4.4

John stepped off the earliest carriage that he hitched in Parac Village before dusk and arrived in Purefold Town. The patches of clouds that followed him on his journey remained stagnant in the deep violet sky. It was still early morning, where neither the stores nor stalls in Purefold were open yet, where the singing of birds are still yet to be heard.

“Let’s see… Miros said that Kaldor stays at adventurer’s guild…” he pursed his lips as he scanned for the large building until a glitter of light bounced off the metallic railings off the adventurer’s guild and entered his eye. “Ah! There it is.”

Having mapped out his destiantion, John walked towards his destination with relaxed shoulders, took time to jog leisurely around the quiet town. He was in no hurry now that he had arrived in Purefold and knew his destination.

After his conversation with Itzella last night, his mind raced the whole time he was in his bed, filled with ambitions for his future. The more he entertained the idea of him enrolling into the academy, the more excited he got. It caused a huge surge of vigor in him, so much so that he had trouble sleeping. And so, with that childlike glee, he awoke from his 5 hour ‘sleep’, took an early breakfast and proceeded to leave for Purefold the moment he could. Even right now, his chest grew in anticipation of enrolling himself to Moxnet Academy.

Things were going his way for the first time in months, though the offer was extended to him abruptly, it was no doubt a good one.

It was a clear stroke of luck that he ended up meeting the Harvest Family who saved his life and took him in. Because of them, he finally found the courage to take the steps into bettering his life.

He thanked them in his heart silently, a slight smile appeared on his face as he counted his blessings.

“Another day eh, lad?” a burly man who exited from a nearby store called out to him energetically. “I bet ya got somethin’ good going for ya with that spring on ya feet.”

John reflexively turned and answered, “Ahahaha, I was just thinking about my family, nothing too much,” he rubbed the back of his head nodding to the man.

“Go make em proud. Stop by if ya want somethin’ to eat later. I’ll make sure to give ya a discount,” the man then continued to setup his stall, hoisting stools and tables orderly in front of a store that smelled of sweet roasted meat.

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

After exchanging greetings with the burly man, on the way to the guild, many of the brick stores began to open up, lights shone from a previously dim building while murmurs began to permeate the silent streets. The townspeople filled the streets not long after the stores themselves were open, slowly the crowd began to grow.

After a good 15 minute walk, he finally managed to navigate himself through the streets and alleys and arrived at the adventurer guild where Kaldor was staying at.

The home to the people’s great protectors.

Although Mera was a great fanatic over feats of the adventurers, not once she stepped foot into the building, claimed that she was too weak to handle the pressure that the adventurers would give her if she entered the guild brazenly.

“Heh, I’ll be able to brag to her about this later on,” he said amusingly before taking a deep breath and pushed past the tall wooden door.

He was assaulted by a strong wind the moment his foot stepped on the floor, his ears chilled at the torrent, turning red for an instant before the cold sensation stopped.

Their ventilation here sure is odd. Is it because people with higher physical capabilities like the draft more?

He was greeted by a counter where several well dressed attendees sat exchanging greetings with armored folk. The guild had a selection of tables on the left where food and drinks were clearly being served by several waitresses, on the right, he could see a bulletin board surrounded by a group pointed and spoke eagerly about the articles pinned on the board.

Everyone in here was just like the average folk that he seen in the rest of the town, they laughed, joked and got annoyed by each other all the same.

However, that was the end of how similar they were to the townspeople, the adventurers were dressed differently, compared to the tunics that was fond on his simple shirt and any regular resident of Purefold, their equipment were of the highest quality, thick leather boots, padded shoulder guards, mahogany quivers, double stitched bags—just to name a few.

Be it the hidden daggers that were placed behind the seams of their sturdy boots, slender magical staffs that were clutched in their hands, or the giant battle ax slung over their backs, it was clear from their body language that these folk were seasoned by countless battles, ready to get into action in a moment’s notice.

The glint in their eyes were those of a predator, taking notice of every single movement around their surroundings while they had the rest of their body in contrary was laid back and carefree. If one mistook their relaxed demeanor and attacked, there was no doubt there will be no lapse in their retaliation.

John, despite all of that, walked naturally towards a lady at the counter who seemed available, this was not his first time around people who were of high combat caliber, he was already used to it.

“How may I help you today?” the lady asked.

“I am looking for someone named Kaldor, he said that he was living in the guild.”

“Okay, just give me a second to check the residents in our inn.”

“Let’s see… Kaldor…” The lady reached for a booklet and began flipping through it. A few moments later, the lady stopped flipping and placed her finger along a list of names with narrowed eyes. “We currently have three people named Kaldor living here. Do you know his full name?”

