The next morning, Orrin and Daniel turned in their room key and bought buttery cinnamon pastries on the walk to the Catanzano Keep. Each family had a small castle located near the Western Wall and Madi’s directions proved easy to follow.

The architecture of each keep was near identical and if not for her instruction to approach only the keep flying her father’s colors and crest, they would have had to ask for help. However, the green and yellow stripes and the eagle banner gave an easy path to follow.

The guards professionally relayed the message that the Lady’s guests had arrived, but did not let Orrin and Daniel leave their sight. As they stood with the two men wearing half plate and holding pikes taller than Daniel, the two glanced around the small courtyard. Despite the height of the keep, with its twin spiral towers, crenellation, and murderholes spaced evenly, the entire keep looked big enough to house only twenty to thirty people. For a keep of a ruling family, Orrin was surprised at the small size.

“I would have thought her father’s keep would be bigger,” Daniel whispered, giving voice to Orrin’s thoughts.

“Maybe they have another one outside the city,” Orrin offered.

“Actually, they do not,” Sir Bennett appeared at the door. He waved the two guards off and beckoned for Daniel and Orrin to follow. “The four Families live modestly, or are supposed to. Most men at arms are stationed with a particular section of the guard, like at the Wall or in dungeon parties. It wouldn’t do for us to get used to defending against Hordes just to switch to guard duty for the next two years.”

“Hi Brandt,” Daniel said cheerfully. “Good to see you.”

Brandt smiled and led them through a small welcoming hall to a sitting room. The furnishings were old but comfortable looking, with a set of paintings over the fireplace. One was a woman holding a mace in one hand and a dagger in the other. The second painting was a short man, sitting over a board game and holding a book off to the side with one hand. Two large sofas separated by a short wooden table completed the room.

“The Lady Catanzano will be with you shortly. Would you care for refreshment?” Brandt played host.

“Is it normal for a knight to get tea?” Orrin asked.

Brandt flushed. “My lord has seen fit to assign me some small tasks to remind me of my duties.”

“So, you got punished for getting shot in the street? That’s a bit harsh,” Daniel leapt to Brandt’s aid.

“No,” Brandt pushed a small cart with drinks and small cookies to Daniel’s side. “Being attacked by bandits is not what I’m being punished for. I should have stopped her from going in the first place.” His voice dropped towards the end.

Just as Orrin was about to ask more, Lady Madeleine Catanzano entered the room. Orrin could not call her Madi as she was.

Wearing a green dress with golden thread that hung off her shoulders and brushed her ankles, Madeleine shone. Expertly applied makeup highlighted her cheekbones and accentuated her eyes. Her short hair from the day before was gone. In its place was a tightly curled, dense coif of hair that covered her head and ran down to her shoulders. She wore a thin golden necklace with a single ruby stud touching her throat and three rings, all on one hand. Orrin noticed the copper ring of the Guild on her pinky.

“Wow,” Daniel stood and gave a mock bow. “Madi you look amazing.”

As she smiled, Orrin rolled his eyes at his friend. Can’t go anywhere without flirting.

“Thank you Daniel,” Madi nodded at Orrin too. “I was able to have my father collect the balance owed, but if I had known what he’d demand in return...” she trailed off.

Brandt smirked behind her. “The lord has demanded Lady Madeleine refrain from any adventuring for one month’s time. She’ll be attending balls and greeting dignitaries in his place.”

“The harshest punishment he could think of,” Madi muttered. “Just his way of getting back at me for collecting his late taxes.”

Orrin’s eyebrows touched. “He punished you for doing his job?”

Madi sighed as another knight brought a small box into the room and dropped it on the table. “Yes...well no. There has been some politics that kept him from forcing the local barons from paying the yearly harvest taxes. I thought that if I showed up and... appealed to their better nature... I could help.”

“She beat up a lot of old men,” Brandt chuckled and took a cookie from the tray. “And one old lady.”

“Sir Bennett, you are excused,” Madi stomped her foot. With a grin and a nod, Brandt left. Orrin heard him laughing down the hall.

“Anyways, I might have stirred up some trouble for him. And I then spent a lot of that money on those two Quests,” she shot Daniel a peeved look. “Even if it was a good deal.”

“We should have charged more, huh?” Orrin grinned.

“Much more,” Madi returned the smile.

Daniel poured himself some of the tea and nibbled a cookie. “So, he was mad you bought the Quests?”

“Oh not at all. He was excited beyond measure,” she held an empty cup out, which Daniel filled for her. She took a sip and sighed contently. “The stat bonus from the wall quest will help set me apart for a few years at least. I don’t have to push myself as hard and that means more time for him to make me wear this.” She gestured at her dress.

“It really does look good,” Daniel murmured.

Madi smiled softy at him. “It’s not that I don’t enjoy it. I just would rather be leveling and defeating dungeons with Sir Bennett. He’s been rather lucky and earned a few extra stats from defeating dungeons, or else Father would never have let me take on any dungeon.”

