Odesday, 22nd of Febrinna, 5662 AE, 468th Year of the 5th Era
Charles was already cleaned and dressed early that morning as he had spent a full-night’s rest on a very comfortable bed with pillows stuffed with very soft feathers and a warm blanket to boot. He was now sitting on his own at a table set with chairs in what looked to be a dining hall with several other tables being occupied by some other patrons and clients of the establishment. Most of the other people within the dining hall looked fierce and rough around the edges which led Charle to assume that they must be fellow adventurers. Regardless, the scent of the cooking and spices coming from the kitchen was enough to stir up a storm within Charles’ stomach as he was practically famished.
Charles had spent the previous night in Ashfall in ‘the Ashking’s Abode’, an inn and tavern located not too far from the guildhouse and was recommended to him by Sir Hunt himself. The guild branchmaster had earlier offered for Charles to stay the night at the guildhouse itself in one of its bunk-rooms for adventurers but Charles wasn't yet too keen to spend his night in a hall with strangers where he’d have to socialise instead of getting some rest, especially when there were other options that were available to him. After their meeting yesterday, Hunt had provided Charles with the rewards from the Malcanis expedition that was due to him as he brought Charles to the guild treasury. After the total loot in the form of items, weapons, and equipment as well as the furs from many of the corpses of the wolfbeasts had been calculated, including the remains of the Wyverns and Griffons, Charles’ total share of the spoils amounted to 1750 lamellars, or roughly ten gold sovereigns with seven silver nobles and an extra ten copper lamellars. Charles didn’t have too much of a notion on how the currency of the realm worked but he’d guess that was a reasonably large amount of money based on what he knew about the prices and what his current means could afford for him.
The inn that Hunt had recommended to him here in the city was a relatively affordable one yet still had many amenities that he’d appreciate like a personal bathhouse connected to the inn where he could soak and relax himself, not to mention the food served in the inn to be very palatable to his tastes. A one night stay at the inn was priced at a quarter noble, or five lamellars which already included a modest breakfast of baked bread and eggs. One and a half silver nobles in contrast could afford him a stay for a whole week with both a modest breakfast and dinner as well. When Charles was asked if he was an adventurer or not, he showed his steel-badge adventurer’s identification which granted him an extra day of stay within the inn. Anticipating that he would have a prolonged stay in the town, Charles had paid the week-long stay fee upfront which in total cost him thirty lamellars.
Now that he was in the dining hall, he had the egg and toast served in front of him as well as a pint of ale on the house. The prices set in the inn were reasonable and the fact that as Charles was enjoying his meal, a few men who looked like labourers had come in and were sitting on a table as one of them looked at the signs hung up on the inn’s wall which listed most of the prices for food as well as the fees to stay at the inn. Charles had thought at first that it was mostly due to the inn being frequented by adventurers who had a better chance of hailing from the more elite and educated stratas of society that they would even bother to put up signage on the walls. If his time as an Emperor during the early modern period was accurate to the state of things in Feldonia, Charles had assumed that perhaps at most only small percentage of the general population would be able to read, let alone write, which was a farcry from what he had seen in the modern era where truly most people indeed had the skillset of basic literacy and arithmatics.
To Charles' surprise, one of the labourers had raised his hand to call one of the tavernmaids who looked no older than perhaps thirteen years of age or fourteen years and began ordering for the group as he pointed out to a few items on the menu. Charles had heightened his sense of hearing to hear the conversation and he was surprised to hear the labourer accurately read out and pick items on the menu. When he thought at first it must’ve just been one skilled labourer to order for the whole group, another labourer had interrupted him to change his own order to something else that cost less as he too pointed and read out the sign. If that wasn’t enough, the young tavernmaid nodded towards the orders and pulled out a sort of small board and a thin piece of chalk and started repeating the orders and writing them down on the board before finally confirming their orders and returning to the kitchen to get the orders placed in.
Charles raised his eyebrows as he bit into his egg toast at what he just saw. There was the chance that this particular town or region had a uniquely educated populace with at the very least basic literacy rates but the fact that Alfred had so many leatherbound books and tomes and that especially within the adventurer’s guild, writing and paperwork played an important part in daily life and working, Feldonia or even perhaps Orbis as a whole was more culturally and educationally advanced than what Charles had previously given it credit for.
Putting aside that interaction, the prices that were set on the menu hanging on the wall itself was also surprising to see. Charles remembered when he was back at Dansville and talking to the villagers about how prices and the lot worked in the village and how much each person earned from their produce. Most of the village were self-sufficient when it came to feeding their own families and putting bread on the table and the Kingdom of Feldonia - similarly to the other States of Terradome - had an effective system of crop rotation that allowed crops to be grown year-round. No one was really paid a standard wage but Nigel had said that the crops and produce sold at ashfall regularly would net a price equal to several silver nobles and sometimes even up to a few gold sovereigns which would then be spent on necessities for the village to continue to operate. Charles had been told though by some villagers who had spent a bit of time working in the towns as unskilled labourers that their salary could range anywhere from five to ten lamellars a day depending on how long they worked or their employers.