“His full name? I don’t know his full name… But, do you happen to know a Kaldor that works for Moxnet academy?”

Cling.

The adventurer’s guild fell silent at once, the murmurs and loud conversations that swarmed his ears moments ago was muffled before he finished the word academy. That moment, he became the object of interest of every adeventurer who over heard his sentence.

“Ahhh! You mean that Mr. Kaldor! Yes, yes, he stays here! I’ll have him right over this moment, just give me a moment would you?” as if to compensate for the sudden silence the lady frantically move her arms across the desk in front of her, reached for a phone and spoke quickly to the person on the other end.

When the lady finished her call and told John to patiently wait for Kaldor’s arrival, the silent guild quickly resumed to its noisy self, no longer interested in John. The invisible stares directed on him back all vanished.

What was that? Is Kaldor someone to be feared?

Recalling the scrawny man that he had ruthlessly criticized for visiting him that late in the night, John couldn’t help but to wonder Kaldor’s status among the adventurers.

Is the academy that big of a deal?

As he continued ponder, a male attendant with a flat cap appeared behind him with a padded armrest. “Please sit here while you wait, our esteemed guest,” having said that, the man left before John registered his words.

The workers of the adventurer’s guild stole glances at him now and then, weary of what John would do next, his palms became sweaty from their gaze, not out of nervousness, rather concern for their mental well being. He felt that if he gave one dissatisfied complain the workers of the guild would have nervous breakdowns. Even the lady who attended him was now shifting her eyes nervously in their sockets.

Just as the atmosphere around got tenser as he waited, Kaldor’s bright voice appeared from behind the reception room, instantly scattering any animosity that was clustered at the center of the guild.

“Heyyy John! You’ve really came!”

“Yeah, I gave what you said last night a long thought, so I—”

“Is that so? Come along with me, we can speak about everything inside!” Kaldor dressed in loose bright colored robes threw an arm around John and dragged him towards the back. “Little miss, we will be using the first room. I can trust you to make sure no one walks in with my private conversation with John here, now can I?” Kaldor gave a pretty smile and then ruffled John’s hair as though he was his elder brother.

The lady that had called for Kaldor on behalf of John nodded furiously.

“Hey Kaldor, don’t—”

“I am sorry John. Just go along with me with this,” he whispered in a hushed voice, small enough that only John could hear him. “Alrighty, let’s go then!”

John meekly obliged to Kaldor’s request, he surely did not want the guild people to be looking at him weirdly like earlier. Disregarding the mess Kaldor made of his hair, or the forearm around his neck, he made sure to stick to the man until they had entered a medium sized room.

Kaldor immediately let go of John when the door was closed, and had made sure that it was empty. When it was certain that the both of them were alone Kaldor clapped his hands together and apologized

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“I didn’t mean to do that to your hair, please forgive me! I didn’t expect that you’d come here this early, if only I woke up earlier and all of that could be avoided! ”

“Fine, I don’t blame you for that, but what is up that earlier? With the whispering and all.”

John sat down and faced Kaldor across a shiny stone table, its surface glistening under the morning sun. There was no doubt that the reception room was well maintained once having witness it’s dustless state. To put it short, it was the perfectly crafted room that showed off the staffing and wealth of the guild.

“You see, having to go to Moxnet Academy is a privilege that the adventurers, the people that was staring at you earlier, get jealous of.”

“Jealous?” John tapped his fingers together across the table. “They look way competent than me and they are jealous?”

“Exactly. That and the fact you have entered the main guild hall without being accompanied by an adventurer was what got them so worked up earlier. They thought that you were there to challenge them using the academy’s name or the like since normal people don’t just walk inside the guild.”

“Wait a second. If normal people can’t enter the guild, how would regular people interact or give a job to the adventurers.

The adventurers would often accept quests that require a group of powerful people. Be it escorting people through dangerous roads or eradicating dangerous monsters, if offered reasonable amount of coin, the considered done with their services.

That was why John narrowed his eyes, if the guild itself only allow adventurers and those who have permission to enter, that means the lesser people who aren’t powerful but have urgent requests can’t get the help they need within their limited time frame. That ultimately defeats the purpose of them getting hired by the average person.

“They have the smaller building across this street to collect the people’s request. People who have less potency in sword and magic would go there and file their requests, if it’s too minor, the requests would be posted there instead of the main guild building. It is a decently efficient system that root out ridiculous quests that some people would put in. This way no time would be wasted when adventurers take up a job. They can be certain that the quests were valid.”

