《THE HYBRID》Chapter 11 - In town
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AN: Here is chapter 12 of Kalim's story. Enjoy.
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After 10 days of travel, Kalim and his 13 slaves reached the town of Brendon at the beginning of the afternoon. There were walls around 4m tall protecting the town, the roads and the gates leading in and out were just large enough for 2 carriages to pass side by side. There were inspections at the entrance of the town, thus there was a long line of people waiting for their turn. As they were approaching the line of people, Kalim started to think about they would do in the town.
- «Okay girls, gather around... Good, now take this.» Except for Alice, he gave each of the girls 3 silver coins. «We will enter the town in small groups, a big group with just 1 man and 13 girls would be suspicious. Tania with Danael and Alice, Eryween and Shanira with Amber, Elody with Leniya and Joel, Carmen and Andrea with Myanis, and Alinee with me.
-You are just people traveling around, looking for a place to settle down. No words about the bandits and the base or anything else abou that. Once in the town, Tania's and Shanira's group, you stay in sight of each other and find a room in the same inn. Same for Elody and Andrea's group. I will go to the adventurer guild with Alinee. Once you get rooms in the inns, stay inside for the rest of the day, except for Amber and Elody.
-The 2 of you will come and find me at the adventurer guild to tell me where your groups settled. For the other days we will spend here, unless I come to get you, you will be free to stroll around the town and buy yourselves a few things, always in groups, always have 2 groups within sight of each other. That is all for now.»
And like that, they got into the town. They had to pay 20 danars (20 copper coins) per person to get into the town. The town was next to a river, so it wasn't too dirty, the principal roads had cobblestones, there were drainage canals. After asking for directions, Kalim made his way toward the adventurer guild with Alinee silently following him. The adventurer guild was build similary to an inn, and inside there were several people drinking and chatting at a few tables. Kalim went to a free counter with Alinee behind him, there was a pretty lady that looked to be in her 20s there.
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- «Hi, I came to register as an adventurer, let's get this over quickly.»
He didn't give the girl the time to greet him, which anagered some of the people present in the room
- «Hey, watch your mouth kid!! Show some respect, you're just a damn newby!» said one of the guy at the nearest table.
- «Haa? I greeted her and told her what I came here for. Besides, who are you? My father? What I do is not your business, don't bother me.» Then he turned to the girl again «So, the registration?»
- «You little shit, who do you think you are?»
- «Someone who will kick your sorry ass if you don't leave me alone and focus on your own business.»
Kalim's quick and calm answer made everyone in the room focus on the 2 of them. Making fun of new adventurer was so common that most ignored it, but someone coming to register saying he would beat a confirmed adventurer was a rare event.
- «Now you've done it kid, I hope you can back up those words or your little miss will have to drag your bloody mess to the healer.»
- «No, my little miss will clean your blood stains on my clothes.»
- «Ok! That's enough! Let's take care of your registration, please fill this form. The fee is 30 danars, you will receive a guild card with your basic informations and your rank on it. If you lose your guild card it will cost 80 danars to ussue a new one.»
The guy Kalim had angered wanted to retort to him, but didn't want to interrupt the lady manning the counter. It looked like she was quite popular. Kalim promptly ignored him to focus on her, and that made an additional vein pop up on his forehead. Without Kalim asking for it, Alinee took the form and quickly filled it, which made all the guys in the room jealous and the 2 other adventurer girls scowl at Kalim. He just took out a silver coin and handed it to the lady.
- «Adventurers are ranked from the lowest to the highest F, E, D, C, B, A, S and X. You can only take missions of your own rank, 1 rank below and 1 rank above your own. As you complete missions, your rank will increase, though there is a test to go from D rank to C rank and from A rank to S rank. There are only a dozen S rank in the world and 1 X rank. The previous one was 400 years ago. I f you fail or abandon a mission you have to pay a penality equal to 30% of the reward. Adventurers are required to avoid causing troubles as it would damge the reputation of the guild.»
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She then gave him his adventurer card and his change.
- «That is all for the basic presentations. You can search for missions on the board on this wall. Welcome to the adventurer guild.»
- «Is that so? Thank you and goodbye.»
- «Not so fast little shit, I challenge you to a duel! Let's go to the training grounds now.»
- «Haaa? Hey young lady, he just challenged me to a duel, what if I kill him?»
- «Then nothing. Dueling is accepted by the guild when adventurers have disagreements between themselves or someone else. Killing during a duel has no consequences. Some people wager some things in a duel, money, possessions, even freedom.»
- «Good, I will take all your money and possessions once I've killed you. Let's get this over with.»
- «You little shit, once I've beaten you to a pulp you'll be my slave.»
Ths they went at the back of the building where there was the training ground, followed by all those present in the room. The man equiped his sword and shield, Kalim had just his spear in hand, and once the 2 got at the center of the field, one of the guild staff went near them and announced the start of the duel.
Kalim bent low, almost kissing the ground, and thrust his spear toward the ankle of his opponent, who just slid his foot back. But Kalim swiftly altered the aim of his thrust upward while imperceptibly adavancing one step further. The spear was moving toward the throat of the adventurer, but he deflected the attack to the side with his sword and instantly counter-attacked with a thrust of his own toward Kalim's belly.
Kalim twisted his body to the side to avoid it. His free hand shot at an incredible speed toward the shield and firmly grabbed it, while he let go of his spear and grabed the wrist of the arm holding the sword. For a second, the adventurer got surprised, trying to free both his wrist and his shield, but without success, Kalim's hand wouldn't budge. He attempted to kick Kalim away, but he just took the hit without flinching, still looking at him in the eyes with a slight grin.
Feeling that he was in a bad situation, he released his shield and tried to take out his dagger, but that was still a mistake. Kalim struck his face with the shield the moment he let go of it, 3 fast consecutives attacks, dazzing him. And with a violent motion, he broke the arm holding the sword, a piece of bone piercing the flesh.
- «GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!»
The sword fell to the ground, and Kalim launched a last shield strike, a powerfull one that shattered the jaw of the pitiful man. He fell to his knees, dazzed, his arm and face bleeding profuselly. Kalim calmly grabbed his spear and the sword of the man, and was about to finish him off when a dagger landed right between him and his opponent. He looked at the person that interrupted him. It was one of the 2 friends of the man.
- «Wait. You won, you don't need to kill him.»
- «I said I would take all his money and possessions once I killed him. So, I will kill him then take all his money and possessions. Besides, you just interfered in a duel, do you wish to fight me too? I will kill you and take all your money and possessions.»
- «... Will you spare his life if I give you all my money and my equipment?»
- «... You must be really good friends for you to be willing to go that far. But what about him? So, shitty man, do you surrender? If so all your belongings will be mine, and your friend's money and equipment will be mine. If so, bow before me. It's good that you are already kneeling.»
The man bowed. Several minutes later, Kalim and Alinee went outside of the guild with 2 new bags. Not long after, Amber and Elody arrived to tell him about the inn they stayed at. The 4 of them went to another inn where Kalim asked for a room with 2 beds for 4 people. He went in the room with the girls.
- «Now girls, you should rest now because in the middle of the night we will be going to the less respectable parts of the town.»
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AN: Kalim, you bad boy, what do you intend to do? :D
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