As Charles continued to read the menu, he put that fact to perspective with the prices hung on the wall. Egg and toasted bread on itself cost two lamellars whilst a portion of chicken was a quarter-noble or a half-noble for a full-on whole chicken cooked. The inn also had ‘steak’ listed among its menu and while a portion of it was quite pricey compared to the rest by being valued at a full-noble. But even when considering all of the expense, the prices were still completely reasonable as they perhaps would only cost someone four to five days of unskilled labour for meat that was prepared. This would be a level of prosperity that would be unheard of during the middle ages of Charles’s previous life.
With all that being said, Charles decided to continue on eating his meal as he had reminded himself that he hasn’t even begun to scratch the surface of the new world he currently found himself in and there were many more things to explore and learn about. After about fifteen minutes spent eating the meal, Charles had decided it must’ve been time to finally go to the guildhouse to report for his first official mission with the adventurer’s association.
Charles had earlier dismissed Nigel and asked for his leave to report to Alfred that he would be staying in Ashfall for a while at least until he completed the request he had received and so last night, Charles had parted ways with the village youth as today he would be riding back to his village. In the meanwhile, Charles had paid the guild’s stable-house to properly look after his horse whilst he’d be away dungeon crawling. And so with that, Charles had left the inn and began to pace his way to the adventurer’s guildhouse. It didn’t take him much above a few minutes of walking a little speedily to reach the guildhouse. Once more when he entered the guild hall in front of the receptionists’ counter, Charles could see Emma was already managing the documents and licenses of several adventurers.
It didn’t take long for Emma to notice that Charles had arrived at the guild hall as she waved at him to which the other adventurers took notice. Charles only gave a friendly smile to the people their as he approached Emma.
“The Branchmaster is waiting for you at his office along with some of the adventurers that are going to participate in the mission with you…” Emma said but before long she gave a curious expression as she scanned Charles from head to toe who was only wearing his usual fastened tunic and hose trousers with only some straps where not even his weapons could be seen as they were in his ‘spatial inventory’ “Are you not yet equipped for the mission, Charles?”
Charles had a slightly dumbfounded look as he saw the adventurers in the guild hall were all already armed and armored to various degrees as they were setting out on their respective missions or to take on a dungeon. Charles merely scratched his head and gave a sheepish laugh at Emma’s inquiry into his attire. “Ah, there’s no need to worry Emma, I can quickly prepare myself as soon as we get the order to depart immediately. Anyways, I’ll be on my way to see Sir Hunt, then. If you’d excuse me, lady Emma.”
As Charles said that he bowed slightly before heading up the stairs to meet with Hunt at his office. As long as he walked he couldn’t help but notice a few gazes coming from the adventurers around him as they looked at him peculiarly. From the corner of his peripheral vision, he could also see what looked like a veteran adventurer who was walking towards the counter with slightly graying hair giving him a look of disapproval. He had impressive armor donned, looking to be a form of brigandine as well as a sword attached to his hip while he carried a halberd. Seeing this, Charles merely stared back at the man with a smile as the older adventurer merely scoffed and shook his head.
“I swear Emma, youngsters these days have too much pomp and are too carefree!” the adventurer said “And their attitudes too need some shaping up! Some respect is due to their seniors.”
Hearing the man clearly complain about him, Charles couldn’t help but stop midway on the stairs as he gave off an audible chuckle before he turned once more to face the man and bowed once more. “I sincerely apologise if I had caused you offense in anyways, sir…?”
“Bah! Get on your way!” the old adventurer waved Charles off dismissively as he turned his attention to the counter. Charles could see Emma have a difficult look on her face as she looked slightly apologetic towards Charles, but he remained amused by the situation. If there’s anything Charles knew, it was that getting into useless spats were not worth his time and he didn’t want to make the mistake of offending someone that might be stronger than him. Just to be on the safe side though, Charles had looked into the man’s stats and saw that his abilities were comparable to that of a level 20 user. Impressive but it shouldn’t be something that would cause problems for Charles who was leagues ahead of the man when it came to skills. However, thinking back to the matter of his armour, Charles couldn’t help but agree that the armour he had that he had acquired near the beginning of his adventure here on Orbis, was clearly starting to lose its use especially with the prospects for fighting stronger monsters and adversaries, though admittedly when considering his more agile combat style, he didn’t really need much armor to begin with that might in fact even hinder his movements.
