After Medoly left, Karsten turned to her brother.
“I still have to complete my registration with the Guild and let them know what quest I chose, so how about we get that done first and then head somewhere you can get washed up, yeah?”
Henry glanced at him. “Sure,” He replied flatly and started walking toward the city square.
Karsten followed after him, asking, “Do you also need to register?”
“I’ve already registered.” Henry replied simply.
Karsten looked at him quizzically. “Really? What class are you?”
“Warrior type, spearman. Level 1.”
Karsten hesitated for a moment before asking “Did you choose that?”
Henry gave Karsten an odd look. “What do you mean?”
Karsten explained, “When I opened my status for the first time, my class and stats were kind of just there. I didn’t choose. Medoly said that classes are decided based on what you do the most, but I thought about it and that doesn’t make any sense at all… I mean, wouldn’t basically everyone be Bards if it was like that? Because they cried and yelled whenever they needed something as a kid?'
Henry laughed at that - Then he imagined what a world full of powerful, manipulative five-year-old Bards running around screaming would look like, and shuddered internally. “That’s a fucking horrifying thought…”
He forcefully turned his mind to something else.
“I think she might just not have wanted to confuse you, or something? If I know her right, she probably thought you’d already chosen your class, then just forgot about it. She didn’t want to make you confused, and apparently decided giving you that shit explanation was better. From the way she’s been treating you and what she told me in the alley, I’d reckon she probably doesn’t think you’re very bright.”
Karsten sighed, “Yeah, I get the same impression… But then the way she and I met didn’t exactly paint a very… flattering picture of me. I was battered, covered in a mix of mud and my own blood, and spouting nonsense that would make anyone want to keep their distance from me. I also didn’t really hide my ignorance of this place in front of her very well, so her treating me like an idiot is only natural. Not ideal, but natural.”
Karsten stopped for a few seconds and looked at the ground, then up at Henry. His expression grew contemplative as he squinted his eyes at the man.
“I didn’t look much different from how you look right now, when I think about it. You're missing the mud and the ‘spouting nonsense’ thing - though I didn’t hear what you were saying in that back alley…” Henry glared at him. “...which I’m sure was highly intellectual stuff!” Karsten said, raising his hands in mock-innoscence.
Henry scoffed, but looked himself over. He looked at his dirty clothes and felt at his oily hair. His expression grew complicated and he was quiet for a time, looking down at his shoes. “Actually” He said after a few seconds of silence, “I think I’d like to wash up before we head over to the guild.”
Karsten nodded. “Alright.”
~~~
They headed back to the same Inn Karsten and Medoly had stayed the night and Karsten convinced the receptionist to let them rent a room for an hour so that Henry could bathe and change his clothes into the new ones Medoly had bought him. As it turned out, Henry didn’t have any money either.
Karsten sat down in the lobby and waited, humming a tune as he did so.
An hour later, Henry walked into the lobby looking like a new man. His face was cleanly shaven and his outfit tidy. He looked… extremely familiar. It was only now that Karsten noticed something he hadn’t before.
Medoly had said not to be too surprised when he met Henry, but Karsten hadn’t really understood why. Until now.
When he first saw Henry trudge out of the alley, Karsten had seen that they had a similar stature. Same height, same body shape and the same eye- and hair color.
Karsten had indeed been surprised by that, but now, seeing the cleaned up version of Henry, he was downright spooked.
They looked like identical twins.
There was nearly no difference between the two at all. The only difference that Karsten could see was that Henry's face was slightly sharper, and his eyes had a unique intensity that Karsten’s lacked.
‘He looks like if I had an evil alter-ego or something.’ Karsten mused to himself.
Noticing Karsten’s prolonged stare, Henry spoke up.
“What?”
Karsten looked confused. “‘What’ what?”
Henry raised an eyebrow at him.
“You’re staring at me while smirking. What do you mean, ‘‘what’ what’?”
Karsten realized his alter-ego was right, and quickly schooled his face.
“Sorry. I just thought you looked like my evil twin, or something.”
“Your ‘evil twin’? How?”