“Right, that makes sense,” John nodded at Kaldor’s explaination. “And that’s why Mera said she can’t enter.”

“Did you feel a large force on your shoulders or a chest crushing sensation when you walked in? Anything like that earlier?” seeing that John was interested, Kaldor offered a question to him.

John raised his index finger to his chin, pausing a moment to think. “There was something like a rush of wind earlier, but there is nothing that severe…”

“I see, I see. As expected of you, I was not wrong to make the extra effort to go to your house last night,” Kaldor nodded favorably. “That’s the effect of the barrier that they had setup to allow only stronger people to enter.”

“You mean the wind that was supposed to be a crushing force on me? Isn’t that dangerous? Someone could die or get injured by it!” his eyes widened

“Fret not, it is a barrier after all, it will keep people who are weaker outside of it just like any barrier, there is absolutely nothing to worry about, despite their inelegant methods setting it up,” Kaldor assured him with a gesture from his hands.

“And the one in the academy? The one you spoke about yesterday?”

According to Kaldor, the barrier in Moxnet had been setup to prevent any intruders from sabotaging the school, or foreign countries from spying and infiltrating the sacred teaching grounds. It was familiar to the one John got used to in A’vetheas, rather than keeping dark beasts away, this one prevented those who bore malice to the empire.

“The barrier is similar to the academy but you won’t feel anything when entering, all thanks to the talented people working there. And definitely, definitely no weird sensations when you first enter.”

“Alright.”

“Anyways, John. I am more interested in why you are here this early. Does this mean that you want to join as the orientation period starts?” Kaldor broke into a cheerful grin, his body popped straight as a pencil as he asked the question.

“Yeah, that’s why I am here. I figured that there was no point in waiting years for the next enrollment,” John said. “Besides, after having that talk with you last night, I remembered that I have to do something for myself and not let this opportunity slip by.”

“Excellent! That’s the spirit that we encourage in the academy! I assure you, that you have nothing to worry about, everything will be covered for!”

“You don’t have to sell that to me again. I already want to go there. Even if the stipend wasn’t there, I still have my meals and clothing covered.”

“R-right, forgive this habit of mine. This just happens to be my job, I scout, promote and recruit whenever I am not doing errands,” the scrawny man looked down, embarrassed.

“Oh, and just to be sure, I will have a two week break after the month of orientation period ends right?”

“Of course, and you will get more breaks every three months when the schooling officially starts.”

“Awesome.”

“So, let’s get your details filled in shall we?”

Kaldor swiftly pulled out a parchment that he had underneath his robe, revealed an enrollment form stamped with the insignia of the academy. Brought the parchment to John and began guiding him on which section that was required to be filled out, giving explanations on what individual sections meant.

When they were done, Kaldor contacted someone in the academy with magic made sure the staff on site wrote down John’s enrollment. And just like that, John completed his registration for Moxnet Academy and had officially become a student there.

Once the duo was finished with their business, Kaldor went through the details on the academy once more, made sure that John would mentally prepare to get use to its environment. After everything was explained and that it was time for Kaldor to attend to his work, he walked John out of the adventurer’s guild while spoke about his own experience with Moxnet academy.

“Hahaha, are you serious Kaldor? I bet he was just being silly on purpose, there is no way that anyone in their right mind would do that!”

“Don’t ask me, ask the guy who ran around the academy in his underpants on the first day! That was what I saw, I can’t make this up!”

“Surely, he got suspended for that action?”

“I think he ended up being one to the top ten of our batch when we graduated. I mean, I was ranked number two so I didn’t pay that much attention to others.”

“You!? Number two!? That’s hell of a big deal!”

“I just wanted to serve the empire. I supposed my feats were recognized?”

To John’s surprise, he had gotten along with Kaldor more than he had expected, unlike the overbearing person that he initially pegged the scrawny man for, Kaldor actually had a welcoming personality.

“So back to the academy, be sure to bring only what you really, really can’t do without, there will also be new casual clothes in your room when you are in the academy aside from the standard uniform which you won’t be using too much except for your lectures.”

“Gotcha.” John nodded.

Their passionate conversation fell into a silence, one that signaled the end of every conversation, it was time to say their goodbyes.

“This has been a pleasant exchange, John. It pains me to say so, but we won’t be seeing each other for quite sometime.”

Kaldor’s bright face dimmed, glum with regret of not spending enough time with his new friend. His job demanded that he moved around Dezarith Empire, finding talent and recruiting them, and so, he never tend to stick in the same place for more than a week.

