around wherever I go, don't I?"

"Aww what a sweet kitty you are!" Rena giggled, which earned her a loud groan.

He was not wrong though. Lucius' exceptional sense of sight, smell, and hearing were a boon to any group wanting to track creatures or people. His body was also built for it since he was tall and lean. Essentially the boy had the perfect build for the job. He could also at least hold his own against Beginner rank fighters long enough to escape or hold out for help.

Rena found herself lost staring at his back, tracing his muscles outlined by his clothes that had grown tighter around his upper body…

"Hey, weirdo, you there?"

Lucius' voice snapped her back to the present. "Huh, wha?"

"I said we are here like five times, but you were just zoning out."

In front of them was a large, stone building with giant oak doors. One was currently propped open and a number of strange looking people kept walking in and out of it. They varied from massive warriors carrying axes the size of Rena's whole body, to short and thin mages equipped with only robes. This had to have been the first time that she had seen so many different types of people in one place.

There were plenty of humans and a few elves.

She also kind of expected to see beastmen, but apparently they don't tend to make it this far into human kingdoms due to general racial issues. It made sense though, the same could be said for humans when one got deep into beastman or elf territories.

"So this is it, huh?"

"Yep. The Adventurer's guild you've been begging your father to let you join for several years. Every bit as grand as you expected?"

Rena sighed. "It is actually rather plain, though the people seem…interesting."

"Welcome to reality, Rena."

A small blush came to her cheeks. It did not happen often because of their respective positions, but she loved to hear her name come from Lucius' mouth. 'Thank the gods he isn't looking at me right now.' She thought.

"Anyway, what was the plan again?"

"We were going to become adventurers, earn the rights to enter the dungeon between here and the capital, then fight through the dungeon until the next Grand Raid."

She nodded in affirmation. A Grand Raid was supposed to be happening in a handful of months. It was a massive raid on a dungeon where a large group of adventurers would band together to fight through the dungeon in an effort to get as deep as possible into its depths.

Dungeons were rather strange phenomenon in this world. Many were small, and consisted of only a handful of floors, but some had dozens or even up to a hundred. Those dungeons were named, and no one had ever made it to the bottom. Monsters in the dungeons would regenerate over time, allowing people to constantly fight them for experience and high-quality materials.

The Grand Raid that they were trying to get into was for the named dungeon between the Petra domain and the capital of Arcadios. It was known as the Demon's Stomach thanks to its nightmarish creatures and the unfortunate habit it had of absorbing fallen adventurers' bodies and equipment.

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A/N: Interested in Discord?

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