The situation at the exit is pretty much the as when I left for the ruins. Guards looking at the merchant and their wares, other apprentices entering the ruin and so on. Even some stalls were set up.

For me, the difference was huge. Before, I had to be alert a tall times, be prepared before something unfortunate could hit me any time, or someone sneak on me and I wouldn't even know how I died.

Before leaving the tunnel, I hastily changed into a new, and by this point, the last robe. This one didn’t have any enchantings. I really hope that I get some worthwhile loot this time around. The two badges I initially thought were good are wasted. The material is right, but the innards were basically fried into kingdom comes, handing them in right now might not be the wisest decision. The other four badges got destroyed while the women self-destructed, so that’s a no-no again. They didn’t have any valuables of course. The only tangible thing I have is the stuff from that VIP from my faction I killed. The other stuff like the skeleton, the box and the robe and bag from the others aren’t things that I can take out simply. The storage item is still unknown whether it has any valuables inside.

“Any luck?” asks one of the guards.

“No,” I said curtly and leave the place. While walking, I appreciate the environment once again, for a long time. The fresh air, the vibrant soil under my feet and the smell of nature. Who knows that staying so long underground would make one miss the surface world so much? Might also be a simple adaptation. Maybe I am just not used to it yet.

Deciding to sort out my things later, I go to the dumping site, where all the excrements are stored, and dumb the body from the cave inside. What surprised me, besides the really really bad smell and pungent experience were other dead bodies. It seems that I am not the only one using this place as a convenient dump. Before leaving, I start a fire just in case. For which case? I don’t know.

The sun is in it’s highest place ad the wind is rustling the leaves of the trees. Walking inside this Elysium like place was the main administrative tower, my destination. I marvel every time I see one of those architectures. I have seen plenty of more impressive building back on earth. Hell, I even saw spaceships, but that doesn’t make this less impressive. Feeling free from the constant stress of having the possibility of getting murdered, I walk while humming a song back from earth towards the administrative tower. I see some people I met while roaming the airship, but also a lot of foreign faces, some with very different robes than I encountered until now. Not thinking too much about it, I continue my way towards the resource tower. My main objective is Nelton, ht second is inquiring about the destroyed badges, I am sure that I am not the only person who destroyed the badges of enemies. At least I hope that. Excessive force is the best force in my opinion.

I immediately can spot Nelton after entering the tower. He stays in one of those corners where few people reside. Sometimes I have the feeling that he is nothing more than an NPC in a game. He stays always at the same place and I rarely see him elsewhere. I mean creepy, but not my problem, so ignore it.

“Hello, Nelton” I greet my favourite shady character.

“Hello Osric, what can I help you with?” He asks. In a very good mood.

“Two things, I have the head of one of your VIP’s and the other is about the order policy about damaged badges?” I Ask him.

Taken aback, he thinks for a minute or two and then answers. “For the head, please show it to me later in behind your dorms, I don’t wish for you to run around the compound with a severed head from one of the same order, as for the second thing, there is a policy regarding this. Most of those badges from either side were made cheap, translated into money, it would cost something like 5 contribution points. The materials are cheap and not worth mentioning, the only expensive thing inside that is the formation. Now that thing is complex, it is basically mass-produced by a mage level artificer, he can produce ten thousands of them in a month. The only problem is in a mage fight, when the shield is gone and the most deadly spell hits the body, he or she easily dies, but a small amount of that is enough to fry the amulet. You are really lucky to not have yet destroyed yours, they cost 10 CP to replace.” He lectured. “Unfortunately, without the insides, it is hard to identify who it belonged to, so it is invalid for bounties, for normal rewards, it counts as 20 points, instead of the usual 25. Don’t ask me why I don’t know.”

I like him, straight to the point, no bullshit. “Alright, meet me at the back before nightfall,” I said. We said our goodbyes to each other and I made my way towards the exchange zone.

“Good afternoon, what can I help you with?” Asked the receptionist

“I have these badges,” I said and handed over the six badges I got from my victims. They were all damaged.

“Yes, wait a moment.” She said and took out a strange microwave looking apparatus. He put the badge inside one after another and then took them out. Maybe it transmits the information through another route, or it uses negative response to prove it positive? It can only detect whether it is fake and if nothing happens then it means that the badge is legit?

