Chapter 15: Guild Regulations

It should be noted that Tobias tended to climb a big tree, settle himself on one of its stronger branches, and tied himself to the trunk while sleeping outdoors. Because for some reason, he just did not like to sleep on the forest ground. It was colder and he couldn’t make a fire, sure, but at the same time he felt safer.

Then again, whenever he did sleep, all he was greeted by was the darkness of the Abyss within his mind. He idly wondered if one day, something would pop out within from that darkness, before shoving that thought away.

That being said, just below him, the sound of a footstep crunching a branch roused him from his sleep. His eyes opened, as his hand went to his head to try to soothe the dizziness from his sleep being interrupted. His eyes scanned his surroundings.

It was still dark – maybe very early morning, but why was there a light source below him? He blinked to refocus his eyes, and nothing changed aside for the fact that everything was clearer. There really was someone just below his tree carrying a lantern.

“This place creeps me...” A male, gruffly voice complained from below.

“Shut up, ya puss.” Another voice replied, but it was far too similar to make out much difference. “You scared or something?”

“Look at the trees. Is like something’s tryna watch us.” The voice grew weaker, and in conjunction with the light source moving away into the foliage of trees, Tobias realized that they were literally just passing by him.

“Quit your yapping. You know that boss Verbantt sent us here...” By this point, they had walked far enough for Tobias to not hear their conversation anymore. It had devolved into wordless murmurs, before fading away entirely, as their torches grew dimmer, and finally, were gone from sight.

Tobias let out a small sigh to himself.

Good grief; what kind of coward decides to travel in the middle of the night? If a person can’t handle the dark and the shadows cast by trees, then why did they do it? On hindsight, he answered that question. The other person with the guy seemed to be a bit more rational and brave, so he might have just been dragged along or something.

His own questions solved, he let out a shrug as he let his head relax against the tree trunk, and he tried to fall asleep again.

It was a good thing that he did manage to sleep again, as he was accompanied by the frost-like breeze, and the borrowed whispers of the leaves. He really did find comfort in the cold, after all...

***

Ordbridge City was – for the most part, a city. But the reason why it had such a name was because of the great bridge that served as the city’s frontal entrance, suspended over a canyon-like depression over the land. And when Tobias peeked over the canyon, he saw – a fall that is not survivable by any human being.

The structure of the bridge was wide enough for two caravans to travel side-by-side, and the road itself was straight and made of weird, rough, grayish stone of some kind (He would later learn it was concrete). That being said – there were massive arches of metal looming overhead. It was like a rainbow-shaped arch of steel, connected to the very bases and bottom of each end of the bridge.

It must have definitely been used for supporting the entire bridge’s weight – he was no builder, but he knew that much at least.

That being said – the land around the city was lustrous, and there were great plains stretching on in the horizon. There were stretching, empty fields on the horizon which reminded him of home, and just over the farthest reaches, he could see some fruit trees – their heights and leaves too strange to ever be a typical forest tree.

Their trunks were way too wide, their foliage were way too circular, and they were short – almost as if they were kept that way so collecting their fruits would be an easier matter.

And believe him; walking in the forests for most of his recent memory, in addition to sleeping on top of them gave him a clear knowledge on what natural forest trees looked like.

Moving on from the topic of trees, Tobias idly let his gaze wander to the steel constructs overhead. He wondered how long it must have taken to build such grandiose structure and how many people were involved, before he decided to just say that it must have been a very, very long time, and it must have taken at least hundreds of builders, if not thousands.

As he crossed the bridge, he saw that much like Meadowfield Town, the City had great stone walls about, about seven meters tall, but he didn’t know how wide it was.

The gates were absolutely massive – gigantic slabs of wood with metal platings to give it decoration, and maybe some level of added reinforcement. Much like the town, it was kept open because it was still daytime, and there were two guards situated by the gates.

They were equipped with full plate helms, segmented armor over chainmail shirts, and had steel polearms which were spears with an axe head. Ah yes, the ever infamous halberd which seemed to the go-to weapons for guards. The power of an axe, and the reach of a spear. Whoever thought of inventing such weapon definitely just wanted to make the most overpowered weapon to ever exist... or something.

Getting smacked with a stick the size of a sword hurt. Getting smacked with a stick the size of a spear really hurt. Getting smacked with an axe which had a handle the length of a spear would probably cleave an unarmored person’s head in half.

“Halt.” The guard on the right said, and Tobias obliged. He already knew what he had to do, so he withdrew the engraved wooden card from his inner coat pockets, and presented it to the guard who took it with a certain carefulness. “This is... the new traveler’s pass?” He said, turning to the guard on the left, offering the card.

While his helmet hid his expression, his voice and body language told Tobias that he was curious about it. The guard on the left took the card, and began to inspect it closer – reading it.

“Yeah, it says right here. Issued from... Meadowfield Town. And you are from... I don’t even know where your village is.” The guard said, shrugging. But he gave the card back to Tobias, and gave a polite nod. “Looks about right. Welcome to Ordbridge City, Traveler.”

