“Say, Isatha. Is he in love with you?”
“What, the Cpatain?” Well…. maybe? I never thought about it. But he does ask me out for a meal every time I’m here… haah… Whatever. Stay close now, Rethia.”
Just as Rethia had her eyes everywhere, trying to see everything at once, so, too, had the people their eyes on the pair of harpies. The townsfolk were already familiar with the regular visits of harpies and only spared them a cursory glance. But there were many travelers milling around: Merchants from different towns, the escorts of nobles on a trip, messengers and most of all, adventurers.
“But it does pay to know the guards of a city. Normally, you would have to pay an entry fee. Five silver Rhamp if you have no identification. One silver if you’re an adventurer. Three silver for merchants. Residents don’t have to pay anything, of course. The entry fee is different for every city. Some charge as much as 10 silver Rhamp for an adventurer. And that’s what we’re going to do first, get you an adventurer tag for identification. It also helps with making money for traveling expenses.”
“Why would I need money?” asked Rethia absentmindedly, eyeing a stall selling hot sweet potatoes.
“To buy food, like those sweet potatoes, for example. Unless you want to hunt for your own food and eat it raw every day?”
Rethia shuddered at the memory of that stringy old buffalo, the taste of warm blood and bull suddenly very vivid on her tongue.
“No!”
“It’s also good for entering cities, of course, where you can get information and lodging and traveling equipment. Sure, sleeping outdoors is fun and all, but trust me: once you’ve spent three days straight in the rain, you want someplace dry and warm to stay, and a somewhat comfortable bed.”
“Got it. I need money. And I can make some by joining this adventurers guild?”
“It’s the easiest, but you can also gather herbs and sell them directly to people. But for me, it’s just a hassle, even if it pays better. We’re here. This is the adventurers guild. Every walled city has a branch of it. Supposedly, their headquarters is a city consisting solely of adventurers, under no kingdoms jurisdiction.”
They sood on a large plaza, street stalls hawking their wares. In front of them was a two story building with annexes on each side. Left was a simple big hall, smelling of blood and death. On the right was a storefront.
“Left is the dismantling hall. If adventurers bring down large beasts, they can either dismantle them by themselves, or bring them here and have the guild do it for a small fee. On the right side is a guild-owned store. They sell everything from beast crystals over potions to traveling gear. Whatever an adventurer may be in need of. The rest of the beast materials are sold to the local craftsmen for weapon and armor making. You do remember what beast crystals are?” asked Isatha, leading the way to the main building.
“They are also known as magic hearts. Many beasts have one, which means they are able to use some kind of magic. They can be ground into fine powder and worked into tools, weapons, clothing, armor or directly placed onto a wizards wand. They are used to raise protection against magic, raise the concentration of a wizard, strengthen spells or make a weapon into a magic weapon,” recited Rethia.
“Very good. If you run across one, you should bring it back to the flock. We’re also collecting them. Our males can use them to make protective cloth or magical jewelry. Though, if you ever meet a gnome, ask them to work it. Their craftsmanship easily surpasses everything you’ll ever see from other races.”
“I’ll remember that.”
The inside of the building didn’t look as grand as she had imagined it. It was a large room, divided into two sections. One was a bar with small tables and chairs, serving drink and snacks. The other side was a dominated by a large board and a counter, which was currently staffed by two people. In the back, a hallway led to other rooms, and a stair led to the upper floor and the basement.
Strangely, the tables were all full, that side bustling with talk and laughter, while the counter was empty of customers and the board held the attention of only three people.
Isatha stepped up to the counter: “Good evening. I’m Isatha and I want to register my companion with the guild, get her a basic equipment kit, the usual.”
“Wait for me!” cried Rethia, until now busy with staring at everything. She quickly stalked towards the counter, feeling stares in her back. It made her uncomfortable.
“Sure. She just needs to put her name, race, age and skill set here.” The catwoman produced a sheet of paper, a quill and a bottle of ink. The other person, a small thick-set man with a braided beard kept a sharp eye on the rest of the room.
“Uh, sure… uhm… what exactly are skills?” asked Rethia, dipping a claw into the ink and writing down her name and race, stopping at age. How old was she? And what should she write under that ominous skill set?