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Not bothering with that matter any longer, Charles eventually knocked on the door of Hunt’s office and opened it when he heard the Branchmaster call him in.
“Ah, Charles! Glad to see you've arrived early! Just in time too as we can introduce you to the party that would be dispatched for the escort mission!” Hunt said as he sat up from his seat to greet me but soon enough he gave off a similar expression that Emma had when he saw I wasn't in any form of armour, only my tunic and some weapon straps. “Oh, that's a first. You're usually among the earliest to be prepared, hahahah!”
Charles scratched his head once more as he chuckled wryly “Alright, I think I've ruffled some feathers that I wasn't supposed to here. Is it a form of offense or sacrilege to be inside of the guild unarmed or without armor?”
“Oh not necessarily, no. At least not by any official guidelines. However some of the veterans hold to a sense that the guildhouse is a sacred place of warriors and that not even having any weapons is a sign that either you're a non-combatant or you're so sure of your abilities that you don't consider anyone else worthy of seeing your arms, or that you're wholefully unprepared and indolent, hahahaha! But don't mind it Charles, I know of your true abilities and there's no need to prove yourself to me in any way.”
“Aye, thank you for your explanation, Sir. I'll keep it in mind next time I come to a guild institution. But on that note…” Charles figured that by this point, he had a great amount of trust in Hunt already so he didn't mind showing something to him. As he made up his mind, Charles held out both his hands to the air as in the next moment his Galesword and Windwyrm materialised as he held a firm grip over them “I am never unarmed, Sir.”
“Dear God, spatial magic!” Hunt held his hand over his mouth as he looked in slight shock “That's a magic that can't be obtained so freely! You have to be at least a sixth circle mage to utilise it any effectively or have an item that - no offense, sir Charles - would be mostly out of mine own means let alone yours… How did you obtain such an ability?”
“Hahahahaha, I wouldn't be able to answer you even if I wanted to, Sir Hunt. When I was first summoned to this world, I had this ability immediately at my disposal. The same is true for Ivan.”
“Ah, I see. Yes of course I remember of your special circumstances.” Hunt nodded as he calmed down. Charles immediately returned his items to his inventory as they immediately dematerialized as if into thin air.
“Speaking of, how is that big oaf?”
“As soon as he got his share of the rewards from the expedition, he made his way to Skysea escorting Lady Genevieve.”
When Charles heard that, he couldn't help but give an uneasy chuckle as he didn't even want to begin to imagine what his friend would get up to with such a nubile and aggressive young woman on the road with him. Seeing Charles' expression, Hunt couldn't help but chuckle along.
“Well, they're young. It wouldn't be the most surprising thing if you know..” Hunt said to which Charles raised his hand to cut off the train of thought.
“If I may, Sir. I'd rather not discuss matters like this in this formal place.” Charles couldn't bear the thought of his friend in situations like that. It was improper to say the least.
“Of course, of course. Apologies, Sir Charles. Anyways, getting back to the matter at hand, we will be expecting the Lord Bishop and his party in an hour or so and I would like to use that time to familiarize you with the party the guild has assigned to this task that you will be a part of. It will be headed by Sir Geoffrey Mallory, a veteran steel-ranked adventurer of our own guild and someone who's been through this very mission dozens of times before. He's a bit rough around the ages, but I assure you that you can trust the man should you ever find yourself in a difficult spot. Alongside him I have assigned four other iron-rank adventurers, whilst young, they all show very promising talent.”
“As always, I shall defer to your judgement, Lord Branchmaster.” Charles nodded, but he immediately had a bad feeling about the mention of a veteran adventurer who would lead the party on this particular quest.
No sooner did he think that when the door to the office was knocked once more and the gruff voice of a man sounded out from outside. “Branchmaster, if I can have a word in with you!”
As the man from the other side of the door said that, Charles could see Hunt visibly exhale a sigh before he got up and opened the door to his office. Lo and behold, the older middle-aged adventurer who had earlier picked a fight with Charles with his rough demeanor was storming in the office room already making a fuss for God knows what reason.
“What is this madness, Hunt?!” The man practically screamed as he entered “I go off on one mission and now all of a sudden you send a wet-nosed whelp like this into the Devil’s Playground?! I didn’t know our guild has stooped so low so as to let no-named vagrants run around the bloody place like they own it!”
Charles didn’t know what to make of this. The audacity of the man to come barging in to the branchmaster’s office and yet he had the gall to say that Charles was the one trotting around like he owned the place? Hunt too had a mix of an exasperated and confused expression plastered over his face at the adventurer’s tantrum.
“Calm yourself, Sir Geoffrey! What in the bloody hell do you think you’re doing?! What are you on about?!” Hunt raised his voice a notch to settle the man down, but instead of backing down, the adventurer Sir Geoffrey only proceeded to glare back at the branchmaster. The insubordination was absolutely mind boggling as it would appear that at least as far as this particular individual was concerned, the hierarchy of ranks and offices meant nothing.