Now it was Karstens turn to raise an eyebrow at him. “What do you mean ‘how? We literally look exactly alike. What I don’t understand is how you didn’t have a bigger reaction when you first saw me. I didn’t recognize much of you because you were covered in filth and you had a bird's nest on your head, but I was… well, visible. You must surely have noticed?”
Henry looked Karsten over, then walked over to a small decorated mirror on the wall of the lobby and scrutinized himself. He looked between the two a few times, before stating flatly, “I don’t see it.”
Karsten facepalmed, dragging his hand over his face in exasperation. He walked over to the receptionist’s desk and motioned for Henry to follow.
“Mrs. Tennel, I’m sorry to disrupt your work, but I have a question for you.”
He waited until Henry stood beside him, then continued. “Mrs., do we look alike?”
The receptionist didn’t even spend a second to think it over before she replied. “Yes! I thought you two were brothers when you first came in, but now, after… um… now you look like twins! Are you not related?”
Karsten shot a look at Henry as if to say ‘I told you so’ before replying politely, “Would you believe me if I said that the two of us were strangers before this very morning?”
The receptionist looked over the two of them a second time, and replied sheepishly. “Well… I’m not sure I would, to be honest. You two look like two perla peas in a pod, so I would likely think you were trying to prank me.”
Henry frowned. “What? Really? Me and him?” He said as he pointed back and forth between himself and Karsten.
The receptionist looked at Henry in confusion. “Uh… Yes. Do you not see it?”
“I know!” Karsten exclaimed exasperatedly. “Honestly, I’m starting to get worried about this guy's mental facilities. And I’m the one wearing a golden star here!”
The receptionist stifled a laugh, but Henry just looked stupefiedly at the two. “Do we really?” He asked again.
“Yes! That is what we are literally telling you!” Karsten replied, laughing incredulously.
Henry looked at the receptionist, as if looking for confirmation.
“Hehe, Mr. Henry, your friend here is right; You really do look like brothers. Though I’m not sure I can quite believe that your reaction is genuine… Are you two playing a prank on me?” She looked conspiratorially at Karsten.
He responded in mock-offense “Me? I would never!” She laughed.
Henry looked at the two’s interaction with a suspicious gaze. While he wasn’t sure about Karsten, as he found it hard to read the guy, it didn’t seem like the receptionist was trying to mess with him.
In the end, he shook his head and turned to leave, calling for Karsten to follow him.
‘This'll be a joy.’ Henry thought dejectedly.
~~~
After standing in a slightly shorter line of people for a few hours, they made their way to the same desk Karsten had been to yesterday.
Coincidentally, the same gnome receptionist sat on the chair behind it. The receptionist beamed when she saw him.
“Mr. Kerdan! Welcome back! Where’s Medoly? And who’s your friend- Oh, why if it isn’t Henry! Welcome back, really-long-time-no-see!” She greeted merrily as they stepped up to the counter.
“Hello, uh… I didn’t quite catch your name last time?”
“Oh! My name’s Frenbanie, but everyone calls me Banie!”
“Hello Banie,” Karsten returned her good mood with almost-equal vigor. “I’m here to complete my registration and let you know what quest I chose.”
“Right!” Banie swung her chair around and opened up a drawer on the desk.
“So, deary, what class did you choose?”
“I… chose the Bard class!” He hesitated a little as he remembered how he very much hadn’t chosen his class, but tried not to let anything show on his face.
“The Bard class, eh? I think that is a good choice for you! Better to stay back from all the fighting an’ gore and all that.” She wrote the class name down in an empty slot on the paper, then spun the paper over to Karsten while simultaneously offering him her pen.
“Please sign your full name on the line here.”
Karsten accepted the pen absentmindedly as he skimmed through the paper. It contained basic information about his new persona, Mr. Kerdan. It felt weird to read through a document full of information about a fake person that was now him.
He thought back to what he’d read on his Status scroll. ‘Can read every language… So this is another language? Looks like Norwegian to me, though?...’
He found the line he was supposed to sign, and signed it as neatly as he could. Surprisingly, he found the pen flowed easily across the paper, his hand almost moving autonomously to create the lines.
'Must be the Trait at work...'
Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.
Removing the pen from the paper, he looked at his new signature.
