The Laughing Swordsman

Apollo's iron coin fit perfectly onto the seal of the envelope. The side of the smiling devil sunk into the wax seal while the side with the association's symbol began to glow faintly. 

A small amount of white mist gathered towards the coin, while a faint sizzling sound filled the room. The wax seal had burned away, releasing large amounts of red mist.

The room gradually became foggy with the red mist, but by the end the wax seal had disappeared completely, leaving an unsealed envelope with an iron coin on top.

Layla's furry ears twitched.

"Wah! Friend did it!"

Apollo blinked a few times.

"...Yeah, guess I did."

Layla tilted her head to the side.

"But I also would have opened it easily! Why did you stop me?"

The corner of Apollo's lip twitched.

"I had a feeling it was going to explode, destroying the envelope in the process."

Layla puffed her cheeks.

"B-But I am careful!"

A bitter smile appeared on Apollo's face.

"...Sure."

Layla flailed her arms in the air.

"I am!"

Apollo ignored Layla. He pulled off the iron coin gingerly with his thumb and forefinger, prompting the envelope to open ever so slightly. He placed the coin in his pocket, then opened the envelope, revealing a piece of parchment.

When Layla saw the contents, she immediately lost her angry expression. Her furry ears twitched.

"Ohhhh~ What is it?"

Apollo shrugged his shoulders.

"I imagine it's the personal reputation request. Hopefully the reward is something good."

He didn't know what the mission was, as it could be anything.

Though it was still a good thing regardless.

After all, his chances to use the iron coin were only a measly two. He remembered he needed a certain amount of chances in order to be promoted, so the fact a personal reputation request didn't use one up mattered quite a bit.

Not to mention a certain amount of personal reputation requests needed to be completed for a promotion.

...If only he was told how many.

After setting the envelope on the table, he slipped the paper in between his forefinger and middle finger. Then, pulled it out.

The side visible was blank and the paper itself was folded in half. After opening it up, the contents of it were revealed.

'Rank: Silver Coin

Target: Evermore City

Description: Unknown events happened within Evermore city. Unknown danger level. Uncover as many secrets as possible. Prioritize information related to the party responsible for events and the method by which these events occurred.

Requirements: Investigate Evermore City, providing a certain extent of information. Additional rewards may be granted for thorough details.

Reward: Flicker of Flame from The Undying Phoenix'

Apollo's emotions soared and fell like a rollercoaster reading through the parchment. He initially was about to gloss by the rank, but his eyes suddenly snapped back to it.

'Rank: Silver Coin'

His current coin was an iron one, meaning the silver coin was far beyond his rank. Even when he had the copper coin, the most he had seen was copper coin, iron lined.

And now, it seemed like this mission was an entire rank above his rank.

As for the direct implications of this, Apollo wasn't too sure. After all, he didn't know how hard a silver ranked mission truly was.

When Apollo's eyes moved on to the target, Evermore city, countless memories flashed by his mind.

Maya...

The innocent girl that never really knew how to stand on her own.

Karn...

The hopeless man that had given up the moment he was born.

And his promise.

That he would come back to kill everyone in that city.

Apollo felt his blood boil and his mind flare up as though his entire being caught fire. It was almost as though a dormant volcano had awakened, but only smoke rose from its crater.

A warning of what was to come.

Apollo had grown far stronger. He did not know if it was enough to overpower the people in that city, but it was enough to warrant an attempt.

As for the mission itself, it was to investigate. That itself didn't sound so appealing, but...

...who said investigating couldn't be accompanied by a little bit of violence?

A smile gradually began to form on Apollo's face, while his eyes began to widen ever so slightly.

Then, Apollo looked at the reward.

'Flicker of Flame from The Undying Phoenix'

In all honesty, while he knew that legends told of the existence of a phoenix, he had no true understanding about them other than they were supposed to be immortal and some relation to fire.

Though that didn't really help him in this situation since the reward itself had both the word, 'flame', and 'undying'. It wasn't too hard to infer those things about a phoenix just from that.

However, Apollo did not understand what the reward was supposed to be. For all he knew, it could be something you were supposed to eat, or some kind of weapon. Though for all intents and purposes, it seemed to be something rare, though probably not too large in quantity given the word, 'flicker'.

Apollo saw no reason to reject this mission, but he really wished things could be a little more clear.

The only problem was that Apollo was a little confused on how to accept it. Normally, if he just picked up the request sheet, it would automatically be accepted. As of now, he already had the request sheet in his hand.

After a few moments of hesitation, Apollo tried throwing it up into the air. The parchment flew up, then fell down after fluttering a little, like a normal piece of paper.

Layla looked at him as though he was a foolish baby.

"What are you doing, friend?"

Apollo coughed and picked the request sheet back up.

"I... dropped it by accident."

He placed it on the desk, after which the envelope dissipated into grey mist and converged around the parchment.

Apollo sighed.

He accepted it, but that only made him wonder how he was supposed to reject it. Apollo decided to push off thinking about it until he got a request he wanted to reject.

And so, it was time for him to complete the request.

....Though, things wouldn't be as he expected.

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