Astaria led the group towards the Adventurers Guild, their first stop in Haligrad. Since the time was quite late, the Guild was relatively quiet with the local adventurers having left already for cheaper and rowdier establishments throughout the city.

Walking in, their group had managed to create a stir as the few players hanging around the guild noticed a group of high-level players led by someone with their information hidden. On their trip to the guild, Astaria had divided up the spoils of their grind so that everyone in their group would be able to complete the necessary requirements to level up their guild ranks while also gaining Temple Contribution Points that would help them later on. From all the goblin subjugation quests and the ears they had handed over they collectively earned 13 gold and 7 silver, a large amount that would contribute to the funds they would need later in the evening.

The nose in the guild rose when Astaria presented Square Jaw's head and the Large Hobgoblin Mana Core that he had dropped. Between the two items, she managed to get a total of 23 gold, an amount that had the onlookers gazing at them with envy.

Lastly, they handed over the items the goblins had stolen from unlucky merchants they had managed to carry back to Haligrad, receiving an additional 3 gold and 4 silvers bringing their total gold gained from the guild up to 40 gold and 1 silver. After getting the guild to convert the silver they had acquired from their grind into the gold they needed, their total amount of money came to 50 gold and 69 silver.

Having successfully achieved their goals for Temple Contribution points and a bag of 50 gold, they booked their horses into the guild's stables for the night and left the guild, leaving behind a small group of players who were losing their minds over what to them was a large amount of money, and the guild staff who were losing their minds over a large about of goblin ears crowned with a big head.

While they all qualified to increase their adventurer's guild rank, they decided to postpone their guild rank up’s till later when they were not pressed for time.

After leaving the guild, they followed Astaria’s lead towards the noble district of Haligrad where the city’s main temple was located. The group looked somewhat out of place in the clean streets of the noble district with their close range fighters splattered with blood over their armour while being led by someone covered head to toe in the dried crimson liquid.

Since the streets were quiet they didn’t get many people looking at them outside of the few players who were exploring the area and the few locals who were still out at the late hour.

After a tired and effort filled walk, they arrived at the main plaza in the Noble district which hosted a number of high-end boutiques, restaurants and other such establishments. However, despite the affluence of the area, it was dwarfed by the main attraction a large marble structure reminiscent of the temples found in Greece in the real world, but unlike what they were familiar with the structure they could see had not suffered to the flow of time and instead stood pristine.

The large temple didn’t exceed the height of the nearby 3 story buildings around it, but its presence could not be ignored. Unlike the common misconception about ancient Greek and Roman temples, this temple had parts of marble that were painted with shades of green and yellow, colours that in Caelus Online were associated with the Goddess Ceres.

The pediment under the roof depicted Ceres standing in a field of wheat. While the statue of the goddess herself was made from stone, the crops and her accessories were made from gold, showing the importance the kingdom of Alennos put in Ceres and her blessings.

Astaria did not know if it was the temple that was built first and Ceres blessed the land in response or that Ceres had blessed the land and the temple was built, but it was clear that the blessings from the Goddess had been crucial for the small nations development and that gave the temple influence within the kingdom.

That could be seen in part by the fact that the temple was always open to visitors both day and night, its ornate golden doors flanked by two braziers lighting up the entrance to the imposing structure.

“So that’s the temple, huh? I guess the gods really like this style.”

Hearing Ash’s words, Ben looked over and commented.

“It would seem so. I wonder how active the gods were back in our history for the style to be the same?”

Tyrell let out a snort as he shook his head.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“And why them man fucked off.”

Russel chuckled while Roxanne rolled her eyes as the group made their way towards a small gathering of players near the temple entrance.

Connor being the first member of the small group to spot Astaria’s party approaching raised his hand in greeting.

“Nice, you guys finally made it here!”

Astaria returned the wave casually as she called back.

“We did, sorry to keep you guys waiting, we had to deal with a welcome party who wanted to try to beat me like a piñata in hopes I would drop them some loot.”

Some of the group in earshot snorted as all of the players who had joined her meeting the other night had convened for the first time since. The group however was larger than before, with Ash now present along with 3 faces that were vaguely familiar.

The first of the three new players was a tall man with long black hair that was tied up in a ponytail reaching down his back, with a pair of horns protruding from just above his temples that curved back over his head. He had used his costume box and chose a formal three-piece suit in the traditional noble style of the Calesian Empire, giving him the impression of a rich merchant. Astaria knew him as Tobias, a friend who she had helped out some years ago before he got involved with trading, however in Caelus Online he had the name DemonicGold above his head.

Standing just behind him was his girlfriend and secretary, Amber, going by the name CinderFlare.

Her hair resembled her name, a bright fiery red falling in cascades down her back. Poking just out of her thick hair were two pointed ears, showing that she was an elf. Her slender body was adorned with a flowing black dress, its skirt slightly flared out somewhat reminiscent of the dresses of the Tudor era in England just a lot less extreme making it far more practical for daily use.

Standing next to Marie was a player by the name of Chimeric, a short young man with some stubble visible on his face. His brown hair was swept back over his head while he wore a similar attire to DemonicGold, a brown 3-piece suit. He was DemonicGold’s assistant and right-hand man when it came to running their past trading guilds.

In the past Astaria and DemonicGold had been good friends, but never in the same guild. Due to their friendship, their guilds had always held a close relationship, and it was usual to see the members of both guilds spending time together despite Astaria’s past guilds focusing on combat and DemonicGold’s on making money.

In the previous week, Astaria had contacted DemonicGold to get him involved in the game to assist her. It had taken some time, but she had convinced him with a lucrative employment contract under the Branford Group, placing him in charge of a planned trading branch within her future guild with a budget from the company to hire his guild members directly.

That had been enough to convince DemonicGold to join the guild and as expected she got the full package when she hired him, with the rest of the main members of his trading guild agreeing to come along.

Since the number of Forerunner Edition copies of the game was limited, Astaria could only get 23 copies, 3 of which she provided to DemonicGold so he could, like her, get a head start.

DemonicGold walked up to her and offered a hand as he spoke.

“Hey Chester, good to see you. I didn’t expect your current looks, but the others gave me a rough outline of what happened.”

Astaria took his hand, hers thankfully clean of blood as she replied.

“Yeah, good to see you. You are living up to your name I see, it suits you. Although I feel your reputation plays into that a bit. As for me… well it’s complicated. We will have a video conference in a few days to explain the situation.”

With a nod gesturing towards his appearance, Astaria looked at the group that had now surrounded her and put her hands on her hips.

“Ok, has everyone here met their assigned quotas of Temple Contribution Points?”

Hearing a unified murmur of agreement with nobody speaking out, Astaria gave a nod.

“Good, let’s get inside then. It's late and I imagine some of you guys are feeling as tired as we look.”

Astaria took off her bloody cloak as she started walking inside so as not to wear something inappropriate inside a building considered holy by the natives. Now with few people around to see her actual appearance, she was not too worried about losing the concealment of her name and level.

As they walked in, they received glances from the two temple paladins that flanked the entrance who checked them over to see if they held any hostile intent.

As she stepped through the main doors with everyone following behind her, Astaria took a look around her. The temple's main room was rectangular in shape, lit brightly by a number of wall-hanging braziers and a central crystal chandelier. The inside was white adorned with green and gold, similar to the outside, with flags depicting the Goddess Ceres' main iconography of a cornucopia in the same colour scheme as the temple.

The room was quite spacious with openings into two corridors halfway down the side walls, the main floor was empty unlike in a church where that space would be lined with pews.

At the back of the main room stood a 5 meter tall golden statue of the Goddess Ceres towering over the room.