Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

"How dare you!?" the second projectile roared as it hit the first, giving it another boost.

"Please understand sweetie! You are also not the youngest anym- urgh!" a fist dug into the first projectiles guts and it shot away, shaped like a banana with a spray of blood.

"I'm barely over 200 you millennia-old geezer!"

Fin was having a friendly discussion among family members. It was NOT a brutal rampage, demolishing their palace in the process.

"But sweetie!" Fin′s father said with blood flowing from his mouth.

"NO! No sweetie! You send me a message that grandma was sick! I come here. I get forced into all kinds of hero parades and nobody tells me what is going on! And when I finally meet grandma, she congratulates me on getting married!?"

Two Weeks! Two weeks she could have spent with Seth to explore Ora were wasted. She had endured a parade, an award ceremony, a promotion, and several banquets in these tight and uncomfortable formal dresses. She didn't even get to meet the people Seth and she had saved! Her supposedly sick grandmother congratulating her on the arranged marriage, after she finally managed to meet her, was the last straw that broke the camel's back.

Flames were spewing from her eyes and an intense divine aura covered her fists. The first projectile- Fin′s father came to a stop lying on a great balcony of the palace.

"Honey, please let me-"

Like a not-so-jolly green giant, she smashed both her fists into the balcony, breaking the whole structure and cause a rain of debris. After smoke and dust were dispersed by a strong gust, she found her father desperately clinging to the ragged edge. He looked up to her with pleading eyes. But his gaze only met black eyes, deep and cold like the void.

"Long live...the king." she stepped on his hand and kicked it off the edge.

"Ahhhhhh!" her father fell and vanished in the dust clouds below.

"Are you done with your little temper tantrum?" a beautiful fairy hovered in the air beside the hole in the fa?ade. She had the same eyes and hair color as Fin. Actually, it was the other way around, as this fairy was her mother.

"Mom! How could you let this happen!? You hail me as a hero and then you let him stab me in the back?"

"Sweetiepiee! I′m sorry! I had no choice!" with teary eyes her father flew back up out of the dust cloud. He had played along to appease her anger; he was not really in danger at any point. He just endured the pain.

Fin ignored him resolutely and turned towards her mom.

"it′s true, honey. It′s the second prince that asked for your hand in marriage. It′s also him that forced the parade and prizes. "

Even so, the fairy race was a matriarchically society with a Queen above all, there were still all kinds of lower kings and nobles below her reign. Fin′s family were mid-level nobility in their country. Her father had not the power to go against the royalty.

The cracking of tense tendons filled the room as the grip of Fin′s clenched fist became tighter and tighter.

"Stop it. You know that you can′t solve this with brute force." it was the firm voice of her mother. She noticed her parents worrying faces and loosened her grip- They were right. She stood no chance against the royal guards. She would not even be able to go on a rampage and destroy something before getting apprehended.

"Suggestions?" she pressed out. It was clear for her, that she would not be forced into a marriage with some power-hungry royal who thought her achievements looked good on him.

"Run." her mom simply stated "leave and ignore all summon. Didn't you say you got a good friend? Use some excuse to return to him"

Her father looked flabbergasted at his wife. "But what about the prince?"

"We did what was expected. If our daughter runs away, it′s not our problem. She′s 204. That's old enough to make her own decisions."

Fin looked at her mother with sparkling eyes and gave her an enthusiastic hug. She always understood her!

They talked about how they would smuggle Fin away. She would leave the world with the excuse of wishing to bid Seth goodbye once and for all. But she would simply stay with him and not return. It was a simple Idea. As long as Fin managed to leave the world, there was nothing a prince could do to a high-ranking officer like Fin.

She sent Seth a letter, that she would return soon and got excited about their meeting.

She requested a leave from her superiors who were unable to deny a celebrated hero's request. At least the title was useful for something.

Like this she ran off to Ora, leaving her parents behind to deal with the prince's anger.

She successfully arrived in Ora′s System Church, but her letter had not been received.

There was no Seth waiting here, so she went to look for Seth.

She came to the inn, but there was no Seth.

How was she supposed to find him now? Would she be able to find Seth in a big city like Ora? The fear of having come for naught grasped her heart. Just as tears tried to well up in her eyes, the innkeeper continued talking.

He told her that he had left a few days ago together with his children and their party. He was away, taking the rank-up exam to become a B-Rank adventurer. The Exam was supposed to take 2 weeks. James, the innkeeper, remembered Fin and offered her to stay in his room until he returned.

Fin needed a place to stay anyway, so she agreed to stay for now. Since she now knew where Seth was, her next destination was the guild to get more information about that quest.

The guild was quite hectic when she arrived. The guild receptionists were running around with papers in their hands, while groups of adventurers were standing around with nervous expressions.

The fairy waited for almost an hour at one of the counters before a receptionist finally got to her. She was sweaty and out of breath with her hair in disorder.

"H-How can I help you?" she tried to give her the trained business smile, but it was crooked and rushed. Fin felt a little bad for her but acted as if she didn't notice and told her about Seth. The receptionist lady′s face twitched a little when she mentioned that her friend was part of the exam quest.

"You didn't hear about it yet? You are a B-Rank adventurer, right?" the lady suddenly asked with a glint in her eyes.

"Yeah?"

"Good, good. I can′t simply tell you about the specifics of that quest, but if you want to join the rescu- reinforcement party, I can tell you everything."

"Rescue party!?" she exclaimed. The receptionist signaled her to be quieter. She pushed a form towards. It was for joining the reinforcement quest.

The receptionist gave her a short explanation of what was happening at the moment. Yesterday they got the notification from Tora to call back and cancel all merchant caravans and travelers. The wyverns along the road to the city had turned extremely violent. It had already been bad enough after a new alpha took over the lead of the flock, but something happened that Tora could not divulge, but it provoked the reptiles.

The situation was volatile and extremely dangerous for any people traveling towards Tora. That's was the reason for the chaos in the guild. Besides canceling and calling back all kinds of traders, adventurers, and caravans, they also needed to organize a reinforcement party for the Palace caravan that had already entered the wyvern's territory. The palace caravan was the last to enter the danger zone and had the greatest number of combatants.

The quest required the participants to be at least B-Rank. This explained why the receptionist took this chance to immediately recruit her. B-Ranks were already rare and busy, finding one who was free and had a personal interest in taking part was like a heaven-sent gift.

The complete briefing and set-off would happen tomorrow morning, so Fin had time to prepare.

Wyverns. Fin thought about these big flying lizards on her way back to the inn. Although these creatures were extremely dangerous, she was also a little relieved.. Even if it was dangerous, Seth should be at least strong enough to escape from those things. She was sure that he would manage to survive until she reached him!