Ank

The first thing I did once I woke up was to try to find the [God]’s body to use [Dissection]… There wasn’t any body left.

Then, as we walked down the road, letting the burned section of the grass field by our side behind, and approaching the so promised city, Taffy explained:

“The Adventurers Guild. It seems you already heard about it, but how much do you know?”, the grass anything dirty moved away from her while she walked, and I understood that that was the reason why there were no roads leading to her house.

“That it’s an organization of powerful mercenaries who hunt monsters”, I replied.

“And that their services are quite expansive too”, Hunah added.

“Hm~ You’re not exactly wrong, but there’s way more to it than just this. For example: the guild works independently from any country and [God], and has a hold in almost every corner of this planet. So it's basically the perfect place for the two of you!”

“Wait, this can't be entirely true, right? I’m not the smartest guy when it comes to politics, but there’s no way every country and [God] would simply ignore, basically, an independent army roaming all around, right?”, I pointed.

Meanwhile, the horizon far away seemed to reach an abrupt end, as if falling suddenly, only the blue skies visible afterward.

“You’re right; like I said before, the Adventurer’s Guild exists almost everywhere. The Silverange Empire, and the Nalatza Empire are off-limits. It is not a coincidence that these are the domains of the strongest [Gods] alive and awake today. And, if it happens for any of you to visit these places someday, it’ll be for the best if you hide the fact that you’re adventurers.”

“Silverange and Nalatza’, I repeated, crossing my arms, and looking up.

“Hm, we heard of them. They are places… that exist. And are big and powerful”, Hunah added basically nothing to my barely non-existent pool of knowledge about the most powerful countries in the world.

“You don’t need to worry about them for now”, Taffy said back, hiding her laughs with a hand. “But that they are the only places where the guild has no influence.”

“Why though? You still didn’t answer my question.”

“…Who knows?”, Taffy replied, smiling innocently. And I decided to not keep insisting, but just listen and try to discern the image at the end of the road we were taking. “Anyways, the guild is designed to make its members stronger, and this means that, usually, they move in [Parties] of 5, and are required to have at least 1 person responsible for taking care of injuries, and 1 another for distract the [Party]’s enemies somehow. Plus, they can’t take up against enemies which [Level] is more than a third of the entire [Party]’s added level; for example, in a [Party] of 5 [Level: 10] adventurers, we’d add all together to 50, and divide it by 3: the guild wouldn’t give them quests which target's [Level] is higher than 16.”

“Does this means we will have to enter another [Party]?”, Hunah asked. “And divide the loot and stuff?”, her tone was one of annoyance.

“From your performance in the jungle, and especially the particular nature of your personal quests, I agree that you will work better just by yourselves, so I’ll see what I can do about this problem”, Taffy said, nodding.

And, as we reached what seemed to be the end of the straight path, which started to take a turn to the left, and the thing that I originally mistook for the skies slowly revealed itself to be a body of water, the retired adventurer added:

“Talking about your revenge, there’s just one more thing I’d like to point: the guild works with a ranking system. Actually, the exact same system used by the [Dungeons], if reversed, starting from 100. These pocket dimensions makers are vital for the guild to keep running, after all; and, the [Dungeon] danger system basically just takes the [Level] of its strongest creature and divides by 10, so it’s simple. The right to take more difficult and rewarding quests, however, isn’t the only benefit some would get for becoming stronger and rank up within the Adventurers Guild. But you also get access to exponentially more secret information.”

“Information? What kind of?”, I asked, for my sister and I haven’t spent the points we received from our last fight yet, hoping that Taffy would tell us anything about the guild that could help us to take a wiser decision; and that seemed to be the last thing the older woman had to say after all.

The retired adventurer stopped, smiled, turned around, facing the two of us, twins, and replied, raising an index finger:

“You’re [Level: 100], what should grant you 90th rank, so I think this would be an appropriate reward: [Zemis] are the absolute lowest ranking [Gods] when it comes to strength, and are used as road and village keepers by the other [Gods]. They are mere underlings, in other words. Their only creation, usually, is of a single person of a race that had already been created by another [God], their masters. They order this one person to make a family, and this family is their only worshipers. The worshipers are responsible for offering sacrifices to the small [God], usually their own people, or people they kidnap, but if the bloodline ends somehow, once the [Zemi] is unable to create anything more, this one will resort to randomly killing those who cross their territory himself. Either way, an acceptable trade in the eyes of the stronger [Gods], for keeping the roads safe, commerce going, and, consequently, the population for sacrifices increasing.”

I closed my fists, frowning. I knew it already, but my sister and I really weren’t the only ones who suffered at the hands of the deities. Much more blood had been spilled before the sacrifice of my village, much more was been spilled right then, while I stood there and waited.

“Why [Zemis] can’t create another family if the one under their control dies?”, I asked, trying to get distracted and calm myself.

“This information is restricted for 90th rankers”, Taffy replied, still smiling, while finally lowering her index finger. Sidestepping and allowing the two of us, twins, to see behind her, the older woman concluded: “In any case: welcome, to the Beginner’s City, one of the most prominent free adventurer’s city in the world.”

The body of water from before revealed itself to be a lake, the jungle affluent concentrating in a large clear blue natural pool which easily covered thousands of square meters, and worked as a mirror for the skies, and the massive singular construction the other side of the shore we all stood on; the “city” itself.

Made of, or better, inside a single building, the Beginner’s City was actually a gigantic, and evidently old and half claimed by nature, stone palace; its moss and vines covered walls raised twelve stores high, bushes grew out from the broken windows, and the ceiling of the palace had long ago given in for a tall tree that shaded the entire construction. And, still, it was so lively: every single standing palace room had been claimed by someone, signs hanging from windows announced shops and inns, and simple wooden bridges connected the most distant sections of the “H” shaped building, a clear addition to the grandiose architecture.

It was, literally, the biggest building, and the biggest city I’ve ever seen simultaneously.

“Let’s go, I’ll find a place for everyone to stay, and get an appointment with the guild for you two”, laughing at our reaction, Taffy proceeded, taking the road which started to outline the lake and approach the city.