Chapter 18: Town of Remilington

A simplistic map, showing the major roads to the main cities and towns while there were simply small dots to pinpoint possible villages that may or may not have vanished over time. Its rustic looks have shown its experience within the hands of many explorers that have either perished with its simple overlay or passed on between individuals to provide the blessings of safe travel throughout the wilds.

Ben: “... Where am I.”

Trees… trees … trees the leaves covered the sun as the trees grew without caring for each other’s boundary. Each branch entangled as if it was a pair of fiercely enamored couples holding hands.

Ben sat down on the ground against the tree and tried to get a grasp on his location on the map.

“It’s no use, although I’ve been following the path of the map and estimating where I’ve been. I can’t exactly tell how far I have traveled already but based on the general location. I could ask someone in the next town where the Red Temple is. The town seems to be named, Remilington… Although the map illustrated where Remilington is, the distance to the red temple is pretty far based on the number of trees between it.

The town of Remilington, specialties offers a snack called grayfruit. A sugared fruit with a texture, that no one would predict. Some say it’s attuned to a frozen pear with a liquid delight within, others would say that it’s a mixture of scrambled fruits and has an invigorating sense of smell. Although with these qualities the grayfruit cannot be mixed with other ingredients as it’ll immediately turn sloppy and disgusting when mixed in. For that reason is why the populace had called it the “grayfruit”, a name that is neither beautiful in color nor in taste when mixed, yet it tastes like a miracle fruit.

Other than the grayfruit, merchants and peddlers alike say they had a peaceful and delightful time there, as the community is both supportive and friendly to the guests and visitors alike.

The forest path that Ben was walking on eventually led to a clearing. A bustling town with some idle smokes came into view. The town was not particularly large, however, the inhabitants and the carriages outside of the gate made it seem like a popular, overcrowded city.

“Identity.”

“Here it is.”

A merchant passes over a silver badge with a letter to the guard.

“... Everything seems to be in order.”

The merchant passed through the gate calmly while the next carriage with a decorative gleam came forth towards the guard at the gate. The driver hands over a letter to the guard with a golden badge.

“Hmm… I see. We will send a message to the feudal lord. If you want, you can wait in the waiting room we have allocated.”

A hand with a red gem ring with silver linings simply waved out of the window. The driver, noticing the hand from the carriage, was prompted.

“He wishes to rest in an inn, as for the feudal lord we will meet him at his home when he is ready to receive us.”

“Ah yes, we will notify him of your arrival then.”

The carriage simply carried on into the town, while the guard seemingly nervous, wiped his face with his hand.

“Ok, next.” The guard retained his professional pose and continued his day.

A hunter with some pelts and a bag of the game came forward and presented a bronze badge and 2 copper coins to the guard.

“Alright, everything seems to be in order. You can head in”

The hunter simply nodded and went through the gate.

“Next”

Two couples came forward and handed the guard 4 bronze coins and a wooden plate with an insignia of the town.

“Welcome back. Right on through.”

(I’m guessing the merchants have silver badges, nobles gold badges, commoners are bronze badges and fees are 2 bronze coins per entry.)

“Next” The guard looked at Ben.

Ben handed over his bronze badge and 2 coins.

“Alright, everything seems to be in order.”

“Erm, where’s the adventurer guild in this town?” Ben asked.

The guard looked at Ben with dull eyes.

“As every town and village, most of them should be located near the main entrance. So the adventurer guild is alongside the main road, just keep walking and you’ll eventually see the adventurer’s guild insignia, you can’t miss the large building.”

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“Ah, thanks.” Ben started to walk down the gates. While the guard looked at the other guard.

“Seems like a village folk that just came out of his home.”

“It would seem to be, do you think he’ll adapt well in this town?”

“He should. I just hope that he doesn’t just turn towards the slums, after finding his dreams dashed.”

“If you’re so concerned about him, why not give him some pointers?”

“I can’t go giving pointers to everyone, I got a line to check-in before the evening.”

The two guards looked back at the line filled with carriages and a scattering of idle people standing in line, facing the heat of the sun.

***************************************

Ben was gazing at a sign trying to define the symbol. It has a rose and anvil.

(Is it supposed to be the spirit of the rose and anvil or is this a brand name for a blacksmith.)

A light soft voice spoke out. “It’s the spirit of the rose and anvil, the ability to protect and the power to fight. A combination of spirits that have been following humanity’s path since the beginning of the three kingdoms.”

Ben looked back and saw a girl looking back at him. Chestnut, shoulder-length hair that gently hanged over her brown eyes and a gentle demeanor.

“Oh… thank you for that description,” Ben replied.

“We tend to get some new visitors who are awestruck on the signs. Anyways, welcome to the guild, are you here for something?”

“Ah, I just wanted to check into the guild and update my status on the badge.”

“So you’re already registered? I’m surprised that you didn’t know the symbol of the guild. The spirit of Rose and Anvil has been carried on since the guild was founded. There is a story about how the founder was blessed with both the spirit of rose and anvil.”

“I see.”

The girl suddenly walked in and gestured to Ben to follow her. Leading him towards the desk as she motioned him to wait.

“I’ll be right with you.”

“Ok.”

**********

The girl came out with a blue vest that is outlined with a white border, buttons of gold, and a small yellow handkerchief coming around where the V-neck of the shirts would be, and a simple deep blue skirt with a brown leather belt around the waist. On the buckler contained the symbol of the anvil labeled there.

“Do you work here?”

“Of course, I am one of the guild receptionists for the Town of Remilington. Let’s get started before the day starts off.” The girl motioned towards the crowd sitting around the dining room. In every adventurer guild within a town or major city, there will be a dining service, a mission board, and a messenger delivery service. Generally, for the dining service, it’s mainly alcohol and simple meals to keep the adventurers in a general place before the posting of the mission board during the morning. The reason why it’s a little busy here.”

