Imperial capital (1)
It had been 2 months since the subjugation request with Henry and his gang. During these 2 months a lot happened, but the most important of them being that I managed to reach D-rank as an adventurer. According to the general consensus of this world D-rank is the line between an actual professional and an amateur adventurer.
More importantly it is also the time when the adventuring guild starts to function much more like a proper guild, 1st of all there are the amenities such as being able to function as a bank, being able to give much more favourable rates than the local vendors (at least if you have no rapport with them, like me) and even health insurance. However another thing is that starting from D-rank the guild requires adventurers to complete at least 3 D-rank request every month.
Moving out of the adventurer’s guild I made my way towards a familiar place. Stopping outside the door of my destination I looked at my reflection in the window to my side. Piercing blue eyes, a clean face that seemed to be just starting to come out of boyhood with short-cut hair, and a navy magician’s robes that came to my knees and black trousers and earth toned boots.
Opening the door I walked into the store and was greeted by a familiar voice. “Welcome, Oh if it isn’t Alfred. What brings you here today?” [Quinn] “Potions, antidotes, you know the usual” [Alfred]
“Tsk, tsk, tsk you used to so cute and well-mannered when you were younger, I wonder where that boy went, that will be 13 silver plates.” [Quinn]
Rolling my eye I grabbed the stuff from the pharmacy I made my towards the grasslands just beyond the city gates. Reaching there I could see a lot carriages spread around in different groups. Spotting the person I had come to meet standing nearby 3 carriages that were being loaded, I made my way towards her.
“Excuse me; are you Miss Wendy from the silver coast company?” [Alfred]
“Ah yes, now who might you be?” [Wendy]
Presenting her my guild card I replied to her “I am the adventurer you hired for the escort request.” [Alfred]
Taking a look at my card she sent me one of her subordinates that was busy loading the carriage and had him give me a place to wait till departure.
Currently I was doing an escort quest to the capital city, primarily for 4 reasons the 1st being that I had a few things to talk about with sister Wynne, 2nd being that this was D-rank quest and something that I had to do if I wanted to remain at d-rank, and 3rd for the sake of saving and earning some money, when doing an escort quest the employer is the one that takes cares of the tolls and food for the escort usually; making it a particularly sweet deal for adventurers when they decide to travel to other cities. And lastly for the sake of buying spell books (Wellrest had a very limited amount of them and the one that I wanted did not exist there.)
A few hours later we left the Wellrest and made our way to the capital of the empire, sitting in the carriage alongside the rest of the adventurers my mind wandered off elsewhere as I put my hand over my breast pocket and felt the letter in there.
Time passed slowly as the silver coast caravan trotted along the road and before long it was night time and it was time to set up camp. Gathering around with the rest of the adventurers we decided amongst ourselves the order of night watch with me drawing the short end of the stick and being stuck 1st on guard duty.
The distance between Wellrest and the capital is not much and as such the chances of bandits appearing are slim to none (because of regular patrols by the knights stationed in the capital), but the reason most merchants hire adventurers is due to the presence of wild animals and monster that come out from the forest alongside the road. Setting up the alarm spell and sending Muninn out on patrol I sat by the camp fire as I looked the others that were busy setting up tents and preparing meals.
The night watch was uneventful except for some of the adventurers that were caught engaging in ‘night activities’ and some small animals that wandered too close to the camp and triggered the alarm. About an hour or two after everyone had fallen asleep I teleported to quiet deep into the forest with Lynn’s ability, right into a wolves den.
“Fear” surrounded by half a dozen or so wolves that were shaking and quivering I took out 8 mutilated bodies from my item box and dumped them onto the floor. “Have fun” saying that I teleported back to the camp.
Quickly checking around to see if anybody had noticed if I had left or not and finding no signs of such things I quickly walked back to my post and resumed my guard duty. Over the course of the last 2 or so months I had started to hunt down that shitty organisation by killing each and every one of its members that leaved the city for one reason or another. I would have loved to kill every one of those bastards in the city but I lacked enough skill to be able to carry it out without being caught.
After the death of about 17 or so member I had caused quite a scare among them, though they seem to realise that staying in the city was their best option to survive, slowing down my hunt.