Karsten Myhr Kerdan
Banie accepted the paper and pen back from Karsten and checked the signature.
“Thank you very much! So, tell me, what quest did you choose?” Banie asked.
“I chose the quest from Mr. Derk Pillan; To retrieve a bag of supplies from one of his warehouses to his shop.”
Banie giggled, “I knew you’d choose that one! Mr. Pillan is a long-time quest giver of the Guild and is ever-generous in his tipping. He’s also a very no-nonsense guy, so he's pretty popular.”
She received the three quest forms from Karsten and handed him a detailed overview of the quest he’d chosen, with addresses, contact information of Derk’s butler and a Guild official in case something went awry and so on.
“Here’s everything you need to know about the quest.”
Karsten received the paper with a mock-flirtatious wink. “Thank you, Miss Banie!”
The gnome shooed Karsten away while she twirled a loose strand of hair, mock-flirtatiously. “I see why you chose the Bard class, you gally, but don’t you try anything on me!”
“I won’t,” Karsten chuckled.
Banie then turned to Henry. “And here, Mr. Henry. Please sign here,” She said as she handed out another document.
“This is a Guardian contract. If you sign this, you will be Karstens official Guardian that will go along with him on this quest. If you want, I can also prepare a long-term contract for you that can last however long you’d like.”
“Only this one quest is fine,” Henry said as he received the paper and pen. Not even glancing over the contract, he found the empty line and filled it in with his signature.
Henry Eugene Kerdan
"Your middle name is Eugine? Oh."
"... What? Is there something wrong with that?" Henry asked annoyedly.
"Hm? Oh, no. Of course not." Karsten replied, in a tone just a little bit to innocent.
Henry turned towards Karsten, frowning. "Then why does it sound like you have a problem? Are the-"
"Henry." Banies voice spoke calmly from behind the counter.
As if a pair of invisible hands were grabbing his head, Henry's head snapped towards the gnome receptionist.
"As it says in the contract you just signed, you are not allowed to harm your charge by any means. That includes verbal means, Mr. Henry.” Her usual cheer was gone, and now what they saw was a hardened Guild Official.
The cheer was restored as quickly as it was dropped, however, as she turned to Karsten. “If Mr. Henry here ever inconveniences you, please, do not hesitate to let me know!” She beamed.
The corner of both Karsten’s and Henry's mouths twitched.
‘She’s scarier than Medoly…’
~~~
“Alright, ‘Guardian’ dearest, I think we now have all we need to start our Epic Tale. What say you? Shall we head to the gate and see what lies beyond?” Karsten said jovially as they exited the registration office.
Henry sighed.
“Yeah, sure. Let’s get this over with.” He mumbled as he started walking south-west, toward the Helis gate.
Derk Pillans warehouse was located in a small town called Gestran, right outside the Cedersk city wall. Karsten figured it would have to be very close by if they were expected to get from the Guild office to Mr. Pillans warehouse and then to Derk’s store all in the expected time of just two hours.
As they walked, Karsten looked around at his surroundings.
Everything looked so… fantasy-like. He couldn’t believe the people he saw could just walk around like everything was normal.
Of course, Karsten was aware that this, in fact, was what normal looked like to the people of this world, but still. Thinking as such, Karsten couldn’t help but wonder how someone from this world would react if they saw, let's say, a skyscraper.
Thinking back to the colossal trees in the forest he’d started in, though, maybe their reaction wouldn’t be that grand...
After around 40 minutes of walking, they made it to the gate.
Medoly hadn’t lied when she said the main gates were pretty. They were almost completely covered in flowers of all types, some he even recognized from the forest.
It looked like a vertical meadow. What he saw of stone was beautifully engraved in an intricate design. He looked closer at the design, and made out a single word through the abundant flowers. ‘Detect’... Huh… Weird.’
He scratched his chin.
'Is this that Trait at word again? Am I supposed to understand this...?'
He tried to get a better view of what is said, but he soon gaveup and shrugged.
'Whatever.'
They entered the gate-tunnel after showing the guards the stamped quest sheet, and passed through to the other side. What lied in the great beyond was… exceedingly normal-looking. It was a flat grassland, with basically nothing in sight except the tall forest to the east, expansive farmland to the south-west, a small city to the west that was easily within walking distance and, of course, vibrant plains of grass.
