Arthur followed Lyra for several minutes to the royal treasury located within the inner city. The inner city was surrounded by its own defensive wall that had only two entrances on its northern and southern sides. The outer wall on the other hand went around the entire city and had an entrance on its northern, western, southern, and eastern sides. The only buildings that were within the inner city were those related to the kingdom itself.
Thankfully the treasury wasn’t all that far, only a few buildings down on the left side from the southern entrance. But as Lyra led him close she pulled him aside.
“Take this.” Lyra handed Arthur a piece of paper that looked quite expensive, it even had a seal on it. “It identifies you as Arthur of Dom Badaher and will allow you to prove your identity. Also Dom Badaher was the dwarven city we just cleared of goblins.”
“So I just show this to someone working there and-”
“You show it to one of the clerks at the front desks and they will have you wait for a bit before they set up a small room with what you were granted by the crown in either one or more locked chests depending on what exactly you are owed, and you take the valuables with you.”
“That is more or less easy enough. Thank you again Lyra for your help.”
“No need Arthur, I am simply doing my job.” Lyra smiled. ‘Now I just hope you will stay with the kingdom as opposed to joining the empire.’
Arthur quickly walked to the treasury and entered. Upon entering he saw a nickel designed lobby that was made up of a white stone that reminded Arthur of gemstones a bit. The room was cut in half by twenty or so desks with walls on both sides where clerks sat waiting to help those with business. Perhaps due to the time of day or a lack of need only about a quarter of the desks had clerks.
Arthur walked up to the closest clerk and brought out his proof of identity.
“Do you have business with the royal treasury?” The clerk was a human female in her mid twenties with dirty blond hair and a blue and white uniform that was identical to the other clerks.
“I am Arthur of Dom Badaher, and apparently I have something here for me.” Arthur handed the clerk the paper. She looked it over before placing it over a deep blue sphere that glowed and scanned the document. Clearly it passed what test she put it through as it then displayed some words that were backwards for Arthur before the woman spoke again.
“Yes, please take a seat, you will be called over in a few minutes to be taken to a secure room to retrieve your valuables.”
Arthur took a seat on one of the benches made of the same material as the rest of the building. After a couple of minutes another person, a human female in what Arthur would say was in her early twenties wearing a shabby greenish cloak and carrying an old wooden staff. She was soon directed to take a seat. She took one a few meters away from Arthur.
Arthur suspected that she was a mage, probably a part of the mages guild.
‘Maybe she could tell me what the mages guild is like, I am considering joining it after all.’
“Excuse me miss.” Arthur took a seat much closer to the young woman. “I wanted to ask you if you are a part of the mages guild.”
“I am. Why do you ask?” Arthur could see the woman was a bit suspicious of him and her grip tightened on her staff.
“I am considering joining and I wanted to know what it has to offer.” Arthur sat back a bit to try and ease the tension.
The woman looked him up and down before she spoke again. “You don’t look like a mage, if you don’t have any skill in magic they will absolutely not let you join.”
“Well despite my appearance I am skilled in both geomancy and hydromancy.” Arthur raised his hands and gave her a small display of his magic skill. First he conjured a small amount of stone that he used to form gauntlets that with his recent practice reached down to his elbows, and a large sphere of water that he made two rings also of water spin around it.
“Would you say I have a chance of acceptance?” Arthur smugly asked the woman.
“It isn’t entirely out of the realm of possibility. If you can use those in applications other than that such as combat I think you could pass.” The women looked a little less tense now.
“Now why don’t we move back to what the guild offers its members.”
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
“Well… are you familiar with the magic types outside of the 4 evocations?”
“The four evocations? What are those?” Arthur hadn't heard of these evocations before.
“The 4 evocations is the term used by some of the higher ranking mages to refer to pyromancy, hydromancy, geomancy and aeromancy. When you join the guild you will be able to find teachers who will teach you magic aside from the 4 far easier than you would otherwise. You can also get certified for jobs related to magic such as healers or enchanters.”
“I definitely am interested in learning healing magic and it would be nice to be able to earn a bit of money from that.”
