They entered Balessia through its towering wooden gates. That was the only impressive thing the town had to offer. Ludo learned soon that only the roads at entrances were paved as they came into contact with the usual muddy roads, some beggars came to the side of Emmer’s horse, asking them both for wealth. Emmer ignored them and continued to the center of the town where everything looked a bit better. The houses were made of sturdier and durable material like stone instead of hay, Ludo began seeing more shops appear at the side of the road, selling everything from books to swords. People also were dressed better in this area, however, some looked incredibly peculiar to Ludo.
In the spur of the moment, Ludo wanted to inspect everything with his magical eyes but Ben saved him from certain humiliation, reminding him of the lack of control over his power. While Ludo was having an internal battle of using his magical eyes, Emmer rode by the two largest buildings in the town, Emmer told Ludo how one was the temple and the other were the mayor’s palace but Ludo soon learned neither of these were their destination as Emmer rode pass the two. Instead he stopped in front of a two story building.
“We’re here.” Emmer said. Dismounting from his horse and leaving it on the stables. He pushed the door open and Ludo was bombarded by music, smell and light. The inside of the building was filled with live like no other that Ludo had seen. Or remembered. They were men and women of various sizes inside, dressed like soldiers and sporting swords, spears and staffs the size of their bodies. Some had animalistic features, something that fascinated Ludo. They were drinking, dancing, laughing and feasting, others had a table full of coins. It was a tavern.
Those are beast-men” Emmer said, noticing Ludo staring at a man with a lion-like mane and hair all over his arms and face. “Some have a very short fuse, so don’t cross their path.”
Ludo nodded, somewhat scared of them, it got even worse once some group of people pointed at them and whispered something. The rest of his table also stared back at them. Like a domino effect, the tavern quieter as the people inside took notice of its two new guests.
What are they looking at? Ludo thought.
“I think they’re not interested in you but in your mentor.” Ben said.
Ben was right, Emmer’s name was a constant in all the whispers close enough for Ludo to hear. Ludo’s imagination began to run wild, not sure what they knew about Emmer that Ludo didn’t, he didn’t dare ask in this situation. The duo reached the bar where the bartender was cleaning a glass mug.
“Emmer!” The bartender exclaimed
“Claus!” Emmer exclaimed back.
The two shook hands and exchanged a joke that Ludo didn’t quite get. Ludo, feeling out of place, hid slightly behind Emmer.
“Never thought I’d see you coming back to here.” Claus said, noticing Ludo. “And who might that be? Your son?”
“Hello, my name is Ludo.” Ludo stepped away from Emmer.
“Welcome Ludo.” Claus cleared his throat as a large man collapsed from drunkenness at the other side of the tavern. “Now then, lets not keep him waiting and do that”
“Yea, that” Emmer replied.
Claus invited Emmer and Ludo to a room behind the counter that lead to a long corridor. Ludo and Emmer followed Claus away from the tavern, the usual sounds of it become fainter as they walked further into the building until they stopped at a door not to unusual from the rest.
“He is waiting inside Ludo.” Claus said, opening the door. Ludo stopped just as he was about to enter, noticing Emmer hadn’t moved. Emmer notice Ludo’s doubt and fear and smiled.
“This is something that you will have to do alone.”
Ludo took a deep breath and went inside, Claus closing the door immediately after. The room was nothing like what Ludo envisioned, it consisted of a single table set and a courtyard with stashed weapons to its side. On one of the tables was a hooded man sitting still and silent.
“You’ve come” The hooded man growled. Ludo stopped in his tracks again.
“Go and sit.” Ben said in the back of Ludo’s mind. “I don’t sense any hostility coming from him.”
Alright. Ludo walked up to the chair opposite the hooded man and sat down, not taking his eyes from him even for a second.
“So, you wish to join us?” The hooded man growled again, letting the lower part of his face to pop out from the hood, giving Ludo a long smile.
“Sorry sir, I don’t even know what—“ Ludo began, stuttering at every word. It took Ben giving him a slight migraine for Ludo to settle down and listen to what the hooded man had to say.
“Ah, so Emmer decided to keep you in the dark.” The cloaked figure laughed and removed the hood from over his head, revealing a savage looking man. His round ears rested at the top of his head instead of the side of his head. “What? Never seen a bear-man?”
Ludo tried to excuse himself from staring too much at the bear-man, but he simply laughed further.