“Is that Gestran?” Karsten asked, pointing to the small city.
“Yeah. Gestran is sort of like a sub-city of Cerdansk. It was started by some people who didn’t want to live in a big city, but still wanted the convenience of living close to one. The people that live there are mostly farmers that didn’t want to live too far from their fields, or people who don’t like the noise in the city.”
“Huh… So, in modern terms, ‘country bumpkins’?”
Henry chuckled, “What the hell is a ‘country bumpkin’? Some kind of monster?”
They started walking towards the small town as they talked.
“Are there really monsters here? Like those in game- uh, like those in… the scriptures?”
Henry looked at Karsten oddly.
“Yes, there are monsters here, Karsten, and whaddya mean scriptures? Are you a historian or something? Actually, scratch that, any historian would know what monsters are.”
Karsten chuckled awkwardly. “Ha ha, yeah… But let’s say, hypothetically, that I don’t know anything about them. At all.”
“Well…” Henry sighed. “I’d say they’re lazy, annoying bugs that gnaw on the walls of their dungeons forever until somebody comes along to kill them. They're all pretty strong, though. That’s what I’ve heard, anyway.”
“You’ve never been down there yourself?”
“No.”
Karsten waited for Henry to continue, but Henry just continued to walk in silence, pretending he didn’t notice Karstens eyes pressing for more information.
“This world is becoming more and more like a game…” Karsten whispered under his breath.
“Game?” Henry asked, but Karsten just smiled.
“Scriptures!”
They arrived in Gestran a few minutes later. The architectural style was the same as in the city, but more downplayed. Karsten mused that it was likely a conscious choice of whoever built them, as he knew from experience that farm-people more often than not preferred things they deemed ‘simpler’.
Asking the first person they saw for directions, they were soon standing in front of a huge white warehouse with doors up to scale. Karsten walked up to the gate-like door and knocked.
A few seconds later, the door opened just enough for a gruff, bearded dwarf with a light brown leather cowboy-looking-hat on to poke his head through.
“Ah! Are ’ya from the Guild?” He asked in the most southern American accent Karsten had ever heard.
“I’ll be back with the goods, one minute!” He said as he slammed the door shut.
“...”
“Henry?”
“What?” “.
"..Are all dwarves southern?”
“Southern? No, dwarves generally come from up north. Why?”
"Do they all have that accent?"
"...Yeah, most of 'em. ...Why do you ask?"
Karstens eyes gleamed. ”I love this world. Cowboy-dwarves. We have to recruit one.”
Henry looked at Karsten as if he was an alien, - which he technically was. "What do you mean, 'recruit'? You don't have a party."
"Aren't we a party, though?"
"Technically speaking, yeah. But we're a temporary one."
"Oh, pish. You like hanging out with me too much to leave."
Henry shuddered in disgust. "Nope. No, I do not. Let's just do the quest silently."
One minute passed, and as promised, the dwarf returned. Again, he opened the door only enough to squeeze out a rucksack about the size of two footballs. Henry barely grabbed the rucksack before the dwarf slammed the door shut in their faces with a “See ‘ya, lads!”.
Henry sighed and started walking back to the city. Karsten stood in place for a few seconds before he snapped out of his day-dream of going on adventures with cowboy-dwarves and half-jogged to catch up with his temporary companion.
~~~
“So… We’re going to 'Riverna Dane street 37’. Know where that is?” Karsten asked while looking over the quest details.
They’d returned to the city through the ever-opulent gate and were currently standing a bit away from the crowd.
“Yeah, it’s this way.” Henry led the way through the crowd and into an adjacent street that was only a little less crowded. They walked along the sidewalk for only a couple minutes before Henry stopped in front of a storefront that exuded sophistication.
Elegantly carved letters above the stately door read:
‘DERK’S WARES FOR THE DISTINGUISHED PATRON’
‘This…” Karsten said as he looked over the building. “This requires finesse, Henry,” He said in the most ostentatious voice he had.
“What?”
Henry turned to Karsten upon hearing the latter’s tone, only to frown when he saw the look on Karstens face.