“Restoration magic is a bit more complex than that, but yes it is a highly sought after job. If you catch the eye of a powerful mage you can also become an apprentice and learn directly from them. You will of course need to perform some tasks for them every so often to prove you are still worthy but for most it is an excellent opportunity.”
Arthur and the woman whose name he learned was Calavia spoke about the mages guild for a few more minutes before one of the employees called to Arthur.
“Arthur of Dom Badaher!”
“That would be me!” Arthur stood up and walked to the employee.
“Please come with me.” The employee turned to lead Arthur to a secure room. Arthur quickly turned and waved goodbye to Calavia who also waved back.
The employee led Arthur down a few flights of stairs, taking him underground.
‘It would be a lot harder to break in here or break out than anywhere above ground. They can also save on space.’
Soon the employee opened a door in a hallway and directed Arthur to enter. When he did the door closed behind him leaving him in a room with a chair and table and a well made chest made from wood and decorated with a greyish metal. Arthur opened the chest and found a few things waiting for him.
Two bags of coins, each containing about one hundred or so. The coins were made of silver and were about a bit larger than a grape, a necklace made from silver with a small blue gem that lightly glowed and three pieces of paper. The first pieces of paper were recommendations to both the mages and mercenaries guilds signed by a Demiphones Vettonius, the final piece of paper was a letter from Demiphones Vettonius to Arthur regarding what happened in Dom Badaher.
“To Arthur of Dom Badaher
First I would like to thank you for participating in the expedition, you had no reason to do so and we could not force you to either.
The necklace is a gift from me, my daughter spoke highly of you and your contributions to stopping the traitor Saturio Quintilius from getting his hands on the phylacterium containing the demon warlock’s soul. I will overlook the fact that you took it yourself due to the circumstances and that you appear to have no affiliation with the Yolan empire.
The necklace is enchanted with a constant effect of the comprehend language spell, as long as you wear it you will be able to understand and speak to anyone who knows any one language.
With regards
* Demiphones Vettonius
Arthur immediately took the necklace and tried it on. When it was around his neck he felt a bit of his mana flow into the necklace. The amount was very little, just some of the mana naturally drawn to him as all living beings do, so there was no drain to his mana.
‘I should ask Lyra about how exactly this works.’ Arthur tucked the necklace under his clothes and armour. It wasn’t that big so Arthur barely felt it.
Arthur placed the money and his papers in his dimensional bag and left the room. On the way out of the building he told the employee that he was done with the room. Unfortunately he did not see Calavia when he was leaving.
‘She must be getting her reward right now. I'll see her again when I join the mages guild.’ Arthur exited the treasury and saw Lyra still waiting for him outside. Lyra at the moment was talking to a human male about thirty years old wearing clothes quite similar to hers.
Lyra noticed Arthur leaving the building and waved him over.
“There you are Arthur. This is my brother Lycus.”
“It's a pleasure to meet you Arthur.” Lycus reached his hand out to shake Arthurs.
“It's nice to meet you as well, Lycus.” Arthur was a little confused as to how an elf and human could be siblings. ‘One of them must have been adopted.’
“I heard you fought against that traitor in Dom Badaher and even won despite the alchemical drug in his system that boosted his physical capabilities. I hear the royal alchemists are still studying the few he and his allies had on them.”
“Lycus! Stop talking about classified information in public!” Lyra was quick to berate her brother for talking about such matters without any care.
“There isn’t anyone around here who can hear us.”
“They could be invisible, you idiot.”
“No, there are no people around here. Visible or otherwise.” Lycus refuted.
“How do you know that?” Arthur asked.
A small smile formed on Lycus’s face. “Why with magic of course.”
With Lycus facing him he could now see that his eyes had a light pink glow in them.
‘That must be a spell that allows him to see invisible stuff.’
“How does that spell work? Does it make invisible things visible?”
“No, it adds a bright pink outline to all living things within a certain radius based on the user's skill.”
“So would the undead be left undetected by it?”
Lycus was a bit surprised by that question. “Well- I- Thats-” Lycus quickly casted a spell that detects undead and looked around. He didn’t see anything but Arthur did make a good point.