“I’d guess your age at two or three,” provided Isatha, leaning over.
“Two?!”
“Harpies grow up fast. Most of our hatchlings come of age when they are two years old. The really slow ones at three. Ahh… I think you would be somewhere around 15, going by human years?” Isatha looked at the cat person.
“Both are fine with me, but human cities won’t accept an adventurer that is younge than 15. They just can’t wrap their heads around the idea that other races mature faster than them.” The cat shrugged. “As for skill set: Just write down what you’re good at. Sword fighting, herbology, taming. Anything is fine.”
“uh… then I’ll write down 15 for age… But shouldn’t I write down the truth?” Rethia asked, but the cat just giggled.
“Girlie, we have no method to verify if your information is true. We’ll just copy your name, race and age over to you identification token and you have to live with it. The skills are just to give us an idea of what requests you could take up. We won’t stop you from picking a fighting request, but we’ll try to dissuade you, if you haven’t listed some relevant skills.”
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“Oh. Alright.” Rethia mulled it over, then wrote flying, herbology and mapmaking onto the paper.
The cat sniffed. “Not many high paying requests that you’ll be able to pick up by yourself, but finding herbs is always in demand, even if it doesn’t pay much. Or you could make maps of the surroundings and sell them to the local guild branch. Maps are always in demand. The more detailed, the better. But else? Perhaps deliveries. But if you want to take on hunting requests, you should learn some fighting skills.
“Now, onto the next step.” She pulled out a crystal, the size of an apple and put it onto the paper. Then she laid a wooden token on top of it.
The crystal shone briefly and golden letters appeared on the token.
“Nearly finished. Put some fluid of yourself onto this token and it will become your personal identification. It works best with blood, but saliva will also do the trick.”
Rethia unfurled a wing to grab the token, but her passenger was faster. Sven jumped down her half-stretched wing, grabbed the token and clambered back onto her shoulder.
She heard the hall behind them quite down a little.
“Thank you, little guy.” She clamped her mouth around the token, not wanting to cut herself.
“I can’t believe you still haven’t named him.” Isatha rolled her eyes.
“Is he yours?” asked the cat. Rethia nodded. “You trained him well. If you want, I can add taming to your skillset. Not that it will increase the range of the requests you could take.”
Rethia shook her head and removed the token from her mouth. It was gross, dripping wet, but if that was necessary… As if by magic, her saliva was completely absorbed by the token.
“No worries, you can always wash it later. It’s just to imprint your unique mana signature onto the token. That way, no one can fake it. Here is a string, to tie it around your neck. With this token, you’ll be able to enter any kind of town or city with a reduced entry fee. It also enables you to pick up requests at any branch of the adventurers guild. If you loose it, you can have it reissued for a fee.
“As you can see, it shows your name, race and age, as well as your current guild rank. Our lowest rank is F and it goes up to A. Very strong or special adventurers will receive the rank S.
“To reach rank D, you only need to complete a certain amount of requests. It doesn’t matter in which branch you complete them, because we’re able to share information between branches quickly. And it is recorded on your token, too. We can read that information by using a special tool.
“To get rank C or higher, we have to test your fighting abilities.”
Rethia nodded. That was all part of that mystical common knowledge. And Isatha had talked about it at length during their flight to the city.
“It’s refreshing to deal with someone who understands so quickly. As an adventurer, youcan also get access to our training halls and receive one training session for free every month. Any more and you have to pay. We’re not running a charity here.
“You’re also entitled to buy our exclusive adventurer kits. They’re nothing special, but very convenient. The merchants have something similar, but larger, and tied to their persona. A safety measure against thieves. But it also makes it quite expensive.” With that, the cat put a belt with three pouches and a backpack onto the counter. “These nifty little things are called item bags. They are enchanted to store more than it seems and to reduce the weight. This one is a belt with three smaller pouches and the other is a backpack. Both editions can hold the same amount of items. The basic kit costs 20 silver Rhamp for newly registered adventureres. The regular price is 50 silver Rhamp, so take good care of it. Additional pouches or those with more space cost extra.”
Rethia gulped at the amount of money.