“Thank you, the Points are getting transferred to your amulet,” She said. I got surprised by this. After I asked her about it, she said that the gadgets they have are better than the ones I have in my tower. Actually, they are outdated and the new ones work by proximity.

Being happy with my points, I go back to my dorm room.

PART 2

Firstly, I restocked my wardrobe with robes. The one with protective enchantment had been so damaged, that they couldn’t be saved anymore and for the normal ones, they aren’t worth repairing in the first place.

“I still have time before the meeting,” I said to myself and sorted all of the loot that I acquired. First, the box. The one which nearly killed me. I decided to leave that one inside and not bother about it. If only storing it is such a dangerous thing, then I better not touch it. Who knows whether I activate something and die in the process. Then I move to the other stuff. The clothes of the small women. They are fine. After I infused a bit of mana into it, I noticed that it went into the direction of the slash in the cloth. Very slowly it repaired itself. Way slower than it should, so my mana shouldn’t be good enough for the process, so it went into the unmovable asset pile, with the blue robe, and al of the skeletons. My amulet is pretty full at this moment, so I decide to store the skeletons except the jade one inside boxes. They have been outside for so long, that they don’t smell after everything. The only thing about them is their hardness.

After a quick trip to the administrative tower to request the chests, I continue with sorting my stuff.

The men delivering it arrived after an hour.

“Sir, where do you wish to put those chests?” The man leading the rest asked respectfully. All of them were normal people without magical power. Or at least that’s what I thought before they began to haul big heavy chests into my room. One chest per person and they used a minimal amount of power for that, they didn’t even break out in a sweat. Maybe they were squires?

“Are you people squires?” I inquire.

“Yes, sir we are squires and the logistic department of the tower.” He said.

“I thought that the two paths are equal?” I ask while putting on an innocent expression. Really wanting to know it.

“No sir, a knight can never become a strong as mages.” He replied respectfully. Upon seeing him being very unconfrontable, I allow them to leave. Stalking them from a distance.

“Raul, what was that? He might not have noticed, but you nearly exploded into his face.” The leader said

“But Boss, what right does he have to ask that? He is looking down on us. What both paths are equal, bullshit. Maybe eras ago, but not now.” Raus said.

A very interesting piece of information, so the ruin and my introductory box is even older than an era? Interesting. For an era long building. The ruins sure are holding themselves a lot better then I thought.

Marvellous.

“Raul, shut up. What if they hear us? We are just squires, not even knights. Even knights are just glorified bodyguards, so shut up and do your work.” The leader snaps back at Raul with a bitter expression.

Losing interest in their other conversation, which consisted mostly out of gossip, I made my way back to my room. I got some really interesting information here. My most likely guess is that their inheritance got cut off at some point, or that a war happened between mages and knights and they lost, with that, they lost their right to be free. I mean, I don’t really blame the order for not making it public, who would ruin their free servant making scheme for cheap stuff like moral?

No one. At least not in a world like this. Not my problem anyway.

Storing the skeletons in the boxes, I put the stuff I wish to sell into my bag, next to the severed head inside clothes.

+++++++++++++++++++++++

Before coming here, I met Nelton again and sold off some of my loot through him, he might take a share, but it shouldn’t be too much. At least not after our conversation on the airship.

Speak of the devil. After waiting twenty minutes, he and some other people are approaching me. They have a chest with them. I hope that they were simply the guard for the chest, and not the ‘tax’ collectors, with the tax being my head. Fortunately, it didn’t come to that.

“Osric, which guy did you kill?” He asks, going straight to the point. His companions look at him a bit strangely, most likely because of his no-nonsense attitude he is displaying while talking with me.

Taking out the head, I show him “This one”

He inspects a bit, then confirms it. “Yes that is Runard Reimman, good job he was one on one of the highest position on our kill list.” He is very delighted by this discovery. Then he goes back to my preferred attitude and takes out something from the chest.

“We have a lot of stuff, but I imagine that this is the thing you want the most right?” He said and shows me a black stone, with some white spots. It is also lightly glowing in those two colours. The signature move of the soul stone. A thing I wished to acquire for a long time. Unfortunately, it is rare, not expensive, but just rarely found. Lucky for me that they donÄnt know its usage, or it would cost me a lot more to get my hands on it.

“Yes, thank you very much,” I said excitedly.

Being thrown off by my break of character, he smiles a bit, but immediately goes back into character.

“I hope for a happy correlation” He said.

“me too,” I said and left the scene of the crime.