“It’s alright, you’re young after all.” The bear-man cleared his throat. “This is the adventurer guild, and I’m Bohdan, the administrator.”
Ludo shook hands with Bohdan, unsure why Emmer didn’t tell him any of this. He couldn’t stay with those thoughts for long as Bohdan began speaking about all the basics of adventuring.
“First of all. You need to register with us and get a license.” Bohdan leaned closer to Ludo. “It’s important for you to get one, unless you want to spent your night in a prison cell.” Bohdan laughed and left his seat as Ludo shook slightly at the news of his possible imprisonment.
“And don’t forget quests.” Bohdan added.
“Quests?”
“Aye, the bread and butter for us adventurers.” Bohdan opened a cabinet at the end of the room, taking a small leather covered package from it. “They come in all shapes and sizes, from killing monsters to escorting some no good merchant through the roads.”
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“I see.” Ludo had still not processed all the information that Bohdan shot his way. “How do licenses look like?”
“Hoped you asked.” Bohdan placed the package at the center of the desk and opened it. Full of memorabilia of his past, he pulled out a small card. “This is what you need.”
Bohdan handed the card to Ludo it read as followed:
BOHDAN GALIC
AGE (50)
ADVENTURER: RANK B
“A relic of better days for this old body.” Bohdan snorted, taking the card away from Ludo. “With everything that I’ve told you, you can go now.”
Ludo thanked him and bowed his head, quickly getting out of the room. Outside he saw Emmer waiting for him.
“Why didn’t you tell me anything about this!?” Ludo asked Emmer, who ignored him as they walked back to the tavern. Emmer remained quiet on the question until he paid Claus with two silver coins.
“I think it was better for you that way.”
Emmer then told a few servants to help carry Ludo and his own luggage up a set of stairs tucked away in the corner while Emmer and Ludo ate. In the meantime Emmer further explained to Ludo the tasks of being an adventurer and their ranks. Once his mind and belly were full. He followed Emmer upstairs were they entered a room. The room itself was fancier than the tavern below, sporting to beds at the opposite sides and a large wardrobe.
Emmer chose the bed closest to the door, leaving Ludo the one further into the room. As he laid on his bed it hit him just how tired his body was from sleeping on the floor for a week. The bed felt like a soft cloud to him. While loud snores came from Emmer’s side of the room, Ludo had trouble finding sleep. Excited to see what tomorrow had in store for him.
“Guess tomorrow is the big day for you.” Ben’s voice ringed at the back of his mind.
I can’t wait to become an adventurer!
“And why is that?”
Ludo tossed and turned as he tried to find a good position to sleep, but also to try not to answer Ben’s question. Unfortunately for him he had forgotten that Ben could read his mind.
“I can see you’re conflicted about it.”
I want to explore Adreria, you said it was a whole planet! I want to travel to all the places it has to offer!
“I guess thats enough of a reason. Good luck tomorrow!”
Thanks Ben.
Early the next day, Emmer took Ludo to a reception room away from the tavern. The secretary, and most workers in the room, seemed to avoid Emmer anytime they could. Not making eye contact and speaking to him through Ludo. Emmer only chuckled anytime it happened.
“Here is your card!” The secretary told Ludo not many minutes later, his face half hidden behind the desk. “And please take him away.”
Ludo thanked the secretary and left with Emmer. He was curious at first at Emmer’s past reputation with the guild but now he was busy admiring his card.
LUDO
AGE (18)
ADVENTURER: RANK G
Ludo was so engrossed with his new card that he didn’t notice they were now back at the tavern, he looked at Emmer who was busy reading the papers attached to the wall. Ludo took a closer look at them and saw that all them were quests for various things. Killing a berserker beard, whatever that meant, escorting a merchant and bringing back to twelve medicinal herbs. Each of them had different ranks stamped next to them, from G to C. Emmer handed Ludo a paper at the far left of the wall. It was a quest to kill ten slimes for a reward of 25 bronze coins.
“We should get going.” Emmer said.
“Yeah, lets— Wait we!?”
“Yes, I’ll help you with your first quest.”
“But isn't it too dangerous for—“
“We only need to kill ten slimes, Ludo. Its going to be easy.”
Choosing not to argue with his mentor, Ludo followed Emmer through Balessia. Emmer took Ludo to the merchant district of the town, although small was packed to the brim with all types of shops. Ludo wanted to enter and explore all of them but Emmer always pulled him back on track, buying only the essentials such as food, torches and bandages. Now that they were all set, the two ventured out of the city and into the forest.
