The door swung open to reveal Argyle, who looked like he hadn’t slept properly at all. His fist was raised, no doubt preparing to knock once more.
Cole waved at him “How’d defending the village go?”
Argyle yawned, “It was good. I didn’t have to stretch myself too far, but these stupid little wolves just kept dribbling in until the early hours of the morning.”
Cole followed him down to the bottom floor of the Adventurer’s Guild Headquarters. They passed the reception desk and entered one of the doors that branched off from the main room. Inside this door was set of stairs that led down, beneath the building and the square that surrounded it.
At the bottom of the stairs was an iron door, that had no visible keyhole. Argyle instead placed his hand on the door, with his hands beginning to glow orange. The door matched the glow, almost like it was a molten piece of metal. Cole wondered if it was burn if he touched it. Then, it swung open, and Argyle beckoned him to follow inside.
They came to a huge wide room. The most salient part of it was a huge pillar right in the centre, which went deep into the ground, also extending into the low ceiling. Cole looked up, wondering how he hadn’t seen it on his way into the Guild building.
Argyle seemed to notice his unspoken question, and spoke, grinning,
“That’s our Pylon, basically what stops the monsters from appearing directly inside the town. The Venture Guild Headquarters are built around it. While The Emperor likes to have his creations on display for all to see, us Artesians prefer a more practical approach,”
They walked around the Pylon, into another room locked by the same type of iron door. Once inside, Cole had a bit of tonal whiplash. It was an extremely cosy office setup, a meeting table space, and also another door which he thought might lead to sleeping quarters. Sitting at the meeting table were three people, two men, and one woman.
They turned to face the pair who entered, smiling at Argyle and looking at Cole with interest.
Argyle saved Cole from the awkwardness of introducing himself, gesturing to the young man.
“This is Cole, our friend from Earth. He’s got a second phase class known as the [Runic Knight].”
Cole stared at Argyle, a shocked expression on his face. Was it really safe to be telling people stuff like that?
“Don’t worry Cole. I know how you must feel, but no one in this room has any intention of revealing your secret to the Empire”
Cole turned, looking at the man who had spoken. He had a strong jaw with some faint stubble showing and dark grey eyes. His sandy blond hair was messy, as if he hadn’t been able to groom himself properly for a few days. He was dressed in steel armour, with the Adventurer’s Guild icon emblazoned on above his heart. This must be the Branch-Master.
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The Branch-Master stood from the table, his two compatriots doing the same. He walked over and shook Cole’s hand.
“Nice to meet you Cole. My name is Percival, the Branch-Master of the Venture Adventurer’s Guild. I’m excited to learn more about you. My two friends here are Thesta…” The woman gave him a nod. Her hair was a light silver, and her eyes were an unnatural piercing blue. If you looked into them enough, they almost seemed to be shifting… “…and my brother Godrick.” Cole shook his head and looked at the other new man, who was dressed in the same armour as Percival.
“Please, sit. We have much to discuss.”
The five of them made their way back to the meeting table. Godrick pulled out a large leather-bound book, and had a stylus, seemingly ready to write down any necessary information.
“I’m sorry we couldn’t meet sooner, Me and Godrick were clearing out a Reaver nest that had become too large to ignore.”
Cole shuddered. Reavers had been around even before he had become Magus Supreme, outdating the Gate crisis. They were born predators, that the developers had purposely designed to be extremely hard to kill. Their chitinous shells were inherently magic resistant. Each of their 6 limbs ended in a sharp, hook-like point that let them scale any surface, as well as pierce through some of the strongest armour available to your average adventurer. Reavers were hard to kill, unless you were able to crack their tough exoskeletons.
The only saving grace was their slow rate of reproduction, which meant that their nests could often be ignored for a long time, allowing adventurers to focus on more pressing matters.
Percival kept speaking,
“Listen. Unfortunately, you’re stuck here. While you did luck out by not appearing directly in Imperial territory, you were basically given the second worst option. We’ve been under the eye of the Vestrians ever since Strauss Town ‘chose’ to become part of the Empire.”
Cole felt the sensation of a noose tying itself around his neck once more.
“I’m going to be honest. We’ll do what we can for you, but I’m not sacrificing this town for one kid from Earth. Especially a useless one.”
Ouch. That stung, although he did have to admit he was currently kind of just a freeloader.
“Which is why we wanted to talk to you today,” rumbled Argyle. “We’d like you to help us.”
“While we can’t offer you membership to the Adventurer’s Guild during a monster wave, and we recognise that that would basically amount to extortion, we’d still greatly appreciate your help against the monster wave,” said Godrick
“A class, especially a second phase class, is an asset to the defence of this town. Besides, judging from what Lyndell told me, you seem pretty eager to learn how to use yours.”
Cole looked down at the table, mulling over the choice in front of him. He’d already accepted that he was basically trapped in the town for now. There was no way the Guild was going to waste resources on portalling him elsewhere, which aside from being expensive, would also raise the wrong type of questions, especially for the Imperial element that was active within the town. He looked back up, and swallowed, jaw set with conviction.
“I’ll help.”
Argyle clapped him on the shoulder
“I knew you wouldn’t disappoint me boy.”
Percival and Godrick both looked pleased as well. Thesta merely stared at him, forcing Cole to look away out of embarrassment.
“I can’t give you much right now, aside from continued use of your quarters and the mess hall…” began Percival
“Don’t forget the armoury!” grinned Godrick.
“…And the armoury of course… but I assure that once this monster wave is over and done with, I’ll do what I reasonably can to get you to Artesia City. While I’d like you to stay here longer, secrets have a habit of getting out, and Venture can’t afford the commotion that someone from Earth will bring.”
Cole could only guess that ‘Artesia City’ was the capital of the Artesian Merchants Republic. Oh well, whatever took him as far away as possible from the Vestrian Empire was good in his books.
But shouldn’t he help the rest of the people from Earth? He knew it was ridiculous, he couldn’t even do anything to Argyle, but he still felt angry at the injustice of it all. At least there would be some Earthlings in Artesia City, if what Argyle had told him about people being dropped in capitals all around the world was true.
To help, he needed to be stronger.
“How do I get better at using my class? It might be second phase, but I couldn’t even move Argyle an inch, even using Runic Strength.”
“That’s where Thesta comes in, boy.”
Cole made eye contact with the grey haired woman, who had up until now remained completely silent. She fixed him with her strange, shifting blue eyes.
Aw man.