Soon it was someone else’s turn to keep watch and I drifted off to sleep while handing him the night watch. The next morning just after dawn the employees of the company had packed up and were getting ready to depart while me and the other adventurers were busy getting our equipment in order.
A few hours after departing we could see the imperial palace way off in the distance, with its pure white marble exterior and decadently decorated banners it was visible to us even though we more than half a day away from the capital at our current pace, close by it was incredibly tall spiralling tower that could be even seen from the city walls of Wellrest on clear days, the central tower of the empire.
Reaching the capital around the time it was getting dark I made my way through the busy streets of the city and towards the central district. The guild hall in the capital was much larger than the one in Wellrest with dozens of counter and receptionists serving the adventurers. Quickly joining the shortest line I quickly got my reward and made my way towards the inn recommended to me by the guild.
The next morning I made my way toward the tower that was some ways away from the guild. The area around the tower was filled with magicians going around various shops and restaruants near to the tower, just sheer amount of mages in the vicinity made the magic power in the air feel palpable and add to the fact there was a wizards tower that stretched to the heavens just in front of me I felt a smile appear on my face as I entering the reception hall of the tower. ’So fantasy like’.
Making my way towards the receptionist who from the amount of magic power I was feeling radiating off of him seemed to be about to reach 3rd circle.
“I would like to purchase a spell book” [Alfred]
Seemingly startled by request the 20ish year old man quickly used the communication magic tool on the desk in front of him and called for someone. About 10 mins later a young looking elf man with a face that screamed ‘I have an arrogant attitude’ appeared in the reception hall from the elevator that was nearby and gave me a condescending look as he asked in a similarly condescending manner “you’re the one that wanted to buy spell books right, follow me and don’t wander off.” Seemingly irritated by the fact that I had the gall to breath the same air as her he gave me a glare and muttered ‘these bumpkins’.
‘Wow, these guys are really are rude’ according to the rumours that I had heard in the capitals guild hall the mages of the tower were known to be an impudent bunch to almost everyone as such although I was prepared for some rudeness but that was… something else. Unaffected by his diss of me I followed him to the library of the magic tower that was on the 142th floor of the tower. Existing the elevator I gave the bitchy elf a look and made my way towards the fox-kin librarian that had dozens of books and papers floating around her as she manipulating 5 floating magic pens.
Seeing me approach she shifted the paperwork that was floating in front of her to the side, all the while maintain full control over the various things that were floating around her as she continued her work even will engaging in conversation with me ‘truly impressive control magic control’ compared to that bitchy elf that yet to reach 4th circle this women right here was someone that had the capability to be arrogant.
“So how can I help you today?” [Fox-kin Librarian]
“I’m looking for a book on ritualistic magic circles and summoning magic.” [Alfred]
Hearing what I wanted she seemed to mutter something under her breath as she contemplated, after a while she reached out her had towards the hundreds if not thousands of book shelves as 2 books whizzed quickly towards us, grabbing the 2 she handed them to me to check ‘hmmm principles of ritual magic and guide to summoning.’ Seeing me confirm this was I wanted she continued with a smile “that 17 silver plates, please pay them on your way out.”
Leaving the magic tower I made my way towards the southern district where the cathedral was located in. making my way in I found quickly found an apprentice priest and made my way towards him. Seeing me approach the kid about my age put on a service smile “welcome to the Ordrain cathedral how may I help you today.” [Apprentice priest]
Taking out the letter I had gotten from sister Wynne I sent holy power through it causing the crest of Luneria on the letter to glow and before I could say anything he seemed to realise why I was here as asked me to follow him.
Going quite deep into the cathedral complex we made our way to a room which had a quite a few people outside. Seeing us approach one of the older folk amongst them asked
“Is he that guy?” [Middle-aged priest]
Nodding to question posed by him the Apprentice priest ushered me inside. Leaving the bunch outside I went inside the room and looked at the figure that was sitting on a bed clearly exhausted with the smell of death coming of her. Turning her head she looked at me through her cloudy eyes that were filled with warmth as she spoke in the same warm tone that she spoke the last time we met.
“It is good to see you again, Alfred.” [Wynne]
fin