“What am I on about? The fact that I see you finally bending over your arse to appoint some noble’s bastard-born offspring into the highest badge of merit available within this guild!” The man pointed his finger towards me without even breaking eye contact from Hunt “To accept someone and register them as a steel-rank from the get go without going through with the official examinations, assigning them to one of the town’s most important missions, and then having me to lead the party while we have to carry the burden of protecting some prissy-ass noble bastard whilst also protecting the people of the church?! You’ve gone mad!”
“Sir Geoffrey!! I assure you once more that I can personally vouch for Sir Charles’ combat abilities as I’ve seen them and so too did a slew of other adventurers during the expedition on the Lord-Count Royal’s behest! The First Guildmaster as well as the Third Has vouched for the man’s abilities as well!”
At the mention of Alfred and Blakebow’s vouching of Charles’ abilities, Sir Geoffrey was stunned into silence for a split second as he gave Charles another glance. But it didn’t take long before the veteran adventurer hardened his expression and let out another vicious sneer. “Bah! Anyone can say anythin’ these days, but that don’t make it true!”
“THAT’S ENOUGH!!!” Just as Hunt was about to engage in another round of arguing with Sir Geoffrey, Charles could no longer stand idly by as he was being constantly insulted by a man he did not even know. It was then he shouted as his voice was reverberated and strengthened by his wind powers “Branchmaster, forgive me as to being so bold, but honor dictates that I can standby no longer as this imbecile continues on spewing his baseless and asinine accusations! I don’t care how much of a veteran this man purportedly is, but such insubordination is unseemly!”
“Look at this prissy whelp, acting all chivalrous all of a sudden when-.. *gasp*!!” While the man was about to continue on prattling on once more, no one expected for Charles to already be at the man’s throat as he held Windwyrm to the man’s neck, its edge ever so slightly grazing Sir Geoffrey’s neck as a slight trail of blood began to appear. Needless to say everyone in the room was shocked at Charles’ change in demeanour. The veteran adventurer was about to say something but Charles immediately cut him off “Y-..!!!”
“One more word!! One more word and I will care not for whatever rules are in place within the bounds of this guild, for mine blade will cut through your neck like a knife through butter!” Charles said in a threatening tone as he closed into the man’s ears as he said in an audible whisper. “Now do it! One. More. Word.”
Charles didn’t really mean anything that he said and he was mostly doing this to scare the man into submission but in the next second, he could feel Hunt finally unleashing his powers as he closed in on Charles, fully intent on disarming him and trying to de-escalate the situation. As always, even with his usually meek demeanour, Hunt reminded everyone once more of why he was the Branchmaster of the guild. Noticing Hunt closing in, Charles immediately dematerialised his weapons as he narrowly avoided Hunt’s reach as he skillfully stepped aside. Right away did Charles bow towards Hunt as he apologised.
“I ask for your pardon, Lord-Branchmaster.” Charles said with his head still bowing in difference to Hunt’s rank and abilities in a voice and tone as if his previous threatening tone was a lie. “I never truly meant to harm the man, but I could not merely stand idly by as I had my honour and dignity so viciously stepped on by someone I don’t even know.”
Hunt let out another sigh as he confirmed Charles had no hostile intentions before his face turned cold once more as he turned towards Sir Geoffrey who now had a ghastly pale look to his person as he stood almost as if he was frozen in fear. “I will be honest with you, old friend.” Sir Hunt said “If it weren’t for Charles’ own kindness and ability, there might have been no telling what could’ve ended up being your fate!”
When Hunt said that, Sir Geoffrey couldn’t help but to nod his head. But despite all that, Charles let out a grin as he said, “In respect to Sir Hunt as the Branchmaster of this guildhouse, I shall back down, but you are mistaken if it means I have forgotten all the insults you have levied against me. I swear to the Lord God Almighty, I shall remember all that transpired today ‘til the day I draw my last breath and the day I am granted my due. Should we come back from our mission, I will issue an official challenge to Sir Geoffrey to a duel for honour’s sake. And I will look forward to it.”
Just as Charles had said that, Hunt could feel the aura around Alfred’s newest disciple grow more severe. He let out a sigh before he acquiesced to Charles' request. It was only then did everyone notice Emma had opened the door to the office with a severely serious look on her face. It was then where she said, “His Eminence, the Lord-Bishop of Talltree has just arrived and awaits your presence in the main hall.”
With that said, Hunt looked at me as he cocked his head and straightened his clothes as he beckoned me and Sir Geoffrey to follow him out to greet the guests of the guild. The day had just started but Charles could tell things were just about to get heated.