So defeating dungeons can give extra stats, Orrin filed that away for later.

“Of course, he also was livid that I robbed you both of two quests for only a little gold,” Madi looked at her feet. “I thought it best not to mention the other condition.” She peeked up at Orrin.

A little gold? Orrin crunched the numbers on the estimates he’d put together. One thousand gold would be half a million dollars!

“Well appreciated,” Orrin said. “We set the terms though. I don’t think we were cheated.”

Madi gave Orrin a thoughtful look. “He wanted to meet with the two of you but was called away early this morning over some crime or another. Perhaps we can treat you two to dinner later this week?”

Daniel glanced at Orrin, who nodded. They agreed to meet in three days for dinner.

After collecting the box full of gold, Orrin had a thought.

“Madi, is there a library or bookstore you’d recommend? We really need to catch up on a few things and don’t want to accidently break some law from around here we don’t know about.”

Madi paused. “There are a few bookstores in the main shopping center I could recommend. Bartholomew’s has class theory books and some spell guidebooks. Heidi’s Corner is good for fiction but also has the best legal selection outside the courts. Books, Books, Books! has a good selection of other assorted stuff. That’s were I go when looking for something on a specific monster.”

“Thanks, that will be a big help to us,” Daniel said. “We should go check those out, O.”

Madi hesitated for a minute, “I know you two are not from Dey... I don’t mean to be rude, but were you run out of your home during the war?”

Orrin glanced at Daniel this time. He shrugged.

“Yes. We barely made it out alive,” he said quietly. I feel bad for lying but better keep it simple.

“Is that when you earned a class?” she pressed.

Orrin’s mind was racing. They really should have done research before speaking with Madi again. She was too clever. Keep it vague and untraceable.

“Yeah. Daniel defended us and I somehow was able to heal him when he got hurt. Our village was really small and I don’t think anyone else made it out.”

“It is amazing that you unlocked a healing class,” Madi continued as she walked them to the front door. “I did not know it was possible to gain healing outside of the hospital training.”

“His mom is- was a healer,” Daniel offered.

“That could explain it,” Madi tapped her chin in thought. “Still, your other skill-“

“Best not to think on that one too much,” Orrin said hurriedly. “Thank you for the hospitality. We’ll see you in a few days.”

They hurried away as Madi frowned after them.

Once they were around the corner, Orrin had tried dropping the chest into his [Dimension Hole]. At least, he’d tried to. The small chest was only little bigger than a shoebox and contained 700 gold pieces. But when he tried to put it in, nothing happened.

“Shit. I must have reached the storage limit,” Orrin gripped.

Currently, he had both of their backpacks and bedrolls, the extra clothes, his 150 gold from Madi’s first installment payment, and Daniel’s crossbow and extra sword from the bandits in his storage space. All of that had sat on only half his bed as they’d taken inventory this morning. I must have about three feet by three feet of storage.

He was tempted to just try dumping the gold coins in, but Daniel convinced him to just wear their backpacks, minus the bedrolls. The box fit this time.

“So, Bartholomew’s, Heidi’s, or Books?” Daniel asked.

They had returned to the main street for shopping. Daniel was eyeballing Jovi’s weapon store down the road. Orrin kicked him in the shin.

They spent the next three hours browsing all three bookstores. Orrin found a Class Primer book at Bartholomew’s, which was supposed to help parents explain the most common selections to their children. I guess parents are responsible for guiding the choice. The store’s clerk had even let him peek into the backroom where they kept the spell books for a silver coin. He’d boasted that many of Dey’s most prominent adventurer’s relied on them to help supply viable options for their wants.

When Daniel had questioned what a spell book could do, the man peered at him strangely.

“You learn a spell without spending the ability points. What backwater village did you crawl out of?”

Orrin had worked to assuage the man’s concerns and they’d left with the primer and one spellbook. Daniel had over 100 AP left, but Orrin was back to none. He spent 100 gold on [Side Steps]. It was the cheapest book he’d seen in the backroom that he wanted. Actually, it was the only book he’d seen that he’d wanted. The options were pretty slim. The primer had only cost two silver.

That’s still nearly a hundred bucks for a book. Orrin thought. Maybe we can invent the printing press or something.

The only problem was, he had no idea how to make something like that.

Heidi at Heidi’s Corner had let them know that browsing the legal section was free with the purchase of any book in the store, but the legal books were not for sale and could not leave the store. Orrin quickly pieced together the little library of law books were a social service that Heidi had put together to help those who couldn’t afford a lawyer. They decided to come back the next day.

Books, Books, Books! ended up being the biggest score. They spent 10 gold on fifteen books. Four different bestiaries, one dungeon theory guide, two how-to-defeat-dungeon guides, three history books written about different countries, four kid books about various topics that Orrin thought might be helpful, and something called the Leveler’s Guide, which the shop owner recommended.