Ludo struggled to walk through the rugged, root-filled terrain of the weald while Emmer gracefully jumped through it despite his age. Ludo, somehow, managed to keep up with Emmer until he hid behind a tree.
“They’re close. I can sense them.” He said.
“How can you—“
Emmer moved forward, not letting Ludo finish his sentence as he tried to keep up. The two finally stopped at the edge of the forest, where Emmer and Ludo hid behind a bush. Ludo watched as Emmer’s gaze was fixated on something, he peeked out of the bush to see what Emmer was watching with such intensity and saw a small clearing being inhabited by the same green balls bouncing about, consuming every small creature unfortunate enough to be on their range. Emmer hid his head and Ludo did the same. He remained quiet for a few seconds before speaking to Ludo.
“I’ll leave them to you.”
Emmer’s words took a while to register on Ludo’s mind but once he realized what Emmer was telling him, he almost collapsed. “WHAT!? BUT I DON’T—“
Ludo placed his hands over his mouth to keep himself quiet, both he and Emmer peeked at the slimes, who seemed oblivious to the ruckus happening close to them.
“— but I don’t think I can fight monsters!”
Emmer smiled. “I know you can fight them Ludo, you may lack on practice but I sense in you the possibility of great things!”
Encouraged by Emmer’s words, Ludo left to fight the slimes with the training sword Emmer had given him. His mind racing with bravery and doubt, he made sure not to stop until he was close to the slime. The living ball’s simple nature played to Ludo’s favor as it kept itself busy rummaging through the dirt rather than face its soon to be killer.
Ludo readied his sword, he looked back at Emmer, who gave him the thumbs up from behind their hiding spot. Ludo raised his shaky sword and let it fall into the slime with all his might. The monster wheezed and made a screech like noise as its perfect round shape was disturbed by Ludo’s sword strike, green ooze began to spat out from the wounded slime. Not letting it escape, Ludo attacked it two more times until the green ball before him was no more.
The dead slime exploded in an unexpected cloud of dust, scaring Ludo, as the dust cleared, there was only pieces of the membrane where the slime’s body once was. Ludo panted, a sudden rush of adrenaline rushing through his body. He wanted to search for more slimes immediately but he had an idea in mind. Closing his eyes, he began focusing and repeating the same words in his mind.
Only the slimes.
He opened his eyes again and his magical eyes worked wonders, sending him information around him about the slimes. Grinning, Ludo sprinted towards each one of them until there was no slimes to be found. Ludo returned to Emmer, covered head to toe in green goo.
“Good mess.” Emmer checked the quest’s requirements. “We are done here.”
After cleaning himself up in a nearby river, Emmer and Ludo returned to Balessia. Ludo was in a much better mood than before, confident he would be the best adventurer ever, or so his delusions said.
“By the way, how much will we get paid for this?” Ludo said.
“About fifty bronze coins.”
“That little!?”
“Its a G ranked quest after all.”
“Don’t worry Ludo.” Ben said at the back of his mind. “Atleast you aren’t going to be a beggar.”
How encouraging
Ignoring Ben’s verbal abuse, Ludo and Emmer returned to the guild, handed in the quest and were paid accordingly by the bartender. The two ate to an awkward silence between them. Once they had finished, Emmer told Ludo to follow him outside the guild, he didn’t say a word until they were the only two people around.
“Listen. I’ll be leaving now—“
“Wait. Why!?”
“I’m retired boy. I was helping you set up the basics. Now its time for you to learn on your own.” Emmer knelt down before Ludo and pulled gave him his sword. “I also want you to have this.”
“I can’t have this…”
“I insist Ludo. This thing is no longer of use for me.”
“I—“ Ludo staggered as he grabbed the sword. “I don’t deserve this.”
“You’re right. This is a family heirloom.” Emmer placed his hand on Ludo’s shoulder. “But I’m the only one left of them and I no longer want to have to use it anymore. It’s much better in the hands of someone that will.”
Ludo wanted to say something against it but he couldn’t come with any other arguments against Emmer who read him like a book.
“There is one condition though. Promise me you’ll use it for good.”
Ludo looked back and forth between the sword and Emmer before answering in the most steady tone he could muster.
“I will.”