(Hmm, dining services and a mission board to maximize profit, regardless of day or night cycle due to the guild’s requirement to be open 24/7. Based on the staff there seems to be a surplus of extras.)

Ben noted the number of receptionist desks and the number of tables in the dining room. Ten receptionist desks, three loot processing desks, 2 mission confirmation badge scans, 20 four seated tables, 10 two-seat tables alongside a small scale bar for the alcohol.

“As the introductions are done. I’m assuming that you are an adventurer from one of the frontier villages?”

Ben grabbed his badge and handed it over to the guild receptionist, and replied that he was an adventurer.

“Hmm…. you’ve completed these sets of missions, therefore you get 1 silver and 20 copper coins. With this, your mission logs are cleared out and your rank should rise to D rank. However, to rise to C rank and above you will have to start taking combat testing with veteran adventurers that we have here. The road to becoming an adventurer has only begun, albeit it would seem to me that you have done some investigation and subjugation quests by yourself with no problems. Seems like the frontier villages are a little relaxed on the rules.”

“Rules?”

“Yes, usually in towns and larger cities, adventurers rank below C are not allowed to take investigative and subjugation quests solo as oftentimes the adventurer will not come back. Each of these missions requires combat experience to ensure safety for the adventurer. Later on, when the adventurer surpasses rank D and qualifies the number of completed quests or experience. They may attempt to reach a combative rank of C, the only requirement is that they are to take a combat class with a veteran adventure and complete a combat test, or they may choose to skip the class and do the test initially if they are feeling confident. However, if they are to skip the class and challenge the instructor and fail, they will be expected to have a small demotion and require more class time to adjust their inability to judge their own personal skill and environment.”

“I see… so rank D and F are mainly to prepare the adventurers to understand the questing system and their personal strength in cardio and time management to some extent?” asked Ben

“Correct, this will also allow the adventurers a grace period to understand that adventuring is not all about the glory and fame that you would often hear from the famous top-ranking adventurer teams. Many young children at the age of 12 and up to 15 would only be able to take missions that are within the city limits and forest borders for gathering. There are times where rank D and F adventurers would group up in a party of Rank C adventurers to obtain experiences. In your case, since your village adventurer guild is in the frontier, there would be more leeway for rules and restrictions.”

“I see… thank you for your time.” Ben smiled lightly.

“No problem, it’s my job as the guild receptionist.”

(She’s quite soothing to the heart… but I should get this going before her work starts.) The guild receptionist handed back the badge to Ben.

“Oh right, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Julia.”

“Ah, I’m Ben.”

“Would you like to take the rank C promotion test, your records here indicate that you have enough missions and experience to try and promote into a combative adventurer.”

(I suppose, I can get a gist of how the people in this world measure combat strength… especially with the idea of red auras and martial skills… and magic.)

Ben agreed, after waiting for a short time. Julia led Ben towards a training facility where various adventurers were sparring with one another. Julia walked up to a man with leather armor and a sword hilt on his side, one specific detail that Ben noticed was that the man’s right eyes were scarred and blinded.

(This guy looks like the mid-30s… yet his muscles seem well trained and not too apparent in his armor.)

“Bernard, here's another tester for the promotion rank C.”

“Oh? Welcome, I hope you have what it takes to face a B rank adventurer. What’s your name and occupation?” smiled Bernard.

“Ah, my name is Ben and I … (what am I? Red aura fighter? Warrior? Swordsman? Magic Swordsman? Enhancer?) I….”

“What’s with you? Cat got your tongue? Based on your hands and weapons that you have, you’re probably a fist combat specialist… do you have the red aura and martial skills?”

Ben snapped out of it and decided to look at Bernard’s equipment.

“I suppose” Ben shrugged

Bernard slightly frowned at Ben’s unsure answer. Having decided that the conversation is over.

Ben observed Bernard’s equipment and the impression that it gave him was what a normal adventurer would wear before their outing towards the wilderness. Leather shoulder pads, a loot bag, sword harness on the side of the belt, and multiple leather strappings across his chest and some portion of his legs.

“I see you’ve noticed the multiple leather strappings? As an adventurer, mobility and evasion are important to one’s safety. However, there are times when luck isn’t by your side and the monster manages to hit you in certain areas. As monsters or creatures are designed to maim most of their target we keep leather strappings to have some sort of security, the extra leather strappings can also be used as a short distance rope for whenever an unexpected situation may arise, to do some quick medical aid on other members or yourself, to hold some raw materials on your adventures and lots of versatility for many other scenarios. Of course, this doesn’t mean you can heavily rely on the leather strappings to stop a powerful attack.” Bernard explained with determination.

Ben noted Bernard's passion for teaching the young, his wounds are old and long-lasting, his right eye scarred and blinded. His face albeit tired was full of cheer as he talked about his stories to the budding new adventurers before him.

“Alright, everyone. Seeing how Ben should be the last one on the list for a promotion grade class, let’s get to work.” Bernard shuffled in place while taking a look at a notepad he got from his side pouch.

“Let’s see… guideline A for adventurers are always be prepared, never lose caution, understand when to relax and when to be alert, understand your strengths and weakness, never go solo in dungeons, always have a reliable partner, life beats greed, and never drink suspicious water outside…” listed Bernard

“There are still many other clauses and tips that you should follow, however, be sure to understand that sometimes following your gut feeling can get you out of some difficult cases. The first agenda on the case is for self-introduction, as the group you are currently with will be your partners for the day.” Bernard looked at the 5 individuals standing in front of him.