Karstens whole demeanor had changed in a heartbeat, and he now looked as if the very air around him disappointed him. With a disgruntled sigh, he spoke in an entirely overbearing tone, “Henry, read the sign.” He pointed to the sign. “Wares for the distinguished patron. See?”
Henry looked at Karsten incredulously. “We’re not even here to go fucking shopp-”
“Oh, pish!” Karsten interrupted.
“It was never like you to talk back to me, Henry, and I shan’t hold with such profanities. You’d do well to remember that!” He said as he waved a finger dramatically in the air. He then looked up at the opulent door with determined eyes.
“Now, Guardian dearest, we have a request to fulfill - Which, I hopefully needn’t remind you, has a deadline. Chip-chop!”
With impeccable posture, Karsten trotted up the few stairs to the door, and gracefully swung it open as he chided his companion internally.
‘Poor Henry… That ol’ chap has a-ways to go.’
What he was met with was an interior he could only describe as ‘exuberant’.
The walls, floor and ceiling was made up of white stone and had a glossy finish, and the stands where wares were laid out were made of exquisitely carved dark wood. The place was teeming with people, many looking like tourists as they gawked at the wares and then gawked at the prices.
‘Humph, more ‘Henrys’, I see.’ He mused ironically to himself as he walked in a straight line to the counter.
People seemed to move out of his way slightly as he walked.
He’d read the sign outside and hadn’t been able to keep himself from putting on an act, but he hadn’t expected at all to see the people around him treating him with any amount of deference… Did it have something to do with his Bard class? From what limited information Karsten had, he knew that a Bard’s main thing was that they could manipulate crowds. Was this what that looked like? Or was it just his new coat, perhaps?
‘It is a very nice coat, after all…’ Karsten pondered as he walked the final distance to the counter.
“Welcome, mister! How may I help you?” The woman, that looked like a noble, that was manning the counter asked.
Karsten kept his face posh and his tone formal as he answered.
“I have a delivery for the distinguished Mr. Pillan,” He said as he turned to look over his shoulder at Henry that was following after him with a confused look on his face.
Karsten motioned to the lady behind the counter, and Henry handed the rucksack over with an exasperated sigh. He also pulled out the quest detail paper and placed it on the counter for her to stamp.
“Oh, the bag of goods! Lovely, thank you very much. I will hand this over to Mr. Pillan as soon as he returns from his outing,” She said brightly as she received the rucksack and placed it carefully behind the counter, in the same motion picking up a small satchel.
“And here!” She said as she handed the satchel over to Karsten. “A little something from Mr. Pillan as a thank you for the timely deliverance.”
She then retrieved a stamp from behind the counter and stamped the paper in the empty square where the quest-givers stamp was supposed to be.
Karsten accepted the satchel, but didn’t look inside immediately, as he felt that would be ungentlemanly to do so in front of the employer.
“Thank you, fair Lady. Please pass onto Mr. Pillan that if he ever is in need of my services again, all he need’st do is ask for ‘Mr. Kerdan’ at the Adventurer’s guild and I shall be at his service at the earliest convenience. Now - be well.”
Karsten was about to tip his imaginary top-hat, but then had a bright idea..
Casting Prestidigitation, he created an actial image of a deep purple tophat with classy freathers in the band on top of his head. With one hand, he tipped the illusory hat, and with the other he waved a formal goodbye.
When they were out, Henry turned to Karsten. “What was that? A Bard spell?”
Karsten answered, now back to his normal self. “Sorry, I just couldn’t help myself after seeing the sign. I mean, just the word ‘distinguished’ called for it, don’t you think? It’s obvious that this Mr. Pillan takes his image extremely seriously -” He said, pointing back at the building with his thumb over his shoulder. “- and so I thought I'd play the part. You have to admit I was pretty good at it.”
"Whatever."
Karsten shrugged.
'Tough crowd.'
He had surprised even himself with his performance. In his youth he’d taken theater classes, and had always had a talent for acting, almost always getting the lead part. He was used to playing different roles.