Tobias only gave a polite nod, and stepped within the city’s gates.

The city – did not have square stone-tiled pathways. Tobias let out a disappointed sigh, before beginning his trek to find people would could give him directions.

Now, where should he begin...?

While women were generally friendly, they also had a tendency to begin chatting with him, so he tended to especially avoid some of the older-looking ones, who could ramble on seemingly indefinitely. Something about their daughters – he wasn’t sure, he didn’t pay attention.

On the other hand, men were more of a wild card – they could be polite, they could be brief, they could be annoyed, they came in different varieties, really.

Well, finding a person who wouldn’t take too much of his time hopefully wouldn’t be too hard of a task, no? So he looked around, trying to find people among the streets... How about that man who looked nice enough, while having a wooden crutch about him. That way, Tobias could run away if the man turned out to be unsavory, or violent.

***

“—and that is the story of how I rescued a princess from a band of thugs.” The limp man said, as Tobias walked by his side, somewhat annoyed at the slow pace. But it cannot be helped – this man had offered to show him where the supposed Adventurers’ Guild was, so he accepted.

And Tobias had quickly learned that this man used to be an adventurer and reached the rank of Platinum, before he took an arrow to the knee. Literally – the man was relying on a crutch to walk, and seemed to not put any pressure on his right leg – where his knee was shot, most likely.

“But alas, while the king offered me a handsome reward, he did not allow me to marry the beautiful princess. Shame, for shame. She was truly beautiful and out of this world, with her ever flowing hair which reminds me of the moon, and the fullness of her lips which reminds me of a rose growing out of a bush – and she was the kindest princess I had ever met! She...”

And just like that, the former-adventurer went on an entire speech about how lovely the princess was, and how it was fate that they met, yet how it was also fate that they didn’t get married. Tobias had listened in with some minor attention, but the stories he paid attention to the most were the ones involving hostile foes.

Orcs were better at melee combat than anticipated – be careful engaging them head on. Trolls had regeneration – recommended use of fire or acid, or even ice. Dragons were something else entirely avoid at all cost. If it was impossible, then the only advise is to run or hide, and if all else failed, play dead.

“—and here we are, the long famed Adventurers’ Guild in this side of the country.” The man said, nodding to himself as he no doubt reminisced on fond memories. “And as for thanks... you may receive this from me.” He offered Tobias a coin – a silver one.

Unlike copper coins, silver coins weren’t minted with holes. Most definitely because they were much more valuable and much easier to carry around, probably.

“But I just literally listened to you.” Tobias responded, as he eyed the silver coin in the man’s hand. He didn’t know if it was a trap or anything, and his instincts didn’t say anything about it.

“Come now boy, do you really think anyone would approach, must less listen to this crippled limp?” The man said, and Tobias replied by shaking his head. “There you go, at least you’re honest. Take it with you. This is my thanks for listening to me.”

“Thank you.” Tobias said, accepting the coin. On closer inspection – it was literally just a silver coin. It had the value of a hundred copper coins, but the way the man gave it to him was like giving him spare change. “Good bye, then.”

“Sure, sure. Do be careful when you’re adventuring, and pray that you never get an arrow to the knee like this man right here.” The man said, as he waved and walked away.

Tobias looked at the silver coin given to him. The man had gave it to him for simply listening. In the end, Tobias believed that whoever that man was, he must have really said the truth, and was rewarded handsomely for saving a princess, especially if he could give away a silver coin so freely like this.

He shook his head, clearing the thought away. Maybe it was time for him to create some tales of his own, as he looked at the building which served as the Adventurers’ Guild.

It was a large building, made of stone and wood the size of an oversized house. It had a wooden panel windows, and seemed tall enough to have at least two floors inside. So with a small hum to himself, he stepped in the building.

***

“But... just how old are you?” The woman named Eva sighed, as she looked at the boy who first entered the building, looked around for a few seconds, found her, then literally walked up to her without even pausing to take into consideration the decorations of the place.

There was a giant painting of the city from a high vantage point right over there – at least stare at it or something.

The boy paused, before thinking to himself. As in, he literally put his hand below his chin, and began to hum to himself. “I should be... Yeah.” He said, as he seemed to count with his fingers. Then he nodded. “I am fifteen years old.”

The way he said that – it was almost as if he forgot his birthday recently, or something. She let out a small sigh of exasperation.

“And you wish to become an adventurer, correct?” She asked.

“Is that not allowed?” The boy asked, his eyes shining a particular curiosity which seemed... just slightly off.

“No, no, the minimum age requirement is fifteen, so you’re qualified. But do you really want do this?” She said, sighing. “Adventuring isn’t quite the grand journey that kids make it out to be. You could seriously die, you know?”

“I understand that.” The boy said, while nodding. The gleam on his eye changed into something strange. Was it nostalgia? Or was it regret? She wasn’t sure.

“Fine, fine. Can you read or write?” A nod answered her question, and she let out a pleased hum. “Then you should fill out this paper with your personal information as honestly as possible.” She gave him said paper, along with a quill and a bottle of ink. Well, if he was literate, then he surely knew how to use a quill, correct?