“In that case, I’ll definitely have to graduate. Then we’ll probably meet again. Next time, who knows, we might be coworkers.”

“That’s right! You are absolutely right, we can definitely do that!”

“I guess this is goodbye?” John extended his hand.

Kaldor happily took his hand and shook. “All the best to you, John! Aim for the best! I am rooting for you! Until then, may we meet again.”

After exchanging their farewells, John went along the path he took to the guild, turned right after the junction in front of the guild, walked through a decently sized street and then—

Out of nowhere a hooded figure ran into him, if not for his fleet footwork, he would have been on the ground by now.

“Aggh, watch where you...”

He stopped himself when he turned to see a feminine figure, the person who almost knock him over was someone one head and a half shorter than him.

John himself was not scrawny nor bulky, his body was used to a decent amount of physical exertion, so he was more sturdy than most of the people he knew, but when this girl collided with him it hurt more than he expected.

I need to be careful next time.

The hooded girl bowed her head repeatedly as a token of apology, to which he just shrugged it off after seeing her earnest actions.

“Ah it’s fine just try to be careful next time.”

When he spoke, the girl paused all of a sudden and lifted her head at him. She locked her eyes onto his, made sure that her blues eyes showed themselves to him, inched closer to him. Her face then changed into an expression that was a mixture between joy, relief, surprise and... melancholy?

Perhaps it was his imagination but while she stared, a warm sensation filled his heart, it poured into his very soul from that gentle look of hers, an expression that told him that she understood what he felt all this time...

“Where is she?” a loud voice came from the direction which the girl had appeared from, cut their little encounter short.

Right behind him was two humanoid figures with long snouts and reptilian eyes, had thick hides for their skin, dressed in unfamiliar patterned clothes and had large muscles.

“There!” one of them pointed at the hooded girl.

The girl took off in the opposite direction the moment she was discovered. Her feet, underneath that long robe of hers scurried her into the streets with a grey blur.

“I hate it when she does that! Let’s hurry!” said the other before they broke into a run, followed the exact path that the hooded girl took and dashed down into the streets.

Was that girl a fugitive?

In Purefold town, it was not rare to see non human races like lizardmen of the beastkin race around, in fact, just like the empire, non humans were a third of the population here.

He shrugged his shoulders and continued his way back to the carriage station, it was none of his business to interfere with what trouble the girl had found herself into. She might have been attractive, but John knew better to stay away from trouble whenever he could.

Just as he decided that he had no involvement, he heard something that caused him to stop in his tracks.

“I am going to kill her if that’s what it takes to stop her from running,” one of the lizardmen loudly declared, enough for everyone on the streets to hear.

“What?”

In broad daylight and out in the public, someone had declared to murder. He quickly looked around to check the reactions of the people around to the declaration of murder but none of them were disturbed by it and continued on with their activities.

It was though no one heard it.

His heart raced, the girl had been fast in her escape from but they were much larger than she was, there was no telling that she would be safe from the horrors that they would subject her to.

John ran up to a pedestrian and asked, “Is murder a normal occurrence in this town?”

“What are you talking about? If it is something serious like that, find an adventurer for help. You aren’t in any trouble aren’t you?” the person replied, oblivious to his fussing.

“Did you hear a shout earlier?”

“No, there was no one shouting."

It was only moments ago that someone had proclaimed to murder someone under broad daylight. How could people who were in the same place as he was couldn’t hear it?

No, that wasn’t it.

Just like this person, they didn’t see the two lizardmen earlier, let alone heard them, none of them noticed it.

“Hey, you. Are you alright?” the person asked John as he had become quiet.

“Thanks for the help, I appreciate it,” he thanked the person and left.

There was no time for him to loose. He pushed his feet on the gravel ground and bolted towards the two beastkin in the distance.

He kept pushing forwards despite the burning sensation in his lungs. Towards the hooded girl who he did not know. To prevent a life from being taken away.

He couldn’t save Alwin back then, even with his all purpose [Heal] that could recover lost limbs, he was rendered powerless before the Elder Dragon, he could not save the elf in time.

Regardless of Alwin’s ruthless betrayal towards John, or however one was supposed feel about the elf’s selfish actions, witnessing the limits of his own ability was enough make his legs quiver.

It was just the same when I was with Raina… I can’t do anything.

But right now, a senseless murder among these streets was about to happen, he would not stand idle and let it happen. He had the ability to prevent a such a tragedy, he might as well utilize it, on his honor as a healer, on his honor as a human being.

“Not if I can help prevent it!”