My ax was given back to me at the reception after we got back to the main hall. The orange sunlight reflected by the silver badge on my chest signaled the arrival of the night. The night in Lunae Lumen, city of the moon, how different would it be from Barrsons Island. I walked over to one of the quest boards. Gathering herbs, get wolf’s hides. These were low-level quests for bronze adventurers to take that paid in Ursa. I needed something with a good payout, enough for a carriage to Cevine. I walked to the other board, looking for a better quest. This one had fewer quests, but some of these were gold and platinum quests on there. I carefully examined the board up and down to see what quests I could take. This one.
Monsters were spotted in the Moonbright district.
Protect the Norone Festival on the 22nd of Cazmos
Rewards: 2 Hydras
2 hydras? 1 hydra would have been enough to get a carriage to Cevine. I immediately
took the quest paper and headed for the reception. Even though the sun was setting, the main hall was still filled with laughs and chatters, adventurers are always active. The receptionist was still there, confirming quests from other adventurers. Alberto and Fayette joined me as I walked to the reception.
“Found a quest you like?” Alberto asked me. I handed him the quest paper. He had a surprised look on his face as he read the quest. “2 hydras for silver-level? That’s almost too good to be true.” I shrugged after he said that. I didn’t think about it too much, I was just glad by the fact that after this quest I could take the next step toward finding my friends. When the receptionist finished with the other adventurers, I handed her the quest paper. She wrote her signature on it with a quill made from owl’s wings and stamped it with the official sigil of the guild. It’s settled. I read the quest one last time. Norone Festival. Norone was the Goddess of Night, who watches over the night sky and the moon.
“Where is the Moonbright district?” I asked the receptionist.
She didn’t say as she gave me a map of the city. Well, that’s gonna be useful. I opened the map to see that the Moonbright district was not very far from here. Fayette flew over and looked at the map herself.
“It’s near, we should head over there now!” She said in an excited tone.
“Shouldn’t we get there tomorrow? We should rest now, it’s getting late.” I said back to her.
Alberto raised his hand. “We could find an inn there. There is still sunlight outside, why waste it? Besides, I need some daggers, they won’t let me keep the ones that I used for the exam.” That’s a good idea. We could find a weapon shop on the way, and save us some time for tomorrow.
“Fine,” I said. Fayette had a confident puffed-up look on her face. “See! I always have the best ideas” She said in a self-satisfied tone. Her superior complex was a bit annoying, but I brushed it off. All of us walked out of the adventurer’s guild as we started to head for the Moonbright District. The city under the sunset was strangely calming. The streets were quieter than before, as people started to go home from a long day of work and ships started to leave the harbor.
“Wouldn’t Stratford come after us if he knows we are in the city?” I asked Alberto. His facial expression flinched slightly at the name.
“He never stays in the same harbor for long. He’s always on the move so that if one of his slave ships is busted by the guards, he can hide and figure out his next move.” Alberto answered me in a calm tone, almost forcing. How did Alberto end up with Stratford? That was my biggest question about him. I thought back to when Stratford walked into our cell, he mentioned our offers. Did Stratford offer the same thing for Alberto? Or was it a different offer? I really wanted to know about him more, but he didn’t seem like he wanted to talk about it. The rest of the walk was quiet, even Fayette stopped flying around randomly. The scent of the sea never changed, the quiet, salty scent cleared my mind as we walked. The ocean looked vast, reflecting the orange light of the sun as ships began to leave the harbor. The rest of the walk was made in silence until we found a shop with shining steel swords and armors on display.
“We could find you a pair of daggers here,” I said to Alberto. “It looks like a quality weapon shop.”
“Let’s go in there then,” Alberto led the way as he walked into the weapon shop. As expected, the shop was filled with weapons, shields, and armors in every corner. The shopkeeper walked over to us as he saw us coming.
“Hello there, how can I help you.” He said with a deep voice in a friendly tone. He was a muscular man in his 40s, with toned skin and a bald head.
“A pair of daggers please, we can only afford to pay 1 Virgo,” I said before Alberto got a chance to. I only had 2 Virgos left, and I’m planning to use one to stay at an inn tonight.
“A pair of daggers for 1 Virgo huh? I got something for you.” He walked to a normal pair of daggers that was situated on the wall and took it. “This is a standard dagger, forged with steel. The balance is quite good. However, we have better things if you are willing to spend a bit more.” Alberto took the dagger and tested it out. He did a few swirls around his hands and nodded with a satisfied face. “I will take it,” He said. I gave the shopkeeper one Virgo and he took it happily. “You ever need anything, you know where my shop is,” He said as we walked out of the store.
“Thanks for the dagger by the way, really appreciate it,” Alberto told me. I gave him a fist bump as we walked the rest of the way in silence. And before long, we arrived at the Moonbright district as the sun disappeared into the horizon.