And there it was – the boy wasn’t refined in his writing; dipping the quill too much and making his strokes too thick from the excess ink, but he did at least know not to make a mess. His writing was scratchy, as if he only knew how to write but didn’t quite practice a lot. But that was already good enough compared to a lot of people.

He might not realize it now, but being literate made him flexible in his potential, non-adventurer related careers. Merchants usually needed a scribe or two, and there were a lot of jobs which required literacy.

And when he was done, he gave her the paper and writing utensils with a satisfied, melancholic smile.

She read through it carefully. His name was Marcus. He came from some village that she didn’t know, or heard about. Must have been some subsidiary of some town out there. He knew how to use a sword, a spear, and... a lot of throwing weapons, ranging from spears to knives, and he had live combat experience.

She let out a blink. That... was one hell of a diverse skill set. But she gave a glance towards the boy, who only seemed to carry with him a sword. And if she really paid attention to him, she could see the throwing knives attached to his thigh. The spear was missing – then again, lugging around a spear was pretty attention catching by itself.

So for his Class, she filled it out with ‘Soldier’. Because... something about the way he carried himself just reminded her of a dignified soldier, really. And not to mention, the way he spoke was short and punctual, like he was constantly giving out a report.

He wasn’t like the average kid who entered every week or something. So with a nod to herself, she stamped an approval seal on his papers, and stored it for future reference. And in turn, she explained the well-practiced speech about how Adventuring worked.

There were eight ranks. From lowest to highest rank, Copper, Iron, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Mythril, and Adamantite. He let out a nod of recognition when she mentioned Platinum. Everyone starts on Copper, and from there on, one accepts quests to receive rewards and more importantly, to increase their standing with the guild.

Everyone also gets tags corresponding to their rank, but she whispered that all tags were really made out of the same metal and were simply transmuted into different colors. It wasn’t profitable to make a tag out of the rarer metals, after all.

Standings were simply numerical values attached to each quest, and when they reach a certain amount of standing, they will be offered a promotion test to see if they could increase their ranks as well.

Adventurers could only accept any quest below their ranks, one rank above them, and similarly ranked quests. Standings they get from higher ranked quests are typically increased, and it worked in reverse as well; lower ranked quests gave lower Standings. Missions completed alone also get increased standing, although it’s quite dangerous.

There was was some financial insurance around; the guild has a bank for storing money. It could be stored with reward money, or money they obtained from other sources, but if an adventurer dies or is missing in action and they have their family and address listed in their paper, then all of their stored money will be given to their family.

(“What if...?”) If they do not have a family but have a party, then the money will be distributed among them. To prevent party murders from happening, the only way they could qualify for this was to get a Mortician to perform an autopsy on the corpse to validate that the adventurer was not murdered, in addition to an extensive interview with a Clergy who casts a Lie detecting magic. If the body was confirmed to be murdered, then the Guild keeps the money, and the Party in question would have its members stripped of their right to continue as Adventurers.

(“What if...?”) If they do not have a family, nor a current party, then it will be given to their latest former party, unless they have directly stated otherwise. No reason to give the money to a party who might have kicked them out or one they left in bad terms, right?

(“What if...?”) And if the adventurer in question has no family, no party, nor any history of joining any parties then... She shrugged. She has never been asked that question before, so she speculated that maybe the money goes to the guild instead, as default.

There were no health insurances, though. One’s safety is their own responsibility (and one’s party, if they join one. Highly recommended). But the Guild did possess some infirmary and recovery rooms, just in case someone gets drastically injured. Expenses were surprisingly decent, and had excellent service.

And like that, basic adventuring lesson (on the technical side) was concluded.

“I see.” The boy named Marcus nodded, when all of his questions were answered. “Thank you for explaining it to me.”

To be completely honest, she was taken back at his fascination with the surprisingly in-depth questions about how the financial insurance policy worked. She thought that maybe he had a family somewhere he wanted to provide to – but he looked too young for it. So he ran away from home? That seemed more likely.

But it was simply her job to speculate on what a person’s background could be, and she certainly wasn’t bold enough to just ask directly.

“No problem.” She waved her hand, gesturing that it had been her duty. “Well, walk around a bit and see what the Guild’s Headquarters has to offer. You can go to the signboard over there to browse through the current quests. It updates every morning, every day.” She pointed in the direction where the board was.

She still didn’t know why there were two potted plants on its sides, but she didn’t worry about it. A little green against the dull browns and whites of wood board and paper was refreshing to look at, in her opinion.

And the boy walked off to the signboard, without even looking around.

She felt a sigh emerge, before turning to look at the adventurer in line who wanted to accept a quest. A bronze tag, and a silver quest... His name and title... he belonged to a predominantly silver party? That was fine, then. Quest to exterminate something in the semi-distant Bad Lands...?

Quest Approved.

And while doing her usual business of being a receptionist, Eva thought to herself that maybe the boy named Marcus will take an extermination quest, complete it with flying colors, and his adventuring life would begin with a huge success like that.