All in all, they spent 110 gold and 2 silver. Daniel complained they had enough to buy the sword he wanted, but Orrin reminded him that Jovi likely wouldn’t sell it until he could lift it alone.

They carried their haul back to the Guild, got a key for their new room, and started studying.

The Leveler’s Guide does not purport to give information that helps the adventurer to gain levels but instead gives best practices for the adventurer to survive long enough to gain levels on his own. While most adventurers will gain experience through monster hunts or dungeon subjugation, a Leveler’s adventurer will seek to find ways to level his skills outside of these dangerous activities.

Orrin put the dry and repetitive guide down and rubbed his eyes. While the Leveler’s Guide or the LG as Daniel called it, had a lot of good information, the author had seemingly gone out of his way to make it difficult to find. Luckily, Daniel had read it first and circled particularly good portions with the one pen they’d purchased.

While Daniel was reading the Guide, Orrin had worked through the primer book and the four children’s books. All five combined were smaller than the LG. They’d compared notes and then swapped the books to see if the other had missed anything.

This is just like how we used to study for classes, Orrin thought.

The books had been full of information and Orrin was replaying their conversations with Madi as he worried they’d out’ed themselves as not from this world.

Luckily, his years of reading isekai comics seemed to have paid off.

The primer had noted that most children would not gain a class until 17 or 18 years of age. Even then, some didn’t until their early twenties. Traumatic events could trigger classes early. A footnote had mentioned that trying to trigger a class early through traumatic means always backfired and created a block to gaining a class until the victim was well out of their teens. What kind of asshole tried to traumatize kids for a class? Orrin shivered.

Once someone was classed, they could gain levels in that class. The primer had gone over a lot of civilian classes and how the best way to level was to do a good job. It might have been propaganda to keep a hardworking lower class down, but the LG had noted that the only way farmers could level was by rotating crops correctly, getting a good harvest, and running off rabbits from eating their crop. Orrin had a thought of a farmer chasing bunnies and gaining XP and laughed.

Adventurer classes, like Orrin and Daniel, could gain XP from quests, dungeon subjugation, and monster kills. A quick peek into one of the bestiaries showed that each monster had a set amount of XP given based on historic records. Some of the more rare monsters had an asterisk near the XP. Supposedly, if you brought proof of killing one of these to the publisher with the XP blue box, they’d pay you for the information.

Classes could gain XP to level 100. The XP costs were exponential. While the first ten levels were only an increased 100 XP per level (Orrin was currently at level three with 0/300 XP), the next twenty levels was a multiplier of 1,000 XP per level. The number jumped again in the Level 31 to 50 range to 2,000 XP per level and Level 51 to 70 to 5,000 XP per level. The book noted that above that the numbers increased but all high-leveled adventurers had declined interviews.

The LG turned out to be more a lifestyle guide than practical information. It advocated using your spells and skills outside of combat to level your attacks as much as possible before engaging in dangerous activities. The author hammered on about the use of the party function and the problems with an unbalanced team.

Create a Party with Daniel?

Yes or No

When that box had popped up in Orrin’s vision, he’d sighed in relief at the thought of lost XP if they’d encountered any monsters.

Yes.

Strangely, other people did not give XP if killed.

I guess that explains the bandits not giving us XP. We only got it from the Quest, Orrin thought.

A party would split the XP evenly across all who ‘participated’ in the fight. The paragraph under this worried Orrin. Daniel had even written a note.

How will Orrin get XP?

Participation in a monster fight is based on damage done to the creature. The use of a healer in a standard five-man party is therefore a detriment. The Leveler recommends hiring a healer to wait his proper place behind the five-man team of damage dealers. Many parties fail to survive the attempt of corralling a monster in an attempt to let a [Healer] strike a beast. Let the [Healer] find his own experience elsewhere.

“D. Do you think my buffs count as participation?” Orrin questioned.

“...I don’t.” Daniel put his book of children fairy tales down. It was the least helpful book Orrin had read so far. “I think you’re going to need to get in and do some damage to get the XP from monster fights. But dungeons don’t require participation. The entire party gets a set amount from crushing the core according to that book. But you won’t get any for all the monsters on the way.”

Shit!

Orrin shifted on his bed, “That was how I read it too. I’m going to have to get something offensive I guess.”

Daniel shrugged. “Or we can just ‘subjugate’ all dungeons together.” He smiled at his friend.

Orrin put the LG down for now. He flipped through the bestiaries and dungeon books but was feeling off. Had he made a mistake in picking his class? Was this the reason healers were rare here? Were there even any other buffing classes? The primer hadn’t mentioned one.

He picked up the history book labeled “A Complete and Accurate Account of the Creation of Dey” and started to leaf through. He stopped after a few pages and turned back to the beginning. After reading in silence for five minutes, he paled and stopped.

“Daniel. You need to see this.”