This time, however, it felt worlds apart. He felt he could much more easily switch his demeanor, and he could feel himself almost becoming the different roles as if it was the most natural thing in the world. It was like a passive confidence… or charisma; And it affected the people around him. It was like his act had added substance
‘So this is the result of having a high Charisma stat?’ He thought to himself.
“Karsten?”
Karsten snapped out of his thoughts when Henry called out to him.
“Huh?” It dawned on Karsten that he had been staring daggers at the pavement with a frown on his face. This was commonly known back home as his ‘thinking face’, but it dawned on him that it probably was unsettling to someone who didn't know him well.
“Sorry… You were saying?”
Henry sighed. “I was saying we should split the tip and head to the Guild to get the reward.”
“Oh, right. Yeah, let’s do that.”
Karsten opened the satchel and dumped it's content onto his hand.
He whistled. “A gold coin! That’s a lot, right?”
“Yeah…” Henry answered while staring at the coin. In addition to the gold coin was a handful of silvers. Karsten counted them, and found 7 pieces.
“That’s one heck of a tip…”
“How should we split it? Can’t exactly snap a gold coin in two.” Karsten remarked.
Henry looked at him as if he was an idiot. "Fuck do you mean? We have stores here, you know? We can just go to a shopkeep and have them exchange it, or something."
"..." Karstens lips grew into a fine line. "Well, that would take more time, would it not? Either way, I don't think it's necessary."
"You don't think so?"
Karsten shook his head, then thought for a couple seconds before offering the gold coin to Henry.
“You can have it. You did the most work, after all.”
Henry's eyes widened. “Seriously? You’d just give it to me? We’re talking about a gold coin. It can keep you fed for a while.”
Karsten took a few more seconds to think about it, but in the end, he still held out his hand to offer the coin. “I know you weren’t exactly willing to be my Guardian on this quest, yet you still joined me and even carried the backpack for me. I’m not ungrateful enough to deny you your rightful share. Take it.”
Henry looked at the coin in thought for a few seconds, then he reached out and took it. “Thank you,” He said, sounding like he meant it.
Karsten grinned. “No worries!”
~~~
After only two hours of waiting in line, they walked up to the counter in the Adventurer’s Guild office. A
different person was sitting behind the counter this time; A human woman that looked to be around Karstens age. She greeted the two cheerfully, yet Karsten felt it was just not the same without Banie.
He handed the receptionist the stamped quest paper and gave her a quick rundown of their experience during the quest. If they encountered something out of the ordinary, or the quest details turned out to be wrong, the Guild had to know in order to fix it, and all that. This was just an ordinary delivery quest, though, so he simply stated that everything proceeded as normal and Mr. Pillan had received his wares.
The receptionist asked them if they wanted to split the reward of 1 gold coin equally, and Karsten was about to agree when Henry rejected the offer, saying he already had enough, and it was fine if Karsten took it.
Karsten couldn’t help but feel his initial impression of Henry had been presumptuous. At first, Karsten had thought Henry was… Well, in the very beginning, he’d honestly thought the guy was homeless - the way he came trudging out of an alley wearing dirt and all. But after that, he’d thought Henry was a bit… brutish, for lack of a better word.
In hindsight, Karsten thought it was laughable that he had judged Henry so rashly when he himself had been in a much worse state when he’d waltzed out of the woods. He decided to try to not judge others by their cover as he accepted the gold coin and left the office with Henry.
After a short conversation, the two parted ways and Karsten was left alone, wondering what to do.
He sat down on a nearby bench and observed the square around him.
This city was lively. The people were all different, yet shared a common atmosphere. Like they all had a foundationally similar logic or worldview.
It felt weird to Karsten.
He could feel that these people were very different from the ones he was used to, yet they were still similar. They walked around with an air of normalcy, as if nothing they saw was out of place. Karsten wondered if he too would someday walk around like that, looking at everything as if this world was normal.
How long until that day?
...How long would he be here?
His thoughts were interrupted when he noticed a young elf child carrying a bright green ice cream cone and his stomach growled loudly. Chuckling, he got up to go find some food.
He tried to imitate the people around him as he walked. He walked around as if everything was normal. He walked around smiling as if he wasn’t freaking out deep inside, and as if he belonged here.
He walked around as if he was a Bard.