“Hey! Since when did you have these as belts? When I got mine, you only sold them as unwieldy, inconvenient backpacks!” cried Isatha from the side.
The cat leaned forward and lowered her voice: “Our craftsmen finished their research but two months before them Wanderers suddenly showed up. Good thing that. The item belts have been flying of the shelves ever since. We can barely keep up with the demand…”
Isatha took a deep breath, then put her backpack onto the counter. “One basic kit for the girl, with an additional pouch for storing herbs. And one that equals this backpack.”
The cat took one look at the backpack, then ran through a door in the back, returning with two very different belts and a green pouch. One belt had three pouches, the other had nothing but pouches, in varying designs.
“This belt should have about the same storage space as your backpack and is sold at 30 large gold Rhamp. The basic belt for 20 silver Rhamp and an additional herb pouch for 10 silver Rhamp.”
Rethia nearly fainted as she tried to calculate the amount. 1 large gold Rhamp was 10 small gold Rhamp. 1 small gold Rhamp was 100 silver Rhamp. That was like… like… 300 small gold… 30000 silver Rhamp… That was… a decent meal cost maybe 1 or 2 silver Rhamp…
Isatha squited her eyes at the cat, who gave her a brilliant smile. “No discount possible.”
Grumbling a little, Isatha let her monkey hand over the coins. She then proceeded to push the basic belt and the green pouch into Rethias wings.
“But Isatha! I can’t take this! That’s so much money and… and…” rethia tried to hand the belt back. She couldn’t take this. Isatha had already done so much for her, teaching her flying, bringing her to the city, helping her register as an adventurer…
“If you refuse it as a gift, then take it as a loan and pay me back later,” declared Isatha, rolling her eyes. “Over there is the board with requests. The sooner you pick something, the sooner you can pay me back. I won’t accept a no.”
With stiff wings, Rethia accepted the belt and marched over to the wooden board. She stood there for several long moments, just staring blankly at it.
How can I look so unsightly? There are people watching! Taking a deep breath to calm down, she looked at her new items. The green pouch was a rectangular pouch with a clasp. One pouch had the form and size of a thick book, also with a clasp, while the last two were like small balls with drawstrings. Gingerly, she settled the belt around her waist, just above her tail feathers. It felt odd, but she could change that later. Isatha had said to pick a quest. That had priority.
Looking up at the myriad of requests, Sven, on her shoulder, was already pointing at one.
“This one, you say?” she stretched a wing, tapping the back of her claws onto the paper. Sven nodded with a soft squeal. “Gather 20 cat’s claw. Reward: 2 silver Rhamp. And 5 copper Rhamp for every additional cat’s claw. Sure, why not? They should be growing around this area.”
She plucked the request from the board and brought it to the counter.
“A gathering request with a difficulty of E, eh? You don’t aim low, but if you’re sure about this, I’ll mark it as taken,” said the cat.
“Difficulty of E? Why is that? Cat’s claw should be growing abundantly in this area?” asked Rethia.
“It was rank F, but a big red bear recently moved into the area where they grow, so the difficulty was raised. Do you still want to take it?”
“Yes.” She wasn’t afraid of a bear. She could simply fly away, if she encountered it.
“Great. Congratulations on picking your first request. The usual gathering spot is in the jungle south of here. It’s a three day round trip. You can either go there or gather it somewhere else. You can also gather other herbs and pick up the respective requests after you return. We’ll still buy the herbs, even if there is no corresponding request for them. There is always demand somewhere,” explained the cat to Rethia.
“Thank you.”
“Now that you have your first request, let me show you around town and tell you what you should spend your money on.” Isatha brought her back outside. “Most cities have a similar structure. The marketplace, the main street, the shopping area, the craftsmen area and the residential area.
“If you’re looking for an inn, you can usually find them around the main street or the marketplace. Food is sold in street stalls throughout the city, or in restaurants in the shopping area. Most inns include breakfast and dinner, or have you pay for it. If you have raw materials to sell, like herbs or dismantles beasts, you can either go to the adventurers guild, or sell directly to the craftsmen. If you want something made from the materials, then go directly to the craftsmen. If you only want money, then sell it to the guild and be done with it.”